by Amy Lillard
“I’ve never wanted for anything, you’ve seen to that.”
But was it enough? “Half of what he owned should belong to you.”
He could almost hear her smile, though her voice still held the sad edge of remorse. “What would I have done? Break up the company to take my part? Or sell the house that you had grown up in and keep half of it for myself? No, mijo, they are part of your legacy. Not mine.”
She was missing the point. Had his father married her, the company and the house would have belonged to them both. They could have worked through the details. The problem was that they had never been put on equal footing. It had never been her home, so she never felt that she was entitled to any of it. “But—”
“I’m staying with my family, Johnny. I know you understand.”
“Of course,” he muttered. What else could he say? That he had hoped she felt the same way about him and Mallory. It wasn’t that she didn’t love them, but they weren’t truly her family, only ‘like one.’
“I’m flying in tomorrow to pick up the rest of my things.”
He noticed she didn’t say ‘home.’ “What time is your flight? I’ll pick you up from the airport.” The words were unnecessary, automatic.
“I land just after three.” She gave another sigh. “I love you, Johnny.”
“I love you, too, Rosie. See you tomorrow.” With his heart near breaking, he hung up the phone.
Chapter Thirteen
Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny, the perfect day for a town-wide celebration.
Elizabeth woke up early, her room in the attic filling with sunshine.
She got up with birds singing outside her window and a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. She showered, practically unpacking everything that she had gathered up the day before.
Today she wanted to enjoy herself, just being in Loveless, not worrying about JD and the future. Today she was going to simply be.
She pulled on a pair of her grandmother’s jeans, this pair not as coolly retro as the boyfriend pair. High-waisted and acid-washed, they made her backside look like a tear drop. She shook her head as she studied herself in the full length mirror. How could anyone think “mom jeans” were a good idea? Without answers, she buttoned up the pearl-snap, floral shirt she had found and tugged down the tail to cover the waistband of the ugly jeans. She pulled her hair back, securing it off her face in a thick French braid, added big gold hoops and her grandfather’s cowboy boots, then declared herself to be ready for the festivities.
Just after ten in the morning, she pocketed the key to the rambling Victorian and headed toward the town square.
The courthouse was strung with banners and surrounded by rides and games: a dunking booth, pie toss, cake walk, and many other attractions. She smiled once more. Today was going to be a good day. She just knew it.
Candy and Ginger were standing in front of the House of Mirrors each holding a bag of pink and blue cotton candy. If it were possible, Candy’s belly stuck out even more than usual, or perhaps it was the stretchy T-shirt that wrapped around her like a second skin. Ginger balanced a toddler on one hip. Though she didn’t have Ginger’s coloring, she had her curls, her dark hair winding around a cherub face. Her eyes were huge, bright blue and evidently another gift from her father, Ross.
“There she is.” Candy waved a thin arm over her head to gain Elizabeth’s attention.
She waved back and joined her friends in front of the reflective sign for the house of mirrors.
“Hey.” She gave them both a one-armed hug, smiling at the perfectness of the day. She bent down to greet the little, dark-haired girl. “You must be Nora.”
Ginger gave the girl a small bounce. “Tell Miss Bethie how old you are.”
She held up two fingers for Elizabeth to see.
“Two? That’s fantastic.” Elizabeth resisted the urge to pluck the child from her mother’s arms and swing her in a gigantic circle. She was just so cute. Instead, Elizabeth straightened and nodded toward Candy. “Where’s your troop?”
The blonde jerked a thumb over her shoulder. “In the House of Mirrors.”
Elizabeth smiled remembering all the county fairs and trips to Six Flags and the many Fun Houses and Ferris Wheels, afternoons and evenings with her friends and JD. As easy as that, he entered her thoughts once again.
“Suzanne Whittlemire was looking for you.” Ginger said the words, but as soon as they were out of her mouth she was looking at Candy.
The blonde nodded. “Yep. She was.”
“Looking for me?”
Candy nodded and started chewing on one of her cuticles. “Holly is on her way.”
“Should be here in an hour or so.”
Why were her friends determined to change the subject? “I haven’t seen Suzanne in fifteen years. Whatever could she want to see me about?”
Candy shrugged, then stared at something just over Elizabeth’s right shoulder. “I guess Janis told her you had offered to help today.”
Ginger also seemed to have lost her ability to make eye contact, instead scrubbing at some non-existent spot on the front of Nora’s pink, princess T-shirt.
Something was definitely up.
“Bethie Grace. There you are.” Suzanne Whittlemire waddled up beside her. Cute, sassy, and as round as she was tall, Suzanne hadn’t changed much in the last fifteen years.
“Hi, Suzanne. It’s good to see you again.” She hugged her long-ago classmate, smelling the Liz Claiborne perfume that she’d worn as long as Elizabeth had known her.
“I really appreciate you doing this on such short notice.”
“You’re welcome. What exactly am I doing?”
“The Kissing Booth. Come on, I’ll show you where it is.” She grabbed Elizabeth’s elbow and started to lead her away.
Elizabeth blinked once, but dug in the heels of her cowboy boots. At least until she knew what Suzanne was talking about. “Kissing Booth?”
Suzanne looked from her to Candy and Ginger.
Both women plastered dazzling smiles on their faces as they stared back.
Elizabeth raised one brow, crossing her arms and returning their steady gaze. “Which one of you wants to tell me what’s going on?”
“Ginger does.”
“Candy!”
Candy shrugged.
“One of you better get to talking.”
Suzanne took a step back, nodding once to Elizabeth. “All I know is someone has to be in the Kissing Booth.”
Elizabeth swung back toward her friends. “Whose idea was it to put me in the Kissing Booth?”
“Candy.”
“Ginger.”
“The truth please.” She slammed her hands on her hips, looking at each of them in turn.
“It’s like this,” Candy started. “Suzanne needs a single girl for the Kissing Booth. I can’t very well do it.” She ran a hand over the mound of her belly.
“Ginger’s sing—” Okay, so Ginger wasn’t quite single.
The redhead had the presence to blush. “I have to take care of Nora.”
“So you volunteered me.”
“We thought you would be perfect.” Candy smiled, a poor attempt at smoothing things over.
“Perfect?”
“Of course. What man here wouldn’t want a chance to kiss the Bethie Grace McGee?”
“What if Bethie Grace McGee doesn’t want to kiss every man here?”
“It’s for a good cause,” Suzanne intoned in a sing-song voice.
Elizabeth felt her resolve slip a bit. “What cause?”
“The women’s shelter, which helps women and children who are in abusive relationships.”
Her resolve officially crumbled to dust. “Okay. But only for a couple of hours.”
Suzanne beamed a smile in her direction as if she wasn’t expecting that answer, but Candy and Ginger shot each other knowing grins. Elizabeth had been majorly set up.
The proof walked up fifteen minutes after she had taken her stati
on behind the waist-high, white-painted table. Across the top was a sign decorated with red hearts with black arrows piercing through their centers. All in all she felt like Lucy from the Peanuts comic strip.
“Hey, Bethie Grace. It’s good to see you today.” Mallory Carmichael smiled at her while tugging her father reluctantly behind.
Somehow Elizabeth doubted the teen’s surprised expression. Maybe because she led her dad through the crowd and straight to the kissing booth with a single-minded intensity.
Mallory slapped a five dollar bill on the table. “For charity, right?” She winked at Elizabeth, then took a step back as if to make room for JD.
“For charity,” she echoed.
He looked amazing. Even better than the last time she had seen him. Her heart skipped just knowing he was close. The gentle summer breeze stirred the dark strands of his hair. He had on a comfortable looking pair of ratty jeans with an Oklahoma football T-shirt. With the sun shining all around him, he looked as if he had stepped straight from her dreams.
“Hey.” He smiled.
“Hey yourself.”
She looked over one broad shoulder to the small crowd starting to gather behind him. “I think we’re getting an audience.”
He glanced back, then turned to face her once again. “Maybe we should charge them instead.”
“Maybe.”
He took a couple of steps forward, bringing him close enough that only she could hear him. “Maybe we could get together later. I have something I want to talk to you about.”
Her heart gave a painful lurch. “Sure,” she choked out, but her voice sounded strained. “I’ve got another hour or so here.”
He nodded his head toward his daughter. She was standing next to Amber, Candy’s oldest, and Elizabeth wondered if they were responsible for arranging this rendezvous with JD. “I promised to pick up Rosie from the airport this afternoon. How about tomorrow after church?”
She nodded.
“In fact, be ready about nine, we’ll stop by and pick you up.
Church in Loveless. Probably not the best idea. Too familiar, too domestic, and way to homey. Still, she said yes.
“Hey, JD. You gonna kiss her or not?”
Elizabeth wasn’t sure, but she thought Lane Edwards was the one yelling.
JD trained his attention on her, obviously ignoring the rumbling and encouraging crowd behind him. Had half the town turned out for their kiss?
JD smiled, and Elizabeth’s heart pounded a little harder. “Perfect. Now,” he said, leaning in close. He pushed the five dollar bill toward her. “About that kiss.”
Her breath caught in her throat. How could he do that to her, reduce her to a trembling mess with just the thought of kissing him again?
Cheers erupted from the crowd as his lips met hers, sweet and chaste. Not at all the kiss she craved.
All too soon it was over. He pulled away, and it took all of her willpower not to fist a hand in his shirt and haul him across the booth.
“Tomorrow,” he whispered. Bethie Grace wasn’t sure if it was a promise or a warning. She could hardly wait to find out.
****
Two hours turned into half the morning. Finally, just after one, a bubbly, blond, twenty-something elementary school teacher took over for her, and Elizabeth was able to finally leave.
First thing on the agenda, find her so-called friends and let them know that their underhanded means were not endearing.
She found them plus Holly Carter standing near the dunk tank where the high school baseball coach good-naturedly taunted contestants to sink him with their throws.
“Bethie Grace.” Holly’s angel face light up when she caught sight of Elizabeth. “It’s been so long.”
“Too long,” she agreed as she shared a tight hug with her longtime friend.
Of her friends, it was Holly who had changed the most. Still petite and platinum blond, Holly had grown a confidence since they had last met. She had been the only one of the group who hadn’t been a cheerleader. In fact, she had been their opposite. Bookish with glasses and slightly overweight, Holly’s smile had shone with the metal braces she seemed to have to wear for longer than anyone else they’d known.
Now Holly was ten pounds of lovely in a five pound sack.
“That was underhanded,” she said, releasing Holly to glare at Candy and Ginger. Neither one showed a shred of remorse. “I had to kiss Old Man Josephs.” She shuddered. “I can’t believe he’s still alive, much less going around kissing people.”
Holly laughed. “Did they stick you in the Kissing Booth?”
Elizabeth nodded.
“They did me the same way,” Holly said.
“That’s what happens when you leave Loveless and hardly come back.”
They laughed, enjoying the moment of all being together once again. It had been fifteen years since she’d stood next to her friends and talked about anything and nothing. She would miss it when she was back in California.
Ginger checked her watch. “I hate to break up the party, but it’s past time to get this one down for a nap.” She kissed the top of Nora’s dark curls.
Candy nodded. “I need to go check on the kiddos. I’m sure by now Amber and Jonathan are at each other’s throats.”
“Awh…” Elizabeth couldn’t hide her disappointment.
Holly linked arms with her. “Looks like it’s just you and me.”
They walked through the aisles of pies and jellies and all sorts of crocheted goods and quilted items.
Elizabeth ran one hand over the beautiful fabrics.
“Do you quilt?” Holly asked.
Elizabeth shook her head. “Me-maw quilted.”
“I remember,” Holly replied. She tucked one side of her sleek, chin length bob behind her ear. “I use them a lot in my designs. They’re just so homey, you know?”
She nodded. All her life, Elizabeth remembered her grandmother sitting in that dark green, winged-backed chair close to the fireplace, big bamboo hoop in her lap as she stitched the piece to the quilt with machine-like precision. It was just another thing about her grandmother that she would miss.
“She always tried to teach me, but I never took the time to learn.”
“Georgia?” Holly asked.
Elizabeth nodded. She had been too young, too excitable, and too in love to pay close enough attention to the details that her me-maw had tried to pass down. Oh, how she wished now that she had listened. But how was she to know that so many years later, she would want that attention for her own once again? How could she have known then that she would be filled with so many regrets she would have traded almost anything to go back and learn those precious lessons?
“Maybe you should take it up now.” Holly pointed to the sign on the table. Come learn to quilt like a pro!
It might not be the same as learning from her grandmother, but the action itself would make her feel closer to the woman who practically raised her.
She could imagine sitting on the chintz sofa in the old Victorian, JD next to her, a fire crackling in the hearth.
Which just showed how active her imagination was. There were only about three days out of the year when it was cold enough in Loveless to build a fire. And she was leaving…soon…
“So what’s going on between you and JD?”
“Nothing.”
Holly gave an indelicate snort. “You guys are as hot for each other now as you were back then.”
Elizabeth shrugged. “Maybe, but it’s different now. He’s got a family, and I’ve got a career.” As if to drive home the point, Mallory Carmichael hurried toward them.
“Bethie Grace,” she called, cheeks pink from exertion. “I’ve been looking all over for you.”
“You have?”
Mallory took a deep breath and nodded. “Dad has to leave to go pick up Rosie, but I want to stay.”
“Oh, that’s right, Jeremy is here.”
The pink in Mallory’s cheeks deepened to a rich rose color. “Well,
a group of us are hanging out.”
“And your dad’s okay with that?”
“He says I can stay as long as you’re here.”
JD picked that moment to saunter up looking like a dream. This protective father side of him was new for Elizabeth, and she had to admit, he wore it well.
He smiled a quick greeting in Holly’s direction then turned his attention to Elizabeth.
“You approve?” she asked him.
“Do you mind?”
“Not at all.”
He handed his daughter a twenty. Mallory beamed, then hurried back to where her group of girlfriends waited.
As sensing the electricity between them, Holly took a couple of steps away, carefully examining the wares. Like she needed a pocket knife. Elizabeth was glad for the moment of privacy with JD.
JD’s relief softened the worried lines around his eyes. “I appreciate this.”
“No problem.”
“I’ll be home by dinner time.”
Elizabeth nodded. “Is that an invitation?”
“I wish it was.” The grim set of his mouth told her something was wrong. “Rosie has decided to stay in New Mexico. She’s only coming home to get the rest of her things. I’m hoping tonight I can talk her out of it.”
“I’m sorry.” She reached out as naturally as breathing and touched his arm, adding what comfort she could.
“I shouldn’t be surprised.” He shook his head. “Looking back there were so many things that I should have done differently.”
“JD, you can’t blame yourself.”
“It’s his fault, you know. My father. If he had just married her like he should have then she wouldn’t feel like she wasn’t a part of the family.”
“And she wouldn’t be leaving now,” Elizabeth finished for him.
“Right.”
She didn’t know how to respond to that.
“They made themselves miserable for my sake.” He shook his head as if he had traveled too far down a road he didn’t want to be on. “Thanks for looking after Mallory.”
“Anytime,” she responded, fully aware of how lame her words sounded. There would be no other times.
