Chapter 4

ChapterFour

Logan had always thought hell would have fire and brimstone, but it turned out hell was a town hall meeting sandwiched between the woman he had been trying to forget since this morning and one of his nosy best friends. Every time he glanced at Hazel, she waggled her eyebrows at him in a way that made him very uncomfortable – and every time he looked at Jeanie, she smiled up at him like she was having a wonderful time. What had he gotten himself into?

He didn’t know why he’d told Jeanie about this damn meeting, or more importantly why he’d agreed to come. She’d just looked so flustered this morning, so confused. And tired. She was in over her head and, really, he was doing the town a favor. The Pumpkin Spice Café was the only decent coffee shop in town. If she didn’t get it up and running soon, people might have to resort to drinking the watered-down, burnt stuff they served at the gas station near the highway. Or they might just go full zombie and start eating each other’s brains for breakfast. If you thought about it that way, he was a hero.

Annie had taken over pointing out all the key players in the town as she unwound the world’s longest scarf from her neck, her blonde hair flying wildly around her head.

‘So, the guy up front with the hideous green tie is obviously the mayor.’

‘Hey! I got him that tie.’

‘Sorry, Haze, but that color is atrocious.’ Annie shrugged. ‘Anyway, the woman next to him in the power suit is the deputy mayor and our old principal. Her name is Mindy, but I will never not think of her as Principal Walsh.’ Annie lowered her voice and leaned closer to Jeanie. ‘She’s terrifying.’

Jeanie giggled. Logan ignored the way the sound curled up inside him and settled in.

‘And over there is my arch-nemesis, Macaulay Sullivan.’

‘The trivia guy?’

‘Don’t be fooled by the trivia, Jeanie. He owns the pub next to your café. Watch out for him.’

Logan scoffed. The only trouble between Annie and Mac was that they had the hots for each other, and neither would admit it. But he was not about to get into that now.

‘Anyway, he’s over there with Greg and Shawn, the owners of the pet store on the corner.’

Jeanie nodded, taking it all in, and Logan wouldn’t be surprised if she pulled out a notebook and started making a cheat sheet. She seemed like the note-taking type. Not that he cared what type she was. He was here for the coffee, to help the town, and to avoid a zombie apocalypse. Not to think about what Jeanie’s handwriting looked like, or if she would make little doodles in the margins.

She probably would.

‘And over there is the Sharmas, who just opened a new restaurant further down Main. They have the best tandoori chicken,’ Annie informed Jeanie.

Hazel jabbed Logan in the side, pulling his attention away from Annie’s tour. ‘Are you going to tell me how she managed to get you here? You never come to these things,’ she whispered in his ear.

‘Just being helpful. You know, neighborly.’

‘Neighborly?’ Her voice rose incredulously, like he’d never done a neighborly thing in his life.

‘Yeah. I can be helpful.’

Hazel snorted. ‘Helpful, sure. But coming to a town meeting? That’s way above helpful for you.’ She pushed her glasses up her nose and gave him a thoroughly obnoxious grin. ‘I think you have a crush.’

‘I do not have a crush,’ he hissed through clenched teeth, ridiculously worried that Jeanie would hear them. ‘I am not a twelve-year-old girl. I just want a decent cup of coffee.’

His annoying little friend shrugged. ‘Okay, sure. Just a helpful neighbor that wants coffee. Got it.’

He glowered at her but all she did was smile innocently. He didn’t have a ton of friends; he probably shouldn’t murder this one.

He settled back into his rickety old chair, arms across his chest. A crush. Absurd. He barely knew this woman. Other than the fact that she wore cutesy pajama pants, had the brightest smile he’d ever seen, and held a baseball bat like a major leaguer. Other than that, he knew nothing. And that’s how he wanted to keep it.

The smoke had barely cleared from the last time he’d crashed and burned in front of the entire town. He wouldn’t be repeating those mistakes anytime soon. Next time he dated someone, he would keep the whole thing far away from Dream Harbor. Maybe one of those nice long-distance relationships everyone was always talking about.

Not that he wanted to date Jeanie.

He just wanted coffee.

Mayor Kelly stepped up to the podium and cleared his throat. Logan groaned internally.

‘Welcome, Dreamers,’ the mayor said with his signature goofy smile.

Kill me now.

‘First order of business.’ He pushed his glasses up his nose in a manner so similar to Hazel’s that Logan felt an involuntary softness for the man. ‘Sullivan’s Pub will now be hosting a trivia night on Tuesdays, starting at eight o’clock.’

Logan could feel the anger radiating off Annie. Or maybe repressed sexual desire. It was impossible to tell the difference. Her baking class started at six. People could do both baking and trivia, but he knew Annie would not accept that logic. Mac had infringed on her night.

Mayor Kelly waited for the excited whispering of the crowd to die down. People were already calling dibs on team members. Mac had the balls to turn around and wink at Annie. She started to rise, fists clenched at her sides. Logan grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her back down into her seat. He held on an extra minute to make sure she didn’t spring up and dive across the room to strangle Mac. Or kiss the smirk off his face. Either one would hold up the entire meeting.

‘Okay, moving on. Next up on the agenda is the proposed stop sign on the corner of Mayberry and Cherry Lane.’

‘Forget the stop sign, Pete! When are we getting our coffee back?’ Leroy yelled from the front row.

Logan felt Jeanie tense beside him.

‘Yeah! I can’t drink my wife’s weird herbal tea one more day!’

‘Okay, okay, Tim. Settle down. No one is making you drink Tammy’s tea.’ The mayor held his hands up to quiet the crowd. Logan was right. They were on the verge of a zombie situation. ‘I believe we have the PS Café’s new owner with us tonight.’ Pete smiled encouragingly at Jeanie. ‘Maybe she can come up here and enlighten us on her plans.’

Jeanie drew in a breath and Logan thought maybe she wouldn’t want to go up in front of everyone. In fact, he was ready to jump in and explain that she planned to open this weekend, but she was already up and walking toward the podium.

He had been trying so hard not to notice her tonight that he’d missed how her hair was swept into a neat twist at the back of her head, and instead of hedgehog pajamas she wore gray slacks and a sweater the color of fresh cream. Her tall, black heels tapped loudly on the old wood floor.

He blinked. This woman was not the one he met this morning. This woman didn’t need rescuing. For the first time, he wondered who she had been before she moved here, what she’d done outside of Dream Harbor. He’d been so sure she needed him to help, to fix something for her. A bad habit of his.

She gave Pete one of her bright smiles and stood behind the podium. ‘Hi, everyone. I’m Jeanie. Dot’s niece.’ She cleared her throat, her smile wobbling slightly. So, she was a little nervous. ‘Sorry to have deprived you all of your caffeine for the week. I was ... uh ... just getting settled in, but the café will reopen this Saturday.’

Cheers went up from the crowd, and shouts of encouragement and welcome pulled Jeanie’s smile even wider. Logan felt his own lips tip into a matching smile. For the coffee. He was happy about the coffee.

‘I am having a little bit of an issue, though,’ Jeanie went on. ‘I’ve been hearing strange noises at night. It’s ... um ... been very disruptive to my sleep and I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on what it might be?’

‘Murderous farmers?’ Annie yelled out, and Logan kicked the back of her chair.

‘It’s probably just raccoons,’ Mac suggested. ‘I’ve seen a few fat ones digging out in the trash.’

Jeanie shook her head. ‘I don’t know. It really doesn’t sound like animals. And it’s a bit different every night. Sometimes like a banging, sometimes like a scratching.’

Oh, the crowd liked this little tidbit. Suddenly the room was erupting in theories.

‘Teenagers! Out causing trouble.’

‘Just a little mischief. It is October, after all.’

‘It’s probably a stress dream. I do dream readings. Come see me!’

‘It’s been very windy lately.’

‘You’re just anxious, hon.’

Jeanie’s head swiveled from person to person, listening to each crazy suggestion.

‘Could be haunted.’

Jeanie’s gaze snagged on Noah, captain of the SS Ginger, the town’s one and only fishing tour company and Logan’s other best friend. Lover of tall tales and beautiful women.

‘Haunted?’

‘Yeah.’ Logan could see Noah’s auburn-haired head bobbing in assent. ‘Definitely. Those buildings on Main are crazy old. It’d be crazier if they weren’t haunted, honestly.’

Logan would chuck something at the back of his friend’s head if he thought he could hit him from here. He’d brought Jeanie here to find a more plausible explanation for her noise problem, not to further support her ghost theory. Although, looking around the room now, he did not know why he thought this crew would come up with a more reasonable answer.

‘That’s what I thought, too! But Logan thought that was a crazy idea.’

‘Oh, did he?’ Noah asked, one copper eyebrow raised as every head in the room turned to look at Logan. The question was written all over their faces. Not anything about noise or ghosts, but all about him and Jeanie. Mostly, how was he already acquainted with the cute new girl in town?

Nope, not cute.

Just a new neighbor.

He felt the heat creep up his neck.

‘I think there could be something to this theory,’ Mayor Kelly cut in before Logan had to answer any questions. And for a second, Logan was grateful. Until the next words left the mayor’s mouth. ‘Actually, now that you mention it, I had a dream about this.’

Dear God, save him.Not a Mayor Kelly dream. He really was in hell. This was officially the last time he’d try to save the town from caffeine-addicted zombies.

‘A dream?’ Jeanie asked, completely innocent of the insane way this town was run. Logan must have been groaning out loud because Hazel jabbed him in the ribs again.

He rubbed his side. Hazel’s elbows were pointy as hell, and her glare was even sharper when he looked at her. But he kept his mouth shut. He had no desire to argue with her again about whether or not her father was clairvoyant. Another mistake he was learning from.

Never mind that, it was completely nuts to run an entire town based on your dreams. Even if it did happen to work out every now and then. And the town happened to be called Dream Harbor.

Mayor Kelly had stepped back toward the podium, ready to launch into the whole story of how he’d had a dream about becoming Mayor of Dream Harbor exactly one year before he was elected, and how he dreamt about that big ice storm before it happened, and the time he knew the nursery school had electrical issues and the electrician said he’d prevented a fire by calling him in time. Logan couldn’t bear it.

‘He has dreams,’ Logan blurted out. ‘Uses them to make decisions.’

Mayor Kelly beamed. ‘That’s right. Thank you, Logan.’

Jeanie glanced between him and the mayor, a bemused smile on her lips. She was having a good time. Damn it, if that didn’t make it worth subjecting himself to this insanity.

‘And your dream says that the café is haunted?’ she asked.

Mayor Kelly shook his head like she was being silly. ‘They’re not always that clear. But I did have a dream two nights ago about a stranger. That must have been you.’ He patted Jeanie on the back. ‘Although we’re nearly friends now!’

‘Get on with it, Pete.’ Some of the regular meeting-goers were getting antsy.

The mayor shrugged good-naturedly. ‘Of course. Anyway, in the dream there was a stranger in need of help.’ And then the mayor’s eyes lit up in a way that Logan found very ominous. Even more so when he directed his delighted gaze at Logan.

What now?

‘Oh, that’s right,’ Mayor Kelly went on. ‘In the dream, our very own Logan Anders was the one to volunteer to assist our new neighbor.’

‘Were there zombies involved?’ Logan muttered under his breath.

‘What’s that?’

‘Nothing.’ Logan waved a hand. ‘Never mind.’

The mayor had known him since he and Hazel became friends in ninth grade. He knew Logan as well as anyone, and there was no way in hell this was a real dream. This whole thing was yet another attempt at the town to get into his business. And after last time, he was determined not to let that happen.

‘I vote for just the wind. Are we done here?’ Logan asked, sounding like more of an ass than he meant to, but he refused to let Mayor Kelly interfere with his life. Dream or no dream. He also refused to notice the way Jeanie’s smile had slipped at his harsh tone.

‘You can’t just ignore the mayor’s dream, Logan,’ Isabel piped up from the side of the room where she was swaying side to side to keep little Mateo asleep in his sling. ‘You remember the nursery school.’

Logan pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘Yes, I remember the nursery school.’

‘And I didn’t move my car before that ice storm and that huge limb came down right on top of it,’ book-club Jacob added.

Half the room was nodding at him now and throwing out their own cautionary tales about ignoring the mayor’s dreams. If he hadn’t lived amongst these lunatics his whole life, Logan might be appalled. But instead, he was just weary.

‘It’s okay,’ Jeanie’s voice cut in through the commotion. ‘Logan doesn’t have to help. I’m sure I’ll figure it out soon.’ She still had a smile on her face, but it was the fake one. The one she’d given him this morning when she was trying to convince him she was fine. It was the lost one, the one that tugged on him.

Damn it.

‘I’ll do it.’

The crowd stopped talking, pleased with itself.

Jeanie smiled at him from across the room. Her real smile.

‘I’d be happy to,’ he added. And to his surprise, he meant it.