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EMILY PRACTICALLY RAN out of Tate’s and headed outside to her parked truck. Earlier, she was too distracted and in a hurry to recognize the attractive, friendly blonde helping her load the lunch containers into her truck. And, as much as she tried to tell herself she forgot today was Lucy’s closing day, her efforts were pointless due to Chelle’s constant reminders and updates on the sale of the house and Lucy’s imminent arrival. Emily didn’t forget. Subconsciously, she wanted to run into her. She cursed herself for letting Chelle talk her into a bourbon after work today. When she saw Lucy walking toward her, looking as if she hadn’t aged a day, Emily felt like the awkward, star-struck teenager she had been when Lucy dated her brother Abe in high school.
As Emily drove to the family farm, she wondered if Lucy recognized her. Emily didn’t look anything like she had in high school, and it wasn’t as if they ran in the same circles back then. As small as Little River was, teenaged Emily had felt a vast distance between the homecoming queen and the tomboy in 4-H. Still, the distance between them hadn’t kept Emily from noticing Lucy. Even if Lucy hadn’t dated Emily’s brother Abe, it would have been impossible for Emily—or anyone in town—to be unaware of Lucy back then. She served as both senior class president and homecoming queen the last year she lived in Little River. In such a small town, a light like Lucy Anderson shines too brightly to ignore. And now she was back, outshining everyone again.
She wondered if Lucy would swoop in and disrupt her friendship with Chelle, just like she had when they were kids. Chelle and Lucy were on the homecoming court together, and Chelle turned to Lucy for advice on everything from who to ask to escort her to what kind of hairspray she should use. In Emily’s mind, Chelle becoming a homecoming maid and meeting Lucy had been a turning point in their adolescent friendship. Early in the fall semester when court nominations went out Chelle won the spot for her class. Suddenly, she became more interested in dating boys than she was in competing against them in 4-H or riding horses with Emily. Despite passing each other every day in the halls, they rarely talked except on the phone. And even when they did talk, Emily felt the distance growing between them as she listened to the boring details about what Lucy said or what color lipstick she thought went best with Chelle’s skin tone. She later realized she was not only trying to hold onto Chelle but also trying to be in Lucy’s orbit, even if Lucy seemed unaware of her existence.
The summer after Lucy and Abe graduated, Chelle tried to take Emily under her wing, mistaking her interest in all things Lucy for an interest in wearing makeup and fashionable clothes. But once school started again, Emily turned back to her beloved shop class and 4-H activities and gave up trying to be such a girlie girl. Later, when Chelle sat on the homecoming court as a senior, someone other than Emily took her spot as the junior maid. Now that she had a new protégé, Chelle quickly gave up trying to change Emily, and the two girls grew further apart. Despite the fact Lucy was gone by that point, Emily always felt she was responsible for the hiatus in her friendship with Chelle.
When Emily moved back home after college, she and Chelle became friends again. This time, they accepted one another as they were. In a town as small as Little River, people learned to love each other, even if they didn’t always understand each other. And, Chelle had been a huge support for Emily when Jillian left. Still, Emily couldn’t help but worry with Lucy back in town that old patterns would repeat themselves. When they did, she’d be pushed aside again, just as she had in high school.
As Emily drove down the two-lane county road to the farmhouse she grew up in, she thought about the look on Lucy’s face at Tate’s. When Chelle approached the council with the idea to bring Lucy back to town to run a writer’s colony, Emily initially balked. She argued that more likely than not, Lucy would breeze in and get the community excited about it only to leave once the initial fanfare ended. She’d argued with the decision to invite her back, saying, “She’s not coming back to live here. This is a way for her to flaunt the money she’s made writing stories about our little hick town. Trust me; she’s not going to stop her fancy writer’s life to move back here. Where has she been for the last 20 years?”
Despite Emily’s arguments, Chelle pitched the plan well, including how the colony could be a testing ground for some of the projects the county extension office—which Emily headed—hoped to do later. “Think about it—there’s the old garden plot out there. Lucy will need some help with that sort of thing. It’s a perfect Master Gardener project. And, with all that space, I’m sure you could talk her into using Crafton House for 4-H meetings and community meetings.”
Emily stood her ground, countering with, “And what happens if she just hires staff and runs it from afar? Do we really want people treating our town as a vacation spot?”
“God, yes,” Chelle responded before she caught herself. “Trust me, since this is a business, the town council can apply stipulations and enforce codes. If she hires staff to run it, at least that’s more jobs here for locals. Let’s not get all caught up in nightmare scenarios about this turning out badly. Let’s give this a chance.”
Outside of the meeting, Emily asked Chelle if Lucy had a family or partner coming with her. Chelle didn’t know, and between the two of them searching, they’d found very little about Lucy Anderson’s private life. Chelle finally stopped trying to find the answer, saying, “She still goes by Anderson, so maybe that’s an indicator she’s single?”
Emily simply shrugged and said, “Who knows? I mean, Jillian and I would have kept our family names if we’d gotten married. Lots of people do.”
When they met for drinks at Tate’s, Chelle mentioned Lucy showed up at Crafton House alone, but she wore a gold band on her left hand. “I didn’t push. I think we should wait and see who, if anybody, shows up. She didn’t mention anybody, though.”
Emily frowned. “Well, if she’s got someone and they are not with her at closing and not on the paperwork, our friend Lucy isn’t looking to make a life in Little River; she’s just doing business. No surprise there, really. She took off and never looked back. Why should we expect she won’t do it again, once she has what she wants?”
Chelle shrugged. “Give it time. She’s not said anything to me indicating she’s not staying. Hell, can you imagine what she’s going through with a move back here? She probably isn’t sure what she wants right now in the long term. Give the girl some room.”
Distracted by thoughts of Lucy and how her lips parted, a little gasp escaping from them as their eyes met, and how startled and vulnerable she looked, Emily missed the gravel driveway to the farm. Hitting her brakes, she glanced in her rearview mirror and, since no one was on the road behind her, backed up just enough to nose into the drive.
Abe waved at her as she climbed out of the truck. He and his wife Annie and their little girl, Eliza Jane, had moved back to the farm a couple of years ago to help run the family farm, greenhouse, and nursery. The elder Nevilles, Mary and Ed, still lived on the farm where Emily and Abe grew up. The large farmhouse was more than roomy enough for the four adults and little EJ. Besides, the grandparents were always there to help when Abe and Annie were at work at the local high school where Abe taught History and Annie English.
“Hey, Em. Annie and mom are working on dinner, and Dad’s watching TV. Want a drink before we eat?” Abe led the way into the room their family always called the “library.” When they were kids, Abe and Emily did homework in this room, and they could always find a book on the overstuffed shelves to read on a rainy day. Now, Annie and Abe used the space as their home office and as Eliza Jane’s play spot. Before long, Emily thought, EJ would be doing her homework in here and reading the books she and Abe read as kids.
“Sure. I already had an after-work drink with Chelle at Tate’s. Guess who I ran into?”
Abe grinned and said, “You couldn’t help yourself, could you? Does she look as pretty as she does in the photos in her press kit?”
Emily felt herself blush as she nodded. “Sadly, she does. But when you’ve got all the money anyone could want and everything always falls in your lap, how can you not be beautiful?”
He chuckled and said, “Well, Annie already told me she refuses to be jealous of my old high school girlfriend being back in town. I assured her no matter what, I’m a taken man.”
Emily laughed and said, “Yes, you are. You can tell Annie that if you ever run off I’ll kick your ass for being stupid—and that goes for anyone, not just Lucy. Anyway, Chelle says Lucy came into town with a wedding band on, so even if you didn’t have the most wonderful wife in the world and a peach of a daughter wrapped around your heart, old snobby Lucy Anderson appears to be taken. I suspect she’ll breeze back out of town as easily as she came in. The ink on the closing papers probably won’t be dry before she goes back to wherever she came from and directs Crafton House from afar.”
“Well, regardless of whether she stays or goes, Tim Everton can probably take care of whatever she needs to be done to get the house in shape. I know he’ll be glad for the work.”
He patted her on the arm and gathered his papers into a neat pile on one side of the desk. He reached into the bottom right drawer and pulled out a bottle of Sazerac rye and two rocks glasses. He poured for each of them, and as they clinked glasses in a wordless toast, their mother stuck her head in the doorway to call them to the dinner table.
“Eliza Jane requested fried chicken,” Mary said as they walked into the kitchen to wash their hands before sitting down at the dining table. Emily ruffled Eliza Jane’s hair as she sat down in the chair next to her. She leaned over and whispered, “Thanks for asking for my favorite, kiddo.” The five-year old grinned and nodded at her aunt.
The table was round, so no one sat at the actual head. Mary insisted they get a large round table for the dining room when she and Ed moved into the house decades before. The round table replaced an older, rectangular table with stately chairs on the ends. Even as a new bride she knew where she wanted to stand, and sit, in her family. “Ed, I won’t have a table where one person is at the head of it. My mother slaved for years trying to make my father happy. She worked harder than he ever thought to in order to make sure the family stayed together, and even now when we go there for the holidays he still sits at the head of the table and acts like she’s his servant. Ed Neville, if I’m going to be your partner in the bedroom and in business, I’ll have an equal seat at the table.” Even though the conversation took place before Emily and Abe were born, every time she heard the story and watched her father’s grin, Emily knew he did not fight her mother on the decision.
Ed and Mary rarely disagreed. Emily’s childhood had been as ideal as anyone’s could be. As she and Abe grew up, their parents remained believers in individual choice and taught the kids to follow where the heart leads. And while they taught their children respect for elders, the round table served as a safe space ever since Emily could remember. Family dinners were lively times where everyone shared their days and spoke candidly. During those dinner talks, Emily learned there was nothing she couldn’t do simply because she was a girl. And Abe grew into the most evolved male she knew. Annie was a perfect match for Abe and the family, and Emily loved watching little Eliza Jane growing up in the same house she did, surrounded by loving parents and grandparents.
“Em was just telling me she ran into Lucy Anderson at Tate’s tonight after work,” Abe said, plopping some mashed potatoes on his plate before passing them to Annie on his right.
Annie took the bowl and was too busy watching her plate as she said, “How wonderful,” to notice Emily’s irritation. She smiled and asked, “Does she seem happy to be here?”
Emily shrugged. “I guess. She closed on the house today, so she literally just got into town.”
“I just think it’s wonderful, all of it,” Mary said. “That house has been empty way too long. Our lawn crew did a good job with tidying up the grounds before she got here. I can’t imagine showing up to an unkempt yard, so I was happy to give Chelle the realtor discount on the job.”
Emily laughed a little. “I don’t know if the yard would have been as much of a disappointment as the tacky carpet or the loud paint. It’s going to be a while before Lucy Anderson has a space she is comfortable charging folks to stay in.” She took a bite of the still-hot chicken. “There are a lot of rooms to furnish, too.”
Abe nodded. “I don’t have great taste or a sense of what looks good, and I agree. Annie, you should see the things they did to the house in the 1980s to make it into a bed and breakfast.”
“I saw the photos Chelle took for the listing. She tried to talk Lloyd Crafton into giving her a budget for painting and better staging. He wouldn’t do it, but he insisted there be photographs. She told me the only offers she got were ridiculously low—at least until she thought to call Lucy Anderson,” Annie said.
Emily nodded. “See, Abe, this is simply a business deal. We should start a pool for how long before Lucy disappears again. I’ll bet she doesn’t stick around longer than it takes her to close on the property and line up the renovation work. And if she fixes that house up like she used to slap on makeup, I suspect that part of the project to take a long time. I find it hard to believe after never coming back once to visit when she graduated from high school that Little River is good enough to be home for her.”
Abe said, “I don’t know, Em. Lucy always loved that house. She probably would have bought it regardless of the deal she got.” He took a bite of potatoes and swallowed before saying, “I hope she finds what she’s looking for here.”
Emily changed the subject asking Eliza Jane, “Did you have a good day today helping Mimi and Papa at the nursery, EJ?” That was all it took to change the topic, with Eliza Jane talking about her day, and her parents filling in the adults on the latest town gossip. By dessert and coffee, Emily’s unsettled feelings after seeing Lucy were quieted. She read to EJ from Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls and kissed her on the forehead. As Emily pulled EJ’s bedroom door closed, she heard her say, “Bring me a blueberry muffin tomorrow, Auntie Em?”
“You’ve got it, kiddo. Sleep tight.”