She turned and lightly mock punched his arm. “It’s supposed to be secret.”
“What’s the first clue?” Conrad asked.
“Gluten-free or full fat, this is the place to get your baked goods and start your journey,” she read out loud.
“Java Juice. Nola Weston owns it,” Conrad said. “Let’s go.”
“Nola? I think she was friends with Rory?” Dash asked.
“She is. She’s my best friend and works on my TV show with me as well,” Indy said.
“I hadn’t made that connection before this,” Dash said. “I can’t wait to see her again.”
The cousins talked back and forth while Indy looked at her phone and noticed a typo on the next clue, which she jotted down on a feedback page for the committee in her notes app. The map was taking them all around the square and then to the back of the old milliner’s shop, which had been out of use since the 1970s and was the easiest to get up to building code and open as a bar.
Conrad noticed she was walking behind him and his cousin and stopped to take her hand so that they were walking together. Dash noticed the gesture and then noticed her noticing and winked at her. She smiled back, taking that as a good sign.
Conrad’s tattoos weren’t the only thing thorny; he was too. It seemed each date they went on started slow, like they were both trying to figure out what to do. He always pushed her sexually, and not in an uncomfortable way; she loved making love with him, but she had the feeling he was trying to make every encounter between them sexual and she wanted—no, needed—more than that. From his own admission most of his “relationships” in the past had been sexual in nature, and she had a feeling after they’d talked about everything that he had done that to protect himself.
Because she knew she was falling for him, she had to coax him out even though just staying home and making love was one of her favorite ways to spend time with him. Tonight it was as if he’d anticipated it and brought his cousin along.
They followed the clues which lead them along the town square.
“I really like to see the town coming back to life,” Dash said. “The council members have done a good job with the park and the business here on Main Street.”
“They needed a nudge, but once I convinced them there was a way to break the curse, they got on board,” she said.
“By bringing Conrad back here?” Dash asked.
“That’s right. Seems I’m the most important Gilbert.”
“Well, you were the easiest to get here,” Indy said.
Dash started laughing.
“I’m not easy.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Glad you agree. So me coming to town made them think the curse is broken?” Conrad asked her as they got closer to the speakeasy.
“Sort of. They are more inclined to think of it as a thaw. Until we get the factory open and all the businesses on Main Street open again, I’m not sure the curse will be lifted,” she said.
“Dash and I are working on the factory in addition to the restaurant space I mentioned,” Conrad said.
“What else are you doing there?” she asked. She was surprised and a little hurt that he never mentioned it to her. She’d heard gossip around town of course but she would have liked to have heard it from him. As much as he’d opened up to her, there were still things he kept hidden behind his thorny branches.
“A television studio, which I want to talk to you about. Might be nice to have a production studio here,” Conrad said. “In fact, I was planning to talk to you about it tonight before we went on this date.”
“I’d love to discuss that more in depth,” she told him. Well, that wasn’t what she’d expected. He wasn’t running away after all. Did this mean he wanted something more permanent?
“I think this is the place,” she said. “The password isGilbert’s a goose.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I know it needs work, but we were out of ideas,” she said.
The bouncer let them in, and they weren’t the first to arrive. The bar was toward the back and the interior was decorated as a 1920s’ club with a dance floor in the middle and a stage at the end where they had a chanteuse singing. Dash volunteered to go to the bar and get drinks for them while she and Conrad found a table.