Page 7 of Here With You

“Wait a minute,” Marybeth said. “All I’ve done is be neighborly.”

Charlotte raised her hand. “And all I’ve done is follow your rules.”

Cricket came by with the tub of ice cream and a whole pecan pie. “The rumors are spreading. So far, we’ve got one table speculating that you tried to hook up with Miles again, and he turned you down. Two tables bet that you read the travel article in today’s Gazette about the critic coming to Willow Bay, and you’re afraid The Brown isn’t up to snuff.”

“Excuse me?” Em’s jaw dropped. She should have been appalled that anyone would think she couldn’t hook up with Miles McClintock again, but what shocked her the most was the news about the travel critic, or that anyone would think The Brown isn’t up to snuff. “Someone is coming to The Brown?” She knew many travel critics by name and tried to remember the guests visiting in the next few weeks. No one stood out. “Do you have the paper?”

“It ain’t free,” Cricket said.

“Add it to the tab, then split it between those two.” She pointed at Marybeth and Charlotte. “They owe me.”

Cricket walked away, and Em smiled. This was a great distraction. “Can you believe a travel critic is finally coming to Willow Bay?” Her family had been waiting for a lifetime to be written up as the best place to stay in Texas, but their little town was a dot on the map and grabbed little attention. The critics focused on areas like the California wine country or bed and breakfasts in Vermont. “I can’t believe it. I finally have a chance to make my family proud.”

Her friends stared at her like she was one of these screaming goats she always saw on the internet.

Marybeth gave her a pitiful look. It was the kind she gave to a parishioner at a funeral—an I’m-sorry-for-your-loss-expression. “Have you lost your ever-lovin’ mind? Honey, no one in your family is here to see it.”

“Maybe they’re in heaven looking down at me?”

“Honey, we’re talking about your family here.” Marybeth didn’t need to elaborate. Her family wasn’t known for their pious behavior.

“I’m here, and it’s important to me.”

Charlotte picked up a fork and dug into the pie. “I’m with Marybeth on this.”

Cricket dropped off the paper, and under Trixie’s Travels, she found the article and read it twice.

“It says a famous travel critic will come in the next few weeks to see what Willow Bay has to offer.”

“It doesn’t say they’re staying at The Brown,” Charlotte said. “We’re a tourist town with lots of options.”

Em blew air through closed lips and waved that notion away with a brush of her hand. “There’s only one option, and that’s The Brown Resort. Everything else is substandard.”

“Don’t forget about The Kessler. Your family tried to dismiss them for decades, and you see how that worked out?” Charlotte frowned. “Did you meet Miles looking like that? You don’t even have any makeup on.”

Em didn’t want to talk about Miles or makeup. Something big and exciting was coming her way. “What does it matter? I’m not looking to impress Miles, but if you must know, I was made up. Ollie licked it off.”

“Who’s Ollie?” Charlotte asked.

Though she acted irritated about the dog earlier, in hindsight, she had to admit the entire situation was funny. “Miles’s dog.”

“Cute little bugger,” Marybeth commented.

Em rolled her eyes. “He’s one of those furry yellow ones that probably drools as much as he farts.” She covered her mouth to quiet her laugh. “He attacked me.”

“And you’re laughing?” Charlotte asked.

Em shrugged. “Yes, because Miles claimed he was well-behaved. It just shows you what a poor judge of character the man is.”

Marybeth looked at her with a pinched expression. “Don’t forget he once chose you.”

“And you chose him until you chose your family and that stupid resort instead,” Charlotte added.

Em jammed her spoon into the ice cream. If they were going to revisit old hurts, she’d need sugar. Before responding, she ate two heaping spoons of ice cream and three bites of pie. “I didn’t have a choice. He screwed up everything. Who does that?”

“A man with integrity,” Marybeth answered. “He risked everything so you wouldn’t join a family who was as dirty as the soles of their boots. And you left him when they disowned him because he no longer had his family’s fortune to offer.”

She knew that’s what everyone in town thought, but it wasn’t the whole truth. She was a Brown and was raised with one rule that trumped all others. You did what your daddy said, and her daddy forbid her to marry Miles after that catastrophe. If she’d left with him, her father would have disowned her. Would that have served any of them well?

---