Third Time's a Charm (Holland Springs #3)(19)
“Lovely to meet you in person, Brenda.” Sasha extended his hand and shook the mayor’s, then the bank president’s. Harrison Collins removed his glasses and tucked them into the inside pocket of his jacket. Sasha couldn’t help but think that he’d met him before. It didn’t matter. He had a job to do. He gave his dinner companions a brief smile and said, “Let’s get down to business, shall we?”
“The Hollands won’t sell Strawberry Grove,” Harrison said, his gray eyes emotionless in the candlelight as Sasha and Jason sat down at the table.
A guilty flush covered the mayor’s face. “I still don’t like the idea of putting those poor girls out on the street. Where would they go?”
Jason tipped his glass back and took a swallow of wine. “They can live in the apartment over the store. It’s only Rose and that kid of Summer’s living in the house, anyhow.”
Brenda frowned and picked at her salad.
“We haven’t heard a job count yet. How do we know that they won’t build the plant and bring their own people over? I’m not taking it to my board for consideration until we have concrete numbers,” Harrison said.
“Good point. It’s hard to persuade people to get behind seizing someone’s land for the ‘common good’ if there aren’t any jobs. Looks bad to the press, too, and I wouldn’t be able to advise the town council to vote for it without good reason.” Jason looked at Sasha. “What’s the latest?”
“Nahalah is guaranteeing five hundred jobs. Ones that pay well and have excellent benefits,” Sasha said, ignoring the sharp stabs of guilt.
Harrison smiled. Something started to click in Sasha brain, but the man’s next words obliterated the thought. “Looks like Rose’s loan is coming due soon—in full—and if she can’t pay…” He raised his brows and shrugged.
“Loan?” Sasha paused, his fork hovering inches from his mouth. This was quickly becoming ridiculous. First he’d been caught unaware about the former job, then the baby, and now a business loan.
“How do you think she got the money to start Carolina Dreams?”
“Please, Harrison, people have been coming to the Hollands for years and paying them for their services.” Brenda grabbed a roll and smeared some butter on it. “Heck, Lake Holland sent me and Nolan to the springs. We’ve been married for thirty-five years now.”
“I can’t believe you think that love potion, mumbo-jumbo crap they put out there is real, Brenda.” Jason shook his head.
She looked affronted. “Rose Holland helped my little girl catch a nice man. One that loves her and owns a business.”
“And smells like fish,” Jason sneered.
“No one’s above a decent day of work,” Harrison said.
“Thank you,” Brenda said, flashing a smile at the bank president.
“So smelling bad equals decency?” Jason said with a smirk. “Guess I’ll never be decent.”
Shaking his head, Harrison signaled the waiter for another drink.
Sasha rubbed the back of his neck. How a woman like Rose had ever become involved with a man like Jason blew his mind. The lawyer was a transparent snob and womanizer. “Are you from Holland Springs, Mr. Everett?”
“Call me Jason, and no, I’m from a town fifty miles south.” He wiped his mouth with his cloth napkin. “I moved here about a year and a half ago.”
Sasha could picture it: A new guy in town, presumably unaware of her family’s history, with an easy smile and charm. Takes her out, gets to know her, seduces her, and then leaves her. But could he really hate Jason for the exact same thing he’d done to Rose? Did it matter that his only redeeming quality was that he hadn’t had sex with her?
The waiter placed their food in front of them, but Sasha wasn’t remotely hungry.
Harrison pierced a small piece of salmon with his fork. “How did you talk Rose into letting a complete stranger stay at her home?”
“I knew her from before.” Sasha took a quick bite of his shrimp and grits. “And I’m renting a room, not merely staying there.”
Brenda’s brows drew together. “Before?”
“The first time I visited your lovely town, I had the pleasure of meeting Rose at her shop.”
“Oh.” The mayor’s brows relaxed, but she wasn’t convinced. “Still, Rose isn’t what most would call outgoing. She keeps to herself.”
“All Rose needs is the right kind of incentive,” Jason chimed in, “Out of the three of them, Summer’s the most…hospitable.”
Sasha swallowed, imagining his fist connecting with the lawyer’s nose. “Rose is very giving of herself.”
“I’ll say.” Jason tracked a woman wearing a tight red skirt as she sauntered across the room. He winked at her and she flung her hair over a shoulder, giving him a flirtatious smile.
“Azalea was like that, never turned someone in need away,” Harrison said.
Sasha raised his brows. “I assume you’re speaking of their mother.”
Harrison nodded. “She took off seven years ago, right after Rose turned sixteen. Skye couldn’t have been more than thirteen, and Summer eighteen, but she was playing house with Patrick Johnson.”
Why would Collins bother to know the personal details of three women who were outcasts in their own town? If anyone else thought that comment to be strange, they didn’t voice it.