by Cat Johnson
His brow lifting was the only indication I’d surprised him, but he recovered quickly and said, “Yeah, sure.”
I had to control myself from punching the air above me.
I’d got him!
Rule number one, put your loudest opponent in charge of something, get him invested in the project, and before he knew what was happening, he’d be your biggest supporter. It had worked with Stone.
“Any other questions for Mr. Webster?” Mayor Picket asked.
There were a few scowls that the meeting, aka gripe session, would be coming to a close before they’d managed to knock me down and send me running back to the city, abandoning my ideas and Mudville altogether. But aside from those handful, the rest of the room seemed on board.
Maybe where Stone went, so went the town. I could deal with that. The man didn’t seem unreasonable.
Bethany, on the other hand, glaring at me before she spun and left the building, was another situation altogether.
THIRTEEN
Brandon
I had the mayor and enough of the town on my side for my plan with the culinary students. Everything was already lined up with the contractor for the physical improvements to the diner. Patrick was waiting for the Abstract of Title on the hotel so we could close on that.
My business in Mudville would have been complete, if not for her.
Dammit, call me stubborn but I wasn’t leaving until I found out what was going on.
I could wait until the morning and track her down at the bakery, but it wasn’t in my nature to wait around and kill time.
Although, I might have no other choice. She’d shot out the minute the mayor had ended the meeting. That was before someone named Mary Brimley had cornered me for a solid five minutes to show her support and ask me more questions.
By the time I extricated myself from Mary’s never-ending chatter and got outside, I figured Bethany would be long gone. But lo and behold there she was, still on the sidewalk.
Perfect.
I strode up to her and saw the minute she saw me. Her mood changed. She went from chattering away to the two women she was with, to scowling at me.
Yeah, that didn’t hurt too much. Fuck.
“Bethany,” I said.
“Brandon.” She scowled.
The silence descended between us.
Finally, a brunette stepped forward. “Hi, I’m Harper Lowry.”
“Brandon Webster. Pleasure to meet you.”
“So, I’m told you bought the diner,” she said, smiling.
At least this Harper woman was talking to me, even if Bethany barely was.
“I did.” I nodded. “And I’m pretty sure I’m the talk of the town because of it.”
Harper smiled. “Well, as the most recent person to move here from out of town, I can say I’m very happy to hand that title over to you.”
I laughed. “Thanks, I think. But I won’t be living here. I’ll have to travel back and forth to the city, I’m afraid.”
Bethany snorted. “Yeah, he’s got lots of ties in the city.”
What was that comment about? Was this all because I hadn’t contacted her after that night? In that case, I’d be happy to explain and apologize, if she’d let me. I was beginning to wonder if I’d get a chance.
“I’m confused. Did you know him before tonight?” a redhead asked Bethany before turning toward me. “I’m Red, by the way. I own the resale shop down the road.”
“Nice to meet you.”
I noticed that Bethany hadn’t answered Red. I was tempted to answer for her, but I had a feeling that would really piss her off.
“Hey, baby.” Cash Morgan sauntered over and pressed a kiss to the redhead’s forehead. “Why didn’t you come inside if you were just going to stand outside the meeting anyway?”
“You know damn well why,” Stone answered as he looped an arm around Harper’s shoulders. “She has a few bones to pick with a lot of the people in that room.”
“Can’t blame her for that, bro.” Boone had appeared on the sidewalk as well, standing just behind Bethany.
The couples were pairing off and it was very obvious at least two of these three women were dating Morgan brothers.
Was Bethany with Boone? That would be hugely disappointing, but even if a romance with Bethany was off the table, that didn’t change my course of action. I was going to find out what had happened between us and make peace.
Our businesses had to operate alongside each other and Mudville was too small a town to have hard feelings between owners.
“I’d really like to have a conversation,” I began looking at Bethany, who refused to look at me. I raised my gaze to meet Boone’s and said, “If that’s okay with you.”
His brows flew up. “Yeah, I think you two talking is an excellent idea.”
Her eyes opened wide as she shot him a shocked glance, then turned back to me. “There’s really nothing to talk about.
“I disagree. Please. Indulge me. Can we maybe go inside your place?”
“I don’t have my key with me.” She folded her arms across her chest like a stubborn child.
“I do.” Red stepped forward and held up an overloaded keychain worthy of a janitor. “Let me get the door for you.”
Again Bethany looked taken aback. “I don’t think—”
“Well, I do.” Red physically turned Bethany toward the bakery and gave her a tiny shove.
Bethany let out a huff and stomped toward the building, turning at the staircase to glare at Red. “Come on then. You’ve got the key. . . for now.”
Harper hid her smile behind her hand as Stone frowned and looked confused.
Boone shook his head at his brother. “You can be so clueless sometimes, I swear.”
Was I wrong? Were Boone and Bethany not a couple? And how the fuck were her friends seemingly on my side while Bethany was so obviously against me?
It was a lot of questions. I could only hope to find answers inside the bakery, the door of which was now unlocked.
Bethany stomped inside. Red waited and held it open for me as I made my way over. I looked back at the group on the sidewalk. They were huddled together in deep conversation, the subject of which I would bet was me.
Fine. Let them talk. I was finally getting Bethany alone. That was all that mattered right now.
“Thanks,” I said to Red as I passed her in the doorway.
“Sure. Anytime.” She grinned before she closed the door and, son of a bitch, locked me inside.
“Don’t worry. I can unlock it with the spare key in the register,” Bethany said from behind me.
I wasn’t really worried, though this entire town was proving so strange, maybe I should be.
I turned to her. “I think I like the idea of you not being able to get away.”
She let out a humph. “Don’t get any ideas. We’re never having a repeat of that kiss in your hotel room.”
“Oh, don’t worry. I didn’t assume we would. Not since you can’t seem to even be in the same room with me without spewing hate. What the hell, Bethany? What happened?”
“You mean besides your using me to get information about this town so you could swoop in and buy up every food establishment on Main Street and run me out of business?”
I frowned. “What? You think that’s what I was doing?”
“Weren’t you? You asked a lot of questions. About my menu. About where to eat around here. About what items I thought would be good to add to my menu to get more business.”
“You think I did that as some kind of recon?”
“Yes.” She nodded almost violently. “Exactly.”
I let out a shocked laugh. “I asked those questions because I was interested in you.”
Another humph told me that, truth or not , she wasn’t buying it.
Of all the things she might have accused me of, this was the last thing I’d expected. It was completely ridiculous.
“Bethany, come on. I know you’re smarter than this.”
>
“Oh, so now I’m stupid?” she spat.
I folded my arms. “Honestly, yes, that’s exactly how you’re acting.” I was at the end of my rope, devastated that this was what she thought of me and in no mood to coddle or reassure her.
“Fine. Then maybe you should leave and go back to your girlfriend Mina.”
My brows drew low. “What?”
She looked away, refusing to meet my eyes. But I could still see hers glassy with anger.
What the fuck?
I reviewed what she’d just said. My girlfriend Mina? Where would she have gotten that idea?
The text messages—the memory of that night in my suite hit me. The texts coming in, one after another.
I’d ignored them, not knowing they were important. I hadn’t known the shit was about to hit the fan and Mina was getting google alerts about stories hitting social regarding our guy.
I had ignored the texts, but Bethany had not.
She must have seen them and made an assumption. The wrong one.
“Mina is my assistant from work. A major cluster fuck that hugely affected my client broke that night. That’s why she was texting me. I had to cut the weekend short and drive back to the city early the next morning.”
She brought her eyes up. I thought I saw surprise in them.
Finally, she said, “Oh.”
Oh? That was it? All she had to say after lobbing all those accusations at me.
“So let’s review. You think I pretended to like you just to steal your Mudville insider information.” I cocked up a brow at the absurdity of that in itself and then continued, “You think my goal is to shut down your business. And you think I’d kiss you while I had a girlfriend. Did I miss anything?”
When she didn’t answer I shook my head.
I’d racked up quite a number of sins, in her book. I didn’t even know what to say. I wasn’t usually speechless but this woman had accomplished it.
I wasn’t one to run from a fight either, but suddenly, I was desperate to get out of there. I turned toward the door, and then remembered it was locked. I dropped my hand from the knob.
Jaw clenched, I didn’t even look back as I said, “Can you get that key, please?”
FOURTEEN
Bethany
“Girl, you sit down and tell us what the heck is going on between you and that gorgeous hunk of man who just stormed out of here.” Red stood, arms folded, pinning me between her and the display counter.
Less aggressive in her stance but still unyielding was Harper, standing just inside the bakery door and blocking my exit.
“Fine.” I rolled my eyes and yanked a chair out from beneath the small table.
The scraping of the legs against the tile grated on my already raw nerves, but my two captors didn’t flinch.
Of course they weren’t on edge. What did they have to worry about? Red’s Resale would flourish right alongside the new diner and hotel. Harper’s romance novels sold worldwide so she didn’t have to worry about the state of competition on Main Street at all.
Whether Brandon intended to do me harm or not, I was the only one here in jeopardy. My business. My self-confidence too.
If he was telling the truth, I’d been wrong about who Mina was to him.
That scared me. My confidence was shaken. I’d always been a good judge of character.
Now I was afraid to trust my instincts.
But no. It had been suspicious he’d questioned me about Mudville and then ended up buying two restaurants directly across the street from mine. I wasn’t completely crazy.
He’d probably scoop up the vacant pizza parlor right next to my bakery next. Then I’d know for sure I was right not to trust him when it came to business dealings.
Until then, I was holding desperately onto my assumptions he was up to something around here. It was either that or admit I’d screwed up something that could have been beautiful between us and beat myself up about it forever.
“You’re not talking,” Red pointed out.
“Give her a second.” Harper pulled a chair out and sat opposite me. “Why don’t you start at the beginning?”
Red finally uncrossed her arms and sat as well. “When, and more importantly, how did you meet this guy?”
“A month ago, right before Easter, I had to deliver a pastry order to the Otesaga.”
“Aw. Next time, tell me. I’ve been wanting to go there.” Harper was all over a visit to the hotel, just as I’d predicted.
“Anyway, I know the bartender there so I hung out for a bit at the bar with her and that’s where I met Brandon.”
Red’s strawberry blonde brows shot up. “You met a hot guy like that over a month ago and didn’t tell us?”
I picked at the edge of the vintage table with one short fingernail and didn’t make eye contact. “Things didn’t work out as well with him as I’d planned.”
“What happened?” Harper asked.
“We had dinner. We talked. We went . . . um . . . back to his suite.” I dared to glance up and saw both of their shocked expressions.
I hadn’t spelled out exactly what had happened between us, but I could see they’d already assumed the worst. I had to clarify.
“All we did was kiss.” But dang, what a kiss it had been. “And then I left because I saw a woman was texting him.”
Harper, always up for drama, sucked in air through her teeth. “He has a girlfriend?”
“That’s what I thought,” I began.
“So he does or he doesn’t have a girlfriend?” Red, ever practical, asked.
“He says he doesn’t. That she’s his assistant.”
“But you don’t believe him?” Harper asked.
“I don’t know, because there’s more.”
My audience’s eyes widened again.
I drew in a breath. “That night he was asking me a lot of questions. About Mudville. About Main Street. About the businesses here in town. My menu. The MRI’s menu. What I would add to my own offerings if I were going to expand.”
“All right.” Red nodded. “And?”
I shot her a stare. “And a month later he shows up as the new owner of the diner and is about to buy the hotel and reopen the restaurant. Don’t you see? He was using me.”
Harper’s dark brows drew low. “I don’t know about that.”
“Why not? It’s obvious.”
“Is it though?” Red asked, her tone rising high in question. “He was at the Otesaga for a reason and I don’t think it was in the hopes of finding someone to quiz about Mudville in the bar.”
Harper nodded. “I have to agree. I mean, look at me. I came here on a fluke. Because of a complete misunderstanding. And I ended up moving here.”
“Mudville does have a way of luring people in,” Red agreed.
“Yup. And let me tell you, if I wasn’t living with Aunt Agnes, I’d be buying up real estate around here like it was candy too. You two might not realize it, being locals, but compared to downstate, Mudville prices are dirt cheap.”
“He’s from the city?” Red asked.
“Yes.” I nodded, hating they were knocking my arguments down one by one.
Red lifted her hands, palms up. “Well, there you go. That explains it. Prices there are insane. No wonder he scooped up the diner and the hotel. It wouldn’t be the first time someone from downstate bought property they had no use for, just because it was cheap.”
“But he is going to use it. Red, you weren’t in the meeting. He’s going to have the culinary students from the college run the diner and the restaurant.”
“Wow. That’s a really good idea, actually,” Harper said, looking impressed.
“Yeah. I agree,” Red added.
Scowling, I glared at Red. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”
She shook her head. “I am on your side. But empty buildings do no one any good.”
I looked from Red to Harper, feeling utterly alone in this.
They didn’t know. They couldn’t
understand. I’d been at that table in the Otesaga getting interrogated. Not them.
I’d been in that meeting listening to Brandon’s plans to take over Mudville’s food establishments. Not them.
And I’d have to fight this battle alone. Without them.
Fine. I’d been on my own since I’d been ten.
I was a survivor, and no one could take that away from me . . . no matter how hot they thought he was.
FIFTEEN
Brandon
My contact from the culinary program at the college, Russ, talked about menus and soft openings and all the things I’d be responsible for ordering for the opening—ranging from a new range hood because the old one was shot, to smoke and carbon monoxide detectors because there weren’t any.
Finally, when he stopped talking, I could get a word in edgewise.
I didn’t care that this diner was going to cost me more money. I was now on a quest. Determined to prove to Bethany, to the whole damn town, that I could and would make a success of that business and I’d do it without ruining the historic aspect—as Stone feared—and without driving out all competition—as Bethany anticipated.
“Thank you for taking over the daily operations,” I said. If he hadn’t, none of this would have been possible.”
“Thank you for taking us on as a partner,” Russ returned
“Speaking of partnerships—I know I said I’d give you free rein when it came to choosing the menu and food purchases, but I do have one request.”
“Of course.”
“Would it be possible to source some of the items locally? I have the name of a farmer willing to speak with you about what the local farms can offer and what kind of prices you can expect to pay.”
“If that’s what you’d like, sure. You do understand, it might drive up the prices?”
“It might. Then again, since nothing has to be trucked in, it might keep them low. But I think being able to say our burgers are from local beef, or that we serve local milk, eggs and cheese is a good selling point.”
“I think it’s definitely worth exploring.”
“Thanks. Oh and one more thing. What were you planning on doing for desserts?”
