Page 42 of The Magical Bed & Breakfast

Kate stepped back to survey her efforts at seasonal decorating then jumped at a hard tap on her shoulder blade. She spun to find the elderly, hat-clad Hazel Bestwick peering myopically up at her. Hazel straightened her small-brimmed straw hat decorated with little black cats and a long orange plume, then gestured at the pumpkins.

“Lovely, dear. So wonderful that you’ve embraced the season.”

“How can I not be in the spirit of Halloween?” said Kate, mentally adding,especially after the last few days.

Hazel nodded. “Autumn’s such a special time with all the colorful leaves swirling in the wind. Pumpkins and fog, chilly days, and hot cocoa. Marvelous! We wanted to personally invite you to participate in our Harvest Festival in two weeks’ time. It’s quite popular. Everyone will be there. We hold it every year between Halloween and Thanksgiving. It’s quite the social event.” Hazel beamed at Kate.

“I’d love to come and be involved. I’m looking forward to being part of the community. What did you have in mind?”

“Perform. We need you to perform. You have been practicing, haven’t you?”

Practicing? Perform?Kate’s mind was drawing a blank. She had expected to be asked to man a booth or bring food, anything butperform. She had no particular talent that lent itself to performances. She barely knew this woman but had heard a great deal about the eccentricity of certain members of the Hazard Historical Society, in particular the oddness of Hazel Bestwick.

“I’m not sure…”

“The musical score, dear, naturally.”

The score? The impossible score that she had only barely started to master? Kate thought hard for an excuse. She hated to disappoint, but she dreaded embarrassing herself. Especially being new to the community. Then she had a thought and relaxed. “Oh, but it’s a duet. I can’t perform it all by myself.”

Hazel’s shrewd scrutiny made Kate’s shoulders tense. “It’s to guarantee your success, dear. We want your inn to flourish. If you perform the musical score at the Hazard Harvest Festival it will solidify your citizenry here in town.”

Kate nodded, while at the same time trying to process that along with images of her hitting sour notes and the crowd booing at her. She opened her mouth to decline when Hazel gave a decisive nod.

“Excellent, I’ll put you down and let everyone know you’ll perform the final act.”

Final act? Besides that sounding ominous, what if she totally screwed up? “Wait, I still need a duet partner to even perform the piece.” Good heavens, what was she saying? She wasn’t ready to perform anything. It was ridiculous.

“Oh, I’m certain that won’t be an issue. Of course it won’t. We’re all counting on you. I’ll have Ivy email you the details. She’s so much better at that sort of thing than I am.”

“Details?” said Kate.

“Email,” said Hazel, and toddled off down the street, orange plume waving, as Kate starred after her in wonder. She shook her head. Great, now she was performing at the town’s biggest event. Could she even make it work? Would she be ready to play the piece without mistakes in two weeks’ time?

She still hit an absurd number of wrong notes every time she practiced the music by herself. And she needed to solve the duet partner problem. Could she convince Rory toperformit with her at the festival? She had a sneaking suspicion he might tell her no. Oh, he seemed willing enough to practice with her, but something about his manner made her think he didn’t want to be in the limelight. And that made no sense, really. She knew he had a band, but maybe that came with a certain image he needed to preserve.

Kate sighed. Suddenly her father’s offer held more appeal than practicing a complicated piano piece. And that was just…wrong. She’d removed herself from his world, and yet Kate felt the tug of everyone’s expectations on her, which inspired her to take refuge in her mantra. “I am the innkeeper with a capital…”

“I hope I’m not intruding.”

Kate spun around again to find an elegant woman scrutinizing her pumpkin display. The woman looked familiar, and she tried to place her before realizing they’d met at a fundraiser last spring just after Kate bought the inn.

“You’re Malory Stone, aren’t you?”

“Yes, of course, aren’t you expecting me?”

Kate just blinked at her.

Malory scowled. “Hazel told me I needed to head over here right now.”

“Wait, just now?” Kate glanced down the street the way Hazel had gone, but she had vanished.

Malory blinked back at Kate. “At an impromptu meeting of the Hazard Historical Society half an hour ago.”

“Oh, but Hazel was just here.”

“Ah, she was checking up on me.” Malory frowned her displeasure.

The woman clearly didn’t like being ordered about, so Kate couldn’t resist asking. “Do you always do what she tells you?”

---