by Misty Simon
Adele snorted, then quickly covered her mouth with her hand.
“I’ll get you for that later.” Jack squeezed Chelsea’s shoulder as he walked by her. She caught a hint of man and cologne and she locked the knees that wanted to turn to jelly at the smell of him.
“Yeah, well, you can get me after you get all my luggage.” She laughed as she said it, but couldn’t help checking out the view as he walked away. He was one mighty fine specimen of man. His dark hair curled just at the edge of his polo shirt’s collar, while his broad shoulder stretched the fabric to perfection. The fit of his jeans was nothing to sneeze at, either. And he was her best friend’s brother, always off limits. In fact, she’d never even thought of him that way until just now. It really must be the country air.
“Why don’t I show you to your room upstairs while we let him bring in your things?” Adele stepped back from the window seat with a smile. “By the way, I think I’m going to like you.”
“I already know I like you.” It was nice to be welcomed and to feel the sentiment was real. Except for her job and her time with Mazzy, that feeling had been in short supply lately.
“Then we’ll get along just fine,” Adele said, leading the way up the stairs.
As Chelsea trailed her hand along the satiny smooth finish of the banister, Mazzy ran up and down the stairs behind and in front of her. Better the girl get all that energy out now rather than tonight when it was time for bed. After the long car ride and all the packing, Chelsea herself was ready for a nap. But then she would never sleep tonight. Despite her teasing that Jack should bring in everything for her, she really only wanted to see her room for a moment, and then she’d go down to help.
It was as breathtaking as she remembered. A queen-sized four-poster bed was set off to one side, massive but not dominating in the enormous room. A dresser and vanity in the same dark wood accompanied it. Along the left wall was the sitting area, which boasted a couch and two chairs in burgundy. The door on the far wall led to a smaller bedroom with a twin bed and its own dresser.
This was going to be heaven.
“I hope everything will be okay,” Adele said from the doorway, hovering again, hands clasped at her waist.
“Oh my, yes. I might not ever want to move out.” Chelsea skimmed a hand over the purple, green, and blue brocade coverlet on the bed.
“You aren’t the first person to say that.” Adele brushed at her bangs. “Anyway, everything you could possibly need is in the bathroom to your right. If you find something we haven’t provided, all you have to do is ask. I’m here on the property this whole week. I hope you enjoy your stay.”
“I have a feeling that’s not going to be a problem at all.” Other than that blip downstairs when her friend from a lifetime ago had turned into something a little more dangerous for a moment, she would be just fine. Once this vacation was over and her sister was happily married, she would go back home to grab with both hands the promotion she had been promised at work. Hopefully then things would get better, and she and Mazzy could move forward with their lives instead of simply existing.
Mazzy jumped on the bed in the next room, the springs creaking. Chelsea hustled to the door, peeked her head into the room, and told her, “No. We’ve still got the same rules as home, bubby. No jumping on the bed, and make sure you’re on your best behavior when we’re here. You can do it.” She rubbed a hand over her daughter’s soft, braided hair and turned to go back into her own room, only to find Jack standing in her doorway with his arms and ankles crossed and a smile on his handsome face.
“If I remember correctly, there was someone else who always bounced on beds when she was younger.”
“Don’t say that too loud or you’re going to ruin my authority.” She pulled the door closed to Mazzy’s room, keeping it from shutting all the way but giving them some privacy.
“She’s a great kid.” He stayed right where he was, lounging against the door as if he had nothing else to do all day.
She, on the other hand, had a ton of things to do, and more to come once she called her mother and Paige to let them know she was in town. She’d thought about putting it off but was sure it would be all over the place by now.
“Yeah, thanks. I’ll get her in a second, and then I have to run out to see Paige. All this wedding planning stuff was not in the plans when I originally booked my vacation. I hope I can handle it all.”
“You will. And I’m here to help, too. Adele also offered to take on some of the duties for you. And I highly doubt Paige will give you a moment’s peace no matter how much she’s supposed to keep the stress down and her feet up. Here’s her key, by the way, so you can get in without having to make her get up out of bed.”
With an economy of movement that sent her pulse stumbling, he unfolded his burly body from the door and took a step into the room. Suddenly the spacious room felt a whole lot smaller. He handed her the key. Her fingers brushed his palm as she took the piece of metal, warm from his touch, and something surprisingly like a burst of want ferreted up her spine. Want had been in short supply in her life for the last few years, too, and now was not the time for it to reappear. Needs like providing a home for Mazzy and working to make sure she had everything necessary, those she understood. Want she could do without.
Though her brain felt a little short-circuited, she didn’t miss the way Mazzy continued to jump on the bed, just with smaller bounces.
“Mackenzie Jane, no jumping.”
“Okay.” The disappointment was clear in the little girl’s voice, but it couldn’t be helped. Eventually they would go back to their home. Chelsea did not want to fight to undo the bad habits that could be formed in a week of play time.
Jack leaned closer and dropped his voice. “She really is fine. That bed has seen a ton of children who have jumped, leaped, bounced, and flounced on it.”
“I’m sure that’s true, but we have rules and she knows them.”
He flicked the end of her hair and smiled at her. “I like her name, but I like Mazzy better. Where’d you get it?”
“Well, when she was little, she had trouble saying her whole name, so she started calling herself Mazzy and then Belinda called her Snazzy Mazzy, which she loved. I guess it stuck.”
“I like it.”
It was difficult not to breathe him in again as his voice ran over and through her mind. The sound alone created a haze of something she did not want to examine right now, especially when combined with the purely masculine smell of him. This was a boy from long ago and a man who she had only recently reconnected with because of her sister’s wedding and Paige’s doctor-enforced bed rest. They had nothing in common anymore except some old memories and a desire to have this wedding go off without a hitch. She would do well to remember that.
Making deliberate contact with those blue eyes again, she focused all her energy on making sure not to look down and take in the way his body had filled out in all the right places. He had been a late bloomer but had definitely grown up while she was gone.
“I do mean that, Chelsea,” he said, his voice low and soft, like warm honey pouring over her. “Anything you need while you’re here, you just have to ask. Nothing is too big or too small. Adele and I want this to be the best possible wedding.”
“Adele and you?” She couldn’t resist teasing him even as she was desperately trying to recover from the feel of his voice through her veins.
“Strictly business,” he said.
“Not even a dalliance?”
“When have you known me to dally?” He smiled, but there was something in his eyes she couldn’t read.
“Wait, I remember that one girl—Sally? Tally? Tabby! Tabby, in tenth grade, with the humungous mane of black hair and the boobs out to here.” She cupped her hands in front of her own chest much farther out than was anatomically and naturally possible, especially for a sixteen-year-old.
“What are you doing, Mommy? Are you playing a game? Is that the one with Ms. Mary Mack all dressed in
black? I want to play!” Mazzy came running into the room and jumped onto the bigger mattress, swinging on the posts of the bed.
Chelsea grasped her daughter’s wrist gently but firmly and brought her to a standstill. “I said no jumping, and I meant it. Remember, best behavior.” She said it as quietly and discreetly as she could.
“So will you be ready for a high tea once you get back from seeing Aunt Paige?” Jack asked in the silence after Chelsea’s reprimand but before Mazzy’s bottom lip fully came out.
“High tea?” Mazzy said, all trace of any tears or quivering bottom lip gone. “What’s a high tea?”
She had scrambled off the bed and came to stand in front of him. Jack must have felt like he was towering over her small form, because he hunkered down to her level, his back to Chelsea. “It’s where we go talk the cook into making up fancy tea and giving us cookies before dinner. What do you think?”
He glanced over his shoulder at Chelsea and she gave him a nod and a smile. A smile that was echoed but with fewer teeth on the little girl in front of him.
She would have to make sure Mazzy did not end up attached to this man or this place. It was too easy to imagine hanging out here all the time. Having her family nearby to help and to nurture. To make it so Chelsea didn’t have to go it alone.
But that was a fantasy. She had made her bed and now she had to lie in it. Mazzy wasn’t suffering from living with a single parent. She wasn’t suffering from having no other blood family close by. Chelsea didn’t want to move her away from her dad, just in case he started taking an interest in her. And these vacations could become more frequent once she got the promotion at work and the funds that went with the promotion. She just had to get through the next week, and then she’d be golden.
Keeping that thought in the forefront of her mind, she took Mazzy’s hand. There was no good reason why they couldn’t enjoy everything offered here in the meantime, though.
“We’d love to have high tea. We’ll be back in about two hours, and then we can beautify ourselves and be down.”
“I’ll wait for you,” he said, with an overdone bow at the waist. He winked at Mazzy as he pulled the door shut with a soft click.
“I like the big man,” Mazzy said as she trotted to her room.
Chelsea did, too, and hoped that wasn’t going to be a problem. She missed home far more than she had thought possible.
A few minutes later a knock sounded on the door, breaking Chelsea out of her thoughts. She glanced at the clock to make sure she hadn’t lost track of time.
Jack was standing in the hallway when she opened the door, his arms full of bright colors and plastic.
“I didn’t know if you had anything appropriate for high tea, so I rummaged around upstairs and came up with a few things.” He passed the bundle over to her without a problem. She had more trouble as she struggled to keep the slippery plastic from falling to the floor. “See you this afternoon.”
Then he was gone, pulling the door closed behind him again.
Staggering over to the bed, she dumped everything on the comforter. She reached into the pile and pulled out a dress obviously meant for a child. After removing the plastic garment bag, she shook out the long electric blue dress with an empire waist trimmed in lace. It even had a small purse in the same color. It would be a little big for Mazzy, but she would love it as much as Chelsea had loved dressing up in it many years ago.
Something velvety and dark purple caught her eye in the rest of the pile. She dug through, coming up with another plastic bag. The dress would hit the floor on her and also had an empire waist, but that was where the similarities ended. This one had a chiffon overlay for the skirt that appeared iridescent, with long ribbons of the same filmy material wrapped around the bodice.
Just short of tearing open the bag, she pulled out the dress as fast as she could, then laid it on the bed to get a better view. Small stars made of clusters of crystals dotted the neckline. The dress was sleeveless and honestly one of the most divine things she had ever seen. She remembered Jack and Paige’s mom going out for a night at the theater in it once, when Chelsea and Paige were about ten, and she had drooled over it then. She’d try it on right after she’d been to see Paige and made sure her friend was as okay as she’d sounded over the phone during their many conversations.
Her cell phone rang as she was hanging the dresses up in the closet. Great, her mom. She adored her mother, but the woman was on a rampage lately and was almost worse than the bride with her demands.
“Hey, Mom. I was just going to call you.”
“Of course you were. Now, we have a lot to go over once you get back from seeing Paige, and I want to make sure you have time to get settled in, but I am going to need to see that granddaughter of mine as soon as possible.”
“We’ll see you first thing tomorrow for the dress fittings. I just want to get unpacked and make sure I have everything from Paige, and then we’re yours for the next week.” Chelsea turned away from Mazzy so the little girl couldn’t see her roll her eyes.
“That’s the plan. I’m so happy you’re here!”
“And I’m happy to be here. But I really should go so we can get over to Paige’s. I have some things that I hope will make her convalescence easier.”
“She’ll love that. Make sure you got her some trashy magazines.”
Chelsea laughed. “I did. Now I’d better get going. Do you want to say hi to Mazzy real quick while I hang a few things up?”
“Of course, hon, and I hope you brought some of your nice clothes, because I have a few men I’d like you to meet this week.”
“Mom!”
“Don’t you ‘mom’ me. They’re perfectly nice men. I won’t set you up on any blind dates, I promise. These will just be informal meet-ups where I casually mention that you’re available. Actually, I’ve already mentioned that, but now they’ll get to see how pretty you are, instead of just the pictures on my mantel.”
Oh, God. It was going to be a freaking bachelor parade. “I don’t want to meet any…one.” She was careful not to mention the word men, since it might lead to questions from Mazzy.
“Of course you do. And it wouldn’t hurt if they lived out here, since maybe then you would finally move back home. Now, it’s just one or two men, maybe four. I can’t remember, but it won’t be painful. Just dress nice.”
“I have to go. We’ll see you tomorrow.” And she hung up because there was no arguing with her mother. Leigh Moore didn’t understand why Chelsea stayed in Bettleton. Chelsea hadn’t tried to explain, only saying that she had her job and they had a life there. In reality, though, she hoped one day Mazzy’s father would wake up and realize he had a daughter who needed him. Chelsea didn’t want him back for herself, but she wasn’t going to move away, just in case he came to understand that Mazzy should have him in her life. He wouldn’t ever do that if they lived three hours away. They were already out of mind. She didn’t want to also be out of sight.
She loathed putting Mazzy back in the car after so many hours on the road, but it couldn’t be helped. And her little munchkin was fine with it, asking for the same song they’d been singing before, and bouncing along in her booster seat.
The drive was no more than twenty minutes, but it felt like a whole different world. Where Jack’s town of Kissinger was small and quaint, with buildings from the 1800s and privately owned storefronts, Paige lived in the city. It felt like being back in her new hometown.
She navigated the one-way streets and heavy traffic with years of experience she hadn’t had when she first started driving. Her parents had made her drive in the city so she wouldn’t be afraid to do it later, but the past eight years of living in Bettleton had refined her deftness. Pulling up in front of Paige’s townhouse, she parallel parked like a pro, then waited for the stoplight behind her to turn red so she could safely get out and run around to Mazzy’s side of the car.
Mazzy held her hand while she reached into the backseat for the few things she�
�d brought for Paige. She needed comfort stuff, especially since she would be shut up in her apartment for the next six weeks on absolute bed rest until it was time for the baby to come.
Letting herself into the townhouse, Chelsea called out a greeting.
“I’m back here, lounging like the whale I am!” Paige yelled from down the hall. “I’d come greet you, but Baby Sarian is not having any of it today.”
Chelsea had not visited since Paige had bought herself this townhouse, so she did her best to navigate through the warren of rooms to find where “back here” was.
Pictures hung on the wall—the two of them in pigtails and huge smiles. Black and whites that Paige must have had made after the fact, since they had used only color film in their cameras back in the day. One color one sat in the middle of the arrangement with the two of them hanging out either side of the tiny tree house Jack had built them when they were ten to his almost thirteen.
She hurried down the hall to avoid thinking too much about Jack.
“Here we are!” Mazzy said, bouncing into the room filled with glass vases in a multitude of colors, each vase holding a candle glowing softly. Chelsea had thought perhaps Mazzy had gotten all her energy out with the running up and down the stairs, but apparently that was not true. Thank goodness she had brought along some coloring books for her so they didn’t disrupt the tranquility that Paige had made out of her townhouse.
“Come give Auntie Paige a kiss, monkey.”
Mazzy giggled and made monkey sounds while she climbed up onto the bed next to Paige.
“Are you sure she should be up there? Don’t you need to rest?”
“God! I’m up to my eyebrows in rest. She’s not going to do anything to me, and it’s not like I’m fragile, just on rest detail to make sure Sarian stays where he or she is supposed to for a little bit longer.”
Chelsea started taking things out of her tote and placing them on the bench at the foot of Paige’s bed. She had coloring books, crayons, a picture book for Mazzy, and her favorite teddy, along with her blanket in case she got tired. Chelsea didn’t plan on staying longer than an hour, but naps could happen spontaneously with Mazzy, and she wanted to be prepared.
