Wishing in Wisconsin (At the Altar Book 3) (5 page)

Cissie left them in the restaurant, sitting together on one side of the booth, while she went into the kitchen to put their orders in. 

Trey looked at Cindy.  "You two are really close."

"We are.  I can't imagine my life without Cissie."  Cindy knew it may seem weird to others, but they were very close, and she wasn't ashamed of it.

"So will you really eat lunch with her every day?"  Trey had never had a buddy that he spent that much time with.

"Usually, yeah.  We have been eating together every weekday since Grandma died.  It was good for me to have someone steady in my life."

He sighed.  "Well, I guess we can keep doing that.  I don't like to take that much time away from work, though."

Cindy shook her head.  "That's why I was asking what you like to eat for lunch.  I could make you something quick, and then come here and eat with Cissie.  I don't even always eat their food.  Sometimes I bring my own.  Or if there was a day when you wanted their food I could bring it home when I come back after lunch."  She grinned at him.  "My grandmother always used to say about my grandfather.  'I married him for better or for worse, but
not
for lunch.'"

Trey frowned.  "What does that even
mean
?"

Cindy laughed.  "It means that married couples are meant to spend time together, but not every waking moment.  It's okay if I come into town and have lunch with my friend every day.  We won't be any less married.  You'll still have me for two meals a day."

Trey leaned down and caught her earlobe between his teeth.  "I'm less worried about having meals with you than I am sleeping with you."

"See?  You get it!"

Cissie slid into the booth across from them, noticing they were touching.  "Am I going to have to get used to a ton of PDA in the bowling alley of all places?"

Cindy caught the back of Trey's neck and pulled him in for a kiss.  When she was done, she winked at her friend.  "Yup."

"Maybe I need to move my schedule forward a bit," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. 

"I think that's a wonderful idea!" Cindy said with a grin. 

Cissie looked back and forth between the couple across from her.  "So I guess you don't hate each other, huh?"

"Not yet!" Cindy squeezed his hand under the table.  She thought about telling Cissie what had happened that morning with Mrs. Graham, but decided to wait until she was alone with her friend.  Trey would be embarrassed, and while that didn't bother her a whole lot, she thought she should be considerate of his feelings.

Their food came out then and Cindy grabbed her burger and the basket of fried cheese curds.  "Do we have to share these?"

Cissie eyed Trey.  "I don't know.  Would he even appreciate a true Wisconsin delicacy?"

Cindy shook her head.  "A Texas boy probably doesn't have the proper culinary palate for such a thing."

Trey looked at the basket in Cindy's hand.  "What are those things anyway?"

"Fried cheese curds."  Cindy took a steaming hot cheese curd and held it up to his lips.  "One of my favorite foods in the whole wide world.  If you don't like it, we may have to kick you out of our state."

Trey opened his mouth and took the cheese curd from Cindy's fingers, chewing it slowly.  He wasn't sure what the big deal was, but he didn't feel the need to spit it out.  "It's decent."

Cindy's eyes widened and she put the cheese curds firmly between her and Cissie.  "Decent?  People who don't love them don't get the pleasure of them."  She popped one of her fries into her mouth.

Trey shrugged, picking up his corn dog by the stick.  "No skin off my nose.  Where's the mustard?"

Cissie pushed the bottle of mustard at him before picking up her own burger.  "Man, you two sure caused a stir here in town by meeting at the altar.  People didn't believe me when I told them.  Especially since you two went into the bride's room and locked the door right away.  Everyone was convinced that you two were going in there to do each other."

Cindy blushed.  "No doing of each other occurred in my grandfather's church."

Cissie shrugged, taking a sip of her drink.  "Well, I'm not the one who said it did.  I didn't figure you were doing anything but talking, and maybe locking lips a bit.  I mean, you'd just gotten married and knew nothing but each other's names."  She looked back and forth between the newlyweds.  "Of course, that doesn't seem to have slowed you down."

"It's not like we're doing something wrong, Cissie."  Cindy wished her friend would just change the subject.  "We're going to do some shopping before we head back to the B&B.  I need to find easy lunches for him, because he doesn't like to take a ton of time off in the middle of the day."

"I can see that," Cissie responded.  "What do you do anyway?"

"I create and maintain websites for optimum user experience."  Trey's answer was so quick and complete that Cissie raised an eyebrow.

"Computer geek, huh?"  She shrugged, eyeing him carefully.  "I've been looking for someone to do a website for the bowling alley.  My dad insisted for years that we didn't need one, but we really do."

Trey frowned.  "How could a bowling alley, or any business for that matter, not need a website?  Of course, you need a website!"  He looked back and forth between Cindy and Cissie.  "Neither of your businesses has a website?  That's insane!"

Cindy smiled.  "We live in a small town in Northern Wisconsin, Trey.  We rely on word of mouth.  It's not like we live in a big city."

Cissie frowned.  "Why do you keep calling him Trey?  Didn't the preacher call you Stephen?"

Trey sighed.  "I'm a third, so my family has always called me Trey.  I guess I could do the whole Stephen thing here, but I've always hated that name.  What kind of self-respecting Texan has a name like Stephen?"

"Texan, huh?  Have you ever been in Wisconsin before?"  Cissie asked.

Cindy ate and watched her best friend and her husband banter back and forth.  She'd always thought you could learn a lot about someone by watching them with others.  Her grandfather had never let her go on dates alone while he was alive, so group dates had been her norm.

"No, never been to Wisconsin. Furthest north I've been was Branson, Missouri for a family vacation when I was ten."

"We went to New York last summer," Cissie told him.

"New York?  What did you think?"

"Oh, we loved it.  Cindy and I met Lachele in Central Park.  She's a hoot."

"So you knew Dr. Lachele personally when she matched you?" he asked Cindy.  "That must have made the interview process easier."

Cindy shrugged, chewing the cheese curd in her mouth before responding.  "I don't know what it was like for you, but she came out here and spent a weekend with me.  She stayed at the B&B and followed me around asking questions."

"She flew to Dallas to talk to me, but we had to interview in two six hour sessions. It was very long and tedious.  She usually makes people go to New York, but I made her new website for her, so she made an exception for me."

"Yeah, mine was lots easier.  She even helped me fix breakfast."  Cindy mentioned the comment Lachele had made about cleaning toilets, and they all laughed.  "What was your interview like, Cissie?  She did yours on Sunday, after spending all day with me on Saturday."

Trey looked at Cissie.  "You're doing it too?"

"I'm waiting to see how you two turn out before I take the plunge."  Cissie took a sip of her drink.  "It was my day off, so we went to the lake and played in the water a bit, and then we rented a boat.  Don't ever let that woman drive you anywhere in a speed boat!  She backed into the dock three times, because she wouldn't quit talking and pay attention to what was behind her.  I thought she was going to kill us!"

Cindy laughed.  "Sam warned me about her driving when we met in New York!  Why do you think we walked everywhere?  I was afraid she was going to want to drive!"

"Oh, I drove everywhere in Texas.  Arlington is a busy city, and she said she wouldn't feel comfortable driving there." 

Cissie sighed.  "Lucky you.  I'm the only one who messed up by getting into a moving vehicle with her.  I heard her husband talk about how she backs into everything, but it was a boat, for gosh sakes.  Who could run into something with a boat?"

When they left the bowling alley a few minutes later, Cissie hugged Cindy, so she could whisper, "I like him.  Lachele did good."

Cindy grinned.  "I think so too.  We'll talk tomorrow.  I'll ditch him at home."

Chapter Five

"Where to now?" Trey asked when they were both seated in the truck.

"First the hardware store.  Do you know how to change out a doorknob?"  Cindy asked.  She'd never done it herself, but she knew how to follow instructions, so if he couldn't, she knew she could.

He shrugged.  "Sure.  It's easy."

"Good then you can do that.  We can't have you scandalizing any more old ladies."

He grinned.  "I really wish I had seen all that.  Sounds hilarious."

"Why were you working in your underwear anyway?" she asked.  "I mean, who does that?"

He shrugged.  "I got into the habit when I didn't have to go into the office anymore.  Cut down on laundry, and I was more comfortable to work.  Made sense to me.  I guess I wasn't thinking, with the privacy sign on the door, that anyone would walk in and see me that way.  At least I didn't have my tallywacker out for the world to see!"

Cindy choked on a laugh.  "Tallywacker?"  Did men even use that word?

"Sure.  Unless you want me to call it something else?"

Cindy shook her head, still chuckling.  She was not ready to go there with him.  "Tallywacker works."

She directed him to the hardware store, trying to stop being amused and concentrate on the task at hand.  They held hands as they walked into the hardware store, the man running it an old friend of her grandfather's.  He looked her up and down.  "You don't look dead yet."

Cindy laughed and walked around the counter to hug the old man.  "I'm doing just fine, Mr. Scobie.  He's treating me just fine."

"We're all worried about you.  It's just not right to marry a man who you never met."  He eyed Trey as if he was an escaped criminal.

"You need to get to know him.  He's a good man.  Even Grandpa would like him."  She glanced over to see Trey shopping for the doorknobs.  Hopefully she could calm Mr. Scobie before Trey had to talk to him.

"You checked yet if he has a criminal record?  Are you sure he's not a mass murderer?"

"I haven't personally, but the matchmaker I saw has.  She made sure he was safe for me to be around.  I promise."

"You just call me if you have any trouble.  I may be old, but I still have my hunting rifle!"

Cindy patted his arm.  "I know you do, Mr. Scobie.  Remember I took karate when I was in high school.  Grandpa made you go to the ceremony when I got my black belt."

Mr. Scobie nodded emphatically.  "He wouldn't let you go off to school until you could protect yourself.  He was a good man, Cinderella."

"He was.  I miss him every day."

"Well, Cinderella, I have two doorknobs for us now."  Trey grinned at her, his eyes filled with amusement.  "You never told me your real name was Cinderella."

"I was saving that as an anniversary gift."  She shrugged.  "And I promise to call you Trey as long as you promise
not
to call me Cinderella."

Trey paid for their purchases, ignoring the glares from Mr. Scobie.  He wrapped an arm around her shoulders as they left the store.  "Who named you anyway?"

She sighed.  "My mother.  She loved fairy tales.  It was that or Arielle, and Grandma had the foresight to talk her into Cinderella, knowing it could be shortened to Cindy."

"Your grandmother was very wise."

"Yes.  Yes, she was."

At their next stop, they split up again, and Cindy wandered to the men's underwear section to pick him up a fun gift, before she went to the women's section to get more bra and panty matching sets.  She'd never cared before, but suddenly, she didn't want to be caught with old or non-matching underwear.  She was sure it would wear off in time, but she wanted to look her best for her new husband.  Even when she was just in her skivvies.

She went to the front to buy the things she'd purchased, and was pleased to see Trey didn't notice her and went to a line at the other side of the store.  She paid quickly, making sure everything was double bagged, so he wouldn't see through to what she'd bought.

When they got to the truck, he put his bag in a toolbox in the back, locking it, and she put hers at her feet.  Neither of them mentioned the other hiding the bags, and neither asked what was in the other's bag.  Cindy pretended they had never stopped there as she gave him direction to the grocery store.  "I do think I want to keep having lunch with Cissie most days," she told him.  "Let's pick out things that I can cook for you easily for lunch, and that you can cook for yourself."

"Is that the only reason we're here?"

She shook her head.  "No, of course not.  I need to pick up breakfast foods and things for dinner.  I wanted your input on your lunches, though, because I just don't know yet what you like."

By the time they reached the front of the store, she realized he hadn't been joking on their wedding day.  He did have the taste buds of a ten year old boy, and he wasn't ashamed of it.  She had frozen dinners, macaroni and cheese, and Chef Boyardee Ravioli.  She also had American cheese and a big pack of ramen.  She didn't say a word as she purchased the junk, knowing that it would make it easier on her, even though it wasn't healthy for him.

Of course, she couldn't say a lot eating fried cheese curds every day for lunch, but she was from Wisconsin.  What was his excuse?

When they got home, he wandered off to his office to handle the door knob situation, while she put away the groceries.  When he added a lock to their bedroom door as well, she smiled.  "Making sure we're not interrupted?"

He winked at her.  "Never going to happen."

She raised an eyebrow at him, wondering how he was going to react when children came along.  They would interrupt when they felt like interrupting.  Of course, she was on the pill until she was certain he was the man she wanted to have children with.  She believed in the sanctity of marriage, and had no intention of getting a divorce, but these were odd circumstances, and she was going to be sure of him before she brought children into the mix.

She calmly continued to put the groceries away.  She'd stuck the 'special' bag she'd gotten behind her bags of flour and sugar, so even if he was searching through the kitchen for something to eat, he wouldn't accidentally stumble on them.

Trey walked up behind her when he finished with the second doorknob, his arms going around her waist, and his lips going to her neck.  "We have a locking bedroom door now," he whispered against her neck.  "Wanna try it out?"

She shivered at the feel of his lips on her neck combined with his slow Texas drawl.  What was it about a man who couldn't speak quite right that made her weak in the knees?

"I have to prep breakfast for tomorrow, and there's a new guest checking in at three.  I can't."  She turned fully in his arms and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him again.  "I wish I had time though."

"You can't make time?"

She shook her head.  "I really can't.  I have to get everything prepped before my guest arrives in fifteen minutes."

He sighed.  "I understand putting business before pleasure, I guess.  I'm going to wander around outside and take some pictures then.  I'll start building your website while I'm off this week."

She grinned, excited at the prospect.  "If you want to take pictures of the rooms, three, five, and six are all vacant."

"Sounds good."  He wandered off, a bit frustrated, but he did understand her feelings.  He'd put his business first for years, and that's why he was where he was professionally.  He couldn't hold her back when she wanted the same things he did.

As he wandered around the property taking pictures, he saw a little old lady, who marched up to him.  "I do not appreciate you sitting around in your—your underclothes where anyone can see you!  You should have more decency than that, young man!"

He slipped the phone he'd been using to take pictures back into his pocket.  "You don't think you could have been a little bit at fault by not reading the sign on the door?  The one that said, 'Private:  Keep Out?'  Cuz really, if you ask me, you deserve what you get when you walk into a room where you have no business being.  Aren't you glad I was wearing my underwear and not sitting there totally naked?"

She gaped at him for a moment, her jaw dropping.  "Well, I never!"

"Maybe that's your problem, ma'am.  If you did, you'd feel a lot better.  Less tense and stuff."  He said nothing else as he slipped his phone out of his pocket and snapped a picture of the front of the house, looking at it on his phone with a critical eye. 
Yes, that would work beautifully.

He could feel her still staring at him as he wandered off and took a picture of the barn that had been cleaned and remodeled.  Cindy had told him it was used for events.  People would rent the building for weddings or whatever they were planning.  He could see why it was a good place to use.  She had also said they did hayrides in the fall, and in the winter, she hired someone to take people for sleigh rides.  They may be out of the way, but it was a great way to pull city people in.  Where else could you go for a sleigh ride?

He snapped several pictures of the barn, and even a couple of the sleigh after taking the cover off.  It was made of solid oak and polished to perfection.  She had the means for a good business here, and not just for the B&B.  He was more than a little impressed by his wife's business acumen.

He finished taking pictures of the drive and the house from various angles before going back to the office.  He wanted to build himself a small shed where he could have air conditioning and heat, and where he could work in total privacy.  The noise of the main house bothered him, which was why he'd taken to blasting his music into his head phones.

In his office he sat at his computer and started toying for a minute or two, playing with the website.  He knew if he could show the little operation to its best advantage, he could make sure there was never an empty room.  For himself, he preferred the rooms empty, but he knew Cindy had put her heart and soul into the place, and she wouldn't be happy until it was full.

He lost himself in his work, as he always did, the headphones blaring music into his ears. 

*****

Cindy smiled sweetly at the older couple who had come to stay.  "We're happy to have you here.  Where are you from?" she asked as she found their key and had them sign the ledger.

"Ohio," the older woman answered with a huge smile on her face.

"Oh, wonderful!  I went to school in Ohio, got my bachelor's degree there.  What part of Ohio?"

"We live in Akron, dear, but we met at OSU in Columbus fifty years ago.  Is that where you went?"

"It is!  My best friend and I went there, much to the annoyance of our families.  My grandfather told me I was being a traitor to the great state of Wisconsin, and maybe I was, but I had to get out for a few years."

"And you came back!" Mrs. Robinson responded.

"Yes, ma'am, but a little too late.  My grandfather died a week before I graduated.  He never knew I came home."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Mrs. Robinson responded sadly.  "He knows now."

Cindy smiled, handing the older woman a key.  "Yes, he does know now.  Would you like help with your bags?  You're in room four."

"No, Chester will help me with my bags, won't you, Chester?"

Mr. Robinson had been staring out the window with a glazed look in his eye.  "Oh, yes, dear.  Whatever you say, dear."

Mrs. Robinson leaned forward.  "You have to train them from day one.  Are you married?"

Cindy nodded.  "I got married on Saturday."

"A newlywed!  I'd love to meet your young man while we're here."

"I would be happy to introduce you.  He's off taking pictures of the property right now. He's going to build me a website."

Mrs. Robinson clapped her hands together.  "Won't that be lovely!  I truly enjoy the internet."  She looked at her husband.  "Come along, Chester.  Bring the bags."

Mr. Robinson picked up a suitcase that looked like he'd had it since the Second World War.  Yes dear."  He trailed along behind her, carrying the suitcase up the stairs.

Cindy was smiling after the older couple when the front door slammed closed, the bell over the door making a loud banging sound.  Cindy sighed when she saw who it was, wishing she didn't have to deal with the woman.  "Are you all right, Mrs. Graham?"

"That man!  How dare you let him stay on the property with paying guests?"

Cindy frowned, drawing her brows together.  "What man?"

"The naked man from earlier!  Do you know he had the audacity to tell me that if I hadn't intruded and gone where I shouldn't be, I wouldn't have had to see him in his underclothes?  And then!"

Cindy closed her eyes as she waited for the 'and then.'  She didn't want to think about what he'd said to her.  "And then what, Mrs. Graham?"

"And then, he intimated that I would feel a lot better if I—well, if I was involved in more
sexual activity
."  Mrs. Graham dropped her voice to a whisper as she said the last two words, as if she was worried someone would hear her and she'd burn in hell for saying them.