by Maria Geraci
“If you say so.” Although secretly, Annie liked that part too.
“How many times have you watched it?” asked Bridget.
“Eight.”
“Masochist.”
“If that’s supposed to make me smile, you’ve failed miserably. My mother, my father, the rest of my family, all my parents’ friends, and the majority of this town have seen it multiple times. The only good thing is that I’ll be leaving town as soon as I get another job. Otherwise, I’ll never live this down.”
“Okay, so maybe it is kind of bad. But the real question is, is Sam as good a kisser as he comes across in that film? Because that would totally make the humiliation worthwhile.”
“He’s better,” she admitted. “As for the humiliation, it’s not me I’m worried about right now.”
“What are you going to say to Walter?”
“What I should have said to him three nights ago. That our relationship is over.”
Bridget peeked out the window into the dealership parking lot. “Looks like Sam DeLuca is all ready to go.”
“Oh?” Annie said, trying to sound uninterested.
“You should go talk to him.”
“And say what?”
“I don’t know. Goodbye. Good luck. Can I ride off into the sunset with you and make babies?”
Annie couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m going to miss you too, Bridget.”
“I know.”
“How do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Manage to make everything into a joke?”
“Hey, if you can’t laugh at yourself, what can you laugh at?” Bridget’s smile faded. “Life is too short to worry about what other people think. If you want something, go after it. Otherwise, you’ll never be happy.”
Instead of buckets of daisies gracing the sidewalk along Main Street, today’s special was tulips. Fat, bright red and yellow tulips everywhere. They didn’t grow locally, and they’d never been Annie’s favorite, but they looked so charming and upbeat that she couldn’t help but head into the flower shop. Paula and Celeste were hunched over a computer screen. The tingling bell above the door made them both look up.
“Annie!” Paula quickly shut her laptop. “What brings you into the shop this evening?”
“Those gorgeous tulips out there. Can you wrap some up for me?”
“Of course.” Paula nudged Celeste, prompting the girl into action.
Annie waited until Celeste left to get the flowers before she pointed to the closed laptop. “What were you two looking at? You seemed practically enthralled.”
“Oh, um, we were just checking out some Pinterest sites.” Sweat glistened on Paula’s upper lip. “With … flowers.”
Pinterest sites with flowers. It made sense. But the guilty look on Paula’s face told another story. It wasn’t hard to figure out what they’d been watching. She should pretend to go along with it. After all, the older woman was just trying to spare her feelings. Annie could almost hear Gram’s voice now. This new chapter in her life would be called Annie’s Unfortunate Incident 2.0.
Laughter bubbled up inside her.
If the whole thing wasn’t so sad, it would be funny.
Bridget was right. If you couldn’t laugh at yourself, then who could you laugh at?
“Pinterest sites, huh?”
Paula blinked nervously.
Celeste came back carrying a mixed bunch of red and yellow tulips.
“Perfect,” said Annie, admiring the flowers. “By the way, did either of you catch today’s Good Morning, USA show?”
Paula and Celeste exchanged a guilty look. “Um …” Paula began.
Annie handed over her credit card. “If you haven’t seen it, then you should. There’s like a twenty-second makeout session between me and Sam DeLuca. You know, the guy from Single Gal that you two were all gaga about? Of course, right after that, things start to go downhill fast, but those twenty seconds? Totally worth it.”
Paula’s jaw dropped, and Celeste’s eyes went round. “How … yes!” said Celeste. “We’ve seen it. But how did you meet Sam DeLuca? We’re still trying to figure that out.”
“Oh, he came to town to find me, on account of I wrote him this letter that intrigued him.”
In a daze, Paula handed her back the credit card.
“Thank you!” Annie put the flowers up to her nose. The warm honey aroma made her smile. “That’s nice. I don’t think I’ve ever smelled tulips before.” She made a point of checking her watch. “Oops. Gotta go. Can’t keep Walter waiting.” She stopped on her way out the door to wave. “Bye, ladies!” Paula and her daughter waved back, looking stunned.
Boy, did that feel good.
She crossed the street to the diner, her heart thumping wildly. As liberating as that had felt, it was time to face the music. Walter was waiting for her in their usual booth. Rats. Just one time she’d wanted to be the first one here.
“Sorry.” She laid the flowers as far away from Walter as the bench allowed, then slid into her seat.
“For what? You’re not late.” He eyed the flowers. “Tulips?”
“I couldn’t help myself.”
He smiled politely.
Connie automatically placed two glasses of iced tea on the table. “This is unusual. Seeing the two of you here on a Friday night.” She gave Annie a long sideways look. Uh-oh. She’s seen the video.
“I’ll have a burger,” said Walter.
“Well done with an order of fries on the side?” asked Connie.
He smiled at her. “You betcha.”
She turned to give Annie a cool look. “How about you?”
“I’m not that hungry. Maybe some soup? Whatever the soup of the day is will be fine.”
Connie sniffed. “Sure thing.” She tossed Walter one last long-suffering look, then went to put their orders in.
“So,” Walter began, “Connie’s right. We never come to The Miramar Café on Fridays.”
“We never go anywhere on Fridays.”
“True. But then you’ve never been one of those people who can’t wait to get out of the office for the weekend. You’re like me. You live for your job. It’s what makes us so compatible.”
“Walter, I don’t live for my job. As a matter of fact, I don’t even really like it very much.”
He looked as if she’d just told him she hated puppies. “What do you mean you don’t like your job?”
“Working for a used-car dealership, even one that belongs to my family, isn’t my dream job. When I was studying for my MBA, this isn’t exactly where I imagined myself, you know?”
“Oh.” He took a sip of his iced tea. “I can see that,” he said carefully.
Here goes nothing. She gentled her voice. “There’s something I have to tell you. Remember the man who was in the café last Tuesday night? The one who you thought was choking?”
“Roy Rogers? Of course, I remember him. The man almost died right in front of us.” Poor Walter. He really was the last to know everything.
“Yeah. So, that’s not his real name. His name is Sam DeLuca. He was on a reality dating show, and he came to town to get away from the tabloids. And to see me.”
Walter frowned. “Is this some kind of joke?”
“Remember when I went to my mom’s house last week for the book club meeting? Well, there was no meeting. We watched the premiere of Single Gal instead.”
“The dating show where they hand out the roses?” She raised a brow, so he went on to explain, “It’s always front and center on all the tabloids in the express lane at the supermarket.”
“That’s the one.”
“Now I know this is a joke. The Annie I know would never waste time watching a reality TV show. Especially that one. You do know that’s all staged, don’t you?”
“Three weeks ago, I would have agreed with you. But I watched the show, and something happened that night that changed my life.”
Walter went quiet. “You’re serious about this.�
� He leaned forward in his seat. “Go on.” Annie had never seen him look so intense before.
“I … for lack of a better word, became infatuated with one of the contestants. All of America did, actually. And I couldn’t stop thinking about him, so I wrote him a letter.” She paused. “I wrote him that I wasn’t in love with you and that we needed to break up.”
Walter blinked. “You’re not in love with me?”
“I’m so sorry, Walter, but no, I’m not in love with you.”
“And you confided all this in a letter to a complete stranger?”
Annie cringed. “I know it was wrong to tell someone else before I told you, but if I hadn’t written that letter, I don’t think I would have realized it. At least, not for a while anyway. I think you’re a wonderful man and a terrific lawyer, but there’s just no zing between us.”
He bowed his head and stared down into his glass of iced tea. After a few long and horrible seconds, his shoulders began to shake. Oh no. He was crying. Walter was crying right here in their favorite booth in The Miramar Café.
What had she been thinking? Breaking up with him in a public venue? She was never taking Bridget’s advice again.
She reached out to touch his hand. “I’m so sorry. I know, I’m a horrible person.”
His head shot up to make eye contact. But instead of the expected tears, his eyes were filled with relief. And amusement.
What? This couldn’t be right.
“Walter, are you laughing?”
“Annie, you’re not a terrible person. As a matter of fact, you’re one of the best people I know. You’re smart, hardworking, family-oriented, and best of all, you can recite all the latest tax tables off the top of your head. You have all the qualities I’ve been looking for in a wife, but you’re right. There’s no zing.”
It took her a few seconds to realize what he was saying. “So you’re okay with me breaking up with you?”
“Okay? Annie, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to laugh, but this is just so ironic. I’ve been trying to get you to break up with me for over a year now.”
She reared back. “What?”
“I tried to make myself as disagreeable as possible. I thought for sure you’d get tired of me canceling dates and putting my job first. But nothing I did seemed to matter.”
“Let me get this straight. You don’t want to marry me?”
He shook his head. “No, I’m sorry, but I don’t.”
“And you don’t want to date anymore?”
“What would be the point?”
“Why didn’t you tell me this months ago?”
“Everyone in town knows we’ve been dating for three years now. If I was the one to break up the relationship, then …” He left that dangling in the air.
Ah. She got it now. “It would be like the Unfortunate Incident all over again?”
He looked relieved that he didn’t have to say it out loud. “I didn’t want to be the one to put you through that kind of public humiliation. I care for you too much.”
Annie’s throat clogged up, making it hard to swallow. “Oh, Walter, that’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me.”
“Really?” He perked up. “So that’s it? We’re broken up now? No hard feelings?”
“Yep. We’re through. Kaput. Finis. And definitely no hard feelings.”
“So, you and … Sam, did you say his name was? Are you two going to start seeing each other?”
“Oh, no, no, that isn’t going to work out.”
“Why not?”
“He lives in Texas, and I’m looking for a new job, which means I have no idea where I’ll land. Maybe in the future something might happen, but the timing is all off right now.” If she said it enough times, maybe she’d believe it.
Walter looked as if he was about to say something when Connie brought them their food, along with a refill for Walter’s iced tea. “Can I get you anything else?”
“Nope,” Annie said. “We’re pretty much perfect right here.”
Connie studied their expressions. “What’s going on? You two look as if you’re talking about something serious.”
“Walter and I just broke up. Isn’t that fabulous?”
“Oh!” The wilting relief on Connie’s face was almost comical.
Walter shrugged, but he was sporting the same goofy expression of pent-up elation that Connie wasn’t bothering to hide anymore.
Wait a minute. Connie and Walter? All this time, Annie had thought their Tuesday-night banter was just a bit of meaningless flirtation, but the way they were looking at each other … It looked like Walter wasn’t the last one to know everything, after all.
“I’ll go get the bill.” Connie glanced longingly at Walter before heading over to the cash register.
This probably wasn’t the best time to ask, but Annie had to know. “Walter, do you have a thing for Connie?”
“A thing?”
“Yeah, you know, do you like her?”
He cleared his throat, something Walter did whenever he got nervous. “Connie is a lovely person. Perhaps in the future, I’ll ask her out. When the timing is right.”
“The timing might never be right. You should go for it.”
He gave her a look.
“Oh, yeah, I get it. Pot meet kettle.”
“Exactly,” he said. “Maybe we should both go for it.”
14
Sam pulled into the ranch’s circular driveway seconds behind the limo bringing Mom and Becks home from the airport. Talk about timing. He hugged his mother, then turned to greet his sister. But her attention was strictly on the little red car he’d driven all the way from Florida. She leaned her head into the Mustang’s open window. “Sweet! Where did you get the convertible?”
“Where do you think?”
She popped her head back out. “You bought this from Annie’s car dealership?”
“That doesn’t seem like your kind of car,” Mom said.
“It’s not.” He tossed Becks the keys. “Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas, and don’t say I never gave you anything.”
“For real? You’re the best!” Then her brow furrowed. “This isn’t a bribe, is it? I go to college and you get me a car?”
“That’s what Annie thought,” he said.
“Speaking of Annie …” His mother looped her arm around his. “Let’s get in the house and catch up.”
“I take it you watched Friday’s edition of Good Morning, USA?” he asked them.
“You two go ahead,” said Becks, avoiding his gaze. “I’ll just take this baby for a spin.”
“Not so fast. We need to discuss how Tammy Prentis knew how to find me.” He’d been on the road two days. No work. No distractions. Nothing except a whole bunch of flat highway and plenty of time to think. The only people who knew he was going to Old Explorer’s Bay to confront Annie about her letter were Stella, his mother, and Becks. She’d never deliberately do anything to hurt Sam, but his overly excited little sister could have easily been duped by a scheming paparazzo into spilling the details of his trip.
“It was an accident, Sam,” Mom said.
Becks nodded miserably. “I’m sorry. I wanted to call you right away, but … ”
“Mom’s right. Let’s talk inside.” He grabbed their luggage and followed them into the living room. Mom sat in the big leather couch facing the stone fireplace while Becks flopped down in the armchair across from her.
“It was that horrible Tammy person,” Becks said, sulking. “I know I should have blocked her number like you told me to, but she already knew you were in Old Explorer’s Bay. Apparently, there was a LoJack on your rental car, and some scumbag from the rental car company squealed to the tabloids. She said she was going to find out what you were doing there and that you couldn’t hide from her and … she said some stuff that made me really mad. How all these women were reaching out to you and you didn’t care about any of them, and before I knew it, I was telling her all about Annie’s letter.”
; “It’s not your fault. I know firsthand just how manipulative Tammy can be.”
“So you’re not mad?”
“Not with you, squirt.”
“Ack!” She tossed a throw pillow at his head. “You haven’t called me that in years.”
Sam threw the pillow right back at her. “That’s because you’re too tall now. But I still reserve the right to use it when appropriate. Enough about Tammy Prentis and the rest of her crew. How did your trip go? Which school did you like best?”
“I loved them both. Georgia Tech has an awesome chemical engineering program that I think would be a really good fit. In case I decide to take over the company one day.”
An image of his little sister sitting at his desk at Big B Gas and Oil brought a smile to his face.
“And Tulane. Hello! What would be better than going to school in New Orleans? Mardi Gras, Bourbon Street, hot beignets at the Café Du Monde—”
“English, math, chemistry …” he said with a raised brow.
“Well, there’s that too.”
“So which one is it? Georgia Tech or Tulane?”
She looked at Mom, who urged her on with a nod. “Neither.”
Sam couldn’t say he was surprised. He’d still hoped that she’d opt for college, but it was Becks’s life. If she wanted to take a gap year, then he’d support her decision.
“You were right about the college visits,” Becks said. “They were great and gave me tons to think about. Mostly that I’m still pretty confused about what I want to do. So I’m going to stay here in Dallas and go to community college for a year. I just don’t think I’m ready to leave home yet, you know?”
His gaze flew to Mom’s, who sat there beaming at Becks with maternal pride. “I think that’s a very mature plan. What do you think, Sam?”
What did he think? He hadn’t given his baby sister enough credit, that’s what he thought. “It’s a terrific idea. As a matter of fact, I’m going to stay at home too.”
