“Actually, she kept the roses, Gerard.”
“She did?” His voice brightened.
“Yeah…they’re on her dining room table right now.”
“Hmm…maybe there’s hope.”
“I don’t know, Gerard. But if it’s any consolation, I’ve been praying for you two to get back together. I know that’s what Tristan wants too.”
“Thanks, Emma. You’re a rock. And thanks for letting Tristan call me on your phone too. I know that Anne has limited our calls to ten minutes. The judge wouldn’t agree with that, but again…I don’t want to rock her boat.”
“I told Tristan I wouldn’t mention this call to his mom.”
“I get ya. Thanks.”
They said goodbye, and Emma went over to the roses that had supposedly been from Lane. Oh, maybe Anne hadn’t said as much, but she had certainly insinuated it. And, seeing the dark red petals on the table, she no longer felt guilty for overstepping any boundaries with her sister. Not when it came to Lane Forester anyway.
Maybe this was childishness on her part, or maybe she was stooping down to Anne’s level, but Emma was fed up. Of course, she was well aware that her baby sister had always been a master of manipulation. Whether it was by batting those big blue eyes or stomping her little size six feet, Anne knew how to get what she wanted. She’d been doing it all her life. And maybe it was about time Emma put a stop to allowing her little sister to work her.
The next afternoon Lane came down into the bookstore. At first Emma thought he was just passing through, but then she noticed he appeared to be looking for something on the Valentine’s Day table.
“Can I help you?” she asked cheerfully.
“Oh, Emma, I didn’t see you there.” He set down a leather-bound gift edition of Pride and Prejudice and smiled at her.
“Looking for a valentine for someone?” she asked. Suddenly she wondered if he was picking out something for her sister. And if he was, wouldn’t she feel foolish for asking to help? Perhaps she should just leave.
“As a matter of fact, I am.” He looked directly into her eyes.
“Well, as you can see, we have an assortment of gift suggestions.” She knew her voice sounded overly formal and businesslike, but she couldn’t help herself.
“I know. That’s why I came here. I need something really special.”
“Well, a good book and a good box of chocolates can be pretty special.”
“These leather-bound Austen books are very nice.” He picked up Emma. “Particularly this title.”
She laughed nervously. “Yes, well, that’s an exceptional Austen book. Many think it was her best.”
He nodded. “I’d be inclined to agree.”
“You’ve read it?”
“Sure. Poppi encouraged me to sample Jane Austen along with all the other classics.”
“My mother loves Jane Austen,” she confided. “Anne and I were both named after Austen characters.”
He nodded. “Poppi mentioned that to me once.” He tucked the book under his arm. “And which chocolates go best with this particular title?”
She frowned down at the chocolates. “I don’t know. It depends on who you’re buying them for. Some people like dark chocolate. Some like light. And some even like white.” She wrinkled her nose. “Not me.”
He chuckled. “Me neither.”
“I think this box looks like a good one.” She pointed to the most expensive box of chocolates. “Although it’s mostly dark chocolate and someone like my sister would be disappointed because she hates dark chocolate.”
He picked up the box. “That looks perfect.”
Now Emma felt a small rush of hope going through her.
“I saw the sign on the door saying that you ship Valentine’s gifts, but today is the deadline for getting them there in time.”
“That’s right.” She nodded, feeling idiotic again. Had she really assumed the book and chocolates were for her? What was wrong with her? “Want me to wrap it and get it ready for shipping?” she asked. “UPS picks up in about an hour.”
“Yes. You get it started while I pick out a card.”
“Certainly,” she said in her formal tone again. “I’ll get right to it.” Feeling like a romantic fool, she walked over to the register, where she carefully wrapped the book and chocolates in pink tissue paper, topped by a pretty foil paper with red and pink hearts. She also took the time to put a ribbon around it, carefully curling it. She was just finishing up when Lane came with a card.
“That looks pretty,” he said as she rang up the purchases. “My mom is going to love it.”
“It’s for your mom?” she said wistfully. “How sweet.”
He locked eyes with her. “Yeah, I think she’ll like it. Especially the book title.”
Emma didn’t know what to say to that. More and more she felt like she was on a roller-coaster ride with this man. Up and down and up and down. She waited as he filled in the address information then signed the receipt and gift card. “That’s all we need,” she told him. “The UPS guy should be here before long and it will get to your mom by Monday or Tuesday at the latest.”
“Thanks.” He continued standing there, with both hand palms down on the counter, just watching her.
“Anything else I can help you with?” She glanced over his shoulder to where an elderly woman was waiting with several books.
“As a matter of fact, you can.” He made a hopeful smile. “Let me take you to dinner on Saturday night.”
She blinked. “What?”
“I’m asking you out, Emma. Will you go?”
“Well…uh…yes.” She nodded eagerly. “I’d love to.”
“Really?” He looked shocked.
“Yes. What time?” She smiled at the woman.
“Uh…is seven…uh…okay?” He still looked surprised, almost as if he thought she’d decline.
“Perfect.”
“Great. I’ll pick you up at seven then.” He grinned. “See ya.”
On Saturday morning, Emma was a bundle of nerves. To think that she was going out with Lane tonight. But she was trying to act calm for Nona’s sake.
“I guess Dad’s dinner was a success last night,” she said as she set a bowl of hot oatmeal in front of her grandmother.
“What makes you say that?” Nona looked up with interest.
“Mom never came home.” Emma filled Nona’s coffee cup. “I mean back here. I assume she slept in her own bed last night.”
Nona chuckled. “Praise be to God.”
Emma got her own bowl of oatmeal and sat down, waiting for Nona to say her usual blessing. Then, as they quietly ate together, Emma told Nona that she had a dinner date. “We have still have leftovers from cooking lessons with Dad,” she said. “But I can fix something—”
“No, no.” Nona held up a hand. “I put up with this when Saundra was here, Emma. But now that it’s you and me, I want you to stop coddling me like an invalid.”
Emma smiled. “You’re not an invalid.”
“I am feeling strong and well, dolce. Yes, I am sad sometimes. But when you love someone as I loved Poppi, you have a right to be sad, no?”
Emma nodded. “Yes, Nona. You have a right.”
“Now, tell me. Who is your dinner date? Is it a man?”
“As a matter of fact, it is a man.” Emma took in a breath. “It is Lane Forester.”
Nona’s dark eyes lit up and she clapped her hands. “Oh, dolce, that is wonderful.”
“Really?” Emma was almost afraid to breathe. “But what about Anne?”
“What about her?”
“I think she’s in love with Lane.”
Nona waved her hand dismissively. “Does not matter.”
“Why not?”
“Lane is not in love with her.”
“How do you know?”
“You just look at him, dolce. You can see it. Poppi knew it. So do I.”
“But Mom thinks they should get married. Anne does too.”
/> “Does not matter what they think. Lane knows what he wants. He has asked you to dinner, dolce. That is all you need to know.”
“But what about Anne? What about bad blood between sisters?”
“Oh, cara mia. I think you worry too much.”
Emma smiled. “I think you’re right.”
“You know what Poppi would say, don’t you?”
“Follow your heart?”
Nona patted her hand. “Yes. And not to worry so much! It is much better to pray than to worry, dolce.”
“I’ll try to keep that in mind.” And throughout the day, that is exactly what she tried to do. Each time she felt worried, she prayed. And by the time she was getting ready for her date, she felt relatively relaxed.
Chapter 13
Emma knew it was a little redundant, and her mother would certainly not approve, but she dressed in the exact same outfit she’d worn for the fundraiser for Saturday night’s date. But when Lane picked her up, he told her she looked beautiful and she could tell by the look in his eyes that he meant it.
“Thank you,” she said as he opened the car door for her. “You look very handsome too.” Although Lane wasn’t dressed formally, he looked smart in his dark trousers and well-cut suede jacket.
He thanked her, and she took in a steadying breath as hurried around to his side of the car. She couldn’t believe she was really doing this—having dinner with Lane Forester. It seemed like a dream.
“I’m so glad you agreed to go out with me,” he said as he drove toward town. “For some reason I was certain you were going to turn me down when I asked you.”
“Why?”
“A number of reasons.”
“Such as?”
“For starters, you told me yourself, the night we decorated the bookstore, you were soured on romance.”
“Yes, but I’m trying to adjust my attitude.”
“Besides that, it seemed each time I thought we were getting somewhere, you’d chill me out or shut me down. I couldn’t figure you out.”
She pressed her lips together. “Well…that had to do with Anne.”
“You really believed I was interested in her?”
“I wasn’t sure how you felt, but I knew she was interested in you. She still is.” Emma exhaled loudly. “In fact, when she hears about this…well, it will be awkward.”
“I’m sorry, Emma. Have I put you in a tough position?”
“A little bit.”
“But Anne will forgive you, won’t she?”
“I don’t know…I hope so.”
“She will, Emma. I know she will.”
“Yes…you’re probably right.”
“For the remainder of the night, I want to make one rule. If you don’t mind?”
“What’s that?”
“We will not talk about or think about your sister. Okay?”
She made a relieved sigh. “Yes.”
“Now I want to know more about you,” he said as he turned onto Main Street. “I want to know everything about you.”
“Everything? All in one night? You must think there’s not much to tell,” she teased.
“Well, hopefully we’ll have more than one night to get acquainted. But tell me about yourself, what it was like growing up here, your college days, your job in Seattle, your ex-boyfriends.” He chuckled. “I want to hear it all.”
So as the evening progressed, Emma told him about how she often felt the misfit as a child. “At least in my own family. Mom and Anne were like two peas in a pod. I really related more to Nona.” She described her college days, which sounded rather uninteresting. She even told him how she got her heart broken once and how most of the guys were just plain disappointing.
“Although I think I might have a phantom in my closet,” she confided as he parked the car in front of the elegant Napoli Restaurant on top of the hill overlooking the town.
“So you were listening the other night.”
She laughed. “Well, my phantom is probably different than what you were suggesting. But I think it messes with my mind just the same.”
He went around to her door, reaching for her hand to help her out. “Did I tell you that you look beautiful?” he said in a slightly teasing tone.
“Yes, I believe you did. But don’t hold back—feel free to express yourself.”
He chuckled. “Well, you are beautiful, Emma. And it feels good to be able to tell you. I wanted to say so before, but I wasn’t sure you were ready to hear it.”
She laughed. “I’ve never felt beautiful,” she admitted as they walked up to the restaurant. “I always felt like the ugly duckling growing up. Anne was the beauty.”
“Like you said, it’s in the eyes of the beholder.” He opened the door to the restaurant. “Do you like Napoli’s?”
“I adore it.”
“I thought you would. Some people think it’s old-fashioned, but I love it.”
Before long, they were seated and their conversation continued. But after a bit, Emma told him it was his turn to answer questions.
“Yes, of course. Ask away. I have nothing to hide.”
“Good…so do you mind if I cut to the chase?”
“Please, do.”
“I’ve asked myself dozens of times why a great guy like you is still single. If it’s not presumptuous, will you please explain yourself?” She smiled hopefully.
“Absolutely.” Lane started in on a story of how he’d been equally interested in sports and academics in school. “I was kind of shy around girls in high school, then I got a college scholarship, as a result I took my studies seriously. Then I was very focused on my career and building a business. I was too distracted to do much dating.” He gazed fondly at her. “Besides, I was waiting for the perfect girl.”
“Me too,” she declared. “I mean, the perfect guy. Everyone told me I was setting my sights too high.”
He pointed to his chest. “Same thing. When I turned thirty, my mom started a gentle nagging campaign. She was worried I’d never find someone. About that time I met a beautiful woman…Brianna. And I suppose I was ripe to become totally smitten. A bit like poor Erik in Phantom of the Opera. I was beside myself with her beauty…so much so that I completely forgot to investigate her character or get to know her better.”
“Oh…”
“By then I was working with my business partner, a guy named Marcus—who was married with a baby on the way—and, well, we were pretty well established in our software design firm. Had some really good accounts. In other words, we were successful. So Brianna and I married, and I thought we were happy, or I told myself we were happy. She seemed happy. We had a nice home, good friends. But I did work a lot. Anyway…two years into the marriage, I found out that she was having an affair.”
“Oh, no.” Emma shook her head.
He nodded. “She was sleeping with Marcus.”
“Your partner? But he was married? With a child?”
“All of the above.”
“Oh…dear.”
“That’s when I decided I’d had enough. I made the knee-jerk decision to sell my half of the business to Marcus. And I left Seattle and Brianna to take this job here. Last I heard, Marcus’s marriage bit the dust and he and Brianna are still together. I just hope Roxie—that’s Marcus’s first wife—got a good settlement from him.”
“So that’s why you were a little jaded about love and romance when you moved here?” she said slowly. “Why Poppi took you under his wing.”
Lane chuckled. “I can’t help but think Poppi was grooming me.”
“For Anne?”
He shrugged. “Or for you. Who knows?”
They talked on and on, enjoying the food and the company and the wine. But finally Emma felt concerned for Nona. “I hate for this evening to end,” she said. “But Nona is home alone.” Now she told him about how her mom had gone back to her dad yesterday.
“Well, that’s good news. But you’re right. We should get you home.”
Th
ey continued talking all the way home, and she considered asking him in, but wasn’t sure about it. And so when he walked her to the front door, she simply thanked him. “It was a perfect date,” she told him. “Beyond anything I ever imagined.”
“Then let’s end it on a perfect note.” He leaned forward. “If you don’t mind.”
“Not at all,” she whispered as she leaned toward him. Suddenly she felt herself melting into a kiss that was so full of passion and warmth and longing that she felt slightly breathless and weak in the knees.
“Perfect,” she whispered as they stepped away.
He nodded. “Perfect.”
On Sunday, Emma rose early. She felt as if she were walking in a sweet dream as she fixed her and Nona’s breakfast and then got ready for church. However, as she drove into the church parking lot, she was not so sure. What about Anne and Tristan? Didn’t Lane usually sit with them in church? How would Emma feel if he was doing that today? Why hadn’t she asked him about it? She still had so many questions.
She waited as Nona slowly made her way out of the car, then, linking her arm in hers, they walked up to the church. They were about halfway there when Lane came out to meet them. Falling into step alongside Nona, he took her other arm in his. “Good morning, ladies,” he said cheerfully. “Can I escort you into the sanctuary?”
They thanked him and he led them in, and then the three of them sat in Nona’s favorite pew. As the church filled up, Emma tried to ignore the looks that she got from Anne as well as her mother, who was sitting next to her dad. Fortunately her dad just smiled and waved. And once again, instead of worrying or obsessing, Emma decided to simply pray.
After the church service, as they visited with her parents, Tristan came over to talk to them. To her relief, he seemed completely oblivious to what was so obviously disturbing his mother. Anne was standing a fair distance from them, pretending to visit with a friend, but her eyes kept darting toward them, and the expression on her face was not a happy one.
However, Lane and Emma continued acting perfectly natural, as if there were nothing unusual about them being together. And soon they were exiting the church with Nona. Emma let out a big sigh of relief. “Glad that’s over,” she said as they walked through the parking lot.
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