LITMIR.BIZ

      Hadley spent a restless night trying to forget that one little touch from Mauricio. She went for a run and then showered and pretended that her week was starting like every other one. She had this. Of course, she’d broken up with Jackson and now had to find something to fill her hours, which made her feel exactly like the old biddies who thought she needed a man to be complete. It was just... Her sister was engaged and most of her friends were in long-term relationships, and it was hard being the third wheel all the time.

      She went into her shop and took a moment to look around. The best part of coming back to Cole’s Hill was opening this place. She’d always known she wanted to do something artistic as an adult. After college, her career had taken her into brand marketing and graphic design, which was challenging and rewarding but had too many restrictions. She’d quickly realized she didn’t mind following a brief but hated having someone tell her exactly how to design a project.

      But here at her art studio, she was finding her true calling. She still had a few clients in New York that she was working with until she could make this studio start to pay. Her sister, who was a CPA, had designed a long-term investment strategy for Hadley and so far it was going pretty well.

      She had designed some lithographs of the surrounding Cole’s Hill area and had a commission to do the Abernathy ranch.

      The bell on the door to her shop rang and she glanced over her shoulder to see Helena coming toward her with two thermal coffee mugs and a pastry box from the Bluebonnet Bakery. “I brought breakfast.”

      Hadley leaned her hip against the back counter, eyeing her sister. “What do you want?”

      “What makes you think I want something?”

      “It’s not even nine and you’re in my shop with a bribe.”

      “Maybe I just love my little sister,” Helena said, putting the box on the counter in front of Hadley and handing her the thermal mug that was emblazoned with #BRIDETRIBE. She took the mug and inhaled the aroma. A skinny vanilla latte. Her sister definitely wanted something.

      “You could, but I haven’t known you to get out of bed this early unless you needed something,” she said. Helena was famous in their family as a late sleeper and ridiculously hard to wake up under normal circumstances.

      “Well, I might need your help to run interference with Mother.”

      Hadley took a sip of her latte and reached out to open the box. There were two cheese Danishes and a chocolate cake doughnut inside. Of course, Helena had brought her favorites so this must be serious.

      “With what?” she asked.

      “I had to ask Mom and Dad to put the deposit down on the flowers and now she’s trying to take over. I mentioned that you were the artsy one and had already designed the flowers for the church and the reception...”

      “That doesn’t sound bad. I’m not sure you needed to bring the latte and the pastries to ask me to do your design. I was already planning to do it,” Hadley said.

      “Great. Glad to hear it. Mom is going to be over later to give you some notes on how she’d like the church to look. You will need to make some time to go and visit with the pastor, as well as with Kinley. Now that Mom is on board, we’re going to have Kinley plan it.”

      Kinley Caruthers was a local girl who’d moved to Vegas and landed a primo job with Jaqs Veerland. The Jaqs Veerland, who planned weddings for A-listers and European royalty. Kinley had come back to Cole’s Hill to plan former NFL bad boy Hunter Caruthers’s wedding. Kinley had a complicated history with Hunter’s brother Nate and after they got engaged Jaqs opened a satellite office here in town so Kinley could work in Cole’s Hill.

      “What?” Now the pastries were making a bit more sense.

      “Sorry, sis,” she said.

      “There aren’t enough cheese Danishes at the Bluebonnet to make this okay. Mom is going to be a complete tyrant about this,” Hadley said.

      “I know. I’m sorry, but I had no choice.”

      “Why not? I thought you’d budgeted to make sure you didn’t have to ask them for any money,” she said.

      “I did, but something came up unexpectedly and we didn’t have enough for the deposit, so I had to ask Daddy.”

      “That doesn’t sound like you.”

      She shrugged. “You know how it is with brides.”

      “Actually, I don’t. But I do know you and you have a backup for everything,” she said. She put her coffee mug on the counter and walked around to her sister. “What’s going on?”

      Helena chewed her lower lip and turned away from Hadley, which made her even more concerned.

      “Hel, whatever it is, you can tell me,” she said.

      She put her arms at her sides and shrugged. “That’s just it. I don’t know what the problem is. Malcolm withdrew the money and I can’t ask him about it without it seeming like I’m checking up on him.”

      “Uh, yes you can. It’s your wedding fund,” she said.

      “I know, but I took out a large amount to buy him a wedding present and I asked him to trust me and he did...so now I have to give him the same trust,” she said.

      “Did he say he bought you something with it?” she asked.

      “No, he just said he’d have the money back in our account soon.”

      “Soon? That doesn’t sound like Malcolm. When did he say that?”

      “Six weeks ago,” Helena said.

      “Uh...that doesn’t sound right.”

      “I know. I asked Mauricio to see if he can find out what’s going on,” Helena said. “He was really sweet after you and Jackson left the party.”

      Of course he was. She’d rather he was a jerk so she could go back to hating him and forget about how sexy he was, which she hadn’t been able to do since she’d left the party.

      “Anyway, thanks for working with mom on this. How’s things with Jackson? He’s really cute. You two make a good couple.”

      She shook her head. “I broke up with him.”

      “What? Why?”

      “For a reason I’m not sharing with you,” she said.

      “No spark?”

      “Yeah,” she said. She wasn’t planning to elaborate or let her sister know that Mauricio was still turning her on with a barely-there touch.

      “So about the money...” Hadley said.

      “I’m going to see if anything else comes of it from Mauricio. Otherwise, I just don’t know. Am I wrong to trust him?”

      Hadley

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