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Even though I buy and sell towns full of that kinda thing for a living it doesn’t mean I’ve found my own piece of it to keep.
So why the secrets? Why Cherry of all places?
Well, it sounds crazy but I had a hunch.
A kind of intuition about the place when I was scanning the maps online for small country towns.
Aside from the name, I got a gut feeling when I saw the place.
And not the kind that makes me wanna bulldoze everything and start over.
No.
It was the kind of feeling that’s made me want to visit personally.
And for some other reason, makes me feel like this is the last project for me as well.
Maybe I really do just need a break, but there’s something in Cherry that’s calling for me.
And there’s only one way to find out what it is.
THE NEXT DAY
There are emails in everyone’s inbox with their instructions while I’m away, and my little trip to Cherry has been smooth sailing so far.
A rental car and even some second-hand clothes make me look and feel the part of an out-of-towner tourist driving solo cross-country.
Cherry used to be a blink and you’ll miss it kind of town that grew a little over time, but went stagnated after the local mill closed down years back.
It’s the perfect candidate for redeveloping. All the amenities are there. It’s just a matter of making it look nice again and pricing it accordingly.
Expensive towns are better towns.
Your million-dollar home is worth bragging about, but the aluminum siding and lean-to-looking shacks I saw online in Cherry aren’t.
We’ll fix all that.
It’s what we do at Lundstrom.
A nineteen fifties style diner looms above the flat black ribbon of highway, welcoming me to Cherry as well as offering their famous Cherry pie.
“Better start off on the right foot,” I murmur, my well-rehearsed smile lighting up the rearview as I wink at myself.
Yeah.
I’ve still got it.
But before I can even smell the home country cooking, I have to swerve to miss driving right through the diner’s main window.
Something’s done more than just caught my eye, she’s sent an electrical current straight to my cock.
Cherry pie?
I think I’m looking right at it.
At her.
I knew there was something about this town. I just knew it.
And aside from making every head in the diner turn my way when I hit the brakes, skidding loudly.
I’ve managed to catch the eye of the one person in town I’m suddenly the most interested in.
CHAPTER TWO
Jacinta
“Just tell me you’ll at least think about it?” Melanie asks me, in that tone where I can just picture her puppy dog eyes and pout.
The face my best friend makes when she asks me to do the impossible, but actually makes it sound like it could actually happen.
Taking a breath in, I stop myself from groaning. “I have thought about it, Mel, and as much as I’d love to, I can't just pack up and fly to Italy right now.”
Not like some people.
“Maybe once Prince Charming comes along and sweeps me off my feet,” I quip. Trying to smile but it just won’t come.
“For now though, I haven’t even unpacked my bags from college let alone thought about how I’m gonna get by.”
As if on cue, my mom calls out from the kitchen. Reminding me that I have a ton of things to do today already.
“I’m on the phone with Mel, Mom!” I shout back, covering the handset but I still manage to catch Mel’s sigh.
“I guess I should go too,” Mel says when I put the phone back to my ear, sounding deflated.
The sounds of a busy street, cars honking, and people talking in Italian filtering through the phone.
We had three years together at college as besties as well as roomies, and now we’re on opposite sides of the world.
Mel’s family is a little, okay, way better off but apart from that she got herself an IT job overseas before she even graduated.
Brains and beauty. But her can-do attitude is what made things happen for her.
And maybe her dad’s software business with European connections…
Me?
I got a degree in nautical archeology, and yeah I know what it means. My job prospects are nonexistent here in Cherry.
But today I have laundry to fold and leftovers from the diner to reheat for lunch.
Mom’s got her shift at the diner to get to and as far as life in a small town goes, it’s about three times slower than anywhere else in the world, it seems.
“Talk soon?” I ask, hoping Mel will call me tomorrow.
My cell credit ran out days ago, and I’m not exactly flush with cash right now.
“You know I will. Love ya,” Mel chirps and says, “Ciao Bella!” in Italian, which sounds amazing to my ears.
Even though I have no idea what it means I catch the feeling. Wishing more than ever I could have our recent college days together back again.
