“Seriously? You know my mom doesn’t give you a choice. She’d show up at your door and drag you there herself. You’ve weaseled out of the last three and now she’s offended. And I swear if you don’t show up, I will come to kill you myself.”
Landon turned to look at Preston, who was smirking at their exchange. “Did you hear him threaten me? Shouldn’t you arrest him or something?”
“Naw, I’m his backup on this task.”
“Fine. What time?” Landon asked, turning his attention back to Austin, who finally seemed to relax.
“Five, and don’t be late.” Both men hopped down from their stools, leaving Landon alone at the counter. “Oh, and mom said you’re providing the booze as punishment.”
“Got it.”
Finished with his lunch, he left some cash for his bill and the tip as he moved away from the diner counter, waving at the Connelly clan and their friends occupying random booths along the wall.
He had planned to head to the hardware store to get some paint of the apartment above the bar. It had been neglected for far too long. Hell, he still slept with a mattress on the floor because he didn’t see any reason to dress it up. But now he would be sorting through his recent delivery and choosing the booze to take to the barbeque that evening. Thank goodness he’d had that delivery in the morning.
As he unlocked the oversized wooden door to the bar, he went ahead and grabbed the For Hire sign that he’d left sitting in the first booth and placed it in the window.
Now that the sign was up, there was no going back. Landon just hoped he could find someone competent enough to work the floor and get along with him at the same time. Though the latter wasn’t a priority, he didn’t get along with most people.
Now he just needed to find a way to stay busy for the next five hours or he was going to drive himself crazy remembering every detail of the night before.
***
As Kerry pulled her car through the single stoplight in the small town, she finally felt as if she could breathe. The weight on her chest that had been haunting her for what felt like years finally dissipated. Carson, North Carolina, was a place that Kerry had found herself in by chance. It was a wrong turn while heading to a hospital to give a speech while in the country on royal duties.
Her security guard at the time was livid at the mistake, but even more so when Kerry asked to stay for a few days. It was a place that she frequented now whenever she was in the states. Kerry loved the town and its people so much she even made a few friends she reached out to on a daily basis. She hadn’t told them that she was coming back in town, but she hoped to surprise them that evening, but first things first, she needed to take a peek at the property she had bought sight unseen.
She had reached out to Austin Connelly and his team, all incognito, and requested that he send a few small cottages that were on the market that would need very little work. Kerry wanted to be able to come and go as she needed without having a project to tackle. He had sent three properties, but the one on the lake had sealed the deal for her and she closed on it about a year ago.
As she followed the directions to the property, she just hoped that she hadn’t made a mistake by not coming to see it in person.
The dirt road jostled the rental Kerry drove, and as the field turned into heavily covered brush and woods, she began to wonder if she had been duped, but then she saw it, a clearing with a perfect white and blue Craftsman-style bungalow with a view of the lake in the back.
Kerry could tell as she parked the car that the house had been maintained in her absence, as was the dock that jutted out into the lake. Austin and his team worked with a local property management company to take care of rentals and vacation homes and Kerry was glad that she had made the extra expense to have them look after her place.
The smell of the freshly cut grass tickled her nose as she stepped out of the car and into the humid air. There was a slight breeze coming off the water and Kerry seriously considered staying in that small sanctuary the rest of her life. But she knew it wouldn’t be long until her parents located her. For now, she was simply buying time.
Austin had told her that the management team kept a spare key tucked behind one of the shutters and Kerry located it after a few tries.
With a deep breath, she opened the door and heaved a sigh of relief when she realized that it looked exactly like the pictures Austin had sent her. She shouldn’t have been worried, but it was hard to tell if someone was going to set her up. That was why she made the deal in an alias instead of her actual name, not that she didn’t trust Austin, but she had to be careful. Con artists were everywhere and she knew better than most. They tried their hardest with sob stories left and right to weasel money, fortune, or fame from her family.
Quickly shooting a message to Mary, Kerry took a quick check inside the house and noted that the fridge and pantry had been stocked this morning like she had requested as she arrived in Asheville the day prior.
Glancing down at her phone, she was surprised when Mary didn’t respond right away, but she knew that her friend had to keep up pretenses. And Kerry also knew that her parents probably held Mary as the first suspect in Kerry’s whereabouts.
As much as she wanted to dawdle and enjoy the property, there was one thing that called to her more than anything in the town, and that was a meal at Angie’s Diner. She had been skeptical the first time she stepped into the greasy diner, but after her first taste of the remarkable food, she was sold. That was another thing she loved about the town, they didn’t look at her like a princess and future queen. To them, she was simply Kerry Albertine. And for someone that had spent her entire life answering to Her Royal Highness Karolyna, it was a nice change of pace.
Once she returned to the main street, the drive was second nature and she quickly pulled her car into the large lot across the street from the diner. She hadn’t been to the town in a few years, long enough to notice changes like the new sidewalk and painted buildings, but it was still familiar, like the flower boxes and flags dangling from every light post.
Smile plastered in place, Kerry adjusted the hem of her denim skirt and strolled across the street as if she had been living there her entire life. Walking through the entrance, the door chimed above and everyone in the room turned around to see who had arrived. She knew the routine and wasn’t surprised, but it was still offsetting to have dozens of eyes on you without notice.
“Is that?” she heard someone ask from the back of the diner, then suddenly a swarm of women moved from the booths, shoving people out of the way to approach Kerry. There was no cause for alarm though as the familiar arms of her friends wrapped around her. It had been too long since she had seen the Connelly women, some of which she had only spoken to via a video chat as they were the spouses of the younger Connelly boys. Nikki, Avery, Sydney, Everleigh, and Cassidy gushed over her as they led her back to the diner's far corner, Nikki shouting to Ethel that Kerry needed a sweet tea stat.
Once she arrived at the back tables, the rest of the group exchanged hugs and greetings and Kerry knew that she had made the right choice to return to the town. This place felt more like home than the palace that she grew up in.
Once the cold beverage was placed in front of her, the questions started rapid-fire and Kerry could barely keep up. She spent the next twenty minutes explaining with as little detail as possible why she was in town and how long she was staying. Kerry claimed she needed a break from her family and that she wasn’t sure how long.
Beside her, Nikki suddenly perked up and rested her hand on Kerry’s arm. “Oh my gosh, Amy and Joseph are having a cookout tonight. You have to come,” the small woman pleaded, but Kerry knew that was no backing out. Nikki would make sure that Kerry showed up come hell or high water, or she’d end up writing a character based on Kerry and make her the villain or kill her off; that was what a bestselling romance author did. Or