Bare Essentials

by Leslie Kelly Jill Shalvis

  The line to get into the store Monday morning wound down the cobbled sidewalk, blocking the entrance to the Tea Room. That obviously ticked Mrs. McIntyre off royally, because she’d posted a snippy little sign saying Do Not Block Stairs on her porch railing.

  Kate heard later that a few of the Tea Room biddies had made rude comments about the store. They’d been overruled by the people in line, including Mayor Otis who declared Kate and Cassie worthy of a civic award for their efforts to revitalize Pleasantville’s downtown shopping district.

  A neighboring city had even sent in a news truck. Sure, it was a teeny cable station, with a viewership of about eight, but it was exciting, nonetheless. The reporter conducted interviews with the customers, many of whom were the Bunko women who’d come to the pre-opening party last week. Their husbands were even more enthusiastic in their support of the new shop.

  Singles, couples, young and old, the populace of Pleasantville chatted and laughed, lauding the store as an asset to the town while they shopped their hearts out.

  Armand’s lingerie was a huge hit, with sexy books and fun-and-naughty gifts doing well, too. Kate suspected the hotter items—dildoes, vibrators and the like—would sell better when there were no throngs of townspeople present. Or TV cameras.

  If Kate hadn’t already changed her mind about wanting this store to fail, she might be feeling pretty upset about its obvious success. Now, since she wanted it to succeed, she should be feeling at least triumph, if not downright jubilation.

  Depressed better described her mood.

  Stupid. It was stupid, juvenile and girlish, but she was depressed about Jack asking her to move in with him yesterday.

  The modern woman who carried a vibrator around in her purse should have been thrilled, recognizing Jack had really been offering a sort of commitment in today’s day and age.

  A deeper, more vulnerable part of her had been very hurt.

  Did he want her to serve the same function as her mother had? The woman who was good enough to mess around with, but not the one you married, not the one you had children with?

  Men from Lilac Hill didn’t marry trashy Tremaine women. They had sex with them in secret and left them stuff in their wills, but they certainly didn’t introduce them to their mothers or give them wedding rings.

  She knew her reaction was unfair. She’d seen motives and desires he might never have intended. And it wasn’t as if Jack knew about his father’s relationship with her mother, so he couldn’t possibly have realized how she might take it.

  Kate was intelligent enough to know her own deep-down insecurity had made her tense up when he’d asked. That didn’t lessen the feeling, though.

  At the end of the day, a few minutes before closing time, Kate found herself alone behind the cash register. Cassie had run an errand, most of the shoppers had left. There were one or two people in the dressing rooms, she believed. She was ready for them to get out so she could go take a long, hot bath. When the bell jingled over the door, she glanced up and saw, to her surprise, Darren McIntyre.

  “Still open for business?”

  She glanced at the clock. “You’ve got two minutes. Tell me what you’re looking for. I’ll point you in the right direction.”

  He shrugged. “How about the apology area?”

  Kate dropped her pencil. “Huh?”

  Darren walked over to the counter, not able to disguise his interest as he studied the various items on the shelves. He chuckled. “Bet my father never pictured this display case being used for those when he had it installed.” When Kate didn’t reply, he said, “Look, Kate, I came to apologize. I know it was years ago, and I’m sure you’ve forgotten, but I was a jerk to you in high school and I’m sorry.”

  Well, indeed, a day of surprises. “That’s nice of you, Darren. I appreciate it. I know it’s probably not easy for you to walk in here, remembering your dad and all.”

  He shrugged. “My father had every right to do with this building whatever he wanted to. I’m sure he’d rather see it open as a ladies’ shop than sitting here moldering away. My mother on the other hand…”

  Kate snorted. “Yeah, I can imagine.”

  “Divorce can be tough.” He glanced away. “On everyone. You marry someone you think you know, think you love, then you find out you don’t really know them at all.”

  She figured he was referring to his marriage but didn’t ask. After a minute of small talk Darren said, “I’d better go. I just wanted to wish you luck and to say I’m sorry. Your, uh, friend Armand reminded me the other night that you might have a score to settle.”

  Kate shook her head, putting aside not only Darren’s doubts, but any of her own. “No, Darren, I don’t.” Not anymore.

  Darren had no sooner left, shutting the door behind them, when Kate heard someone emerge from the dressing room area. She sensed her long, hot bath was going to be further delayed when she recognized Angela. “I didn’t know you were here.”

  “Stay away from Darren,” the woman said. “You got your revenge. Your friend made a big fool out of the both of us the other night, so leave him alone.”

  Seeing tears in the other woman’s eyes, Kate had to wonder whether Angela had ever given up on her first marriage. Any sympathy she felt for Angela evaporated when she saw the book she held. Her diary. The last time she’d seen it, it had been in a drawer in a desk in the storage room. “Snooping?”

  Angela didn’t even have the grace to flush. “Stay away from my brother, too. I won’t let you hurt him in some nasty plot.”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Suddenly so tired, Kate rubbed her eyes. She didn’t want to have this conversation. Ever.

  Angela slammed the diary on the counter, open to the page with Kate’s revenge list. “Yes, I do. Didn’t you write this? ‘For Mom’s sake, get even with the Winfield family,’” she read. “‘Particularly John Winfield.’ My father isn’t around to hurt anymore, so you’ve decided to focus on my brother. A different man, but who cares, the name’s the same, right?”

  Kate took a deep breath, trying to remain calm enough to deal with Jack’s sister, trying to have sympathy for her, given the way Jack had described her childhood. “Angela, that was years ago. I don’t have any intention of hurting Jack.”

  The other woman crossed her arms. “Just like you didn’t want revenge on me and Darren, by setting us up to look like fools at the mayor’s reception the other night? Like you didn’t want to hurt the town by opening up this shop? Don’t give me that. You want to hurt my family the way your mother did.”

  Then it hit her. Angela didn’t seem the least bit surprised her diary had spoken of Edie and John. She tilted her head and stared at the woman. “You knew. About their affair.”

  Angela nodded. “Of course I knew. I’ve known for years. Everyone knows, even my mother.”

  Everyone? Including Jack?

  “The point is, Kate, your secret’s out. I’m going to tell Jack all about this little revenge list of yours, which you’ve been crossing off since the day you hit town.”

  Kate shook her head. “You’re wrong. I care about Jack.”

  She smirked. “Won’t matter. Jack doesn’t care about you. You’ve been about one thing to him from the very beginning. He doesn’t love you. Winfields don’t marry trashy Tremaine women who own sex shops or work as maids. He won’t marry you any more than my father married your mother.”

  Kate’s anger made her reply so quickly her mind barely registered the ringing of the bell over the front door. “Thanks to your mother.” At Angela’s puzzled look, Kate said, “She made sure of it. Trapping him into marriage with a fake pregnancy just to get him away from my mother, who was his girlfriend throughout high school! That’s probably just what you did to Darren, only he didn’t stick around like your father did after he found out. So don’t talk to me about families being hurt. If anyone deserves some payback, it’s the Winfields.”

  Angela had grown pale and looked utterly shocked. K
ate regretted the words as soon as she said them, angry with herself for letting the woman goad her so. Kate regretted them even more when she realized who had walked into the store.

  Seeing the late-afternoon sunlight shining through the front windows onto a familiar—and very dear—blond head, she felt the blood drain from her face. “Jack.”

  “Do I even want to know what’s going on here?” Jack forced a note of calmness in his voice as he walked across the store to the counter, where Kate and his sister both stood. They looked equally as disturbed by his appearance.

  “This is a misunderstanding…”

  “She came here for one reason. To get revenge,” Angela said at the same time. His sister thrust a small book in his hand, obviously a diary. “She’s been plotting it for years. Against me and Darren—we were both totally humiliated by her gay friend the other night. But she’s not satisfied yet, she’s out to get the whole town, including you.”

  He didn’t look at his sister, focusing all his attention on Kate. “Angela, would you please leave?”

  He thought she’d argue, but she didn’t. Looking confused and upset, more than angry, Angela grabbed her purse and hurried out of the store. As soon as they were alone, Jack put the diary back on the counter.

  “It’s not like she said…”

  “I know about your revenge list, remember?” he interrupted softly. “You don’t have to explain it to me.”

  She looked relieved. For a moment, anyway.

  He continued. “I once asked you if it would be bad for me to see the list. When you said yes, I figured it mentioned Angela. Was she right? Was there more to it than that?”

  Kate took a slow, deep breath, then nodded.

  “You knew about my father and Edie.”

  She crossed her arms tightly. “I found out on prom night.”

  He absorbed her words and said a silent curse. Both Kate and his sister had learned as teenagers of their parents’ affair. He again kicked himself for leaving town, for not being around when he might have been needed.

  “When did you find out?” she asked softly.

  “The night I met you,” he admitted. “After I left you at the theater. I had absolutely no idea who you were until then. I didn’t even know your last name, remember?”

  She glanced away, her face growing even paler.

  As a heavy, uncomfortable silence fell between them, Jack mentally replayed what he’d heard of the conversation. He still had trouble believing it. Not that Kate had written a revenge list, he’d known about it before, after all. He just hadn’t known his entire family was part of the plot. Somehow, it had been easy to imagine she’d gotten over any high school hurts, so he’d accepted her assurances that she really wasn’t opening her store for revenge. Now, however, he had to wonder.

  “I have to know,” he finally said, “was your list on your mind when you came back here? When we got involved?”

  She stared at him, not answering.

  “Tell me, Kate. When you decided to come back to Pleasantville, did you think about a little payback? Getting involved with me, then breaking my heart, like you thought my dad did to your mom?”

  She countered with a question of her own. “You tell me something, Jack. The night we met, when you found out who I was, that Edie Tremaine was my mother…is that the reason you never called? The reason you decided we couldn’t get involved?”

  He answered easily. “Of course.”

  She stiffened, as if offended by his honesty, though he didn’t know why. He opened his mouth to elaborate, to tell her how hurt he’d been for Edie, how he’d wanted to make it up to her and not take advantage of Kate.

  Before he could say a word, however, she picked up her purse and keys. “Thanks for being honest. Now, you want the truth? Here it is. I came back here with every intention of seducing J. J. Winfield.” Stepping around the counter, she met his stare steadily with her own. “I planned to get him to go crazy over me, then stomp his heart into the dust with the heels of my six-inch-tall slut-puppy boots.”

  Without another word, she turned and walked out of her own store.

  14

  WHEN NURSING A BROKEN heart, it really sucked to live next door to the person who’d done the breaking. Kate found that out late Monday night when she lay on her mattress bed in Aunt Flo’s duplex, listening to Jack arrive home next door.

  As soon as she heard his truck outside, she bit her lip to stop her tears. She definitely didn’t want him to hear her through the wall.

  She’d been crying for hours. Whimpering like a sissified baby. Wishing she had someone to talk to, but knowing there was no one. Cassie would be too pissed on her behalf to be of any help. Plus, the last thing she wanted to do on the day of the triumph at the store was to tell Cassie someone she thought she loved still looked at her as unworthy.

  When Jack had admitted he’d decided to end their involvement because of who she was—a Tremaine—Kate had wanted to die. All she’d heard were his sister’s angry words, the echo of taunts of her childhood, the deeply-buried-but-not-erased voice of her subconscious that had told her she would always be just a trashy Tremaine. Never good enough for decent people. Worthy of sex but not love, fun but not commitment.

  Living together, but not marriage.

  Even though her heart was breaking, she’d still almost gone back to apologize, to tell him she might have first intended to get involved with him for revenge, but knew she could never go through with it. Because like a colossal fool, she’d fallen in love with him. And it had hurt her to see the pain on his face at her confession.

  Pride had kept her walking out the door the same way it had sustained her on prom night when she’d walked home in the rain.

  She didn’t sleep more than one straight hour all night long. Kate knew she looked and sounded like hell, so when she called Cassie the next morning, told her she wasn’t feeling well and would be late coming in to help in the store, her cousin hadn’t protested. She felt like a heel leaving Cassie holding the bag at Bare Essentials. Still, she doubted their day would be anywhere near as busy as yesterday had been.

  Jack left the house early—before eight. She watched him from the upstairs window, careful not to let him see her. She needn’t have bothered. He never spared a glance at her half of the duplex as he got in his truck and drove away.

  Once he’d gone, she cried some more. Ate some donuts. Took a shower. Finally, sick of feeling sorry for herself, she pulled her cell phone out of her purse and called the one person she knew would understand.

  Her mom.

  * * *

  JACK DIDN’T WANT to see anybody Tuesday. He had no interest in being anywhere near his mother or sister. Nor could he stay at the duplex, knowing Kate was right next door.

  Sleeping there the night before had been sheer torture. He had lain awake most of the night, thinking about what had happened, replaying the scene at the store. He’d tried to find some explanation, but couldn’t deny the truth. She’d said the words herself. She’d fully intended to get involved with him for the express purpose of hurting him as some kind of whacked-out revenge on his father.

  Mission accomplished.

  Damn, it was almost easier when he thought he’d never fall in love.

  After driving around for a while, he went downtown and parked outside the Rose Café. Across the street, Bare Essentials remained dark, not yet open for the morning. When he went inside the café for breakfast, he took a seat away from the front windows. He really didn’t want to see Kate arriving for work.

  After he ordered, he tried to figure out just how much more he had to do for his family. There were one or two more legal issues, but the real estate situation was taken care of, as were the banking problems. At this point, all he wanted to do was to wrap things up and go home to Chicago. He frankly didn’t care if he never saw Pleasantville again.

  Just as the gum-chewing waitress deposited a plate full of artery-hardening breakfast on the table in front of him, the café
door opened. As Darren entered, Jack looked away. He did not want to talk to anyone, particularly his ex-brother-in-law.

  Unfortunately, Darren had other ideas. “Can I sit down?”

  “Do I have any other choice?”

  Darren took the seat opposite him in the booth. “I need to talk to you. About Angela. She came to see me last night and told me what happened with Kate.”

  Jack raised a brow, practically daring Darren to make one slimy comment about Kate. “And?”

  “Apparently Kate said something to Angela that made her do some serious thinking. About us.”

  “You and Angela?”

  “Yeah. She asked me if I’d left her because I thought she faked being pregnant to get me to marry her.”

  Jack calmly took a sip of coffee. “Did you?”

  Darren answered with a slow nod. “I was convinced she’d made it up, that there had never been any baby. Because I’d overheard your parents arguing about it one night. Your father accused Angela of being like your mother, who’d done the same thing to him.”

  Jack could only shake his head. Kate had been right about that much of the story, it seemed.

  Before Darren said anything else, the door to the café opened again and Angela came in. Her face was lit up by a huge smile, and her eyes sparkled as she looked around the room. She spotted Darren and walked toward them. Her steps slowed when she realized he was sitting with Jack. Squaring her shoulders, she sat opposite him, sliding easily under Darren’s outstretched arm. The two of them might as well have started cooing like doves.

  Jack raised a brow. “I see you’ve worked things out.”

  Darren nodded. “Angela made me realize how wrong I’d been.”

  Angela had the grace to admit, “I had no idea, Jack, about Mother and Dad. It never occurred to me what Darren thought until Kate accused me of it last night. I had to make sure he knew the truth. I wanted to be sure Darren understood how much I grieved for our very real baby.” She swallowed hard. “I guess I owe Kate one.”