Something Sweeter

by Candis Terry

  “Oh, you know your father. He doesn’t like to talk about himself much.” His mom looked up at her new fiancé and affectionately patted his arm. “I knew he operated a few stores, but I had no idea he created such a prominent business. I’m not surprised though. With all the things he’s done to help out at the senior center, I know he’s more than just a handsome face.”

  If his mother hadn’t been aware that her fiancé had built a party-­store empire, Jesse wondered what else she didn’t know about the man. Unsettled, Jesse glanced across the fire at Allison and noted the same concern darkening her expression.

  “Daddy. You should be proud of your accomplishments,” Allison admonished. “Not try to hide them.”

  “I’m not, sweetheart. But the past is past.”

  “Hmm.” Allison’s brows pulled together. “Well, hesitant as he might be to talk about himself, my dad created Party Lane party stores. He expanded the business to four states and eventually established online shopping before he sold it all and moved here last year.”

  “I’ve been in those stores,” Charli said. “I threw a heck of a New Year’s Eve celebration for my production crew one time. Party Lane had everything I needed under one roof. Including the rental of the chocolate fountain and the chocolate to go in it. Boy, I wish we had one of those here. It would have made planning the wedding much easier.”

  “Aren’t the stores wonderful?” Allison lifted her little dog onto her lap and stroked the top of his head. “I started working at the original Seattle location after school and during the summer. Eventually, I moved my way up to manager. There were so many ­people who came in not knowing how to put things together for their parties, so I started helping them. Eventually I put together a little side business, and it expanded to Happiest Day Events. I’ve done everything from a pirate birthday party to a park wedding in several feet of snow.”

  “You love what you do,” his mother said.

  “I love seeing ­people happy,” Allison responded.

  Something they had in common, Jesse thought. One more point to add to her assets.

  His list of questions about her, however, left far more to be uncovered.

  By the time Allison and her dad arrived back at his sprawling ranch-­style home, exhaustion had seeped into her bones. All she wanted was to climb into the guest-­room bed and forget about the past two nights’ events.

  Before she’d left Seattle, she’d had to juggle the items on her project list and finalize several more. Before she’d boarded the plane, she’d put the responsibilities of the Cramer wedding and little Jenny Curran’s princess party in the hands of her capable assistants, who happened to include her big sister Danielle. The temporary passing of the torch meant she could stay a few days in Sweet and spend some time with her dad while trying to decode what was really going on behind his sudden engagement.

  While she waited outside until Wee Man took whiz number three thousand of the night, she glanced around at the surrounding landscape. The area was the complete opposite from the lush green of Seattle. Texas had its own rugged kind of beauty.

  Much like the man who’d captured her attention.

  As the dust had kicked up beneath her tires in that saloon parking lot, she’d thought that would be the last she’d ever see of him. That he would just be future fodder for her nighttime fantasies. But nooooo. He had to go and be her possible future stepmother’s son. Which meant if she intended to get to know Jana Wilder better, she might also be seeing a whole lot more of Mr. Hot Stuff.

  Whoo boy.

  She wondered what deity she’d pissed off to be slapped with that penalty. Not that seeing him was a hardship, just the whole being around him part.

  Her dad poked his head out the back door. “You coming in, sweetheart?”

  “Give me a sec.” She whistled for Wee Man, who trotted off to the next tree like he hadn’t heard. “Seriously, dog?” she muttered under her breath. First, her pooch revealed his fickle self by latching onto Jesse, now he had the audacity to ignore her? “Get it in gear, or no more Scooby Snacks for you . . . Pudgy.” Finally, after another two quick spins around the yard, he made a dash for the back door like the idea to go into the house had been all his own.

  Allison stepped inside a kitchen that, while it could use a few upgrades, like dumping the avocado green stove, the white cabinetry, and simple farm-­style decorations, made for a friendly atmosphere. Far different from the impersonal Seattle town house her father had moved into eight years ago.

  “Wee Man giving you trouble?” her dad asked as he pulled a glass pitcher from the refrigerator.

  “He’s just not used to having so much room to run.”

  “The open space out here is good for everybody.”

  Allison gave her dad a quick once-­over, noting the color in his cheeks and that he’d lost the excess weight he’d put on after the divorce. He looked healthy. And happy.

  The happy part worried her.

  She needed to make sure it was real.

  “You want a glass of sweet tea?” he asked.

  “Before bed? The sugar and caffeine would keep me up all night.”

  “Well, you could always sleep in tomorrow. Nothing to do around here but take in the atmosphere and everything Sweet has to offer. Enjoy the slower lifestyle. The hospitality.” His smile hinted that he’d like her to consider staying on a permanent basis.

  “I don’t know if I could ever get used to that,” she said. “It’s so quiet around here. I swear you can hear birds chirping from a mile away. I don’t even know how you’re coping since you’ve always been a go-­get-­’em kind of man.” She filled a bowl with fresh water for Wee Man and set it on the floor. “Out of so many cities in America, how did you choose Sweet anyway?”

  He sat down at the big kitchen table, patted the chair next to him, and sipped his tea. She joined him even though her brain had already gone into shutdown mode.

  “Years ago, I met a sales rep who told me he was from the Texas Hill Country. I started asking questions. The place sounded perfect. So when I decided to get out of Seattle, I came out to see if reality lived up to what I’d pictured in my mind. I took my time looking around. Sweet immediately felt like home.”

  “It’s just so different,” she said although she could definitely see the advantages and the allure. “It’s so . . . laid-­back.”

  “There’s more to life than running on the hamster wheel,” he said. “I’ve been working since I was a young boy. Figured it was time to enjoy myself a little before I got too old to appreciate it. Or before some wicked disease got me.”

  Her heart gave a hard knock. She’d been so busy getting her business off the ground and keeping it afloat in a down economy, she’d never really noticed that her parents were getting older. With her mother, it was hard to tell behind all the Botox. Still, she’d never considered either of them being stricken with a life-­threatening illness.

  She reached out and laid her hand over the top of his, noticing the age spots on his skin. “But you’re healthy, right?”

  “Far as I know.”

  “Maybe you should see about getting a complete physical.”

  “I’m fine, sweetheart.” He chuckled. “Happier than I’ve been in a long time and looking forward to the future.”

  “Daddy, you’re not getting married just because you’re getting older and afraid to be alone, are you?”

  His hesitation lifted her eyebrows.

  “Don’t be silly,” he said.

  “I’m not. I love you. And I worry about you.” She leaned over and kissed his cheek. “I want you to be happy, but I also want you to give things careful consideration. You’d want me to be careful about something as important as tying myself to one person for supposedly the rest of my life, wouldn’t you?”

  He leaned back. “What are you trying to say?”

&nbs
p; “Well . . .” She knew the what, just not how to say it without sounding bitchy. “Jana hardly knows anything about the business you built from the ground up. In fact, she doesn’t seem to know much about you or your past. So what does that really say about how much the two of you know each other?”

  “Doesn’t matter where I’ve been in life, sweetheart. It only matters where I’m going.”

  “But why keep something like your accomplishments a secret?”

  “Not keeping it a secret. Just never really came up much in conversation.”

  “The fact that you created a party-supply em­pire never came up?”

  “If you’re worried about your inheritance—­”

  “No! Dad!” She gave him a cross look. “I don’t give a damn about your money. You taught me how to make my own way in life. And for that I’m grateful. I just don’t want you to wake up one morning and find out you’ve married another Mom.”

  “You have nothing to worry about. Jana isn’t anything like your mother.”

  “How do you know?”

  “You really think I’d make that kind of error in judgment a second time?”

  “Some ­people do. Even when they think they’ve got it all together. Sometimes ­people just get lonely.”

  “I promise you,” he said. “I’m not just lonely.”

  Allison sighed.

  “That’s quite the heavy unspoken thought slipping out there,” he said. “Why don’t you just say what’s on your mind?”

  “Because I’ll sound mean.”

  “Sweetheart, I’m your dad.” He patted her hand. “You can say anything to me.”

  “Promise you won’t be offended?”

  He shook his head, and the glow of the overhead light caught in the silver of his hair.

  “For years, I wondered why you’d ever married Mom. And then . . .” She glanced away, then back at him again. “I wondered why you stayed married to her for so long. She was always so selfish, and demanding, and mean and . . . you’re such a nice guy.”

  The smile that formed on his lips was slow to find its place. When it appeared, it was more grim than cheery.

  “I didn’t know your mother very long before we got married. I was young and not very experienced. I guess you could say I was bedazzled by her beauty and oblivious to the fact that she was nothing like me. While I was content with the simple things in life, she wanted more. She wanted the parties and the social events. The expensive dresses and shoes. A live-­in maid and a fancy car. I didn’t have the social status to please her, so I set out to try to accomplish what I could to give her the life she wanted.”

  Allison’s heart tightened. “But she was never satisfied.”

  Her father said nothing. He’d never been the type to slam her mother even when he had every right.

  “When you realized she was that way, why didn’t you leave?”

  His head shook slowly. “Because she’d gotten pregnant with Danielle. After your sister was born, your mother didn’t like the focus of the attention being torn away from her. And I . . .”

  “What, Daddy? You can tell me.” Anything he had to say she already knew. She’d grown up with the woman, and her egocentric behavior was no secret.

  “She thought if she had a second child, the baby spotlight would dim, and everyone would again focus on her. So we had you. I don’t regret that for a moment. Not even when she threatened to take you and Dani away and never let me see you again if I left.”

  “I don’t understand why she’d care if she thought she wanted more than what she had.”

  “I suppose because I was better than nothing until something better rolled around.”

  “I’m so sorry.” Allison wrapped her arms around him. “I never knew.”

  “And you shouldn’t know now.” He hugged her. “All I can say is that while living with your mother was a challenge, I never regretted one single day since you girls came into my life. You’ve been my everything. The reason I got up every morning and went to work. I wanted you to have the best life I could provide.”

  “You are an amazing dad.”

  “I just try to do my best. And I want you to know that I gave it a lot of thought before I asked Jana to marry me.”

  “Dad?” Allison sighed again. “A second ago, you said you didn’t know Mom very long before you were married. You haven’t known Jana very long either.”

  “But I also said your mother wasn’t anything like me. We had nothing in common. Jana and I . . .” A smile brightened his face. “We have everything in common.”

  “But how do you know that’s enough to last forever? There are no guarantees.”

  He took a long, contemplative drink of tea. “Life doesn’t come with guarantees, sweetheart. That’s a fact.”

  “Then I guess some ­people are just lucky. Like they were born under the perfect alignment of the moon and stars.”

  He chuckled. “A lasting relationship doesn’t have anything to do with astronomy. It has to do with finding your soul mate.”

  “Soul mate! That’s pure fantasy.”

  “How so?”

  “Because it doesn’t make sense.”

  “What about your sister?”

  “She and Andrew might be the one in a million.”

  “Why do you think that is?”

  She shrugged. “Because there’s a strong possibility Danielle might be the only one of us Lanes who has the appropriately adjusted DNA to make it happen. She’s always been different. It’s like from the moment she was born, she had the maternal instinct in her blood that gave her more patience, more understanding, and just . . . more.”

  “Your sister wasn’t born with that—­she had to develop it so she could take care of you when your mother and I failed. I take the blame. I should never have allowed either of you to be put in that position.”

  “In case you’ve forgotten, Dani volunteered for that stuff. I think she’s always known deep inside that she’d excel at being a wife and mother. All she had to do was wait for Andrew to pop into her life and voila! He’s a strong man with a soft heart. They complement each other like bacon and eggs.”

  “Yes. They do. And I know you and she are very close. Which is why I want you to take a look at her and what she has and realize–”

  “Dad. I’m lucky to have her as a big sister. She did great with me all those years.” She laughed. “Otherwise, I might have gone to school with the whole mismatched Pippi Longstockings thing going on. But that doesn’t mean I ever expect to have what she does. I’m more like Mom than Dani.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong. You are the total opposite of your mom.” A frown tugged at the corners of his mouth. “And just because your mother hasn’t found the right one doesn’t mean you won’t.”

  “Eh.” She waved a hand. “I call BS on the whole ‘right one’ thing.”

  “You have to keep the possibility alive.”

  “Can’t.” Feeling sure of herself, she locked her fingers together on the tabletop.

  “Because?”

  “Because . . . if there’s just one person—­a soul mate—­for everyone, what happens if your person dies? Like Jana and Reno. They found their soul mates, and they lost them. So do you get a do-­over or something?”

  Silver brows lifted over his dark gray eyes. “A do-­over?”

  “Yeah. And what if you think you found the one, and you’re wrong? What if you stick with the wrong one forever, and you miss the real one?”

  The silence in the room hung heavy as her dad considered her concerns, so she filled the void with more of her trepidations.

  “As an event planner, I’ve heard dozens and dozens of brides say they’ve found their soul mate. Out of curiosity, I started to mentally log how many of those marriages actually worked out. More of them fell apart than lasted. Even whe
n the bride or the groom was sure they’d found the one. Sure, some seemed doomed from the start. I mean, when the groom is flirting with the maid of honor, it’s pretty clear he’s not thinking of the one. He’s thinking of the next one. But, Dad, some of the marriages that fell apart took me completely by surprise. There’s just no good way to predict whether something will work out.”

  “A lot of ­people go into marriage thinking it will be easy,” he said. “Sometimes it’s hard to find a person who will put up with you for the rest of your life. Sometimes ­people change. They fall out of love. A relationship isn’t like what you see in the movies. It’s hard work.”

  She leaned back in her chair and folded her arms. “The bottom line is if forever really worked, the divorce rate wouldn’t be so high.”

  Her father cupped her cheek in his hand. “The divorce rate is so high because it takes two ­people who truly love each other and who will work hard for something that isn’t always easy.”

  “And that’s you and Jana Wilder?”

  “Yes.”

  “You sound so sure.”

  “I am.”

  “Daddy, no offense, but everyone thinks they’ve got the magic. They think they have what it takes to make it for the long haul. And then wham! Next thing they know, they’re fighting over who gets to keep the Chihuahua and the china.”

  “When did you get so cynical?”

  “I’m not cynical. I’m a realist.”

  “Then how about you send the realist on vacation.” He patted her cheek. “Reach down deep inside and rediscover that little girl who spent hours in her room dressing up like a princess and dreaming of her Prince Charming.”

  “Prince Charming doesn’t exist.”

  “I beg your pardon.” He leaned back and grinned. “Don’t I fit that description?”

  “You’re a prince, all right.” She laughed, then let go a long sigh. “Dad? I’m really not trying to be a naysayer, but I can still remember the sadness and the hurt I saw in your eyes when you were married to Mom and when you went through the divorce. It gave me nightmares.”