Three Little Words (Fool's Gold #12)

When she found the scarf, she brought it and the belt to Taryn. “Try these.”


Taryn piled her hair on top of her head and turned to looked at the cutout. She released her hair and fastened the belt. “Fabulous,” she breathed as she reached for the scarf. “Is this your design?”

“No. Someone I know represents the designer. Dellina, my friend, is in town. She organizes parties and does some decorating. She asked me to carry a few pieces. They’ve been selling really well.”

“I’ll take it,” Taryn said, letting her hair fall. “But seriously, Dellina needs to tell her friend to raise her prices.” She stepped off the platform and walked barefoot toward Isabel. “I’m going to need Dellina’s number.”

“Okay, um, why?”

“As I mentioned, my business is moving here. We’re going to be buying new offices in the next few months and remodeling them. I’m guessing we’ll make the physical move in February or March of next year. At that point, I’ll need a decorator.”

“What’s the business?”

“Score. It’s a PR firm.” Taryn rolled her eyes. “My partners are former football players. They’re the ones who found Fool’s Gold. A friend of theirs had a pro-am golf tournament here and they played in it. Apparently it was love at first sight. We had a vote and I lost.” She flashed an unexpected smile. “Not to worry. I’ll figure out some way to punish them. But in the meantime, we’re relocating our headquarters.”

Former football players in Fool’s Gold? Isabel started to tell Taryn that good-looking men were always welcome, but decided the other woman might not appreciate the news.

“It’s a great place to live,” Isabel offered.

“How long have you been here?” Taryn asked.

“I grew up here, then moved to New York. I’m only back for a few months...” Her voice trailed off.

Taryn nodded. “You’re proving my point. All the good ones escape.”

Isabel laughed. “If you’re going to be around for a while, maybe you’d like to have lunch with me and my friends. It might help you feel more excited about the move. You know, if you meet a few people.”

Taryn stared at her. “Please don’t take this wrong, but is everyone nice? Because I find that to be a problem.”

“No. They’re fun and great people, and they can be snarky. Especially Charlie. In fact, I think the two of you could be very good friends.”

“Then count me in.”

* * *

THE OLD HOUSE was about an hour outside Sacramento. The large trees on the property had started changing colors, and orange and red leaves drifted across the ground. In the distance, a couple of horses ran together, as if they, too, felt the perfection of the cool fall day.

Forty or fifty cars were parked beside an old red barn with fading and peeling paint. A second barn stood a couple of dozen feet away.

“You’ve stopped pouting,” Isabel teased as she got out of the Jeep.

Ford shrugged into his beat-up leather jacket. “I wasn’t pouting.”

“Sure you were. There was heavy sighing and a few moans.”

“I didn’t moan.”

She laughed. In truth, Ford had come through on his promise to take her to an estate sale. They’d picked this one together. Although it was a fair drive from Fool’s Gold, Isabel had thought he would enjoy the variety of items being sold.

“The farmhouse has been in the family over a hundred and fifty years,” she said. “Look at it. All that attic space and outbuildings. We could find something really special today.”

“Hey, maybe I can get a tractor.”

She sighed. “Are you going to be difficult? Because if you are, can you wait in the car?”

He laughed and took her hand in his. “I’m not going to be difficult. Come on. Let’s go find some treasures.”

They moved toward the house.

A teenaged girl handed them a flyer. “Furniture in the house,” she said, pointing. “Smaller items in the two barns. Cash only. We’ll hold the furniture a week, if you need us to, but you have to pay a deposit.”

“Thanks.” Isabel took the flyer and turned away from the house.

“They’re organized,” Ford said. “I figured it would be like a garage sale, but they have way more stuff.”

“Most aren’t like this. At least, not the ones I go to. I guess they’ve been planning the sale for a while.”

They walked toward the first barn. A steady crowd flowed in and out. She saw that someone had set up an awning, and there were three cash registers on tables. Several teenaged boys helped carry purchases to vehicles.

“What are they going to do here?” he asked. “With the land?”

“I heard it was going to be a subdivision. Which makes me sad. A family owned this land for years.”

“For some people, this is progress.” He glanced at her. “You’re not going to say you want to buy it, are you?”

“No. I’m moving to New York. But still, that was a great house, back in the day. There were probably a lot of kids running around. You had that.”