Chapter Twenty-One

“So, that’s it then.” Ronnie closed her notebook. They’d chosen to meet at Annie’s for their last planning meeting before the next—and last—arrivals. “Looks like everything’s on track.”

CC nodded. It was hard to believe it had been two weeks since she’d returned from Nebraska. In some ways, it was like she’d never left. Credence had embraced her return, and she’d fallen back in the same routine—working on the Grow Credence project during the morning with Wade’s mother, and helping Wade in the afternoon with his book and trying to find him a new PA.

Which, of course, he was being picky as hell about.

She hadn’t wanted to advertise, preferring to work her contacts, which were extensive after a decade in this field of employment. Wade’s lifestyle took a lot of getting used to, and being his PA wasn’t like any other job she’d had. It was a full on twenty-four seven caper and required a particular type of person. She’d brought him several prospects, but he was being a difficult asshole about all of them.

Which only made things more awkward.

Well…apparently not for Wade, who, despite what he’d said in the motel room, was carrying on like nothing had happened, which was pretty much his MO with women he’d slept with and another reason to get the hell out because she couldn’t be so damn unaffected. CC hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her and Wade burning up the sheets.

Or dreaming about it, for that matter.

She should just move into the motel out on the interstate, but for one, she didn’t want Wade to think, even for a second, that what happened between them was some kind of thing she was having a hard time getting over.

Even if it was.

And secondly, it’d just remind her too much of what had happened in another motel room in Nebraska. At least in Tara, they were on neutral, if somewhat surreal, ground.

“CC?”

CC realized she was staring at the window and Ronnie was trying to get her attention.

“Sorry, what?”

Annie held up the coffeepot. “More coffee?”

“No thanks.” What she really craved was icy cold caffeine delivered in a can of Red Bull. First order of business when she arrived in California was to kick the habit, but for now, she hadn’t been sleeping so well and a can of that sugary shit gave her a real pick-me-up.

“Something wrong with my pie?”

CC glanced guiltily at her untouched slice of cherry pie, then back at Annie, who was clearly not used to people neglecting her food. “Sorry, no.” She smiled at the older woman. “Just distracted.”

Annie gave her an inscrutable look. “There ain’t nothin’ a good piece of pie can’t help you get over, girlie.”

CC would normally have agreed wholeheartedly and, if all she was getting over was her father’s death, she had no doubt pie would help considerably. But she didn’t think there was enough pie in the world to get over her oops, slept with Wade faux pas.

Not that she was about to admit that to Annie. Or Ronnie. Instead she picked up her fork and dutifully shoveled pie into her mouth.

Annie nodded approvingly. “There you go.” She glanced at Ronnie and said “Girls today are too skinny” before pushing off.

Ronnie grinned as she watched Annie pour coffee at the next table, but when her gaze returned to CC it was more sober.

“You sure you’re okay, honey? You know, if you need to go and spend some time at home with your momma, you should.”

“Thanks, I’m good.” CC would be gone next Monday anyway. Not that anyone knew that—except Wade.

She planned on heading home for a week before setting out for California. Her yearning for the ocean had grown exponentially these past couple of weeks, although CC suspected that anywhere other than Colorado would work for her right now.

“I hope Wade hasn’t been working you too hard. He’s been in a helluva mood these past couple of weeks. I don’t know what’s up with that man. Things not going well with the book?”

CC couldn’t even look at Ronnie. “Something like that.”

“Why didn’t he just get one of those ghost writers the publishing house offered?”

CC laughed despite the turmoil inside. “I did try to talk him into it, but…he’s too damn stubborn.”

“Always been the same, even as a little boy. Once he got an idea in his head, he’d hang on to it like a dog with a bone. Gets it from his father.”

CC laughed some more. If Wade got his stubbornness from anyone, he got it from Ronnie, her scheme to bring more single women to Credence being a very good example. But CC wisely changed the subject.

“Jenny’s back tomorrow?”

Ronnie smiled, her face becoming animated again. “Yes. Wyatt’s like a kid on Christmas Eve. He’s missed her so much these past couple of weeks.”

“The first of many success stories from these weekends, hopefully.”

“Fingers crossed.” Ronnie sighed. “Oh, he’s just so happy, Cecilia. I heard him whistling in the barn the other day. Whistling! He used to do that as a kid all the time, drove Cal nuts because he was really bad at it. But I haven’t heard it for years. It’s like he’s got a whole new lease on life.”

CC was happy for Wyatt and Jenny. They were plainly made for each other. “But she’s going to be staying on at the boardinghouse for now, yes? With Henry.”

“Yes.” Ronnie nodded. “Until the coffee shop is ready, then they’ll move in above there for a while. Jenny wants Henry to get to know Wyatt and us and feel comfortable in Credence first before making their relationship official, which is very sensible.”

“There’s good company there for her, too, with Molly and Marley awaiting their salon application.”

The New York sisters were setting up a beauty salon. Just a small one to start with. Hair, makeup, nails, and facials. One pedicure chair. But they had room to expand if business was good. Ronnie, along with half the town—the female half—were thrilled they’d finally be able to have their hair done locally.

“And I hear Winona’s bunking there until she finds a house to buy.” CC had even heard that Winona might be building, which would be fantastic for Benji’s business, especially now that Sally had finally popped and they had another mouth to feed.

“Yes.” Ronnie nodded. “And if we’re lucky, there could be some more joining them after this weekend.”

Ronnie grinned. “Not bad, huh?”

CC laughed. “I would call it an outstanding success.”

“Now all we do is put on a bunch of different social functions throughout the year and let booze and nature take its course.”

Ronnie waggled her eyebrows, and CC laughed again at Wade’s mother reveling in her role of Cupid. Maybe Wade was right, maybe his mother was some kind of closet pimp.

“How do you feel about being a Memaw?”

“I am over the moon!” Ronnie’s smile shone so big and bright CC almost reached for her sunglasses. “I didn’t imagine it’d happen this way but, honestly, I’d started to think it’d never happen, so I’m ecstatic. Wyatt loves Jenny, we love Jenny, and Jenny comes with Henry, and you can bet your last nickel Cal and I are going to love and spoil that sweet child from here to Timbuktu and back again. It’ll be good having a little one around my skirts that isn’t four-legged.”

CC had no doubt that Ronnie and Cal would make great grandparents. Henry was a lucky little boy.

Ronnie sighed. “I only wish Wade would find someone and settle down, too. Do you think it’ll ever happen, Cecilia? You probably know him better than anyone these days.”

If it looked like CC was some kind of small, furry animal caught in the headlights of a car, it was because that was exactly how she felt. She knew Wade way better than she had a couple of weeks ago. She knew what his mouth felt like on hers and the feel of him hard in her hands and what he sounded like when he came. But if his mother thought that gave her some kind of insight or understanding into his psyche, then she was wrong, because she had no idea how he could be so intimate with someone and pretend like it never happened.

It was what he did. It was what he’d always done. But she wasn’t one of his disposable dates, and CC was beginning to wonder if she ever really knew him at all.

“I wouldn’t be going out and buying two mother-of-the-groom dresses if I were you.”

“Yeah.” Ronnie put her coffee cup down on its saucer. “I liked Jasmine, I really did, and I know she’s older now and sorry for what she did, but that girl.” She shook her head. “She has a lot to answer for.”

The entire time she’d known Ronnie, CC hadn’t heard an angry word pass her lips about anything. She’d been nothing but cool, calm, and collected. But right now there was a glint in her eye that was pure momma bear, and CC was just a tiny little bit afraid.

It was on the tip of her tongue to tell his mother that it’d been fifteen years and Wade was a grown-ass man who should have moved on. But she was just a little bit pissed at Jasmine, too, right now. “Amen.” She picked up her coffee mug, and she and Ronnie clinked.

…

Even at five in the afternoon, it was still warm out at the lake for the cookout. The sun sparkled off the water, and plenty of people were swimming and diving off the end of the pier. The sounds of laughter and splashing and people having a good time mingled with the aroma of wood fires and cooking meat. Steaks and sausages sizzled on BBQs being manned by eager bachelors trying to impress the eighty-two single women who’d made the trip this weekend.

And had all brought their bikinis…

CC watched it all from under one of the many shady trees that lined the narrow rocky beach fringing the perimeter of the lake with the satisfaction of a job well done. She hadn’t been to the last cookout because she’d taken off for Nebraska, but Ronnie had claimed it to be a huge success, and if today was like the last, CC could see why.

She might have only been destined to stay in Credence for half the summer—half the time Wade had originally decreed—but CC was pleased to have played a part in what promised to be the social revolution of the town. How many here today might make a connection like Wyatt and Jenny?

Her gaze tracked to the lovebirds standing at the edge of the water. Henry was standing between them, and they each held one of his little hands, jumping him over every gentle curl of water against the shore. He squealed as they lifted him in the air and giggled as they swung him a little before putting him back on his feet. Henry’s boyish laughter carried to her on the breeze, and she smiled.

She was so happy for Wyatt. And Jenny and Henry. And Ronnie and Cal. And Credence. The population had grown by five, and CC would be amazed if it didn’t grow by at least a couple more over the next few years as some little Carters came into the world.

Looking out over the men and women mingling all around her, CC wouldn’t mind betting that if she came back in a year or two or five, the population may well have exploded.

“Mind if I join you?”

CC smiled at Winona, who was looking very boho in her loose, lace-trimmed dress and big floppy hat. She was more dressed than 75 percent of the women here, but the way the dress flowed in the breeze, blowing against her body and flirting with her curves, made it practically indecent.

Wriggling over to make room on the rug, CC patted the space beside her. “Don’t mind at all.”

Winona settled in the spot indicated, mimicking CC’s pose by reclining back onto her bent elbows, scanning the activity. Neither of them spoke for a while, but eventually she said, “I feel old. And overdressed.”

CC laughed. She knew exactly how Winona felt. “Yes.”

“It’s lovely out here though, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Such a gorgeous day.”

“You know, when I saw the Facebook video, I thought this was the craziest idea I’d ever heard and, to be honest, I really only came here on a whim. An artistic whim. I thought I might get some story fodder. But…” She shook her head. “I think it actually might work.”

CC laughed. “I know what you mean. It does seem crazy, but Credence was pretty desperate so…why not?”

“Why not indeed.”

“So…” CC flicked a glance at Winona’s profile. “You think you can live here?”

“Yeah. I think I can.” She rolled her head to the side and met CC’s eyes. “I can write anywhere, and I was getting tired of the rat race. There’s land for sale around the lake, big blocks, cheap land, much cheaper than anything I can afford in the city. And I’ve been talking to Benji Tait. I can build cheaper here, too. My own place, built the way I want, near all of this.”

She glanced back over the lake and sighed. “No rent, no city noise, no neighbors yelling at each other. Space and quiet and sunshine and water. There’s something about water that’s good for the muse, you know?”

CC didn’t know anything about muses—her brain was far too OCD to be creative—but she understood the pull of water. Was she not heading to California for her own water view?

“I have friends who’d love it here, too. Painters and potters and other writers. Successful ones. Female ones. Single ones.” She smiled at CC. “They’re always looking for places to be at their creative best, that inspire them every day. And they can’t beat this.”

The idea of a flourishing artist’s colony in Credence was intriguing, one CC was sure Ronnie had never envisioned. But still a different avenue to bring new blood to Credence. That could grow the population and contribute to the community.

“Unless, of course, Chief Uptight has a problem with it.”

CC smothered a smile as a uniformed Arlo wandered among the crowd.

“You know, that man has a mighty fine ass. Shame about the stick up it.” CC laughed this time. “Speaking of asses, there’s one I wouldn’t kick out of bed,” Winona said. “What’s in the water around this place?”

CC glanced in the direction of Winona’s gaze. Wade. Looking mighty fine in tan chinos and a dark T-shirt, a ball cap pulled low on his head. He’d stopped down the beach a little to skip stones into the water, the pure physicality of him bending and twisting, stretching his clothes over hard packed muscles, making her legs weak. Thank heavens she was already supine.

“You don’t agree?”

CC felt the heat of Winona’s scrutiny on her profile. She shrugged. “I’ve worked for the man for almost six years. He’s like a brother to me.”

Which was possibly the biggest lie she’d ever told in her life, but CC supposed if she was going to be struck down by lightning, there could be worse places.

He’d never been like a brother to her. For five and a half years he’d been her boss and a freaking exasperating one at that, and, as of two weeks ago, he’d been something else entirely, the nature of which was a total mystery.

But it wasn’t brotherly.

She had five of those suckers, and whatever she felt for Wade was not that.

“Oh come on.” Winona’s voice was laced with amusement. “Even sisters can be objective about how good-looking their brothers are.”

“Do you have brothers?” CC cocked an eyebrow at Winona.

“No.”

“Yeah, well I have five, and trust me, I try very hard not to think of them in that context at all.”

Winona laughed as she returned to ogling Wade. “Careful there, CC, some people might think you protest too much.”

CC blinked at the statement, her insides twisting in knots at the implication as she tried to come up with a zingy rejoinder. But Winona had moved on, shaking her head and sighing. “He never knows when to turn it off, does he?”

Before she could check the impulse, CC’s head was swinging back, seeking out Wade. A tall, leggy blonde was talking to him now. Just like the many tall, leggy blondes CC had dealt with over the years in his employ.

He was nothing if not predictable.

She was smiling up at him, leaning toward him a little, her head cocked to the side. He said something, and she laughed, and he laughed, too. She touched his arm, and her hand lingered for a second or two before sliding away. She flicked her hair a little and laughed again. He handed her a stone he already had in his hand and demonstrated how to stand and how to throw one.

Blondie mimicked his stance and the action, failing miserably at the skipping part. CC almost rolled her eyes. She’d been a champion stone-skipper by the time she was in elementary school. But then Wade was shaking his head and touching her arm, manipulating it to a better angle, demonstrating how to throw by pulling her arm back and showing her how to follow through.

“Oh man, really?” Winona shook her head, clearly disgusted. “He’s not going to fall for the oldest trick in the book, is he?”

CC barely heard her. The wash of her pulse flooded like a torrent between her ears. White-hot pain lanced her straight through her center. Her chest tightened, crushing the ability of her lungs to move.

The blonde turned to look at him, and there was more laughing and smiling. Wade stepped away so his companion could make the throw. The stone arced and skipped once, and the blonde jumped up and down, clapping her hands.

Wade laughed and handed her another stone.

CC had always felt a little sorry for Wade’s blondes. But not right now. Right now, she wanted a bolt of electricity to fry this one to a pulp. It wasn’t fair to her, she was probably a really nice woman, and Wade was equally culpable in their little exchange, but there wasn’t a lot of rationality floating around inside CC right now.

There was rage and panic. Both so visceral she knew she had to leave. Get out of Credence and never come back. Not Monday.

Now.

“Men can be such idiots,” Winona murmured.

CC nodded. So could women.