Chapter 3
A LOT HAS CHANGED
“Meri, is that you?”
Meredith turned her head from where she was standing behind the bar and looking out toward the open barn. She was envisioning all the ideas she had.
“Mrs. Ridgeway. It is.” She walked quickly toward Gale’s mother, who had her arms open for a hug. “I’m so happy to see you. I was hoping I would.”
“That son of mine. He didn’t tell me it was you. And please, call me, Brooke.” Brooke hugged her tight, then stepped back to look her over. “Haven’t you turned into such a lovely young woman?”
“Aww,” she said. “Thank you. You haven’t changed a bit. Nor aged.”
Brooke still had long hair pulled back in a ponytail, jeans and sneakers on her feet, a red Ridgeway Orchard T-shirt tucked into the waist and looking as if she could conquer the world.
She’d always felt that way on this farm.
Everyone was strong, confident, and willing to do anything they had to.
Meredith? She screeched at flies. And bees. Ants. Any insect really.
Clay told her she was soft once when she was younger. She’d thought he was complimenting her.
Nope. It was his way of saying she was weak.
And what did she do again in front of him? Trip, have to be caught, then wave her arms like a lunatic over a stupid fly that grossed her out.
If he hadn’t walked behind the bar to wash his hands quickly before he left, she might have lectured him to do it.
Yeah, that would have gone over well.
“Work keeps me young and happy,” Brooke said.
“Me too,” she said. “I love my job. Now I’ve got two of them.”
“You’re a teacher, right? Gale mentioned it months ago when she told Clay to hire a wedding planner.”
“I am. I teach kindergarten in Lake George. I don’t live that far from here. Has Clay interviewed many for this position?”
“No,” Brooke said, shaking her head. “He’s a stubborn one. I handled the first two weddings and all the other events we’ve had here. Most times it’s easy enough. Reenie helps too.”
“Reenie?”
“Ford’s girlfriend. She works with me in the cafe, does the marketing and promotions for Clay in the cider mill.”
“I thought he made hard cider. Is it still called a mill?”
Brooke laughed. “You’ve always had so many questions. It’s not really a brewery, but hard cider undergoes fermentation. I call it whatever I want and he won’t correct me.”
She laughed. “He said you would help me or inform me about the other weddings and the plans?”
“Yes,” Brooke said. “If you’ll send me your email address, I’ll forward the dates of the weddings that are booked and their information.
There are four booked from the end of September through early November.
The first one in three weeks didn’t pay for services and they are coming in to do their own thing, but reach out anyway. ”
“I’d love to. I won’t step on toes, but it might help get my feet wet. Do you think Clay will mind?”
“Not at all,” Brooke said. “The wedding part wasn’t his idea and he’s pretty hands off on the details. The day of, he’s in here moving everything around and doing what I say, then working the bar if needed.”
“Is there anyone else that helps?” She hadn’t realized she’d be setting up like that.
“There are lots of employees on the grounds and many willing to earn extra money. I’ve got a list of help I call for events also.” Brooke patted her hand. “We won’t leave you stranded.”
“If you can send me everything, then I’ll try to get all my questions together and send at one time to make it easier, if that helps?”
“It does,” Brooke said. “Reenie will be a great resource also. If you don’t have any plans one night this week, why don’t you come to dinner? Reenie will come also and the three of us can chat afterward.”
“I’d love that,” she said, her bottom lip coming out. Crazy how emotional she was getting. But she needed this in her life. One dream was coming true since her other dream of her own wedding had been squashed so messily.
“You’re a good girl,” Brooke said. “I’m so glad Gale gave your information to Clay to call you.”
She kept her smile in place. “Yet he didn’t know who I was.”
“I’m sure Gale sent it not even thinking to tell him,” Brooke said. “I recognized you right away, but you know, boys, they don’t always know what is right in front of their face.”
Something told her that Clay Ridgeway missed very little in life.
Which just proved how tiny of an impact she’d had on him.
Not that she thought he would remember her. Like all the looks, laughs, and times he’d come to her aid as a child.
Guess it was one sided like most of her relationships in life.
She waved her hand. “Either way. I’m thrilled to be part of this. Do I have paperwork to fill out?”
Brooke rolled her eyes. “Typical Clay, not even thinking of those things. Yes. You’ll be an employee of Ridgeway Orchards. Ridgeway Hard Cider is a separate entity now. I’m sure he wasn’t even thinking.”
“Why did he interview me then?” she asked. So she wouldn’t be working for Clay. Bummer.
“Well, Clay is running everything now. Callum works for Clay and does what needs to be done on the property, but Clay has more or less taken over since Callum’s injury.”
“Oh dear, I hadn’t heard. Is he okay?”
She remembered Gale’s father as a big tough man. He smiled little, but he wasn’t mean.
Not like Clay came off.
More like rude rather than mean. No difference in her mind.
“He broke his back almost two years ago,” she said. “Just a freak accident. He’s had multiple surgeries, and though he’s better, he’ll never be the same. Clay finished his last tour and left the Navy to return home and take over.”
She knew Clay had gone into the service. She didn’t move out of Warrensburg to Glens Falls until she was in ninth grade. By then, Clay had graduated and been in the Navy for a few years.
“Looks like a lot has changed since he’s been back.”
She hadn’t seen where the cider was being made, but the barn she was in now showcased a beautiful rehab. Anyone would be lucky to get married in this location with the mountain view from the front or back entrance.
“So much has changed,” Brooke said, “but yet even more has stayed the same. Have you looked around? Anything you want me to show you?”
“I’m good,” she said. “I know you’ve had a long day.”
Brooke started before the sun rose. She remembered that. Part of what stayed the same, she was sure.
“I have. As soon as I get home, I’ll send you the information.”
“Oh.” She opened her purse and pulled out her card. “Here you go. My email is on there. Guess I should get new cards. No reason for people to call me for other venues now that I work here.”
“Reenie will take care of that for you. We’ll get it figured out soon.”
Brooke gave her another hug and she left, got in her SUV, tossing her binders in the seat next to her, two of them sliding off onto the floor.
Oh well. Seemed to be the story of her day.
Meredith kicked off her heels, then reached over to get her canvas sneakers. Her feet were already killing her.
There was a knock on the glass of her SUV that had her jumping and screaming, then turning her head and hitting the button to roll the window down before she realized the engine was off.
She stepped on the brake pedal barefoot, scrunched her nose and pushed the start button, then hit the button to lower the window and see what Clay had to say.
“I didn’t know if you were okay or not,” he said. “You were lying down over the seat.”
“Getting my sneakers to change into.”
He saw the sneaker in her hand. “You should have just worn them in. Have a good night.”
He turned and left before she could say another word.
At least he said to have a good night. Better than nothing.
She didn’t even get to tell him he had something on the corner of his mouth. Dark, wet, smelled like chocolate.
The fact she wanted to reach up and wipe it off with her finger told her she might be in big trouble around Clay.
She took a deep breath and pulled off the property and drove home.
She parked her SUV fifteen minutes later, grabbed her bag and binders, her shoes balancing on the top. If she was smart, she’d take two trips.
As Meredith got closer to the front of the townhouse she rented, a buzzing sound halted her steps.
Then she let out a loud scream, her heart slamming in her chest so hard she was positive it was going to rip through the skin. She dropped her stuff and ran back several feet, screaming again, her ears almost bleeding over the noise.
Her neighbor’s door swung open, Karl rushing out. “Meredith, what’s wrong?”
A shaky finger pointed toward her door, her eyes watering, white dots filling her vision as if she was going to pass out. Karl crept forward.
“Ew. Is that a dead fish on your doorstep?”
“Covered in flies,” she said. She heaved right there on the lawn twice, then twice more, then turned around and sucked in fresh air. She was far enough away from the flies that they wouldn’t land on her now.
“Who would leave that? Wish I was home all day, but I just returned a few minutes ago.”
“I know,” she said. “But I can’t get in the house either.”
Nor would she be able to clean this mess up and that was the point. Her damn legs wouldn’t even move forward toward the door now, knowing that was there.
“Can’t you go around back?” Karl asked.
“I don’t have a key to the back door,” she said.
The landlord changed the locks and then left the key for her on the counter. One day it was there, the next it wasn’t. She knew she’d moved it, but for the life of her couldn’t remember where she put it.
She didn’t want to pay for more locks again when she always came in the front. She’d paid for both front and back to be replaced when she kicked her cheating boyfriend out.
“I’ll take care of it for you,” Karl said.
“Thank you,” she said, breathing out a sigh of relief.
No way she was going to argue and say he didn’t have to.
If he hadn’t offered, she was pretty sure she’d be begging him to…
after she woke up from passing out. “As a thanks, I’ll go get dinner for us.
What do you want? Subs, pizza, Chinese?” Anything to get her away from this mess.
Karl lived alone. He’d been there for years. She’d put him around mid-forties, maybe closer to fifty. He was nice and always had a friendly smile or wave.
She brought him extra cookies when she baked and leftovers when she made too much of something for dinner.
It drove Fredrick insane, but this had been her place first and she wouldn’t be mean to her neighbor, who was always there with a helping hand, just because she had a boyfriend.
“You don’t need to do that,” Karl said. “You already bring me over food all the time.”
“As a thank you for things you do for me,” she said, nodding her head.
Karl often grabbed her garbage cans to bring out or pull in when she wasn’t home.
Sometimes her decorations flew off the porch and he’d retrieve them if he noticed.
“And because I can’t stand here and look at that.
” Urgh, her heart was still hammering away and she had to get out of there.
Karl laughed. “Fine. If you want to get a pizza, then I’ll share a slice with you.”
“Perfect,” she said, climbing back into her SUV. She placed the order and drove away while Karl went into his house to get what he needed.
The minute she parked outside the Italian restaurant, she made another call.
“What do you want?” Fredrick asked.
The humor in his voice gave it all away, followed by his annoying squeal of a laugh. “You’re disgusting. Seriously? Can you get any lower than that?”
“You like salmon.”
“It’s a dead fish covered in flies. There were probably maggots on it already.”
An involuntary gag crawled up her throat causing her to cough. Her hand was shaking again. He really had no idea how much this upset and frightened her. It was like he preyed on her deepest weakness.
Fredrick laughed again, then countered with, “You sewed the crotch of my pants tighter.”
“Why would you say that?” She’d gotten five pairs of his work pants and two pairs of jeans done before she had to move on to everything else she’d done to his shit.
He was always adjusting his junk in his pants and it drove her batty. Maybe it was time he felt some of what she was.
It was rude, disgusting, and just plain nasty.
If his pants didn’t fit right, he should buy a different style.
He complained he liked the way they looked, but he shifted funny in them.
All she did was tailor them for him. It’s not like she was a seamstress. If he bothered to look he would have known it.
“Don’t play that game with me,” Fredrick said.
“You’re the one who enlarged your private parts in the picture. I would have thought you’d appreciate the fact you might grow down there.”
She heard him snarl. “You had no right to go through my phone. Nor do what you did. Do you know what was in those texts that ended up going to my mother?”
Meredith couldn’t hold the laughter back. She had to admit, that was one of her better ideas, and the first one she did.
This was at least calming her after the flies on her porch.
The minute Fredrick went into the bathroom to shower off the other woman he’d been sleeping with, she quickly changed the contact information in his phone, putting his mother under Lana’s number and Lana to his mother.
If he wanted to send dirty texts and dick pictures, let them go to the woman who created him.
“You really should be careful what you put in a text,” she said.
“You’ve always been a bitch,” Fredrick said. “You’ll get what is coming to you.”
“Just remember, what comes around goes around.”
“I’ll remember that,” Fredrick said. “Just like I can sit here thinking of you cleaning that mess up on your front porch.”
“Do you really think I’d do that?” she asked. Or would be able to. She didn’t think he’d be that horrible.
There was a pause on the other line. “Did you get that creepy neighbor of yours to do it? He’s always coming to your rescue and being underfoot.”
“He’s not creepy. He’s nice. Something we know you’re not!” She hung up on him.
Very few people could make her yell, scream, or want to be mean.
Her ex could bring it all out at once.