Christmas in Bayberry

“I need the second quarter income statement. The first and third quarters are here, but the second is missing.”

“That’s odd.” She motioned for him to follow her. He set down his latte and stepped around the desk to catch up with her. As they made their way to the back of the building, she said, “Since it appears you’re going to be here awhile, you might as well see where we keep our reports.” She stopped in front of six aisles of tall gray shelves in the file room. “All of our reports are here.”

He stared in astonishment. “Wow. You don’t believe in digital files, do you?”

Kate shrugged. “We’re hoping to one day get an IT department and automate things, but for now, we make do. Right now, I’ve been more focused on the marketing aspects of the business.”

He followed her to the fourth row of shelves, where she moved halfway back and then knelt to look at some files near the floor. He stopped next to her. “Don’t you have a marketing department?”

She stared up at him defensively. “This is Bayberry, not New York City. Our accounting department has been doing the best they can, but time and resources are limited.”

He swallowed hard. “Sorry. It’s just that I’m used to, well, larger businesses.”

Which made him wonder why Mr. Summers had assigned this particular account to him. But instead of worrying about the pending promotion, Wes was surprised to be considering the benefits of returning to Bayberry. He continued to stare at Kate as she sifted through the binders. Maybe he didn’t have to be back in New York quite as early as he’d originally thought. Maybe a few extra days in Bayberry would be prudent.

Kate’s heart raced.

Even though they were in a busy office, the file area was more secluded. And this aisle seemed to grow narrower with Wes next to her. She wanted to look at him, but she didn’t dare. She was flustered enough.

Just concentrate on finding the report.

Kate paused from thumbing through the folders. They were out of order. It was going to take longer than she’d originally thought to find the report. And the growing silence was making her even more nervous.

Wes had said something that increased her curiosity, as well as worried her. “If you’re used to working with larger clients, how did you end up in Bayberry?”

He cleared his throat. “Your aunt didn’t tell you?”

She recalled the conversation in her aunt’s kitchen the evening before Wes had dropped into their lives. Aunt Penney apparently had been intending to tell her all about Wes then. If only Kate hadn’t put her off to go work on the plans for the Candlelight Dance, she would’ve had the time to ask her aunt all sorts of questions about Wes’s visit.

“My aunt has been busy, and now with Fred being injured, we haven’t had much of a chance to speak.”

Wes nodded in understanding. “Can I help you look?”

What could it hurt? Some reports were in the proper place and others were not. “You could start there.” She pointed to the shelving unit next to the one she was sorting through, pulling the out-of-order files as she went and placing them on an empty spot on the shelf above. “I’ll have to get in here after the holidays and put things back in order. There is a system to the filing, but the high school students we had interning here this summer must not have caught onto it.”

He nodded again. But he didn’t say anything as he started searching for the missing file. He certainly wasn’t a chatty one. If she wanted to learn anything, she was going to have to drag it out of him, so to speak.

“Anyway, you were just about to explain how you ended up in snowy Bayberry.”

His gaze met hers and held. “Oh yes, I, uh,” he glanced away. “It would appear my mother and your aunt know each other.”

“Really?” This was news to her. “Well, Aunt Penney does know everyone.” She paused to look at hi

m again. He did look familiar. “Does your mother live here in Bayberry?”

“No. She lives in Florida.”

She waited, expecting him to continue, but instead he went back to his search. That was all he was going to say?

“But how do your mother and my aunt know each other?”

“My family used to live here.”

Kate frowned. “Wonder why Aunt Penney hasn’t mentioned it?”

“It was seventeen years ago.”

“Oh. So you lived here too?”