Late Bloomer

by Barbara Lohr

  Since Diana had brought her and Phoebe, they drove home together. “I’m still a little confused about this,” Diana said after they’d said good-night to Phoebe. “So did you and Brody have a discussion after this other woman showed up? Did you talk it all out? She might just be jealous because he ditched her.”

  Carolyn watched the occasional car headlights approach and then zoom past. “Diana, honestly, I don’t know what we said. The point is, I didn’t know anything about her. The situation reminded me of my dad. And I can’t go there again. Other women.”

  “I never knew that about your father,” Diana said slowly. “How awful.”

  “Yes, it was. And for a lot of reasons, my parents stayed together. Worked it out. And I think they’ve been happy. But I’ll never forget the lies and arguments during those years.”

  “But that was your parents, not you and Brody. Carolyn, I’ve never heard you as happy as you were in Santa Fe.”

  “That’s another thing, Diana. Another reason why that would never work out. He’s in Santa Fe, and I’m in Gull Harbor.”

  “Forget the place, for now” Diana’s eyes swung her way. “Do you love him?”

  “Yes, yes I do. And I hate what happened. Lately, I’ve been wondering...”

  “...if you jumped the gun?”

  She nodded. Terrible but true. Regret curled around her like the dust of Santa Fe, refusing to be shut out.

  “You know, Carolyn. I love you like a sister. But teachers sometimes have an attitude. You are so used to everyone listening to you. Maybe you should do a reality check. Don’t bury a good relationship with the bath water. Be sure what of what you’re saying.”

  Okay that was a whopper of a mixed metaphor but Diana had a point.

  Chapter 21

  Brody had to do something. Work had become impossible. There’d been a complaint that his mind wasn’t on the job when his guy installed the wrong french doors. He couldn’t afford to lose a client like Frederick Knowles. But he also couldn’t afford to lose Carolyn.

  Maybe he already had. He felt raw with worry and was growling at everyone. If he kept this up, no one would work for him. Food nauseated him and he couldn’t sleep. When he did, his dreams all focused on Carolyn. She was on a boat, sailing away. Or getting on a plane, waving goodbye. It was bizarre and driving him nuts.

  She wouldn’t answer her phone, and he was getting tired of talking to her grandmother. The feeling was probably mutual.

  “What are you going to do about my granddaughter?” Vera had asked during their last chat, as she called them.

  “I don’t want to make the wrong move. Push her further away.”

  Mama V’s tsk, tsk made him smile. “Well, Brody, she’s in another state. How is that going to solve anything?”

  Time to bring in the A team. He looked up Hippy Chick and called, hoping Diana Prescott wouldn’t hang up on him. When he explained who he was, she stopped him. “Hold it right there, Brody. I know who you are and what you’ve done.”

  He almost passed out. “But I haven’t done anything.”

  “It’s about the other women.”

  “But there aren’t any.” Damn this was frustrating. “Not since Carolyn came into my life.”

  “Then you better get a move on.” Diana chuckled. “You’ve got some explaining to do. And I think this has to be face to face.”

  That night he bought his plane ticket.

  ~.~

  The last week of school had arrived. Carolyn had graded exams and turned in final grades. The kids had gone and the halls were quiet. Busy in her room, Carolyn was boxing stuff up.

  Summer stretched before her, long and uncertain. When summer school was mentioned, she didn’t volunteer. Although in the past she often worked part time in Clancy’s deli from June through August, she told them she had other plans. Big lie.

  She wanted to do something different this summer. Experiment. Take some chances. Plans were still shaping up. Mama V had mentioned a visit, and Carolyn was getting up the courage to go back, face Brody and settle things. Because they sure weren’t settled now. She thought about him, dreamed about him. Her body longed for him, and so did her heart.

  Forgetting him was a full time job.

  Taking posters and pictures from her bulletin board left her dusty. Some had been there for years. Definitely time for a change. Setting her boxes aside, she walked briskly to the teachers’ lounge to wash her hands. The tiled halls echoed with silence. When she returned, she went right to her desk and continued clearing it off. The dried straw arrangements? Waste basket. Her neat pack of lesson plans? She rolled them up tightly and stuffed them in the can. The desk pad where she’d doodled Brody’s name? She traced the name with one finger. The letters were etched on her heart. And her heart was hurting.

  A throat cleared. She jumped. Her eyes flew to the sound in the back.

  “Can I help with anything, Miss Knight?”

  Okay, she was going crazy. Right now, she could see Brody in that last row, long legs stretched out to the side. If this didn’t stop, she would have to see a shrink.

  But when her hallucination almost couldn’t squeeze his hips out of that desk, she realized it was really him. “Too damn small for me.” Brody just about upended it.

  “You-you don’t fit.” She walked to him, taking baby steps. “Not anymore.”

  “Nope, guess not.” Looking shame-faced, he scratched the back of his head. She longed to cradle it in her hands. Feel the dark lengths slide through her fingers. “I mean, I don’t fit here in these chairs.”

  “I can see that.” They met halfway.

  The question in his eyes squeezed her heart. Seemed like they both had one thing on their minds. Their words overlapped.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “I’ve been an idiot.”

  He opened his arms. She fell into them. “You look terrible but wonderful.” God, he felt good. Laying her head on his chest, she breathed in his blue sweater. For her it smelled as good as the most expensive cologne in the world. She’d know that scent anywhere.

  “Have you been eating?” He ran his hands down her arms and frowned.

  “No. You?” Brody was looking leaner than ever.

  He shrugged. “Look, I should have told you about Justine. But I was afraid you wouldn’t understand.”

  She thought back. “Yeah, you were probably right. So you’d been dating her?”

  His eyes grew wary.

  “That’s not a trick question, Brody. You can tell me.”

  “That ended when you and I started feeding each other coconut cream pie.”

  “It was banana. Kiss me.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He lowered his head.

  “Don’t call me that, please,” she whispered against his lips.

  “Okay, Teach.” He stifled her protest with hungry lips, hands cupping her face. “God, I missed you.”

  The slight tremor of his body convinced her this was true. But she had to clear this up. “I should have understood, Brody. But I was terrified that other women would come out of the woodwork.”

  “I know. Diana told me.”

  “She did?”

  “Ah, huh.” He closed in for another kiss, angling his head just right. This was more action than room 207 had ever seen. “So I guess it had to do with your dad, and I’ll take it up with him when we meet.”

  She swatted at his hand. “You will not. That’s over. My parents’ marriage is doing fine and let’s keep it that way.”

  Uncertainty clouded his eyes. “Are we over, Carolyn?”

  “Oh, I hope not.”

  His whole body seemed to release. “Look, I can’t live without you.”

  “I wouldn’t want you to. But how will we work this, the two different states and everything?” She wanted the suggestion to come from him.

  “How flexible can you be?” He shot her a questioning glance, as if he might not like the answer.

  “Try me. If my grandmother could start a new life,
then so can I. Now don’t freak out, but I didn’t sign a contract for next year. I thought I’d do some substitute teaching in Santa Fe. See what the high schools have to offer.”

  If she ever wondered if that suggestion might freak him out, his grin convinced her otherwise. “Are you kidding? That’s great. You amaze me.”

  “That’s for us to find out. My grandmother’s delighted since after her wedding, she’s moving in with Howard. I can live in her casita.”

  “I have a better idea.”

  “Oh, really.” They were nose to nose, breathing with the same rhythm. “What’s that?”

  “Why don’t you live with me?”

  “Maybe. But I’ll have a whole summer off. What’ll I do with all that time?”

  “I have lots of ideas.” His eyes turned sultry with suggestion.

  “Oh, I’ll just bet you do.” She traced his cocky grin with a finger. He would always be a handful. She wouldn’t have it any other way. “In fact, some of those activities might deserve extra credit.”

  He lifted a dark brow. “Enough to raise my grade?”

  “Just might.” She liked talking nonsense with him.

  “You mean, someday I might move from boyfriend to husband?”

  She sucked in a breath. “Let’s take things slowly, okay? After all, you just moved from my late bloomer to boyfriend. Our new chapter is just starting.”

  Drawing back, Brody smiled. “That chapter stuff. Is that a metaphor?”

  His Hotness was too adorable for words. And he was hers. “Yes, it is,” she murmured, kissing him. “And for this story, our story, you won’t need the Cliff Notes.”

  THE END

  Read On!

  If you enjoyed Late Bloomer, please leave a review so that others might discover it. You can do that here. For another trip to Gull Harbor, here’s an excerpt from Coming Home to You.

  The thumping started when Kate Kennedy reached Greta’s Gifts on Red Arrow Highway. Cheese curls churned in her stomach as she tapped the brakes. Almost home but something was wrong with the kayak strapped to her roof. Gravel crunching beneath the tires, she pulled into Greta’s and parked. The sun bounced off the hood of her SUV, but a cool May breeze bathed her face when she cracked open the door.

  Welcome to Michigan. Her eyes felt grainy from fourteen hours on the road, but she was home.

  Stretching, Kate breathed in the lake, damp and beachy. The tightness in her shoulders eased. Pine trees caught a high spring gust and the familiar rustle made her smile. Her stomach gurgled. Not much to eat the whole ride from Boston except peanut butter and jelly, plus bags of cheese curls washed down with coffee.

  Looking up, she exhaled. At least she hadn’t lost Gator, her green kayak. A red security tie flapped in the breeze. Must have lost the other strap along the way. Kate scrubbed her face with hands shaking from all the caffeine. A semi roared past, kicking up dust. She tugged up the zipper on her hoodie.

  “Doggone it, Gator.”

  The kayak slid a bit farther. Too bad she’d left her small kitchen stepladder in the Boston condo, along with a lot of other stuff. When she yanked the remaining red band, it fell away in her hand. One frustrated shove and Gator retaliated, smacking her square in the chest before clattering to the ground. The pain bent Kate over like a paper clip. She almost didn’t hear the door slam behind her.

  Blinking furiously, she pulled herself up, grateful for the sunglasses. No way would anyone see Kate Kennedy cry. A man ambled toward her in work boots, worn jeans, and shoulders that tested the seams of a beat-up jean jacket. That walk looked familiar and her heart kicked up a beat. He wore aviator sunglasses, so no telling for sure. A black and white dog hung out of the pickup, Great Dane ears pricking forward. Big muzzle, big dog.

  “Need some help?”

  Yep, it was him. Kate’s legs weakened. “No, I’m fine.”

  His eyes shifted to the kayak on the ground. “Doesn’t look fine to me.”

  She fisted her hands on her hips. “I’m fine. And so is Gator.” Her chest throbbed.

  Blue eyes swept like a July wave over the tops of his sunglasses. “Gator?”

  She swallowed. “My kayak. Seemed appropriate.”

  “I see.”

  But Cole Campbell had never understood why Kate wanted all her belongings named and in their proper place. Shoot. They’d been on the high school debate team together, and he didn’t recognize her? Maybe it was her recent drugstore dye job. She’d had brown hair in high school. Now she ran a hand over blonde hair, crisp from two days of neglect.

  He swayed back on his heels, a Good Samaritan with second thoughts. The two empty seats of the kayak stared up at them. “Lucky you didn’t lose it on the road. Could have smashed into another driver. You need to batten it down.”

  “Thought I did. It was dark when I loaded it.”

  “Try doing it in the daytime. You could kill somebody.”

  “I left at midnight.”

  “Midnight?” He lowered the glasses and his eyes darkened.

  Her chin came up. “Highway’s quiet at night. Just the truckers.”

  “Exactly. Truckers. You think that’s safe?”

  None of his business. “I’ve, ah, probably got some rope in the back.” She seriously doubted it.

  “I’ll be glad to help.” Cole’s attention shifted to her jeans. The corners of his lips lifted. “You saving that for something?”

  Kate looked down. A cheese curl was caught in her crotch and she batted it away. No time for games. Especially not with him.

  His eyes flitted from her to Gator and back. A stern mask slipped into place. Cole’s teenage acne had left faint pockmarks that definitely didn’t detract from his macho appeal.

  Was he going to help her or not? Her chest throbbed. Could this day get any worse? The boy she’d lusted for in high school didn’t even recognize her. Kate’s throat closed. Nothing like feeling forgettable.

  In two thrusts of his muscular arms, Cole had Gator back in the rack on top of her SUV. Disgusting how easy he made it look, but it gave her time to enjoy the view. Cole Campbell had definitely left “gawky” behind.

  “Thank you.”

  Wheeling around, he caught her staring and grinned. “Got that rope?”

  Her face burned. “Sure. I’ll get it. Let me just check Bonita.”

  “Bonita?” He tilted his head.

  “My car.” One glimpse of the pretty blue SUV on the lot and she knew it was Bonita.

  “Sure. Right.”

  Popping open the back gate, Kate launched herself into the tightly packed boxes and bulging trash bags. Her rear end felt big as a helium balloon.

  “Finding anything? I might have something in the truck.”

  Feeling him hovering, she tried to squeeze her butt tighter.

  When she heard the scratch of his boots, Kate thought maybe he was leaving. Her disappointment surprised her. After all, she wasn’t at her best. If you’re going to run into an old flame… well, a man you wanted to be your old flame… a girl should look hot, not sweaty.

  Kate was sweaty. And not in a good way.

  Finally, she climbed out empty-handed. Cole was ambling toward her with a roll of heavy gauge rope.

  “That looks serious.” Her mother wouldn’t even be able to get a clothespin around this sturdy stuff, although she’d probably try.

  “Want to stand on the other side and catch this?”

  “Sure.” I’d hold anything for you. Like my breath.

  While Cole tossed a length of rope over the kayak, his dog watched from the pickup with mild interest. Grabbing the rope, Kate threaded it back and he knotted it securely. “First, I like to tighten the bow and then the stern.”

  “You kayak?”

  Whipping out a Swiss army knife, he cut the rope. “Way too much work. I sail.”

  Of course. She pictured an elegant yacht skimming Lake Michigan. Samantha McGraw would be rubbing her tan body against his. Kate didn’t need the instant replay. Had
enough of that in high school.

  Cole worked with calm efficiency, the way he’d handled Student Council or Debate Club.

  Oh, yeah. He’d handled their debate group just fine.

  When he turned back, his eyes went to her hair. Smiling, Cole whisked something from the mess. Her breath left her body.

  Maybe she was just tired.

  Or maybe she was desperate for a man’s touch.

  He handed her a cheese curl. “You missed this.”

  “Great. Thanks.” She jammed it in her jean pocket and then felt stupid. Was she going to press it in her high school scrapbook? Kate slammed her back gate shut.

  Cole’s eyes rested on the Massachusetts license plate. “Passing through or coming for the summer?”

  “That depends.” He still didn’t know her? She edged toward the driver’s door. “Thanks for your help.”

  Cole cocked his head to one side, like he was listening to her voice. “Sure. No problem.”

  “Got to get to an appointment.” Maybe a shrink. She opened the driver’s door so fast she almost cracked herself in the mouth.

  “Ah, huh. Well, good luck.”

  “Right. Thanks.” Kate needed more than luck this trip. Without looking back, she peeled out and did a U-turn on Red Arrow. In bad need of a friendly face, she headed into town.

  Driving toward Gull Harbor, Kate passed the ice cream parlors, restaurants, galleries, and gift shops that lured tourists. Some looked closed, and she hoped that was just seasonal. Winters could be hard on businesses, and this economy didn’t help any.

  Clancy’s grocery store sat at the main intersection of Whittaker and Red Arrow, just next to Dressel’s drugstore. Kate ducked into the grocery, grabbed a cart, and zipped through the aisles, snapping up basic necessities like OJ, milk, bread and cheese curls. Stopping at the deli counter, she picked up some sliced turkey and cole slaw. Should hold her for a while.

  After stowing the bags in her trunk, Kate glanced across the street. The Full Cup sign swung above the frosted glass door. A cheese crown called to her from Sarah’s shiny clean case. Hardly any traffic on Whittaker in early May and she sprinted across the two lanes. Kate pushed open the door of the bakery and breathed in the scent of warm, fresh pastries. No need to begin sensible eating now. Sour cream donuts, almond braids, cheese crowns and frosted brownies were neatly arranged behind the glass.