So far so good. “I heard from Mayor Quickel today.”
“You did? I’m surprised he called you so quickly. I just spoke to him before I walked into the store. What did he say?”
“Why did you call him?”
“I thought he should know about your new business, that’s all. I had some free time, so I gave him a little ringy ding.”
Anita cringed. Sometimes her mother sounded older than Jasper.
“Mayor Quickel sounded excited that you bought the building, and when I said you were turning it into a gourmet coffee shop, he was thrilled.”
“That’s nice, but Mom, please let me tell everyone else, okay? I haven’t even signed the contract yet. Remember, this is my business. I’m not ready for anyone to know about it yet.”
Another pause. “I’m sorry,” her mother said, sounding genuine. “It’s hard for me not to take over. I don’t realize how much I like being in control until I try not to be. I do wish you would have told me not to say anything, though. I’ve already told my garden club.”
Great. Then again, she couldn’t be mad at her mother, since she hadn’t told her to keep the café a secret. Fortunately,the garden club was in Hot Springs, so Anita didn’t have to worry about anyone else spilling the news . . . except for Quickel.
“Do you want me to call him back and tell him not to say anything?”
“No, that’s all right.” Hopefully Mayor Quickel wouldn’t blab to anyone else before tomorrow’s meeting, but she doubted it. Whenever he came into the diner, he always had a group of people with him listening raptly as he took control of the conversation. He also took his sweet tea with six sugars.Blech.
“Okay, I won’t call him or anyone else. But can I at least do one thing for you?”
She steeled herself. “What?”
“Can I take you shopping for a work wardrobe? I promise I’ll keep my opinions to myself. At least I’ll try to.”
Anita smiled. “Yes, Mom. Shopping would be great.”
“Splendid! All right, I’ll let you go now. I’m headed to the florist to discuss flowers for Paisley’s shower.”
“But the shower isn’t until next spring.”
“Spring and summer is wedding season, so I want to make sure we have the florist I want booked. She’s very popular, you know. Ta-ta for now.”
Anita shut off her phone, still smiling. She doubted Mom could keep her promise about not offering an opinion, especially when it came to clothes and shopping. But her mother was trying, and that was all she could ask for.
She’d just picked up her partially eaten PB&J when her phone buzzed with a text from Harper.
Paperwork ready. Meet me at the title office Wednesday morning. Address below. <3
A jolt of nervous excitement ran through her. Harper was fast, and “Bob” must be eager to sell. Strange, since he’d held on to the building for so long. She couldn’t believe it. On Wednesday morning she would officially own #3.
She polished off the sandwich and called the bank to make an appointment to talk about a loan. Then she sat down at her table, paper and pen in hand, and tried to figure out how much she thought she would need. Then she remembered the meeting at the diner. She could tell George about the café, along with the rest of the crew. Including Tanner. Maybe later he could answer some questions she had about accounting. Or even give her a tutoring session or two.
Maybe even another kiss.
Her smile disappeared. What was she thinking? They weren’t kissing friends. Was that even a thing? If it was, it shouldn’t be—in her opinion, anyway.
She and Tanner were friends. That was it. And as a friend, he was going to be as thrilled about her opening the café as she was. She might not be sure about anything else concerning this new adventure, but she was sure of that.
Chapter18
Tuesday evening, Anita smoothed her pale-blue skirt and adjusted her headband as she headed for the meeting room in the Maple Falls town hall basement. She stopped a few feet from the door, anxiety pressing down on her lungs. She was running a few minutes late for the merchants’ meeting, but she couldn’t bring herself to go into the room.
She had no business being here—no pun intended. Yesterday she had been happy that things were going so smoothly, but now she was a wreck. It didn’t help that her mother had called her right before she was leaving to come here, droning on about ten different kinds of quartz countertops and thirty styles of coffee mugs. Finally she’d had to remind her about the meeting. Of course her mother apologized, but Anita was so out of sorts she’d only grudgingly accepted it. Mom had made a passive-aggressive comment about her tone, and the call went downhill from there.
Somehow she had to shove that unpleasant conversation out of her mind and focus on her new role—almost-ownerof #3. If she had half a brain, she’d turn around and leave. LetMayuhQuickel scold her the next time he came to the diner. At this point she’d take a tongue lashing over trying to fit in with a group of business owners.
