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Sapphire Sentiments (Pot of Gold Geocaching Romance 3)

By Valerie Comer

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Chapter 1

“No.”

“Too late. I really need you in this group, Sage. You know your way around the area and can help the Satterfields feel at home.”

Sage Mulligan dragged the tablet right out of Lyssa’s hands, across the café table, and began backspacing her name off the list.

Lyssa snatched it back and tucked it behind the condiment caddy. “You’re not getting out of it so easily. You’re the official representative of the Town of Jewel Lake to the Pot of Gold Treasure Hunt. The town is even comping your entry since you’re one of their prize employees. That means I, as the event coordinator, can assign you to the group I think is the best fit.”

“You know what? Fine. If you won’t take my name off the list, remove Caleb’s.” Sage glanced around her parents’ diner. No one appeared to be listening, but she lowered her voice anyway. “There’s no way you’re making us work together for two months.”

“Caleb needs to be in this group as well. He—”

“You’re wrong, Lys. You and I have been friends since college. You know why I can’t hang out with Caleb Grant several times a week for an entire summer. The guy’s a self-centered jerk.”

“Once upon a time, you loved him.”

Sage snorted. “With whatever a seventeen-year-old knows about love, which isn’t much, I’m here to tell you. I was a lousy judge of character.” She eyed the tablet. If she lunged…

Lyssa laughed, set the device on the padded bench beside her, and waited until Sage met her eyes. “You’re a worse one now.”

“Oh, come on.” Way to flare Sage’s Irish temper. “I’m your friend, aren’t I? If I’m such a terrible judge of character, then there must be something about you I haven’t figured out yet. What are you hiding behind that sweet elementary-school-teacher persona? Are you a serial killer? A bank robber?”

“Listen to me.”

Sage glared at Lyssa. “Why? Because there’s nothing you can say that will change my mind. I am not joining any group that includes Caleb Grant. Besides, I hate the outdoors. You know that.”

“Do you know who Vance and Loretta Satterfield are?”

“They might be moving here from somewhere. Atlanta, I think I heard.” What did the public know about that power couple? Sage had a lot of town hall intel she couldn’t discuss.

“With money to invest in a new marina. You know how much the town needs that for tourism. Our entire beautiful lake with only a small rickety set of docks to access it. Agate Bay is upgrading theirs, and that’s closer to Missoula. But we have a complete town here with much more to offer than a snooty bedroom community like Agate Bay.”

Sage raised her eyebrows. It sounded like quite a few details had leaked, but she could deflect. “You live in Agate Bay.”

“Only in the summers. Only because Kirk and his brother inherited property there.”

“And in Butte for the entire school year. What do Jewel Lake’s woes mean to you?”

“Don’t be like that. You know I love this place. I have ever since you dragged me home with you that weekend in college.”

“I know.” Sage sighed. Mom and Dad had been talking about how the lakefront needed a facelift to keep up with other communities in western Montana. The town was just off I-90, so access was easy. If only tourists didn’t fly right on past the interchange with no clue of the gem they’d passed. “But Caleb.”

Lyssa’s gaze softened. “We need him in the group, too. He’s got the most digital experience of anyone in town, and he’s on the committee looking into funding upgrades to the town internet. He can speak tech with Mr. Satterfield.”

“I can’t believe Pastor Marshall and Eli are allowing you to subvert a church outreach event for the mayor’s political agenda.”

“Vance and Loretta have visited Creekside Fellowship several times when they’ve been in town. Pastor Marshall doesn’t look at it as subversive. He thinks of it as putting people together who have interests in common and should know each other.”

Which all made sense. Sage hated when logic trumped her own ideas. But she’d spent the past eight years avoiding scum-of-the-earth Caleb Grant, and she wasn’t about to make an allowance now. Not for Lyssa. Not for her parents. Not for the town that employed her.

“Would you girls like a warmup?” Mom stood at the end of their booth holding a coffeepot.

“Please.” Sage slid her empty cup toward her mother.

Mom glanced around the restaurant before focusing back on them. “Are you and that husband of yours back for the summer again, Lyssa? It seems we hardly ever see you anymore.”

“Yes, we are. Kirk is managing Communication Location so his brother can take some time off for their honeymoon. Didn’t I see you at Dale and Trinity’s wedding?”

Mom’s face brightened. “Lovely couple and such a gorgeous wedding.” She patted Sage’s hand. “I had to attend to see my daughter in the wedding party, because who knows if she will ever be a bride.”

“Oh, Estelle! Of course, Sage will get married.” Lyssa waggled her eyebrows at Mom and leaned closer conspiratorially. “Want to help me set her up?”

Mom leaned closer. “Do you know a good chef? Because that’s what Sage needs. Someone to work at her side in the Golden Grill kitchen.”

“Um, I’m right here, and no one is setting me up with anyone.” Certainly not with Caleb Grant, who was undoubtedly whom Lyssa meant. It still grated that Trinity and Dale had paired her with Caleb in the wedding party, knowing how they hated each other. “I’m happy with my life just the way it is. Working for the town and free as a bird.”

Which wasn’t completely true, but Mom didn’t need to know. Give her parents an inch, and they were ready to retire and hand over their entire business. The one she had absolutely no desire to run.

Meanwhile, Sage’s three closest friends had been married in the past year. First her roommate, Lyssa. Then her next-door neighbor had married her son’s cowboy daddy. Two weeks ago, Caleb’s sister, Trinity, had married Lyssa’s brother-in-law, Dale.

Sage was getting short on female friends to hang out with, so she’d adopted a kitten. Maybe she’d get a second one. At least Moxie didn’t try to force her to do things she didn’t want to do, like Lyssa. Unless cleaning the litterbox counted.

“Honey, have you heard anything more about those investors from Atlanta?” asked Mom.

Sage’s gaze bounced off Lyssa’s smirk. “You know I can’t discuss municipal business with you. It’s confidential.”

“I hope it all works out.” Mom sighed. “This poor little town needs a cash infusion.”

Wasn’t that just like a mother? A good one could guilt her kid without half trying.

“They’ll be here a lot this summer as they make a decision,” Lyssa put in.
Sage kicked her under the table.

“What?” Lyssa widened her eyes. “There’s nothing classified about that. Vance and Loretta stood in the parking lot at Creekside Fellowship and discussed a short-term rental of Pastor Marshall’s basement suite just yesterday. Anyone in town could have overheard them talking.”

“Such good news.” And now the mom-look zipped straight at Sage. “You do your best to help that project get through all Jewel Lake’s red tape, honey.”

“Of course.”

“A cash infusion in this town will help the Golden Grill, so it will be ready when you’re ready.”

“I don’t want—”

Someone waved for more coffee from across the diner, and Mom pressed a finger to her lips before darting away.

“Wow, she doesn’t give up.” Shaking her head, Lyssa leaned against the padded backrest. “But I heard that.”

“Heard what?” If there was anything Sage didn’t want to discuss, it was taking over her parents’ diner. It had already stolen her future once. It wouldn’t happen again.

“Heard you promise your mom you’d do everything you could. Have I got a deal for you.”

“No.” But, somehow, Sage felt her resolve slipping.

By the smirk on Lyssa’s face, her friend knew it, too.

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