“That does sound fun. I’ll keep that in mind.” I glanced at my watch. “Right now, I need to meet with Dex. He has an assignment he insists we need to discuss in person, and then I need to pick Paisley up from school at three o’clock, so I suppose I should get going.”
“How’s Paisley doing? I heard her grandmother was in the hospital.”
“She’s doing as well as can be expected,” I answered. “It’s been hard on her since her mom died. It’s natural that she would feel out of sorts after her loss, but then to have her grandmother take a turn for the worse has been really difficult for her. Gracie and I have both assured her that she can stay with us as long as she needs, but I think she can see the handwriting on the wall.”
“Do you think the grandmother will decide she can no longer act as her guardian?”
I nodded. “I think that is exactly what’s going to happen at some point. I suspect it’s really only a matter of time before Ethel is going to need to move into an assisted care facility.”
“And Paisley? What will happen to her?”
I frowned. “I wish I knew. She has a second cousin who lives on the east coast, but Paisley doesn’t really know the woman, and she definitely doesn’t want to move away from Foxtail Lake. I suppose that Ethel might be able to name someone who isn’t a blood relation to oversee Paisley’s care. Gracie is going to meet with both Ethel and her doctor today. She plans to bring it up if the situation presents itself. I guess at this point, all we can do is take it one day at a time.”
“I’m sure it will all work itself out.”
I smiled. “I hope so.” I leaned away from the counter. “I really should get going, but I’ll be at the barn in the morning.”
“Okay, see you then.”
After I left the library, I headed down the street to the newspaper. It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm with the scent of wood smoke in the air, so I’d decided to walk. I knew that snow and winter were just around the corner, but for today, I’d enjoy the gorgeous color of the fall leaves as they gently fell to the ground and covered the sidewalk like some sort of wonderful fall blanket. I loved all the seasons here at Foxtail Lake, but I was pretty sure I loved autumn the most.
“Morning, Lorraine,” I greeted Lorraine Boxwood, the owner of a cute boutique featuring clothing not always practical for mountain wear but perfect for a special event.
“Callie,” she said as she pulled racks of sweaters marked for quick sale onto the sidewalk. “Those cardigans you’ve had your eye on are fifty percent off this week.”
“That’s tempting, but I’ll need to come back by. I’m on my way to chat with Dex right now, and then I need to pick Paisley up.”
Her lips tightened as her smile turned to a scowl. “When you see that boss of yours, will you please tell him to call me? I’ve left four messages about my ad, which he totally messed up, but the man has yet to call me back.”
“Something was wrong with your ad?” I asked.
She nodded. “When he was in last month, we worked out ads for each of the five Fridays in October. I figured that would save us both time in the long run, and I knew which items I planned to have on sale each of the five weeks, but the ad that was supposed to run on the sixteenth ran on the second, so I had people coming in all week looking for sale items that weren’t actually on sale yet.”
I winced. “I’m sorry. I bet that was a real hassle.”
“It was.”
“And last week’s ad? Was it right?”
“It was, but now I’m wondering what’s going to happen Friday. The last thing I need is for the ad that was supposed to run on the second to run on the sixteenth.”
“I’ll make sure Dex calls you, and I’ll check on the ad copy myself. I’m so sorry about the mix-up, and I really can’t explain why Dex hasn’t returned your calls.”
“I’ve spoken to some of the other merchants. It seems I’m not the only one who has had a problem of one sort or another with our ads in the past several months. I’m not sure what’s going on over at the newspaper to cause so many mistakes, but if you want the income provided by local advertising, you best get it fixed.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “It does sound like there’s a glitch that needs to be attended to. I’ll check on your ad and have Gabby send you a proof. Again, I’m sorry about the error on the second.”
As I continued toward the newspaper, I thought about the fact that Dex had not only messed up Lorraine’s ad but hadn’t called her back either. It did seem like something was going on with him lately. I’d asked him about it a few times, and he’d assured me that everything was fine, but if my conversation with Lorraine was any indication, things were apparently far from okay.
“Morning, Gabby,” I said to Gabby King, the receptionist for the Foxtail News, after I walked into the small reception area.
“Morning, Callie.”
“I’m here to see Dex, but before I head back, I wanted to ask about Lorraine’s ad. I ran into her on my way over here, and she said she’s left four messages for Dex, but he hasn’t called her back.”
Gabby frowned. “I gave him the messages. I even emphasized how important it was that he return her calls. He said he would.”
“Apparently he didn’t. Lorraine is really upset and concerned about this week’s ad. Do you have a proof?”
“I can get one.”
“Great. It would go a long way to put her mind at ease if you would email it to her.” I plucked a piece of hard candy out of the dish on Gabby’s desk. “Don’t we usually email our advertisers with a proof copy even if they don’t ask?”
“That has been our policy in the past, but Dex has been off lately. I’m not sure what’s wrong, but he just isn’t himself.”
“What do you mean by isn’t himself?” I asked.
She shrugged. “He seems distracted and absentminded. Lorraine’s ad isn’t the only one he’s messed up. I offered to help him with the layout, but he insists everything is fine and that I don’t need to worry about it. I think things got away from him after Paul left.”
Paul had been in charge of advertising since before I came to work for the newspaper, but Paul and Dex had had a falling out a few months ago, and Paul quit. I expected that Dex would hire someone to replace him, but when I asked about it, he’d made a comment about just taking over the task himself and had never done anything about replacing the full-time employee. “I’ll talk to him,” I offered, realizing that if someone didn’t get through to him, none of us would have a job.
“Is he expecting you?” Gabby asked. “He’s been weird lately about people popping into his office without an appointment.”
That really had me frowning. Dex was a friendly guy who’d never minded a pop-in before. “He is expecting me. He texted earlier and asked me to stop by. He mentioned something about a special assignment.”
“I bet he wants to talk to you about the production company from Hollywood that’s going to be in town next week.”
“Production company?” I asked since I hadn’t heard the news. “Are they making a movie here in town?”
“Out at the Eagle Ridge Ski Resort. I guess they took over the whole place since it’s still closed for the season. The resort, the hotel, the restaurant.”
“Sounds exciting,” I said.
“The fact that a movie is going to be made here in our small town has been the topic of discussion on the gossip hotline all morning. If you get anything juicy out of Dex, let me know.”
“I’ll do that,” I said as I headed down the hallway toward Dex’s office. Once I arrived, I greeted him and then took a seat across the desk from where he was sitting. “So, what’s this about a production company being in town?”
“Sloan Kingston will be in the area to film his new movie.”