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Oh, yeah, she loved him. There wasn’t any doubt about that. She’d lied to herself about it for a long time. Years. But now, she couldn’t lie anymore. Mick had stolen her heart back in college and he’d never really let go.
It just remained to be seen if he felt the same way—which she suspected he did. And what they were going to do about it—which was anyone’s guess.
The interview ended soon, and she found Mick fifteen minutes later, in the kitchen of the inn. “We knew this might happen,” she said softly as she joined him.
He nodded, sipping at a steaming cup of coffee. Caro helped herself to some, then sat down with him at the table. “Mick, talk to me.”
He finally met her eye. “I liked your answers.”
“You did?”
“Caroline, you sounded like the cool, professional studio executive you are. You’re doing exactly what you were meant to do.” He reached across the table and took her hand, bringing her fingers up to his lips. “You’re damn good at your job.”
Relief flooded through her. He understood. He wasn’t going to condemn her or encourage her to make some kind of difficult choice—like walking out. It still might come to that, but at least she knew Mick trusted her enough to make the right decision.
“That doesn’t mean I haven’t heard what some of the other people on site are saying about Sophie.” He didn’t ask, didn’t try to convince her to do something, but she knew that’s what he was hoping she’d do. If she could.
“I don’t know if I can stop that. It’s public now—it’s out in the open and the studio is going to want to milk it.”
His mouth narrowed, but he nodded, apparently understanding. “I know. And I know you’d change that if you could.”
“You’re right.” She was warmed by his trust, even though she sensed his disappointment. He deserved to have that trust repaid. There was only one thing, one final truth, that she could offer him to prove that trust. She wanted him to know how she felt about him. “Mick, I…”
“Well, Miss Hester seems to have had afewenemies in this town,” a woman’s voice said from the back door of the kitchen.
They hadn’t realized Gwen was entering until she strode in, her face flushed, her hair windblown. She looked very excited as she pulled up a chair at the table.
Caro smothered a frustrated sigh at the lost moment. She’d been ready, so ready, to start trying to make things work between them. But what she had to tell Mick wouldn’t change. She had time to tell him she loved him, because that emotion wasn’t going to change for the rest of her life.
“Is that Hildy’s coffee?” Gwen asked.
“Jared’s,” Mick said.
“I’ll pass.”
“What’d you find out?” Caro asked, driven by the excitement in Gwen’s face. “I heard you struck out yesterday at the hair salon.”
Gwen nodded. “That’s right. This line of gossip ran a little bit deeper than the curler and hair dye set. I had to go right to the source.” She fell silent, building the anticipation.
Caro couldn’t stand the tension. “Well?”
“I went to church this morning.”
Caro almost laughed. Gwen made it sound as though she’d ventured into the hideout for the Hell’s Angels.
“It’s amazing how people loosened up and started talking afterward, especially since Pastor Bob wasn’t there to deliver the service.” She shook her head, tsking. “Poor man. He really loved his sister, whether she deserved it or not.”
That sounded interesting.
“I can’t be sure, mind you, not sure enough to go to the police. But it appears Miss Hester might have been in the habit of finding out personal, perhaps embarrassing, information about people, and profiting by it.”
Caro’s mouth dropped open, and Mick’s eyes widened.
“You mean she was blackmailing people?” she asked.
Gwen nodded, then rose, went to the fridge and got herself a bottled water. She took a few deep sips from it. Obviously gossip gathering was very thirsty work. “So says the very deepest, darkest part of the Derryville rumor mill,” she finally replied, “the group that sticks it out until the last donut is eaten in the social hall.”
“The upstanding matron of our town a blackmailer.” Mick shook his head, not even looking surprised. “Small towns. No wonder they’re perfect for bizarre reality shows.”
