So Right Read online

  Luke peered at Jamie over the top of his sunglasses. “Can we afford that?”

  “I’m crunching the numbers. We’ll see how much wine this guy can make this year.” He jabbed his thumb toward Hayden.

  “Hey, that depends on this guy’s yield.” He pointed his finger at Luke.

  “Oh, so now it’s all on me? I better produce so you can pay for stuff. No pressure.” He had a good idea of what their yield would be, but he wouldn’t relax until everything was off the vine and appropriately staged in cold storage or in tanks in the winery. “On that note, I’m going back to work. Get your asses back in the vineyard.” He pressed his sunglasses to the bridge of his nose as both Hayden and Jamie saluted him.

  Shaking his head, Luke made his way further up the hill to check on their army of pickers. He kept an eye out for Kelsey but didn’t see her. People trickled out over the course of the evening, and he missed her leaving.

  His brother’s teasing came back to taunt him and he shook it off. Had they been flirting? Maybe. Not that it mattered, since he didn’t have time to date anyone anyway.

  That didn’t stop him from thinking that he’d be sure to stop in at the library. Everyone needed a good book now and then, right?

  Chapter Two

  Though it had been three days since Kelsey had picked grapes at the winery on Saturday, her back and arms were just getting back to feeling normal. She’d been surprised when her muscles had hurt the next day—a lot. Given her schedule, she wasn’t great about hitting the gym, but she’d thought she was in pretty good shape. Now she had to reassess that opinion. She’d add that to her insurmountable list of things to do. Right after finding a new place to live that wasn’t a crap hole.

  She glanced around her tiny one-bedroom apartment with its dingy walls and buckling floorboards and, as usual, quickly fled. Thankfully, she worked so much that she was barely home. But then, working so much made it impossible to find a new place in town, since rental property in Ribbon Ridge was tough to come by. In another year or two, she’d hopefully be able to buy a small town house, right after she paid off her student loans. Okay, maybe a year or two wasn’t all that realistic.

  She jogged down the creaky stairs and pushed out the door, nearly colliding with one of the hair salon customers beelining for the entrance, which was right next to Kelsey’s. Living above the salon meant noise and odd smells. It also meant she’d become friendly with the staff, and they gave her a discount.

  Probably the best thing about her apartment was that it was close to the library and even closer to her other job at The Arch and Vine pub, where she waited tables. In less than five minutes, she stepped into the library and went about her morning routine, which today included continuing the work she’d started upstairs yesterday.

  The library was currently entirely housed downstairs, with the upstairs serving as storage and a meeting space that was available to the community during library hours. It had been used only once or twice, which was a good thing since Kelsey and her friends had sort of commandeered it as their headquarters while they researched the history of Ribbon Ridge for the exhibit that would open in January. Nearly half of the upstairs was dedicated to the exhibit space, and the display tables—generously donated by the Archer family—had been delivered on Friday.

  Kelsey had spent all of yesterday here setting up the displays beneath the glass in the tables. Mondays were typically her day off, but she nearly always worked here. Hmm, maybe her sore back wasn’t just a result of picking grapes. She quickly picked up where she’d left off, organizing a series of photos.

  Thankfully, she’d remembered to set an alarm on her phone so she didn’t miss opening the library. The groovy synthetic sound interrupted her activity, and she jumped up. Grabbing her phone, she went downstairs to unlock the door. There was already a pair of moms, each with a kid in tow who were literally bouncing as they waited to come inside.

  “Good morning!” one of the moms said, smiling. “We’re early for story time. They couldn’t wait.” She gestured to the kids, who were already dashing to the children’s reading nook, which Kelsey had set up with a grouping of bean bags as well as two small tables with chairs. The kids plopped onto the bean bags and waited expectantly.

  Kelsey laughed. Story time wasn’t technically for another thirty minutes, but she understood their excitement. Going to the library had been one of the highlights of her childhood. It was the very reason she’d become a librarian in the first place. “Who am I to keep them waiting?”

  “Oh, you don’t have to start now,” the other mother said, blushing. “We can wait.”

  “It’s no problem,” Kelsey said.

  “But what if other children come? We don’t want them to miss out.”

  “They won’t,” Kelsey assured her. “The one thing I can just about guarantee is that we won’t run out of books to read.” At least not before the kids grew antsy and needed to go home for lunch.

  Kelsey went to the children’s nook and sat in the rocking chair situated in the corner. The books she’d chosen for today were on the table beside her.

  One of the children, a girl with bright blonde hair in pigtails, pointed at the book on the top of the stack. “I love that one!”

  Holding it up, Kelsey nodded. “Me too.”

  The boy stuck out his tongue. “It’s about a princess.”

  “She’s a very good princess,” the girl said rather haughtily.

  “She’s still a princess,” the boy muttered.

  “Never fear,” Kelsey said, giving the boy a sly smile. “The next book is about a dragon.”

  The boy’s eyes lit, and both kids’ attention grew rapt as Kelsey began to read.

  A few more children joined the group, and by the time the official story time was over, she’d been reading for almost an hour. She needed some water.

  After hydrating, she got caught up helping a few people, and before she knew it, her volunteer helper for the afternoon had arrived. Which meant it was one o’clock. No wonder her stomach was growling.

  It was also time for Alaina, Crystal, and Brooke to arrive for their meeting. Brooke Ellis strolled in right on time, her blonde hair pulled back into a sleek ponytail. She whipped her sunglasses off and smiled at Kelsey. “Hi! You recovered from Saturday?”

  “Barely,” Kelsey said, her gaze drifting to the new sparkly diamond on Brooke’s left hand. “Are you?”

  Brooke saw where Kelsey was looking, and her smile widened. “Sort of. It’s still a bit surreal. I did manage to give notice at my loft, though.” Her eyes rounded. “Oh! You should rent it. I know you’re looking for a place.”

  The loft was a bit out of Kelsey’s price range. She could afford it, but she wouldn’t be able to save enough to buy her own place. She preferred to put up with her lousy apartment in the short-term in exchange for the long-term gain. “Thanks, but I’ve decided I’m good at hair salon central.”

  “Okay, but if you decide to change your mind, do it fast. The loft won’t last.”

  Kelsey and Brooke had been friends for a couple of months, but Kelsey hadn’t told her that she lived in the apartment due to financial necessity. Kelsey was by nature a private person, and even more so after what she’d gone through two years ago.

  The door opened again, and in walked Crystal Donovan and Alaina Pierce—rather, Alaina Archer. Even though Kelsey considered her a friend, it was hard not to think of the hugely famous actress by anything other than her movie-star name.

  Truly best friends forever, Crystal and Alaina often arrived together, which made sense since Crystal stayed with Alaina when she was in town. Crystal wasn’t really an official Ribbon Ridge resident since her primary residence was in LA.

  Crystal hefted a bag. “Hey, girls! As promised, we brought sandwiches from Barley and Bran.”

  “Let’s head upstairs,” Kelsey said, leading the way.

  As they reached the top, Kelsey headed toward the meeting room in the far right corner, but her compan
ions walked en masse toward the exhibit space, which spanned the left side of the massive room.

  Alaina went to a display table and ran her fingertips along the edge. “Wow, Kelsey, you’ve gotten a lot done. Didn’t the tables just get here on Friday?”

  “Yeah, I probably worked too much yesterday.”

  “You always work too much,” Brooke said, shaking her head from another of the tables. “We need to take you away for a girls’ weekend.”

  Kelsey laughed. “Like you’d leave Cameron.”

  Brooke grinned. “I would. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, after all.”

  Crystal had also moved to the one of the tables and looked up, her gaze roving among the others. “That’s a great idea. Let’s go to the beach. I love the Oregon coast in the fall.”

  “Me too,” Alaina said. “And I’m sure we can use the Archers’ house.”

  As much as Kelsey wanted a weekend away, she couldn’t leave the library. She had a few volunteers and one newish part-time employee, whose first full day without Kelsey had been Saturday when Kelsey had gone to pick grapes at West Arch. “Sounds fun, but I don’t think I can get away for that long. At least not from the library.”

  “You have help, right?” Crystal asked, tucking a lock of pale blonde hair behind her ear. “You deserve a break, Kel!”

  Kelsey couldn’t really argue with that. But part of her still had to pinch herself and wonder what she was doing here in this idyllic town, hanging out with a great group of new friends, one of whom just happened to be an A-list celebrity. When Kelsey thought of what she’d come from or where she’d been headed… Well, she tried not to think about that.

  She also refused to be pushed into something she didn’t want to do. That was the old Kelsey. “I’ll think about it. In the meantime, let’s eat. I’m starving!”

  She went into the meeting room, where a large table dominated the center. Bookshelves lined one wall, a small almost-kitchen with a sink, dishwasher, and fridge took up another wall, and boxes cluttered the corners. Photographs and documents were piled on the table, which Kelsey had been using to sort and organize. She scooted everything to one end to clear a place to eat, then grabbed paper plates from a cupboard.

  Brooke pulled various drinks from the fridge—water for her and Alaina, iced tea for Crystal, and a Diet Coke for Kelsey. They’d stocked up on their favorite beverages not long after their meetings about the history exhibit had become somewhat regular.

  Crystal set the bag of sandwiches down. “You trust us to eat around that stuff?” She gestured toward the stacks Kelsey had moved over.

  “Should I not?” Kelsey asked.

  Alaina opened the bag and passed around the sandwiches, each marked with everyone’s initials to differentiate the order. She tossed her BFF a gimlet eye. “We’ll be good. This expectant mama needs some protein.” Alaina had just announced her pregnancy that weekend at the harvest event. Between that and Cameron and Brooke’s engagement, it had been an evening of celebration following the picking—until their collective exhaustion had kicked in and ended the festivities by about ten.

  “Besides,” Alaina continued, “I’m an expert at keeping mess contained. Comes with having a toddler.”

  Crystal laughed. “That’s because Alexa is the neatest toddler to ever live. I really hope your next child is a whirling dervish.”

  Alaina rolled her eyes. “Thanks. I’ll be sure and have you babysit more often.”

  Kelsey glanced at Brooke to see how she was taking this kid talk. She’d confided to them that she wasn’t able to have children but desperately wanted to. She and Cameron were exploring options. Brooke caught her eye and gave a subtle nod along with a smile. She was good.

  Kelsey relaxed. She hated to see anyone in pain.

  After a few minutes of eating, Crystal asked, “So what’s our plan today besides helping Kelsey with setting up some exhibits? Although it doesn’t look like she left us much to do.” She flashed Kelsey a wink and a smile.

  Kelsey nodded toward the pile on the table and then toward the boxes in the corners. “There’s plenty to do.”

  “I have something to report,” Alaina said. “I talked to the county historical society, and we have an appointment Friday morning at nine.” She took a bite of her sandwich.

  Brooke grinned. “Excellent! Did you learn anything about what kinds of maps they have?”

  Alaina swallowed and then took a drink of water. “He said they have one of the area, including Ribbon Ridge, circa 1880.”

  Kelsey was delighted to hear they had a map from that time period. Maybe she could even convince the county to loan it to her for the exhibit. “So it should have Bird’s Nest Ranch since it was built in 1879?”

  Alaina nodded. “It should, but I guess we’ll find out for sure on Friday.”

  “Then what do we do?” Crystal asked. “It’s all well and good to determine where the house stood, but what do we do with that? And how is it going to help us find out what happened to Dorinda Olsen?”

  Using a diary provided by the Archer family, their little amateur research team had learned that Dorinda and her husband Hiram had built Bird’s Nest Ranch. Hiram had died of a fever, but they hadn’t found any documents indicating what had happened to Dorinda.

  “I don’t know why, but I feel like there’s an important story with Dorinda,” Crystal said.

  Kelsey agreed. The diary entry they’d read about the Olsens had pulled at their heartstrings. Things had seemed rather bleak for them and then Hiram had died.

  “I just want to know that she had a happy ending,” Brooke said, her brow creasing.

  They fell silent for a moment and continued to eat. The sound of someone biting into a potato chip broke the quiet and provoked a giggle from Crystal, who’d caused the noise. “Sorry.”

  They smiled in return, and the atmosphere warmed again.

  Brooke sipped her water. “So, Crystal, you were asking what we do with this information—assuming we find the house. We’ve talked about hiring an archaeologist to excavate the site. Are we still thinking we want to do that?” She looked around the table.

  “I’d like to, and I’ll fund it,” Alaina offered.

  She offered to pay for everything, which was kind and generous, and she could definitely afford it. Kelsey wished she could make that kind of overture. If she had wealth, she’d share it.

  Kelsey smiled at her. “Thank you, Alaina, that’s very nice of you. However, we’ll need to talk to the guys at West Arch.” She looked toward Brooke, since she was engaged to one of the owners.

  “I mentioned it to Cam, and he’s fine with it, provided it doesn’t interfere with their vines.”

  Kelsey looked toward Brooke. “Luke said the same thing.”

  Brooke arched a brow at her. “Did he tell you that on Saturday? I heard you were hanging out in the pumpkin patch.”

  Kelsey felt a need to clarify that situation, though she couldn’t say why. “We weren’t hanging out, just chatting for a few minutes. We did talk about Bird’s Nest Ranch—briefly. He wasn’t enthused if it meant disrupting his vineyard. Which I can understand.”

  “Me too,” Alaina said.

  Crystal looked around at the others. “Well, fingers crossed the house isn’t in the vineyard. There’s more to the property than where the grapes are planted, right?”

  “Yes.” Brooke propped her elbow on the table and leaned her chin on her hand. “The photograph we have of the ranch looks like it’s on the top of the slope, but it’s hard to tell. Most of that is vineyard, unfortunately. But there are some unplanted areas. For now—they plan to expand later this fall.”

  Crystal slapped her palm on the table. “Then we’d better get moving.” Her expression fell. “What if the house was located where the winery is?”

  No one said anything as they exchanged looks. Finally, their collective exhales filled the room.

  “In that case, we’re done,” Kelsey said softly.

  Everyone nodd
ed in agreement.

  “I’m going back to hoping the house is in a really convenient location. Like that pumpkin patch.”

  Kelsey thought about Luke’s excitement about having it and hoped the site wasn’t located there. “I think Luke might be as passionate about his pumpkins as he is about his grapes.”

  “Really?” Brooke asked, studying her with interest. “What else did you learn about Luke?”

  Kelsey felt the blush warm her cheeks but willed it to die down before anyone took notice. Too late—she could see their gazes perking with interest. “Nothing. Like I said, we just chatted for a few minutes.”

  “Oh.” Brooke sounded a little disappointed. “Luke’s a great guy. If you were interested.”

  “I’m not.” Kelsey rushed to add, “But I know he’s a great guy. I’m just too busy for that kind of thing. Remember, I’m a workaholic.” She smiled and took a bite of sandwich while inwardly hoping they’d change the subject.

  Thankfully, Alaina bought the clue and went back to talking about their appointment with the historian on Friday. Meanwhile, Kelsey’s mind drifted to Luke. He was a great guy. And she probably would be interested in him if she were interested in any guy. Which she wasn’t and didn’t expect to be ever again. Noah had pretty much ruined that for her, the bastard.

  He’d caused her so much pain, and it had taken two years to get to the point where she could really even have friends again because her trust had been so battered. Before the library had opened a couple of months ago, she’d worked a second job at a twenty-four-hour store in a neighboring town, as much for something to keep herself busy as for the money. Keeping busy was how she’d coped. Now, keeping busy was simply the way she lived. And for that, she was grateful, because an idle mind focused on dark things. Things better left in the past. Things Kelsey never wanted to think about again.