Hightail It to Kinsey Falls Read online

  Hightail it to Kinsey Falls

  Gayle Leeson

  Copyright © Gayle Leeson 2018

  All rights reserved. The right of Gayle Leeson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988.

  No part of this publication may be altered, reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form, by any means, including, but not limited to, scanning, duplicating, uploading, hosting, distributing, or reselling, without the express prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of reasonable quotations in features such as reviews, interviews, and certain other non-commercial uses currently permitted by copyright law.

  Disclaimer:

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, locations, and businesses are purely products of the author’s imagination and are entirely fictitious. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, places, or events is completely coincidental.

  Hightail it to Kinsey Falls by Gayle Leeson

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Epilogue

  Coming Soon from Grace Abraham Publishing

  Author’s Notes

  Virginia Opossums

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  ◊

  As Millie walked out of the Community Center, she made a mental list of the things she needed from the grocery store. She didn’t need much: coffee pods, dishwashing detergent, tea pods—she certainly didn’t need a baby possum.

  But there it was, crouching in the sun at the side of the walk. At least, that’s what she thought it was. She stepped over into the grass and leaned closer. The gray and white creature with the tiny pink paws and tail looked as if it were trying to disappear into the ground. It opened its wide mouth and emitted a harmless little hiss at her.

  Yep. It was a possum.

  “Oh, poor baby.” Millie saw no sign of its mother or any siblings, but there were too many dogs and cats around to leave the poor thing to fend for itself. She rifled through her purse until she found her makeup bag. She emptied the bag into the purse, sat the purse on the ground beside her, and proceeded to use the now-empty canvas bag to capture the baby possum. Once it was inside the bag, she quickly zipped it closed, leaving a small breathing hole.

  Millie grabbed her purse and hurried back into the building. The pet shop was located right beside Nothin’ But Knit, and she hoped Jade and Terri wouldn’t spot her. How in the world would Millie explain to her granddaughter that she had a possum in her makeup bag?

  The bell over the door of Hightail It! Pet Supply and Grooming jingled when Millie went inside.

  “Be right with you,” a male voice called.

  “Hurry, please!” Millie placed her purse on the counter so she could hold the cosmetic bag with both hands. The possum didn’t appear to be moving. She’d like to have unzipped the bag just a bit more, but she’d prefer to wait until the professional arrived.

  A muscular young man came out of the stockroom with a fifty-pound bag of dog food on his shoulder. He eased the bag onto the floor and smiled at Millie. “Someone called and requested we have this bag ready for pickup today. Was that you?”

  This guy was really handsome. Thick, wavy dark hair with a bit of a curl to it, deep chocolate-colored eyes, excellent build shown off to perfection in a white tee shirt and nicely fitting jeans… Had Jade met him?

  Millie realized she was staring and smiled. “Nope. Not me.”

  He returned her smile. “What can I do for you then?”

  “I have a… Well, I was going to my car, and I found this…this….” She held the makeup bag toward the young man.

  He took it gingerly. “What’ve you got in here—a bird?”

  “It’s a…possum.”

  That sent his eyebrows skyward. “Huh. Well, let’s see what we can do. Be right back.”

  He carefully put the bag on the counter before sprinting back to the stockroom. He returned with a small, square box with high enough sides that, hopefully, the possum wouldn’t escape and run amok in the shop.

  Handsome held the bag inside the box and slowly unzipped it.

  “Hmm…” He gently turned the bag onto its side and dumped the tiny body into the box.

  As soon as the young man moved his head, Millie peered inside. “Oh, no! Is it dead? Did I kill it?”

  “No. I believe what you’re seeing is called tonic immobility.” He held up the makeup bag by his index finger and thumb. “I do think you’re gonna want to replace this, though. Your new buddy left you a not-so-pleasant present.”

  “Ugh…yeah. Could you get rid of that bag for me?”

  He laughed. “Sure. I’ll throw it in our dumpster out back.” In the meantime, he double bagged it. “I’m Caleb, by the way.”

  “Millie.” She sighed. “Bless its heart—I didn’t mean to scare it. It’s just a baby. I was trying to mount a rescue.”

  “I know.” He seemed to shrug off her bringing a possum into his shop as if it were an everyday occurrence.

  “Do you live upstairs?” Millie asked.

  “I do,” he said. “You?”

  “Yep. Other side of the hall from you, I’m sure.”

  “Nah! Really? How’d you get stuck over there with the golden oldies?” He grinned.

  “Just lucky, I guess.” She looked around the pet shop. She didn’t have any pets of her own and had never been inside. “This is a nice place. Is it yours?”

  “No, I’m just working here while getting my graduate degree in urban and regional planning.”

  “That sounds…” She shrugged. “It sounds confusing. What is it?”

  “It’s basically coming up with stuff like this Community Center,” he said. “This is the type of designing I want to do. Take things in danger of being discarded and make them useful and new again.”

  The Kinsey Falls Living and Retail Community Center was the brainchild of an innovative real estate developer who had taken a dying mall and had turned it into a community that catered to two specific groups—seniors and young professionals. The upstairs had been converted to micro-apartments with the “golden oldies” on the left side and the YPs on the right. The retail spaces downstairs were designed to appeal to both groups as well as to the general public. There were common areas both upstairs and down, and community gardens were located at the right and left sides of the building.

  “Don’t let some of those golden oldies hear you say that. They’d take it as a challenge.”

  “You think?”

  “I know. I imagine there are several of the women who’d try to give Mrs. Caleb a run for her money.”

  He arched a brow. “Are you fishing, Millie?”

  “A little,” she admitted. “My single granddaughter owns the knitting shop right next door to you. Pretty redhead. Have you noticed her in here?”

  “I haven’tAnd I’m sure I’d remember a pretty redhead. You think I should take up knitting?”

  “Maybe you should. It’s very relaxing…or so they tell me.”

  “You don’t knit?”

  “Heavens, no.” She grinned. “Maybe I will one day…when I’m a golden oldie.” She
nodded at the box. “How long before we know if Baby Possum is alive or in--intoxicated or whatever you called it?”

  “Tonic immobility. It could last up to four hours.”

  “Goodness! It’ll take that long to determine whether it’s alive or not?”

  “Hopefully not,” Caleb said. “In the meantime, I’ll call the one of the local veterinarians to see how we should proceed.”

  “Well, if the poor possum is still alive and the vet will treat it, I’ll take it to the animal hospital.” She shrugged. “I feel responsible for little…Perry.”

  “Perry?”

  “Yeah. That sounds like a good unisex name, don’t you think?”

  Caleb laughed. “Perry the possum, it is.”

  Millie took a card out of her purse. The black and gold card had Millicent Fairchild in bold, elegant letters in the middle of the card and her cell phone number in a smaller font below her name. She’d taken an online printing company up on their offer of free business cards after she’d gotten her phone. She handed the card to Caleb. “Please let me know when Perry wakes up.”

  “I will, Millie. And I’ll let you know what the vet says too.”

  “Thanks.” She smiled to herself as she left the store. Caleb was handsome, kind, educated…he could be a great match for Jade. Millie wasn’t thinking about happily forever after for Jade, like her daughter Fiona was, but she could see that Jade was lonely. A little male companionship would do her granddaughter good.

  * * *

  Jade put the blue cat carrier onto the hot pink countertop at Nothin’ But Knit and let Mocha out into the shop. Mocha, a seal point Himalayan, was a fixture in the store. He strolled out of the carrier, bumped Terri on the chin with his large head, and hopped down onto the oak hardwood floor to wind around Jade’s feet. Jade sat the carrier beneath the counter.

  It was already seventy-five degrees on this Saturday morning, and Jade was glad the Community Center had excellent air conditioning. Terri, Jade’s business partner and best friend since middle school, was making sure the shop was tidy before unlocking the doors. The shop—and in fact, the entire Kinsey Falls Living and Retail Community Center—had only been open for a few weeks. The grand opening celebration was being held a week from today.

  “You’re going to teach this loom class, aren’t you?” Terri asked, brows furrowing together over wide brown eyes. “You know I don’t do great with kids.”

  “Aw, come on,” Jade said. “This experience would be good for you.”

  “No, it wouldn’t.”

  Jade laughed as her grandmother Millie waltzed into the shop and did a three-sixty spin.

  “How do y’all like my new duds?” She wore a black, pink, and white floral print maxi skirt with a fuchsia V-neck tee. Like Jade, Millie had once been a redhead, but now her hair was a silvery white.

  “That’s a gorgeous outfit,” Terri said. “But I thought you had a moratorium on new clothes for the time being.”

  The moratorium was because the micro-apartments upstairs didn’t have a great deal of storage space.

  “I do. And the other gals do too. That’s why some of us got together and decided to host a swap meet in the atrium. We’re going to have one each month and trade off,” Millie said. “And not just clothing but scarves, bags, and jewelry too.”

  “How fun!” Jade kissed Millie’s cheek. “My smart, sexy grandma.”

  “You got that right. You gals are welcome to come to the next one. We’re trying to get as many people involved as possible.” She smoothed out her skirt. “Now, what were you saying would be a good experience for Terri? Y’all know how I hate missing stuff.”

  “Yep, Grandma, you’ve got serious FOMO.”

  “Fear of missing out,” Terri explained to a bewildered Millie. “She’s trying to get me to teach the tween girls’ loom class.”

  “One girl’s mom booked the class as part of her daughter’s birthday celebration.” Jade placed eight looms on the counter. “She bought each one a loom and the yarn to make a scarf.”

  “Gee whiz. When your mother was little, we just had a cake,” said Millie. “When you were little, your mother sent everybody off with goodie bags full of candy and cheap toys. Today, the moms are buying looms and yarn for whole parties full of kids? Sounds like an expensive takeaway to me.”

  “It’s all about the experiences,” Jade said. “Sure, people today want stuff, but they want experiences even more. Well, you get it, Grandma, or else you wouldn’t live at the Community Center.”

  Millie shrugged. “Experience, my foot. I don’t see why they can’t share a loom.”

  “For one thing, they can’t all make a scarf on one loom at the same time. And for another, they can’t share a loom because that’s bad for our business,” Terri pointed out.

  “She’s got you there, Grandma.” Jade carried the looms into the knitting room and spaced them out evenly on the large, round table. The table had been a flea-market find and had a distressed white finish. The armless chairs were upholstered in pink-and-purple paisley.

  “Also, there’s no way the girls can finish their scarves in the allotted time. They’ll need to take their looms and yarn home to complete them,” Jade called from the knitting room. She ran her palms down the sides of her jeans as she returned to the main part of the shop. “What are your plans for the rest of the day?”

  “After I leave here, I’m going to pick up a few essentials at the grocery store. When I get back and put my groceries away, I’ll go to the pet shop and check on Perry.”

  “Who’s Perry?” Terri asked.

  “Perry is a…a baby…animal…that I found outside this morning and took over to the pet shop. Have you gals met Caleb? He works in the pet shop and is absolutely dreamy.”

  “Wait, who are Perry and Caleb again?” Jade asked.

  Millie blew out a breath. “Weren’t you listening? Caleb is the gorgeous guy who works at the pet shop. He’s a real sweetheart too.”

  “And you met him how?” Jade frowned. Her grandmother didn’t even own a pet. What was she doing visiting the pet shop?

  “I met him when I took Perry, the rescued animal, to him,” Millie said. “He’s helping me make sure Perry is safe.”

  Jade ran a hand across her brow. “And what kind of animal is Perry?”

  Millie pursed her lips. “Perry is a possum.”

  Terri laughed. “Perry, the possum! That’s cute!”

  “Grandma! You picked up a freaking possum? Are you out of your mind?”

  “I didn’t pick up the possum…exactly. I kinda scooped it into my makeup bag.”

  “Ewww!” Jade threw both hands up to the sides of her head “Grandma, that’s nasty! You’ve got to throw all that makeup away—”

  “Jade, please. I certainly didn’t put a possum in my makeup bag with my makeup still in it. Besides, Caleb threw the bag away and put Perry in a box until he or she comes out of… Until the possum wakes up.”

  “Oh. My. Gosh. Grandma, please tell me you didn’t take a dead possum into the pet shop to have them try to save it!”

  Terri was doubled over with laughter. “This is great!”

  “Terri, hush,” Jade scolded. “It’s not great. It’s…it’s horrible. Grandma, that guy will think you’re nuts.”

  “I’m not nuts, nor does Caleb think I am. The possum was alive when I scooped him up, and Caleb believes Perry is still alive. In fact, he’s going to call me when Perry wakes up.”

  Wiping tears from the corners of her eyes, Terri asked, “Who’s going to call you—Caleb or Perry?”

  Millie cut Terri a disapproving glance and then addressed Jade. “I’m not as loopy as you two seem to think I am.” She looked around the shop until she spotted Mocha. “Aw, there’s my boy! He doesn’t judge.” She went over to pet him. “The young people are having a pre-grand opening mixer in the atrium tonight. You two should go. Maybe gorgeous Caleb will be there.”

 
“He sounds wonderful,” Terri said. “This knight in shining—what? Denim, maybe? Saving possums and making women swoon.”

  Terri lived in one of the apartments upstairs. Jade lived in the house Millie had sold her when she’d moved into her apartment. Millie had chosen the simplicity and socialness of “Community Center life” to continuing to maintain a house.

  Since Jade didn’t live at the Community Center, she didn’t feel comfortable attending the gathering. Besides, she had a sneaking suspicion that her mother was behind Grandma’s attempts to cajole her into attending the party and singing the praises of Mr. Pet Shop. Next, she’d be asking Grandma to leave job listings for Jade by the cash register.

  Her mother thought she was wasting her time with a knitting shop. “Too much work and not enough profit.” In Mom’s opinion, Jade either needed to find a more lucrative career or a rich husband. Jade wasn’t in the market for either. She was doing fine, thank-you-very-much.

  Seeing that Jade didn’t seem to plan on responding to Millie, Terri said, “We’ll think about it. Thanks for reminding us.”

  Jade pointed to the flyers she’d printed out yesterday afternoon. “Terri, don’t let me forget to put those flyers up in the library, café, and atrium when I take my lunch break. I already have the information on the Community Center app for the YPs, but I’m afraid the seniors won’t see it there.”

  Millie sniffed. “You act as if we old fogies don’t even know what an app is.”

  “Do you use the app, Grandma? Did you see the information about the beginning knitters’ class on there?”

  “I prefer to get my news the old-fashioned ways—like newspapers, televisions, and community bulletin boards.” She stiffened her back and raised her chin. “But I do know what an app is and how to use it if I’m so inclined.”

  “We know, Millie,” Terri said. “You’re cooler than most of the other seniors around here.”

  “Yes, well…”

  That was Millie’s way of shrugging off a compliment.

  As her grandmother left, Jade turned to Terri. “Did she really just come in here and tell us she rescued a possum that might or might not be living?”