“I do.”
“And Evan needs…you.”
“I’m really not following.”
“We’ll go see him tomorrow.”
“I don’t know about that.”
“You guys got on well at the wedding.”
Maybe too well. The last thing she needed was to have a real crush on her decoy date. “Hang on. I think this is wine-fuelled, and there’s probably an easier option—”
“What are your options?” Liam asked as he returned to the living room.
Evie nodded her head toward Jess. “I think she can help Evan—and you—with the problem.”
“The Town Problem?” The way Liam said it, every word was capitalized and loaded with meaning.
Jess was torn between curiosity and dread. “What kind of Town Problem?”
“One where everyone is a stick-in-the-mud and zero fun,” Evie said. “Liam’s a little frustrated by it. He’s working with Evan on a new kind of subdivision, passive solar homes on the tract of land across from the winery, and they’re having trouble getting the permits approved.”
That was nowhere near her area of expertize. “And how can I help?”
“We’ve come at it every which way,” Liam said. “And it’s come to down to the fact that we clearly have a marketing problem.”
“With the new subdivision?”
“With the entire town.”
Jess raised her eyebrows, but Liam wasn’t spilling any more details. “Damn you,” she muttered, and Evie laughed.
Liam grinned. “I’ve hooked you, haven’t I?”
“Like an eager little fish, oh yes you have.” She swilled back the rest of her wine. “Top me up. And then roll me into bed so I’m fresh as a daisy tomorrow. I guess we’re going to meet Evan.”
* * *
Evie hadwaffles ready when Jess woke up the next morning, and the most gorgeous smelling coffee ever. “Part of the Seduce Jess to Help Wardham plan,” her hostess announced brightly.
Jess took a bite of blueberry waffles and groaned. “Very successful,” she said happily after licking her lips. “Let’s do this.”
“I wasn’t kidding last night,” Evie said. “Evan will help you out, too.”
“That was drunken sadness talking,” Jess said, waving her hand. “I don’t need a date for the gala. I’m fine. What I need to do is talk to Brent and get the tears shed ahead of time. That’s all.”
To prove that point to herself, she pulled out her phone and fired off a text message to her ex.
Jess: Congratulations on the recognition from the mayor. I’ll be at the gala as well. Could we have coffee sometime between then and now?
Then she dug into her waffles and turned her thoughts to small towns and creative problem solving.
After breakfast, Evie and Liam bundled up the kids and dropped them off with her mom, who lived on a farm just outside town. Jess followed in her own car, which gave her time to observe the town and the surrounding landscape from an all-business point of view.
For a beach town, the main streets were far from the shore, with blocks of residential housing in between. But it wasn’t as if Wardham packaged itself as a beach town. It was more a farming community, with new growth from wineries. The stark division was obvious as she followed Liam on the bypass around town. They crossed a river and were suddenly in a nice stretch of new development between the town and Go West Winery, where Liam and Evie’s wedding had been held.
The last time she’d been here, for the wedding, it had been the depths of winter. Icy and cold. Now, more than a year later, spring was well under way, with flowers popping in the ditches on either side of the road, and all the grape vines neatly strung up in rows were green and vibrant.
