by Jo McNally
Evie pierced right brow rose high. “Happy in the sack, maybe.” She pointed at him, clearly not worried about having this conversation in front of her priest. “But you two need to figure some shit out, and you know it.”
By the time Owen started to answer, Evie was gone. The doors to the kitchen swung back and forth in her wake. Owen scrubbed his hand down his face with a heavy sigh.
“Women, right?” Then he realized who he was saying that to. “Oh...uh...sorry, Connie.”
She took a sip of the coffee she’d brought from her table. “Your talent for digging holes extends way beyond planting trees, my friend.”
Owen laughed. “I think you’re right. And I’m sorry to you, too, Father Joe. I didn’t mean to imply you knew anything about... I mean...”
The older man’s eyes were twinkling. No wonder everyone called him a leprechaun.
“More than half my parishioners are of the female persuasion, so I understand. And don’t assume I didn’t learn a thing or two about women before I became a priest.” He winked, making Owen and Connie laugh. “One thing I’ve learned about the ladies, though, is that they’re often right. And they know it, which is probably why it bothers men so much, don’t you think?”
“It can be irritating, yes.” Owen shook his head while reaching for another cookie. “But I don’t think of Lucy as my kryptonite. I mean, that’s what destroyed Superman’s powers, right? And Lucy would never...”
“Didn’t she leave you at the altar?” Connie asked pointedly. “And haven’t you been here trying to fix everything she blew up that day?”
“Fair enough,” Owen said. “But it wasn’t just her. I contributed to what happened, too.”
“But she’s the one who ran.” Joe sipped his coffee thoughtfully, glancing out the window toward the flower shop, then giving Connie a wink before turning back to Owen. “Then again, so did you.”
“Me? I didn’t run... I chased, and that’s different.”
There was a long pause before Joe replied.
“Is it?”
Oh, Connie thought, this priest is good. Those two short words had clearly poked a tender spot in Owen, and he started defending himself.
“She came to Rendezvous Falls to escape something.” To escape being married to him, but Connie thought it would be cruel to point that out now. “And I came here to...”
“To win her back,” Joe finished. “With the help of a phone app, if I heard correctly.”
“At first, yeah. But I won her back on my own. The night the power went off. We...uh...”
“I understand what happens in blackouts,” Joe held his hand up with a mischievous grin. “I’m sure I’ll be baptizing a few extra babies in nine months’ time from that storm.”
Connie laughed in agreement. “Without a doubt! I think what the good Father is trying to say is that Lucy isn’t the only reason you ended up in Rendezvous Falls, Owen.”
“Connie, you of all people know I came here for Lucy.”
Father Joe set down his coffee cup and wiped his mouth with his napkin before standing. He looked at Owen with what seemed to be...sorrow.
“I know what Lucy was running from. But what are you running from?”
“Nothing!” Owen looked between Joe and Connie, pleading his case. “I came here for her.”
“And now you have her, or so you say. But you’re still here. You haven’t left. So what are you running from?”
“Well, I can’t leave without her.” Owen was clearly frustrated.
Joe tipped his head to the side with an impish grin. “I didn’t say you had to leave.”
“But...” Owen straightened, trying to unravel the riddle. “I’m here because Lucy’s here.”
The priest shook his head. “Maybe. I’m guessing you’ll have to work that out for yourself.”
Joe waved and left the diner, leaving Owen staring into his coffee with a scowl. Connie grabbed a cookie and patted Owen on the shoulder before she headed to the shop. The poor guy still didn’t get it, and Connie could relate. She’d refused to admit the truth for a long time, too. Hopefully Owen would realize that he had to face the music as much as Lucy did. Those two lovebirds weren’t in the clear yet. They both had work to do.
* * *
THREE DAYS LATER, Father Joe’s question still echoed in Owen’s mind. What are you running from?
He was scrubbing the grill behind Lucy’s bright yellow house. He’d picked up a couple of steaks that afternoon. They’d sat at the ornate iron table on the patio and laughed together over rare steaks and red wine. They’d talked about inconsequential things like whether the burgers were better at the Spot or at the marina restaurant on the waterfront. They talked about the floral order Lucy was working on for the McKinnon family. The flowers were for Maura McKinnon’s surprise birthday party, and they’d insisted on green, white and orange centerpieces to honor her Irish heritage. Lucy had ordered tiny Irish flags for each arrangement, and little potted shamrocks for each place setting.
The evening felt so...normal. Relaxed. Perfect.
And still, as soon as Lucy went inside with the dishes, Joe’s question popped up again. Owen closed the grill. Okay, maybe he had never been wild about taking over the family business. But it was still what his parents expected. Cooper Landscaping had been built for him. They’d been telling him that his entire life. He’d been ten when they’d held the big ribbon-cutting ceremony when the nursery side of the business opened. Dad had handed him the weird giant scissors and said point-blank, “This will all be yours, son.” From the moment he’d cut that thick red ribbon, he’d felt the weight settling on his shoulders. The weight of his future. It was a lot for a ten-year-old. It was a lot now. He walked inside, carrying the last of the dishes and condiments.
Lucy stood at the sink, her hair pulled up in a short, messy ponytail. She tossed him a bright smile over her shoulder. In her shorts and snug tee, she looked like a queen. His queen.
What are you running from?
He dismissed the annoying question once and for all. He’d been running to something. He’d come running for Lucy Higgins. And her smile was his prize.
“What?” She laughed. “Do I have salad in my teeth or something?”
He walked over and slid his arms around her waist from behind, tugging her back against him. “No salad in your teeth, silly. Just a bright shining light in my world.” He kissed her neck, feeling her continued laughter. “Okay, that was over the top But you are beautiful, Lucy. Irresistible. Like a flame draws a...” She spun in his arms, shaking her finger in his face.
“I swear if you refer to yourself as a moth, I’m going to slap you. How many glasses of wine have you had tonight?”
“Enough to make me drunk on...” He stopped again. What had gotten into him?
Lucy’s eyes went wide, and she patted his chest playfully.
“No more wine for you, Casanova. But if you’re feeling this...um...amorous...maybe I could meet you upstairs when I’m done with the dishes?”
His heart thumped hard in his chest directly under her palm. This was why he’d come to Rendezvous Falls. This feeling. This woman. He’d been right when he spoke with Father Joe. He hadn’t been running from anything. He’d been running to this.
“Well?”
He shook off his stupor. The woman he loved wanted sex. Who was he to disappoint?
“I think if you want to make love, then...that’s exactly what we should do.” He kissed her lips lightly. “I smell like the grill, so I’m gonna hop in the shower first. I’ll meet you in bed?”
She grinned and returned the kiss. “Sounds like a plan. I’ll finish cleaning up and meet you upstairs. It won’t take me long, so you’d better shower fast, mister.”
Didn’t have to tell him twice. He took the steps two at a time. The shower was quick, and he pulled on his cargo short
s without bothering with underwear. He was just going to be peeling them right off anyway. He sat on the edge of the bed, looking around the room as he waited for Lucy. This whole house was too frilly for his taste, and the bedroom was no exception, with its lacy canopy bed and brocade wallpapered walls. But they’d been having a damn good time in this frilly little room. He glanced at his watch and frowned. She was taking a long time to clean up. He finally decided to go get her himself.
On his way out the bedroom door, he saw the headlamp he’d given her hanging on the back of a chair. That might make for some fun later. He grabbed it and jogged down the stairs.
“Hey, Luce?”
“Owen...” Her voice was coming from the living room, so he headed that way, slipping the headlamp over his head and turning it on.
“I figured out a great little game we can play after dark.” He jogged down the hallway. “I’ll be the big bad mine owner.” The light from the headlamp bounced on the hall walls. “And you can be the damsel in dis...”
He came to a sharp halt as soon as he reached the end of the hallway. He found his voice after a long beat of stunned silence, speaking to the two people standing next to Lucy.
“Mom? Dad?”
Owen’s brain had stalled and was trying to restart, but without success. He knew he looked just as shocked as he felt—eyes wide, mouth open, probably pale as a ghost. His parents. Edward and Faye Cooper. Standing in his...in Lucy’s living room. In New York. His father seemed to be mirroring Owen’s emotions, frozen in place like a deer in the headlights. His mother was equally immobile, but the waves of disapproval were rolling off her and across the room, engulfing both Owen and Lucy. He blinked and looked at Lucy, standing so close to the dangerous rage building in his mother’s expression. He should help her, but his damn brain still wasn’t cooperating.
Lucy was...laughing? Not out loud, but he could see it in the smile that kept flirting with her lips, and the amusement shining in her eyes. Her cheeks had high spots of color, and both brows were raised as if to say Can you believe this? She almost smiled again, and put her tongue on her upper lip to control it. Of all of them, she was the first to move, raising her hand to the top of her head and nodding his way. She was trying to tell him something...his hair? Oh, shit! He was still wearing the freakin’ headlamp! He snatched it off his head, turned it off and threw it onto a chair like it was a bomb.
The sudden movement seemed to kick-start his ability to function. He took a quick inventory of the situation. He at least had shorts on, even if he was going commando underneath. He had briefly thought of coming downstairs undressed and ready for action. Thank Christ he hadn’t. But there was no escaping the fact that he’d come running down the hallway half-naked, wearing a headlamp and suggesting a naughty role-play game. He straightened and fastened the button on his shorts, touching the zipper to make sure it was closed and cleared his throat loudly.
“Uh...what a surprise. What are you guys doing here? How did you even know...?”
“Were we not supposed to know where you were?” Ice fell from his mother’s words.
“No! I mean...yes. I told you what town I was going to. But this house...”
Her brow arched sharply. “You mean the one you’re using for playacting? This house you acquired for your ex-fiancée?”
Lucy’s shoulders went back. “He didn’t acquire anything. I rented this house myself.”
Faye Cooper’s head turned slowly, like a tank turret about to take aim.
“With what?”
“Mom...”
Lucy waved him off. “Not that it’s any of your business, Faye, but I have a job here. As a florist.” His mother stared at Lucy, her eyes narrowed. It was the look that usually sent him running as a boy, but Lucy was unmoved. She raised her chin. “I’m building a new life.” Her expression softened, gazing inward now. “The old one wasn’t working for me.”
She glanced at Owen, and he could see the worry. And a flash of defiance.
“Now that we’ve established whose home we’re in, I’ll give you some privacy. I’m guessing you three have a lot to discuss.” She brushed past him and down the hallway without slowing. “I need a nice long walk.”
Owen hesitated. Should he chase after her? Or deal with his parents? His mother =moved to the sofa—the one in front of the windows—and sat with a heavy sigh. His dad joined her. If only they knew what had happened on that sofa on a fairly regular basis over the past few weeks. Probably best if they didn’t. Mom looked up at him expectantly, nodding toward the armchair in a silent command for him to sit for his inquisition. She expected obedience. But she didn’t get it.
“I’ll be right back.” He turned and hurried into the kitchen. Lucy hadn’t left yet. She was at the coffee maker. “Luce, I had no idea...”
“I know that.” She scooped coffee into the basket, and he waited. Her shoulders slumped as she gave up the pretense of playing happy hostess. She turned to face him. “Like you’ve said before, this talk needed to happen. I kept you from going to them, so they came to you. So...it’s time to decide what you really want.”
“I want you.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I want to honor my responsibilities, too. People are depending on me...”
Her lower lip trembled once...twice...then she bit it and regained control. “I get it. You’re the responsible one. The good son. Go talk to your parents.”
“Luce...” Instead of stalling, his brain was now spinning into overdrive...more like hyperdrive. Bouncing all over between the expectations different people had of him. How could he possibly make everyone happy?
She shook her head slowly, pushing the button on the coffee maker before heading to the door. She stopped by his side, looking deep into his eyes. Making him feel emotionally naked. Exposed. Vulnerable.
“You need to figure this out, Owen. Once and for all. Talk to them, but make the decision for yourself.” She patted his arm and walked to the door.
“Where are you going?”
“Right now? For a walk. I’ll give you-all some time.”
“And after right now? Where are you going, Lucy?”
Her eyes were shining a little too brightly.
“I’m going nowhere, Owen. I’ve reached my destination, and it’s right here.” She opened the door and headed out. “With or without you.”
He watched her stride purposefully away down the sidewalk and blew out a long breath before joining his parents in the living room. His mother started to say something, but he raised his hand to stop her as he settled into the chair.
“I told you I needed another week.”
“Right,” she scoffed. “Just like you told us you’d be gone a week. And then you needed a month. And now you’re tacking on more weeks one at a time. Can’t you see she’s manipulating you?”
He huffed out a humorless laugh. “Manipulating me? You think she left me at the altar as part of some great conspiracy to get me to the Finger Lakes? You think she needs me in her life at all anymore?” He leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees and looking hard at his parents. “Because she doesn’t.”
“Then why are you even here?” His mother gestured around. “Good Lord, I never knew how bad Lucy’s decorating taste was.”
“It’s a furnished vacation rental, Mom.”
“Well, it’s dreadful.” She met his eyes again. “She’s dreadful. Why can’t you see that? Even now, after humiliating us at the wedding...at the nonwedding...she has you nipping at her heels. What is her power over you?”
“She makes me happy.”
“Oh, please...”
Edward Cooper put his hand on his wife’s knee to silence her, finally joining the conversation.
“Tell me what that means, son.” Dad’s voice was level, his curiosity genuine. But Mom wasn’t finished.
“Oh, please, Ed. Isn’t it obvious? The
y play sex games together. That’s the only hold she has on him. Sex.”
Owen was still leaning forward, probably looking more relaxed than he felt. There was no sense jumping into the argument his mother was clearly spoiling for. His hands clenched against his legs. Tightening and releasing. Until he could control his voice almost to his father’s level.
“Yes, the sex is good.” He ignored his mother’s feigned shock, since she was the one who brought up the subject. “But that isn’t what makes me happy. It’s the other way around—the good sex is a result of how happy we are. We’re in love, Mom. Isn’t that what you want for me?”
She pressed her lips tightly together and inhaled sharply. “Every mother wants her children...especially her only child...to be happy. But I told you when you brought that girl home the first time that she was too...wild for you. You were a bad match, and I should have put a stop to it right then.”
Owen shook his head. “And how do you think you would have done that?”
His father raised a finger and opened his mouth, but never got the chance to speak.
“I don’t know. God knows I wanted to stop it, but I knew if I’d tried it would just drive you further into her arms I thought she’d just be a butterfly you chased for a while before you got bored.” His father started to speak, but she talked right over him again. “Even after you got engaged, I never really thought it would happen. And then it was happening, so I tried to help. I brought her into the business. I guided her through the wedding planning...”
“Mom, get real. You bulldozed her into the exact type of wedding she told you she didn’t want.”
Dad made another move to interject, but Mom was on a roll. “Don’t be ridiculous. She has a mind of her own—she proved that when she ran off and embarrassed us all. It’s not my fault she didn’t speak up. And now she has you chasing her all over the country like a plaything on a string. Don’t tell me she’s not capable of making decisions. It’s her decisions that got us into this mess, and she knew exactly how to take you away from us.”