“How’s that working for you?”
“I’m on my third.” Lucy looked shocked. Even when they’d been at college together, she’d never been a beer drinker or much of a drinker at all. “Todd’s dropping me home. Don’t worry. I’m notoriously sensible.”
“I know. I’m a little worried about you,” her friend said, giving her arm a squeeze.
“I guess I just have some stuff to work out. Like who I am, what I want, and where I’m heading.”
“Just the simple stuff then?”
“That’s what Todd said.” She sighed.
“It is going to be okay, Marissa.” Her friend patted her hand.
“Yeah, if you say so.”
Mike couldn’t help but notice Marissa was drinking beer. That was new. She usually had a glass or maybe two of Pinot. That was it. Something was definitely up with her.
He wanted to ask, but he didn’t. I mean, sure they were friends, but things had been a little bit odd between them lately. Just the other day he’d seen her exiting the town diner, and he could have sworn she pretended she didn’t see him as she took a hard left to the library. Then again, maybe he was paranoid. Reading women was not his thing.
She had switched to wine now, that made him feel better.
Mike was not a man who liked change. It was probably why he’d gone to the NYU School of Journalism and come home to edit his small-town paper. He had friends who were working at CNN and Newsweek, but he didn’t want that. He wanted to return to his corner of small-town America and help preserve it.
He liked that the diner had been run by the same people for thirty years; he liked that he knew the mayor by name and the bank manager. He liked that his high school friend was the town librarian. It wasn’t as if his entire childhood had been idyllic. He knew that for many people, and Lucy was a great example, that picture of a bucolic small town wasn’t entirely true. His own father had died young, and he and Todd had been saddled with a new, rather unpleasant, stepfather or two, but on balance, small-town life comforted him. He was a man of tradition and routine, and because he was observant he was aware of other people’s routines, and he didn’t like them changing.
The whole evening was really out of routine anyway. He usually met Todd here for a beer alone, but tonight he was with a whole table of people laughing and having fun. He could break routine; he wasn’t married to it. He just didn’t generally see the point in change for change’s sake.
Lucy was prattling on about wedding plans across the table. He’d always liked Lucy. They’d served on the yearbook committee together back in high school. She’d been his coeditor. She was smart and easy going, but responsible. He was glad she’d found Chase. He knew that Jacob, her high school boyfriend, had two-timed her with her former best friend. The whole town knew and that was why she hadn’t been back in ten years. He was glad she visited now and that Chase came, too.
He wasn’t that keen on going down to Marblehead for their wedding, and then he overheard another detail. There was to be an engagement party this winter.
“CeCe, that’s Chase’s mother,” Lucy explained. “Well, she is really insistent, and she’s a hard woman to say no to.”
“Amen,” said Chase, taking a swig of beer.
“Plus, she said if we have the party she’s going to go back to Palm Beach and try to return to her old life, so we kind of have to have the party or she won’t go.”
“Don’t you guys live in a castle? Does it matter if she stays?” Todd asked.
“It’s my castle, and I want to walk around it naked,” Chase said. As if that was all that needed to be said.
“Chase,” Lucy scolded, shaking her head. “His mother needs to get her independence back, so if this is what we need to do to get her moving again, then so be it.”
“Date?” Marissa asked.
“First Saturday in December.”
“That’s only a month away,” Marissa stated. Not even, thought Mike.
“Yes, so we really hope you can make it. My mom and Kevin are bringing the kids. All our Boston friends will be there. You guys have to come. I really need you there, and I want everyone to meet.”
“You didn’t tell me this today when we met.” Marissa didn’t look happy.
“Well, we had to confirm with my mom. And she said she was okay, so . . . please come, you have to come.”
Mike watched Marissa as a range of emotions danced across her face. “Okay. But I can’t come down until the Saturday because Friday is the town Christmas tree lighting, and as you may or may not recall, that is a pretty big deal around here.”
“I’m sorry it’s the same weekend.” Lucy knew that the tree lighting was about the biggest event on the town calendar and also Marissa’s favorite thing. She loved everything to do with Christmas.
“Fine. I’ll come. It’ll be fine, right boys? As long as the weather cooperates and we don’t get a blizzard, it’ll be manageable.”
But as everyone knew, fine from the mouth of a woman did not mean fine.
Something was definitely up with Marissa; this was not like her at all. He would have expected her to be jumping out of her skin to go to the party.
An hour later, she and Todd stood to leave.
“So soon?” Lucy asked, a small pout forming on her lips.
“Sorry, I kind of started without you, and I’ve hit a wall,” Marissa said, leaning down to hug her friend.
“Okay, well, I’ll see you at the party. But we’ll talk.”
“Yep. See you then.”
Chase stood to hug her good-bye. “I’ve got a whole host of men lined up to meet you. Operation ‘find Marissa a hot wedding date’ is on!”
Why did Marissa need a hot wedding date? He had assumed they’d go together or the three of them would. Something was definitely up.
“What’s that all about?” he heard Todd ask her as they headed for the door.
“I’ll explain in the car.”
He wished someone would explain it to him. Nope, things were definitely changing and not, he was sure, for the better.
Chapter 3
Marissa lay in bed thinking about Mike. Stupid Mike with his cute smile and the way he somehow managed to capture her attention in any room he was in. Mike who had once told her he liked her. Who’d once kissed her and made her want more. He’d warned her that he wouldn’t give her more, that they would never end up together, and she hadn’t heeded the warning.
Nope, she’d been a naive teenager who believed in happily ever afters and life-long friendships and first loves becoming forever loves. She flopped over onto her belly and groaned. Why hadn’t she listened?
The prom after party was at Jacob’s house. Jacob was hosting, and Lucy was on his arm, of course. Marissa didn’t envy her so much as wish she, too, had a hot and handsome boyfriend to take her to prom. Patty had Mark Avery, who graduated last year and was back from Holy Cross for the prom. She, of course, had gone with Mike; they were great friends. He had brought her a really beautiful pink corsage to match her dress, and he looked so handsome.
As Lucy had said earlier, she should really consider making a move because she’d been crushing on him forever, and he was going off to NYU and she was going to UNH with Lucy, and how often would they really see each other again?
“You may never get another shot at this, Marissa,” Lucy had urged her.
So now they were here, dancing to the DJ, and maybe it was the alcohol, but Mike looked even better than usual. It was a slow dance and he felt so warm, and her whole body had a lovely tingle that she knew was not from the beer.
“Thanks for being such a great date, Mike,” she said, looking adoringly at his sweet and perfect face.
“Same to you. It has been really fun. I’m going to miss you when we go off to college,” he’d said and tucked a loose curl behind her ear. She knew she was blushing, but it was dark, so hopefully he wouldn’t notice.
“I know, I’m going to miss you, too. It’s scary to think you can
spend so much time with someone and then they’ll be gone.”
“We’ll both be gone. You’ll be away flirting your ass off at UNH.”
“OH really.” She laughed, leaning back a bit so she could feel his hand pressed into the small of her back. “You think I’ll be flirting my ass off?”
“Of course you will. You’re a beautiful girl, and all those boys are going to be fighting to get near you.”
She laughed again. “So it’ll be exactly like high school. I’ll be beating them off with a stick.”
“I don’t think you’ve lacked male attention, Marissa. You’ve had Todd and I beside you every day.”
“It’s different though. Neither of you like me like that,” she said, pulling back in and resting her head on his shoulder. Taking in the lovely woody smell of him for maybe the last time.
“That’s not true.” His voice fell to a whisper. “One of us likes you as more than a friend.”
She turned her face up at him. “Which one?”
“Me.”
Marissa felt the air leave her lungs. Luckily, he had a hold of her or she might have fallen over with the shock.
“Really?”
He nodded. “You want to go outside and get some air.”
He took her hand and led her to the back porch. There were people sitting in small groups, and they went past them and made their way to a line of trees that framed the back of the yard. No one noticed them or acted like it was strange because Marissa was always with one brother or the other.
It was dark except for the glow of lights from nearby houses and some moonlight. The party music and laughter drifted across the lawn toward them.
“Why did you never say?” she asked him.
“You deserve better.” He shrugged.
“You think I deserve better than you? I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“I’m just saying I don’t see myself as a settle down and get married guy.”
“Well, considering I’m just eighteen, I don’t consider myself a settle down and get married girl, either.”
“You know what I mean.”
“So even though you like me, you’ve never kissed me because you’re not sure you can marry me in say seven years?” she teased.
“When you put it like that, it sounds kind of lame.” He grinned at her.
“Just a little bit.”
“I just . . .” He ran a hand through his thick hair. “I don’t want to mess this friendship up. You’re going to go away, meet some hot guy, and bring him home; I don’t want to see you at the Fourth of July parade and have it weird between us.”
“Wow, you must be an amazing kisser if you think one kiss with you is going to ruin me for my really hot husband down the road”
“I don’t like to brag . . .”
“I’m going to need proof,” she said, smiling at him.
He backed her up against a tree. She could feel the rough bark against her back and his warm body against her front. “Proof you say.”
She nodded and bit her lip. This was really happening. After years of longing and waiting, wondering and wishing, Mike was going to kiss her.
He leaned in and placed a feathery kiss to her lips. A hand was to either side of her head on the tree.
“You taste like vanilla.”
“Lip gloss.” She managed to reply.
“Yum.” Then he leaned in again. He ran his tongue along her lips and she opened for him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and felt his soft hair against her hands. His tongue became more searching, more urgent. And then time slipped away and it was just Mike and his mouth and a perfect moment.
When he pulled away, he rested his forehead against hers. “Wow. That was . . .”
“It certainly was.”
“You want to go back inside?”
She shook her head at him. “No, I want to do that again.”
That was the one and only time they’d made out, and he’d been right and she had been oh so wrong because that one kiss with Mike had absolutely ruined her for her really hot future husband. In fact, it had ruined her for even the pursuit of a future husband.
It hadn’t cut both ways, though. He’d married a year later and was divorced by twenty-two.
Maybe she shouldn’t have kissed him back then, maybe it had been foolish, but then again, she wouldn’t have wanted to have missed that one perfect moment.
Chapter 4
Monday morning Marissa was behind the desk in the library. At least this was normal. Here she was in control and life was exactly how it was supposed to be. Mrs. Phelps was over reading the New York Times as she did every morning, there was a homeschooler group over in the children’s section, and a few of her regulars were browsing.
She was busy logging all the overnight returns in the computer. Yes, this was how she liked her life. She had loved this library since she was a little girl. Of course it had been modernized, and the seventies brown carpet was now as green as grass, and the back wall had been knocked out and replaced with a wall of windows ten years ago, but the feeling she got every time she walked in was the same. She belonged here in the calm oasis of books. There was a peace and a certainty to the library.
Unlike the rest of her life. She’d had a small hangover on Sunday but nothing some ibuprofen and the usual bacon and eggs her mother insisted on couldn’t fix. Was it good for any of them? Not a bit. Would they listen? No, they would not. Well, that was not going to be her problem much longer. In two weeks, her parents were heading down to North Carolina and her whole life would look very different.
Vern Matthews, the local realtor, came in at that moment.
“Heard about your folks, honey,” he said. He was a man in his sixties who favored checked sports coats and suspenders over a dress pant. He always looked somewhat comical to her, but he was a decent guy.
“Yes, I’ll be coming to see you about putting it on the market.”
“You know, a place like theirs is going to be slow to move in the winter.” Of course she knew that. Her parents’ place was big enough for small animals and some horses, but it wasn’t big enough to grow anything and it was a bit of a drive out of town, on a winding road halfway up a mountain.
“I know, Vern, but you know my mother, once her mind is made up . . .”
“Oh, I know, honey,” he said. Marissa’s mother was a tour de force. At one point or another, she’d served on every committee in the town from the PTA to Girl Scouts, and she was known as a woman who got her way. “So, are you going to stay out there alone this winter then?”
“I was hoping I could find somewhere in town, maybe to rent.”
“There’s not much decent about, but I’ll keep my eyes open for you. I’ll see what I can find.”
“That would be great.” Of course she could stay at her parents’ house while they waited for it to sell, but the idea of being in the place all alone after years of people, well, it wasn’t that appealing. Still, she might just have to do that for a while. One more thing she didn’t want to do, she supposed.
“Okay, honey, I’ll be in touch.”
The rest of the morning behaved and ran on schedule as planned. That was something. At twelve thirty exactly, she swung the “Back in 30 minutes” sign around on the library door and raced down to the diner for a bowl of soup and a bread roll. She’d rung ahead, as she did every Monday, and her order of broccoli cheese soup, the Monday special, would be waiting.
Sure enough as the bell over the diner door opened and she stepped in, Myrna walked to the register with her order.
“Right on time as always.”
“I’m nothing if not punctual.” She smiled at the older woman.
“You know, every so often it would be okay to run late or order something different.”
“I know.” She smiled sweetly and headed back out the door after paying.
She knew what Myrna thought. She was predictable. But was there really anything wrong with that? Of course it meant she was
also easy to find, which is how Mike knew she would be on the footpath at that exact moment. He had on a navy woolen pea coat and jeans that she knew would be doing amazing things to his behind. His mop of hair looked like he’d just dragged his fingers through it. A job she would be happy to take on for him.
“Hey, Marissa, got a minute?”
“Just one. I have to get back and eat before one.”
“We can walk and talk,” he suggested. Not her usual routine but okay.
“So, you seemed a bit . . . off on Saturday night.”
“Off?”
“Not yourself is what I mean.”
“I’m fine; I guess it’s just my folks moving and that sort of thing.” She wasn’t going to add, and you know as well as looking after them and wasting my time I now realize that I’ve wasted years being in love with you to no avail. Too much information, for sure.
“Oh. Sure, of course.”
“Yep, lots of changes.”
“And what was that about you and a hot date at the engagement party?”
“Well, you know, I’m not getting any younger am I, and I’m not going to meet anyone here . . .”
“You could,” he said.
“I think that if I was going to then I already would have; after all, I do know everyone in this whole town, pretty much.”
“I suppose.”
“Yeah, so Chase is going to try and introduce me to some friends, see what clicks.”
“Oh. Right. I see.” He was looking at her strangely, as if he had something else to say but wasn’t quite sure how to get it out. It was funny how quiet he’d become over the years. He used to be more outgoing and gregarious, now he was almost too measured in his approach.
“We’re here. I’ve got to go, Mike. See you later.” She waited a beat for him to say whatever was on his mind, but nothing came.
“Yeah, see you later.” He held the door open so she could enter. He was still standing there when she looked out the window a few minutes later.
This was not good. Not good at all. Mike did not want Marissa hooking up with some hotshot friend of Chase’s and moving to Boston or New York or wherever. He looped back to the diner where he was meeting his brother for lunch.
Any Way You Plan It: An Upper Crust Series Novel Page 2
