My Kind of You (A Trillium Bay Novel Book 1)

by Tracy Brogan

  “Willing to take that risk,” she muttered, twirling soft pink yarn around the needle. Plink-plink-plink.

  “My sisters and I have had our eye on that property for some time,” June continued, “and when my cousin Herb, who owns the Clairmont Hotel, told me about your company, well, I considered it divine providence. Then I discovered my nephew knew your father, too. It was just too much of a coincidence to be ignored. Tag has been kind enough to sketch out some ideas for the bed-and-breakfast, and I cannot tell you how impressed we are.”

  “Impressed,” the other sister said.

  It really was a slam-dunk win for Taggert Property Management. The Mahoney sisters wanted to hire them to renovate their current properties. Easy as shit and then ka-ching. Computerize their reservation system. Even easier and then ka-ching. And the company could do everything they needed for the bed-and-breakfast. Draw up plans, do a market analysis, check with the township to ensure the property was properly zoned. Constructing a three-story building was nothing compared to the places they usually worked on. The real kicker was that these old broads were willing to pay for all the prep work without even owning the damn land.

  “Have you spoken with Mrs. O’Malley about her designated plans for the property? She may have a stipulation in her will deeding it to someone, which would stall your project. We can’t just move the bed-and-breakfast to another location because the geography will be different.”

  He could not, in good conscience, let them pay for all these plans without informing them of the realities. Easy money was one thing, but reputation and integrity was another. He didn’t want to get sued if this deal fell through.

  June glanced at her sister and then back at him. “The truth is, Mr. Taggert, that Bridget O’Malley is not in her right mind. As you can imagine. She’s almost a hundred and three years old. We’ve offered to buy it from her and let her live there until she decides to move, or until the Good Lord moves her for us, but the old ninny won’t listen to reason. She won’t sell it to us.”

  “Did she say why?”

  “I already told you she’s not in her right mind, so her logic doesn’t make any sense, but I’m sure if you went and talked to her and left our names out of it, she’d be happy to sell. We’ve never mentioned to her anything about building on the land, so perhaps if you show her the drawings of the new bed-and-breakfast, she’ll see how lovely it could be.”

  “So lovely.” Plink-plink-plink.

  “I’m not sure how seeing what will happen after she’s gone will inspire her,” Ryan said.

  “Rely on her pride, Mr. Taggert. Tell her you’ll be calling it the O’Malley House. She’d like that,” June replied.

  The sister tugged on June’s sleeve and shook her head vehemently. June brushed her hand away. “Don’t worry, April, we won’t call it that. It’s just an idea to get that old bitch to agree. Pardon my French, Mr. Taggert. As you can imagine, we’re not fond of Mrs. O’Malley, but we are very fond of her property. We are determined to get that piece of land no matter what it takes. If your company isn’t up to the challenge, then we’ll just have to find another developer.”

  Ryan saw the ultimatum in her eyes. If these old broads were so bound and determined to pursue this project, well, then better it be handled by his company than some other builder. It wasn’t as if Ryan hadn’t specifically outlined all the obstacles, so he could now go forth with a clear conscience. He could do all the prep work and get paid for it. If the deal fell through, he could just move on without losing the company any money. Bryce would agree on this deal for certain, even though he’d wanted Tag and Ryan back in Sacramento. This was a good solution. Ryan had to stick around Trillium Bay to keep an eye on his father anyway. At least this way he’d be making the company some money at the same time.

  “Mrs. Mahoney, I would certainly hate to see you take your business to any other developer. We at Taggert Property Management would be very happy to work with you. I’ll get the contracts drawn up, and we can meet again in a few days to fine-tune things before you sign. How does that sound?”

  June Mahoney reached out to shake his hand, and her bracelet clunk-clunk-clunked on the tabletop. “Mr. Taggert, I believe we have a deal.”

  Chapter 15

  Friday afternoon was dull, gray, and muggy as Tag, Lilly, Chloe, Ryan, and Emily walked down Blueberry Lane toward Colette’s Riding Stable. Off to their right was Lake Huron and the Petoskey Bridge, and to the left was a cluster of stores and restaurants including Eden’s Garden of Eatin’ Salad Buffet, Judge’s Fudge, and the Go Fly a Kite Shop, which sold, not surprisingly, kites.

  “Hey, Mom.” Chloe pointed at the sign. “Can we go in the kite store?”

  “Sure. You guys go on in. I need to run to the ladies’ room first, but I’ll be right there.”

  Hanging back, she gave a discreet tug to the sleeve of Ryan’s green T-shirt. He turned toward her as the others walked inside the shop.

  “Hey, I have an idea,” she whispered, even though the others were far out of earshot. “You said we needed to create negative associations, right?”

  “Um, I saw one TED Talk, so don’t quote me on anything I told you.”

  “I won’t, but listen. If we want to make sure your dad has a lousy time today, I could help make that happen. Are you with me?”

  “How lousy? Not like dangerous lousy, right?”

  “No, of course not. Just not fun.”

  “Yeah, okay. Do what you have to do.” Ryan heaved a big sigh. “It’s hard raising parents.”

  Ryan moved on toward the kite store as Emily quickly made her way across the street and down one short block to find Colette’s Riding Stable. The place looked exactly as it had for her entire childhood. It was a long, low stable painted dark green on the outside. On the inside was a row of stalls, along with all the accoutrements needed for non-horse riders to have an experience. Saddle, tack, helmets. There was a high counter on the right-hand side, next to a bathroom door labeled “Cowgirls.” The smell of hay and horses took Emily back twenty years. She’d worked at this barn once. Not for very long because it turned out that no matter how much she enjoyed riding, she did not enjoy the scooping of the poo, and if you worked in a stable, you really had to be okay with the scooping of the poo. She didn’t mind the smell for the most part, but manure was heavy. She’d lasted about a week, if memory served, before her boss suggested that maybe this was not the place for her. She’d gone to work at the Mustang Saloon instead.

  Still, looking around she recognized a few familiar faces that had been there nearly as long as the barn itself, and as luck would have it, there was Percy O’Keefe. Emily used to babysit him back in the day, and she always let him have as many popsicles as he wanted. There was also that one incident when he was about twelve when she’d caught him sneaking a Victoria’s Secret catalogue into his bedroom. She’d never told a soul. He owed her for that, and it was time to collect. His long-standing crush on Lilly might work to her advantage, too.

  “Hey, Percy!” she called out.

  He turned, his wild black hair going in every direction. Percy never was much for personal grooming. Even scrubbed up for Sunday morning church, he always seemed to have a smudge of dirt on his face.

  “Hiya, Peach. I heard you were back on the rock. How are you?”

  Emily reached his side and leaned in for a friendly hug. Percy leaned as well, but stopped just short of actually touching her. “You don’t want to get too close to this. Colette’s had me mucking all day. You know how that goes.”

  He was pretty ripe with soil and exertion, so Emily just squeezed his shoulder instead. “I’m great, Percy. How are you?”

  “Oh, you know. Same old, same old. You here to ride?”

  Emily took a quick glance back over her shoulder to make sure she hadn’t been followed into the barn. The coast was clear.

  “I am here to ride, Percy, but I was wondering if you could help me out with a bit of a, oh, let’s call it a prank.”


  His eyebrows rose slowly, creating lines of dirt on his forehead. “A prank, you say? Oh, you know I’m always game for something like that. What are you thinking? Setting some manure on fire and leaving it on Judge Murphy’s front step? We sure haven’t done that in a while.”

  Emily chuckled. “No, nothing quite like that. Here’s what I’m thinking . . .”

  Half an hour later, the five riders stood in the paddock, each wearing a riding helmet. Everyone’s was navy, except for Tag’s. His was a bright neon orange.

  “Are you sure this is the only helmet that will fit me?” Tag asked Percy as a stocky teenage girl with pink braces on her teeth led two horses from the stable. One was black with white socks, and the other was a dappled gray covered in spots.

  Percy grinned over at Tag, looking a little crazy-eyed. “Yes, sir. Sorry about the color of your helmet, but that’s the only one we have in an extra-extra-large, and I don’t mean to insinuate any sort of insult on your part, sir, but you do seem to have an abnormally large head.”

  “Percy, he does not,” Lilly said, frowning at him.

  “You don’t think so? Oh, maybe it’s just his forehead then,” Percy muttered just loud enough to be heard. Emily coughed into her hand to smother her chuckle, and Ryan arched an eyebrow in her direction. Percy took the reins of the white-and-gray horse from the girl.

  “Thanks, Lydia. After this could you please go get Spirit and Duke? And then bring out Periwinkle.”

  Her blue eyes widened. “Periwinkle?”

  “Yes, ma’am. That’s what I said.”

  The girl looked confused for a moment but then nodded. “Okay, if you say so.”

  Percy nodded and motioned to Chloe. “Okay now, princess, let’s get you saddled up first. This here is Lulubelle, and she’s about the sweetest girl we have. You two are going to get along just fine.” Chloe beamed as he gave her a leg up, and Emily smiled, too. That was one of the true joys of having kids, getting to experience something through their eyes. Emily had been around horses all her life and didn’t really care about riding one way or the other, but seeing Chloe’s broad smile and feeling the enthusiasm emanating from her typically hard to impress teen was a refreshing change.

  Chloe patted the horse’s thick, speckled neck. “Well, Lulubelle, you are certainly one magnificent mare, aren’t you?” Lulubelle looked around in a decidedly mundane and not-at-all-magnificent way, but Chloe didn’t seem to notice.

  “You’re next, Peach. Tilly’s the girl for you.” He grabbed the reins of the other horse as the stable girl went back into the barn. He linked his fingers for her to put her knee into, and seconds later she was settled into the saddle. “You remember how to do this?”

  Emily nodded. “I think so. I just put the key in the ignition and press the gas pedal, right?”

  Percy chuckled. “Right.” He adjusted her stirrup and winked as he grinned up at her. “I’ll be looking forward to hearing all about your ride when you get back.”

  “I’m sure I will enjoy telling you all about it. Thanks, Percy.”

  “Oh, you know you’re welcome.”

  Lydia brought out two more horses, two dark bays that looked virtually identical. “Percy, did you say I should bring out Periwinkle next?”

  Percy nodded. “Yep.”

  “Periwinkle.”

  He stared at the girl like an owl about to swoop in on a mouse. “Periwinkle,” he said.

  “Okay,” she said slowly, and went back into the barn.

  “Lilly, how’s about you saddle up on Spirit? I know you know your way around a horse, and if memory serves, you know your way around behind a barn, too.” He did the double-barreled wink-wink complete with sound effects, and Emily pretended to adjust her helmet just so she could shield her smile behind her hands.

  Lilly snatched the reins from his hand. “I got this, Percy. Thanks.”

  “All right, you there, with the movie-star veneers, you can ride Duke.” Percy motioned to Ryan. “He’ll suit you fine. He’s good with totally inexperienced riders such as yourself. If you can walk a dog, you can manage him, but if he does give you any trouble, just let the reins go real slack and he’ll know just what to do.”

  “I have been on horses before,” Ryan said. “I’m not totally inexperienced.”

  Percy’s slow nod was condescending. “Oh, well that’s real good news then, but there’s no shame in being a little bit scared. Horses are pretty big.”

  Ryan glared at him. “I’m not afraid of horses. I never said I was.”

  Percy nodded, his lips pressed in a line. He leaned in toward Ryan’s ear as if to whisper but didn’t lower his voice. At all. “I understand. You don’t want to be shown up by the young ladies here, but a little natural fear is a good thing. If you weren’t a mite nervous, then I’d be worried you did not fully appreciate the magnitude of the danger you are about to partake in.”

  Ryan’s mouth opened, then shut, and Emily struggled not to laugh out loud. She’d told Percy to pick on Tag but seemed to be getting two pranks for the price of one.

  Chloe glanced her way. “It’s not actually dangerous, is it, Mom?”

  Emily shook her head. “No, honey. We’ll be fine.” There was always an element of risk when one was near any animal that weighed north of a thousand pounds, but riding these mild-mannered, mostly resigned saddle ponies was about as dangerous as feeding ducks in a pond. Sure, you might drown, but the ducks were certainly no threat.

  Meanwhile, Tag stood and waited in his carrot-orange helmet. His eyes darted around, and he looked a little pale. Emily almost felt sorry for him.

  At last Lydia brought Periwinkle out from the stable. She was a beautiful horse, a piebald covered in black-and-white splotches. Her tail swished and she had a bit of a prance to her step, and Emily felt a little disappointed. She’d been hoping for some mopey old nag that would spend the entire ride just trying to get back to the barn, but this horse looked fresh and strong.

  “Here you go, mister.” Percy helped Tag mount, grunting a bit as if Tag were too heavy. “Let me adjust those stirrups a bit. They don’t look quite right.” Percy fiddled with a few straps, and Emily’s disappointment waned as she watched him shorten the straps to an awkward position. Wily. That Percy was wily, and Tag looked none too comfortable on the back of that horse.

  “So, Lilly, where shall we ride to?” Emily asked, nudging Tilly forward so her sister wouldn’t notice those too-short stirrups.

  “If you don’t mind me making a recommendation,” Percy said, “I think the ride along Gilbert Trail is a good bet. That’ll take you right through some real pretty sections of woods. Then when you reach Lakeshore Avenue, you can give the horses a little break. Maybe let them get a drink from the lake since it’s awful warm today. They don’t mind getting their feet wet.”

  “That sounds good to me. How’s that sound to you, Lilly?” Emily asked. She wasn’t sure why Percy suggested that path, but since he had, there must be some good reason judging from the conspiratorial smile he sent her way.

  “Sounds fine to me. Let’s go.”

  “This so awesome!” Chloe’s giggle made Emily giggle, too. Hopefully this would be awesome. At least for some of them.

  Ryan didn’t know what to expect, but today he was just along for the ride, literally. If he saw an opportunity to get in a subtle dig, he’d take it. So far, that wild-haired, overgrown stable boy had done his part. Ryan tamped down a chuckle at the sight of his father in the big orange hat. He looked like a pumpkin. No matter how infatuated Lilly might be, that hat would not work in his father’s favor. Wearing an orange helmet was definitely not fun.

  They left the paddock with Emily in the lead, followed by Chloe, Lilly, Tag, and then himself bringing up the rear. Not the best view, staring at a long line of horse rumps, but from back here at least he could keep an eye on things. Lilly was much quieter today, a noticeable shift from the bubbly, gregarious person she’d been that first night when they’d all had dinner at Ta
g’s. Getting called a gold-digging bimbo probably still stung. Remorse buzzed past him like a menacing horsefly.

  The sounds from Main Street faded away as they made their way down a wide path toward the trees, and other sounds took over. A dozen different chirping, clicking, and chattering noises, along with waves and the wind in the trees. People always said the woods were so quiet and peaceful, but if you really stopped to listen, it was actually noisy as hell. A branch smacked him in the face as his horse veered too close to a pine tree, and Ryan tightened his grip on the reins. He tried to maneuver his horse, but Duke seemed to have his own ideas.

  Ryan got smacked by a second branch. He pulled at his shirt. The air was thick and sticky, and he was wearing jeans because the only thing worse than being too hot would be getting rubbed raw from a saddle. Hard to explain that kind of injury to the guys at the gym. “Oh, this road rash on my inner thighs? Just something involving leather. I won’t bore you with the details.” Yeah. That was not a conversation he wanted to have. Ever.

  “Hey, Ryan! Smile.” Chloe turned in her saddle and held up her phone to snap some photos. Because, you know, nothing says back to nature like a kid on a cellular device. Still, he smiled big and hoped he didn’t look like too much of a moron. At least his helmet was blue.

  “Okay now, you guys,” Chloe called out to Tag and Lilly. They were riding next to each other, and instantly and comfortably leaned in together. Awesome. They could use that for their engagement photo. Chloe giggled and turned back around, clucking at her horse until she’d moved forward enough to ride by her mom. Now both their ponytails went sway, sway, sway. From this vantage point Ryan could just barely see Emily’s legs stretching out on either side of her black horse. The straddle triggered a mental picture for him that made his saddle suddenly more uncomfortable and yet the ride somehow more pleasurable. Probably not a thought he should indulge in, but he was going to anyway.