Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
C assie’s historic yellow house looked just as inviting as it always did. Amy walked up the driveway and around to the back door. She’d received a mysterious text from her this morning asking her to drop by at 9:00 a.m.
Simone answered her knock. Feminine laughter in the background told her other women were there too.
Cassie called from across the room. “Come on in. I’m sure you were surprised to get my message.”
Amy chuckled. Cassie’s comment made this sound very spy-like. The text message simply said, Meet at my house at 9 a.m. Tell no one.
Cassie grinned. “I was hoping to make it intriguing.”
“You succeeded.”
Paige, Bella, and Simone were already seated at the kitchen table.
Cassie glanced around the room. “I’m sure you’re all wondering why I brought you here together this morning.” She laughed. “This sounds like the moment when the sleuth is about to reveal who committed the crime. I may have been reading too many mysteries.”
“You’re right. I could almost hear the dramatic music.” Bella got up and went over to one of the cupboards. “I’m going to make a cup of tea. Would anyone else like one?”
Amy sat in the extra chair pushed up to the four-person table. “I do. Whatever you’ve got is fine with me.”
A few minutes later, they had tea, coffee for those who preferred it, and pieces of pie Simone had picked up at Dinah’s Place on the way over.
When they were all comfortable, Cassie said, “We need to brainstorm ideas to help Amy.”
Amy gasped. “What do you mean? I’m okay.”
Cassie shook her head. “You told me yesterday things haven’t turned out exactly as you’d hoped. You’re staying at your brother’s house because you can’t afford a place of your own. That isn’t okay for someone running a business in Two Hearts. We want you to succeed.”
Tears welled up in Amy’s eyes. It felt good to have friends by her side.
Cassie continued. “But we don’t want to intrude on something that feels too personal and private. Tell us if you’d rather we dropped the discussion.” She picked up her fork. “We eat pie, and that’s it.”
“I’m happy that you care.” Amy glanced longingly at the piece of chocolate pie. The stress of her problems had pushed her appetite away. “The newspaper itself is fine. I’ve gotten some advertising. Thank you to all of you for that.” Her gaze went to each of the women in the room because they’d all advertised at one point or another. Cassie and Bella every week. “But I hadn’t thought through the purchase of this paper before I jumped on the opportunity.” She muttered under her breath, “Hasty decisions seem to be the story of my life.”
More loudly, she added, “Newspapers should make money from advertisers, but the town is just coming back to life. There are only so many advertisers for me to work with. You can’t support me out of pity. You need to have a good return on your investment. Earning money because an ad works is smart business.”
“It’s nice having a newspaper,” Bella said. “It makes Two Hearts feel more like a community than before. I want you to succeed.”
They all nodded in agreement.
Paige offered, “You know, I always think about photographs first. Could you add more local photos to your newspaper?”
Amy thought about it for a moment and then sighed. “I could make it more appealing to the people who live here, I suppose. But that still doesn’t bring more income to the town, and that’s truly what we need.”
Cassie drummed her fingers on the tabletop. “Come on, ladies. You all run businesses in this town. There must be something we can do. Don’t filter yourself. Just call out ideas.”
Bella shrugged. “Wedding dress of the week?”
Simone said, “I could give away a small cake every month.”
“I could increase my advertising budget with you.” Cassie raised her hand in a stop motion to silence the others when Amy tried to speak.
“Two Hearts has been good to me.” Amy sighed again. “I appreciate all of your suggestions, but I can’t become a charity. This newspaper has to support itself.”
Bella asked, “Do you have all the basics down? You mentioned a website. Do you also have a newsletter list people can subscribe to? Are you on social media? Those sorts of things? They help with my business.”
“My website went live a couple of weeks ago. I’ve set up all my social media accounts. But I wasn’t sure what people would want to see there.”
Paige leaned forward excitedly. “That’s a place where photographs do really well.” When everyone laughed because of her championing everything to do with photos, Paige crossed her arms and said, “You know they do.”
Amy brought up a social media site on her phone to check for feedback from viewers. “I added the proposal photograph you took to the paper with an article about the couple. I also put that picture on social media with a shortened version of the article.”
Cassie said, “That was the last-minute addition that made you so tired at church on Sunday?”
Amy’s face flamed with heat. “Simone had to elbow me in the side because I was snoring .”
Simone chuckled. “It was only for a few seconds.”
“I’m sorry I missed that.” Cassie laughed.
Amy stared at her screen. Comment after comment said how much they loved the photo. She swallowed hard. “I can’t believe this happened.”
Paige reached out and touched her arm. “What’s wrong?”
Amy shook her head in amazement. “I think the proposal photo has gone viral.”
Paige grabbed the phone out of her hands. “Oh my goodness! She has thousands of views on this post.” She passed the phone to Cassie.
Cassie exclaimed over it as she checked it out. “This is amazing! Maybe your financial situation will take care of itself, and we won’t have to worry about increasing your income.” She gave the phone to Bella.
Bella swiped down the list of comments. “This is awesome!”
“Maybe. Let me see if it’s made any difference to the newspaper.” Amy brought up her subscription numbers. “No new newspaper subscribers either from Two Hearts or elsewhere. I set it up so I could mail a copy of the paper anywhere.” She went into her email. “Wait! I may have a possible new advertiser from Nashville.” She frowned as she read through the message. “She’s from a jewelry store and will advertise if I’m going to continue with similar photos.”
Amy looked up at the group of women seated around the table. “This was a random moment. Paige and I happened to be there. I’ve used two proposal photos in the newspaper—the one Paige took from her backyard when Nick proposed to you, Simone, and this one. They drew interest, but you can’t pull engagement photos out of thin air.”
A noise at the back door had them all turn in that direction. It opened to Greg. When he saw all the women, he paused. “I was stopping by to visit Cassie on my lunch break, but it looks like I’ve interrupted something.”
His fiancée waved him in. “Please join us.”
He entered the room, followed by Scott, who looked startled at what he’d been drawn into.
Cassie had a thoughtful expression. “Greg, drag a couple of chairs in from the living room. We can squeeze you guys around the table. I’ll fix a sandwich for each of you.”
“That’s okay. We’ll just head over to the diner.” Greg turned toward the door.
“Wait! We really do want your input. Let me explain.” Even with the offer of a meal, he and Scott remained standing and near the door.
Cassie told him about the engagement photo and their lack of ideas for repeating that.
Greg shrugged. “You just need more photos. Does the proposal have to be real?” The room went silent.
He chuckled. “Uh oh. Did I make a mistake in suggesting something as wonderful as a proposal be acted out instead of real?”
Cassie slowly said, “You may have hit on something.”
Amy watched the women nod their heads in agreement. Was it a good idea to put fake photos in a newspaper? “But?—”
In his more formal law enforcement voice, Greg said, “You’ll need to say they’re mockups, not the real thing.”
She still wasn’t sure. “Could it work if they weren’t real?”
Paige cocked her head to the side. “I think so. And I’d be happy to take the pictures. I think it would be kind of fun to broaden my wedding business into engagement photos. This would give me something to put in my portfolio.”
Cassie clapped her hands with glee. “Then it’s settled. Amy is going to have mock proposals in her newspaper.”
Amy laughed. “I have the best imagination in the world, but I have to ask, how many times can Paige photograph a man on his knee offering a ring to the woman in front of him? Doesn’t that get boring? And who is she going to photograph?”
Bella reached for another slice of pie, saying, “Eating for two,” as she did so. She had a thoughtful expression as she broke into the crust with her fork. “We were all proposed to in different ways. There must be a million ways to offer the ring.”
Amy had limited experience with proposals. Actually, zero beyond those she’d seen.
Greg said, “You ladies seem to have come up with a good plan, so we can leave now. But before we go, I want to mention that you need a man and a woman for these proposals, don’t you?”
The bubble of bliss that had begun to surround Amy burst. She sighed. “You’re right.”
Bella nodded. “We need a man and a woman to be our actors. I think we can all agree that using the same couple every time is fine, can’t we?” Bella glanced around the room.
“I agree,” Cassie said. And then her gaze turned toward Amy. “But we have a single woman in our midst, so we don’t need to search for one.”
Amy gasped. “Me? Other than a couple of plays in high school, I haven’t acted in anything.”
Cassie laughed. “I think that makes you the most experienced actress in the room. But we need a single man to pose too. I don’t think using one of the men in town who already has a girlfriend, fiancée, or wife would be appropriate.”
Greg grinned. “I think I may have to respond to calls about loud arguments if that happens.”
Cassie tapped her chin as she stared at their visitor. “How long did you say you were staying, Scott? I think it was a month, wasn’t it?”
He nodded slowly, looking suspicious.
“Then it’s settled.”
Amy shrugged. “How is it settled? You’ve roped me into this, but we still don’t have a—” Her gaze whipped toward Scott. “Oh no, Cassie! You don’t mean to pull him into it too?”
Cassie rubbed her hands together with glee. “All he has to do is pose a few times and get his picture taken. That’s about as easy as it gets. It won’t interrupt his relaxation.”
Scott now had a deer-in-the-headlights expression.
Greg laughed and patted his friend on the back. “Welcome to Two Hearts.”
Cassie stood. “I believe this meeting has come to an end. Let’s all get back to our businesses. Thank you for coming by. We can heartily recommend Dinah’s chocolate pie today.”
Cassie moved at a fast pace, kissing Greg on the cheek as she passed him, then hurrying toward her front door.
Amy stared at Scott for a moment before she followed along. The man would look great in photos—if he agreed to their plan.
Cassie herded the women toward the door—the one she didn’t usually use and the one not blocked by Greg and Scott. When Amy got there, Cassie said in a low voice, “I needed the idea to settle in a bit with Scott. I think he was just about to say no. We’re not going to give him a chance.”
Amy stepped out the door with Cassie right behind her. Apparently, even she needed to leave her own house. This situation was getting stranger and stranger. Then Amy remembered the wonderful comments and the number of people who’d shared her post.
Maybe this wild plan had a chance of working.