Rose Harbor in Bloom (6 page)

“Great, thanks,” I said, and collected the slip. Hailey left for the day with a promise to return the following afternoon.

I’d no sooner put Rover’s leash away when the phone rang. I still had to get to the Chamber of Commerce meeting. “Rose Harbor Inn,” I said, and glanced at the clock on the office wall, hoping this wouldn’t take long.

“Hello, this is Annie Newton, Kent and Julie Shivers’s granddaughter.”

I found it interesting that Annie felt the need to introduce herself every time we spoke. In the last six months Annie had been over to the inn twice, making preparations for her grandparents’ fiftieth-wedding-anniversary celebration. At one time she’d considered holding the entire affair at the inn itself, but it soon became apparent that the inn wouldn’t be large enough for the two-hundred-plus invitations she planned to mail out to family and friends.

“I’m calling to see if it would be possible to come over to the inn this afternoon rather than tomorrow morning the way I’d originally planned.” Her voice trembled with the request. If we hadn’t spoken previously, I might not have noticed, but I certainly did now.

“Is everything all right?” I asked.

“Yes, yes, of course, well, actually, no, I’m a bit shaken at the moment. I think I might have mentioned that I broke off my engagement six months ago.”

She hadn’t, but I wanted to encourage her to continue. “I’m sorry, Annie. It must have been a huge disappointment for you.”

“Yes, it was … It is. Lenny called today, and we argued, and I thought it might do me good to get away.”

“If you want to come over early, that won’t be a problem.”

“Great.”

I could hear the relief in her voice.

“That would work nicely. My grandparents will arrive tomorrow morning sometime, and I want to be sure and be there to greet them. I thought it might be a good idea to review all the events I have planned with them beforehand.”

“I spoke with a family friend of yours, I believe,” I told her. It seemed I wasn’t the only one who’d been upset by a phone call that day.

“A family friend?” Annie repeated.

“He phoned earlier today to book a room. Apparently, he’s driving your grandparents from Oregon.”

Annie hesitated. “This … family friend didn’t happen to mention his name, did he?”

“Well, yes, I’ve got it written down here on the reservation. It will take me just a moment to bring up the file.”

“Never mind. It doesn’t matter,” she said, and sighed heavily as though this was another piece of unwelcome news.

From everything she said, Annie wasn’t having a good day. “Your room is ready, so if you want to come this evening, that’s fine. Only …”

“Yes?” she asked with more than a hint of anxiety.

“I planned to be away for part of the afternoon. What time were you figuring to arrive?”

“Oh, take your time … I could easily kill a couple of hours.”

“You’re welcome to arrive anytime, Annie,” I assured her. Seeing that I already had her credit card information, I added, “Tell you what; I’ll put your room key on the kitchen countertop, so if you arrive before I return, you can go right up to your room.”

“Are you sure that won’t be a problem?”

“None whatsoever, although I should let you know that I have another guest, so if you meet up with her, just explain who you are.”

“Will do.”

I noticed, right away, how much lighter her voice was now. I didn’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out the discussion with her ex had upset her. Annie had enough to deal with taking care of the details with her grandparents’ anniversary. If she had mentioned the broken engagement earlier, then it had slipped my mind, although this wasn’t a detail I was likely to forget. Knowing this about Annie helped explain why she’d thrown herself into the project with such enthusiasm. I’d come to like the other woman and respected her organizational talents. She’d seen to every detail of this family gathering, working with local caterers, the florist, and the city for permission for the renewal-of-vows ceremony to be held at the gazebo on the waterfront. She’d told me repeatedly
how she wanted everything perfect for her grandparents. Now I knew that she’d also needed a distraction.

If it wasn’t for the Chamber meeting, I might have taken a few extra minutes to chat. I was later than I wanted to be already, having gone to deliver the cookies to Mark.

We said our good-byes and I grabbed my purse and petted Rover’s ears on my way to the front door. He didn’t like it when I left the house without him. The moment he saw me getting ready to go, he’d raise his head, and when he didn’t see the leash, a sad woe-is-me look would come over him and he’d rest his chin on his paws and mope. But then by the time I returned home, he’d be over it and greet me as though I’d been away far too long and been terribly, terribly missed.

“I’ll be back before you know it,” I promised my faithful friend.

As I came out onto the porch, I saw Mark busy at work in the garden once again. Hesitating on the top step, I paused and smiled, grateful that I’d made the effort to settle our differences even if I’d been the one to make the first move.

Mark must have heard the screen door close, because he looked up, and when he saw it was me, he leaned against the pitchfork. “Where you headed off to?” he asked.

“Chamber meet and greet,” I said. Thanks to Peggy Beldon’s advice, I’d joined as soon as I moved to Cedar Cove, and attended every meeting. I enjoyed the camaraderie among the business owners. We encouraged and supported one another. Come to think of it, I’d never seen Mark at any of the get-togethers. He had his own business and would benefit from the association.

“How come you’re not a Chamber member?” I asked.

“Who says I’m not?”

Good point. “I’ve never seen you at the meetings.”

“I don’t go.”

“Why not?” In my humble opinion, it would do him good to be a bit more sociable.

He shrugged. “For one thing, I got more than enough work to keep me busy as it is. For another, I don’t go for chitchat and exchanging business cards. If these people would spend half as much time working on building up their businesses as they do on schmoozing with one another, they wouldn’t have time for all these social niceties.”

“You’re just Mr. Personality, aren’t you?”

He grinned and nodded. “I don’t have time for all that stuff. You want me to work on your garden or head off to some cheese-and-crackers get-together?”

“Work on the garden.”

“My point exactly.”

Mark grinned again. Twice in one day; this was amazing.

“I won’t be long,” I promised him. “Another guest might show up in the next hour or so. I left her room key on the kitchen countertop.”

“What about the woman sunning herself on the side porch? What’s her story?”

“Mary Smith? I don’t know.”

“She okay?” He frowned, looking toward my guest.

“She’s under the weather,” I told him. “So if she gets a bit prickly, ignore her. I think the flight must have drained her. She seems to need the rest, so don’t take it wrong if she snaps at you.”

“Not to worry, I’ll snap right back.”

“Mark,” I warned, “be nice.”

“I will,” he promised, and I was off.

Because most everything is a convenient distance from the inn, I chose to walk to the Chamber meeting. The office building was right off Harbor Street. It wasn’t really a formal meeting as such; those were held once a month at noon at a local restaurant. The Chamber of Commerce had recently changed locations, and this was an invitation to come and view their new digs. I supposed this was a casual open house of their own.

By the time I arrived, the building was already crowded. The first person I saw was Grace Harding, the local librarian. She’d become a friend and a great source of information for me. Having lived in Cedar Cove her entire life, it seemed she knew just about everyone in town. In addition, she’d been a widow for several years before remarrying, and because of that she’d sort of taken me under her wing. I appreciated both her friendship and her advice.

It’d been a while since we’d last talked, although I saw her often enough at the library, but lately that was only in passing.

“Jo Marie,” she said, walking toward me. She held out both hands in greeting.

“Grace, it’s so good to see you.”

“You, too. How’s Rover?”

“Loyal as ever,” I supplied.

“I’m glad you decided to keep his name. It suits him.”

I’d gone back and forth with the idea of giving him a more dignified, catchy name. First off, Rover was such a plain, rather overused dog name. I wanted to be more original, clever. A name like Buttercup. Grace and her husband, Cliff, had donated a fenced area for the rescue dogs to run, in memory of their beloved golden retriever who had become Grace’s faithful companion after her first husband’s death.

Buttercup.

What a wonderful name for a pet. By comparison, Rover seemed dull and unimpressive. The fact that he’d been roving around was another reason I continued to toy with the idea of renaming him. Rover had a home now. I, too, had been a rover of sorts in my own right, and like my dog, I’d found a safe harbor.

“Rover is doing well? No problems with him toward the guests?”

“None whatsoever.”

Her face relaxed. “Wonderful.”

Digging the remaining invitations out of my purse, I handed her
two. “I’m hoping you can come and bring Judge Griffin with you. Here’s a couple more if you can think of anyone else I should invite.”

Grace looked over the invitation. “I’d love to see what you’ve done with the inn. I know Olivia would as well.”

“Then come. I’d enjoy showing you around.” I hesitated to mention the rose garden. Despite the fact that Mark and I had patched up our differences, I was sorely disappointed that the rose garden remained unfinished.

“I’ll look forward to it,” Grace said, and tucked the invite into the side pocket of her large handbag.

“Grace,” Sheriff Troy Davis called out to her. He spoke with another man I didn’t recognize and looked over to the librarian.

“If you’ll excuse me,” Grace said.

“Of course.”

By the time I left the meet and greet I’d handed out all the remaining invitations and had several business owners assure me they would be stopping by Sunday afternoon. Both Peggy Beldon and her friend Corrie McAfee offered to help with anything I needed done. I thanked them, but at this point, I had everything under control—or so I hoped. I promised to call them if it became necessary.

The first thing I noticed when I got back to the inn was that Mark had left and Annie Newton had arrived. Her car was parked in the driveway. Mary was no longer on the porch, and I had to assume it’d become too chilly for her and she’d moved inside.

My faithful Rover was waiting at the door when I came into the inn. And after the usual I’m-so-glad-you’re-back routine in which he jumped and yelped and raced two or three circles around me, he hurried into the living room area to make sure I knew an additional guest was in the house.

I found her sitting on the sofa in front of the unlit fireplace, staring into the empty pit.

“Hello, Annie.”

She glanced up with a surprised look on her face. Apparently,
all the racket Rover made hadn’t alerted her to the fact that I’d returned. When she saw it was me, she smiled. “Thanks for letting me arrive early.”

“It wasn’t a problem in the least.” I set my purse inside my office and returned. “Did you meet my other guest?”

“Mary Smith, right?”

“Right.”

“She said she was feeling tired and went up to bed. I hope she’s okay.”

“Did she mention anything about dinner?” I asked. If she wanted, I could order a meal and have it delivered. For that matter, I could cook for her myself.

“No. I don’t think she’s up to eating just yet.”

“Probably not. She’s still on East Coast time, and the flight must have tired her out.

“I was about to brew some tea. Would you care to join me?”

Annie paused for just a moment and then nodded. “I would. Thanks.”

Annie was a lovely young woman with auburn-colored hair and deep green eyes. I envied her long, thick hair that fell halfway down the middle of her back. If she wanted to, she would probably qualify for one of those shampoo commercials, with cascading hair down her backside. She followed me into the kitchen, and as she sat on a stool I noticed she had a wadded-up tissue in her hand. It was apparent the phone call with her ex-fiancé continued to trouble her. I understood far too well how she felt.

I made busywork around the kitchen, assembling a pot of tea. “I’m a good listener if you want to talk, Annie,” I said casually. I didn’t want her to think I was pressuring her, but we’d developed a good rapport over the last six months.

“I’m over him,” she said. “I really am. If I’m sad, it’s because of what we might have had together. My mom said I was in love with being in love, and I think she might be right.”

“Moms are like that, aren’t they?” I said as I slid onto the stool on the opposite side of the counter from where Annie sat. “They seem to know us better than we do ourselves.”

Annie studied the marble countertop as if finding sense in the meaningless wandering pattern of the veins there. “Lenny remains under the misconception that I’ll change my mind. I did once before, but I won’t again.” She said this with the same determination I’d heard earlier.

I poured us each a mug of hot tea and waited for Annie to continue, if she wanted to. Although I couldn’t help being curious, I wouldn’t badger her with questions.

After a moment, she reached for the mug and cradled it in her hands as if she needed its warmth. “It’s for the best.”

I sipped my tea while I continued to give her my attention.

“I love … loved Lenny. Funny, isn’t it? I loved him enough to want to be his wife. Then I learned while we were dating that he’d been with another woman. As soon as I heard about what he called his ‘little slip,’ I broke off the relationship entirely. Over time he managed to convince me to give him another chance.”

“And you did?”

She nodded. “Then, six months ago, it happened again. That was it. We were through. I broke the engagement. The first time around I didn’t tell my parents. My family liked Lenny. He’s fun and personable, and, looking at him, he seems to be the perfect guy.”