a minute while making a point.”
Eliza wasn’t sure what to say. She had signed a confidentiality agreement. Did her opinion that he was even more sexy in person violate that agreement? She decided the wise course would be to remain quiet.
“What do you do there?” The question came from a tired-looking woman wearing a gray sweater that was fraying at the sleeves.
She wasn’t sure whether she could talk about that, either. “My official job title is housekeeper. A little of this, a little of that. Do you all live here in Haven Point?”
As she hoped, the question seemed to turn the conversation away from tricky areas. “Oh, I should introduce everybody,” McKenzie said. “Hang your coat over there and then grab a bowl of soup out of the slow cookers there—they have little signs that say what’s in them. After you’re settled, I’ll tell you everyone’s names.”
She wasn’t going to remember more than a few, but she supposed that didn’t matter. In a few more weeks, she wouldn’t meet these people again.
McKenzie was very good at ordering people around, which was probably a good skill for a mayor, Eliza thought in amusement as she obediently grabbed a bowl from a slow cooker marked White Chicken Chili, added a slice of thick-crusted bread and found a seat between the flower shop owner and Megan Hamilton.
“Okay, everybody, this is Eliza Hayward. She was supposed to start work this week for Megan but of course the inn fire has changed everything. Five minutes after she found out the inn burned down, she was hit by a car right outside here—driven by Aidan Caine himself.”
“Oh, my word,” a matronly woman with a silver-and-black bob exclaimed. “But you’re okay?”
“It was just a tap,” she assured her. “I’m really fine, nothing broken, just some scrapes and bruises.”
“And now you work for Caine?” a woman with a poodle perm and a sour expression demanded.
“Only for a few weeks. He found out about the inn fire and that I was now unemployed and homeless because of it and insisted on my daughter and I staying at Snow Angel Cove for the holidays to help him out.”
Poodle Perm snorted. “He can afford it. What else is he spending his money on? Not fixing up the buildings he owns in town so we can bring some real businesses in, that’s for sure.”
McKenzie frowned at the woman. “I’m sure he will. Give the man a chance, Linda.”
“We don’t have time for him to sit around on his ass looking gorgeous,” she retorted. “Our holiday sales are down fifteen to twenty percent from last year. At this rate, my boutique won’t be open by summer. Everybody is shopping at the new big box store in Shelter Springs, not here.”
“How many times do I have to tell you, Mom?” the blonde twentysomething said. “Sales will pick up when you stop offering stuff that was out of date when you were in high school.”
“My clients favor the traditional, classic items.”
“Sure. For their funeral clothing.”
The conversation devolved from there into what sounded like a familiar disagreement that had McKenzie rolling her eyes at Eliza. “Sorry,” she said. “Don’t mind the great Fremont family feud. Samantha wants to drag her mom into the twenty-first century, kicking and screaming if she has to. Let me introduce you to everyone else.”
She went around the circle and introduced the women, the rest of whom seemed friendly and interested in her. Eliza knew she wouldn’t remember half of them, though she had tried to use some of the memory devices to remember the names of guests at the hotel.
“This seems like a fun organization. How often do you get together?” she asked, when McKenzie had introduced everyone.
“A couple times a month, always on Friday,” the mayor said. “We charge five dollars for the potluck lunch and give the money we raise to the food pantry. Usually we have a quick lunch and then a craft or something. Today we’re just relaxing because we’ve been working like crazy making things for our booth tomorrow at the Lights on the Lake Festival.”
“Oh, you mentioned that the other day. What is it, again?” she asked, innocently enough.
The volume in the room escalated as a dozen women answered her at once.
“Whoa. Slow down. Give the girl a break,” said the woman with the salt-and-pepper bob—Maria, she remembered.
“The Lights on the Lake Festival was started by boat owners around here years ago. Since the lake usually doesn’t freeze until late January, if at all, boat lovers decided to decorate their watercraft with Christmas lights and have a parade along the lakefront the Friday before Christmas. The whole thing exploded from there and now it’s part gift bazaar, part food and music festival, part holiday celebration. I’ve been the chairperson three years in a row. It’s a wonderful time for all.”
“It sounds lovely.”
“Be sure to check out our booth. We’re selling all kinds of gifts we’ve made through the year. All proceeds benefit the Lake Haven Library and their literacy program.”
“Maddie would love the boat parade,” Megan Hamilton said. “It’s really magical to see all the boats with their lights sparkling on the water at sunset.”
“Tell me what’s going on with the inn,” she prompted.
Megan sighed. “It looks like we’re going to rebuild but it’s going to take six months to a year. It’s too bad you can’t work for Aidan until I’m ready to reopen.”
Eliza thought of that stunning kiss she couldn’t shake from her memory and wasn’t sure she agreed. Another few weeks of working for him and she would probably be more than a little in love with the man—exactly what she didn’t need right now.
The conversation turned to holiday travel plans people had and when the group would meet again. She loved listening to the interaction of these women who were obviously a tight-knit group but were willing to open their ranks to her, a newcomer who wouldn’t even be here in a few weeks.
At one point, one of the ladies cornered her to tell her a little more about the history of the area, a subject she found fascinating.
A short time later, the informal lunch started to break up.
“I’ve got to finish my errands and get back to Maddie,” she said to McKenzie. “I’m just going to walk through your store for a few minutes to see if I can cross a few gifts off my list.”
“Sure! Don’t worry if you can’t find what you want. Just come to the festival tomorrow and walk through the booths, especially our Helping Hands booth.”
“Absolutely.”
Under the watchful eye of Rika—who was probably a very formidable deterrent to shoplifters—she wandered through the displays of handmade and specialty items in the store. She ended up finding a pretty silk scarf and some delicious pear-scented handmade soap for Sue—along with buying ten more bars for the bathrooms at Snow Angel Cove—and a local author’s book of cowboy poetry for Jim.
She
