Chapter 26
Stella made a gagging noise; except this time, it wasn’t because she was sick.
“I don’t know how you drink it like that,” she said as she poured ungodly amounts of cream into her coffee.
Though I scowled at her, her smile told me she knew I was only being playful. I would gladly take this version of her that incessantly made fun of me for my black coffee over the one that felt so weak she cried over the knots in her hair.
I could never see Stella as weak, and even when she felt that way, I wanted to be there to help pick her back up like I had these past few days.
Now that she was feeling better, she was getting ready to make her way back to the bed and breakfast, and it took everything in me not to ask her to stay.
We weren’t even dating, so it would be weird to ask her to move in with me, right? But in the days she was here, my house had finally felt like a home, and I was worried that it would now face a deficit with her gone.
“What’s your plan for the day?” I asked.
Stella had gathered her things, one of them being her laptop from the bed and breakfast and had used my home office to print out a stack of papers she was now sorting through as she sipped her coffee.
“I’m going to look for a job.”
My brows furrowed as my gaze narrowed in on hers. I knew Grandma Trixie still wasn’t asking her to pay anything, she valued her company and the way Stella worked in her garden with her more than anything.
“Okay, grumpy eyebrows.” She giggled as she ran her thumb along the creases in my forehead that my scowl caused.
Her touch instantly relaxed me, but did not change my resolve.
“You don’t need a job.” Maybe it was selfish of me, but I loved how she was always around.
When I stopped by for breakfast on my way to work I’d often find her and Mom sitting on the deck.
If I popped in for lunch or a break in the afternoon, she’d be with Grandma, baking or canning something.
The evenings we’d all spend together as a family eating supper around Grandma’s table were my favourite and I didn’t want to miss a single moment of it.
Her face paled when she looked at me and her hand slowly receded back toward her. I wondered what I could have said that was so wrong. All I ever wanted was to take care of the women in my life and it was the same instinct I held for her.
Then the look in her brown eyes reminded me of another woman in my life. Mel.
When she came back from Vancouver she was a shell of herself. Dropping out of school for what she thought would make her life’s career really threw her for a loop and she’d been so lost. That harrowing look on her face still haunted my nightmares at times.
I tried everything in my power to help her.
Attempted to step in anywhere she’d allow me to, picking up groceries or cleaning her house.
But nothing seemed to bring that light back to her eyes until she decided to take the leap and accept the position of managing Cupid’s Cup.
It had been her favourite place growing up, and being given that opportunity sparked a new life in her that I hadn’t ever seen—not even when she thought she wanted to be an actress.
She quickly worked her way up and within months was the new owner of the joint.
I couldn’t be prouder of Mel and what she had accomplished, and it hit me like a ton of bricks that I had just tried to stop Stella from finding that same kind of fulfillment in life.
“I’m sorry, that was wrong of me to say,” I corrected, wanting to explain but not make her change her mind. “I know Grandma Trixie loves your company, but I want you to do whatever makes you happy.”
Her face softened and the colour came back to her expression.
“I love the time I get to spend with Trixie, believe me. But since we’ve finished harvesting everything from the garden there isn’t much to do right now.
The last few months have felt like a vacation—one I’ve desperately needed, if I’m honest. But now I don’t need an escape.
” She reached forward and grabbed my hand. “I want to build a life.”
And dammit, if I was going to be the one to stand in her way.
“Hey, Stan. Morning, Carter.” I waved at some of the guys from my crew as I made my way to the main office. Things seemed oddly quiet on the site today, but maybe some of my staff had picked up whatever Stella just got over as it seemed to be going around.
Walking into the office, my gaze was pulled toward my mom sitting at her desk. The spark of hope that lit her face the last time we chatted about business was gone as she grimaced at her computer.
“Hey, Mom,” I greeted as I walked in, startling her from her work as she tried to bring that smile back to her face.
“Hey, baby. I’m sorry, things are going to be a little extra busy for the next few weeks. Frank, Carsen, and Oscar all quit this morning.”
What the fuck? Three of my staff quitting on the same day wasn’t normal. All three of them had been newer members of the crew so I didn’t feel betrayed like I might if I had lost someone like Stan, who had been working here since my dad owned it. But it still didn’t make any sense.
“What reason did they give?”
“Just that they had another opportunity waiting for them that they couldn’t pass up. They moved over the weekend.”
So they didn’t just quit, but they left town entirely. Interesting. At least I knew it wasn’t for competition in the area or something like that. Guess I would just have to pull up my sleeves and put in some extra hours. Hard work never worried me, quite often I craved it.
Mom and I chatted about the next few jobs on the list, and I headed out to meet the crew, maybe they’d know a little more about what had gone on.
Carter was the first one I saw when I left the office and made my way to the yard. “Hey, man, do you know anything about where the crew went off to? New job offer, or something?”
“Fuck if I know,” he growled under his breath.
I had chatted with Carter a couple times since our initial incident when I had to talk with him about his extended lunch breaks. I figured we had squashed whatever bad blood was between us, but maybe I had read things wrong. “You didn’t get the call?”
“No, I didn’t get the fucking call,” he snapped and turned to walk toward the barn where we kept all our tools.
My gaze caught on a bandage on the top of his hand that led up his arm, under the cuff of his jacket.
It looked like he had added some new ink recently to his sleeves of tattoos.
“Wish I had. Would have left this shithole in a heartbeat if I could.”
I almost stopped him, but when I heard him mutter something under his breath about Blaire, I couldn’t help but feel bad for the guy.
I could only assume to know about the headache he was still dealing with when it came to his ex.
But he was showing up to work and doing everything he needed to during the day, so I let him go and went off to get started on my own workday instead.
“It was a pretty nice amount he offered, but my family is here. I couldn’t move to the States.
I wouldn’t want to anyhow.” I was grateful for the information Stan had given me while we worked on processing the trees from today’s job.
The early November snow may have been starting to make an appearance, but there was still work to be done before we got the big dumps.
“I appreciate it, man. Did they say what the company name was?”
“Nah, just some place down in Utah.”
That made me turn my head and file a mental note to talk to Patrick about it later. Weird.
Apparently, someone had called the crew with talks of a new company starting up across the border, offering a pretty penny for those who decided to make the move and help with the start up.
I couldn’t blame the guys for taking the offer, it was a nice amount, and I tried not to let the shame take over me for me not being able to pay my guys the same thing.
It hadn’t been the first time we’d experienced cold calls like this, and I was sure it wouldn’t be the last. I wasn’t too worried, though, we’d fill the spots on the crew eventually and we were coming into our quieter working but higher profit months with winter on the horizon.
Our farm was slowly making the switch from processing lumber to supplying Christmas trees for our little community and surrounding area. We were known for our balsam fir and Scots pine evergreens, and people would travel for miles to pick up their annual tree from us.
Grandma Trixie loved to transform the farm into a winter wonderland so while we had our work cut out for us in November for set up, December would be smooth sailing, and I was grateful for it.
Maybe it would be a blessing in disguise with not having to pay three wages going into this season and we could end the year in the green.
“Hey, Pat,” I greeted my friend by passing him a Diet Coke as he arrived at the bar. I called him after I finished chatting with Stan, and we agreed to meet up at Heartstrings after work.
“Thanks,” he said as he threw his winter jacket onto the chair beside us and took a big swig of his drink. Pat may not drink alcohol anymore, but he downed that crispy Diet Coke like it would give him the release he was looking for.
“Tough day?”
“Ah, just the same old small town shit. Stewarts are mad about the Watts cows taking down their fence again.”
I chuckled. Those two families were always at each other’s throats, ever since the Stewarts’ son got the Watts’ daughter pregnant.
Life could be tough for some people in a small town when your best friend, who also happened to be your neighbour, quickly turned into your worst enemy but also your in-laws.
It made me particularly thankful for the way my family consistently showed up for each other.
And Patrick was a part of that family.
“So, what’s this about losing some of your guys to Utah?”
I explained to him what Stan had told me, and that Frank, Carsen, and Oscar had quit and left Love.
“That seems too specific to be a coincidence, doesn’t it? Stella comes here from Utah, she receives weird packages from her ex, and then he steals some of my crew?”
“Whoa, let’s slow down, man. We don’t even know what this guy does. How can you be so sure he would have had a hand in this?”
Patrick was right, I guess I didn’t know anything for certain. It just felt weird to me, and I couldn’t shake this gut feeling that he was involved somehow.
Patrick must have recognized the look on my face and sighed. “Look, I can make some calls and ask a couple questions, but let’s find out what this guy does before we jump ahead to any conclusions and worry ourselves, yeah?”
He was right. I knew I needed Patrick’s level-headed thinking and was grateful I could count on him.
“Wow, I can’t believe she let you off the leash to come out with the boys.”
I glared at the source of the voice coming from behind me. Valerie. I thought she had backed off after the spray paint incident but apparently not.
“Excuse me?”
“I just mean…it’s been awhile since I’ve seen you here.” She sat on the bar stool next to me and leaned in impossibly close.
“Valerie, I need you to understand that I am not interested. We had our time and went on our dates, and it’s over now,” I tried to explain as I moved away from her.
I was praying for Patrick to step in and say something like Garrett saved me last time, but I wasn’t that lucky as I eyed Patrick beside me.
He was sitting there going red in the face from trying not to laugh at my obvious struggles.
“Oh, come on, you already know we would be perfect together. We’re both business owners and would be an absolute power couple.” Her voice got louder as she tried to prove her point and more eyes in the bar made their way to our disturbance.
“I don’t particularly enjoy finding myself involved in the business of someone who damages other people’s property, so unless you want me to press charges”—I gestured over to Patrick, who was still in full uniform—“I’m going to have to ask you to leave me and my family alone from now on. Got it, Val?”
She scrunched up her face and stormed out of the bar, a slow applause from Patrick sounding beside me.
“Wow, didn’t think you had it in you to actually be mean. Good job,” he said while laughing. “I don’t think we could have actually pressed charges, though.”
I didn’t care, I was just glad to have one less worry on my plate with Valerie finally off my case.