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SIOBHAN
Mrs. Haley was so thrilled with the proofs of our photo session she didn’t blink when I upped the price for the package to almost twice what she’d paid last year. She whipped out her platinum charge card fast enough to make me regret not asking for even more money—until I reached for the plastic only to have her yank it back.
Crap. I’d overestimated my talent. Darn it all, I shouldn’t have let my greed and desperation overrule my common sense. I held my breath, my hand still stretched to take the card that dangled from her fingertips an inch or two away. So near and yet so far...
“How much extra for an exclusive?”
“An exclusive?”
“Yes. Your promise you won’t let any other client have photos like these.”
I stalled for time to allow my brain to catch up to my hammering heart. Was she saying what I thought she was saying? Was it possible I hadn’t blown this deal after all? That, in fact, I could drive the price even higher? “Oh, umm...gee, Mrs. Haley, I’d like to help but—”
“You said you’d make sure all my friends wouldn’t be able to compete with my photos this year.” Her eyes narrowed.
“Yes, I did, but I have a lot of other clients booked for holiday photos this month.” Okay, maybe not a lot. More like a few. And if Mrs. Haley was willing to pay extra for this particular style without batting an eyelash, who else might? My craven need to keep my business afloat warred with my conscience toward a loyal customer. “I’ll tell you what. No one else’s photos will be exactly like yours, but I have to maintain the freedom to use the technique.”
She waved the credit card. “No. Not in December. I want the jump on the competition. You can photograph all the brides and kids you want in this style in January.”
Yeah, right. Because brides and parents broke down my door for photos in January. My doubt must have shown on my face because Mrs. Haley’s expression softened and her voice lowered to a whisper.
“Please. I know you think I’m demanding, but you have no idea what it’s like. I have the mother-in-law from hell. I didn’t grow up rich, and she reminds me of that and every other characteristic of mine she considers a shortcoming every chance she gets. At our wedding, she mistook my mother for a member of the wait staff and ordered Mom to get her another glass of water because the ice inside hers was cloudy. She laughed it off like she’d made an honest mistake, but she’d already met my mother four times before the wedding.
“Then, when the twins were born during my in-laws’ annual trip to Paris and they were forced to come home early, she actually lectured me about my poor timing. Like I had a choice about when I’d go into labor!” Her voice had risen, and she swerved to check on her boys who were seated in the waiting room, flipping through photography magazines. Neither child reacted, and she returned her gaze to me. “These photos will make her respect my choice to make the trek out here every year and not use the studio in the city she wants me to.” She grimaced. “It won’t last. I’ll set the table with the salad plate on the wrong side or buy the wrong wine for Christmas dinner, but for a few weeks, I’ll have peace.” She clasped her hands in prayer fashion. “Please.”
The good girl in me won the battle for my soul. Maybe she was blowing sunshine up my skirt, or maybe I reacted to the veiled threat that she’d take her business into the city. Either way, I felt a stab of pity for someone who had to put up with that much harsh judgment. “Okay. You’ve got your exclusive.” The woman’s face lit up, and I grabbed the credit card while she was distracted with her victory. “But just ‘til January. And I won’t charge you extra for the exclusive because it’s only for the next few weeks. This is non-negotiable and non-renewable. Deal?”
Mrs. Haley’s squeal pierced my eardrums. “Oh, God, Siobhan, you are awesome! Thank you. I promise I’ll make it up to you.”
Yeah? How? Would she pay my rent here next month? I bit back the retort and processed the charge to her credit card. All the while, I kicked myself for letting her sob story get to me.
Around seven, I was scraping the last morsel of sweet potato from my Buddha bowl when my front door opened, ushering in a tall stranger. Well, not a stranger per se. More like...a face from the past, a face that had hardened from the boyish countenance I remembered.
“Hey, Siobhan,” he said with a grin. “How are you? You look great—healthy.”
“Justin?” I dropped my fork and shoved the remnants of my dinner into the trash beneath my worktable.
Wow. Jimmy’s annoying little brother had grown up in a spectacular way. Always tall, now Justin topped out at least six-two with shoulders either artificially inflated by the heavy canvas jacket he wore or broadened by solid muscle. Thick dark hair ran in a dozen different directions around his angular face. That tousled wind-swept look caught my photographer’s eye, making me think how I’d love to capture him on film against the backdrop of a stormy sea on a rocky coast. The man could be typecasting for an aftershave print ad.
I must have studied him for too long because he quirked a brow at my scrutiny. My mouth dried to dust, and I grabbed my chilled reusable bottle to glug some icy water with lemon.
“Long time, no see, right?” He flung his arms wide. “How about a hug for an old—hmm...I guess ‘friend’ isn’t the right term. ‘Neighbor?’ ‘Acquaintance?’”
I placed the bottle back and shot to my feet. “Of course you’re a friend,” I assured him as I strode toward where he stood, waiting. “So both Vaises are back in town. What’s the occasion?”
His expression grew stony a second before I folded into his embrace, and I felt him stiffen. “You’ve seen Jimmy?”
Oh, boy. Apparently, the Vais boys hadn’t lost their acute sibling rivalry. I brushed off his sudden mood change. The last thing I needed was to get involved in a family squabble.
“Just for a sec,” I said, stepping out of his arms and back on my own again. “He was moving in across the street while I was on my way to work this afternoon. I barely got the chance to say hello.” And wouldn’t have, if not for Nana’s antics. “Tell me. What are you doing here?”
“I’m moving back home.” He followed me toward my worktable, his gaze straying to the sample portraits exhibited on the walls.
“Oh, so Jimmy was moving your stuff into your parents’ house?” Ha. Score one for me against Nana after all!
“God, no!” His lips twisted in a grimace. “Nothing more pathetic than a grown adult living in Mommy and Daddy’s house.”
And there it was. The snide commentary I remembered from Justin Vais, Snug Harbor’s resident smartass.
I strode back to my table, all semblance of civility gone. “What brings you here, Justin? My next appointment is due in ten minutes so I don’t have time for a social call.”
He followed, unzipping his heavy jacket, as if he planned to stick around. “This isn’t a social call. I’m your next appointment.”
I snorted in disbelief. “Cute. It was great seeing you again. Have a nice life.”
“I’m serious. I’m your appointment.”
No way. It’s not like I had a secretary taking my calls. I knew exactly who I was supposed to meet, spoke with his secretary when the meeting was set up last week. Still, Justin looked so sure of himself, I double-checked my book. After a quick scan to confirm my suspicions, I sneered at him. “Nice try. I’m meeting with Ted Oates, the owner of Snug Harbor Landscape Design to go over ideas for new brochures. So either tell me what you’re doing here right now, or make an appointment to meet with me at a later date.”
He removed his thick gloves and slapped them on my worktable with a satisfied thwack.
“You’re meeting with me. My secretary, MaryAnn, made the appointment for me. I’m the new owner of Snug Harbor Landscape Design. Ted retired two weeks ago. That’s why I need new brochures—to highlight my work.”
“Oh.” No one had to tell me what an idiotic response that was. I already knew—even before the dumb syllable left my lips. He knew, too.
With a smirk, he shrugged out of his jacket. “Can we get started now?”
“Right.” To regain my equilibrium, I shuffled the folder with the company’s current brochure and the yellow sticky notes I’d attached, pointing out what I thought Ted should change. All of which were now useless since I wasn’t meeting with Ted. I looked up at Justin’s amused expression, unable to hide my sense of defeat. I chewed on my lip. “I’m sorry. Can we start over?”
His smirk became a genuine grin of delight. “I’d like that.”
Me, too. Okay. I took a deep breath, straightened my spine, and thrust out my hand. “Justin Vais, is that you? Welcome back. What are you doing here?”
To his credit, he played along. He took my hand in his stronger, much warmer one. “Hey Siobhan, how’ve you been? You’re looking great. It’s been a long time. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but I’m the new owner of Snug Harbor Landscape Design. I need to update the company’s brochures, and everyone I’ve spoken to has assured me you’re the photographer I need to talk to. I can see why. You’ve got a great style.” Still holding my hand, he leaned over the worktable, and his amaretto-colored eyes crinkled with humor. “Is that better?”
I swallowed a lump in my throat that might have been my heart. “Much.”
♥♥♥♥
ALTHEA
On my wedding day, I walked toward my groom in an ivory-colored Gunne Sax dress to hide my little belly, a floppy Scarlett O’Hara-style hat with sunflowers around the brim, and bare feet. I’d always dreamed of an outdoor wedding in a field of daisies and butterflies. An elementary school’s football field was the closest we could get on short notice. Instead of the daisies, we were surrounded by star jasmine, their peachy perfume wafting on the humid air. My butterflies were mosquitos, whose drone created a steady buzz in my ears. Archie wore his army fatigues with a single sunflower pinned to the point of his collar. The shoulder-length shaggy hair I used to love to run my fingers through had been shorn off nine weeks earlier when he’d first come down to Fort Polk for basic training.
No family had taken the trip to Louisiana with me, so my father wasn’t there to give me away. Mom and Dad were less than thrilled with their daughter being in the family way without the benefit of marriage, which, I argued, should have made my wedding a relief and a time of celebration for them. But, no. I’d shamed them unforgivably, so I was on my own. My maid of honor turned out to be the girlfriend of Archie’s best man, a squad mate he’d met in basic. The newly wed Mr. and Mrs. Archie Bendlow spent one wedding night in a local Holiday Inn off the interstate, then he was back on base to continue infantry training and I drove home to New York alone. Well, not entirely alone. Baby and me, ready to take on the world.
“Nana?” A soft hand landed on my shoulder and gave me a gentle shake.
I came awake slowly, allowing myself an extra few seconds to feel Archie’s lips on mine one last time. “Hmm...?” I opened my eyes and spotted Siobhan leaning over me. Goodness, I’d fallen into a deep sleep when I had intended to wait up for her. I supposed I was so at ease, back in my own home, the familiar had lulled me into memories of my happiest moments.
“Hey, Bon-Bon,” I said with a stretch that woke the snoozing cat on my chest. The tabby, Shaggy, opened golden eyes to glare at being disturbed, then resettled his furry self again. “I didn’t hear you come in. I left dinner for you in the kitchen.”
“I found it, thanks. It looks delicious, but you didn’t have to do that for me. I actually ate earlier.”
“Nonsense.” I frowned. I could just imagine what she ate earlier. Certainly nothing as good as my home-baked chicken pot pie with its flaky, from-scratch crust. “Now that I’m home, I won’t have my granddaughter eating garbage.”
“I don’t eat garbage.”
“Oh? What did you have for dinner?”
Her cheeks turned pink. “A Buddha bowl.”
“A Buddha what?” Before she could answer, I waved a hand. “Never mind. One of those godawful diet meals, I’m guessing.” I looked my granddaughter up and down and clucked my tongue. “Honestly, Bon-Bon, I don’t know why you treat yourself so shabbily. You’re perfect just the way you are. Always have been.”
“Uh-huh.” She focused her attention on her feet, and I didn’t have to see her face to know she was rolling her eyes at me. After a long sigh, she steadied her gaze on me again. “So, wanna hear something funny?”
I sat up, foisting Shaggy off of me. Meowing his displeasure, he flounced off in a snit to join Velma and Daphne on the tile floor in the kitchen where the hot water pipe ran beneath the slab. “Sure.”
“You know how, earlier, you were talking about Jimmy and Justin Vais?”
Uh-oh. Had my matchmaking attempt been discovered already? I bluffed, playing it cool. “Yes.”
“Well, guess who showed up in my studio tonight?”
It couldn’t have been Jimmy. I was with him until eight, plying him with blueberry buckle cake and pumping him for information about why he was back. That man, by the way, was tighter than my mama’s girdle. By the time I left him, he could barely keep his eyes open, but he still managed to keep his lip zipped about any personal info. For Siobhan’s benefit, I continued my subterfuge. “Jimmy?”
“Nope.” She offered me a smug grin. “Justin. Guess what he’s doing these days.”
Although inside, my heart slowed from its hectic pace, I had to pretend indifference that she hadn’t caught me after all. “Five to ten in the state pen?”
She giggled and gave my shoulder a playful nudge. “Nana! No. He’s a landscape designer. Can you believe it? The kid who didn’t show up to mow your lawn now designs gorgeous gardens and runs a company that mows lawns for the hoity-toity Hamptons crowd.”
“Hmmph! I’m guessing he delegates the work to those guys that hang out at your grandfather’s old service station, looking for odd jobs.”
“Hardly. He’s got a full staff of...like...two dozen employees. The waterfall setup over by the village center? That’s his design. And the renovation they’re doing over by the lighthouse is his, too.”
“Uh-huh.” I kept my tone bland, but the mystery wasn’t lost on me. Both Vais boys were back in town? Why? Why now? And why at all?
Something was going on, and I was fairly certain a dozen blueberry buckle cakes wouldn’t be enough to get to the truth. I’d have to whip up something much grander. I wondered if I still had my recipe for sunny lemon poppy seed muffins.