by Joanne Rock
“Not that he’s admitted publicly, but I’m not getting involved with that mess until I check out all the employees from the quarry and see who might have had computer access on the day the webpage went live.” Sam continued to scroll through messages on his phone, bracing a foot on a boulder and leaning in to stretch.
A startled bird took flight from the rock. The sun was blazing full force now, the birds amping up their morning songs and flitting overhead.
“That town board is a nest of vipers.” Zach shook his head. “I always thought this was a nice town except for the person who went after Ellie. And I always thought the culprit must be somebody from out of town. Not someone who lived here. Someone she knew.”
“Statistically, that’s rarely the case.” Sam’s finger paused over his phone. “Ah, crap.”
“What?” Zach didn’t need more problems. He wanted to go home and call Heather to see what she thought about Sam’s theory. Not that he should discuss police business with her.
But he missed her. Worried about her.
Damn it, why hadn’t she called him in five freaking days?
“It’s your sister.” Sam turned the phone toward Zach so he could see a text message. “Ellie says she’s on her way home.”
* * *
“HEATHER FINLEY, WHY isn’t your name on this list?” Bethany shouted to her from the registration table for vendors at the Harvest Fest.
They’d arrived at the fairgrounds to help Nina set up a booth for the new restaurant so she could sell food during Lumberjack Days and Harvest Fest.
“What’s the list for?” Heather put down the hay bale she’d been loading into the back of Bethany’s pickup truck. The festival organizers made it easy for vendors to decorate their stalls with seasonal touches, selling locally grown pumpkins, gourds and Indian corn along with hay bales and chrysanthemums near the check-in desk.
“It’s a sign-up sheet for the talent show.” Bethany waved the clipboard and motioned her over. “You might as well put your name down just in case you’re still around.”
Frowning, Heather pulled the clipboard out of her hand while Nina and Bethany looked at the sheet over her shoulder.
“Isn’t that sort of like conceding defeat on the American Voice audition?” As the time drew near for her tryout, she had debated canceling more than once just to take the pressure off herself.
Her hands seemed better now that she was taking a stronger anti-inflammatory. It still wasn’t the full drug regimen that the specialists insisted she start taking, but she’d seen some improvement. Even if her hands were good enough to play later this week in Charlotte, she didn’t believe her father’s name would be cleared by then. There had been no word from Zach since he’d taken her to the hospital less than a week ago. Not that she’d expected to hear from him after the way they’d left things. But she’d hoped maybe they would at least check in on the investigation. Or maybe touch base about Megan and who was hassling her. The police were looking into it, but so far, the story had been kept out of the papers.
While she didn’t expect Zach to speak to her in an official capacity about either of those things, she missed simply talking to him. Being around him. Trying to make him smile. Her heart ached with missing him, all the more when she thought about the fact that she’d hurt him.
“No.” Nina shook her head and handed her a pen with the restaurant logo. “If you decide to go to Charlotte, you’ll be a no-show on the talent night in Heartache. But if you’re around, you can wow us all with a song and win the gift card, right?”
Heather took the pen, but used it to skim down the short list. “I have some students whose names should be on here. There are a lot of very talented people in town.”
“Write yours down,” Nina reminded her, pointing to a blank spot at the bottom. “I don’t understand why you never sing at Finleys’. You know Mack’s bar has helped a lot of bands move on to better visibility in Nashville, right? Just last spring one of the bass players who used to play at Finleys’ got asked to go on the road for the European leg of Taylor Swift’s tour.”
“Really?” Heather had declined Mack’s offers in the past, not wanting to put him on the spot for helping out a family member.
He owned the bar with a partner. He was in business to make money, not gift slots to people with no performing track record.
“Yes, really. The bar is doing well. We never would have been able to afford to open the restaurant here without it.” Nina gave her a sideways glance, her blond highlights catching the sun. “For that matter, you could be packing them in for us at the restaurant if you want to sing there.”
“The whole town knows you have a great voice,” Bethany added while another truck pulled up to the registration area to check in. “It’s a shame we only get to hear it at the occasional ball game when you do the national anthem.”
“Well, you know I love to play and sing, but I don’t expect you all to turn the restaurant into a nightclub just so I can have a venue. I’ll sign up for the talent show, though.” She scribbled her name on a blank spot on the list, then pulled her phone out of her back pocket. “I’m going to tell Megan about this, too. She should be showing off her rock ʼnʼ roll style. Her guitar work has really come along.”
“Awesome.” Bethany patted her shoulder and went to chat with the woman at the registration desk, volunteering to help with the hay bale maze.
“Heather, I’d never ask you to sing at the restaurant just to compliment you.” Nina studied her through serious eyes as she ran her credit card through a machine to pay for more chrysanthemums. “You’re an incredibly talented musician and vocalist. You must know that or you wouldn’t be trying so hard to get to Charlotte.”
“Thank you.” She finished texting Megan about the talent show, and forwarded the note to two other music students. She jammed the phone back in her pocket. “I appreciate that, and I know you’d be honest with me. I feel weird about relying too much on family and friends, so I try to avoid that situation when I can.”
“You’ve done a lot for everyone in this family by taking care of your mom year in and year out.” Nina chose two pots of yellow mums and set them in the back of the pickup. “We owe you favors and help, so you shouldn’t think twice about asking for anything.” Leaning back against the truck, Nina crossed her red cowboy boots at the ankles and studied her. “However, in this case, you’re not asking. I’m asking you. Please, please, come sing for our patrons if you ever have a free night.”
“Well, when you put it that way.” Heather smiled, her heart and muse warming to the idea with a strength that surprised her. “I’ll have to see what I can do.”
Once they got their paperwork and a few fall items to decorate the booth, they drove out to their site on the fairgrounds lot and began assembling the canopy. Bethany called out instructions and generally directed things, while Nina and Heather followed orders, connecting poles and stretching the canvas top and sides to complete the booth space.
The day had warmed considerably. It was much better than last week’s cold front, which Heather realized had probably bothered her joints. She pulled her jacket off as they worked, comfortable in her sweater and long jersey skirt as they stacked hay bales in front of the table. The hay would act as a buffer from the wind to protect the booth, as well as keep people from getting too close until the exhibition opened.
Around them, other local and regional stores and restaurants did the same thing. Some businesses brought tow-behind units and parked them on their space. Finley Building Supply had a huge display nearby with swing sets and backyard play equipment that would be monitored throughout the event. Heather’s brother Scott and a few other workers were assembling a sandbox modeled to look like a pirate ship.
“Will you be at the town council meeting tonight, Heather?” Nina asked as they stood back to admire their handiwork o
n the restaurant booth.
Because Bethany had sold Nina the booth kit, she worked the longest of the three of them to make sure it was just right, busying herself adjusting canvas pieces and staking down a few of the poles for good measure. As the long-time manager of Finley Building Supply, Bethany knew as much about construction as her husband.
“No. How about you?” Heather attended about half the meetings in order to answer questions about the rec department or to keep the council updated on their activities. Nina had gone to a few recently while the town prepped the harvest festival. She and Mack had been on the planning committee the previous year.
“I’ve got a lot of baking to do to prep for the weekend.” Nina pulled a small cooler from the back of the pickup. “In fact, I’ve got a new cupcake flavor and I need your opinion.”
“Yes.” Heather clapped her hands in anticipation. Nina’s baking skills were legendary, especially where cupcakes were concerned. “You see why I always like helping you with projects? Bethany, come look what Nina made.”
“Do not start without me!” Bethany dropped the banner sign she’d been hanging, letting the cream-colored canvas flap in the breeze as she hurried over. “I’ve been waiting to hear the word cupcake ever since I picked her up this morning.”
Nina rolled her eyes, her charm bracelets jangling as she opened the lid on the small insulated box.
“You saw me come out of the house carrying the cooler.” Nina laughed. “You probably had a good guess what was inside.”
“Maybe, but I never take cupcakes for granted these days.” Bethany and Heather bumped heads as they jostled to peer inside. “I’m so glad I got my appetite back once I got my marriage on track. I got all my appetites back.”
Heather winked at her, grateful Bethany looked so much healthier.
“Those look amazing,” Heather squealed as she caught sight of white frosting drizzled with caramel and dark chocolate.
“They’re mocha coconut frappuccino.” Nina produced one for Heather and handed her a napkin. “Mack called it overkill. I call it bliss.”
“I’m drooling,” Bethany announced, helping herself to a napkin before taking her cupcake.
“Men don’t have the right palate for chocolate,” Heather insisted, taking her cupcake and settling on one of the hay bales. “Don’t listen to him.” Peeling off the wrapper, she took her time admiring Nina’s creation. As she made eye contact with Bethany—wanting to be sure they were ready for a bite at the same time—it occurred to her how much she was going to miss moments like this. Days like this.
Sisters like this.
Her online friends were no substitute for family.
“Ready?” Bethany asked, taking a seat beside her on the hay.
With a nod, Heather gave the cue so they could try the treat together.
“You won’t hurt my feelings if you think it’s too sweet,” Nina assured them, leaning a hip into the side of the pickup. “I can’t decide.”
“It’s amazing,” Bethany mumbled through a mouthful of frosting. “You’re a genius.”
Heather gave a thumbs-up, unwilling to allow extra air between her taste buds and mocha coconut frappuccino goodness.
“I brought some water.” Nina reached into the cooler again, pulling out minibottles for each of them. “And maybe it couldn’t hurt if I do another taste test myself.” She joined them on the hay bales, settling onto one closer to the ground.
“Chocolate is meant to be consumed with girlfriends.” Bethany tucked her feet under her as she ate. “Ally is going to be so jealous when I tell her about this.”
“It’s my favorite ever,” Heather said once she’d finished savoring the first bite. “The coconut is so perfect in there and it keeps the cupcake from being too rich.”
“There’s no such thing as too rich,” Bethany argued around another bite.
Nina licked the frosting, taking the tiniest of nibbles, as if to make it last longer.
“Nina, can I ask you a question?” Heather tested the frosting, too, mimicking the taste-test expert. Yum.
“No, you can’t have the recipe. But you can have a free one after you sing at the restaurant.” Nina grinned.
Heather rolled her eyes. “I know better than to ask for recipes.” A new truck pulled into their row, the trailer painted with the name of a bike repair shop in Franklin. “What I wanted to ask is, what made you decide to open the restaurant instead of another cupcake shop?”
Nina had had a successful boutique business in New York City before she’d returned to Heartache the year before. Cupcake Romance had catered specialty baked goods for weddings and showers, carving out a niche with decadent sweets.
Nina tipped back her water, her lips pursed as she thought about the question.
“It was your dream to have the cupcake bakery, right?” Heather didn’t think about how that sounded, as she was genuinely curious about the way dreams and ambitions could morph. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to suggest—”
“No.” Nina waved off her unease. “It was my dream. But once I moved to Heartache and got back together with Mack, my dreams changed. Staying here, being near Gram and being with Mack became my highest priorities. I couldn’t see a small town supporting a cupcake business, but I did think about maybe opening a catering company where I’d ship them.” She shrugged. “But when I saw what Mack was doing at his bar in Nashville, I realized we were both working similar businesses and wouldn’t it be fun to see what we could do if we combined our skills.”
“So the restaurant was born.” Heather remembered how carefully the couple had searched for the right property and how much time they’d spent remodeling it.
“I hope it’s got the best of both of us. But even if it doesn’t become a runaway success, it’s been really cool working on something I’m passionate about with the guy I love. Mack is so smart about business.”
“But he doesn’t know best when it comes to cupcakes.” Bethany pointed to the cooler. “Those are fan-freaking-tastic.”
“And you don’t feel like you compromised?” Heather’s cheeks heated as she asked, knowing she was being too intrusive. But if she couldn’t ask them, who would she ever ask?
“I feel like the plan got fine-tuned.” Nina gestured at her with her cupcake. “Like the dream was this beautiful but hazy idealized vision until I met Mack, and now it might look a little different, but it’s in perfect, sharp focus and I know just how I can obtain it.”
Heather took another bite of her cupcake, savoring the advice along with the chocolate-coconut bliss on her tongue. She wasn’t ready to change her dreams for a man, though, was she? Sure, she could feel herself getting nostalgic about Heartache. There’d been the rush of pride in her town when Zach had told her she could have been a good mayor. Then there were moments like this when she enjoyed the rituals of small-town life with her family. Even the fishing tournament had felt special and fun, not just because of Zach, but because she wouldn’t be running off to cast a line at a moment’s notice once she got to Charlotte.
But she didn’t want to shortchange her ambitions before she’d given her all to pursuing them. Nina had offered her a nice compromise option of staying in Heartache and singing at the restaurant. Or maybe moving to Nashville and performing at Finleys’ bar sometimes. But wouldn’t she always know that she’d given up before she’d really tried? At least Nina had the experience of running a shop in Manhattan for a couple of years.
“I think someone’s searching for you.” Nina elbowed her as they sat together, the jab to her waist making Heather glance up.
Zach approached them. He strode down the dirt and gravel walkway with that same unflappable air he’d had since high school, as if he could handle anything life tossed his way. His light blue shirtsleeves were turned up to reveal strong forearms, one hand shoved in the pocket
of dark gray pants. His shirt was open at the collar, and yes, her eyes ate up every square inch of bare skin. When her gaze met his, she understood why Nina had elbowed her. The way he looked at her told her he wasn’t there to see just anyone.
He wanted her.
To talk to, anyway.
Grabbing her water bottle, she took a long drink.
“I’d be guzzling it down, too, if a man was looking at me like that,” Nina teased, picking up the napkins and discreetly disappearing with Bethany.
They might have said hi to Zach first. Heather honestly didn’t know. Her heart beat so hard she couldn’t hear much beyond her harsh breaths and the blood rushing through her veins.
“Can I talk to you for a minute?” He paused a foot from where she sat, his lean, hard body casting a shadow on hers.
She wanted to tell him he could do more than talk. She’d like it if he tossed her over his shoulder and dragged her into the woods. That’s how light-headed he made her feel. And how she knew it had been a mistake to pretend she could put her feelings for him behind her as easily as she drove out of town.
That was no longer a possibility. Pretending otherwise would hurt them both.
“I’ve missed you.” Shooting to her feet, she blurted out the only words in her head.
Whether or not he returned the sentiment, he deserved to hear it.
He studied her for a long moment, their bodies closer than he’d probably intended since she’d risen to her feet.
“Would that be a yes to talking?” he asked finally.
“Definitely.” She wondered if it was Zach asking or the mayor. He seemed formal.
Reserved.
No doubt taking his cue from how she’d behaved last week. It hurt to think she’d put that distance between them.
“Let’s take a walk then, so we can have some privacy.” He gestured at the long gravel path that would fill up with vendors in the next two days. “I’d rather not stir the pot with the town council, and a few of them seem to think the investigation of your father will be corrupted somehow if we spend time together.”
