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“Nope. She’s been a great guest so far.”
He hoped it stayed that way. “Any idea why she picked here?”
The woman’s family owned a hotel chain, not to mention she had enough money to travel anywhe
re in the world she wanted. As much as he loved his little corner of the globe, it didn’t compare to the places someone like Juliette Belmont could and probably did visit on a regular basis.
“Do you remember Holly Lambert?”
Even if Holly wasn’t the most famous person to ever come out of Avon, he’d remember her. The schools in town consisted of slightly more students now thanks to a recent increase in population, but when he’d been a student, each grade had consisted of about a hundred kids. Holly had been two grades below him all the way through school, and she’d been friends with Candace.
“Yeah, of course.”
“She and Holly are good friends. Holly recommended she stay with us. And the day Juliette checked in, Holly was with her.”
Well, that answered one question. “But why did she come here?”
“I didn’t ask her, and she didn’t share. But she doesn’t want a lot of people to know she’s here.”
Across the table, his sister cut another piece of lasagna and added it to her plate before looking at him. “Do you want more?”
Rather than answer, he handed over his plate.
“Tiegan and I ran into her on Thursday when we were out walking. We saw her again this morning. I like her. She reminds me a little of Holly.” His sister handed him back his plate before picking up her daughter’s and giving her a second helping of lasagna as well.
If any other almost eleven-year-old knew someone like Juliette was staying in town, he’d worry that everyone in Avon would soon know too. But when it came to keeping secrets, Tiegan was a vault. Last year they’d planned a large surprise birthday party for his mom. Even though Tiegan had been seeing her grandmother several times a week at the time, she never said a word. And at Christmastime she’d kept her lips sealed even though she’d known Elise, Nick, and Mason were coming for the holiday so her grandmother would be surprised when she came over on Christmas morning and found everyone gathered together. If word got out that Juliette was staying at one of their cottages, it wouldn’t be because Tiegan told someone.
“She’s going to come over for dinner on Tuesday night.”
He didn’t mind visitors, and he’d told Candace to treat this as her own house when she moved in. Still, the individual in cottage number ten was one dinner guest he’d rather not have.
“You don’t mind, do you?” his sister asked, as if picking up on his thoughts.
Aaron shook his head. “You’re free to invite anyone you want over, Candace. I told you that before.”
Juliette pulled up the weather app on her phone while she finished her hot tea, even though she doubted it would change her mind. Except for Wednesday, she’d gone for a walk every day since she’d arrived. And rain, not the temperature, was the only reason she’d skipped it then. While she didn’t mind the rain on a hot summer afternoon, the temperature on Wednesday had been hovering around forty degrees—a tad too chilly to get soaked while taking an afternoon stroll.
Since the Wrights owned a significant chunk of land and much of it remained untouched, she’d explored a different area each day. Sometimes her walks brought her past the other cottages. Other times her walks brought her through the woods. She’d never done any hiking, and she’d always considered herself a city lover. Yet she thoroughly enjoyed her solitary outings where, except for her brief meetings with Candace and her daughter, the only other life she saw was the occasional chipmunk or squirrel. In fact, with each passing day, she wondered if perhaps she should purchase a vacation home in a place like Avon for those times in the future when she wanted a break from the city.
“Forty-three degrees.” While three degrees warmer than yesterday, she wouldn’t be breaking out her shorts anytime soon. However, she would be making use of her new gloves and hat. And when she got back home, she’d probably once again indulge in a large mug of hot chocolate. She hadn’t added cocoa mix to the list of items she gave Mrs. Lambert, but she was glad the woman had thought to buy some for her. It wasn’t the only extra item she’d come across when she put away the food Holly’s mom picked up last weekend. There’d also been a package of chocolate chip cookies, a jar of peanut butter, and one of marshmallow fluff. So far, the cocoa powder was the only thing she’d indulged in. But every time she opened the cabinet and spotted the two jars, her craving for a peanut butter and fluff sandwich—or a fluffernutter, as they called it in New England—grew.
She managed to get her boots and jacket on before the ringing cell phone in her pocket forced her to put her walk on hold. While she’d received countless calls since she arrived, she’d only answered a handful of them. The last one had been on Thursday when Holly called to let her know she was headed to Maine and to pass along her mom’s message that if Juliette needed anything to just call or text her. Considering the amount of food in her fridge, she shouldn’t need anything for at least another week.
The name Curt appeared on the device now. She hadn’t spoken to her cousin since her sister’s wedding. Actually, he was the only one of her first cousins she hadn’t talked to since the media started running the stories about her and Daniel’s relationship. She’d known it was only a matter of time before he reached out as well.
Dropping her gloves on the table, she answered the phone.
“Sorry I didn’t call sooner. We just got home yesterday,” Curt said after greeting her.
That explained why she hadn’t heard from Curt until now. With everything else, she’d forgotten Curt, Taylor, his fiancée, and Taylor’s niece had flown down to Florida the day after Courtney’s wedding.
“How are you doing?” he asked.
Annoyed. Angry. “Okay.” She kept the other adjectives to herself because complaining didn’t change anything.
“Leah told me you’re hanging out in my neck of the woods.”
She considered her cousin Leah one of her closest friends. When she’d decided to retreat up here for an extended vacation, she’d been one of the first people Juliette let know. She wasn’t surprised Leah had passed the information on to her older brother.
