by Lynn Cahoon
Jackie burst out of the back carrying two boxes. She nodded to the coffeemakers. “Might as well make yourself useful. The coffee isn’t started yet.”
I hurried to the sink and washed my hands, slipping an apron over my head. “What have you been doing? Coffee is always the first priority when you open.”
Jackie dropped the boxes on the floor with a bang. “Not when you’re playing hostess to thirty kids waiting for a miracle to happen, like having heat in their apartment this year. Or for some, even an apartment.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe you’re so selfish when there are true innocents out there who need our help.”
“Making coffee isn’t selfish, it’s survival. Those kids have parents coming into a confined situation with excited, screaming children. Without coffee to serve them, we could be looking at infanticide.” I measured out the ground coffee, inhaling the deep, dark smell. In one pot, I made the sinfully chocolate blend that made the shop smell like a bakery even though all of our pastries were made off site. “I didn’t expect you until later. And why all this today? I thought the party was next weekend.”
“It is. I just want the shop to look festive and inviting. I thought I’d get more done last night, but Josh came in and we talked for a while.” Jackie ripped open one of the boxes and put a copy of The Night Before Christmas on Santa’s table next to the candy canes. In the chair, she put a poster with a picture of Santa and next Saturday’s date listed. “We’re giving away the books as part of our donation.”
“How many books did you order?” Thank God the holidays only came once a year or the shop would go bankrupt with all of Jackie’s giveaways.
She frowned at me. “One for each kid at the center and any of the regulars.” She paused. “I had the printer make up coupons for one free book for the kids and drink coupons for the adults. That way, they have to come back to redeem their coupon and maybe they’ll buy another book then.”
I couldn’t argue with her marketing logic. Although it occurred to me that several of the families might just come in for the free book and drink, because paying for the bus to get here would take up their disposable income for the week. I hated the thought that families had to choose between buying books for their kids and putting food on the table.
We worked side by side all morning. Our regulars threw their change into the donation jar and filled it so often, Jackie had to empty it three times. When she grabbed it again, I raised my eyebrows. “How much do you think we’ve raised so far?”
Jackie grinned. “I don’t know, but I think we may be able to do more than just buy books for the kids. We can talk to the center’s social worker about where the money might do the most good.” She handed a customer his cup of to-go coffee in a holiday motif sleeve. “I’m looking forward to our party.”
As I got ready to leave, I watched Jackie chat with Mary Simmons. The early Saturday rush had ended. Now we just had a few stragglers sitting and enjoying a quiet moment in the weekend rush. Toby still hadn’t arrived, but Jackie had waved me off anyway. She could handle the shop, and if she got in trouble, she knew how to use a phone.
Mary rarely left the B&B she ran with Bill—mostly, in my opinion, because there was too much work to get done. Bill wasn’t much for the hospitality scene. He spent most of his days in his den, working on a new historical tome on California history, although I’d heard his new project focused on Central America. The couple had closed up shop for two weeks in September to tour every country from California to Panama.
Mary had her digital camera out, showing Jackie some of their pictures from the trip. I watched as a look of longing crossed my aunt’s face. I wondered if the business was doing well enough to give out bonuses. But no, even without looking, I knew I couldn’t take that kind of hit, not this year. Maybe soon though.
“Jill,” Regina called me over to the sofa where she sat reading with David. “Were you at the winery last night? I told David I thought I saw you, but then we lost sight of you.”
I sat on the arm of the couch. “Yep, that was me. You two are great dancers. Do you take lessons?”
Regina’s laughter bubbled through the café. “David’s the dancer. He’s been teaching me since we’ve been in town. I only learned the fox-trot and the waltz as a girl.” She glanced at the man reading next to her and dropped her voice. “Tell me about that hunk you were with last night. I hear rumors you’re dating the local sheriff? His eyes are amazing.”
I felt my face heat. “Greg King’s South Cove’s detective, not a sheriff.” I straightened a pile of books on the coffee table. “But he does have dreamy eyes.”
“Next you two will be talking about his butt. What happened to women? All they want to talk about is the pieces of a man, not the essence.” David laid his book on his lap and took a sip of his coffee. “Mark my words, a man who is caring and thoughtful is worth ten times the man so hooked up on his own looks to notice the gem he has on his arm.”
This time it was Regina’s turn to blush. “Now you know how women have felt all these years, being objects of lust rather than people. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander, correct?”
David shrugged and lifted his book. “I’m not saying that’s not true. Women have to be smarter than men. If they want to win the game, that is.”
“What game?” Now he was confusing me.
Regina patted my hand. “David’s convinced that the only path to true love is one of challenges and compromises. He believes soul mates have to struggle to find and stay with each other. He’s always been a sucker for the fairy tales, even in high school.”
“The easy catch isn’t always the tastiest dinner,” David muttered, then returned to his reading.
I felt bemused by David’s old-fashioned mantras. However, he did have a point. Women needed to be looking for more in a man than just the surface design. Greg might be a terrific package, but he was also kind, intelligent, and loving, underneath the sexy, sandy hair and icy blue eyes. Not to mention his strong arms and tight abs.
As if my thoughts of him had drawn him in, Greg entered the shop, glancing around until he saw me. Wait, no, he was looking past me. He walked toward me with Toby and Tim on his heels. My heart dropped. This show of force could only mean one thing, they were here to arrest someone. And the only people between me and the wall of bookshelves were Regina and David.
Greg stood in front of the coffee table, shooting me an apologetic glance. “David Webber? Can you come with me to the station? We have some things to clear up.”
Regina gasped. “This can’t be happening.”
I sat next to her, ready to hold her back if she tried anything stupid. “Look, Greg just wants to ask him a few questions, that’s all.” I prayed I wasn’t lying, but as I watched the men leave my shop, I could feel my nose grow.
CHAPTER 17
Jackie waved the phone at me. I excused myself from the distraught Regina and walked over to the counter. I nodded to Regina. “Get her an espresso shot. She needs a jolt.”
“She needs alcohol, not caffeine,” Jackie muttered, holding the portable receiver toward me.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have a liquor license, so coffee will have to do.” I shooed her toward the back of the coffee bar and held the phone between my shoulder and my ear, stacking dishes as I answered. “This is Jill.”
“About time. I’m a very busy man, Miss Gardner. I wish you’d respect my time.” Mayor Baylor’s high-pitched whine grated on my nerves. My hands stopped moving, curling into fists.
I swallowed down some of the anger I felt and forced a smile to my face. “What do you want?”
“One, you need to help Amy with the reporting for the work study people we have. Ted never said there was this much paperwork. Did you know we had to file time sheets? And get background checks on the owners of each store where they’re assigned?” The mayor sighed. “No wonder no one wants to help. You always wind up being sorry later.”
“Ted didn’t mention tim
e sheets to me, either. I take it Candy stopped by for a visit today?” I glanced over at Sasha, who was helping a customer choose a dessert to go with their coffee. She’d come in just after all the commotion and seemed to take an on-site arrest in stride. I wondered what trouble she’d observed in her life that made this afternoon’s activities run of the mill. Regina, on the other hand, was close to tears.
“The woman is a paper Nazi. She brought in a box of forms that each work site owner needs to complete and have back by Monday or the project will be cancelled.” The mayor cleared his throat. “Although maybe that wouldn’t be the worst idea.”
“Hold on, I’m done here for the day. I’ll meet with Amy and see what we can get together. Then I’ll call Candy and see if we can get an extension. If not, I’ll just run them over late Monday. The shop’s closed that day anyway.” Any dream of having a quiet, relaxing day off had just gone out the window. My gaze stopped at Regina. She appeared to have gotten a hold of her emotions and was now on her cell. Her face was granite.
“I’ll leave you to fix this problem then.” The mayor paused. Again I could hear the shoe drop although this one sounded like a man’s size fifteen work boot. “One more thing. You’ll have to take over the festival planning. Tina’s been called away on business.”
Business, my butt. Tina Baylor hadn’t worked a job since she married her politically driven husband. The woman was bailing and leaving me holding the bag. My mind raced, trying to come up with a solution that would let her save face and keep me sane. “I’m not sure I have the skills to replace someone like Tina. Maybe we should look for a candidate better suited for the job?”
“Whatever you think. Just make sure we’re not over budget. The way she was spending, I’m not sure there’s a dime left for a tree or even power to hook up the old lights.”
I heard a second voice over the phone talking to him.
“Look, my next appointment’s here. Time to get new publicity photos done before campaigning takes up all my time. Just take care of these little problems.”
“I’ll try, but I don’t …” The phone clicked in my ear, and I realized I was talking to dead air. I hung up the phone and motioned Jackie over. “You okay waiting until Toby shows up?”
Jackie nodded. “He pulled me aside and said Greg had promised he’d be done in an hour or so. What a mess.”
I followed her gaze and realized she was referencing Regina. “You think David could have killed Ted? I don’t.” I smiled when Jackie raised her eyebrows. “Okay, unless Ted was attacking Regina, then all bets are off. I swear, that man would do just about anything for that woman.”
“Including kill,” Jackie agreed.
Sasha stepped closer. “I got a call from Candy this morning, wondering how I was doing and how I liked the job.” She studied our faces carefully. “You two didn’t complain about me, did you? I mean, if I’m doing something wrong, you would tell me first, not the program, right?”
Concern washed over me. “No, you are doing an amazing job. I think you have quite a knack for this type of career.” I put my hand on her arm and she visibly relaxed. “Why? Did Candy say we weren’t happy with your performance?”
Sasha sighed. “Thank the Lord and pass the peanut butter. I was worried that you’d let me go as soon as I walked in the door.”
“Seriously, what did she say to get you this upset?” I glanced at the clock. The mayor’s project could wait. I needed to know if Candy was a concerned partner or a judgmental, spiteful woman taking out her anger toward a dead man on our work participants.
Sasha leaned over, her forearms flat on the counter. She took in the almost empty shop before she spoke in hushed tones. “She said that people had been talking about the employers taking advantage of people in the program. Like the games Ted used to play on people. I swear, Matt was going to deck him the next time he pulled a stunt like that, but then Ted wound up dead. So there’s not a problem now.”
I wondered if that was true, along with my concern about how deep Matt’s anger lay. “So you told her you were doing great, right?”
Sasha nodded. “I told her what I’ve told everyone since I started working here a couple of weeks ago. I love working here. I just wish there was a real job waiting for me.”
“Keep doing this good of a job and we’ll be hard-pressed to lose you. And you know what happens when we get comfortable around someone.” I smiled at Jackie.
Her eyebrows furrowed, but she didn’t respond.
Sasha, on the other hand, seemed to get the joke, and a small smile crept on her lips. “You find you can’t live without them?” she asked, hopefully.
“Something like that.” I nodded to Jackie. “I’ve got to get down to City Hall. I guess Candy’s been causing trouble all over town.”
Something froze in Sasha’s expression.
“Hey, don’t worry about it. All you have to do is keep working as hard as you do and we’ll figure something out. For now, I’ve got to get busy on some paperwork Ted forgot to tell us about.” I walked to the back room to grab my purse. Instead of leaving out the front door, I slipped out the back into the warm, sunny day. Something moved at the top of the building next door: Josh going into his apartment. Not wanting to get stuck in a discussion about Jackie, I skirted around the edge of the building onto a brick walkway that ran on the other side of Antiques by Thomas and headed down Main Street toward City Hall.
Amy was digging through a box of papers when I arrived. She stood and gave me a quick hug. “Thank God you’re here. The mayor said he was calling in help, but I hadn’t dared to hope it would be you. I figured he’d call Tina. Then she could tell me how to do the work rather than helping.”
I laughed. “She does have a specific way she wants things done.” I took off my light jacket. “Where do you want me to start?”
We decided to haul everything into the conference room, then set up ten piles, one for each work site. That way we could make sure all the packets were the same and had every form that needed signed in the same order. It would make explaining the process easier, as we’d always be saying the same thing. If we had more time, I would have called an evening meeting at Coffee, Books, and More and we would have done this as a group. As it was, we would have to hand-deliver the packets to each business, hoping they’d trust us and just sign the pages we put in front of them with little explanation.
A girl can be optimistic, sometimes. By the time we had the packets together with a short script of what we would say, it was four. We divided up the list and I tucked my five assignments into my tote bag. One would be easy, that was mine. The other four would be a little harder. I had the B&B, the Winery, The Glass Slipper, and Antiques by Thomas. As soon as I finished, I was going to track down Greg and find out what, if anything, he’d tell me about David. My thoughts were on Regina and her indisposed driver when I left City Hall.
As I opened the door to the outside, a band of suited gentlemen jogged through the glass doors, surrounding me. I gasped in spite of myself. A man in an even more expensive suit than the six who had tried to run me over, chuckled. His dark hair was cut short, but it still showed a smattering of gray. His eyes, a deep brown, were focused directly on me.
“Sorry, they can be a bit driven when they are on assignment.” He dropped his gaze up and down my body. “You okay?”
“No one ran into me or stomped me into the ground. I guess I’ll live.” I turned away, stepping down a flight of steps before his voice stopped me.
“Anyway, I can take you to dinner tonight to make it up to you?”
When I turned, I saw he stood at the top of the stairs, his hand on the railing. He stared at me, a wide, sexy smile on his face. He’d taken off his sunglasses and I could see crinkles around his eyes. Laugh lines, my mom had always called them.
“Seriously, there’s not a problem here. No scratches, no bruises, no broken bones. Your friends didn’t hurt me.” I smiled, trying to wave off his concern. “No need for an apology.”
His smile grew even wider. “What if the apology is just a tricky way to get you to say yes to our first date?”
I shook my head slowly. “We are not having a first, third, or last date. Sorry, I’m kind of involved.”
“Married?” He pressed. “I don’t see a ring.”
“Just because you’re not married doesn’t mean you’re not involved.” I leaned against the rail, the packets in my tote feeling like I was carrying concrete rather than paper. “Look, I’m sure you’re perfectly nice. But I’m not interested in dinner or a relationship. It was very nice to meet you.”
A laugh stopped my descent. “We didn’t meet, not officially. I’m Dean Johnson.” He leaned closer, offering his hand in greeting.
“Jill Gardner. And I’m late. Sorry.” When I shook his hand, the warmth surprised me. Strong grip, I thought as I pulled away. This time I did step down the rest of the stairs. As I hit the sidewalk and started power walking to make up time, a voice followed me.
“Don’t think I’ll stop at just a handshake. I’m going to find you,” Dean called after me. “And I mean that in a totally uncreepy, I’m-not-a-stalker way.”
I should have called back that my boyfriend wouldn’t like it, but then I felt like I was living out some Beach Party Bimbo movie from the sixties. Besides, I was laughing too hard to talk.
By the time I reached Antiques by Thomas, I’d calmed down.
Josh sat outside on a wooden bench, watching me walk toward him. He looked like hell. His eyes were sunken more than usual, and his skin, pale. When I got within earshot, he muttered, “What do you want?”
“Why do you think I want something?” I slipped onto the bench next to him and took a packet out of my bag.
