Engaged . . . again. Nolan promised to live long enough to drive me crazy as an old man. I look forward to that and everything else we’ll experience together. On this joyful day I’m also grateful to Caleb for setting me free to love again. I’ll always love him, too, and I’ll never forget the precious time we had together.
—From the diary of Hannah Abbott Guthrie, age thirty-five
Lincoln Abbott had just shut off his computer for the day and was getting up to leave when his father-in-law came hobbling into the office carrying a bottle of champagne and wearing a big smile.
The bottle landed on Lincoln’s desk with a loud thunk. “Engaged, my friend! How do ya like them apples? One dead battery and a ring on our girl’s finger!”
“Where’re your crutches?”
“Oh to hell with them! I’m here to celebrate!”
Ringo and George raised their heads from their beds in the corner to see what all the noise was about. Seeing Elmer, they got up to greet one of their favorite friends. As always, he had biscuits in his pockets for both of them.
Amused by Elmer’s effusiveness, Lincoln smiled and shook his head. “I still can’t believe it myself. I take it the lovebirds have been to see you.”
“Indeed they have, and we had one hell of a celebration.” Elmer took a seat in front of Lincoln’s desk. “I can’t tell you what it means to me to see my little girl smiling again from ear to ear. Never thought I’d live to see that.”
“I know what you mean. Molly and I were talking about that last night. Were you surprised they got engaged so quickly?”
“A little, but as they said, they want kids, and they’re not getting any younger. We both know what it’s like to find a perfect fit and not want to wait to get going on a life together.”
“Yes, we do.” Lincoln had taken one look at Molly Stillman and had known almost immediately that she was going to change all his plans.
Elmer leaned forward to pop the cork on the champagne and poured the fizzing bubbly into two coffee cups on Lincoln’s desk. “Hope they’re clean.”
“Just rinsed them out this afternoon.”
Elmer handed one of them to Lincoln. “Two for two,” he said, raising his mug.
Lincoln clinked his mug against Elmer’s. “We’re on a roll.”
“Who’s next?” Elmer asked as he sat back to enjoy the bubbly.
“I’ve been thinking about that. We’ve got quite a list of possibilities to choose from. It’s come to my attention that our oh-so-serious and focused Hunter has his eye on Megan from the diner.”
Elmer’s white brows knit with confusion. “Cranky Megan?”
“The one and only.”
“Hmm, not sure I approve of that match. I’ll have to take a closer look at her before I decide she’s worthy of our Hunter. What else have you got?”
“Max and Chloe could use a little assistance in getting their act together before the baby is born.”
“Let’s get him out of college before we go there.”
“Good point. Then there’s Ella.”
Elmer sat up a bit straighter in his chair. “What about her?”
“Did you see the way she was gazing at Gavin Guthrie at Homer’s funeral? If that’s not a girl in a serious crush, then I don’t have ten kids.”
“Well, well, well . . . That’s rather intriguing. Gavin’s a fine fellow. Every bit the man his brother was, and I’d love nothing more than to have another Guthrie in the family.”
“I’m not sure he’s quite there yet though. The poor guy has been through hell, and that one will take some finesse. We might want to practice our technique a bit more before we move on to them.”
“You make a good point. We’ve had some significant beginner’s luck with Will and Hannah, and we wouldn’t want to get too big for our britches or anything.”
“God forbid.”
Elmer took a sip of his champagne as he appeared to puzzle over their options. “Where does that leave us?”
Lincoln sat back in his big leather chair and rested his feet on the desktop. “Colton.”
Obviously intrigued, Elmer said, “Do tell.”
“Remember the day Cameron and her friend Lucy pitched the website to us?”
“That was the same day she and Will got back together and ran off into the sunset.”
“Right. Molly and I invited Lucy to dinner, and Colton joined us. The two of them hit it right off, and he offered to see her back to the inn after dinner. Far be it from me to interfere with that kind of spark, so naturally we took him up on the offer. Since then, he’s shaved off the beard he’s had since high school, cut his hair and has dropped his dogs with us for several weekends away. He’s never said another word about Lucy since that night, but if you do the math—”
“I can’t believe you’re just telling me this now! We’ve got work to do! Any friend of Cameron’s—”
“—is a friend of ours.”
“You said it! So what’s our plan?”
Lincoln picked up a flyer from his desktop and handed it to Elmer.
Elmer took the paper and scanned it, his face turning bright red as Lincoln fully expected. “What the hell is this?”
“It’s a conference coming up in New York City.”
“I can see that. I’m talking about the . . . the . . . things.”
“They’re ‘pleasure aids’ for people of all ages.”
“What in the name of tarnation sakes . . .”
“Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it,” Lincoln said with a smug smile.
“You’d better watch yourself, boy. It’s not too late for me to come fetch my daughter away from you.”
Elmer’s flustered reaction got a laugh out of Lincoln. “I think it might actually be ten kids too late for that.”
“I ain’t too late as long as I’m still drawing a breath.” He tossed the paper back on the desk. “What’s all that got to do with Colton?”
“I’m going to ask him to attend the conference and help me decide if we should offer the product line in the store.”
“You want to bring that . . . stuff . . . into my store?”
“Don’t have an apoplexy over it. That stuff sells like gang-busters, and we’d be crazy not to at least look into it.”
“I like the idea of sending Colton, but I’m not sold on the product line.”
“I’ll consider that a half victory.”
“You think you’re so smart, don’t you?”
“Whose idea was it to hire Patrick’s daughter to build a website for the store? And look at how that worked out. Have you ever seen Will happier?”
“It was my idea to mess with Hannah’s battery,” Elmer grumbled.
“We’re tied at one a piece. If this works out between Colton and Lucy, that counts in my column because she came through Cameron.”
Elmer rolled his eyes at Lincoln’s logic. “What makes you think Colton will want to go to a pleasure aid conference in New York City? What’s that got to do with maple syrup?”
“Not a damned thing. It won’t be about the conference, Elmer. If he snaps up the opportunity, we’ll have our confirmation that Lucy’s the one he’s been running off to see every chance he gets.”
“You make a good point, even if I can’t picture those products in our store.”
“Leave that part of it to me.”
“Gladly.”
“So we’ve got a plan?”
Elmer raised his mug. “It’s a plan. Let’s go for three.”