Chapter
1
October
14th
Ashton Wyatt stepped through the front door of the Ramblin’
Rose Tavern and flipped on the lights, grimacing at the sticky cobwebs covering
her fingers. She wiped them on her jeans as she stared at what used to be West
Loon Bay’s most popular honky-tonk. In its heyday, locals and tourists had crammed
into the town’s oldest saloon every night. Now, the place echoed an eerie silence,
with no trace of its former glory in the plastic cups, empty beer bottles and
discarded pull-tab tickets littering the grimy, carpeted floor. Faded posters
and old neon beer signs hung askew on smoky, windowless walls. Battered, mismatched
chairs and tables were scattered aimlessly about the room.
A sudden scratchiness creeped up the back of her throat,
making Ashton violently cough. She covered her face with a tissue while waving
away a cloud of dust motes floating through the musty air. “Everything smells
like mold, old grease and stale beer,” she said to her sister and dabbed at her
nose with the tissue. “My allergies are already kicking up a fuss.” She raised her
water bottle to her lips and drank, but it didn’t help much. “It would take a
miracle to revive this place.”
Ashton’s younger sister, Grace, made a slow, 360-degree turn.
The corners of her mouth curved with an enthusiastic smile as her large brown
eyes took in every detail of the room. “No, it wouldn’t,” she replied
cheerfully. “All it needs is a good scrubbing with disinfectant and some paint.
I think we should go for it.”
“Are you crazy?” Ashton sniffled and looked up, gazing at the
dust-covered pendant lights hanging over the billiard table. Half weren’t
working and she wondered whether they needed new bulbs or new wiring. “It would
probably cost a small fortune just to bring the building up to code. Never mind
the cost of redecorating.” She coughed again. “Can we go now? My eyes are
starting to burn.”
Grace flipped her long, thick braid of dark hair behind her
back. “What did you expect? It’s an old building,” she said, ignoring Ashton’s eagerness
to escape. “Old buildings have dust.”
Ashton stepped over a smashed Styrofoam carton and approached
the pool table. She leaned against the corner, noting the eight ball sitting
next to a side pocket, ready to drop in at the slightest movement to the table.
“Look, I don’t know the first thing about managing a bar and neither do you, Grace.
I mean, you’re a pre-school teacher. I work in an office. Neither of us knows a
single thing about operating a liquor lounge.”
“So what? We can learn,” Grace argued. “Aunt Rose didn’t know
anything about operating the business, either, when she bought the building,
but she made it a success for over twenty-five years. She told Mom that if we
decided to reopen it, she’d mentor us and she also offered a startup loan to
help us out.”
Ashton pushed herself away from the table. “That’s going to
cost her a lot of money! Why is she willing to do this for us?”
Grace wandered around the room, smiling with too much
enthusiasm for Ashton’s comfort. “I guess she wants to keep the business in the
family,” Grace said. “Now that she’s getting married, she doesn’t have any
interest in operating it anymore, but she doesn’t want to sell it, either.”
“Yeah, but how can she afford to shell out so much cash for her
wedding and to us to start up the bar
again?”
Grace rolled her eyes. “Come on, Ashton, it’s no secret that
Rose is smart when it comes to making money. But, even if she didn’t have a
dime, Alex would give her the funds if she asked him.”
Rose’s only child, Alexander Lang, had left town years ago with
little cash and a scandal brewing, but had recently returned, now a
world-famous rock star. He had more than enough money for himself and his
mother.
“I don’t know.” Ashton sighed. “It’s such a long shot.
Besides, I’d have to quit my job immediately and sell my townhouse to move back
here.”
Grace countered with a wry laugh. “Ash, you’re constantly frustrated
with your job! You should be happy that Rose has offered us this opportunity.
Now you can quit and go to work for yourself. Isn’t that what you’ve always
wanted?”
Yes, but...
Lately, Ashton had been giving a lot of thought to resigning
from her executive position at Gepson Affordable Housing Corporation in Minneapolis.
Over the last few months, she’d gradually become overwhelmed and emotionally drained
by the constant demands of her job. Working for a non-profit housing developer wasn’t
easy. The low pay and high turnover meant they were always short-staffed, but
government bureaucracy and the constant pressure of finding new funding sources
contributed the most to employee burnout on the executive level. She knew the
time had come to make a job change, but not something this drastic. Granted, she’d
always dreamed of one day starting her own business. Never in her wildest
dreams, however, had she imagined taking over a small-town beer joint in
northern Minnesota and certainly not one in such pathetic condition...
“Besides,” Grace continued quietly, interrupting her
thoughts, “don’t you miss Mom and Dad? You hardly ever come home to visit.”
A pang of guilt pierced her heart. “Of course, I miss them.
I just...”
Since high school, Ashton had struggled with her
relationship with her parents. During her teenage years, she’d run with a bad
crowd and frequently got into trouble, making things difficult for her father,
an officer in the West Loon Bay Police Department. In the ten years since she’d
graduated, Bob Wyatt had worked his way up to Chief of Police of Bergamot
County. Ashton had moved one hundred-fifty miles away, determined to leave the
fishbowl atmosphere of small-town life—and her strained relationship with her
parents—behind. She still visited them, but only on major holidays and she
never stayed overnight. In the last few years, however, a sense of loneliness
and restlessness had begun to shroud her heart, fueling her desire to grow
closer to them. Sadly, the gap between her and her parents had become so wide
she didn’t know how to bridge it.
“Oh, my gosh!” Grace shrieked. “Did you see that mouse?” She
scrambled upon the flat surface of a small, square table. “It ran over there!”
Ashton checked the corner where the mouse supposedly
scurried to escape her sister’s screams, but didn’t see any threatening creatures
lurking about. “It’s gone. You can come down now. Yes, I do miss Mom and Dad,
but...”
“But what—what’s stopping you?”
Ashton glanced around the room. “I can’t just walk away from
everything I’ve accomplished and completely start over on a whim; especially
for this.”
“Hey!” Grace hopped off the table, her tennis shoes echoing
a loud thud on the floor. Making a grand sweep of the room with her arm, she
said, “This is being handed to us as
a gift. Okay, it’s not pretty, but success is what you make of it. Are you
going to play it safe and go back to that employer who doesn’t appreciate you,
or are you going to take a chance and become a partner with me? Because I’m
going to do it!”
“Not without me!”
Ashton and Grace spun around to find their cousin, Allyson
Cramer, standing in the doorway. Allyson’s straight blonde hair glistened in
the golden October sunshine, streaming across the floor. Her snug-fitting aqua
Capri pants and matching print blouse showed off her slim curves. She’d lost
weight since last Christmas when Ashton saw her at a family celebration.
Ashton’s jaw dropped as she admired Allyson’s stunning new
look, but that didn’t change the fact that they rarely got along. Their
stubbornness and competitiveness made them too much alike. “What are you doing
here? How did you know that Aunt Rose wanted us to reopen the bar?”
Allyson strutted into the room, her silver stilettos padding
softly on the carpet. “She told me first! That’s how Grace found out. I asked
Grace if she wanted to go into business with me.” Allyson’s blue eyes twinkled as she smiled mischievously,
revealing a sexy little gap between her whitened front teeth. “So, if you want
to be part of the team, you’ll have to ask me nice.”
Ashton’s ire rose as she cut a glance at Grace to catch her
sister’s reaction. As kids, she and Allyson had always been rivals. “You look
terrific, Allyson. It’s too bad you never thought to lose the attitude as well.”
Allyson dropped her designer shoulder purse on a table and
laughed. “Oh, come on, Ashton. Get over yourself, I’m just kidding!”
Grace joined in the laughter, but she sounded nervous, as
though she worried that Ashton thought she and Allyson were scheming behind her
back. Grace didn’t have a scheming bone in her body. Allyson, on the other
hand...
Ashton cleared her worsening throat and took another swig of
her water. “So, why did Aunt Rose tell you first?”
“Because I’m her favorite niece,” Allyson said
matter-of-factly. Her mother, Ruth and Aunt Rose were identical twins. Allyson
resembled them so much that most people joked they were actually triplets. She turned
to Grace. “Did you tell Ashton about the startup money?”
Grace nodded.
Ashton still found it impossible to believe. “Why is Aunt
Rose being so generous?”
“No one offered her a helping hand back in the day when she
desperately needed one,” Allyson said as she wandered over to the mahogany bar.
“Everyone turned against her and gossiped about her behind her back because she
wouldn’t say who had fathered Alex.” Allyson ran one manicured finger across
the counter and examined the dust on it. “People treated Aunt Rose like an
outcast. She told me it only made her more resolute to succeed.” Allyson
smacked her palms together, shaking the dust off them. “I’m pretty sure she’s
offering it to us instead of selling it because she’s determined to keep her
property from ever falling into the hands of anyone who mistreated her.”
“I can understand that,” Ashton said, remembering the
humiliation she’d experienced back in her senior year of high school. Malicious
and hurtful gossip had spread about her after her boyfriend, Cole Jacobson, had
cheated on her with her best friend on prom night. She’d moved away that summer
to go to college and never looked back.
Except that lately she had
been looking back and wondering if she’d done the right thing. At the time,
running away from all of her problems had seemed like the easiest thing to do.
Looking at it now, she realized she’d simply created new ones.
Grace sighed with frustration. “If the three of us are going
to join forces and start up this business, we must agree—today—that we’re going
to do everything in our power to get along with each other. Otherwise, it’s not
going to work.”
“I haven’t agreed to anything yet,” Ashton quipped,
seriously questioning her ability to see eye-to-eye on running a business with
Allyson. “I’m not convinced this is a smart career move.”
“Suit yourself.” Folding her arms, Allyson rested her back
against the bar. “Grace and I will carry on without you.”
“I never said I wouldn’t do it,” Ashton blurted, worried
about her younger sister jumping into the fray alone. “I said I wasn’t
convinced I should.”
“Then we’re going to sit down and talk this over!” Grace
pulled out two chairs and motioned for both girls to occupy them.
Allyson pulled a couple tissues from her purse and began to
wipe the wooden tabletop as Grace dusted off the seats of the chairs.
Once they sat down,
Grace smacked her hand in the center of the table. “The conversation can’t
begin until we all pledge to work together,” she snapped, glaring first at
Ashton, then at Allyson. “You guys have never gotten along, but you’re adults
now, so it’s high time you did.”
Allyson shrugged. “I have no problem with that.”
Grace’s dark eyes zeroed in on Ashton. “What about you?”
“Okay!” Ashton held up her palms. “I can do it if she can.”
Grace splayed her fingers on the table. “Then let’s do it!”
Ashton placed her hand on top of Grace’s, followed by
Allyson’s hand on top of hers.
“Agreed!” they chanted in unison.
Ashton had no idea what to do next as they pulled their
hands away and stared at each other in silence.
Then they all started talking at once.
“The carpet has to go,” Grace said, wrinkling her nose.
“It’s gross.”
“I think we should paint the walls creamy white,” Ashton
added. “About three coats to cover the rancid cigarette smell and to brighten
up the place.”
“Yeah,” Allyson said, nodding in agreement, “and we should
hire someone to install a few windows, too. Bring some natural light in here.”
She pursed her lips in annoyance. “This place is as dark as a tomb.”
Ashton pointed toward the ceiling. “Speaking of lights, we
need new fixtures. Half of these don’t work.”
“Remodel the bathrooms. They’re probably...” Allyson made a
face and shuddered.
They all burst out laughing.
Now that they had formed a team, ideas began to flow fast
and furious. Grace pulled a pen and a notebook from her purse to jot it all
down and by the time she finished, they had a “To Do” list of remodeling ideas four
pages long.
Grace frowned at her notebook. “Where are we going to get
the money to tackle all of this?”
Allyson sat back, her golden brows knit together as she
thought for a moment. “I know someone who does excellent work. I’ll strike a
deal with him to complete the priority items and make him agree to wait for
payment until after we open for business.”
Ashton did a double take at the notion of delaying payment
to a contractor. What kind of idiot would give them instant, long term credit
simply on Allyson’s word? “Are you sure he’ll go for that without any strings
attached?”
“Of course.” Allyson grinned. “He owes me a more than a few
favors.”
Everyone went silent again, absorbing the monumental task
they were about to tackle.
Ashton gripped the edges of her chair as the stark reality
of the situation took hold. Forming this partnership meant she’d have to sell
her townhouse, quit her position at work and move back to West Loon Bay. In other words, give up every shred
of stability and security in her life to launch out into the unknown. Could she
do it? Did she really want to do it? But then...
If I don’t, will I spend
the rest of my life regretting that I passed up the chance to do something
risky and exciting?
She looked at Grace for inspiration. Grace smiled back,
seemingly unconcerned about the consequences of failure and embarrassment for themselves
and their parents if their business went belly-up.
She stared at Allyson, hoping her cousin would give her some
assurance that they were making the right decision. Allyson’s cool blue eyes
didn’t show any emotion, but the rigidity in her spine and her silence implied
that she, too, had doubts about turning this broken-down relic into the
thriving business it used to be. The thought of trying to successfully “fill
Aunt Rose’s shoes” twisted her stomach into knots.
Grace stood. “So, we’re going ahead with it. All of us.”
“All of us,” Allyson replied, though the uncharacteristic
monotone in her answer made her sound uncertain.
Grace stared at Ashton, waiting for her answer.
Ashton swallowed hard. “All of us.”
I can’t believe I’m
actually going through with this. What am I getting myself into?
Only time would tell.
****
“Hey there.”
Sawyer Daniels looked up from framing a small storage barn in
the lot behind his workshop to see Allyson Cramer sauntering toward him.
They had been good friends for most of their lives, but
right now, she was the last person he wanted to see...
“Hey, yourself,” he said gruffly. “How’s bankruptcy court
coming along?”
Her smiling face clouded at the mention of her ill-fated
interior design business. “I don’t want to talk about that right now. I came to
ask you for a favor.”
He laughed wryly at her boldness, but it really didn’t faze
him. Allyson’s directness and honesty happened to be what he’d always admired the
most about her. Lately, however, her ability to look him in the eye and not
feel any remorse had become the aspect he least
admired about her. “Well, it’s at the top of my conversational list. I still haven’t received payment for the
last two jobs I did for you and Janeen.”
She stepped over a couple of 2”x4” planks, her black patent
leather stilettos clicking on the blacktop. “Neither have I—but Janeen owes me
a lot more than that. I had no idea how much money she was stealing from the
company until our checks started bouncing. I wish I’d never gone into business
with her.”
For someone who didn’t have two nickels to rub together,
Allyson sure didn’t show it. Her black satin slacks and silky white top looked
new and very expensive. So did that fancy designer handbag with the initials LV printed all over it.
He wondered if she’d given herself a last-minute bonus before throwing in the
towel or if she’d maxed out one of her credit cards. He had a feeling she possessed
a lot of maxed-out cards.
Lucy, his five-year-old black Labrador
mix, ran toward Allyson, wagging her tail.
“Stop!” Allyson stretched out her hands. “You’ll get dirt on
my pants.”
“Lucy, get down!” Sawyer quickly wedged himself between them
before Lucy could put her paws on Allyson’s pretty clothes. “Sit!”
Lucy obeyed, looking confused as she whined and thumped her
tail.
He stepped over to a faded red Coleman cooler, flipped open
the lid and pulled out two chilled bottles of water. “I’ll save you some time.
The answer is no.”
She frowned, her lower lip protruding in that cute “pouting”
expression she always used whenever she had something up her sleeve. “You don’t
even know what I want yet.”
He handed her a bottle of water. “Doesn’t matter; I’m pretty
sure you either need something built or your car fixed, but I’m not doing any
more favors for you until I get paid the ten thousand you already owe me.”
She took the bottle and examined the label, raising her
brows at the Walmart logo. “That’s what I’ve come to talk to you about. I’m
going to settle up with you.”
Sawyer twisted off the cap of his bottle. “But...” he retorted, purposely making it
sound more like a statement than a question. He lifted the container to his
lips and took a swig, never taking his gaze off her as he waited for her to
fill in the rest of the sentence.
She displayed a disarming smile. “But you have to do another
job for me to get it.”
“You’ve got nerve, you know that? I told you—” He barely got
the words out before he began to choke on his water.
She moved close and smacked him between the shoulder blades.
“I mean it, Sawyer. I’m going to pay you back, but you have to help me out or I
won’t be able to get the money. You want to get paid, don’t you?”
Straightening, he screwed the cap on his bottle and set it
in a holder on the lid of the cooler. “Of course, I do, but if you don’t have
any money now, how are you going to pay me when I finish the next job?”
“Because I’m going to get the money very soon.” She pulled a
couple of webbed lawn chairs into the shade and motioned for him to join her.
Brushing off the seat of the nearest one, she gingerly sat down, looking as
though she expected the chair to fall apart underneath her. “I’m reopening The
Ramblin’ Rose.”
He burst out laughing. “I expected your idea to be off the
wall, but this is—”
“Don’t laugh!” She gave him a stubborn look. “I used to tend
bar in college. Besides, my Aunt Rose is giving me a loan.”
Lucy trotted over to Sawyer’s chair and sat next to him,
resting her chin on his knee.
“Is that so?” He patted Lucy on the head. “I hope she’s
lending you enough to pay me back, too.”
Allyson set her unopened water bottle on the ground beside
her chair. “I have to make some changes to the building. That’s where you come
in.” She reached into her handbag and pulled out a handwritten list. “The items
in red are the initial modifications I want you to make. The rest will come
later as I can afford it. You’ll get compensated incrementally as you complete
the project. Once I’m open for business, I’ll start paying off the old debt.”
Renovating that old structure seemed like a waste of time,
but he unfolded the paper and scanned the list anyway.
“Meet me at the bar tomorrow for a walk-through and we’ll go
over the specifics.”
He’d grown up in West Loon Bay but rarely went back there,
even though he lived only ten miles south in Summerville. In his misspent
youth, he’d done his share of partying at The Ramblin’ Rose and giving the
local cops a hard time, but when he left town, he’d also abandoned his old
life—and his drinking buddies. Instead, he’d adopted a homeless dog, started a
business and bought a house in an effort to make some sense out of his life. Working
at The Ramblin’ Rose increased his chances of running into some of his former
crowd. He had no interest in renewing old acquaintances, especially Cole Jacobson,
the best friend-turned-traitor who’d stolen his girlfriend right from under his
nose—on prom night no less. It hadn’t taken him long to get over Brenda Miller,
but even after all these years, he still lived with the temptation to punch out
Cole’s lights for double-crossing him.
Let it go... You’re
not that person anymore. What happened turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
Sawyer refolded the page and handed it back to her. “I’m too
busy at the moment. I’ve got my own customers to keep happy.”
She groaned loudly in disappointment. “When can you start
then?”
“I’ve got orders for storage barns and a custom fish house
to finish. I’m busy until Thanksgiving,” he said, hoping she’d be in a hurry
and decide to hire someone else.
Instead of backing off, Allyson leaned toward him and
gripped his arm. “Sawyer, I planned to open by Thanksgiving. I need you on the
job now.”
Gently, but firmly he pulled his arm away. “I can’t. I have
commitments.”
“In two weeks, then.” She glared at him, her jaw stubbornly
set. “By that time, I’ll have a crew on-site working on the cleanup.” When he
didn’t answer, she began to blink back tears. “Come on, Sawyer. You’ve got to help
me. Best friends always stick together. Didn’t I help you back when you were
starting your business?”
Even though he had no doubt she’d deliberately manufactured
the waterworks for his benefit, it still made him uncomfortable. He had a soft
spot for Allyson, and knew he always would. Bringing up their friendship, and
how her interior design company had given him jobs when he first went into
business for himself, seared his conscience. He couldn’t say no.
And she knew it.
He expelled a deep sigh of resignation. “All right, I’ll meet
you at the bar tomorrow morning at ten o’clock, but I can’t start the job until
the first of November. I want half of the money down in cash and the rest upon completion. Is that understood?”
Smiling, she grabbed her handbag and sprung from her chair,
all traces of her former tears gone. “I’m going to see Aunt Rose right now and
tell her I’ve hired you. I think it would be a good idea if she attended the
meeting as well.” She kissed him on the cheek. “You’re the greatest, Sawyer. Gotta
go. Tons of things to do!” She left him wiping her peach lipstick from the
rough surface of his jaw with the back of his hand. “I’ll call you!” she yelled
over her shoulder as she hurried to her car, her long blonde hair billowing
behind her. How she could run in those ridiculous shoes was anybody’s guess.
Lucy smacked his knee with her paw, reminding him of her
presence. “Don’t worry, sweetie,” he said, chuckling softly as he rubbed her
ears, “you’re still my number one girl.”
Sawyer watched Allyson drive away, wondering if he’d ever
meet the right girl for him. He knew all of the women in the area. He’d
attended school with most of them and dated many, but no one had ever captured
his heart; no one had ever given him the emotional rush he’d experienced with
Brenda Miller. Had he missed his chance for happiness, or had being in love
with her simply given him a taste of the real thing?
He truly hoped someday he’d find out.
* ~ * ~ *
This is the first chapter of a story set in Sweet Romance Read's newest boxed set Sweet Christmas Kisses 4, on sale September 26th. Pre-order now for only 99 cents!
* ~ * ~ *
Denise
Devine is a USA TODAY bestselling author of sweet contemporary romance who has
had a passion for books since the second grade when she discovered Little House
on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder. She wrote her first book, a mystery, at
age thirteen and has been writing ever since. If you’d like to know more about
her, you can visit her website at www.deniseannettedevine.com.
