A Man of Influence (4 page)

Chad set his suitcase in the corner. He could tango in that room, even with a king-size four-poster bed and a simple cherry desk and matching chair. The southern-facing window let in generous amounts of sunlight. “This is nice.”

“Nice?”
Leona drew back as if she'd smelled the Poop Monster. “Two presidential candidates have slept in this room.” Said with pride and a bit of prickle, as in,
“And you, young man, are no presidential candidate.”

As hotel proprietors went, Leona was among the most unwelcome. But that didn't mean the experience of staying here wouldn't be first-rate. There was that decadent hotel in Cancun run by a guy who didn't like anyone. And that luxury hotel in the Rockies. The manager there had carried a shotgun everywhere, safety off. A little bristle in hotel staff added character. Maybe Harmony Valley was worth the trip after all.

“Do I need a password for the internet?” Assuming there was internet.

“The entire town has the interweb. No password required.” Leona may have been shorter than he was, but she still managed to look down her nose at him. “I suppose you'll be wanting to post something on the Facebook.”

Her comment explained why there was no website for the bed & breakfast. Chad kept his expression carefully neutral. “I suppose.”

“Breakfast is between eight and eight-thirty.” Leona walked toward the door, her steps as crisp and sharp as her words. “Eight and eight-thirty only.”

So rigid. He'd rather eat breakfast at Martin's Bakery. “I'll need a key.”

“To your room?” She paused in the open doorway, not even bothering to turn around.

“Yes. And the front door.”

“No.” She closed him in. Her heels echoed in the hallway.

“Not to either?” he called after her, receiving no answer. That's when he noticed there wasn't a lock on his door handle.

Chad smiled, got out his tablet and began making notes.

CHAPTER FOUR

“W
HAT
ARE
YOU
doing here, Sunshine?” Standing in the barn doorway, Tracy's dad tugged off his work gloves.

“I need to paint.” Every nerve ending in Tracy's body crackled with tension. Above her, farm tools hung—shovels, hoes, scythes, pitchforks. She indulged a quick fantasy where she chased handsome, villainous Chad out of town with a pitchfork. But fantasies couldn't calm the need to do something, to change something, to make her mark.

She dug through some cans from the stack that was butted up against the wood wall, trying to decide what colors to use. Since the accident, Tracy painted when she was frustrated. She'd painted the small bedroom she'd grown up in—black walls and ceiling were a backdrop to a colorful, fanciful garden. She'd painted the outside walls of the barn—tomato red with rows of crops along the bottom. Who knew what she'd paint today. Or where.

“Everything okay?” As he came closer, the worry in her father's voice was palpable. It echoed in the large wooden barn and plucked the guilt chord inside Tracy.

She hated that she made him worry. “I need to paint.” She faced her father, holding her hand out in the same way Leona had to her earlier. Her frustrations rattled unspoken words in her head—
helpless, powerless, weak
. But she didn't try to give them voice, because to try to get the words out would just make her feel more incompetent.

If only she could conquer her speech challenges, everything would be all right. The town council wouldn't dismiss her attempt at saving them. People like Chad wouldn't ask what was wrong with her. She'd have employers knocking down her door.

“What's the matter?” Ben Jackson stood as sturdy as ever in a brown corduroy jacket, dirty blue jeans and mud-caked work boots. His blond hair was thinning and faded with gray. Hurt filled his blue eyes. “Do you want to call Will or Emma?”

She shook her head. Her brother, Will, had married her best friend, Emma, last weekend. They were on a three-week honeymoon in Europe. “I. Need. To. Paint.” Oh, the pain of sounding like a slow, broken record. The leaves blowing across the driveway outside moved faster than her sentences.

“Didn't that last speech therapist say you needed to use your words, not hold them in by painting?” Her father disregarded Tracy's attempt at boundary setting and drew her into his arms. He smelled of corn husks and dirt. The comforting smells of her childhood.

Tracy squeezed her eyes shut and clung to him, fighting the frustration of Leona's rejection and the nebulous threat that was Chad. She wanted to be the town motormouth. She wanted to shout streams of words with barely a breath in between.

Dad patted her back. “Let it out, Sunshine.”

In her father's arms, she was safe. He was her magical rabbit's foot. The words spilled forth easier than if she stood alone. “I want to be able to argue again.”

“With Will?”

“No.” She rested her cheek on Dad's shoulder and stared at her great-grandfather's tractor. Life would be so much easier if she didn't want anything, if she didn't long for more. “I want to argue with everyone.”

Her father chuckled. “So like your mother.” He kissed the top of her head. “Impatient. Railing at the world.”

She admired so many things about her dad—his work ethic, his ability to keep Mom relevant, his refusal to hold Tracy during a phone interview she'd had last month. She'd wanted his arms around her so she could talk smoothly. He'd argued,
“They have to want you for who you are, warts and all.”

Tracy sighed. “I'd love to rail at the mayor and the town council and Leona and Chad.” Why couldn't she say a sentence like that when she stood alone?

“Chad who? I don't know any Chad.” Oh, how overly protective Dad got when it came to Tracy and men.

“A travel writer who came to the bakery today.” She batted his shoulder playfully, willing herself to lighten up, too. “He makes fun of people for a living. No one would listen when I tried to warn them.”

“A bully.” Dad's tone mellowed. “You never had much patience for bullies. And if people don't listen, it's their fault.” He put his hands on her shoulders and set her away from him. “You weren't meant to be a coffee barista, Tracy. You weren't meant to hold on to your dad to be able to get words out. You need to knuckle down and figure this thing out.”

“Dad.”
Were all parents the voice of one's conscience? Tracy knew he was right. She needed to take charge of her life, but she was tired of failing, tired of the grand series of experiments to help her regain verbal normalcy. So she said sullenly, “The doctor recommended I slow down.” Like it was the doctor's orders that she return to Harmony Valley and keep her mouth shut? She did a mental eye roll. It wasn't as if she'd pulled a muscle and it needed rest.

“The last doctor you saw told you to slow down and find a job you love. That was months ago.” Dad checked his watch and glanced outside. The days were getting shorter and he always had a lot to do around the farm. “Don't use me as a crutch. Use that fancy phone of yours to find work that'll make you happy.”

She'd be happy to land a job that didn't require a verbal interview. Was that too much to ask?

* * *

T
HERE
WERE
NO
other guests at the B&B. No cars in the driveway or out back. The big house was silent. No murmur of voices. No scuffle of feet.

If Chad had been a nervous man—the kind that watched too many horror films—he'd have been...well...nervous. Nice quiet town. Welcoming residents. Prickly bed & breakfast owner. No lock on the door. It was a perfect setup for a clichéd slasher film, right down to the pretty girl leaving him at the front door.

But Chad wasn't nervous. He was driven to overcome the humiliation and betrayal of his father and the
Lampoon
's board.

In order to launch his travel review site successfully, he needed interesting places and interesting characters. And he needed them the day after the Harvest Festival, when the advertisers he'd lined up expected his website to go live. So far, Harmony Valley had interesting characters in spades. Inspired, he went in search of his hostess, poking his head in every sterile room downstairs until he found her in the vegetable garden tucked into a corner of the back yard.

Leona wore a broad-rimmed straw hat and had changed from her dress into shapeless blue jeans and a long-sleeve blue chambray shirt. She looked healthy. She hadn't lost any of her mobility, or—it seemed—her intellect. His mother had been like this when he was in college—stubborn, independent, set in her routine.

Chad hated routine.

“You've got quite the green thumb.” Chad sat on a wood bench in the shade of a towering pine tree near the back fence. The wind rustled through the needles above him. He snapped a picture of the house with his phone.

Leona didn't acknowledge him in the slightest. Hale and hearty, she dug her trowel in the rich brown soil and popped out a weed, root and all. Her garden was ripe for the harvest—red tomatoes, green bell peppers, green onions and several white gourds.

He decided to test how long and sharp her thorns were. “I hope tomorrow's breakfast includes a vegetable omelet.”

“You'll get a meal between eight and eight-thirty, Mr. Healy.” She was as brambly as the blackberry vine in the corner. She continued weeding.

Chad tried again. “There's no television in my room.”

She dug at a clump of crab grass. “There's no television in the house.”

Leona was a gift from heaven. His readers were going to love her. Already, Chad could see guys booking the Lambridge B&B months in advance. They'd line up to spar with Leona.

“Do you need something, Mr. Healy?” Down on all fours, Leona glanced at him with a balance of cool rejection and regal regard.

That look said it all. He took a picture of her.

Leona got to her feet quicker than a fighter after an unexpected knock-down. “Did you just take my picture?”

“Yes, I—”

“Perverts and pornographers are not tolerated in this establishment.” She gathered her garden tools with jerky movements. “I'll expect you off the premises immediately.”

“But...I...” He wasn't sure how he'd offended her with a photo. Was Leona in the witness protection program? Did she believe pictures captured her soul? “I'm a travel writer. I include pictures of hotel clerks and bed & breakfast owners in my columns.”

She waved aside his statement. “Your profession guarantees me nothing. You can't snap a picture of me bent over...” Her face reddened. “I will not have my...my...
derriere
—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down.” He brought Leona's image to his screen and hurried to her side. “Look. I took a picture of your face.” The queen from another century looking down her nose on her progressive subjects.

She scrutinized the photo and then said somewhat meekly—because she could never truly be meek.
“Oh.”

“I would never disrespect you in such a way.” And then he added, hiding a grin, “Ma'am.”

She sniffed. “Best you remember that or you'll find yourself out on the street.”

Harmony Valley was turning out to be gold. Chad couldn't wait to uncover more gems. He left Leona and headed toward the town square to do some treasure hunting.

* * *

T
HERE
WAS
LITTLE
more demoralizing than applying for a job you had little chance of getting.

Tracy had a job search app on her phone. She used it to find two new postings for advertising copywriters in Northern California. A few clicks later and her résumé was submitted.

“Two,” she called to her father, who was tinkering under the hood of his old white farm truck.

He wiped oil from a wrench with a blue cloth. “Are you happy? I won't be happy until you're happy.”

“I'd rather be painting,” she grumbled, heading up the drive.

Dad slammed the hood shut. “You know I love you just the way you are.”

Of course he did. But lately, he was like her brother, Will—pushing, trying to set goals for Tracy, wanting her to reach higher. Her family didn't want her to settle for silence.

Truth be told, Tracy didn't either. If only getting back on track wasn't so hard.

She reached the end of the driveway and turned toward the Harmony River bridge and town, pausing to pluck a dandelion from the side of the road. She'd been making wishes on dandelions since she was a girl.

A few minutes later, Tracy leaned on the railing of the bridge and watched the water drift past. That shallow river was like her life. At an all time low and moving slow.

How was she supposed to get a job when she couldn't string a fluent sentence together out loud?

A faded green Buick pulled up next to her. Mildred rolled down the passenger window in front, her thick glasses nearly resting on her plump pink cheeks. Rose slid across the seat in back and cranked down the other window. Her snow white ballerina chignon had not one hair out of place.

“We're off to the doctor's office,” Mildred announced. “Agnes wants to know if you need anything in town.”

Agnes leaned over the center console and waved. “Isn't Chad wonderful?”

“And he's not wearing a ring,” Rose sing-songed.

They were trying to fix her up with the wolf in sheep's clothing? “Not interested. Have you read...his column?”

It was their turn to lack interest.

“A hardworking, good-looking man,” Agnes said. “Who needs to read his column?”

“Don't set the bar too high,” Mildred advised with a kindly squint in Tracy's direction. “We don't get many bachelors your age up here.”

“Better snatch him up quickly.” Rose nodded sagely. “You don't want to be an old maid.”

“I'm twenty-six.” Hardly over the hill. And certainly not stupid enough to fall for a man who made his living writing a bachelor column.

“We could give you dating pointers.” Agnes chuckled, perhaps realizing how ridiculous Tracy might find that statement. Perhaps not.

The three town council ladies drove away.

If Tracy controlled her aphasia, she'd clue everyone in to Chad's intentions. If Tracy controlled her aphasia, she'd get out of town. And she needed to get out of town or she'd be an old maid. So she needed to control her aphasia.

She'd been twirling the dandelion. She blew its seeds into the wind and began singing softly. And then louder, forcing the words out, which only made her stumble more.