5. Jude
Jude
So this was the woman Kasey had texted me about.
I paced up and down the empty meeting room and stopped to grip the window frame as my thoughts wandered.
From here I could see Bianchi’s, our local Italian restaurant, where I had a fleeting memory of my mom bringing my brother Colt and me to when I was nine years old. It was one of my last memories of her.
I looked up the street I had sledded down one Christmas when there was too much snow to clear. I could see where a bar had once been, the one I’d begged to get into the night before my nineteenth birthday, although its spot on Main Street was empty now.
I knew Autumn Creek like the back of my hand, and it knew me back.
So, I was sure of what it needed and what it didn’t.
I’d been more than onboard with Dawn’s idea to bring back the town’s fall festival that had stopped about twenty years ago.
I had hazy memories of pumpkin carving on Main Street, jumping in piles of leaves, and swinging between Dawn and my mom’s hands as we listened to a live band play.
I felt sorry for the kids growing up without that.
And I was all for Dawn bringing in fresh ideas to the office—Harlow Spencer seemed like a nice enough woman—but this project meant so much to me. I couldn’t have someone dragging me down when I was trying to plan it.
Why is Dawn trying to force me to work with her?
My hand raked through my hair, pulling at the roots, as I tried to bring myself back to the present.
Honestly, I’d come to expect people to trust me by now. I was aware of the treatment my family and I got around Autumn Creek. People liked the Bramleys.
Folks with businesses around town called us asking for advice, and I enjoyed volunteering and making the town I loved a better place. I wasn’t such a grump like Colt either, so I tended to get more of the attention.
Occasionally, I’d catch women blushing with their friends when my brother or I walked past. I knew a good few who had mentioned to Kasey how much they’d love to be a part of our family.
Though I’d only been in a few serious, and yet short-term, relationships in my twenties, they tended to get cut off quickly if I didn’t see a future there.
Unfortunately, I was an intense guy, as my best friend Wells had once called me, and I didn’t see the point in sticking around for something that wasn’t going to be forever.
But I had earned the recognition. Colt and I had worked damn hard to bring our farm back from the brink of ruin after our father left. And now, Bramley Farm drew attention to Autumn Creek and our products were sold around Canada.
Nevertheless, Dawn didn’t seem to mind all that reverence. It was easy to overlook when she’d been my mom’s best friend, there to hold me together when everything around us was falling apart. So she was always there to push me to be better.
My hand still gripped the windowsill as my phone rang, as if I’d summoned the call.
“What do you want?” I snapped.
“That’s no way to talk to your boss, Jude.” The woman who was as close to family without actually being it, tutted at me.
I scrubbed a hand over my jaw and shook my head. She was right, of course.
“Look, I don’t need to be told I was out of order. I know that.” I sighed into the phone. “I’ll go apologize to her once I’ve cooled off. I’m just upstairs.”
“I know that, Judey.” I winced at the nickname. “Everyone can hear you pacing from a mile away.”
“Why’d you call me then?” I asked, then my voice turned more concerned as I came to my senses, “Is it your joints? I can come down to your office right—”
“Don’t stress, honey. Just figured I’d call while I’m tending to the plants here.
” I guessed that was the noise I could hear in the background.
She was always spritzing or shaking her plants to imitate their natural environment or something.
“But I did want to tell you that I hired Harlow because of you.”
“Figured that,” I grumbled. “It’s just, when I helped with her onboarding, I didn’t realize she’d be taking my job.”
“Not taking it. Don’t be silly, I would never do that to you. You have such great ideas for the festival, you just need someone to make sure there are actually people there to enjoy it. If not, then sadly, it’s a big waste of money and a hit on local businesses.”
“Oh.” I paused and kept my eyes trained on the window. She didn’t need to remind me that it might be a hit that Autumn Creek wouldn’t be able to handle.
“You’ve got to trust me sometimes. Now, I’m heading off to yoga. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She hung up just as I was about to respond, and before I could even catch my breath, a curvy brunette was throwing open the door to this small room.
Her chocolate brown eyes quickly met mine and she winced. “Not the bathroom, got it.”
“Harlow, wait.” I reached out my hand toward her, then realized what I was doing. I pulled it back down to my side. “I want to apologize.”
She immediately straightened up, meeting my gaze confidently. “Good. That was entirely inappropriate, Mr. Bramley.”
“Don’t call me that.” I almost shuddered. “Just Jude.”
“Jude.” She repeated my name quietly but with a fierce tone. It sent a shiver down my spine.
“I spoke to Dawn and she explained everything.”
She shook her head and thick dark brown hair fell over her shoulders. “I—just…” She hesitated, finding the right words and then spat out, “You hired me! You were on the call welcoming me to the council.”
“I was.” I ran a hand through my hair again, almost hiding my face from view as I spoke a little lower. “I didn’t realize you’d be on my project.”
A project that was supposed to fix so much around here and meant a fucking lot to me. It was crucial that it turned into a great event.
She took a step closer. “Our project.”
My jaw tightened. “I have some reservations about that.” Really, I could’ve said about you. Something inside me couldn’t bear to trust her with something so important after what I’d seen.
“You don’t say.” She huffed. “Is that really how you want to start this?”
Harlow was right. It felt wrong to be this harsh to someone who was so new here, but Autumn Creek was everything to me.
After how my dad had mishandled things around here, I knew I could only trust a small amount of people with the things I cared about.
And if I wanted something done right, I’d do it myself.
“I’m going to be blunt—” I started.
“Are you not already doing that?” she interrupted.
“You seem a little…” I paused, watching her carefully. “Scattered.”
Her eyes widened. “I am completely on top of everything I need to be for this role.”
“Let’s be honest if we’re going to be working closely together.
Everything?” I leaned in closer in an attempt to be more sympathetic but her scowl made me think it wasn’t working.
“I saw you get in just last night. How did you end up in the workers’ apartment if you were planning ahead?
I just can’t trust you with the festival and with the stakes of the town if—”
“What?” Her arms suddenly dropped to her sides.
“I know I sound obnoxious. But I—”
She cut me off again. “Are you stalking me, or is this town just really small?”
“What are you talking about?”
“The workers’ apartment—how did you know?”
I cocked my head to the side. “It’s my house, Harlow. Of course I’d know.”
Her jaw dropped open. “No, It’s Kasey’s, from the cafe. Sweater Weather.” She was stumbling over her words until I barked out a laugh.
“Kasey.” It was almost funny. Of course, she didn’t tell her. “She’s my cousin—lives on the property, too. But I can assure you, you’re staying in my house.”