LOVE in a Small Town

by Janet Eaves

  Last night she told Steven she wasn’t interested in him or his frequent proposals. Weight lifted from her shoulders after making the break. Why had she waited so long to gather the courage?

  No incentive, of course. Not like Graham who sent her head spinning. Jane smiled.

  Dawn walked back into the room. “What’s that smile for?” She settled in the overstuffed chair by the fireplace and drew her long legs up underneath her. “Graham Winchester?”

  “Maybe.”

  Dawn gazed mildly over the rim of her coffee mug. “After dancing with him, you avoided the man like he was the plague.”

  “I had my hands full with Steven.”

  “Steven.” Dawn made a face and placed her mug on the coffee table. Drawing her arms over her head, she stretched and then ran her fingers through her hair, rumpling it more.

  Dawn oozed sexuality. Jane couldn’t compete in that arena with her sister. Maybe that’s why she became the good student. The English teacher. The old maid.

  Her sister was recovering from another divorce. This one quite acrimonious. And she was between jobs. Dawn didn’t say it, but Jane felt her sister needed a break from the limelight.

  “I never dreamed Graham would turn out to be so virile,” Dawn said.

  “Yeah, who would’ve guessed?”

  “So, what are you going to do about him?” Dawn pulled her legs out from under her and placed her bare feet on the floor. She leaned forward and rested her arms on her knees. “Graham’s perfect for you. I knew it when I saw you two together again.”

  Jane swallowed hard. The reunion ended today with a giant picnic at Legend Lake. She didn’t have much time to get him into bed.

  Last night in the darkened hall, she persuaded herself to cut in on him, to be brave and daring. In the cold light of day, her natural shyness held her back. It cut against the grain. It’s not me.

  But it was Dawn.

  Jane’s body tensed and she scooted forward on the sofa, staring straight at her sister. “Change places with me.”

  “What?” Dawn sat back.

  “When we were kids, we used to change places, remember?”

  “That was years ago.”

  “Sure, but look what happened? I was always shy, yet when I pretended to be you, I came out of my shell.”

  Dawn smiled. “You’re crazy.”

  “I might be, but it’s the only way I can attract Graham’s attention. He always had a crush on you, and he was really hurt when you broke up with him.”

  “I think you’re wrong.”

  “Trust me. I know I’m right.”

  “I think you’re selling yourself short.”

  “Please?” Jane begged. “What can it hurt?”

  “For one thing,” Dawn said, “Clint is taking me to the picnic.”

  “Clint?”

  Dawn avoided her eyes. “Why not?”

  Her sister had no business leading Clint on. A twinge of guilt troubled Jane. The stunt she wanted to pull on Graham wasn’t fair either. Jane slipped her fingers through her bangs and shut her eyes. Her heart paused as she considered her options. There were none. Mr. Most Likely to Succeed owed her. She deserved to find out what she experienced one night so long ago was no fluke.

  Jane opened her eyes and looked at Dawn with quiet determination. “Clint’s a good guy. He’d go along with our little conspiracy if you asked him. He can take ‘Jane’ to the picnic instead.”

  Dawn sat motionless. “Why is this so important?”

  Jane looked away. She couldn’t tell her sister that to actually be “Dawn” was the only way she could get Graham to sleep with her again.

  Jane felt Dawn’s gaze upon her. She lifted her eyes to meet her sister’s. “It’s the only way I’ll ever know if what I felt fifteen years ago was real.”

  Dawn seemed to accept that vague explanation. “Okay, so you’re serious. I’ll help.”

  “Thanks. I owe you.”

  “We haven’t pulled it off yet.” Dawn waved her hand. “We have a few things to fix before we can pass for each other again.”

  Jane grimaced. Dawn was right. “I forgot about your long hair.”

  “You can cut it for me,” Dawn said with a shrug. “I need a change anyway. Think you can manage?”

  “Sure.” Right now she’d tackle anything.

  Dawn cupped her hands in front of her breasts. “Now, as for my implants….”

  Jane’s heart sank. She’d forgotten about that small detail.

  “I think I brought a few theatrical bras. Padded. They’ll fill you out nicely.”

  “I still won’t look enough like you.”

  “With makeup and my clothes, no one will be able to tell the difference.”

  There was no stopping Dawn now. Jane grinned. What did she have to lose? And Graham? She didn’t want to think too far in advance. If she was going to do this thing, she couldn’t think about the consequences.

  Dawn lifted the phone off its cradle and held it in the air. “Come on sister, dear. Give lover boy a call and see if he’ll pick ‘Dawn’ up for the picnic.”

  ****

  Graham grasped the brass, horseshoe-shaped knocker on the Smith’s front door, lightly holding the cool metal. He hesitated. Dawn had called him earlier that morning, and he agreed to take her to the reunion picnic. She’d been persistent. Wouldn’t take no for an answer.

  He kicked himself mentally for many things. He had writer’s block, big time, with absolutely no clue about his next novel. He’d already given up his apartment in New York and had nowhere to go when he left Legend. No job. No career. He told everyone he was taking a leave of absence, but in truth he’d just quit. Corporate law no longer held attraction for him. Whatever future awaited him would be different from the one he designed for himself since high school.

  He took a slow, resigned breath, and let the brass ring fall to announce his arrival. Then he turned his back on the door and looked from the Smith’s porch across Oak Street with its familiar white-shingled houses and stately trees. This was his old stomping ground where, as a boy, he’d run the streets with Jane after school, stopping by the drug store for a candy bar and Coke or playing cops and robbers along the backyards and allies of the neighborhood.

  Dawn held herself aloof from their childish ways, more interested in dolls and later, with her sights set on Hollywood, her dancing and acting lessons she’d taken in Knoxville. But early on, he and Jane were best buddies. Pals. Co-conspirators in fun. Graham smiled, remembering.

  Heck, I’d much rather take Jane to the picnic.

  The thought jolted him. Of all the women in the world, he’d never connect himself with Jane. Back in school guys called her “plain Jane” because she acted so differently from Dawn. But he’d never thought of her as plain. Shy and smart. Headstrong, maybe, but never plain.

  There was no need for anyone to think of Jane as plain now. He noticed something different about her. She had grown up. He liked the risk she took cutting in and the feel of her body next to his. And he liked her reserved but erotic kiss. Imagine, at his age, finding freshness in a woman.

  The door abruptly opened. Graham turned around. What he saw almost knocked him off the porch.

  “Damn!”

  Dawn Smith stood in the doorway. She was drop-dead gorgeous from her soft-as-silk-looking bare legs to the skimpiest pair of hot pink shorts he’d ever seen.

  Graham gulped, and before looking farther up the curves of her sensuous body, snapped his attention to her face. “Dawn?”

  “Yes, silly.” She flashed a tentative smile that turned flirtatious and sexy.

  Graham’s jeans tightened uncomfortably as he stared openly at the movie star. “It was dark last night, but your hair seemed longer.”

  “Jane cut it for me today. I wanted a change. Do you like it?”

  At that moment Jane appeared in the doorway beside her identical twin. Graham saw they sported the same hairstyle. Jane’s demur eyes and natural, makeup-free complexio
n sharply contrasted Dawn’s bright red lips and carefully painted eyes. The sister from Legend was dressed casually in denim cutoffs and a sloppy, figure-hiding T-shirt.

  “Hey, Graham, come on in,” Jane said, throwing the door open wide.

  “Thanks.” Graham walked in and stood awkwardly in the Smith’s living room while both sisters smiled at him in strained silence.

  He smiled back, trying to keep from ogling Dawn’s generous flesh that pushed so provocatively against the thin silk of her white tank top. Why did he feel out of place like a teenager meeting his girlfriend’s parents for the first time?

  Jane prompted Dawn with a nod of her head.

  “Oh!” Dawn waved a hand toward a familiar, rust-colored sofa. “Have a seat, Graham.”

  “Ladies, after you.”

  Both women took their seats first, giving him a spectacular view of Dawn’s swaying hips as she walked to the sofa. He couldn’t pull his gaze from the skimpy pink shorts. They were so brief that teasing mounds of her creamy buttocks peeked from beneath the high-cut fabric. Blood surged fast and strong through his veins, and he lifted his gaze to the ceiling in a plea for strength.

  “Things haven’t changed much around the house,” he said, hoping to cover his overt response to Dawn.

  Jane curled up on one corner of the sofa and drew her legs beneath her while Dawn perched on the other end.

  There was a short hesitation before Jane replied, “When mother died, I never bothered to redecorate.”

  “She was too busy with the bookstore,” Dawn said.

  Graham nodded as he sank into an overstuffed chair. What else could he say? He hadn’t realized how strange he’d feel. Fifteen years had passed, after all. Dawn was his first girlfriend, and now she was a famous movie star. He glanced her way to find she’d leaned forward with her elbows on her knees, giving him a straight look at her voluptuous cleavage.

  He fidgeted. Damn, she was blatant. Why was she tempting him? Angry at having so little control over his traitorous male anatomy, Graham dashed a quick hand through his hair.

  “What about you, Jane? Won’t you go with us?” he asked, hoping beyond hope his former pal would join them. Perhaps her common sense would keep his libido in check.

  “No. Clint is picking me up.”

  “Okay.” Silence descended. All of them eyed each other like wary cats.

  Finally Dawn asked in a purring voice, “Are you back in Legend for good?” For all her Hollywood training, Graham was amazed he could still detect her East Tennessee twang.

  “No,” Graham answered, “I’m just passing through, staying at Aunt Harriet’s house. She’s gone to Europe with a gentleman friend. I have a book to write before I can settle anywhere.”

  He glanced from twin to twin. They stared back at him with the same wide blue eyes and offered him the same pretty smile. Suspicion twisted his gut like a guilty verdict. Why did he feel something odd here? Something more than the discomfort of friends who’d not seen each other in years?

  A calico cat hopped up on the sofa arm and began to meow. Dawn’s slender fingers idly sought out the fur under the cat’s chin, and the animal twirled in contentment to her casual stroking.

  Didn’t Dawn hate cats?

  Graham cleared his throat. “What about you, Dawn? You’ve had a successful career. Will you make another movie soon?”

  Dawn slanted a look at Jane and then sat back against the cushions, crossing one shapely leg over the other. The cat dropped down to the floor and disappeared.

  “I’m between pictures right now.” Dawn flicked a curl from her eyes. “And I’m not sure what my plans are.”

  “Aren’t we a pair? Both of us have no clue about our futures. We’re hardly worthy of all those accolades last night,” Graham said.

  Dawn shrugged. “Life is a process. We’ll find our way.”

  Graham caught the supportive look Dawn threw to Jane and wondered about it. After all, of the three of them, Jane was the only one who had her life in order. Her bookstore was a small-town success.

  All at once, Graham’s gut tightened. There was something fishy going on here. He knew it like he knew the New York subway schedule. Were the sisters playing tricks on him? Had they traded places? When they were kids, they used to switch places a lot.

  The sudden recollection jarred him. How could he know for sure? He shifted his gaze from Jane to Dawn. From Dawn to Jane. They were so alike, if you disregarded the obvious differences in their dress and make-up. Identical twins. Yet something just didn’t feel right.

  Then he noticed the faint scar on Dawn’s slim ankle. The scar he’d made in the third grade when he pushed Jane against a space heater at school. He couldn’t see Jane’s ankle because of the way she was sitting, but he didn’t need to. An odd certainty settled over him. Jane was pretending to be Dawn.

  They changed places.

  He casually sized up every erotic detail of Jane’s seductive and sensuous body. As Dawn, she was openly flaunting herself. No longer did she look like the shy girl from high school. Why was she doing this?

  Whatever was going on, Jane’s audacity not only perplexed but intrigued him. A woman hadn’t surprised him in a long time. This might be fun. Finding out what she was up to could prove interesting. It might take his mind off his own uncertainties and that second book he was contracted to write.

  Graham’s lips lifted into a faint smile, and for the first time that day he relaxed. He climbed to his feet and offered Jane his hand. “We’d better be going, Dawn, don’t you think?” Graham made a point of placing emphasis on the name.

  Jane hesitated only a moment, and then placed her hand into his palm. They connected instantly. Not just in the physical sense, but for whatever reason, there was chemistry between them. A deeper awareness. Something he felt last night when he kissed her. Knowing this was Jane, Graham didn’t fight the sensations that transmitted from his large fingers as he wrapped them around Jane’s smaller ones.

  He wanted her last night, but this high-charged awareness was something new. It threw him. Why had he never fully appreciated “the other twin”?

  The only way he knew how to deal with the new feelings was to fall back on old behavior. He’d become an expert at seducing women, after all. Pulling Jane to her feet, Graham drew her toward him and leveled a cool gaze on her suddenly flushed face.

  “I’m coming up with ideas for my next novel.” He held her hand in a firm grip, letting his thumb stroke her soft skin. “I may write about a lawyer going undercover to expose the mob. I’ve thought about calling it ‘Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing.’ What do you think?”

  Chapter Four

  A wolf in sheep’s clothing. That’s exactly how Jane felt. The moment she opened the front door to Graham, she wanted to rethink the change of identity. All of a sudden, the reunion game she played had heavy consequences.

  Yet, the way her skin tingled as Graham looked her up and down changed her mind.

  He wanted Dawn. The lust in his eyes was a dead giveaway. She was pretending to be Dawn, and she must perform her part of the script to perfection.

  They drove in silence down Main Street. With most people still in church, the sidewalks were empty at noon on Sunday. The Methodists on Park Street usually beat the First Baptists out, but even their sermon was running long today. Jane checked her bookstore as they went past, but didn’t say anything. Somehow, sitting beside Graham caused her tongue to turn to cotton.

  She hesitated and then glanced at his profile, at the long lashes shadowing his eyes. His jaw jutted forward as he concentrated on driving the slow twenty-five miles per hour. He rested his left hand lightly on the steering wheel and his right on the shift.

  Those hands had once sent shockwaves of pleasure through her.

  Jane averted her gaze, fearing the heat rushing to her cheeks would be a dead giveaway. North Main turned into Lower River Road. They sped out of town.

  “So, Dawn, the whole gang is meeting down by the lake?”
/>   “Yes.” Jane looked at him. “There’s a new state park at The Point.”

  Should Dawn have known that piece of trivia? Jane frowned, unsure.

  “You mean at the inlet where we used to go parking?”

  “Yes,” Jane replied, her voice shaky.

  A naughty grin twitched his lips. “Those were the days. Cool, starry nights, steamy windows, lumpy and cramped back seats, passionate kisses.”

  “You have a way with words.”

  “Brings back old memories, doesn’t it, Dawn?”

  The memory of her one night with Graham carried Jane through many lonely nights. Not sure what he and Dawn had done together, she didn’t say anything.

  He glanced at her. “If I remember, you were talented too.”

  He wasn’t talking about Dawn’s acting ability, that’s for sure. Her imagination supplied the gory details.

  “You weren’t so bad yourself,” she said, speaking from her limited experience.

  “We taught each other.”

  “We sure did.” She smiled, feeling warmth crawl up her cheeks again.

  The plain fact was she had a terrible little secret. One she’d never shared with another soul. It had haunted her nights for fifteen years. After that night with Graham, no one else had ever measured up.

  Maybe that’s why she’d never had sex with anyone but Graham.

  At thirty-three years old, Jane Smith—twin sister of movie star Dawn Smith, summa cum laude from the University of Tennessee, former county teacher of the year, bookstore owner and pet rescuer—might as well be a freaking virgin!

  No, darn it. No more cold feet for her. She was going to do this thing.

  Eight miles out of town, Graham’s white Jaguar, looking out of place next to dusty pickups and family SUV’s, purred to a stop in The Point’s gravel parking lot. He climbed out, circled behind and opened the passenger-side door.