by Melody Grace
“My ex-wife, yes. We divorced five years ago,” he added. “It was all very amicable. We were both travelling so much for work, it was hard to keep it together.”
“Oh, what a shame,” Letitia said, but she was smiling on the inside. No hard feelings, and a few years to get his rebound flings out of the way? Professor Westingham was scoring an A-grade so far. “Where are you based now?”
“In Cambridge,” he replied. “I just got tenure, so my travelling days are behind me.”
“I live in Boston,” she said, pleased. “Just across the bridge.”
“Now, isn’t that nice?” Kenneth smiled at her, and they began chatting about their favorite restaurants in the area, and the best bookstore to spend a few hours. He had a ton of recommendations for her, and was just insisting that she had to try a little wine bar, when Letitia caught sight of a familiar face across the room.
Chase.
She blinked. What was he doing here?
He was still wearing his T-shirt and jeans from earlier, and hadn’t even run a comb through his messy dark blonde hair. He smiled at someone beside him, and then the crowd shifted, and Letitia could see that he’d brought a date.
A young, gorgeous, redheaded date who was poured into a tiny pair of cut-off shorts and a threadbare sweater. She barely looked old enough to rent a car, but Chase had his arm draped around her shoulder and was laughing along to something she’d said.
Letitia narrowed her eyes. Typical.
“…Don’t you think?”
“Huh?” Letitia turned back to find Kenneth looking at her expectantly. Her date. The man who was here because he loved art, and not just for the free wine and cheese. “Yes, sorry,” she flashed him her brightest smile. “What were you saying?”
“That this piece reminds me of Degas,” he explained, before launching into a monologue about Impressionism. Letitia listened along, murmuring in agreement from time to time, but she couldn’t stop her gaze from drifting back to Chase. He wasn’t even pretending to look at the paintings, she noticed grumpily. He was cloistered in the corner with his date, drinking wine and laughing about something.
It looked like they were having a ball.
He glanced up, and caught sight of her watching. Letitia sent a friendly wave, and Chase smiled back – then he leaned in and whispered something in his date’s ear. They both laughed.
Had he said something about her?
Letitia burned. She snapped her gaze away. “Do you want to move on to the next gallery?” she asked, interrupting Kenneth. “We still have a few to tour.”
“Of course,” he said, offering her his arm. Letitia slipped her hand through, and followed him out, ignoring Chase as they passed. If he wanted to get under her skin, he was failing. She was going to have a perfectly nice date – and he wasn’t invited.
At least, that was the plan, but by the time they arrived at the fourth gallery of the night, Letitia was beginning to regret signing up for the full tour.
“How many do we have left?” she asked, wondering how many more plastic cups of wine it would be polite to guzzle to make it through the night. Three? Four? Five?
They were small cups, after all.
“Another five stops,” Kenneth said, consulting the program. “Oh, this one specializes in sculpture. I fell in love with Rodin’s work in Paris. Did I tell you I lived in Paris?”
“Several times,” Letitia replied dryly, but Kenneth was too busy describing the view down the Rue de Self-Importance to hear the note of sarcasm in her voice.
He hadn’t stopped talking for an hour.
Letitia had wondered if it was nerves, or awkwardness at first. Plenty of brainy types found it difficult being social, so she tried to be understanding, and steer the conversation back to things they had in common. Things that she could talk about, too. But Kenneth didn’t seem interested in anything but the sound of his own voice, and eventually, Letitia gave up even trying to get a word in edgewise. Instead, she invented a new drinking game. First, she decided to take a sip every time Kenneth remembered to ask her a question about herself, but after going a half-hour without raising her glass, she had to change the rules. Now, she drank every time he made a sweeping, pompous proclamation.
“…And, of course, the quality of Monet’s work fell off drastically in his later years…”
There he went again! Letitia took another gulp.
Was she tipsy? Maybe just a little…
She moved on to the next piece. This was a sculpture, and when Letitia leaned in to read the label, she was delighted to recognize the name. “I know this artist!” she said proudly. “Mackenzie Lane, she has an adorable pottery shop in Sweetbriar Cove.”
“She would do well to stick to sugar bowls,” Kenneth said with a dismissive laugh.
Letitia bristled. “Excuse me?”
“You can see, there’s no depth, no clarity,” he said, sounding snooty. “She’s clearly a beginner. The work is amateur at best.”
She opened her mouth to give him a piece of her mind when she saw Mackenzie herself heading in their direction, her auburn curls caught back under a patterned silk headband.
Letitia quickly pivoted around. “Mackenzie!” she exclaimed loudly, so her date wouldn’t say anything insulting right in front of her. “It’s so great to see you. This is the artist,” she added, giving Kenneth a warning look.
“For my sins,” Mac said cheerfully, greeting her with a hug. “Thanks for coming out. Isn’t this a great crowd?”
“We were just admiring your piece,” Letitia said.
“Oh, this old thing?” Mac gave a laugh. “I had to dig it out of storage. All my other sculptures are still on show in New York.”
“You have a show on?” Kenneth asked, looking surprised.
“Yup. The 8th Street Gallery,” Mackenzie replied. “Vivian was so sweet to invite me back. It’s my first solo show.”
Kenneth’s face changed. “You know Vivian Blythe?” he asked, looking impressed. “She has exquisite taste. I can see why she likes you,” he added, turning to the sculpture again. “There’s such raw power here, so moving.”
Letitia had to keep herself from rolling her eyes. The professor wasn’t just a bore, he was a phony, too. “Won’t you excuse us for a moment?” she asked Kenneth with a polite smile. “Mackenzie and I need to talk about…” she fumbled for a moment, her mind going blank.
“The town festival!” Mackenzie exclaimed. “Big emergency, it can’t wait. Great meeting you, though.”
They hustled away through the crowd. “Thanks for the save,” Letitia said, when they were a safe distance away.
“It looked like you needed rescuing.” Mackenzie gave her a sympathetic smile. “Bad date?”
“Nothing one of Natalie’s chocolate truffles won’t fix,” she replied, noticing the buffet table. “You guys really went all-out!”
“She had a client cancel an order last-minute,” Mac said. “I selflessly offered to take them off her hands.”
Letitia grinned. “What a chore.”
She stuffed a chocolate in her mouth, and sure enough, the date from hell didn’t seem quite so bad. “Why is it so hard to find a good man?” she asked, looking out at the crowd. This was clearly a date-night hot-spot: the room was full of couples, flirting over the art. And all of them looked happier than she felt right now.
“Don’t ask me, I’ve been in love with mine since I was seventeen.” Mac replied.
Letitia sighed. “That’s so romantic.”
“Say that again when he’s left his sweaty gym clothes in the bottom of the laundry hamper, or invited his whole Varsity team over for a BBQ with zero warning,” Mackenzie gave a smile, but Letitia could tell, she was happy with Jake, laundry and all.
Why couldn’t she find a partnership like that?
OK, she definitely was getting tipsy. Letitia put down her wine, and tried to pull herself together. She’d given this date an hour, which was more than enough. Time to stage a polite retr
eat, go home, and console herself with an old episode of The Great British Baking Show.
Bread Week would never let her down.
“I better get back,” Letitia said reluctantly. “Let you meet your adoring fans.”
Mac patted her shoulder. “Good luck,” she said. “Come by the pub this week, we’ll drown your sorrows.”
“I think they’re getting plenty damp right now,” Letitia replied ruefully, but she left Mackenzie with a promise to get drinks soon. As she looked for Kenneth, she braced herself for another lecture, but when she finally found him in the crowd, he was talking animatedly to…
Chase.
She groaned. Of course. He’d probably come to gloat over her disastrous date.
Sure enough, when she reached them, Chase greeted her with a smirk. “There you are. Professor Westingham was just telling me all about the history of Monet. Did you know he lived in Paris?” he added, straight-faced.
Letitia gave him a look, but she wasn’t about to let him know her grand plan had failed again.
“Yes!” she answered brightly. “Fascinating, isn’t he?”
“A riot.”
Kenneth was oblivious. “You know, this one reminds me of Rodin’s Thinker,” he proclaimed, looking at the next sculpture. “I saw it when I was in Paris, quite spectacular.”
“Is that so?” Chase looked amused. “Because I’m pretty sure it’s on permanent display in San Francisco. At least it was when I saw it there.”
Kenneth frowned. “No, that’s impossible.”
Chase shrugged, looking even more like a casual surfer guy beside Kenneth’s crisp tailoring. “Don’t worry about it. We all make mistakes.”
But Kenneth clearly didn’t, because he pulled out his phone. “Let me check. I’m sure I’m right.” He waved the phone around. “No reception…”
“It’s alright, it doesn’t matter,” Letitia tried to reassure him, but Kenneth’s face was determined.
“It most certainly does. I’ll try outside. You’ll see, I’m right about this.”
He strode off, and Letitia sighed. So much for making a swift exit. Now she would have to stick around until Kenneth had proven he really did know it all.
“So, when’s the wedding?”
Letitia startled at the sound of Chase’s voice, murmuring in her ear. “Don’t,” she protested.
“Why not? He seems perfect.” Chase smirked. “You can honeymoon in Paris.”
“Don’t!” she said again, but this time, she was laughing. Why not? It was better than despairing over yet another romantic disaster.
Letitia finally caught her breath. “I didn’t know you liked art,” she said, snagging another truffle from a passing waiter.
Chase grinned back, his blue eyes sparkling. “I like all kinds of things,” he said. “I’m a complex man of mystery.”
Letitia couldn’t help but smile. “Sorry, I guess I can’t picture you traipsing around a stuffy museum.”
“Oh, I can’t stand the places,” Chase agreed cheerfully. “But it’s just up the cliffs from one of the best surf beaches in San Francisco. And girls love it when you show them a little culture,” he added. He waved across the room at his date, who blew a kiss back at them.
Letitia winced. Just when she thought he was being a decent guy, he went and reminded her of all the reasons he was an infuriating playboy. She regarded the girl, who was using her cellphone camera as a mirror to reapply lip-gloss. “She seems… Sweet.”
Chase smirked. “She sure is.”
“And young.” Letitia couldn’t stop herself from adding. “Does she have a curfew? I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble for keeping her out too late.”
Chase laughed. “Don’t you worry about me. Trouble is my favorite game.”
Letitia didn’t want to think about the kinds of games Chase liked to play. She had the sneaking suspicion they’d be way more fun – and far more pleasurable – than anything Kenneth had up his sleeve.
“I was right!” Kenneth reappeared, clutching his phone happily. “At least, we both were. It turns out, there are several models of the sculpture, displayed at various locations around the world.”
“What a relief,” Chase said, shooting Letitia a wink. “That would have kept me up at night.”
“Me too,” Kenneth agreed, sincere.
“Well, now that’s settled, why don’t we move on?” Letitia gave him her best charming smile. “We could head to the next gallery, or… Why don’t you take me home?” she added, fluttering her eyelashes at him. “We can talk some more, without all these crowds interrupting us.”
“A lovely idea.” Kenneth agreed, but Chase’s smile slipped. He probably figured he could tease her all night, Letitia thought. Well, even she had her limits, and Mary Berry and the rest of the baking team looked pretty good to her right about now.
She grabbed another truffle for the road and hitched her purse. “Enjoy the rest of your night,” she said, flickering a wave in Chase’s direction as she headed for the exit. “Remember, the legal drinking age is still twenty-one!”
7
Letitia faked a headache on the drive home, and sent Kenneth away with her regrets, a polite kiss on the cheek, and a promise to look at the reading list he suggested. She finally closed the front door behind him and breathed a sigh of relief as she watched his headlights disappear into the night.
Alone at last!
She’d thought the night would never end. Letitia kicked off her sandals, and went to change into her comfiest lounge pants. With tea brewing on the stove, and a plate of leftover cookies to nibble on, she was finally able to curl up on the couch and face the pang of disappointment she’d been ignoring all night long.
Why was it so hard, finding someone who was right for her?
She hadn’t expected it to be easy – she’d been dating for her entire adult life, after all – but Letitia had hoped that her new plan would make something different this time. Instead, she was finding guys who ticked all the right boxes, but still somehow left her cold. Was the whole plan flawed, after all?
No, she decided immediately. She’d barely been on Cape Cod for a week. Her data sample was way too small to draw any conclusions. It was a numbers game, that was all. Her list had given her two excellent potential matches so far. And, sure, they hadn’t been dream dates, but she was on the right track. She had to be.
Her perfect partner was out there, somewhere. And she was going to find him, no matter what. This time next year, she’d be snuggling on the couch with somebody at her side; browsing the farmers market hand-in-hand, and meeting Eliza and Cal for double-dates and dinners. She couldn’t picture his face just yet, but she had to keep believing. She had never been a quitter, and she wasn’t about to give up on something as important as forever.
Even if forever was running a little late.
The sound of a car engine broke through her thoughts; someone was pulling up outside. She checked the clock. It was after midnight by now; it had to be Chase.
Had he brought the redhead home with him?
Letitia forced herself not to get up and go peek through the drapes to see. Of course he’d brought her back. Guys like Chase didn’t go home alone at the end of the night.
She pulled her cardigan tighter around her, turning up the volume on the TV and trying to focus on the bakers on-screen, wrestling with their dough. But somehow, her thoughts kept drifting back to Chase, and that teasing sparkle in his blue eyes. Her stomach tightened, remembering that reckless kiss they’d shared, and how he’d felt, pressed close up against her.
Warm, and solid, and delicious.
Was he kissing that other girl now?
Letitia gulped. She didn’t want to think about it. Or what they were doing in the back of that RV… On that small, fold-down bed…
A knock suddenly came at the back door, and she leapt up, her heart racing.
“Hello?” she called cautiously, but when she stepped out onto the porch, she found Chase sta
nding on the other side of the screen door.
“Hi there, neighbor,” he said, flashing a smile. “Can I bother you for some graham crackers?”
“Crackers?” Letitia repeated, catching her breath. Could he tell what she’d just been thinking? It felt like her X-rated fantasies were written all over her face.
“Can’t make s’mores without them,” Chase explained.
“Oh.”
Letitia couldn’t see any sign of the redhead, but there was a bonfire glowing down on the beach. She was probably waiting there, ready for a romantic night by the fire.
Just perfect.
“Sure, I have some,” Letitia said, biting back a resigned sigh. How did he wind up with the fireside seduction scene while she made do with the baked treats on-screen? “I’ll go get them.”
She went to the kitchen, and found a couple of packets in the pantry, returning to see Chase peering in through the window. “No sign of the Professor?” he asked. “I thought you two would be yakking it up back here until dawn.”
Letitia flushed. “I wasn’t really feeling it, so I decided to call it a night.”
She waited for another joke about her taste in me, but instead, Chase just paused in the doorway. “So, how about a s’more then?”
Letitia arched an eyebrow. “And play third wheel? No thanks.”
“Who are you planning to invite?” Chase replied. “I only count the two of us.”
She paused, confused. “What about your date?”
Chase gave a shrug. “I wasn’t really feeling it, so I decided to call it a night.”
Oh.
Letitia tried not to feel relieved. It was none of her business who he did – or didn’t – entertain. “So, how about it?” he asked again. “I’m the reigning king of toasting marshmallows. It’s all about the crust,” he added. “You have to char it just right.”
Letitia swallowed. It did sound tempting. But a moonlit beach, a romantic bonfire, and a commitment-phobic man with spectacular abs… That sounded like a recipe for disaster, at least as far as her strategy was concerned.
“C’mon,” Chase said, with a teasing smile. “What else do you have planned? Running FBI background reports on every single man in the tri-state area? Give the husband hunting a rest,” he urged, “let the poor men of Sweetbriar Cove get a good night’s sleep before you come chasing after them again.”
