Page 30 of The Magical Bed & Breakfast

Naturally this started a discussion on what they all would wear.

Kate smiled to herself, envying the carefree days of youth, as Ivy swung by her table with an orange teapot in the shape of a pumpkin in a sunny yellow cozy. She set a white-on-white Lenox teacup before her. What will it be?

“Scone of the day?” Kate asked.

“You bet,” Ivy said, and breezed off as the chime tinkled again. Customers bearing shopping bags abounded as they settled in to take a break. Kate took a moment to enjoy the chrysanthemums bopping in the window box outside. While the day stretched on lazily, she watched the man with the Scottie dog take a jaunt around the square. Ivy came to stand and watch with her.

“That’s Jaxon,” she said on a long, breathy sigh.

“Yes, from Langford Architectural Enterprise, but, ah, he’syourJaxon, I take it.”

Ivy grinned. The crowd thinned out as a large group hustled out the door, so with a quick glance around, Ivy dropped into the chair across from Kate.

She nodded at the teapot. “How did you like this one? I blended it as a contender for your signature blend.”

“Oh, it’s lovely!” Kate took another sip, savoring it. “But I still favor the autumn blend you made up. It’s the one. I just need a name. You really won’t help with that?”

Ivy shook her head. “No, hard enough to christen my tea shop blends. But Jaxon’s good at naming. He helped.”

“Can you tell me about Rory?” Kate hadn’t meant to blurt out the words, but they came of their own volition.

Ivy tilted her head. “Like what?”

“You’ve known him a long time.”

“Well…” Ivy’s face took on a wary expression, like she wasn’t sure how much to share.

“I know he’s in a band.”

“Oh. So he told you,” she said, pleased.

“No, I found out. I…looked him up. Rory Rollins.”

Ivy pursed her lips, nodded. “He left shortly after high school, all rebellious like so many of us, but he made a success of it. His dad wanted to train him to work in the grocery business, to one day take over the management of one of the markets. Rory ran as fast as he could to escape that fate.” Ivy laughed. “Can you imagine Rory as a grocer?”

Kate pictured him in a grocery smock, overseeing his employees as they ran the registers and checked out customers and stocked produce. She pictured him in an office looking out over his store, poring over inventory spreadsheets, scheduling staff, preparing bank deposits and balancing his books and whatever else might be involved in managing a store. It was such an incongruous image. She shook her head. “I really can’t.”

Rory embodied an imaginative ingenuity. Being around him had sparked Kate’s own creativity. She was attempting to play the piano again, which she had once loved. And now she was focused on decorating the inn—even scheduling flowers to brighten it up, her mind overflowing with ideas. Before he’d shown up at the inn, she’d been overwhelmed by the drudgery of it all…but Ivy was sharing. Kate blinked and focused on what she was saying.

“Rory was always talented. He had copper-kettle-colored red hair as a kid. He spent tons of time indoors to escape getting sunburned, I think. He spent half his childhood at the piano. His mom had grand plans for him; wanted him to be a concert pianist. Rory must’ve felt that tug of war between his parents and their goals for him. His mom was so elegant. She wore sleek, glittery dresses, her hair always perfectly coiffed in a French chignon. She never really fit in here in Hazard, or with Rory’s dad who was serious and tense. One day—I think Rory had just entered high school—she up and left.”

Kate frowned. She’d lost her mom to cancer at a young age, so knew what it was like to grow up without having a mom around, but her mom hadn’t left by choice. Kate could only imagine how that felt for Rory. “Have you heard his music?”

“A little. The ballads are the best, and more popular than the heavier songs.”

“Is it a group effort, the songs?” Kate asked, trying to get a grip on who Rory was.

“Well, playing them, but I’m pretty sure Rory writes them all. That band’s really his baby. We’re all fans because we know him.”

“What is he hiding from?” Kate blinked at her disclosure.

“What do you mean?”

Kate took a sip of her tea to get her thoughts in order before she spoke. “I listened to a recent podcast interview of his lead singer and guitarist. They made comments about Rory dropping out of sight. Is there a scandal?” Kate’s stomach took a dip and dive at the thought.

Ivy blinked in surprise. “No, Rory’s notscandalous. His band’s not the druggy kind. His bandmates are all serious musicians. One got married last year, and his wife’s having a baby. Another does charity fundraisers for cerebral palsy. Sorry, I’m kind of a groupie. I follow all the gossip. It’s fun.”

“But nothing about a scandal?”

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