Love, Laughter, and Happily Ever Afters Collection (Eight Fun, Romantic Novels by Eight Bestselling Authors)

Love, Laughter, and Happily Ever Afters Collection (Eight Fun, Romantic Novels by Eight Bestselling Authors) Page 11

by Violet Duke

  Mama talked nonstop about the Summerfest concert. Conversation from him was not required, even though Tony, Maria-Louisa and the kids weren’t there. (She was fixing him a special Father’s Day dinner at home.) How his five-foot-two, 110-pound sister-in-law could even stand straight today was the big mystery, but she’d been bright-eyed and cheery when he’d last seen her this morning.

  Women.

  He glanced at Elizabeth, hugging his mother goodbye. Strange, incomprehensible creatures. Who knew how their minds worked?

  His kissed Mama his thanks, too, and they hopped into his car.

  “Can we drop by m-my apartment for a minute?” she said.

  An icy fear ran through his fingers as he remembered the feel of her beneath him on the sofa last night. He gripped the steering wheel tighter. “Why?”

  “I n-need to pick up my dessert for the Treat Swap. You can wait in the car. I’ll be quick.”

  “Oh. Okay.”

  He’d been excited about this thing when Gretchen mentioned it this morning. He had his sweets stashed and ready to share at the shop already. Now his gut was churning a little, though, making him wish he hadn’t eaten that second helping of fettuccini primavera at Mama’s.

  When they walked into Tutti-Frutti, Gretchen and Nick were filling orders for nine teenagers, a family of five and an older couple. They looked swamped, so he grabbed an apron and an ice cream scoop and dug in.

  “Thanks, Rob,” Gretchen said. “But I’ve got another five minutes left on the clock.”

  “That’s okay,” he said. “I want to help.” Well, he wanted to have something productive to do with his hands or he might grab Elizabeth and pin her against the wall.

  He stole a long glance at her as she swung open the refrigerator to store whatever dessert she’d brought over. She caught him looking at her legs and sent him a mystified but kind of distracted smile.

  He still couldn’t believe it. Not a single meaningful reaction in over two freaking hours. She remembered nothing. Nothing!

  He attacked the Mocha Madness, giving the five-year-old kid a scoop so large the little guy’s eyes crossed. A couple of teens saw this, left Nick’s line and crossed over into his.

  Jacques walked in carrying an aluminum-foil-covered tray.

  “Hello, everyone,” the Frenchman said. “Looks like the party’s starting early.”

  And, to Rob’s amazement, this appeared to be true. Jacques came early, Gretchen didn’t run out when the clock struck eight and Elizabeth didn’t hightail it home to write. They all just hung around with him and Nick during their shift, pitching in with orders, chatting in a lighthearted, neutral way when the customers were there and in a baser, more personal manner when they weren’t. Nick, especially, had a mouth on him, talking and digging up stuff like a Roto Rooter.

  At about ten minutes before closing, when things were winding down, Nick said to the group, “I gotta tell you all, when this guy first came back to town—” He gestured at Rob. “I thought for sure he’d be some arrogant, hotshot ex-Wilmington Bay dude, a quarterback legend and all, but too far into his own super-cool world that he wouldn’t stick around to see this gig through for the month. But—”

  “What?” Rob said, having already been good-naturedly attacked six times in the past hour about his choice of pricey casual wear, his taste in gourmet coffee and haute cuisine, his quick departure from the rarified environment of southeastern Wisconsin when he was eighteen and whatever else Nick wanted to rib him about.

  Nick held up his palm. “Wait, wait. But, I was just going to say, that you surprised me, man. I think you surprised all of us. Hanging out here for the past few weeks, working so hard, getting into town life. You done us proud.”

  “Well, uh, thanks,” he said. What else could he say? Nice of you to mention my sense of duty, but no way am I hanging around here for twenty-four hours longer than I have to. Yep. That’d go over well.

  Nick pointed at Elizabeth and laughed. “And she was so nervous about you coming here. Now aren’t you glad it all worked out this way?” he said to her.

  Elizabeth, who until a minute before had been sharing a laugh with Gretchen at the counter, opened her mouth. No sounds immediately came out.

  Then, finally, “I-I—well, um…” She paused, stared at him in an intense way that made his toes squirm and then tried again. “Rob’s done a g-great job with the s-shop.”

  “But, I mean, aren’t you glad you’ve gotten to know him again so personally?” Nick said. “Now that you’re both all grown up and out of high school? That’s gotta be such a trip. I mean, he was this amazing football star and you were this total academic. You guys probably had, like, nothing in common, and now you’re here together handling your uncles’ business and being friends and all.” He nodded at them and grinned. “That’s so cool, isn’t it?”

  A look of something—man, it seemed like fright—flashed like a lightning bolt across her face. And it occurred to him that, no matter how many how many family dinners she went to, it was no easy task getting her to feel comfortable with their “relationship.” That the supposedly real one—their friendship—was probably just as much a sham as the dating game they’d been playing for Mama’s benefit.

  But, then again, it was a friendship that wasn’t quite so pure anymore. There’d been that one kiss, after all. Even if she didn’t remember it yet.

  A final customer came in, silencing Nick temporarily, but Rob couldn’t help but notice the way Elizabeth’s gaze kept finding his own at odd moments during clean up. She kept shooting these confused looks in his direction and, when Nick pulled out a bottle of ouzo to accompany the gooey baklava he’d made, she stared at the licorice-flavored alcoholic beverage and then at Rob again.

  As if she’d made some connection between the two.

  As if memories were floating back to her.

  As if chunks of last night’s experience, ones that’d broken apart from her now-frozen memory and drifted away for the day, were returning and melting into her consciousness.

  Well, she should remember, dammit. He was a memorable guy. He wasn’t someone who could just be kissed and forgotten.

  Jacques pulled back the foil from his tray. Rows and rows of little jam tartlets.

  “Gretchen talked me into making these,” he explained, popping one into the blonde’s mouth.

  “Mmm,” Gretchen moaned. “These are even better than I imagined when I saw that recipe. Pretty please will you let me make them with you next time?” she asked Jacques.

  “My pastry knives are at your disposal, chéri. Now, what kind of truffles did you bring us tonight?”

  Gretchen opened up a large tin box of perfect dark chocolate confections with green squiggles across the top of each one. “Irish crème. Two dozen.” She popped one of her creations into Jacques mouth.

  “Mon Dieu. This is heaven.”

  Rob broke open the milk-chocolate-covered fruit slices Miguel sent up, and the gang’s Ooohs and Ahhhs indicated their delight. Relief and a little pride swept over him. This was quite the culinary crowd.

  Only Elizabeth’s contribution to the Treat Swap remained. She unveiled it: Cherry cheesecake.

  “Oh, my! Did you really?” Gretchen said. “It’s been so long since you made it. I know it must have brought back memories…were you okay?”

  Elizabeth nodded.

  “Well, it looks positively sinful,” Gretchen said, hunking off slices for everyone and putting one on each plate, right next to the generous slabs of baklava Nick dished out. “When did you have time to make it?”

  “A month ago,” Elizabeth admitted. “I made three in May and gave one of them to
Uncle Siegfried and one to the lady collecting donations for the hospital bake sale. This one I froze for all of you.”

  Jacques leaned over and kissed her, which left a prickly aftertaste in Rob’s mouth, despite the silken truffle he’d just devoured.

  “You are a saint among women,” Jacques said. “A goddess.” Then he paused and his tone turned serious. “This was your mom’s recipe, oui?”

  She nodded again.

  “Then it’s going to be the best cherry cheesecake we’ve ever had.” And something in Jacques’s voice indicated that no one had better to disagree.

  Nick splashed ouzo into glasses, Elizabeth made sure all the plates were loaded with treats, Jacques dimmed the lights and Gretchen pulled a few candles and a pack of matches out of her handbag.

  This troupe was beyond weird, but Rob had to admit he was getting into it. Elizabeth’s face and hands looked softer and smoother than ever in the candlelight. Her eyes glowed a bright green, and the smile that touched her lips appeared more relaxed than he’d ever seen her. This was familiar territory for her. This was home.

  He’d tried the Greek ouzo once before—“It’s like Good & Plenty for adults,” Nick told them—but it’d been years ago and, even then, he hadn’t tasted more than a few sips. Elizabeth, he noticed, regarded her glass of ouzo skeptically. He doubted she’d planned on drinking much of anything tonight, but Nick wouldn’t shut up until he got them all playing a grownups’ version of “Truth or Dare.”

  “What’s the dumbest thing you ever did in a car?” Nick said. “Either tell or drink.”

  Jacques spoke first. “I tried eating soup while you were driving,” he told Nick. “A très stupid idea.”

  Nick laughed. “And you got cream of chicken with broccoli and rice all over my passenger’s seat. Yeah, that one ranks high for me, too, but probably the stupidest thing I did was pick up a hitchhiker.”

  “You did that?” Elizabeth said, her sweet lips parting in surprise.

  “Yep. That’s how I met Micah.”

  “His first long-term partner,” Jacques explained to Rob.

  “I was an idiot,” Nick said and, even though he’d “told,” he drank a few swigs anyway. “What about you, Elizabeth?”

  Her brows creased in concentration. “Mmm. I think it’s got to be trying to transport an ice sculpture of this beautiful angel to Milwaukee, in the m-middle of a July heat wave, in my old Plymouth.”

  “Oh, my gosh,” Gretchen said. “The car that had no air conditioning!”

  “She was a fallen—and a melted—angel,” Elizabeth said with mock sadness.

  “Let us all pray,” Nick said, raising his glass solemnly. He drank again. “Rob?”

  He’d done many a stupid thing in his day, the worst being the night he and Tara had almost…well…they hadn’t but… “I’d better drink,” he said, taking a small sip of the clear liquid that tasted like licorice-infused lighter fluid. Elizabeth shot him a wide-eyed glance.

  “Gretchen?” Jacques said.

  She pressed her lips together, shook her head and brought the rim of the glass up to her mouth. She took a drink and grimaced. “Jeez, Nick! You trying kill us?”

  Nick laughed and poured some more alcohol into his glass, the only one that was now empty. “Next question. Who did you have the biggest crush on in high school? For me, it was Andy Northrop, the biggest, meanest and, unfortunately, straightest hockey player at Wilmington Bay High. But, oh, what a sexy slap shot he had.” He paused as if in awe, remembering. “How about you, Elizabeth?”

  Gretchen looked at Elizabeth, kind of oddly, Rob thought, before interrupting. “Oh, but I wanna go next,” Gretchen said. “For me, it was Jeremy Alexander Brennan. He sat right behind me in sophomore geometry and would trace shapes on my back with his fingertip.” She shivered. “It was such a turn on. What about you, Jacques?”

  “I was in love with Mrs. Larousse.” He grinned. “She was young—maybe twenty-five—and was the school cook. Her quiche végétarien was unbelievable.”

  They all laughed.

  “Rob?” Gretchen said.

  “Had a thing for Heidi Klum,” he said, which was only a partial truth, but close enough. He had no intention of drinking any more of that stuff if he could avoid it.

  “Elizabeth missed her turn,” Nick said, his voice getting louder and more insistent. “So, who was your high-school fantasy?”

  Elizabeth looked around their small group, caught Gretchen’s eye for a split second and then wrinkled her nose. She sniffed the ouzo, turned an interesting shade of pale before taking a sip…and then a few shades paler after it.

  “N-Next question,” she said, her green eyes watery and her voice a little hoarse.

  Three rounds later, they all were laughing, no one more heartily than Nick, who’d downed five or six full shots of ouzo in under an hour.

  “Oh—oh, I know the next question,” the guy said, flopping to the ground and covering his eyes with his palms for a moment. “Who was the first person you ever slept with?” He raised his head and glanced at everyone with a silly expression. “Oh, wait. You don’t have to answer that one, Elizabeth.”

  “Why not?” Rob said, noting the strange dynamic bouncing between Elizabeth, Jacques and Gretchen at this question.

  “I’ll go first,” Jacques said, trying, from the look of it, to cut Nick off.

  “Anybody want more cheesecake or tartlets or anything?” Gretchen asked, waving a few sweets at them. “Oh, and don’t forget the baklava, truffles and chocolate-covered fruit. We have lots of—”

  “Because she’s a virgin,” Nick explained loudly, to which Gretchen sighed, Jacques slugged Nick’s arm and Elizabeth squeezed her eyes shut.

  “Ow,” Nick said.

  “I’ll t-take a truffle to go,” Elizabeth said, getting up. “It’s pretty late and I didn’t sleep v-very well last night.” She tossed a few things in the trash and said to him in a strained voice, “Rob, could you please lock up when you’re all ready to go home?”

  “S-Sure,” he said, stuttering for probably the first time since he was a toddler. A virgin! Oh, God. And since this wasn’t news to any of them—except him—the reason for her embarrassment and quick departure was because of him, too.

  He had to let her know somehow that this was all right. That it was admirable even, especially in this day and age when restraint was rare. That—that he was grateful, of all things, that she hadn’t given herself to someone who wasn’t special to her. But she wouldn’t look at him.

  “Okay, t-thank you. Gretch and Jacques, could one of you drive Nick home? I don’t want him to die a horrible death before I can kill him.”

  “You got it,” Gretchen said.

  Elizabeth sprinted out the door. One of the candles extinguished itself when the wind rushed in. The room seemed darker.

  Jacques slugged Nick again.

  “Ouch. Stop it, would ya?”

  Rob got up and handed the keys to Jacques. “Could you lock up for me? There’s something I’ve got to take care of.”

  The Frenchman gave him a hard look, but he swallowed and nodded slowly.

  “Thanks.”

  Rob said goodbye to all of them, even the nearly passed out Nick on the floor, and told them he’d do all the cleaning up in the morning. Then he ran out after Elizabeth.

  He caught up with her by her car. “Can you hold on a minute?” he said.

  “Why?”

  “Because—because I’ve got something to—to tell you.” And in his
mind he spoke very eloquently about how much he admired her and appreciated her moral strength and intelligence and how he thought she was just lovely, both now and even back in high school. But none of those words would come out.

  So, after an unbelievably long moment of her staring at him and him saying nothing, he reached out to her and drew her body to his. Her eyes became the largest spheres he’d ever seen on anyone’s face, but he figured if she wanted to stop him she would.

  He gave her another five seconds to push him away, if that was her choice. When the time ran out and she hadn’t, he brought his mouth down on hers.

  Hang on tight, sweetheart. This is one kiss you’re damn well going to remember.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  ELIZABETH HAD RACKED up plenty of experience with lightheadedness in the past twenty-four hours. A long, thorough kiss with Rob Gabinarri, however, did more than make her feel woozy and unsteady on her feet.

  She felt like she could fly clear to Tibet.

  This went beyond fantasy. This surpassed any daydreams she’d ever had of Rob during high school, or even this summer. This couldn’t possibly be for real.

  “W-What are you d-doing?” she managed to ask him when he let them break for air.

  “Last night’s kiss wasn’t a good idea. You were drunk and I wasn’t. Tonight, babe, we’re both pretty sober, and it’s a different story.”

  He looked at her all serious and sincere. She squinted at him. What the heck was he saying?

  “That kiss really happened yesterday?” she said.

  Now he was the one who squinted. “You’ve got me going out of my mind here, Elizabeth. Do you or don’t you remember kissing me last night?”

  Oh, God. She hadn’t dreamed it after all.

  “I-I-I thought I’d j-just imagined—”

  He shook his head and smiled slightly. “Nope.”

 

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