Can't Hurry Love

by Melinda Curtis

  “I would but it’s okay since I’m a wuss too.” Lola hugged her back, just as fiercely. “I’m sorry I let you demonstrate alone. If we were twenty years younger, we’d make a pact never to fight again.”

  “We’d pinkie swear.” Avery pulled away, grinning, and it was just as if the last two weeks hadn’t happened.

  “Hey.” Lola peered at Avery’s hairline. “Is that a gray hair?” She didn’t wait for confirmation. She plucked it out of Avery’s head.

  “OMG!” Avery accepted the gray strand. “I need an appointment with Barbara.”

  Lola sighed. There were some things about Sunshine even the bonds of friendship couldn’t change.

  * * *

  Shaw’s on a Sunday was different than Shaw’s on a Saturday night. The lights were brighter. The décor appeared dingier. And the clientele more judgmental.

  Mary Margaret, Tiffany, Darcy. The three women Lola had smelled at Scotty’s wake, one of whom was one of Randy’s one-night stands. They stood around the pool table and stared Lola down.

  Lola balked at the door.

  “Oh no you don’t.” Avery pushed her forward. “Ladies, we come in peace. Noah, two glasses of what they’re drinking.”

  Tiffany and Mary Margaret went for their purses. Darcy gathered a pile of what looked like law books.

  Lola swallowed her pride. “Ladies, I’m not on a witch hunt for anyone Randy slept with.” It was enough that she’d come to terms with the woman he’d loved, creating a story for their relationship that was romantic. And if it wasn’t true, for once, she didn’t want to know. “I’m kind of…” Lola wasn’t kind of anything. “I’m moving on and letting Randy go.” The declaration gave her a sense of peace.

  “And to prove she’s over Randy…” Avery collected Tiffany’s and Mary Margaret’s purses and tossed them in a booth. She took Darcy’s books next and dropped them on a nearby table. “She’s buying the next round.”

  It took another round after the one Lola bought to break down their defenses.

  “I’m sorry your husband died,” Lola said to Mary Margaret.

  The redhead put a hand to her throat, as if it had suddenly closed.

  “Yeah, widowhood sucks. But it gets better.” Lola squeezed her arm. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do.” She dug in her purse. “Tiff, I think this is yours.” She held up the silver and copper bracelet.

  Tiffany drew back. “That’s not mine.”

  “Let me see.” Mary Margaret shook the bracelet when Lola handed it over, making the tiny bells ring. “I got one of these from one of my room mothers a few years back. And…I still have it.” She grinned. “I saw it in my jewelry box when I tucked my great-aunt’s earring away.” She handed it back to Lola.

  Lola stared at it and then at Tiffany. “If it isn’t yours, then you must wear Joy.”

  “Hardly.” Tiffany held out her wrist. “I get cologne at the pharmacy for cost. Smell me.”

  They all did.

  Lola didn’t recognize the scent. “So…you didn’t sleep with Randy?”

  “No.”

  “Then why did you look guilty when I came in with Avery earlier?”

  Tiffany’s cheeks began to redden. “Because Randy never invoiced me for retiling my shower and then I spent the money on new tires. I kept thinking you were going to bill me.”

  “Debt forgiven.” Lola waved it away with one hand. “I’ve already squared Randy’s books with the accountant. It’ll cost me too much to go back.” Despite her vow to let the rest of Randy’s secrets rest, she looked at Darcy. “And your excuse for avoiding me is…”

  “I didn’t want you to accuse me too. I’ve been studying for the bar. If I got in a brawl with you, Judge Harper would skin me alive. In fact, he still might. I’m supposed to be studying now.” She gestured to the books on the table.

  “Darcy’s supposed to be studying every Sunday.” Mary Margaret tugged a lock of Darcy’s hair gently. “But if we aren’t corrupting her, Jason is.”

  “Speaking of which”—Avery pointed at the television—“Jason’s about to ride.”

  Lola knew next to nothing about bull riding but when Jason stayed on the beast to the buzzer, she clapped and cheered with the rest of the women. And when he climbed the fence into the stands and kissed a beautiful brunette, she got silent like the rest of the women.

  Darcy’s cheeks paled. “I’m okay.” She tried to smile, clearly not okay.

  Two cell phones rang.

  “It’s the judge.” Darcy moved away to take the call from her boss.

  “It’s Frank.” Avery stared at the display with a frown.

  “Take the call,” Lola urged Avery. “Frank seems like a nice guy.” And from what she’d heard Barbara say to Kevin in the mortuary, the town council wouldn’t approve his purchase.

  “That’s just it. Nice guys never like me.” But Avery answered. She spoke in low monosyllables, ending with “Thank you.”

  “Did he ask you out?” Lola hoped so.

  “No. He’s decided to pull out of the downtown development project.” Avery looked perplexed. “I won.” She looked at Lola. “I convinced him it was wrong.”

  Avery had no idea Frank was in love with her. Lola congratulated her anyway.

  “I need to go.” Darcy gathered her books. “The judge wants me to come over and study for the bar.”

  “I swear,” Mary Margaret said after Darcy left, “if I didn’t know better, I’d say old Judge Harper had a thing for Darcy.”

  “That’ll never happen,” Avery said absently. “He’s like fifty years older than she is.”

  “May-December romance?” Lola shook her head, thinking of Marcia and Randy. “Never say never.”

  * * *

  “We’ve got to stop meeting like this.” Drew entered the garage apartment.

  His landlady sat on the floor, propped against the bed. Lola wore blue jeans, the kind of high-heeled black boots women in New York City wore, and a pensive expression beneath the hair piled high on her head. “I should lock the door, I suppose.” She stared at something in her hand.

  He moved closer, curious as to what had her attention. “If it was locked, I’d just knock.” He couldn’t tell what she held. “If you’ve come to gloat over my botched marriage proposal, don’t. The entire town has been rubbing it in my face all day.”

  “As proposals go, it was pretty terrible.” Lola curled her fingers and tilted her head to look at him. “I understood why you did it. You want to protect Becky.”

  “The sign of a desperate man.” He sat next to her.

  “You’ve got no need to feel desperation. You’re a good dad.” Lola shook her hand and something jingled.

  It was the clue Drew needed. She held the bracelet she’d found in this room.

  They sat in silence for a few moments, staring at the bureau.

  She sighed. “I never had anyone pine for me the way Frank pines after Avery.”

  “Give it time.” Drew might have pined for her, in between the madness caused by spring thaw. “You’re young.”

  “And foolish.” She held out her hand to show him the pearl ring she wore. “It’s Nana’s.”

  Unbelievable. She’d found it? Lola didn’t think like him at all but he was beginning to suspect she’d make a good police detective. Or…a good backup plan. “Are you going to tell me who had it?”

  “I don’t think so.” Her eyes held a secret, and her cheeks glowed a soft pink. “How did you break your nose?”

  “My nose?” He fingered the bridge.

  “Never mind.” Lola waved a hand. “I need to keep to the facts, not…” She sneaked a glance at him. “The facts are that Mary Margaret and Avery both said they spent the night with Randy when they were at a low point in their lives, and I met him right after my grandmother died.”

  “Which means…” He was still wondering why she wanted to know about his nose.

  “I don’t think Randy was the town man-whore.” Lola smiled. Not a
dimpled smile but a smile nonetheless. “I think he sensed when women were lonely and vulnerable.”

  “You think he seduced them with the best of intentions.” It was hard to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.

  Based on her elbowing him, he hadn’t succeeded. “Randy was a romantic, not a seducer. He kept a memento from every woman. I think he cared for each of them.” She shook the bracelet. “I don’t know who this belonged to. Or the perfume.”

  But she’d found who had her ring, and no one had called 911.

  “Randy had your ring in that box too,” Drew realized. “You have your answer. He loved you.”

  “I’d like to think so.” And then Lola did something so unexpected that Drew almost fell over. She laid her head on his shoulder.

  A surge of…something passed through him, crowding his lungs.

  It wasn’t the breath-freeing feeling of relief. It wasn’t the pulse-pounding feeling of annoyance. It spread from his chest like a sip of smooth whiskey, warming him from head to toe, melting away the stress of the choices behind and the choices ahead.

  She’d deflated the blow-up dolls. She’d found the answers she was looking for regarding Randy. She was no longer a woman he had to monitor with caution.

  He captured Lola’s hand and pressed a kiss to her knuckles.

  She didn’t move. “What was that for?”

  He didn’t know. He couldn’t say.

  There was only the languid feeling of the two of them together. Lola understanding him. He understanding her. And this peaceful, contented feeling that he was meant to be nowhere else but at her side.

  Images drifted through his mind. Lola’s feet dancing on the jail-cell wall. Lola giving Becky two thumbs up in the thrift store. Lola covering her face in whipped cream at the Saddle Horn. Lola coaxing little Caden into letting her style his hair and apply makeup. Lola dancing in the cop uniform and blond wig. Lola winding her arms around him and kissing him as if his touch were more important than air.

  There was a reason he couldn’t shake the need to kiss her again.

  He turned her face to his. “I love you.”

  She drew back a smidge, not screaming that she loved him too. “You sound surprised.”

  “It’s just so…unexpected.” On paper, Lola was everything he didn’t want in a woman. Spontaneous. Unpredictable. Year-round spring-thaw madness.

  She had yet to smile. “Didn’t you just propose to Wendy this morning?”

  He nodded, cupping her cheek with his hand, stroking the corner of her mouth with his thumb.

  “Do you still need a wife in your custody case?”

  “It would help.” He traced the shape of her ear with his fingers. Maybe that blond wig was back in the bureau, next to the cop uniform.

  “You’re such a jerk.” Lola scrambled to her feet.

  Drew stared up at her, still drifting in the ambiance of love. “What are you talking about?”

  “You still need a wife.” She leaned over him, hands on hips. “Your proposal technique sucked today with Wendy so you decided to try something different.” She sounded just like his sisters, ramping up into Watch-Out-World mode. “You dropped the L-bomb hoping I wouldn’t turn you down the way Wendy did.”

  Drew refused to be drawn into an argument. He remained cool, hoping calm would prevail, hoping they’d find common ground. “Maybe you noticed I didn’t ask you to marry me.” He’d take it slow this time.

  Her mouth dropped open. And then she was moving, gathering her car keys and her indignation on the way out.

  “You’re such a jerk,” she said one more time before slamming the door behind her.

  Chapter Thirty

  Drew loves me?

  Lola couldn’t believe it.

  Literally. She couldn’t believe he felt love for her. No man who proposed to one woman in the morning would tell another woman that night that he loved her.

  Even Randy would agree I deserve to be treated better.

  Lola couldn’t sleep. She tossed and turned and got out of bed. She ate half a bag of cookies and opened the box Randy and Candy came in, debating whether to inflate them again, if only to have someone to talk to. She rummaged through her lingerie drawer—one black bra, one white thong, one red teddy. Pathetic. She shopped Victoria’s Secret online without buying anything, because she got distracted by a sidebar of cute kitten videos.

  Four hours of sleep, six hours of doing hair at the retirement home, and a shared plate of loaded nachos with Avery later, Lola walked to the last dress rehearsal, feeling like someone had stuffed her head with cotton. She hoped no one wanted to have a scintillating conversation.

  Drew pulled into the high school gym’s parking lot just as she arrived.

  She fought the impulse to run back home. Instead, she put on her brightest smile and waited for Drew to get out of the police cruiser, jingling the bells on the bracelet she wore. This first meeting after his declaration had to be handled deftly, or she’d never be able to face him again.

  Lola planted her heels on the blue paint of the empty handicapped parking space. “How are you, Sheriff?”

  “I’m fine,” he grumbled, walking quickly toward the gym. “Didn’t arrest anybody, didn’t walk any runaway pigs, didn’t fire any relatives, didn’t lose custody of my daughter.” His steps faltered on that last statement.

  What judge would look at Drew and revoke custody? He’s ninety-nine percent perfect.

  Drew grabbed hold of Lola’s arm and stopped her. “What did you say?”

  Lola blinked. “Did I say that out loud?” She hesitated at his jerky nod. “Which part?”

  He rolled his eyes and released her.

  “All of it?” she squeaked. When he nodded, she added, “I need more sleep.”

  Drew sighed and moved on with the purposeful steps of an irritated man. He couldn’t be irritated with her slip of the tongue. Come to think of it, he’d slammed the car door with too much gusto before she’d ever spoken.

  “Still getting the business from everybody, Sheriff?” For firing Gary, dooming Rosie, and asking Wendy to marry him at the Saddle Horn.

  “Yep.”

  Good thing no one knows you told me you loved me. The town would have a field day.

  “You’re sleep-talking again.” Drew opened the gym door for her, releasing the sound of hundreds of children chattering at the same time. Both the upper and the lower grades were rehearsing tonight, and it was nearly deafening inside.

  But only one child mattered to Drew. And she sat right by the door.

  “Daddy.” Becky had tears in her eyes. Her wrist was wrapped in an elastic bandage.

  “Hey.” Drew knelt before her. “What happened?”

  Lola lingered, feeling a little awkward, but she was early and cared too much about Becky not to eavesdrop.

  Becky wiped at her cheeks. “I was practicing the sword fight with Caden, and he hit me. Ha-ard.” She gave a shaky sob and flung herself into Drew’s arms.

  “She’s fine.” Wendy appeared next to him. She was wearing white overalls and a white T-shirt today. Her short blond hair was pinned back over her ears with black bobby pins. “That’s what rehearsals are for—shaking out the kinks.”

  Lola glanced at Drew, wondering whether he was thinking what she was thinking: Wendy’s not exactly the soft, cuddly type, is she?

  “No, she’s not,” Drew said. “You are.”

  She’d spoken out loud again? Lola pressed her lips together.

  “Caden didn’t shake anything. He hit me.” Becky turned in Drew’s arms and gave Wendy a mutinous scowl. “Fire Caden, Daddy. You’re good at firing people.”

  “Why don’t you quit, Becky?” A spitfire blonde Lola didn’t recognize had come through the gym doors. She had choppy hair, as if she’d cut it herself, and wore more makeup than most women in Sunshine.

  Drew’s arms tightened around Becky. It didn’t take a detective to figure out this was his ex-wife, Jane.

  Becky’s expression cru
mpled into tears. She buried her face in Drew’s shoulder.

  “Quit?” For once, Wendy’s calm exterior was ruffled. She frowned at Jane. “Caden apologized and promised not to swing his sword too hard.”

  “He shouldn’t have to be soft on her.” Jane wasn’t being soft on anyone. She glared at Wendy. She glared at Drew. She glared at Lola, and Lola hadn’t even said anything.

  “Maybe you should use cardboard swords.” Drew stood, still holding Becky. “Those plastic ones can be dangerous.”

  “If you say you could poke someone’s eye out…” Wendy toned down the heat and tried to smile but it was a strained lifting of lips. “I want the kids to have fun.”

  “I’m not having fun,” Becky said in a muffled voice.

  Jane put her hands on her hips. “Then you should quit and stay here for the rest of your life. Life is too hard outside of Sunshine.”

  Lola disagreed. She’d found life to be pretty hard in Sunshine.

  Everyone stared at Lola, even Wendy.

  Lola realized she’d spoken her thoughts aloud again. “Sorry. Lack of sleep.”

  Jane narrowed her eyes in the direction of Drew and Becky. “I don’t want my daughter’s heart to be broken. She shouldn’t think she can make it big just because she does well here.”

  “Every child should dream,” Lola said.

  Wendy nodded. “So true.”

  “Drew, why didn’t you tell me you were dating?” Jane demanded, glaring at Lola.

  “We broke up,” Wendy said matter-of-factly. She touched Lola’s shoulder. “I need you to take Becky to hair and makeup below the stage. Curtain goes up in ninety minutes.”

  “Wendy, I wouldn’t call what you were doing with Drew dating.” Jane dismissed Wendy with a wave of her hand. “I’m talking about her.” She pointed at Lola.

  “Oh. No. Um.” Lola edged toward the stage. “Drew and I are just friends.”

  Drew’s gaze was sharp, and his words sharper, aimed at his ex. “How do you know what kind of dates Wendy and I had?”

  “Wendy told me.” Jane planted her boots in line with her hips and sliced right back at Drew. “I’m staying with her.”