Chapter 29
CHAPTER 29
Lizzie decides she cannot face going directly to the paper, so she drives to the beach and hopes on this not-quite-spring morning that no one else will be there. There are only a few cars, and she finds a spot far off to the side, still facing the bay, and parks her car. Within seconds the tears start to flow. All the pent up feelings of not having any idea when or maybe even if she and Jack will be getting married come pouring out. She reaches into her back seat, fumbling around trying to find the box of tissues she keeps there. She finally feels it and pulls out several.
A part of her feels incredibly shallow and selfish as she sits there crying, considering how many people are more severely impacted by the shutdown of Terra Marique. The crew, the farmers, the business owners anxious to finally have a space to work from, and most importantly, people who need an affordable place to live.
“Pull yourself together, girl,” she says firmly to herself. Then she remembers something her mother always says, If this is the worst thing that happens to you today, you are doing very well. On that note she dries her eyes, takes a deep breath and starts her car. She knows it’s not going to be easy, but for the sake of everyone else she’s not going to complain about the wedding. Like a mantra she repeats to herself as she drives to the Gazette, If this is the worst thing… When she arrives at the paper she promises herself to put on a good front, which won’t be easy with her dad, but she’s sure going to try.
After Lizzie explained the wedding postponement plan to her dad, without tears, he texted the plan to her mom, not wanting her to sit at home worrying. Lizzie is having a hard time getting work done as she tries to convince him that she is okay. He knows her, the only one who knows her better is her mom. She’s going to be the hardest to convince.
Her dad now has her on speaker phone with her mom because apparently no one is going to get anything done today, especially Lizzie.
“There has to be a way you can pull a wedding together even if it isn’t on the grounds at Terra Marique,” Gabby says.
“Mom, we just don’t have the emotional energy to devote to planning an even smallish wedding right now, and we’re okay with it. It will take so much time that we don’t have to plan all the details. We really need you two to be okay with it too. Jack and I are okay. Okay?” She thinks that sounds pretty convincing.
“That’s a lot of okays,” Peter jokes. “Gabby, dear, I think we need to let them do what they want to do and we all need to get to work. Don’t you need to go pick up Sophie from preschool soon?”
“Yeah Mom, don’t leave your granddaughter the last to be picked up at Kid’s Cove,” Lizzie says, knowing how hyper-responsible Gabby is and hoping that will end this call.
“Fine, I know when you two are giving me the brush-off,” Gabby says. “As long as you’re happy I’m happy.”
“Thank you for caring so much, Mom, I really do appreciate it, Now I have to work.” Lizzie says, glad to have to stop pretending to be happy and work.
A short time later she looks up from her laptop, “Dad, I know you’re not a Twitter, I mean X person, but have you seen any of the chatter that’s going on about this lawsuit?” Lizzie asks as she’s intently reading her phone. “I keep trying to find something we can dig into, something about their company, their businesses, but I’m not finding anything.”
“There’s nothing, huh?” he says, getting up from his side of their partner's desk to look over her shoulder.
“I keep hitting dead ends, but I can’t believe these guys are squeaky clean, and how did they find Billy and Bud? They’re not exactly on anyone’s radar.”
Peter walks back to his chair. “You think we should keep exploring this and write something about it?”
“I’m thinking about it. I’m also wondering if we should hire a freelancer so it doesn’t appear to be biased in any way,” she says. “We’re both so close to this story it might reflect badly, and I know I would have a hard time being completely unbiased.”
“Yeah, me too,” says Peter. “Do we even have any freelancers around anymore? It’s been so long since we’ve hired anyone.”
“I’ve seen a young guy hanging out at Sea Coast who I chatted with a few times, he lives here now and freelances for a few papers off-Cape, like the Sentinel. I don’t know his name, but I can pop over and see if he’s there. It’s worth a shot.” She gets up and takes her coat off the rack. “I could also use some coffee, you?” She asks, picking up her purse and heading to the door.
“No thanks, I’ve got enough adrenaline coursing through my body right now.” He turns to his computer, “I’m going to see if I can find out anything more about these developers while you’re gone. Wish me luck,” he says.
“Luck!” she calls out as she leaves. The fresh air feels so good she decides to walk the couple of blocks to Sea Coast. Her mood brightens when she spots Sean, Ben and baby Ollie taking a little stroll on a chilly, but sunny Main Street. There is nothing like a baby to help you forget how crummy you feel. Especially a baby holding a daffodil he has apparently plucked from the bed outside the bank.
“Oh my gosh, has it been so long since I’ve seen you that Ollie has now officially become a walker?!” she says, hurrying to reach them. “Look at you!” she crouches down by the toddling baby, who immediately hides behind Ben’s legs, peaking out at her before hiding again and giggling. “I have to say it, because you won’t, I’m the worst godmother in the world, I am a complete stranger to him, he doesn’t even know me.” She stands up and hugs them both.
Ben laughs, “He’s like that with just about everyone these days, don’t take it personally,” he says, trying to reassure her. “And the walking thing? It seems like it happened basically overnight. One moment he was crawling and then he pulled himself up and within like, three days he was walking!”
“I haven’t spent a lot of time with many babies,” says Sean, “but I think this proves he is the absolute smartest and most advanced baby in the world.” He smiles.
“Absolutely!” Lizzie concurs. “I could have told you that months ago, it has always been evident to me!”
Ben and Sean look at each other a little nervously, “So is what we’re hearing true? That Terra Marique has been shut down and Jack is being sued?” Ben asks. “If you don’t want to talk about it–”
“No, it’s fine,” Lizzie says. “Word has definitely gotten out. Hopefully it’s all going to be resolved, but it’s a hot mess right now, and…,” she pauses. “Did you also hear that Jack hit Billy?”
“Yeah, and let me say? Everyone we’ve talked to says they applaud him and think someone should have done it years ago! Not that violence is ever a good idea, but…” Ben says.
“I haven’t been here very long, but even I know what a pain in the butt that guy is. He gave us a hard time about putting a sign at the end of the road directing people to the inn. I mean, it’s beautiful, nothing gaudy or ugly, he just likes to hate everything,” Sean says.
“He sure does,” says Lizzie. “He’s like the Grinch whose heart is two sizes too small,” they all laugh. It’s a relief to laugh. “So there’s something else you might hear a rumor about,” she starts to say.
“Oh no! You and Jack did not break up!” They say in unison.
“No, I came close, I have to admit, I panicked about history repeating itself, and I was scared. But we talked, and we’re good. But we decided there’s no way we can both find the time to focus on planning and executing even the small-ish wedding we’d envisioned right now, so we’re postponing it.” She grows quiet and shrugs. “It’s fine, it’s really fine, it will all work out. It’s going to be fine.”
“Okay, that’s a lot of fines, which makes it really hard to believe you,” Sean teases. “That stinks, we know how excited you were. You really don’t think you can do it?”
Once again Lizzie smiles and brings out her plucky attitude, “Jack is going to be so wrapped up in getting this lawsuit to go away, handling the investors, the crew, and I know I’m going to be really busy managing the press and keeping the paper going… Oh! Speaking of which, do you two know the guy who I see writing at Sea Coast a lot? Mid-20s? Tall, seems really nice?” She’s happy to talk about anything but the wedding.
“Yeah, he actually stayed at the inn when he first got here and couldn’t find a rental,” Sean says. “His name is Eric Jackson, he’s from Philly, really nice guy. He was finally able to find a small apartment above the bridal shop. You know how hard it is to find rentals here.”
“Yeah, it’s impossible,” Lizzie agrees. “Hence the need for Terra Marique. Anyway, we’re looking for someone to maybe do some freelancing for us. All of us - me, my dad and Stan are too close to Jack to be able to cover this story objectively. You think he’s a good writer?”
“The Times, The Guardian, Sentinel and others seem to think so,” Ben says. “I’ve really liked his stuff, he’s very thorough.”
“That’s what we need,” Lizzie says. “I’m going to see if he’s in there, and if not, can I get his number from you guys?”
“Of course,” Ben says. Ollie seems to have tired of pushing his stroller back and forth around them, almost hitting a passerby, and is ready for this chat to end. “We’d better get going,” he gives Lizzie a big hug. “Anything you need, just call us, and not just about Eric, okay? We’re with you, one-hundred percent, okay?”
“What he said,” says Sean pointing to Ben.
Lizzie gives Sean a hug. “Thanks guys, that means a lot.” She bends over and gives Ollie a kiss on the head. “And you and I are going to have a playdate sometime very soon,” she says.
They all wave each other off and head their separate ways. Lizzie walks into Sea Coast and scans the place for the man she now knows is Eric, but he’s not there. She's disappointed but then heartened and also nervous when she sees Alexis. Talking to her will be the true litmus test of how good a liar she can be.
“Hey friend!” Alexis says, standing up and giving Lizzie a hug. “How’s it going?”
“I’ll tell you in a minute, let me get a tea.” She takes her coat off and puts it on the back of the chair, “Can I get you anything else?”
Alexis shakes her head, “I’m good.”
Lizzie is back in a minute with her tea and two scones, “I couldn’t resist, these were warm, right out of the oven, and I can’t eat alone.”
“You are diabolical,” Alexis says, “and I’m grateful for that, thank you!” They each dive into the warm pastry. “Oh my goodness, this is perfection, orange and cranberry are a very good mix. So, enough about scones, how are you?”
“Good…good-ish,” Lizzie keeps eating her scone. “I woke up planning to cancel my wedding,” she says somewhat nonchalantly.
“What?!” Alexis practically chokes. “What do you mean you were ‘canceling your wedding’?”
“Just what I said. I met up with Jack planning to call it off, but we decided in the end not to.”
“Okay, Ms. Journalist, don’t do that to me! Don’t bury your lede!” Alexis takes a sip of her coffee and sits back. “So you promise me, it’s all good now?”
“I’m sorry, that was mean. I should have told you that first, but it was sort of fun to see your face. Yes, it’s all good. Sort of good. We’re postponing it for a while. Which we both agreed to. We don’t have the bandwidth to make it all happen right now, so instead of slapping something together and rushing through it we’ve decided to wait for a little bit,” Lizzie hopes she sounds fully on-board with the plan.
“I want to throttle all those involved in this stupid lawsuit, they are screwing up the lives of so many people, and for what? It’s pure spite and nothing else,” Alexis says.
“Yup, there’s no real merit to any of this. Hey, enough about this, let’s talk about what’s really important. How did things end with Ian last night after he showed up? Are you going to see each other again?”
Alexis looks down at the table and Lizzie can see a small smile. “Well, we did have a quick kiss, it was a little awkward since he had Tyler driving him, and he was on crutches, so it wasn’t the perfect romantic scenario, but we did kiss, and it was nice.”
“Nice? Just nice?” Lizzie asks.
“Stop it!” Alexis is looking embarrassed, and looks around to see who’s nearby. “Fine! It was more than nice, but I am not going to elaborate any further, so there,” she says, feigning a smug attitude.
“Fine, I will not ask anything more about your kiss,” Lizzie says. “But I’m very happy for you, I haven’t seen you look like this in a long, long time.”
“Look like what?” Alexis asks, curious.
“Like the girl in the romcom whose meet-cute is working out,” Lizzie says.
“Ha! I’ve never considered myself the star of a romcom, but I have to say, I wouldn't object to a happily ever after in my life.”
“You totally deserve a happily ever after…So are there plans for another date?” Lizzie asks.
“It’s a little bit of a work thing, but we’re getting together later to discuss the film he’s doing about Terra Marique. He wants to include this twist in the story. We’re meeting up at his place because of course, he can’t drive,” Alexis is quiet for a minute. “I’m not sure if that’s really a date?”
“It’s definitely a date,” Lizzie says.
“He said he’d make lunch. He apparently loves to cook, so I guess it is a date. Albeit a work date.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Lizzie sees Eric Jackson arrive and start setting up a table with his laptop, coffee and sandwich.
“Hold that thought, I need to talk to that guy over there,” Lizzie says getting up.
“Eric?” Alexis says.
“Yeah, you know him?”
“He comes in all the time, he’s a really nice guy. You looking to hire another writer?? Alexis asks.
“Not full time, but to freelance for us about Terra Marique,” Lizzie says.
Alexis gets up, “Come on, I’ll introduce you,” she says leading the way.
“Hey Eric, I wanted to introduce you to one of my best friends. Lizzie Martin, this is Eric Jackson.
Eric stands up, “Hi Lizzie, it’s really nice to meet you, finally!” he says, shaking her hand.
“Finally, huh?” Lizzie laughs. “It’s nice to meet you too. I’ve seen you here writing, and I should have introduced myself, I’m sorry for that.”
“Please, sit down,” he says, gesturing to the two empty seats at his table. He closes his laptop. “No apology needed,” he says. “I’ve been aware of who you and your dad are for a while and have been meaning to come by and introduce myself. It’s always nice to meet other working journalists. We’re such a shrinking population.”
Lizzie sighs, “Sadly, that is way too true.” She’s never hired a freelance writer before and is a little nervous. She can’t help but think their little weekly paper is not in the same caliber of the national and international publications he writes for.
Alexis knows her so well she can see what’s going on and jumps in. “Not sure if you saw anything today about the injunction that’s been filed against Jack Cahoon and Terra Marique?” she asks.
“Yeah, I did. Wow, I’m so sorry about that, Lizzie. It seems to have come completely out of left field. I’ve followed the project since it was first brought to the town, partly because I was on my own desperate search for a place to live, and have been so fascinated by the whole project. This totally stinks.”
“It does stink, Eric,” Lizzie says. “Look, I know we’re just a small town weekly, and you write for all these much bigger papers and magazines, but I need someone who isn’t personally connected to the project, like my dad and I are, to write something for us about this lawsuit. I know we’re not–”
“I’d love to,” he says without hesitating. “I was considering pitching something to the Sentinel or the Times, about this, but it would be great to investigate this for the community that it’s actually impacting.”
“Are you kidding? You’d really do something for the Gazette?” Lizzie is stunned, she didn’t expect him to say yes, at least not right away. “I can’t even…”
“Stop, you have created something amazing–well, recreated–your father is a legend in my book for starting a newspaper, and for keeping it going on his own for so long while everyone else was getting swallowed up by corporations,” Eric says. “Your commitment to an independent and local voice is so admirable. I’d be honored to write for you.”
“They are the greatest people around,” Alexis says. “You will love working with them.”
“I’m sure I will,” Eric says. “So what are you thinking?”
“The main thing I’m thinking is ‘thank you’!” Lizzie says. “Okay, so this company has been around for a long time, and in the little bit of digging I’ve done, I just can’t help but feel there’s something off. They have had a lot, or it seems like a lot, of bankruptcies and yet they’re still getting financing? It doesn’t make sense.”
“It doesn’t,” Eric says. “I've done some other finance stories and their names come up here and there, and not in a great way. I have several contacts, and I’m betting since this is a green nonprofit they’re trying to kill, there are people who would like to talk.”
“That would be great,” Lizzie says. “I’m not sure what your usual rate is, but please know we do have amazing investors who are one-hundred percent behind us, so please don’t feel you can’t ask for what you need. We will cover any travel you have to do, like if it means going to New York or anywhere else.”
“Thank you, I appreciate that. I will be very fair, I promise you,” he says. “Do you have a deadline in mind?”
Lizzie looks at Alexis, “Yesterday?” she says, and laughs. “As soon as you can get us something, it could be a series, we could run stories as you have them ready to go.”
Eric nods, “Okay, I’m almost done with the story I’m working on now, and the next one can be pushed, it’s an evergreen, so by tonight I’ll start making some calls and see where that leads. Sound good?”
“It sounds great, thank you so much, Eric, this is such a relief,” she and Alexis stand up. “Alexis, do you have his contact info?” Alexis nods.
“No worries, I’ll send you an email with my phone number and we’ll be in touch, ” he says, as Lizzie shakes his hand,
“Thanks again, I’ve got a really good feeling about this.” Before she leaves she asks him a question that has been eating at her. “You are so good, it seems lots of papers would want to have you on staff. I’m curious why you choose the freelance life?”
He smiles at her, “You are not the first person to ask that. I’m still young, and I want to pick and choose what I want to work on. If I was on staff at a major paper I couldn’t be saying yes to this story, I’d be writing what they want me to write. That’s why.”
“Got it, I can certainly understand that,” Lizzie says. “Thanks for doing this for us, I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with.”
Eric nods, “Me too. Alexis, thanks so much for the introduction!”
“Always happy to network in our little community,” she says.
Lizzie takes her coat off the back of the chair and puts it on. “I can’t wait to go tell my dad that we’ve got someone. Someone amazing. Thank you so much for helping facilitate that, friend.” She gives Alexis a hug. “And don’t forget, I want to hear all about this lunch Ian is making for you.”
“Oh, I will let you know! And for the record? You were right.” Alexis says.
“About what? I’m right about so many things,” she jokes.
“I do really like him, I hope he’s everything I think he is, Lizzie.”
“So far the Magic 8 Ball looks like it’s pointing to a big yes, but the good news is, no matter what, you know you’re awesome and you are fine.”
“You’re so right, friend. We are always good, guy or no guy,” Alexis says.
“And don’t forget– he’s the lucky one here,” Lizzie says.
“So is Jack.”
“Heck yes, those are two lucky men,” Lizzie says, feeling her heart sink a little. “We are total catches. Love you, talk later,” she says as she heads to the door.
“Love you too!” Alexis says to Lizzie, who just missed seeing the look on Alexis’s face. The ‘she’s hatching a plan’ look. Lizzie also doesn’t see Alexis pick up her phone and make a call as soon as she’s out the door. Nope, she doesn’t see any of that.