Love is Lovelier

by Donna Simonetta

  She swallowed hard. “I can handle his wrath, but how about yours? Any wrath on your part?”

  He thought for a long time, and the sounds of the party in the distance made Heather want to run to it to escape from this uncomfortable conversation. He was taking too long to think about his answer. She had overstepped her bounds and he was angry. She licked her dry lips and looked longingly to the sound of the boppy hits of the eighties now playing at the party. It sounded happy, and more important, it sounded far away from the dressing down she feared she was about to get from Mick.

  Finally he shrugged. “I’m not sure how I feel about you interfering with my family. It’s like you’re my girlfriend, but without any of the benefits of being in a romantic relationship. A small part of me is pissed you meddled, but the rest of me knows you did it with good intentions, and maybe it’s the push Billy needed to get out.” He took another drink from the bottle and shook his head. “I don’t know what I’m feeling about you right now, Heather. I really don’t.”

  The tightness in Heather’s chest loosened a little. At least he wasn’t furious with her, but she didn’t think he only meant he didn’t know how he felt about her with relation to her interference. He could just join the confusion club, because she was right there with him. Their relationship had gotten so complicated, it felt like the plot of a nineteenth-century Russian novel, transplanted to modern, small-town Virginia.

  She rose and brushed off the seat of her pants. “I’ll have to wait for another time for you to figure things out. I’ve got to pick up Sam and meet everyone for dinner.”

  As she walked to the car, she heard his footsteps on the porch, and then his deep voice rumbled, “Congratulations on finishing your last exam. You should be really proud of yourself. I know I am.”

  She raised a hand in acknowledgment and got into her car. As she turned her car around to pull out, she couldn’t resist another peek at Mick. He stood on the top step of the porch, one shoulder leaning against the post. And my-oh-my that was one fine glower on his face. She never thought she was the kind of girl to fall for some kind of brooding, Gothic romance novel hero, but she had to admit to herself Mick’s Heathcliff routine really did it for her like nothing else did.

  She blasted the air conditioning to cool off a little before she had to face her friends and family, with their all-seeing, all-knowing eyes. This thing with Mick couldn’t go anywhere, and she wasn’t in the mood for the Spanish Inquisition, Rivers Bend style, so she didn’t want her flushed cheeks and bright eyes to give anything away over dinner.

  ****

  “Something is so going on with you,” Bethanne observed sagely out of nowhere. The talk had all been about her graduation and the Derby party tomorrow.

  She brushed her bangs off her forehead and said too quickly, “There’s nothing going on with me. Why would you say that?”

  “Don’t kid a kidder, Heather. We all know you well enough to know something’s up, I’m the only one brave enough to say it.”

  “Brave or brazen?” Heather challenged with a jut of her chin.

  Bethanne narrowed her eyes. “Why were you late getting to the restaurant tonight?”

  “I had to stop to talk to a friend before I picked up Sam.”

  “Mm hm. What friend?”

  “A friend. Sheesh, Bethanne, what’s with the third degree? I was only five minutes late.”

  “And you’re being so defensive—makes a girl wonder where you were.”

  “I told you—with a friend!”

  Her sister Deidre looked around the table, before saying with emphasis, “All your friends are here, darlin’, so I’ve got to wonder who you were with too.”

  Bethanne leaned back in her seat, before turning her head to look at Sam so fast her hair spun out around her. “When your Aunt Heather picked you up tonight, what direction did she come from? Was it the main drive to the Retreat?”

  Sam squirmed in her seat. “No. She came from the road leading to the guest cabins.”

  Bethanne shot up in her seat, and yelled as if she were a lawyer interrogating a witness, “Ah ha! The road to the guest cabins…interesting. Would those be the same guest cabins where a certain Mick Evans is currently residing?”

  Heather felt her face heat up, as she picked up her Dark and Stormy and slugged some back. “Really, Bethanne, you need to get out more and stop watching reruns on TV. This isn’t an old crime drama, and you’re not a lawyer. This was supposed to be a dinner to celebrate me taking my last exam today.”

  “Don’t knock Perry Mason, everyone cracked under his cross-examination. So…were you or were you not late because you were with Mick Evans?”

  Sam excused herself to go to the ladies room, and Heather’s mom leveled a look at Bethanne. “When my granddaughter gets back, will you please leave her out of your interrogation? Better yet, drop the whole thing altogether.”

  “Thanks, Mom!”

  Joyce swung her head to look at Heather. “Don’t be too fast with your thanks, missy, I just don’t want Sam to be put in an awkward position, but I do want to know what you were doing coming from Mick’s place tonight.”

  Heather’s eyes drew round. “Why is everyone so interested in this? I stopped by Mick’s to tell him Ed Miller is interviewing his little brother about a possible job opening at Miller’s Garage, on my recommendation. That’s all, end of story.”

  Caitlin leaned forward and asked eagerly, “Mick has a little brother? How old is he? Is he as hot as Mick?”

  “Down girl,” said Deirdre. “My boy-crazy daughter, ladies.”

  “I’m not boy crazy, but you can’t deny if Mick’s brother is as good looking as he is, it’s worth knowing about him before every other girl in town.”

  Deidre rolled her eyes and looked at Heather. “So are you back with Mick? He didn’t bring Gloria into the Nosh Pit all week.”

  “That’s because he didn’t take a lunch break all week,” Bethanne said. “Cisco told me without Heather there, the Retreat was a zoo, and Mick was a real trouper about pitching in with everything. He was running himself ragged trying to do his job and Heather’s.”

  “Here comes Sam, so I don’t want to be talking about her friend’s mother when she gets back to the table, but just so you will all stop match-making, I’ll just say, I saw Mick Sunday night, when he was out to dinner at the country club with Gloria. Seeing them together didn’t feel good, I’ll tell you that! So, please, stop trying to push us together. It’s not happening.”

  Chapter 19

  The whir of the blender outdoors on a sunny May Saturday meant only one thing to Heather: her mother’s annual Kentucky Derby party. For as long as she could remember, it was one of her favorite days of the year; it ranked right up there with her birthday and Christmas.

  She lifted the lid off the blender and an icy mist formed over the frozen green slush. She sniffed it before she poured it into the cocktail glasses. Yum! The minty-bourbony aroma of the cocktail she made for the party was tantalizing on a warm day.

  The guests were due any minute; right now, only the Braden family was gathered to sample the first round of her frozen mint juleps.

  She loved the traditions of this party. It was always outdoors, weather permitting, family and close friends only, and everyone was dressed up in their Derby finery. Much like at Churchill Downs, hats were de rigueur, and Heather was especially pleased with her hat this year. She wore a pink and tangerine swingy mini dress and had decorated her hat with color-coordinated silk flowers and feathers.

  Her sister Deidre had opted for a sparkly fascinator this year, and Heather knew they were trendier, but she just loved getting to wear the big hat. It made the day feel even more special.

  Magda jumped into the spirit of the day, and her crazy, corkscrew blonde curls were topped with a hat that would do the royal family proud, in a pretty turquoise color to match her dress.

  Jeff wrapped an arm around Magda’s shoulders and hoisted his glass with the other. “To De
rby Day!”

  “Derby Day!” They all toasted in unison as they clinked their glasses and then sipped.

  Jason took a heartier swig than everyone else. “Whoa!” He yelled as he pressed the heel of his hand to the bridge of his nose. “Brain freeze, but holy frozen bourbon, Batgirl! This is your best Derby cocktail yet!”

  Heather held out the edges of her dress and curtsied. “Thank you, thank you very much.”

  With all the craziness of the visit to Mick’s prickly family, taking her finals, interpersonal drama with Mick, Chase, and Gloria, she was so happy to be here with her family and their closest friends—enjoying the day together.

  The long driveway to the family farm wound its way through green fields with their round hay bales, and lined with white fences. A car came into view as it drove down the way.

  Jeff squinted into the sun to better see who the new arrivals were. “Looks like Cisco, Bethanne, and the rugrat are here.”

  As more cars followed, Heather took a hasty gulp of her drink. “I’d better get another blender of juleps going.”

  Magda stepped up beside her behind the makeshift bar. “How can I help?”

  “I think I’m good, but a little company is always nice.” Heather frowned as a familiar Mercedes pulled up in front of her mother’s house. “I guess Mick invited Gloria.”

  “No, Sam invited Hadley; I bet Gloria is just dropping her off.”

  Hadley got out of the car without a backward glance at her mother and ran to greet Sam. But instead of the car turning around and pulling right back out, the way Heather was mentally willing it to do, Gloria turned off the engine and emerged from the black vehicle like a butterfly from a cocoon. Her fitted dress and enormous hat were the same shade of lavender as her eyes.

  Heather mashed the mint with a little too much vigor. “Hope you didn’t bet too much, because it looks like Gloria is here to stay, and I can’t imagine my mother invited her, so that leaves Mick.”

  Magda adjusted her giant hat. “I still don’t believe he’d invite her. She had her sights set on Jeff when I moved here, so I’ve seen her in action before; I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s using her daughter to crash the party. The woman is shameless!” Magda hesitated and looked from the glass pitcher to Heather’s face; the hint of a smile played at her lips. “I think the mint is dead.”

  Heather’s hand stilled, and she looked down at the fragrant, green pulverized mess. She reached for the squat bottle of Maker’s Mark, and she looked at the driveway, where Mick was arriving in Lola. “Looks like we’re about to find out if he asked her or not.”

  Mick put the top up on Lola and got out. As he straightened the jacket of his well-fitted suit, Heather saw his gaze flicker to the Mercedes and his previously happy expression darkened.

  Magda nudged her with her shoulder. “Doesn’t look like he’s too happy to see the Glo-mobile. I’m going to join Jeff, if Gloria bombs out with Mick, Jeff might need my protection from her.”

  Heather watched as Gloria moved toward Mick as fast as her five-inch heels allowed. She was a little ashamed by how happy his world-renowned glower made her feel when it was directed at Gloria and not at her, but the power of the glower held no sway over Gloria, who clasped his arm and chattered happily to him as she tottered along on the grass at his side.

  Jeff widened his eyes and raised his hands in the classic palms-up gesture meaning ‘wtf,’ and Mick responded with a grimace and a slight shrug.

  Heather kept making the pitcher of frozen mint juleps like a robot, without even looking at what she was doing, because her attention was focused on Mick and Gloria, as they greeted Heather’s mom. After a few moments of social niceties, Gloria dragged Mick off to the barn.

  Heather’s gut clenched. It was none of her business what they did in the barn, but she knew what her brothers used to do with their girls in the barn in high school, and the jealousy washed over her like a tsunami, taking her breath away.

  Mick was her friend—yes, he was a friend whom she’d seen in all his glorious nakedness, but he was just a friend now. If he wanted to play farmer’s daughter and the traveling salesman in the barn with Ghastly Gloria, it was not her concern. Right?

  “Hey, Aunt Heather!”

  She jumped as her niece chirped a cheery greeting. She’d been so lost in her own tortured thoughts about what Mick and Gloria were doing in the barn she hadn’t noticed Sam and Gloria’s daughter approach.

  “Hi Sam, Hadley. You both look lovely.”

  And they did, although Sam looked sweeter in her floral sundress and the straw hat Heather had helped her niece decorate with silk flowers. Hadley’s dress and hat looked too old and sophisticated for her, but then having Gloria for a mother had turned the child into a little thirty year old.

  “Thanks, so do you. Do you have anything for us to drink?”

  Heather smiled as she squatted behind the long folding table, and lifted the white tablecloth to reveal a small fridge underneath running off power supplied by an extension cord run from the house. “It just so happens I whipped up a non-alcoholic version of our drink just for you.”

  She pulled out a pitcher filled with the slushy, mint-green concoction. She stood and pulled two empty glasses to her and poured. As she did so, the two girls chattered away together.

  “Did Mr. Evans invite your mom? Because I don’t think my grandma did.”

  Excellent question, young Sam. I was wondering the same thing.

  Hadley rolled her eyes and heaved a deep sigh. “No. She just tagged along with me. I don’t think he wants to go out with her anymore, but she told me she wanted to give him one more shot at glory, before she agrees to marry that old ambassador geezer she’s been dating.”

  Heather snuck a glance at her niece to see how much of that world-weary speech Sam understood. These kids were eleven, for Pete’s sake! How was Ghastly Glo raising poor Hadley? Talking with the girl about having sex with one man when she was about to marry another. She let out a small whoosh of relief when she saw the wrinkles of confusion on Sam’s brow. At least her niece didn’t seem to understand what Hadley meant.

  As she handed the girls their drinks, she mulled over what Hadley had just said. Gloria was going to marry some ambassador? Did Mick know about it? Heather didn’t think so. He didn’t seem too into Gloria, she even suspected it was just a rebound thing from her that drove him to continue going out with Gloria, but Heather wasn’t sure, and if she was wrong, Gloria had the power to really hurt Mick.

  ****

  Jesus H. Christ! Gloria was like an octopus in a fancy hat. She’d taken him to the barn to show him the horse she boarded with the Bradens, but as soon as they left the bright sunlight outside for the dim confines of the barn, she’d been all over him like a cheap suit. He struggled to get her off him, in a way that wouldn’t hurt the much smaller woman, and finally was able to pull her tentacles—um, hands—off his body.

  She stamped one of her little feet in those ridiculous shoes, and he was surprised the pencil-thin heel didn’t snap under the pressure.

  “Damn it, Mick! It’s not like I’m asking for a lifelong commitment.”

  He frowned. “You’re not?”

  “Hell no, I just want to have a little fun with you. I never dreamed you’d be such a killjoy.”

  Mick’s brows drew together. “Word around town is you want to get married again, so I thought…”

  As realization dawned in her purple eyes, Gloria threw her head back and laughed. She reached up to adjust her hat, and humor still bubbled in her voice. “And you thought I wanted to marry you? Oh, Michael, you silly boy, I don’t want to marry you.”

  “You don’t?”

  “No. Do you want to marry me?” She asked with an amused smile.

  “No.”

  “Then we’re on the same page.” She licked her lips. “So, since we’re in a barn, how about a roll in the hay?”

  Mick blinked. “You just want to have sex with me?”

  “You d
id think I wanted to marry you! I’m so sorry, Michael, I’m about to accept a proposal of marriage from a real gentleman, a diplomat.”

  “Then what are you doing here with me?”

  She lifted one shoulder. “He’s quite a bit older than me, and I wanted a fling with a big, hot stud like you before I take the plunge.”

  Mick rubbed the back of his neck as he processed her words. “Do you mind if I ask, why you don’t want to marry me?”

  She trilled in laughter again. “My, my, you sound like a Victorian miss. Fine, I’ll tell you the truth, you’re sexy and successful enough, but you’ll always be a coal-miner’s son from West Virginia, and I deserve more in a husband.”

  He felt his jaw drop and she arched an eyebrow before continuing. “Did you think I didn’t know about your humble beginnings? I do, and it’s not for me. I want the finer things in life, and my gentleman friend can give them to me. I’m going to be an ambassador’s wife, but he’s elderly, and you’re beautiful, like the statue of David, and I want you to fuck me. Is that what they’d say in the hills? Can I make myself any more clear, Michael?”

  He staggered back a step. He didn’t give two shits about Gloria, so he was surprised by how shocked and hurt he felt in light of her disdain. “You’re being crystal clear, Gloria, so I’ll do you the courtesy of being just as honest with you. I don’t want to sleep with you. I didn’t before, and I sure as hell don’t want to now.”

  Gloria narrowed her eyes and little lines formed around her mouth. “Because of Heather Braden?”

  “None of your business.”

  “Then what’s the problem?” She whined.

  “You’re not really my type, but more important, I might not have been born with a silver spoon in my mouth, but I’m too good for you. I’ve achieved a lot in my life; I’m not some gigolo.” A horse nickered in his stall, and brought another analogy to mind. “Or some stallion you can buy for a stud fee. Jesus, Gloria, how could you think so little of me? Of yourself?”