Chapter 20

"Honey, I only had your best interests at heart," Maggie Thornton repeated yet one more time. She sat at the island counter in the kitchen of Hibiscus House, drinking coffee and trying to explain why she'd set everything up the way she had.
"Mama" Pepper set down her glass of iced tea and stared at her mother. "I am thirty years old. I can handle my own life."
"But you weren't settling down," Maggie wailed. "I wanted you to have a home and children before it got too late."
"And you didn't trust me to find someone on my own?"
"Not as long as you were burying yourself in Bayview with Hibiscus House."
Pepper chose her next words carefully. "You can't arrange love, Mama. It either happens or it doesn't."
"I'm sorry, honey. I just wanted for you what your dad and I have."
"Let me also point out," Pepper added, "that Judd Wallace is not the answer, either. I wouldn't give the man house room."
"He's president of the local bank," Maggie pointed out.
"He could be president of the United States, and my opinion of him would be the same. He's an obnoxious, disgusting jerk." She took another swallow of iced tea. When she looked at her mama over the rim of her glass, her stomach knotted at the woman's expression. "And do not under any circumstances contact Kyle. Or Roger. Or whatever name he uses."
"But, apparently, I'm the one who made the mess. I should get to clean it up."
"No. Just no. And furthermore, no."
"The Montgomerys are such lovely people," Maggie protested. "We got to talking, realized we want the same thing for our kids, and saw a win/win situation."
"Which turned out to be lose/lose," Pepper reminded her. "I love you, Mama, but stay out of my life. If I spend the rest of it running Hibiscus House, then that's the way it's supposed to be. But it's my decision."
Maggie sighed. "Fine, fine, fine. Your father told me the same thing."
"At least one of you has good sense. If you want to get rid of this place so badly, sell it to me. I want it. Let me take over the loan at the bank."
A few years ago, when they'd experienced a downturn in business for a while, her parents had taken out an equity loan on Hibiscus House to give themselves cash flow.
"Oh, honey." Maggie sighed again. "I'm not going to do that. That loan will be paid off before long anyway."
"But you guys don't even want to be involved anymore." Pepper shook her head. "We're doing good now, and the money's coming out of profits anyway. Let's get your names off the paperwork. You and Dad can go off and see the world."
"The country." Maggie gave a weak grin. "We only want to see the country."
"Well, whatever. I'm going to talk to Dad about it."
"No, and that's that. I want you to know I am so sorry you got hurt this way. It wasn't my intention." She carried her coffee cup and saucer to the sink, rinsed it, and put it in the dishwasher. Then she turned back to Pepper and pulled her into a hug. "One more thing. It breaks my heart to see you like this."
"I'll be fine, Mama." Pepper hoped she sounded convincing, because she wasn't sure she'd ever be fine again. "Now, go on home to Dad. Cilla's coming over with ice cream and movies."
When the woman had left, Pepper slumped down on her stool again, resting her elbows on the counter and her head in her hands. She wondered if the pain in her heart would ever go away. She didn't know which was worse, feeling so betrayed by the man she'd fallen in love with in two short days or knowing she'd never see him again.
"Okay, enough wallowing." Cilla's cheery voice broke into her pity party. The woman held up two bags. "I have salted caramel and cheery chocolate ice cream in one hand and four kinds of cookies in the other. I figured we could put on Netflix, find some movies that were anything but chick flicks, and pig out."
"Sounds good to me." She slid off the stool, took the bags and put them on the counter, and threw her arms around her friend. "What would I ever do without you?"
"I don't know, but let's not try to find out. Was that Maggie I saw leaving?"
"Sure was."
"Please tell me she isn't trying to meddle again."
Pepper snorted. "I threatened her to within an inch of her life. We'll see if that works. Come on. That ice cream's going to melt."
The goodies might fill her stomach, but nothing would fill the hole in her heart.

*****

"Are you sure this is what you want to do?" Julie asked, reviewing the papers on her desk one more time.
"Positive."
"You know you could negotiate a much better price if - "
"No!" Kyle practically shouted the word this time. He took a deep breath to calm himself. "That would defeat the purpose. And also open the door to a leak. I don't trust anyone right now."
"Okay, okay, okay." Julie threw up her hands. Then she grinned. "I have to admit I like seeing Mr. Cool, Calm, and Collected rattled like this. She must be some woman."
A smile crept over his face. "She is, believe me. And I'll do anything to make up for what happened."
"I'm on it, then. Want to go over the rest of this list while we're at it?"
He nodded. "Yes. I do. I don't want to leave any room for error."
"Gotcha." She tilted her head and looked at him. "Sorry I couldn't find you a better place to hide out, but you managed to flood your favorite place with reservations."
"Not a problem. I'll take my laptop and try to get some work done. And monitor everything we've set in motion."
"Does anyone else know what you're doing here?"
"No, and it's going to stay that way. My brothers and my parents would probably have cardiac arrest if they knew so this is between us. And, by the way, thanks again for coming in on a Sunday to do this for me."
"Oh, well." Julie flapped a hand at him. "I figure I'm piling up points here for the future."
"Good enough. Let's get to it."