His expression turned thoughtful. “Let’s see now… You smell like lavender. You’re crazy about orange-cranberry scones and Sullivan’s apple bread pudding. You’re low-key and easygoing most of the time, but you have a fiery temper when someone does you wrong. And there’s something keeping you from getting involved with me that you haven’t explained, even to your best friends.”
She was about to correct that last impression, but he touched a finger to her lips.
“I know what you’ve said, but it’s not the fact that I told you I’d leave here eventually,” he said. “It goes deeper than that.”
She sat back in her chair, shaken by his insight.
“How’d I do?” he asked.
“Pretty good,” she admitted. “Especially for someone who hardly knows me.”
“That’s what I find intriguing,” he said. “Even people who are close to you, who’ve known you far longer than I have, don’t know any more than what you’ve allowed them to see. There’s a part of your past you’re hiding and it’s something that’s obviously significant. It’s shaped who you are.”
She wasn’t sure how she felt about his ability to read her so well. “Not the way you mean,” she argued. “There are just some things I don’t like to talk about, things I don’t like remembering.”
“If they’re too difficult to talk about, too disturbing to remember, then they’re important,” he said. “I’m not sure it’s healthy to keep such things bottled up inside. Burdens are eased when they’re shared with friends, and you have some good friends.”
“Where’s your couch, Dr. McDonald?” she inquired testily. “I had no idea I was going to be psychoanalyzed tonight.”
To her relief, he instantly backed down, his lips curving into a smile.
“No couch,” he said with exaggerated sorrow. “And no house to put it in, anyway.”
Grateful for the change of topic and for the arrival of the waitress with their food, she took advantage of the moment to gather her thoughts before asking, “Where are you living? Are you still at the Serenity Inn?”
He nodded.
“Those rooms are tiny. I stayed there when I first moved here, but I couldn’t wait to find someplace bigger.” She put a slice of the steaming pizza on her plate, drew in a deep, appreciative breath, then blew on it to cool it down. Tom’s gaze seemed to be fixed on her mouth. The intensity of his fascination was disconcerting.
“Tom,” she said quietly, then more emphatically, “Tom!”
“Hmm?” He shook his head. “Sorry. I got distracted.”
“I noticed,” she said with amusement.
“What were we talking about?”
“You said you were living at the inn and I said that I’d lived there when I first got to town,” she reminded him. “Do you plan on staying there? After all, you’ve made it clear you don’t plan to stick around Serenity that long, so why bother with a home?”
He frowned. “Actually, I’ve been looking for a house.”
“I’m sure Mary Vaughn would be delighted to help with that,” she said.
“She’s offered,” he said in a tone that suggested he didn’t like what else she was offering. “I think I can handle the house hunting on my own.” He paused, then added, “Unless you’d like to help.”
To her surprise, she found herself saying, “I could spare a couple of hours late tomorrow afternoon if you really want another opinion.”
He seemed as startled by the offer as she had been.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes. Why not?” she said breezily. What was a couple of hours? They’d be driving around Serenity, not parking someplace for a long, intimate chat. And she’d been considering moving out of her own rental apartment and buying a house. This would be the perfect opportunity to see what was available.
“Should I pick you up at the spa?” he asked.
“Yes. It’ll save time if I don’t have to go home after work.”
“When should I be there?”
“My last client will be finished at quarter to four. I can be ready by four. That won’t give us a lot of time, but we should be able to check out a couple of the open houses anyway.”
“I’ll get the paper and map out the ones that seem most interesting,” he said. “That’ll save time.”
“Great idea.”
“Okay, then, it’s a date,” he said.
She had a hunch he’d chosen the word deliberately, but she let it pass.
“Since we’re discussing living arrangements,” he continued, “I realized earlier tonight that I have no idea where you live or how to get in touch with you except at the spa. When I couldn’t find a number in the phone book, I took a chance you’d be at the football game.”
She ignored the unspoken request for her address and phone number. “You were actually there looking for me? I thought maybe Cal had invited you because Maddie made him. She’s sneaky that way.”
“So I’ve gathered, but no. It was just a spur-of-themoment decision after I struck out on my attempt to reach you at work.” He studied her. “You going to give me a home number or a cell-phone number, or do you intend to do everything possible to keep the mystery alive?”
She weighed his question, then grinned. “Actually, the mystery thing seems to be working well for me, if it has you chasing around town trying to find me,” she said.
“A phone call would be quicker and more rewarding,”
he suggested.
“Maybe for you, but I kind of like knowing you’ll have to try harder.”
“That perverse streak of yours is a challenge,” he said.
“You’d be bored in no time without a few challenges in your life,” she guessed. “I suspect most women fall for you the second you meet. You’re handsome, funny, rich. That makes you quite a catch.”
“But you’re not interested?” he concluded, his eyes sparkling with mischief.
“Interested, yes,” she conceded. “Hooked? Nope. You’ll have to work harder to reel me in.”
“Careful, Jeanette,” he warned. “I’ve already warned you that I get a little crazy when it comes to challenges and dares. You sure you’re ready for that?”
There was something in his tone, something in the electricity sizzling all around them that made her reckless. She lifted her gaze to his. “Bring it on.”
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, as soon as she saw the dangerous sparks in his eyes, she knew she’d crossed a line from living safely within her comfort zone to a situation filled with risks. Somehow, though, she couldn’t dredge up any regret.
She’d missed this giddy sensation in her head, this off-kilter sensation in the pit of her stomach. She wanted it to last a little longer. Dana Sue was right. Caution might keep her safe, but it wasn’t really living. It had been far too long since she’d felt this way, far too long since a man had looked at her the way Tom was looking at her now. So what if it didn’t last forever? She’d survived a broken heart more times than she could count. She knew she could do it.
As Tom reached for her hand, lifted it to his lips and kissed her knuckles in a gesture straight out of the old blackand-white movies she loved, she sighed and let herself fall just a little bit in love. She ignored all the warning signs of disaster ahead—including the troubling image of his harridan of a mother—and uttered a silent prayer that this time things would work out and her heart would remain intact.
11
The very last thing Mary Vaughn wanted to do was ask her ex-husband for anything, but Sonny was necessary if she was to make this traditional-Christmas thing work for Rory Sue. Her daughter was still grumbling about not being allowed to go to Aspen for Christmas, so Mary Vaughn knew she had to make good on her promise that the holiday would be magical, the way it had been when Rory Sue was a child. She also needed to make it very clear to Sonny that Rory Sue could not be allowed to play them off against each other, that they had to work as a team. Howard had promised to leave it to her to work this out with Sonny, but if she put this conversation off for too long, he was bound to stick his nose in it. Her former father-in-law was incapable of butting out. She might as well make the call while she was sitting around waiting for prospective buyers to check out the open house she was holding today. Even talking to Sonny was preferable to sitting around here being bored to tears. Only a half-dozen people had wandered through all day and not one of them had expressed much interest. She’d shown the house to a young couple the night before, but they hadn’t come back as they’d said they would.
She dialed Sonny’s direct line. To her surprise the sound of his voice gave her a little jolt. Puzzling. She and Sonny hadn’t had that much chemistry when they were married. It was unlikely that had changed at this late date. Like his daddy, Sonny was basically a jovial guy. The divorce had been amicable, even if she made it her business not to set eyes on him any more than necessary. She was still humiliated by the fact that Sonny was the one who’d cut her loose and not the other way around.
“What’s up, darlin’?” he asked now. “That little girl of ours having problems?”
“Rory Sue is fine,” she assured him. “But I am calling because of her.”
“Oh? Why’s that?” Sonny asked, then murmured something to someone else. “Sorry, darlin’. Just give me a minute, okay?”
Mary Vaughn tapped her foot as she waited for his undivided attention. He’d once been very good at giving her that. It was why she’d turned to him way back in high school when Ronnie Sullivan had rejected her. Sonny had been there and waiting, like an eager puppy. It was a shock to realize that was no longer the case. Even though they’d been divorced for nine years now, she’d always believed she could get him back with the snap of her fingers. Now, it seemed, she couldn’t even keep his attention for the length of a phone call. The discovery made her even edgier.
“Sorry,” he said again when he finally came back on the line. “It’s been crazy around here today. Everybody and their brother has decided they need a new pickup and they all need it right this second. I swear I haven’t had this much business since I opened the dealership twenty-five years ago. So, tell me quick, what’s going on?”
“We need to talk,” she said.
“We are talking.”
“In person,” she said, growing exasperated.
“Is this about that ski-trip business? I told Rory Sue it was up to you.”
“And I’d already told her she couldn’t go. Thanks for backing me up,” she said sarcastically.
“Hey, darlin’, don’t bite my head off,” he replied testily.
“Rory Sue never mentioned that she’d already discussed it with you.”
“Well, of course she didn’t,” Mary Vaughn said. “Sonny Lewis, aren’t you onto her by now? From the time she was a baby, she’s always come to you after I’ve told her no. The other day she even tried going to your daddy, but I put a stop to that. For once, Howard is actually on my side. Christmas without Rory Sue here is just not acceptable. I’m surprised you would even consider such a thing.”
“To tell you the truth, she caught me at a bad time and I was only half listening to her,” he admitted. “Once I’d said okay, I could hardly change my mind just because I’d had time for regrets.”
It was just as Mary Vaughn had thought, though for once it gave her little satisfaction. “I’ll just bet she deliberately called in the middle of your weekly sales meeting, am I right? It would be just like her.”
“As a matter of fact, that’s exactly when it was,” he said.
“That girl is a whole lot sneakier than I thought. I’ll have to watch that from here on out.”
“In the meantime, can you meet me at Sullivan’s for dinner Tuesday night so we can figure out what we’re going to do over the holidays? My treat, of course.” It was a point of pride to her that she was every bit as successful as he was, that she hadn’t taken one dime of alimony from him, only support for Rory Sue and half of her college tuition.
“You want to have dinner with me?” he said. She found his shocked tone annoying. “I’m not going to jump your bones, for goodness sake.”
He laughed. “Never thought you were. Okay, I can have dinner on Tuesday if you want. Name the time and I’ll be there.”
“Seven okay? I have to show a client a house at six.”
“Which means it’ll be seven-thirty,” he responded dryly.
“But I’ll be there at seven on the dot, just the same.”
“If it won’t put you out too much,” she snapped, losing patience.
What ever made her think that she and Sonny could cooperate long enough to have dinner, much less an entire holiday season of peace and good will for the sake of their daughter?
As exasperated as she was with Sonny, it was nothing compared to the way she felt when she happened to glance out the window and spotted Tom and Jeanette coming up the walk toward the house she was showing. She hadn’t believed it even after three different people had told her that they’d seen the two of them in a lip-lock at last night’s football game. Now here they were, Saturday afternoon, looking at houses together. No wonder Jeanette had been so quiet when Mary Vaughn had suggested Tom might be gay. She knew otherwise. She’d apparently been seeing him on the sly, which just proved that even a woman as savvy as she was couldn’t always predict who might turn out to be a backstabbing little witch.
* * *
Jeanette recognized Mary Vaughn’s car outside the little bungalow that was on Tom’s list of available properties. The front door was ajar and there were colorful balloons tied to the Open House sign in the front yard. Every attempt had been made to give the house curb appeal. Fall flowers in yellow and gold bloomed in pots beside the steps, the grass was thick and green and the shutters had been recently painted a glossy white that contrasted nicely with the gray vinyl siding.