“Progress.” Trey grimaced at Wes as if he was watching something troublesome, like a rattler, and was annoyed at its presence. “I didn’t think you’d climb on the change wagon too.”
“I’m not.” After all, Wes didn’t intend to make Three Springs his permanent home. Still, he managed the Feisty Owl for Boone and took care of operations on the ranch. He had to look out for the town if only to ensure Boone’s legacy and the Owl prospered, even after Wes had moved on.
“Guess we have to wait and see if the chatter becomes real talk.” Trey opened his truck door and swung into the seat. “In the meantime, I’m going to keep on keeping on. My land and business aren’t for sale. I know from experience, if you sell your family legacy, you’re left with nothing.”
Wes eyed his friend. “They say everyone has a number. A price. If those land developers offered that, would you sell?”
“You can’t put a price on hard work and family loyalty. If I sell out, what have I taught my kids?” Trey slammed the truck door and leaned out the open window. “If I do my job right, my boys will know hard work builds a bank account. Besides, some things matter more than a quick sale and a fat wallet.”
“You’re a good father, Trey.” The kind Wes would’ve wanted as a kid. The kind Wes would’ve wanted to be if that had been his path.
“Thanks.” Trey rapped his knuckles against the truck door and grinned. “You should consider it one day.”
“I’m good.” More than that, Wes wasn’t interested in a relationship now or in the future, and what might come with it. He pushed his cowboy hat lower on his head. “Taking in another pair of horses from C&H tomorrow. A mare and her foal.”
“What’s your plan for them?” Trey asked.
“You interested in adopting? Kids can learn a lot from caring for horses.” Wes certainly had growing up.
“I’m definitely not saying no.” Trey laughed.
Wes worked the disbelief from his face. Ever since Wes had met Trey at the Owl, the man had been adamant about no livestock ever living on his land. That he’d consider it now was more than a little surprising.
Trey started his truck and yelled over the deep rumble of the engine, “See you tonight for the Owl’s pulled pork nachos. Tuesday’s special is the family’s favorite.”
Wes watched the vehicle kick up a dust cloud and walked over to his own. A single flower sprouted from a tall and lanky cactus feet away from where he’d parked. The dark pink color was at odds with the monotone, earthy colors surrounding it. The bloom was late. The rest of the cactus’s flowers had already given way to fruit. The bloom shouldn’t be there.
Yet there it was: brilliant, eye-catching and startling. Like an omen.
Wes climbed into his truck, started it and headed into town.
Change was coming. He was as certain of that as he was of the approaching storm.
He didn’t like it. Not one bit.
CHAPTER THREE
ABBY FOLLOWED TESS. They took the outside staircase to the apartment on the second floor above the Silver Penny General Store. The store had been in the Palmer family for more generations than Abby could count. The same location. The same building. The stairs creaked under Abby’s feet as if underscoring the building’s age and its resilience.
Tess opened a plain front door and stepped inside. “Welcome home. Oh, the air conditioner seems to have a mind of its own.”
A dozen brown tiles and a round welcome mat created the boundaries of the small entryway. Abby stepped farther into the apartment and the stifling heat. Apparently, the air conditioner didn’t mind if it worked or not.
Tess pointed at the half dozen portable fans situated around the quaint apartment. The colorful fans were perched on top of unpacked boxes, the refrigerator and even the TV. “I can get more fans.”
“Or we could fix the air-conditioning.” Abby reached to pull her hair into a bun only to realize she’d already braided it. She twisted the ends of her braids together and clipped them on top of her head. More sweat beaded on the back of her neck and forehead.
Tess maneuvered around a stack of unopened boxes and shoved the window all the way open. “The AC unit needs to be completely replaced.”
Abby set her purse on the two-seater sofa. Stacks of cardboard moving boxes crowded every corner of the apartment. The boxes overwhelmed the family room and the kitchen, blocking the natural light from the pair of windows and covering the only work space on the kitchen island. Each one had been labeled with a thick black marker. Photographs. Office. Christmas. Kitchen. Wedding.
Abby’s heart ached.
Every box was a memory for Tess. A connection to the husband and life she had lost only six months earlier. Abby wanted to help Tess unpack and organize the apartment, but she feared pushing her cousin. She wanted to rebuild their bond, not cause Tess more pain. Tess was a widow and deserved to grieve on her terms. Abby decided to start slow. “Who do we call to replace the air conditioner?”
“Here’s the thing.” Tess shifted a box, aligning it into a straight line with the ones underneath it. Her gaze remained fixed on the tower as if the stack was part of her design aesthetic. “I don’t have the money.”
“I do,” Abby said. Well, not really. Abby had a modest savings account. Had been offered no severance from her most recent job termination. But she had a credit card for emergencies. She touched her forehead. Her entire scalp had started to sweat. No, air-conditioning definitely qualified as an emergency.
“I can’t let you pay for a new air conditioner.” Tess moved to another tower, putting the boxes back into perfect alignment as if the apartment only needed to be straightened up to make things right. “It’s really expensive. I invited you to stay with me. Not fix my problems too.”
Problems. Was Tess implying there were more problems than a broken AC? Abby straightened, suddenly alert. “Is everything okay, Tess?”
“It will be.” Tess tucked her dark hair behind her ear, offered Abby a smile, then turned away.
But her cousin’s smile wavered. Her voice was hesitant, not confident. There was worry in Tess’s wide green eyes. Abby scooted around several boxes and followed her cousin into the kitchen.
Tess opened the refrigerator. “Once the general store shows a profit, improvements can be made.”
“How far from a profit are you?” Abby accepted a bottled lemonade from her cousin.
Tess had moved to Three Springs from Chicago one month after her husband’s unexpected death. She claimed she and Eric had been discussing leaving the city for Three Springs. Tess had been certain Eric would want her to reopen the family general store just as Tess and Abby’s grandfather had always advocated.
Abby had assumed the store was ready for her to help guide it to the next level. Tess had never implied anything else.
Abby twisted the cap off the lemonade bottle and took a deep sip. The cold drink barely cooled her down. The tart taste only sharpened her growing concern. Had she been wrong to come here? To stake her future on a historic store in a sleepy, don’t-blink-or-you’ll-miss-it Texas town?
“I’m a lot far from a profit. But it’s fine. It’s all going to be fine.” Tess set her lemonade bottle on the counter with a thump, as if punctuating her conviction. “Besides it’s not about me. How are you? The baby? Everyone feeling okay?” Tess flung her arms open. “It’s really good to see you, Abs. It’s been way too long.”
“It’s good to be here.” Abby stepped into her cousin’s embrace. She wasn’t certain who was propping up whom. Tess was too thin, her hug more fragile than a crush of affection. Abby held on, and the shadow of loneliness that had been trailing her for weeks retreated. She wanted to give her cousin the same sense of hope.
And in that moment, she knew that the cousins needed each other. Everything would work out. She would make sure of it—for herself and Tess. “Thanks for the invite.”
“If the AC hasn’t changed your mind, you may start to rethink things once you see your room.” Tess wrinkled her nose and walked down a narrow hallway. “The entire apartment seems to have been an afterthought. The store space downstairs is nothing like this. It’s open and spacious. High ceilings and good ventilation.”
“I can’t wait to see it.” And share her vision for the growth of the store. Abby exhaled, long and slow, pulling her eagerness back. Even her breath couldn’t stir the heavy, hot air surrounding her or the feeling that her cousin might not be as prepared for Abby’s ideas as she’d thought.
Tess stepped into the room across from a compact bathroom. “I looked everywhere, but I can’t seem to find the closet door that belongs in here.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Abby stood in the doorway of a tiny room. The cushion on the futon bed brushed against a small wooden folding table under the narrow window with another one of Tess’s neon-colored desktop fans. The doorless closet looked as if it could hold nothing taller or wider than an ironing board.
Tess had added a cheery comforter and half a dozen plump pillows to brighten the space. Abby pressed her palm against a purple sequined pillow and grinned. “This looks like a really comfortable place to sleep. It’s going to be perfect.”
“You always were the most positive one among us.” Tess squeezed Abby’s arm, then switched on the fan. “I still remember that first Christmas we met at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Remember that blizzard that locked us indoors without power for three days?”
“It was my first time seeing snow.” Her first time spending a holiday with her extended family. And one of her favorite Christmases to date. Abby hugged the pillow.
“And we couldn’t even open the front door to go outside and play. We couldn’t even bake cookies for Santa without the power.” Tess shook her head. “You never complained. Not once, unlike Paige and me.”
Abby had been in second grade, Tess in third and Tess’s younger sister Paige in first. Abby had spent her early childhood overseas, traveling with her archaeologist mother and English-teacher father. They’d returned to the US to spend that Christmas in northern Wisconsin with Abby’s grandparents and her aunt and uncle. Abby hadn’t wanted to leave to return to her mother’s archaeological site in Bolivia. She’d begged her parents to let her move in permanently with her grandparents. But her parents had wanted Abby to explore the world with them. Except Abby had sometimes wanted to explore her own backyard instead, just like her cousins did at their home.
Over the years, pictures and Christmas cards would arrive of her two cousins and grandparents opening presents together in front of the Christmas tree, and Abby had only ever wished to be there with them. Her parents never understood why she didn’t share their passion for adventure and travel.
Even now, her parents were in Peru, exploring the history of an ancient civilization. And all Abby wanted to discover was her own family history right here in Three Springs, Texas. “That was the best Christmas ever.”
Tess laughed. “You convinced Paige and me that Santa would still be able to come. That he’d find the house even buried under all the snow.”
“And he did.” Abby set the pillow on the bed. “Santa brought us matching fleece pajamas.” Abby had also received a tie-dyed plush unicorn she’d taken on every move around the globe and to college when she’d returned to the States.
“That’s right.” Tess straightened the comforter and smiled at Abby. “One of my favorite memories was the three of us sleeping together in front of the fireplace in the family room, telling stories and giggling too late into the night.”
“Grandpa would come to warn us to quiet down, then curl up on the couch and tell us a story about growing up in Three Springs.” Abby had listened to and memorized her grandfather’s stories that week and retold the stories to her stuffed unicorn on the nights she couldn’t sleep.
“Then Grandpa would fall asleep and Grandma would have to come and get him,” Tess said. “Telling us he’d be too stiff to move the next morning if he slept on the couch all night.”
“I would’ve slept on the couch here,” Abby confessed. Anything not to be alone. Anything to be with her family.
“We’ll save the couch for Paige.” Tess slipped around Abby and stepped into the hallway.
“Is she coming for a visit?” Abby had seen Tess and Paige at Eric’s funeral, but the visit had been too brief.
“I haven’t spoken to Paige in a while. Only texts.” Concern could be heard in Tess’s voice before she cleared her throat. “But every message I send, I tell her to come down here to see us.”
Abby had only shared text messages with Paige too over the past few months. Her cousin’s replies were always brief and assured Abby that she was okay and simply overworked. Like Tess, Abby still worried about Paige. “Maybe the hospital where she works will find another vet as good as Paige, and she’ll get time off soon.”
Tess nodded. “That’s exactly what I’m hoping for.”
Abby skirted a stack of boxes marked Kitchen and picked up her lemonade. The bottle had already warmed from the few minutes sitting on the counter. “What can I do to help in here? Line cabinets? Unpack essentials?”
“This place is on hold.” Tess waved her hand, and her gaze skipped over the boxes. “The store has been my priority.”
Her cousin wasn’t ready to confront her memories. Abby respected that. She would be there when Tess felt differently. Meantime, there was the store and the future she planned to stake here. She motioned toward the front door. “Then, lead the way. I’m ready to get to work.”
“Are you sure?” Tess’s gaze dipped to Abby’s stomach.
“I’m pregnant, not injured.” Abby laughed. “And I came here to help you. I can’t do that lying around on the couch.”
Besides, Abby had ideas for a new store website and expansion. Things that would get the Silver Penny noticed beyond the town limits. Things that would build profits and ensure the general store’s success. Abby was determined this time she would be a success too.
“Still, if you need a nap or to put your feet up, you have to do that.” Tess’s voice dipped into determined. “I can handle things alone.”
Tess had been handling things alone for too long. The same as Abby. That changed now. “But you aren’t alone anymore. I’m here. And I’m not napping either.”
She refused to be a burden to her cousin. Tess’s shoulders were already too weighed down, and Abby wasn’t certain how much more her cousin could handle.
Tess picked up her keys and lemonade from the counter. She tapped her bottle against Abby’s. “Have I mentioned I’m really glad you’re here?”
“I am too.” Abby grinned and together they went outside, down the creaky staircase to the front of the building. A wooden sidewalk connected the row of stores lining one side of the main street. The same wooden sidewalk was used across the street, joining another dozen eclectic-looking buildings.
Tess jingled the keys. “Downtown Three Springs consists of Fortune Street, which is our street. Then the square, two blocks down. City Hall, the historic church and the original Stagecoach Inn make up the three main points around the square. Five Star Grocery Depot, the gas station and Ramsey’s auto repair, where I’m sure your car is going, are on the opposite side of town.”
“I can acquaint myself with Three Springs later.” Abby turned and pressed her hand against the wrought iron double doors with original etched glass and scrolled handles. She could hear her Grandpa Harlan’s laughing voice greet the customers. Welcome to the Silver Penny, where we have what you need and the gossip is free. “I can’t believe I’m finally here.”
Tess pushed the doors open and stood aside to allow Abby in. “Welcome to our grandparents’ pride and joy. The place they treasured for decades.”
The treasure was hard to find beneath the layers
of grime. The store may once have been a sparkling gem, but now it was a neglected afterthought. A remnant of a time long past.
Only the checkout counter and front windows had been cleaned and polished. A collection of more than a dozen shelves stood empty and waiting. Note cards taped to the shelves marked their intended use, except most of the words on the cards had been crossed out and written over with different items several times. Two large archways were roped off, keeping the areas dark, uninviting and unexplored.
Abby turned in a slow circle, trying to recall her grandparents’ descriptions to superimpose those memories on her current view. She’d designed her vision for the store on her grandparents’ narrative of a thriving business. Not on this ramshackle version.
This place would require a complete overhaul to become functional. Profitable was more fantasy than reality. She pictured her ex-boyfriend shaking his camera-ready head and reminding her, Wishful thinking isn’t a viable career, Abby. You can’t even support yourself. How do you expect to take care of a child? She curled her fingers into her palms. Her ex had doubted. Even her cowboy today doubted her.
She’d faced the truth, left her cheating ex and her failures back in California. Listened to all those self-help podcasts on living an extraordinary life, scaling up her strengths and finding success on the drive here. Now, it was time to usher in the new version of Abby James. The one who could achieve anything, including taking care of herself and her baby on her own.
No matter that her cousin couldn’t pay her. That the store was barely functional. She would find a way that wasn’t built on daydreams and stargazing.
A book box near the window caught her attention. The four shelves had been filled with hardcovers and paperbacks. The glass doors gleamed. A neat sign perched on top of the large case read Book Exchange. Please take one and leave one.
“I might not be working in a library now.” Tess touched the book box. “But I’m still a librarian.”
The Texas SEAL's Surprise--A Clean Romance Page 3
