Chapter Sixteen
“Did you have fun? Weren’t the horses amazing?
I wish I could have gone with you.” Ally was bombarded with Jillie’s questions and comments about her day with the horses.
But the truth wasn’t to be shared. At least not yet.
She and Cade agreed it would be told when Ally was ready for it and that would be when she was ready to leave.
“We need to concentrate on the festival. And if you don’t hurry and get into costume, we’ll be late,” Ally reminded her, gathering up the bags of items she needed to take and then packing the cookies and pastries the class would sell.
She wanted it all to go well as Tori was counting on her to do her job in her absence, and she wanted to make Jillie proud, as well as Matt and so many others.
That was the time the phone had to ring.
She answered it and her day just got worse.
The music teacher had a stomach virus, and she needed someone to get the choir on stage and set and lead them.
Ally had mentioned her experience with the church children’s choir, and she could sing in tune.
She had been to almost every rehearsal with Jillie…
so the teacher begged her to do it. And the word no was something she needed to practice using more but it never was uttered. Now the clock was really ticking.
There was controlled chaos backstage when they arrived.
The choir had to be rounded up and nerves settled.
Jillie had to get into costume. And the cookies needed to be delivered to the classroom.
Matt sent a text that he was running late and was stuck at the office.
Tori had yet to arrive with the baby and Ally knew that panic was not an option.
She stepped in and began giving directions to those waiting for guidance.
And the time struck the hour and the curtain was going up.
Ally had to hide her own nerves and pretend with a big smile.
Somehow it worked. It all went by in a blur.
The audience laughed during the parody of the first Thanksgiving dinner when they should, the songs went together and in tune, and the Fall Fest was kicked off in grand style.
The applause was great. And when her name was called, she walked out from behind the curtain to be presented with a bouquet on behalf of the school along with two others and she was touched by their heartfelt thanks.
And she caught sight of Tori giving her a thumbs-up in the audience and next to her was Cade smiling and clapping and then there was Matt.
He was clapping harder than the rest and the smile he sent her was meant just for her.
In that moment, she felt an incredible joy unlike anything she had known before.
She belonged. What she felt she had lost in New York when Annie died, she had found in Destiny’s River.
How would she ever belong to any other place?
But she kept the smile from fading as she walked offstage and then hugs came from the kids and a huge one from Jillie.
“You are the best ever, Miss Ally,” the little girl said with a huge grin. “I was scared but I remembered what you said about the audience, and I just was able to do my part. I’m so glad you came here.”
“That makes two of us.” The voice belonged to a beaming Matt, and he joined them with some flowers for Jillie, and three roses for Ally to add to her bouquet-filled arms. “Congratulations! I hear word in the hall that they can’t wait to see what you do next year.”
Ally couldn’t speak and luckily, she didn’t have to do so. Tori came up and grabbed her into a hug. “I knew you could handle this. Way to go.”
“Did you bring some of those pecan fudge things that I love?” Cade grinned and asked his most important question. Tori jabbed his arm.
“Go check out the classroom…and leave a big donation for all that you already ate while she made them,” his wife reminded him.
“So, this is the amazing, talented, gifted, and beautiful Ally Jones,” said a woman who stood with Tori. Ally had no idea who she was. Maybe someone who had come with Matt? She remembered seeing her standing next to him in the audience at the end.
The woman stuck out her hand and Ally automatically shook it.
“I usually hug but since we haven’t been introduced by any of these people standing here, I will shake hands.
I’m the brilliant one of the family…Cassie Parker Connors.
My husband and I just got back into town and he and my daughter, Emmie, are around here someplace. You’ll meet them later.”
“Did she say brilliant?” Matt leaned over and asked Tori, who looked as mystified as he did.
“She was out in that sun too long on the West Coast,” Tori responded in kind. “Perhaps too much smog in the air, too.”
“Don’t pay attention to them,” Cassie noted with an arched look in their direction.
“They’ve always been jealous.” She hooked her arm through Ally’s, and she handed the flowers over to Matt.
“Make yourself useful, little brother. Hold on to these. Ally and I are going to get acquainted while she takes me to where these amazing pastries are that I have heard so much about. Lead on, Ally.”
*
“Aunt Cassie!” Jillie left the table of cookies and launched herself into her aunt’s arms. “I missed you! Where’s Emmie?”
“I bet they’re at the dunking booth trying to get the principal soaked, if I know them.” Jillie gave her one more hug and left them in a whirl.
“So, what do you think of my brother and his little girl?” Cassie asked, her expression matching the sincerity of her question, while she bit into a sugar cookie decked out as a turkey with different-colored feathers.
“Pretty cool, aren’t they? And this cookie is amazing. So, what do you think of them?”
Ally could only stand in amazement at the rapid-fire way the woman’s mind worked. She had heard that she was a special agent for law enforcement or some such, but she certainly had down the ability to interrogate and confuse.
“Cool, amazing, funny, adorable, and too generous.”
“Which describes which of them?”
“You’re a super sleuth, aren’t you? You tell me.” She bit into her own cookie.
“I knew I liked you. The moment I saw that save where the turkey was losing his tail feather into the fan that cooled the choir and then it tipped toward the piano, but you grabbed the feathers and used that sneaky move with your foot to anchor the fan throughout that entire song. Great balance.”
“Thank you, I think.” Ally smiled. “You do see more than most.”
“That’s why I’m brilliant. But I let the others think they’re special, too.” They both shared a laugh and that’s when she and Matt’s other sister became friends.
“I like her,” Cassie pronounced with a nod of her head in Ally’s direction as the rest of the family gathered. “She can keep up with me. Unlike some in my own family.”
“Jillie is with your bunch, and we need to get home to our son who is being watched over by Mrs. James and her husband. Joey was sleeping when it came time to dress, so we took advantage of the grandmother of ten who begged to watch him. But we miss him. Great going, Ally. Rest tomorrow and then we begin…rather you begin…to be roped into the Christmas Tree Celebration and all that entails… Good luck!” And she was gone before Ally could question her words.
“Funny how that works, isn’t it? I felt that same shove in my backside when I moved back here and got married. I think a death certificate is the only way you get out of it. Or joining the army or some such. But we need to run too and unpack. I’ll be seeing you soon!” She left after them.
“And that was the whirlwind of my family.” Matt smiled with a shake of his head. “Just imagine if my brother was in the mix, too. It can get crazy. But you fit right in.”
“Are you saying I’m crazy in a backhanded sort of way?”
“Who me? Would I suggest that? I just mean you are a lady of many talents and the way you balanced that fan was incredible.”
“No! You saw it, too? Did the whole audience see it?”
“Well, I know that the coach did, and he mentioned something about you coming over to the junior high and working your agility skills with his team.”
Ally knew she was being had. “I suppose someone told you once that you have a sense of humor and are funny? I would ask for a second opinion if I were you.” She smiled sweetly and began placing more cookies on the almost empty plates on the table.
Matt just shook his head and tried not to laugh. Somehow, she felt he might be planning some sort of retribution. He had that look about him. But he moved off to try the roulette wheel in the fifth-grade classroom.
The Fall Fest had been a success by all accounts.
Ally had received so many kind comments that had her smiling all evening.
She had helped this community in some small way and that made her feel connected to them.
She was packing up when a text came across her phone.
It was from Matt. He had been called out into the country on an emergency with his deputy.
He hated to not be there to help close up.
But he would make it up to her. And left it at that.
It would have been nice to finish up and have someone besides Teddy to listen to her account of the evening.
Someone to share the feeling of success with.
Instead, she cleaned up the kitchen where she had rushed earlier to bake the last of the cookies and left things out of place.
Then she put on her nightgown and robe and settled into the comfy chair next to the fireplace.
Maybe tomorrow she would figure out how to set a fire in the fireplace.
That would be nice on the fall evenings that were becoming chillier.
So much had happened in such a short amount of time.
Ally thought back over it all. She was amazed at how much she had gone from stranger to being praised for helping the community’s school and making friends like Tillie at the café.
Helping the choir teacher and Jillie’s homeroom teacher with their classes and funding for school supplies thanks to a successful festival.
She enjoyed every moment. Teddy was able to receive great vet care and was walking better already.
Her car would be repaired soon, and she had found a way to have two jobs and save so much more money.
Mr. Jacobs had sent her an email that morning to tell her that the papers would be ready to close on the apartment within two weeks.
She would be able to pay all her other bills, including medical.
And have the nest egg left that Annie had insured for her.
The only thing left would be to pay the debt Matt had shouldered for her.
Even though he did not want repayment, she knew she had to make it right with herself.
She had put it off because of the debt and because of the need to figure out how and when to put Annie to rest. Cade had stepped up and that detail would be handled.
So all that was really left was how to say goodbye.
It wouldn’t be so hard a task to even think about if she hadn’t allowed herself to get involved in the life of the small town, to like the people, and to even feel more than she should about Jillie and her dad—Matt.
That was a subject she had danced around for a while.
She had no problem being a buffer between him and the women in the town…
get them to back off a while. But she would leave and then he would have the problem return.
Unless someone else stepped into her shoes—and there were those like Frannie who would be happy to see her go.
She had allowed herself to get caught up in the dream…
and ignored the reality. Primrose Inn had become the home she had never had but had been a dream.
Tori had spread magic in the place she had found to make a home for herself and her siblings.
And it had sprinkled some into her world, too.
The people in town had become her friends.
They had let her carve out a spot for herself and they welcomed her without question.
How would she and Teddy find such a place when they leave?
What if they stayed? Nothing would change, or would it?
She could find a small apartment. They couldn’t stay in Primrose Inn.
That belonged to Tori and her family. She could continue with the pastries and pies and such for the café and maybe expand to other places in the area with a commercial license.
She’d have to find a second job because Tori would be back to picking up Jillie after school.
Even if she didn’t, Ally needed to distance herself.
Matt wouldn’t always be ignoring the women in town trying to catch his eye.
One day, one would come along, and she knew she didn’t want to be watching from the outside.
Because she had grown too close to Matt.
He was a good man and a great dad, and he cared about so many in his town.
He was a large part of its very fabric. He deserved someone special.
Someone that was not her. It would be someone who had a normal childhood, not the streets of New York.
A person who fit into a big family and has ties and a history here. That is who he deserved.
She would do her best to decide how to make the transition in the coming days and be ready to move to another town hopefully by Christmas.
She didn’t want to go through the holidays, still unsure of her future or her place in it.
But first she would need to put Annie where she wanted to be.
And she felt blessed to be part of a great love story, even if it wasn’t hers.