No Vacancy (The Aveline Series Book 2)

Chapter 31

PENN

I’d been bombardedby women as I stepped down the stairs of Green Gables, as though they’d all been waiting for me. They began rattling off questions, one after the other.

“Are you and our Darcy dating?”

“What are your intentions?”

“I have a granddaughter if it doesn’t work out with her.”

I’d shielded the questions with a series of grunts until I spotted Tuck, the guy from the bakery, by the door. We made eye contact, and he must have caught wind of my discomfort because he moved toward the crowd of women with ease.

“You know ladies, I heard that at the town meeting tonight, Mr. Ashford is going to bring up the property line dispute between him and Mr. Driscoll. What do you think is going to happen? There is that inch of property they just can’t agree on.” Tuck gestured to the door, allowing me to escape as the women began chattering.

I’d nodded a thank you and ran to the only place I could think of going.

Darcy’s.

“So, they got to you, huh?” Darcy said as she stepped into her kitchen and began brewing a pot of coffee. “You want some?” she asked, holding up the carafe.

“Sure, thanks.” I stepped into the doorway between her kitchen and living room and watched her. “Your friend Tuck saved me.”

“Tuck is good for that. He has a way with the women around here. One time, in high school, he threw a pumpkin out of my car window and hit a mailbox. We were young and dumb and thought it would just explode, but what we didn’t know was that it would bust Mrs. Chesney’s mailbox to smithereens! Mail went everywhere and was covered in pumpkin guts. She was so mad and gave us all a tongue lashing until Tuck smiled at her and coaxed her into not telling our parents if we promised to put up a new one. I thought Beau was going to cry.” I watched her shake her head at the memory. “If it had just been me, Mrs. Chesney would have grabbed me by my ear and walked me all the way home.”

I laughed, picturing an old lady with her finger in the air, yelling at Darcy. “Well, he got their attention with something about a town meeting?”

She didn’t look up but instead chuckled and scooped coffee grains into the filter. “Did he mention the Ashford and Driscoll feud?” she laughed again. “It’s going to be epic.”

“How would you possibly know he mentioned that? Also why do I feel like there is more to this town meeting than what most people have in theirs?”

I leaned against the doorframe, watching her fill the pot with water. She was wearing a pair of shorts, barely visible under her oversized sweatshirt, and a pair of socks that hit right at her calf. She was beautiful, the kind of beauty that was undeniable, and the more time I spent with her, the more I couldn’t understand how she was still single.

“To answer your first question, the property line between Mr. Ashford and Mr. Driscoll has been going on for months, and they are finally going to bring it to the meeting to hash out who gets what. Apparently, Mr. Ashford has been refusing to mow a part of the lawn that he claims is not his to mow, but Mr. Driscoll believes the same. I mean, an inch of lawn overgrown? Can you even imagine?” She snickered, and the fragrance of coffee filled the air as the carafe began dripping.

“And to answer your second question, no. We do not have normal town meetings. We have Aveline town meetings. And if you haven’t noticed, our town is a bit on the weird side.”

She wasn’t wrong. I was beginning to realize just how odd Aveline really was. It was interesting, fun even, to watch the different types of people who lived here and how they all interconnected as what appeared to be one big dysfunctional family.

“I happen to like weird,” I replied.

“Well, then, it’s settled,” she said, pouring us each a cup.

“What is?” I asked, taking the mug from her.

“Our first date will be at the town meeting.”