Every time the bell over the door jingled she jerked up from behind the counter, or raced around the stacks to see if her dad had returned. She had no doubt he’d follow through on his promise to talk to her mother. He always kept his word. But she’d have had to be blind not to see the uncertainty and even dread that hovered over him while they cleaned up the kitchen after their ice-cream raid last night.
That was why she couldn’t help second-guessing herself where her mother was concerned. She grabbed the bottle of window cleaner to polish the glass counter. What she didn’t understand was where her own insatiable curiosity had come from for a woman who’d shown no interest in her until now. She had a pretty great thing going with her dad. And Butterfly Harbor was the best. She wasn’t lacking for affection or family and friends. And yet... Mandy frowned.
“Earth to Mandy.” A foot kicked her in the back of the knee.
“Huh?” Mandy blinked herself out of whatever trance she’d dropped into and refocused on Eleni. Her friend was sitting next to her on a stool behind the counter. “Sorry. Got lost in thought.” She swiped the last of the dampness off the counter and stuck the glass cleaner and paper towels away, then closed the science textbook she was supposed to be studying for extra credit. Customers at this time of the day were few and far between, but once the dinner crowd ventured out, they’d be busy again.
“You’re still freaked out, huh?” Eleni tilted her head and a tumble of jet-black curls fell over her shoulders. Shorter and rounder than Mandy, Eleni stuck out her lower lip and crossed her eyes, just like they used to do when they were kids. The expression always made Mandy laugh and today was no exception. “Mom said you can come over for a sleepover this week if you want. She’ll make you a special dinner.”
“Spanakopita?” Mandy’s stomach growled at just the mention of the homemade spinach-and-feta pie.
“What else? It’s your favorite.” Eleni hopped off the stool and moved closer. “You still worried about your mom? You know what you have to do. You just don’t want to do it.”
No, Mandy thought, chewing on her lower lip. She really didn’t. “I don’t want to like her.”
“You already like her,” Eleni accused Mandy. She picked up her iced mocha and took a loud slurp. “You always have. You just don’t think you’re allowed to.”
“Stop reading my mind. It’s rude.” Mandy smacked her arm and laughed when Eleni feigned serious injury.
“You said your dad’s okay with you getting to know her, didn’t he?” Eleni shrugged. “I don’t see what the big deal is. You could cash in on this big-time, you know. There has to be some serious guilt going on with both of them—they’ve got to be worried they’ve screwed you up. And your mom has about fifteen birthdays to make up for. Isn’t she rich?”
“How do you come up with this stuff?” Mandy gaped. “That’s just... Eleni, that’s a horrible idea.”
Another slurp. “You do know most teenagers pit their parents against each other, right? Whether their parents are together or not. Especially if they’re divorced or separated. It’s like a rule or something.”
“They do not do that.” Mandy frowned. “Do they? Do you?”
Eleni smirked. “Sometimes. My situation’s a bit more complicated since my folks still make out when they think we aren’t around.” She shuddered and made a retching sound. “On the bright side, I have three older brothers who constantly distract them, so it’s easier to sneak in there with the ‘Dad, Mom said I can...’ and—” she snapped her fingers “—voilà.” Mandy still wasn’t sure, which must have shown on her face because Eleni sighed. “Once again, I’m going to point out that you, Amanda Francesca Evans, are not normal. I’m thinking that’s your parents’ fault.”
Her parents. Plural. It sounded so strange. Different. Appealing. So...nice. “I always like going to your house,” Mandy said. “It’s fun, hanging out with a big family. Not that Aunt Frankie and Uncle Monty aren’t aces but...” Maybe. Mandy worried her lower lip harder. Maybe, just maybe... Oh, that wasn’t possible. Or was it? “You know what? I think you’re right.”
“Of course, I am.” Eleni beamed. “What are you going to ask them for? A Jet Ski? A new laptop? If you do, can I have your old one?”
Mandy scrunched her nose. “Not about any of that. About...well, not necessarily manipulating them, but, uh, I’m not sure. It might work. I’d need to do a test run first. Get the lay of the land.”
“You’ve completely lost me.”
The bell over the door rang, startling Mandy. “Hang on.” She pushed past Eleni to welcome the group of customers, who were stopping in while on the last leg of a bus tour around the area. When she was done helping them find the nature-and-science section for books on local birds and butterflies, she hurried over to the counter. “You know how the last few months I’ve been thinking about what happens when I go to college?”
“Yeah.” Eleni frowned. “You’re going to leave me alone at community college because you have an actual plan for your future, brainiac.”
“Shut up. That’s not what I mean. And no, I’m not a brainiac. I’m just more driven.”
Eleni nodded. “True that.”
“I mean about my dad.” A new bubble of excitement burst inside her. “I’ve been thinking how he needs someone in his life, someone other than me. A girlfriend or even a wife.”
“Gonna be tough. Your dad doesn’t date. And your spreadsheet of supposedly eligible women in town didn’t give you any help.”
“He went out with Wanda Perkins for a few months.”
“They went to the movies twice and out to dinner once. You have selective memory, Man.”
“Whatever. I need to see for myself first, but I bet there’s a reason my dad never dates. Why he never married.”
Eleni finished her drink and stared straight at Mandy. “You think he’s still hung up on your mom?”
“Uh-huh.” Mandy’s eyes went wide. “And if that’s the case, my mom coming back might just solve all my problems.”
“You’re not thinking about parent-trapping them, are you?” Eleni groaned and dropped her head onto the counter. “Mandy! That’s a movie—it’s not real life. And there aren’t two of you.”
“No, but there are two people in town who might be able to help plan something like this.” Mandy turned to her customers and smiled while ringing up their purchases. By the time the group left, three transactions later, Mandy’s mind was already flooded with ideas.
“Just who is it you think is so clever they can help...? Oh.” Eleni gaped, grinned, then laughed. “Oh, Man. That’s not a bad idea. Simon Saxon and Charlie Bradley? Genius.”
“Right?” There was no one in town, not even Mayor Hamilton himself, who could wheedle together a detailed plan of timing and misdirection like Simon and Charlie.
The town considered Simon, in a school for gifted students, to be a sort of computer whiz, righter of wrongs so to speak. He loved a good challenge and Mandy would bet a whole year’s allowance that her parents were definitely going to be that.
The trick to Simon, however, was getting Charlie on board. Shouldn’t be too hard, Mandy thought. After all, Charlie had worked her own brilliant plan to win herself Fletcher Bradley as a father.
But she was getting ahead of herself. She needed to be sure, needed to see for herself just how her dad and mom were with one another.
And if what she suspected was true, then she’d call in the big guns.
* * *
GIVEN THE MOOD he was in after his conversation with Brooke, there was no way Sebastian could go back to the store just yet. Albeit Mandy was probably waiting anxiously for a detailed report on how things had gone with her mother.
He couldn’t even properly define whatever “this mood” was. Going to see Brooke, asking to speak with her, wanting to at least start a dialogue so they could figure out where they were
going hadn’t brought him the peace he’d been hoping for.
Instead, he’d learned she’d nearly died. And he’d had no idea. Nausea rolled through him. Her mother had probably never even entertained the notion of telling him despite the fact Sebastian was father to Brooke’s only child. She’d have let him continue to believe...
Anger, thick and bitter, coated his throat.
What kind of person...?
He stopped walking, looked around to get his bearings. He had no idea where he’d wandered to after leaving Brooke at the beach.
He could still feel the ocean breeze drifting over him, could still hear the waves lapping against the shore. The urge to draw Brooke into his arms had nearly overwhelmed him, had nearly driven the breath out of him. She was, in essence, alone in the world.
No. It was more than that. She was lonely.
Just as she’d been when they’d first met sophomore year of high school, mere weeks after she and her parents had moved to Butterfly Harbor.
He remembered every minute of that day; remembered it any time he set a plate of macaroni and cheese in front of Mandy. It was the second...no, the third day of classes and everyone was still trying to figure out where they belonged. After having been bogged down with schedule changes, he’d found himself at the end of the food line, tray in hand, literally dumbstruck at the sight of the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen.
It hadn’t been all the wavy blond hair cascading around her shoulders, or her amazing blue eyes that complemented the soft yellow sweater she wore. It wasn’t even the cute little dent in the corner of her mouth that appeared whenever she smiled. There was something else in that smile, a kindness behind the enthusiastic way she held a conversation. And a loneliness that had reached across the room and grabbed him by the heart.
She sat at a table close to the cheerleaders, close enough for her to have a conversation, but it was obvious she wasn’t comfortable sitting with them yet. That would change, of course. By the end of the first semester, she’d be in uniform and cheering as loudly as the rest. And Sebastian’s ability to function around her would drop straight through the floor.
If it hadn’t been for Monty elbowing him in the side that day, rolling his eyes when Sebastian had been unable to move or speak, it was entirely possible Mandy would never have been born.
Brooke Ardell had been the first of two thunderbolt moments in his life. Number two had struck the instant a newborn Mandy was placed in his nineteen-year-old arms. Until that moment, he hadn’t realized he could love another human being as much as he’d loved Brooke.
“You really should do that kind of daydreaming in private,” Monty had said, nudging him forward. The smell of stewing Salisbury steak and overcooked green beans permeated the cafeteria air, along with the paralyzing aroma of teenage angst.
“Do what?” Sebastian felt oddly detached from the words coming out of his mouth. She was so pretty. So...perfect. He felt his collar tightening and reached up to stick a finger under the stiff fabric.
“Drool over the new girl. Just do me a favor and don’t go doodling her name in a little heart in your notebook. It would be embarrassing. For both of us.” Monty chuckled. “Especially since we know Frankie will find a way to use it against you.”
Sebastian could still remember the irritation that slid through him at Monty’s teasing—the teasing that brothers-by-choice often participated in.
“Come on. I’ll introduce you,” Monty said before Sebastian could respond.
“You know her?” Sebastian trailed after him, much like a puppy on a leash. “How? When? What did she say...?”
“Hi.” Monty set his tray on her table and dropped into the seat across from her. “I’m Monty. This is Sebastian. We’re in the same English class, aren’t we? You’re Brooke? Brooke Ardell?”
“Yes.” Her voice was soft, quiet even, and to Sebastian’s teenage ears, sounded like heaven on earth. “It’s nice to meet you both.”
“Mind if we join you?” Monty grabbed Sebastian’s shirt and tugged him forward. Sebastian tripped, nearly sending his tray of food straight into Brooke’s lap. “Seb, get a grip. Sorry. You’ll get used to him.”
“I will?” Brooke’s smile widened. When she looked at him, Sebastian’s knees shook. He dropped onto the bench.
“Well, you’ll have to since he’s already half in love with you,” Monty declared.
“Yo, Monty!” The loud female voice echoed through the cafeteria and set a chain of laughter ringing around the room.
Monty and Sebastian turned and found Frankie, Monty’s twin sister, flaming red hair swirling about her face, standing on one of the benches by the door. She had her hands cupped around her mouth as she called his name again.
“If you’ll excuse me, Miss Loudmouth is paging me. Find me later, bro.” Monty grabbed his tray and headed off toward his sister, leaving a stunned and voiceless Sebastian sitting alone with Brooke.
“I met Frankie earlier today,” Brooke explained and picked up her fork to poke at the anemic green salad occupying half her tray. “She gave me a tour of the school. She was nice.”
“Frankie’s great,” Sebastian agreed, grateful for an easy topic that didn’t require him to think much. “We were in grammar school together, the three of us.”
“That must be nice. I went to private school before this. I didn’t have many friends.” The sadness Sebastian saw in her eyes struck his heart. It was then he’d vowed to do anything to erase that sadness from her face. She flicked a soggy piece of lettuce to the side.
“Well, you have friends now.” He pushed his tray between them, pointed to his mac and cheese. “Help yourself.”
“I’m not supposed to...” She trailed off, bit her lip even as she smiled. “Are you sure you don’t mind? It looks good.”
“I’m positive. It’s the best thing on the menu. Go on.” He felt a wave of triumph sweep through him when she forked up a healthy bite.
“You’re right. It’s delicious.” She took another bite. And another. He didn’t care if she ate the whole thing. In that the moment he didn’t care if he ever ate again.
“A group of us are going up to Milkweed Lake after school. Just to hang out and swim and stuff. If you want to come with us?”
“I don’t think my parents would allow that.” She ducked her head. “They don’t like me being around boys.”
“Frankie can help with that. Since she’s a girl and all. She’d probably go with you to talk to your parents. Let them know it wouldn’t be boys only.”
Brooke frowned. “Wouldn’t that be wrong? I could get in trouble for lying.”
“It wouldn’t be a lie. It won’t be just boys.” Now all he needed to do was talk Frankie into smoothing things over with Brooke’s parents. “Don’t worry. I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”
“You won’t?” Brooke’s eyes went wide with wonder and just a touch of laughter. “That’s a pretty big promise to make to a stranger.”
“You’re not a stranger anymore, remember?” Sebastian assured her. “And just to make certain of it.” He wiped his hand on his shirt and extended his arm across the table. “Sebastian Evans. It’s nice to meet you.”
She looked down at his hand for so long that he nearly pulled it back. When she finally accepted, the second she slipped her hand into his, he knew. “Brooke Ardell. It’s nice to meet you, too.”
And that, Sebastian thought, was that. Fifteen years later he’d found himself sitting across from her once again, only instead of seeing the grown, self-sufficient woman she should have been, it was as if she’d regressed to a time before he’d met her over a tray of macaroni and cheese.
Sebastian continued walking up the hill to the only place he knew he could go to vent. His heart pounded as it only did around Brooke; his hands warmed at the thought of touching her, holding her. Loving her.
&nbs
p; The spray of water exploding up and over the town’s only fire engine came with a muffled string of mutterings that made Sebastian push the disturbing conversation with Brooke out of his mind and focus instead on the comedy of errors playing out in front of him.
“Sparky, you come down from there!” Frankie yelled.
Sebastian hustled the last few steps and circled around to where Frankie was hosing down the truck.
“You busy?” he asked.
Frankie spun around and blasted him right in the face with the water hose.
“Really, Frankie?” He swiped a hand down his dripping face and plucked his soaked shirt away from his chest. “We’re adults now.”
“You scared me.”
Sebastian caught a flash of black fur as Sparky darted across the top of the engine. The creature appeared to be trying to catch the droplets of water in some odd feline game. “What’s he doing?”
“A question I’ve been asking myself for the past ten minutes. Leave it to Roman to get me a cat who actually likes the water.” Her face was nearly as red as the hair that poked out the back of her baseball cap. She climbed up and tried to grab the scampering cat, which leaped away at the last second.
Sebastian swore he heard the cat laugh when the feline blinked lazily at Frankie.
“Just wait ’til your father gets back,” Frankie warned Sparky, who plopped his furry butt on the edge of the engine and began washing his face. “Sometimes I wonder if I can’t wrangle a cat, how am I ever going to manage kids?”
Now that was an interesting question. “You headed in that direction soon?”
Frankie jumped off the engine, grabbed a semidry towel and tossed it to him. “I’m thinking about it. Hard not to be when your future mother-in-law has her grandma-to-be calendar already filled out. She’s informed me Christmas would be an excellent time to announce. Probably because she was the one who almost let the cat out of the bag, ha, so to speak, where Abby Corwin’s pregnancy was concerned. It certainly added to the holiday festivities. Not that I got to enjoy most of them.”
A Match Made Perfect--A Clean Romance Page 9