Harlequin Heartwarming June 2021 Box Set

by Patricia Johns

  With Will more-or-less presentable, Dana shifted to watch Austin, while also speaking to Keith. “Show him how to use the stairs properly,” Dana said.

  “How? He’ll go head over heels and crack his head open,” Keith predicted.

  “Get him to crawl backward on his stomach.”

  “Trust her,” Will said. Dana was the oldest of five kids. Had practically raised the youngest two when her mom had died in a car crash.

  “Austin and I can demonstrate for you tonight,” Dana said to Keith. “When are you back?”

  Keith did day runs for a local delivery company. “Probably no later than three. Thanks, Dana. I’d appreciate that.” He plucked up Austin, who clutched Will’s bag for all it was worth. “Nice one, Uncle Will. I buy him a fifty-dollar farm set and you win with a piece of garbage.”

  On his way out, Keith said to Dana, “See you later,” and to Will, “Get a shirt on.” Will was about to fire off a wisecrack when he caught sight of Dana’s expression as she watched Keith leave.

  No.

  Her dreamy smile faded as she took in his expression.

  “Keith?” he whispered.

  “Don’t you dare breathe a single word.”

  Will raised his hands in surrender. “I won’t. Just don’t go setting yourself on fire.”

  She yanked on her ponytail. “I feel as if I am now that you figured it out.”

  “Not a word. I never would’ve guessed you and Keith—”

  “You don’t have to say it. I’m not his type. I’m too tall, too flat, and my eyes aren’t blue. I don’t like gifts. I’m not a girly girl. We agree on farming but what does it matter when we each can run our own? Believe me, I’ve hashed my stupidity out in my mind a thousand times over. But I love him, and he doesn’t have a clue. And—” she glared at him “—he never will.”

  Dana was wild-eyed and Will wished things could be different for her, for Keith. He slung his arm around her shoulder. “I’m sorry my brother is as dumb as those posts you hauled over. At least, you got me.”

  Dana did exactly as he’d hoped. She screwed up her face in revulsion, and pushed him away. “Keith’s right. Get a shirt on.”

  * * *

  “YOU SHOULD GO with a full updo,” Alyssa told Laura. “You’ve got the hair for it, and when will you ever get the chance again?”

  Laura turned from her reflection in the spa mirror to Krista. “What do you think?”

  Krista hated the updo she’d created. Yes, it had taken a full hour to perfect every twist and exact placement of the flowery pins. Yes, it was a phenomenal hairstyle that she’d snapped photos to upload onto her website. But it wasn’t Laura. It wasn’t the country girl with thick waves lapping her shoulders, the sun catching her dark red glints amid the thick brown. Will’s hair.

  But Alyssa was right. When in her life would Laura ever dress like this again? Both sets of eyes were fastened on her. Laura’s, uncertain and Alyssa’s, challenging.

  Krista took a deep breath and plunged in. “I think that this is a once-in-a-lifetime shot at having hair that’s an absolute showstopper. I also think that you’ll come down the aisle and Ryan won’t know who he’s marrying because you’ll look so different from the real you. So this is your choice. Be stunning or be real.”

  “Be stunning,” Alyssa said. “You can be real every other day of your life. Ryan will marry you anyway. As your maid of honor, trust me on this.”

  Laura patted her upsweep of curls, turned this way and that, her mouth twisting as much as her head.

  “And the photographs will be forever,” Alyssa said. “When your hair is back in a scrunchie and unwashed, you’ll be able to glance at the photo of your wedding and remember how you once shone.”

  “Is there something in-between?” Laura asked Krista. “Something real but different?”

  “Of course,” Krista said. “There’s a half-do. Lift up half your hair and let the rest fall free. Or we could let it all down and bling it up or—”

  “No, no, no.” Alyssa was shaking her head. “Halfway says nothing at all.”

  Except halfway defined Laura. She was the peacemaker among the circle of friends. When they were teenagers, Krista would’ve been as frustrated as Alyssa with Laura’s hesitancy. Battered by sharp-tongued colleagues and so-called friends, she now appreciated Laura’s tact. Decided to practice it.

  “How about we try it first?”

  Laura’s lines of distress lightened.

  “Sure, girl,” Alyssa said with a tight smile. “Let’s do it your way and see how that turns out.”

  Krista gritted her teeth against Alyssa’s sarcasm. Laura snuck Krista a pleading look and Krista gave her a reassuring smile. After all, she wasn’t the one who had Mean Girl for her maid of honor.

  “Here,” Alyssa said, crowding against Krista. “Let me take a few pics before you destroy it.”

  People who say painful things are in pain themselves. You can’t control what people say but you can control your response. Krista reminded herself of these truisms Mara had taught her when dealing with Phillip. But she was still annoyed at Alyssa for intruding on Krista’s private evening with Laura. Krista had brought munchies and the makings for virgin daiquiris, but then Alyssa had asked Laura if she could come. And, of course, how could Krista refuse? Wasn’t Alyssa a friend, too?

  But their friendship skated on thin ice. In their final year of high school, Alyssa presented Krista with a business plan to launch their own media marketing company based in Spirit Lake. Krista still remembered the thick cardstock paper Alyssa had printed the plan up on, complete with Roman numerals for headings and subtitles like Executive Summary and Revenue Projections. And at the top of each page, a logo with the initials of their first names entwined. KA Promotions. Instagram and Pinterest had launched that year, and both Krista and Alyssa were avid users. It was like a secret girls’ club between them as they snapped photos, posted, followed, linked, liked, loved, commented.

  But Krista had participated for fun. Still, she read the proposal and couldn’t disagree with its contents, so she’d agreed to become a partner. Eight months later, Krista got an offer to study makeup and costumes in Vancouver, and signed over the company to Alyssa.

  You’re a flake, Alyssa had pronounced and set about growing her company.

  While Krista...well, Krista had proven Alyssa right. She’d bounced around jobs and places. And whenever she’d bounced back to Spirit Lake, Alyssa would find a way to remind her of the opportunity she’d missed. Once, three years ago when Krista was between both jobs and places, Alyssa had offered her a position as an employee. By then, Krista had discovered at least what she didn’t want, and declined. Have it your way, Alyssa fired back. It was their last private conversation.

  Alyssa’s phone buzzed and a soft smile appeared. “Your big brother,” she said to Laura, “has a question about the ride.”

  Krista unwound Laura’s hair and was about to ask Alyssa how her nephew was doing when Alyssa added, “I’m also handling all the marketing and promotions for the rodeo.”

  “That’s awesome,” Krista said. “The rodeo must be a great gig for you. You know so much about it.”

  Alyssa scowled. “Are you saying I won the contract because of my relationship with the family? A fair amount of your business has come your way because of a Claverley.”

  Krista had only meant that Alyssa’s ranching background made her a natural fit, but Alyssa seemed determined to misinterpret everything. “True,” Krista muttered, “true.” And kept her focus on touching up Laura’s thick, russet waves.

  Alyssa gave a satisfied smirk at Krista’s humbleness. “Here’s what Will texted. ‘Why photos of me?’” Alyssa giggled. “He’s so silly.” While Alyssa texted a reply, Laura gave Krista an anguished look of sympathy.

  Krista shrugged. She’d become good at masking her hurt.
Laura turned to Alyssa. “So...uh, have you and Will gone out?” Will wasn’t the only Claverley aware of Alyssa’s crush. “Not that it’s any of my business,” she added hurriedly. Despite her casual tone, her fingers were gripping the chair arms.

  “Waiting for him,” Alyssa said. “It’s not as if I haven’t dropped hints.” She waggled her phone. “Just suggested that we meet for coffee to talk.”

  “Will never gets the hint,” Laura said, her grip relaxing. “I bet he’s never asked a girl out, probably because he doesn’t have to.”

  Unless it’s to get a fake girlfriend. Krista found herself ever so fascinated by beads. Best to stay mum about anything to do with the rodeo. Laura’s silence on the subject led Krista to believe that Will hadn’t told his family about their arrangement yet. He’d better get on with it because she hated keeping secrets from Laura, especially one that had to do with her own brother.

  Alyssa tapped her phone on her lips. “You think I should make the first move?”

  Do that and he’ll reject you like he did me. Krista had no idea how to save Alyssa pain without betraying what Will had told her in absolute confidence. But what kind of friend would she be to let Alyssa walk into this blind?

  She set down the thread of beads. “I just realized I should text Mara. She—we’re out of milk.”

  Krista opened a text conversation with Will. Good thing they’d exchanged phone numbers a week ago. Krista here. Thought you should know Alyssa wants to ask you out over coffee. She was about to hit Send, when she added, When will Laura know about our arrangement?

  There. She’d let Will do the heavy lifting. The less she was involved, the better for all. She returned to the far simpler job of making Laura beautiful. Her phone buzzed. Will had sent a thumbs-up sign. Whatever that meant.

  Alyssa got a message next. She sighed. “Will can’t come for coffee. A cow’s got bloat.”

  Krista wasn’t even sure if that was possible. “Bloat?”

  “It’s like gas,” Laura said. “But if they lie down, it’s almost impossible to get them up and they die. He has to deal with it.”

  Will, hero to cows everywhere. And master dodger of awkward human interaction.

  “Krista?” Alyssa said. “I was going to send you the picture of Laura’s hair but I can’t find you on Instagram.”

  “I’m not on it.”

  “Why not? Didn’t you used to be?”

  “Yeah but I closed my account a few months ago.” Please Alyssa, let it go. From the way Laura bit her lip, she seemed to be thinking the same.

  “That doesn’t make sense,” Alyssa pressed on. “You need a presence there if you want to grow your business.”

  “I might later,” Krista said and snapped in another row of beads. Yeah, the half-do got her vote.

  Alyssa was a dog with a bone. “Why aren’t you on it? You were there before even I was.”

  “Let’s just say it went sideways. Friends were no longer friendly.”

  “You mean that thing with your Toronto ex?” Alyssa shrugged. “Gotta take the good with the bad, girl.”

  Leave me alone, girl. Krista kept her mouth shut. Laura didn’t. “They were really mean, Alyssa,” she said quietly.

  “I don’t know. I read the comments. I thought some of them were funny.”

  Laura spun her head to Alyssa with enough force to dislodge a clip of beads and send them skittering across the floor. “No. They weren’t.”

  “The ones with the blow-up doll in Krista’s nightie? The doll posed at Starbucks? At that hair salon? Laying tile? C’mon. It was priceless.”

  Laura gripped the leather arms of her chair. “It wasn’t. It was horrific. Don’t you remember?”

  “Yes,” Alyssa said peevishly. “I remember Krista crying to you about how mean her ex was. But she was the one who broke up with him.”

  “Then you might also remember,” Laura said, “that while she was here for her aunt’s funeral, he threw her stuff into the garbage.” Laura with her hair now lopsided and jammed with metal hairpins looked a little unhinged.

  Alyssa rolled her eyes. “Maybe next time she’ll have learned her lesson about how to break up properly.”

  Right here, Krista thought. I’m right here.

  Laura’s knuckles were white on the chair. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”

  “She can’t keep picking people up and leaving them behind when it suits her.”

  “Is this about her boyfriends or you?”

  Alyssa bit her lip and Laura spun away from the mirror to face her. “Thought so. What this is actually about, Alyssa, is that people like being around Krista more than you, more than me for that matter, and we should be glad she counts us as friends.”

  “If she’s such a friend, why did you pick me as your maid of honor?”

  “Because she wasn’t around for me to pick.”

  “Exactly! She wasn’t around for you.”

  The two were practically nose to nose, both breathing heavily. “Well,” Laura said, “she is now.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “I don’t want you as my maid of honor anymore. I want Krista.”

  Alyssa snapped straight as hurt and anger swept across her face. “Fine, then. If that’s what you want. Or if that’s what Krista has persuaded you to want.” She held up her phone with her texts to Will. “You’re not the Claverley I want to be with, anyway.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  LAURA SAGGED IN her chair the second Alyssa banged out the door. “What have I done?”

  Krista expelled her own shaky breath. “Give it a couple of days and then talk to her. You know Alyssa. It’ll blow over and she’ll be your maid of honor again.”

  Laura shook her head, further fragmenting Krista’s creation. “It’s not possible to take back those words. And I don’t want to.” She met Krista’s eyes. “This has been building for a while.”

  “Oh?”

  “Alyssa’s a good friend unless you’re here. Then she becomes some dark witch.”

  “Maybe she’s jealous of our friendship?”

  “Possibly. But she couldn’t wait to crow about what happened to you. She’s even told me the details before you did. And then when I avoided social media because I couldn’t bear to see you being humiliated, she’d update me via text with every especially awful comment or post. She’d say it was awful, too, but then she’d add stuff like ‘Krista has met her match’ or ‘Not surprised.’”

  “I shouldn’t have been,” Krista said. “And I did meet my match. Listen, I didn’t realize you were dealing with this. It’s not me you should be lucky to have as a friend. I should be on my knees to you.”

  To cheer Laura up and because it was true, Krista dropped to her knees on the hard floor. “I love you and pledge my loyalty to you, Laura Claverley, even if your hair looks as if my nieces styled it.”

  Laura cracked a small smile. “You will be my maid of honor, then?”

  Krista sat back on her haunches. “Won’t that prove Alyssa’s theory that I get what I want?”

  “It’s what I want.”

  How could she refuse Laura who had just defended her?

  “What about the dress ’n’ things? Alyssa is really well organized, you have to give her that. And the wedding’s only two weeks away.”

  “Let me figure all that out. Please, Krista, it’ll be so much fun. And this way, Alyssa is away from Will. He’s not into her, you know.You’ll be opposite him in the wedding party instead.”

  Oh. That made the arrangement between her and Will a little sticky. Thrown together at Laura’s wedding and then not a month later, acting the part of a couple. Laura—all the Claverleys for that matter—might conclude Will and Krista really were dating. She better set the record straight right now.

  “Laura, there’s something I should tell y
ou about Will and me.”

  Laura gasped, squealed. “You two are dating.”

  Krista blinked. Wow. “Not exactly. You know how Dana is usually his fake girlfriend at the rodeo? Well, Dana can’t do it this year, so he asked me.”

  Laura shook her head, beads rattling. “Why you?”

  “Because I’m not Alyssa.”

  “That makes sense.” She smiled slyly at Krista. “You’re so going to hate it.”

  Krista grinned. “Big scary horses, poop everywhere, country music. What’s not to like?”

  “So why did you accept?”

  “A way to get my name out there. If I’m not on social media, I need to do something. Maybe get a hat made up or a pretty shirt or something.”

  Laura clapped her hands. “We always have food vendors. You could have your own spot, too.”

  “Uh, that might clash with my official fake-girlfriend duties.”

  “Maybe Will Claverley’s special girl is giving out pedicures.”

  Krista caught Laura’s excitement. “Speed pedicures by donation. All proceeds to the children’s hospital. It’ll promote me and the ride.” She’d take a loss in supplies and set-up but would gain future clients and build her name in Spirit Lake and beyond.

  “Alyssa will have to come crawling back to you,” Laura said, a witchy tone to her voice. The peacemaker was on the warpath.

  Krista hated that she was the source of rancor between the longtime friends. “Laura, you don’t have to pick sides.”

  “It’s not about picking sides. It’s about making a stand for what’s right. And—” she fluffed her curls “—what’s right is this half-do.” The hairstyle Krista could deliver. But being Laura’s right-hand man for the most important day of her life? Alyssa was right. Krista had been a flight risk, time after time. Opening her spa had put a screeching halt to all that. She’d worked hard to keep her dream business afloat. She’d have to work every bit as hard to keep Laura’s faith in her.

  * * *

  “MAUDE STILL HASN’T CALVED,” Will unloaded on Keith as they rode their mares across the pasture to check on the Claverleys’ orneriest cow. Every year it was the same. The Black Angus ate grain and hay and grass, swelled out until she looked as if she was about to birth half a herd and then didn’t drop her single calf until after all the others were turned out to pasture.