Happy Ever After

by Nora Roberts

  “You’d be surprised what you can get, especially if you have the right resources, and in this case a virtually unlimited budget. Mrs. Seaman—that’s Seaman Furniture—wants her daughter to arrive and depart in a Cinderella coach, I’ll make that happen. After I check with the bride to make sure that’s what she wants.”

  “Got it. Now, why do Michael and Vince need to swing dance?”

  “They’re getting married in February, and finally decided on a Big Band-era theme.They’re wearing zoot suits and spats.”

  He took a moment to absorb it. “You’re not kidding.”

  “No, and I happen to think it’ll be fun. So naturally, they want to swing, and particularly well for their first dance.”

  “Who leads? That’s a serious question,” he said when she gave him a bland stare. “Somebody has to.”

  “They can flip a coin, I suppose, or leave it to the instructor. I think Vinnie because Michael’s the one who’s worried about it, and Vinnie’s pretty gung-ho.”

  “Then maybe . . . Wait a minute. February? Is it Vinnie Calerone?”

  “Yes. Do you know him?”

  “Yeah. Knew him when we were kids. My ma’s friendly with his.When he heard I moved back, he came to see me. I service his Mercedes. He said he was getting married in February, said he’d get me an invite.”

  “Were you close?”

  “Not especially.” He glanced at her, then decided to finish it out. “He was getting the shit beat out of him back in the day. It looked to me like he’d have held his own one-on-one, but there were two of them. I evened the odds. And I was right. He held his own. Vinnie’s wearing a zoot suit.” His grin spread with easy humor. “I can actually see that.”

  “You got into a fight for him?”

  “Not for him, especially. It was more the two-against-one deal. Beating somebody up because he’s gay is ignorant. Ganging up to do it? That’s cheap. Anyway, it only took a few minutes.This is the place.”

  She stared at him another moment, then turned to look at the restaurant. Despite its situation on the inlet, it was little more than a hole-in-the-wall with faded clapboard siding.

  “It doesn’t look like much, but—”

  “It looks fine, and I’m in the mood for pizza.”

  “That makes two of us.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  THEY KNEW HIM, PARKER NOTED, WHEN A COUPLE OF THE STAFF called him by name.The pizzeria may have been small and on the shabby side, but the scents circulating in the air from the open kitchen and the jammed tables told her Malcolm knew his pizza.

  They squeezed into a table preset with paper placemats depicting Italian landmarks.

  “You want to steer clear of the Chianti,” Malcolm told her, “but you can get a pretty decent carafe of Cab.”

  “That’ll work.”

  A waitress bopped over. She had improbable red spiky hair and a nose as perky as her breasts. She might have been just old enough to order the Cab for herself.

  “Hey, Mal!”

  “How’s it going, Kaylee?”

  “Oh, you know.” She slid her gaze toward Parker, and away again, but the glance lasted just long enough to show Parker the disappointment and miff. “Get you a drink?”

  “The lady’ll have the Cab. You can bring me a Coke. Luigi’s tossing tonight?”

  “You got it.You want your usual?”

  “We’ll think about it.”

  “Okay. I’ll get your drinks.”

  Parker cocked an eyebrow as the girl walked off. “She’s got a crush on you.”

  He leaned back, leather jacket open, a day’s scruff on his face, green eyes lit with cocky humor. “What can I say? Women flock to me.”

  “She’d like to break the carafe of Cab over my head.”

  “Maybe.” He leaned forward again.“She’s seventeen, just started her first year at community college. She wants to be a fashion designer. Or a songwriter. Or.”

  “There should always be ors at seventeen. And crushes on older men.”

  “Did you have one?”

  She shook her head, not in denial but amusement. “No wine for you?”

  “I made a deal with my mother, back when I was about a year younger than Kaylee. For every beer or its like I drank, I had to wait an hour once I finished it before I got behind the wheel.”

  “You drank beer at sixteen?”

  “If I could get it, sure. And knowing there was the possibility, she laid down the law. If I wanted the wheels, I had to make the deal.”

  “A lot of teenagers make deals they don’t keep, or intend to keep.”

  “In my world if you make a deal, you keep the deal.”

  She believed him, and appreciated it, as that had been true in her world as well. “And now that you provide your own wheels?”

  “Doesn’t apply. A deal’s a deal for the duration.”

  “Did you decide what you want to order?” Kaylee set the Coke in front of Malcolm, and managed to place the carafe and wineglass in front of Parker without making eye contact.

  “Not yet.” He started to pull one of the laminated menus out of its holder.

  “What’s your usual?” Parker asked.

  “Pepperoni, black olives, hot peppers.”

  “Sounds good.”

  “Okay. Have Luigi toss us a large, will you, Kaylee?”

  “Sure, Mal. We’ve got those zucchini fritters you like tonight, if you want a starter.”

  “That’d be great.We’ll share an order.”

  Parker waited until the girl walked away. “Does she get her heart broken every time you come in here with a woman?”

  “I don’t generally bring women here. I tend to go for something a little more on the quiet side on a date.”

  “This isn’t a date,” she reminded him. “It’s a deal.”

  “Right.” He reached over for the carafe, poured her a glass.

  She sipped the wine, nodded approval. “It’s good, and hopefully contains no arsenic. So.Your father was military.”

  “Yeah. I was an army brat until I was eight, and he was killed in El Salvador.”

  “It’s hard to lose a parent, and so young.”

  His eyes met hers in a moment of shared loss. “Hard anytime, I’d say.”

  “Yes, anytime.Your mother moved back here, to Greenwich.”

  “You get a pension, a flag, and some medals. They do what they can do, but she had to work. Her brother has a restaurant.You probably know that.”

  “Some. I don’t know your uncle or his wife particularly well.”

  “You’re not missing much, from my point of view. He worked her like a dog, and she was supposed to be grateful for the roof he put over our heads. And she was. She . . .”

  When he trailed off, Parker gave him a moment of silence. “How’s your mother doing on the computer?”

  “Coming along. Thanks, Kaylee,” he added when the girl set the appetizer and two small plates on the table.

  “Luigi says to say hi before you go.”

  “Will do.”

  “The first time I met your mother,” Parker continued,“she was cursing the computer, and not very happy with you for making her use one.”

  “That was before she figured out how to play computer Scrabble. She just bought a laptop so she can play at home.”

  Parker sampled the zucchini. “These are good.” She took another bite. “Excellent, in fact.”

  “It’s a little low-market for your clients,” Malcolm commented when she scanned the restaurant.

  “Not necessarily. It could be a fun, casual location for a smaller, more laid-back rehearsal dinner.Also a nice suggestion for out-of-town wedding guests looking for local flavor and good, casual food. Family owned is always a nice touch.”

  “How do you know it’s family owned?”

  “It has that feel, plus it says so right on the front of the menu.”

  “Talk to Luigi. He owns the place.”

  “I might do that. So, how did you go from
doing stunt work in LA to owning a garage in Greenwich?”

  “Is this small talk, or are you interested?”

  “It can be both.”

  “Okay. A gag went south, messed me up. Some bean counter cut corners, and the equipment was faulty, so they paid me off.”

  “How messed up?”

  “Broke a lot of bones, bruised a few organs, sliced some skin.” He shrugged, but Parker didn’t buy it had been that simple, that casual.

  “It sounds serious. How long were you in the hospital?”

  “Put me out for a while,” he continued in that same careless tone. “By the time I got back on my feet, the lawyers had duked it out. I had a nice chunk of change, and decided I’d had enough of jumping off buildings and crashing into walls. I had enough for my own place, and that was always the goal anyway.”

  “And you don’t miss it? Hollywood, the movie business?”

  He gestured with a zucchini before eating it. “It ain’t what it looks like in your neighborhood cineplex, Legs.”

  “No, I don’t suppose it is.And I wish you wouldn’t call me that.”

  “Can’t help it. Got planted in my head that day you and Emma played soccer at her parents’ big bash.”

  “Cinco de Mayo. I have a perfectly good name.”

  “It’s Spider-Man’s name.”

  She smothered a laugh. “His name’s Peter.”

  “Stranger that it’s Spider-Man’s last name. I worked on those movies.”

  “You worked with Tobey Maguire on the Spider-Man movies? What was . . .” She narrowed her eyes. “I bet you use that sort of connection to score with women all the time.”

  “It’s an angle.” He smiled as Kaylee set the pizza on its holder.

  “Anything else I can get you?”

  “We’re good, Kaylee.Thanks.”

  “The zucchini was wonderful,” Parker told her and got a quick shoulder jerk.

  “I’ll let them know you liked it.”

  “She’ll always hate me.” Parker sighed. “So the pizza better be worth the harsh thoughts that must be clouding my aura.”

  “The hot peppers’ll clear that aura right out.”

  “We’ll see about that. Have you always been interested in cars and mechanics?”

  “Like I said, I like knowing how things work.The next step is keeping them working. Have you always been interested in weddings?”

  “Yes. I liked everything about them. So the next step is helping create them.”

  “Which involves being on call pretty much around the clock.”

  “It can. And you don’t want to talk about weddings.”

  “You don’t want to talk about cars.” He lifted a slice, slid it onto her plate.

  “No, but I’m always interested in business. Let’s try something else.You mentioned you lived in Florida.Where else?”

  “Japan, Germany, Colorado.”

  “Really?”

  “I don’t remember Japan, and I’m fuzzy on Germany.” He took a slice for himself.“The first place I really remember is Colorado Springs.The mountains, the snow. We were there for a couple of years, but I always remember the snow. The way I always remember the smell of that bush outside my window in Florida.”

  He took a bite of pizza, angled his head.“Are you going to try it or not?”

  Judging it cool enough not to singe the roof of her mouth, she sampled. Nodded.“It’s fabulous. Really.” She took another testing bite. “But I have to give Mrs. G’s the edge, and consider this the second-best pizza in Connecticut.”

  “Looks like I have to talk Mrs. Grady out of a slice of pie to see if you’re being honest or stubborn.”

  “I can be both, depending on mood and circumstances.”

  “Let’s try out the mood and circumstances on honest. Why’d you come out with me?”

  “We made a deal.”

  He shook his head, studying her over his slice. “Might be a factor, but it’s not why.”

  She considered, took a sip of wine. “You irritated me.”

  “And you go out with guys who irritate you?”

  “I did this time. And you made it a kind of dare, which pushed the next button. Lastly, I was curious.Those are the various factors that make up the whole, and the reason why I’m sitting here enjoying this very superior pizza instead of—Oh hell.” She yanked out her ringing phone.

  “Go ahead.We can get back to it.”

  “I hate people who talk on cell phones in restaurants. I’ll be right back.” She scooted out, snaked her way through the door. “Hi, Justine, give me one minute.”

  He didn’t mind watching her walk away, he decided as he topped off her wine.The jeans were a damn good fit.

  Kaylee set another Coke in front of him, whisked the other away.“You looked like you needed a refill.”

  “Good timing. How are you liking college?”

  “It’s okay. I really like my art class.Anyway, who’s your friend?”

  “Her name’s Parker.”

  “Is she a doctor or a cop?”

  “No.Where’d that come from?”

  “My dad says the only people who should answer cell phones in a restaurant are doctors and cops.”

  He glanced at the cell phone peeking out of her apron pocket. “How many texts have you sent on that tonight?”

  Kaylee flashed a smile. “Who counts? I guess she’s pretty.”

  “You’d guess right. Any more trouble with your carburetor?”

  “No.Whatever you did worked. It’s running great. But it’s still a million years old and puke green.”

  “It’s five years old,” he corrected. “But it is puke green. If you can talk your dad into it, I know a guy who’ll give you a good deal on a paint job.”

  “Yeah?” She brightened. “I’ll start working on him. Maybe you could—” She broke off, lost her glow. “Your friend’s coming back in.”

  Kaylee turned back toward the kitchen. Not quite a stalk, Malcolm noted, but close. Amused, he gave his attention to Parker as she sat back down. “Chiffon? A tango emergency? Somebody want to ride into the wedding on a camel?”

  “I talked a groom out of a chariot once, and it wasn’t easy. I could deflect a camel. Actually, one of our October brides just learned her father’s in Vegas, where he eloped with the gold-digging bimbo bitch—her phrase—he left her mother for.”

  “Happens.”

  “Yes.The divorce became final just this week, so he didn’t waste any time.Which also happens.The new bride is twenty-four, two years younger than the daughter.”

  “Adds an ouch to the equation.”

  “It certainly does, and it also happens,” Parker put in.“But add up all those ‘it happens,’ and it’s tough to swallow.”

  “Sure. And still probably tougher on the first wife than the daughter.”Though she hadn’t finished the first slice, he slid a second onto Parker’s plate. “What did she want you to do about it?”

  “She doesn’t want either of them at the wedding, doesn’t want him giving her away, as planned. She’d been prepared to tolerate the aforementioned gold-digging bimbo bitch as her father’s guest, but she’ll be damned if she’ll have her there as his wife, her—too bad a word to say in public—stepmother, or lording her new status over the bride’s still-devastated mama.”

  “I’ve got to give her points on all of that.”

  “Yes, she’s perfectly justified, and if that’s the way she really wants it to be, that’s the way we’ll make it be.” She washed down pizza with wine.“The problem is, she loves her father. Despite his questionable judgment and the distinct possibility he’s suffering from male midlife insanity—”

  “Hey, we’re not the only ones who get it.”

  “You get it more often and generally with more severe symptoms. Despite,” she repeated, “she loves him, and I’m afraid not having him walk her down the aisle will mar the day for her more than the GBB, and when she forgives him, and she will, down the road she’ll always regret
the decision.”

  “Is that what you told her?”

  “I told her the day is hers, hers and David’s, and whatever she wants or doesn’t want, we’ll work it out. And I asked her to take a day or two to be sure.”

  “You think she’ll opt for Dad.”

  “I do, and if I’m right, I’ll follow up with a private and very pointed chat with the GBB regarding protocol and behavior at a Vows event.”

  “You’ll scare the shit out of her.”

  “I’ll do no such thing,” Parker said, with a small smile.

  “And you’ll enjoy it.”

  She took a deliberately delicate bite of pizza. “That would be petty, and unattractive.”

  “Every minute of it.”

  She laughed. “Yes, I will.”

  “It gives us a little more common ground.”

  “How’s that?”

  “I figure if you’ve got to take someone down or set them straight, you might as well enjoy it on some level. I heard you took Mac’s weird mother down a while back.”

  “And I don’t consider feeling a lot of satisfaction from it petty or unattractive. She had it coming. How did you hear about that?”

  “Guys talk, too. Del’s got a sweet spot for his Macadamia, and having her screwed with by her mother burned his ass. Plus, I’d handled her not that long before, so I knew some of the score.”

  “That’s right, when Mac had her car towed.” She sighed happily. “Good times. So, I imagine Linda was very annoyed when she came into your garage to get it