Juniper’s, the ladies were all still gathered in a tight circle around a table near the back of the room, talking quite animatedly. He was terribly curious to know what they were discussing, but he knew better than to approach the hive without an invitation. Instead, he settled his backside onto the same stool he’d sat on earlier that day when he and Penny had formed their truce. He’d wait for her there.
“Can I get you something, Ward?” Poppy called down the counter from where she stood at the sink washing her hands. She’d just finished making a whipped, frothy drink, and had spilled some in the process. Ward didn’t mind grease or dirt or even lake slime, but the idea of having sticky hands from cream and sugar made him grimace.
“Just a glass of water would be nice,” he said, glancing back over his shoulder at the table where Penny sat with the others.
She looked up at that exact moment, and their eyes met. Her smile came quick and easy, and he grinned back at her.
All five of the other women seemed to notice her reaction at the same time, and five pairs of eyes homed in on him.
“Hey, Ward St. James,” Juno called out.
He lifted his fingers to his forehead in a salute. “Hey, ladies.”
It felt a lot like being back in high school again as the six of them turned back toward each other, heads bent together, then let out a chorus of laughter while tossing not-so-subtle looks at him over their shoulders.
Ward turned back around, not bothered at all by the tittering coming from the back of the shop. For one thing, they weren’t in high school anymore, so he didn’t have to worry about messages being passed back and forth or secret codes or any of the stuff that had driven him crazy in his youth. If he really wanted to know what was going on over there, he could just walk right up and ask.
He was a man, after all. He thumped his chest with his fist and let out an ape-like “Hoo-hoo,” under his breath.
“Feeling vulnerable, are we?” Alex Frampton slid onto the stool beside him, chuckling at Ward’s pitiful alpha male display. He glanced back at the table of women, too, but only briefly. “How’s it going, big guy?”
Ward took the ribbing in stride. “All’s well.”
“Thought any more about Carpe Diem?”
When he’d told Alex about the offer from Lysha Austin, his friend had suggested he consider it. “You don’t miss this place?” he’d asked, the conversation getting serious. “What about your parents? They’re not getting any younger, and you’re going to have to face that at some point. I’m still not a hundred percent sure what you’re doing out on the west coast, dude.” He’d said ‘dude’ with an exaggerated California beach bum drawl. “That’s not you, and you know it. We all know it.”
They’d been friends since childhood, and if anyone knew him, it was Alex. But that didn’t make him right about this. “If—and I mean, if, Alex—I were to one day—and I mean one day, Alex,” Ward had said, holding up a finger to emphasize his point. “If I were to one day come back to the lake to stay, there’s no way I could not take over my dad’s company. You know that. You all know that,” he’d said, mimicking his friend’s words. “Especially to take a job across the lake. That would be a betrayal of the worst kind to my father. Carpe Diem has taken a lot of work from us locals, and that woman made it pretty clear that even operating his business on the side wouldn’t be an option. She called it a conflict of interest. I’d essentially be owned by them.”
Carpe Diem Incorporated had opened its all-inclusive resort on the north shore only a few years ago. It sat there, like a displaced, entitled monarch, peering across the water at the oddity that was the Autumn Lake town center. The company had made a lot of persuasive promises to get permission and support from the town to carve out that side of the lake, but they had made good on just enough of them to forge a love-hate relationship with the year-round residents. They’d promised jobs, but only offered low-level positions to locals, such as housekeeping and grounds and maintenance.
That, of course, caused an uproar, but they assuaged the townsfolk when they brought in a big-name housing developer, Astor & Co., to put up a bunch of fancy new homes on the outskirts of the resort property. Astor and Co, at least, made a point to use local resources whenever possible, including bringing on J&J Contractors, the only construction company in town, as part of their crew. North Shore Cottages, the subdivision was called, but the smallest one had no fewer than six bedrooms. Touted as custom homes, they all looked a lot like mini versions of the resort. There were already more than two dozen houses—still mostly summer homes for the absurdly rich—that stood in a sentinel half-circle around the resort and spilled down the length of the shoreline. With folks beginning to take up residency year-round now, however, a very small percentage of that North Shore wealth was finally beginning to trickle down into the hands of the townspeople who primarily lived on the south shore.
But the line had been drawn in the sand, and although locals worked their North Shore jobs, and the wealthy came around to the “darling little Autumn Lake town center” to spend their money on the boardwalk, at the end of the day, everyone went back to their respective sides of the lake.
The Townies and the WOOTs
It had been that way even before the resort went up—the townies and the WOOTs—but the unspoken us-versus-them attitude grew proportionally with the expansion across the water and the ballooning number of people and their watercraft in the water each summer.
People who didn’t need lodgings like the ones Hazel Poleman and Katy Lawrence offered.
People whose watercraft was taken to Carpe Diem’s marine mechanic rather than using the services of the likes of St. James Mobile Boat Repair.
Ward had been mildly curious why George had called them to get his pontoon worked on instead of using the Carpe Diem mechanic, but he hadn’t thought enough about it to ask. When Lysha did the same, it was a whole different story, but he didn’t have to ask why. Clearly, they were having trouble keeping that position filled if she was looking to hire him.
That was another red flag in his book. With the salary and perks Carpe Diem was offering, he couldn’t figure out why they couldn’t get someone from out of town to stick around. He’d done his homework—on the sly, of course—and they’d had three different guys in that position over the last four years. That kind of turnaround didn’t bode well.
“Not gonna happen,” Ward said to his friend. To his relief, Poppy approached to take Alex’s order, giving him a reprieve.
“How’s the lovely Miss Poppy today?” Alex flashed his ridiculous smile at the teenager, who blushed crimson under his attention. “I like your hair like that.”
Poppy’s hair was long and curly, and she often wore it piled in a loose, messy bun on top of her head while at work. Today, she had it in a braid that hung down her back. Ward had a feeling that she’d be braiding her hair more often after today.
By the time Alex had finished making Poppy feel like the only woman in the room, the group at the back of the shop was breaking up. And of course, they were all heading his way. Their way, he decided, noticing that at least half of them had eyes on Alex.
Ward couldn’t blame them. His friend was big and brawny, unfairly good-looking, and he knew how to make a woman smile. Alex was also hard to catch, which, apparently, made him all that more alluring to the masses.
Claire sidled up next to Alex and bumped him with her shoulder. “Hey, guys. Haven’t seen either of you in my world for a while. You know, they say reading is sexy.”
Alex grinned and pressed a hand to his chest. “I don’t know if you all could handle me being any sexier than this, Miss Claire.”
Juno, making her way around the end of the counter, narrowed her eyes at him and let out a derisive snort. “You keep telling yourself that, Alex.”
Ward shot a curious look in her direction. He was pretty sure she meant it in jest, but if he wasn’t mistaken, there was a hint of something ugly in her tone. Alex was a known lady’s man; surely, she wasn’t offended by his casual vanity. Reputation or not, Alex didn’t flaunt his conquests. In fact, in all the time Ward had been back at the lake, he hadn’t personally seen Alex spend time with any one woman in particular. He flirted outrageously with everyone: single, married—although, that might just be a rumor—young and old, but he didn’t seem to seriously date anyone.
Liz Needham approached the counter beside him and put in an order to go for her and her sister, Candy, who had moved back to town earlier that spring. She greeted him with a quick hello, but she didn’t say much else. Ward liked her; she was straightforward and matter-of-fact, and he never had to try to second-guess what she was thinking. One of the guys, he thought to himself, and then wondered if that was such a good thing. Liz did work with predominantly men, so maybe she’d gotten good at acting like them, but that didn’t mean she was any less a woman. “Something to think about,” he said under his breath.
“What was that?” Liz asked, shooting him a sidelong glance.
“Nothing.” He shook his head. “How is it having your sister stay with you?”
“I love it. She cooks a whole lot better than I do, which isn’t saying much, and she cleans up after herself. She’s entertaining, too. She’s got lots of ideas of ways I should remodel my house.” She chuckled dryly. “Who needs television when you have a kid sister, right?”
Addison and Penny were approaching slowly, arms linked as they talked, and on Penny’s other side, Candy had her phone out and was showing them something on her screen. “Sharing some of her ideas?” Ward asked, nodding his head toward them.
Liz turned to watch the trio, too, but the smile she wore was one of affection. “She’s got lots of ideas, period. Ninety-nine percent of them are totally worth considering. She’s a good egg, that sister of mine.”
The look on her face made something inside Ward’s chest squeeze. He’d felt a variation of that kind of camaraderie with friends, he supposed, but as an only child, he’d had to go looking for it. There was nothing like family, though, and even the best of friends drifted apart, or lost contact altogether. Family, unless it was broken, was different.
As a child, Ward would have given anything to have a brother. Even a sister. His parents had each other. He was always the outsider in his own home. The extra. Oh, they’d never intentionally made him feel that way. In fact, they’d gone to extremes to make sure he knew he was loved, wanted. But facts were facts, and they couldn’t be refuted. When they put him to bed at night, they’d go snuggle on the couch together without him. When they sat down for meals, Ted and Rachel opposite each other, there was always an empty seat on the other side of the table from Ward. When they got in the car, the two of them held hands over the console in the front seat, and Ward sat behind them, wondering if he’d ever belong to someone the way they did to each other.
“She’s got plans, that girl,” Liz continued, apparently not noticing Ward’s distracted silence. “I’m just lucky to get to be her biggest fan.”
“And she’s lucky to have you.”
Liz grinned and propped one boot on the foot rail that ran the length of the counter. “Well, I’m not going to argue with you, there.”
Penny came up behind Liz and circled her arms around her in a tight hug. “Thank you for bringing your sister today, Liz. I just love you both so much!”
Addison hung back, but Candy squeezed between Ward and Alex and greeted them both with her bubbly personality. “Hello, you two handsome stud muffins. How were your days?”
And suddenly, he and Alex were surrounded by half a dozen lovely women. “This is every man’s dream,” Alex declared, spreading his arms wide as though trying to embrace them all at once.
Across the counter, Juno rolled her eyes.
Penny laughed, a little shyly, Ward thought, but raised her hands to get everyone’s attention. “You’re all awesome, and I’m sorry I have to kiss and run, but I’ve got to go. I’ll confirm with Hazel tonight, but barring any unforeseen catastrophe, I’ll see all of you out there on Wednesday morning, right?”
They all agreed, and Ward, taking that as his cue to leave, stood and offered his stool to Candy.
“Hope you enjoy your exotic meal tonight, Ward St. James,” Claire cooed, peering around Alex at him.
“And the sunset drive home,” Candy added with a wink.
So Penny had told them about having him over for supper. Or Juno had. He wondered if she’d also told them about the not-so-great way they’d hit it off.
Penny blushed, her cheeks going that pretty pink color, but she gave as good as she got. “I’m trusting you all, ladies. Friends don’t let friends ride home with creeps, right?”
Alex guffawed and smacked Ward on the back. “She’s got your number, bro.”