Welcome To Winterville by Carrie Elks

3

“Ican’t believe we’re all here together again.” Alaska beamed at her cousins. “Apart from Kris, of course.”

“And North,” their cousin Gabe, pointed out, dryly.

“Yeah, but he’ll be down in ten minutes. He just needs to take a shower.” Everley grimaced. “He stank, didn’t he?”

Gabe laughed. “You could say that.”

Holly leaned back on the sofa, her heart feeling warm as she looked at her cousins.

It was good to be with them all again. The last time they’d all seen each other was at their grandma’s funeral, and that had been such a difficult, sad time, they hadn’t had the opportunity to reconnect.

It wasn’t a surprise that it was near impossible to get them all in one place at the same time. Holly lived in Chicago, and though it was only a two hour flight away, she’d been crazy busy for the past few months finishing up a case she’d been working on.

Gabe was as busy as she was. He’d competed at the past two Winter Olympics as part of the US Snowboard team. The only reason he wasn’t training this year was because of a surgery he’d had to undergo earlier in the year on his Achilles’ tendon. He was slowly regaining his fitness, and after Christmas he was hoping to start up training once again, ready to compete the following year.

Everley didn’t get to spend much time here in Winterville, even though it was her home base. She was a performer – a singer and actor like their grandma – and she went where the work took her.

And Kris – the youngest of the three boy cousins – was working in Paris, where he lived with his wife and their daughter.

Only Alaska and North were full time residents of Winterville. And from North’s face when he stalked into his ranch house ten minutes earlier, he wasn’t enjoying that fact right now.

Holly bit down a smile as she remembered how he muttered to himself before he headed to the bathroom to shower off the stench. From what she could make out, he’d discovered a huge pile of deer droppings in his Christmas tree farm, and while cleaning it up he’d managed to slip and fall straight into it.

And the resulting stench was terrible.

“I don’t understand why he’s so angry,” Alaska said, her brows knitting. “White tail deer are common around here. And like us, when they have to go, they have to go.”

“Because he fell and got peppered with deer crap.” Gabe lifted a brow. “It ruins his image of being a cool mountain man.”

North walked back into his living room, wearing a pair of faded jeans and a gray sweater, rubbing at his hair with a black towel. He was a good looking man, according to the adoring women of Winterville and beyond. Tall and built, with a light beard that enhanced his strong jaw, he’d broken hearts all over the Allegheny Mountains when he was younger.

He sat down on the edge of the table and looked at them, still rubbing the back of his neck. It was funny how they all turned to look at him.

Even after all these years he was still the ringleader.

“Feeling better?” Gabe teased.

North gave him a dark look. “Next time you get to clear up the crap.”

Gabe pointed at his ankle. “I can’t, I’m injured.”

“I thought you were better.” Alaska frowned. “You went skiing yesterday.”

Gabe shook his head, widening his eyes in an effort to quieten her. Holly had to bite down a laugh.

“You went skiing?” North asked, his brows knitting.

“Just trying out the ankle. I’m gonna have to rest for a few days now. Don’t want to overdo it.”

“You’re gonna have to help out in the shop is what you’re gonna have to do. Have you seen my grocery bill since you moved in here?”

They were like a couple of old women. Really handsome, funny manly women. Holly met Everley’s eyes and they grinned.

“Can’t Holly help out at the shop?” Gabe asked, his voice wheedling. “She’s got some free time on her hands.”

“Hey, I’m taking some vacation time, buddy.” Holly lifted her hands up, as though to fend him off. “Some of us have been working our asses off.”

“I heard about your court win.” North smiled at her. “Congratulations.”

“It wasn’t my win,” Holly pointed out. “I just provided some expert testimony.”

“They couldn’t have done it without you,” Everley pointed out. “I followed the court reports. Your testimony swung it.”

As a forensic accountant, Holly was frequently called in to help with court cases. Especially high profile divorce cases, where money was being hidden in an attempt to lower payouts.

Her job was a lot more difficult than it sounded. Trying to find money that people had hidden behind long and complicated transactions through shell companies or in tax havens could take months. Months to track down. Months of scrutinizing spreadsheets and bank accounts until her eyes felt like they might drop out. And she didn’t always have months to follow the trails.

Then she’d have to stand in front of a judge and testify that one complainant had been trying to screw the other over.

“Speaking of divorces,” North said, looking at Holly. “Your mom’s in town.”

Holly pulled her lip between her teeth. “I guessed she might be. I haven’t spoken to her in a while. What about her husband, is he here?”

“She’s married again?” Gabe blinked. “When did that happen?”

“A few months ago. She called in the middle of the night from Italy to tell me.”

“Who’s this one? An Italian Prince? A French Playboy?”

“Some British guy. Son of a duke or something.” Holly shrugged, trying to be nonchalant. Her relationship with her mom could be described as ‘complicated’ these days. The youngest daughter of Candy Winter, Susannah had inherited all of her beauty, but none of her empathy. She’d given birth to Holly when she was twenty-two, and unmarried. Holly still had no idea who her father was.

Their relationship had always been difficult. As a child, she’d been desperate to please her mom. She could be bewitching and fun, and when she concentrated all her charms on you, it felt a little like staring into the sun.

But she got bored easily. Not just of husbands, but of Holly, too. She flitted in and out of her life on a whim. Maybe that’s why Holly had been so close to her grandmother. Candy Winter had been the one consistent person she could rely on growing up.

North shrugged. “I don’t know if her husband is here or not. She’s staying in the house she inherited from grandma. And that brings me to my other piece of news.”

Gabe raised an eyebrow. “You’re full of news today.”

“Yeah, well this part isn’t good. The reason she’s in town is because all of our parents have a meeting with the new owners of Winterville.”

For a moment there was silence. Holly blinked, trying to let the words sink in. “So they already found a buyer?” Her chest clenched.

“Yep. They were trying to hide it for as long as they could. Didn’t want us to interfere. From what I can tell, there’s a lot of money involved.”

“I can’t believe they went through with it.” Alaska’s eyes were shiny.

“Believe it. They’ve agreed on a sale with some company in Cincinnati for ten million dollars.”

“We could never hope to match that,” Holly murmured.

“Nope.” North’s smile was grim. “And no bank would lend us the money. Believe me, I’ve already asked.”

“So what happens next?” Everley inquired. “If the sale has already gone through, it’s over, right? What else can we do?”

“I don’t know.” North blinked, his eyelashes sweeping down. “But we have to do something. We can’t let this place go without a fight. Our grandma loved this town. She built it brick by brick.” He ran his tongue along his bottom lip, as though he was thinking.

“You think we stand a chance?” Gabe tipped his head to the side.

“I have no idea. All I know is that Grandma wouldn’t want this. So we keep fighting until there’s nothing left to fight for.”

“And how do we do that?”

He let out a sigh. “I have absolutely no idea.

Holly’s heart clenched, because he looked defeated before they’d even started. She knew enough about business and contract law to know he was probably right.

“Do you know who the new owners are?” she asked him.

“No. But they’ll be here this week.”

“Then let’s see what they have to say,” Holly suggested. “Find out who they are. We can’t do anything until we know that, right?”

North nodded, his gaze meeting hers. “Right.”

Gabe clapped his hands together. “In the meantime, let’s eat lunch. I’m starving.”