“See, even checking the mail in Atlanta’s exciting.” Bryce smiled and ran his hand through his hair. “So you’re renting from Cal Bloodworth?”
“Yes. Do you know him?”
“I grew up with his son, Jesse.”
Lita hoped her face didn’t blush at the mention of his name.
“You’ve met Jesse, I see,” Bryce said with a smirk.
“I’ve run into him a time or two.”
“He hit on you?”
Lita laughed. “You do know him well.” She sipped her Coke. “What’s his story anyway?”
“Jesse? He owns a rafting business just outside town. Does real well with it.” He nodded toward the bar where Kerri Ann was serving another customer. “They have a son together, Ty.”
“Cal’s told me. He said they were high school sweethearts.”
“Oh yeah.” Bryce sat back in his chair, peeked a look over his shoulder. “They were the golden couple in high school. Captain of the football team and head cheerleader, both blond and gorgeous.”
“You make it sound like they shouldn’t have been together.”
Bryce shrugged, leaned closer to put his elbows on the table. “They were all wrong for each other. They fought as much as they got along. Both of them are headstrong, impatient, athletic, and stubborn. They were so damn competitive with each other they spent half the time being pissed when the other won.”
“Won what?”
“Anything. Better grades, nicer clothes, bigger athletic achievements, tic-tac-toe. It didn’t matter.” He sighed, as if he’d said too much. “Sorry, but it was hard on the bystanders. Especially when they got married.”
Kerri Ann brought out the pizza and salad and quickly stomped back into the kitchen. Bryce watched her go and then dug into his pizza like a man with a lot on his mind.
***
Jesse parked along the back alley of the Pizza Den and walked in through the employee entrance at the back. Kerri Ann hated it when he ignored her request to come in through the front like everybody else, but coming in the back guaranteed him a good parking spot and a handful of toppings as he passed through. He was just tossing an olive in his mouth when she burst through the swinging kitchen door and nearly took him out.
“Hey, watch it, would ya?” he said. “I’ve got precious cargo here.” He hoisted the black instrument case onto the counter. “Ty left his trumpet in my car again.”
“That boy would lose his head if it weren’t attached.” Kerri Ann pulled the case off the counter and slung it into the corner. “And I told you to use the front.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. What’s crawled up your butt?”
“You. Now get out of my kitchen.”
“Jeez, you’d think a guy could do a girl a favor without getting his head chopped off. The least you can do is feed me for lugging that thing over here. I’ll even eat it at the bar like a regular customer.”
Two steps into the bar area and he came to a dead stop. Just opposite the bar sat Angelita, laughing like a beautiful angel with Bryce Jenson, of all people. He felt little kernels of jealousy sprout in his belly. What the hell could Bryce have said that was so damn funny? And how did he get her to sit down with him for lunch?
Must be the fancy clothes and lawyer talk. Jesse looked down at his ratty t-shirt, trunks, and flip-flops. If she wanted a man with a high dollar wardrobe, he was out of the running. He’d hocked all his banker clothes years ago. He filled a plastic cup with ice and tea, grabbed the sports section from a paper abandoned on the counter, and sauntered around the bar to perch in front of the TV and within earshot of their table. Normally he’d wander over and shoot the breeze with Bryce, but he thought he’d learn more by playing it cool.
He’d just taken his seat when Kerri Ann emerged from the back. She rolled her eyes at him and practically growled when she glanced behind him where Bryce and Angelita sat talking. She blinked her big green eyes a few times, as if deciding what to do, and then slowly walked to where Jesse sat at the bar.
“What can I get for you, honey?” Her voice sounded overly loud and strangely sweet. She only added to her odd behavior by dancing her fingers over his arm.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Nothing, sugar. Can’t I feed you for your troubles like you suggested?”
Jesse sat up on his stool and stole a glance over his shoulder to see what Kerri Ann kept flicking her eyes to see. “Did you bet Bryce you could be nice to me or something?”
“Do I have to have a reason to be nice to you?”
“Lately, you do.” He folded the paper he hadn’t read and set it aside. “How’d they hook up?” He motioned with his head toward the intimate table for two. “And why do I think it has something to do with your crazy behavior?”
She scowled at the table and then leaned down to speak quieter. “Bryce is making new friends, I guess. Do you know her?”
“She’s dad’s new renter.”
“So she’s just visiting?” Kerri Ann asked with her brows raised. “Where from?”
“Atlanta. Why do you want to know?”
She straightened and put that look on her face that let Jesse know she was lying. “I like to know about my customers. I thought maybe we had a new resident in town. Although she looks too fancy to live around here.”
“Fancy’s one word for her.”
Kerri Ann eyed Jesse suspiciously. “If you know her, what are you doing sitting over here?”
Jesse shrugged and tried his best to look innocent. The last thing he wanted was for Kerri Ann to know was how badly he’d struck out with her. “Didn’t want to interrupt.”
Kerri Ann laughed. “Let me guess. You’ve already hit on her and she turned you down.” When he only frowned at her, she shook her head. “Christ, Jesse. You’ll never change.”
When she turned and walked down the bar to help another customer, Jesse noticed Bryce leaving. He waited what he thought was a respectable amount of time before turning and plopping into Bryce’s vacated chair.
“We meet again.” Why, as the corners of her lush mouth folded downward, could Jesse feel his competitive juices start to flow?
“Please don’t ruin the best meal I’ve had in ages.” Her dark eyes made a quick assessment of his attire.
A snob. He knew it, but couldn’t figure out why it tickled him so. “Mind if I join you?”
“As a matter of fact, I do.” She scraped the last bite of pizza through her salad dressing and plopped it into her mouth. “And I’m done.”
She sure was. There wasn’t a crumb left on either plate. He loved a woman who wasn’t afraid to eat. “I wanted to apologize for my behavior yesterday. I was rude and I’m sorry.”
She looked shocked and then her eyes narrowed. “What’s the catch?”
“Excuse me?”
“You don’t want to make it up to me by buying me dinner or sharing a sunset drive into the woods?”
Boy, was she jaded. “Would you have agreed if I’d offered?”
Her lips pursed as she considered. “No, but I wasn’t expecting a simple apology.”
“When I’m wrong, I like to admit it and move on. And since I keep running into you, I figure we ought to make up so I can stop looking out for knives thrown at my back.”
“Okay, I’ll admit my reaction to you was a little harsh. I apologize too.” She put her napkin on the table and reached for her purse.
“So, truce then.” He tried to think of how to get her to linger.
“Truce.” She held out her hand and they shook over the table. He felt something when he took her small hand in his, something like a spark or a connection. She must have felt it too because her expression turned serious. “May I have my hand back, please?”
Jesse slowly disengaged her hand from his. “Sure, Angelita. I’ll see you around.”
***
Kerri Ann was manning the cash register when Lita got up to leave. The woman practically ran the restaurant single-handedly. Lita knew Bryc
e had paid the check, as promised. She also knew that Kerri Ann was swimming in a giant pool of jealousy from the hundreds of daggers she’d shot their way while they ate. If only Kerri Ann knew that Bryce had spent half of the time talking about her and how hard she’d worked to keep the business running while raising her son.
Lita grabbed a mint from the jar by the register and painted on her most genuine smile. “That was the best pizza I’ve had in ages. You’re truly gifted.”
Kerri Ann’s expression softened. “Thanks,” she said in what Lita assumed was her real voice. “Come on back.”
“I will.” She unwrapped the mint and popped it in her mouth. She glanced back where Jesse sat at her abandoned table, all gorgeous and rumpled in his grunge-wear. She was still reeling from their brief contact and the look she’d seen in his eyes. Since her feelings were slightly off-kilter, she figured she might as well prod at whatever was going on between Bryce and Kerri Ann. “You know that man I was dining with, Bryce?”
“Sure.” Kerri Ann nodded. “Everybody knows Bryce.”
“That was very nice of him, don’t you think? Paying my bill like that for an accident. That would never happen back home.”
“Home?”
“Oh, sorry. Atlanta. I’m just here visiting.” She leaned on the counter to the clear annoyance of Kerri Ann. “So, what’s his story?”
“Who?”
“Bryce.” Like she didn’t know. “He’s very attractive, he’s got great manners, and that accent…”
Kerri Ann’s shoulders flew back and she swung the hair from her face with a flick of her head. “He’s…the best.” Did she know, Lita wondered, that her whole face took on a dreamy look when she said it? What the hell was keeping them apart?
***
Jesse approached the register as Angelita walked through the screen door. “You’re not going to have many customers if you give them all the evil eye like that.”
“You think she’s pretty?” Kerri Ann asked. “All that hair and those ridiculous clothes?”
Jesse laughed. “Yeah, but so are you, darlin’.”
Kerri Ann snorted. “Oh, please. I’m not sleeping with you again, Jesse, so don’t even bother.”
“You women are crazy.” He grabbed her chin with his hand and gave it a shake. He could see all her old insecurities float to the surface. It was one of the things that kept her in his heart after all the harsh words they’d shared over the years. “The beautiful thing about women is that they come in lots of varieties. And your variety has always been cute, despite your nasty attitude.” He turned to walk out through the back.
“Jess?” Kerri Ann called.
“Yeah?”
She smiled when he turned around and she saw the exasperated look on his face. “Thanks.”
Chapter 6
The air smelled ripe with spring’s bounty. Cal had heard the first call of the Kentucky warbler echoing through the woods early in the morning as he pulled rakes for him and Ty out of the storage shed. The mountains had emerged from a particularly frosty winter, prompting him to clean up the property and get the grounds in top form. He’d felt a little embarrassed that Lita had seen Bloodworth Cabins looking less than perfect, but he could only hope she was too much of a city girl to care.
Cal looked forward to spending the day with Ty. He hadn’t seen the kid much lately, not between baseball and homework. Besides, he spent most of his free time working with Jesse, getting the raft shop ready for the spring break crowd.
Cal had driven past the turnoff for the raft shop the other day on his way up to the nursery and had noticed the sign Jesse made was glistening from a fresh power scrubbing. He had to admit, Jesse had turned the place around a lot faster than Cal expected. Course, the way he’d pumped money into it when he first came back didn’t hurt. Cal couldn’t say much about Jesse’s time in Atlanta, but he sure did come home with money to burn.
That’s just what Cal had thought Jesse was doing when he’d bought the old put-out spot and shacks that had once belonged to the area’s first outfitting company. The place had sat dormant for almost six years and needed both deep pockets and a lot of hard work to get it up and running. He quickly realized Jesse’s pockets were deeper than when he’d left and he knew his son could put the old Bloodworth grit into something when he set his mind to a goal.
He’d overheard some guys down at the VFW talking about how Jesse had turned a profit his second year out. It had stung, hearing about it through the grapevine, but Cal understood there’d be no bragging from Jesse as far as his career was concerned. Water under the bridge, he reminded himself as Jesse’s Scout rounded the bend and stopped at the entrance to the storage shed.
Ty hopped out wearing an old t-shirt, camouflage pants, and the sleepy look of a teenager who’d woken up before his internal noontime alarm. “Hey, Granddad.”
“Hey, boy. You had breakfast?”
“Did he ever.” Jesse pulled the toothpick he’d been chewing on from his mouth. “Kid polished off four of DJ’s biscuits in less than five minutes.”
Ty smiled like the Cheshire cat and patted his flat stomach. “Hey, I’m a growing boy.”
“You’re going to grow in the wrong direction if you keep eating like that,” Jesse teased.
“You’re just jealous ‘cause you can’t eat like that anymore, old man.”
Jesse popped the toothpick back in his mouth with a huff. “Who’re you calling old?”
Cal cleared his throat. “I remember another young man who damn near ate us out of house and home when he was a teenager.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Jesse started the engine and raised his voice to be heard over the rumble. “I’ll be back to collect you at three,” he said to Ty. “Work him like a dog, Pop.” And with a cocky grin, he set off. Cal noticed Lita had come out onto the porch to see what the commotion was. Jesse slowed down enough to salute her as he passed and Cal could have sworn he saw her blush. Lord.
“So, Granddad, what’s on the agenda for today?”
“Yard work, mostly.” He handed Ty a metal rake and led him to the flowerbeds around the larger of the two cabins. “We’re going to clean out the debris from the beds and put down some new mulch. I’ve got three or four pallets of impatiens to plant here and around the smaller cabin.”
Ty leaned on the rake and yawned. “Dad says you’ve got a renter in the small cabin.”
Cal glanced down and realized Lita had gone back inside. “Sure do. That’s why I’d like to start up here, so we don’t disturb her just yet.”
“Dad said she’s hot.”
Cal rolled his eyes. “She’s a very attractive woman. And very nice, so be sure to show some respect, unlike your father.”
Ty just laughed and dug into the old mulch. It was hours later before Cal wiped his brow and suggested they take a lunch break on the porch. He fixed Ty’s favorite, tomato sandwiches and potato chips. They were a treat for both of them, even though he had to buy hothouse tomatoes from the market until he could plant his own garden. They listened to the Braves preseason game on the radio and ate as the still cool breeze helped revive their energy as much as the food.
“You gentlemen look like you could use a cookie.” It was Lita, dressed in fancy jeans with rips in the knees and a skin tight t-shirt. She was hobbling over the grass in another pair of heels, this time with rhinestones that flashed in the splashes of light that managed to break through the canopy of trees.
Shoe Strings Page 6
