Welcome To Winterville by Carrie Elks

8

“What do you mean one of us should stay here?” Kevin’s eyes widened. “I can’t stay. I’ll miss my son’s Christmas Concert. My wife will kill me.”

“I know.” Josh nodded. “You should definitely go home. You can’t miss that.”

“And I need Elizabeth to stand in for me at a meeting. It’s all day tomorrow. I can’t find and brief somebody else in that short of time.”

Josh put his hand on Kevin’s arm. The man looked like he was going to have a tantrum. “It’s okay, I have it covered. I’ll stay. You two can leave.”

Kevin blinked. “You’ll stay?”

“That’s what I said.”

“But…” Kevin frowned, forming a thick monobrow above his disbelieving eyes. “Why would you stay here? You have an empire to run.”

“Because I don’t trust the Winter family to behave while we’re gone. And this deal is too important to have them mess it up now. And anyway, I can still run the business from here. There’s this little thing they invented called the internet. I can still attend meetings and send emails from the living room.”

“But you hate Zoom. That’s why we don’t let people work from home.”

“I also hate losing millions on deals that can easily be saved.” Josh shrugged. “It’s a few days. Maybe a week or two at the most. I can handle it.”

Kevin glanced at the two overnight bags he and Elizabeth had put by the door. “You’re sure.”

“I’m sure.”

“What about the car? If we take it you’ll be without one.”

Josh glanced out of the glass pane in the front door. “Willa has arranged for a car service to take you back.” A black sedan turned into the driveway at that moment. “Here it is now.” He loved it when a plan came together. “Now go, I have this handled. Enjoy your kid’s concert. And Elizabeth, you did a great job here. I’m impressed.”

She smiled shyly. “Thank you.”

“Are you sure about this?” Kevin asked. “It’s just… weird. And out of character.”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

Once the pair were out of the door and he’d heard the car pull away, Josh walked over to the table where he’d set up his office, letting out a sigh of relief. He’d asked Willa to extend the rental until Christmas. He was sure he didn’t need all that time, but it was worth extending just in case.

It also gave him enough time to secure the deal and make sure the Winter family wasn’t conspiring against him.

And enough time to figure out why Holly Winter insisted on pretending she couldn’t remember him. It was grating at him, and he had no idea why. It was obvious she remembered him. She’d almost admitted to it at the café, after all.

I keep getting these images in my brain of some strange guy stealing my panties and climbing into my bed. It’s disconcerting.

His lips curled at the memory of her soft, teasing voice and her wide, mock-disbelieving eyes. What was it about her? She did things to him just by opening those pretty lips.

She made him want things he had no business wanting. Things that made him feel more alive than he’d felt in years. About eight years, to be exact.

He opened his laptop and logged in, thanking the Gods of the World Wide Web that whoever owned this place had a booster installed in every room. Typing in his log in details, he wasn’t surprised when a chat box appeared on his screen.

WILLA MARKS:Are you there, Joshua? Your grandfather keeps calling. Says he can’t get through on your cell phone.

Willa was the only person at work who called him Joshua. It had taken him two years to stop her from calling him Mr. Gerber. He didn’t have the heart to invest any more time in training her to call him Josh.

JOSH GERBER: Reception is patchy here. I’ll call him when I get a chance.

Lies, all lies. He’d blocked his grandfather’s number because he didn’t have the energy to deal with the old man right now. He’d unblock it on the way home. When everything was back to normal, and Winterville was a forgotten project.

WILLA MARKS:Do you want me to check which provider has the best coverage? I can get you switched over in an instant.

His lips twitched at Willa’s suggestion. Busted.

JOSH GERBER: No need. I won’t be here long. If my grandfather calls again, tell him everything is under control.

WILLA MARKS: I already did. He doesn’t believe me. But I’ll try again. In the meantime, I’ve cancelled a few of your face to face meetings, and put the rearranged dates in your calendar. I’ve also changed the ones you asked me to teleconferences. There are a few urgent emails to check in your inbox – I’ve flagged them. And your grandma wants to know what you’re doing for Christmas.

Working, probably. Or sleeping. Maybe both. His family didn’t really celebrate Christmas. Or at least his grandfather didn’t, which meant that nobody else should either.

He typed back quickly.

JOSH GERBER: I’ll call her later.

WILLA MARKS: You’re a good boy.

He grinned at her description. He was neither good, nor a boy, but he wasn’t going to disabuse her of her impressions. Even if his reasons for staying here for the next few days were pretty bad.

He closed the chat and pulled up a browser window, typing quickly into the search bar.

Holly Winter

Yeah, he’d Googled her before. But now he could do it without Kevin or Elizabeth in the vicinity.

Leaning back in his chair, arms folded behind his head, he watched as the results loaded up. She was such an attractive woman. And a worthy opponent. His lips curled into a grin. Let the battle commence.

* * *

It was Everley’s idea to hand out flyers to the townspeople, as well as to staple posters on every available surface in the town square. Holly smirked at the words written across the front. Winterville Against Redevelopment, WAR for short. It was stupid and pointless, but it made Everley happy.

Which was always a good thing. Because a happy Everley was always fun to be with, and she was exactly the kind of distraction Holly needed. Sure, her cousin was a little attention seeker when she was younger – the townsfolk used to call her Mini Candy – but she’d calmed down a little now.

“I can’t wait for those assholes to find these,” Everley said, standing back to admire her work. There were posters everywhere, WAR standing out against the red brick buildings and windows. It looked strangely incongruous considering it was Christmas time.

“In that case, you should post them on Instagram, because they’ve already left.”

“What?” Everley frowned. “When did that happen?”

“This morning. Charlie Shaw said one of those big black sedans came to pick them up. He saw it pass at about eleven.”

“And Josh too?”

Holly shrugged. “I guess so.” And she was glad, she really was. Sure, sparring with him this morning had been fun, but he was a distraction. She’d spent more time thinking about how to rile him up than how she was going to help save this town. Now that he was gone she could take a deep dive into the accounts and talk to her lawyer friend who she’d sent the contracts to. Figure out if there was a possible way to stop this deal from going through.

“Oh.” Everley looked crestfallen. “I didn’t think he would. I guess our plan of getting you close to him won’t work.”

“No.” Thank God, because it was definitely a double edged sword. “Anyway, this is a good thing,” Holly reminded her. “They won’t be here to stop us from posting these things everywhere. Or to come to our meeting tomorrow.” They’d asked everybody to come to the Jingle Bell Theater again, this time to set up their resistance.

“I really liked the idea of you being our inside man.”

Holly tucked the fliers under her arm. “That was never going to happen. I know I was all pumped up about it, but let’s face it, he just wants his money. I’ll never persuade him otherwise.”

“He likes you.”

“He’s aggravated by me,” Holly corrected her.

“And you like him.” Everley pointed out.

Holly laughed. “Now I really know you’re going crazy. Did you hit your head on the printer when you made these fliers? Leave the day dreaming to Alaska, we’re the hard nosed women of the family.”

“I’m still a hard nosed woman.” Everley gave her a smile. “But I also think it’s so sweet that he came back for you.”

“He didn’t come back for me. He came back to bulldoze our town square to the ground.” Holly ignored the little thrill shooting through her at Everley’s words. “And he left just as quickly as he arrived, so I don’t think it had anything to do with me.”

Everley’s smile melted. “Maybe I was just hoping that one of us would have something nice happen.”

Holly slid her gloved hand into her cousin’s, squeezing it tightly. “We agreed romance died when we were twenty-one, remember?”

“And that neither of us were suited for marriage.” Everley sighed. “I remember.”

“So what’s changed?”

“Nothing.” Everley shook her head. “I’m just being silly. Maybe the thought of this place disappearing is making me sentimental.”

“Maybe Josh coming back has reminded you of your own past,” Holly suggested. “And the one who got away.”

Their eyes connected, and Holly gave her a soft smile. She knew the ins and outs of Everley’s past, the same way Everley knew hers. They both wore their scars on the inside.

And they made them stronger, not weaker

“Do you think this could work?” Everley asked, eyeing the fliers Holly was holding.

“Probably not.” Holly sighed.

“We have to try though, don’t we?”

“Yeah,” Holly said. “We do.”

Everley looked up, her eyes widening as she glanced over Holly’s shoulder. A slow smile curled at her lips. “Maybe we’ve got them on the run more than we thought,” she said, her voice low.

“What do you mean?”

“Look.” Everley’s smile widened, as Holly turned to follow the direction of her cousin’s stare.

That’s when she saw Josh Gerber, reading one of the fliers, his head tipped to the side. A breeze was lifting his thick, dark hair, as he lifted his phone to snap a photograph before pulling his phone to his ear.

“He didn’t leave,” Everley murmured. “Which means one of two things. Either he’s more rattled by us than we thought.”

“Or?” Holly looked at Josh again. He was walking off toward the café, his phone still to his ear, completely unaware they were watching him.

“Or he’s stayed because of you.” Everley clapped her hands. “Either way, I call that a win.”