| |
“All right,” Jake said a few moments later. “Feel like we derailed the conversation. Nat, we’re here to help you. So if everyone’s finished eating, let’s get started.”
Nat stared, her breakfast roiling in her stomach. “Well,” she said, her voice trembling as she looked around at all of them. “I ... I really don’t know what you can do, but I want to thank all of you for your concern. I appreciate it so much.”
“Just wait,” Mase said, his hand covering hers. “We’re gonna lay it out, assess and then brainstorm. And I have a feeling you’re gonna be surprised as hell by the skills and smarts right here in this room. Trace is in finance, Carlie’s in computers, Daisy does sales, Dack, Teri and Kai are business owners, and Sara is smart as hell. Dave knows River Ridge people, and so do I.”
She could only nod. He was right, they were an impressive group.
“As I understand it,” Dack said, his deep voice gentle, “You have two locals giving you problems, Nat. Cassidy Roden and Buzz Allen. You wanna tell us what it’s all about?”
She took a shaky breath, and looked down. “This is so embarrassing,” she said.
Mase squeezed her hand. “Baby. Everyone in this room cares, everyone’s willing to go the distance to help. I know this is hard, but you gotta lay it out so we know where we stand and what needs to be done.”
She looked into his steady gaze, gathering strength. Then she nodded. “Okay.”
She told them all of it, from Tony’s cheating, Buzz’s involvement and attempted seduction, her leaving Tony, his death and Cassidy’s subsequently losing her mind and blaming everything, including Tony’s death, on Natalie. All of which Buzz now seemed to be goading Cassidy to bring up all over again, in the worst way.
“So now,” she finished, “River Ridge seems to be solidly behind both of them. I can’t get advertisements, I can’t get into the fall festival and I can’t get local customers. I can’t even get the pizza place next door to walk across the parking lot and deliver pizzas.”
“That shit is wrong,” Dack said.
Daisy nodded, her green eyes sparking indignantly. “So wrong. And we’re gonna stop it.”
“I have an idea to start,” Mase announced. He turned to Nat. “You and your staff were wearing those green shirts with the Rambles logo. How many of those you have, and what sizes?”
“Well,” Nat said. “I ordered five of each size, from small to extra-large. It was cheaper that way and I figured I might sell a few to customers. People like bar shirts. Why?”
“You get any XXLs?”
She nodded, mystified.
Jake nodded. “Good. Then there’ll be one to fit all of us.”
“You want to wear them? When?” Nat asked.
“When we cover River Ridge, handing out flyers for your second grand opening,” Mase told her. “Which is what we’re gonna do, next Friday and Saturday. We can hit some places in Vancouver, too, if anyone has any good ideas on where. But first, I wanna focus on the Ridge. Get the town on board.”
“And one of the places we should go,” Trace put in, his quiet voice instantly commanding all their attention, “is the chamber. Stroll in, ask about the new bar in town. Put this asshole Buzz on the spot. Then move on around town, do the same.”
“I like it,” Mase said, sitting back with one arm slung across the couch behind Nat’s shoulders. “Buzz isn’t the only chamber rep in town. They have a board and a president who from what I’ve seen, barely tolerates him. We can light a match under her, it may burn right through to light his ass on fire.”
“Not sure I like your analogy,” Dave said dryly. “But the idea’s good.”
“That’s why we’ve got you on board,” Mase retorted. “To keep things watered down.”
“I can try to cool Cassidy down for sure,” Dave promised.
“For the grand opening, I think you should do a door-prize,” Daisy said. “Something hot, something we can feature on the flyers. Something to get people to the bar, so they can then discover how great it is.”
“Good idea,” Nat said. “But what?”
Sara and Kai, who had been whispering at the island, looked up.
“It’s summer, so sports,” Kai said. “And since you’re on the river, water sports.”
“You want her to give away a fuckin’ boat?” Dack asked skeptically.
Kai shook his head. “No, nothing that big. But something attractive.”
“Wait,” Nat said. She lifted her hand as she remembered. “A guy came by the bar the other day to tell me he’s opened his own business at the River Ridge marina. Those new standup board thingies. He rents them out to people who want to go out and splash around.”
“Paddle boards.” Kai grinned at her, an incredibly attractive flash of white teeth and dark eyes. “It’s not exactly new, wahine. My people have been doing it for centuries. But that’s exactly what I’m talking about. Paddle boarding’s da kine.”
“Yes.” Sara nodded enthusiastically at Nat. “Give away a paddle board and paddle. That would be a big draw.”
“Perfect,” Trace said, giving them a satisfied look. “We’ll all go in on it.”
There was a chorus of assent, with Teri and Dave joining in.
“Oh, no,” Nat protested, horrified. “You can’t do that. I’ll buy it.” She’d have to figure out how much the darn things cost, and where to get one. But maybe the guy at the marina could help her with that.
“Nat,” Mase said, capturing her attention by squeezing her thigh, his face serious. “Hold on. You’ve just been offered a gift by friends. Don’t throw it back in their faces.”
“We all go together, it won’t cost much at all,” Dave added. “And speaking for myself, I wanna do this just to get another decent bar on the map up here. I am done with Wiley’s and the In & Out. Rather stop at your place for a cold one after a shift, Nat.”
Teri winked at her from beside him. “And that way I know you’re keeping an eye on him for me, too.”
Dave grinned at her. “No worries, gorgeous. I know you got that spy network of yours everywhere. I am squeaky clean.”
Teri batted her lashes at him. “It’s true. Hair stylists have connections everywhere.”
“Don’t know about hair stylin’,” Mase drawled. “But it sounds like she’s got you by the short hairs, brother.”
The room erupted in laughter at this. Dave’s face reddened, but then he laughed the hardest of all.
“All right,” Jake said. “Sounds like we got a start. What else?”
They spent the next while exchanging more ideas. Nat took out her tablet and made herself a new to-do list. Mase took her phone and entered everyone’s phone numbers and email addresses. Carlie took on the task of creating a couple of flyers for Nat to approve. Daisy and Dack volunteered to be the shills who visited the chamber office.
“Yeah, ‘cause we all know Daisy can bullshit like nobody else,” Dack said.
Daisy preened. “I can. It’s why I am going to be such a good Realtor.”
“I have favors I can call in,” Mase added. “Ridge PD, sheriff department, other people around town.”
Dave nodded. “The hometown hero comes calling, they’re not gonna say no.”
Nat watched as Mase’s face reddened and his smile slid away. “Might as well use that bullshit.”
She was not the only one who noticed.
“Well, time for us to go,” Dack said, already rising. He winked at Nat. “Stay in touch, captain, and we’ll do this.”
Nat rose and gave both him and Daisy a hug. “Thank you so much.”
Daisy returned her hug with an extra squeeze. “Any time, girlfriend. And when this all settles down, you and Teri need to come and have some fun with Carlie, Sara and me. Girls night.”
Dack groaned. “You had to give me that to worry about, didn’t you? The five of you on the loose ... watch out, Portland/Vancouver.”
“True that,” Daisy said smugly.
The others left as well, all pausing to give Nat a hug, and in the women’s cases, give one to Mase as well. Nat felt a squeeze of jealousy as he exchanged quiet words with Sara, and kissed Carlie’s cheek, but she resolved not to show it. He’d known these other women a lot longer than her, of course he had friendships.
Maybe he’d even ‘played’ with them. Okay, not thinking about that. Nat turned toward the kitchen and hustled to help clean up the remains of breakfast
Mase walked outside to say goodbye to their guests.
Nat checked her phone to find four phone messages from her mother, all from that morning. The fourth was followed by a text from her sister telling her to call, or Wendy was coming down on the next train, and Lara would be driving her to the train station. In fact she would come herself, if she wasn’t stuck in a month-long intensive workshop for science teachers and putting in twelve-hour days.
Standing in the warm sun on Teri’s little back patio, the gold and green of a Pacific Northwest summer morning pouring down around her like a cool, fresh drink, Nat rolled her eyes at this and called her mother. “Hi, Mama.”
“Oh, there you are, sweetheart. How did your opening go?” Wendy asked, her voice anxious.
“Hmm. It was a little slow,” Nat said. “Had some problems with my publicity. But I’m looking at that as a trial run, you know? I have some new contacts and some more ideas. So we’re having our real grand opening this coming Saturday. And it’s gonna go great.”
The silence on the other end of the line said she had not succeeded in fooling Wendy.
“Well,” her mother said, “a lot of businesses open slow, then more people hear about them all the time, right? And a grand opening, that’s a good idea.”
“Yup,” Nat said. “Doing great.”
“Natalie Lynn,” her mother said gently, “never try to kid a kidder. I can hear that you’re scared.”
Nat opened her mouth and closed it. The morning was quiet around her. She could hear Teri moving around inside, the voices of a couple jogging past on the greenbelt path, and the happy barking of a small dog in the distance. And her own heart pounding.
“I am,” she admitted. “Afraid I won’t be able to pull this off.”
She heard a snort of derision, and her sister’s voice. “Natalie, for heaven’s sake, are you panicking now? After all the work you’ve done? We’re looking at your website right now on my laptop, and Rambles looks fabulous. How is this not going to work?”
Nat kicked her shoes off and walked out into the cool grass. “You think?” she asked, hating the way her voice rose uncertainly at the end.
“Yes,” her mother and sister chorused. “We do.” Picturing them side-by-side, identical looks of fierce support on their faces, Nat smiled, warmth filling her like a hug.
“And if I know you, you’ve gathered good people to help you,” her mother added. “You have a way with people. Both of you girls do.”
Lara hmmed. “Teens, I can do. I’ll leave the adults to Nat.”
“Teenagers and drinkers aren’t that much different,” Wendy said tartly. “They all think they’re ten feet tall and bulletproof.”
Nat and Lara both laughed this time. “Smarter too,” Lara said.
“And sexy,” Nat added. “So-oo sexy.”
“But my point is,” Wendy interjected, “you can do this. You’re a fighter, Natalie. You throw yourself into things and you go all out. Last time ... Tony let you down. There was nothing wrong with the business, it was your marriage that sank.”
“Yeah,” Lara said. “And this time you don’t have that dickhead dragging you down, so you’ll be fine.”
“Lara,” Wendy said gently, “He’s dead, be respectful.”
“Oh, pooh,” Lara muttered.
Natalie was processing, taking in their certainty that she would succeed, that she could succeed. “Okay,” she said, “Thank you. Love you guys.”
“Hey, baby,” Mase said behind her. “You out here all alone?”
“Who is that?” Lara demanded, her voice hushed. “He calls you ‘baby’?”
Natalie turned to face Mase, who held up his hands in silent apology for interrupting her on the phone. He was smiling at her, that sexy grin that said he’d been in there and wanted more.
“That’s just the police,” she told them. “Stopping by to harass innocent citizens.”
Mase’s eyes narrowed and his smile turned wicked, promising retribution. She tilted her head and smiled innocently at him while her insides clenched low and sweet in anticipation.
“My sister is dating a cop,” Lara gloated. “Does he have a big gun?”
“Lara Marie, behave,” their mother said. “Natalie, I want to hear all about your young man, but we’ll let you go, since it’s rude to talk on the phone when you have a guest.”
“Yeah, I wanna hear all about him too,” Lara muttered. “Vicarious thrills are all I’m likely to get for the foreseeable future.”
“And remember,” Wendy said firmly, “you can make a go of your bar, Natalie. We know you can.”
“Okay,” Nat said softly. “Thanks, both of you. Talk to you later.”
She lowered her phone and looked at Mase.
“Apparently,” she said, her voice shaking only a little, “all kinds of people think Rambles is going to be a success.”
He moved in, pulling her to his hard, warm body. “Yup. And they’re all right, so you better listen to ‘em.”
She nodded. “I am. It’s just hard, you know? What if I mess up again?”
Mase’s smile disappeared. “C’mere,” he said. “Let’s go inside. Got something I need to say.”
Bewildered, and now worried, Natalie followed him inside, and into her bedroom. He shut the door behind them, and gestured at the bed. “Sit down, baby.”
She watched as he paced over to the windows and back again. He took a deep breath, and let it out. “Nat, when you look at me, what do you see?”
“Well,” she began uncertainly, “I see a man—a good man. Successful. An officer of the law. And a hot, sexy guy.” She shrugged. Was that what he wanted to hear?
Mase walked over and sat on the end of the bed near her. He leaned over, bracing his elbows on his thighs, hands clasped between them.
“You wanna know what I see when I look in the mirror?” he asked her, turning his head to look up at her. His gaze was wary but determined. “I see a screw-up. A kid who’s never gonna amount to anything because all he wants to do is show off for the crowd, get the laughs, the applause.”
Nat had to bite back a nervous giggle at this, because Mase did like to show off for a crowd, in a very personal way. But as his words sank in, she was dumbfounded. This cocky, outgoing, even heroic man saw himself in that poor of a light?
“Why?” she breathed. “Mase, where on earth is this coming from?”
He looked at his clasped hands. “I was a wild ass when I was a kid. Mostly just stupid shit. But, when I was fifteen, got caught with a girl under the bleachers at a local football game. In the worst way possible. We were fooling around, kept going further and further. I fuckin’ loved the thrill of knowing we might get caught. Liked that a lot better than her, to be honest. Anyway, I got in there—and about that time, we did get caught, by the local deputies in charge of security for the game.”
Nat winced. “Ouch.”
“Yeah,” he said, shaking his head. “It was ugly. Embarrassed the fuck out of her and her parents. If she hadn’t been sixteen, I might’ve been nailed for statutory rape. But the worst part was, my parents were there that night. So of course they were called on to deal with me. My dad lost it—told me I’d always been a little showoff and that’s all I’d ever be, that he was done trying. That if they wanted to haul me off to juvie, he’d let ‘em. Luckily, they didn’t.”
Nat laid her hand on his shoulder. “Well, it was a stupid thing to do, but ... teenagers do stupid things all the time. That’s part of being a teen.”
“Most of ‘em don’t humiliate their parents in front of the whole town,” he said.
“I think a lot of them do,” she retorted. “Only their parents are smart enough to separate themselves from their children’s actions. Geez, your dad—” She broke off, biting her lip. It wasn’t her place to say things about Mase’s father, no matter how self-righteous the man sounded.
“Yeah,” Mase said. “I know that now. But my point here, baby, is lately I finally realized that I can know logically that I’ve grown up, made something of myself, and still not feel it. Still not act on it, when it comes to personal shit.”
He sat up straight and took her hand in his warm ones, looking her in the eye. “I couldn’t sleep after we were together that last night at Dave’s. Got to looking at myself and didn’t like what I saw.”
She opened her mouth to protest and he shook his head. “No, I mean, about the way I treated you, Nat. I finally realized—and this is wussy as hell, so don’t interrupt—I was scared shitless if I let you in, you’d see I’m not really worth your time. That I’m still nothing but that showoff kid.”
She waited, clinging to his hand. “But then you showed me you liked performing a little too,” he said with the ghost of a smile, “So if you can accept that part of me, and join in, maybe you can deal with the rest of me too.”
“Anyway,” he added, “just wanted you to know I’m done pushing away the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time.”
“Oh, Mase.” Natalie felt as if he’d just handed her diamonds and roses. And then asked her to leap off a cliff with him. And she wasn’t sure there was a net down there for this.
“And,” he added, “maybe you can stop looking at yourself as a girl who can’t hold onto anyone or anything worthwhile.”
Nat lost her breath as the profundity of his words sank into her chest.
“You’re a strong woman, Natalie,” he said. “Strong enough to take on just about anything life throws at you, or takes away from you, and come back fighting. And this thing with Rambles? This is just another battle—one you can win.”
He sealed his words with a kiss.