Deep River Promise by Jackie Ashenden (cat reading book txt) 📕

“Don’t you mind him,” April said. “He’s always grumpy in the mornings. Now, where’s that coffee?”

As April bustled off to get the coffee, Damon tried not to think of the other thing that had been pressing in on him. The real reason he was here in Deep River, which hadn’t been just to yell at Silas, though yelling at Silas had been a pleasant byproduct. It was an important reason and one he’d been trying to figure out what to do with for the past three days.

He still hadn’t come to any definite conclusions, despite running a few different scenarios in his head. Not that he’d really put his mind to it; he’d been subconsciously counting on the fact that he had a bit more time to get something in place. Though now, after Rachel’s call, that time was running out.

Come on, be honest. You didn’t put your mind to it. You’ve been putting it off.

Yeah, that was fair enough. He had been putting it off, and for a whole host of reasons, none of which he wanted to think about right now. However, he couldn’t put it off any longer. Today, he was going to have to do something and then he would leave for LA.

April came back with a takeout cup and began fussing about with fitting the lid on it.

Damon folded his arms. He’d need to be careful here. Caleb had been very clear about the need to keep this particular secret, and since the townspeople seemed to love gossip more than they loved just about anything else, he had to be circumspect.

Silas had introduced him to a fair number of people in the town while he’d been here, but he hadn’t introduced him to Astrid, the town’s mayor. She was very busy, Silas had said. Pinning her down could be difficult, Silas had said. Wait until she’s in her office, Silas had said.

Except there hadn’t been a moment when Astrid wasn’t busy, able to be pinned down, or in her office, and Damon had begun to think that Silas was deliberately keeping him from meeting her.

An issue, when the reason he was in Deep River involved her. And her son.

And he was going to have to talk to her whether he wanted to or not.

“So, April,” he said casually. “Where can I find Astrid James?”

April’s gaze sharpened, the flirty girlishness falling away, Deep River suspicion written all over her face. “Astrid?” She pushed the cup across the counter to him. “What do you want with Astrid?”

It wasn’t unexpected that April would want to know, and luckily he did have a reasonable excuse, largely based on yet something else Silas had been doing his best to convince him of for the last three days.

Deep River had decided to make up for lost oil income by starting up various tourist ventures, and Silas had asked Damon to stay for a while in order to give financial advice, since money was a talent of his. Damon hadn’t minded—except now it seemed as if he wouldn’t have the time for that either.

“Silas’s been trying to get me to look over the new tourism ventures some people here are starting,” he said, keeping it offhand. “Told me the mayor’s the one I need to speak to about it.”

April’s gaze turned shrewd. “Oh?”

“I’m not bad with money, so I offered to check out the financials for free.”

“Well, well, well. More than just a pretty face, huh?”

Damon grinned. “Hidden depths, you might say.”

She laughed. “It’s always the charming ones that are the most surprising. Well, the town could surely use someone with financial know-how looking over those ideas. Especially seeing as how most folk here keep their cash under a mattress and wouldn’t know compound interest if it bit them in the butt.”

“You do, I take it?”

April tapped the side of her nose. “Oh, I know my way around a greenback, don’t you worry.”

“Perhaps you should be the one looking them over,” Damon said, amused.

“No, better for that kind of thing to come from a neutral party.” April nodded sagely. “People get twitchy otherwise. Think you have ulterior motives, that kind of thing.”

Yeah, he could see that happening in a small place like this.

“Fair enough. So, I need to speak with her this morning because I’m taking off this afternoon.”

April’s face fell. “You’re leaving? But you only just got here.”

Disappointing a lady was never Damon’s favorite thing. Especially an elderly lady.

“My mom is in LA,” he said, giving her a little bit of truth. His mom wouldn’t mind that. “Have to get back to her.”

April’s expression softened. “Well, can’t argue with that, though it’s a real shame.”

Damon became aware of a constriction in his chest, as if part of him agreed that yes, it was a shame. But it was only slight. He’d never planned on staying here for longer than a few days, and now he couldn’t anyway.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll come say goodbye before I go.”

April waved a finger at him. “You’d better. Now, if you want to find Astrid, start with the mayor’s office above the tourism information center. But if you want to catch her, you’d better get there quick because she doesn’t stay for long.”

* * *

Astrid sat behind her desk in the mayoral office and ticked off another task on her considerable to-do list with some satisfaction.

It had been a productive morning.

She’d chatted to Gwen, Harry the survivalist’s hippie girlfriend, about the success of the hot yoga classes that they’d started up as a way of getting the townspeople more involved in fitness, and then Astrid had suggested running some nutrition classes at the community center in the evenings. Gwen was, as expected, very receptive and had also wanted to talk to Astrid about her eco-resort tourism idea, though Astrid had been a little too pressed for time to get into it in any detail.

She’d had to go and talk to Mal about the fruit and vegetable co-op she’d been trying to organize. Fresh produce