Falling in Love on Willow Creek by Debbie Mason
Chapter Nine
Sadie gasped, inhaling the fruity tea she’d just taken a sip of. It went down the wrong way, causing her to choke and spew brilliant blue liquid down the front of her short-sleeved white blouse and white capri pants. She should have known better than to wear white.
Setting the cup of blueberry tea on the counter, she reached for a roll of paper towels on the shelf while staring at Michael. He gave her what appeared to be an apologetic wince.
As if she’d accept his apology.
She hadn’t thought she had the cognitive bandwidth to come up with a believable excuse that Abby wouldn’t be able to argue with. So when Abby assumed Sadie and Michael were together, she’d latched on to it. She’d been mentally celebrating, hiding her self-satisfied smile by taking a sip of tea, when Michael went and ruined everything.
“Here, let me help.” Abby pulled a travel-size stain removal spray from her bag. “Mallory’s rubbing off on me,” she said, referring to their mutual best friend’s habit of carrying everything but the kitchen sink in her oversize purse.
“Thank…” Sadie trailed off as she discovered another reason not to wear white. The spray had rendered her top see-through. Abby must not have noticed because she kept squirting.
“That’s good. All good, thanks.” Sadie ripped off several squares of paper towel. Her gaze met Michael’s as she used them to cover the front of her top.
Sorry, he mouthed.
She might have forgiven him—he’d rocked her daughter into a peaceful slumber, after all—if Abby hadn’t chosen that moment to give Sadie a big, bright smile and say, “I’m so happy we’re doing this. It’ll be fabulous. We’ll just—” She broke off at the sound of an alarm beeping on her phone. “Oops, gotta go. I have to pick up Bella from her spa day at Penelope’s Pet Emporium, but I’ll give you a call tonight and we can work out the details. And you, Mr. Park Ranger, are going to be one of the lucky bachelors that gets a chance to fall in love with my incredible best friend.”
“Um, I don’t think that will be—”
Abby cut Michael off with a wave of her hand. “I won’t take no for an answer,” she said, and headed for the door.
Sadie opened her mouth to point out that the man wasn’t even interested enough to fake-date her. She wasn’t going to think about the dull ache in her chest that accompanied the thought. It was no doubt due to embarrassment.
“From either of you,” Abby added. “Whether you realize it or not, you two have major chemistry. Plus, you’re hot, and my subscribers will adore you as much as my goddaughter does. Although for entirely different reasons.” She blew Sadie a kiss, waving goodbye as the door closed behind her.
“I can see why her channel does well,” Nate observed. “Her brain goes as fast as her mouth. She sure can talk.”
“She can,” Sadie agreed, wishing she had half of Abby’s energy. “Can you hold down the fort, Nate? I need to talk to Michael for a moment. Sorry, I didn’t introduce you guys. Michael, Nate. Nate, Michael. He’s a park ranger and the only person on the planet my daughter likes.”
“Hey.” Nate gave Michael a chin lift before saying to Sadie, “If you want, you can go home and change. I’m sure Agnes will come down when…” He trailed off with a grimace.
“When I leave?” she finished for him, and then sighed. “I’m sorry you had to be here for that, Nate. But I have too much to do to go home. I’ll be in the office if you need me. I’ll let my grandmother know the coast is clear.”
Sadie waved Michael to the office down the short hallway on their left, a hallway that also led to the door to her grandmother’s apartment above the store. “I can’t believe you threw me under the bus like that,” Sadie said as she pulled the door closed behind them—quietly, so as not to wake her daughter still sleeping soundly in his arms.
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. I just didn’t want you to miss the opportunity to meet the right guy for you and Michaela.” He looked away. “And, uh, I’m only here for a few weeks.”
“Oh no, I didn’t mean what I said to Abby.” Had Sadie wished she and Michael were a couple more than once today? Of course she had. Why wouldn’t she? He’d been the one bright spot in an otherwise disastrous day. But she wasn’t completely delusional.
“About us being together,” she clarified. “I was just using you as an excuse. I don’t really think there’s anything between us, other than my daughter, who loves you more than me.” She sat at the desk and scrubbed her face with her hands, unable to stifle a yawn.
“She doesn’t love me more than you, Sadie,” Michael said as he walked to the cradle in the corner of the office.
“Please, don’t put her down. I just need a few more minutes of peace—” Too late. He was already lowering Michaela into the cradle.
Sadie closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, preparing for her daughter’s eardrum-shattering scream. She knew it wasn’t fair to ask Michael to stay any longer than he already had but she honestly didn’t know how to deal with everything on her plate right now. Her chest was so tight that she wondered if she might have a heart attack. More likely a breakdown, she decided when her eyes grew hot and her vision blurred.
But her daughter’s cries didn’t shatter the quiet of the office. The only sound was the rhythmic creak of the cradle against the oak floorboards. Sadie’s breathing assumed the restful cadence of the rocking cradle, and the tightness in her chest eased. She relaxed against the back of the chair with relief and gratitude, her eyes growing heavy.
Large, warm hands came to rest on her shoulders, strong fingers gently kneading the last of her tension away. It was like floating in the creek beneath the weeping willow, the movement of the water gently rocking her to sleep as she lay beneath a dark, starlit sky.
The intoxicating scent of amber and leather filled her senses as a low, deep voice said near her ear, “You need to sleep, Sadie.”
I need this. You.She blinked, swimming up from that dark, calming pool. Afraid she’d said the words out loud. She’d felt them right down to her soul.
“I can’t.” She sounded like her mouth was filled with cotton wool.
His hands left her shoulders to gently turn the chair to face him. He crouched at her feet. “You can’t go on like this. You’ll wind up in the hospital.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Make me understand then.”
“I can’t. I can’t dump everything on you.” It embarrassed her that she wanted to. She hated asking for help. Hated that she needed it. It made her feel weak.
“You can, but I understand if you don’t want to.” He looked away, as if debating whether to tell her something.
“What is it?” she asked, although suddenly leery of what he might say.
“When I picked up your scones and tea—”
She clapped a hand over her mouth. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t even thank—”
“Sadie, stop. It’s fine. But from what I overheard the woman in Spill the Tea saying, business at I Believe in Unicorns isn’t fine.”
She blew out a long, frustrated breath. “Granny’s friends must have run right over there after my little scene with her and Mr. Teller. Honestly, you can’t keep anything in this town a secret.”
But she couldn’t put the blame entirely on her grandmother’s friends and Babs Sutherland. Sadie knew better than to air the family’s dirty laundry in the middle of the store. She might as well have taken out a billboard on Main Street.
“So it’s true? The store is in financial trouble?”
She nodded, taking a minute to regain control of the panic welling up inside her. “If I don’t figure out a way to turn things around, the bank will foreclose. I promised Mr. Teller, the bank manager, that I’d come up with a business plan by the end of this week.” Afraid she’d start blubbering any minute, she pressed her fingers to her lips.
“Hey.” He gently took her chin between his fingers, getting her to look at him. “You don’t have to hide your tears with me, Sadie. Let them out. It might help.”
Her laugh caught on a sob. “Just what you need, another Gray crying all over you.”
He smiled, but it didn’t reach his intent blue gaze. “You were worried your grandmother was hiding something from you. Was this it?”
“Yes, it was exactly what I was afraid of, and for the past three months, I’ve put off confronting her, because I didn’t want to deal with it. I buried my head in the sand while my brother bled this business and my grandmother dry.” She blinked back tears. “She could lose the store and her home because of me.”
“No. Don’t take the blame for this. Put it where it belongs. On your brother.” He grimaced at the snuffling sound coming from the cradle and came to his feet. He walked to the cradle, rocking it with one hand while stroking Michaela’s copper curls with the other.
“You’re right. It is Elijah’s fault. But it’s not like he can bail out Granny.” She kept her voice low so as not to wake her daughter. “It falls on me, just like it always does. Only this time, I don’t have a clue how to solve the problem.”
He kept an eye on Michaela as he stopped rocking the cradle. Then, seemingly satisfied that she was once more in a deep sleep, he came over and leaned against the desk, crossing his arms. Distracted by the bulge of his biceps, it took her a minute to realize he’d been talking to her. “Sorry, what was that?”
“I offered to help. I don’t know anything about operating a retail business or selling unicorns, but I can act as a sounding board.”
“That’s sweet of you to offer, but for you to act as a sounding board, I’d actually need ideas to bounce off you, and I’ve got nothing.”
“Because you’re exhausted.”
Her phone pinged. She glanced at the screen and groaned. “It’s Abby with a list of bachelors.” She blinked. “She even put Nate on there. Why would she—” There was another ping. “Of course, he’s hot too. She thinks the two of you will not only attract a lot of attention from her subscribers but also from the single ladies in this county. She obviously doesn’t care that he’s gay.”
“Is he?”
“Is he what? Gay?”
“No. Hot?” He shook his head. “Never mind. Forget I asked. Just tell Abby you don’t want to do it.”
“I should. In fact, I think I have. I guess I wasn’t firm enough. It’s not my forte. I have a problem saying no to people. Don’t you?”
“Not at all.”
“So if someone asks you to do something you don’t want to do, you just say no? No excuses, no nothing?”
“That’s right.” He nodded at her phone. “Call Abby and tell her you have too much on your plate if you don’t want to do it. You don’t, do you?”
“Gosh, no. On top of everything else, the last thing I need is this. Honestly, I’d want no part of it even if my world wasn’t imploding.” She handed him her phone. “You tell her. I’m sure the last thing either you or Nate want is to appear on a reality dating show.”
“It won’t matter if Nate and I say no. You’re the star of the show. Trust me, Abby will have no problem finding guys who want to date you. You need to call her and say no, Sadie. Not me. You. Do it now. You’ll feel better.”
“But she’s so excited about it. I hate to disappoint her. And the thing is, Abby’s channel has been a boon to Highland Falls. She promotes the heck out of the area, and local businesses have benefited big time. So in a way, I wouldn’t just be letting her down. I’d be letting the whole town down. I can’t win.”
“What if you come up with something better? Something that benefits I Believe in Unicorns and Abby. She seems to have a good heart, and there’s no doubt she cares about you and Michaela. If you told her the truth—”
“I can’t. I can’t tell her what Elijah’s done or that we could lose the store. I’ll figure out something.” She always did. But it had never been this bad. Her stomach pitched like she’d gone bungee jumping at Deadman’s Gorge, twice, on a full stomach. She eyed the garbage can.
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I think the town already has a fairly good idea what’s going on.”
“How could I forget? My fight with Granny went viral.” She winced, remembering the stricken look on her grandmother’s face. Until Mr. Teller had shown up, Agnes hadn’t known how deep in the hole Elijah had put her and the store. They’d both been burying their heads in the sand—Sadie by not asking the questions that needed to be asked, her grandmother by filing her bank statements unopened.
“Now that she knows, you can work together. Come up with a plan to turn the store around. Is there anyone your grandmother can ask for a loan?”
“My uncle Bryan. But he’s the last person my grandmother would want to find out that she’s in financial trouble.”
“Maybe Mr. Teller will let you take out a second mortgage based on your…your credit. Sorry, I forgot. You mentioned your ex had tanked your credit when you were in labor.”
“Yes, and I also don’t have a job that pays a living wage. Unless you count my contract work with Abby, which she probably won’t have to give me when I pull the plug on her bachelorette idea. As to my grandmother working with me, that won’t happen anytime soon. She wouldn’t even speak to me after I laid into her about bleeding the store dry for Elijah.”
Her comment was met with a loud thunk from the apartment above. She sighed and lifted her chin at the ceiling. “Granny’s probably listening in through the vent.”
Michael pushed off the desk and cocked his head. Sadie thought he was holding his breath waiting for Michaela to wake up, but he looked more interested in what was going on in the apartment upstairs than in the cradle. She heard it now too, the sound of heavy footfalls followed by lighter footsteps. Agnes wasn’t alone.
“Sadie, you don’t think your grandmother has been hiding your brother all along, do you?”