by Wendy Vella
* * *
Five days later, Rory was still off-balance over what she’d found in her father’s briefcase. She’d picked up the phone many times to call her brothers, but never found the courage to do so. Was she overreacting, or did they have a sibling out there somewhere? Was he or she still in Ryker Falls? The thought was a disturbing one and continued to churn around inside her head.
She hadn’t left the property since she’d opened that case, and had hidden her car in the barn so it looked like she was out if anyone called. She’d cleaned, hugged Phil a lot, and walked around the land wrapped up warmly, trying to think what would be the best thing to do. She was still clueless five days later.
Rory had spent hours trying to find a moment or time in her life in Ryker where her father may have given himself away. She’d found nothing.
She’d gone from believing it was true to convincing herself it wasn’t. Phil had listened to every word she’d raged, and licked the tears from her face. Suddenly the father she thought she’d always known had sprouted a set of horns.
One good thing had happened since she’d been holed up: no more rocks had come through her window. So maybe not seeing her had calmed down whoever wanted her gone from Ryker.
Bas, the Robbins sisters, Mandy, and Mr. Goldhirsh had called to see her. She’d hidden from each one, not answering the door at their knock.
Kicking a stick out of her way, she headed from the barn to the house with Phil on her heels. The cat followed her everywhere and was healing well. She’d rung the vet to ask if someone had reported him missing, and he’d said no.
Jonathan, as he’d urged her to call him, had said if she wanted to do some work for him he wouldn’t stay no. She’d said no, but he’d ended the call asking her to “just think about it.”
The sound of a car pulling up had her thinking about running back to the barn to hide, but she had to face people sometime.
“Hi, Rory.” Mandy was getting out of a red sporty-looking car as Rory rounded the side of the house.
“Nice car.”
“It’s not really me, but I saw it and fell in love.”
Dressed in a black wool sweater and caramel jeans, Mandy looked good. Rory wondered if her aunts had dressed her.
“Sure it’s you. Now why are you out here today in these conditions?”
“How are you feeling, Rory?”
“My cold’s all gone.”
“No, I mean about the rock and the note.”
“Who told you about that?”
“Bas, who was told by Jack.”
Thanks, Jack.
“Nothing has happened since,” she lied. In fact, a lot had happened. “I think it’s all good now, Mandy.”
“Well that’s a relief.”
“It is.” Rory waited for Mandy to get to the point of her visit.
“Are you all right, Rory? You look pale, and your eyes are bloodshot. Plus, you’ve been hiding.”
“I’m fine, and I haven’t been hiding, I’ve been working around here. Now tell me why you’re here.”
“I wondered if you would come with me to the lodge for the committee meeting. We’re organizing the fundraiser and auction, and they’ve put me in charge of decorating.”
“You’ll be great at decorating. That’s your thing, from memory. Your projects were always in color, with little clouds around the headings and everything highlighted.”
Mandy laughed. Not loud, more a snuffle.
“I wondered if you’d let me run some stuff by you. I mean, you’ve always had that way with organization and working out how many yards of something is needed.”
“Mandy.” The name came out on a sigh. “You don’t have to do this. You can’t singlehandedly turn me from Ryker’s most undesirable citizen into a fine, upstanding one. Some people will like me, others not so much. It’s just the way of things.”
“You’re not undesirable now, and that’s not why I asked. I need your help... really.”
Rory watched as Mandy shuffled her feet.
“I’m not getting involved, Mandy. I’m not here to reconnect or make friends. I’m here to decide what to do.” And now find out the truth about my father.
“I don’t want to do this!”
The words seemed to explode from Mandy’s mouth. Her cheeks filled with color and she looked close to tears.
“Then don’t do it.”
“It’s not easy for me to say no.”
“You’re an adult, surely it’s not that hard?”
“I have to do this. The aunts want me involved, and that beastly Ted Hosking will smirk if I walk away.”
“And you care because?”
“He’s smug and arrogant. I hate that look he gets when he thinks he’s better than me.”
Rory had never seen Mandy so fired up.
“What’s the deal between you and Ted?”
“Nothing!”
“Oh, now that was said way too quickly. So spill.”
“Rory.” It came out pained.
“Mandy,” she said in the same tone.
“Please, Rory, I need your help.”
“Okay, here’s the deal. I’ll help you for today only, but you have to tell me what’s going on between you and Ted.”
“Do I have to?”
“Absolutely. Just give me a minute to change my clothes, because if I turn up looking scruffy there’s every chance your aunts will strip me on the spot.”
“It’s been done before.”
Rory wondered what the hell she was doing as she washed and pulled on her black jeans and a thick cream wool sweater. At least she wouldn’t run into Jack at the decorating committee meeting. Looking at her father’s briefcase, she decided the distraction would do her good. Brushing her hair was too hard, so she pulled on a hat. Grabbing her bag and coat, she found Mandy in the kitchen with Phil. The cat was attempting to bribe more food out of her by meowing pitifully.
“I was thinking maybe you should move in with me and the aunts until this business has passed, Rory. I don’t like to think of you here alone.”
“Not happening. Now move it. I’m not good with this kind of thing. Committees make me break out in a rash, so let’s get this done.”
“I’m worried about you, Rory.”
“Don’t be, I’m fine.”
They drove slowly to the lodge, and Rory remembered that about Mandy too. She’d always been cautious and methodical in everything she’d done.
“So spill.”
“It’s a bit personal.”
“Sure, and they’re the best stories, so stop trying to stall.”
“I’ve never told anyone this, Rory.”
“I promise that I will never tell another soul.” Rory crossed her heart.
Mandy exhaled slowly and eased her grip on the steering wheel.
“I went to Bailey’s bachelorette party at the lodge one week before she married Joe. It had been a rough few weeks for various reasons I won’t go into, and I drank a few glasses of champagne. I’m not a big drinker.”
“Now that does surprise me.”
Mandy snuffled.
“I was outside getting some air, just trying to clear my head, and he arrived.”
“He being big, bad Ted Hosking?”
She nodded.
“We’d never had anything to do with each other. I mean, I’m me, and well... he’s him. The man with millions who has legions of people who admire him.”
“I admire you, if that helps.”
“It does, but you get my meaning.”
“Sure. We’ve all met those people. The popular ones.” Jack Trainer slipped into Rory’s head but she shoved him out again.
“Yes, and you were one of those in school, and I was a loser.”
“I don’t remember you being so pathetic,” Rory said, looking up at the mountains. This place really was special. The vista from anywhere was enough to make you reach for a camera or cell phone.
“I’m not pathetic!”
&nbs
p; “Sure you are. Let’s face facts here, Mandy. You’re still hiding behind the shy girl, and yet from where I’m standing you don’t need to be.”
Mandy’s in drawn breath told Rory she may have hit a nerve.
“Look, I didn’t mean to upset you, but I usually don’t sugarcoat things. I’m not entirely sure why you feel you need to hide away in the background. You have family that loves you, and a community that likes you too. What’s the deal here? Why are you like this?”
Mandy exhaled loudly.
“I don’t know, I guess I just always have been. Stuff happened when I was a child, and I’ve hidden away since. No one has ever pushed me on it until now.”
“Really? No one?” Rory whistled.
She was curious about what had made Mandy this way, but as she had her own personal issues she never wanted to share, she left it alone.
“Not even your aunts?”
Mandy shook her head.
“Well, you need to snap out of it, okay?”
“If you’ll help me, I’ll try.”
Hell, why not, Rory thought. She wasn’t sure how long she’d be in Ryker, but it was about time someone dragged Mandy out of herself.
“Now we’ve covered off that, continue with Mr. Bad Boy Hosking’s story.”
“The champagne loosened my tongue and we talked. H-he kissed me, and it was....”
“Nice?”
“Yes, it was nice, and then he wanted more. I said no. He said why not, we are both consenting adults, and it would do me good to loosen up a bit.”
“He did not say that!” It incensed Rory someone would speak to this gentle woman in such a way.
“I read between the lines.”
“So he didn’t say that?”
“It was inferred that because I’m mousey Mandy from the tea shop, I have no life and should want to jump into bed with Mr. Hot Pants.”
“You inferred all that from what?”
“I’d make it good for you.”
“You read all that into those words? Seems a leap to me. How do you know he wasn’t shaken up by the kiss too?”
“Oh please,” Mandy scoffed. “Mr. Hot Pants thinks women are put on this earth to serve him.”
“Come on now, Mandy. Surely that tag is for Jack.”
“No, he’s Mr. Sexy Pants.”
Rory laughed. “He certainly is that.”
“You and he have something going on, don’t you? Chemistry?”
“Not in this lifetime... or the next. I could never have something with a man who spends more time at the mirror than I do,” Rory lied.
Mandy shot her a look.
“You don’t spend any time in front of the mirror, so that hardly seems fair. I haven’t seen any makeup on you except that night the aunts painted your face.”
“Ouch. Is that payback?”
“I’m trying to be stronger like you said.”
“Nice.”
“I can find my backbone sometimes with people who don’t scare me.”
Rory was silent for several heartbeats.
“I’m sorry people scare you, Mandy.”
“Me too. But that’s my problem, not yours.”
“You’re my friend, therefore I care about your problems. If anyone scares you while I’m here, you tell me about it and—”
“You’re smaller than me.” Mandy snuffled. “Besides, Jack’s already told me that, and his family. Then there're the aunts, and Fin. Plus a few others.”
“Jack said he’d look out for you?” The thought made Rory’s tummy do a flip.
“He did. I was a teenager, and he one of the bad boy Trainers. I was having trouble with Rufus Teddington—”
“I remember that dirtbag.”
“Well, Jack came along when Rufus was... well, never mind, and bloodied his nose. He told me that if I needed him I just had to call. It’s been that way ever since. He looks out for me, as the others do.”
Her chest felt warm now, which Rory hoped wasn’t an infection. She didn’t have time for that.
“They’re good people, those Trainers.”
“How is it that entire family was sprinkled with gorgeous fairy dust? It kinda seems unfair, Mandy. Don’t you think?”
“I don’t think of them like that. They’re just friends. Okay... really hot friends.”
“You have the Trainers in your corner and you’re still timid. Seems you have an open ticket to be confident now,” Rory teased her.
“I want to be, it’s just not easy.”
“Okay, we’ll work on that. So Ted, is he one of those suck-your-face kind of guys or can he kiss the brains right out of your head?”
“Rory!”
“Well?” Rory decided it was fun teasing Mandy. She’d missed her friends when she left Ryker, even if they’d been nasty like her. Sure, she’d made more, she wasn’t a total recluse, but there was a special kind of bond formed while you were sitting in a classroom. A bond that grew over lunch, sharing secrets and emotions and prepuberty childhood dreams.
They drove in through the impressive lodge gates. A sprinkling of snow had settled artistically on the manicured lawns. She could see lights in the trees, and a huge Santa on the pitched roof with a sleigh and reindeer. In the massive glass window there was an equally massive Christmas tree. Several floors high, the building before her was impressive. It had wings left and right, and a welcoming beige stone front entrance.
“This is nice.”
“It’s really tastefully decorated inside too. Much as I hate to admit it, he’s done a great job... or whoever designed it did. The place is a real success, and we get a lot of celebrities year-round.”
Rory got out after Mandy had parked, and jammed her hands into the pocket of her coat as the cold wind buffeted her.
“You forget about this place.”
“What do you forget?” Mandy was now rummaging in the trunk.
“How beautiful it is. How it kind of gets inside you and surrounds you at the same time.”
“I think sometimes living here means you take it for granted, but yes, there’s nowhere else I want to be.”
“Where did you live before coming here?” Rory went to give Mandy a hand. Soon she was loaded down with things.
“Detroit.”
“I’m guessing by that tone it’s a no-go conversation.”
“Maybe one day if I ever drink too much again.” Mandy pulled her head out of the trunk; she now had her arms loaded too.
“I’ll hold you to that.”
“Sure, but while I’m opening a vein, you’ll have to too.”
Hell.
“Okay, maybe we’ll leave the in-depth character backstory alone.”
“Probably wise,” Mandy said, heading toward the lodge.
One thing she was realizing about Mandy Robbins was that she hid her intellect and humor well. What Rory didn’t know was why.
They veered left, following a path. Everywhere she looked was pretty spectacular. The place was like a supermodel, not a hair out of place.
“Those are the private spas.” Mandy motioned with her head to the left. “Behind them is a helicopter pad.”
“For real?”
“Totally.”
“I wouldn’t mind a dip in one of those pools.”
“If you’ve got a few hundred dollars spare, you probably can.”
Rory didn’t think that was likely, so she didn’t reply. They arrived at a set of glass doors. Through them, she could see a gaggle of woman, and... shit, shit, shit. Jack “Mr. Sexy Pants” Trainer.
Chapter 25
Jack had come to the lodge to discuss a tour he was taking out tomorrow. They were all guests here, and he was organizing pickup and return times. It would be the last one before Christmas. He’d also come because Ted was putting on beers and food for a few friends to watch reruns of basketball games. The real drawcard was they could sit in one of the spas while watching, not something any red-blooded male he knew could refuse.
Wande
ring into the room where Ted had told him food was available, he stepped into his worst nightmare. He’d kill that Hosking when he caught up with him. This wasn’t a buffet, like he’d alluded, but some kind of meeting. Women were everywhere, which usually didn’t upset him, but this particular selection had him retreating. Escape, however, was not happening when Bailey looked up and saw him.
“Jack, what a surprise. Are you here to help the auction committee?”
“Ahh, no, wrong turn, sorry.”
Now, Jack loved his sister-in-law very much, but knowing that around her were the organizing committee for the bachelor auction had the hair on his neck rising.
She laughed. “Come on, we’re not that bad. Anyway, there are those little pastry things with the chocolate in that you like over there.”
“Low blow, Bays.” He loved those little things, and could drop one into his mouth whole, freeing him up to pick up a second... or third.
“I wanted to discuss your clothes for the night.”
“Clothes?” He kept an eye on the door. He could be through it in a matter of seconds if required. Maybe even grab a pastry, then run for it.
“Yes, it’s Christmas so we thought you could dress up. Maybe a tuxedo?”
“Aww come on, give me a break. I’ve said I’ll do it, don’t make me dress up too.”
She patted his chest in that way she had. Gentle and yet firm. Joe was brought to his knees by the gesture often.
“You’ll look so handsome, the women will be unable to resist you... not that they can already, but a man in a tux….” She made a sound in her throat.
“Bailey, don’t push it.”
“I’m just writing your bio, Jack, so it’s perfect timing you’re here.” June Harvey arrived at Bailey’s side.
“Bailey knows everything about me, Mrs. Harvey.”
“But can you sing or dance, Jack? We want to get as much as we can for you, and if that means performing, you need to do that.”
Jesus.
“Come on, Mrs. Harvey, you can’t be serious. This isn’t a pageant.”
The bank manager’s wife had always scared Jack, in that intimidating way some women had. She spoke in clipped sentences and had the ability to look at you like you’d done something wrong. Which, granted, he’d done in his youth, but he’d been a good boy for a while now... relatively speaking. Goodish.
