I whirl around and see Marion standing beside me on the sidewalk with Harvey next to her. Today, Harvey's hair is in an intricate braid which is wrapped around her head like a crown. She’s in a long black coat, a black scarf wrapped around her neck. Marion’s short bob looks freshly blow dried and she’s wearing a red coat and a white scarf with little reindeers on it.
“Sorry,” I murmur.
“Is everything okay?” Harvey asks, glancing between me and the door of the bakery. Concern lines her face.
“These…people‘lost’ the confirmation for my sister’s wedding cake so now we don’t have a cake. I sent them the deposit, I have an email confirmation, butShanetells me there’s nothing he can do, and I can’t speak to the owner. I had to walk out of there before I flew into a rage.”
Harvey and Marion exchange looks that, for all I know, means they’re wondering how Connor ended up with someone like me. He’s so calm, and sensible, and never overreacts.
“What is it?” I ask.
“I hoped something like this wouldn’t happen,” Marion says. “It’s petty and extremely childish.”
Harvey puts a hand on my back and ushers me across the street to the parking lot so we’re not standing in the middle of the sidewalk.
“The Hayes family have a reputation in Silverpine,” Harvey says. “There isn’t a single person here who doesn’t have a story for when a Hayes family member jumped in to help them when they desperately needed it. They have a goodwill.”
My bones are icy, and it has nothing to do with the bitter wind. This tracks with what I’ve seen, with Connor helping people with the littlest of things.
“What does that have to do with me?” I ask quietly.
“What Harvest is trying to say is, people in the town hero worship my husband’s family,” Marion says. “Which means they often refuse to see when those boys are in the wrong and they’re all too eager to support them in their wrongs.”
Marion sighs. “Everyone knows Connor was heartbroken when he came back and that he hasn’t been able to move on. In their minds, they’ve made you the villain.”
I look down at the Butter & Bloom box in my hands, the flowery script and the swirls of the letters.
“In their minds, they don’t have a shot with Connor because of you,” Harvey adds. “It’s fucked up, I know. It doesn’t help that everyone thought Jane and Connor would end up together before Connor left for Toronto and never came back.”
My phone chimes in my pocket and I pull it out to see a text from Sienna.
Sienna
We’re going out for lunch after shopping. Are you almost done? Mom got you a dress she thinks you’ll like.
“I suppose there’s no point going to the florist?” I look up just in time to see Marion and Harvey exchange glances. Right.
On the outside, this town might look like a Hallmark movie, but deep down it’s a horror movie filled with characters who hate me for something I haven’t done. Does Connor know what’s happening here? Is that why my dinner took over an hour to prepare last night?
Oh, these people.
I want to get back together with Connor just so these people can’t have him, and I actually want to dump him this time because if I’m going to be villainized, I actually want to do the crime.
“Thank you for all that information,” I say. “Harvey, are you going back to the lodge?”
“It’s my day off but I don’t want to miss whatever this is,” she says almost gleefully.
“Darn, I have to go back to the Inn,” Marion says.
“I’ll record it for you.”
“I don’t know what’s happening,” I say.
Harvey rolls her eyes. “Nobody ever gets angry at Connor because he’s the NHL star. The hometown hero who can do no wrong.”
“I’m surprised he’s not a raging narcissist,” I say.
“I know! He’s nice, which makes it worse.”
