She didn’t want to say.
“It’s a tiramisu,” Thomas said without preamble as he made his way toward them.
Jack whistled. “Wow. This guy’s opinion must really matter.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she grumbled. She took her grandfather by the arm and began walking him over to the front steps. “It’s just a dessert.”
“Okaaay,” Jack murmured behind her. “If you say so.”
Pulling away from Sarah, Thomas turned to face Jack. “That’s enough. Pierce is a good man. I won’t have you embarrassing him or your sister with your silly insinuations. Got it?”
“Yes, sir,” Jack said, looking slightly stunned. “I was just kidding around.”
“There’s a time and place for that sort of thing,” Thomas said, “and this ain’t it.” He continued toward the front door while Sarah exchanged a look with her brother before hurrying after their grandfather.
They rang the doorbell and a moment later Pierce opened the door. He was wearing a light blue shirt and jeans, his hair slightly tousled as if he’d just run his fingers through it. “Welcome,” he said, allowing a smile.
It was the first one Sarah had ever seen, the effect so surprising she just stood there for a second, staring at him. A nudge from Jack made her flinch. “Thank you,” she managed as she followed her grandfather into the cabin. The door closed, expelling the cold air. She gestured toward her brother, who was watching her with a very annoying expression. “I, err, this is my brother, Jack, who I told you about.”
“Nice to meet you,” Pierce said.
“Likewise,” Jack said, holding the glass dish toward Pierce. “Here’s the dessert Sarah made. It’s a tiramisu.”
She didn’t have to imagine the ‘nudge, nudge, wink, wink,’ to know it was heavily implied in her brother’s tone. God, this was going to be a long evening.
Accepting the offering, Pierce looked at each of them in turn with a bemused glint in his eyes. “I’m sure it will be delicious.” Jack nodded his agreement while Sarah felt like hiding beneath the rug on the floor. She should have known her brother would try to cause mischief. At thirty years of age he was still a big child, which was probably why he’d had his own problems with settling down.
“Why don’t you take off your jackets and hang them in the coat closet over there?” Pierce added, “I’ll put this in the kitchen and bring some drinks. Is red wine okay or do you prefer something else?”
“Red wine would be nice,” Thomas said. He’d spotted Fido who’d come to sniff about their feet and had bent down to scratch the puppy behind one ear.
“Great.” Pierce started toward the kitchen, and Fido left Thomas to follow him on his heels. “I’ll be right back.”
The moment he was gone, Sarah spun toward her brother. “Stop it,” she warned, hoping her sharp tone would do the trick.
“Stop what?” he innocently asked while pulling off his coat and opening the closet to put it inside. He began helping Thomas with his.
“Making implications,” Sarah said. She waited for him to finish hanging Thomas’s coat before handing him her own. “Pierce is a good guy. We’re going to work together; that’s where it ends. So please don’t embarrass me. Okay?”
He nodded. “Okay. I’ll try to stay on my best behavior.”
Smiling, she reached out and gave him a sideways hug. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it,” he said, hugging her back. As they walked through to the living room, he whispered in her ear, “By the way, I think you look really nice this evening.”
Self-awareness flooded her system just as Pierce emerged from the kitchen, carrying a tray filled with wine glasses. Their eyes collided for a second to the sound of Harry Connick Jr’s voice singing, “It had to be you...” Her cheeks heated with discomfort and she looked away then suggested to her grandfather that he should take a seat on the couch.
“Please do,” Pierce told Thomas. He set the tray on the coffee table then picked up a glass and offered it to Sarah. “Ladies first.”
A weird sensation swept through her stomach – an awareness she hadn’t felt in years. Unnerved by it, she took the glass, sat down, and focused on something other than her handsome host. Glancing at Jack, she decided it was his fault she felt this way. Had it not been for all his silly comments, she would have been better able to maintain the careful control she’d clung to since she and Billy had said good-bye to each other for good. Thankfully, she was the only one who knew she’d spent the entire day torturing herself over the right outfit to wear – nothing too sexy, but nice enough to make a good impression. What was I thinking?
Registering the clinking of glasses, she held hers out and joined in the toast. “To making new friends,” Thomas said.
“To making new friends,” they all echoed before taking a sip of their wine. It tasted delicious, rich and fruity with an underlying hint of spiciness.
“If you’ll please excuse me, I have to check on the food,” Pierce said while Fido gazed up at him with big, round eyes. “Just make yourselves comfortable. I won’t be long.”
“What are you making?” Sarah asked.
“Pork tenderloin with potatoes and a tossed salad. My…umm…” His smile faltered, and for a second Sarah had the strangest urge to stand up and hug him, but then the moment passed and he collected himself. “It never fails.” Bending down he scooped up the puppy and offered it to Sarah. “I don’t suppose you can watch this little guy while I finish our meal?”
“I can do that,” Jack said, already reaching for Fido. “I absolutely love dogs.”
Grinning, Pierce handed the puppy over and watched for a second while Jack settled it in his lap, and Thomas reached over to pet Fido’s head. Turning away, Pierce returned to the kitchen.
Sarah looked toward her grandfather, who jerked his head suggestively in the direction Pierce had gone. Taking the hint, she grabbed her glass and got up. “I’ll just see if he needs any help.”
“And Fido and I will keep Grandpa company until you get back,” Jack said. He settled himself more comfortably against the leather couch and began stroking Fido’s back.
“We can discuss your future,” Sarah heard her grandfather say as she walked away.
“Oh joy,” Jack muttered.
Sarah tried not to smile too hard. Reaching the kitchen door, she peaked inside. “Smells wonderful,” she said. “Mind if I join you?”
“Not at all,” Pierce told her while busily stirring the contents of a saucepan, the spoon clanging loudly against the metal sides. He muttered something inaudible, then raised his voice and said, “The sauce isn’t coming out the way I’d hoped. It’s all lumpy.” He shook his head, expelled a ragged breath that instantly warned of a change in mood. “I can’t do this.” Without warning, he marched across to the garbage, taking the saucepan with him, and promptly dumped the contents into it. The look of defeat on his face was so intense Sarah couldn’t help but feel slightly lost for a moment, not to mention completely off balance due to his unexpected reaction.
Shaking it off, she stepped further into the kitchen. “Sauces can be tricky,” she said, “but if you tell me what you’re aiming for, I’d be happy to give it a shot.”
For a second it looked as though he might refuse, but then his shoulders sagged, and he set the saucepan aside on the counter. “Yeah. Okay. Thanks.” Turning on the faucet, he began cleaning the pan. “I was actually trying to make a tomato-flavored one with a béchamel base.”
When he turned his head to look at her, Sarah gave him a reassuring smile. “Do you have an apron I can borrow?” she asked.
“Just the one I’m wearing.” After drying the pan, he took off his apron and handed it to her, then helped her locate the necessary ingredients. “Let me know if there’s anything else you need.”
“Will do,” Sarah said, already melting the butter. Adding flour, she stirred the contents into a doughy mess before gradually adding the milk.
“Looks like y
ou’re pretty good at that,” Pierce said. Standing next to her, he’d removed the tenderloin from the oven and was busily slicing it into pieces and arranging it on a serving dish.
“Let’s see how it tastes,” Sarah said after adding some tomato puree and a few spices. Grabbing a couple of spoons, she dipped them into the sauce and offered one of them to Pierce.
“Wow, that’s even better than…” He froze, his words dying on his lips as if they’d somehow been stolen from him.
“Better than what?” Sarah asked.
He stared at her for a second, then blinked and looked away. “Nothing.” Reaching for the pot of freshly cooked rice, he poured it into a white ceramic bowl. “I guess we’re pretty much ready. Why don’t you go and tell Thomas and Jack that they can start making their way to the table?”
Feeling as if she’d just been dismissed, Sarah took off the apron and placed it neatly on the counter before heading for the door. She paused there and looked back at Pierce, whose posture was stiff and unyielding, his head bent over the food laid out in front of him. “About the other day,” she said, feeling guilty for the curt way in which she’d spoken to him. “I’m sorry I got so defensive.”
“You have every right to your privacy.” He looked up, and her eyes met his.
“I appreciate you saying that. You do too, of course.” For a second, she considered leaving it at that, then changed her mind and added, “It’s impossible to be friends with someone without openness and honesty though, and since we’re not just neighbors, but soon to be co-workers, I think it might be nice to a least try. So in answer to your question, I actually studied engineering at The University of Toronto.”
“Really?” Straightening, he looked at her with the kind of admiration that made her feel as though she’d just discovered the most impressive thing ever, like how to travel through time.
She nodded. “Yeah. Really. I just never managed to graduate.”
“Why? I mean, what happened?”
She shrugged, her mind teetering on the precipice between the past and the present. “Life, I suppose.” Unable to handle the unwilling thoughts that threatened to come pouring back if she let her mind linger, Sarah continued through the doorway, pasted a smile on her face, and focused her attention on what her grandfather was saying to Jack about booking a family vacation for the fall.
“We could go to Florida,” Thomas said, acknowledging Sarah’s presence with a smile. “Wouldn’t that be nice?”
She felt the darkness recede. Breathing became easier. “For a man who doesn’t want to fly, I’d say that’s a pretty faraway destination.” Grinning, she buried the remaining pain as deep as it would go before saying, “Dinner’s about to be served. Let’s find our places at the table.”
After serving the food and ensuring his guests’ wine glasses were full, Pierce allowed himself to relax and enjoy the conversation that seemed to flow so easily between the Palmers. Memories of Caroline had threatened to ruin his mood more than once – something he should have considered when he’d decided to cook a dish she’d taught him how to make. Determined to have a good time for a change, he willed his mind to be distracted by his new friends.
“I think the reason you haven’t been visiting lately is because you’re worried I’ll want my Mighty Mouse and Looney Tunes DVDs back,” Sarah told Jack with a wry glimmer in her eyes, her fork pausing in midair.
“You like Mighty Mouse?” Pierce asked, unable to hide his surprise. Considering her age, he wouldn’t have expected it.
“Our grandparents introduced us both to what they claimed to be ‘proper cartoons’ when we were little,” Jack explained, making quotation marks with his fingers.
“They didn’t have satellite or cable,” Sarah added, “so we watched a lot of rental tapes. We’re both very familiar with Popeye, Mickey Mouse, Tom and Jerry…”
“The Flintstones,” Thomas said with a wide grin. “I always loved that particular one. But it wasn’t just cartoons. My wife made sure the kids also got to watch The Wizard of Oz, Mary Poppins and a whole bunch of other classic movies I don’t even recall the titles of.”
“I think my favorite one was Sabrina, or perhaps To Catch a Thief,” Sarah said. “Carry Grant was so charming!”
“My favorite movie with him was Arsenic and Old Lace,” Pierce said.
Sarah frowned. “I don’t believe I’ve seen that one.”
“Me neither,” Jack confessed.
“Really?” Pierce was surprised. “Well, I have it here. You’re welcome to borrow it if you like.”
“Or we could have a movie night,” Thomas suggested. “You can come over to our house, Pierce. Bring the movie with you, and we’ll provide the popcorn. It’ll be just like in the good old days.”
“Thank you,” Pierce said, appreciating the offer. “I’d really like that.”
After finishing the meal, Sarah and Jack helped clear the table and make way for dessert while Pierce prepared a fresh pot of coffee. “That looks wonderful,” he told Sarah when she pulled the foil off the top of the tiramisu.
“It was Grandma’s specialty. She taught me how to make it.” Not wanting to pry, Pierce just nodded and went to find dessert plates and spoons instead. But as he did so, Sarah said, “Losing her was very difficult for all of us. She was always so happy and outgoing – a real joy to be around. I don’t know how Grandpa coped with it.”
Inhaling deeply, Pierce closed his eyes for a fraction of a second, focusing on his breath before turning to face her. “I suspect it helped having you there.”
She shook her head. “No. I was away at college when it happened. I didn’t move in with Grandpa until the following year, though I did come back for the funeral.” Her voice broke just enough to convey how affected she was by what she was telling him. “Family issues can be difficult enough to deal with on a normal day, but it’s so much harder when you feel as though your life is falling apart around you. I just wish I’d known how bad it was for him, so I could have offered better support at the time.”
Unsure of what to say, Pierce considered her words for a moment. Clearly there seemed to have been a dispute of some kind between Thomas and the other members of the family. “What about Jack?”
“My brother’s a good guy,” Sarah said. “He visited Grandpa a lot back then. So did our parents. But it can be difficult to realize the extent of the pain a person is in when they’re determined to keep it from you.”
“I suppose that’s true,” Pierce said, a little unsettled by the turn their conversation had taken. It was his own fault. He should have known better than to talk about those who were no longer alive. “Shall we see what your tiramisu tastes like?”
“Yeah.” She held his gaze for a second longer than what felt comfortable before picking up the dessert. “Let’s do that.”
The distance was back in place, wedged between the little bit of information she’d confided in him about her family, and the questions he feared might follow as a result. He wasn’t ready for her to ask about his own family or about anything else that might lead to the one subject he wanted to avoid.
As it turned out, it wasn’t Sarah he needed to worry about, but her brother. Pierce had barely received his serving of tiramisu before Jack turned an assessing eye on him. “So tell me, Pierce, how does a guy like you avoid getting married?”
“Jack!” Sarah glared at her brother from across the table while Thomas stared at his grandson as if he’d just asked the most taboo question in the world.
Pierce sat stiffly in his chair, too afraid to move because he wasn’t quite sure of how he’d respond if he did. His heart was running away with him, and his throat was closing up. “I…” Carefully setting down his spoon, he looked at his guests.
“You don’t have to answer that question,” Sarah said, sending her brother another dirty look. “Jack should know better than to ask you something like that.”
“I’m sorry,” Jack said. “I was just thinking that Pierce is a good lo
oking guy with a seemingly great personality. I think it’s a little strange that he wouldn’t have found someone to settle down with.”
“Jack,” Thomas warned, his eyes meeting Pierce’s with profound understanding. “That’s quite enough.”
“I was only asking because I thought he might be able to offer some decent advice,” Jack complained. “Every time I try to get together with a woman I like, she immediately thinks she’s going to become a Palmer. It’s off-putting.”
“If you think so, then you clearly haven’t met the right woman,” Pierce said, deliberately forcing the words past the ache in his throat. “But one day you will, and when that day comes, I advise you to cherish every moment you have with her.” He looked to Sarah and forced a deliberate smile. “The tiramisu is delicious, by the way. Thank you for making it for us.”
“You’re very welcome,” she told him softly. Her hand moved toward his, but then she stilled as if catching herself, and immediately retracted it.
“Tomorrow’s Saturday,” Jack said, breaking the strained atmosphere that seemed to have settled over them. “Ryan McNally will be playing at The Pit from 10 p.m. onward. If you’re up for it we could watch that movie Pierce mentioned first – make a night of it.”
“Well, I think the movie sounds like a fine idea, but I’ll leave The Pit to the rest of you,” Thomas said.
“It might be nice to get out for a change, go to a bar and listen to some live music,” Pierce said while considering the alternative. He’d spent way too long cooped up on his own, and now that he finally had company, he was reluctant to give it up for any length of time. “Will you be joining us, Sarah?”
She looked hesitant, which surprised him since she was the one who’d initially mentioned The Pit to him when she and her grandfather had first visited. “I don’t know. Let me think about it.”
“Sarah, if it’s Billy you’re worried about, I doubt he’ll be there,” Jack said. “Last I heard, he took a job in Calgary.”
Confusion spread across Sarah’s face. “I had no idea.”
“I’m not surprised,” Jack told her quietly. “After all, you didn’t exactly stay in touch.”
The Love That Saved Him Page 5
