Welcome to Serenity

by Sherryl Woods

  She smiled slowly. “Oh, yeah.”

  For some idiotic reason, he found that annoying. “I think I need to drop you off at the spa and get back to the town square.”

  She stared at him in confusion. “Why? What did I say? I just paid you a compliment.”

  “No, you told me that the prospect of sex with me appeals to you.”

  “That’s a compliment,” she insisted.

  He frowned at her as he turned the key to start the car. “How would you take it if I told you I was only after you for your body?”

  She stared at him, openmouthed with dismay. “That’s not what I said,” she protested.

  “Isn’t it?”

  She hesitated so long, he could practically see the wheels turning in her mind. “I thought you’d be happy,” she murmured. “You’d be getting what you want.”

  His gaze narrowed. “What is it you think I want?”

  “Sex, something casual to fill in the time while you’re living in Serenity.”

  Her words chilled him. “Dammit, Jeanette, do you really believe I think so little of you? God knows I want to sleep with you. I’ve been wanting that from the first time I set eyes on you, but even then I knew it was going to be about more than that between us.”

  She regarded him with bewilderment. “You said... I thought... Tom, you’re not going to stay here. You’ve said so. It took me a while to accept that, but now I have. I can deal with it.”

  Her willingness to settle for so little made him even angrier—at her, at himself, he couldn’t be sure which. “You can live with a casual fling?”

  She nodded, though she looked miserable.

  “Not only do you not know me, you don’t even know yourself, if you honestly believe that,” he said, throwing the car into Reverse. He had to get away from her before his desire started to outweigh his sense of decency.

  He didn’t say another word until he pulled up in front of The Corner Spa. Then he turned to her. “This isn’t just about sex for me, Jeanette. God help me, but I’m falling in love with you. Let me know when you get on the same page.”

  She stared at him, her expression stricken, then bolted from the car. He watched her go, then sighed. Well, that had gone well, he thought sourly. And now he had to go deal with a bunch of cheery holiday fanatics. Ho-damn-ho-ho.

  * * *

  Jeanette was still reeling from Tom’s words when she blindly made her way into the spa. She stuck her head into Maddie’s office.

  “Margaritas at my place tonight, okay?” she said, a desperate note in her voice.

  “Why are you here?” Maddie asked, then regarded her worriedly. “Never mind. Should I call the others?”

  Jeanette nodded. “Please.” She didn’t think she could deal with all their likely questions right now—especially Dana Sue’s—not if she was going to get through the afternoon without falling apart.

  “Do you want to talk now?” Maddie asked.

  Jeanette shook her head. “Tonight, okay?”

  “We’ll be there at seven,” Maddie promised.

  It was what they did. When one of them had a crisis, the others rallied. They listened and offered advice and support, whether it was requested or not. Jeanette looked forward to their unsolicited opinions, because right now she had absolutely none of her own. She was still in shock. Tom thought he loved her? He’d actually said the words. Thrown them in her face, in fact.

  She went through the motions with her first client, nodding appropriately, asking an occasional question, but her head wasn’t in it. That appointment went reasonably well since the client was new and had no expectations beyond a good facial. She left happy, her skin glowing, her shopping bag filled with expensive products.

  Unfortunately Mary Vaughn was next. She took one look at Jeanette and frowned.

  “You look awful,” she said tactlessly.

  Despite her mood, Jeanette smiled. “Gee, thanks.”

  “Sorry,” Mary Vaughn said. “I guess it’s understandable with all you’ve been going through with your dad. I heard he’s better, though.”

  “He is, thanks.”

  Jeanette concentrated on applying cleanser to Mary Vaughn’s face to remove every trace of makeup.

  “Did you get a chance to see the decorations going up?” Mary Vaughn asked.

  “I caught a glimpse of them before I went to lunch.”

  “With Tom,” Mary Vaughn said, her gaze meeting Jeanette’s in the mirror. “I saw the two of you leaving together. I must say, you looked a lot happier then than you do now. Did something happen? You two didn’t have a fight, did you?”

  “Tom and I are fine,” Jeanette said, hoping it wasn’t a total lie. They might be on pages so far apart they were in different books, but otherwise they were fine. Really. “Tell me how everything’s coming for the festival. Are we ready?”

  Mary Vaughn seemed reluctant to drop the subject of Jeanette’s relationship with Tom, but she finally relented. “The choirs were battling it out for a while. All of them wanted to sing ‘Silent Night,’ but I think I finally managed to get through to the directors that there are plenty of familiar choices to go around. I swear it was like dealing with a bunch of superstar divas. I wanted to tell them to get out their stupid hymnals and choose something before I did it for them.”

  “That would have pretty much ruined the whole holiday spirit of goodwill and cooperation,” Jeanette said, amused.

  “You’re telling me.”

  “How’s it going with Sonny? Are the two of you cooperating for Rory Sue’s sake?”

  Mary Vaughn’s eyes started to shimmer and Jeanette realized she was about to cry. “What is it? Did I say the wrong thing?” she asked.

  Mary Vaughn waved off the question. “No, you didn’t say anything wrong. It’s just that we’ve been getting along really well.”

  “And that’s a bad thing?”

  “It is if you’re divorced and your ex-husband has moved on.”

  “Moved on? You mean he’s seeing someone else?”

  Mary Vaughn nodded, her expression miserable. “I had no idea, either, until I saw the two of them together at Sullivan’s last night,” she confided. “She works for him. She used to be a bookkeeper or secretary or something, but she’s recently been promoted to sales associate. Judging from the way Sonny was looking at her, I think I know how she got that promotion.”

  “Mary Vaughn!”

  “Well, that’s exactly how some women operate,” Mary Vaughn said.

  Jeanette studied her closely. “Why do you care? The two of you have been divorced for a long time.”

  “I know,” Mary Vaughn said with a sigh. “But lately, since we’ve been talking again and spending some time together, I’ve started wondering if maybe it wasn’t a mistake. The divorce, I mean.”

  “You have feelings for Sonny?” Jeanette asked incredulously.

  “I do,” Mary Vaughn admitted. “How’s that for a shocker? And, please, you can’t tell another soul. It would be too humiliating. Years of dating and marriage and now, all of a sudden, after we’ve been divorced forever, I’m realizing what a great guy he is. I mean, I always knew he was great. I’m just realizing how we mesh. We have all this history, which means we don’t have to explain every little thing. He gets me. He really gets everything about me. Do you realize how rare that is?”

  Jeanette gave her a penetrating look. “Do you?”

  “I do now. I have no idea why it took me so long to figure this out. Maybe I had to lose him—not the divorce, but to another woman—before I could see it.”

  “Do you want him back?”

  Mary Vaughn nodded. “I think I do.”

  Jeanette heard the note of uncertainty and seized on it. “Look, I’m the last person to give anyone advice on rela
tionships, especially today, but you don’t sound one hundred percent sure that you want Sonny back. Until you are sure, don’t try to break up this relationship you think he’s in. Don’t try to start something with him yourself.”

  “I know you’re right. I’ve hurt him more times than you can possibly imagine. I can’t do it again.” She turned to meet Jeanette’s gaze. “But how am I supposed to know for sure if we don’t give it another try?”

  “Maybe spending all this time with him during the holidays will give you the answers you need,” Jeanette suggested.

  “Sitting back and waiting isn’t my style,” Mary Vaughn said. “I favor the direct approach.”

  “Your decision, of course,” Jeanette said. She thought about how well the direct approach had worked for her earlier. It had been a disaster. “But don’t risk it unless you’re prepared for rejection.”

  “Sweetie, I’ve been rejected more times than you can imagine. It’s practically a lifestyle.”

  “Then maybe it’s time to go a different way,” Jeanette said. “Try the wait-and-see approach.”

  “I’ll think about it,” Mary Vaughn promised, then got a worrisome glint in her eyes. “But I will not let that little twit steal my man in the meantime.”

  Jeanette had to hide a smile at her friend’s fierce declaration. Sonny’s current relationship, whatever it might be, with this other woman, was doomed.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Jeanette was in her kitchen pouring frozen margaritas into glasses when Dana Sue came into her apartment without knocking.

  “What the heck happened?” she demanded as she set a big bowl of guacamole and a bag of chips on the table. “When you left the restaurant this afternoon, you and Tom were practically steaming up the place.”

  “I know,” Jeanette said just as Maddie came in with a plate of thick, decadent brownies.

  “Don’t say anything until Helen gets here,” Maddie said, grabbing her own drink. “You’ll just have to start over.”

  “I’m here,” Helen announced. She was taking out assorted cheeses and crackers and putting them on the plates Jeanette had removed from the box in which she’d packed them for her upcoming move. “Now, will somebody tell me why?”

  Overwhelmed with gratitude that they’d all come, actually believing for the first time that she really was a Sweet Magnolia, Jeanette looked at each of her three friends, then burst into tears.

  “Well, hell,” Helen said, reaching for her. The least demonstrative of the group, she patted her awkwardly on the back, then handed her off to Maddie.

  Dana Sue stuffed a handful of tissues into her hand. “Let’s go in the other room and sit down. Then take a sip of your drink and start at the beginning.”

  Everyone picked up some of the snacks and Jeanette trailed behind with the pitcher of margaritas, which was probably a mistake. She seemed to be a little unsteady on her feet, to say nothing of having her vision blurred by tears.

  “Okay, then,” Dana Sue said when they were seated. “You and Tom were headed straight to bed last time I saw you.”

  “You and Tom were planning to have sex?” Maddie said, sounding shocked. “Today? How did I miss that? I thought you were just having lunch. Then Dana Sue called and told me you were going home to rest... Oh, I get it.”

  Dana Sue grinned and, since Jeanette seemed incapable of speech, added, “Exactly. One thing led to another.”

  “So I gather,” Maddie said. “It must have been some lunch.”

  “Then what happened?” Helen prodded. “Wasn’t he any good at it?”

  Jeanette choked back a laugh, or maybe it was a sob. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “He... This is so humiliating.”

  “He what?” Helen demanded impatiently, falling into her courtroom style of interrogation, which was effective on witnesses but hell on friends.

  “Let her talk,” Maddie commanded, nudging Helen in the ribs.

  “He turned me down,” Jeanette admitted sheepishly. “And then he said he loved me. Or thought he did. Or something like that. I was too embarrassed by then to pay much attention to what he was saying.”

  “The man said he loved you and you didn’t hear the details?” Dana Sue asked incredulously.

  “After he refused to sleep with me,” Jeanette reminded her.

  “Okay,” Maddie soothed. “Did he say why he didn’t want to sleep with you? He must have had a reason. Everyone in town knows he’s been lusting after you since he got here.”

  Helen nodded. “They were taking bets in Wharton’s on how soon you’d cave in.”

  Jeanette regarded her with dismay, though she wasn’t sure why. They took bets on everything at Wharton’s. They’d had a pool on whether she’d go out with him, so why not one on whether she’d have sex with the man?

  Maddie frowned at Helen. “Did you have to bring that up now? It’s hardly the time.”

  “I was just reporting the facts,” Helen grumbled.

  Maddie held Jeanette’s hand tightly. “Pay no attention to her. If she’s listening to gossip, then she’s clearly had too much time on her hands lately. What did Tom say to you?”

  Jeanette gulped down the rest of her margarita, then blurted, “He...he said I only wanted him for his body.”

  The other three women stared at her, then turned to each other. Maddie was the first to try futilely to suppress a laugh. Then all three of them were laughing at her...or maybe with her. It was kind of hard to tell, since she finally saw the humor in it and began laughing, too. She laughed until her stomach ached.

  “I think I’m a little tipsy,” she finally murmured.

  “Not on one margarita!” Helen declared. “Even if these are strong enough to rouse the dead.”

  “I think you’ve missed the most important part of what happened this afternoon,” Maddie said when the laughter finally died. “Tom said he’s in love with you. Isn’t that what counts?”

  Jeanette poured herself another margarita, then sighed. “I really, really wanted to sleep with him, even if he does have the mother from hell.” She gave them a wobbly smile. “Did I tell you that my mother likes him and he likes her? That is so much better than me hating his mother.”

  “Maybe she is drunk,” Helen murmured. “Is this your second margarita, Jeanette?”

  “No, I believe I had one or two before you got here.”

  Helen rolled her eyes. “Then this conversation is probably pointless. You should go to bed and we can try it again tomorrow.”

  “But I need advice now,” Jeanette argued.

  “Why? Is Tom on his way over tonight?” Helen asked.

  “No, but...”

  They watched her expectantly.

  “I don’t know why,” she finally admitted.

  “That’s it,” Helen said, standing up. “Take a shower and go to bed.”

  “I’ll stay,” Dana Sue volunteered. “To make sure she doesn’t drown. After all, this is partly my fault. I practically gave them my stamp of approval and sent them on their way this afternoon.”

  Jeanette rested her spinning head against the back of the sofa as Maddie and Helen cleaned up the snacks, then kissed her good-night.

  “Okay, let’s go,” Dana Sue said, tugging on her arm.

  “Go where?”

  “Shower, then bed.”

  Jeanette balked. “Don’t want to sleep with you,” she murmured.

  “Heaven forbid,” Dana Sue responded.

  Jeanette sighed. “Just Tom,” she said as she stepped beneath the icy water that Dana Sue had turned on. She jumped right back out. “That’s cold,” she protested, shivering.

  Dana Sue pushed her back in. “You’ll thank me in the morning.”

  A few minutes later, wearing an oversize T-shirt, she crawled into bed
and accepted the aspirin Dana Sue held out.

  Dana Sue touched her cheek. “You and Tom will work this out,” she promised.

  “Don’t know how.”

  “You’ll talk. You’ll get your signals straight.”

  “Same page,” Jeanette murmured sleepily, then closed her eyes. They just needed to get on the same page. If her head didn’t hurt so much, maybe she could figure out which one that was.

  * * *

  Tom was sitting behind his desk, staring morosely at a report on the town’s failing infrastructure, when Cal, Ronnie and Erik walked in, their expressions grim.

  “What happened to the three of you? Bad news?” he asked.

  “You hurt Jeanette,” Cal declared.

  Tom blinked at his somber tone. “And now what? You have to hurt me?”

  Ronnie grinned. “Something like that. We’re supposed to have a come-to-Jesus talk with you.”

  “Though for the life of me, I’m not entirely sure why any of this is your fault,” Erik said. “You told her you love her, didn’t you?”

  “I did,” Tom agreed, not the least bit surprised that they knew that. He was beginning to understand the Serenity grapevine. Even the Internet operated at a slower pace.

  He regarded them with a challenging expression. “Why is any of this your business?” He waved off the question as soon as he’d uttered it. “Never mind. Stupid question. It’s all about Sweet Magnolia unity or something like that.”

  “Exactly,” Cal said. “There was apparently quite a party at Jeanette’s last night. It involved margaritas and whatever else these occasions require. Jeanette cried. That was enough to get you in trouble, my friend.”

  “Jeanette cried?” Tom echoed.

  “That’s the way I heard it, too,” Erik confirmed.

  “So what happens now?” Tom asked. “Tar and feathers?” He wasn’t entirely joking. These men might strike him as reasonable human beings, but their wives, collectively, scared the daylights out of him.

  “Beats me,” Ronnie said. “I think we’re supposed to make sure you don’t do it again.”