Free A Christmas Bride by Hope Ramsay Page A

maybe even forbidden, that flowed up her arm and into her core.
    “I need to talk to you,” he said.
    “And I need to—”
    Just then Gracie popped up and said, “Let her go, Mr. Lyndon. I don’t want any trouble in my diner. And besides, she hasn’t done anything to you except tell the truth. And if you can’t handle the truth, well, that’s your problem, not hers.”
    “Um, Gracie, it’s all right.”
    David dropped Willow’s arm, but the buzz he’d ignited remained. “Can we talk?” he asked.
    “Sure.”
    Gracie followed them back to David’s booth. “It’s nice to see you back in town again, Willow. What will you be having today, hon?”
    Willow ordered a tuna sandwich on whole wheat toast with lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise and a diet Coke. Gracie bustled off, but not before glaring at David.
    “David, I’m so sorry for the way I mouthed off the other day. Really. I shouldn’t have said what I did. I was angry, and I regret it. Deeply.”
    “Apology accepted,” he said, his gaze warming, “but I think maybe Gracie is right. You spoke the truth, and I didn’t want to hear it.”
    She nodded and the conversation stalled for a moment, until David spoke again. “Look, I want to talk to you about Jeff and Melissa. Did you know that Gracie has blamed me for their decision to elope?”
    “Well, that’s ridiculous. Melissa was ready to elope on Tuesday when her friends took her to the Jaybird to try to talk her out of it. And I understand why you don’t want to host their wedding. That would put you between Melissa and Jeff and your mom. I told Melissa you would never go for the idea. I thought maybe I could find a way to make it all work out, but Jeff has put the nail in that coffin.” She shrugged and looked away, out the windows at the traffic on Liberty Avenue.
    “What did he do?”
    She returned her gaze to David. “Oh, well, I got this harebrained idea that I could buy the inn, renovate it the way Shelly wanted to, and turn it into a wedding destination. I wrote a business plan and asked Jeff to invest in it. I figured if he invested in my plan, we could buy the inn, do a quick fix-up, and have the wedding there without putting you in the middle of it.”
    “Really?”
    She nodded. “But he refused. He’s already made up his mind about eloping and doesn’t really want to invest in an inn. Or me, probably.”
    “Do you really want to buy the inn, or were you just suggesting this to help Melissa?”
    “Helping Melissa was part of it. But bottom line, I think I really do want to buy the inn.”
    “Why?”
    “I need a job, David. No, scratch that. Mom would say I need an income, and the inn is as good a business opportunity as any in town. Plus I’d like to fix the place up the way Shelly wanted it.”
    His lips thinned, and Willow understood how he might not want to be reminded of Shelly’s plans. But she was being honest with him. And honesty was often painful.
    Gracie interrupted their conversation with Willow’s sandwich and diet Coke. “Here you go, hon.” She nodded in David’s direction. “Is he bothering you?”
    Willow shook her head. “No. We’re okay. And you shouldn’t blame him for Jeff and Melissa wanting to elope. It’s not his fault, Gracie. It’s his mother’s fault.”
    “You think it’s not? He could host their wedding at the inn if he wanted to.” Gracie turned her back and bustled away.
    “See? She’s furious with me. Can I see your business plan?”
    Their gazes locked again. “Why? You want to sell the inn, not invest in it. And I have the feeling that you blame the inn for Shelly’s death.”
    It was his turn to study the traffic on the other side of the window. “Yeah. I do. And I even know that blaming the inn is stupid,” he said in a low voice. “But when you lose someone in such a senseless, random way, you just need to blame someone or something. Otherwise it doesn’t make any sense. There was only one fatality in that derailment.