Page 24 of Meet Me in Ivy Falls

‘You’ve been gone for ten years. Have you forgotten how competitive this town can be?’

Okay. Armor fully back in place.

‘The winner is announced at the Fourth of July picnic. All they get is a trophy and bragging rights.’

I nodded and went back to gripping my warm cup. A few older guys wearing Carhartt jackets and worn trucker hats sat at a back table staring daggers at Torran.

‘Go ahead. Ask me about my viral screwup. I know you’re dying to.’ I hated the way her voice dipped down into a tone of defeat.

I’d watched the video more often than I’d like to admit. Every single time I fought back my anger that someone hadn’t warned her. Stopped her from hitting that ladder.

‘That’s not necessary,’ I said.

‘By the comment you made after the auction, I figured you already knew,’ she said on a rough exhale. ‘How’d you find out?’

‘Diego may have said something to me.’

‘Of course,’ she muttered. ‘Nothing’s a secret in Ivy Falls.’

I paused. Held her gaze, wanting her to know I wasn’t judging her. ‘Tell me what happened that day. I’m sure there’s a lot more to the story.’

Her eyes went soft and she focused on the crumpled napkin in her lap like she couldn’t bear to look at me.

‘It started out as a good thing,’ she spoke quietly. ‘When I was in Phoenix, there was some buzz around the company I was working with at the time. We were renovating historical homes in the downtown area and Lauren, a producer from Hearth and Home, reached out to me. Asked about a meeting. Talked about the possibility of doing a pilot episode for a new renovation show.’

She sat back and curled the napkin between her fingers.

‘But then my mom was diagnosed with colon cancer. She got sick very quickly and right after that Tessa’s piece-of-crap husband, Billy, left her with two small kids. Poor Tessa was a mess and asked me to come home. I couldn’t sit around here doing nothing so I started looking at old houses.’

She ran a shaky finger around the rim of her cup. The pain of what she’d been through etched into the beautiful lines around her mouth.

‘I bought a bungalow on Westfort just behind the Dairy Dip,’ she went on. ‘It was a nightmare. Termites everywhere. The foundation was a mess. Diego recommended Manny to come and look at it. Right after that we started working together. After we finished the house, an article about us appeared in The Tennessean and Lauren got back in contact. She said the network wanted to give us a pilot. That they liked how dedicated we were to Ivy Falls, and that if we did well it could possibly turn into our own show.’

I hated the way her voice trembled. How reliving the memories made her shake. My fingers twitched at my sides aching to touch her but I gripped the side of the chair instead.

‘The accident happened on the last day of shooting. The bungalow we’d bought on Fable Lane was worse than the one on Westfort. When we were finished it was absolutely period accurate. Manny and I were sure the network was going to love it because we’d done everything right.’ Her lower lip quivered and she bit into it. ‘I was doing a one-on-one interview walking backward to where Manny was on a ladder doing touch-ups in the kitchen. Someone laid down a rug and before I could change course, my feet went out from under me and I hit the ladder.’

Her eyes shuttered closed like they had in the video when paint dripped down over her head and back.

‘That house was the only thing that kept me upright after my mom passed. I said those awful things about Ivy Falls because I was angry and scared that I’d ruined everything. The minute after my tirade, I wanted to take all of it back.’

She opened her eyes. Shook her head. ‘It wasn’t until a few days later that our Instagram blew up. Commenters tagged us and Hearth and Home with the link from YouTube. It didn’t take long for the bad publicity to swell, and the network canceled the pilot. It took a while to sell that house and it didn’t put Manny and I in a great financial position.’

‘I don’t get it. If everyone was awful to you after that, why did you stay in Ivy Falls? You could have gone back to Phoenix or anywhere else with your skills.’

‘Tessa and her girls need me. Being here keeps me close to my mom too,’ she gulped. ‘Reminds me that no matter what people think of me, I want to help this town. Save its history from being lost to a strip mall or a set of cheaply made condos. When I first started working, I saw how renovating one house on a block in Phoenix made the street come alive. Made people want to invest in a home that was built at a time when people appreciated craftsmanship. How a house was more about who you were as a family rather than just a place you laid your head at night. My mom…’

She quickly snapped her mouth shut like I wasn’t worthy of whatever secret she was about to share.

‘Now you know why I’m the town pariah.’ She let out a brittle laugh.

‘It was a mistake you made months ago. Why is everyone still worked up about it?’

‘If you ask my father, he’ll say I brought shame to Ivy Falls. To add to that, the town council claims our tourism numbers are down and it’s my fault. But mostly, I think people are disappointed that a hometown girl spoke so badly about where she grew up. Can’t say I blame them. But I thought the house, your house…’

‘What about the house?’ I pressed.

She shook her head, refusing to make eye contact. Keeping that secret still locked deep inside.