Cattle Valley: Fool's Gold Part 15

Of course she isn't staying! What was I thinking? Addie just didn't know how to make her leave. "I'm going to eat a sandwich and turn in early. You want anything?"

Chloe looked up at her and batted her lashes. "What are you offering?"

"A sandwich, Chloe. Nothing more."

Chloe got to her feet and moved closer to Addie. "Are you sure? It used to be so nice between us. It can be again."

All Addie could see when she looked at the wild, blonde hair and excessive makeup was an image of Del and Rita smirking at her. It'd probably been nice between Chloe and a lot of people since she'd left here. Addie shivered. Maybe she should get a check-up at the clinic now she could afford it. She could only pray the woman hadn't given her some disease that she unwittingly pa.s.sed on to Mel.

"On second thought, I'm not hungry. Clean up after yourself if you make a mess, okay?" Addie went to her bedroom and locked the door, in case her guest decided to take a middle of the night stroll. She wasn't taking any chances.

Chloe was still sleeping when Addie fixed herself a huge breakfast the next morning.

She phoned Mel and touched base, then set about vacuuming and dusting in the front room.

88.

She'd made a schedule for herself and was determined to stick to it, guests or not. She had to keep busy.

Just as she finished and put the vacuum back into the closet, the front door opened.

"Anybody home?" a familiar masculine voice called.

Addie smiled and strolled around the corner. "Hi, Nate! What brings you here?"

He held up a small painting of a child playing in a field of yellow flowers. "I found this and thought it would go perfectly in the front mustard bedroom. You know that one bare wall."

She stepped closer and examined the picture. "I prefer 'gold', if you don't mind. But this is beautiful and it's perfect. Want to help me hang it?"

He raised his eyebrows. "As long as no one is sleeping in that room."

Addie shook her head. "So you've heard Chloe is back. No, she's in the back bedroom, farthest away from me."

He lowered his voice. "You've got to get rid of her. What are you going to do?"

"Not sure." She shrugged. "I'm working on it."

"Throw her a.s.s out. You don't owe her anything."

"I couldn't do that. Besides, I don't want her hanging around Cattle Valley. I'd like to buy her a plane ticket to somewhere."

"Bus," Nate corrected. "All she needs is a bus ticket."

"And a way to get to Sheridan to catch the plane...or bus."

He seemed to think about it.

Addie grinned. "While those little wheels are a-turnin', I'll get a hammer and nail."

"I beg your pardon," Nate followed her. "Nothing of mine could be considered 'little'."

"Oh. Sor-ry. Here we go." She found what she'd been looking for, and they climbed the stairs to the gold bedroom. She positioned the painting, he gave his approval, and Addie drove the nail.

They stood back and admired it. "It's just lovely," Addie murmured.

"The minute I saw it, I knew it'd be perfect."

She squeezed his arm and placed a small kiss on his cheek. "You've been such a help to me. I don't know how I can ever thank you."

"I had an idea about that." His eyebrows rose again.

89.

Addie chuckled then stopped as Chloe strolled into the room wearing nothing but the same baby doll pyjamas. "Hey, Chloe."

"Good morning." She yawned and inspected Nate top to bottom. "I've seen you before."

"Lucky girl." He turned to Addie. "So all of your rooms will be available tomorrow night when the ladies come to town? There'll be at least a dozen people. They'll need every bed you've got."

She looked at him with surprise, having no idea what he was talking about.

Nate winked. "The Tulip Festival is always such fun. Mrs. Cavendish is a hoot. She's about seventy and feisty as can be. Her friends are, too. Be careful, or they'll keep you up late at night playing canasta. The inn will be rocking, I a.s.sure you."

"The Tulip Festival," Addie repeated, going along with his obviously contrived tale.

He nodded. "A huge draw for the senior set. The town will be crawling with them this weekend."

"Oh my G.o.d," Chloe drawled. "They're staying here? Somebody kill me, now."

Nate smiled at her pleasantly. "I could probably arrange that. Or-I could get you a room at the new lodge on the edge of town. It's much more your style. I'm sure you'd be very comfortable there. You'd only need a few hundred to stay through the weekend."

"I'm not moving to some lodge." Chloe looked at Addie. "I'll stay in the room with you.

You need me here to help take care of all the guests. Cooking, cleaning-"

"None of which I've ever seen you do." Addie stared at her. "Besides, this is a bed and breakfast, remember? There'll one be one meal a day to cook, and I can handle that. What I can't handle is the thought of you sleeping in my bed again. And I can't keep up the nice act any longer, Chloe. I'm sorry, but you're not welcome here. You need to leave."

The blonde woman's mouth dropped open.

"You go, girl!" Nate nudged Addie.

She rolled her eyes at him and continued, "I don't have much money, but I can sc.r.a.pe together enough for a bus ticket. I'm willing to do that for you."

Chloe blinked her eyes thoughtfully. "If I wait until after the old biddy convention pays, you'll have more money. Then you can buy me a plane ticket."

90.

Addie took a step closer to her. "But you can't wait, don't you get that? I want you out of here. Tomorrow, before noon when my guests arrive."

"The only bus I've seen is in Sheridan. How am I going to get there?" Chloe's voice was suddenly whiny.

Nate spoke up. "Rio and I are driving to Sheridan tomorrow to pick up some supplies for the Gym, our fitness centre. We'll drop you off."

"Are you sure?" Addie searched his eyes, wondering if he truly had to drive into town, or if it was something else Nate was doing to help her out.

"Positive. But Rio needs to be back early, so we're leaving by nine." He looked at Chloe.

"We'll pick you up. Be ready."

Chloe stared as Nate headed down the stairs.

Addie followed him to the front door and, when he paused, she threw her arms around his neck. "How can I ever thank you?"

"I was going to talk to you about that. I thought an open house here Sat.u.r.day night for the residents of Cattle Valley. You could provide wine and appetisers, and they could come in and see what you've done with the place. Once everyone sees how nice it is, your business will pick up. And you'll get the chance to meet people and thank those that helped you."

"Sat.u.r.day night?" She bit her lip. "Mel's parents will be here."

His eyes lit up. "The pharmacists? Mel's parents are great! They'll love helping you with a party."

"You think so? Then all right! Sat.u.r.day night it is." She squeezed his arm. "Provided all my imaginary little old ladies are gone by then."

Nate grinned. "Worked, didn't it? We'll come by tomorrow at nine. Have Chloe ready and roll her out the door."

"Will do," Addie agreed, excited and breathless from all the wonderful things that had happened, and it wasn't even noon, yet. One more day with Chloe, then she could concentrate on throwing the best inn-warming party Cattle Valley had ever seen.

91.

Addie opened the front door precisely at nine the next morning. Nate stood on the porch, arms folded across his chest. "She'd better be ready. Rio's not pleased with me as it is."

"I'm sorry." Addie formed her lips into a pout. "Think you can make it up to him?"

He grinned. "I can probably think of something. As for you, some crab puffs on Sat.u.r.day night might help."

"Crab puffs for Rio, you got it." She handed him an envelope with enough cash to buy Chloe a ticket to the moon. "Wherever she wants to go, I don't care."

He nodded then glanced up as Chloe carried her bag towards them without speaking.

A feeling of relief that the woman was finally leaving washed through Addie. "Take care of yourself."

"I will." Chloe smiled, batting her eyelashes. "I might see you again."

"Let's not plan on it. We had some laughs, but it's time to go our separate ways. Please, Chloe." Addie gazed at her intently. She did not want her turning up every few weeks like a bad penny.

Chloe flashed her an irritated glance, before Nate grabbed her arm and pointed her in the direction of Rio's truck.

"Time to go," he instructed. "See you later, Addie."

"Goodbye," she murmured to both of them and closed the door. She waited until she heard the truck drive off then collapsed onto the sofa. It's over. Things were finally falling into place. Now, she could focus on the party and what she planned to serve besides crab puffs.

But first... Addie stood and went to the phone. She'd written down the number of the clinic in town on a sc.r.a.p of paper. She'd heard it was usually pretty easy to get an appointment. She wanted an examination, just to be safe. She'd thought Chloe had been clean but now realised she'd had no reason to a.s.sume that. It was crazy to sit and worry about it, she was going in to make sure everything was fine.

When the phone rang, Addie nearly jumped out of her skin. She grabbed the receiver and spoke breathily, her heart pounding. "Apple Valley Inn, this is Addie."

"Miss Murphy, this is Dominic Nielson. I've finally got some news about your lawsuit."

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"Hi, Mr. Nielson." Addie didn't like the tone of her lawyer's voice. She chuckled nervously. "You don't sound happy."

"You neglected to tell me your parents never got divorced."

"They what?" Her heart leapt into her throat. "Of course they did. My father said-"

"I'm sorry, it really doesn't matter what your father said. It's what he did, or in this case didn't do, that counts. He never filed the papers. Your mother insists they were still married at the time of his death, and court records back her up."