Starting Over on Blackberry Lane--A Romance Novel Read online

  She bought Petey a snickerdoodle cookie and herself a brownie, then wandered back to see if anyone new had outbid her. Brad had drifted away and was talking with Blake Preston, manager of the local bank. His wife, Samantha, and her sister Cecily were both checking out a gift certificate for a day spa treatment at the Sleeping Lady Salon.

  “Of course, we’re driving up the price by bidding against each other,” Samantha confessed, “but it’s for a great cause.”

  “I think Cass and Griffin and I are doing that, too,” Stef said, shaking her head. Both Cass and Griffin had bid on Grant Masters. And now here came yet another woman hovering over the coveted prize. She was dressed stylishly but her platinum blond hair didn’t look quite as good as her clothes. Dry ends. Too much chemical torture.

  “Who’s that?” Stef asked.

  “Priscilla Castro,” Samantha said in a disgusted voice.

  “Better known as Pissy,” said her sister. “She works at city hall. And I wouldn’t call her the most cooperative woman in town. She doesn’t cooperate with us, anyway.”

  “Every year that woman manages to tie us up in red tape when it’s time for the Chocolate Festival,” Samantha said.

  “She doesn’t like Sam,” Cecily confided, “ever since Sam beat her out as class valedictorian. She also lost the Miss Icicle Falls crown to Sam.”

  “And the scholarship money that went with it. Sore loser.”

  “So this town isn’t perfect, after all,” Stef joked.

  Samantha smiled at that. “Hardly. We all have our flaws.”

  “What’s yours?” Stef asked.

  “Bossy,” said Cecily, and Samantha stuck out her tongue.

  “Oh, and here she comes,” Cecily said under her breath. “Be nice.”

  “I’m always nice,” Samantha said. She smiled at the newcomer. “Pissy, er, Prissy, how are things at city hall?”

  Priscilla glared at her. “Fine. I see you’re bidding on the spa day at Sleeping Lady.”

  Samantha shrugged. “Just for fun.”

  “I think I’ll bid on it, too,” Priscilla said. She stepped in front of Stef and wrote down her bid, jumping the bidding up by thirty dollars. “I really want this,” she said and smirked at Samantha.

  “She really needs it,” Samantha muttered as the other woman walked away.

  “So maybe we should let her have that day at Sleeping Lady,” Cecily said.

  Samantha considered for a moment. “You know what? No,” she said with a grin and wrote in a fresh bid.

  Meanwhile, three more women had gathered at the Honey Do offering, including Griffin. Stef hurried over to see what the bidding was up to.

  “The competition is fierce,” Griffin greeted her. “Who knew this would turn out to be such a hot-ticket item?”

  “I did,” said one woman. “I mean, look at him.”

  They did. He stood over in a corner of the room with his son Dan Masters and three women who were all doing their best to outflirt each other. Stef watched as a middle-aged woman in tight jeans flipped her scraggly fake red hair. Another woman, this one probably pushing sixty, gave his arm a friendly caress.

  “They’re like buzzards,” Stef muttered.

  “I can’t blame them,” said the stranger. “He’s gorgeous. I know for a fact that Sally’s gone at least a hundred dollars over what she planned to spend tonight.”

  “I bet they don’t even need him to do any work,” Griffin said.

  “Who cares about need?” the stranger said with a shrug. “We all just want him.”

  Stef pulled Griffin away. “Okay, at the rate things are going, we’ll never be able to compete.”

  Griffin frowned. “I can only spend so much.”

  “Me, too,” said Stef. “I have to pay for materials as well as labor. We got our income tax refund, but that’ll only go so far.”

  They both stared glumly over at Grant Masters and the handyman groupies.

  There had to be something they could do. “I know! Let’s pool our money. We can share him,” Stef said excitedly.

  “Who are you two sharing?” asked Cass, who’d come up behind them with a brownie in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.

  “The handyman,” Stef explained. “We figure if we pool our money, we can outbid the competition. Want to go in with us?”

  “But we all need him for more than a day,” Cass pointed out.

  “True, but maybe he’ll give us a group discount,” Stef said brightly. It was worth a try, anyway. Cass hesitated. “Come on,” Stef urged. “Come in with us. Let’s ace the competition.”

  “All right,” Cass said. “Why not? I definitely need that man.” Her cheeks turned pink and she quickly added, “To fix my roof.”

  “Oh, sure,” Stef teased.

  “Okay, then, here’s the plan,” Cass said. “The bidding closes in five minutes. We need to settle on how much we’re willing to pay.”

  “Money divided in equal thirds,” said Stef.

  Griffin gulped but nodded.

  “How high are we prepared to go?” Cass asked. “You two need to decide. I know what I’m willing to pay.”

  A quick powwow and they had their number.

  “I can’t go over that,” Griffin said.

  “If it goes over, I’ll cover you,” Cass promised.

  “Don’t worry. We won’t have to,” Stef told Griffin. “Uh-oh, here comes that Pissy person again.”

  Cass grinned. “Priscilla Castro? Sam and Cecily must have filled you in on her.”

  “She wants him,” Stef said. “I saw her name on the bidding sheet.”

  “She seems pretty formidable,” said Griffin.

  “I’ll distract her,” Stef volunteered.

  “Good idea,” Cass said. “Do that, and one minute before the bidding closes, I’ll write in our winning bid.”

  “Oh, no, here comes someone else,” Griffin said, nodding in the direction of the fake redhead.

  “Don’t let her get here,” Stef commanded.

  “How am I supposed to do that?”

  “Think of something. Meanwhile, I’ll sidetrack Pissy.”

  Griffin hurried off and Stef moved to head off the newcomer. “Hi. We didn’t get a chance to meet a few minutes ago. I’m Stefanie Stahl.” Inspired, she added, “You’re a friend of Samantha Preston’s, right?”

  Priscilla’s mouth turned down. “I know Samantha, but we’re not exactly friends.”

  “Oh? I’m still kind of new in town and I don’t know everyone all that well. She seems nice.”

  “Looks can be deceiving,” Priscilla said, her tone scathing. “Not that I’d say anything, of course.”

  “No, of course.” Stef nodded. “I understand you work at city hall. You must know a lot about what goes on around here.”

  “You bet I do.” And she proceeded to tell Stef, going into great detail on how the almighty Sterling family had once almost lost their chocolate company. Meanwhile, the mayor was taking up his microphone onstage to announce the end of the bidding—and Cass was writing in their final bid. Out of the corner of her eye, Stef could see Griffin talking with the other woman, standing in front of her and blocking her path to the table.

  Finally, the woman shoved Griffin aside and marched to the table, just as the mayor said, “All right, my fellow Icicles, the silent auction is now at an end. So if you’ll all find your seats, we’ll announce the winner of our Raise the Roof bake-off competition this year. Then we’ll start bidding on all those mouthwatering treats. And after that, we’ll get to the winners of our silent auction.”

  Priscilla scowled. “I wanted to put in another bid on that handyman.”

  “Maybe you won him,” Stef said innocently.

  Priscilla moved past her, onl
y to find Cass standing next to the Honey Do certificate, arms crossed and a grin on her face.

  “Maybe you won one of your other bids,” Cass said sweetly.

  Priscilla stuck her nose in the air and marched off.

  Now Griffin had returned. “Did we do it?”

  “Yes,” Cass told her, “and for less than we thought we’d have to.”

  “Yay!”

  All three women hugged and congratulated each other on their cleverness.

  “How did you stall that other woman?” Stef asked Griffin as they went to join Brad and Petey, who were sitting down with Samantha and Cecily and their husbands.

  “I introduced myself and started babbling about my life. She now knows everything about me except what I weigh, and I’m sure she thinks I’m crazy. Totally embarrassing.”

  “But successful,” Stef said with a smile.

  Griffin smiled back. “Anyway, I’ll never see her again, so I guess it doesn’t really matter.”

  The reminder that her friend was planning to leave took the zip out of Stef’s good mood. Sometimes it was hard to want the best for your friends when it meant the worst for you.

  “Did you win your man?” Samantha asked as they seated themselves at the table.

  “We did,” Cass said.

  “Now we just have to figure out how we’re going to divide him up,” said Stef, and her husband frowned.

  “That sounds vaguely cannibalistic,” Samantha observed.

  “And not so easy to do,” added Cecily.

  Yes, how were they going to share this man? They’d each have to kick in more money, but how would they divide his time? “We’ll make it work,” said Cass, who probably needed him the most. “I’m not worried.”

  “I am,” Griffin whispered. “What if we end up fighting over him?”

  “We won’t,” Stef assured both herself and Griffin. “We’re all friends.”

  “I know you’ve all been waiting to hear who won first place in our bake-off this year,” said the mayor.

  “Mrs. Lind, of course,” Cass muttered, resigned to losing.

  “Will Cass Wilkes please come up and get her blue ribbon?”

  Cass’s mouth dropped. “Seriously?”

  “Get up there,” Samantha commanded.

  Blushing and smiling, Cass made her way to the stage, while Millie Jacobs, the head librarian, pounded out some dramatic chords on the old upright piano in the corner.

  “Congratulations,” the mayor said, handing over a blue ribbon and a gift certificate promising dinner for two at Schwangau, the town’s ritziest restaurant. Meanwhile, Priscilla Castro, looking self-important, strutted up to the stage, bearing the tray with Cass’s creation, and everyone applauded.

  A picture was taken for the paper—Cass and the mayor shaking hands and Priscilla holding up the gingerbread masterpiece—and then Cass was allowed to sit down.

  “Way to go,” Samantha’s husband, Blake, commended her.

  “You did it!” Samantha gave her a hug and Cecily beamed at her from across the table, saying she’d known all along that Cass would win.

  Second-and third-place ribbons were handed out to Janice Lind and Beth Mallow. They, too, got their pictures taken for the paper and were each awarded a twenty-dollar gift card from Bavarian Brews.

  “Now, are you all ready to start the bidding?” the mayor asked.

  “Yes,” everyone chorused.

  “We’ve got some real treasures here, so don’t be shy.”

  “That’s sweet,” Griffin said.

  “Oh, yeah, Del’s good with the BS,” Samantha told her. “It’s why he keeps getting reelected. That and the fact that he knows how to get Icicle Falls noticed. Tourism is our lifeblood.”

  “That and chocolate,” Cass said, giving her a nudge.

  “There is that,” Samantha said modestly.

  “All right, then. First we’ve got our grand-prize-winning gingerbread village. Who’ll start the bidding?”

  “I will,” called Luke Goodman. “Ten dollars.”

  “Ten dollars,” the mayor said. “Well, that’s a beginning. But I bet Cass spent more than that on ingredients. Who’ll give me twenty?”

  “Twenty!” hollered a skinny guy in jeans, a Western shirt and boots, who was leaning against the far wall.

  “Who’s that?” asked Griffin.

  “Yeah, he’s kind of cute,” said Stef.

  “That’s Billy Williams. Everyone just calls him Bill Will,” Cecily said. “He’s a lovely guy.”

  “But a doof,” added Samantha. “He’s not for you,” she told Griffin.

  “I’m not looking,” Griffin said emphatically.

  “Now we’re making progress,” the mayor continued. “I have twenty. Who’ll give me twenty-five?”

  “Twenty-five,” Cecily’s husband, Luke, called out.

  “Thirty!” another man hollered.

  “Bubba Swank. He owns Big Brats,” said Cass.

  “The sausage place?” Stef had eaten there. They served up great bratwurst.

  “Yep. And he’s single, too,” Cass informed Griffin. “Really nice guy...if you were in the market.”

  Cecily shook her head. “He wouldn’t be right for her.”

  “Cecily has a knack for knowing things like that,” Samantha explained. “She used to be a professional matchmaker in LA.”

  The bidding went on and soon Cass’s gingerbread town was up to fifty dollars. Now the bidding inched up a dollar at a time. Finally it looked like it was going to go to Bubba Swank when a voice called out, “Seventy.”

  “Too rich for my blood,” said Luke.

  “Whoa,” Cass muttered, and Stef turned to see who’d jumped the bidding up so high.

  “It’s the handyman,” said Griffin. “Wow.”

  “Wow is right,” Cass said, smiling. “Who knew I was worth so much.”

  “You’re worth a million times that,” Samantha told her.

  “Seventy dollars. Going once, going twice.” Everyone stayed quiet and the mayor said, “Sold to the gentleman over there with Dan Masters. Our newest resident, Grant Masters. Thank you, sir, for supporting the cause. I know you’ll love this. And I bet Dan will be happy to help you eat it.”

  After that the baked-goods auction resumed as each baker was called up in turn to display her wares, Vanna White–style, to the audience. The bidding was good-natured and most of the cakes and pies went for a tidy sum, but none commanded the high bid that Cass’s had.

  “You’re the queen of the day,” Stef said to her.

  “That’s me, the queen of gingerbread,” Cass joked.

  With the baked items raffled off, it was time to announce the winners of the silent auction. Samantha and Cecily won the Sleeping Lady spa day, and Pissy, who was still up onstage helping, scowled. Dot Morrison won the Sweet Dreams package and did a little jig on her way up to collect her prize. There’d been much fighting over Bailey Black’s gift basket, and the woman who got it whooped as if she’d won the lottery.

  “That’ll make Bailey feel better,” Cecily said. Sadly, their sister hadn’t been feeling well. Having a new baby and running a business was wearing her out, even though her husband helped her a lot.

  Finally, the mayor announced, “And the services of Honey Do for a day goes to our gingerbread artist, Cass Wilkes.”

  “Yes!” Cass crowed, and she and Stef and Griffin high-fived each other.

  “That concludes the auction portion of our evening,” the mayor said. “Will our winners please pay the cashier? And the rest of you folks feel free to visit and enjoy yourselves.”

  “We are definitely going to enjoy the evening now,” said Stef.

  * * *

  Grant smiled at the sight o
f the baker and her friends all celebrating. He remembered meeting her when the family went to Vegas for Dan and Charley’s wedding. Most of his attention had been for his son and new daughter-in-law, but he’d liked Cass, with her wisecracks and friendly smile.

  She looked damn cute tonight in those tight jeans and that soft blue sweater. She was wearing some makeup, too. He was a sucker for lipstick.

  Don’t piss in your own pool, he advised himself. It would be a bad idea to get involved with any woman who lived here. Small towns were hotbeds of gossip, and gossip was bad for both business and peace of mind.

  On the other hand, a man might just find the right woman practically under his nose. He looked over at Muriel Sterling-Wittman, the woman he’d seen in the restaurant. She was sitting with a group of older women and she was just as pretty as the first time he’d seen her—and she fell into the right age group.

  He couldn’t say the same for Cass Wilkes. She might be unmarried, but she was way too young.

  He walked to where she stood at the cashier table, handing over her credit card. “Hi. I guess you own me for a day.”

  She grinned. “I guess I do. Actually, how do you feel about being part of a foursome?”

  He blinked. “A what?”

  “We’re going to share you,” said one of the women standing next to her, an attractive blonde around his son Dan’s age.

  “Share me?” What the heck?

  “The bidding was getting too high and we couldn’t afford to keep outbidding each other, so we decided to go in together,” explained the blonde.

  He hadn’t bargained for this, but if they only needed something small done... “What did you ladies have in mind?”

  “Well, your son might’ve mentioned that my ceiling fell in,” Cass said.