“Who?” Brooklynn asked. “If you guys think you’re so smart.”
“David Reddington,” Aunt Mabel said at the same time Laci did, except Laci said Dave, so their voices were off by a syllable.
Horror hit Brooklynn smack dab in the chest. “Fine,” she said. “So you’re smart.”
“He had that look in his eye when he came to the shelter last week,” Laci said, shrugging.
“I heard it at Duality on Monday morning,” Aunt Mabel said. “I was there getting one of their fantastic pancake sausage sliders, and overheard a couple of women talking.”
A couple of women talking. Brooklynn didn’t know what to think. Honestly, she should be used to being the focus of talk in Hawthorne Harbor. People she didn’t know had showed up at her house and brought her dinner for a solid two months after Ryker had died. So her going out with someone new?
“I’m surprised it wasn’t on the front page of the newspaper,” she said dryly.
“Oh, old Bob Townsend will never allow that.” Aunt Mabel shook her head. “He hasn’t got a romantic bone in his body.”
Brooklynn looked at Aunt Mabel, who watched her with open eyes now. “You think it’s romantic?”
“Of course I do,” Aunt Mabel said. “That man has had a crush on you for years.”
“Yeah,” Brooklynn murmured. He’d said that. She’d known he was interested in her for a year. But one was different than many, and she still hadn’t worked out how she felt about being in a real relationship with him.
“Tell us about it,” Laci said. “Because when I saw you on Friday, you two did not have plans to go out.” She motioned to her mother that she wanted tea too, and Brooklynn got in on that too.
“It was….” Her phone went off before she could classify it, and she glanced down at where it sat on the counter.
Dave’s name winked back at her before the message was whisked up and off the screen. “It was nice,” she finally said. “I really like him.”
“Hallelujah,” Aunt Mabel said, definite sarcastic undertones to the word.
“I just…don’t know if it will work out.”
“No one knows that,” Laci said. “I mean, look at me and Quill. We’ve been together for years.” Her voice choked, and Brooklynn hurried to put her arm around her sister.
“I know,” she said softly. “It’s okay.”
The conversation shifted from Brooklynn to Laci, and then to which type of tea bags her mother bought. Aunt Mabel had never had such delicious tea. Then her father and brother came in with one of the wild turkeys, and mayhem ensued. By the time Brooklynn remembered to look at her phone, hours had gone by.
Still, Dave’s text brought a smile to her face, and she opened it while she sat in her driveway at home.
The moon is full tonight, and I love a good full moon.
He’d texted her a little bit—insignificant things like that. Things about himself, and he’d asked her a couple of questions since Sunday.
Me too, she tapped out, adding Sorry I missed this. Family dinner tonight and it was crazy.
His next text made her blood run hot and cold at the same time, which was quite discombobulating.
Wanna come over and look at the moon and tell me about it?
Chapter Seven
It’s not a date, Dave hurried to add, wishing he could just call Brooklynn. But she liked texting more than talking, and he honestly would rather have a thirty-second conversation than type everything out with his thumbs. Just friendly.
To his great surprise, his phone rang a few seconds after he’d seen the little READ come up next to his texts. “Hey,” he said.
“So are you saying you won’t hold my hand?” she asked in lieu of hello.
“I’m saying it’s not raining for once, and I have popcorn and chocolate covered pretzels.” He got up and wandered to the front door, peering through the screen to the world outside.
“You really know how to get me to do what you want, don’t you?”
“I think you started that,” he shot back.
She laughed, and the sound sent flutters right into his heart. “All right. See you in a minute. And Dave?”
“Yeah?”
“There better be something warm to drink. Just because it’s not raining doesn’t mean it’s warm.”
“Deal,” he said. After hanging up he spun toward the kitchen, hoping he had some hot chocolate mix. He could make coffee too, and she wasn’t good at it. So he set a pot to brew, and then started heating water in his kettle too.
He opened the cupboards, muttering, “Hot chocolate. Hot chocolate. Where would I be if I were hot chocolate?” He shifted the canister of oatmeal, and a smile burst onto his face. He grabbed the hot chocolate container and saw that it was hazelnut hot chocolate.
It would have to do.
He stuck a bag of microwave popcorn in and pulled out the tub of dark chocolate covered pretzels a friend of his from Pennsylvania had sent.
He wasn’t exactly sure where he and Brooklynn were on the relationship scale. He knew if it were up to him, he’d go straight to her place after work. Bring pizza maybe. Lay on her couch while she ran her fingers through his hair and told him about her day.
Don’t go too fast, he told himself as the kernels started to pop. The microwave beeped to indicate the popcorn was ready at the same time Brooklynn’s voice floated through the air with a “Hello?”
“Back in the kitchen,” he said. “Come on in.” His heart jackhammered in his chest, and he wasn’t sure why. He’d spent a couple of hours with her on Sunday. They’d held hands, and he’d hugged her.
Because of that, it was easy and natural to draw her into his arms again when she arrived in the kitchen. “Hey,” he said again, his voice softer than before. “So I was just about to doctor up the popcorn. Have you ever had churro popcorn?”
“No. What’s that?”
He stuck a bowl with a couple tablespoons of butter in it in the microwave. “It’s cinnamon and sugar on the popcorn, like a churro.”
“Sounds great.” She flashed him a smile, and it sent tingles all the way to his toes. “And that coffee smells divine.”
“I also have hazelnut hot chocolate and ice cream in the garage.”
“You put ice cream in your hot chocolate?”
“My mother did,” he said with a laugh. “It cools it down and makes it creamy. Win-win, right?”
“I like my hot drinks hot.” She turned in a circle. “Where do I get a mug?”
“Oh, right there.” He pointed to the cupboard above the coffee maker and pulled the butter out of the microwave. He busied himself with flavoring it, so he didn’t realize that Brooklynn hadn’t poured herself a cup of coffee until he turned toward her and found her frozen, both hands wrapped around the mug while she stared at it.
“Everything okay?” he asked though it was obvious that she wasn’t okay.
“Where did you get this?” she asked, lifting the mug. It was multi-colored, with a black D painted on it.
“A local artist made it,” he said. “My brother got it for me for Christmas last year. I guess she had a booth at the Festival of Trees.” He left the popcorn on the counter though it needed to be stirred. “Why?”
“Ryker had one of these.” Brooklynn finally looked up. “Obviously not exactly like this. But it was similar.”
Dave took it from her, somewhat surprised she let him. He poured her a cup of coffee so he’d have something else to focus on while he spoke. “Did you get rid of his things after he died?”
“Most of them,” she said.
“His coffee mug?”
She nodded, her eyes wide and afraid. “I couldn’t look at it every morning.” She forced a laugh that lightened the mood marginally. “But I’m terrible at making coffee, so that’s a reminder of his absence every day anyway.”
“Did he make the coffee?”
“Always.”
“What about before you were married?”
“I
managed to survive somehow.”
He handed her the mug and said, “I have cream in the fridge. Sugar’s right there.” Dave moved back to the popcorn. “And this is ready too. I’ve got the heater on out back, and we should be set.”
“Out back then,” she said, turning toward the back door. He went first, glad she hadn’t fallen apart over a mug that looked a lot like Ryker’s. As soon as she left, he was throwing that mug away. Joey would understand—if he even found out. It wasn’t like his younger brother came over often, especially when there was coffee to be had.
On the deck, he’d put the standing heater between the only two patio chairs he owned. In front of that, a small, circular table also waited. He put the popcorn bowl and pretzel tub there and stepped over to fiddle with the temperature dial on the heater.
“This is great,” Brooklynn said. “Wow, look at that moon.”
“It’s the first full moon of the year,” Dave said. “We call that a wolf moon. And it’s a supermoon, because the moon is in its orbit closest to the earth.”
“We?” Brooklynn asked in a teasing voice.
“You know, me and…me,” he said with a smile.
“When did you learn so much about the moon?” She lifted her coffee to her lips and took a sip. “Oh, this is fantastic. You’ve got to come over in the mornings and make this for me.”
Dave looked at her long enough to know she was kidding. Still…. “Shouldn’t say things you don’t mean,” he said, turning to go back inside and get his own cup of coffee. When he returned, he said, “And we learn about the moon in the Coast Guard so we can use it to navigate.”
“Fascinating.” She’d taken the chair away from the door, and Dave set his coffee on the table before stepping back inside to flip off all the lights. He joined her on the deck, only a few feet between them. So maybe he was thinking about holding her hand, even if this was a friendly meeting to look at the moon.
She sighed into her chair, and he said, “I believe you have a story about your crazy family dinner.”
Brooklynn looked at him, and by the light of the moon everything about her was black and white and gray. She was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on, and he felt himself slipping back into that trance.
“I meant what I said,” she said.
He nodded, and she faced the moon again. “The story involves a wild turkey. How adverse to turkeys are you?”
“I’m not adverse to turkeys at all,” he said.
“Good.” She gave a light laugh. “Because this is funny.”
“Uncle Dave!”
Dave started laughing as his three-year-old nephew came running toward him. His legs weren’t long enough, and Dave thought Pierce would topple right over before he reached him. But the little boy just kept coming, and Dave swooped him off his feet and into his arms.
“Heya, buddy. What’s going on?”
“I wearing big-boy underpants,” he said with so much pride in his voice. “Mom says no more baby diapers.”
“That’s great,” Dave said, giving his nephew a kiss on the cheek. “Now, where’s Grandpa? I heard he’s doing something with a hammer that Grandma doesn’t like.”
Pierce pointed toward the house, and Dave joined his brother Charlie on the front steps. “Hey, man,” his brother said. “Dad’s got half the wall torn down.”
“Why’s he doing that?” Dave asked. “Why doesn’t he just call Jeremy?”
“He thinks he can do it himself.”
“He’s not handy,” Dave said.
“Well, we all live in our own universe.” Charlie flashed him a smile and turned toward the door. “I’ve already talked to him, but he only listens to you.” A certain tang of bitterness came with the words, but Dave didn’t know how to erase it.
“That’s not true,” he said anyway, though he’d talk to his dad, and he’d stop ripping out the wall between the living room and the kitchen, and Dave would call Jeremy on his way home.
He followed his brother inside and set Pierce down. “Go find us a ball, bud. We can throw it when I’m done with Grandpa.”
“Dave, thank heaven,” his mother said, appearing in the doorway that led into the kitchen. Of course, she’d obviously seen him enter, because Dave could see right through the wall.
Dave bent down and peered through the opening between the studs. “Mom, what in the world is this?” He knew what it was—how he didn’t want to spend his Friday night. But he hadn’t had the guts to ask Brooklynn out, and their texting since the supermoon viewing on Wednesday had been light.
He’d basically bounced the ball into her court, and she was holding onto it. So fine. He could make a house call to his parents on Friday night. That was totally normal.
“Oh, your father wants a more open floor plan. I told him to call Jeremy.”
“Yeah, because I think that’s a load-bearing wall.”
“It is,” Charlie said as he came out of the kitchen. “Mom, Jackie wants to know if we’re setting the table inside or on the patio.”
“It’s freezing,” his mother said.
“Well, she’s eight months pregnant, so she’s burning up.” Charlie chuckled and said, “I’ll get the table set.”
“Where’s Dad?” Dave asked.
“He’s pouting in the garage because I told him he couldn’t work on the wall while Pierce was here. You should see him. Stuff goes flying everywhere. I almost got hit by that hammer he swings around.” She shook her head, and Dave almost laughed. He caught it just in time. But his mother could be a bit dramatic, and he was sure she hadn’t almost gotten hit.
“I’ll go talk to him.” He ducked down again and looked through the wall. “Hey, Jackie. How long ‘till dinner?”
She waved a spatula at him. “Ten minutes.”
“Roger that.” Dave gave his mom a quick kiss and went back out the front door. There was no direct entrance to the garage from the house, and if anything, his parents should do that upgrade. In Dave’s opinion, which no one had asked for.
He keyed in the code to get the garage door up and waited while it rumbled and screeched out of the way. “Hey, Dad. Dinner’s almost ready.”
“Humph,” his father said, not even turning toward him from the workbench along the back wall. He had every kind of tool there was, and absolutely no need for any of them.
“The wall looks….” Dave searched for the right word. “Dad, it’s bad.”
“I know that,” he said.
Dave made it to the bench in the back. “You need a structural engineer to come clear that. You can’t just start ripping down walls.”
“I don’t know any structural engineers.”
“That’s why you call Jeremy.” The man owned an excellent home-building company. He did whole builds, remodels, basement finishes, all of it.
“I can do it.”
“Of course you can,” Dave said. “But Mom’s concerned about the structure, and so am I. You need to have someone come look before you swing that hammer again.” He picked it up, the end of it white from the plaster his father had been hitting.
“Fine,” his father said.
“Great,” Dave said. “So I’ll be taking this with me, and you’ll be calling Jeremy.”
His dad finally looked at him. “I don’t want to call him.” His dad could be so stubborn and so proud.
Dave heaved a great big sigh, exaggerating it on purpose. “Fine, Dad. I’ll call him.”
“Tell him I want open concept.”
“I’ll tell him,” Dave deadpanned, wondering when his parents had gotten so old. Seriously, what was his father thinking? He couldn’t tear down walls. Dave shook his head just thinking about it.
“Given any more thought to retirement?” his dad asked, picking up a wrench and hanging it in its spot.
“A little,” Dave admitted. He didn’t want to admit he’d only gotten as far as thinking about it and dismissing it. Because if he thought he was bored now….
But he w
asn’t bored. Not since going out with Brooklynn on Sunday. She’d introduced a new, exciting element to his life, and his pulse picked up every time his phone chimed. He kept all of that to himself though, and instead listened to his father talk about how great the retired life was.
He stayed for dinner, and he called Jeremy on his way home, just as he’d known he would. So maybe that part of his life was predictable. Boring.
But he had another meeting for the Spring Fling in the morning. Brooklynn would be there—and anything could happen then.
Chapter Eight
Brooklynn woke on Saturday morning to the sound of her phone ringing. She sat straight up, wondering how late she’d slept, but the clock said it was only seven-thirty.
Her heart beat rocketed around in her chest. Was something wrong? She grabbed her phone off the nightstand and flipped it over to see the call was from Delaney White.
“She can leave a message,” Brooklynn said as she lay back down in bed. But she was awake now, and she wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep.
The butterflies in her stomach testified that she’d be seeing Dave in just a few hours. Hanging out and munching on popcorn on Wednesday night had been great. Wonderful. Awesome. He had not held her hand, as promised, and she’d left a bit disappointed.
Then she’d decided that she couldn’t see him again, at least not just the two of them. With the best coffee in the world and at his house, like she was his girlfriend. She wasn’t sure why she couldn’t, but she knew she liked him too much already and that scared her. So she hadn’t texted him too much, and he seemed to have gotten the hint, because he didn’t ask her out for Friday night.
Or Saturday night. Or for anything.
Something sharp tugged inside her, and she ignored it as she got up and stepped into the shower. She checked her messages after that, and Delaney had said they’d be meeting at the bakery instead of the community center.
That kind of information could’ve been sent in a text, much later than seven-thirty. Brooklynn dressed and went down the hall to make coffee. With a second thought, she decided to just heat up some milk and add chocolate powder to it. Now that she’d had Dave’s coffee, she could never go back to her inferior brew.
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