Willowleaf Lane Read Free Page B

same prejudices.
    But a small acrid, angry corner of her heart despised Spence Gregory with a vitriol that unsettled her.
    What was Harry Lange thinking? She had to wonder if Mary Ella knew what her fiancé was up to, bringing back the man who had once been the darling of Hope’s Crossing but was now considered a pariah.
    Maybe it was one of Harry’s twisted schemes. The man appeared to have been turning over a new leaf in the past year since reconnecting with his son Jack and the granddaughter he didn’t know existed, but maybe it was all for show. Maybe Harry wanted the recreation center he had basically financed to fail so he could sweep in and somehow make money off it for his own purposes, perhaps as a tax write-off for a business loss.
    Whatever the reason, she couldn’t believe she would be the only one in town upset at this new development, though she had very personal reasons to be angry about the return of Spence Gregory.
    The cowbell clanked suddenly and, for an instant, fear spiked that she would have to deal with him again, while she was still trying to come to terms with his return.
    Seeing Alex McKnight rush in, her long blond curls flying behind her, was a sweet relief.
    “Hi, Alex.” She even managed a smile, envious, as always, at Alex’s effortless confidence. She was smart and sexy and a brilliant chef—and was comfortable enough in her own skin that none of it mattered to her except the chef part, of which she was fiercely proud.
    “Guess who I just saw walking Front Street?” Alex said, her green eyes wide.
    “Spencer Gregory,” she answered dully.
    “Wow. You are good. ” Alex looked surprised and a little amused.
    “Not really. He just left the store.”
    “Can you believe it? The guy must have balls as big as ostrich eggs to show up back in town like nothing ever happened.”
    “Take it up with your stepfather-to-be. Apparently he hired Spence to run the new rec center.”
    Alex’s eyes widened for an instant and then she shook her head. “The man is insane sometimes. What goes on inside Harry’s head?”
    Charlotte didn’t know. And right now she didn’t want to talk about either Harry Lange or Spence Gregory.
    “Can I get you anything?”
    “Actually, I came in to ask you a huge favor.” With a cheerful grin, Alex let herself be distracted. She seemed so happy lately since she had started seeing Sam Delgado, a new contractor in town.
    Charlotte was thrilled for her, she really was, but sometimes she couldn’t help an insidious little niggle of envy. While Charlotte found their developing relationship wonderful for the two of them—especially since she knew firsthand how deeply Sam cared for Alex—Charlotte had once entertained hopes herself toward the man when Sam had first come to town.
    He had endeared himself to Charlotte forever by reaching out to help her troubled brother Dylan, offering him a job with Sam’s construction company despite Dylan’s new limitations. Her brother had refused—no big surprise there—but Charlotte wanted to think the offer had meant something to Dylan. It had certainly meant something to her—so much that she had asked Sam to go to the town’s annual Giving Hope Day gala.
    She had hoped the two of them might hit it off and that he might ask her out again. Sam was new in town. He hadn’t even known her before the changes of the past year and a half and she had hoped that might give her a slight advantage, but it had become obvious fairly quickly that Sam was completely tangled up over Alex.
    During these past few weeks since the two of them had come together, it was transparent to all they were crazy about each other. Alex gave every appearance of a woman deeply in love.
    “I’m glad to help,” Charlotte said now, pushing down that spurt of envy. “What can I do?”
    “You don’t even know what it is, and you’re already agreeing to help. That’s one of the things I love most about you, Char.”
    She cherished all her friends