Chapter 6
Kaiah spent Monday morning multitasking. She googled everything she could about Coral Cove, wondering if she could convince
her editor that this lovely town would charm readers the way it had her. But every few minutes, without fail, her thoughts
would suddenly flit to Reid and the romantic lighthouse sunset they shared.
How could a man that thoughtful, that kind, that gorgeous still be single? By his own choice, probably. He and Piper had obviously been through a lot.
Too bad I have to leave them soon.
Wait. What?
Ky, you just met them. Of course you’re going to leave them soon. You can’t stay here. That’s, like, something a stalker would
do.
She’d known Reid and Piper for barely two days.
But after spending forty-eight hours with them, she felt so comfortable, as if they’d spent a lifetime building an archive of memories and inside jokes.
Kaiah was still surprised that she’d opened up to Reid about her mom and her weird family dynamic, not to mention Hayes.
She’d never shared such intimate details about herself with a man she barely knew.
She scrubbed her hands down her face. “Maybe I’m losing it,” she whispered. “I for sure need a vacation when I finish my next
article.”
When she picked up her phone from the table, she found it was almost noon. Surely Bill knew by now when he’d have the parts
to fix Daisy. The sooner Kaiah got back on the road, the better. She’d just head on over to the auto shop to get the latest
news, then head out to savor the warm April sunshine. After all, it was cloudy back in New York. If she was stuck in Nowheresville,
at least she could enjoy the great weather.
She lifted the window shade facing the driveway and saw that the Suburban wasn’t there. Reid must’ve had some errands to run.
She ignored the disappointment that bloomed inside her. He doesn’t exist just to give you rides, Ky.
Instead, she requested a ride through her Uber app and, a short ride later, arrived at Coral Cove Car Care. She hurried to
the counter, where Bill spoke on the phone. He nodded a greeting and finished his call before addressing her.
“Ms. Ross,” he began, “I was going to call you.”
“Oh?” Hope bloomed within her. “You were able to find parts for my car?”
“Well, I have good news and bad news.”
She bit her lower lip.
“The good news is that I located the parts.” He frowned. “The bad news is that they won’t be here for a few weeks.”
She blinked and then blinked again. “I’m sorry, did you say a few weeks?”
“Unfortunately, I did. The parts are coming from Great Britain, which means it’ll take a while to get them.”
Kaiah rubbed her forehead. This was not how she expected this conversation to go. “Any chance I can drive slowly to South Carolina and make it?”
“You want to take an overheating car on a five-hour ride?”
“Not a good idea, right?”
He shook his head. “Not unless you want to do even more damage and wind up stranded.”
“Right.” Her head started to spin as she ran through alternatives in her mind. She could rent a car, go to South Carolina,
write her article, and then return to Coral Cove to pick up Daisy, but the cost of renting a car was astronomical these days.
For sure it’d be more than her budget allowed. And if she had to come back to Coral Cove, that meant another detour and delay on her way to Florida, which would lead to spending more money she didn’t have.
What if she took Kam up on her loan offer? Then she could rent the car and go down to South Carolina, but asking her sister
for money was so humiliating. She was twenty-six years old and needed to get her life in order instead of—
“Ms. Ross?”
“Huh?” Kaiah’s eyes snapped to his. “Sorry.” She cringed. “I was just trying to figure out what to do now.”
The older man pressed his thin lips together. “I tried to find parts that would be here sooner, but I came up empty.” He paused.
“Would you like me to go forward with putting the order in?”
“I would. Thank you.”
After signing a few forms, Kaiah walked out to the parking lot and sat down on a bench. A warm, gentle breeze caressed her
cheeks as she looked out toward the lighthouse. She longed for a beacon like that to show her where to go.
She pulled her phone from her backpack purse and considered calling Kamryn to give her an update. But at this hour, Kam was probably busy with clients at her accounting firm. No matter what she was up to, Kam had much better things to do than listen to her sister whine about her predicament.
Unlocking her phone, Kaiah pulled up Reid’s number. She could text him and ask for his advice, but he most likely was ready
for her to leave so that his life could get back to normal. He, too, had better things to worry about.
The weight of anxiety pressed down on her shoulders as she let her head fall into her hands.
She was stuck in the middle of nowhere for the next few weeks.
Weeks!
All her plans were ruined. What was she going to do now?
After taking a few minutes to sit quietly on the bench, Kaiah sat up straight and shook her head. That was enough time spent
feeling sorry for herself. Chin up, her mom used to say whenever her daughters were despondent. Kaiah had to keep her chin up and act like the adult she was.
Now she just had to figure out how to solve this predicament.
Reid crossed the parking lot toward his Suburban.
“We’re not giving up,” Becca insisted. “This town needs that festival, and we’re going to make it happen, no matter what the
committee said.”
Reid blew out a deep sigh. At his twin’s request, he’d met her at the Coral Cove Historical Society that morning to discuss
the town’s spring festival, and the meeting had not gone the way he’d hoped. Despite Reid and Becca making a case for how
important the festival was, the board still insisted that years of low attendance were forcing them to cancel it.
“And how do you think we do it, Becks? Do you have a few thousand dollars lying around that we can use for the marketing budget?”
“No,” she snapped. “But there has a be a way. We just haven’t found the solution yet, so we’ll just keep trying stuff until
we do.” She looked out toward Main Street and then back at him. “I’m going to talk to the mayor, and then I’ll call the president
of the PTO. I’ll call you later.”
“Sounds good.”
Becca pulled her phone out of her pocket and began punching buttons. “Hi, Claire. Is Mayor Whittington available? Yes, I’ll
hold. Thanks.”
As he climbed into his car, Reid heard his phone ding and was surprised it was a text from Kaiah. He thought maybe she would’ve
asked for a ride today, but he was disappointed he hadn’t heard from her all morning.
Kaiah: Any chance you can pick me up from CC Car Care?
Reid: I’d be happy to! I’ll be there in a few.
He motored to the other side of town and spotted her sitting outside the shop. The deep crease in her brow told him something
was wrong, and his stomach tightened. Hopping out of the SUV, he met her at the bench.
“Thanks for coming,” she said while her fingers moved over the straps on her backpack purse.
“No problem.” He sat beside her and angled his body toward hers. “Everything okay?”
She released a sigh that seemed to have filled her whole body, and she slumped back against the bench. Her defeated expression reminded him of when Piper had missed a dance step at her recital last year after practicing for weeks leading up to the performance.
“The parts for my car are coming from Europe, which means they’ll take a few weeks to get here. I don’t know what to do now. I could rent a car, but that doesn’t seem too smart considering how much the repairs
are going to cost me.”
Reid picked at a loose piece of wood on the bench as a plan clicked into place. He glanced at his phone. It was almost twelve.
“Are you hungry?”
“Uh.” Her pretty blue eyes widened for a moment. “I guess so.”
“Let’s go to lunch.” He stood.
She studied him. “Okay . . .”
“I think I might have a solution that’ll help us both out.”
“I have a proposal for you.”
Reid and Kaiah sat at a table overlooking Coral Cove Bay in Frank’s Seafood Grill. She folded her hands on the table, her
gorgeous blue eyes focused on him. “I’m listening,” she said.
He licked his lips as he gathered his thoughts. “I’ve mentioned how much the spring festival means to our community. It’s
been a tradition here for more than a hundred years, and for the most part, it’s always been a revenue generator for our little
town. This year we were counting on the festival to raise money for renovations on Coral Cove Elementary School after the
fire.”
She took a sip from her glass of water. “You mentioned that.”
“The festival is only weeks away, and now the committee wants to cancel it. Attendance has been pretty low for the past few years, and we don’t have the marketing budget to promote it the way we need to.
” He rested his fingers on the table. “Here’s my proposal: You can stay in the apartment above my garage for free for as long as you need to.
And in return, I was hoping you’d help us promote the festival.
Maybe write a few articles to generate some interest.”
She was silent for a moment, and Reid held his breath.
“Let me get this straight,” she began. “You want me to write a few articles about Coral Cove and the festival. And you’re
not going to charge me a dime for staying in your house? For as long as I need to be there?”
“Exactly,” he said. “It’s a win-win, Kaiah. You can save a few bucks on lodging while helping us breathe some life into Coral
Cove—not to mention help some schoolkids. Who can say no to helping the kids?”
She nodded slowly.
He gestured around the restaurant “Think of it this way: This is just the next installment in the Hidden Gems series, right?
I think our coastal town fits with the theme.”
That earned him a lopsided grin. “It sure does.”
“So what do you say, Kaiah?”