Chapter 12
Distraction – A ruse to prevent the gossip gals from concentrating on your love life
Leia
Itrudge up the courtroom steps. I’m tired and in no mood to attend a Winter Falls business meeting. But Brody insisted I attend on his behalf tonight, so here I am.
“Oh good, you’re here,” Sage says when I enter the building.
And she’s not alone. All of the gossip gals are with her. And the gleams in their eyes say they are up to something. I have a feeling these ladies are always up to something. Whoever said small town living is boring hasn’t met the gossip gals.
“Good evening. Sorry, I can’t stay to chat. I need to get to a meeting.” I indicate the meeting room.
“As do we,” Feather says.
I glance around the group and notice they’re all nodding.
“I thought this was a business meeting.”
Clove frowns. “And we’re all businesswomen. I own Clove’s Coffee Corner.”
“And Sensual Scents is mine,” Petal adds.
“I own Feather’s Frozen Delights,” Feather says.
“I used to own the yoga studio, Earth Bliss, but I recently retired.”
Recently? Cayenne can’t be a day under eighty and she was recently managing a yoga studio? Meanwhile, I can barely touch my toes.
“I technically don’t have a business, but I basically run this town,” Sage claims.
I cross my arms over my chest and raise my eyebrows. “You run this town?”
Feather rubs her hands together. “I do love a spunky heroine.”
Is she referring to me? I’m not a heroine in one of her romance novels.
“Indigo had spunk,” Petal claims.
Clove points at me. “But this one’s a firecracker.”
Feather studies me. “If this were a book, she’d have red hair.”
“Ladies,” I cut them off, “as much as I’m enjoying your compliments, I do need to get to the meeting. Brody’s orders.”
I salute them and march away without looking back.
The meeting room is packed when I enter. Considering the size of Winter Falls, I’d assumed there’d be ten attendants, twenty tops. Another reminder to never assume.
Indigo waves me over. She’s sitting with Virginia at the front of the room.
“What are you two doing here?” I ask when I join them.
Virginia frowns. “I’m here under protest.”
“My grandmother told me all about the town business meetings. I wasn’t going to miss one.” Indigo is practically bouncing in her seat.
“And guess who got dragged along?” Virginia mumbles.
“I’m only here because Brody insisted. He wants to check there are no problems with his plans to build a swimming pool.”
I don’t know what I’m supposed to do if there are problems. I know nothing about permits or plans for swimming pools.
“Here.” Indigo shoves a beer into my hands.
“I’m at work,” I hiss and try to give it back to her. “I shouldn’t be drinking.”
“Why not? Everyone else is.” She motions around the room.
She’s not lying. Several people are drinking beer and eating popcorn. In fact, there’s a drink cart set up in the back of the room with a long line of people waiting to buy beer and popcorn.
“Did you at least buy some popcorn?” I ask.
Indigo grins and points to the bucket on the seat next to her.
“At least this is better than sitting at home wondering what Dylan’s up to,” Virginia mutters.
Dylan and the rest of the Cash the Sinners band are doing a short one-week tour on the West Coast to launch their latest single.
“Are you worried?”
Virginia scrunches up her nose. “No?”
Indigo throws an arm around her shoulders. “She’s not worried because being worried would be silly. Dylan loves you very much. He wouldn’t risk what you two have together by being stupid. Besides, when does he have time to be stupid? He phones you as soon as each concert is over.”
She waggles her eyebrows making it obvious what the two get up to on the phone. Virginia blushes. Huh. I wouldn’t expect the shy librarian to have phone sex with a rockstar but what do I know? The extent of my sexual encounters could fit onto a postcard.
Indigo elbows me. “What about you? Missing Fender?”
I scowl at her. “Miss how annoying my neighbor is? Nope. I’m good.”
“I heard he wasn’t annoying on the trail ride. Quite the opposite.” She winks.
Memories of Fender touching me as he helped me to mount my horse assault me. How his breath felt against my neck. How his hands felt on my hips. How his warmth surrounded me. How I thought of his naked body in the shower later that night.
I clear my throat and force those thoughts away before I get all hot and bothered at a business meeting in front of the whole town.
“I don’t know what you’re referring to.”
Virginia and Indigo burst into laughter. Indigo points to my face. “Liar, liar, pants on fire.”
I scowl at Virginia. “I thought you were on my side.”
“I’m on the side of love.”
“Love?” I scoff. “I can’t stand the grumpapottamus.”
“Which is why you have a cute pet name for him.”
“Grumpapottamus is not a cute pet name.”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A woman hits a gavel against the table at the front of the room before announcing, “I now call the July business meeting to order.”
I lean close to Indigo to ask, “Who’s she?”
Virginia trembles. “Rain.”
“What’s with the trembling? Should I be scared of her? Is she the big bad witch?”
“You make fun but I think Rain is a fortune teller.”
“A fortune teller? Does she have a crystal ball?”
Virginia narrows her eyes on me. “I’m serious.”
I raise an eyebrow at Indigo and she fills me in, “Rain owns the jewelry store in town, Bohemian Treasures. She’s also the mayor this year.”
“The first order of business is the Lughnasadh festival next week,” Rain announces.
“Disagree!” Sage hollers.
Rain sighs. “We agreed to discuss the town’s business before you started with your matchmaking.”
Matchmaking? Who are they trying to matchmake now? I scan the room but I have no idea who their target could be.
“But I want to know when Leia’s going to let Fender butter her biscuit!” Feather shouts.
I jump to my feet. “I told you I don’t want to be matched.”
“We can’t help what fate decides,” Clove says.
Sage grins. “But we do enjoy helping fate along.”
“Now answer the question,” Feather insists.
“What question?”
“When are you going to let Fender butter your biscuit?”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“We read it in a book by Lyra Parish.” Feather fans herself. “It was hot.”
“Fender is not coming anywhere near my biscuit. Or my butter. Or anything of mine.”
“But Isla loves him,” Cayenne whines. Yes, an elderly woman with gray hair can whine.
“She also loves Barney but I won’t be dating a purple dinosaur anytime soon.”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
I force my attention to the front of the room but Rain isn’t banging her gavel. An old man knocks his cane on the floor as he stands.
“Enough!” he growls.
“You’re no fun, Mercury!” Petal shouts at him.
“You used to be fun,” Sage adds.
“And you ladies used to have your own lives and not interfere in everyone else’s.”
Laughter erupts in the room.
“They did?”
“When was this?”
“I don’t know.”
“I don’t believe this.”
Guess I’m not the only one surprised by Mercury’s words.
Indigo giggles. “I’m never missing another one of these meetings.”
“Easy for you to say. You’re not the target.”
She shrugs. “You’re handling them perfectly fine on your own.”
Of course, I am. I can handle anything that comes my way. I’m a single mom. It’s my superpower.
“Do you not like Fender?” Virginia asks.
“Let me count the ways I do not like Fender. One, he’s a grump. Two, he thinks I’m a bad parent.”
He apologized for saying those things.
I ignore my inner voice. She’s not on my side tonight.
“Three, he thinks I’m a workaholic.”
“And, four, he’s sexy and you want to get in his pants,” Indigo says.
I point to her beer bottle. “How many have you had of those?”
“One.”
Virginia snorts. “Are you forgetting about the one you had with dinner?”
Indigo shrugs. “Who’s counting?”
Virginia sighs. “Not you. Indigo and math are not friends.”
“It’s impossible to be friends with a school subject.”
“Be nice, Mercury, or we’ll put you in a home!” Sage yells and the entire room stills.
Mercury slowly turns to face Sage. “What did you say?”
“Someone’s in trouble,” Indigo sings next to me and I elbow her to be quiet.
I glance between Sage and Mercury. They both appear about to say words that can’t be taken back. I know all about saying words that can’t be taken back.
I jump to my feet. “I’m supposed to ask about the permit for the public pool. Is a pool bad for the environment?”
The word environment is barely out of my mouth before chaos erupts.
I pretend to polish my fingernails on my shirt. “My work here is done.”
And no one is discussing matching me with Fender any longer. Win! Win!
You wouldn’t mind letting Fender butter your biscuit.
Stupid inner voice. She hasn’t been this much trouble since I was seventeen and she claimed not using a condom wouldn’t be a big deal. She was wrong then and she’s wrong now.
Fender Hays is not the grump for me. No way. No how.