Hopeless Romantic

by Georgia Beers

  A big sigh. “That’s what Leah keeps telling me.”

  “Mm-hmm,” was all Leah said. Teddi could feel her eyes on her but didn’t meet them.

  “But look how pretty they are.” Dreamy voiced, Kelly traced a finger over the twirly back of one of the chairs in the photo.

  “Tell you what—let’s talk numbers first.” Teddi took the tablet and set it aside. “We’ll revisit the chairs. I promise. I have a warehouse where I keep all the larger supplies I’ve collected over the years, including several different kinds of chairs. We’ll come back to them, okay?”

  “Fair enough.” Kelly gave one nod, then turned to her sister and waved a hand as if conceding the floor to her. “All you.”

  They were surprisingly good at talking business, she and Leah. It was something she noticed right away. Leah was solid, had a budget that was generous but not ridiculously so, and spoke with a confident certainty. Teddi addressed any cons she saw, concerns they might run into—not many—and finally gave a nod.

  “All right,” Teddi said, setting the tablet aside and waiting for Kelly to meet her eyes. She was acutely aware that Leah’s eyes were also on her, but she addressed the bride-to-be. “I am here to make your wedding planning run smoothly. To take any stress off you that I can. I can make any recommendations you ask for. I can even make calls for you. I have a large variety of vendors I’ve cultivated relationships with over the years. I know who will be able to fill your requests and who might not. And come the day of your wedding, I will be there running the show so that you don’t have to. Bottom line: I am here for you. Never hesitate to call me. No question is stupid. We can work as closely together or as loosely casual as you want. Okay?”

  Happiness. Excitement. Relief. Lots of that last one. Teddi was used to the emotions that played out on the face of a bride-to-be when she essentially took much of their worry off their shoulders. All of them ran across Kelly’s face before she opened her mouth to speak.

  “Closely,” she said with a grin that bordered on embarrassed. “I want to work closely because I have no idea what I’m doing.”

  “Oh, I don’t know about that. Your Pinterest board is pretty thorough.” Reassurance was another thing brides-to-be often needed, and Teddi had become a pro at offering it. “I’d say you do have an idea what you’re doing. And I’m looking forward to helping you put it all together.”

  “Good. And with my mom’s schedule being crazy and unpredictable, Leah’s going to be my right hand in all of this.” Kelly smiled at her sister, squeezed her hand. “So the three of us will be working together.”

  There was something in the way Kelly said it, something in the way she looked from Leah to her and back again, something said but not spoken. Kelly was reiterating what she’d said in her text without actually saying it. Fine. Enough. Teddi would say it.

  “Listen, I’m a professional.” She kept her tone calm, did her best to allow no snark or anger or bitterness to seep in. “The history I have with your sister is just that. History. Do I wish the circumstances were different? Of course.” Teddi could feel Leah’s eyes on her, wanted desperately and inexplicably to meet them, but forced herself to stay focused on Kelly. She didn’t think she could keep a grip on the calm if she looked at Leah. “But the bottom line is that I want you to have the exact wedding you want, to be the happiest bride you can be. I’m sure your sister wants the same thing.”

  “Absolutely,” Leah said, though Teddi still didn’t look.

  “So we’ll put our differences aside and focus on that. Okay?”

  “That would be great,” Kelly replied. Teddi hadn’t realized that Kelly might actually be as worried as her sudden relief seemed to imply, but when her smile grew and her shoulders relaxed, it was clear. “That’s all I want. After all, I am the bride.”

  The meeting wrapped up, Teddi sending Kelly home with a few assignments, things to think about or explore online, and they scheduled to meet again in mid-November. This time, Kelly forewent a handshake and threw her arms around Teddi instead. Not unusual. Brides-to-be often ended up as Teddi’s friends, at least for the duration of the planning. But Leah was standing right behind Kelly, so Teddi had nowhere else to look. Leah’s tiny smile was hesitant, and she looked away quickly as Kelly let go.

  “Ready?” Kelly asked Leah as they donned their jackets. Leah nodded and didn’t glance Teddi’s way again.

  Teddi found that unnervingly disappointing. Karma? For doing the same thing to Leah the whole meeting?

  Once the door closed behind them and Teddi stood alone in the middle of the shop, Preston said, “You did great.” A slight relief. Teddi heard it and felt it. “I was glad you addressed things head-on.”

  Teddi inhaled and let it out. “Yeah.”

  “Don’t hate me for saying this, but man, that girl can pull off a pantsuit.”

  Teddi turned to him, not even trying to hide her admiration. “God, right?”

  * * *

  Were bacon and eggs the ultimate in comfort food?

  Leah often wondered that as Lizzie twined around her legs, purring, waiting for a handout. She pushed the down lever on the toaster and thought of other things that might qualify, as she flipped her eggs. Macaroni and cheese. Mashed potatoes…

  Her phone interrupted her thoughts. Tilly. Leah answered, hit speaker. “Hey, Stretch.”

  “You are so original with the nicknames. Because nobody ever calls the tall one Stretch.”

  “Shut up. I’m tired.”

  “What are you frying? I hear sizzling.”

  “Eggs.”

  “Tell me there’s bacon.”

  “There’s bacon.”

  “Is it that turkey crap?”

  “It is that turkey crap.”

  A disappointed groan from Tilly. A laugh from Leah.

  “It’s late for you to be having dinner,” Tilly commented. Nine thirty-seven. She wasn’t wrong. “You work late?”

  “Yeah, I went back to the office after meeting with Kelly and the wedding planner.”

  “Oh, fun times. Did she yell at you? Sob uncontrollably? Tell you that you ruined her life? Tell you bad lawyer jokes?”

  Leah thought back to the meeting at Hopeless Romantic, how it went smoothly and also made her kind of sad. “It was fine. I mean, she never made eye contact with me, but it was fine.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yeah, but it’s…whatever. Kelly’s happy and that’s all I care about.” Mostly true.

  “Why does it sound like you care about more?”

  Leah sighed. “I don’t know. I mean, this is what happens, right? It’s part of the job. The lawyer always gets the blame.”

  “But it’s bugging you this time.”

  She hated that Tilly knew her so well sometimes.

  Leah took her plate and the phone into the living room and sat on the couch in front of the TV, which was already tuned to the Hallmark Channel. “It is. It bothers me that Teddi is holding something professional against me personally, but I don’t know why, and that’s bothering me even more.” This was par for the course of being a lawyer in pretty much any capacity. It was not news. Not to Leah. So why was she edgy about Teddi refusing to even look at her? Why couldn’t she just blow it off like she would with any other person?

  “I’ve got an idea. It’s kind of out there. Brace yourself, okay?”

  “Fine. Braced. Hit me.”

  “Maybe you and her could, oh, I don’t know, talk about it?”

  “What? Where do you come up with these weird-ass schemes?”

  “I don’t know, man. They come to me in dreams.”

  Leah laughed. Lightening things up was Tilly’s specialty.

  “I mean, you’ve gotta work with her on and off for the next, what? Year?”

  “Pretty close to that, yeah.” Leah poked the yolk of her egg so it ran, then dipped the end of her bacon into it and took a bite, thought about earlier. “She kind of brought it up as we were leaving.”

  “Y
eah? What’d she say?”

  “Just that our past history shouldn’t affect the current business.”

  “History? She called it history?” Tilly gave a snort.

  “Yeah. I mean, it kind of is.”

  “You never even met the woman. Your history is a few pieces of paper with your signature on them, Lee. That’s it.”

  Leah blew out a breath. “I know. It’s fine. I just want things to be okay for Kelly. If I need to spend the next year’s worth of meetings avoiding eye contact, so be it.”

  “Yeah, I guess.” Comfortable silence reigned for a moment before Tilly said, “All right. I’m gonna go watch a movie. What’s on your TV? She Returned to Her Small Clichéd Hometown and Realized Love Had Been Waiting There All Along?”

  “Yes, that’s exactly the one. What will you watch? Idiot Teens Spend the Weekend in a Cabin in the Woods and Are Killed One by One?”

  “You know that’s my favorite.”

  “I do.”

  They said their good nights. Leah finished her dinner and nibbled on the last slice of bacon. Tried to focus on the movie. Kept having her thoughts interrupted by the gorgeous brunette who wouldn’t look at her.

  Maybe Teddi hadn’t looked at her, but she had certainly looked at Teddi. Even surrounded by the icy exterior she’d crafted, Teddi was still beautiful. She’d had her dark hair pulled back today. Black pants and an emerald green top had given her a sleek, sophisticated air that made her seem almost untouchable. But, God, did Leah want to touch her.

  And there it was.

  Yeah.

  It wasn’t like she didn’t know, right? It wasn’t like this was a surprise to Leah. She found Teddi Baker devastatingly attractive. The pull was nearly magnetic. That was a fact. And nothing would ever come of it. Also a fact.

  “Okay, Ms. Bennet,” she said to her cat, who’d climbed up onto the back of the couch and lain down directly behind her head, one paw on her shoulder. In love or warning? I love you so I touch you or If you don’t share that bacon, I’ll open your jugular? Leah played it safe, held some bacon up for the cat. “I just have to accept this. Yes, she’s gorgeous. Yes, she might play on my team. No, it doesn’t matter because she hates me now.” She turned to look into the enormous green eyes above her. “Right?”

  Lizzie chewed, flicked her tail, looked off into the middle distance.

  “Right.” Leah snuggled into the couch and went back to watching the television. She’d lose herself in the romance on her screen, like she always did, like she always had, and she’d stop thinking about Teddi Baker.

  After all, she didn’t have to see her again for a couple weeks. That would definitely help her clear her head.

  Chapter Five

  Leah whispered the last line of the movie along with Julia Roberts as the end of Pretty Woman played out on the big screen. The theme song of the same name started up, and a few people in the theater applauded. Leah smiled. She’d never clap in a movie theater. Ever. But she loved that the film gave somebody enough joy to want to.

  She inhaled deeply and let out a very satisfied breath. Pretty Woman was a definite favorite. A classic. She waited for another moment before she stood up, gathered her things, and strolled up the aisle, feeling lighthearted.

  The Classic Theater was one of her favorite places in town—they knew her by name there. Next door to the theater was the Classic Café. Leah didn’t always stop, but they had amazing desserts, and the enticing aroma of freshly brewed coffee tickled her nose, tugged at her as she passed the concessions counter, then the box office. A glance out the front doors told her the November wind had kicked up, ready to bite right through her olive green jacket, which was super cute but not nearly heavy enough to actually keep her warm out there.

  Decision made, she turned and allowed her nose to lead her through the large archway that led from the theater into the café so patrons didn’t have to go outside at all. The small line wasn’t at all a surprise. While the theater rarely drew a huge crowd on Classic Night, they had a steady contingent of loyal patrons, and it seemed like the brisk weather had convinced more than Leah not to go home just yet. She put in her order for an Irish coffee and a slice of cherry chocolate cheesecake, took her receipt, and had turned to scan the space for an open table when her breath caught.

  Teddi Baker sat alone at a table for two, large mug near her left hand, phone in her right as she scrolled. Dark hair down. Black sweater that looked thick and soft even from a distance. Leah stood frozen, uncertain. Run? Should she do that? Just bail? A glance at the door, debating. A glance back at Teddi.

  Snagged.

  Teddi was looking right at her, expression unreadable.

  When people said time stood still? Leah never understood it until right then, until she locked eyes with Teddi Baker across the Classic Café and couldn’t move. Couldn’t look away. Interestingly, Teddi didn’t either.

  The spell was broken when someone jostled Leah from behind.

  “Excuse me,” he said, though his tone made his annoyance clear. What he probably wanted to say was Stop staring, lady, and move it, you’re in the way.

  Leah blinked rapidly, glanced around at the occupied tables. The only seats available were single stools at the counter. Whatever. I can sit there. But when she tossed one more look Teddi’s way, Teddi was making a rolling come-here gesture with her hand. And though part of Leah suddenly thought the stool might be the safer option, her feet started moving as if she had zero control. In four seconds, she was standing at Teddi’s table. She noticed that in addition to the sweater, there were light blue jeans and black ankle boots. Yeah, so Teddi Baker rocked casual just as well as she rocked sophisticatedly dressy. Unsurprising.

  “Hi.” Leah’s voice was a croak, so she cleared her throat and tried again. “Hi.”

  “Hey,” Teddi said, then waved to the other chair. “Sit. Doesn’t look like you have much choice.”

  “Thanks.” Leah pulled out the chair, sat, and looked around the room. Why, she wasn’t sure. Was she going to run to another table if one opened up? Stop it. Be polite, at least. She shifted her gaze to Teddi. “Come here often?” she asked. Winced immediately.

  Teddi surprised her by barking a laugh. “I guess being in the Classic Café warrants using a classic pickup line.”

  Leah grimaced. “I didn’t mean—”

  “Relax, Leah. I’m kidding.” Teddi picked up her mug, took a sip.

  Kidding. Okay. Unexpected, but okay. Leah would take that. “What are you drinking?”

  “It’s a London Fog. Earl Grey tea with frothed milk and a little bit of vanilla syrup. It’s perfect for this kind of weather.” As Teddi glanced over her shoulder out the window, Leah wondered if the waves in her hair were natural.

  “Here you go.” They were interrupted by a café employee who delivered Leah’s Irish coffee and cheesecake. “I brought two forks, just in case,” the girl said, then smiled as if she knew something they didn’t and left.

  Leah raised her eyebrows and held a fork toward Teddi, who hesitated, her uncertainty clear. Leah added a gentle smile. “Help me?”

  A visible swallow. A blink. Two. Teddi reached for the fork. “Maybe a bite.”

  Thrilled. Alarmed. Awkward. All of those things raced through Leah as Teddi slid the fork from her fingers. She inhaled quietly, deeply, slid the plate to the center of the table, then pushed her fork through the end of the cheesecake. “I was serious when I asked if you come here often.” She snapped her eyes up. “Not a pickup line.”

  Teddi followed suit with her fork. “It’s not far from my apartment, so yeah. I like it here.” She put a bite into her mouth and her eyes closed briefly, a soft hum coming from her throat. Leah stopped chewing, took a moment to watch. “You?” Teddi asked when she opened her eyes again. Those deep, dark eyes of hers.

  Leah nodded. “Yeah, I always come if they’re showing a romance, especially a classic. Tonight was Pretty Woman.”

  “What’s not to love about Julia Roberts
, am I right?”

  “You are very, very right.” Did the mood lighten? Just a smidge? “Plus, they have the best cheesecake in town.”

  “I agree wholeheartedly with that.” Teddi cut another bite of the cheesecake. “Thank you for sharing yours.”

  “Listen, I do not need to eat this entire piece on my own.” She pointed her fork. “I mean, don’t think that I can’t. ’Cause I totally can.” Teddi grinned and Leah felt things lighten again. “I just don’t need to, see?”

  “I do see. I understand completely and am happy to share your burden.”

  “You are a kind and noble person.”

  “I’m a giver.” She took another bite. “God, this is sinful.”

  “Right?” A beat went by, two, as Teddi seemed to people watch and Leah had an internal debate. Finally, she made a decision. She slowly forked another bite, her eyes on the cheesecake as she spoke. “You know…” Bite in her mouth. Chewed. Swallowed. “You know I was just doing my job, right?”

  Teddi blinked at her. Stared as she ran her tongue over her teeth.

  Leah waited, heart pounding. Why was this important? She’d had hundreds of cases by now. Lots of people blamed her for their situations—she was positive of that. Why did it matter to her that Teddi Baker understood?

  It was like Teddi rolled that around for a moment, like she’d never thought about it from that angle, even though Leah knew she must have. She was a smart woman.

  Finally—finally—Teddi exhaled a large breath, almost like it was in defeat. “Yeah. Yeah, I do know that.”

  One nod. Okay. Leah had actually been braced for an argument, she now realized. Or maybe a snarky retort of some kind. Not complete agreement.

  There was a shift. She felt it.

  “Okay. Good.”

  “It was a very bad time for me.” Teddi’s voice was quiet. Leah almost didn’t hear her over the din of café customers. Teddi’s face clouded just for a second before she yanked back control. Leah saw it, was learning her. “Yeah. It was a rough time.”