“Early summer.”
“Don’t let it be said that you should be punished for the sins of your mother,” Stella snapped. “Congratulations to you.”
Cassie looked up and saw Richard standing in the doorway. He’d let himself in.
“I feel that way, too,” he said, and Stella jumped. “So we won’t hold you responsible for the sins of your nephew.”
“How dare you!”
“Stella,” Richard began, and he walked over to her and sat in the chair across from her. “I have something to tell you, and I’d appreciate it if you would hear me out to the end.”
“If you’re here to talk about my house—”
“No,” he interjected, “I’m not. At least not directly.” He turned to Cassie and asked, “Where’s Millicent?”
“I’ll get her.”
They all settled in the living room, Stella and Millicent on the sofa, Richard in the chair across from them, and Cassie perched at the edge of the rocker by the window. Cassie noticed that Debra had moved to the dining room, and she was trying not to appear obvious about her interest in what was going to come next but failing just the same.
“Let me start by saying this,” Richard said, looking directly into Stella’s glare without flinching. “I am not the person who is trying to buy up properties here in Holiday.”
Stella sniffed and looked away, but Cassie noticed that Millicent was enrapt, wide-eyed, and silent.
“You have my word on it, both of you.”
Millicent nodded. “That’s good enough for me.” Stella shot her a glare.
“I’ve been looking into it, though,” he continued, “and I’ve discovered who is making offers on some of the houses here.”
“Who?” Millicent asked him.
“Hunter.”
Stella skimmed the room and then turned her sharp nose right back into the air. “Not possible.”
“Actually, Stella,” Cassie chimed in, “it’s true.”
“No,” she snapped.
Richard produced the manila file folder that Steven Hearns had provided, and he opened it in his lap.
“A couple of years ago,” he explained, “Hunter was working for a company called the Mandalay Corporation.”
“I know that,” she barked. “Anyone could know that with a little checking.”
“He was one of the team that recommended locations for Mandalay to develop resort communities.” Richard directed his attention to Millicent. “And he proposed a town in Pennsylvania. He then teamed up with a buddy who was completely unrelated to Mandalay, and with this friend in the driver’s seat, they bought three properties in the area for themselves and held those plots back until they were the only ones the company couldn’t get. Consequently, Mandalay had to pay a pretty penny for them, and since they’d bought them from Hunter’s friend, they had no way of tracking it to him. Hunter and his friend walked away with a hefty profit.”
“How do you know this?” Stella asked him. Before Richard could answer, she turned to Millicent. “This is not possible.”
“I have the inspection paperwork right here,” Richard said, and Stella leaned forward to take a closer look. “Hunter Nesbitt, right here. That’s his signature.”
Millicent tried to stroke Stella’s hand, but she jerked it away.
“Hunter left Mandalay soon afterward,” Richard continued, “and went to work for a similar development company called Pressman Ventures, where he’s now pulling the same thing. He’s recommended Holiday to them as a location for a resort, centering in this area around the golf course.” Richard tilted a map toward them with a large circle around the course and the neighboring properties.
“No!” Stella exclaimed, and she leaped up to her feet and stood over Richard with a menacing glower. “He would never do something like that.”
“Stella,” Cassie said, rising from the rocker to stand at the woman’s side, “just hear him out.”
“Hunter wouldn’t,” Stella insisted, but Cassie could sense the change in her tone. She was no longer insisting out of anger. Instead, she seemed to be pleading for this not to be true. “He couldn’t.”
Cassie helped her sit down on the sofa again, and she perched next to Stella on the armrest.
“His partner is the one who approached Millicent, and we think he’s also the same guy who went to Tameka Plummer and made the offer on Cassie’s place.”
“You’re saying that’s why Hunter came to Holiday over Christmas?” Millicent asked.
“That’s what I’m saying,” Richard replied.
“Let me see that,” Stella nipped. She yanked the folder from Richard’s hands.
As she looked over the documents, Stella’s expression remained rigid and unyielding as she flipped through page after page. But then something on the paperwork caused her face to drop, the sternness melting away to disappointment and then devastation.
“What is it, Stella?” Millicent asked.
“Never you mind,” she said, her embers weak.
“Stella.”
“Bristol Banks,” she said.
“The name on the sale of the Pennsylvania properties,” Richard clarified.
“He’s the person who came to my home and tried to coerce it right out from under me,” Stella told them.
Cassie and Richard exchanged glances. Stella’s disappointment was palpable, as real and sour as lemon rinds.
“You’re certain my Hunter made the suggestion of Holiday?”
“As certain as I can be. That’s how it worked the last time around, anyway.”
Tears beaded up in the corners of Stella’s dark eyes, and she focused on something well beyond the windows through which she stared.
“He told me he came to Holiday for Christmas so I wouldn’t be alone, because he missed me. He said what a charming little town I lived in, how he understood why I’d stayed for so many years and loved it so much. But then he even suggested maybe it was time I thought about leaving, coming up to New York and taking one of those doggone retirement apartments so I could be close by.”
“We’re so sorry, Stella,” Cassie told her. “After he found this information, Richard agonized over how to tell you. We didn’t want to hurt you, but we thought you needed to know.”
Cassie offered her the tissue box, and Stella pulled one out and dabbed her moist eyes. When she was through, she angled her head toward Richard and said, “Why have you been meeting with Smitty over at the golf course and driving around the perimeter all the time if you’re not the one buying up the properties? Elaine Gilbert saw you parked over there, at the edge of the golf course, a half dozen times.”
Richard glanced at Cassie, and she nodded. It was time to tell his secret.
“Ever since I heard that Smitty went into foreclosure,” he admitted, “I’ve been dreaming about buying the golf course and refurbishing it.”
Stella grimaced. “Just the golf course?”
“Just the course.”
“Never the houses around it?”
“Never that.”
Millicent tapped her heart and let out a nervous little laugh. “Oh, my goodness.”
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?” Stella inquired.
“I wanted to find out who I was up against,” he confided. “I’m not a wealthy man. My hope was to get the golf course before it went to auction, but when all this corporate interest developed, that just wasn’t possible any longer.”
“Oh, Richard.” Stella let out a rolling groan before smiling at him through a well of tears. “I haven’t been very nice to you. When Bristol Banks threatened me and I thought you were behind it—”
“Wait a minute. He did what? He threatened you?”
“When he told me why he was knocking on my door in the middle of supper, I gave him what-for. I told him that my home was not for sale. I tried to close the door, but he dug in his heels and put his foot in the jamb. He looked at me just as mean as you please and said I’d be good and sorry if I didn’t entert
ain the idea of leaving Holiday.”
“He was very menacing when he came to my house, too,” Millicent told them. “He didn’t put his foot in the door like that, but he was as slimy as that king snake.”
Cassie met Richard’s scowling eyes, and she raised an eyebrow.
“I think we need to call the police and report this, Stella,” Cassie suggested.
“No need,” Stella told her. “Now that I know Hunter is behind this, that he’s responsible for trying to put my hometown on the auction block and even going so far as having his friend threaten me and try to take my home…well, that boy is going to be running back to New York City so fast he’ll have windburn.”
“So no one is selling their house and moving,” Richard told them.
Millicent blinked at him and tried to smile. “Except for Cassie.”
All eyes centered on her, and Cassie felt a conspicuous heat rise over her.
“Don’t remind me,” Richard commented. “But no one else.”
“Well,” Millicent said after a moment, “I don’t know about that. I may be.”
“Millie, don’t be stupid,” Stella scolded. “You’re not going anywhere.”
“I haven’t had a chance to tell you, Stella,” Millicent said, folding her arms over her padded stomach. “I had a little uninvited houseguest on New Year’s Eve.”
“Little?” Cassie said on a chuckle.
“Not so little,” Millicent said. “Six feet tall, and he scared the spit right out of my mouth.”
“Six feet? What are you talking about?”
“A Florida king snake,” Cassie told Stella with a grin, and she raised her hands to show her how huge the thing actually was.
“No!”
“She’s been staying here with me ever since.”
“The pest people are coming tomorrow, but if they don’t find out how he got in, I’m going to be abandoning that house for good. In fact, maybe I’ll have to buy your house from you, hunny bunny, so I’ll have somewhere to live.”
Richard laughed and reassured her. “We’ll make sure your place is sealed up tight. Don’t you worry.”
Cassie’s pulse was tickling the insides of both ears. She wasn’t quite sure why she was so nervous, but when she nearly applied cover stick to her lips, she realized that Richard’s invitation for her and Debra to come over for dinner wasn’t quite as simple as she tried to make it.
She’d tried on three different outfits, each of them too dressy for a casual meal at the home of a friend, so she settled on jeans, a tailored white blouse with dark blue pinstripes, and white tennis shoes. She scrutinized herself in the full-length mirror and decided to add a watch, a simple gold necklace, and gold filigree hooped earrings. The end result didn’t shout “Trying too hard!” which was just what she was going for.
Debra looked adorable in her mint green baby doll dress, with the tiny bulge in her stomach pushing softly against it. She’d curled her brunette hair and then pushed the curls upward into a high ponytail, slipping into flat white sandals to complete the look.
“I haven’t seen anyone who wore pregnancy so well in all my years,” Cassie told her as she pulled at one of Debra’s curls and then let it spring back into place. “You’re adorable, honey.”
“This is okay, then?” she asked. “I don’t know why, but I just couldn’t decide what to wear.”
“It’s perfect,” she reassured her daughter.
“You look nice, too. Are you ready to go?”
They chatted about the boys on the short drive to Richard’s house, and Debra told Cassie about Jake’s attack of nerves when he went to the door to pick up blond-haired, blue-eyed Jessica Winthrop for the seventh-grade dance.
“His face was all blotchy, and his hands were shaking,” Debra said, chuckling. “You’d have thought he was walking down the aisle to say ‘I do’ or something.”
As they climbed out of the car and headed to Richard’s front door, Cassie thought that she could sort of feel Jacob’s pain—although it may have been more about Debra’s pending impression of Richard than anything else. She didn’t know why it mattered so much, but—
“Mom!”
“What?”
It wasn’t until she saw that Debra was scowling at her tapping foot that Cassie even realized she was making the motion.
“Are you nervous or something? Stop thumping your foot like that.”
Cassie forced an enormous, radiating smile to her face as the door opened and Richard greeted them.
“Right on time,” he said, and he gave each of them a kiss on the cheek as they passed. “I’m really glad you could come.”
Richard led them through the living room and beyond the huge, gurgling aquarium. Cassie stopped for a moment to tap on the glass and say hello to Chi Chi and Jack. At least she thought that was them glup-glup-glupping at her through the glass.
A large wooden table was set up next to the pool, and the chairs around it were padded with four solid inches of foam that invited them to sit down before Richard could even say the words.
“Make yourself comfortable,” he told them. “Would you like iced tea?”
“I can’t believe this weather!” Debra exclaimed as Richard poured. “Just after the first of the year, and I’m sitting here with bare legs and no coat!”
“Your mother had quite a time adjusting to that, too,” he told her. “She kept saying things like, ‘It’s Christmas, and it’s 73 degrees!’ and ‘I can’t believe I don’t need my jacket!’”
They all laughed at that, and a rush of warm embarrassment coursed through Cassie.
“Richard, how long have you lived in Florida?”
“A couple of years.” He sank into the chair beside Debra. “Right after retirement.”
“Retirement!” she exclaimed. “You’re too young to be retired.”
“What he hasn’t told you yet,” Cassie interjected, “is that Richard is a planner. He and his late wife planned out his early retirement since they were toddlers.”
Richard guffawed. “It’s true,” he admitted. “Hello. My name is Richard Dillon, and I’m a planaholic.”
“You and my mother should get along great.”
“Hey, I’ve really loosened up since coming to Holiday,” Cassie pointed out. “I’m not nearly the regimented person you’ve known all your life.”
“Well, I do admit that I see a change in you,” Debra said. “But what was it Granny MacLean used to say? A leopard never changes its spots and a—”
“A method never finds its madness,” Cassie finished for her. Shooting a grin at Richard, she explained, “My father was very structured and sensible. My mom used to say he wouldn’t know spontaneity if it surprised him in the shower.”
“Granny was so funny,” Debra observed. “I’d forgotten how really funny she was.”
“So, see? It was in my genes. I just had to let it out of the cage.”
“And all it took was a little disco music,” Richard said, and he and Cassie doubled over with laughter.
“What?” Debra asked them with a curious grin. “What about disco music?”
“Picture this,” Richard said. “Your mother leading a whole group of geriatrics on how to do the hustle!”
“What? No way.”
“Way,” Richard countered. “I think that was the moment I realized she wasn’t going to be predictable in the least.”
“And Richard appreciates predictability,” Cassie tossed in.
“There’s a lot to be said for knowing what to expect,” he finished.
Debra shook her head emphatically. “My mother? The crazy one in town? I don’t know how to wrap my brain around that.” She narrowed her eyes and stared Cassie down for a moment and then asked, “Who are you? And what have you done with Cassandra Constantine?”
“I’m sorry. Who?”
“Oh, that reminds me…,” Richard began. He produced an envelope from the top of the bar behind him. “These are for you.”
Cas
sie opened it and pulled out several glossy 4 x 6 photographs from the night of New Year’s Eve.
“Oh no!” she cried when she examined the first one, her and Millicent standing at the front door of the recreation hall. They were barely recognizable beneath the big hair, makeup, and disco garb.
She passed the photos to Debra, one by one, pausing at the last one. The one he’d taken by extending the camera and snapping it himself.
Cassie and Richard. His arm was tight around her, and her head was nestled casually into the shoulder of his shiny polyester shirt.
“Mom, I can’t believe this is you!” Debra cried. And then, “Wait. Are you joking? Is this Millicent next to you?”
Richard cackled, leaning over toward Debra and looking at the top picture in the stack. “She couldn’t decide whether she was a hippie or a disco queen.”
“You have got to make me copies of these,” Debra said on a rolling laugh. “Mitch and the kids will never believe this is my mother!”
“Oh, no you don’t. There will be no duplication of these photographs,” Cassie declared.
But Richard leaned in toward Debra and nodded. “I’ll make you some 8 x 10s.”
Chapter Twenty
5 DOWN: Bright with joy; as if emitting rays of light
The dinner menu had been a simple one: shrimp orzo and steamed asparagus, with fresh raspberries and blackberries in vanilla cream for dessert. Cassie and Debra had seemed to enjoy it and as he poured coffees for the three of them, Richard felt satisfied. It had been a very pleasant evening, and Debra appeared relaxed and comfortable. That was all he’d hoped for.
“Do you play?” she asked him, nodding toward the piano as Richard walked into the living room and offered her a cup of coffee from the tray.
“I do.”
“Would you play something for us?”
He hesitated for a moment and then lifted one shoulder in a slight shrug. “Sure. What would you like to hear?”
“Surprise me.”
Richard gave Cassie her coffee, and the two of them shared a grin. He wasn’t sure why, but it had been an unspoken certainty that they were both invested in the evening going well.
Love Finds You in Holiday, Florida Page 22
