Fool's Gold Collection Volume 4: Halfway There / Just One Kiss / Two of a Kind / Three Little Words. Susan Mallery
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who mattered to him safe.
* * *
PATIENCESAT CROSS-legged on the sofa. She had a pad of paper and a pen. In front of her was a can of diet soda. She was walking that tightrope of needing the caffeine and slipping into jittery madness.
“The equipment is ordered,” Ava said, holding up a folder. “I have all the receipts here. I’ve created a calendar with delivery dates. The plumber and electrician have to come in first, so we need to know where everything is going.”
Patience drew in a breath. “Right. So we need to finalize placement. What do you think?”
“I think you should get another opinion,” her mother told her. “Ask Justice what he thinks. He used to be military. He’s used to slipping in and out of places. He should have a good idea about room flow and what can get in the way.”
“Oh, I hadn’t thought about that.” Not that she minded a reason to see Justice. “You’re right. He’ll bring a fresh perspective. I’ll call him later and set up a time.”
“Perfect.” Her mother flipped open her folder. “Between the construction and the equipment, we’ve used up most of our budget.”
“I know. We knew that was going to happen.”
Decent, professional equipment didn’t come cheap. Then there were all the supplies that went with opening a coffee place. Cups, mugs, glasses, tables, chairs, napkins, cases, a dishwasher.
“We have the money to pay for staff,” Patience said, “and our reserve fund. I won’t be taking a salary for at least the first couple of months.”
“Don’t worry about the bills around here,” her mother told her. “I’ll cover them. With the mortgage paid off, we have more than enough, plus a little extra to put into the store.”
Patience nodded. None of this was new information. They’d been over their budget so many times before, playing out different scenarios. The difference was, this time it was real. They were doing this. The inheritance meant there wasn’t a bank loan to worry about. Talk about a miracle.
“If nothing else, I have my fallback position,” she said with a smile. “I can go back to doing hair.”
“You won’t have to,” her mother told her. “We’re going to take this town by storm.”
“One cup at a time,” Patience added.
“That’s right.” Her mother flipped through the paperwork. “We need to get together a work party. The contractor will install the built-ins and there’s the plumber and electrician, but what about the general cleaning and painting? It’s much cheaper to do it ourselves.”
It would save a lot of money, Patience thought. “You’re right. We’re talking about what? Three weeks from now?”
“The remodeling starts Monday and it takes a week. The equipment comes in the week after that. So about three weeks seems right.” Ava made a note. “I’ll pull out the phone tree.”
One of the advantages of living in a place like Fool’s Gold was the community involvement. Neighbors stepped in to help each other. If the school needed classrooms painted, or a holiday production needed stage sets refurbished, people showed up and helped. Although Patience had been on the participating end of a lot of work parties, she’d never been one of the people doing the asking.
“Do you think we should bother people?” Even as she asked the question, she knew what her mother was going to say.
“Everyone who loves us will be delighted to help.”
“I know. You’re right.” She drew in a breath. “Work now, freak out later.”
“At least you have a plan.”
They went over the rest of the details. In the next couple of days the local print shop would have the proofs of their logo ready. The logo would go on the signs, the aprons and eventually the mugs. She was even thinking of offering “Brew-haha” merchandise to sell.
“And we’re done,” Ava told her.
“Yay, us.” Patience put down her pad of paper and her pen and straightened her legs. “Lillie should be getting home soon.” Her daughter was at a friend’s house for the afternoon.
“You heard the Zack issue was resolved.”
Patience smiled. “Yes. Poor kid. He had to endure a whole meeting about his crush. That’s going to leave a scar.”
“Justice handled the situation extremely well. I know I have nothing to do with it, but I’m still proud of how he turned out.”
Patience was impressed as well, but didn’t think “proud” described her feelings. “He’s a good guy.”
A good guy who confused her. If only she didn’t like him so much. She had thought to keep him far enough from Lillie that her daughter wouldn’t start to bond, only to have Lillie take matters into her own hands. Now Justice was her daughter’s hero. Kind of Patience’s hero, too, for helping out Lillie.
He’d decided to start his business in Fool’s Gold, which meant he was staying. But he still hadn’t explained why he’d avoided her for years and years. Avoiding him until she figured it out seemed like the best option, only the town was small and in truth, she didn’t want to. Maybe she needed an intervention.
At least being insanely busy with the store was going to help. She wouldn’t have time to play the what-if game right now.
“It’s interesting he chose to settle here,” her mother said. “He could have gone anywhere.”
“I think Ford had something to do with it. They’re still friends.” She laughed. “Or maybe it’s all Fool’s Gold. Once this town finds you, it doesn’t let you go.”
“That sounds a little scary.”
“I didn’t mean it that way.” She looked at her mother. “I’m glad Justice is okay. Even though we were just kids, I thought about him a lot—what might have happened to him.”
Ava nodded. “I remember the mayor trying to find out. Alice Barns used her contacts, as well.”
Then Deputy Barns, now Police Chief Barns, Patience thought. “We were dealing with the witness protection program. There was no way we could have figured it out.” Even now she had trouble believing someone had thought to keep a kid in danger safe in Fool’s Gold. Nothing like that had ever happened here. Which was probably the point, she thought.
She reached for her pen, then straightened. A nagging thought reappeared and she knew she had to suck it up and tell her mother what was going on.
“Mom, Ned’s father came by the other day.”
Ava turned to her. “Steve?”
“Uh-huh. He says he wants to have a relationship with Lillie.”
Patience braced herself for the rant. Ava had dealt with men abandoning her more than once in her life. First her father had cut and run on his family; then her husband had played the same disappearing game. She’d had to watch the same thing happen to her daughter.
No doubt Ava would have several not-very-nice things to say about Ned’s father. After all, Steve had also left his family. There was an epidemic of men who weren’t in it for the long haul.
“How was he?” her mother asked instead.
Patience shrugged. “He was quiet. Pleasant. He apologized for what he’d done to Ned and for how Ned had treated Lillie and me. He says he’s a changed man and wants a second chance with his granddaughter.”
“Do you believe him?”
“I don’t know. I’d only met him once before. Ned never had anything good to say about him, but he’s hardly someone I’d trust as far as judging character