Starting Over In Wickham Falls (Wickham Falls Weddings Book 9) Read online

  “Not to worry, Mom. Dad’s not ready to retire, so that’s something we don’t have to think about until years from now.”

  Georgina talking to Evelyn while she cooked felt like old times before Kevin passed away. She wasn’t certain whether her mother had accepted what she couldn’t change—her moving out or realizing that her inability to solicit her husband as an ally was futile.

  “Maybe I’ll ask your father if he would like to take a few days off and go away.”

  “Do you have an idea of where you would like to go?”

  “Definitely someplace warm. Maybe we can go to Hawaii to visit Paul.”

  Georgina flashed a smug grin. Getting her parents to go away for a week or two would be good for both of them. She’d proven in the past that she could manage the store without her father’s presence, and during their absence she would stay at the house.

  “Make certain to take a lot of pictures.”

  “Your father can do that. I can’t take a decent picture if my life depended on it. Speaking of pictures, did you take any at the fund-raiser?”

  “No, but Jonas Harper was there representing the town and the newspaper. I’m certain there will be a lot of pictures in the next issue.”

  “Was Langston there to cover it for the paper?”

  “Yes. In fact, we shared a table.”

  “It’s a shame his wife cheated on him with that so-called actor while he’d risked life and limb covering wars on the other side of the world.”

  Georgina did not understand how her mother was privy to so much gossip when she hardly ventured outside the house. Did she keep in touch with someone who kept her abreast of the goings-on in town, or had she pumped her husband for information and then drew her own conclusions?

  She set the table in the breakfast nook with bowls of sliced melon and quickly made two Western omelets. Evelyn devoured it, saying it was delicious, and Georgina didn’t want to declare an early victory in getting her mother to eat, but it was a start.

  Evelyn retreated to the family room to watch television, while Georgina cleaned up the kitchen before taking out the ingredients she needed to prepare Sunday dinner.

  * * *

  It was Monday morning and minutes before seven when Georgina pulled into her reserved parking space behind the department store an hour before her normal arrival time. Most of the businesses along Main Street were still closed; the lights coming from the popular restaurant Ruthie’s indicated they were preparing for their all-you-can-eat buffet. She noticed a car from the sheriff’s department parked at the far end of the lot. Since being elected and sworn in as sheriff, Seth Collier had increased patrols of the downtown business district after an attempted break-in at the pharmacy. He’d suspected the burglar or burglars were looking for drugs. Residents of Wickham Falls were not exempt from the opioid epidemic sweeping the country.

  She unlocked the rear door, disarmed the security system and then closed and locked it behind her. Before her father closed at night, he had made it a practice to leave a few lights on so if the sheriff or his deputies checked stores in the downtown business district, they were able to view the interiors to detect possible intruders.

  She punched in the code to the office and walked in. Last year the space had undergone a complete renovation with a new coat of paint, ceiling tiles, carpeting and recessed lighting. A glazer had installed one-way windows, which allowed her to observe all activity on the sales floor. Security cameras were installed throughout the building to deter shoplifting. Her father had also updated the employees’ break room and bathrooms.

  After placing a container with her lunch from the dishes she’d prepared the day before in the office’s mini fridge, she picked up the telephone and dialed the number to The Sentinel, listening for the prompts on the voice mail messaging. It wasn’t the recorded message that greeted her, but a familiar male’s voice.

  “Langston?”

  “All day and all night.”

  Georgina smiled. She hadn’t expected Langston to answer the phone at this hour in the morning. “Good morning, Langston. Do you usually begin working this early?”

  “No. The office doesn’t open until nine. I’m here because I didn’t go home last night.”

  “You spent the night there?”

  “Yes. I began writing a piece on the Chamber fund-raiser and lost track of time. I should finish it in a couple of hours, then I’ll go home and crash.”

  “I’m not going to keep you. I just called to thank you for recommending the Wainwrights, because I’ll be renting one of their guesthouses. The new homes are still under construction, and probably won’t be ready for sale until the end of the year.”

  “I’m glad you found something in Wickham Falls.”

  “Me, too,” Georgina said in agreement. She was more than glad and had to tamp down feelings of euphoria whenever she thought about moving into the guesthouse.

  “Once you’re settled in, we have to get together so I can make my butternut squash ravioli for you.”

  She smiled again. “Okay. I’ll call and let you know when I can come up for air.”

  “Take down my cell number. If you can’t reach me here, then you can always send me a text.”

  Reaching for a pen, Georgina wrote down the ten digits, and then repeated it to Langston. “I’m going to give you my number, so you won’t have to call me here at the store.”

  A low chuckle caressed her ear. “What’s so funny?”

  “You, Georgi. First you claim you won’t give me your number until after we have our first date, and now you’ve reneged.”

  “Have you ever changed your mind about something?”

  “Yeah.”

  “There you go. Now, take down my number before I change my mind again.”

  “Talk to me, Cinderella.”

  She gave him the number to her cell phone. “If I’m Cinderella, then who are you?”

  A beat passed. “I haven’t yet decided whether I’m the prince from Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella.”

  “You can’t mix fairy-tale princes, Langston. And, how do you know so much about princes and princesses?”

  “My mother used to read them over and over to my sister.”

  “By the way, how is your sister doing?”

  “Jackie’s well. She’s left teaching for a while to become a stay-at-home mom and she loves it.”

  Jacklyn Cooper, who’d been in Georgina’s graduating class, left the Falls to enroll in Howard University as an English major. “Give her my regards when you talk to her. I’m going to hang up now so you can finish your article, go home and get some sleep.”

  “Okay. Later.”

  “Later, Langston.”

  Georgina ended the call and then leaned back in the desk chair. Langston said inviting her to his house for dinner was a date. And he’d also revealed that she would be the first woman he would invite to his home since his return. He’d been back a little more than a year and she wondered why her and not some other woman.

  Cinderella. Had he likened her to the fairy-tale princess because she’d informed him that she had to be home before midnight; or did he view her as the young woman who hadn’t been permitted to leave home until she met her prince who’d freed her from a life of monotony? And, she mused, did she need rescuing? Or did she want Langston to become her prince?

  If she was truthful, then she would have to give Sasha Manning credit for hearing her out and suggesting she move out of her parents’ home for the first step in establishing her independence. Sasha had left the Falls within months of graduation, while Georgina had given up her dream of leaving and attending art school. Whenever she heard that another of her classmates had gone to college, enlisted in the military, or even accepted employment outside Johnson County, she sank further into a morass of helplessness until she’d accepted her plight. She would
live at home and work for the family-owned business.

  Once her father began downsizing the arts and craft section the lightbulb in her head was suddenly illuminated. Bruce claimed he wanted to expand the sporting goods area and had contacted the vendor selling yarn and fabric to cancel all future orders. She’d stayed after hours to box up the entire craft materials section and took it to a storage company in Mineral Springs. Yards of yarn and bolts of fabric had become her one-way ticket to a life she never would’ve imagined if her father hadn’t decided to scale back the inventory.

  Smiling, Georgina booted up the store’s computer and clicked on the app for accounts payable. She’d computerized all vendors, paid them electronically and direct-deposited payroll checks into employees’ bank accounts. Her father oversaw the front of the store and monitored the clerks checking out customers and would periodically empty the registers of cash and store it in the office safe.

  Powell’s had had two burglaries in the past, and an armed robbery several years ago. Unfortunately for the perpetrator, he was unaware that a plainclothes deputy on loan from Mineral Springs was at checkout and managed to disarm and apprehend him before he could escape. The incident prompted her father to install panic buttons under the counters at checkout, which were wired directly to the sheriff’s office.

  The office door opened, and Bruce walked in. “I can’t believe you got here before me.”

  Georgina smiled at her father. He’d shaved his head. She’d suggested he get rid of the circle of fading red hair a long time ago like so many men who were balding. “How handsome you look.”

  Attractive lines fanned out around Bruce’s dark-blue eyes when he smiled. “I know you’ve been after me to shave my head, and I must admit it’s really liberating. I’m certain Joe’s Barber is going to miss me, but I’ll still go there for a professional shave every couple of weeks. Now, why did you get up before the chickens?”

  “I want to get most of my paperwork done so I can leave a little early to go home and start packing.”

  Bruce sat on a chair next to the workstation. “I’m glad you decided to move out.”

  “What!”

  “I’d wanted to tell you a long time ago that you should live on your own. But I didn’t want to start up with your mother. Speaking of your mother,” he continued without taking a breath, “she suggested we go to Hawaii to visit Paul and his family.”

  Georgina studied her father’s face, realizing for the first time that she was a softer, more feminine version of the man. Whenever he came to her school, kids would announce loudly that her father was there to see her. Grandma Dot used to say that Bruce Powell had figuratively spit her out.

  “Are you going?”

  “I’m seriously thinking about it. When I called Paul, he said he was looking forward to having us come. But if I do go, then you’re going to have to spend most of your time on the floor.”

  “Don’t worry, Dad. I’ll ask Dan Jackson if he’s willing to work security until you get back.” Dan had become a lifer in the corps, and after separating worked security for private social events.

  Bruce’s pale eyebrow lifted. “I guess that settles it. You call Dan while I research flights.”

  “How long do you plan to stay?”

  “Probably a week to ten days.” He placed his hand over Georgina’s and gave her fingers a gentle squeeze. “Thank you, baby girl.”

  A slight frown creased her forehead. “For what, Dad?”

  “I believe you telling your mother you were moving out made her aware that she didn’t have to depend on you for companionship. I told her she would never be alone if I’m alive, because I’d made a vow to be with her through the good times and the bad ones. I love her just that much.”

  “Why did it take her this long to come to the realization that she does have a loving and supportive husband?” Georgina asked.

  “I’m not complaining about how long it took, because I’ve been given a second chance to get my wife back.”

  Georgina did not want to ask, but she wondered if her mother had even spurned her husband’s attempt to make love to her. “You can think of it as a second honeymoon.”

  Bruce smiled. “That’s what I’m hoping.”

  “If Mom comes back pregnant, I’m going to disown both of you,” she teased.

  He jerked back his hand as if hers had burned him as blood drained from his face, leaving it a sickly yellowish shade. “Your mama had a difficult delivery with Kevin, and the doctor couldn’t stop the bleeding, and subsequently she had a hysterectomy that made it impossible for her to have another child. That’s part of the reason she was so devastated when he died.”

  Georgina covered her mouth with her hand and closed her eyes. She had no idea that her mother had undergone a hysterectomy. She’d believed Evelyn had spent a lot of time in bed because she’d had a Cesarean.

  “I’m sorry, Daddy. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Bruce’s expression softened. “Your mother made me swear never to tell anyone. Are you aware that it’s been years since you’ve called me Daddy?”

  Rising slightly, she leaned over and kissed his smooth-shaven jaw. “Is that what you want me to call you?”

  Bruce ran a hand over her curly hair. “No. I’m waiting for the day when you’ll call me Grandpa.”

  Georgina hadn’t missed the longing tone in her father’s voice. “Give me time to get my life together, and one of these days I’ll hope to make you a grandfather.”

  “Don’t wait too long, sweetie, or I’ll be too old to toss my grandbaby in the air and catch them.”

  She cut her eyes at her father. “You will not toss my babies.”

  “Have one or two, then we’ll see.” Bruce stood up. “It’s time I get the register drawers.”

  Georgina focused her attention on the computer screen while Bruce opened the safe and removed the drawers to the registers. He’d made it a practice to fill them the night before, which eliminated the need to count out bills and coins before the clerks arrived.

  The weekend had been full of surprises. She’d attended a social affair and was seated with a man who’d invited her to his home for a dinner date; she’d revealed to her parents that she was moving out; had rented a house that would fulfill her current needs; her father and mother were going on vacation for the first time in years, and he’d revealed the underlying cause for his wife’s depression.

  Georgina was annoyed with her father because if he’d told her about Evelyn’s inability to have more children, she wouldn’t have spent so many years resenting her mother’s need to cling to her surviving child because she feared losing her, too. She also faulted him because he should’ve tried harder to help his wife deal with her grief and not sanction her emotional manipulation of their daughter.

  Her father wanted grandchildren, but that could not become a reality until Georgina was able to cross off several more items on her wish list.

  Chapter Four

  Langston studied the gallery of photographs that were taken two weeks ago at the Chamber dinner on the computer monitor. While Jonas Harper was Wickham Falls’ official photographer, he also freelanced for the paper. The man truly was an artistic genius. He’d photographed every table, and his lens had captured expressions ranging from stoic to ebullient.

  A smile tilted the corners of his mouth. The lens had captured an image of him and Georgina smiling at each other as if sharing a secret. When he’d left the Falls to attend college, Georgi was a cute teenage girl. Fast-forward more than a decade and she was now a stunning woman.

  Her sensual voice, the way in which she glanced up at him through her lashes, and her fluid body language were traits that had him thinking about her days later. And he hadn’t lied when he revealed she would become the first woman he’d invited to his home. The house where he’d grown up had become his sanctuary, a place filled with warm an
d happy memories of his childhood.

  His parents were protective, and affectionate with one hard and fast rule that he and his sister do well in school because without an education he would never be able to realize his dream to become a journalist. Langston struggled to balance sports with academics when he joined the baseball team as a pitcher, and during his junior year when his grades began to slip he had to decide which he craved more—the roar of the crowd when he struck out someone on the opposing team, or getting into the college of his choice. In the end it was the latter.

  His private line rang, and he tapped the speaker feature when he saw the name on the console. “I got them, Jonas.”

  “What do you think, Lang?”

  “They’re incredible. Your lens is pure magic.”

  Jonas laughed. “I had to use a long lens so not to be obtrusive. Folks tend not to be so candid when you put a camera in their face. You look really cozy with Powell’s daughter.”

  “We had fun.”

  “No doubt. Did you find the one where you were dancing together?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Keep scrolling and you’ll see what I’m talking about. You told me you wanted to include a two-page spread in the upcoming edition, so if you want me to include it you should be ready when folks talk about you hooking up with Powell’s girl.”

  “She happens to have a name, Jonas.”

  “I know, but everyone refers to her as Powell’s girl.”

  Langston scrolled through the photos until he came to the one with him dancing with Georgina. She’d closed her eyes, her head resting on his shoulder. And his expression said it all. He was enjoying having her in his arms.

  “Let them talk, Jonas.” He’d witnessed too much death and dying up close and personal to concern himself with gossip. He’d survived being embedded with troops in war zones and had been absolved of being a spy and/or traitor after the publication of his second book by a congressional committee, so chitchat or innuendos were inconsequential to his well-being.