“Hell no. I visit Gilbert Corners’ care home once a week and that’s enough for me.”
“How’s Rory?” he asked.
Conrad rubbed his face. His scar was a constant reminder of the past but he’d learned to live with it. So much of who he’d been had been lost on that night. But the truth was, he was luckier than Dash and Rory, and he knew it.
He’d often thought that the crash had just brought his true self to the surface. His grandfather had wanted to have a plastic surgeon fix the scar but Conrad had refused. He was tired of playing the old man’s game. The scar had reshaped him. And he had no regrets.
“She’s the same. Her doctor is retiring. I need to be in GC to talk to the new doctor taking over. When are you going?”
“I’ll send the date when I have it,” he said. They hung up and he turned back to the bench where he’d been working earlier.
He wanted to smash something at the thought of having to return to Gilbert Corners. It didn’t matter that his grandfather had died almost eight years ago; he would always associate that town with the old man.
Ophelia forwarded him the information on his challenger, Rosalinda Belmont. He looked her up and saw that she had recently moved to town and had her own television showHometown, Home Againon the same network his show was on.
He clicked on the promo video of her new program in Gilbert Corners. She had dark hair and a heart-shaped face. She wore glasses in her photo and had a book in her hands. She walked through the bookshop on Main Street in front of a sign that read Indy’s Treasures; underneath it was the slogan “Adventure is just one book away.”
Conrad never went into a challenge uninformed so he forwarded her information to a private investigator.
He looked down at her big brown eyes, felt something stir inside of him. Part sexual, part curiosity, part something he couldn’t define. He just wished he knew what she was up to.
“So...someone was in town asking about you yesterday,” Nola said as Indy stopped by Java Juice the next morning. “I don’t like it.”
“Ha. I’m sure it was nothing. Maybe that wealthy king and queen finally realized where they left me,” Indy said as she handed Nola her thermal to-go coffee mug.
“Your sweet parents would be devastated to hear you say that.”
“Naw, I promised to cut them in on my fortune once I’m found,” she said with a wink. She wasn’t too concerned about anyone asking after her. She had nothing to hide.
The morning rush was over and the tables of the coffee shop were filled with the usual suspects. Simone, who was working on her doctoral thesis, Pete, who was planning the next quest for his Dungeons & Dragons group, and then the young moms in the back enjoying some adult conversation while their toddlers played next to them.
Nola prepared Indy’s normal order of a large Americano with skim milk. “Would you mind if I put a flyer on your bulletin board asking for some help weeding in the park on Saturday? I want to try to get the park in better shape before the cooking competition. I mean, the town council should do it but...”
“They’re busy paying for things like road repair and other community needs.”
Indy turned to see Jeff Hamilton behind her. He smiled at her. “I know, but we need to make this place look nice.”
“The park is on the list, but there are so many things that need to be done,” Jeff said. “My wife, June, owns the nursery on the outskirts of town. I can talk to her about bringing plants for the bedding. Did you find a sponsor yet?”
“Not yet, I’m still in talks with one of the sponsors I use on my show. But Conrad Gilbert is coming to town on May 1 to film his show. Once I win, we’ll have a nice amount of money to put toward it. I’m going to use that to get more people involved. It is a long road but we will get there.”
“I’m impressed. How did you convince him to do that?” Jeff asked.
“I contacted his show and challenged him to a cook-off here.”
“You did?”
“Yes. I think this challenge will be good,” she said.
She wanted everyone to see the beauty she did in Gilbert Corners. She loved the old Victorian architecture that dominated the vacant buildings on Main Street. When she walked down Main Street, she saw so much potential in the town and wanted them to realize it.
She talked to Nola and Jeff about which shop they should renovate next and made some notes before she took her coffee from Nola and left. She opened the bookshop and enjoyed the light foot traffic that came in. She loved the smell of the books and discussing her favorite titles with clients.
She casually brought up Conrad Gilbert with her customers and found out that he’d been considered devastatingly handsome before the accident, spoiled and arrogant. One of her customers said that he’d acted like the town of Gilbert Corners was below his social standing. Interesting.
She hadn’t thought it would come so quickly, but on the first of May, she packed up her ingredients and her courage and headed to Gilbert Manor, following the cobblestone road that went over a quaint stone bridge that spanned the brackish-water river that flowed through Gilbert Corners.
She was nervous as she hauled her ingredients to the tent she was directed to. She felt someone watching her. The figure inside the tent was backlit by the sun. He had broad shoulders that practically filled the tent frame and wore a leather jacket. As he moved more across the yard, she caught her breath as she recognized him. The Beast.