Where Azaleas Bloom (19 page)

Raylene stood up, grabbed a pad of paper from the counter and
sat back down. “I was hoping you’d at least be intrigued enough to ask. Sarah,
Annie and I did a little brainstorming a few nights ago.”

“Over margaritas?” he asked skeptically. “Can you trust
anything you come up with while you’re drinking those things?”

“We were perfectly sober,” Raylene informed him haughtily. “All
three of us are trying to get pregnant, so we’ve been behaving.”

He felt heat in his cheeks again. “There you go with too much
information,” he told her.

She merely laughed. “The point is,” she said, tapping the
notepad, “we came up with a list of businesses the town needs. Sarah stopped by
Tom McDonald’s office to discuss the suggestions with him. As town manager, it’s
been his biggest priority to get more businesses into downtown Serenity. He
thinks we have some terrific ideas here.”

“Such as?”

“An ice cream shop,” she began.

Mitch frowned. “Competition for Wharton’s?”

“Ice cream is the least of what Grace serves. I think she’d be
fine if she didn’t have to bother with it.”

“Maybe so,” he conceded, thinking of how packed the place was
for breakfast and lunch, to say nothing of the teens who swarmed in for burgers
on date nights. “What else?”

“A bookstore, a bakery, a yarn shop, a quilt shop—”

Mitch cut her off. “Hold on a minute. You mentioned a bakery.
Have you eaten Lynn’s pies or cakes? They’re out of this world—every bit as good
as Erik’s over at Sullivan’s, not that I’d ever say that to him.”

Raylene’s eyes lit up. “I thought a bakery was the real winner,
too. It just felt right the minute we discussed it.” She grinned. “And the space
right next door to my shop is available. It’s been sitting there empty for a
couple of years now. I’m not sure how smart it is to have people eating all
those baked goods right before they shop for clothes, but, then again, if they
put on a few pounds, they’ll need a whole new wardrobe. Or the reverse could be
true, too. They get worn-out from shopping for clothes and stop next door to
recharge their batteries. Either way, it could be a win-win.”

Mitch couldn’t help being impressed by the way her mind worked.
“You really have put some thought into this, haven’t you?”

She nodded. “We all got excited about it. I think it’s the
perfect solution for her. Cupcakes are really in right now. People always need
special birthday cakes. And, as you said, her seasonal pies with all the local
fresh fruits are amazing.” She searched his face. “Agreed?”

Mitch nodded slowly. “But we’re going to have to be very
cautious about how we approach her about this. Lynn could well think it’s
charity or something and turn you down flat.”

“Oh, I can be sneaky when it’s called for,” Raylene said
proudly. “In fact, I already have one idea.”

“What’s that?” he asked cautiously, not sure how he felt about
the twinkle in her eyes.

“I was thinking maybe I could buy that space and that maybe
someone I know could do the renovations, all on our own. Kind of get the ball
rolling, if you know what I mean. In the meantime, I’d start laying the
groundwork with Lynn, talk about how badly the town could use a great bakery,
have some of the others mention the same thing, then bingo! A lightbulb goes off
and we ask her why she doesn’t do it.”

Mitch chuckled at her naive belief that she could pull that off
without Lynn guessing what she was up to. “She’s a smart woman. She’ll see right
through you,” he warned.

Raylene shrugged. “Maybe so, but what’s the worst thing that
could happen? Lynn will balk, and you and I will have created a ready-to-go
space on Main Street we can rent or flip.”

Mitch had to admit he was intrigued by the idea. There were
other empty spaces on Main Street in dire need of the same sort of renovation.
He’d been so busy for the past few years with other people’s jobs, it had never
crossed his mind to buy a few places as investment properties for himself, then
fix them up for resale or make them available as rentals for the new businesses
Tom was encouraging to locate in Serenity. A lot, he imagined, were put off by
the sorry state of the current properties. Turnkey spaces could be a real
selling point for Tom.

With Tom aggressively going after new business, the timing for
this struck Mitch as exactly right.

“There are a couple of other spaces on Main Street on the
market, too,” he said thoughtfully. “Maybe we’re thinking too small.”

Now it was Raylene’s turn to look surprised. It was evident
he’d managed to kick her excitement level up another notch.

“I was just thinking about pulling this off for Lynn, but
you’re right,” she said. “We could do even more. That way it wouldn’t be all
about Lynn.”

“Interested in a partnership?” he asked. “We pick three or four
of the most attractive locations, talk to Mary Vaughn Lewis about a package deal
for buying them, and go from there. I can come up with some cash.”

“So can I,” Raylene said. “I have some money from my ex-husband
that I’ve never wanted to touch because it makes me sick just thinking about
him. Investing in Serenity would be a fantastic way to make something good out
of something horrible.”

Mitch nodded. “Why don’t I make an appointment for us with Mary
Vaughn? After that, if we decide we want to proceed, you set something up with
Helen so we can work out the legalities. And then you can speak to Lynn. Let’s
see where it takes us.”

He’d barely stood up when, before he could guess her
intentions, Raylene threw her arms around him.

“I knew this idea had potential,” she said. “I am so excited,
Mitch. This is going to work. It really is.”

He nodded. It was easy to believe that the overall project had
huge potential. It was a lot harder to envision Lynn falling for their scheme
quite so readily.

* * *

Lynn had grown used to Mitch popping into the bar at the
end of her shift. Conveniently, he was always there just in time to drive her
home. On occasion, he even convinced her to sit down and have something to eat
before they left. She’d become addicted to Monty’s hamburgers and fries. It
probably had something to do with the open-flame grill he had in the
kitchen.

“For an itty-bitty thing, you sure do have an appetite,” Mitch
teased one night when she’d finished every morsel of food on her plate.

“I think it’s finally come back,” she responded. “For a long
time, I was so worried about making sure the kids had enough to eat, I barely
touched anything at home. Thank goodness for those meals at Raylene’s and the
leftovers she insisted on sending home. I think they saved me.”

Mitch looked angered by her comment for some reason. “Ed ought
to be strung up,” he muttered.

“I won’t argue,” Lynn said. “Sooner or later things will settle
down, or at least Helen promises me they will.”

“Do you have a final court date?”

“A couple of weeks. Helen hasn’t been pushing because she’s
wanted her financial investigator to have plenty of time to find out what Ed’s
been up to. We should know something next week. For now, thanks to you, Raylene
and this job here, we’re getting by.”

“Then what, Lynn? You may be juggling all those balls just fine
in the short-term, but you can’t do it indefinitely. And you told me yourself,
you’re doing this for the paycheck, not because you’re passionate about any of
it.”

“True,” she said. “Passion doesn’t enter into it.”

He leaned back in the booth. “What are you passionate about?”
he asked, a gleam in his eyes she wasn’t sure how to interpret.

“I have to say you’ve caught my fancy,” she teased, mostly
because talk of the future seemed pointless when she was doing the best she
could just to get through each day.

“Good to know,” he said, chuckling. “But I was thinking more in
terms of a job you might be passionate about. Or do you think your settlement
will keep you and the kids comfortable?”

She immediately shook her head. “No, I’ve learned my lesson.
I’ll never be so reliant on a man for anything again. Not only is it foolish,
but it sets a terrible example for Lexie. I want her to know how to be an
independent woman. This whole situation would have been far less scary if I’d
learned that lesson at her age.”

Mitch nodded, looking oddly pleased by her response.

“Any dream jobs in mind?” he asked. “What are you happiest
doing?”

“I’m happiest in my kitchen,” she admitted. “But opening a
restaurant’s out of the question. There’s no way I’d want to compete with what’s
already here, and it would be much too demanding while the kids are still at
home, anyway. I know how hard Dana Sue works.”

“You make a terrific pie,” he commented in a casual way that
suggested he was trying to make a point. “Your cakes and cookies are real good,
too.”

Lynn studied him suspiciously. “You know, Raylene said
something very similar to me just recently. Have you two been talking?”

“Sure we have,” he said innocently. “We just went through the
final punch list for the addition a week or so ago.”

She frowned at him. “I meant about me.”

He shrugged. “I imagine your name came up. It usually does. You
know how she is. She’s no better than Grace when it comes to matchmaking.”

“I don’t believe you,” she said, and saw the immediate rise of
color in his cheeks that told her she was exactly right to be skeptical.

He held up his hands. “Hey, I’m an honest guy. Have you ever
known me to lie to you?”

“No, but that doesn’t mean you’re incapable of it.”

“Let’s forget about me and get back to your future,” he
suggested. “Have you ever thought about baking as a career?”

Lynn decided to let him get away with the evasive maneuver.
Mitch wasn’t a complicated man. Sooner or later whatever was really on his mind
would be revealed. She shook her head. “I don’t have any professional
training.”

“You have a few recipes, don’t you?”

She laughed at that. “Mitch, I have recipes going back to my
great-grandmother. Every woman in my family baked all the traditional Southern
pies, cakes, cookies and even doughnuts.”

“Well, then, it sounds to me as if you’d have everything you
need to open a bakery, at least if it were something that held an interest for
you,” he said. “Ever thought about it?”

“Not really, at least not until recently.”

“Well, I know I’d be a regular for a morning cup of coffee and
that pecan cake thing you’ve made me a time or two.”

Ever since Raylene had planted the seeds several days ago, Lynn
had been giving the idea of a bakery more consideration. She had to admit that
she liked the thought of being able to share all those old family recipes with
everyone in town. Could she run a business like that, though? Where on earth
would she get enough money to start it? She certainly wasn’t in very good
standing at the bank these days.

Wearily, she shook her head. “It’s crazy,” she told Mitch.
“There’s no way I can start any kind of business. If we had a bakery, I’d
probably enjoy working there, but we don’t.”

“I thought you wanted to set a good example for Lexie,” Mitch
chided.

Lynn frowned. “Of course I do.”

“Then do you want her to hear you sounding defeated before
you’ve even tried?”

“I’m being realistic,” Lynn argued.

“Without exploring a single option? Sweetheart, that’s not
being realistic. That’s self-destructive. You’ll never succeed in this world if
you don’t believe in yourself. Do you think people in town would buy your baked
goods?”

She nodded. “I always sell out first at the school bake
sales.”

He smiled. “Well, there you go. You’re already a success. You
have a reputation to build on.”

“And not one cent to my name to invest in this business,” she
reminded him, trying not to let herself get carried away by the excitement he’d
stirred in her. She was in no position to latch onto crazy dreams at this
point.

“What would you call your business?” he prodded, ignoring her
doubts.

“Sweet Things,” she said at once. “It’s simple. It’s clear. And
it sounds like one of those Southern endearments—you sweet thing, you.” She
regarded him hesitantly. “What do you think?”

“Sign me up for coffee at eight,” he said. “You’d have tables
and chairs, right?”

“A few,” she said, reluctantly allowing herself to dream. “And
blue-checked café curtains on the windows and flowers on the tables. I think the
tables and chairs should be mismatched old kitchen sets painted in pretty
colors, too. I’d like pictures on the walls.”

“What sort of pictures?” he asked, clearly encouraging her.

“Paula Vreeland’s botanical prints if I could afford them,” she
said readily. “They’re beautiful.”

“I imagine she’d make you a deal,” Mitch said.

Lynn sighed. It was such a lovely daydream, but it was time to
get back to reality. “Enough of this pie-in-the-sky stuff,” she said. “No pun
intended. I should get home. Lexie was hanging out over at Mandy’s tonight since
it’s not a school night. I trust her, but I don’t want her to be wearing out her
welcome over there.”

“Where’s Jeremy?”

“With his dad.” She shrugged at Mitch’s surprised look. “It’s
taking everything in me to try not to interfere in that relationship. Jeremy
doesn’t know about all the things Ed’s done. I’d like to keep it that way.”

“Does Lexie know?”

“When she’s asked me directly about something, I haven’t lied
to her, but I try really hard not to scare her or to make her think any less of
her dad than she already does. He’s her father. They should have some kind of
relationship, but she’s not interested. I’ve tried to intercede on Ed’s behalf,
but I won’t force her to spend time with him.”

“That seems reasonable to me,” Mitch said.

“I wish Ed thought so,” she said. “He blames me for her
attitude. He just can’t see that she’s too smart to be fooled by his pretenses
of caring when his actions have clearly shown otherwise.”