Chapter Seventeen
KURT LOOKED AT his watch for the hundredth time that afternoon. He tried to concentrate on writing, but climbing into the dark recesses of his mind proved to be problematic when he was so excited and worried, in equal measure, to hear how Leanna’s meeting with Mama’s Market went. He finally gave up on hammering out more than five thousand words and drove over to wait for Leanna at her cottage.
He parked in the driveway, and even before he turned off the car, he heard Pepper barking. His nose was pressed against the window screen, and when Kurt stepped from his car, Pepper began whining.
“I hear you.” He went to the window and touched his finger to Pepper’s nose. The dog licked the screen and whimpered. Kurt tried the door and wasn’t surprised to find it unlocked.
“So now you’re breaking into her house?”
He spun around at the sound of Bella’s voice and found all three of Leanna’s girlfriends standing in their bikinis with their arms crossed and their mouths pressed into tight lines.
“No. I came to wait for Leanna and heard Pepper barking.”
As if on cue, Pepper barked.
“And I thought I’d see if it was unlocked, so I could take him for a walk.”
Amy was the first to lose her scowl. She burst into laughter. “If you could only see your face.”
Bella and Jenna laughed with her.
“We know you’re not breaking in.” Bella opened Leanna’s door and walked inside.
Kurt and the others followed.
Amy crouched down to love-up Pepper. Pepper’s tongue hung from his mouth as he rolled around on his back.
Kurt found Pepper’s leash on top of the pile of shoes beside the door. “Why aren’t you guys at the beach?”
“And miss Leanna’s big news? No way. You know there’s no cell reception on the beaches.” Bella grabbed a beer from the refrigerator and held it up. “Anyone?”
“Not me, thanks,” Amy said as Pepper wiggled from beneath her hand and began pawing at Kurt’s feet.
“No thanks, Bella. Sit, Pepper.” He hooked his leash. “I’m just going to take him for a walk.”
“I want to go,” Jenna said. “And I want a wine cooler please, Bell.”
“She has none. Beer or jam?” Bella held up both.
“We’ll stop at my place for a cooler.” Jenna looped her arm into Kurt’s. “Shall we?”
“We’re coming, too.” Amy and Bella followed them out.
For a guy who was used to spending almost every waking hour alone, Kurt wondered how he’d ended up walking around a complex with a dog and three women pawing at him. Strangely, he didn’t have the urge to run back to his keyboard, which would have been his reaction a week earlier. These were Leanna’s friends, and Pepper was Leanna’s dog, and for that reason, he wanted to be near them all.
His cell phone rang, and he had to disengage from Jenna’s hand on his arm to dig his phone from his pocket.
“Is it Leanna?” Bella asked.
“No, Leanna and I haven’t exchanged numbers.” He hadn’t realized that until this moment. “It’s my sister.” He answered the call. “Hi, Siena.”
“Hey, Kurt. I had an idea of what you could buy Jack and Savannah.”
“Give it to someone else. I’ve already bought them something.” On their way out of Provincetown, he and Leanna had stopped into a gallery and picked out a nice marble sculpture depicting a couple embracing. It was perfect for Jack and Savannah, and even more perfect because Leanna had helped him pick it out. They walked by the pool, and the women began laughing about chunky-dunking.
“Where are you?” Siena asked.
“Walking a dog with three beautiful women.” He knew that would throw her for a loop.
“That’s right; he is,” Jenna said.
“You know it,” Bella added.
“Shh. He’s on the phone.” Amy waved her hands at them.
“Oh my gosh. You’re not lying. How did they get you to leave your house? You won’t even stop writing for me.”
He imagined her eyes narrowed, and where any other woman might stick out her lip and pout, Siena would be more likely to shoot steam from her ears.
“I stopped writing when we all got together to meet Savannah, didn’t I?”
“Are you really out walking a dog? Whose dog?” Siena asked. “I wish I was there so I could see it for myself. Take a picture. Text it to me.”
“You’re so weird. Okay. I will. My girlfriend’s dog.”
Siena squealed so loud he had to pull the phone away from his ear.
“Wow, seriously?” Bella laughed.
“I’ve never heard you use that word before,” Siena said. “Is it serious? I guess it has to be if you’re walking her dog. You. A dog. A girlfriend. Oh my gosh. Kurt?”
“Yes, Siena?” He had no idea why, but he enjoyed her reaction.
She sighed loudly. “You know girlfriends need attention. We’re not like plants that you can water once a day and then ignore. We like when guys think about us, and we love to talk, and we—”
“Siena, I’m thirty years old. I think I know how to treat a girlfriend.”
“Yeah, he does,” Jenna yelled toward the phone.
“Who’s that? Is that her?” Siena asked.
“That’s one of Leanna’s friends, Jenna.”
“Leanna? Is that your girlfriend?”
He knew that Leanna’s name would be on the tongues of every one of his siblings within the hour. “Yes. Leanna Bray.”
Another call beeped through on Siena’s phone. “I’ve got to take that. It’s my agent. Love you, Kurt. You sound happy. I’m happy for you.”
“Love you, too.” He ended the call to the tune of the three women saying, Aw. They circled up to Leanna’s cottage.
“Let’s sit on my deck and wait for her,” Amy offered.
“I want to get a cooler. I’ll be right over.” Jenna hurried across the grass to her cottage.
“I’ll see you guys later,” Kurt said as he headed for Leanna’s deck.
“What?” Bella grabbed his arm. “Come on. You can wait with us.”
There were worse things than sitting around with three bikini-clad women waiting for the woman who had made quick and efficient work of stealing his heart. He followed Bella up to Amy’s porch.
LEANNA SANG ALONG to the radio as she pulled into Seaside and parked by the laundry room. She was still singing as she crossed the grass and heard Kurt’s laugh, followed by Bella’s and Jenna’s. Her stomach fluttered as she picked up her pace in anticipation of seeing Kurt. She followed the sound of their voices to Amy’s deck, where she found them eating chips and dip and drinking wine coolers. Her heart squeezed a little at the sight of him sitting so comfortably with her friends.
“What are you doing here?” She lifted up on her tiptoes and peered over the deck railing. Kurt rose to greet her with Pepper’s leash in hand. She reached through the railing and petted Pepper’s head.
“I couldn’t concentrate. I was so busy wondering how your meeting went that I decided to come wait here instead.”
She came up on the deck, and he took her hand as he pulled out a chair for her.
“How did it go?” he asked.
“Good.” She watched their hopeful eyes widen. “And bad.” Their smiles faded. “But overall I think I’d say it was a really good first meeting.”
Kurt reached for her hand. “Really good sounds promising. Do you want to share any of it with us, or do you need time to process it all?”
“Oh no, Kurt,” Bella said firmly. “We don’t work that way. We’re women. We process by sharing.”
“I’ve already processed most of it. You were right, Kurt. I needed to be far better prepared. I should have researched Mama’s Market, prepared a product brochure, ingredient list, price list, expected turnaround times, come up with a sound refund policy, a contract.” She shook her head.
“Oh, babe. I’m so sorry.” Kurt’s eyes filled with compassion.
“Sorry? You were trying to help, and I should have listened.” She glared at Bella. “By the way, Bella, Mama’s Markets are in fifteen states and thirty-seven cities. How could you tell me the business was run by an old couple in Yarmouth and they only had the Wellfleet location?”
Bella pointed at Jenna.
“I’m sorry. That’s what I’d heard,” Jenna explained. “Or I read it somewhere.”
“Or you made it up.” Amy rolled her eyes. “Do you want a cooler, Lea?”
“Yes, please. Make it twelve.”
Kurt reached for her hand. “So what now? We prepare better for next week’s meeting?”
We? I love that. “Yes, but I have other decisions to make, too. I think I should delay next week’s meeting until I have a better handle on things. They asked about things I haven’t even thought of, like backup services in case the electricity went out and turnaround time on replacement stock if there are issues. And as Leslie, the owner, walked me out, he said that if we decided to work together in the future, it would likely involve more than just the Wellfleet store, which means I’d need a bigger kitchen with more stovetops, maybe a real facility to work in.” She took a long drink of the wine cooler.
“Is that what you want?” Kurt asked.
“You know what? I wasn’t sure when I went in how committed I was, but once I was there, talking about it and thinking about what I wanted, I realized that yes, that is exactly what I want.” She assessed her friends’ faces and thought she saw a combination of surprise and support. When her eyes met Kurt’s, there was no doubt about what she saw in those pools of blue. Depths of support and maybe even a little pride. “I love making jam and jelly, and baking breads, and I’m even thinking that at some point I can expand into making tarts and other baked items that work well with jam. I know it sounds crazy, and I know I’m the most unorganized, forgetful, whim-seeking person on earth, but I think—”
Kurt interrupted her. “I don’t think it sounds crazy at all. I think it sounds like you just found your passion, and when it comes to something that means that much to you, the rest will fall into place.”
“Kurt, I have a clone machine inside. Could you please step inside my cottage for a minute?” Amy opened the glass door. “Pretty please?”
He laughed and brought his eyes right back to Leanna. “I’m so happy for you.”
“Will you help me figure out the organization side of things? I mean, I really suck at research and, well, anything that requires structure.” Maybe I can’t do this.
“Of course.” Kurt pulled her onto his lap. “But you don’t suck at anything. You just haven’t gone down that path yet.”
“Um, have you forgotten little miss OCD here?” Bella nodded in Jenna’s direction. “Jenna can organize your ingredient lists, turnaround times, etc. And I kick butt on PowerPoint, so I can help you make the brochures pretty.”
“And I can help you look into locations if you need more space to work. I’m good at haggling.” Amy went inside and came back out with a newspaper.
“Thanks, you guys. But I need to decide where I’m going to live. I mean, I’m not even sure where I’m going to be after the summer, and if I really do this, I have to settle that end of things before looking for a better facility to work in. Gosh, I also have to decide if this is a summer business or a year-round endeavor.”
“Which way are you leaning?” Kurt asked.
She shrugged. “I guess when I first started, I thought it would be kind of part-time and year-round. You know, work the flea markets in the summer, maybe indoor fairs in the winter, and see how it goes. Then I had the idea of trying to connect with grocers. I never thought I would have a chance, but now I’m not sure that I don’t have a chance. Then again, I don’t even have one contract, so maybe I should just stick to my plan of working from the cottage, at least for the summer, and then, if I am able to secure enough to keep me busy during the winter, I can always put more time into it and look for a better facility at that point. I would love to see this become a real business.”
“That’s what I would do,” Amy said. “It seems like a big jump to plan for a full-time, year-round business based on what you hope you can do.”
“But how can you ever accomplish more if you don’t hope and plan for it?” Kurt touched her hand. “Not that Leanna has to do more. I’m just curious about your thought process. If you build a business based on a three- or four-month schedule, then you’re winding down at summer’s end, whereas if you are trying to really build a brand, and a business, you’re marketing and moving forward in the fall, and I wonder if it affects cutting deals with suppliers?” He had that serious look in his eyes again. “Maybe I’m way off base, and I am definitely not trying to push you to do more. I’m just playing devil’s advocate. When we first met, you told me how much you loved what you were doing and that you hoped this would be the thing that fit your personality best. Why not plan for it?”
“I hadn’t thought that far out, but I’m not sure I want to be locked into a facility for twelve months out of the year. What if I take a twelve-month lease and…? I don’t know. Something in my life changes? Or I don’t have enough contracts to cover the rent? That would be awful.” She bit her lower lip. “I need to think about this, but we can still work on everything else, if you’re sure you guys still don’t mind helping.”
“I’m in,” Bella said.
“Definitely in. Why don’t we plan on working together Saturday after the flea market closes? That gives you a few days to think about it before we get started.”
“Suits me!” Amy said as she finished her wine cooler.
Leanna felt Kurt’s arms tighten around her waist, and she leaned her forehead against his. “How much of your day did I suck away from you?” She saw a glint in his eyes and wondered if he was thinking about the evening before on his deck, just as she’d been.
He cleared his throat. “Not much. I’ll have to write tonight for a while to catch up, but that’s okay, and Pepper was happy to see me.”
She wiggled her butt on his lap and whispered, “Not as happy as you are to see me, I hope.”