Holly Banks Full of Angst (Village of Primm, #1)(19)

About two feet round, with four sets of tiny propellers, it had a tiny camera mounted to its center.

“That’s a drone.” Holly pointed, not sure how she felt about it.

“Really sorry,” he said. “I must have lost control.”

“You certainly did.” Holly scowled. “Never thought I’d be the victim of a drone attack.”

“Me too,” Ella chimed in, her little voice scolding him as if she were an adult and he were a child. “We were just minding our own business.” Ella stomped. “Standing here, trying to give our eyes a nap. And then, blam.” Ella clapped. “You hit my mommy.”

“My apologies,” he told Ella. “Truly. I never meant to interrupt your nap.” He offered his hand to Holly. “I’m Caleb.”

“I know who you are.” Holly shook his hand. “You’re with Primm Cable. You were at our house on Saturday.”

“Oh, yes, that’s right! You’re the film school mom.”

“And you’re the sippy cup man.”

“I was just grabbing some aerial shots of Plume,” he explained. “Her area is closed to visitors because she’s so sick.”

“Plume is sick?” Ella blinked.

“Ella. Plume is just a plant,” Holly reminded her.

“But Plume is Anna’s mommy,” Ella whined, anxiety rising. “You said she was—when we were back there.”

“Ella’s right,” Caleb said. “Plume is like a mother to us all.”

“‘A mother to us all’?” Holly rolled her eyes. “Isn’t that a bit much?” She flashed a smile at both Ella and Caleb. “I’m sure Plume will be back on her feet real soon.”

“Let’s hope.” Caleb directed his worry toward Ella. “They’re flying in experts to take care of her. Her face is starting to rot.”

“No!” Ella gasped.

“And if she dies, the whole town will mourn.” Caleb adopted a look of grave concern.

Is this guy an actor too?

“Hey, I probably got a clear shot of the top of your heads just now. Camera’s mounted right here.” He showed Ella the tiny camera mounted to the drone. “Sorry I hit you.” He reached out to touch Holly on the arm. “I don’t know what happened. I must have hit the down button on the remote. Are you hurt?”

“I’ll be fine,” Holly said. “Just surprised.”

“Can I buy you a cup of coffee? They’re selling cherry pies to promote next weekend’s Cherry Festival on The Lawn.”

“Can we, Mommy? Pleeeez?”

“We’re good. But thank you.” Holly was speaking to Caleb but shaking her head to Ella. They weren’t staying for pie. They didn’t eat pie. No one in their family ate pie.

“Oh, hey.” Caleb patted the pockets of his khaki cargo pants. “I think I’ve got something you might be interested in.” After much searching, he pulled a folded piece of paper from one of his side pockets. “I thought I had an extra. Here: the Wilhelm Klaus film contest I was telling you about. Wilhelm Klaus. Can you believe it? All the way from Germany in, like, six weeks. Bringing a troupe of German puppeteers too. They’re performing Grimm fairy tales for the children of Primm this Halloween.”

Ella rolled up onto tippy-toes to have a look as Holly read the flyer.

Wilhelm Klaus Three-Minute Film Festival

Win $10,000 and dinner with THE Wilhelm Klaus

Germany’s most celebrated filmmaker

Any Genre | Any Style | Any Technology | Any Level | Any Age

www.WilhelmKlaus.com/three-minutes-to-personal-glory/

“Keep it.” Caleb smiled. “I have another one at home.” He tipped an invisible hat to Ella. “Enjoy the topiaries,” he said to Holly, turning on his heel to walk away, disappearing through a rabbit hole carved into the hedges.

Holly studied the flyer in her nail-bitten hands. Holly knew all about the German film industry. She told Ella, “My roommate in college left Northwestern to attend the University of Television and Film in Munich.” Holly fingered the edges of the Wilhelm Klaus flyer. “We kept in touch at first, but over the years . . .”

Ella kissed Holly’s arm.

“Well.” Holly folded the flyer, shoved it deep into her pocket. “Enough about that. It’s Labor Day! We have hamburgers to eat.” She picked Anna Wintour off the ground, set her on her hip, then reached out to take Ella by the hand. “And then you, my darling, need to get a good night’s sleep so you’re ready to catch the school bus tomorrow for your first day of kindergarten.”

“I don’t want to go to kindergarten. I want to stay home with you.”

Holly’s heart sank as Ella’s hopeful eyes searched Holly’s. To Holly’s chagrin, Greta’s ominous warning came to mind: a thousand things could go wrong. Holly bent for a bittersweet kiss on Ella’s sweet cheeks. “Me too, Ella. Me too.”





7


Later that afternoon



Jack arrived with supplies for their Labor Day cookout, and Holly left to run some errands without Ella. Ella needed school shoes and a cloth bag to carry her lunch. They’d talked about buying Ella an electric toothbrush after her tooth fell out, but Holly got it in her head she wanted to buy it before school started. When Holly arrived home, she found Jack in the kitchen. With Bethanny.