by Steena Marie
“Of course.” She nodded, but she’d completely forgotten that Parker was Wade’s brother. The two of them were complete opposites. Even in high school, Nikki had a hard time associating Parker with his older, slightly more serious brother. “I can imagine that Parker’s a great uncle for Abby.”
“He is.” Melissa stared at her a moment longer before something changed in her expression and she reached for her coffee. A smile replaced the seriousness, making the woman’s harried, yet beautiful, face light up. “I’m sure you’re very busy. We should get down to business.”
By the time Nikki left Melissa’s office, she was more than ready for a coffee of her own. Or a drink. But considering it was way too early for alcohol, she had to settle for caffeine before she headed back to work. Besides that, the aroma coming out of Melissa’s cup had driven her crazy for their entire meeting. It would have been nice if Melissa had grabbed her one, but…
She crossed the street to Grounds. It didn’t matter. Not really. Besides, Melissa had a lot going on; the oversight likely wasn’t personal. But that thought dogged her thoughts, even after she’d ordered her own mocha and let Muriel talk her into a scone. Twenty minutes later, fuelled on Muriel’s yummy treat and a coffee of her own, the slight was forgotten as she walked into her house and up to her old bedroom that she’d converted to a home office.
When Nikki’d decided to stay in Halfway, she knew she couldn’t live with the memories in her old house. It was time for a new start and to that end, she’d moved into her mother’s room and packed away most of her mom’s things. She let Ryan pick out his paint and together they’d painted his room a vivid green. As for her childhood bedroom, the only thing she’d left the same was the bulletin board full of pictures of herself, Becky, Matt, and even Parker, when they were younger. They made her smile while she worked.
And work was what she had to do. She’d wasted enough time in town talking to Melissa. Although, she had to admit, Melissa had some great ideas about building the newspaper’s website and taking the paper online. She was also going to put her in touch with Mayor Robertson about doing up a site for the town as well. Nikki could hardly believe that they’d all survived as long as they had without a website. It was a great opportunity for everyone involved, and she’d work on the proposal, just as soon as she finished things up with her current clients.
Just as she settled down to get to work, her cell phone rang. Parker. A smile split into her face as she answered. It didn’t matter how busy she was; there was time.
“Shouldn’t you be enlightening the minds of our youth, Mr. Tait?”
“I had to give them a break. I didn’t want to overwhelm their young minds with all the knowledge I have to share.” Parker was a popular teacher at Halfway High, which always made Nikki laugh because she knew exactly how much trouble he used to get into with Matt when he was the same age as the kids he was now teaching. “Besides,” he added. “It’s lunch. And I couldn’t go another minute without talking to you.”
“Now I know you’re full of it.” She laughed though. Despite the fact that he was joking, there was some truth to his words. They’d spent an increasing amount of time together over the last few months, and yet it never felt like enough. If she wasn’t careful, she might even start to think things with Parker might be going somewhere further.
“Okay, okay. But seriously,” he said. “Are we on for dinner tonight?”
“Absolutely. I’m making pork chops.” She made a mental note to go to the store and pick up supplies.
“I love pork chops.”
“I lo—” She stopped herself. “I love that you love pork chops. Even ones that I cook.” What was she thinking? She mentally scolded herself. It’s not as though she’d never been in a relationship before. Okay, well, she hadn’t. Not a serious one. But still, she should know better than to blurt out stupid things like that, especially when they were talking about pork chops. “Hey, I saw Melissa this morning.”
“Did you?” Was there a hesitancy in his voice, or did she imagine it? “Did you run into her?”
“No. She asked me to come in and talk about doing some work for the paper and maybe even the town.”
There was a pause on the other end of the line before Parker said, “Sounds like a good opportunity.”
“You don’t sound so sure.” Nikki tapped her keyboard while she spoke and brought the monitor to life.
“Sorry,” Parker said. “I’m just a little distracted. I thought I just saw Abby walk by. I should go talk to her.”
“Abby? Melissa’s daughter?”
“Ya, I’m a little…tell me all about it later, okay?”
He hung up before Nikki could say anything more. A wash of jealousy filled her, which was ridiculous because he’d hung up to go talk to a thirteen-year-old girl. His niece.
Determined to get some work done before she had to pick up Ryan from school, Nikki forced herself to focus on the computer screen and the design elements for her latest client, Jennings Family Tree Farm. She’d talked Matt and Becky into a website for their Christmas tree farm, or more accurately, talked Matt into it. Becky was doing great with her own website, combining blogging and baking. Her friend was an amazing baker, and her site was really starting to take off. But Nikki had been watching and she had some ideas for Becky that would really help her take things to the next level.
But one thing at a time. First she needed to finish Matt’s site and prove to him that having a website for a Christmas tree farm was actually a profitable venture. And it would be, as soon as she finished creating the best website he’d ever seen. Which meant focusing. She didn’t have any time to dwell on what may or may not be going on with Parker. Or, more to the point, what she wanted to be going on with Parker. They’d been taking things slow. Maybe too slow. Nikki knew he was just trying to be respectful of Ryan and her single mom status, but she couldn’t help feeling as if there was something more behind it.
Melissa. She’d tried to push the other woman from her mind, but despite the fact that Melissa had called her about business opportunities to develop websites, Nikki had the nagging feeling if there had been anyone else to call, she would have. They’d never been close when they were young. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Melissa; she’d just never known her very well. Being a few years older and dating Wade, she kind of kept to herself.
Maybe she was shy?
Nikki tried out the idea, but it didn’t fly. Melissa was the editor of the town paper for goodness’ sake; shy was definitely not the problem. No, Nikki tapped her pen against her desk and bit her lip. Shyness was not the problem. But she was pretty sure what was.
3
Melissa
Melissa tapped her pen against the counter and eyed the coffee in front of her. She knew going for that third coffee had been a mistake and the heartburn she now experienced only proved it. But she’d gotten swamped fast and actually stopping to eat anything that required more than nibbles here and there had been out of the question.
Which was why she was on her third coffee and had eaten a healthy granola cookie that Muriel forced on her rather than the salad she should have bought.
But after the day she’d had, she could have used something more substantive.
The clock was ticking and the Halfway Pumpkin Festival was going to be here before she was ready, before the town was ready. Why did it seem like this year they were behind on everything?
For the Tree Festival last year, Becky Jennings had taken over from her mom in organizing the event and it had gone off without a hitch. After that, Norma Grant, Becky’s mom, retook control and things hadn’t run as smoothly for the two other festivals they held—the seed and strawberry events. Maybe it was because Marie Landon, her partner in crime, wasn’t there to help her. No one would ask that, though…it was a touchy subject.
Melissa hoped things would be different for this festival, but so far…they were behind again. In more ways than were okay. The printing, the advertising…e
ven organizing the volunteers. Maybe she should talk to Becky about it.
Not my monkey, not my circus. That was her new mantra…except, it was her monkey and her circus in a way. She was involved in the planning of the festivals and she’d slacked off this year. But Norma was a force most didn’t want to disrupt. Herself included.
The bell over the door rang and Melissa glanced up, a forced smile on her face. She was ready for the disruption, eager to tackle the next thing to come her way, now that the issue of the newspaper she’d been working on was done, although, if it was anything more than simple photocopying of a document, she couldn’t promise to maintain her sanity.
Her heart sank when she saw Norma Grant, the force of nature she’d just been thinking about.
“Melissa Tait-Rhodes, I would have thought you’d have too much work on your hands to be daydreaming?”
Melissa forced that ready smile on her face to maintain its position. She also tried very, very hard to remain calm. Very, very hard. Norma was the only person who called her by her whole name.
“Not daydreaming, Norma. I’m trying to figure something out.”
Norma set her purse down on the counter, right on top of the paper Melissa had been working on, leaned her cane up against the wall and pulled out a folder.
“Well, I need you to do some work for me.”
Melissa pushed herself up from her leaning position and glanced down at the folder labeled Pumpkin Festival in thick black marker.
“What can I help you with?”
Norma pushed the folder towards Melissa. “This.” She jabbed her finger down on the folder and waited, clearly, for Melissa to open it.
She didn’t oblige.
“The Halfway Pumpkin Festival. Are you ready to get working on it?” she asked instead.
“Of course I am. What a stupid question to ask.” Norma huffed as she opened the folder and pulled out a sheet of paper Melissa instantly recognized.
It was the flyer she’d created last year for the festival. A pretty good one, if she said so herself. Every year she tried to do something different with the designs. The one she’d created this year was even better, though.
“This was last year’s flyer.”
“I know.”
“What would you like me to do with it?” Melissa was a little puzzled now.
“Create a new one. But use this design. It’s good.”
Melissa shook her head. “I’ve already designed one for this year.”
“No you haven’t.”
“I have.”
Norma folded her arms over her chest and gave Melissa that don’t bother to mess with me look.
“Norma, I submitted my design to the festival committee months ago. They’ve already placed their order for flyers to be printed for next week. It’s all been approved.”
“Not by me, it hasn’t.”
Well…crap. This was not a fight Melissa wanted to take on. Not my monkey, not my circus, right? Apparently she was wrong.
“But it has been by the committee. I’m not sure what to tell you.” She tried to infuse her voice with a semblance of an apology, but when it came to Norma, the moment you showed any sign of weakness, you were done for.
“Show me the design.”
Melissa stepped back and headed to her cabinet where she retained copies of all her files, but stopped. “I don’t really have time to change it. You do realize that, right?”
“Show me.” Norma’s words were clipped, her lips pulled tight and the way her face flushed, Melissa knew she had no choice but to get the design she’d submitted and show her.
She made sure to choose the one that had approved stamped at the top, with the signature from one of the committee members on there. She handed it to Norma, who raised it up and stared at it and waited.
And waited.
The silence grew between them until the sound of the tick-tock of her wall clock seemed to grow in volume. Finally Norma set it down, took in a deep breath and slowly let it out.
“I like last year’s design better,” was all the woman said.
“But you don’t dislike this one, right?” Something inside of Melissa wanted—no, needed—Norma to approve of her design. This had been the only year her first attempt had been approved. The usual process had Melissa submitting multiple versions before Norma finally gave her approval and presented it to the committee. It had felt too easy this year, but Melissa blamed that on the fact that she’d worked extra hard on it.
“It’s fine, Melissa. You, of course, did a lovely job. There are a few things I would have liked changed, for instance, the color of the font…why in heaven’s name would you choose that shade of green?” Norma waved her hand at Melissa. “Never mind. What’s done is done. But please, in the future, come to me first with your designs.”
“Sure. You know I always enjoy our collaborations, Norma.” Lie. All lies. She hated every single moment of them. But, that was all part of her job and she could almost hear her father’s voice reminding her to smile. Just smile and pretend you’re throwing a dart.
She thought of the dartboard area in the back and did smile. Norma didn’t need to know that it was often her name on the piece of paper attached to the large corkboard in the spare closet. It was something her father had shown her, years ago. At night, after the shop was closed and the lights were out, if he had a particularly difficult customer that day, he’d write either their name down on a piece of paper or the project name and then throw darts at it with as much force as possible. This was how he dealt with his anger and it was one way that she dealt with hers.
“When is the printing date?” Norma pulled out her calendar.
“Next week. Don’t worry, we’re right on track.”
“Good. I have a few other ideas for this year that I’ll need your help with, so the fact you’ve already created the flyers is a good thing.”
“What kind of ideas, Norma?” Again, this was par for the course. Melissa had learned the hard way to expect these little projects to come her way before any of their festivals.
“Recipe cards.” A smile grew on Norma’s face as she said the words and in that moment, there was a softness to Norma that was rarely seen.
“Recipe cards?”
“Yes. Or maybe, a recipe book. Throughout the years we’ve collected a lot of great pumpkin recipes, ones you’ve even showcased in your paper, and I thought it would be a great idea to either create recipe cards with these recipes on them or do up a book that we can sell.”
“Whoa. Those are two very different projects that will take a lot of work.” And yet, the idea had her excited. Very excited. She could already picture what the recipe cards would look like and the idea of holding a contest to find the top three or more recipes grew.
“I know. But we have more than enough time. Now, here’s what I was thinking…”
“Hey Mom.” Abby tossed her school bag down and plopped down in the chair beside her desk. Her earbuds were wrapped loose around her neck but Melissa could hear the music she was listening to loud and clear.
Abby blew a large pink bubble and popped it. “Got the flyers ready?”
“You walked right by them.” Melissa pointed to the large and unmistakable stack that sat on the edge of the counter. The same counter Melissa always placed the flyers that Abby needed to deliver.
“What’s for dinner?” Abby crossed her legs and leaned back in the chair.
Melissa took her hands away from the keyboard and half turned in her chair so she faced her daughter.
“What? No how was your day, my day was great, today?”
Abby shrugged. “Day was okay. How was yours?” She blew another bubble and it took everything inside Melissa not to poke at it with her finger.
“Mrs. Grant came in to see me, and I had a nice chat with Nikki Landon.”
“The one Uncle Parker is seeing?”
Melissa wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Were they dating? Probably. But how did Abby know?
“Did you call Uncle Parker to see if he’d come for dinner?”
Melissa groaned. She knew she’d forgotten to do something.
“I’ll call him now.”
She reached for the phone but Abby leaned forward and took it from her. “Let me ask him, okay?”
Melissa dialed the number and sat back. She half focused on what was on her computer screen while she listened in on the conversation.
“Hey, Uncle Parker. I was kind of hoping you could come over for dinner tonight.”
When Abby jumped up from her seat, Melissa knew he’d said yes.
“Awesome! I’ll even make brownies for you tonight. See you later.” Abby thrust the phone back to Melissa and headed towards the flyers. “I’ll get these dropped off and meet you at home. Don’t forget to see if Mrs. Wilson has some casseroles ready. Or do you want me to drop in and ask her to put some aside?”
Melissa chuckled. “Go ahead. See you later,” she called out to her daughter, but she had a feeling Abby hadn’t heard her—those darn earbuds were back in.
With a smile, she put the phone to her ear. “So you’re coming for dinner I hear.”
“Yeah, thanks for the invite. It’s been awhile. Sorry about that.”
The words don’t worry about it almost came out, but she stopped herself. “It has been awhile and your niece has noticed. Things must be getting pretty serious between you and Nikki, I gather.”
“A little.”
“A little? That’s all you’ve got to say?”
“I like her, Mel. She…” His voice trailed off.
“Makes you happy, doesn’t she?” She remembered that feeling. There was nothing quite like it and she missed it. Missed it bad. But she was happy for Parker. Of course she was. When they were all in high school, the poor boy used to follow Nikki around like a lovesick puppy dog. Okay, maybe not quite like that, but he had the biggest crush on her back then.
