“Have a feeling she’d want me to do it even if I weren’t available,” he said wryly. “But sure. Whatever she needs.”
“Great. Are you here by yourself or—”
He shook his head. “I’m meeting my cousin—ah. Over there.” He raised his hand in acknowledgment and Nell automatically glanced over her shoulder to look. A striking woman with graying auburn hair was sipping iced tea while a younger redhead with an animated expression was looking their way.
It was the red hair that caught Nell’s attention. She remembered seeing the woman in the courtroom with Archer a few times.
She also remembered the way she’d felt inside witnessing the obviously comfortable way the two related to one another. She’d figured they were involved.
For all she knew, they still were. He’d said it himself. He dated lots of women. Just because Archer was romancing Judge Potts didn’t mean he wasn’t romancing someone else, too. He’d done it back when Nell had been in law school, after all. She just hadn’t known about it at the time.
“Then I should clear the intersection,” she told Nick lightly, stepping to one side.
“Why don’t you join us? April won’t mind—”
“No, no.” She shook her head. “Thank you, but I don’t want to intrude. And I’m just grabbing a bite. Working lunch, I’m afraid. I’ll email you the details about the party.” She patted her notebook and began sidestepping toward the counter. “I’m glad we bumped into each other.”
“Best collision I’ve had all year.”
She couldn’t help but laugh. He was too friendly not to.
She was still smiling when she slipped into the spot between the cash register and Squire Clay’s empty seat and dumped her notebook and its disheveled contents on the counter.
Tina immediately greeted her with a wave. “Be with you in a sec, Nell.”
“No rush,” Nell assured her. She had plenty to keep her busy. She flipped open the binder and began restoring order to it. She’d begun using the notebook to help keep herself organized. She already had sections for fundraising, for construction issues, for permits and approvals. She even had copies of the architectural renderings.
But the section right now at the front of her binder contained her checklists for Vivian’s cocktail party being held the following day.
Two items remained unchecked among the dozens of others that were marked off.
A proper dress for Nell.
And a confirmed RSVP from Squire Clay. He was the only holdout from the entire council.
Which was the whole reason she’d come into the diner for lunch in the first place.
She fit the last page onto the binder rings and snapped them closed, then waited until Tina flipped over her coffee cup and filled it before asking about the man’s whereabouts. “I thought Squire comes in every day.”
“He does.” Tina glanced beyond Nell’s shoulder and dropped her voice slightly. “But not when she’s here.”
Nell raised her brows. “When who is here?”
“Gloria.” Tina’s voice dropped even more. It was nearly soundless. “His wife.” She inclined her head an inch. “She’s in the corner booth over there with her granddaughter, April.”
The corner booth where Nick was now sitting alongside the older woman. A quick sideways glance confirmed it. Nell lifted her coffee cup and took a sip. “He doesn’t eat here when his wife eats here?”
“Not since they separated,” Tina said under her breath. “It’s been the talk of the town all summer.”
Nell felt a stab of sympathy for Squire and his estranged wife. She didn’t like being the subject of “talk” in Cheyenne. She could only imagine how much worse it would be in such a small town like Weaver.
A peal of laughter erupted from the table in the corner and Nell had to control the urge to look over again. She quickly ordered one of the sandwich specials from Tina before the waitress had to tend her other customers, and flipped to the fundraising section in her binder.
Aside from several corporate donations that had already come in, there was a healthy amount of money that had been contributed by John and Jane Q. Public. But the amount raised still needed to be significantly higher, so in between refereeing the cocktail party appetizer selection battle between Vivian and Montrose, Nell had been looking into possible grant opportunities.
There was one in particular being funded by Swift Oil. And even though the CEO of the company had already made a personal donation—one of the first sizable ones, in fact—Nell didn’t see why that should stop her from applying for one of the company’s annual philanthropic gifts.
She didn’t have a lot of experience with grant writing, but she was willing to try. Swift Oil was headquartered in Braden. The CEO, Lincoln Swift, obviously already recognized that the residents in his town would also benefit by an expanded library in Weaver. She had most of the statistics ready but writing the narrative would take some time. And time wasn’t in great supply since the deadline for grant applications to even be considered was tonight at midnight.
She’d printed off the lengthy application on Vivian’s printer and had managed to read through it once.
She believed she could get it done in time, but it would be close. And if the library were fortunate enough to win the grant, it would all be for naught if the town council still couldn’t agree that it should even be built.
Tina stopped long enough to deliver Nell’s sandwich and top off her water glass.
“Where does he—” Nell leaned her head toward the empty seat beside her “—go on days like today when he’s avoiding the diner?”
Tina thought about it for a moment. “Honestly, I don’t think he goes anywhere. He’s probably at home.”
“Where’s that?”
For a moment, Tina looked surprised. “I keep forgetting that you’re not from around here.” She glanced toward the corner booth and lowered her voice again. “The Double-C Ranch,” she said.
Nell had heard of the ranch,
