“I know,” Jeanette said just as Maddie came in with a plate of thick, decadent brownies.
“Don’t say anything until Helen gets here,” Maddie said, grabbing her own drink. “You’ll just have to start over.”
“I’m here,” Helen announced. She was taking out assorted cheeses and crackers and putting them on the plates Jeanette had removed from the box in which she’d packed them for her upcoming move. “Now, will somebody tell me why?”
Overwhelmed with gratitude that they’d all come, actually believing for the first time that she really was a Sweet Magnolia, Jeanette looked at each of her three friends, then burst into tears.
“Well, hell,” Helen said, reaching for her. The least demonstrative of the group, she patted her awkwardly on the back, then handed her off to Maddie.
Dana Sue stuffed a handful of tissues into her hand.
“Let’s go in the other room and sit down. Then take a sip of your drink and start at the beginning.”
Everyone picked up some of the snacks and Jeanette trailed behind with the pitcher of margaritas, which was probably a mistake. She seemed to be a little unsteady on her feet, to say nothing of having her vision blurred by tears.
“Okay, then,” Dana Sue said when they were seated.
“You and Tom were headed straight to bed last time I saw you.”
“You and Tom were planning to have sex?” Maddie said, sounding shocked. “Today? How did I miss that? I thought you were just having lunch. Then Dana Sue called and told me you were going home to rest… Oh, I get it.”
Dana Sue grinned and, since Jeanette seemed incapable of speech, added, “Exactly. One thing led to another.”
“So I gather,” Maddie said. “It must have been some lunch.”
“Then what happened?” Helen prodded. “Wasn’t he any good at it?”
Jeanette choked back a laugh, or maybe it was a sob. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “He… This is so humiliating.”
“He what?” Helen demanded impatiently, falling into her courtroom style of interrogation, which was effective on witnesses but hell on friends.
“Let her talk,” Maddie commanded, nudging Helen in the ribs.
“He turned me down,” Jeanette admitted sheepishly.
“And then he said he loved me. Or thought he did. Or something like that. I was too embarrassed by then to pay much attention to what he was saying.”
“The man said he loved you and you didn’t hear the details?” Dana Sue asked incredulously.
“After he refused to sleep with me,” Jeanette reminded her.
“Okay,” Maddie soothed. “Did he say why he didn’t want to sleep with you? He must have had a reason. Everyone in town knows he’s been lusting after you since he got here.”
Helen nodded. “They were taking bets in Wharton’s on how soon you’d cave in.”
Jeanette regarded her with dismay, though she wasn’t sure why. They took bets on everything at Wharton’s. They’d had a pool on whether she’d go out with him, so why not one on whether she’d have sex with the man?
Maddie frowned at Helen. “Did you have to bring that up now? It’s hardly the time.”
“I was just reporting the facts,” Helen grumbled. Maddie held Jeanette’s hand tightly. “Pay no attention to her. If she’s listening to gossip, then she’s clearly had too much time on her hands lately. What did Tom say to you?”
Jeanette gulped down the rest of her margarita, then blurted, “He…he said I only wanted him for his body.”
The other three women stared at her, then turned to each other. Maddie was the first to try futilely to suppress a laugh. Then all three of them were laughing at her…or maybe with her. It was kind of hard to tell, since she finally saw the humor in it and began laughing, too. She laughed until her stomach ached.
“I think I’m a little tipsy,” she finally murmured.
“Not on one margarita!” Helen declared. “Even if these are strong enough to rouse the dead.”
“I think you’ve missed the most important part of what happened this afternoon,” Maddie said when the laughter finally died. “Tom said he’s in love with you. Isn’t that what counts?”
Jeanette poured herself another margarita, then sighed.
“I really, really wanted to sleep with him, even if he does have the mother from hell.” She gave them a wobbly smile.
“Did I tell you that my mother likes him and he likes her?
That is so much better than me hating his mother.”
“Maybe she is drunk,” Helen murmured. “Is this your second margarita, Jeanette?”
“No, I believe I had one or two before you got here.”
Helen rolled her eyes. “Then this conversation is probably pointless. You should go to bed and we can try it again tomorrow.”
“But I need advice now,” Jeanette argued.
“Why? Is Tom on his way over tonight?” Helen asked.
“No, but…”
They watched her expectantly.
“I don’t know why,” she finally admitted.
“That’s it,” Helen said, standing up. “Take a shower and go to bed.”
“I’ll stay,” Dana Sue volunteered. “To make sure she doesn’t drown. After all, this is partly my fault. I practically gave them my stamp of approval and sent them on their way this afternoon.”
Jeanette rested her spinning head against the back of the sofa as Maddie and Helen cleaned up the snacks, then kissed her good-night.
“Okay, let’s go,” Dana Sue said, tugging on her arm.
“Go where?”
“Shower, then bed.”
Jeanette balked. “Don’t want to sleep with you,” she murmured.
“Heaven forbid,” Dana Sue responded.
Jeanette sighed. “Just Tom,” she said as she stepped beneath the icy water that Dana Sue had turned on. She jumped right back out. “That’s cold,” she protested, shivering. Dana Sue pushed her back in. “You’ll thank me in the morning.”
A few minutes later, wearing an oversize T-shirt, she crawled into bed and accepted the aspirin Dana Sue held out.
Dana Sue touched her cheek. “You and Tom will work this out,” she promised.
“Don’t know how.”
“You’ll talk. You’ll get your signals straight.”
“Same page,” Jeanette murmured sleepily, then closed her eyes. They just needed to get on the same page. If her head didn’t hurt so much, maybe she could figure out which one that was.
Tom was sitting behind his desk, staring morosely at a report on the town’s failing infrastructure, when Cal, Ronnie and Erik walked in, their expressions grim.
“What happened to the three of you? Bad news?” he asked.
“You hurt Jeanette,” Cal declared.
Tom blinked at his somber tone. “And now what? You have to hurt me?”
Ronnie grinned. “Something like that. We’re supposed to have a come-to-Jesus talk with you.”
“Though for the life of me, I’m not entirely sure why any of this is your fault,” Erik said. “You told her you love her, didn’t you?”
“I did,” Tom agreed, not the least bit surprised that they knew that. He was beginning to understand the Serenity grapevine. Even the Internet operated at a slower pace. He regarded them with a challenging expression. “Why is any of this your business?” He waved off the question as soon as he’d uttered it. “Never mind. Stupid question. It’s all about Sweet Magnolia unity or something like that.”
“Exactly,” Cal said. “There was apparently quite a party at Jeanette’s last night. It involved margaritas and whatever else these occasions require. Jeanette cried. That was enough to get you in trouble, my friend.”
“Jeanette cried?” Tom echoed.
“That’s the way I heard it, too,” Erik confirmed.
“So what happens now?” Tom asked. “Tar and feathers?”
He wasn’t entirely joking. These men might strike him as reasonable human beings, but their wives, collectively, scared the daylights out of him.
“Beats me,” Ronnie said. “I think we’re supposed to make sure you don’t do it again.”
“Will my promise suffice?” Tom asked.
Erik shrugged. “Works for me.”
“Me, too,” Cal said.
“Okay, then,” Ronnie said, apparently satisfied, as well.
“I need to get to work.”
“Me, too,” Cal said.
Erik sighed heavily. “Which leaves me to report in that the deed is done, right? You guys do know that Helen is the queen of skepticism, don’t you?”
“You could just tell Dana Sue when you see her at work,”
Ronnie suggested. “Let her spread the word.”
“And hear about that for a month from my wife?” Erik demanded. “I don’t think so. I’ll tell Helen.” He gave Tom a warning look. “If she’s not satisfied, she might be on your doorstep before the day is out. Prepare yourself. That woman has interrogation skills that make the Inquisition look tame.”
“Duly noted,” Tom said. “How about shooting a few hoops tonight? You guys game?”
“Shouldn’t you be making amends tonight?” Cal asked. Tom thought about that. “I think maybe I need to see how the rest of the day goes before trying that. I can still fit in a game of hoops.”
“Count me in,” Ronnie said.
“I’ll be there,” Cal said. He glanced at Erik. “You off tonight?”
Erik nodded. “I’ll be there as long as Helen doesn’t decide to shoot the messenger.” He grinned at Tom. “You mind if I work a little spin on this, tell her you’re ready to grovel, that you looked downright miserable?”
“Spin away,” Tom said. Whatever Erik said, it probably wouldn’t be far from the truth. Once his anger had vanished, he’d been left feeling foolish and miserable. He’d had an opportunity to sleep with the woman he was falling in love with and he’d blown it. Okay, maybe an innate sense of decency and a desire for her to actually reciprocate his feelings had called for that, but his body was still ticked off as hell about it.
“And we can still count you in to help Jeanette move on Saturday, right?” Cal asked. “Now that she’s back, the closing’s been rescheduled for Friday, so Saturday is the big day.”
“Of course,” Tom assured him.
Erik nodded. “I’ll tell Helen that, too. You need all the points you can get.”
“I thought I’d accumulated a lot of points already.”
Cal regarded him with pity. “You made her cry, man. There aren’t enough points in the world to make up for that.”
Tom shook his head. For a man who’d always had a way with women, it appeared he had a lot to learn when that woman was a Sweet Magnolia.
Jeanette had heard about the chat her friends’ husbands had had with Tom. She had no idea what they’d been told to get them all riled up or what they’d said to Tom, but it was just one more humiliating moment in a string of them she seemed to be having lately. Fortunately, though, she didn’t have a lot of time to think about it. When she wasn’t at work, she was packing for the move to her new house. The closing had gone smoothly yesterday afternoon and the move was slated for first thing this morning. All the guys were pitching in. Though Maddie had assured her that Tom still intended to help, Jeanette wasn’t convinced he’d show up. Nor was she sure she wanted him to. In fact, right now, she wasn’t sure she ever wanted to set eyes on him again, excellent kisser or not. This whole thing about him thinking he was falling in love with her had confused her.
She heard the rumble of the rental truck and looked outside to see Cal and Erik piling out of the cab. Ronnie and Tom were nowhere to be seen.
“I knew it,” she muttered, unable to contain a sigh of disappointment.
Since she didn’t want either of the men to see her dismay, she smiled brightly as they came inside.
“I have coffee and pastries in the kitchen,” she told them.
“I’m so grateful you’re helping. I think everything’s pretty well packed up, so hopefully it won’t take long. I didn’t make the boxes too heavy, so I can carry those down, if you’ll deal with the furniture.”
Cal gave her a chiding look. “You’re not carrying anything. That’s why we’re here. In fact, you should probably head on over to the house and figure out exactly where you’re going to want all this stuff when we get there.”
“I marked the boxes,” she told him.
Erik shook his head. “But you don’t want piles of boxes in every room. It’s overwhelming. Pick one room and let us put all the boxes in there. We can stack ’em according to where they’re to go eventually. Then you take one box at a time wherever it belongs and unpack it. That way ninety-nine percent of the house will feel as if it’s livable.”
She beamed at him. “That’s an excellent idea. I wish I’d done it that way on other movies.”
“Okay, then, you head on over and decide about that room. You probably need to supervise the others, too.”
She regarded him blankly. “The others?”
“Helen, Maddie and Dana Sue are scrubbing the place, and Ronnie and Tom are painting. They’ll help us unload when we get there.”
“But…” She’d had no idea they were planning to do any of that. All she’d counted on was a little muscle to help with the actual move. “They’re cleaning and painting?”
“As we speak,” Cal said. “And Tom was making noises about painting one of the bedrooms navy blue. I’m not sure that’s what you had in mind, but he said it suited him.”
“What on earth…?” Then she remembered his determination to share the house with her. She’d been certain she’d squelched that idea weeks ago. And, if not then, her attempt to seduce him and his reaction to it should have killed his scheme completely. Apparently she’d been wrong. She grabbed her purse off the dining-room table. “You’re sure you don’t need me here?”
Erik grinned. “Not as badly as you’re needed over there,” he said.
“We have this under control,” Cal assured her. She was almost out the door when Cal called after her.
“Hey, Jeanette, if you decide to strangle him, don’t do it before we get there, okay?”
“So you can protect him?”
Cal shook his head. “No, so we can watch.”
“Yeah, it’s kinda enjoyable not being on the receiving end of anger for a change,” Erik added. “The rest of us paid our dues, so why not him?”
Jeanette shook her head. “Who are you two trying to kid?
Your wives adore you.”
“Doesn’t mean we don’t tick ’em off from time to time,”
Cal said. “You might want to remember that.”
“Meaning?”
“An occasional tiff goes with the territory,” Erik explained. “Love’s complicated.”
“And rocky,” Cal added.
“Nobody said anything about love,” Jeanette retorted. Cal grinned. “Yeah, they did. At least that’s the way I heard it.”
“Me, too,” Erik confirmed.
“Your wives have big mouths,” she said.
Erik laughed. “Tell us something we don’t know. You gotta love ’em, though.”
Jeanette sighed. “Yes, I do.”
Apparently they were going to protect her interests in whatever way they thought the situation required, even if it meant spilling all her humiliating secrets. Tom had already put one coat of navy blue paint on the walls of the downstairs guest room when Jeanette came flying in and screeched to a halt, her eyes wide, her expression indignant.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded.
“Isn’t it obvious?”
“Navy blue? Who wants to sleep in a room that dark?”
“I do,” he said.
“You are not sleeping in this room, or in this house, for that matter.”
“Not what you were suggesting the other day,” he reminded her.
“A gentleman would not bring that up.”
“Then I guess we know what that makes me,” he replied as he kept right on rolling the paint.
“An obnoxious pig,” she suggested sweetly. Tom hid a smile. At least she was speaking to him. He hadn’t been sure she would.
She marched up and stared at him. “Are you smiling?
Please tell me you are not smiling.”
“I’m not smiling,” he said, though his lips kept twitching.
“Tom McDonald, this is not even one tiny bit amusing. I don’t want you getting ideas about me or about this room.”
“Too late,” he said. “I have plenty of ideas. You gave me most of them.”
“Well, get rid of them.”
“Sorry, darlin’, I can’t do that, especially not with you standing right up in my face breathing fire. That kind of makes me want to kiss you.”
She backed up a step, looking alarmed. “No kissing.”
He regarded her solemnly. “You seem to be having trouble making up your mind lately.”
“Oh, go to hell,” she said, and flounced out. This time he couldn’t stop the grin that spread across his face. He didn’t even try. That had gone well. Better than he’d expected, in fact.
He’d been thinking a lot about his own stupidity the other day. Next time she made him an offer, he had no intention of refusing it. Of course, given the outcome last time, coaxing her into making another offer might take a while. Since he wasn’t an especially patient man, he was just going to have to do everything in his power to speed up the process. Riling her from time to time to get her juices stirring looked as if it might work out nicely. Just now she’d appeared to be about one taunt away from another very memorable liplock. Though Jeanette didn’t have nearly enough furniture to fill the house, what she did have was in place and gleaming with furniture polish. The hardwood floors shone and the downstairs rooms had all been freshly painted, including that ridiculous navy blue guest room. It actually looked nice with the shiny white woodwork, but she was not about to admit that to another living soul. In fact, she’d deliberately chosen that room to store all the boxes, to make sure Tom knew he wasn’t welcome to move into it. It was almost impossible to squeeze past the door.
The empty pizza boxes and beer bottles had been taken away with a full load of trash and the first batch of empty packing boxes. Now she was all alone in her new house. She gazed around and her eyes filled with tears. It was a little overwhelming to realize this belonged to her, that she actually had a cozy home in which she could build whatever kind of life she wanted.
The last of the CDs finished playing and silence fell. After so many years in cramped apartments, with neighbors only a couple of layers of wallboard away, it felt a little eerie to be so totally alone. When someone knocked lightly on the front door, she jumped nervously.
She pulled aside the lacy curtain on the door to peek through the glass panel. Tom stood on the front porch, a bottle of champagne and a bouquet of flowers in hand. Her heart lurched at the sight of him. He wasn’t supposed to be back here, not when she was feeling a little too alone and vulnerable. She opened the door a crack. “What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to help you celebrate your new home.”
“You were here when we toasted earlier. That’ll do.”
“I thought a more private celebration was in order.”
She couldn’t seem to tear her gaze away from the hopeful gleam in his eyes. “You confuse me,” she murmured. His mouth curved. “Ditto.”
She considered her options and finally stepped aside to let him pass. “You can stay for a few minutes. Long enough for one glass of champagne.”
“Okay,” he said solemnly.
“What’s in the bag?”
“Champagne glasses. I wasn’t sure if you had any or if they were unpacked.” He withdrew two elegant crystal flutes. Something told her they were old and valuable.
“You been raiding your mother’s china cabinet?”
He laughed. “Something like that.”
She spotted the Waterford mark on the bottom. “Nice taste.”
“Glad you approve,” he said as he popped the cork on the champagne and filled the glasses to the brim. He grinned at her reaction. “Since you’re limiting me to one, I want to make it last.”
He handed a glass to her, then lifted his own. “To you finding all the happiness you deserve in your new home.”
“Thank you,” she said and touched her flute to his, then sipped the champagne.
Finally she risked looking into his eyes and asking the question that had been on her mind all day. “What are you really doing here? I mean the whole day, not just right this second.”
“Isn’t that obvious?”
“Not to me.”
“I’m trying to apologize.”
“For?”
“Turning you down. Embarrassing you. Making you think for one single second that I didn’t want you.” He met her gaze. “How am I doing?”
“It’s a nice start. Keep going.”
He leaned forward, his expression solemn. “You took me by surprise. I’d wanted you for so long and there you were, all eager and willing, and then I had to go and question your motives. It was stupid.”
She sighed. “No, actually, it wasn’t. You were right to question me. And you were right that I was going to wind up regretting what we did if it didn’t mean anything.”
“It would have meant something,” he told her emphatically. “There’s no way it couldn’t, not between us.”
“But it wouldn’t have meant what it should,” she argued.
“It wouldn’t have been a commitment. It wouldn’t have been the first step toward forever.”
“You sound so sure of that.”
“I am sure. You’re an ambitious man. You have your entire future mapped out. And I admire that, I really do. It just seems there’s no place in that future for me.”
She half expected him to argue, but he didn’t. He nodded, which confirmed everything she feared.
“A few weeks ago I didn’t understand how you could reach that conclusion,” he said. “I think I do now.”
“Oh?”
“You told me what happened after your brother died,”
he said simply. “I know how your folks pushed you aside in their grief, how they made you believe you didn’t matter. That must have hurt terribly.”
“You have no idea how much,” she said.
“That kind of hurt leaves scars,” he said. “It makes you tough. You’re not about to let anyone do that to you again, make you feel less important than you deserve to be.”
“You’re wrong,” she said. “For a long time, I thought that’s what I deserved. I walked straight into relationships I knew from the first were doomed. And, of course, I got exactly what I’d expected. I was second-best to a career, to some other woman, to all sorts of things. When I moved here after one more disastrous relationship, I made a vow to myself that I was done with that.”
“So to protect yourself, you decided not to let anyone get close,” he said. “Especially a bad risk like me.”
“Exactly.”
“What if I could prove to you that I’m not as bad a risk as you think?”
“I don’t think you can. You’ve already spelled out your future plans. You can’t take it back now.”
“Will you let me try?”
“I don’t think there’s any way to unring that particular bell. Your plans are your plans,” she said miserably.
“Plans change,” he said simply.
“Not overnight, they don’t.”
“True,” he said. “It’s going to take time for me to convince you that we can work this out.”
“But don’t you see? That’s the one thing we don’t have. You’re moving on, maybe not tomorrow or next month or even next year, but you will go. I’ve found the place where I want to stay forever.”
He seemed momentarily daunted by her words, but then he reached for her hands and clasped them in his. “What if I could prove to you that the place you want to be forever is in my heart? If I can prove that, then where we wind up living won’t matter.”
Jeanette was tempted by the sweetness of his words, the earnestness in his expression, but the risk was flashing neon red right in front of her eyes, too. She’d taken that leap of faith before, too many times. She’d trusted her heart and ignored the facts. She couldn’t do that this time.
“It’s not just about a house, or even a town,” she told him.
“I know that. It’s about you mattering more than anything else,” he said. “And what I’m telling you is that I think you do. There’s only one way we can find out for sure, and that’s time.”
“There are so many obstacles,” she said.
“Name one.”
“Your mother.”
“An annoyance, not an obstacle.” He made a gimme movement with his hand. “What else?”
“You’re a Christmas grouch.”
He laughed at that. “So are you.”
She shook her head. “Not so much. For the first time in years, I’m finally remembering how much I loved Christmas when I was little. I think the tree was the turning point for me. One whiff of that scent, one look at that magnificent tree, and it all came flooding back.”
“Okay, then, if Christmas is that important to you, it’s a couple of weeks of the year. I can fake it.”
“Remind me to use that line on you if we’re ever in bed together,” she said dryly.