CHAPTER 31 #2
He turns his attention to Maddie. “If your brothers need work, send them my way. I’m a man down at the moment.”
“Oh no, I hope it’s not serious.”
Chelsea’s hands come to her hips. “A bad case of gonorrhea. And guess who?”
Maddie is already shaking her head, and I have an idea who it is. If I’m right, this would be too interesting.
“Tell me it’s not Joe Emmerson.”
“Girl, you know it is.” She lowers her voice. “The question is, how did he get it, and who has he given it to? Did you see the paper this morning? ‘Unexpected health issue’?”
Zane starts to gather up their things. “I think the jam wars are about to heat up. Joe is lying low for a while.”
“I can imagine. I’ll tell my brothers you have some work. Meanwhile, tell Joe to watch his back. The Jam Squad doesn’t mess around when it comes to their image.”
Chelsea huffs. “That boy is going to wake up without a tally-whacker if they get to him. Then again, who knows? One of them may be to blame.”
As they drive off, I turn to Maddie. “I think I just became a jam-opera fan. Let me see if I got this straight. Joe Emmerson works for Zane and Chelsea. He’s also sleeping with all four women in the Jam Squad, and now he has gonorrhea.
The Caller said Charlotte sold only 233 jars this week because of a health issue, so there’s a good chance she has gonorrhea too, and the whole town is probably wondering who had it first and where that person got it. Did I miss anything?”
“No, that’s the story so far, but it’ll probably change by tomorrow.”
“Yeah, sounds like it might.”
The coffee is every bit as good as Maddie said it would be, and I keep admiring the impressive cup design. The bagel is amazing too. It’s real New York-style where they boil the dough before it’s baked, and there’s a hint of a flavor I can’t put my finger on. “What’s in the bagel?”
“Ground roasted pumpkin seeds and tiger-nut flour blended with the regular flour. It’s their own recipe. Jamie came up with it in high school. She and her brother, Jimmy, are twins. He’s the guy who lost it when he saw you.”
“That kid at the register?”
She takes a healthy bite of her bagel and washes it down with some coffee.
It was a simple act, something that would normally go unnoticed, but I noticed it.
I love how she has no problem being herself.
Veronica always acted like she was on display, like an influencer with a camera constantly pointed at her.
She was also a nibbler. If I bought her the same bagel Maddie just downed like a normal person, Veronica would have nibbled on it making sure she didn’t get a single crumb on her perfect outfit.
It’s nice being with a real person for a change.
“Kid?” she says. “I know he looks young, but he’s twenty-three.”
“Really? I think I need to start adding tiger-nut flour to my diet. I would have sworn he was no older than seventeen. And I wouldn’t say he lost it when he saw me.”
She turns to me with a pointed look. “If an eight-year-old accidentally ran into the real Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, and I mean with the whole sleigh and flying reindeer thing, the look on that little boy’s face would have matched the look on Jimmy’s when he recognized you.”
I don’t know what to say. I’d laugh, but she’s kind of right. The guy was a little excited.
“Maybe.”
While she sips her coffee, I study what’s left of my bagel. “Looks like some kind of garden-herb cream cheese, smoked salmon, paper-thin slices of cucumber, a little red onion, capers, and…” I savor the unique flavor with another bite. “Yep, fresh dill. I take it they smoke their own salmon, too.”
“Nope, that comes from the butcher across the street.”
“But they make the bread for The Fool’s Grill?”
“That’s right. You want to hear something else that’s interesting?”
“Sure.”
“Jamie, Jimmy’s twin, pretty much took over the bakery from her dad, so she runs it now, but that’s not the interesting part.
I have it on pretty good authority, meaning Rhonda, that she’s dating four firemen.
She’s twenty-three, and they’re in their early thirties and I have to admit, all four of them aren’t too shabby. ”
“All four? At the same time, as in the guys decided they’d just share her? How does that work?”
“I have no idea, but if you ever meet her, you’ll understand why she’s kind of moody. Balancing relationships like that has to be daunting. Rhonda says it’s because she never gets a full night’s rest. But Rhonda also calls her the luckiest girl ever. I think she’s kind of jealous.”
“So the jam squad and the fire department are fine with sharing? Interesting. I seem to recall you saying it was a horny town. Something about the water. I think I’m starting to understand.”
“Oh, you haven’t heard the half of it. Just wait, you’ll see if you get a chance to get to know the real Sweetbriar Hollow. For example, “Did you happen to notice The Blue Rooster across the street from The Fool’s Grill?”
“Yeah, it’s an antique store. I thought we might stop by there later. Ash and I are always on the lookout for vintage camping gear.”
“We can do that. It’s a nice store, and they’ll probably have some things you’re looking for, but on Saturday nights it’s a full-fledged swingers club, or so they say.”
“That place?”
“Yep. Why, are you interested?”
I turn on her a little too quickly and growl, “I don’t share.” My sudden mood change may make me sound like an asshole all of a sudden, but she’s hitting a nerve… and a big one at that. She’s mine, and only mine.
“Really?” she says as if there was a waver in my voice. There wasn’t. “What if I brought Rhonda over so we could all have some fun together?”
From her breathy tone, it sounds like she’s kind of turned on by the idea and I’m taken aback by the whole thing. I stare at her for a moment trying to decide if she’s joking. I can’t tell.
“No.” It comes out slow and firm leaving no room to mistake my feelings on the matter.
“No? Are you sure?”
I’m starting to get irritated with this. She can’t be serious. “I’m sure,” I grit out. Maybe I’m being kind of a dick now, but it’s how I feel.
She reaches up and kisses me on the cheek with an elated smile in her eyes. “Good answer!”
She was testing me? I guess we still have a lot to learn about each other.
I take another bite of my bagel as I mull that over.
Guess I can’t blame her. Probably has something to do with her past. Either way, I’m not going to dwell on it.
She’ll see that she can trust me. “This is the best bagel sandwich I’ve ever had, and that’s saying something. Ash and I have been a few places.”
“It’s the mayor.”
“Your city’s mayor is a chef?”
“No,” she laughs. “Far from it. She’s an older woman with very high standards. She has a way of encouraging the businesses in town, especially the ones on Main Street, to go above and beyond. I’ll take you on a Main Street tour later.”
“I’m looking forward to it.” I eat the rest of my bagel and wish I had more.
She’s half-done with hers, and when I wad up my wrapper, she pulls another bagel out of the bag and hands it to me.
“The other two aren’t for your brothers?”
“Nope, they’re for you. I’ve seen how much you eat.”
I take the bagel eagerly. “Keep this up, and I might let you touch my—what did Chelsea call it—my tally-whacker again.”
She cocks a brow with, “What makes you think I want to?”
“Because it’s awesome.” I take another huge bite thinking Veronica never would have done something like this. I can’t believe Maddie did.
“I don’t know. You can’t tell how well a bull bucks from a couple of rides. Maybe I’ll have to see what else it can do before I make up my mind.”
My mouth is too full to respond, so I just nod. Damn!
She’s laughing at me when she adds, “Eat up, big boy. We have a lot to do today.”
We spend the rest of the day working on the funeral arrangements.
There’s more to planning this kind of thing than she realized—everything from picking out a coffin to purchasing a grave plot and ordering a headstone.
We’ve been all over—to the church, the floral shop, the catering company and I had to remind her more than a few times that I’m a billionaire, which meant she could get what she truly wanted.
It’s the end of a long day, and right now she’s deciding what she wants on the headstone.
It’s turning out to be an emotional endeavor, trying to come up with the perfect way to sum up a loved one’s life in a few words.
Tears come and go as she writes her ideas on a notepad.
I’m glad I can be here for her, and right now, I wish I could always be here for her.
But the hourglass is running out of sand. What happens then?