"We have sandwiches."
"They're so cute!" Ida said. "Look at how pretty you wrap them."
"It's the same as always," I said.
"But they look amazing. You're so talented and creative!" Ida said. The older woman was like a cool grandmother, and she always pumped up my spirits. "Stand in front of the display," Ida said, pulling out her phone. "I want a picture. I've got an Instagram account, you know. Josie helped me set it up. I have to post every day. It helps give the general store that personal touch. I have two hundred followers!"
I posed awkwardly in front of the sandwich display and made a peace sign.
"Smile and stick those tatas out! Be proud of what you got!" Ida exclaimed as she snapped the picture.
"All these creative little labels are really putting me in the mood for the art retreat this afternoon," Ida said excitedly as she took close-up shots of the sandwiches. "All the girls are. I told Dottie you were going to have live nude painting."
"That's not the kind of art retreat we're having," I said, blushing as my thoughts took a hard right to Archer.No, brain. Bad brain.
I stuffed down thoughts of Archer posing nude. I didn't even like him. He was a terrible person, and having him nude in my café would be a terrible idea.
"Something to consider," Ida said. "Stay for a drink? Art's been making mead."
"Jemma and I have the art committee meeting," I said. I didn't understand how Ida could want alcohol this early in the morning.
"Make me proud!" Ida called after us as we walked as quickly as we could in the heat to city hall.
"I hope this isn't going to take too long," I said to Olivia when Jemma and I met her in front of the ornate city hall building. Inside was a gorgeous mural of Harrogate in the early eighteen hundreds, when it was first founded. That was really the type of art I liked though it would have me tossed out of the art world. Real artists weren't supposed to like, let alone create, paintings that looked like photos. But that was my style.
"So I saw something weird today," Olivia said as we went upstairs to one of the conference rooms.
"Was it McKenna?" Jemma asked.
"Yes! Isn't that the stuck-up snooty girl who was mean to you in college, Hazel?" Olivia asked. "Why is she here? I thought her family was rich. Harrogate seems a little on the small side for her. What's she up to? I don't trust her."
"Maybe she's here to stalk me," I joked.
"I think she's here to stalk Archer," Jemma said, holding out her phone. There was a picture of McKenna in a dress that looked like it cost more than I'd made in my entire career as a painter. Standing next to her was Archer, handsome in his tux. I felt a little nauseous.
"She would be exactly the type of girl guys like Archer go for," I said irritably.
"Let them have each other," Olivia said. "They're two horrible people who deserve to make each other miserable."
"Archer has terrible taste."
"He bought one of your paintings."
"It was probably a joke like the phone call." Promising myself I would never have to see him again, I said, "Let's get this over with. I have to be at the café at eleven a.m. to start setting up for the lunch trickle."
"You always sell out of sandwiches at the general store at least," Jemma said helpfully.
"Maybe Ida's Instagram post will make more people come. But probably not," I said as I pushed through the tall wooden door into the ornate conference room that looked out over the town square.
I stopped in the doorway, and Jemma slammed into me.
"Move," Jemma said.
But I couldn't. There, sitting at the table, was Archer.
4
Archer
