by Winnie Reed
I still carried guilt, it seemed. So I grabbed my phone and sent off an email, hoping she’d understand. I hope you’re okay after whatever happened last night. I called the police and told them to go to you, but I don’t know whether or not they did. Please, if you see this, could you let me know how you’re doing? I’ve been so worried all day and unsure whether I could or should reach out.
That didn’t sound too much like I was making this about me, did it? I decided to send the email without overthinking it, then brushed my teeth. By the time Trixie returned with a very happy Lola—she wanted a treat for being a good girl, I could see right through her—I was ready to read for a while, then hit the sack.
I stopped Trixie before she left for good. “One favor?”
She dipped her chin, giving me a knowing look. “You don’t even have to say it. There’s no reason why Sylvia has to know about this. It’s a non-issue.”
“Thank you. I don’t know how I’d manage to calm her down if she got all worked up.”
She gave me a hug. “Trust me, sweetheart. I know all about keeping certain things from her. I sharpened that skill when I was an investigative journalist. Your mother’s enormous heart is a double-edged sword. I like to keep her from getting hurt or worrying herself half to death whenever possible.”
It struck me as strange, the way beliefs could shift as a person got older. There I was, believing for so long that my silly, splashy aunt fed the fire of Mom’s high-strung dramatics when really, she went out of her way to keep the fire from burning out of control. We were on the same side.
Most of the time. “And by the way, you need a man around here.” She sniffed the air before stepping out into the hall. “Next time I visit, I’d better smell cologne or aftershave or something.”
I only rolled my eyes and shooed her on her way. So much for that same side bit.
Chapter Eight
“You’ve got this. It’s not like you’ve never been on a date before, for heaven’s sake.”
I turned to the side, checking out my profile in the full-length mirror behind the bedroom door. The sundress I’d finally decided on skimmed my thighs. It was bright, cheerful, cotton candy pink with tiny white dots. I was channeling my Aunt Nell, whose signature color had been pink for as long as I could remember.
It looked good, though. I looked good.
How long had it been since I’d put effort into my looks? Not that I walked around wearing burlap sacks otherwise, nothing like that, but I rarely put on more than a little mascara and lip gloss—even then, I usually defaulted to a tinted lip balm and left it there. My hands had fumbled with the curling rod and I was now sporting a pair of painful-but-superficial burns to my fingers. I was out of practice.
There was a light rapping at the front door before it creaked open. “Darcy?”
I’d asked Poppy to keep an eye on Lola while I was out on my date with Pete. “In the bedroom, be right out.” She resorted to playing with the dog, judging by the sound of Lola’s scampering paws moments later.
“Getting ready for your man?” Poppy giggled helplessly. “Making sure you’re all fixed up for him?”
“Hey.” I scowled at my reflection, like the power of it would go through the mirror, the door, and out to where my neighbor sat. “That’s not how tonight’s going to go, and you know it.”
“What I want to know is, why are you so sure?”
I opened the door a crack, just enough to glare at her from one eye. “Because I am. This is only our first date.”
She twisted her head around, sitting on the floor and playing a very gentle game of tug-of-war with a dog whose strength wasn’t exactly legendary. “You’ve known him for ages.”
“Not ages.” I closed the door again and took one last look at myself. It was now or never. Why did my stomach feel so fluttery? Was it butterflies?
And why not? I hadn’t been on a date in way too long. And Pete was a genuinely sweet guy, too. He was there for me when I needed him, more than once.
He was so sweet with Georgie, too, and that went a long way. Of all the soft spots in my heart, the biggest belonged to my baby brother.
So yes, I was nervous in a good way about our date. I didn’t want to mess it up the way I normally ended up doing.
“Did I ever tell you about the time I set myself on fire during a date?” I opened the bedroom door, revealing myself.
Poppy’s brows lifted at the sight of me, but she seemed more interested in something else.
“You set yourself on fire?” Her brows lifted higher than before. “How does a person manage to do that?”
“With a candle in the center of the table. I thought I’d be cute and flirty, so I offered to share a bite of my food. I held it out across the table and, whoops! My arm was on fire. Well, my sleeve, but let’s not get hung up on technicalities.”
“Oh, no! That must’ve been awful.” At least she tried not to laugh at my story, though her lips definitely twitched like she was fighting hard.
“Then there was the time I was on a date and we went for a walk after dinner, and I tripped and fell against him, which made him fall into the street and break his arm.”
“Stop it.” She covered her mouth with one hand, eyes bulging now.
“Do you want to hear about the time my date’s girlfriend stormed into the restaurant, screaming and holding her pregnant belly?” I folded my arms and leaned against the doorframe. “I could do this all day.”
“That last one wasn’t because of anything you did, though. You can’t count that one.”
“I’m not saying I’m a jinx—not completely, anyway. But my dating life has been jinxed, that’s for sure. I don’t go around bragging about it or anything. I’m not proud.”
“You should be proud of how hot you look, girl.” She whistled, then twirled a finger in the air. “Come on. Turn around. Give me the full view.”
I held out my arms and turned in a grudging circle. “Well?”
“Stunning. I’m not just saying that, either. You look fantastic. Where’ve you been hiding those legs?” She let out a wolf whistle, and we both giggled.
“I don’t wear dresses a lot. Sue me.” I dropped my phone and a few other odds and ends into my purse. “Thanks for hanging out with her, by the way. I felt bad, thinking of her sitting here all alone when it’s not her home.”
“No sweat. We’ll watch a movie. Or maybe the animal channel!” She held Lola’s fluffy face between her hands. “What do you think? You wanna watch shows about animals? It must be like humans watching shows about other humans.”
I left them to it and promised to be back before too late. Poppy only wiggled her eyebrows. “Don’t hurry home on my account.” I was still chuckling as I walked down the stairs, though cold fingers of anxiety still worked their way up my spine.
I liked Pete. I didn’t want to have one of my clumsy accidents and ruin a date we’d both been waiting for. And I especially didn’t want to ruin our friendship if our romantic relationship never panned out, which I understood was what really worried me as I stepped onto the porch, looking up and down the block for any sign of him.
As it turned out, I didn’t have to look too hard. “Hi.” His greeting took me by surprise, coming from just beside me. He was waiting in one of the chairs on the porch.
I jumped a little, laughing. “Wow. You’re punctual.”
“I didn’t want to keep you waiting. My grandma always told me to never leave a lady waiting. She wasn’t the type of person whose advice you ignored, know what I mean?” He looked me up and down before rubbing a hand over the back of his neck. “You look very beautiful.”
As usual, I couldn’t help but be touched by his earnestness. “Thank you.” A blush warmed my cheeks. “You look nice, too.” He wore a button-down shirt and neatly pressed khakis. His face was freshly shaved, too, and he wore a different cologne than normal. Something a little muskier, a little spicier. It suited him.
“I try to clean up when I can.”
He offered me his arm, bent at the elbow. “Shall we?”
“What did you have in mind?” I took his arm and we descended the steps.
“I thought we’d start with dinner at Luigi’s, then maybe head over to the boardwalk. I’ll win you a stuffed animal—if you’re in the mood for a very cliché experience, that is. We’re supposed to have dry weather tonight.”
“It sounds great to me. Nobody’s tried to win me a stuffed animal in ages.”
“That sounds like a crime to me. And I know crime.” He deepened his voice and furrowed his brow. “I’m a cop, you know.”
“Now you sound like a certain detective we both know.” I elbowed him, grinning. “You’re spending too much time together.”
“I like him. He’s a good man.” Pete eyed me before opening the passenger door to his car—it was too humid to walk across town to Luigi’s without us both ending up sweaty and miserable by the time we got there. “But he’s not who I’m interested in. I’d rather get to know you better. If that’s okay with you, that is.”
His voice was still as deep as before, but he wasn’t joking anymore.
The goosebumps rising over my arms weren’t a bad thing, not by a long shot. “That’s okay with me.”
We laughed a lot over dinner, where for once Pete had the opportunity to tell me about his family. He already knew all about mine, after all. “So Grandma practically raised me, what with Mom and Dad working so much. I’m lucky I was able to spend so much time with her. She taught me a lot.”
“You are lucky. I never knew any of my grandparents very well—they all passed by the time I turned seven.” I smiled across the table. “What are your favorite memories with her?”
He popped a piece of steak into his mouth and chewed for a bit, grinning. “Easy. During the summer, I’d be with her all day long. No money for daycare or camp, you know. Anyway, we would sometimes walk over to the deli on the corner. I’d get a hot dog with sauerkraut and spicy mustard—they’d start putting it together for me the second we walked through the door. Then we’d go back and hang out in the air conditioning and watch her stories. Soap operas.”
Did he sigh softly, or was I imagining things?
“It was so simple, looking back. I mean, a hot dog and a chocolate milk and soap operas in a nice, cool house. But to me, I was living like a king. There weren’t any kids in her neighborhood, so there wasn’t much to do but hang out inside and read and watch TV. I didn’t mind.”
I told him about growing up in the café, about hearing all of Dad’s stories at the dinner table. “Let’s say it was an education, even when he tried to hide the worst details. It’s not like I didn’t hear all about everything that happened in town, anyway.”
He nodded knowingly. “Word travels fast.”
“In the blink of an eye. Whether you want it to or not. I learned about a lot of things I probably shouldn’t have.”
“Hey, we have that in common.” He laughed as he lifted his beer. “Only my lessons were served through daytime television. I was six years old, asking Grandma what all these new words meant. Lover, mistress, blackmail…”
I almost choked on my salmon—and of course, I wondered in the back of my mind whether this was the way our date would fail spectacularly. With me getting the Heimlich maneuver in the middle of a bustling restaurant. But I managed to survive without that, thank goodness. “Was there ever an evil twin involved?”
His eyes widened. “Listen, you have no idea how worried I was that an evil twin I never knew about would come to town and trick everybody into thinking they were me.” I had to cover my mouth to muffle my laughter. We were already getting glances from other diners wondering what was so funny.
By the time we left the restaurant, my sides hurt from laughing so much, but I didn’t mind. Just like I didn’t mind it when, once we reached the boardwalk, Pete took my hand. It was nice, strolling with him as the sun set. The breeze coming from the water was refreshing, just like the conversation. It was nice, talking with him about things other than my store or his job or my latest drama.
“What do you think?” He nodded toward a game booth where balloons lined the back wall and various brightly colored stuffed animals hung from the other two. “You in the market for a bright purple teddy bear?”
“What girl isn’t?” I let him lead me to the booth, where the kid running the game handed over three darts in exchange for a five-dollar bill. Games had gotten more expensive, for sure.
“You’re some sort of darts champion now, too?” I leaned against the waist-high counter, grinning as Pete took a step back and narrowed his eyes while studying the balloons.
“You’d be surprised how many nights I spent at the bar, shooting darts.” He glanced at me with a smirk. “I worked my way through college.”
“Don’t tell me you hustled darts to make money.”
He lifted a shoulder, his concentration back on the balloons. “See for yourself.” Then, almost before I had time to think, he threw the darts in quick succession. One, two, three. And every one of them popped a balloon.
Even the kid behind the counter looked impressed. “Nobody ever gets three at a time, and I almost never get a hit on the first try.” I didn’t know whether he was disappointed or what as he reached up to pluck one of the largest, most purple stuffed bears in the lot. I couldn’t stop laughing helplessly once I had it in my arms. It was roughly the size of a five-year-old and I had to prop it up on my hip as we walked.
“Maybe we should’ve waited until the end of the night.” Pete offered to carry the bear for me, but I refused.
“It’s my bear. I’ll hold it.”
Besides, he was a sweetheart, but he didn’t need to be carrying a stuffed animal for me. I wanted him to be able to keep at least some of his pride. We headed over to an ice cream stand and ordered a pair of chocolate-dipped cones next, which we enjoyed while sitting on a bench facing the ocean.
It was pretty much perfect, right down to the bear sitting on my other side. And when Pete leaned over to kiss a bit of chocolate off the corner of my mouth—which may or may not have been there for all I knew—I turned toward him so he could catch more of my lips with his.
Poppy pretended to swoon, throwing the back of her hand over her forehead. “I’m dying. You’re killing me. That’s so sweet and romantic and adorable.”
“It was.” He’d only kissed my cheek when he left me on the porch, but that was okay, too. I had never gotten tingles from a kiss on the cheek before, but the way he’d let his lips linger against my skin had definitely achieved that.
“You look happy.” She jerked her chin toward the giant bear sitting on a chair. “And not because of that thing.”
“You don’t know. Maybe I was after the bear all along.” Meanwhile, Lola wasn’t a fan. She gave the chair wide berth, eyeing the intruder as she did. “They say dogs can’t make faces, but I swear she does. Sorry, sweetie. It can’t hurt you.”
“I don’t know. She might be crushed if that thing fell on her.” Poppy got up and said goodbye to Lola. “I’m feeling very inspired, thanks to your romance. I’d better capitalize on it and get some work done.”
“It’s not a romance yet, so pump the brakes, girl.” That didn’t mean I could stop smiling even after she was gone. It did feel like a romance, like something good was starting to develop. I could barely stop smiling long enough to brush my teeth and wash the makeup off my face.
“What do you think, girl? You think he’ll ask me out again?”
Lola was too busy doling out stink eye to the bear, not that she could reply anyway. I giggled to myself as I put on my pajamas.
I should’ve left it there. I could’ve gone to bed and had sweet dreams about a sweet man who used to hustle darts games for money and knew more about old soap operas than anybody our age should have. Whose kiss was gentle, tender, but held the promise of something more beneath the surface. Pete Frazier was a much more intriguing guy than he let on.
For some
reason, I decided to check my email one last time before going to bed. A bad habit I needed to break myself of. There were only a few new messages, two of which were spam.
One of which was from Jane Brooks.
I gasped and jammed my finger against the screen, eager to see what she had to say. I hadn’t expected a reply to the email I’d sent her. The fact that she was able to respond told me she was better off than I had imagined.
Silly me.
Thanks for the email, Darcy Harmon. Now I know it was you on the other end of that call with our mutual friend. I look forward to meeting you in person very, very soon.
Chapter Nine
I knocked on Pete’s door until my knuckles hurt, then I knocked some more. That was only because when I’d pressed the bell, I hadn’t heard a sound coming from inside. Maybe it was broken.
The light over the door burned bright, but that didn’t keep me from looking over my shoulder. Like the person who’d written that email might be right behind me. They could’ve looked up my address, could’ve been in town all night for all I knew. While I’d been laughing and smooching and eating ice cream. What was I thinking, assuming Trixie was right and everything was going to be okay?
The door opened, and I was able to breathe easier when Pete appeared behind the storm door. “You ready for our second date already? I’m trying to be a gentleman, but you’re making it…” His eyes narrowed. “What’s wrong? You look like something terrible happened.”
I answered by thrusting my phone at him, the email pulled up for him to read. My other hand gripped Lola’s leash tight enough that it felt like the strap would cut into my palm. The dog sensed my anxiety and lingered close to my ankles, occasionally licking whatever patch of skin she could reach. Like she wanted to comfort me—or like she enjoyed the taste of my ankles, either way.
