Where Azaleas Bloom

by Sherryl Woods

  Mitch let the comment pass. This wasn’t the time to chide his son for his seeming lack of direction.

  “Well, let’s get your things inside and get you settled. Then you can tell me all about your plans,” Mitch said. “There’s food, if you’re hungry. And I thought tomorrow we might go to Sullivan’s.” He turned to Jo. “That’s the best restaurant in town. It has a great reputation around the state.”

  “I know,” she said. “Nate’s told me all about it and I read some of the reviews online. I’d love to go there.”

  “But not tomorrow,” Nate said. “Sorry, Dad. Some of my buddies from high school are coming home this weekend. Luke said he’d drive over in the morning, too. I want to get the gang together at Rosalina’s so they can meet Jo. Maybe we can go to Sullivan’s for Sunday brunch before we head back to school.”

  Mitch nodded. “Works for me. You say your brother’s coming home?”

  “He told me he was. He didn’t call?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Typical,” Nate said.

  Inside the house, Nate gave him a questioning look. Mitch knew exactly what he was wondering. “Your room,” he said, though getting the words out without a hint of regret was a struggle.

  Nate clapped a hand on his back as he headed toward the steps. “Thanks, Dad.”

  With the couple upstairs, Mitch stood in front of the mantel staring at his favorite family picture. Though there had been many through the years taken in a photography studio, this one, taken on a trip to the beach with everyone windblown, sunburned and laughing, was his favorite.

  “Oh, Amy, guide me through this,” he murmured, looking into her eyes.

  He sensed, rather than heard, Nate come up beside him. “Do you think Mom would approve?” he asked hesitantly.

  Mitch turned to him. “I know she would,” he said with conviction. Even he had seen the way the two of them had looked at each other. It was a lot like the way he and Amy were looking at each other over their children’s heads in the picture. Whatever reservations he might have were almost beside the point in the face of all that undisguised joy.

  * * *

  In the morning Mitch left Nate and Jo asleep at the house and headed over to Raylene’s. He only intended to hand out paychecks, make sure the work was progressing well, then head back home, but instead he found himself gravitating to Lynn’s.

  He knocked on the back door, tested the knob, then shook his head when it opened immediately.

  “Lynn, are you here?” he called out.

  “I’ll be right there,” she replied. “There’s coffee if you want some. Help yourself.”

  He poured himself a cup, then waited, resisting the urge to wander into the living room. He’d noticed on his last visit that there was a virtual shrine to Ed set up on top of an old upright piano. He knew the pictures had probably been kept out for the sake of Jeremy and Lexie, but he’d wanted to smash them so they wouldn’t be in Lynn’s face. Who knew, though? Maybe she wanted them there as much as the kids did. Maybe she wasn’t as over the man as he wanted to believe she was.

  He’d just settled at the kitchen table—a much more welcoming environment to his way of thinking—when Lexie came in. She was still in her pajamas or what he assumed passed for pajamas these days. Looked a lot like what he saw some girls wearing at the mall, too. The loose pants and a tank top seemed to be go-anywhere attire, though he imagined there was some distinction that eluded him.

  “How come you’re over here?” Lexie asked curiously as she poured some cereal into a bowl.

  Mitch noticed that she was careful not to fill the bowl or to add much more than a splash of milk. Given the amount of food she managed to consume over at Raylene’s, he knew it wasn’t because she was dieting excessively. The thought of her having to restrict every mouthful she took in her own home to make sure there was enough left for her mom and brother made him want to go down to that fancy brick mausoleum Ed had built and slug the man squarely in the jaw.

  “I just stopped by to see how your mom’s doing with those bills she was going to send for me,” he told Lexie as she sat across from him and started eating. “You knew she was working for me part-time, right?”

  “Is that why you were here the other night, too?” she asked, looking him straight in the eye. “Mandy thinks it’s because you’ve got a thing for my mom.”

  Mitch nearly choked on a sip of coffee. She and her best friend were speculating over his motives? What sort of romantic ideas had he unleashed in those two? And how was he supposed to respond?

  He settled for at least a half truth. “Your mom and I have been friends for a long time. We’ve known each other most of our lives,”

  Lexie’s eyes lit up. “Did you ever date?” she inquired, her curiosity obviously fanned.

  Only in his dreams, Mitch thought, suddenly trying to contain his amusement at the determined cross-examination. “No.”

  “Did you want to?” she persisted. “I mean, I know my mom fell for my dad when they were pretty young, but what about you? Did you want to ask her out?”

  “I considered it,” he said. Knowing full well that she’d turn him down had deterred him. No adolescent kid risked certain rejection.

  “Why didn’t you?”

  “As you said, your mom was crazy about your dad. We all knew it.”

  Lexie gave him a look that was entirely too world-weary for a girl her age. “She’s not anymore.”

  Thank heaven Lynn came into the kitchen before he had to think of a response to that. She studied her daughter with a narrowed gaze.

  “What was that about?”

  “Just trying to figure things out,” Lexie said cheerfully. “Gotta run. Mandy and I are going to the library, and then we have that babysitting certification class. We might go shopping or have lunch after that.”

  “You need money?” Lynn asked.

  Lexie immediately shook her head. “Mandy’s got it,” she called over her shoulder as she took off for her room.

  Mitch saw the defeated look on Lynn’s face before she could cover it. “She’s an intuitive kid,” he said.

  “To me that’s another way of saying she’s growing up entirely too fast. Do you know she’s turned down an allowance from me ever since Ed left? Now she’s taking this babysitting class, hoping I’ll let her take a few jobs.”

  “All kids need a little spending money of their own.”

  “They do,” Lynn agreed. “That’s not why she wants it. She wants to help with the bills around here.” She shook her head. “I’ve already told her that’s not her responsibility. Any money she makes will go into savings or she can spend it on herself.”

  “It’s clear that she’s very protective of you. You should have heard her just now.”

  Lynn regarded him with alarm. “What did she say?”

  “Settle down,” he said. “She asked a few questions, that’s all. Dropped a few hints.”

  “About what?”

  “My intentions. Your availability,” he told her, grinning now that the uncomfortable moments were behind him.

  Lynn groaned. “She didn’t! Are you kidding me?”

  “She did.”

  “I am so, so sorry.”

  “Don’t be. I’m glad to know that somebody else has your back.”

  Lynn looked thoroughly disconcerted by the conversation, so Mitch let it drop. “Actually, I stopped by to see if you’d had any problems with the billing. I’
m sorry I didn’t get by here yesterday.”

  “It took a while, but they all got done. I dropped them in the mail late yesterday afternoon. Now, as long as nobody comes over here screaming about being overcharged because I put a decimal point in the wrong place, I think I have that under control.” She finally turned away from the sink and faced him. “So, how did it go last night? With Nate and the fiancée? Are you still worried?”

  “Not half as much as I was. She looks like she ought to be in high school, but she’s twenty-three and getting a master’s in May, then studying to be a chemical engineer.”

  “Wow!”

  Mitch chuckled. “I know. Intimidates the heck out of me, but, surprisingly, Nate just thinks she’s amazing. He’s content to have her be the brains in the family, likely even the major breadwinner, as far as I can tell.” He frowned. “Should I be worried about that, do you think? Should he be showing more ambition?”

  “I imagine every couple figures out the kind of relationship balance that works for them. Look at Helen and Erik. She’s a high-powered attorney with a statewide reputation and he’s a chef in a small-town restaurant. He doesn’t seem to be the least bit threatened by that.”

  “Need I remind you that that restaurant has an outstanding reputation all over the state?” Mitch said. “I doubt Dana Sue would appreciate any hint that it’s some local dive.”

  Lynn winced. “I didn’t mean it that way. I was just making a point. And to continue with that, Cal doesn’t seem to notice that Maddie’s ten years older than he is. There are all sorts of things that make couples seem unlikely to outsiders, but that work perfectly for them.”

  Mitch nodded. “I suppose in a way that was even true for Amy and me. I was a blue-collar guy all the way and she was a debutante. Did you know that?”

  Lynn shook her head. “I never would have guessed. The few times I met her, she seemed totally down-to-earth.” She shrugged. “Then, again, so’s Raylene, and she was a debutante, too.”

  “With Amy sometimes I wondered how our paths even crossed, but fate stepped in and there she was one day when I was over at Sullivan’s Island with my folks. Her blueblood Charleston family nearly had a coronary when we said we wanted to get married. They insisted that she had to go to college, and if it was what she still wanted after graduation, they promised to go along with it. Then she got pregnant with Nate, and that was that. They couldn’t get us down the aisle fast enough. I think they finally reconciled themselves to having me in the family when Luke was born, and Amy and I were still together and happy.”

  “My folks never approved of Ed,” Lynn confided. “I think they saw him in a way I didn’t until we started this divorce process. My father always thought he was shallow and self-involved. Most of the time my mom managed to get him to keep his opinion to himself, but both of them slipped up enough that I knew exactly how they felt.”

  Her smile was rueful. “Of course, I wouldn’t listen, because what do parents know? Some days I wish I had listened, but then I wouldn’t have Lexie and Jeremy. They’re worth whatever pain I’m going through now. And I can’t help thinking the one good thing about having lost my parents a few years ago is that they don’t have to see the way he’s behaving now. And I don’t have to hear so many I-told-you-so comments.”

  “What about his folks? I know they’re still right here in town. Have they stepped up at all?”

  A hint of temper sparked in her eyes. “And suggest for even an instant that their precious son might be in the wrong? Not a chance,” she said heatedly, then flushed. “Sorry. They’re good people, but they have a blind spot where Ed’s concerned. Heaven knows what he’s told them about the divorce, but I’m sure they think I’m the one in the wrong.”

  “Maybe you need to set them straight before they say something in front of the kids,” he suggested.

  “Too late,” Lynn said. “Lexie already refuses to go over there because her grandmother said something about me that upset her. She refuses to tell me what was said. It’s taken everything in me not to go charging over there to warn them they’ll never see either of my kids again if they don’t watch what they say around them.”

  “Maybe you should,” he told her, angry on her behalf.

  She shook her head. “I don’t want to escalate things. As far as I know, there was only the one slip. I’m sure when Lexie stopped going over, they got the message. For all their flaws, they adore the kids. I know they have to be missing her.”

  Mitch would have been content to stay right here for a second cup of coffee, but he knew he was getting entirely too comfortable being with Lynn. The other night they’d established the need to take it slow, for both their sakes. He had to honor that.

  “I should get over and check on my crew.” He hesitated, debating with himself, then decided to ask. “I’m taking the kids to Sullivan’s for brunch tomorrow. Luke’s coming home, so he’ll be there, too. Would you, Lexie and Jeremy like to come along?”

  The invitation clearly flustered her. “Thanks, but I think that’s a bad idea.”

  Mitch frowned. “What’s bad about it?”

  “You’re going out for a family celebration. I think your boys would take it the wrong way if I came along with my kids. It might raise questions that not even we know how to answer at this point.”

  Mitch reluctantly concurred. Her wisdom, inconvenient though it might feel, was another thing he saw to admire about her. “You’re probably right. Another time, then, okay?”

  She smiled. “We’ll see.”

  Knowing it was useless to press for more when her mind was clearly made up, he stood. “See you on Monday, then.”

  “See you,” she said. “I’m glad you have your family home this weekend and that things are good with Nate.”

  “Thanks.” He headed for the back door. As he opened it, he turned and regarded her with the stern expression he usually reserved to get through to his sons. “And lock the darn door, you hear me?”

  Lynn’s laugh rang out. While the sound pleased him, it also signaled that she wasn’t taking his admonition one bit seriously. For the second time in recent days, he shook his head and turned the lock himself. He wondered just how long it would take her to flip it back.

  7

  When they were seated around a table at Sullivan’s on Sunday, Mitch surveyed his family and felt a familiar stirring of sorrow. Amy should have been here for this. He had a hunch his invitation to Lynn the day before had, in part, been an attempt to fill the void that would be left by his late wife’s absence. He knew, though, that Lynn had been wise to decline. It wasn’t the time to introduce someone new into his sons’ lives, especially when things with Lynn were far from certain.

  “Dad, you okay?” Luke asked, leaning closer and regarding him with concern.

  Mitch was still surprised when his younger son showed so much insight. Nate was more like him in a lot of ways with his carefree exuberance, but Luke was pure Amy, filled with compassion and taking everything to heart.

  “Just wishing your mom were here for this,” he told Luke.

  “I know. I think she’d love Jo, though, don’t you?”

  Mitch nodded. “I do.”

  “Hey, Dad, how about a bottle of champagne?” Nate asked.

  “Sure, why not?” he said, beckoning their waitress.

  When she returned with the requested bottle and glasses, Mitch declined. “I’m good with sparkling water.”

  The waitress poured three glasses,
though she gave Luke a considering look before filling his. Mitch, however, moved the glass aside. “He’ll have sparkling water, too.”

  “But I’ll be twenty-one in a couple of months,” Luke protested.

  “Then in two months, we’ll have champagne and toast you,” Mitch said. “I don’t want Dana Sue losing her liquor license because her waitress looked the other way and served you.”

  Since he noticed that Nate had been watching him curiously ever since he’d declined the drink for himself, Mitch decided to forgo the rest of the lecture about underage drinking. Instead, he raised his glass in a toast.

  “To Nate and Jo,” he began. “I hope you have many wonderful years together and, Nate, I especially hope that the two of you are blessed with as much happiness as your mom and I had.”

  “Hear, hear,” Luke echoed, lifting his own glass of sparkling water. “To Nate and Jo. I’m not losing a brother. I’m gaining a really smart and probably successful sister.”

  “Could I make a toast?” Jo asked softly, her expression uncertain.

  “Of course,” Mitch said. “This is your celebration, after all.”

  “To Amy,” she said, her gaze resting on each of them in turn. “From everything Nate has told me, she must have been an incredible woman. I truly wish I’d had the chance to know her.”

  “To Amy,” Mitch said, his voice choked by her sweetly sentimental tribute to a woman she’d never even met, but respected just the same. It told him a lot about his son, too, that Nate had talked about his mother so glowingly.

  “To Mom,” Nate and Luke echoed. Nate leaned over and kissed his fiancée. “Thank you.”

  “I just wanted to acknowledge that she’s very much with us today,” Jo said, proving once more what an amazing girl Nate had found.

  Since there was a drive ahead for both Nate and Luke, they wrapped up the meal quickly after just one drink. Mitch knew Nate would go for a run to work off that single glass of champagne before getting behind the wheel, and Luke likely would go with him. The two had an ongoing challenge to see if they could best each other in every sport. Once it had been baseball and football. They’d even had a go at tennis. These days it was running. Nate had always been the stronger athlete, but Luke was quickly catching up to him. He’d entered his first triathalon, scheduled for later this spring, and had been taunting his brother about it for weeks now.