Sweet Talk

by Jackie Merritt

  “Well, does she like him?”

  “I don’t know. She acts like she doesn’t, but—” Jinni cut that sentence short and lay there pondering the situation. “Has he ever been married?”

  “No.”

  “But he likes women.”

  Max chuckled. “Yes, darling, he likes women. Something’s cooking in that nimble brain of yours. What’re you planning to do, sneak up on Reed when he’s not looking and rope him into the family?”

  Jinni thought for a moment. “Val is going to that cabin of hers in the mountains this weekend. Leaving Saturday morning. Wouldn’t it be great if I could figure a way to get Reed out there, too?”

  “Playing matchmaker when the people involved aren’t interested can get you in big trouble, sweetheart.”

  “But that’s the point, isn’t it? To find out if they are interested in each other? Reed is or he wouldn’t be buying Val flowers. It’s her attitude that has me guessing. But I don’t think she would be rude if he should suddenly appear on her doorstep, and they would be so nicely alone out there. Anything could happen.”

  Max dropped a kiss on her lips. “You worry all night about it if you wish, sweetheart. But I’m going to let Reed take care of his own love life, and go to sleep now. All I know is this—if Reed is only half as successful as I was in the romance department, he’ll end up a happy man. Good night, wife.”

  Jinni smiled. “Good night, husband.”

  She lay awake for a long time before a plan came to her. “Yes!” she whispered ecstatically. She hadn’t come up with a way to get Reed out to that mountain cabin, but Val would still be in town—and at home—on Friday evening. It was a darn good place to start, and Jinni had complete faith in her plan. There was only one thing that could make her happier than she already was, and that was to see her sister deeply in love and in a permanent relationship. Reed Kingsley seemed made to order, and if Jinni had to practice a little sleight-of-hand to get Val and him together, so be it.

  On Thursday Jinni walked to Jilly’s Lilies and chose the most elegant bouquet the quaint little floral shop provided. After writing a message on one of the small cards that went with deliveries, she told the young man at the desk to please deliver the flowers to Reed Kingsley.

  “I believe he lives out of town, at the Kingsley Ranch? It seems more logical to make your delivery to MonMart, wouldn’t you agree?”

  Another idea struck Jinni. “Wait, I believe you can see the fire station from here, can’t you?” Jinni stepped to the shop’s front window and peered out. “Yes, there it is. I can see it quite clearly. Listen, I’ve been told that Reed stops by the station every day. Do you think you could arrange to have these delivered tomorrow when he’s over there?”

  The young man said yes, that he would keep an eye on the fire station and take the flowers over himself when he saw Reed.

  Jinni left the shop with a satisfied light in her big blue eyes. Smiling to herself, she got into her car. She had gotten the ball rolling. The next step would be Reed’s, if he wanted to take it, and Jinni suspected he would after he read the message she’d written on that card. After that it would be up to Val.

  Humming happily, enjoying her sense of accomplishment, Jinni drove home.

  On Friday morning, Val loaded her SUV. There was enough food for a week, among clean linens in boxes and her clothes in suitcases. The back of her unit was full and she was about to tell Estelle goodbye when Jim came running over from the Animal Hospital.

  “Val! Val, there’s an emergency! Come quickly!”

  Val took off running with him right behind her. “Small dog…hit by a car,” Jim explained between breaths as he ran. “In examination room two.”

  Val hit the door at full speed and rushed to the examining room. There, on the table, was a small black-and-white dog, and his owner, an elderly lady, standing next to the table, weeping quietly into a handful of tissues.

  An hour later the little dog had been tended—he was going to be fine—and Val, with a sinking sensation, realized that she could not be gone all next week. She had only recently announced in the newspaper that she was back to work full-time. Jim was great with the kenneled animals and tending to minor problems, but emergencies such as this one required a doctor’s expertise. She could not go off for a week on a whim. The community counted on her, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. She loved her work, after all.

  But no one expected her to be on the job seven days a week, so a weekend away was perfectly acceptable.

  Disappointed, but telling herself that a weekend at the cabin was better than no time there, she told Jim goodbye and walked back to the house. Jinni was waiting with an anxious expression on her face and a small box in her hands.

  “Val, what in heaven’s name is going on? Why is your car already packed?” her sister asked.

  “I told you I was going to the cabin,” Val replied.

  “But you said Saturday.”

  “Did I? I might have, but as you can see, I’m going this morning.”

  Jinni frowned and fought an awful urge to tell Val to stay in town where she belonged. She managed to stifle it, and held out the box she was holding. “In that case, I’m glad I decided to bring this over this morning. Here, take this cell phone and charger with you. Max has dozens of the things and he said I could give you any or all of them. Michael helped me choose this one. He said it has good power and a fairly long range.”

  Val heaved a sigh and reluctantly accepted the small box of electronic components. “I’ll only be gone the weekend,” she told her sister.

  “Well, that’s good news, at least,” Jinni said with a totally sour expression. What about this evening? she asked herself. What about Reed? Damn it, all of her plotting and planning was going to come to naught. “How come? I thought you were staying out there for a week.”

  “I can’t be gone that long without letting the town know about it ahead of time.” Val quickly explained the emergency she had just taken care of. “Even two days will be pleasant, though. Well, I’d best be off. I’ll see you next week.”

  “I have the number of that phone, so expect to get some calls,” Jinni said. “And if anything goes wrong, anything at all, you are to call me at once.”

  “Jinni, if this phone works in the mountains, I’ll report in morning, noon and night. How does that strike you?”

  Jinni ignored her sister’s sweetly sarcastic voice and barely managed to smile. “It strikes me as sane and sensible,” she said a bit sharply. Then she changed her tone. “Have a good time, although for the life of me I can’t figure out how you could possibly have a good time in a tiny little cabin in the woods all by yourself.” Now what? I guess I should cancel that flower delivery. Or should I just go back to the shop and change the message? Hmm, that might have possibilities. Jinni smiled at the thought, only the second smile she’d shown her wayward sister that morning. “Kiss me goodbye.”

  Val kissed her on the cheek, and Jinni advised her to drive safely. Estelle came out to say goodbye, and she and Jinni stood and waved as Val finally drove away.

  “Damn, I hate her going off alone like this,” Jinni said passionately.

  “I’m sure she’ll be fine,” Estelle said, and went back into the house.

  A short time later, in the Cantrell mansion, Max went into the library where Jinni was standing at a window, worriedly looking outside and wondering if she should cancel the flower order, change the message or simply forget the whole thing.

  Max announced, “Sweetheart, we could be in for our first blizzard of the year. I was checking the weather forecasts for the entire country on the Internet, and Montana could be hit big time. Our weather’s been so great that two feet of snow could be a jolt to the town.” He saw the horrified expression on his wife’s face and quickly added, “Maybe it will miss us, though—never can tell.”

  Jinni stood there frozen for a minute, then ran for the telephone. Frantically she dialed the number of the cell phone she had given
Val.

  But there was no answer. Obviously Val hadn’t turned it on. Jinni cursed herself for not making sure it was turned on before she even gave it to her.

  “Damn it, Max, the sun is shining,” Jinni cried. “Are you sure of that forecast?”

  “Hey, don’t panic. That storm could pass us by completely.”

  Jinni’s thundering heartbeat began to slow down. “Really? Val is on her way to the mountains right now.”

  Max shrugged. “Life doesn’t come to a standstill around here because of bad weather, Jin. Honey, even if we do get some of that storm, Valerie knows what to do. She’s lived here for years, and I’ll bet that she’s gone to that cabin during past winters as often as she has during good weather. Don’t get yourself all worked up over nothing.”

  It took a minute but Jinni finally nodded. “I’ll try not to worry, but I still wish she would turn on that damn phone!”

  Chapter Seven

  Val was thoroughly enjoying the drive. The sun was bright, the scenery spectacular, and there was so little traffic on the back roads she traveled that she was comfortable about letting her mind wander.

  One thought wasn’t all that comforting but she couldn’t quite sidestep it. To avoid MonMart and another possible meeting with Reed Kingsley, she had asked Jim to do her shopping. He was such an agreeable man, Val thought gratefully. She was incredibly fortunate to have him and Estelle not only in her employ but also as friends.

  That aside, she had taken the coward’s way out and didn’t like thinking she had limited her own sense of freedom in Rumor. There had to be another way to deal with Reed; unceasing avoidance simply wasn’t possible in such a small town, and she hated the idea of peering around corners and looking over her shoulder for the rest of her life, or until he tired of the game.

  In truth, thinking about the whole traumatic mess made her squirm uncomfortably. Why the man would bother pursuing her continued to escape her, and she was going to have to figure out a way to communicate her disinterest to his apparently egotistical, big-man-in-town, hard head.

  But not this weekend. She had lots of good food with her and the weekend was going to be wonderful. Actually, when she stopped annoying herself with thoughts of Reed Kingsley, Val felt as though her cabin might already be working its magic, even though the mountains were still miles in the distance.

  Smiling, she inhaled a long, slow, serene breath. It was going to be just her and Mother Nature for two perfect days.

  She felt good about that, very good. Indeed, some sort of magic was at work; how could she doubt it?

  Reed heard about the approaching storm from various sources: the newspapers, a morning television newscast and his folks when he went to their place for coffee and conversation. The ambiguous forecast didn’t alarm him in the least. The low front could drop as far south as central Montana or it could sweep across Canada and only cause low temperatures below the border. Even if Rumor did feel the full impact of a fierce winter storm, it was past due.

  People talked about it, though. Even with the sun bright and beaming warmth to the earth, everyone was a bit more watchful of the sky, with some of them “feeling snow in their bones.” Reed didn’t doubt “feelings” of that nature; it was his experience that some older people were pretty good weather forecasters. Oddly, the possibility of seeing the end of Indian Summer and facing a full-blown blizzard put pep in a lot of folks’ steps. Reed got a kick out of the hustle and bustle he observed around MonMart that morning. People bought snow shovels—and motorized snow blowers—and stocked up on bottled water, flashlights, batteries, candles and groceries, with many relating survival stories of blizzards that had lasted for weeks.

  Reed was still working on the contest for naming the park, and he stayed busy most of the morning on the project. Shortly after lunch he drove to the fire station and went inside. Two other volunteers—Bob Harrison and Lyle Malesky—were there, kicking around, and the three of them were talking and kidding each other when someone rapped at the side door of the building.

  Everyone called, “Come on in. It’s not locked,” and the door opened. A teenager carrying a huge bouquet of flowers walked in.

  “Hello,” he said. “I’m Blake Cameron. I work part-time at Jilly’s Lilies. I was sent over here to deliver these to Reed Kingsley.” He finished by saying, “Which one of you is Mr. Kingsley?”

  Reed grinned, and Bob and Lyle guffawed. “I’m Kingsley,” Reed stated with a smug look at his pals. “No one would send flowers to these two dunderheads.” He took the paper-wrapped bouquet and saw the card. “Thank you,” he said to Blake.

  “All right, who sent ’em?” Lyle demanded the second he was gone.

  “As if you’re ever going to know,” Reed drawled, stuffing the small envelope into the back pocket of his jeans. He was burning with curiosity himself, but he wasn’t about to let these jokers in on the name of the lady who had sent him flowers. It never entered his mind that a man might have sent them, a business associate, or an organization. No, a woman had sent this massive bouquet and he was dying to find out which woman.

  “Well, so long,” he said with another grin for his nosy friends. He walked out of the building to his SUV, carrying the flowers. While getting into the vehicle he noticed dark, threatening clouds moving in from the north. “Oh, yeah,” he said with a nod of his head. “It’s definitely coming.” He laid the bouquet on the passenger seat and then dug into his back pocket for that tiny envelope. He pulled out the card and read it.

  Reed,

  Tit for tat, right? You brought me flowers, I send you flowers. Shall we consider these beautiful blooms as our own private way of communicating? I’ve been regretting every rude word I’ve said to you and I hope we can try again, this time getting off to a better start. If you come by my house this evening I promise to apologize in person.

  Val

  Reed stared in disbelief and read the card again. His heart was thundering in his chest, his pulse rate absolutely wild. Val had asked him over tonight to apologize in person. What had changed her mind about him? This was fantastic, unbelievable, the most exciting thing that had happened in ages.

  He drove back to MonMart feeling fifty pounds lighter, with a song in his heart.

  Jinni was on pins and needles. She kept calling the cell phone she’d given Val and getting no response. The blizzard was on its way. Doubt that it would reach central Montana was fading fast. She walked the floor and then, suddenly, grabbed a jacket and yelled to Max that she was leaving for a few minutes, whereupon she ran from the house, jumped into her car and drove to the Animal Hospital.

  Rushing around her sister’s place of business, she found Jim and, all out of breath, started talking a mile a minute. “Where’s Val’s cabin? Have you been there? I need directions to find it. She can’t be out there alone when that killer blizzard hits. Talk to me, Jim. Help me out with this.”

  The poor man looked befuddled. “If you’d give me a chance to get in a word,” he finally said, “I could set you straight in one short sentence. I’ve never been to the cabin and Val never told me how to get to it.”

  Jinni threw up her hands. “My God, what should we do? Call the highway patrol?”

  “Jinni, calm down. I’m sure when Val realizes that a storm is on its way, she’ll come back to town without any of us calling in the law. She’s an intelligent woman. Give her some credit, okay?”

  Jinni weakly leaned against a cupboard. “Jim, I’m worried sick about her and everyone keeps telling me I shouldn’t worry at all. If it was Estelle out there, alone in a blizzard, wouldn’t you be worried?”

  “Not if she was in a cozy little cabin, I wouldn’t. Jinni, Val is not going to be wandering those mountains on foot during a storm. And she’s got plenty of grub and warm clothes with her. Even the worst blizzards usually blow themselves out in a day or two.”

  “Really? I seem to remember some fierce storms in New York that lasted longer than two days.”

  “Well, that ha
ppens, of course. But I just don’t enjoy thinking the worst. Plus, I have infinite trust in Val’s good sense.”

  “Oh.” Jinni pushed away from the cupboard. “I guess I do, too,” she said, then sighed. “I’m making too much of this, aren’t I?”

  “Yes, ma’am, you are.”

  As Jinni walked out she stated, “Even so, I’m going to keep on calling that cell phone I gave her.”

  Jim shook his head and chuckled. Not that a blizzard wasn’t a dangerous animal. People around Rumor respected storms and used good sense to survive in the most comfortable way possible. A warm home, well-stocked pantries and emergency supplies to use in case the power was knocked out were things that relieved the stress of an impending storm. Val had those things with her. She would be just fine.

  With a sinking heart slowing her normal full-speed-ahead-and-damn-the-torpedoes approach to life, Jinni roamed the Cantrell mansion and waited for the storm to hit. She didn’t actually wring her hands, but she came close.

  At one point she remembered the flowers and the note she’d sent to Reed Kingsley in Val’s name, but it was such a trivial concern compared to her worry for her sister’s safety that the prospect of Reed going to Val’s home with romantic intentions hardly even registered. Jinni was a city woman, through and through. She had never deliberately spent time in the country, except for places like the Hamptons, which was nothing at all like the wilds of Montana. All she’d known about country life before moving to Montana were lovely forests with gorgeous homes and lots of people throwing posh parties and playing with their expensive toys.

  She loved Rumor, but, damn it, she had not bargained for this kind of worry when she decided to move here, and she couldn’t even whine to Max about it because he was once again locked up in the library with a flock of lawyers, plotting Guy’s defense.

  She had a notion to call the police, even if Jim didn’t approve.

  And maybe she would do that. Maybe, damn it to hell, she really just might do that!