by Holly Jacobs
As they’d talked about Louisa’s coming graduation, Joe had asked how she felt about a small August wedding.
He had it all figured out. She would come back to school with him that fall. She’d already applied to Georgia State and had been accepted. They would set up housekeeping, go to school as man and wife.
He could still remember her joy-filled laughter as she’d jumped on his lap and kissed her acceptance up and down his face. Yes. Kiss. Yes. Kiss. Yes. Kiss.
The laughter had turned to passion. And that night, his son had been conceived.
Aaron sprang from their love.
Then things had gone wrong.
Joe slammed the lid back on the sauce and tried to do the same with the memories, slam the lid back on and hide them from sight.
The front door opened.
“We’re home,” Louisa called out.
Joe walked out to greet Louisa and his son.
“How was your day?” he asked, a smile pasted on his face.
He leaned down and for one split second started to kiss her cheek hello. It still felt like the natural thing to do.
She pulled away and stopped him in his tracks.
Oh, it was just the smallest movement. She stopped herself and stayed still, willing to accept his greeting. But he’d felt that initial response and it cut at him as he withdrew, maybe because he’d just been remembering another time when she’d welcomed the touch of his lips. There had been no pulling away that day so long ago.
He nodded to his son, to Aaron.
Just thinking the words my son, thinking Aaron’s name, still gave him a thrill. He’d have preferred to pull the boy into his arms, or at the very least, to ruffle his hair. But he didn’t want to force anything.
He would wait for Aaron to be ready.
“How was your day?” he asked.
Aaron frowned but did answer, “Fine.”
“Good.” Pretending that everything was normal, that this is how it had always been, and hoping that his son would soon realize this was the way it always would be, he said, “I started dinner. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Mind?” Lou said, obviously a willing player in his farce. “Why, I couldn’t think of a nicer way to come home. Better watch it, I could get used to this.”
“Maybe I’m hoping that’s just what will happen,” he said, surprised to find he meant it.
Having Lou and Aaron get used to having him here. Having them include him in their family. He couldn’t think of anything he wanted more.
“It should be done in about a half hour,” he said.
“Great. I have time to change.”
“Want to help me with the salad, Aaron?”
The boy took a step back. “No. I got homework.”
“I have,” his mother corrected.
“Yeah.” He took another step back. “I’m going to my room to finish.”
“Sure,” Joe said, forcing the smile to stay in place.
“I’m sorry,” Lou whispered once Aaron had left. “It’s just going to take some time.” She sighed. “I bet I’ve said that a dozen times since yesterday.”
Joe smiled. “At least. But don’t worry. I’ll wait for him to come around. I’m not going anywhere. I’ve probably said that just as often.”
For a second she looked as if she was going to reach out and touch him, but she pulled her hand back. “I’m going to go change now, then I’ll help with that salad, if you want.”
He shrugged. “Sure.”
Joe returned to the kitchen and tried not to think about the fact his son couldn’t bear to be in the same room as him.
The boy was young and this was all a shock. He’d just be patient and give Aaron time to adjust, even if it killed him.
And the way Louisa had pulled away from him? He’d just been remembering a time when she couldn’t wait for his touch, and now? Now was a lifetime later, and she couldn’t accept his presence any more than their son could.
That would change, too.
The problem was, Joe wasn’t sure what he wanted it to change into.
What did he want with Louisa? Did he simply want to reach a level of friendship with the woman he used to love, or did he want something more?
He didn’t know.
“So,” she said as she walked into the kitchen, dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, looking very much like the girl he used to know, “what’s my assignment?”
“How about chopping the carrots?”
“Sure thing.”
She got out a cutting board and walked past him. She reached out and patted his shoulder. “Give him time, Joe, he’ll come around and accept you as his father.”
Maybe Aaron would. But would Louisa accept his presence?
And an even harder question: Did Joe want her to?
Friday of that first week came and the situation at the house was still strained.
Louisa stood outside Aaron’s classroom knowing this meeting with his teacher was necessary.
Aaron was still standoffish, not just with Joe, but with her. He wouldn’t allow her to comfort him.
She was worried.
That worry increased when he brought home a math test in which he’d got a C. Aaron was a straight-A student. Even if he wasn’t talking about what was happening, it was bothering him.
Quiet, withdrawn at home, and now his school-work was suffering.
If she couldn’t help him through this soon, she’d have to see about professional help. She wasn’t quite ready for that, but she knew it was time to talk to Aaron’s teacher.
Louisa knocked softly on the classroom door. It always amazed her how different the school was once the students had been dismissed.
“Come in.” Sharon Rogers called. Aaron’s teacher was a delight.
Louisa had volunteered to drive for a few field trips and could easily see why Aaron loved his second-grade teacher. Bright and enthusiastic, she made school fun, not just a chore. And it was obvious that she truly loved her students.
“Thanks for staying late to meet with me,” Louisa said.
She settled in the chair across from Ms. Rogers and began to explain the situation. She wasn’t sure what, if anything, Aaron had said in school, and wanted the woman to be prepared.
Ms. Rogers didn’t say a word. She just nodded and said, “Thanks for letting me know.”
Lou had a plan and hoped Sharon would be agreeable. “You asked me to come in next week and talk to the students about the store, but maybe we should put that off for a while. You could bring the class down to the store for a tour. That way Aaron’s father could come in and talk to the class about what he does. He could explain what it’s like if you go to an emergency room.”
Sharon reached out and patted her hand. “I think that’s a wonderful idea.”
Louisa was relieved.
The idea had occurred to her last night, and she hoped it would make a difference, would give Joe some common ground with Aaron. “I’m sure Joe would be willing. I’m not sure Aaron will.”
“You leave that to me,” Sharon said. “Aaron will ask him.”
Joe had known he’d had a son for fifteen days. And for the first time he felt optimistic that someday Aaron might look on him as more than an interloper, but rather as a father. That they could develop a bond. When Aaron had asked him to come speak to his class, Joe couldn’t say yes fast enough.
Now, as they walked into the store together, he looked down at the small dark-haired boy and felt a wave of love.
He practically was bursting with it.
Even after two weeks, the realization that he had a son would hit him at odd times and he’d practically drown in the wonder of it.
He had a son.
“How did it go?” Louisa asked as they came into the candy store.
Joe liked the way the store smelled. It smelled warm and comforting.
It smelled like home.
Before Joe could answer her question, Aaron burst out, saying, “Oh, Mom, it was so
cool. Joe came in with a whole doctor bag full of stuff. There was a ste—”
“Stethoscope,” Joe supplied.
“Yeah. And he let everyone listen to their own hearts. And his blood pressure thing. We all took turns. And then he gave everyone a mask, a real doctor mask. And stickers. And told us about what he does. Do you know that an emergency doctor is a jack…” He hesitated.
“Jack-of-all-trades,” Joe said.
“Yeah,” Aaron nodded, his head bobbing up and down with such speed that it was a wonder it stayed on his neck. “They do some of everything. They have to know something about all the different doctor things. It was so cool.”
“It sounds cool,” Lou said.
Over Aaron’s head, she shot Joe a smile.
There was a flash of their old connection. That smile said how glad she was that for the first time he’d really bonded with his son.
Her gladness wasn’t offered hesitantly, with worry about what a relationship between Joe and Aaron would do to her relationship with the boy. No, she gave him the smile that said having Joe and Aaron forge a bond meant more to her than anything.
He read all that in just one smile and that burst of connection.
This was the Lou he once knew, the girl he’d once loved.
No not a girl. She was a woman now.
“…and Joe said sometime maybe we could go down to the hospital and he’d take me to the cafeteria and show me around.”
“Sure, that sounds great,” she said.
“They have an ice cream machine in there, and Joe said I could get some.”
“Sure you can.”
“Listen, I gotta go call Mark, okay? He thought he was so cool ’cause his dad drives trucks and they have a zillion gears. But I said my dad gets to cut people open and see their guts. That’s cooler.”
“Guts are certainly cooler than gears,” Lou said. “You may go in the back room and call Mark.”
“He called me his dad,” Joe whispered as Aaron ran for the phone, eager to brag about his coolness.
Louisa turned to him and said, “Yes, he did.”
“Thank you.”
“For what?” she asked.
“Ms. Rogers said you stopped in last week and explained the situation.”
“Of course I did. I just wanted her to know what was going on in case Aaron started to have trouble in school.”
“That’s not all she said. She said that my going in today was your idea, that you thought it would be good for Aaron and me.”
Louisa shrugged. “And it was good for you both.”
“I know. He called me his dad.”
Joe paused a moment, lost in the warm glow of Aaron referring to him as dad, my dad, then repeated, “Thank you.”
Before he knew what he was doing, he leaned down and kissed her. It started soft and tentative, just a quick thank-you. But it slowly built into something bigger and more intense.
Her arms snaked around his neck, holding him tight, as if she didn’t want to let go. The feel of her pressing against him, welcoming his touch, shook him.
“Hey,” Aaron said.
They broke apart with the speed of guilty teenagers caught in the act.
“Yes?” Joe asked, surprised to find his voice still worked after what he’d just shared with Louisa.
“Mark wants to know if he can come over and play with your stethoscope?”
“Sure,” he said. “Anytime. I’d like to meet your friends.”
“Cool,” he exclaimed and ran into the back room.
Louisa was blushing as she backed up, putting distance between them.
“Hey,” he said, trying to keep it light. “It’s okay if he catches us kissing. We’re his parents.”
“Yes, we are.” Her tone was flat and Joe couldn’t read her.
That fragile moment shattered. The fact that she was once again closed to him brought home just how much of a stranger she was.
She’d been kind and true to her word, trying to help him get to know Aaron. Sometimes it was easy to forget how much things had changed, but then something reminded him all over again that Louisa wasn’t the girl he’d once loved.
“It’s just this is where I work. I need to be professional. And Aaron’s never seen me with someone like that,” she continued.
“Never?” Joe asked.
He’d spent that first year without Louisa dating everyone and anyone, looking for someone to replace what he’d lost. But he’d never found it.
He’d never felt a tenth with any of those women what he felt right now, simply kissing Lou.
Why was that?
One answer tried to push its way out, but Joe firmly tamped it back down. He was here, practically living with Louisa for Aaron’s sake.
Nothing more.
Nothing less.
Whatever they had was over.
But a small question had been tugging at his thoughts for a while now…Could they find something else, something new together?
“No other man,” she said.
“You mean you never brought your dates over to the house?” he asked.
“Dates?” She laughed and started fussing with a rack of chocolates in the case. “Who had time to date?” she asked, without looking up.
Actually, after that first wild year when he was so hurt, so angry with Louisa and had dated frequently, his social life had become rather sparse. With medical school, then his residency, there hadn’t been time.
“It’s been eight years,” he said. “Certainly you’ve dated.”
“Sure. I can count them on one hand.”
She held up her right hand, and with her left, pushed down three fingers. “Elmer’s nephew Thomas comes to town once a year to visit. He’s taken me out to dinner three times. Of course, all we do is talk about Elmer. Thomas would like him to move to Seattle, but Elmer says Erie’s home, so Thomas checks up on him with me. No kissing involved at all. Just friendly conversation.”
She pushed down the remaining two fingers. “And then two times I dated this lawyer guy who frequented the store, back when I was working for Elmer. I guess I should have been suspicious about a guy who needed to buy that much chocolate, but I was naive. Let’s just say that I wasn’t interested in the type of relationship he wanted.”
She sighed. “Five. Five dates in eight years. Not a great average, is it? I’m sure you had scads of women after you and Meghan broke it off.”
He didn’t want to address the “scads” part, but was tired of hearing about Meghan. “How many times do I have to tell you that there was never anything between us other than friendship. We’d known each other forever. Her parents were as obnoxious as mine. We shared that. We were friends. But only friends.”
“Except for that brief stint as fiancés,” she pointed out.
“I explained it all then. That was my parents’ doing. Not mine.” He raked his fingers through his hair, wanting, no needing, to make her understand. “It was just business.”
“I guess I’m just a simple girl. I don’t understand that kind of business. Just like I never understood why you were with me.”
“What you were—what you always were—was special. You humbled me.”
She laughed, but there was no hint of the girl he once knew in that laughter. It sounded almost bitter.
“I’m serious,” he said, his voice softening as the anger left him. “I know what it was like for you when your father was alive, but you never hung your head. When people talked about him, you just faced them with that look.”
“What look?” she asked.
“The one that said, ‘I can’t help who he is, but I’m not him. I’m nothing like him.’ You wore your dignity around you like a mantle, and no one could miss it.”
“And yet, I was still just Clancy’s kid.” She looked away. “No matter how much dignity I had, I was still just the town drunk’s daughter.”
Joe took her chin in his hand and forced her to look at him. “Not to anyone who knew you. To
them you were just Louisa. A proud, amazing girl. And though so many things have changed, that’s one thing that hasn’t. You’re still amazing. What you did for me today…”
“I didn’t do anything. You did it,” she said.
“But thank you, anyway.”
“You’re welcome.”
She looked uncomfortable, so he changed the subject.
Today they were celebrating. His son had called him Dad.
“I want to ask you about something.”
Just then the door opened and a trio of women walked into the store.
“See, I told you Louisa had a man in here,” the gray-haired woman announced.
Three sets of eyes stared at him.
The gray-haired woman stepped forward. “I’m Pearly. Pearly Gates. My mama used to say that my name was the closest to heaven I was ever going to come because I had way too much of the devil in me to reach such lofty heights. She was a Southern lady, quiet and discreet. Me, I don’t beat around the bush. So, who are you and why are you in here kissing Louisa?”
The redhead cleared her throat and Pearly turned. “Oh, the bubble-popper, she’s Josie. We work down the street at Snips and Snaps. The other woman, she’s Mabel. She’s a needle sticker with a shop around the corner.”
“Needle sticker?”
Mabel shot Pearly a sharp look, then turned back to Joe and said, with dignity, “I’m an acupuncturist. And though I can work miracles, I don’t think even I have a chance at reining in Pearly.”
“Like I’d let you stick me,” Pearly said with a snort of laughter. “Now, you know who we are. Who are you?”
“Joe. Joe Delacamp.”
He looked at Louisa, hoping for some clue as to who these women were and what, if anything, they should be told. She didn’t move a muscle, but he could see her permission in her eyes. “I’m Louisa’s…friend.”
“Now, I know I’m not as young as I used to be,” Pearly said, “but I don’t think I’m ready for hearing aids just yet. You two seem a bit closer than friends.”
“Pearly,” Louisa said, “Joe’s Aaron’s father.”
“Well, I’ll be a burr on a bear’s behind. For almost a year, the three of us have been trying to set you up, and now you go and bring this tall, dark, mysterious man out of your closet.”
Pearly turned to the other women. “She was obviously pining for him all this time, which is why our matchmaking didn’t work.”