Page 80 of So Right
Chapter Sixteen
Saturday morning dawned cool and cloudy, much to Kelsey’s chagrin. She crossed her fingers that the weather forecast was accurate and that it would burn off by late morning. She was just glad it wasn’t raining.
She and Luke were the first to arrive at the winery at seven o’clock, but were soon joined by Marci and the West Arch crew. By the time they opened at nine, everything was ready to go. Business was relatively slow until shortly after ten, right when the sun started to peek through the clouds.
Kelsey was manning the cookie-decorating station when Alaina and Evan arrived with their toddler daughter, Alexa. Alaina gave Kelsey a big hug. “What a fantastic event! This is classic Ribbon Ridge.”
Evan looked at his wife. “Don’t forget to tell her about the e-mail Crystal got. You wanted me to remind you.” He helped Alexa into a chair at the table.
Alaina nodded as she smiled at him. “I did, thank you.” She turned to Kelsey, who was presenting Alexa with a cookie in the shape of a pumpkin. “Crystal heard from the archaeologist.”
Kelsey straightened. “Do tell!”
“They dated the fire to 1901. Ish. It’s hard to be super accurate, but that’s their best guess based on the testing.”
“I wonder if it was still a brothel at that time,” Kelsey said.
“Crystal said the same thing. She’s in LA right now, but she’s looking forward to doing more research.” Alaina chuckled. “I think she’s going to move into the historical society until she’s figured out what happened to Dorinda.”
“She seems very interested in her,” Kelsey said.
“If by interested, you mean obsessed, then yes. Especially since we heard about the brothel. She’s desperate to know if Dorinda was part of that or if she’d moved on by then.” Alaina helped her daughter frost the pumpkin cookie. “People and stories interest Crystal—she’s a natural-born storyteller. I keep trying to convince her to write a script.”
“About Dorinda?”
“About something. I know she wants to—she just has to set aside her self-defeating attitude.” Alaina set the frosted cookie on a napkin in front of Alexa. “Do you want some sprinkles?”
“Sprinkles!” Alexa reached for a container of Halloween-shaped decorative sprinkles to shake over her cookie.
“Well, I hope she does that,” Kelsey said, thinking that the pursuit of one’s dreams was vitally important to finding happiness.
She glanced over to the hayride stop where a few families were lined up, waiting for Luke to return on the tractor. Emotion gathered in her chest as she anticipated seeing him again. Emotion she somewhat recognized.
Was she in love with him? Just thinking the L word made her tremble. She’d felt so betrayed by that emotion. She wasn’t sure she was ready to let it in again.
Shaking her head, she focused on the kids at the table. After a quick lunch, she read Halloween stories to the kids and handed out lollipops. Gram and George stopped by, holding hands. Kelsey didn’t think Gram had ever looked happier.
George excused himself to go check out Luke’s tractor while another load of families was climbing into the hay-stacked trailer he was pulling. Gram sighed as she watched him walk away.
She touched Gram’s arm. “You and George are really happy.”
Gram turned, smiling. “Yes. Frighteningly so.” She laughed. “When I came to Ribbon Ridge to blow off steam for a bit, I never imagined I’d stay. Let alone take a job. Or fall in love.”
There was that L word again. “Have you? Fallen in love?”
Gram nodded. “I think so. I’m quite out of practice, of course. I fell in love with your grandpa a lifetime ago. But I suppose it’s like riding a bike.”
Kelsey wasn’t sure she agreed. Riding a bike was a repeatable endeavor—one you could learn and practice and improve upon. After Noah, she’d accepted that she just sucked at falling in love and really had no interest in trying it again. But now… It was hard to compare what was happening with Luke to what she’d felt for Noah. With Noah, she’d known, almost immediately. Luke was different. She felt a quiet peace with him that she didn’t necessarily equate with the tumult of falling in love. At least in her experience.
No, she couldn’t relate it to riding a bike.
“So what are your plans, then?” Kelsey asked. “Will you just stay at the Archers’ apartment for now?”
“Actually, George has asked me to move in with him, and I’m considering it.” Gram laughed and waved her hand. “Oh, who am I kidding? I’ll probably tell him yes tonight. We have a romantic dinner planned.”
Kelsey wrapped her in a fierce hug. “I’m so glad you’ll be staying here.”
Gram hugged her back. “Me too, dear.” When they broke apart, Gram studied her intently. “What about you and Luke? Are you moving in with him?”
