Page 41 of The Forever Christmas Tree

“How about we put another thousand on that,” Ethan suggested through gritted teeth, “and you don’t step foot in Bell Cove for the next month or so?”

“Why would I want to step foot in Bell Cove? I’m off to the Bahamas once your check clears.”

“Oh?” Ethan gritted his teeth even tighter at the implication his check might bounce. “Bet the missus is packing as we speak.”

“The missus died three years ago, ya fool. I’m going with my main squeeze, Suzie Q here.”

Ethan and Matt both gaped for just a second at the young legal aide, Suzanne Ellison, taking notes for Parkins, him being too tight to hire an actual lawyer. Her face bloomed with color but she didn’t deny the old man’s claim.

After the meeting, Ethan asked Matt, “Do you think he’s serious?”

Matt shrugged. “Could be.”

“Why would a young, good-looking woman date a man old enough to be her grandfather? I mean, he has dentures and wild hairs sticking out of his ears.”

“Welcome to the real world, my friend. Money, money, money.”

“And notice I said ‘date.’ I don’t even want to think about him naked and making his moves.” He shivered with distaste. “Some things aren’t worth the money.”

Matt laughed. “Sad to think that the old man is getting more action than you and I these days. Unless . . . I’ve been out of town all week, but I hear Wendy’s back in Dodge.” He raised his brows in question.

“And you think she’s suddenly hopping in my bed? More like the shoot-out at the OK Corral since she’s been ‘back in Dodge.’”

“You’ve got your Old West towns mixed up, pal,” Matt pointed out with a laugh, then asked, “That bad?”

“Not yet, but it probably will be.” He wasn’t about to mention his meeting this afternoon with Wendy. Matt would say he was a fool. He was.

“She used to consider you irresistible.”

“My irresistibility factor has dropped to about zilch.”

“And how about hers?”

“Don’t ask.”

Matt just grinned. He’d been around back then. He knew Ethan almost as well as he knew himself. No fooling him.

“Word is that Wendy has a hot babe as a houseguest. And here I was hoping we could double date.”

“What are you, like, fourteen and horny?”

“Thirty and horny.”

“I know the feeling. Maybe we ought to follow Parkins’s cue and get ourselves a money honey. Slam, bam, it’s been swell, ma’am. No commitment. No hassle.”

They both actually seemed to consider the idea for a moment, then laughed, and at the same time, said, “Nah!”

Matt went back to the Rutledge Trees office with Ethan and waited while he outlined to his staff all they would need to do to prepare the newly purchased fields so they would be ready for a spring planting. After that, he and Matt flew back to the Outer Banks, then hopped in Ethan’s pickup for the ride to Bell Cove.

Matt went off to his law office, and Ethan decided to do some last-minute Christmas shopping. The town bells rang out the hour. Only two. He had plenty of time. Most of his holiday purchases had been made on the Internet, but he liked to spend his dollars locally wherever and whenever he could.

His first clue that something was amiss came when he went into Monique’s Boutique where he was picking up a coat he’d special ordered for his grandmother. It was the kind of thing she’d never buy for herself, even though it was nothing fancy. A long, cashmere belted coat in a shade of blue that would match her eyes. He’d noticed her looking at it in Monique’s window, but when he’d checked last week, discovered they would have to order it in her size.

“So, is it true you’re buying more land on the mainland so you can close your business here?” Monique, whose real name was Molly O’Brien, stood glaring at him with her hands on her ample hips. She’d moved here five years ago and had always seemed a friendly sort. Not so friendly now!

“Huh?” Ethan said. At the same time he noticed the coolness of Monique’s voice, he saw the grinch contest jar on the counter with the poster showing his name had suddenly jumped sky-high.

How did word of his business across the sound travel so fast? And how did the story get so twisted? Probably Baxter. Or maybe that contrary old fart Parkins. Ethan wouldn’t put it past either of them.