Katie, uh, Kah-tay made a dismissive gesture, presumably to say goodbye, and she strode out of the coffee shop like it was a contagious disease.
J.J. sopped up the spill on her t-shirt as her mind raced through the lists of potential clients she could lure to the salon, what their incomes might be, and if they had a social media following.
She was drawing a blank. She’d never once tried to lure anyone into her chair; and once they were there, she never worried about any of the above.
J.J. had homed in on the fact that bringing Kedren to the salon would be a huge coup. She clearly had a lot to learn about what the chic brands were after; she was determined to figure it
out.
* * *
Her next meeting was with her kid brother at his hardware store. This was more a reunion than a meeting. And it was a lot more fun than Kah-tay Katie.
And as luck would have it, Jared had a tip for her on a place to stay. A place that didn’t have a million memories attached.
According to Jared, an older resident of Irish Hills was holding on to a cottage out of spite. The man refused to rent to anyone after a nasty incident last summer.
“Delbert Treach is so mad he isn’t renting to anyone. Threatened a lawsuit. It was a thing. Anyway, his place is sitting there empty. He’s at the retirement home, telling anyone who will listen,” Jared explained.
“Treach was always mad, that I can remember.”
“You got that right, Aunt J.J.,” her niece Lila piped up.
J.J. looked at Lila. She had become such a beauty. She worked at the restaurant but was interested in J.J.’s new job for Stone Stirling.
“Stone’s a really nice man, you know,” Lila added, right on cue.
“What? He tried to bulldoze this place. Beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing, girl.”
“Yeah, I think you got him wrong. He was amazing on the day of the tornado. And since.”
Jared squeezed Lila’s shoulder. “My friend’s daughter could have been blown like Dorothy to Oz that day if it wasn’t for him.”
J.J. was missing something, but it had been a few months. Life moves on even in a small town.
It was good to catch up with her brother and her niece. They were usually busy when the hardware store opened in the morning, but there was a little lull before lunch. It was still early, off-season. J.J. knew the store would be bustling with people getting things to open their cottages and supplies for their docks very soon.
Jared was smart and had anything needed to stock a summer place. He got almost as much gossip at his store as she used to get at the salon, and his tip on a place to stay was as good as anything Libby could find, J.J. decided.
“Give Delbert a call. Maybe you can convince him,” Jared advised.
J.J. was looking to rent. If she’d been an out-of-towner or vacationer, the odds of finding something were tiny. But thanks to Jared, the hometown connections paid off.
Delbert Treach keeping his tiny cottage locked up and off the market out of spite was pure old-man logic. She loved it.
After making plans with Jared and her niece for dinner later in the week, J.J. decided to do one better than a call. She’d pay him a visit at the Silver Estates, and maybe see Emma while she was out there.
It was getting later in the day, and she knew they ate dinner early there, so she hustled out and hoped for the best.
* * *
J.J. found Delbert Treach in the TV room, watching QVC with an assemblage of other residents. It was the nicest retirement community in the county.
Emma was the most famous resident here, but J.J. also knew several other retirees in the place. Her own mother, Jackie, would probably keel over at the Tiki Bar in Winter Haven before she took up residence here.
Still, all in all, it’s a lovely place to land,J.J. thought.
Delbert Treach, however, didn’t see much lovely, in anything. As J.J. stood in the doorway, it quickly became evident that right now he was grumpy aboutToday’s Special Value.Something about Kringle Trees being ugly.
