Our Now and Forever (Ardent Springs #2) (21 page)

Before Snow could say she didn’t know who the guy was, Caleb approached the two men at the bar and exchanged greetings. Neither Wes nor his buddy looked put out by the intrusion, which was good, since she’d hate to see her husband stomped into a speck of dirt by the potential bodyguard.

When Caleb motioned for Snow to join them, she grabbed Lorelei’s hand. “You’re coming with me.”

Lorelei stumbled behind her saying, “I guess I am.”

“Mr. Tillman,” Caleb said as the pair approached, “this is the woman I’ve been telling you about.”

Snow took the older man’s hand and tried not to look like a swooning moron. Wes was even better looking in person. Tall and lean with broad shoulders and the baby blues that donned every album cover he’d ever had. A bit of gray showed along his temples, and was likely more prevalent beneath the black Stetson. He smelled like a masculine waterfall, if that was possible, and most of all, the man looked genuinely happy.

“It’s nice to meet the little lady I’ll be singing with tonight.”

Lorelei took that opportunity to smack Snow on the arm. “Are you shittin’ me? You sing?”

Why was she friends with this woman again? Snow held on to as much dignity as possible as she said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Tillman. This is my friend Lorelei. I believe you know each other.”

“Hi,” Lorelei said, looking like a twelve-year-old meeting her favorite boy band. “We worked together on the Ruby festival.”

“Yes, I remember you,” Wes said. “How’s the theater project going?”

“We’re off and running, thanks to you and your generosity.”

“My pleasure.”

“Snow, this is Judd Farley,” Caleb said, motioning toward the larger man. “He owns the Second Chance Saloon.”

So much for the bodyguard theory. “Hello, Mr. Farley,” she said, taking in the scarred-up bar, neon beer signs, and deer heads mounted on the walls. “Nice place you have here.”

“I doubt
nice
is the word most would use, but it has character.” A friendly grin peeked out from the wiry red beard that covered the bottom half of Farley’s face. “Caleb here says you’ve done some time in Nashville.”

“I did,” she answered. “But I’m not cut out for that business.”

Wes said, “Even the ones at the top aren’t always cut out for the business.”

“You did pretty well,” she said with a smile, liking the man’s down-to-earth nature. Though Snow didn’t like that Caleb had gone behind her back to arrange this, she knew his intentions had been in the right place.

“That was a whole lot of luck and a hefty dose of too stupid to give up.”

“It paid off, and as one of your fans, I can say we’re glad you stuck with it.” Snow fought back the nerves as she asked, “What are we going to sing tonight?” She did a mental flip through the song Rolodex in her head, hoping he’d suggest something she remembered. Well-intentioned or not, Caleb had put her in an uncomfortable position.

“Do you know ‘You’re the Reason God Made Oklahoma’?” Wes asked.

“I do,” she answered, relieved he didn’t suggest a more modern tune, as she wasn’t a fan of the pop swing the genre had taken in recent years. “And there’s always the Johnny and June version of ‘Jackson.
’
”

Wes took Snow by the hand. “She’s the perfect woman, Caleb. I’m going to have to steal her from you.”

“My cousin might have something to say about that,” Farley chimed in. “You know, your wife?”

“Oh, yeah.” Tillman gave Snow a look of regret. “I’m afraid we’ll have to limit our relationship to the stage only.”

“That’s okay,” she said, flashing a smile Caleb’s way. “I already have a man.”

She did for now, anyway. A man who wanted to make her dreams come true. If only Caleb could build her a time machine. Maybe then she wouldn’t have to tell him good-bye.

Chapter 22

What the hell?

Late for a meeting with Spencer, Caleb had been climbing into his Jeep when a VW Bug pulled past him in the driveway and disappeared into the garage. He stood on the gravel blinking, wondering if he’d imagined the whole thing. What he thought he saw couldn’t be right. Who painted a car two different colors?

Stepping closer, he watched Hattie exit the moving art piece with several bags in her hands. Caleb couldn’t stop staring at the car. The front end was sky blue and covered with white puffy clouds, while the back end faded into a deep purple sprinkled with tiny stars.

“What did you do to that car?” he asked, spotting the circle on the roof that was half sun and half moon.

“I painted it,” Hattie said, reaching into the car for more bags.

The colors blended perfectly in the middle. “You had it painted like this?”

Withdrawing from the vehicle, she answered, “No.
I
painted it. Now are you going to help me carry this crap or not?”

Caleb hopped to attention, realizing she’d set several bags at his feet. “Yes, ma’am,” he said, collecting the groceries off the garage floor. The older woman stayed busier than a beaver during dam season, so while he had her here, Caleb took the opportunity to pay her the balance on Snow’s ring. “I have the rest of the ring money for you.”

“I thought we were doing that in installments,” she said, charging toward the side of the house. A dark ball cap teetered on her gray curls, and the usual giant sunglasses shaded her eyes. “I’ve heard you’re doing well at the paper, but that doesn’t mean you have to give me all your earnings at once.”

“Actually,” he said when they reached the porch, “I had the money before I got the job.”

Hattie stopped in her tracks, spun his way, and narrowed her eyes. “You had five thousand dollars sitting around while you were in between jobs?”

If he and Snow would be making a home in Ardent Springs, Caleb thought it time to let people know the truth about who he was. At least the folks who deserved to know. “You ever heard of McGraw Media?”

“Of course I have.” Her words were clipped with offense, as if he’d insulted her intelligence.

Caleb raised his brows in answer and waited for the revelation to sink in. Once understanding lit her face, he said, “I didn’t mean to mislead you. Guess I wanted to make my way without throwing around my family’s name.”

The older woman gaped at him long enough for Caleb to grow uncomfortable. And then she laughed. Full-out, bent-over laughter. What was so funny, he didn’t know.

“Are you okay?” he asked, when the laughing faded into wheezing. Hattie waved her hands in some communication Caleb didn’t understand. Was she begging for help? Did she need a doctor? He prayed she wouldn’t need mouth-to-mouth.

“This is hysterical,” she said as she straightened. “I offered a McGraw a job at a newspaper.” Removing the sunglasses to wipe tears from her eyes, Hattie added, “We must be the dinkiest operation you’ve ever seen.”

“The
Advocate
is
small.” Caleb couldn’t argue that. “But I wouldn’t call it dinky. You run a solid operation with a lot of history. That paper offers an irreplaceable service to this town. Not all papers can say that.”

Her laughter diminished to a chuckle as she propped the sunglasses on the bill of her cap. “Are you defending my own paper to me?” she asked. Then before he could answer, she said, “You really like it over there, don’t you?”

“Yes, ma’am.” He liked his job, but he liked being part of the community more. And Caleb really liked that whatever respect he’d earned had been on his terms, and a result of his hard work. Not because of who he was, who his father was, or how much his family was worth.

A broad smile stretched the wrinkles along Hattie’s pale skin. “I’m glad to know my instincts are still as sharp as ever.” She drew the screen door wide and shoved the interior door open. “I had a feeling about you from the moment I caught you nosing around my garage. Though I guess my money sniffer is on the fritz. I didn’t see that coming at all.”

Caleb followed her inside. “To be fair, my dad has all the money. I mean,” he corrected, “I have some of my own, but he runs the company. He’s the man behind McGraw Media, not me.”

“If what Wally tells me is true,” Hattie said as she set her two bags at the bottom of the stairs, “you could take over the family business tomorrow and not miss a beat.”

He appreciated the compliment, but Caleb had no desire to be handed a conglomerate anytime soon. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather keep doing what I’m doing.”

“And we’d like you to keep doing it, too. I was worried there for a bit, as we got closer to Gerald’s retirement.” An unpleasant expression crossed her face. “Don’t know what that man is thinking. He’s going to be bored out of his mind inside of a week.”

Caleb added his bags to the ones Hattie had set on the floor. “I don’t know about that. His wife has already booked them on a Caribbean cruise for January, and then she’s dragging him to Europe for two weeks at the end of March.”

“Dolly has been wanting to travel for as long as I can remember. Back in high school she was always talking about the places she’d go after graduation.”

“You went to school with Mrs. Nichols?”

“Yep.” Hattie plopped down on a step and rummaged through one of the bags. “We’re all Ardent Springs class of
’
49.” Looking up, she added, “We were a mighty foursome.”

Gerald had mentioned that he and Dolly were high school sweethearts, but the two of them plus Hattie equaled three. “Did you say foursome?” he asked.

Hattie grew serious, a rush of loss filling her eyes. “Jack was my beau,” she said. “We lost him in Korea.”

With those simple words, the pieces fell into place. Miss Hattie had never been a Mrs. because she never got the chance.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Caleb said, out of his depth on how to console the elderly woman.

She took in a deep breath and let it out, shaking her arms as she did so. “Ancient history. So you want to pay off the ring?”

“Yes.” He pulled his wallet from his back pocket and handed over the check he’d written earlier in the week. “I had the ring appraised to make sure I paid you what it’s worth.”

Lifting the reading glasses from their ever-present chain, Hattie squinted at the slip of paper. “But this is two thousand over my asking price.”

“Like I said, I want to pay you what it’s worth.” In truth, the ring had appraised at only five hundred over the original price, but the sentimental connection was worth more than that. She looked ready to argue, so Caleb cut her off. “I need to head out,” he said. “Spencer is going to think I got lost.”

As he turned to leave, Hattie said, “Tell that boy to call me. I want to add new cupboards to my craft room, and I want the same ones we put in the kitchen this past summer.” Caleb looked back to see her waving the check in the air. “I’m finally going to get the craft room I’ve always wanted.”

Delighted to see the childish joy in her eyes, Caleb said, “Yes, ma’am. Oh, and you should probably know that later today, I’m going to see a man about a house.”

With bushy gray brows floating high on her forehead, she said, “You’re full of surprises today, Mr. McGraw.” Then she narrowed her eyes. “Who are you using?”

“Ronnie Ottwell,” he answered.

She nodded approval. “Good choice. When you’re ready, see Myrna over at First Federal. Tell her I sent you.”

Caleb hadn’t planned on taking out a mortgage, but he kept the fact to himself. “I’ll do that, thanks.”

He’d taken two steps toward the door when Hattie asked, “Does that mean we’ll be having a wedding soon?”

Preferring to keep any wedding talk between him and Snow, he said, “You never know,” and made his exit before the older woman could push for a better answer.

Snow hummed a Beatles tune while she worked, pulling items that had been in the inventory long enough to earn a steep discount for the holiday season. Business had already picked up, forcing her to officially add Lorelei to the sales staff. The baker was proving to be an asset, holding down the entire store while Snow went back and forth between the sales floor and the stockroom.

“There you are,” said a familiar voice as Snow was gathering a collection of Christmas-themed dishes. “Let me see your finger.” Hattie looked as excited as a child about to open her favorite toy, but Snow had no idea what the woman was talking about.

“It’s nice to see you, Miss Hattie. You have something for me to try on?” Her landlady maintained a booth in the store with small antiques for sale, but she’d never offered a piece of jewelry before.

“Don’t be silly.” Propping her reading glasses on the end of her nose, she said, “Come on. Let me see it.”

There was definitely a miscommunication here. “Let you see what?” Snow asked, holding out her hands to show her bare fingers.

“But . . .” Hattie took Snow’s left hand, turning it over as if whatever she expected to be there might appear with a flip and a shake. “Why aren’t you wearing it?”

“Wearing what?” Had Miss Hattie’s age caught up to her? Was the woman suddenly imagining conversations that never happened?

Dropping Snow’s hand, Miss Hattie barked, “I don’t understand. Why did he—”

“Is there a problem?” Lorelei asked as she joined them.

“This little lady’s supposed to have a ring on her finger.”

“We haven’t gotten around to that yet,” Snow said, feeling as if she were somehow disappointing the older woman. Maybe she should see if there was a ring in the store that would suffice until she and Caleb could pick out something new. While she was distracted, trying to remember what she had available in the jewelry display, Lorelei whispered something in Miss Hattie’s ear that Snow couldn’t make out.

The older woman’s eyes went wide at the same moment her mouth clamped shut.

“You think?” Hattie said.

With lips pressed tight, Lorelei nodded that she did indeed think.

“Think what?” Snow asked.

“I’ve got to go,” Hattie said, backing away. “Don’t mind me, my dear. I’m old.” She made the universal sign for crazy next to her ear.

“Okay,” she said as the older woman beat a hasty retreat.
What exactly just happened?
“Lorelei,” she said, turning her attention to the person who seemed to know something Snow didn’t. “What was that about?”

“Like she said. She’s old.” Waving to an invisible customer, Lorelei added, “I’d better get back to work,” and bid a farewell of her own.

Snow wasn’t an idiot. Miss Hattie had expected her to be wearing a ring, which was fair enough, since Caleb had told the older woman that they were engaged back when he first arrived. But what had Lorelei whispered in the woman’s ear that would make her take off like that? It wasn’t as if her
fiancé
needed to spring a proposal on her. They’d crossed that bridge nearly two years ago.

Something fishy was going on, and Snow intended to find out exactly what it was.

The day had been a success. Cooper agreed, with less arm twisting than Caleb had expected, to become the cruise-in guru on the Ruby Restoration Committee. They set a goal kickoff date of late March and locked down enough details for Spencer to present the idea at the next committee meeting, which wouldn’t be for two weeks due to the Thanksgiving holiday. By the time Caleb had driven off for his next appointment, Cooper had created a contact list of every old car enthusiast he knew. Without a doubt, this would give the cause massive publicity while creating a steady income stream.

All they had to do was sell the rest of the committee on the idea, and among the three of them, that would not be a problem. He hoped. There was always Jebediah Winkle and his cronies, who attempted to stifle any idea they didn’t come up with on their own. Not that they’d offered a single suggestion that Caleb knew of.

His afternoon meeting was the real victory of the day. Not that anything was decided until Snow had her say, but he’d liked the house and hoped she would, too. Buying a home in Ardent Springs was the perfect solution to keep Caleb’s parents’ negative attitudes out of his marriage.