“Sexy? Not like skunk?”
Vincent shook his head. “I’m not picking up any trace of it on you although I can definitely smell it in the house. What I’m referring to is that lavender. It reminds me that you’ve been in our shower, nekkid, and in our bed.”
The heat crept up in her cheeks again and she nodded. “I’m reminded of that, too, when I catch a whiff of it.”
If he kept talking sexy to her like that, it would erode her resolve about approaching the Abilene store as a serious option. The fact that he hadn’t pushed her on the issue at all was also making a difference.
Time ran out too soon and she rinsed her plate after eating her fill. Vincent kissed her good-bye and James carried her things out to his truck. The rental company was supposed to drop off a car for her sometime that morning while her vehicle was being repaired.
“What’s in the box?”
“The missing pieces to a set of antique crystal I inherited from my mom and grandmother. For years, she and I searched antique stores for replacements and I found them last Sunday. They aren’t anything terribly rare or expensive, they just remind me of Mom and Grandma, and we never seemed to have any luck finding them.”
“Show me?”
Tilting her head, she looked up at him and said, “I don’t want to waste your time with my life’s minutiae. We’ll be late.”
He checked his watch and said, “We have plenty of time, Miss Go-Getter. I’d genuinely like to see.” Feeling a little self-conscious, she unwrapped the platter and he took it from her, holding it up with gentle hands as he smiled. “I wondered if you liked things like this. It’s pretty.”
Pleased, she took it back from him and wrapped it up. “The other pieces are a candy dish and a sugar bowl in the same pattern. I have a whole set of it stored in boxes in a closet.”
“Our mom loved crystal, too. Pretty things like that should be shown off.”
“One of these days,” she said with a shrug. She glanced at him, wondering what was on his mind.
Their conversation from the night before came to mind as he drove her into town and she hoped she wasn’t making a mistake as she said, “Can I ask you about something you said last night?”
“Last night? Sure?”
“You said when you found Patterson’s book of poetry that it made you angry to read them so you stopped and set the book aside for later. Why did they make you angry?”
The morning light shining in through his truck window illuminated his green eyes and made them seem to glow a little as he gazed at the road in front of him, thinking. “I probably shouldn’t have said that.”
“Why?”
“It might offend you. And how I feel won’t change anything. He’s gone. It can’t be fixed.”
“I know what you mean. Are you still angry at him?”
He let out a long, tired-sounding breath. “There’s a deep-down part of me that stays furious at him. It was a simple thing. Wear a helmet.”
“I’m glad I’m not the only one. But I’ve been thinking about it and I realize, a little unwillingly, that maybe it was his time to go. Maybe thirty-nine years was enough.”
He turned to her and his eyes were a little bloodshot. “He wouldn’t agree. Not if he knew.”
“Knew what?”
“What’s it’s like to be with you, to be near you and not have to hide the fact that I love you. To make love to you. He’ll never know.”
When she swallowed the tears in her throat, the noise seemed loud in her ears. “I feel like I’d be tempting fate by wishing I could’ve known him that way but I do. When I’m in the moment with you, or with Vincent, it’s all you. I want you to understand that. But sometimes, later, when I’m lying there, I wonder what it would be like.” She giggled. “I can imagine him arguing with you about who sleeps where in the bed. He wouldn’t take the outside edge very willingly.”
James chuckled softly and smiled, his gaze on the road ahead. “I noticed you slept soundly until I woke you this morning. Is that a good sign?”
She smiled so broadly she knew she must look silly but she couldn’t help it. “There was no bad dream this morning, even though you woke me. My sleep was so disrupted night before last that it didn’t surprise me when I wasn’t awakened by the nightmare but this morning…this morning gave me a little hope.”
“It would bother him to know you went through that. Maybe shaking your schedule up and getting out of your comfort zone helped.”
She nodded, her own eyes focused on the view through the windshield. “Skunk trauma.”
He nodded and reached for her hand on the console between them. “Skunk trauma.”
Still a little tired from the drama of the day before, her humorous snort was muted. “Skunk and skank trauma. I’ll be making a decision by the weekend about Abilene.”
“Good. What about what happened with Vincent?”
“I’ll talk to Emma today and ask her how long we have to wait to see if I’m pregnant. If it turns out to be positive and I decide to go to Abilene, I’ll make things as easy as possible for everyone. Before you say anything, I’m trying to keep a long-term perspective on all of this. Lots of professional women are single moms.”
James squeezed her hand, warming it a bit. “Honey, you know if you’re pregnant, we want to take care of you, make a commitment to you…”
“Pregnancy is no reason to get married, if that’s what you’re suggesting—”
“No, but love is. And what if you decide to stay in Divine?”
“I won’t deny it would all be easier. But James, I do honestly have an interest in the store there. You need to know that.”
She braced for his anger but he just kept driving and his expression didn’t change. “Then you need to know I’ll do everything in my power to make you want to stay in Divine. I won’t force you, and neither will Vincent but we won’t make it easy for you to go, either.”
“You’re not upset?”
“No. I’m determined.”
Leah looked over at him. “You’re something else, you know that?”
He grinned at her. “I do. You’ll never find another man like me or Vincent.”
She nodded. “I know. Thank you for not getting upset.”
“I got an interesting e-mail this morning.”
“Oh yeah?” She was relieved by the change in topic but not surprised. James wasn’t the type to belabor a subject.
“Yeah. Maybe you can help me and Vincent decide what to do. He mentioned that he got a copy of the e-mail this morning, too, when you were brushing your teeth.”
“How can I help?”
“The lady who helped with coordinating the harvesting and donation of Patterson’s organs got in touch because she’s had a request from one of the recipients.”
“Oh?” Leah remembered how she’d felt when they’d had to physically remove her from Patterson because it had been time for the harvesting. She wasn’t sure how she could offer an unbiased opinion. “What do they want?”
James clasped her hand and rested it on top of his thigh as he drove. He stroked her palm and looked down at it for a second. She could see regret in his eyes as if he was reliving the memory, too. “The guy who received Patterson’s heart would like to meet us. She said he’d like to thank us in person and see a little of Patterson’s home and where he lived and worked.”
“How do you feel about that?”
He gazed out the windshield, focusing on the road ahead, and shrugged. “I don’t know yet. Part of me says shouldn’t he just be happy that he got it and leave us alone? But…it’s a part of my brother. How could I deny him the chance to know about the man responsible for him still being alive?”
“Do you think maybe it’s his heart longing for home?” she asked softly, almost feeling silly for asking such a fantastical question.
He lifted her hand to his lips and said, “I wouldn’t discount the possibility, honey. Thanks for putting it into words. Would you be willing to meet him?”
She’d been afraid he’d ask that. “I don’t think…I don’t know. I don’t think I could do that without going back through what I went through the day he died.”
“Well, I definitely don’t want that to happen and I can promise you Vincent wouldn’t either.”
“Can you bear it? To know that his heart is beating and so close but Patterson is gone?”
“If this guy is wanting closure or to fill in the blanks, I can’t deny him that. To me, the right thing seems to be letting him come but you don’t have to be there if he does.”
“When?”
“I don’t know. She was just putting out a feeler for him. I’ll know more after we reply.” He jostled her hand to get her to look at him. “Don’t worry about it, honey, all right?”
Should she meet the recipient of Patterson’s heart? She’d probably clam up and not even be able to speak and put herself through the emotional roller coaster for nothing. Or worse, she’d break down all over again. It was probably flight of fancy, but a little voice whispered that although his heart no longer beat for her, this was someone Patterson had saved, with his precious gift, and he might want her to be there.
He pulled up to the employee entrance and she looked around, seeing the store with fresh eyes. It felt like it had been much longer than three days that she’d been away. Three days she’d managed to pack a lot of action into.
“Wait there,” he said as he put the shifter in park. He came around and opened the truck door and lifted her down to the asphalt, bringing her full circle with Saturday night, when he’d lifted her into that big truck. She felt like a completely different person. She realized she was.
“Thank you for the ride.”
“I’ll see you at lunch, honey,” he said with a twinkle in his eyes and a smile on his sexy, kissable lips.
“That’s okay. You don’t have to do that. The rental company should be here soon with a car for me.”
He leaned down to her and tilted her chin up with a finger. “I know I don’t have to. I want to. See you then.” He pressed his lips against hers and slid a hand behind her head. He licked her lower lip tentatively and went deeper when she responded to him, parting her lips. A soft groan came from him as he wrapped his other arm around her waist and held her to him, not tightly, but as if she was precious to him. It took a few seconds for her eyes to focus after he pulled back and her soft sigh brought a chuckle from him.
He removed her rolling suitcase and the cardboard box from the truck and asked, “Need help with these?”
He was always thoughtful like that. “No, I think I can manage, but thank you.”
“See you at lunch, honey.”
“Uh-huh.”
She waved at him as he backed from the parking space and headed to the station.
“Good morning, boss lady, and welcome back,” Evelyn said in greeting as Leah came in the side door. Evelyn was one of a tiny handful of other people in Divine who were actually shorter than Leah. “I just finished brewing a pot of coffee and I made a coffee cake and brought it with me this morning if you’d like some, dear.”
Leah’s bookkeeper was one of a kind. She’d worked at the store longer than anyone else and even though she was tiny as all get out, she’d done every job in the store at one point or another, even receiving manager. She’d tried retirement briefly before boredom had set in and she’d come back, mainly on a part-time basis but since the spring she’d been around more often. Her duties included her work in the cash office and managerial oversight in Leah’s absence. She’d been an absolute godsend when Patterson’s accident had occurred in March.
“Thank you, ma’am,” Leah said, giving her a hug. “And good morning to you, too.”
“Sleep well?” Evelyn asked, eyeing her critically before lifting her steaming coffee mug to her lips with tiny hands that hinted at her age.
“Very well. I’m ready for the day.”
Evelyn’s grin lit up her face. “Wonder if it has anything to do with that handsome police officer who dropped you off.”
“A girl shouldn’t kiss and tell. I remember hearing you say that when I was a teenager.”
“So I did. But now you’re old enough to know your own mind. How are you feeling? Really? As I recall you were racking up the injuries while you were in Abilene.”
“My finger throbs a little but my head and posterior are fine.”
“Good. Your rental car should be here soon.”
“Evelyn?”
“Hmm?” Evelyn said as she sipped from her coffee mug and walked with Leah.
“Just give it to me straight. Do I stink like a skunk?”
“Not in the least, dear.”
“Good, because I’m tired of all those skunk odor remedies.”
“I can just imagine. Let me tell you what’s been going on around here,” she said as Leah stowed her suitcase and the box in the corner of her office and dropped her purse in its drawer. Then they went out into the still semi-darkened store to start their day.
Chapter Twelve
“Don’t worry, Vince. She’ll be here,” James said, clapping Vincent on the shoulder as they walked through the glass doors of the Divine Community Center. The scents of floor wax and Pine-Sol reminded Vincent of school days.
“We don’t know that for sure. She didn’t come over last night, either.” He couldn’t shrug off the feeling she was avoiding being alone with him.
James stopped him under the basketball hoop on the other side of the gym from where the group attending the self-defense class was growing as more arrived. “You’re still feeling guilty?”
“A little.” It wasn’t like him to forget a condom.
“Remember, just give her space. She’s compartmentalizing everything, trying to make that decision. I wasn’t surprised that she didn’t come over last night. I don’t imagine it’s any easier for her but you need to remember that’s how her mind works. She hasn’t been in touch with me since yesterday at lunch either. I don’t think her intention was to cut us out. She just needs a little room.”
“Yeah, but you got a text.”
“Which was intended for both of us.”
“I don’t like it. We have something between us.” It was hard putting the hunger for her that now plagued him into words without sounding like a wuss. Not being near her was making him cranky.
“She knows the connection is deeper now and I think she feels it just as much as you do. I’m confident of it. That’s why I’m not letting the distance she’s put between us stop me from reminding her she needs us in her life.”
If Leah felt anything like he did, then he couldn’t imagine how she could purposely stay away.
“I’ve been thinking of something I could do, like you, but I’m drawing a blank.”
“You need to work on that,” James said with a chuckle.
“You’re a big help.”
They joined the group, which included Charity Connors and her daughter, Justine, Summer Webster and Margot Redman, the new optometrist in town, Jessica Bright, and Emma Rivers. The owner of Violet’s Emporium was there, as well as Lucy Owen and Maizy Welsh, and Hank Stinson’s wife, Veronica. Several other faces he recognized but was unable to put names with them. Of the women he didn’t recognize, a few smiled at him and James and gave them the once-over as they walked up. He could see the light of interest in their eyes but didn’t return the feeling.
A reflection from the glass doors swept across the wall and he turned and sighed as relief flooded him. James chuckled and said, “See? She came and she brought her sister with her.”
A pouty little voice whispered in his head that he should stay right where he was and let her come to him but he ignored it and went to her. She smiled as he and James both drew near, and judging by the way her soft lower lip stuck between her teeth before she licked it, she wanted to kiss him almost as much as he wanted to kiss her. James beat him to the punch and hugged her and then kissed her forehead before greeting Presley Ann.
He flicked Vincent a glance over her head that said to be cool.
He could be cool. He could totally do that. “Hey, Leah,” he murmured and gave her a gentle hug. “How was your day?”
“It was good,” Leah said. “You remember my sister, Presley Ann?”
“Yes, of course. I’m glad you both came.”
Presley Ann gave them a shy sort of wave and then shook their hands when they offered them and said, “I’m here because I want to learn but I won’t actually be participating in the…maneuvers, if that’s okay?” She caressed the slight bulge in her abdomen.
Vincent said, “That’s not a problem at all. The instructors are all available if you have questions and I’m sure they could show you how to defend yourself without risk to your baby. Pregnant women need these classes as much as anyone, and any of us would be happy to carefully walk you through the steps.”
Presley Ann listened to him with a serious expression and said, “I learn best by doing. Maybe that would be good, if it wouldn’t slow down learning for everyone else. I don’t want to get in the way and I’m not dressed for this kind of activity anyway.” She looked around, seeming to assess everyone else in their active wear.
Vincent patted her shoulder and said, “Don’t worry about that. We’ll make sure Hank knows that you’re willing. You can listen and observe for now.”
He noticed the frown that flashed on Leah’s face before her features relaxed and she said, “We’re going to go say hello to everyone.” Presley Ann didn’t look all that excited about the idea.
“Okay,” he said, unable to grin as she walked away with Presley Ann. Even though he could see the tense set of Leah’s shoulders, he still enjoyed the slight sway of her ass in her yoga pants. The way she had her formfitting T-shirt tugged down to cover most of it didn’t detract at all. His hands itched to caress the swell of her hips.
“Down, boy,” James said with a chuckle as they greeted Charity and the other ladies they knew well with hugs. Quietly, he said, “Things seem stilted between her and her sister.”
“Yeah.” He watched as Presley Ann detached herself from her sister and walked over to the bleachers and took a seat. It was obvious she was interested in self-defense but she seemed uncomfortable in the gathering. He would’ve gone over and sat down with her to chat further about the class but Hank chose that moment to call for their attention, so he and James joined him.
Brokenhearted Beauty [Divine Creek Ranch 19] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 16
