Chapter 19 – Conner
Selena Contreras, Sleeping With the Enemy I couldn’t seem to stop myself from looking at that stupid picture of Selena with Colin Hillson. He was such a loser. And he was too young for Selena. Not that she couldn’t date whoever she wanted. What did I care?
She could do so much better than a Hillson. Especially that Hillson. Colin liked to think he and his family were better than the Ashfords, but they were copycats. Everything the Ashfords did for Superiore Bay, they did for Hidden Cove. If we made a donation to a local charity or to the high school, they just had to one up us and give a bigger donation to a Hidden Cove charity or school. It was embarrassing. For them.
“What does she see in this guy?” I tried to turn my focus back to approving the inventory reports, but I couldn’t keep my mind on the boring task. I’d gone into the main offices this morning, but I was so distracted, I came here where no one could see me struggling.
Duke nudged my knee, trying to shove his way under my desk. He liked to hide under there and lay on my feet. “I’m moving, I’m moving.” I slid back to give him room to settle in the bed I kept under there for him.
This time, Duke laid his head on my knee, giving me sad I’m-sorry-you’re-so-pathetic eyes.
“I’m not pathetic.” I scratched between his ears, and I swear his look said, ‘Yes, you are, but I still love you.’
“Screw this, buddy, let’s go for a drive.” I knew better than to say those words before moving to a safe distance. Duke exploded from his spot under my desk and danced in circles until I extricated myself from my chair, which was now across the office.
“Easy, boy.” I chuckled at his exuberance. There was nothing Duke liked better than going for a ride into town. I double checked my worn jeans and faded button down to make sure I was presentable. I tended to dress more casually whenever I knew I would spend an entire day chained to my desk. I pulled a freshly dry-cleaned shirt from the bottom drawer of my desk and quickly changed.
“All right, boy, let’s go.” Duke shot out of the barn and across the gravel drive to my car, waiting ever so impatiently for me to open the door. He scrambled into the backseat, and I clipped him into his seatbelt harness. I’d never forgive myself if anything happened to him if we were in an accident. It was sad, but Duke was my family and my best friend. Honestly, most days it felt like he was all I had in this world.
“Want to go visit Jake?” I grinned when Duke barked in response. My cousin Jake Ashford was probably Duke’s favorite person in the world other than me. And maybe Selena Contreras. But that was only because Jake fed him cake.
I drove over the bay bridge into town, still trying to get the image of Selena with Colin Hillson out of my head. She could do so much better than that idiot.
We pulled up in front of Jake’s Cakes, the best bakery in town. Duke scrambled out of the car and headed for the door.
“Let’s go get coffee first.” I whistled for Duke to follow me. I wasn’t the most-loved person in this town, but I was used to people stopping to talk to me because they liked my dog. We walked down the street past the tea shop and the Rusty Spoon, and no one stopped us.
“Strange.” I patted Duke’s head and turned the corner to the Hugga Mugga. The cutesy names in this town were so awful I typically couldn’t bring myself to say half of them out loud. But the tourists loved it.
“What can I get you?” The barista glowered at me.
“Large iced coffee with cream, no sugar.” I smiled at the lady behind the counter, who usually talked my ear off and stuffed Duke with her homemade peanut butter dog biscuits while the barista made my coffee. For some reason, she glared back at me and ignored Duke.
That made me mad. I didn’t care what people thought of me, but I drew the line at mistreating my dog, who didn’t understand why he wasn’t getting the A-list treatment he normally got here.
“It’s okay, buddy.” I scratched his head and tried not to let his crestfallen look affect me. “Could the big guy get a couple of those dog biscuits?” I plastered on my best smile.
“They’re a dollar a piece.” The lady refused to look at me. “Can’t be giving them away for free when all you buy is iced coffee.”
“No problem.” I let a hard edge enter my voice. “He doesn’t know the difference between free and not free, so I’ll take four if you don’t mind.”
She nodded, looking ashamed and rightfully so.
Duke swallowed the first two whole, and I gave him a third one on the way out to Jake’s Cakes. “You can have the last one tonight. We can’t spoil your supper.”
Duke rolled his eyes at me. He knew as well as I did, he’d eat until he exploded.
As we walked back down the street, I could have sworn everyone we passed gave me a dirty look. I glanced down at my fresh shirt, wondering if the dry cleaner didn’t get it clean.
“Get out of here with that crap!” Jake yelled at me, pointing for the door before we even got inside his bakery.
“What, this delicious and refreshing iced coffee beverage from the amazing Hugga Mugga?” I grinned at my cousin, who refused to serve iced coffee of any kind in his bakery. He also had a healthy rivalry with the coffee shop—bordering on ridiculous. The two shop owners hated each other, but it provided a great source of entertainment for the rest of the town.
“No outside food or drinks.” Jake pointed to the sign above the counter that expressly forbid beverages from Hugga Mugga. He was busy working on a three-tiered birthday cake with a dinosaur made of copious amounts of icing wrapped around the edge. Some kid was going to have an epic birthday cake.
I ignored him and leaned over the counter. “Duke would like a slice of your best carrot cake please. And I’ll take a caramel brownie.”
Jake shook his head, moving to the cake display case. “You know, just because it has carrots in it doesn’t make it a healthy choice for the dog. He’d be better off with a piece of fruit.”
“It’s his one vice. We come here, he expects cake, and he loves carrots.” Duke sat back on his haunches, resting his chin on the counter and laying his ears back with his best poor-me-I’m-so-hungry expression that literally no one could resist.
“Here, boy.” Jake smiled, setting a plate with a small slice of carrot cake on the floor.
“Hi, Jake dear.” Mrs. Abernathy from the library shuffled up to the counter. “I need two slices of your strawberry cassata cake to go. I can’t go home without it or my husband will have a fit. He just loves your cakes.”
“Thanks, Mrs. Abernathy.” Jake moved to pack up the order, and Mrs. Abernathy turned to give me the same dirty look everyone else had given me since I drove into town. She ignored me and turned her attention on Duke, muttering something about how the poor boy couldn’t help who his dad was.
“Here you are, Mrs. Abernathy.” Jake set the to-go bag on the counter. “You tell Mr. Abernathy I’m working on a new recipe for a pina colada cake that’s right up his alley.”
“Oh, he’ll just love that.” She shoved a quarter into the tip jar and shot me another withering look before she shuffled out the door.
“What was that about?” I asked Jake. “You saw that, right?”
“The old lady stare down? Yeah, I saw it. You’re in the dog house, cuz.”
“But why? What don’t I know?”
Just then, my phone rang, and I didn’t recognize the number. “Conner Ashford,” I answered in my professional voice, never knowing when the call would be work related.
“Mr. Ashford, I’m a representative of the city council of Superiore Bay. We are calling to request the presence of an Ashford family representative—specifically you—at five PM this evening at the Superiore Bay Historical Society and Museum.”
“Come again?” I scowled at the absurdity of this call. Why would the town council want to meet me at the historical society and not the town hall?
“Be at the historical society at five PM tonight.” The line went dead.
“She hung up on me.” I stared down at the phone.
“Who?” Jake wiped down his counter and shoved the bag with my brownie across the perfectly clean surface.
“Some weird lady from the city council. They want me to attend a meeting at five.”
“Well, you better get over there; it’s almost five now, and you do not want the town council coming after you. They take their job seriously.”
“Come on, Duke, looks like we have a meeting to get to.” The Historical Society was down the street and around the corner from Jake’s Cakes. We walked into the old musty museum just after five PM. I heard raised voices, lots of them. And I also heard my name several times before I stepped into the small auditorium where they normally showed old documentaries about the town history. Now, I knew why they wanted to meet here. It seemed like every business owner in Superiore Bay was here, and they were angry.
“There he is.” Mrs. Patterson pointed at me, and I felt the sudden urge to run before they came at me with pitchforks and torches.
“What do you have to say for yourself, young man?” A woman I didn’t even know stood with her hands on her hips, looking for all the world like she might ground me and send me to bed without my supper.
A hundred voices echoed her demand, and I reached to give Duke a calming pat on the head before he started growling. “I think we’re in trouble, boy.” I started to take a step back, but someone closed the doors behind me.