Read Welcome Back to Apple Grove Online
Authors: C.H. Admirand
Welcome Back to Apple Grove
Copyright © 2013 by C.H. Admirand
Cover and internal design © 2013 by Sourcebooks, Inc.
Cover illustration by Tom Hallman
Cover image © lisinski/iStockphoto
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Published by Sourcebooks Casablanca, an imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc.
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This book is dedicated to two dear friends: Kimberly Rocha, founder of Book Obsessed Chicks Book Club and Colleen’s Celtic Mavens; and to my author friend Tara Nina—thanks for saving me! Where would I be without you ladies?
Apple Grove has always boasted that it’s a small town with big-town amenities. Some of the local hot spots are:
Honey’s Hair Salon
—Owned by Honey B. Harrington, who has weekly specials from cuts to coloring and likes to advertise the weekly special by changing her hair color every week.
The Apple Grove Diner
—Owned by Peggy and Katie McCormack, featuring Peggy’s pastries.
Bob’s Gas and Gears
—Owned by Robert Stuart, former stock car driver who doubles as the mechanic.
Murphy’s Market
—Owned by the lovely widow Mary Murphy (who has her eye on Joseph Mulcahy—and he has his on her), where you can buy anything from soup to nuts—the metal kind—but it’s her free-range chickens that lay the best eggs in Licking County and have people driving for miles to buy them.
Trudi’s Garden Center
—Owned by eighty-year-old Trudi Philo, who likes to wear khaki jodhpurs and Wellingtons everywhere; she specializes in perennials and heirloom vegetables and flowers, and has been planting and caring for the flowers in the town square since she was in grade school, taking the job over from her grandmother Phoebe Philo when she passed the business on to her fifty years ago.
The Apple Grove Public Library
—Run by Beatrice Wallace, the sheriff’s sister—open three days a week!
The Knitting Room
—A thriving Internet business run by Apple Grove resident Melanie Culpepper, who had to close up her shop when she became pregnant with twins.
Slater’s Mill
—Built circa 1850, this converted mill and historic site is a favorite among locals both young and old. Famous for its charcoal-broiled burgers and crispy fries served in the first-floor family restaurant, it’s also been a favorite place for the younger set to congregate at the mile-long bar on the second floor.
A Taste of Home-Cooking from Apple Grove
Firehouse Chili
Serves 11 firefighters
This recipe is a huge time-saver! Using the store-bought salsa cuts down on the cooking time and lends a fabulous flavor to your chili. Garnish with sour cream and cheddar cheese and serve with a mixed green salad and corn muffins fresh out of the oven, and you’ll satisfy even the hungriest of firefighters! ~ C.H.
8 pounds of chop meat (I always use 80% ground chuck…more fat = more flavor!)
canola oil (for browning)
4 large containers (48 oz. each.) of chunky salsa medium or hot (don’t forget: as it cooks, the heat index of the salsa rises)
2–3 cans pinto beans (great source of protein)
toppings: sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese
salad: mixed greens (your favorite)
tomatoes (cherry if available)
corn muffins (your favorite type)
In a large nonstick Dutch oven, brown the chop meat in the canola oil over medium heat, stirring constantly to evenly brown the meat. *Note: Depending on how much fat there is, I may or may not drain the meat. If you do, you lose the flavor.
Add the chunky salsa, keeping an eye on the consistency, careful not to add too much; there’s nothing worse than a pot of thin chili, and you’re going for robust here. Stir until blended throughout. Add the pinto beans, stirring constantly while heating to the boiling point. Once there, cover the pot and lower the heat to simmer for about 30 minutes, checking every 10 to 15 minutes to avoid burning. Speaking from experience, it is possible to burn food in a nonstick pan. LOL!
Serve topped with cheddar cheese and sour cream and serve with a mixed green salad and corn muffins warm from the oven.
“Gracie, please tell me you didn’t have a glass of wine before you picked up those scissors.”
Grace Mulcahy stared down at her reflection. Why hadn’t she just set the scissors down and stopped fiddling with what was left of her hair?
“How does it look?” Her phone was on speaker—good thing her friend Kate McCormack was back in Apple Grove, Ohio, and couldn’t see her right now. When Grace didn’t answer right away, Kate asked, “Well?”
Grace sighed. “I can always let it grow out.”
Her friend groaned out loud. “Is it fixable or too short?”
Grace turned her head to the left and then back. “Fixable…probably…maybe—heck, I don’t know!”
“Text Honey B. that you have a hair emergency.”
“Not gonna happen. You know she’s too busy juggling her kids and her business.”
“True, but you know she’d want to help.”
Grace sighed. Honey B. was her sister Meg’s best friend—since forever. “It’s not quite a disaster.”
Kate laughed. “Honey B. makes her living fixing hair disasters. Remember that time we decided to go red?”
Grace chuckled. “Lord we shouldn’t have used that Kool-Aid instead of real hair dye.”
“Hey,” Kate said. “It was way cheaper.”
“True…but the results—”
“Were fixed by Honey B.”
“I guess she did fix the Thompson twins when they snuck away from the school gym and cut each other’s hair for their school pictures.”
“Mrs. Thompson was seriously PO’d.”
Grace agreed. “I’ll think about texting Honey B.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Kate said. “I’ll text her. You know she has a soft spot for all of the Mulcahy sisters.”
“But I don’t live in Apple Grove anymore—”
“What in the world does that have to do with anything?” Kate wanted to know. “We take care of our own. No matter how far away you travel, Gracie, you’re still an Apple Grover.”
Grace had another gulp of wine to cover the snort of laughter.
“Hah!” Kate said. “Made you laugh.”
She admitted defeat. “OK, but seriously no one who lives back home calls themselves that.”
“That’s because they didn’t think of it,” Kate reminded her. “We did in second grade.”
Grace wished she’d been able to convince Kate to move with her to Columbus. Maybe she should try to tempt her again. “We could get a two-bedroom apartment like we had when we roomed together at college, Kate. It’d be like old times.”
“Except that I’d have to get up at three o’clock in the morning to get to the diner in time for work. You’re not going to get me to move out there, Grace. Besides, there’s too much work for Peggy to be opening by herself.”
“You could find work here,” Grace began, although she knew it was a moot point. Kate and her sister, Peggy, ran the Apple Grove Diner and had ever since their mom decided she was tired of getting up before dawn to make breakfast for the town and handed the reins of the business over to them.
Instead of arguing with her, as Grace expected, Kate said, “I’ll text you the time for your appointment.”
“Wait!” Grace began. Too late, her friend had already disconnected. “Great. Now the whole town is going to think I’m depressed…drinking wine while cutting my hair off.”
But that wasn’t the case. She was donating her hair to Love Locks. The shortest she’d ever gone was shoulder length—but chin length? It was drastic, but she’d wanted to make sure she had enough to donate and only had a yardstick to measure with.
“Yardsticks aren’t flexible.” That was one of the first lessons she’d had in measuring from her father—who ran Mulcahys, the family’s handyman business, for years before finally retiring and letting Grace and her sisters take over. “Can’t get an accurate measurement with one,” her father had insisted.
Although she didn’t have the talent to fix things the way her older sisters did, she was still a hands-on type of girl—hands on the computer, accounting software, filing cabinet, supply shelves. She did her part for the family business for years until she simply couldn’t contain the need to follow her dream in the direction it pulled her…away from Apple Grove, Ohio, with its tiny population and close-knit community.
Grace dreamed of the bright lights and the big city. Well, not as big as New York City, but compared to her tiny hometown, Columbus was the big city—the largest in Ohio. She loved going to museums, fancy restaurants, and having coffee at the outdoor café by her office building—seriously upscale compared to the bench on the sidewalk outside of the Apple Grove Diner.
She longed for something different, to meet
someone
different.
Suave
and
debonair.
But that reminded her of her ex, so she might have to rethink the suave part. Maybe she should think about a man with workingman’s hands—broad and strong, able to fix anything—like her dad.
Of all the memories she’d stored up to take with her when she left, Grace wished she hadn’t seen that split-second look of shock on her father’s face when she’d finally told him she didn’t want to live in Apple Grove. He’d been quick to cover it with a knowing smile, telling her she should go after her dreams, reminding her that she’d always be welcome to come back and visit. That look on his face now resided in the tiny corner of her mind alongside the last image she’d had of her mom in that hospital bed, battered, bruised, and broken from the accident.
Pushing those images aside, she focused on the positive changes she’d made in her life. In the year since she’d left her hometown, she’d landed a great job as an administrative assistant, working in a gorgeous office with all the latest technology. But the best part was that she wasn’t the only one responsible for holding down the fort—she was one of over a hundred employees.
She liked living in Columbus, but sometimes, at night when she was lying there listening to the sounds of traffic instead of hoot owls, she felt the distance—depending on how long it had been between visits home, it was either a thank-God-I-left-town kind of way or a what-the-heck-was-I-thinking-to-leave kind of way. She’d hoped to cement her relationship with Ted by moving to Columbus—he wouldn’t dream of living in a town without streetlights or traffic lights. Too bad she hadn’t realized their disagreements went much deeper than that—a whole lot deeper. He was now her ex.
Grace didn’t want to end her evening thinking of what might have been with Ted. So, she looked in the mirror and held up the ponytail she’d snipped off. “My hair is going to a great cause.” She’d done her research.
Setting the bathroom to rights and putting the scissors back in the kitchen drawer—so she wouldn’t be tempted to fiddle with the slightly uneven ends—Grace sat down at the kitchen table and fired up her laptop. She sent an email to Stacy at Love Locks and received an enthusiastic response almost immediately. Knowing that her donation would make such a difference in a little girl’s life lifted her spirits. Helping someone in need always did—she’d learned that lesson as a kid growing up in the Mulcahy household.
Not everyone who needed repairs or fixer-upper jobs had the money to pay. That never stopped her dad from continuing the tradition her great-great-grandparents had begun of working for trade. Mr. Weatherbee made gorgeous wind chimes. Mrs. Winter baked the most delicious cherry pies. Sometimes when business at her garden center was slow, Miss Trudi Philo would send Cait or Meg home with a few pots overflowing with heavy blooms.
Cutting off her hair had been a bit drastic because she’d worn it long for years, but it was still in that time-honored tradition of helping others. After she sent off the email to Stacy, she decided to clean out her inbox. It took longer than she thought. By the time she finished, she felt the quiet surround her. She poured a second glass of wine and took it over to her favorite spot by the window: a comfy, overstuffed easy chair blooming with pink, cream, and green cabbage roses and ribbons. Setting her glass on the end table, she sank into the chair and relaxed. Curling her legs beneath her, she stared out the window and her thoughts drifted toward home. “I wonder what Cait’s doing right now?”
The middle Mulcahy sister was probably sitting on the sofa with her feet up and a little black dog in her lap, while she leaned against her handsome husband—a second-generation small-town doctor taking care of the good people back home. Her last email from Cait had Grace worrying about her older sister’s health, suspecting she was overdoing it to keep Meg and her father from arguing over hiring someone from outside the family—again.
She’d been there for the first argument and had been on the receiving end of her father’s formidable Irish temper when they had been going at it over who to hire as Grace’s replacement. It hadn’t gone as she’d planned—at all. Pushing those thoughts aside, she let her mind drift back to Doc and Caitlin the last time she’d seen them, sitting on a bench in the Mulcahys’ backyard, gazing into each other’s eyes, so obviously in love that their happiness spilled over onto everyone around them.
Wonder
when
Cait
and
Doc
will
start
a
family…
Will
I
ever
marry
and
have
children?
She’d never really given marriage a thought until her oldest sister, Meg, got married. When Cait and Jack were falling in love, Grace had been focused on getting out of Apple Grove and pursuing a career in Columbus. There hadn’t been a man in her own life since she’d broken it off with Ted, after catching him in a lip-lock with someone else had ended their relationship. Some things could be worked through, but fidelity was not one of them.
There was an upside to breaking up with him; she had plenty of time to work late and had earned a coveted promotion at work. Her phone chimed, bringing her back to the present. She picked it up and grinned. Kate’s text read:
Fri 8pm @ Honey B.’s. Be there!
She sipped her wine and thought about whether or not to answer. She decided she’d just let Kate assume she’d show up. Grace wondered what her friends would think when they saw her again. She’d gained fifteen pounds from sitting behind a desk at her dream job.
She got up and moved to her closet. Flipping through her clothes, she realized most of the clothes that fit her now were only for work—a boring assortment of black, beige, and gray. Add in a pair of black pumps and she might as well add a sign that said:
Grace
Mulcahy—the invisible woman
.
When had she decided to remove color from her wardrobe? A tiny voice inside reminded her that it was after she’d gained the weight. It was past time to make some much-needed changes to her wardrobe, beginning with a pair of jeans. She’d have to make time to pick up a pair on her lunch hour. She hated the fact that she’d have to buy them two sizes larger than she was used to wearing, but she needed something for casual wear when she went home. “Damn, I should have rented the cheaper apartment. I could have afforded a gym membership.”
Maybe
it’s time to reevaluate my priorities
.
She had to be ready to leave tomorrow right after work. Knowing Honey B. would be keeping the shop open after hours just for her, she didn’t want to be late. She grabbed her overnight bag from the back of her closet and tossed in her spare pair of black heels, black wrap dress, and the clothes she’d set on the bed.
Her nephews, Danny and Joey, were bound to want to play outside with a soccer ball—just like their daddy
,
Apple Grove’s varsity soccer coach. “Maybe I should tell them I can’t and stay inside and play with baby Deidre.”
Their sad faces staring up at her filled her mind’s eye. She sighed aloud. Her darling nephews were three and a half years old and a handful; it would probably be better to help tire them out outside and then play with their baby sister.
Definitely
getting
those
jeans
tomorrow
.
Once she was packed, she moved to the bathroom, where she’d lined up everything she’d need toiletry-wise for the next two days beside her large cosmetic bag. Satisfied that she’d thought of everything, she rifled through her TBR pile and packed three novels—just in case she couldn’t convince Kate to go out with her—an eclectic choice to go with whatever mood she was in: inspirational romance, Western romance, or romantic suspense. On a whim, she tossed in a historical romance. “Never could resist a man in a kilt.”
By the time she’d finished, she was exhausted and had nearly forgotten about her hair, until she moved to push it over her shoulders to braid it for the night—part of her nightly ritual for years. “Well, damn,” she said. “Maybe I’ll be used to it by tomorrow.”
***
Back in Apple Grove, her sister Meg was on a conference call with Honey B. and Kate. “So she just cut her hair off?” Meg couldn’t believe it. “Does she sound depressed to you?”
