Penny glared at her and sat down. “Not exactly.”
“Didn’t think so.” Gran spooned salsa sauce onto her salad, then dug in. “He said he was moving into his uncle’s place. You can go on over there after dinner and have a little talk with him.”
“I have a festival meeting tonight.”
“So, go afterward.”
Penny stared at her grandmother eating like there was no tomorrow, and then looked down at her own salad. She was not in the least bit hungry. She pulled a handful of chips from the bag and munched on one.
Why did life have to be so complicated? She was furious with Brad. He’d really hurt her with his meddling and lying. But she missed him, too. Not that any of that mattered. Even if she decided to forgive him—a mighty big if—she had no idea if he could forgive her. And she hadn’t even done anything that warranted forgiveness.
She didn’t know why he had made such a fuss. That sandwich thing was years ago. Who cared about it anymore? And so what if she called about a job? She just got some information for him, that was all. No big deal. Maybe making it possible for him to stay—
That was it.
“I don’t think he wants to work it out,” Penny muttered. “I think he was looking for reasons to break it off.”
“That doesn’t sound like him,” Gran said. She put her fork down and reached over to squeeze Penny’s hand. “He’s probably just hurt bad over the disappointment he caused you. A man doesn’t like to hurt someone he cares about When it all boils down to nothing, honey, a man’s nothing but pride.”
Penny’s heart sank even lower, though she hadn’t thought that was possible. Gran was right, and it meant she had lost Brad forever.
Dorothy waited for Penny out in the library lobby, pretending to look through the used paperbacks for sale. She could have gone into the meeting, but she just wasn’t feeling all that social this evening. Must be that microwave popcorn she had for dinner.
“Hi, Dorothy.”
Dorothy turned. “Hi, Nancy. Mr. Mayberry.” The meeting must have ended. She put down the book she’d been staring at and watched for Penny, nodding at other committee members as they left.
“Heard you sold the Kramer place,” someone said. “What’re the new people like?
“Seem nice.”
Maybe she just should have called Penny, or gone out to the nursery. This smile was getting more and more painful to hold. Must be all the excitement getting to her. It wasn’t every day that a person got to escape her boring town and her boring life for romance and adventure. Her stomach churned. Damn popcorn.
“Dorothy?” Penny was there, looking as tired and worn as Dorothy felt. “What are you doing here?”
But even at her most exhausted, Penny knew how to read Dorothy. She had to be careful. “Waiting for you,” Dorothy said, careful to sound as cheerful as possible. “Do you know where Brad is? I’ve been trying to reach him for hours.”
“Brad?” Penny’s eyes were shadowed with darkness, her voice echoed with pain. “I thought he was at his uncle’s.”
“I didn’t see the Jeep there.”
Penny started out the door. “He’s not using it anymore. He moved into his uncle’s place this afternoon and left the Jeep back out at the nursery. Maybe he rented a car from the gas station.”
Dorothy rushed out after her into the sultry night, trying to look into her friend’s face, but Penny was too dam tall and it was too dam dark outside. “Wait a minute,” Dorothy said. “What happened?”
Penny stopped and turned. Her face was still in shadow. “Nothing happened. He’s just about done here and thought it would be easier to finish up if he was actually in the house.”
“Don’t give me that,” Dorothy said. “You two had something going.”
“Friendship, that’s all,” Penny said. “What did you want him for?”
Dorothy started walking toward the cars, slowly though, as if each step hurt. “I sold his uncle’s house.”
“Really? That was fast.”
“Toto bought it.”
“Toto?” Penny’s step seemed to falter, even as a little quiver of excitement came into her voice. “Does this mean you’re—”
“Going to Paris soon?” Dorothy jumped ahead to finish the sentence, unable to bear any other idea Penny might have had. She put every ounce of perky she possessed into her voice. “Yep. Isn’t that exciting?”
“Sure,” Penny agreed, though her voice seemed to express the opposite. “That’s wonderful.”
“What I’ve always wanted.”
They had reached Dorothy’s car so they stopped, but just long enough for Dorothy to get inside. Her perky level was about to take a dive and she needed to be gone.
“Can’t believe I’m actually going to pull it off,” she told Penny through the open window as she started the car. “Seems like I’ve been dreaming it forever.”
Penny stepped back, clutching her folder to her chest. “I’m really happy for you,” Penny said. “I’ll miss you, of course, but it’s so great that your dreams are coming true.”
“Yep.” With a wobbly wave, Dorothy backed out of the spot. In spite of the fact that the world got a little blurry from a sudden rush of tears, she made it to the street and down toward her apartment
This was what she wanted. That stupid little hope that had sprung up when she’d found out Toto was the buyer meant nothing. A habit somehow left over from their long-dead relationship. A reflex.
All he wanted the house for was an investment. Well, maybe someday it would get the family it deserved.
Except she would be in Paris and would never know.
Brad carried the last box out to the alley and stacked it with the others awaiting the trash pickup. He’d gotten more done this morning than he had in the whole week or so since he’d arrived. He should have done this sooner. It had been a huge mistake to stay at Penny’s.
Not that he’d actually stayed at Uncle Hal’s last night. After Brad had come back with his things, he’d realized it was too late to get the power and water turned on, so he’d gone to a motel. A nice, impersonal motel south of the tollway with a nice impersonal coffee shop. Nobody knew him, nobody cared to know him. The way he liked things to be.
Best of all, he didn’t have to wonder the whole time he was eating dinner if that woman at the counter knew Penny had made him lunches years back. And then that thought didn’t remind him of how he’d hurt Penny and shattered her dreams.
He hurried his steps and went in the back door. He would be gone in another day and at least he couldn’t ruin things anymore for Penny. And maybe one day he’d figure out a way—
There was a thumping noise from the front of the house. He went down the hall. Someone was at the door. He pulled it open to find Aunty Em standing there.
“Aunty Em. What are you doing here?” He looked around outside, but she was alone. “You didn’t drive here, did you?”
“Land sakes, boy, Penny dropped me off for physical therapy and I walked all of two blocks.” She stomped into the house, using her cane a bit more noisily than he remembered. “I don’t need a keeper, you know. Not like some I could name.”
She was here to scold him, and rightly so. “I know I shouldn’t have interfered with that seminar stuff,” he said. “I just thought I could help.”
“Doing for ain’t helping.” She frowned at him. “Is this where you entertain your guests? Here in the entryway? Or don’t I rate an invite to sit down?”
He ran his fingers through his hair. Jeez, where were his manners? “I’m sorry,” he said and showed her into the shadowed living room. “Come in and sit down.”
She stopped in the doorway. “On sheets and in the dark? Let’s go into the kitchen and you can get me something cool to drink.”
At least, he did have a cooler of pop. He led her down the hall and into the sunny kitchen. A soft cooling breeze came in through the open windows. Even old and worn as the kitchen was, it was still a welcoming room. A fa
mily room. Not that he had any need or use for such a place.
“Cola all right?” he asked.
“No beer?”
He pulled a can of cola from the cooler and popped the top, then poured it into a paper cup. She was roaming over the kitchen, running her hands over the worn surfaces as if feeling the years of living that had been done here. And would be again. Just because he didn’t want the place, it didn’t mean that it would be torn down.
Aunty Em finally came around to the kitchen table and sat down. “You staying here now?” she asked.
“Depends on how soon the power company comes out,” he said. “I went to the Road Star Inn last night.”
“Heard it was a decent place,” she said.
“Not bad.”
She sipped at her soda, then looked back up at him. “Always hought that Alex was no good, and I was right.”
Brad felt a moment’s panic. “What’s he done now?”
Aunty Em looked up with a frown. “He told things he had no business telling. Things that were better left in the past.”
Brad sat back in his chair with a sigh. “I was glad he told me. I shouldn’t have been the only one in town who didn’t know.”
“Oh, now don’t get all mopey on me,” she snapped. “Men sure do love to mope. My first husband was a champion moper. Never figured he’d stay dead. Thought Saint Peter would get ired of his moping and send him back.”
“I didn’t know you had been married more than once.”
“There’s a lot of things you don’t know. Like how to let yourself be loved.” .
He wasn’t sure what she was talking about, but knew enough not to ask. “I never claimed I was an expert on love.”
“Nobody is, but some seem to want to learn the hard way.”
“And some don’t want to learn at all.”
“There’s worse things than disappointment,” she said.
“I imagine.” He just got up and got himself a soda. Not because he was thirsty but because it was something to do. A way to avoid her cryptic conversation.
“Pride, for one.”
“I was thinking along the lines of famine and pestilence.”
She finished her cola and put the glass down with a thud. “You two are a matched pair. No use talking to either of you.”
He felt bad then. She was only here because she cared; she just didn’t realize yet how much better off they all would be without him here. He came back to the table. “You will take care of her, won’t you?”
“I’m an old woman. Seems that’s a job for a young man.”
“Hello?” someone called from the front of the house.
For a moment, a split second, his heart danced. The sun came out and it was forever spring.
Then Aunty Em called out, “In the kitchen, Dorothy. Come on back.” The old woman got to her feet and picked up her cane as Dorothy came into the kitchen. “I’m stiffening up sit ting here. I think I’ll just take me a walk outside.”
Brad got to his feet, but she just waved him away and walked slowly down the hall, the thump of her cane marking her progress. They heard the front door and Brad sank back into his chair.
“So, what can I do for you?” he asked.
“Nothing,” Dorothy said. “I’m here to report what I did for you. Sold your house.”
“Already?” He felt disappointed, though that made no sense. It was what he wanted. Now there’d be no ties when he left. “That’s great.”
“To Toto,” she said.
“Toto bought the house?” Brad was overcome with an unexpected surge of jealousy. “What’s he going to do with it?”
Dorothy made a face. “Fix it up and resell it, he says. Thinks he can make a big profit.”
“That doesn’t seem like him. Somehow I never thought he cared about money.”
“Who knows what he cares about?” Dorothy snapped, then took a deep breath. Her smile looked rather forced, but he wasn’t one to criticize. “Anyway, the good news is that I’ll be leaving for Paris soon. Bank account is healthy, so there’s nothing to keep me here.”
He looked around at the kitchen which had never been part of his home, and never would be. Just as the town had never been a part of him and never would be. “I’m just about done here, too. Still game to fly over together?”
“Sure, why not?” Her eyes held a worried, lost look, but her voice was bright “When?”
“Soon as possible.”
She pulled her cell phone out of her purse. “Let’s see when that is. No sense in lallygagging around here.” She dialed a number—the travel agency, it turned out—talked for a few minutes, then looked up at him. “A midnight flight out of O’Hare on Monday? We can leave right after Penny’s poetry reading.”
“Perfect.” Three days to finish packing things up and then a drive into Chicago.
Toto was sitting in front of the dryer, watching his clothes spin around. Junior had better things to do, of course. He was sleeping in the Laundromat’s front window in the sun. But then, Junior didn’t know that their dreams had all been shattered.
“Lordy, but you are hard to find.”
Toto looked up. Aunty Em was thumping down the row of dryers to where he sat. He jumped to his feet.
“Something wrong, ma’am?” he asked. He was off duty, but that was only a technicality.
“Everything’s wrong.” She sank into the molded plastic chair next to him with a weary sigh. “I’ve got bad news.”
Junior had woken up and trotted over to say hello. Toto figured the news couldn’t be all that bad if she was taking time to pet the dog, but still his stomach tied itself up in a knot.
Finally she leaned back in her chair. “Dorothy’s going to Paris,” she told him.
He felt the tension ease out of him. “I know. She told me.”
“And you’re letting her?”
“It’s not a matter of letting,” he tried to explain. “It’s what she wants to do. She wouldn’t be happy here if her heart’s over there.”
“Who said anything about her heart?” Aunty Em snapped. “I don’t think you know diddly about her heart these days.”
Toto just kept quiet. Aunty Em was a good-hearted lady and it wasn’t his place to argue with her. His momma had taught him respect. And besides, he did too know about Dorothy’s heart. He had seen the light in her eyes when she talked about Paris.
“Well, that’s neither here nor there,” Aunty Em mumbled to herself, and fixed him with a piercing glance. “Did you also know that she’s leaving Monday?”
“Monday?” That was so soon. But maybe it was better that way.
“And with Brad?”
Toto just stared at Aunty Em. He’d thought his heart was too numb to feel anything else, but he had been wrong. It was broken already, but now the pieces were being stomped underfoot and ground up into tiny bits.
“With Brad?” he repeated, his voice almost too weak to carry the awful words. No wonder Dorothy didn’t want him. She had Brad. Handsome, mysterious Brad. “How did you find all this out? Did Dorothy tell you?”
“What difference does it make how I found it out?” Aunty Em snapped. “What are you gonna do about it?”
He just shook his head. “What is there to do?” he asked. “If that’s what’s going to make her happy...”
Junior whined as Aunty Em got to her feet. The disgusted look on her face softened as she patted the dog. “You know, Junior, I think you and I are the only ones in this whole town with any sense. So who’s going to take some action, you or me?”
She started back toward the door, her cane thumping the death knell to Toto’s dreams. Junior barked twice when she got to the door, but Toto just sat there, wondering how he could hurt so much.
Penny knew the weekend was only forty-eight hours long, but she could have sworn someone had slipped an extra week in. Time just seemed to stand still. Everywhere she went on Saturday, everyone told her about Brad and Dorothy leaving together.
She
met the Jamisons at the hardware store. “I can’t believe it,” Mrs. Jamison said. “And to think Dorothy was your best friend.”
“I’m sure there’s nothing to it,” Penny told her and went down another aisle in search of toggle bolts.
“Oh, you poor dear,” the minister’s wife said and enveloped Penny in a crushing hug.
“They’re just friends,” Penny said, and left without any of the things she’d come for. She skipped the grocery store, certain it would be a repeat of the hardware store, but did pull in at the gas station. She had to get gas, for one thing, and was certain that people were more stoic there. Ha!
“I sure am sorry,” Mickey Juarez told her as they filled the cars at neighboring gas pumps. “Want me to check your oil for you?”
“Thanks anyway,” Penny said. “I’m fine.”
He nodded. “Yeah, probably best if you do it yourself,” he said. “I hear keeping busy’s best”
She just smiled and left. Leaving the whole town to talk about how Brad had hurt her so badly that she couldn’t even check her oil, no doubt.
“You should just go talk to him,” Gran told her over dinner. “You two can still work this out.”
“There’s nothing to work out. This wasn’t meant to be.”
“Why?” the old woman asked. “Are we back to your ten languages rule?”
Penny hadn’t thought of it, but it was true. Brad didn’t speak ten languages, so he didn’t qualify. She should be relieved. She could let him go and start over looking for her Mr. Right. “Why not? It’s as good a criterion as any.”
Sunday was no better. From all the mournful smiles she got at church, she would have sworn it was a funeral. When the hug brigade started after the service, Penny decided to spend the day at their tree field south of the tollway. She hadn’t checked the fields since the storm last week and she was sure there’d be pruning and hacking and clearing that needed to be done in blissful solitude.
Well, it certainly turned out to be solitude, but she wasn’t sure how blissful it was. Her thoughts were not the best of company.
If I Only Had A...Husband (The Bridal Circle #1) Page 22
