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“Looks like you want to say something, so I think you should just come out and say it,” Jillian said.
“Well, he did say that he had nieces and nephews and that his family was prolific,” Claudia said in a rush.
Jillian took a step back and then gave Claudia a smile.
“Did he say his family was prolific? That's a real big word.”
Claudia saw that calculating gaze and Jillian's eyes.
“If he said he was prolific, he probably means that he lives on the outskirts. He could be a local person who just doesn't come into town often,” Jillian suggested.
“Can’t we ask Caroline? She knows everything for goodness’ sake,” Claudia said.
Jillian gave her a sad smile.
“You’re right Caroline would be the best person to ask but lately she’s spending more time with her bestie and soon to be fiancé, Mark.”
Claudia was anxious and frustrated at the same time. From everything that she had heard, Carolyn and Mark deserved to be with one another. She didn’t want to intrude on that time or happiness with her petty requests if she didn’t have to. Why was this man here and what did he want? Claudia didn't feel like she was in any danger. She just didn't like not knowing.
When Jillian clicked her teeth.
“You know, I'm not the one to tell you anything about your business.”
Claudia almost laughed out loud hearing that statement. There wasn't a time Claudia could even recall that Jillian was working at the store where she didn't give her own opinion about everybody's business.
“Like I was saying, I'm not the one to say anything about your business, but I think that you are putting a lot of effort into wanting to know about this man, that you don't want to know about.”
“I'm just being cautious. You shouldn't read anything into it at all. A single woman has got to lookout for herself.” Claudia said all of the right words. Jillian was looking at her as if she wasn't fooled by a single one of them.
“I will go out and ring up Mr. Tall and dreamy. By the way, I am all for you being cautious. I just want to make sure that you're not hiding.”
Claudia took a seat on a nearby chair. Jillian knew how to leave the room and leave one heavy with thought. The issue was she wasn't sure that she wasn't hiding. What Claudia was sure about was that this man was stirring feelings in her she thought she had put to rest. Obviously picking a man was not her forte. The last time she did it, it almost got her killed and she didn't want to make the same mistake twice.
* * *
Austin Brogan withsitting in his grandmother's kitchen drinking coffee so strong he was sure there was hair growing on his chest as he drank. His thoughts wandered over to the owner of Chrysalis, the mommy and baby registry store. He had come home to rejuvenate and to see his grandmother and instead had found a gem.
He was going to have to come up with another plan because today just showed him that he wasn't making any headway. The woman who rang him up today said her name was Jillian. This was the first time that Austin could remember in a very long time that a woman had avoided him before even knowing his name.
It hadn't taken Austin long to decide to start over in Cooper sand just like his cousin Gabriel Brogan, the local lawyer. The biggest difference was that Austin wasn't coming from nothing. He had been working in the fashion industry for quite some time. He had an eye for fashion and a way of being able to draw the finishing touches on what would have been a miss in the fashion world. Lately work had been sucking at his soul. The original designs he had been given had all seemed to be the same. The final touches he provided on the outfits the only originality to be seen on the items.
Six months ago, he had decided that he had had enough. It was unfortunate that his contracts did not leave him an out to just walk away then. The first thing he had done was to reach out to his cousin Gabriel for advice. Four months later his cousin had managed a miracle. Austin took this time to put his furniture in storage and sell his condo in the city. He decided that he would come back to his roots where no one would come looking for him. If any of his old acquaintances did come looking for him, they’d have to deal with his family and his grandmother.
Since he had been back home, Austin had rediscovered his love of drawing. He wondered how long it would take him to see the beauty and other things around him. Austin wasn't the same boy that had grown up in Cooper's Sand. In his youth, he had been an unfocused teen who didn't seem to have much of a future. He spent a lot of his time drawing and looking in magazines. At the time no one thought it would amount to much until his grandmother took a look at his sketch book one day and decided to send him to art classes. He had tried to fight her saying they didn’t have enough money with so many other Brogans being dropped at her doorstop she tsked him and told him to go and make her proud.
At 35, he had done what his grandmother had asked him to do. Austin had taken his ability to draw on the fly and his keen eye for beauty and fashion and made money in a field where no one thought he would. Austin admitted he missed being home. He missed the strong coffee that he was drinking now. He missed knowing that he had a place called home where he could lay his head down and nobody would judge him.
Austin had been kicking around ideas on what he wanted to do but after fatefully walking into the shop called Chrysalis it was all clear to him. He took another sip of coffee and like clockwork his grandmother Basil came into the kitchen. She was short although no one dared to tell her. At five foot two she was a spitfire. Her hair was to her waist and as white as clouds on a clear day. She had a basket in her hand and a straw hat on her head. Right behind her was Sinclair, one of my six stepbrothers. Austin’s dad was a love and leave them kind of man. He had a lot of faults. David Brogan, Austin’s dad, always fell in love with the wrong woman. He was prolific and thought a child would make it better but when the relationship was over, he didn’t believe in leaving his child behind, even if he only brought the child to his mother.
Austin had been kicking around ideas all week to grandmother, Basil, and Sinclair. After leaving the shop this morning, he now had a plan. At first, he wanted to run into his grandmother's house, shouting what his idea was. Then he took a deep breath and poured himself some coffee, sat at the table and waited. Grandma Basil’s mantra had always been: If it was such a great idea then you could calm down and it will still be a great idea 10 minutes later.
Grandma Basil eyed him from the side, but she didn't stop what she was doing. Sinclair gave him a small imperceptible nod and followed behind their grandmother. He knew what he would be suggesting would be something that hadn't been done before in the small town. Instead of is idea seeming like something it was impossible, the idea of doing something first, exhilarated, Austin.
Austin wasn't just coming with big dreams. He had already reached out to the local real estate and found a place where he could house his dream. He knew that there would be a significant outlay of cash, and he was more than ready to lay it out. He'd even paid a company to do a survey of not only Cooper’s Sand, but the surrounding two other towns as well, to find out how well received his idea would be.
All of the research that he had done would still come to nothing if his grandmother couldn't see the logic in it. He knew a lot of people would think that he was being foolish, letting his grandmother be the one to decide if he moved forward or not. Most people didn't understand that his grandmother was a businesswoman first, and she wouldn't coddle him or any one of the other kids. To make sure all of her grandkids were fed and each one was given an opportunity to excel in the field that they had chosen, she had learned to haggle for deals, negotiate for services and sell baked goods to make ends meet. Grandmother Basil was short but mighty.
“I can feel the energy coming off of you boy. You are sitting still at the table, but you are making the room warmer than an over. Out with it,” Grandma Basil said.
