Sweetheart Cottage (Cranberry Bay #1) (15 page)

Rylee picked up Maddie’s hand. She entwined their fingers together. “I’m not going to press charges,” she said.

Maddie poked her head out of her blanket cocoon and looked into Rylee’s eyes. She slipped the blanket off her shoulders and embraced Rylee in a large bear hug. “Thank you.” Her words were muffled as she buried her face against Rylee’s shoulder.

Rylee gazed above Maddie’s head at Bryan, and the emotion reflected in his blue eyes ripped straight into her heart. She understood the hurt she’d caused Bryan by leaving.

Bryan shrugged off his black jacket and hung it over a small hook along the back wall of the pub. Rain dripped down the windows of the empty room. Suzanne wiped down the front counter. Behind the bar, Tom towel-dried a thick whiskey glass and talked to Suzanne.

Bryan slipped into the hard, wooden seat of the back booth and pulled out his riverboat casino file from his black bag. Butterflies raced in his stomach, and he took a couple deep breaths. His research was solid and impeccable. The facts were clear. If they didn’t do something to save Cranberry Bay, the town would become only another pass-through, used-to-be town on the way to the coast. There wasn’t one person on the City Council who would argue that the town didn’t need to be saved. It was just a matter of whether his idea would be the one to start the ball rolling.

The pub’s front door opened, and Sawyer strode in. He shook droplets of water from his shoulders and nodded to Suzanne. Sawyer held up two fingers. Tom poured a couple of tall glasses of microbrew and handed them to Suzanne. She followed Sawyer to the back table. Bryan shook his head as Suzanne placed the beer in front of him. Suzanne gazed at Sawyer, the same attraction mirrored in her eyes Bryan had seen all his life when women looked at his older brother. Sawyer nodded to her but didn’t smile. Bryan wasn’t surprised. After Sawyer’s wife had died, he’d buried himself far away from ever risking his heart with anyone again.

Sawyer reached into his pocket and slipped out a twenty-dollar bill, but Bryan pushed it away. He placed his credit card on the table. “It’s on me.”

“Should I hold onto this for a couple more rounds?” Suzanne waved the plastic card in the air.

“No.” Bryan shook his head. “City Council meeting tonight.”

“Right.” Suzanne nodded. “I heard it’s going to be a good one. Be right back.”

Sawyer picked up the glass and took a long drink of beer. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and frowned as he set his glass down.

“This flavor isn’t as good as last month. Might have to give this a miss.” He wiggled his eyebrows at Bryan. “Everything ready to go for tonight?”

“Looks like it.” Bryan tapped his right finger on his file. He jiggled his foot against the floor. His knee hit the table’s hard bottom in a thump, thump.

“I’ve talked to Councilmen Matthews and Councilmen Bickerman. Both of them are ready with their yes votes. It took a bit of persuading to convince Councilwoman Dawson, but she liked the idea of using the boats for a fund-raiser for the Community Kids Fund. I couldn’t get ahold of the other two council members, but I figured you had the mayor’s vote in the palm of your hand.”

Bryan took a long swig of his beer and nodded. “Cole has promised me his support.”

He reached into the file and pulled out the one-page bid contract between himself and Sawyer. His hands shook slightly as the words blurred.

Sawyer tapped the type on his business letterhead paper. He leaned back in the booth and crossed his hands over his chest. “Looks like I’ll be writing a check soon.”

“I want to talk to you about the funding.” Bryan swallowed.

What he was going to say would jeopardize the entire project, but he had to say it. He had no choice. He had to obtain the funding through his own means or through corporate sponsors. He needed to prove himself worthy in the eyes of the town, his family, and Rylee on his own, not on a bet with his older brother.

“Don’t tell me you’re pulling out?” Sawyer lowered his voice. He leaned toward Bryan.

Bryan’s chest heaved. He heard his father’s words in Sawyer’s: Both of them always confident that without their support, he’d never succeed at anything. Bryan remembered the first time he played on the community baseball team. Dad had leaned down and said to him, “As the coach’s son, the referees will look the other way at some things. You understand?” Bryan understood that day as well as he understood Sawyer’s words now; Without his father and his older brother, success would elude him.

But Bryan thought it was time to prove otherwise. “I am pulling out of the bet.”

Sawyer whistled. “You’re calling off the bet and refusing the funding which is giving you at least three votes on the council, and it’s less than thirty minutes before you walk into the meeting to present this idea? Your idea is resting on my support for passage.”

“It’s time I prove myself on my own worth and merit, and not on handouts from you.”

Sawyer took a long swig of his beer. He traced a pair of initials with his thumb and stared hard at the carved words. “Every year, on Ginger’s birthday, I sit at this table. She would have been thirty-five.” He shook his head. “Thirty-five. When we were kids, it seemed like forever. Now it seems like we were robbed of all we could have been together.” Sawyer’s voice broke.

“I’m sorry,” Bryan said, quietly. “I didn’t think when I picked this table. I should have remembered…”

Sawyer looked up at Bryan, the pain etched deeply in his eyes. “You love Rylee.”

Bryan swallowed hard. He had tried so hard to avoid falling in love with Rylee again. But he’d known from the minute he saw her that he still loved her. Every moment they spent together only verified what he’d known in his heart; he’d never let her go. She was his first and only love. “I don’t think I ever stopped.”

“I’m giving you the money for the boats,” Sawyer said. “I will be your first corporate sponsor. I believe in this dream of yours, and I think it’s a good one. It won’t solve all of Cranberry Bay’s problems, not by a long shot. The elementary school may still have to close, but it’s a start, and I want to stand behind you.”

“Thank you.” Bryan said, knowing that the exchange of money was much more than about saving the town. It was about saving love, and he wouldn’t let pride or the scars of the past get in the way of moving forward with his future.

“We’re family,” Sawyer said. He took the last drink of his beer. His dark eyes searched Bryan’s face. “Family is there for each other, even if we don’t always agree.”

Bryan drained the rest of his beer and wiped his mouth. “You know, speaking of family. I’m concerned about Mom. You were right. Her health isn’t good, and she won’t see a doctor.”

The words spilled out of him, and his shoulders lightened. For the first time since Dad had died, he felt relief. It was time to work as a family and not as one-man shows trying to outdo each other.

“Why don’t we meet for breakfast tomorrow at my house with Lisa?” Sawyer asked. He glanced at his gold watch and stood. “I’ll call Adam and, we will all sit down and see what we can do. Between the four of us, we could always be pretty persuasive with Mom.” He gave a quick smile to Bryan. “I’m glad you said something.”

“Of course,” Bryan stood and reached for his coat on the small hook on the wall. “We’re family.”

Sawyer grinned at him as the two strode to the front of the pub. They ducked into the dark, rainy night and headed to the brick city building at the top of the street.

* * *

Five minutes later, Bryan followed Sawyer into the small meeting room. Every seat in the house was filled. A group of people lined the back wall. Sawyer squeezed his shoulder. “Go get ‘em.”

Bryan swallowed hard. He studied the faces of the people he’d known all his life. The town was depending on him to bring forward a new vision, a new idea for how to bring Cranberry Bay back to life. Carefully, he moved through the crowded room. He stepped over a sleeping child with a teddy bear clutched to his chest and threaded his way to the front of the room, where Cole motioned toward an empty seat. He’d tossed a dark coat over the backside, saving it for Bryan. Up in front of the room, Katie, Gracie, Ivy, and Lisa bent over a small computer. Sasha fiddled with cords. Tom Dawson stared at the overhead screen. He frowned and shook his head at the women’s attempts to bring up a slideshow.

A light, familiar laugh caught Bryan in the chest. He looked up to see Rylee
talking to Beth Dawson, their heads bent in conversation. Rylee smiled and tapped Beth’s arm as if the two had been friends for years. Beth Dawson was one of the hardest votes to win on the council. Yet, it seemed Rylee had found a way to capture her vote for the vintage market project.

Bryan tried to push his way through the throng of people toward Rylee and Beth, but Tom Davis stepped up to the podium. He tapped a brown wooden mallet.

“Seats, everyone. We’ve got a full house tonight and a big docket. It looks like all of you want to see some new ideas move into Cranberry Bay.”

The room exploded in applause and cheers as Bryan sat down in the saved chair. A small hand with painted nails reached down and removed a small jacket placed on the seat next to his. Rylee slipped into the chair beside his. Bryan couldn’t help grin. Cole had done a great job saving him a place.

“First up,” Tom said. “Katie Coos. The Vintage Holiday Market.”

Katie straightened and walked to the microphone. Her full-length deep red skirt swirled around her. She wore a sparkling white V-neck top and looked as if she’d just walked off the pages of a holiday magazine. In front of Bryan, Sawyer leaned forward, his elbows on his knees.

“I’d like to propose a Holiday Vintage Market in Cranberry Bay,” Katie began, her voice shaking only slightly. “Lisa is going to show you what a vintage market can look like, as well as how something like this can impact tourism.”

Bryan leaned back in his seat as Lisa’s colorful PowerPoint flashed on the large screen. A couple of women in the audience let out small sighs at the sight of festive booths covered with vintage lace, ribbon, and baskets. After a few minutes, Lisa and Ivy switched places at the podium. Ivy talked about how hosting a vintage market with vendors from all over the Pacific Northwest would encourage tourism rates to rise in Gracie’s hotel, increase beverage and food purchases at places such as Sasha’s bakery, and increase the number of people and amount of revenue coming through their small town.

Beside him, Rylee sat very still. Bryan lifted her hand and wound their fingers together. She turned and smiled. The cottages would also play nicely with the vintage markets. They could easily be used as short-term rentals for those working in the market.

Ivy explained how the old stuff of Cranberry Bay, currently tossed in her shop in a random way, could be reused and repurposed. She finished by stating that Rylee’s cottage staging would be showcased in a national magazine, bringing more attention to Cranberry Bay and beginning to brand the small town as one known for its vintage appeal.

After finishing to a smattering of applause, Tom stood and asked for any opposition. Sawyer raised his hand and when called upon, asked where the market might take place. Rising to her full height, Katie stepped to the podium and announced it would be in her barn, on the edge of town, with the appropriate permitting of course. Katie’s eyes flashed at Sawyer and the room hushed, no one wanting to relive the moment of a few years ago when Katie had to fight to have her store permitted, and Sawyer was the main opposition. He had a client who wanted to bulldoze the entire downtown core and bring in a series of flashy new bowling alleys. This time, Sawyer only nodded and sat down as Beth Dawson raised her hand from the seat at the council table.

“I have one question for you. Who will sell the goodies?”

Sasha scurried to the microphone. “Beth, we all love your homemade treats and know the roadside stop could not do without them. But,” Sasha continued, her voice hardening. “I am the only licensed bakery in this town, and I am the one who caters events. Katie has requested my services.”

Beth pursued her lips as a frown deepened between her eyes. Rylee leaned forward on her elbows, and Bryan drew small circles on her back, reassuring her.

“Come on, Beth,” Tom took his place at the microphone. “We all love your treats, but you have to admit Sasha’s cheesecakes are better than anything you can find in Portland or Seattle.”

“Her birthday cakes are the best!” A woman near the back of the room exclaimed.

“She comes up with things at the last minute.” A man in the front of the room stood and spoke without the microphone. “I was in a real bind the other day with Thanksgiving and a whole house full of guests. Sasha made up three pumpkin pies for our family gathering when our stove went out.”

“Her son helps too,” Jeff said from the back of the room as Sasha’s face flushed. “She wants to give the young people of Cranberry Bay an opportunity to learn about business.”

“The Youth Program will still sell the baked goods at the Craft Fair.” Beth crossed her arms over her plump chest.

“That’s fine,” Sasha said, the smile evident in her voice. “We wouldn’t want it any other way. We were hoping to have the vintage market at the same time as your Craft Fair. It will draw more people to both our events.”

“Mmmm…” Beth Dawson said, “I can’t see anything wrong with that idea.”

“Good.” Tom tapped the wooden gavel. “If there are no more questions or comments. I’d like to propose we take a vote for the council. All those in favor say aye.”

Six voices were raised from the front table in an aye vote.

“Opposed?”

The room was silent.

“Good.” Tom pounded the gravel. “The motion carries. Ladies, you have yourself a holiday vintage market. Katie, be sure to put in the proper paperwork to get the permit on your barn. We’ll see what we can do about moving things along quickly for you.”