“Stop.” Katie paused to accept a menu from Gloria, making sure to pay her a compliment on the new design before the restaurant owner hustled to grab a booster seat for a grumpy toddler in one of the window booths. “You’re assuming that your past is the reason I can’t answer you. Did you ever consider that it might be mine?”
Jared picked up his menu, but didn’t open it. His determined blue eyes locked her in place. “It’s because I questioned you about the thread. Look, I’ve been thinking about that a lot, and I wanted to say—”
She smiled at him over the top of her menu and shook her head. How could a man be so devastatingly handsome, so magnetic, yet so normal at the same time?
And how could it have taken her this long to realize that Jared was a living, breathing example of everything she should have been doing her entire life, by living the way he knew was best for him and for his daughter, rather than trying to either live up to or escape the expectations of others?
“No, please don’t apologize. It’s not so much the fact you questioned me about the thread as it is the reason I reacted as I did and bolted out of there.” A self-deprecating laugh escaped her. “You know, it’s a good thing Harry works for the Herman police force instead of Bowen’s, because I’d have gotten a ticket for sure coming back into town from your place after that discussion. Think I spun gravel into the Eberhardts’ fields as it is.”
“So why did you? Bolt, I mean.”
“I was afraid you wouldn’t believe in me. When you laughed at the thread, I wondered what else you might find weird, or what else you might not take seriously about me, you know?”
Jared leaned forward, a wrinkle creasing the space between his brows. “Like what?”
“Like the fact I’m in my thirties and single, which is practically a crime in this town. Like the fact I left, had a successful career, then came back again.”
“Why did you come back? I can’t imagine it was because you were dying to live in the middle of nowhere. Your life in Boston had to be exciting. All the plays you were working on, all the great people and things to do.”
The toddler sitting near the window with his parents threw his sippy cup on the floor, and it rolled toward Katie. She scooped up the bright yellow cup and handed it to the mother, who headed out the door saying something about it being past her son’s bedtime while the father hurriedly paid Gloria and packed their leftovers to take home.
“But that’s just it,” Katie said once the ruckus died down. “I missed Bowen. It’s a cliché to say that city people aren’t as friendly as those in the rural Midwest, and that everyone here is purehearted while everyone there is inconsiderate. Life isn’t as cut and dried as that. There are good and bad human beings everywhere. But I did miss being here. There’s a different world view you have when you’ve grown up someplace like Bowen, when your whole family lives within a twenty-mile radius and has for generations. When your family helped found the town. As much as I loved working in the theater, I realized that Boston wasn’t what I’d hoped for in the long term. I felt adrift.”
‘‘What had you hoped for?”
“Mostly I wanted to stop feeling trapped. Do you know how hard it was growing up in Bowen, being my grandparents’ only grandchild? How hard it was to live up to the expectations that carried? I can’t tell you how many times my grandmother, and then my father, told me I’d grow up to marry, in their words, ‘a good Nebraska man, and settle down.’ They expected me to be a scion of the town, to participate in government or head the PTA or the boosters club. At seventeen, those expectations felt like a death sentence. I wanted a career I enjoyed. I wanted adventure. And the thought of marrying some boring guy from Bowen and spending the rest of my life organizing fundraisers for new Little League equipment or a new dog park chilled me to the bone.”
“So you ran,” Jared said, his mouth lifting at the edges. She was glad he found the humor in her statement, given their current situation and what had happened with Corey.
“So I ran.” She reached across the table and covered Jared’s hand, ignoring Gloria and Evelyn Montfort’s curious glances from behind the deli counter. He hesitated, then turned his hand to capture hers.
“I understand Corey and her urge to run. Living in a town where your every move is under a microscope, especially when she was in a situation she couldn’t handle, had to be overwhelming.”
Jared looked down at her hand in his, then raised his blue eyes to hers again. “Bowen made you feel trapped.”
“Yes. I loved going to college in Boston, but it didn’t take very long after graduation to realize that a person can feel trapped anywhere. Expectations aren’t limited to people who live in small towns.” Before she knew it, she was pouring her heart out about Brett. About how he wanted her to be someone she wasn’t, about how he didn’t believe in her.
She let go of Jared’s hand when Evelyn came to take their order. After returning the menus to the inquisitive restaurant owner, she smiled at Jared, who still seemed unsure about drawing the attention of the Montfort sisters, but waited until they had privacy to speak.
“In the end, I came back to Bowen because I love it here. All the things I hated when I was a teenager made me adore town ten years later. I wanted to take a chance on making a living doing what my grandmother did, even with the small towns around us shrinking even further, even when chain stores can sell a wedding gown for a half to a third of what I can, even though life here isn’t as glamorous or fast-paced as working on a big theater production.”
She exhaled, then unwrapped her silverware and placed the napkin on her lap. “Anyway, that’s probably a lot more than you wanted to hear, but the upshot is that I get it. The whole thing with your brother, the whole thing with Corey, even.”
“I should have known,” Jared said after Evelyn appeared briefly to deposit their drinks on the table. “But you have to see why I had to question it. You’ve had all those experiences I’ve never had—a life in Boston, of all places—and you have a fabulous education I’m sure I’ll never get at this point in my life.”
‘‘All the things Corey left you for.” She said it quietly. Noise from the kitchen nearly obscured her words, but Jared heard every syllable.
“Exactly. Not that I don’t think I’m intelligent enough, of course,” he added, managing a grin. “I’ve worked my tail off, built a wonderful home, and learned a trade. I also have a hell of a daughter. I’d like to think I had something to do with the way she’s turned out. But that doesn’t completely erase the past. Or increase the chance I’ll be successful in the future. I need to know that you believe in me, anyway.”
The heat of tears stung her eyes, but forced them back. How many years had Jared been made to feel less than the man he truly was, simply because he’d made a mistake back in high school? A mistake that wasn’t his alone, and that happened to thousands of teens every year?
“Jared, I could never not believe in you, or in the fact you’re pursuing what you want to do in life. Our experiences may be different, but that doesn’t mean my dreams and insecurities differ from yours. In fact, listening to you in the truck tonight, I learned a pretty big lesson. I need to stop worrying about what everyone else around me is thinking. I need to live like you do.”
He started to say something but stopped.
“Jared, sometimes you just have to believe for the sake of believing. And I do believe in you.”
Under the table, Jared’s foot hooked her chair. Slowly he pulled it as close as possible. “I’m sorry I laughed at the thread.”
“It’s okay—”
“And I’m sorry about Brett, too. He was an idiot not to realize what he had in you. You were right to leave him.”
“I know.”
“Because I know a good Nebraska man who does realize what a treasure you are. One who has no expectations other than the hope that you’d believe in him, and one who’d go out of his way to ensure you never feel trapped.”
His voice dropped to
a whisper as Gloria approached. “Because I’m falling for you just the way you are, and I wouldn’t want to ruin that.” Gloria walked past them with a steaming rag in hand to wash the booth vacated by the family with the toddler. Both Jared and Katie tried to hide their grins when they noticed how slowly she swirled the cloth over the tabletop, obvious in her attempt to overhear as much of their conversation as possible.
Katie tried to ignore the older woman, though her heart was doing a slow flip-flop. Jared was falling in love with her?
“Hey, Gloria,” Jared said when the older woman started cleaning the table a second time. “How long on the subs?”
Gloria stiffened but plastered an innocent smile across her face. “Oh, just another minute. Evelyn’s got them just about finished.”
“Great.” Jared winked at Katie, then added, “And, Gloria, do you mind if we get them to go? I just realized I have somewhere I need to be.”
“Of course.” Gloria pretended to work at a stubborn spot on the tabletop, then walked past Jared and Katie. Just as she reached the counter and glanced back at them, Jared leaned across the table, slid his hand around to the back of Katie’s head, and pulled her forward for a kiss.
Katie smiled against his warm mouth, feeling like a giddy schoolgirl making out behind the high school, knowing that the teachers were probably watching.
“Thank you,” Jared said against her mouth, then kissed her again, despite the low gasp Katie guessed came from Evelyn.
“For what?” Katie asked as he released her.
“For falling for me, too. Just the way I am. No one’s ever done that before, and it feels,” —he couldn’t help but grin as he said it— “magic.”
“That’s a big assumption.”
“Am I wrong?”
“No.” She paused. “Still, a big assumption.”
Ten minutes later, Katie jammed her keys into the front door of The Bowen Bride, then pushed through the glass door with Jared at her heels. She flipped the light switch next to the front door so they wouldn’t bump into the table, then pulled him toward her workroom. “Remember when we ate subs here on your birthday? You asked me if it was a pity date.”
“It was pretty pitiful.”
“Yeah, well I can tell you that it absolutely is not a pity date tonight.”
“Good.”
As they passed the round table where she usually had brides page through her design books, the Montfort’s bag hit it with a thump.
Katie laughed. “So much for the subs.”
“Be glad we didn’t order soup.”
Katie intended to take Jared through the back, then up the stairs to her apartment, but as they crossed the threshold of the workroom, he tugged on her hand, pulling her against his chest. Katie lifted her head in time to see him whip the curtain from its cast iron holdback so it fell closed.
Instantly his arms wrapped around her and his mouth found hers. It had been one thing to kiss him in her workroom in the middle of the day. A little daring, a little flirty. And when he’d kissed her on his front porch, with the motion light from the driveway beaming at her back, she’d been so filled with concern about the thread—and guilt about what it meant for Mandy—that she couldn’t think straight.
But this—kissing in the darkness of the back room, with the only light the faint red glow of the Exit sign leading to the back door—made every cell scream in her body scream with pent up desire while providing the heady sensation of knowing she’d get exactly what she wanted.
And that Jared wanted it, too.
She wrapped her arms around Jared’s broad back, pulling his body as close to hers as possible. Even his back, Katie discovered, was rock solid, which made sense given the years he’d spent working for Stewart and the projects he’d tackled at home, where he spent his weekends on tasks like building the shed she’d spotted standing alongside his house or the treehouse he’d created for Mandy.
“You feel incredible,” Jared murmured as he moved to kiss her cheek. His warm breath against her skin sent Katie into a spell of dizziness, and she let her hands slide down Jared’s back toward his waist, then lower. Could the man have a more perfect body?
“So you think I’m falling for you?” she whispered against his lips as her fingers explored the back of his waistband. She pulled his shirt free and ran her hands along his firm, warm skin. Jared’s mouth returned to hers, and a low moan sounded at the back of his throat as he kissed her harder. His cheek brushed hers, and she found herself wishing she could wake up with that cheek on the pillow beside hers. She could imagine reaching over in the morning to wake him, teasing him about the light stubble she knew would be there. Then making love to him before sharing breakfast and talking about their dreams and ambitions.
“Yes, ma’am. I’m pretty certain of it.” His hand came up to cup her breast through her shirt just as she wrapped one leg around the back of his. As he kissed her again, his thumb caressed her nipple, and she started imagining what else his hands might be capable of doing. A moan slipped out at the mental picture.
They couldn’t get any closer with their clothes still on, and Katie was sure he didn’t want to stop any more than she did.
“The door to my apartment’s right there,” she breathed close to his ear as he moved to kiss her neck. “Might be more comfortable.”
“Well, it is a little odd to kiss a woman in a room full of wedding gowns,” Jared laughed against her throat as he lifted her just enough to take a few awkward steps toward the apartment door. “Not that I mind the kissing. But it’s a good thing none of these gowns are for Mandy. Now that would be really weird.”
“Actually,” Katie hesitated, then eased back from Jared, just far enough to see his face in the dim light. “I did start her gown. I probably shouldn’t have—I didn’t need to yet—but I did.”
“Oh.” She couldn’t see well enough to tell if he was angry, or confused, or what, but he didn’t release his hold on her, and she took that as a good sign. She couldn’t imagine how empty she’d feel if he let go of her now.
“But I didn’t use the thread,” she explained. “It’s the very last thing I do. I stitch it into the hem. I know you don’t believe in the magic or my Oma’s stories, and I don’t expect you to, but I want you to know that I wouldn’t have done it until I talked to you again. I feel strange about it. It’s always been second nature—just something I do when I finish a gown—but this time it feels wrong.”
‘‘Maybe because it is wrong.” Jared ran one finger across her lips. ‘‘Not that you’re wrong about the thread or its magic. It’s the marriage that’s probably wrong.”
When she nodded, he added, “I can’t say I believe one hundred percent in magic thread. But after we talked on the porch, I did start to wonder. And now if things between Mandy and Kevin are strained, maybe…I don’t know.”
‘‘Maybe they were never meant to be married. Or maybe the thread doesn’t matter until it’s actually in a gown. I wish I knew.”
He leaned forward and dropped his forehead against hers. “Have you ever had a bride come into the shop, order a gown, then change her mind?”
“Never. Though we don’t know for certain Mandy’s changed her mind.”
“Not yet, but given what we saw tonight, I have a gut feeling.” Jared raised his head just enough to look in the direction of the spool of thread, though Katie knew he couldn’t possibly pick it out in the darkness. “It does seem like an awfully big coincidence, though. All those couples still married.”
“I’ll get you to believe yet,” she teased, then framed his face between her hands and pulled his mouth closer to hers. “You’re not upset that I started on her gown?’’
“No. Definitely not upset.” She could feel the rise of his cheeks under her fingertips as he smiled, and their mouths connected briefly without either of them missing a beat. “In fact, I don’t think I’ve been this happy in a long, long time.”
“Neither have I.” They shared another kiss, deeper
and filled with promise. She was just about to pull him toward the door leading to her upstairs apartment as the tinkle of bells sounded at the front door.
“Did you leave it unlocked?” Jared asked in a whisper.
She grimaced. “Probably. I was in a bit of a hurry. But the closed sign was on the door. I’ll send whoever it is on their way.”
She stepped from Jared’s embrace and was almost to the curtain when a tentative voice asked, “Dad? Are you here?”
Katie froze. Jared planted a quick kiss on top of her head, a promise that they’d pick up where they left off as soon as he finished with his daughter, then strode through the curtain. “Mandy? What are you doing here?”
Mandy’s gaze flicked from her father to Katie, and Katie noticed the teen intentionally keeping her eyes averted from her father’s half-untucked shirt. Then Mandy glimpsed the Montfort’s bag abandoned on the front table, and her eyes widened.
“I’m sorry, I hope I’m not interrupting—are you two, um, like, on a date? I’m so sorry to bother—”
“Mandy, you know you’re never, ever a bother,” Katie assured her.
Jared asked, “What’s going on?”
Mandy crossed her arms over her chest. “I was, um, out with Kevin, and I saw your truck at Montfort’s, so I had him drop me off. I didn’t want to be home alone. When you weren’t inside the restaurant, Evelyn told me she thought you might have come over here.” She swallowed hard. “I’m really sorry to interrupt.”
Jared walked to the front of the store and put a hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “What happened?”
“It’s Kevin.” She choked on his name. Jared eased her toward the small table so she could sit, then took the seat across from her and told her to start at the beginning.
Katie started to excuse herself so Mandy and Jared could talk privately, but Mandy aimed a plaintive look in Katie’s direction. “It’s okay. I need to talk to you, too. Would you stay?”
Katie glanced at Jared. He gave a slight nod and she moved to stand a few feet behind him, granting them space. While remaining a part of the conversation.
The Bowen Bride Page 13
