Here in My Heart: A Novella (Echoes of the Heart)

by DeStefano, Anna

  “That she wanted normal, until normal went away.”

  It had been hard to hear, and even harder to accept that it was what Brad should have wanted for Vi. She’d been insistent that she didn’t want him back at Harmony Grove all day tomorrow, hovering and sad as the minutes ticked by until her body eventually gave out. And while she’d been saying it, all he could think was that he needed to be with Dru. He needed her help, sorting the parts of himself that were already missing Vi from the ones that were furious with his grandmother for giving up on getting better.

  “She wants us to go on living our lives,” he said, “even though she can’t. She’s enjoyed helping people. You, me, your radKIDS, and who knows how many others. This town means a lot to her. She wants it and the business to mean enough to us to put our differences aside. Or she wants for us to move on and for the business and the house to go to someone who’ll appreciate them. I told her I’d make you understand that.”

  “And you thought a kiss would convince me?”

  “What did my kiss do to you?” He broke into a sweat, waiting for Dru’s answer.

  A sexy blush heated her cheeks, right where he could imagine his fingers caressing her again. His lips could still feel the phantom softness of hers. He’d wanted to linger and savor and tempt them both to discover more.

  She worried her bottom lip between her teeth.

  “This is trouble,” she said. “It won’t work. What happened to ‘there’s nothing going on between us now’? You and I—”

  “Can’t be friends again? For a few weeks?” The reality of just how little time he had left with both Dru and Vivian was killing him. “Vi’s hospice coordinator said they’re going to have to up her pain meds, whether she wants it or not. She won’t always know what’s going on. But being with people she should recognize and hearing about things she should be interested in will keep her connected for as long as possible. The whole town will turn up at Harmony Grove to gossip about us if we make this work. She’ll eat it up, while she pretends she doesn’t want to hear a word of it. You’ve done everything else she’s ever asked of you, including calling me home. Why are you wasting both our time trying to convince yourself you won’t do this for her, too?”

  Because I want to kiss you again, Dru didn’t say.

  Because she wanted Brad again in a reckless way she’d just told her foster father she didn’t. She had since Brad had sauntered into the YMCA yesterday. And after his kiss just now, she wasn’t certain how long she could keep her distance if she agreed to have him in her life on a daily basis.

  She wasn’t acting like herself. Running from him last night, avoiding Vi today, wanting to run again that very second, because her brain was frying at the image of curling her body around Brad’s like she once had and kissing him again until neither of them could think about anything else . . .

  There are no guarantees, even when you play it safe.

  “Do you really think we can work together at the Whip?” She gave him her best no-nonsense imitation of Vivian. “Spending more time together will make this . . . whatever this is between us worse, not better.”

  “You do whatever you want about staying here at the house with me. But I’m taking an indefinite leave from work. I’m moving back to Chandlerville for now, and the Dream Whip is still my family business. I have to take care of some things in Savannah tomorrow, but I’ll be at the restaurant Monday morning, feeling things out and helping where I can.”

  “Pretending, for your grandmother.”

  “Keeping my word. I promised that I’d do my part, whatever you decided.”

  “So you’re just biding your time.”

  “I’m saying good-bye the right way. Vi’s way.”

  “You don’t have to do this.” He couldn’t really expect them to be able to do this. “The house and the Dream Whip are yours. They’ve always been yours. I’d do anything else Vivian asks, but I’m not taking this house from you.”

  And she wasn’t staying there with him, wanting to kiss him again no matter how bad an idea it was. He’d reached for her this time. He’d wanted her; she was sure of it. But now he was acting like it had meant nothing to him. She wasn’t agreeing to weeks more of this.

  “You’re home free,” she insisted. “I’m telling Vi in the morning to leave me out of the will.”

  “See . . . that’s the thing.” He grimaced. “Horace dropped by Harmony Grove this afternoon, while I was with Vivian’s doctor at the hospital. By the time I made it back to her room, he and Vivian had made a change to her will. You contesting your inheritance won’t affect the outcome. If you refuse to work with me before Vivian dies, not only will the business and the house be sold, but your share of the money will go into a trust payable to you. It’ll just sit there until you do something with it, while everything my grandfather and grandmother worked their lives for is gone.”

  “She can’t do that.”

  “It’s done. Can’t you at least pretend to forgive me for a little while?”

  “I . . .” She stuttered as the truth pushed its way to the surface. “I do forgive you. Oliver and Selena aren’t what this is about, not anymore.”

  “No, this is about the fact that you don’t trust my intentions where you’re concerned, because you still think I chose Selena over you the last time you tried to tell me how you felt about me.”

  Dru’s palm itched to slap him. He made her sound like a schoolgirl who was holding a grudge because he’d refused to go steady.

  “This is about you breezing back into town,” she said, “my town, and screwing with my life. As if we’re not at each other’s throats whenever we’re in the same place for more than a few minutes.”

  “We weren’t at each other’s throats last night during your radKIDS program.”

  “That was about the kids.”

  “And this will be about Vivian.”

  Except a clearly insane part of Dru knew it wasn’t that simple. For so long, Chandlerville and the people here had been enough for her. She’d have been happy to keep doing what she was doing forever. Now Brad was there, being a great guy to her kids, secretly being a great guy to her for years, kissing her, and reminding Dru that once upon a time, she’d let herself want a whole lot more—with him.

  He headed to the stairs and dropped his duffel onto the third step.

  “So,” he said, “we should probably cut back on the bickering, or it’s going to be a long holiday season at the Whip. But there’s nothing in Vi’s will that says we have to be anything more than successful partners.” He stared at Dru’s mouth, as if the memory of kissing her was messing with him, too. “So we keep our hands off. We’re looking for different things for our lives. We’re different people now than when we were kids. Vivian’s not asking for a miracle. She just wants us to declare a truce.”

  And exactly what would that truce cost Dru, when he left again?

  “You honestly don’t mind about the house?” She looked around the home she’d never thought of as hers.

  Yet she’d grown as attached to it over the years as she had the Dixon place. She had always dreamed of someday having somewhere that was totally hers. Making that happen had taken a backseat along the way.

  “I think it suits you.” Brad sat on the same step as his bag. He gazed around at the security he’d been strong enough to leave behind. “It already feels more yours than it was ever mine. I’ll have the restaurant, though I hope you’ll stay on running it when I head back to Savannah. There’s no way I could do right by the business from five hours away. And I’d hate to see it lose all the great momentum you’ve helped Vi build.” His attention returned to Dru. “It’s clear to Vivian and me how much you love this place, wacky clocks and threadbare furniture and tiny rooms and all. And I don’t want to be the reason you refuse the last gift she’ll ever be able to give you. I wouldn’t be here, doing this to both of us, if I didn’t want you to have this place as much as Vi does.”
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br />   Dru shook her head, mystified at how he could pass a second time on something so permanent and perfect. Something that was suddenly within her grasp, if she could get herself to stop imagining every possible way this could backfire.

  “I’ve got you, Dru.” He sounded so sure. “You’ll see. You can trust me again. Let’s end all of this with something good.”

  . . . saying good-bye the right way.

  “No more kissing,” she said, taking herself to task as much as Brad. “We’re talking about building a successful partnership, not a train wreck.”

  He’d rested his arms on his knees, lethally relaxed. Intense. Sad.

  “Deal.” He stood and reached out his hand, expecting her to close the distance between them.

  She did, but she didn’t trust herself to touch him yet.

  “Friends?” he asked.

  As long as they didn’t forget that this was only about being friends again, no one would get hurt, right?

  “Friends.” She gave herself points for not sounding as dubious as she felt. She shook. “When do we start?”

  He lifted his bag over his shoulder and with a confident smile headed up the stairs.

  “Monday morning at the Dream Whip.” He paused and looked down at her. “You’ll bring me up to speed while prepping for the lunch crowd. I’ll be gone most of tomorrow driving to Savannah and back, picking up some things for my stay. In the meantime, I’ll bunk in my old room down the hall from Vivian’s. You can run back to your parents’ couch to sleep. But Vi’s probably got spies posted in the trees out front, waiting to report on your defection.”

  Dru’s friend was being a smart ass. And he was entirely too adorable at it still for her peace of mind.

  She grabbed the backpack she used for a purse and headed up the stairs, brushing past him.

  “I’m up by five on Mondays,” she said, “and out the door by five thirty to meet the vendor trucks dropping off the week’s deliveries.”

  She made a beeline for her bedroom at the end of the top floor, ignoring Brad’s room as she passed. It was still teeming with teenage-boy mainstays like team trophies and posters of Sports Illustrated swimsuit models.

  “Get ready,” she challenged, “to work your fingers to the bone. I’m not putting myself through this unless Vivian can trust you to do right by the business.”

  Chapter Seven

  “Wow!” Sally said, the Friday night before Christmas. She and her parents had just walked into the Dream Whip.

  “I know, right?” Dru laughed.

  She balanced a tray on her shoulder. It was overflowing with cups and plates and wrappers and disposable salad bowls. She couldn’t get over it. The entire community of Chandlerville was swarming the restaurant after the football game. All night she’d been bussing tables and booths, turning them over. As fast as one group of people left, another claimed the open space.

  Dru had never been so thrilled to be dead on her feet.

  “We’ve never had a Friday night like this,” she said, “not in all the time I’ve worked here. The new promotion—”

  “The one in the program from the game?” Sally held up her copy. “Officer Douglas was so right!”

  “I can see that.”

  Brad had been right about many things over the last few weeks. The SEE YOU AFTER THE GAME coupon in the football program was only his latest suggestion. His experience working food service his first year in Savannah had become a gold mine for the Whip.

  He and Dru had bickered back and forth about most of his suggestions for changing things. Sometimes he’d won, sometimes she had, but they’d put the business first always, and Dru had secretly come to enjoy the friendly sparring. It had felt like old times.

  And it had made Vivian’s day every time she’d caught wind of it. Dru and Brad tried to downplay the confrontations and focus their reports during their visits with his grandmother on their compromises, and how they were improving the restaurant. Meanwhile, as expected, Vi’s contacts in the community had entertained her with stories about each row.

  Dru had relented about the football program ad and booked it herself. She’d held her ground with Brad for longer than she’d actually disagreed with him about running a coupon. Not because she’d thought he was wrong. It just felt wrong sometimes still—making decisions with him, working with him, and liking having him around more every day.

  She kept reminding herself that even though he had continued to be the same great guy who’d helped out with her radKIDS, Brad planned to leave town once they’d fulfilled their commitment to Vivian.

  Dru shrugged off the reminder of his grandmother’s rapidly declining condition.

  She smiled at the Beaumont family.

  “Sorry,” she said. “It’s going to be a bit of a wait for a table. We can’t keep up with the turnover, even with me helping bus the dining room, and Brad in the kitchen flipping burgers with Willie and dropping fries like an all-star.”

  “No rush.” Dan hugged his wife to his side. “We’ll catch up with folks we didn’t see at the game. It’s just a relief to be inside, warming up.”

  “What a great idea”—Charlotte was a willowy older version of her knockout-gorgeous daughter, making even her team jersey and jeans look classy—“giving away hot chocolate and fries to anyone with a ticket stub from the game who orders a meal.” She held up her family’s tickets, rubbed her hands together, and shivered, as if she were still outside in the cold. “Go, Chargers!”

  Dru pointed to the hot-chocolate bar she’d set up on the low counters near the front, where customers added condiments to their burgers and hot dogs. “Drink your fill. There are instant chocolate packets, hot water in the dispenser, plus marshmallows, whipped cream, and cinnamon. Coffee, too, decaf and regular. We’re trying to keep everything filled. I was making drinks for customers before bedlam descended. But now . . .”

  “I could help,” Sally offered. “I can make hot chocolate and keep tables clean.”

  “Me, too!” Lisa walked up with Joe and Marsha and a passel of their youngest kids.

  Travis had arrived with their parents, his blond, Southern-boy good looks turning the heads of several ladies as he walked by.

  “Looks like you and Brad are a lock,” he said in his smuggest older-brother way. “I don’t like to say I told you so, but—”

  “Then don’t.” Dru had forgiven him for throwing her and Brad together that first afternoon at the Y. But she’d made it clear that familial absolution was a onetime pass.

  “Can we help?” Lisa asked, dragging Dru’s attention back to the girls and the need to triage the madness in the dining room. “Me and Sally, like on Saturdays? We could take care of everything out here.”

  “Really?” Dru checked with both sets of parents for consent. “Really?!”

  Her second really reeked of desperation.

  The adults laughed. Both girls nodded. Dru put her troublemaking brother out of her mind and thanked her lucky stars that whatever had happened between Sally and Lisa before Thanksgiving had passed. The girls were friends again, and at the moment they were a united front of excitement.

  She hugged Lisa and curled her other arm around Sally, passing the older girl her overflowing tray.

  “You’ll let me help?” Lisa was sporting a Chandlerville Chargers T-shirt like most of the other kids. Ribbons in the high school’s crimson and gold colors were wrapped around her ponytail.

  She’d had more rough patches at school since the radKIDS graduation. Dru had spent Thanksgiving dinner with the family, and Lisa had been withdrawn and harder than usual to talk with. But she was all smiles tonight.

  “I’d love for you to help.”

  Dru spotted the Star Fleet pin Lisa wore proudly near the collar of her shirt. Dru smiled. She and Lisa had bonded over being hopelessly geeky Trekkies. Dru had given her the pin as an early Christmas gift. And no matter how much Lisa wanted to fit in with other kids who might not
understand, she’d refused to hide her new favorite thing, even if the pin made her stand out.

  “You two are my first line of defense,” she said to the girls. “You’re in charge of helping at the hot-chocolate bar, and clearing tables and booths so customers won’t flee as soon as they walk in the door and see all this mess.”

  The girls giggled. Several nearby families looked over and smiled. The night’s success, the perfect community vibe of it, kicked up another level for Dru.

  Vivian had been right. Dru and Brad made a good team. A great team, where the Whip was concerned. And working together was helping them say good-bye to a very special lady, in precisely the way Vivian had wanted. They had found a way to become friends again through all of this. Adult friends, free of the past that had torn them apart.

  She swallowed a flutter of panic at the thought of watching Brad leave her and Chandlerville behind a second time.

  “Dru?” Travis asked.

  She blinked back to the dining room. The girls and the adults circled around her were staring as if she’d grown two heads. All but Joe and Travis. Her foster father and brother were sporting identical worried expressions that she’d seen on their faces more than once since November. Neither had brought up Vi’s will or asked for details about Dru and Brad’s working agreement. But her family had made it clear they were keeping an eye on her.

  “Sorry.” She pulled at the hem of her WHIP IT GOOD! staff T-shirt.

  The tees had been another of Brad’s suggestions, to boost staff identity and morale. Customers had soon demanded their own. A fresh batch was on its way from the designer, to be sold at the counter. Vivian had her very own shirt, which she’d worn proudly at Harmony Grove, along with her pearls.

  “You’re my dream team tonight,” Dru told the girls. “I’m needed behind the counter, giving the staff oxygen. You’re earning time and a half for hazard duty,” she said to Sally. “And Lisa, I’ve got a WHIP IT T-shirt waiting for you at the end of the night.” The younger girl wasn’t old enough yet to officially be paid a salary. “Plus two free shakes a week for the rest of the school year. Deal?”