Noah reached over and squeezed his hand on top of her knee. Had he heard the conversation? “How are your pancakes?”
“I’m afraid I’ve been bugging the poor girl with questions, and she hasn’t had a chance to eat.”
Anita generally bristled if someone referred to her as a girl, but somehow she didn’t mind it from Janet. She pointed to the older woman’s plate. “Neither have you.” She squeezed Noah’s hand back. “The pancakes are delicious. Sorry we missed your parents.”
“You’ll see them later at the family picnic.”
“What family picnic?”
“Didn’t I tell you? The Colburns always get together for a picnic lunch on the Fourth.”
“No. I thought we had to walk around town all day.”
He chuckled. “There will be enough of that, too. Hope your shoes are comfortable.”
“So where is the picnic?”
“At my parents’ house. You’ll be able to see the house where I grew up. Tonight, Jake’s BBQ will be serving ribs and pulled pork down at Lakeside Park.”
“So basically, today is just an excuse to eat all day long?”
Janet and Dan laughed along with Noah. “Exactly.”
…
The rest of the morning flew by as they walked around the village. Vendors lined the streets, selling everything from kettle corn to jewelry to glow sticks. Noah hadn’t expected Anita to be as patient as she was with all the people stopping to shake hands with him and meet her.
“Lot of curious people in this town,” she said after another village resident walked away, but not before shaking both their hands and asking about the work that was going to be done on Aggie’s house. “Guess it’s good the voters are getting out and meeting the candidates. But I think they mostly want to get up close and personal with me and find out what they can about the renovation plans.”
“Hey, some of them wanted to talk to me, too.”
Anita grinned and leaned in for a way-too-quick peck on the lips. Noah couldn’t resist wrapping one arm around her waist and giving her a fast-but-decent kiss. He liked her more with every minute he spent with her. He desired her more with every touch. Every kiss.
They stopped by Henry Brown’s house to say hello and check on how he was doing since his recent heart attack. The current mayor still looked pale and weak, but he shook Noah’s hand and told him how glad he was that Noah was running. Henry didn’t let on which candidate he hoped would win, but he said he was glad there was going to be an election and not an uncontested race.
The temperature had risen to over eighty by the time noon rolled around. Noah cranked up the air as soon as they jumped into his truck to head over to the family home for the picnic.
“I don’t go to many of these things.” Anita almost sounded nervous. “So I have a question.”
“What things?”
“You know. Potluck picnics. Big family gatherings. I’m pretty sure we should be bringing something like…a casserole or something?”
He had a feeling Anita didn’t make a lot of goulash or macaroni and cheese. “Do you bake casseroles?”
“No.”
“Cherry cobbler? Macaroni salad?”
“You’re scaring me now.”
“I didn’t think anything scared you.”
“Families scare me. I haven’t had experience with families.”
“You’ll do fine. They don’t bite. I won’t leave you alone with them.” He snickered.
She punched him in the shoulder. “It’s not funny. And I still think we should have picked up something to bring.”
She did sound nervous. He’d thought she was always confident. “Don’t worry about it. Mom always makes enough to feed an army.”
“Does she know I’m coming?”
Had he told his mother he was bringing Anita? The last few days were like a blur. “The more the merrier.”
“You’re full of clichés today, Mr. Mayor,” she snapped. “You need to expand your vocabulary if you’re going to convince your constituents to vote for you.”
He bristled. “What?”
“Well, respecting history is fine, but—” She crossed her arms over her seat belt. “You know what? Never mind.”
He pulled into the driveway and slammed the gearshift into park. “No. Tell me. You suddenly went off on me. Why?”
“I shoot my mouth off without thinking sometimes. I’m sorry. Don’t mind me.” She looked out the windshield. “We’re here? This is a beautiful old house. And all this land. You grew up here?”
“Yeah.” He took off his seat belt but didn’t jump out of the truck. “Anita?”
“Let’s go.”
“Okay, but you know you don’t have to be nervous. You’ve already met my mom and brothers and cousin. They already like you. You don’t have to pick a fight with me.”
“I wasn’t… Okay, maybe I was. I don’t like feeling this way. You have this huge family. I’ve lived most of my life with only my mother. Now I find out I had a grandmother who was alive most of this time, and then today my father leaves me a message out of the blue, and it’s all freaking me out a little bit.”
“I thought you didn’t have any contact with your father.”
“Yeah.”
“Did he call you?”
“No, he left a comment on the village Facebook page.”
“Really? You should—” A thump on the hood of his truck made them both jump and turn to look out the windshield. It was Beckett, grinning like an ass.
“Hey, get in the house,” he called out. “Mom and Pop are wondering what you two are doing out here.”
Noah glanced at Anita. “Sorry. Now you can be glad you don’t have any younger brothers.” He caught her hand. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Sure.”
“We’ll talk later.”
Beck opened the passenger door for Anita. “Great picture of you two on Facebook this morning.”
Noah met them at the front of the truck. “What picture?”
“You two were kissing on the sidewalk. Thought you knew better than that by now. Most of the commenters predict you’ll be married before the election.”
“This is ridiculous,” Noah muttered. He checked Anita’s expression, but she looked amused. She stepped up and linked her arm with his.
“I think it’s kind of fun.” Anita bumped her shoulder against his. “We know it’s not going to happen, and that’s all that counts.”
“The voters will be so disappointed.”
Anita stopped and turned to face Noah. “I told you if hanging out with me in public is going to hurt your chances, I’m okay with…” She lowered her voice, “hanging out in private.”
“And I told you this wasn’t going to be a dirty little secret. Making it a secret would be even worse if it came out.”
“‘This’?” Beck was still there, shamelessly listening in. “Are you saying you guys are really a thing now?”
“We’re having fun for a few weeks,” Anita blurted out before Noah could stop her.
His brothers would take that information and run with it. But what had he expected, taking her to a family thing? Holding hands. Kissing in public. He was sending everyone the wrong message. Why had he insisted on taking their relationship public? There had been no point.
Unless in the back of his stupid mind he wanted it to be more than a fling. Unless he hoped he could be the one man to change Anita’s mind about getting serious. Unless he thought he’d renovate her house so perfectly she’d want to stay here in little Lakeside. With him.
He didn’t have time to think about that anymore, because they’d reached the house. Mom was there at the door with a hug for each of them. She welcomed Anita warmly and led them through the kitchen to the back deck. Mom introduced Holly, Beck’s daughter, to Anita and then asked Holly to help her in the kitchen. Pop sat in the shady corner of the deck in his wheelchair.
Noah led Anita over to his father. “Pop, this is Anita Delgado, Aggie’s g
randdaughter. Anita, this is my dad, Chuck Colburn.”
Pop smiled his lopsided smile. “I’ve heard about you from my wife and sons. You’ve made quite an impression.” He reached his left hand out for a shake. The stroke had affected his right side, and while he’d regained some mobility, it was doubtful he’d recover any more.
“I’m glad to meet you, Mr. Colburn.”
“Call me Pop. Everyone does.” He patted the bench next to him, and after a quick glance at Noah, she sat beside his father.
“Noah was showing me around your shop yesterday. I loved seeing all the architectural details your business saves from destruction. Amazing.”
Pop was beaming. Noah knew it was from both the praise and the attention of a beautiful woman. Beckett called Noah over. He held up a finger to let Anita know he’d be right back and then followed his brother off the deck. Carter waited for them at the bottom of the steps.
Carter grabbed Noah’s arm and dragged him around the corner, out of view and hearing range. “Why don’t you quit the campaign right now? All you’re doing is giving Bradford more shit to use against you. Where is your head?”
Noah frowned. “You’re going to have to be more specific.”
“What are you doing with Anita Delgado?”
“What do you think I’m doing?” Noah asked through gritted teeth.
“I think you’re screwing her. You’re thinking with your dick and ruining your chances at getting elected mayor.”
“Yeah, this isn’t a good idea,” Beck chimed in.
“Look who’s lecturing me.” His youngest brother’d had a wild go of it when he was younger.
“That’s why I know what I’m talking about.”
“What’s the problem? We’re both single. There’s nothing wrong with what we’re doing. The voters will see through Bradford.”
“Carter, maybe we should keep our mouths shut. When has Noah ever let loose before? Maybe he deserves a little fun on the side.”
Noah didn’t like Anita being referred to that way, even though she’d used the term “fun” more than once for what they were doing. For what she wanted out of their fling. “Show her some respect. She’s a college professor and award-winning artist. There’s nothing wrong with being attracted to each other.”
“And when she leaves?” Carter asked. “Cuz I heard she isn’t moving to Lakeside.”
“Maybe I’ll move to Philadelphia if things get serious between us.”
“What? No way.” Carter’s eyes were wide with disbelief.
Of course he wouldn’t. He couldn’t. But he couldn’t resist getting another jab in with his brother. “Why not?”
“What about the business?” Beckett asked.
One thing that was true was he was tired of being taken for granted. “I’m not the only Colburn son.”
Chapter Eight
It hadn’t taken Noah long to break his promise.
Chuck Colburn was a nice guy. His speech had obviously been affected by his stroke, but she could still understand him just fine. His eyes lit up as he told Anita a couple of stories about early days in the salvage business. It was interesting, but Noah had still left her alone with his family.
After a few minutes, Donna Colburn stuck her head out the sliding screen door. “Anita, I’m sorry to be such a poor hostess. The food is almost ready. What would you like to drink? Beer? Wine? Lemonade? Water?”
“Ice water for now, thanks.”
Donna and Beckett’s daughter, Holly, came out with a glass in each hand. The little girl handed one to her grandfather and sat in a chair on the other side of him. Anita couldn’t tell how old Holly was. She guessed she was somewhere around eight years old.
Anita accepted a glass from Donna, who sat beside her. “Thanks.”
“I knew your mother,” Donna said after taking a long drink of water. “We went to school together.”
She shouldn’t be so surprised people here wanted to talk about her mother. “I met another one of her friends this morning. Oh, Noah said she’s a friend of yours, too? Janet something.”
“Janet Larson.”
“That’s it. It’s a little strange to hear about my mother when she was young. She never talked about growing up here. Janet said my father was here in Lakeside for a while, too.”
“Sure. They met in college, and he spent breaks here. Lived with Dan Larson, did he tell you that? Patty and Tony dated for a while before they eloped and moved to Philly.”
“They eloped?” Of course they did. She was pregnant and her mother didn’t want anything to do with them. What kind of wedding would that have been?
“We thought it was so romantic,” Donna said. Chuck huffed. “Well, I thought it was. But disappointing, too. We all wanted to be a part of their happy day. Instead, we never saw them again.”
“According to my mom, she had to quit school after they got married because she was terribly sick for the entire pregnancy. He divorced my mom and moved back to Spain. We never saw him again.”
“Tony? Tony did that?” The hurt expression on Donna’s face surprised Anita. “I find that hard to believe. He was such a nice guy. A fun guy. We used to do a lot of things with them. The six of us, remember, Chuck?”
He nodded. “How about that time we took the motorcycles out and it poured like holy hell?”
Donna laughed. “We were soaked to the skin. Patty wore new jeans that day and her legs were stained blue.”
Her mom used to ride a motorcycle? Anita couldn’t even picture it. She’d never thought much about who her mother was before her father left them. She probably could find some answers in the bedroom at the top of the stairs. She was going to have to suck it up and open that door.
Chuck Colburn looked tired. “Tony loved Patty, but he was focused. Told me he wanted to be a doctor since his sister died when she was a little girl. Pneumonia, I think. So part of me isn’t surprised he wanted to go back to his family. If Patty didn’t want to go…” He shrugged.
“I never knew anything about his family.” How much family did she have in Spain? Did her father have a whole other family over there? A wife? Children? “I was too young when he left. I barely remember him at all.”
“My mom died when I was a little baby,” Holly said softly. “Daddy showed me pictures of her, but I don’t remember her at all.”
“That sucks,” Anita said. Donna gave a little gasp, but Anita wasn’t going to sugarcoat it. Didn’t matter how old Holly was. “That’s a hard thing, isn’t it? To not have a whole family.”
Tears sparkled in her big eyes as she nodded. “I wish I had a mom.”
“Oh, sweetie, I know. I wished I had a dad, too.” She glanced at Donna and Chuck. “But you’re lucky to have lots of other family, aren’t you? You have your dad. And I bet he’s an awesome dad. And grandparents. And uncles. Look at all the love you have. All the family who’re here for you.”
“Yeah.” Holly grinned through her tears. “I’m lucky.”
Holly didn’t know how lucky she was.
“Uncle Noah likes you. And I like you, too.” Holly got up and threw her arms around Anita. Tears prickled Anita’s eyelids as she hugged her back.
“What’s going on?” Beckett asked. Noah and Carter followed him onto the deck. Anita tried to ignore the little jolt to her heart as Noah walked over to her.
Holly threw her arms around her dad. “Daddy, you’re awesome.”
Beck hugged her back, kissing the top of her head. Anita’s heart hurt as she wondered what it would have been like to have had her father while she was growing up. “You’re pretty awesome, too,” Beckett told his little girl.
Holly threw her arms wide. “My whole family is awesome!” Everyone chuckled.
Noah sat down beside Anita and took her hand. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, except you broke your promise. Left me alone in shark-infested waters.” His parents laughed.
“Sorry. Looks like you survived.”
“I did. Your n
iece is sweet.”
“She is. I remember when Sarah and Hannah were that age. Before they became moody teenagers.”
“Teenage girls aren’t easy to deal with. I should know. I was one.”
Noah chuckled. “I miss my girls, though. The family doesn’t feel whole when they’re gone.”
What would it be like to have family around like this? Parents. Siblings. Children. Anita couldn’t even imagine. All she could do was sit on the fringes and look on. No wonder Noah would be such a great community leader with family support like this.
She grabbed her phone. “Hey, can anyone post to that village Facebook page?”
“I think so. Why?”
“You and your family have spent your whole life in Lakeside. You’ve employed a lot of people over the years. Supported the economy. Made friends in the community. I think those are all great points in your favor. How about if I take a picture of all of you right now? The mayoral candidate with his family. I’ll post it, and it’ll speak for itself.”
“Sounds like a great idea,” Chuck said. “Gather around, everyone. Put Noah right in the middle.”
Anita took a bunch of pictures and spent more than a few minutes swiping through them, trying to pick out the best image to post. She kept pausing, gazing at Noah and the rest of the Colburns. Envying the smiles, the looks, the touches they shared.
How different might her life have been if Aggie Swanson hadn’t made that one snap decision all those years ago?
…
Noah walked hand in hand with Anita as evening fell. She’d grinned like a little kid when she bought two glow-in-the-dark necklaces and snapped one around each of their necks. The twins loved those things, too. This would be the first time he hadn’t watched the Fourth of July fireworks with his daughters since they were born.
They’d called him that afternoon before he and Anita left Mom and Pop’s house. Teased him about the kissing picture.
“Is she your girlfriend, Dad?” Hannah had asked.
“We’ve only been on a few dates, so I can’t really call her my girlfriend yet.” He’d probably never be able to call her his girlfriend.
“She’s very pretty,” Sarah added.
“Yes, she is.”
The July Guy Page 9
