“Of course.” She was still reeling from his words, wishing she’d responded with something more appropriate than Oh. And the whole Let’s pray aloud together thing felt awkward, especially with other people around. Kade’s family had already shown up, as had a few friends from town. She wished they were alone, wished she could kiss him and tell him how she felt about him. Instead, she bowed her head and let him do the talking.
She didn’t have anything to add, so she listened to his sweet words asking for favor on the day and the project. In her head, all she could add was Yes, Lord, do that. Do that.
It wasn’t much, but maybe it wasn’t nothing, either.
When he finished, he squeezed her hands and turned toward the crowd. More people were making their way on foot between the parked cars up the narrow lane. “I’d like you to stand with me until I get started, if you don’t mind.”
Joy bubbled up as they walked down the short incline to the level area. They’d set up tables earlier that morning, where Ginny had arranged carafes of coffee and bottles of water. Beside those were muffins and Danishes and bagels she’d bought from a bakery in town.
Thanks to the blue skies, the tent Kade had reserved hadn’t been necessary. The trees surrounding them offered ample shade. An event company had brought in chairs, and people were already starting to fill them.
Kade’s siblings were there, as were most of their friends from the real estate club, from church, and from the food bank where they both volunteered.
Ridiculous how much it meant to her that Kade wanted her by his side. He introduced her to people and included her in conversations and praised her for her help. Ginny brushed off his praise and tossed it right back to him.
While Kade chatted with a banker, something caught Ginny’s eye.
On the far side of the clearing stood a man with a full head of blond hair. He wore jeans and work boots. She’d barely glanced at his face before he’d turned away, but there was something familiar about him.
She could swear she’d seen him before.
The man climbed in his car and drove away. Why come all the way out here if he hadn’t planned to stay?
Once everyone arrived, Kade called the ceremony to order, and people filled the chairs. He squeezed Ginny’s hand and let it go, and she walked to a seat in the front row.
They’d had a groundbreaking for the clubhouse a month or so before. They’d decided to do this one for the golf course to bring out more of the community, to help them see what had already been done and get them excited about it. Based on the crowd that had gathered, their plan had worked perfectly.
“Thank you all for coming.” Kade’s gaze skimmed the people. “I can’t tell you what your support means to me. Some of you invested. Others helped me with planning. Others offered counsel or prayed. Some of you”—he glanced in the direction of Bruce Collier—“ensured I knew what I was getting myself into. Whatever role you played, I want you to know I appreciate it. This project would never have gotten this far without your help. So thank you.”
Ginny glanced behind her, saw most people smiling back at Kade. Bruce, of course, scowled. Her gaze met Sokolov’s.
He was watching her.
Fear skittered down her back. She shuddered and turned toward the front again.
“I wanted you all to see the progress we’ve made already,” Kade said. “I know some of you thought it was a shame to develop this property.” Again, his gaze flicked to Bruce. “And I understand that thinking. There’s a temptation to leave the land rustic and untouched.”
“Hear, hear,” Bruce said.
Kade had the grace to smile at him. “It was a temptation, but we’ve done the right thing by resisting it. This property is too beautiful for me to keep to myself. Too beautiful to remain hidden from the world.”
Kade introduced the designer he’d brought from Florida, a man who’d designed multiple top-tier golf courses on the East Coast. He explained his vision as the crowd followed his outstretched arm to the land, perhaps imagining what the course would eventually look like.
When the man was finished, Kade thanked by name everyone who’d been involved, including the investors, bankers, and more. One by one, he invited them to the front, and each one dug a shovelful of dirt and tossed it onto a growing pile. The ceremonial groundbreaking progressed quickly, and when Kade was finished, the crowd broke into applause.
People stood and chatted. Some approached Kade to congratulate him. Some wandered toward the refreshment tables, while others headed for their cars.
Ginny told Kade’s siblings good-bye. After they’d walked away, she was ready to join Kade. Before she moved, a hand brushed her arm. She turned to see Mike Sokolov. “Ginny, right?”
Her stomach filled with acid for no good reason. She held out her hand. “Hi, Mr. Sokolov.”
“Call me Mike.” His hand was hot and sweaty when he shook hers. He wore khaki slacks, a green collared shirt, and a gray herringbone flat cap. He was bigger than she’d remembered, with wide shoulders and thick arms. His accent was strong, but his words were clear. “It is good to see you again.”
She couldn’t say the same. Why this man rubbed her the wrong way, she had no idea. “I’m glad you made it. Are there others from your investment group here?”
“Just me,” he said. “I’m mostly retired, so I had time.”
She turned to take in the property. “What do you think?”
“I think our Kade Powers is going to be a very wealthy man.”
“He has a great vision for this land.”
“And for women, I’d add.”
She stepped back, not sure how to respond to that. “Well, I guess—”
“It was lovely to see you again, Miss Lamont.” He turned and walked away.
How very odd.
She was walking toward Kade when Bruce caught her eye. She’d never spoken to the man in person, and she didn’t want to now. But when he headed her way, she stopped and forced a smile.
He held out his hand as he approached. “Bruce Collier.”
“I remember.” She shook his hand. “Ginny Lamont.”
“You’re hard to forget.” He stood back and crossed his arms. “I’ve done a little research on you, Ginny. You’re quite the pretty little thing.”
The name of her parents’ strip club hung in the air between them. She glanced at Kade—had he heard? But he and the course designer were answering questions in the middle of a small crowd.
She focused again on Bruce. “What are you getting at?”
“We don’t need your kind in Nutfield.”
“You mean real estate agents?”
“I mean smut brokers.”
She rocked back on her heels. “I am not my parents.”
“I’m not sure what you two are planning, but I won’t allow any of that sick business or the people associated with it to come into my town.”
“We’re not planning—”
“Smut’s like a disease, and you’re a carrier.”
“How dare you?” Her voice had risen. Across the space, Kade glanced in her direction.
Bruce showed his yellowing teeth. “Your boyfriend’s going to lose everything when the truth comes out.” He pivoted and started toward the parked cars.
She stared after him, dumbfounded.
“What did he say?”
She turned at Kade’s words and forced a smile. She wanted to tell him. And she wanted him to never know. Either way, she wasn’t about to do anything that would ruin this moment. “Just Bruce being Bruce.”
Kade studied her with narrowed eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, but someone called his name.
“Go. I’m fine.” She forced herself to smile, opening her eyes wide in an effort to look happy despite her pounding heart and shaking hands. “If you don’t need me for anything—”
“Just hang out a few minutes.”
Beyond Kade, men stared at his back, waiting for him to return.
She stood on
her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “It was a great success. Congratulations.”
Before he could stop her, she rushed toward her car. She was careful not to get close enough to anybody to be pulled into conversation.
Her mind was too full of threats and innuendos to focus on anything else.
Ginny searched real estate listings the next morning, looking for houses to show a new client. The trailer on Kade’s land was empty, as usual. She’d hired another agent, who would be there most of the day in case anybody wanted a tour of one of the two show houses that had already been built and decorated. The young man would arrive soon enough, and she could head out to meet her client.
She hadn’t intended to get such an early start, but she’d needed to do something to get her mind off Bruce Collier and his threats.
She’d bugged out of the dinner Andrea had hosted for Kade and the rest of their siblings and their families the night before, blaming a headache for her need to stay home. At least the headache hadn’t been a lie. It had pounded ever since she’d left the groundbreaking ceremony. But she’d have cancelled, anyway. She’d gone home early—before Kade could come by and question her about what Bruce had said—turned off her phone, and tried to rest.
This morning when she’d turned on her phone, she’d had a strange message left the night before from an editor at the Nutfield Gazette asking her to call him as soon as possible, but when she did, the call went straight to voice mail. She left a message, of course. She hated to think what that was about. Maybe Bruce was already at work trying to discredit her in a demented effort to stop Kade’s project. Which would make no sense. The project was well underway. There was no stopping it now.
The last thing she wanted was to hurt Kade’s development. But it wasn’t as if Bruce were universally loved in Nutfield, and Ginny had made a lot of friends in town. Maybe they would stand by her. Maybe her clients would be the voice of reason, defend her, tell others how she’d helped them find homes, how she’d never been anything but honest.
Maybe the people of Nutfield would believe the best of Ginny, not the half-truths Bruce might spread.
The problem was, maybe they wouldn’t.
Her cell rang. She glanced at the screen. It wasn’t Kade. Not that she was ready to tell him about Bruce’s threats yet, but it would have been nice to hear his voice. He’d seemed both concerned and irritated the night before when she’d told him she couldn’t go with him—and then asked him not to come by.
She’d hurt his feelings. But maybe it would be best for everyone if he kept his distance from her until Bruce played his hand.
The phone rang again, and she pushed away thoughts of Kade and swiped the call to connect. “Ginny Lamont.”
“Hey, it’s Bonnie Smith.”
Ginny’s newest client. “Glad you called.” She searched through the listing paperwork she’d printed. “I’ve already pulled the listings on a bunch of houses. There’s one in particular—”
“About that.”
Ginny set the papers down. “Do you need to reschedule? I try to take Sundays off, but Monday—”
“No. It’s just… We found another Realtor we think will suit our needs better.”
“Oh.” Ginny pulled in a deep breath. “I hope I haven’t done anything to offend you.” Though how she could have since their last meeting, she had no idea.
“It’s just… We found someone else. That’s all. Thanks anyway.”
“Well, if you change your mind, please call me. I’d love to—”
The phone beeped, indicating the woman had disconnected.
How strange.
Ginny snatched the listing sheets she’d already printed and thought of the hours she’d spent working for Bonnie, both during their meeting and that morning. Now, she’d have nothing to show for all that time.
She stuffed the papers in the recycling bin. It was fine. She’d lost clients before. Granted, never before the first showing, at least not without a decent reason. But this wouldn’t kill her. She had plenty to keep her busy, between the work she’d already arranged and the properties she was selling here at Clearwater Heights.
A car parked outside, and she peeked out the trailer’s window. Her associate was there, which meant Ginny could leave.
Her stomach growled. She hadn’t eaten anything the night before, thanks to the pounding headache and the anxiety that had churned since her run-in with Bruce. Now that she had no work that morning, there was no reason to spend another moment at the trailer.
She greeted the young man who would spend the day on the property, climbed in her car, and headed toward town.
When she reached Nutfield, she parked on Crystal Avenue and stepped out of her car. Though it was early in the season for tourists, folks gazed in storefronts and wandered slowly, in no rush to leave the beautiful day. She could go home, but it was too lovely, too happy a day to spend alone. Just being in downtown Nutfield lifted her spirits. This place might not consider her a local yet, but it felt like home to her. The little souvenir shops with their postcards of autumn foliage and their cheap T-shirts charmed her, as did the wrought iron benches spaced beneath the trees along the street. Of all the places she’d lived—from Louisiana to Texas to California and the many states in between—none of them had ever felt like home in the way New Hampshire did. She’d thought it was because her sister lived here, but Kathryn’s leaving hadn’t changed the way Ginny felt about Nutfield one bit.
She hoped nothing changed the way Nutfield felt about her.
Again, thoughts of Kade intruded. She wanted to call him, see if he might like to join her for an early lunch. She should have called him already to ask how the celebration went with his family. And she needed to tell him what Bruce had said. She hadn’t told him before because she hadn’t wanted to ruin his big day, but the longer she waited, the harder it would be. She pressed his number and waited for him to answer. After only one ring, the call went to voice mail.
She stopped walking and stared at the screen, waiting for a quick text to explain why he’d rejected the call, but she received nothing. How odd.
She crossed the street and entered McNeal’s.
The restaurant was hopping with late Saturday morning diners. The scents of bacon and sausage wafted from the kitchen in the back. Most of the tables were occupied. The diners at the table closest to her turned. She recognized the older gentleman as a regular and smiled at him. His eyebrows lifted as if she’d surprised him.
Across the table, a woman about his age—his wife, probably—regarded Ginny through narrowed eyes and whispered something.
The man turned away.
At the table behind them, all four middle-aged women stared at her.
Anxiety bubbled in her stomach. What was going on?
Bonnie, the restaurant’s manager, approached. “Table for one?”
She nodded as she caught sight of Kade in a booth on the far side of the room bent over a table with one of the men she’d met the day before. An investor. That explained why Kade hadn’t answered her call.
Bonnie snatched a menu and led the way to a spot near the dark bar lining the back wall.
Was Ginny imagining it, or were people watching her?
And whispering?
She heard an under-the-breath, “That’s her,” from somewhere just behind her.
When she sat, she felt their stares.
“You want coffee?” Bonnie asked. “Something else to drink?”
“Um.” She swallowed, kept her gaze lowered, afraid to meet anybody’s eyes. “Just water, I guess.”
Bonnie walked away, and Ginny forced a deep breath, then focused on the room.
At least two people’s heads snapped away.
She pressed her back against the hard wooden chair. Seemed Bruce had already begun spreading his venom. Amazing how fast bad news traveled.
With the menu between herself and the room, she studied her choices. She didn’t want to look at anybody else. She didn’t want to see
them looking at her.
She should leave. But the walk to her table had been awkward enough. She’d hate to repeat it as she walked out.
The family at the table beside her stood. A dad, a mom, and three kids. The little girl reminded Ginny of her niece, and Ginny smiled at the child.
Her mother snatched her away and glared. “We don’t need your kind in town.”
Ginny was too stunned to reply before the family stalked away.
She should go. She should definitely go.
She set the menu down and pushed back from the table as she caught sight of friendly faces. Harper Cloud and Jack Rossi were headed her way. “Why don’t you join us?” Harper asked.
Ginny stood. “I’ve lost my appetite. And based on the looks I’m getting, you probably don’t want to be seen with me.”
“I’m sure it’s not true,” Harper said.
Ginny stepped toward the door, then stopped. “What…?” She hated that she didn’t know, hated that she had to ask. And she hated how much she feared the answer. “What are people saying? I mean, is there some rumor or…?”
Harper glanced at Jack, and he took Ginny’s elbow. “Come sit with us, and we’ll tell you what we heard.”
It was the last thing she wanted to do, but she needed to know what people were saying. She allowed Jack to lead her across the room.
She caught the eyes of one of her clients. The woman averted her gaze.
Another client lost, no doubt.
When they passed Kade’s table, he didn’t look.
She felt his companion’s eyes on her. Or maybe it was someone else’s—she wasn’t about to turn around to look. McNeal’s had always seemed such a welcoming place, but today, the words hostile environment flitted through her mind.
Jack led her to a table by the window. A cheeseburger was on one side of the table, a gigantic salad on the other. Both meals looked about half eaten. He indicated the bench where she should sit, but she stepped back and let Harper sit first. She needed to be able to escape fast.
Who knew where the next attack would come from?
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