Sugarplum Way

by Debbie Mason

  Just got here, so not sure if Ella Rose will *heart* the cupcakes and flowers or not.

  Ur being sarcastic, aren’t u?

  What gave me away?

  Okay, sorry for bugging u. I won’t bother u again.

  He blew out an aggravated breath and leaned back against the headrest. He was overreacting, seeing a threat where none existed. It’d gotten worse since his last undercover assignment. He knew why. One of the benefits of being married to a shrink was the ability to self-diagnose his issues.

  A light in the window of the master bedroom pooled on the sugar maple below. The four-bedroom house sat on a cul-de-sac in the exclusive bedroom community seven minutes west of downtown Boston. It’d been valued at over a million bucks. A bitter resentment rose up inside him at the reminder. Maybe his last assignment wasn’t solely to blame for his negative emotions after all.

  He looked down at his phone and typed. You’re not bugging me. Ella Rose will *heart* the cupcakes. No sarcasm intended.

  Where are u?

  Sitting in my car.

  Why? Are u nervous?

  No. I’m “talking” to you.

  He was watching the screen, waiting for her to respond when his cell phone rang. He rolled his eyes and answered. “I’m not nervous.”

  “I don’t believe you. You have performance anxiety,” she whispered.

  “Ah, no I don’t,” he said, offended. “Besides, she’s my ex-wife. It’s not like we’ll be—”

  “That’s not the kind of performance I was talking about. Honestly, all you men have a one-track mind. Look—”

  He cut her off. “Who’s harassing you?”

  “What? Where did that even come from?”

  “You just said…” Okay, so maybe he’d misread the situation and was once again overreacting. It wasn’t as if he could accuse his boss of anything untoward anyway. “Where are you, and why are you whispering?”

  “Um, the usual reason someone whispers? I don’t want anyone to hear me. I’m in the pantry at Hazel’s.”

  Right, he knew she had close ties to the mayor. She’d been engaged to Hazel’s son, Josh. He’d been a few years behind Aidan at school, so he hadn’t known Josh all that well. He remembered him as a nice kid, kind of shy. Maybe a little different. He’d been surprised when he’d heard Josh had accidently overdosed on prescription drugs. Though Aidan had a hard time buying the accidental part. Most likely due to his experience with the DEA.

  “The chief still after my head for upsetting his girlfriend?” Even to his own ears the question sounded loaded with censure. Julia dating his boss really didn’t sit well with him, did it?

  “I’m not his girlfriend.”

  At the feel of his mouth lifting at the corner, he frowned at himself in the rearview mirror. Despite knowing he shouldn’t care one way or another, he said, “Good to hear. He’s too old for you.”

  “Oh, I… Well, anyway, he didn’t say much after he threatened to demote you to bicycle patrol—”

  No, no way could Aidan afford a demotion. Not with his payments. “You tell him for me that I’ll take him to—”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll talk to him once everyone leaves. It’ll be fine. I promise.” He heard a door open and the sound of her muffled voice talking to someone before she came back on the line. “I have to go. And you have nothing to be nervous about. Just act like you always did with your daughter. Do exactly what you did when you came home from work before you and your wife divorced. Don’t think about the past visits. You have cupcakes.” She said, as if they were a magic cure-all and then whispered, “Bye.”

  Before she disconnected, he heard her say in that over-the-top excited voice of hers, “Just my dad. He misses me. No, it’s—”

  “Happy Thanksgiving, Sheriff Landon. Chief Benson here. You might not remember me, but we met last time you were in town.”

  Aidan was about to disconnect, but the chief would probably think the call had dropped and hit redial. Thanks to Julia, Aidan was damned if he did and damned if he didn’t. If he lost his job because of her…

  He made a noncommittal sound into the phone.

  The chief seemed to buy it. “I just want you to know that you don’t have to worry about your little girl. I’m taking really good care of her.”

  Okay, how does Benson not get weirded out talking to a guy who is probably just a couple years older than him about his daughter? Aidan frowned. Wait a minute. Julia distinctly told him she wasn’t the chief’s girlfriend. So what was going on here? Maybe Benson didn’t get that no meant no.

  Aidan cleared his throat, deepened his voice, and added what he thought of as Texan swagger. “Don’t you worry none about my daughter. She’s a bit of a thing and young, but she can take care of herself. She doesn’t need another daddy.”

  The chief didn’t respond. Aidan heard him talking to Julia, but their voices were muffled. And then they were unmuffled, and he clearly heard the chief say, “What do you mean it’s Aidan Gallagher and not your father?”

  He groaned. He was going to kill her.

  “Gallagher, is that you?” the chief gritted out.

  Aidan pressed his forehead against the steering wheel, and the horn blasted, drowning out his yes.

  “My office tomorrow morning. Nine sharp.”

  He didn’t get a chance to respond. The line went dead. Seconds later, his phone came alive. I’ll fix it. I promise.

  She was lucky she didn’t add a happy face.

  A red door with a cornucopia wreath hanging at its center opened. His ex looked out at him. She wore a gold and black plaid skirt with a bow at the front and a black sweater. Her hair was honey brown, her eyes golden. At forty, she was even more beautiful than when they first met.

  Ella Rose joined her. She had on the same outfit as her mother, looking older than the last time he’d seen her. Maybe because in a week she’d be seven. Or maybe it was because she wore her chestnut-brown hair in a bun on the top of her head. Her blue eyes were big in her delicate face. She looked like his sister. Riley had been close to the same age as Ella Rose when she’d been killed in a car accident. Frozen in time and in his mind.

  He pushed away the depressing weight that always accompanied memories of his sister and got out of the car. Even though he was angry at Julia, he followed her recommendation. Forgetting the last couple of visits to focus on how it used to be when he came home, he smiled at his little girl. “Hey, pumpkin. You and your mommy are looking beautiful today.”

  And there it was, a hint of the smile he hadn’t seen for a while. She glanced up at her mother as though looking for a reaction. Ella Rose twisted her foot at the ankle, something she did when she was anxious, and then she brought her gaze back to him and said, “Happy Thanksgiving, Daddy.”

  Her smile had disappeared, and it wasn’t the welcome he’d been hoping for, but it was an improvement over the past few months. “Happy Thanksgiving to you too, pumpkin,” he said as he crouched in front of her. “Grandpa Colin and your uncles and aunts all say hi. Great-Grandma Kitty and Jasper too. They sent you cupcakes.” Once again, she glanced at her mother.

  Harper gave him a tight smile. “That’s very nice, but we’re cutting back on sweets. I’m sure our guests will enjoy them though. And you, of course.”

  He stiffened, worried that he knew the reason for the no-sweets rule. In Harper’s eyes, you could never be too thin or too rich. Just two of the many reasons they were no longer together. And why it was so important for him to spend more time with his daughter. Time that he wouldn’t get if he had it out with Harper like he wanted to right now. So he kept his smile in place and stood up.

  “Thanks for having me,” he said, and handed her the bouquet.

  The tightness left her face. She looked genuinely pleased and smiled. “How lovely. Thank you.” As she drew back the paper, her smile widened, and her face softened further. “Look, darling, Daddy bought Mommy a bouquet of flowers almost identical to this when he asked her to marry him.”<
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  He cursed roundly in his head. No one escaped his anger, not Julia, not Jasper or himself. But then Ella Rose looked up at him and smiled like she used to, like he was her hero, and she reached for his hand. Just like that, his anger vanished, and he thought that maybe, just maybe, it would all work out.

  Harper tucked her arm through his. “This will be nice. Our neighbors are here. Mother and Father too. It’ll be just like old times.”

  * * *

  Harper hadn’t been wrong. Last night’s dinner at her place had felt exactly like old times. And not in a good way. Julia’s advice had backfired. Thanks to the flowers and his attitude adjustment, Harper apparently believed he’d come around to her way of thinking and they’d be back together in no time at all. Her parents hated him as much as they always had but were too highbrow to be obvious about it. He was counting on them to convince their daughter that her life was better without Aidan in it.

  The only bright spot had been Ella Rose. She hadn’t ignored him or made him feel unwelcome. He’d even managed to convince Harper to let Ella Rose have a quarter of a cupcake. The actual dinner of course had been great. It always was. Harper didn’t do anything halfway. The woman was a perfectionist and exceled at whatever she tried her hand at. Still, he’d needed four antacids before he got to sleep last night.

  As he headed toward the dining room at the manor, he had a feeling tonight wouldn’t be much better. Mr. Wilcox, the Gallagher family’s attorney, had insisted they meet at Greystone.

  Instead of giving the old guy a heads-up, Aidan should have paid an unexpected visit to his law office on Main Street. But after the meeting with his boss this morning, the last thing Aidan needed was to be caught leaving work early or coming back late from lunch. He was already on thin ice. The chief was looking for any excuse to get rid of him. As it was, Aidan was on desk duty until further notice.

  So whether his family liked it or not—who was he trying to kid, they’d hate it—he wanted to know exactly what his options were in regard to his great-grandmother’s will. GG had left the manor and the five-thousand-acre estate to her great-grandchildren. The only way they could sell out was if they all agreed. Supposedly there was an offer on the table from a mystery corporation who wanted to build high-end condos. A local Realtor, Paige Townsend, had been handling the deal before GG died. Rumor had it that, if they sold out, Aidan and his cousins would each walk away with well over a million bucks after taxes.

  The problem was that his brothers and his cousin Mike were already members of Team Greystone. Easy for them. Aidan was in a precarious position at work, and he wanted custody of his daughter. Especially after the cupcake thing. He was meeting with Wilcox tonight to see if he could put his share in the estate up for sale. He hoped the attorney would keep it quiet, or someone might take it upon themselves to poison Aidan’s food.

  As he walked toward the dark wooden staircase that led into the dining room, Aidan caught a glimpse of the harbor lights through the large back windows that faced onto Kismet Cove.

  A cute brunette in red caught his attention. He stopped short at the top of the stairs. For about a minute, he considered canceling his meeting with Wilcox. Then Aidan reminded himself that if anyone should feel awkward about being here, it was Julia. She was the reason he was even having the meeting. Along with his boss, who just then got up to talk to Doc Bishop at the table three over from them. Did Julia really expect him to buy that she wasn’t dating Benson? They wouldn’t be out for a romantic dinner at the manor if they weren’t seeing each other. She’d lied to him before; he didn’t know why he was surprised she’d done so again. Or why it bothered him.

  “Hi, Erin,” he said to the blond waitress filling out a seating chart.

  “Oh, hi, Aidan, I didn’t expect to see you tonight. Can I get you a table?”

  “You mind if I take that one?” He gestured to a table for four near the French doors that led onto the patio. The shrubbery and trees were lit up with miniature white lights. He’d picked the table for a reason. He had a clear view of Julia, who was still sitting alone on the opposite side of the octagon-shaped room. The dining room was situated in one of the towers and richly decorated to reflect the maritime history of Harmony Harbor.

  “Sure. Will anyone be joining you?” Erin asked, picking up a menu.

  “Yeah, one other person.” He decided to keep his guest’s identity a secret. It’d give him time to talk to Wilcox before word got out. Though he wouldn’t be surprised if the attorney had already given the family a heads-up, despite Aidan warning him not to.

  He ordered a beer and kicked back in the chair to study Julia. Her raven’s-wing-black hair was piled on her head in a messy knot, she wore a red cowl-neck sweater—he leaned to the right—black leggings, and red fur boots. She hadn’t noticed him yet. Probably because she’d closed her eyes. She appeared lost in thought, her head moving slowly back and forth like maybe she was having an internal conversation with herself. Which wouldn’t surprise him in the least.

  He glanced at his boss, who hadn’t noticed him either, and then went back to looking at Julia. As though she sensed his attention, her eyes blinked open. She glanced around at the other diners. Her expression was almost comical when her gaze landed on him. Her mouth dropped open, and then she grimaced. She glanced over her shoulder to where Benson was deep in conversation with Doc Bishop before returning her gaze to Aidan.

  He crossed his arms.

  I’m sorry, she mouthed, forcing him to focus on her plump lips.

  Pulling out his cell phone, he typed: Thought you said you weren’t his girlfriend. He’d pressed Send before he realized what she might make of that. There was a lot more he could have said or asked.

  I’m not. We’re just having dinner together.

  He waited for her tell. Sure enough, she began playing with her earring.

  I’m going to talk to him. Make things right. She lifted her gaze to meet his, and he saw the regret in her eyes. Still, she had a lot to answer for.

  Don’t bother. You’ve helped enough.

  Ur being sarcastic again, aren’t u?

  He raised an eyebrow.

  She took another quick glance over her shoulder before typing. How did it go with ur little girl?

  Even though he was mad at Julia, he wouldn’t have spent Thanksgiving with Ella Rose without her pushing him. Pretty good, actually. Thanks for the advice. He looked up to see a wide smile spread across her face. She was cute, but when she smiled… Stop smiling at me and stop texting. Your boyfriend is on his way back to the table. Thanks to you, I’m already on desk duty for the next month. There’s only so many cold cases to keep me busy, I don’t want to be grounded for two months.

  He frowned, confused as to why all the color had drained from her face.

  Chapter Six

  Colleen Gallagher hovered—or perhaps floated best described what she did—on the stairs leading into the dining room at Greystone Manor. One thing she knew for certain she wasn’t doing was walking down the dark wooden steps like she’d done a million times in the past. Though that might sound like a load of malarkey, it wasn’t. She’d lived to the ripe old age of a hundred and four and had walked these very stairs every day since she’d arrived at the manor more than eighty-six years before.

  On November 1, she’d celebrated her first anniversary as a ghost. Just saying the word in her mind caused her to grimace. She knew it to be true, but still… A ghost? She felt as alive as ever. Even better because she no longer felt pain. She knew the reality of it though. More than a year had passed since she’d missed the magic carpet ride to heaven.

  She had yet to figure out the why or how of it. Perhaps dying on All Saints’ Day had something to do with her spiritual state of affairs. Though she was hardly a saint. Something everyone in Harmony Harbor could, and would, no doubt attest to.

  However, she realized in short order that it was a good thing she’d missed her appointment with her Maker that day. There were things she had
to make amends for before she reached the pearly gates. Most important, she had to protect the Gallagher family’s legacy. And the best way she knew how to do that was to match her great-grandchildren with their true loves. Otherwise, they’d sell out to the muckety-mucks who wanted to buy up their land and tear down the manor.

  She’d been feeling more confident about her chances for success these past few weeks. Probably because three of her great-grandsons were now happily married to their true loves.

  “Yes, we have much to be thankful for, Simon,” she said to the black cat who followed her into the dining room. He was the only one who could both see and hear her. “In case I haven’t told you, I’m thankful for you, my friend. Without your help, Olivia might not be with us today.” She shuddered at the memory of what Finn’s wife had been through last summer.

  Colleen glanced at Simon, who did a full-body shiver and shake. It had been a terrifying time for all of them. “Don’t you worry. Getting Aidan and Julia together shouldn’t be too difficult.”

  As long as Julia’s secret didn’t come to light. Colleen couldn’t make herself utter the words aloud. It was as though by not speaking them, she protected Julia and all those involved. Sometimes the truth did not set you free.

  Meow.

  Colleen frowned. If she wasn’t mistaken, that was a mocking meow. She followed Simon’s gaze to where Aidan sat at a table on his own with a serious expression on his handsome face. Her great-grandson was looking across the dining room at Julia.

  “Maybe my hearing’s going or I don’t interpret cat-speak as well as I used to, but there’s no call for ridicule if you’re seeing what I am, Simon. Aidan can’t take his eyes off Julia.”

  She chuckled. Oh, but her great-grandson had met his match in the owner of Books and Beans. Julia was exactly what the boy needed. She would bring light and laughter to his life. And Colleen couldn’t wait to watch their romance play out, especially at her favorite time of year. “A Christmas Eve wedding like Liam and Sophie’s would be just the thing, wouldn’t it, Simon?”