“Kevin said he’d asked you to bring scones this morning, but Joe saw through that immediately. Called him out and drove him to confess he’d been on the phone with you until the early morning hours.”
“We just talked about old times in high school and stuff. Nothing major.” I thought that was a good enough reason we’d be on the phone, but based on Kaley’s hand on her hip and that oh-come-on brow raise, I guessed she wasn’t buying it. “I have a boyfriend. A serious boyfriend.”
“If he makes you happy, fine, but based on what Kevin told Joe, I don’t think he does. You and Kevin would be a much better match,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone.
“We have nothing in common,” I said in a harsher tone than I had intended.
Based on her half smile, she didn’t take it personally. “You keep telling yourself that, but if you’re honest, you’d see it.”
“See what?”
“Let me ask you something, Zoey. Why do you think you tutored Kevin all through high school?”
“Because he was flunking out of school,” I said flatly.
“Kevin was a straight-A student who could teach the teachers. You assumed he was more into girls and football than his grades, but he wasn’t. He just never studied because he didn’t need to. He aced every test.”
I handed her back the wrench and pointed to the Phillips-head screwdriver. “That doesn’t make any sense. He mowed lawns to pay for his tutoring with me.”
She handed it to me but wouldn’t release her grip, demanding me to look up at her. With a serious stare down at me, she tilted her head. “I know. That’s what a man will do for a girl he likes.”
My mind slid through a twisting tunnel of new information that made my head swirl. “That’s silly. I would’ve known.”
She released her grip. “Would you? Did you ever ask?”
I thought back and realized I never had. I’d just tutored and collected money. We were in desperate need of it until Ashton came along and started helping with some of our bills.
My phone buzzed. The screen showed Edward’s number. “Sorry, I need to take this.” I pushed from under the desk and headed out to the lobby before I answered. “Hi.”
“Hi. I need to see you,” Edward said in a rushed word-blurring speed.
“What’s wrong?”
“Only that it looks like I’m going to be passed over for my promotion.” He sounded devastated. I was a horrible person. I’d been talking to Kevin all night and my boyfriend didn’t get his dream job.
“I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do?”
“Meet me for dinner tonight? Just you. I miss you.”
I had never heard such sorrow in Edward’s voice, and I felt for him. “What about your dinner with—”
“I’ll see you at our normal café in Decatur at eight p.m.”
Without another word, the line went dead. I imagined the tears in his eyes, and they seared my heart.
“Are you all right?” Kevin’s voice drew my attention from the blank phone screen.
“Yeah, fine.” I sighed.
Kevin tilted his head and his eyes narrowed. “No, you’re not. Come on. I have to run an errand and thought I’d buy you lunch for all your hard work.”
“I shouldn’t.” I held tight to my phone, the only line I had connecting me to Edward while down in Magnolia Corners.
“Why?”
I shrugged.
“We’re friends, right?”
“Right.” I relaxed at his words. There was no reason two old high school acquaintances couldn’t go to lunch. “Let’s grab something and head back here. I want to be back for Mr. Shelton’s therapy at one o’clock. I think I could tweak his walker so it slides better across the floor without the tennis balls on it.”
We walked toward the main doors. “You really are good with Mr. Shelton. Not to mention ingenious at figuring out how to fix, put together, and modify equipment.”
“I enjoy working with my hands. I always have. Besides, I like hanging out with Mr. Shelton. He’s a kind old man. Maybe it’s because I don’t have any grandparents or parents to care for in their old age. Perhaps I need him as much as he needs me.”
Kevin stopped at the coat rack by the door and held up my coat for me. I slid my arms in and turned around. He lifted my scarf over my head and tucked it in around my neck. “I’m sorry I didn’t know more about what you were going through during school. I was a different person then. If you want to talk, I’m here now.”
“I’m not sure it was that you weren’t listening. It more likely had to do with me not talking. Besides, I was no better. I thought you were the unattainable jock who could only see things on his level. It wasn’t fair of me to think that either.”
He slung his coat over his shoulders with a big ear-to-ear grin. “Then let’s make a deal. We can tell each other anything we want with no judgement and no preconceived ideas of the other. Let’s get to know each other for real. I think it’s about time after all these years.”
I studied his face for a moment. His sincere brow raise and soft eyes told me I could trust him, but I still wanted to know for sure. “Tell me something, then. Why did you have me tutor you in high school?”
A redness spread from his cheeks to his ears. “Because I was too much of a coward to admit that I wanted to spend time with you.”
I took a step back and offered him my hand. “I accept your deal. You can ask me anything.”
He shook my hand, but instead of letting it go, he set it in the crook of his elbow and led me outside. “Be careful. Some ice has formed along the edge here.” With a tight grip on my hand, he led me to the truck and carefully tucked me inside.
In that moment, I felt treasured and cared for…and guilty.
“I need to stop by my place to pick up some equipment, and then I’ll drop it at a work site and we can have lunch.” He started the engine with the deep diesel growl of his truck and headed out. The road on which we’d seen each other briefly the night of Avery’s great escape wasn’t far away. We turned down the street, and flashes of his headlights and the sound of his tires squealing rippled through my mind.
“Do you remember that night that you came around the corner in your truck and saw Avery in the middle of the road?”
“Remember? I thought I was going to have a heart attack at that moment. The thought of…of…harming someone else…”
From the pain in his voice, the way he kept his eyes straight ahead on the road and gripped the steering wheel, I knew what he’d gone through. I grabbed his hand and pried it from the steering wheel and held on to it tight, willing him to listen. “If you had hit her, it wouldn’t have been your fault. You’re not responsible for other people’s choices.”
I could see his Adam’s apple drift up and then down. If there was anything I could do to take the pain from him, I would.
“Your words make sense, but there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t replay Joe’s accident in my head. After the night I saw you and Avery, the nightmares started again. If I hadn’t seen her—”
“But you did.” I scooted closer to him, as far as my seat belt would allow. “Instead of harming her, you risked your own life to lead that crazy sheriff away so they could escape. If it wasn’t for you, Avery wouldn’t be happily married, and Dylan could’ve been facing MPs coming to take him back to base. You did a good thing.”
“You’re the crazy one who broke all the laws and drove like a mad woman.” He shook his head with a grunt-chuckle hybrid sound. “Zoey?”
“Yes?”
“I’ve truly never met a woman like you.”
His words warmed my skin, and I realized he was holding my hand now. I slid away, taking my hand with me. “Yes, well, you’re pretty great yourself, friend.”
“Ouch.” He placed his palm to his heart. “You know how to hurt a man’s ego.”
“I think you can handle it.”
He pulled into the old plantation home.
“Wait.
No way. Is this your place?”
“Yep. It still needs a lot of work, but I enjoy restoring old buildings in my spare time.”
“Spare time?”
He shrugged. “No social life, remember?”
I shook my head. “I still can’t believe you’re not married or seriously involved with someone.”
“Nope. I’ll only ask a woman to marry me once. I believe marriage is a one-time deal, so I want to get it right.”
I couldn’t imagine a happily ever after, not for me. I saw it for my sisters, despite our parents’ epic failure, but not with me and Edward. We’d talked about the future, but forever? That was a long time.
The white front with the large columns looked stately, but the front porch with wicker furniture looked warm and inviting. “My sisters and I used to play at this house when we were young. We’d ride our bikes all the way here to pretend we were the owners of this great home. It didn’t end there, either. At sixteen, I’d drive by and park in the driveway, imagining my life here. It must be amazing inside.”
“I don’t know about that, but it will be.” He popped his driver’s-side door open. “Come inside. I’d like your opinion on something.”
“Sure.” I bolted out of my seat, excited to see the inside of one of the historic properties that only the rich lived in until they were abandoned and left to rot.
Kevin held the front door open for me. The entryway was grand, with shiny new white-and-black-checkered tile. The aroma of saw dust and turpentine and new construction flooded my nose, causing me to sneeze.
“Bless you.”
“Thank you.” I stepped farther inside. “Did you restore all this wood? I mean the trim detail is breathtaking.”
“Yeah, it’s a hobby.” Kevin closed the front door behind me and headed around the corner. “Wait up here. I haven’t reinforced the stairs to the basement yet. I’ll go grab the stuff. Feel free to look around on this floor until I get back.”
He disappeared, and I found myself taken back to the 1800s. I ran my hand down the sanded wood panels that reached two-thirds of the way up the wall. It was baby bottom smooth. I followed it into the dining room, with a chandelier covered in plastic resting in the corner. The crystal sparkled through the clear packaging. The kitchen had new cabinetry but no appliances. The floors were stripped and looked ready for staining. The only room that looked complete was a small sitting area off the kitchen. It was furnished with two leather chairs and shelves full of books.
The spines were written in gold, and all the greats were lined up neatly. At the end was one wrapped in gold paper.
Footsteps sounded up the stairs. “I loaded the truck. You ready?”
“These are beautiful.” I slid one out and saw the pages creased. “You’ve read all of these?”
He walked up behind me and stood a breath away, looking over my shoulder at the book in my hand. “Yes.”
“I didn’t know.” My gaze drifted along reading everything from Romeo and Juliet to The Brothers Karamazov. “You have titles I haven’t even read.”
“You’re welcome to borrow my books anytime. After all, you’re the one who inspired me to love the written word.”
“Me?”
Kevin retrieved the wrapped book and stood analyzing it in his hands for a moment. His jaw tensed then released. “A long time ago, I bought this planning on giving it to you after school, but I didn’t.”
“Why not?”
He let out a long breath. “Because I wasn’t ready. I’d planned on going away for my scholarship to Auburn, and you were off to Emory on an academic scholarship. Our paths were headed in separate directions, and I wasn’t sure we were ever meant to cross again.”
I eyed the gold-wrapped book, curious to know what it was but nervous to find out. “And now?”
“After what happened with Joe, I realized that achieving my goals was less important than living my life. Don’t get me wrong, I'm still a driven man, it’s just in a new direction. Family, friends, and loved ones come before being the star of a game.”
“Do you miss it?” Despite what he’d said about life being more important than football, I still held my breath, waiting for him to tell me he’d return to the game at his old university, leaving Magnolia Corners far behind.
“Believe it or not, I don’t. Catching the winning ball in the end zone felt nothing like the day I saw Joe manage to get out of his wheelchair, down on one knee, and hold a ring up to Kaley. That was the day I saw what truly mattered.” He handed me the wrapped book.
I took it with shaking hands, watching the muscles in his neck stiffen. With one finger, I broke the old tape that was barely clinging to the paper anymore. Inside I found Pride and Prejudice. I opened the cover and found an inscription written in Kevin’s sloppy script.
Thank you for being my Elizabeth Bennet and showing me there was more to life than football and parties. You’ve opened my eyes, and I hope I never close them again.
His fingertips whispered across my knuckles, leaving a delicious chill behind. “I didn’t ask you to tutor me for academic reasons. I did it because you were tutoring my heart. Each time I left one of our sessions, I felt lighter, open to possibilities. Over the last three years, each time I had to face something challenging, I would escape into one of these classics.”
My pulse quickened. I stared at the squiggly writing. It wasn’t poetic, but it was profound. “I did that for you?”
“Yes,” he whispered.
I closed the cover and held it to my chest. “I have a confession to make.” After a deep breath, I faced the man who changed me so long ago. “I only went away to college because you taught me how to be brave. You were the one who told me I deserved better and that if I believed in myself, nothing would stop me. And nothing has.”
“It sounds like we both learned a lot more than we had intended during high school.” He closed the gap between us. Looking down at me, he slid his thumb over my cheek. “You’re so beautiful, both inside and out.”
My gaze traveled from his silver eyes to his lips. “I told you to stop calling me that.”
He tipped my chin up, and my breath caught in my chest. “I’m only telling you the truth. Sharing. That’s what you wanted, right?”
“I…I…”
He leaned in, and I thought I would lose my mind at his closeness. “Thank you.” His lips brushed my cheek. Heat spread across my skin and surged deep into my soul.
Chapter Eight
Darkness blanketed the street, making the drive to Decatur even longer. I needed to get to Edward. The man I was meant to be with. The man who spoke poetry and treated me like I was the only woman in the world. It was time for me to focus on our relationship, not on some childhood fantasy that would only leave me brokenhearted and alone. The minute Kevin forgave himself for Joe’s accident, he’d be out of Magnolia Corners for good. And I’d be left behind like my mother.
I pulled into the small restaurant and went inside. “Is Dr. Edward Talbert here yet?”
The hostess scanned the list in front of her. “No, ma’am. You can wait in the bar if you wish.”
“Thanks.” To evade the cold shooting inside each time someone opened the front door, I found a seat at the far end of the bar. “Can I have a glass of ice water with lemon please?”
The bartender gave me the evil stare for a moment, but I plopped a twenty down on the bar top and he changed his expression. “Certainly.”
I texted Edward, but he didn’t respond. After thirty minutes, I was getting irritated. At nine p.m., he called me. “I’m so sorry, love. Listen, change of plans. Meet me outside. I’m here now.”
The phone went dead before I could even reply. I waved bye to the bartender and found Edward in his car outside. He rolled down the window. “Come on. I need to get to a party. You’re coming with me.”
I sat in the car, but before I could even get a kiss, he put the car in reverse and sped through town.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
Edward turned on his signal and merged onto the highway. “Turns out that Dr. Westbound loved a paper you wrote and mentioned to another staff member that he’d love to speak to you about your philosophy behind it. That got you an invite, and I’m your plus one.”
“We’re going to walk into the party together?” I asked. This was it. We would finally announce our relationship to the staff.
“Of course. Why not? You’re not a child. There are only a few years’ age difference between us. It’s realistic that we’re friends. You’re a rising star in the program, and I’m a professor.” He took an exit off to some rich neighborhood I’d never seen before.
All of a sudden, I felt awful about throwing the word “friends” in Kevin’s face. “So, we’re not dating?” I glanced over to see Edward’s brown eyes fixed on the road ahead, his gaze transfixed on his promotion. “Not yet. After I snag the dean of school and you graduate. That’ll be the time. You agreed to that, right?”
“Right.” I had to admit, it had been fun for a while meeting at secret locations and no one knowing about us as a couple, but the situation was getting old now. I understood why and agreed, but it didn’t make it easier.
He turned onto the upscale street of Peachtree Estates Road and pulled up behind a row of cars near an estate with a wrought-iron gate that had fancy swirls that ended in an arrow point. The numbers 5249 were prominently displayed in gold script on a mailbox next to the car. It wasn’t a normal mailbox, it was as ornately designed as the gate.
“I don’t know about this.” I pointed at my sexy cocktail dress I’d worn to get Edward’s attention.
“Oh, I think that’s perfect. You look stunning, my dear.” He kissed my cheek. “Leave the purse, though. It’s a little too south side of town looking. Oh, I almost forgot. I have something for you.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a sheet of paper.
I opened it to read a verse from one of the poems he’d read to me. Usually I felt special and knew he’d taken time to pick out the perfect verse and hand write it in his fancy script, but not this time. This time it only felt like I was reading general words. I wasn’t being fair. Edward was trying his best in an impossible situation. Once I graduated, things would be better between us. Relationships were work, and I needed to try harder.
The Sweet Bride Page 4