Redemption Bay. RaeAnne Thayne

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      “What’s going on?” Linda Fremont demanded. “Marie wouldn’t tell me anything.”

      “Because I don’t know anything,” Marie Caldwell said in a testy tone. “All I heard from Hazel was that Kenzie had called an emergency meeting and it was all hands on deck. That’s the message I got and the message I passed along.”

      “It had better be important,” Linda Fremont said, her features as sour as ever. “I need to be at the store. This is one of our busiest days of the summer.”

      McKenzie gave a patient smile. Linda didn’t need to be there, since her daughter Samantha had come as well and could have passed along any message—but then Linda would have had to miss something, which she would have found intolerable.

      “This won’t take long, I promise.” She tried her best to be sweet to Linda, even when the woman was at her most annoying. Which was quite often, unfortunately.

      “I think I can guess what this is about,” Barbara Serrano said. “Does it have anything to do with our unexpected visitor and your companion at the diner this morning?”

      Only a few people looked confused—but that was still a few more than McKenzie had expected. She had anticipated the news of Ben’s return would have already spread through Haven Point like a late-October frost, touching everything in its path.

      “Who was it?” Sam Fremont asked, blue eyes widening with interest. “Are you dating somebody, Kenz?”

      “No! Absolutely not! Anyway, why would I call an emergency meeting to tell you all about my date?”

      “Breaking news?” Devin asked.

      She glared at her sister. “It wasn’t a date. I can’t believe you all haven’t heard this already, but, okay. Here it is. Ben Kilpatrick is back in town.”

      This caused a minor stir. Sam and Kat gaped at each other, probably trying to figure out how they had missed the news that a gorgeous billionaire bachelor was suddenly in their humble midst. Hazel and Eppie also looked shocked. Other than that, most of the women wore expressions ranging from curiosity to disgruntlement to outright anger.

      “Betty Orton came into the store this morning and told me but I didn’t believe it.”

      “Why didn’t you say anything, Mom?” Sam demanded.

      “I just said, I didn’t believe it. What’s the point of passing along gossip without a shred of proof?” she said. McKenzie almost rolled her eyes. Linda delighted in sharing any tidbit she heard and rarely bothered to authenticate any of it.

      “It seemed impossible to me and that’s what I told Betty. How can he dare show his face here after what he’s done to this town?” Linda glowered.

      “I’ll admit I was pretty surprised, too, when he sauntered into the diner this morning like the cock of the walk.”

      “Oh, he was always such a polite boy,” Hazel exclaimed. “And so handsome. Remember how handsome he was, Eppie?”

      Eppie beamed. “Oh, yes. I remember, with those brooding blue eyes. Like a young Paul Newman in From the Terrace.”

      “Oooh, I loved that movie,” her sister exclaimed.

      “Is he still as handsome, Mayor?” Eppie asked.

      “Well, yes, Eppie dear. But that’s not the point.”

      “What does he want?” Linda Fremont demanded. “Let me guess. He and Aidan are going to raze the whole downtown and build a golf course.”

      “What?” Hazel exclaimed. “That’s not right! We don’t need a golf course! Shelter Springs already has one. That would be just plain crazy!”

      “We could take up golf next, Hazel,” Eppie protested. “I think it would be fun.”

      Okay, she dearly loved all these women and they had been amazingly sweet to her over the years but sometimes during these meetings, McKenzie felt as if she was trying to grab hold of a whole herd of greased piglets.

      Did piglets run in herds?

      She pushed away the stupid random thought. “Nobody is building a golf course, I promise. Look, our time is limited here. Lindy-Grace and I have a busy Saturday ahead of us and I know the rest of you do, too. Let’s try to stay focused so we can all get back to it. The truth is, as much as I would like to, I can’t tell you exactly what Ben is doing here—I don’t know specifics anyway and he’s asked me to keep what little I do know to myself.”

      “Then what’s the point of calling a meeting if you’re going to be Miss Locked Lips?” Marie demanded.

      “The truth is, I need your help. I know you all love Haven Point as much as I do. None of us is happy about what’s happened here the last five years. This has been a dark time for us.”

      Because of what she intended to ask, she was careful not to remind them the town had suffered mostly because Ben had ignored his responsibilities and let the downtown fall into disrepair.

      “This is our chance to turn things around,” she went on. “Aidan and Ben are considering something that might improve things around here. That’s all I can say about it right now. Trust me, this would be very good for us.”

      “What do you need us to do?” Ever wise, her friend Julia Winston, one of the librarians at the Haven Point library, struck to the heart of the matter.

      She sighed, looking around the assembly of her dearest friends. “This is difficult for me to ask. I know how you all feel about Ben. I share your feelings, believe me.”

      “You mean, you think he’s hotter than a billy goat with a blowtorch?” Hazel asked.

      Eppie laughed and so did just about everybody else in the room, even Devin. McKenzie felt her face heat, finding it extremely difficult to be appropriately mayoral and dignified around this crowd.

      “Okay, first of all, how hot can a billy goat with a blowtorch really get? And why does he have a blowtorch in the first place? But that’s not the point, is it? No. The point is, it’s extremely important that while Ben is here, we work very hard to show Haven Point in the best possible light.”

      “How do you propose we do that?” Devin asked.

      “That’s where I need your help. I need some ideas about how we can prove to him that this town is warm and neighborly, that he won’t find a better place anywhere in the mountain west.”

      “I think we need to kill the man with kindness, even when we want to strangle him,” Lindy-Grace suggested.

      “Excellent. Excellent. If you see him on the street, stop and say hello. Show him genuine interest. Be neighborly and welcoming.”

      “That would have been easier if he hadn’t made such a mess of things,” Marie protested.

      “If it were easy, I wouldn’t have to call an emergency meeting and beg you all to help me,” McKenzie said.

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