Xeni Read online

  “Let’s go back in there and have a chat with Deborah.”

  Back in the office, it only took a few minutes to get their paperwork in order.

  “You can come pick this up before five. We’ll have everything ready for you and then you just have to wait twenty-four hours before you can perform the ceremony. License is good for ninety days if you decide to wait.”

  “I can come back this afternoon,” Xeni suggested. “You probably have to get back to work.”

  “I do have a wedding to plan.” Mason’s enthusiasm reassured her a bit. When she made up her mind about something, she committed and often that lead to her going it alone. It felt nice to have at least one person on her side in what was starting to feel like a never-ending shit show. There was nothing else Deborah needed from them, but Xeni needed to ask about something that Deborah said when they first arrived.

  “Deborah, question. What else did my aunt say to you, exactly?” Deb didn’t seem to be keeping any secrets. If she knew about the money, Xeni was confident that she would have made a comment about it already, but Deborah was definitely more in the know than Xeni had expected the Kinderack town clerk to be. If her aunt had shared more than the contents of that letter, Xeni wanted to know.

  “Well, we talked about a lot of things. We had a real good poker game going down at the Senior Center. None of us are ready to pick it up without her.” A cloud of emotion passed over Deborah’s face and Xeni was quickly reminded that Sable Everly had lived in this small town for over twenty years. She’d had a very specific list for her memorial, but she was an Everly and if one thing is true about Everly women, they knew how to make friends wherever they went. Sure, she and Deborah may not have been super tight, but they spent enough time together for Sable to share her plans.

  “She said there was a complicated situation with her sisters and with you. The long and short of it was basically that she was finally getting some of the say she was owed in your life. She said she missed everything. The least she could do was pick out a good husband for you.”

  “I’m not sure if that’s sweet or deranged,” Xeni said.

  “A little of both, maybe. I’m not sure if I should be flattered or deathly frightened. Elaborate prank or century-old curse. Only time will tell.” Mason tacked on a wink for added effect.

  “My husband and I go to McInroy’s every Saturday for lunch. So at least you know he can cook,” Deborah said, nodding toward Mason.

  “Mmm, I guess that’s a plus.”

  Deborah tapped her knuckles on the counter. She was done with this conversation. “Four o’clock.”

  “Thanks.” They headed back toward the main entrance.

  “You alright?” Mason asked as he held open the door. Xeni must have checked out again as they were walking through the building.

  “Yeah. Do you have to get back to work?”

  “I don’t have to. I can hang around a bit, if you need me.”

  “And, what? Let you see my wedding dress before the big day?”

  “Yeah, let’s keep as much bad luck as possible at bay. You have my number.”

  “I’ll text you if I need anything.”

  Mason nodded, then turned and walked to his beat-up SUV parked across the street. Xeni didn’t realize she was watching him until she felt her head tilt a bit to the side. She was definitely checking out his ass and he definitely glanced back over his shoulder and caught her.

  “It’s okay to admire the view,” he called out. “It’ll be all yours tomorrow after four.”

  “Okay, okay. Relax,” Xeni shouted back. She was still miserable and numb. Super numb and full of rage, but that didn’t change the smile that lingered on her face as he drove away. Her future husband was kind of funny.

  5

  Mason gripped the edge of the steel counter to stop himself from pacing. In the time it took him to text his friends and his cousins and get back to the farm, the anxiety over Ms. Sable’s ultimatum had transformed into something he could only describe as giddiness. It was probably still anxiety, but Mason could feel it was edged with excitement. He’d been in the States for seven years, an exile firmly imposed by his father. Now that he and Xeni were one step closer to receiving their portions of the inheritance, he could finally put that part of his life behind him. At the rate he’d been going, it would have taken him another ten years to fix what he'd fucked up. Now he could feel the crushing pressure in his chest finally starting to ease.

  There was no joy in losing Sable. He knew he would miss her every day for the rest of his life, but he couldn’t thank her enough for lifting this burden off his back. Only a handful of people knew the real reason he’d come to run the cafe on Silas’s farm, not that anyone needed to know. But when he’d finally shared the truth with Ms. Sable a few years ago as they bonded over their shared love of seventies funk, she’d offered the first real bit of comfort he’d felt since moving into the room above the cannery.

  He thought back to the night she’d invited him over so they could talk tunes. He’d explained his initial interest in becoming a piper, and how after he’d mastered his first song, he’d finally felt like he’d given his father a reason to be proud of him. Ms. Sable had been so easy to get on with, he’d found himself sharing the dirty details about his whole fucked-up situation. The guilt and the shame were still fresh at the time, but she’d told him the only thing he needed to hear and for once he actually felt heard.

  He loved his cousin Silas. Still, he wasn’t much for conversation. Plus, he’d had his own family drama to worry about. And then Liz arrived. She was fantastic, a real great girl, and as time went by she became a true friend to Mason. Maya and her wife, Ginny, were great pals too, but they traded exclusively in sarcasm and barbs. And they had each other, which is really what he’d been looking for. Someone who finally understood him. He found that friendship in Ms. Sable and even though she was gone, she had tried to help him out one last time. He could admit that he’d been a little pissed off with her overly involved plan, but if Xeni was on board, he wasn’t going to say no. And like she’d said, they were going to do things their way. For Mason, it felt like a second chance.

  His first wedding had been a nonstarter. His first fiancée, a mistake. He and Xeni were strangers. They definitely weren’t in love, but this time he got to choose. Xeni seemed like a damn good choice.

  Mason looked up, arching an eyebrow at Ginny as she let out a dramatic sigh. There wouldn’t be much activity in the cannery until the afternoon, but she and Maya had plenty of jam, sauce and honey to make. The smell of fresh lavender honey filled the space. He knew he was interrupting their day.

  “Just tell us now,” Ginny said. “You can debrief Silas later.”

  “Let me tell you all at once. Don’t worry, I won’t take up too much of your time.”

  Just then, the back door to the kitchen opened, bringing a gust of heat and his cousins with it. Liz’s pregnant belly entered first and she was talking to Silas over her shoulder.

  “I just want to stick to my birth plan this time.”

  “I just want to be there this time,” Silas replied. “But talk to Dianda again. You hired her for a reason.”

  “Yeah, I’ll call her tonight. Sorry. More baby business,” Liz said offering a warm smile. “Hi, hi, hi. We got your text. What’s going on?”

  Mason stood his full height and pulled his confidence together. “I need help planning a wedding. By tomorrow.”

  Maya blinked several times. “Uh, whose wedding?”

  “Mine. To Ms. Sable’s—to Xeni Everly.”

  “Uh…” Ginny echoed everyone else’s confusion.

  “Yeah. Uh is right. Spill it,” Liz said.

  Mason laid out select details of what Mr. Barber and Ms. Jordan had shared with him and Xeni. How much money and the conditions he’d have to fulfill to get it. He made sure to leave out the bits that belonged to Xeni and Xeni alone. What he had to share was more than enough to process before the lunch rush.
r />   “That’s what she left you in her will?” Liz said, the shock still clear in her voice. “I thought it was going to be her piano or something.”

  “No. She’s offering to clear up my debt, essentially.”

  “But… you have to marry someone you don’t know.”

  “I’m not worried about that. Xeni and I have spoken and we’re on the same page. We fulfill the terms of the will, we both get what has been left to us. I pay off my father and we live happily ever after.”

  “Does this mean—” Ginny stopped herself, her gaze drifting over to Maya.

  “What?”

  “Does this mean you’re leaving?” Maya said. “Like, going back to Edinburgh? You won’t owe your dad anymore. You could go back.”

  “Oh nah,” Mason said confidently. “I miss home, but I really like it here. This will make it easy to go home and see my mum, for a visit, but no. No plans to move back just yet.”

  “Okay,” Maya replied, though she didn’t sound so sure.

  “This is a good thing. And I thought you all loved a party. It’ll be slapdash to say the least, but I think we can pull together a pretty fun party to celebrate these legally binding nuptials.”

  “We can and you’re right. This is good for you,” Liz said.

  “Look, mates. I’m fully understanding that I am coming off this side of downright ecstastic, but can we all admit that things have been depressing as fuck around here lately, and me doing something stupid and impulsive with a woman I just met might be the thing we all need? Shake things up a bit.”

  “I don’t think it’s stupid. If I had the money to help you pay off your dad, I would have given it to you years ago,” Liz replied.

  “Yeah, same,” Ginny said.

  “I mean, I think Xeni’s hot as fuck and my mom’s only had good things to say about her,” Maya added. “Real wedding for a fake marriage that leads to real money that’ll get you off the hook with your dad? Go for that.”

  “Wow,” Ginny suddenly said.

  “What?”

  “I mean, wow. Really babe? Hot as fuck?”

  “Oh, come on. When you saw her in the diner yesterday, you said you didn’t expect her to be that pretty.”

  “But hot as fuck? Wow.”

  “I’ll wow you.”

  “You two, please. Not in front of the jam,” Mason interjected. He looked over at Silas, who hadn’t said a single thing. “You’ve been awfully quiet.”

  “Just listening. I’ll talk to you after.”

  “Okay.”

  “Tell us what you need,” Liz said, getting them back on track like always.

  “I need to figure out where to do this. And I’m gonna need some makeshift rings. I’m not finding anything to fit around these sausages in twenty-four hours.”

  They bounced around ideas and in no time they’d figured out a pretty decent plan. Unless Xeni objected, they were getting married the following night there on McInroy’s Farm.

  “I have to head back to the barn,” Silas announced once everything had been sorted. “Come talk to me for a sec.”

  “Yeah.” Mason followed his cousin out into the lingering heat that didn’t seem to give a damn that it was already fall. Their red Irish Setter, Honeycrisp, was waiting at a nearby tree for Liz to finish her day.

  “What’s on your mind?” he asked when they reached Silas’s red pick-up truck.

  “I’m wondering what you’re going to tell your dad. He’s going to wonder where the money came from.”

  “The way I see it, it’s none of his business. He made up his mind about me and he named his terms. If he wants to complain about how I paid back the money he insisted on giving me for things I didn’t want, then so be it.”

  “We shouldn’t tell our parents about Xeni at all then.”

  “I agree.”

  Liz had literally been on the run from a dangerous former client when she came into their lives. She and Silas had created a whole web of lies to keep her safe. When Mason slipped and mentioned Silas’s new girlfriend to his mom and his aunt, shit had really hit the fan. It didn’t help that Silas’s dickhead twin, Scott, was also in love with Liz. In the end, it all worked out. His aunt and uncle finally knew the truth and they had welcomed Liz into the family with open arms. He was pretty certain Scott had gotten over his crush.

  But his aunt and uncle weren’t like his parents. When Silas finally shared his suspicions that he had undiagnosed autism, they backed off their corporate dreams for him. He had the farm now and even though Scott had bailed on running it with him, Silas was happy and that was more than enough for his parents.

  In Mason’s case, he was an ongoing source of disappointment. His mother would have questions, but Mason knew she’d understand in the end. The truth of this would just give his father more reason to berate him. He wasn’t telling them a thing.

  “I want the wedding to be fun for Xeni. She’s having a tough time of it. And she has to deal with her own family.”

  “I get it. One day off from the stress is what you need.”

  “Exactly what we need.”

  “See if you can get Joe-Joe to work a double tomorrow and we’ll make it happen.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Hell, Palila would love to be a flower girl and this one will do anything Liz tells her,” he said motioning to Honeysuckle, who was still snoozing away. “I’m sure she’ll jump in as ring bearer.”

  “I don’t even know if Xeni likes dogs. I should probably ask her.”

  “Probably. You’re good?”

  “Yeah, I think. I’m alright.”

  “What Maya said… Is she really good looking?”

  “I’ve been trying not to think about it, given the circumstances, but yeah. She’s a stunner. An absolute stunner.”

  “Well then you have to marry her.”

  “Seems like the smart thing to do.”

  Xeni sat in the car, staring at her phone again. She and Mason had given themselves permission to enjoy the next twenty-four hours, before the reality of what they were doing would hit them with a force that Xeni knew she wasn’t prepared for. The only way that was going to happen was if Xeni bit the bullet and called her mother. The line rang and rang. Xeni let out a deep breath and prepared herself to leave a voicemail when her mom answered.

  “Hey sweetie,” she said with an upbeat calm that immediately set Xeni on edge. She knew what was coming, but she hoped her mother wouldn’t pull this shit right now. Not with her, not about this.

  “I’m calling you back.”

  “Good. I was worried. How did things go with the lawyers?” Still calm. Still cool. Too casual.

  “Are we really doing this?”

  “Doing what?”

  “I know Daddy told you. I know. I just want to know when you were going to tell me.”

  “Tell you what? What did Daddy tell me?” Xeni closed her eyes, her jaw clenching. She knew by her tone that her mother really had decided to play stupid. She didn’t do it very often, only when she knew she was dead wrong and wanted to be right.

  “So you weren’t going to tell me that Sable was my mother.”

  “Oh that?” she said. “No. I wasn’t going to tell you that. And Sable wasn’t supposed to tell you that. Is that what the lawyers told you? Laying all our business out there when our sister’s not here to explain herself. Let me tell you something, when Sable needed my help, I stepped up and I did more than just help. I did the one thing she didn’t want to do.” She was starting to shout. Xeni began to shut down. She didn’t have to force the numbness. It took over on its own.

  “What was that? What didn’t she want to do?” Xeni asked. Her voice felt dead in her throat.

  “I am your mother!”

  “Why are you yelling at me?”

  “I’m not yelling at you,” she yelled. “My selfish little sister put her career before her family and then wanted to take that family back whenever it damn well suited her. She had no right to tell you. She had no
right to tell you like this. And of course she waited until she was gone. Just like Sable. Always trying to have things her way, any way. I raised you right and now she wants to take that away from me when I don’t get a say.”

  The rest of Xeni’s questions died on the tip of her tongue. She couldn’t talk to her mother about this. Not now.

  “I should go.”

  “Are you saying I didn’t do right by you?”

  “No, I’m saying I have to go,” Xeni said, keeping calm. “We need to talk about this, but right now you’re not listening. I can only talk to you if you’re going to listen to me. So, I’m going to go.”

  “Wait, when are you coming home?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve barely touched the house.”

  “Did you find the jewelry yet?”

  “I’ll let you know when I book my flight back. Tell Daddy I love him.”

  And just like that, the switch flipped back. “Okay, I will. I love you, honey.”

  “I love you too.” Xeni ended the call, then set her phone in her purse on the passenger seat. Once, she didn’t talk to her mother for more than five minutes for two months. It was over grad school. A stupid fight about loans and staying in state. Xeni had a plan, a good plan, but her mother was so set on her own plans for Xeni’s future that she wouldn’t listen to anything she had to say. This was bigger, more consuming, and hurt in a way that Xeni couldn’t understand. She had a right to know what happened. She didn’t care who was wrong or who had made the best decisions, she just wanted details. She wanted at least some version of the truth, without someone screaming at her.

  Xeni closed her eyes and tried to breathe. No tears still. She was too angry to cry real tears. Too frustrated, but she could feel the anxiety rising. The stress pulling at her heart in that very specific way. She needed to tell someone. She needed to talk to someone she could trust. She reached for her phone again, then jumped when it started ringing in her hand.