One Step Away (Hazel Green Book 2)

by Cindy Kirk

  The fun and festive outfit buoyed her mood. The best part was, she wouldn’t be taking the trip back to the sixties alone. Leo had picked the same decade, and he looked positively groovy.

  His mustard-yellow shirt had a large collar and went well with his brown and yellow plaid flared pants. The Cuban-heeled boots added an extra-nice touch.

  She and Leo stood off to the side of the primary roadway into Gingerbread Village. Streets in the area had been closed to motor vehicle traffic from seven to ten p.m.

  “I think the stroll is a hit.” Nell couldn’t keep the pride from her voice. The Illumination Stroll had been her and Abby’s suggestion at a Green Machine meeting last year. Now, tonight, it was actually happening.

  Though the merchants in Hazel Green dressed in vintage wear year-round, the residents were encouraged to embrace the fun on holidays and special occasions

  “It certainly brought in the tourists.” Leo’s gaze lingered on two women in their twenties dressed in identical shiny blue jumpsuits with tapered legs, batwing sleeves that started at the waist and shoulder pads. “The seventies?”

  “Looking at those shoulder pads, more likely the eighties.” Nell smiled. “The crimped hair and mile-high bangs confirm that decade.”

  “I’m surprised you don’t dress vintage more often.” Leo returned his attention to her. When his gaze slowly traveled down, as if he didn’t want to miss a single detail, Nell shivered. “You look amazing in everything.”

  Before she could respond, he lowered his voice for her ears only. “Best in nothing at all.”

  Laughing, she gave his arm a swat and shifted her gaze to study the crowd that had gathered for the start of the stroll.

  Residents and visitors had been encouraged to dress in period clothing—any decade of their choosing—and stroll through Gingerbread Village at dusk.

  Chinese lanterns were hung from the porches of the cottages. A family-friendly tent had been set up near the Pavilion offering cuisine and desserts families could afford and enjoy.

  The Pavilion itself was restricted to adults. After giving a twenty-five-dollar donation—that would go toward supporting the arts in Hazel Green—vendors had come together to offer bites of their finest foods, paired with a curated selection of wine, beer and spirits.

  Nell pulled her phone from her plastic beaded purse and glanced at the time. “It’s seven.”

  Hank Beaumont, newspaper editor and president of the Green Machine, moved to the bottom of the steps leading to the portable dais.

  Tim and Marty were there, chatting with friends. Dressed in the style of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, the couple made an engaging sight in the late evening light. Marty’s cheeks were rosy from all the sunshine the past couple of days.

  Marty’s relaxed posture told Nell that being back in Hazel Green had been good for her. Leo’s father, on the other hand, sported additional lines of strain around his eyes. But his ready smile was warm and friendly.

  Nell looked around for Matt and Wells, but didn’t see either of them.

  Hank, along with Tim and Marty, climbed to the dais. Using a handheld microphone, Hank welcomed the senator and his wife to the community and explained how the event would proceed.

  After finishing his introduction, he glanced at Leo.

  “I’d like to ask our mayor, Leo Pomeroy, and his companion, Cornelia Ambrose, to join the senator and his wife in leading the stroll.”

  Though Nell kept a smile firmly pasted on her face, her heart flip-flopped. She would be in the spotlight as herself, not Hazel, which was exactly what she’d feared would happen when she’d agreed to be Leo’s girlfriend.

  She spoke sharply, without turning her head. “Did you know Hank was going to do this?”

  “No.” Leo waved to the crowd, who’d cheered the announcement, eager for the event to get started.

  Not seeing any way out of the predicament, Nell crossed to the center of the cobblestone street with Leo, where Tim and Marty joined them.

  Before Nell could react, Liz stepped out in front of them and snapped several pictures of the foursome just as the four-piece band began a rousing rendition of a Sousa march. She disappeared into the crowd before Nell could stop her.

  Nell vowed to make sure the pictures never made it onto the internet. Since she’d left home, Nell had worn her hair short, rather than long as it had been in her teens. When she’d put on the blond wig today and looked in the mirror, she’d been transported back to her high school days.

  As she walked, she pulled out her phone and texted Liz.

  Don’t post any pics of me.

  The reply came quickly.

  Too late. You look adorable.

  Alarm skittered up Nell’s spine, but she told herself she was being ridiculous.

  “Something wrong?” Leo asked.

  “Not at all.” Nell shoved her phone into the tiny bag.

  Less than five minutes into the stroll, Tim and Marty were engulfed by friends.

  Seconds later, Abby and Jonah, wearing matching bowling shirts and shoes, fell into step beside her and Leo.

  Another couple of yards saw Rachel and Marc join them. Marc had gone for a sixties preppy look, while Rachel wore a pink and white polka dot minidress.

  Thankfully, Marc was too busy looking around to see who’d noticed him at the head of the stroll to do much talking.

  “Where’s Eva Grace?” Nell asked Abby.

  “She wasn’t interested in strolling, and neither was Matilda. We’ll meet up with them at the tent a little later.” Abby cast a knowing glance at Leo. “You two look ready for a good time.”

  “We’re ready to party like it’s 1965,” Nell said, tongue in cheek.

  “It’s too bad there isn’t a disco ball somewhere,” Leo said.

  “Wrong decade. Disco balls were popular in the—” Nell’s eyes widened.

  A deep voice from somewhere in the crowd spoke through a megaphone. “Elvis has entered the village.”

  Nell recognized her brother immediately.

  Dixon wore Elvis’s iconic white jumpsuit featuring gold, red and blue stones in an American eagle pattern. The front, cut low, included the classic red scarf. Still, the outfit showed a good amount of Dixon’s muscular chest.

  Nell wasn’t sure whether it was the Elvis tie-in or that manly chest that was creating the stir. What was her brother thinking? He had to know everyone would be snapping pictures and wanting to do selfies with him.

  Irritation held hands with fear until she noticed, despite it being dusk, that Dixon wore gold-rimmed aviator sunglasses that covered most of his face. At least he hadn’t gone totally off the rails.

  She relaxed and turned back to Leo.

  Leo held out his arm, and she slipped hers through his. “He’s causing quite a stir,” he said.

  “I don’t understand it.”

  Leo cocked his head.

  “Why anyone would want to be the center of attention?”

  “You do it every time you step out as Hazel Green.”

  “That’s different.” Nell inhaled the sweet scent of flowers mixed with the pungent scent of evergreen. “I’m Hazel Green, or whoever she’s impersonating at the time. Nell Ambrose doesn’t like being in the spotlight.”

  “You’re so at ease in front of people. And you’re in court every day.”

  “For some reason, I’m addicted to personal privacy.”

  “I noticed you don’t have any social media accounts.”

  “Have you been checking up on me, Mr. Mayor?” She kept her tone teasing, doing her best not to sigh. This was what happened when you became part of a couple.

  “Actually, yesterday I snapped a picture of the tai chi group down by the lake. I posted it to the official mayor’s Instagram account.” He smiled. “I was going to follow you, but discovered you don’t have an account.”

  “Hazel has an account,” Nell explained, relying on the answer she gave everyone. “Just keeping up as her takes all the spare time I wan
t to devote to online stuff.”

  “Makes sense.”

  They’d slowed their steps, which Nell thought was the definition of a stroll, while others surged past.

  “Why is everyone in such a rush?” she mused aloud.

  “The route circles back to the Pavilion.” Abby smiled up at her husband, and Nell saw that the two held hands. “We’re hoping to have time to stop there ourselves before we meet up with Matilda and Eva Grace.”

  “Marc and I are headed there, too,” Rachel said eagerly. “We can all go together.”

  “Sure.” Abby’s smile never wavered. “That’d be fun.”

  “We’ll catch up to you.” Nell gestured to the cottage they were passing. “Leo needs to stop and pick up something for his brother.”

  “We can wait,” Rachel offered.

  “You all go ahead.” Nell waved an airy hand. “We’ll catch up.”

  Thankfully, Leo caught on quickly. “We’ll see you soon.”

  “Do you have a key?” Nell asked when they stepped onto the porch festooned with lanterns of every size and shape.

  Even as Leo reached into his pocket, the door swung open.

  Wells sat back in the chair and gazed out the window at the strange parade. As a business owner and eldest son of one of the state’s senators, he should be out there strolling with the crowd, putting a positive face on the Pomeroy name. He didn’t have it in him today.

  That was part of the reason he’d agreed to let Sophie attend this evening’s event with her friend. He trusted Shiloh’s parents and knew they’d keep a close watch on his child. Having no siblings and no cousins, Sophie spent too much time alone.

  If Dani had lived, their lives would be so much different…

  The thought was ruthlessly shoved aside. He’d been down this road too many times to travel down it again. Dani was gone, and no amount of wishing could change reality.

  If he wasn’t going to take part in the stroll, he should head home.

  Home to an empty house…

  Wells picked up the glass of wine he’d poured and told himself he was pathetic. He had more options than drinking alone in a dark cottage.

  Simply stepping outside would bring dozens of people he knew to him. But he didn’t want the gaiety or the sidelong glances.

  News of the scandal had reached Hazel Green’s paper. Hank had written an objective piece, including Steve’s history as Tim Pomeroy’s legislative director and friend.

  Guilty by association.

  A trite phrase and certainly not one that Hank had included in the article, but it was how a lot of people thought. Heck, if the man wasn’t his father, Wells would wonder about Tim’s integrity.

  How could anyone be a close friend and work side by side with a person for years and not know—or at least suspect—he was taking bribes?

  The sounds of footsteps on the porch had Wells setting down his wineglass, crossing the room in three long strides and jerking open the door.

  “Wells.” Leo’s eyes widened in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

  “Sophie and I had dinner with Mom and Dad. They left. I stayed.” Wells shifted his gaze to Nell, who looked like she could have been a dancer in one of those Top 40 countdown shows in the 1960s. “Hi, Nell.”

  She smiled. “It’s nice to see you again.”

  Her hot-pink lipstick was the shade Dani had worn on their first date. He remembered because that was the first time he’d kissed her, and she’d tasted like cotton candy.

  But it wasn’t Dani’s smiling face or warm brown eyes staring back at him, it was Nell’s assessing blue ones.

  “Can we come in?”

  Leo’s question made Wells realize that he was blocking the doorway. He stepped back.

  The first thing his brother did as he stepped past was to flip on the lights. Leo’s gaze turned questioning as he studied the wineglass.

  Wells lifted his chin. Granted, sitting in a darkened room was strange, but he hadn’t wanted to draw attention to the fact that he was here. It was as simple as that. “I was getting ready to leave.”

  “I saw Sophie,” Nell told him. “She’s with a friend.”

  “You did?” Leo glanced at her. “You didn’t say anything.”

  “I just caught a glimpse of her.” Nell lifted one shoulder in a slight shrug. “The girl she was with has red hair, just like her father.”

  The woman missed nothing. Wells had noticed that about Nell. Not only was she intelligent, she was observant.

  “Sophie is with Shiloh and her parents.” Wells turned to Leo. “Jim and Cathy. You remember them from church.”

  Leo nodded.

  “What brought you to the cottage?”

  “We were tired of listening to Marc brag.” Nell rolled her eyes, and Wells couldn’t help but chuckle. “Saying we needed to stop off here for a few minutes was a way to politely put him off.”

  Nell brushed the fingers of one hand against the front of her dress, as if ridding herself of a piece of lint.

  When she and Leo exchanged a smile, Wells’s heart lurched. It was a look of intimacy. How long had it been since Dani had looked at him like that, as if they shared a private joke?

  Sounds of laughter and conversation drifted in through the screens on the open windows. Leo sat beside Nell on the sofa, and Wells found himself fighting back a twinge of envy. Especially when Leo took Nell’s hand and entwined his fingers with hers.

  “Have you seen Matt?” Leo asked.

  “I haven’t.” Matt’s personal life was a mystery to him. Though they worked in the same office and Wells saw Matt daily, they weren’t close. The thought brought a wave of sadness.

  When Dani was alive, she’d always been able to smooth the rough spots between him and Matt.

  Dani was on his mind tonight, and he wasn’t sure why. Unless it was seeing Jim and Cathy with their daughter and remembering what his life had been like before the accident.

  Even seeing Leo with Nell brought back memories of how it had been with Dani when they’d been falling in love…

  Cheers rang out from the street.

  “Sing us a song, Elvis,” someone shouted.

  Wells cocked his head. “Elvis?”

  Leo shifted to look out the window.

  “It appears Dixon came dressed as Elvis,” Leo told him. “He makes a pretty convincing one.”

  “Someone should have told the guy there’s a difference between vintage clothing and a costume party.” Wells drank the rest of the wine in his glass. “Before he went and made a fool of himself.”

  Nell focused those lethal blue eyes on him. “Elvis was part of mid-twentieth-century history, so it’s entirely appropriate for Dixon to come as the king of rock ’n’ roll.”

  The intensity with which she defended Dixon gave Wells pause. Offering a silent apology to his brother for what he was about to do, Wells inclined his head. “That’s quite the passionate protest. It sounds to me like you have feelings for the guy. Does this mean the rumors I’ve heard are true?”

  Nell wasn’t sure what game Wells was playing, but she told herself not to engage. One of the first lessons learned at her mother’s knee had been to show no emotion even when anger flowed hot through your blood.

  Leo, however, showed no such restraint. He surged to his feet. “What the hell, Wells?”

  Wells lifted his hands. “Just asking a question.”

  “Trust me. There’s nothing going on between Dixon and Nell.”

  Nell was suddenly furious and not just with Wells.

  Despite her defense of Dixon, Nell didn’t understand why her brother had chosen to come to this event as Elvis. Though their mother was in jail, the police might be still looking for him in connection with the Bakersfield incident he’d told her about. Putting himself in the spotlight had been a reckless act.

  Yet, as angry and frustrated as she was with Dixon, she would always defend him.

  “Nothing to say in your own defense?” Wells baited, a smug s
mile on his lips.

  Don’t engage.

  Even as the warning flashed again in her brain, Nell pulled to her feet. She couldn’t recall the last time she’d been so angry or unsettled.

  Instead of running, she lashed out.

  “What is it with you, Wells?” Her voice held the same mocking tone she’d heard in his only moments earlier. “Are you so unhappy in your own life that you want to stir things up for everyone else? Your wife died. I get that. I’m sorry it happened.”

  Two splotches of red slashed across Wells’s cheeks. “Don’t you talk about Dani. You—”

  “Don’t you talk about me and Dixon with that supercilious smile on your face.”

  Leo’s entire body vibrated with anger as he met his brother’s eyes. “What is wrong with you?”

  “You have doubts about her and him, too.” Despite the stern set to his jaw, Wells’s tone was matter-of-fact. “Either that, or you’ve got your head in the sand. C’mon, admit it.”

  “You don’t know—” Leo began.

  “I don’t know her?” Wells’s lips lifted in a sardonic smile. “Neither do you. She’s led you on a merry chase these past few months. If you think about it, your entire relationship has been on her terms. Perhaps that’s what kept you interested.”

  “Shut up, Wells.” Leo’s voice was deathly calm.

  “She’s hiding something, Leo. As much as you want to deny it, there’s something between your girlfriend and Dixon Carlyle. I see it. I can feel the connection when they’re together.”

  “Trust me. There isn’t anything even the least bit romantic between her and Dixon,” Leo ground out.

  They were sparring as if she wasn’t there. From Wells’s reddened face and Leo’s clenched fists, things were escalating between the brothers. The last thing Nell wanted to do was cause a permanent rift between them.

  “How do you know?” Wells pressed. “How can you be sure?”

  “He can be sure,” Nell spoke calmly into the tense silence, “because Leo knows that Dixon is my brother.”

  “Your brother?” Wells’s mouth dropped open. His gaze shifted to his brother. “Is that true?”

  Leo gave a nod, his arm slipping around Nell’s waist.