“I’m sorry I’m late,” she explained. “Couldn’t be helped. The water pump was acting up in the pickup. I had to replace it.” She waved at Annie, who gave her a nod and headed her way from behind the bar.
“You replaced the water pump?” Lila looked at her incredulously. She leaned over and wiped a smear from Charlie Grace’s chin. “You never cease to amaze me.”
Charlie Grace shrugged. “It’s not hard. The difficult part is getting the timing belt back in and working right.”
Charlie Grace and her girlfriends met as often as they could—sometimes for breakfast, and nearly every Friday night for food, drinks, and conversation. At times, they gathered at one of their houses. Most often, they met here at the Rustic Pine. They even had their own table tucked in the corner, facilitated by Annie, who had an intentional habit of saving it by leaving the surface uncleared until the first of them arrived.
The Rustic Pine was not known as the rowdy bar in town. That would be Moosehead Tavern, where whiskey flowed freely and fights often broke out, prompting a visit from Fleet Southcott. Ignoring city code, Fleet rarely planted any of the offenders in jail. Instead, he took them home and tucked the culprits onto their sofas with blankets, warning them to sober up before returning to town for their vehicles.
“Here you go, honey.” Annie planted a margarita on the table in front of Charlie Grace. “Just the way you like it…with extra salt on the rim and next to no alcohol.”
Charlie Grace smiled at her. “Thanks, Annie. How’s Pete tonight?”
Annie nodded in the direction of the bar. “Like every Friday night…busy.” She patted Reva’s shoulder, then returned to the bar with their black Lab, Bartender, following at her feet.
“Busy is right.” Lila looked around. “There are a lot of people in here I don’t recognize.”
Reva leaned across the table and spoke just loud enough for them to hear over the music. “I have a feeling many of them are with that production company.”
Capri nodded. “Yeah, I hear they start filming in a couple of weeks.”
Reva jiggled the ice in her glass of Diet Coke. “My office has been clamoring with people dropping by to voice their concerns.”
“Concerns?” Charlie Grace asked.
“Most of it is just being nosy. Apparently, Nicola Cavendish read in the entertainment papers that the television series is expected to create a housing boom here in the area. She felt it her duty to spread that tidbit and elevate worry, of course.”
“Worry?” Capri twisted the cap off her beer bottle. “Seems to me an influx of tourists is a good thing…at least for Grand Teton Water Adventures. Vacationers love to take whitewater rafting trips.”
“Maybe so,” Reva agreed. “But the housing thing indicates that the show might glamorize our neck of the woods and encourage people looking to escape more urban areas to move here. That will result in raised prices and soaring taxes. No one wants Thunder Mountain to become another Jackson.”
“Move here for good?” Lila asked. She waved at Oma Griffith and her Knit Wit friends, who sat with their yarn at a table across the room. “Do they know we don’t have a Costco for hundreds of miles?”
“Well, I’ve got much bigger things to worry about,” Charlie Grace announced. “Dad hired Gibbs.”
Lila’s eyes went big. “What?”
Capri added her surprise. “He hired your ex-husband?”
Charlie Grace took a sip of her margarita. “Yup. Dad seems to think I can’t juggle everything right now, and we all know he thinks Gibbs walks on water.”
Reva shook her head in disbelief. “Oh, Gibbs should have had the good sense to turn down that offer. What was he thinking?”
“He wasn’t,” Charlie Grace said. “But then, why should he start using good judgment now?”
All of them nodded in solidarity. It was no secret that Gibbs had put Charlie Grace through her own personal hell regarding her marriage. Her girlfriends had been in the arena with her through it all. They liked Gibbs—he was a likable guy—but they all knew he could also be a weasel and wanted firm boundaries when it came to his access to their good friend.
“And you said yes to this?” Capri asked her.
“I didn’t have a choice. Not when he used our daughter as a prod in the situation.”
“Ouch!” Capri said.
“Yeah, apparently, she’s been praying for her daddy to move back home so he can be with her every day. I mean, what was I supposed to say to that?” She took another gulp from her margarita, already feeling the faint alcohol. She’d always been a lightweight when it came to drinking, which is why she was so careful. She didn’t like feeling out of control.
Reva covered her hand with her own. “Girl, sounds like you were placed in a bad situation all around. You did the right thing under the circumstances. Besides, you’re the boss. He answers to you now. While your father may have hired him, you have the power to fire him. Don’t let him forget it.”
Charlie Grace lifted her chin slightly. “That’s right. Gibbs Nichols had better toe the line, or else.” She waved off the subject. “Enough about me. What about you guys? We didn’t get much of a chance to talk out at the gate the other day. Catch me up.”
