Bluegrass Courtship. Allie Pleiter

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      It just hadn’t been real. Because Tony hadn’t been real.

      Janet didn’t blame Pastor Donalds—now the former pastor, of course—for not seeing his son’s true nature. Tony’d fooled them all. He’d been traveling to raise funds—and then home to raise Janet’s hopes—for a mission project that never existed. To capture it in a tired cliché, Tony took the money and ran.

      They’d been ring-shopping, hoping to announce their engagement within the month, when it all unraveled. While her mom thought of it as God saving Janet in the nick of time, Janet saw it differently. She’d seen how false “the God’s honest truth” could be, and she had every right to put permanent distance between herself and the church.

      “Did you hear?” Dinah Hopkins’s voice pulled Janet from her thoughts. Dinah owned the Taste and See Bakery just up the street, and she had become Janet’s close friend since moving in just over a year ago. It had started out over Dinah’s outstanding chocolate chip cookies and grown into a close friendship between the two businesswomen. And even though Dinah was as “bubbly churchy” as Janet’s mother, somehow their differences never came between them. Janet was glad for the diversion—until she saw the green-and-white bandana tied around Dinah’s wrist.

      “Dinah,” Bebe cooed, “you been prayin’ for God to send you the man of your dreams? I know you’ve got a thing for that wild Drew Downing—and now he’s right here in Middleburg.”

      “I took one look at that fine lookin’ man and thought ‘my stars, but he’s a blessin’ to the universe.’” Dinah sported the remains of a fierce Jersey accent, so such southernisms sounded ridiculous the way she said them. It always made Janet’s mother laugh, which is why Dinah fired up the Southern twang every time she was with Bebe. Dinah and Janet’s mom were too much alike. Janet, Dinah and Emily Montague, who owned the bath shop up the street, were Middleburg’s three single female shopkeepers. Although with Emily’s new engagement to horse farmer Gil Sorrent, it’d be down to two single shopkeepers soon.

      While Dinah often scouted potential mates, being single didn’t really bother Janet. Lots of women were happily single well into their forties, much less their thirties. Life was much kinder to an independent woman now than it had been in her mother’s day.

      “You didn’t already take Drew Downing a plate of cookies, did you?” Dinah wasn’t exactly known for her shy, retiring nature. While she’d never admit it openly, Janet liked the many crazy adventures Dinah made for the shopkeeper trio. Dinah didn’t always, however, know where to draw the line. “You’re not that shameless.” Janet lowered one eyebrow. “Are you?”

      Dinah winked. “What do you think—‘Drew may dig Dave’s, but he’ll die for Dinah’s.’”

      Janet rolled her eyes while her mother erupted in a laugh. “Dinah, you didn’t.”

      “I didn’t. But I might.”

      “Don’t. I’ve been in that bus and it has more chocolate chip cookies in it than you’ve seen in a week. They’re in no need of cookies, even yours.”

      Dinah’s eyes grew wide. “You got in the bus? What’s it like?”

      Janet leaned forward. Her mother and Dinah drew close. Janet waited for dramatic effect, as if choosing just the words powerful enough to describe the iconic Missionnovation bus. “It’s a bus. It’s big. It’s green. It rolls. It blocked my front window all afternoon.”

      Her mother frowned at her. “It’s the most exciting thing to happen to Middleburg since I don’t know when, they’re buying a truckload of lumber and supplies from you and you still can’t let yourself get into the spirit of the thing. Honestly, Janet, I wish you’d find a way to stop being such a cynic.”

      Dinah deepened her voice and flexed a bicep. “It takes a hard woman to run a hardware store in hard times. Good thing you’ve got me to put a little buzz in your beehive.” Dinah had a habit of seasoning her speech with odd little metaphors.

      “Are we done yet?” Janet walked back toward her office. “I suddenly have eight colors of ceramic tile to order.”

      “That church has needed new bathrooms since the dawn of time,” Bebe said to Dinah as they followed Janet down the aisle.

      “You know it. Wow. Drew Downing and Missionnovation, right here in Middleburg. I may have to start liking Howard Epson now. Didn’t see that coming. So, Mrs. B., you going to the prayer meeting tonight?”

      Janet turned. “I thought we were going to the movies tonight, Dinah.”

      “Yeah, well, that was before Drew Downing rolled into town. I got all the entertainment I need live and in person. Did you know he plays the guitar? Musician, craftsman and hunk. Mercy!” She winked at Bebe. “Do you think he leads the singing at these things?”

      “We’ll find out.”

      Janet watched her friend gab away about the virtues of Missionnovation as Dinah walked out of the store with Bebe. Leaving her alone. And now Janet would be going to the movies alone, too. The day was just getting better by the moment.

      Chapter Five

      Drew waved to the audience after he closed the final prayer of the worship service. “Good night everybody, and God bless. We’ll see you in the morning. It’ll take a truckload of hands to pull that building apart, but you’ll love it when we put it back together.”

      Drew, Kevin and the two other on-screen members of the design team—electrics and utilities expert Mike Overmayer and furnishings guru Jeremy Sutter—stood around for a few minutes, shaking hands and signing autographs. Drew introduced everyone he could to Annie and some of the other offscreen staff no one ever saw. Annie ran from the cameras, but Drew knew it was tiring to be the team member without celebrity status. He couldn’t do what he did without Annie, and he liked to see her get credit. Even if she did blush mightily as she signed her name to the back of someone’s devotional booklet. As opposed to Jeremy, who offered to sign everyone’s.

      It was almost ten, but it felt like two in the morning. He recognized the usual first-day combination of jazzed up and worn out. So, while he’d encouraged the town to go home and get a good night’s rest, Drew doubted he’d do much more than grab sleep in fits and spurts tonight.

      Kevin, no stranger to the nocturnal challenges of Night One, as it was known around the bus, walked up to Drew as the crowd thinned and handed him a travel mug of coffee. Caffeine had long since lost any effect on the pair—it had become more sustenance than stimulant. Annie always joked that coffee and chocolate chip cookies were the official dinner of Missionnovation. “So, who is it?” Kevin said under his breath as they waved good-night to the last of the fans and turned toward the bus.

      “The octopus?” Drew nodded in thanks as he took a long drink of coffee. “Howard Epson. He showed up within the first hour—I’m amazed he hasn’t asked you to let him sod the lawn himself yet.”

      “Howard, I’ve met. Definitely one of our finer octo…” He searched for the proper plural noun. “What’s the plural of octopus?”

      “Ask Annie—she’d know. Octopi?” Drew guessed as the bus doors slid open.

      “Yeah, but who is it?”

      “Who СКАЧАТЬ