"I think that was a threat," I remarked.
"I found this on craigslist," Archer said proudly, gesturing to the house.
"How'd the bus do?" Remy asked.
"Great towing capacity," Archer replied. He looked between Hunter and Remy. "Are we going to be proud new goat parents?"
"Absolutely not," Hunter replied.
69
Josie
After we spent most of the evening cooking, the guests started trickling in the next day around lunchtime. I'd had Remy hang American flags from the windows and place a giant one down the exact center of the house for Memorial Day. Judge Edna, Ida, and a pretty brown-haired woman were the first to arrive.
"I told you we were early, Edna," Ida complained to her sister. "You have to arrive fashionably late to these things."
"This is Olivia, the architect who worked on the estate house," Mace said as I shook the young woman's hand.
"And she's my granddaughter," Ida boasted.
"She's more somygrandniece," Edna sniffed. "She takes after me."
"You did a wonderful job on this property," I gushed.
"You're going to have to come back and work on the cabins," Mace told her.
"Are you two moving into one of them?" Olivia asked. "I really wanted to work on those the last time, but—" She gestured to the house. "This place is so huge. We had to phase it."
Chloe was a huge hit at the Memorial Day cookout, and so were her desserts.
"I'm so glad she's opening a bakery here," I told Willow.
"I know. The only reason I agreed to stay in Harrogate and help you with your marketing work was that I had heard rumors she was opening a shop here. And now it's true!" She sighed happily and took a big bite of the slice of orange creamsicle cake Chloe had baked. "I could just eat this all day, every day," Willow said, shoving the rest in her mouth. "She made so much food, and it all tastes fantastic."
"I love cooking for huge amounts of people," Chloe said, coming up beside me and hugging me.
"I know! I always wanted a big family."
"Seems like you got it," she said as we surveyed the crowd. In addition to most of the town, the majority of Mace's brothers were there. Tall and broad shouldered, I could see them towering above the crowd. Mace's younger brothers raced around, periodically getting yelled at by Hunter.
"Is this the famous Josie?" asked a woman. She was tall with a long platinum-white braid down her back. Her blouse was sleeveless, and it looked like she never skipped shoulder day.
"Belle!" Chloe exclaimed, hugging her. "You came!"
Chloe turned to me and joked, "Don't you just feel short and inadequate around her?"
Belle rolled her eyes.
"She's Jack's sister," Chloe explained, "and I have a special pair of extra-high-heeled shoes I usually wear when she's around."
"You're hardly inadequate," Belle sniffed. "The inadequate thing here is Romance Creative. Organizationally it's a mess. I'm trying to get them to solidify a brand, but they keep jumping around to different reality show formats." She jerked her head over to where Dana Holbrook and Gunnar Svensson were in an animated conversation with Ida. I heard the words "bondage bachelor" and shuddered.
"See?" Belle demanded. "So, Josie, do you do consulting? I've been trying to get my brothers to put me in contact with you, and of course both Jack and Owen are completely useless. If you want something done right, you do it yourself."
Meg waved and headed in our direction. "The famous Chloe," Meg said. "The rumor mill says you're opening up a shop in Harrogate."
"News sure travels fast here," Chloe said, grinning.
