Page 59 of Finally Moore

“Well, anyway, congratulations on your engagement,” she says. “While sudden, it honestly wasn’t very surprising.”

“Really?” My brows knit together in confusion.

Toni shrugs. “I don’t know. I guess I kind of predicted it. Well, that she’d settle down with one of your lot, since y’all seemed to have adopted her. And out of the three of ya, you seemed the most compatible.”

“You need a hobby.” I shake my head.

Actually, now that I think about it, this whole town does.

“Why would I want to do anything else when the gossip at Patty’s is about as delicious as her fudge? That’ll be $15.78, please.”

“Oh, by the way…” I say, suddenly recalling the announcement I read in the town’s paper on Sunday. “I guess congratulations are in order for you as well. You and Josh finally tying the knot?”

“Yup,” she says, with a bit of hesitance and not with the level of excitement I’d expect from someone newly betrothed. “It seems like time to finally settle down, start a family.”

Toni is a few years younger than me. Besides knowing her because her dad runs the only hardware store in town, she used to date one of my good friends, Zach. But that’s been over for nearly a decade now. I’m glad that she’s moved on. Not every story is lucky enough to end like Jax and Tilly’s. And, well, Zach… I know he’s never coming back here.

“Yeah, I think we’ve all reached that age,” I tell her, because I know it’s all I’ve been able to think about since last year. “Well, I’ve got some windows to seal.”

“Good luck,” she says. “Oh, and, Scott?”

“Yeah?” I pause with my hand on the door.

“Merry Christmas.”

Chapter twenty-four

Scarlett

Fuck,fuck,fuck…Can today get any worse?

I shouldn’t ask that. Because, yes, I’m sure it can.

I dig through the desk to find my grandfather’s old Rolodex. I know it’s in here somewhere. “There you are,” I say when I find it, then flip through in search of Malcom’s number. Not the main one to his service—that’s closed for the holidays by now. No, his direct line that he only gives out to his special customers, an exclusive group my grandfather used to be part of. “Come on,” I groan as the phone rings. “Answer—”

“Hello?” a man says.

“Malcom?” I question.

“Yes, how’d you get this—”

“My grandpa, Edgar Peterson,” I tell him.

“Oh, you’re the grandbaby he used to go on about? How are you, dear? Though, I assume if you’re calling me, the answer isnot good?”

Malcolm’s statement catches me off guard. Obviously, I knew my grandpa had some level of knowledge of my existence, especially since he mentioned me in his will. But the idea that he talked about me a lot is surprising. He barely knew me…

But I’ll have to dwell on that later. I have bigger problems right now. “Yes, sorry, I know it’s the holidays but one of my vacant rooms decided it’s the perfect time to have a pipe burst. I turned off the water in the unit to stop the flooding, but I’m not sure what happened or if other rooms are at risk.”

“The number one culprit this time of year is a frozen pipe,” he verifies my worst fear.

“I make sure to keep the vacant rooms’ thermostats up to sixty-five, just in case.” I was lucky that I decided to do a random room check, otherwise I might not have noticed until the damage was far worse.

“With the winds we’ve been having this year, you aren’t the first call we’ve gotten like this. Unfortunately, dear, I’ve retired.”Great. My hope deflates until he adds, “One sec… Junior? Think you can make a house call?”

“On Christmas Eve?” I hear a male voice grumble in reply.

“Family friend.”