Part 3 (1/2)

”Sometimes,” she said, ”you have to spend a penny to make a penny.”

”If you don't got the penny to start with, you can't spend it.”

”You can take out a loan.” Oliver shook his head. ”George won't do it.

Gov'ment's on his back about too many loans as '.”

”George?” Chelsea asked. Hunter said, ”Jamieson. His bank's the one on the green. ”He's the only banker in town?”

”You got it.”

”Why can't you go out of town to a different, bank?”

”Good question. Not new, though.” Hunter gave Oliver a look. ”Plum Granite banks with Jamieson,” Oliver vowed. ”Always has, always will.” ”So we'll all go down together,” Hunter warned. ”No one's goin' down.

Norwich Notch is solid as a rock.”

”Oh, yeah.”

”Because we stick together.” Oliver faced Hunter and lectured, ”There's three things that touch everyone in this town-the Farrs, the Jairdesons, and the Plums. Someone in every family here works for the Plums, someone in every family here banks with the Jamiesons, and someone in every family here trades with the 76 Tarrs. There's tradition in that, and stability and trust and a whole lot of other things that you'd a picked up in that fancy school you went to, only you were too busy puttin' jewelry in your ears to use Aem for hearin'. You're no good, Hunter Love. Got no brains at all. Don't know why I even bother to keep you around.” Chelsea didn't miss the familiarity of the words and waited for Hunter to lash back.

Instead he relaxed against the window frame with his hands tucked under his arms and a small smiled tugging at his mouth. Recalling what he'd said about guilt, she suspected that he found satisfaction in goading Oliver. Whether he was right or wrong, she couldn't say until she knew more. Then it hit her that she had no business knowing even as much as she did. Looking back, she couldn't quite believe the conversation. She was here to inspect granite, not to tell the owner of the company how to run his affairs. She fingered her watch. ”I hate to say this, gentlemen, but if I don't take a look at that granite soon, I won't make it to my other appointments.” ”Who're they with?” Oliver asked, s.h.i.+fting disgruntled eyes from Hunter to her. Chelsea held no secrets. ”Tocci in Amherst, and Petersen in Concord.”

”Tocci isn't in granite.”

”No, he specializes in fieldstone, but I use a lot of that, too. I wouldn't have come all this way for just one appointment.” Yes, she was interested in Norwich Notch, but it wasn't the be all and end all of her life. By nightfall she planned to be in Wisca.s.set, on the coast of Maine, visiting. her college roommate. 77 notem Demmaw ”Busy lady,” Oliver muttered. ”Take her outta here, Judd,” he said with a wave of his hand, and for a split second, with Oliver regarding her as though she were the bane of his existence, Chelsea felt an odd bonding with Hunter. Then she turned to the third man Jn the room and forgot about the first two.

”Judd Streeter,” Oliver grumbled by way of introduction. ”He's my foreman. He'll take you to the quarry and show you what you want to see.” Up until that moment, Judd Streeter had lounged silently against the bookcase. Now, slowly, he straightened. He was taller than Oliver, darker than Hunter, and while Chelsea doubted he bore an ounce of fat, there was a solidity to him that the other men lacked. His hair was thick, cut so that it looked good even disheveled. Wearing jeans that were damp from the knees down, a blue works.h.i.+rt, and dirty boots, he appeared to have come from the quarry, but there was nothing tired about his carriage. His movements were fluid as he came forward, the hand he extended strong and callused, and if all that weren't potent enough, his eyes were dark, deep, and direct in a way that shook Chelsea. She had expected a visceral spark when she arrived in the Notch, and that was just what she felt, but with a totally unexpected twist. Judd Streeter was, very simply, the most attractive man she had ever seen. Not necessarily the most handsome or polished or cultured. But startlingly, stunningly male. 78 HELSEA HADN'T INTENDED TO PHONE CARL while she was gone, since one of the purposes of her trip was to give their relations.h.i.+p a break. Then she had a change of plans and began to worry that if something happened to Kevin, Carl wouldn't know where she was.

She also felt a need to hear his voice. It was rea.s.suringly familiar. it was amicably predictable. It didn't unsettle her the way Judd Streeter's had. She let the phone ring ten times before hanging up and trying the office, but if Carl was there working late, he was letting the answering service take the calls. That was at nine. At nine-thirty she tried again, then again at ten. At ten-fifteen he finally answered. ”Carl,” she breathed in relief, ”are you okay?”

”Hey, Chels, how are you?”

”I was worried. I've been calling since nine.”

”I played squash. You said you [email protected] call.”

”I know. But I just wanted to tell you that I'm still in Norwich Notch. I won't be going on to Glynnis's until tomorrow.” 79 Bmtkam DCHAMW There was a short silence, then a too casual, ”What kept you there?”

”Actually, I left and came back. I met with Tocci and Petersen, but it's been raining here, so I couldn't see the granite as well as I wanted. It's supposed to clear up by morning. I thought I'd have another look before I head for the coast. Amazing, but the quarrymen keep working in weather like this. It was a mess.

Everything was wet and slippery. Apparently the only time they stop is in really cold weather, and then only because the stone doesn't cleave well.”

”You felt something, didn't you?” Carl said with barely a pause.

She thought of Judd Streeter-of the stomach fluttering she'd felt sitting with him in the cab of his truck, following him into the quarry office, moving beside him from ledge to ledge to examine huge blocks of granite. It was absurd, she knew. Pure fantasy. Of course, Carl was asking ab6ut her reaction to Norwich Notch. ”I don't know,” she said, trying to be nonchalant. She felt something for the town, but she wasn't sure what. ”It's hard to feel something for a place that's so wet.”

”What's it like, besides wet?”

”Small. Quiet. There's a great general store. I'm at Ahe inn now. It's in the center of town, overlooking the green. It's been a stopover for travelers for two hundred years. You'd like it. There's lots of dark wood and antique furniture.” She looked around as she talked. The place had been nearly as much of a surprise as Farr's. ”The rooms were done over a few years ago. Mine is blue and white with matching wallpaper and drapes. Everything has lots of little flowers, I think the whole town has lots, of little flow- 80 Ike Faswons of Cbehma KWW The bed's a four-poster. It's Colonial, like the ,-ers rest of the furniture. There's a blanket chest and a rolltop desk.

There's even a cheval gla.s.s.”

”Sounds pretty.”

”Uh-huh.”

”How about the people? Anyone look familiar?”

”Of course not.”

”Anyone stare at you?”

”Only because I'm a stranger. I had dinner in the restaurant downstairs.

I put a pair of slacks on instead of my skirt, and I still felt overdressed.” He chuckled at that, seeming to relax. ”How was the granite?”

”Nice, from what I could see of it. I'll see more tomorrow.

I'm also stopping at the plant in Nashua that polishes the stone from the Plum quarries. The color may be just right for my job, but I want to be sure. White with a touch of gray is okay. Not so, white with a, touch of pink.”

”What about the cost?”

”it may be negotiable. They're hungry for business.”

”Can they produce in quant.i.ty and on deadline?” She hesitated. ”I'm not sure. There are money problems. The company hasn't kept pace with the times in terms of equipment or output.”

”Do you think they'll fold?” If so, they wouldn't be the first. That was one of the things Chelsea had picked up from her waitress at dinner-not Matthew Farr's Shelby, but a girl named Jenny, who looked to be no more than nineteen and had a way of rounding her eyes for emphasis when she talked. And talk she did. Chelsea, who was a slow riser in the morning and needed silence through two cups of coffee, prayed 81 Barbara Definsfw that the girl didn't work the breakfast s.h.i.+ft. This being dinner, she had absorbed all the girl said with interest. Now she told Carl, ”Two other granite producers in the state have folded in the last five years, so there's plenty of work for Plum Granite if it can win the contracts. Unfortunately, the owner is a cantankerous old man. He turns most people off.”

”But not you.”

”He's just another challenge.”

”Like learning who your birth parents are.” Chelsea could have sworn she heard sarcasm. She wondered if she'd imagined it, if she was simply feeling guilty. But she refused to lie. ”Yes. Like that.” ”Have you asked around?” She had driven by the Norwich Notch Community Hospital. No matter that Kevin had said she'd been delivered at home by a midwife, there was always the possibility that her mother had seen a doctor before or after the birth. The hospital was in a big, old Victorian, past a covered bridge west of town. She had stopped the car and looked, then driven on. Likewise, she had noted the names of the town's five lawyers but hadn't called a one. ”I told you, Carl. I didn't come for that.”

”Come on, Chels. It's me.”

”I didn't come for that.”

”But I bet you'll like that granite,” he teased. ”By rights I should hate it,” she grumbled. ”Someone in this town didn't want me enough to keep me. It'd be fair play if I rejected the town's granite.” Strangely her anger died there, leaving her as curious as ever about Norwich Notch. Using granite from the town could give her a reason to return until her curiosity was appeased. ”If the 82 The Pa.s.sions of Chelsea Kane color looks right, it might be worth considering.”

”Even if the company is shaky?”

”No. But I don't know that for sure. That's why I want you to call Bob Mahoney.”

Bob was a lawyer who'd done work for Harper, Kane, Koo in the past.

”He'll be able to get information on the financial situation here.” He was also an acquisitions specialist, which Carl knew only too well.

Quietly he said, ”You're not seriously thinking of that.”