Page 79 of Stirring Up Love
Eunice got the door unlocked and swung it open. “Wouldn’t know, seeing as how I’ve never slept overnight in this place. Inherited it from my grandfather.”
“Oh, something you two have in common.” He bounced his eyebrows at Simone, and she elbowed him.
The woman frowned at them, clearly trying to get a read on their dynamics. “We usually have someone come in and cook weekend mornings, but since you showed up out of the blue, I’ll pick up some doughnuts for you tomorrow.”
“What about dinner? Any delivery places around here?”
How could he think of food when they were about to be sequestered in this nightmare?
“At this time of night?” Eunice chuckled. “You’re welcome to what’s in the fridge. I’d be sure and check the dates, though. Also, the stove’s temperamental.”
“Ghosts?” He sounded hopeful, the charlatan.
“Old wiring.” Eunice shot him an exasperated look. “But like I say, make yourself comfortable, and I’ll be by in the morning. Long as the ghosts haven’t chased you away.” She rasped out a hoarse laugh and shut the door behind her. A tiny shower of plaster rained down from the ceiling.
Simone immediately spun on Finn, hands slicing through the stale air. “No. Absolutely not. I will hitchhike. I will walk. But I am leaving. Now.”
Clearly he had a death wish, because he went to put his hands on her shoulders. Saw her expression and must’ve thought better of it, because he shoved his hands in his pockets instead. “C’mon, Simone. You don’t honestly believe in ghosts.”
“I believe in the fact that this place is about to fall down around our heads. I am not dying in Oklahoma, of all places.”
He tipped his head back and laughed.
“It’s not funny!”
“What’s funny is you think the ghosts are murderers. That’s not a thing.”
“Murder ghosts are totally a thing.”
“I think you’re confusing them with murder hornets.”
She crossed her arms and stared him down. He blinked first and ducked his chin. “I’m sorry. About all of this. Sorry I made you miss Alisha’s party.”
Not as sorry as she was to let her sister down. Although when she’d put in the call, Alisha had assured her everything would be fine. She’d do the spa day with the girls, then skip the club and head back to Hawksburg early. They’d do a scaled-down celebration when Simone arrived back in town tomorrow evening. Nothing she could do about it, but that didn’t mitigate the feeling of failure.
She turned on a lamp by the bed, not trusting the shadows. “To be honest, I think the party was more for me. She’s got this thriving cookie shop in the city, and now she’s getting married. Moving on in life when for so long she was stuck, and I was the one going places.” She went to the bathroom—a claw-foot tub, horrors—and flicked on that light too.
She shut the bathroom door behind her. Mirrors and all. “I think I wanted to throw her this big party with all my connections in the city to show she still needed me.” And to show she still had ties to Chicago, still had people there who cared about her. A safety net, if Hawksburg didn’t work out.
“That stupid worthless feeling ... it sneaks up on you.” He walked over to the other bedside table and raised his eyebrows in question. She nodded, and he clicked on the Tiffany lamp. “Do you miss your old life, in Chicago?”
“It took me ages to get used to the city. It felt so sprawling and anonymous. But eventually I carved out a new community in Chicago. My friends and coworkers ... that’s who I miss. But my life?” She shook her head. “My life has always been Hawksburg. But most people don’t know that. I did too good a job convincing them otherwise.” She clasped the carved mahogany post of the canopy bed for support, stress and weariness catching up with her.
“I hate the idea of selling out our town, but maybe it’s stupid to keep trying to re-create the past,” she said. “If I take the deal, at least Honey and Hickory will be a success.”
Finn was standing across the bed from her. “Success, that’s most important? Because it sounds like community is for you.”
Did he not realize he was arguing himself out of the deal? Maybe he was trying some kind of reverse psychology tactic. She rested her head against the bedpost, worn out from second-guessing his motives.
“Doesn’t matter, because community is out of reach. To most people in town, I’m just the girl who was too good for Hawksburg and only moved back because she couldn’t hack it in Chicago. I don’t think they trust my commitment. Haven’t given them a reason to.”
“I know I can’t claim the title of ‘local,’” he said with a grin. “But I heard nothing but good things about you all summer.”
“What about the people who said I wasn’t living up to Pops’s legacy?”
“I may have exaggerated.” His cheeks reddened, as they should have, for all the shade he’d thrown her way for being sneaky. “It was one old guy, and I’m pretty sure he said it out of misplaced loyalty to your grandfather. From what I can tell, the whole town loves you. I bet they’d love your expansion plan too.”
“The farmers’ market on steroids?”
