Flowers on Main

by Sherryl Woods

  “Then we’ll be part of the crowd and we won’t have to say much,” he replied. “Come on. However it goes, it’ll be a start.”

  Despite her reservations, Bree stood up and put her hand in his. She’d been wanting a fresh start, and he was finally offering one. How could she turn him down? “Let’s do it, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  They were halfway across the lawn when she looked up at him and asked slyly, “Want to take bets on who’ll be first to check out what’s going on with us?”

  He grinned. “That’s easy. My money’s on your father.”

  “No way,” she retorted. “It’ll be Abby for sure.”

  “So what’s the wager?” he asked.

  She leveled a look into his eyes. “Dinner,” she said at once. This was her chance to build on his overture, and she was seizing it.

  Jake sucked in a deep breath as if he hadn’t contemplated anything beyond this moment. “Dinner?” he repeated. “You and me?”

  She nodded. “You game?”

  “Winner picks the time and place, the loser pays?”

  “Absolutely.”

  He hesitated for a while, his gaze locked with hers. “Okay, then, you’re on.”

  Two minutes later, when Abby joined them, Bree gave Jake a triumphant look. “Brady’s, Tuesday night,” she said at once.

  Jake looked a little shaken, but he nodded. “It’s a date,” he said. “I’m going to grab another beer. You need anything?”

  “A diet soda,” she said.

  “Abby?” Jake said. “Can I bring you something?”

  “Nope. I’m fine. Trace is supposed to be grabbing me a slice of the coconut cake Gram baked for today, but something tells me he and the girls are in the kitchen fighting over who gets to lick the spoon from the bowl of icing.”

  The second Jake walked away, Abby regarded Bree with curiosity. “Okay now, spill. What was the mention of Brady’s about?”

  “You heard the conversation. We have a date for Tuesday night.”

  “But something tells me my arrival had something to do with that.”

  Bree nodded, grinning. “And I’d like to thank you, too.”

  “Why?”

  “We had a bet on which nosy person at this gathering would be the first to come over to see what was going on with the two of us. He picked Dad. I chose you.”

  Abby stared at her, then burst out laughing. “Didn’t he realize you’d bet on a sure thing?”

  “Apparently not,” Bree said. “Did you see the look of utter panic on his face when he realized he was going to have to pay up?”

  Abby laughed, then paused thoughtfully. “Wait a minute. What was the prize, if Dad had come over?”

  “Same thing, except I would have had to pay.”

  Abby’s expression turned smug. “Then it seems to me you would have won either way and Jake knew exactly what he was getting into. Doesn’t that tell you something?”

  Bree hadn’t considered the bet from that angle. Maybe her mind wasn’t as devious as her sister’s. “What?” she asked.

  “He was just looking for an excuse to go out with you, one that wouldn’t put him in the position of having to ask.”

  Bree stared at her. “Really? You think so?”

  “It certainly seems that way to me.”

  Bree sat back. “Well, I’ll be darned.”

  Abby stood up. “Here he comes now, so I’ll be on my way. I think the tide’s turning, sweetie. Get ready to go with the flow.”

  Bree was more than willing to do just that. She only hoped she didn’t drown in the process.

  Jake had arranged to meet Bree at Brady’s. The waterfront restaurant had more ambience than most in Chesapeake Shores. As it was for many of the locals, it had once been their favorite spot for a romantic dinner. He couldn’t help wondering if she’d chosen it because it had the best food in town or because of the memories it was sure to evoke.

  She was already at the table when he arrived. She’d worn a soft, blue cashmere sweater that emphasized the color of her eyes, to say nothing of what it did for her curves. He was so focused on how beautiful she looked in the candlelight that he didn’t notice the pile of paper at his place until he pulled out his chair.

  “What’s this?”

  “My manuscript, at least what there is of it so far,” she told him. “You said you wanted to read it.”

  He had to fight a grin. “So you brought it on our date. Were you thinking that the conversation might lag?”

  Her lips twitched, as well. “That didn’t occur to me, but you never know how these things will go. First dates can be tricky.”

  “It’s hardly our first.”

  “It feels that way,” she said.

  He knew exactly what she meant. He’d been jittery all day thinking about tonight. To buy time, he slid the papers into the envelope she’d also provided and set the package on the floor.

  “I think we can manage a couple of hours of small talk,” he said at last. “Let’s start with your brother. How do you feel about his big news? And what do you think of Georgia?”

  “I liked her,” Bree said. “And he’s head over heels in love with her, which is all that really matters.”

  “You think so?” Jake asked, not even trying to hide his own skepticism about the hasty wedding. He knew better than most that even after years it wasn’t possible to really know someone well enough to make a relationship work. “Those two have only known each other a few months.”

  “But the environment in Iraq is intense,” Bree argued. “I imagine all kinds of emotions are heightened, and there’s probably a real need to live in the moment.”

  “All the more reason to wait until you’re back home to see if those feelings are real and lasting,” he said.

  Bree studied him intently. “You’re saying all this because of what happened with us, aren’t you? You don’t believe love lasts, even under the best conditions.”

  “No, I don’t,” Jake admitted.

  Her expression turned sad. “Oh, Jake, you can’t live your life with such a cynical attitude. How will you ever find happiness if you’re not open to it?”

  “I’m happy enough,” he said defensively. “My company’s growing. It demands a huge amount of time. I have family, friends. What more do I need?”

  “Love,” she suggested quietly.

  “Been there, done that. It didn’t turn out so well.”

  “Which was my fault, not yours.” She regarded him earnestly. “Blame me if you need to, but don’t take it out on every other woman in the world. Surely you’ve met some wonderful women over the past six years.”

  “You don’t get to question me about my love life,” he said stiffly, unwilling to admit just how pitiful it had been since she’d gone.

  “Friends share stuff like that,” she countered.

  Jake debated tossing a mention of Marty into the conversational mix to see how she’d react. The only problem with that was that he didn’t want to hear anything more about the man. If they were ever going to move on, putting Martin Demming behind them would be a big part of it.

  Instead, he gave her a hard look, meant to warn her off, then picked up the menu. “I’m thinking about having the imperial crab. What sounds good to you?”

  For a moment, he thought she was going to force the issue, but eventually she sighed and picked up her own menu. “The grilled rockfish is usually good,” she said without much enthusiasm.

  “Wine? Beer?”

  “Beer’s fine,” she said.

  “Blue cheese on your salad?”

  She gave him an odd look. “You have a good memory.”

  “For some things,” he said, beckoning their waitress, who’d been working at Brady’s as far back as Jake could remember.

  “What can I get for you two?” Kelly asked. “I’ll bet I can guess. Imperial crab for you, Jake, rockfish for Bree, two salads with blue cheese dressing and a couple of beers.”

  Bree laughed. �
�Have we always been that predictable?”

  Kelly nodded. “Only thing you ever changed was the side dish. What’ll it be tonight? Fries, baked potato, potato salad, coleslaw or green beans?”

  “Baked potato,” Jake said.

  “And I’d like the green beans,” Bree told her.

  Kelly nodded. “I’ll be right back with your beers. It’s good to see the two of you together again.”

  Bree winced as she walked away. “That’s not good. By tomorrow morning everyone in town will be speculating about what this dinner means. Are we back together? Was this just business? Or are we just a couple of old friends catching up? I should have thought about that before suggesting we come here.”

  “There’d be speculation no matter where we ate,” Jake said. “Chesapeake Shores does love its gossip.”

  “You’re not bothered by it?”

  “I can live with it if you can,” he said with a shrug. “I got pretty good at tuning out all the talk after you left.”

  Bree stilled, her expression troubled. “Jake, does anyone know…was there ever any talk about, you know…about the baby?”

  Jake froze at the mention of their child. “No,” he said harshly. “And we shouldn’t be discussing it, either.”

  “How can we ever move on if we don’t?” she asked reasonably.

  “Maybe we don’t get to move on,” he said. “Maybe that’s why this dinner was a bad idea. We haven’t even gone a half hour without one of us bringing up the past.”

  “Because what happened matters. Ignoring it certainly hasn’t worked.”

  He scowled at that. “It sure didn’t seem to matter to you at the time. In fact, you seemed downright relieved when the pregnancy ended. You couldn’t wait to catch the first flight to Chicago.”

  “I know it must have seemed that way,” she said.

  “It didn’t just seem that way, Bree,” he said heatedly. “It was that way.”

  When she was about to respond, he waved her off. “Let’s drop this right now before we get into an argument that really will have people talking.”

  “Won’t you even give me a chance to explain?” she pleaded.

  “There’s nothing to explain,” he said. “You lost our baby and moved on in the blink of an eye. There’s not a lot of room to misinterpret what happened.”

  To his surprise, Bree suddenly stood up. “If you really believe that, then we don’t have anything to discuss. I’d just like you to do one thing for me. Read what I’ve written so far. Maybe then you’ll have a better idea of how things looked from my perspective.”

  Alarmed, Jake stared from her to the package on the floor. “You said this was fiction. Is it about us? About what happened?”

  “It is fiction,” she responded. “But I lived the emotions, Jake. You may not believe that, but I did. I don’t think I could write them so powerfully if I hadn’t. And I’m not sure I could have put them down on paper before now. They were still too raw.”

  He stared at her, incredulous. “Are you expecting me to feel sorry for you? You got everything you wanted. There was no baby. You got to go off to Chicago and chase your dream. I was the one left with nothing.”

  She flinched at his harsh tone. “Read what I’ve written, Jake. Then we’ll talk again.”

  Before he could tell her that the subject was closed forever, she turned and walked away just as Kelly approached with their meals. She frowned at Bree’s retreating back.

  “She’s leaving?”

  Jake nodded. “Of course she is. It’s what she does,” he said bitterly. He stood up and handed Kelly a fistful of bills. “That should cover dinner. I’m sorry.”

  The older woman regarded him with sympathy. “Oh, Jake, so am I. When I saw you together, I was so sure…” Her voice trailed off.

  He shrugged. “Things aren’t always the way they look.”

  And people weren’t always the way you needed them to be, no matter how badly you wanted it.

  After their aborted dinner, Jake once again retreated from any contact with Bree. He even started avoiding Sally’s at lunchtime, though it didn’t take long for Will and Mack to call him on that.

  They were shooting hoops on the high-school courts one evening, when Mack asked casually, “You and Bree dating again?”

  “No,” Jake said tersely.

  “Obviously Mack’s subtle approach is a waste of time,” Will said. “Is it true she walked out on you at Brady’s last week?”

  “Pretty much,” Jake said, driving down the court to make a perfect layup. It was easy since neither Mack nor Will seemed inclined to stop him. Apparently they were more interested in probing into things that were none of their business.

  “Which explains why you’ve been blowing us off at lunchtime for the past week,” Will concluded. “Is it just the café and Bree you’re avoiding or is all of Main Street off-limits?”

  Jake frowned at his sarcasm. “It’s better if we keep some distance between us, that’s all.”

  “Okay, then, we’ll start going to Brady’s or the pizza place,” Mack offered. “Anyplace you want to go.”

  “You guys shouldn’t have to disrupt your routine because of this thing between Bree and me.”

  “Hey, we’re a team,” Will said. “We go where you go.” His expression sobered. “You want to talk about what happened?”

  Jake pushed past him and made another clean shot. He was beginning to enjoy himself. Usually they were a lot more competitive. The whole distraction bit was working for him. He should give them some topic to chew on whenever they played, preferably not his love life, though.

  Will wasn’t put off by his silence. “Jake? You know we’ll listen. We won’t judge.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Mack said. “I have half a mind to tell Bree off myself.”

  Jake stopped in his tracks and scowled at him. “Stay out of it. I mean it, Mack.”

  “Wasn’t it bad enough that she ran off and ditched you? Please don’t tell me you’re going to let her get away with making you miserable all over again.”

  “I’m not miserable,” Jake lied. “In fact, up until a few minutes ago when the two of you went all Dr. Phil on me, I was having a great time playing basketball with a couple of buddies.”

  Will gave an exaggerated shudder at the mention of TV’s most famous shrink. “Okay, let’s play,” he said, moving aggressively into position to block Jake’s next shot. His elbow in Jake’s ribs nearly knocked the wind out of him.

  “Me and my big mouth,” Jake grumbled when he’d caught his breath and rubbed his aching side. “I should have let you go on analyzing me to your heart’s content.”

  Will grinned. “Your choice. I’m always ready to delve into your psyche. It’s a fascinating place.”

  “I vote we drop all of this and head to my place for a couple of beers,” Mack said. “I’m beat.”

  “After a half hour on the court?” Jake asked in surprise.

  “He was out late last night,” Will explained. “Susie O’Brien asked him to drive her up to D.C. to see a concert.”

  Jake’s lips twitched. “So you’re playing chauffeur to her now? How’s that working for you? Did she bring along a date? Maybe sit in the backseat and make out?”

  “Go to hell,” Mack muttered. “No, she didn’t bring a date.”

  “Did you have to wait outside during the concert or did she buy you a seat way up in the balcony?” Jake taunted.

  “We sat together, okay? Satisfied?”

  Jake laughed. “No, but then apparently neither are you.”

  “Susie and I are friends,” Mack said.

  “Yeah, that’s the story Bree and I’ve been telling ourselves lately, too,” Jake replied. “I don’t know about you, but for me it’s not working out so well.”

  Will looked elated by the revelation. “Now we’re getting somewhere,” he said enthusiastically. “A couple of beers and I’ll have both of you talking your heads off.”

  “Not me,” Jake sai
d. “I’m going home.”

  “Me, too,” Mack said. “Will, you’re going to have to find somebody else’s head to shrink tonight.”

  “Spoilsports.”

  “Hey, you have a whole roster of paying patients. Worry about their problems,” Mack advised.

  Will grinned. “But yours are so much more fascinating.”

  “Night, Will,” Jake said, walking off and leaving him standing in the middle of the court.

  “See you tomorrow,” Mack called out. “We’ll meet at the pizza place. Is that okay with everyone?”

  “I’m in,” Jake said.

  Will sighed heavily. “See you then.” His expression suddenly brightened and there was a dangerous glint in his eye. “Maybe I’ll mention lunch to Bree and Susie.”

  Both Mack and Jake turned on him. “Not even mildly amusing,” Mack said.

  “Out of the question,” Jake added for good measure.

  Will didn’t seem impressed. “I think confronting the issues in our lives is much healthier than pretending they don’t exist.”

  “How are we supposed to pretend they don’t exist when you keep bringing them up every few minutes?” Jake asked.

  “It’s very telling that the mention of Bree or Susie upsets you both so much,” Will said.

  “I swear if you don’t shut up about this, I’m going to start bringing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to work and eating them in my office,” Jake declared.

  “Avoidance,” Will said, nodding knowingly. “Very revealing.”

  Jake could have told him what to do with his opinion, but there were a bunch of high-school kids playing ball on the next court. He was a big believer in setting a good example for the next generation.

  Instead, he walked away with Mack right on his heels.

  “You don’t suppose he’d really invite Bree and Susie to lunch, do you?” Mack asked.

  “If he does, we kill him. Simple as that,” Jake said grimly. He couldn’t even say with certainty that he wasn’t dead serious about it, either.

  When Bree closed her shop at noon to run around the corner to grab the slice of pizza and salad she’d ordered, she didn’t expect to find Jake, Will and Mack sitting inside. Will was the first one to spot her, and his complexion turned pale as she waved. She started in their direction to say a quick hello, but Will seemed to be frantically gesturing her to stay away. She shrugged and headed for the counter. Eighteen-year-old Gary Gentry had her order ready when she got there. He blushed all the way to his spiked blond hair when he spoke to her.