by Elaine Fox
“It seemed appropriate, since she was something of a wake-up call for both Sutter and me. So how’s Doug doing?” she asked.
Brady looked up to find Megan smiling at the two of them. “Lily said he’s doing fine. She was remarkably calm about it, too. I thought she’d be hysterical. I know she’s pretty attached to him.”
Megan set a cup of coffee down on the table in front of him, and Brady sat. “Yes, we dog people can be a little nuts about our animals. Ask Sutter; he learned that the hard way.”
She looked affectionately at her older dog, a tricolored bear of a dog, lying flat on the cool tile of the kitchen floor. Brady’s entrance elicited little more than a wave or two of that dog’s tail.
“I’ve never had a pet,” Brady said, sipping the coffee.
“Never?” Megan repeated, eyes wide. “Not even a fish?”
He shook his head, laughing.
“No gerbil? Hamster? Nothing?” she persisted.
“Not even a lightning bug in a jar,” he said. “We moved around a lot when I was a kid. My mom, she’s got a dog now. Or she did, before she went in the nursing home. My brother’s got it now, thank God. It’s a pain in the ass. Some kind of yappy little thing.”
“I can’t believe you’ve never had a pet,” Megan said. “That just scandalizes me.” She opened a jar of baby food and sat down opposite Brady and next to her daughter. “There’s nothing like having a pet, something that loves you no matter what and is always happy to see you.”
“I count on my employer’s kids for that,” he said, making an exaggerated happy-face at Belle and receiving a wide smile in return. He laughed.
“My friend Penelope,” Megan said, “has a Labrador retriever who she calls her fur husband. She says if he had thumbs, he would make her dinner.”
“Yeah, but what would they have?” Brady asked, sliding a Cheerio toward Belle, then moving it quickly back when she went for it. This earned him a more tentative smile, so he let her catch it the next time.
Megan laughed. “Good point. But it just illustrates how tough it is to be single in Fredericksburg when a girl as pretty and successful as Pen has to settle for a dog, even as great as Wimbledon is. Did anybody warn you about the dating scene here before you took this job?”
He shot her an ironic look. “The subject didn’t come up. But that doesn’t matter to me. I’m not dating right now anyway.”
“Really. That’s an interesting comment.” Megan spooned something orange from the jar into Belle’s mouth. Belle’s eyes never left Brady. “Because Lily and I were talking just yesterday about how perfect Penelope might be for you.”
This caught Brady’s attention, and his eyes shifted to hers. “You were, huh?”
“Yes. She’s beautiful—I mean, really beautiful. And she’s smart and nice, and she owns her own business here in town. I just know you’d like her.”
Brady sat back, much to Belle’s disappointment, and looked at Megan. “And Lily thought this was a good idea, too, did she?”
“Absolutely.” Megan nodded. “We were a couple of witches on the subject, plotting over our cauldron.” She grinned at him.
Brady took up his coffee cup and sipped. Lily was matching him up with someone else. Why did this surprise him?
Because he’d felt something else from her. Not just during the kiss—the kiss she had obviously wanted to turn into more; there was no denying that, though he wasn’t going to press her on the issue—but even during their talk yesterday. He’d gotten the distinct impression she was telling him all that stuff about Gerald to convince herself as much as him that she wasn’t interested in Brady.
Could he have misread her so completely? He’d felt so sure…and it had given him hope that if he could be friends with her first, be smart about this attraction, that maybe something better could develop between them.
Apparently he’d deluded himself. Now that he thought about it, it seemed obvious that a woman like her wouldn’t be interested in a guy like him. At least, not beyond the physical. She was a brain, an intellectual. A college professor, for God’s sake, when Brady had never even been to college. She likened her dates to literary characters. Brady was about as far from a literary character as he could get. Comic book character, maybe. Flyboy. Adventure boy. Noncommittal boy.
“So I guess you and Lily haven’t suffered too much from the tough single life in Fredericksburg. You’ve got Sutter, and she has that guy Gerald.” He took another sip of coffee and watched her.
Megan tilted her head, considering. “I’ve never met Gerald, actually. I’ve only just heard about him.” She gave him a sly look. “It’s a little hard to believe he’s quite the paragon she describes, but I’ll keep an open mind. At least until I meet him.”
“Yeah, I had the same thought. I mean, what’s wrong with the guy that it took him two years to ask her out?”
Megan looked surprised. “She told you that?”
“Yeah. We had a real good chat yesterday, after she got back from getting Doug. She told me all about Gerald.”
Megan sighed. “Well, that’s Lily for you. Always ready to champion her man. I hope he knows how lucky he is.”
Brady’s eyes narrowed. “Something tells me he doesn’t.”
Megan glanced at him. “Really? Why not? Did she say something?”
“It was nothing she said.” He shook his head. “It was the facts. He works for her dad, he wasn’t going to ask her out until he made partner, but then he goes and does it anyway. Even though he’d already waited two years. I mean, what’s up with that?” He lifted his coffee cup again.
“Maybe he got horny?” She sent him an impish grin.
Brady nearly spewed his coffee, swallowed hard, then burst out laughing. “My goodness, Dr. Rose. Now I’m scandalized.”
“Oh sure. I bet you thought the exact same thing.” Then she shrugged, and said, “But to tell the truth, I’m not so sure that was it.” She spooned more orange stuff into Belle’s mouth.
Brady leaned his elbows on the table. Belle reached a sticky hand out toward the four captain’s stripes on his shirt.
“No, no, Belle.” Megan guided the little hand back toward the Cheerios. “We can’t have Captain Cole going out dressed in mashed sweet potatoes.”
Brady picked up another Cheerio and handed it to Belle. “Not that it’s any of my business, but if it wasn’t…ah…let’s call it ‘desire’ that made Gerald ask her out, what do you think it was?”
Megan looked at him with interest, and he knew he was close to tipping his hand. “What a gossip you are, Brady Cole.” She laughed. “As am I, apparently.” She gently scraped sweet potatoes off Belle’s chin with the tiny spoon. “I just happen to know that he hasn’t been acting like desire was his primary motivator. And that’s all I’ll say on the subject.”
“Are you spilling state secrets?” Sutter asked, entering the room with long strides and flipping one end of his unknotted tie over the other. He bent to kiss the top of Belle’s head, then Megan’s, and continued tying the tie.
Megan looked up at him and laughed. “Yes, but not yours, don’t worry.”
“Good,” Sutter said.
Brady felt a pang of something like regret that he’d never been in a relationship where a woman looked at him like that. Then he threw back the rest of his coffee like a shot of whiskey and stood, chiding himself for going soft. It just went to show, when you castrated yourself you turned into a girl.
Sutter reached out a hand and shook Brady’s. “Morning, Brady. You ready to go?”
“Whenever you are, sir,” he said.
“We’ll be back tomorrow afternoon, Megan,” Sutter said. “You want anything from Zabar’s this time?”
“Oh yes!” She got up and, winking at Brady, plucked a piece of paper off a pad to hand to Sutter. “I made a list.”
“Shopping,” Sutter muttered to Brady, but the smile he wore—not to mention the solid kiss he gave his girl—told Brady he didn’t mind at all.
“Oh, and Brady?” Megan asked. “You are coming to our party on the fourteenth, right?”
“You bet,” Brady said, with a businesslike nod.
“Great.” Megan beamed. “Penelope will be here, too.”
“Ah-ha,” Sutter said, with a laugh. “I see it really is time to go.”
Brady turned with him to the door and sent Megan a noncommittal smile, thinking there was little doubt that Lily, also, would be at the party.
Eight
“Megan was telling me about your pilot,” Penelope said, one hand stroking the silky black head of her dog, Wimbledon.
Lily had the feeling she’d been building up to the subject for several minutes now. Circling around the subject of neighbors, men, dates.
“She said the two of you thought we’d be good together,” Penelope continued. “I told her you’d already said he wasn’t right for me, but she thought you’d changed your mind about that…”
The question was there, in her tone, and Lily couldn’t ignore it. She picked up a twig and tossed it for Doug, who chased it, pounced, then stood over its motionless form, looking disappointed.
Lily and Penelope sat on the picnic table at the dog park. It was a warm day, so the dogs were a bit listless, and only one other person with her dog was there, all the way on the other side of the enclosure.
If she had any guts, Lily knew now would be the time to tell Penelope about kissing Brady. Neither Georgia nor Megan was at the park with them, and Penelope was not yet emotionally invested in Brady.
The problem was it would require so much explaining, and so much humiliation. Why would Lily be kissing Brady if Gerald was as important to her as she’d been claiming for so long? Besides, they had just been talking about Gerald, and Lily had waxed rhapsodic about the fact that he was taking her to dinner at Augustine’s tonight, the most fancy, romantic restaurant in Fredericksburg, in Lily’s opinion. To say now, oh by the way, I made out with the pilot the other day would render suspect everything she said about Gerald.
“Well, I’ve gotten to know him a little better,” Lily said, though that was something of an understatement. “And I think, you know, after all, he’s actually a nice guy.” Maybe if she kept talking, she’d get around to spilling the beans. “Which is surprising, after that whole Tricia scene. But he made a point of explaining about that, and it really wasn’t his fault, and ultimately he just seemed…nice.”
“That’s what Megan said!” Penelope turned a bright face to her. “She said she gets a really good feeling about him, and you know how intuitive Megan can be. And she said he’s so handsome. Do you think he’s handsome?”
“Well, sure,” Lily said, envisioning Brady’s eyes, that warm, intimate look he gave her sometimes. Did he look at all women that way? So that heat stole up their skin and caused flutterings inside their breasts? How could she feel this way about somebody whom Penelope might date?
Then again, how could Lily burst this balloon for her friend? Poor Pen had had so little reason to be excited lately, and she needed this so badly, what with her ex-husband getting remarried and having a baby.
“She even said she mentioned it to him,” Penelope added. “That we might be good together.”
Lily sat up straight on the bench. “She did? She said that? To Brady? What did he say? I mean, was he, uh, open to the idea?”
Penelope beamed. “Yes! She said she thought he was, even though he gave all that guy bluster they always spout about being set up. But she said she told him about me and…he seemed interested.” She lifted one shoulder, trying to appear casual.
Lily shifted her gaze away from Penelope’s, afraid her friend would see the odd turmoil suddenly roiling inside of her. “He did, huh?”
So much for all that crap about a date diet. I don’t want to get involved right now…I’m too old to make snap decisions…I’m tired of playing around.
What a crock!
“She asked him if he was coming to her party, and he said yes,” Penelope went on. “And she said ‘Good, because Penelope will be there, too,’ and she said he smiled!” Penelope laughed. “Oh God, am I pathetic or what? I’ve never even met this guy, and I’m excited because he smiled. This is sick. I need to move.”
Despite herself, Lily laughed. “Would you quit saying that? You can’t move and leave me here alone. Even if Brady doesn’t work out, there are other guys in this town. We just have to find them.”
“You don’t have to find anyone. You’ve got Gerald. Do you think he has something special planned for tonight, going to that fancy restaurant and all?” Penelope gasped. “Oh! Maybe tonight’s the night! Maybe he’s planning to, you know, make his move.”
Lily’s heart gave a little leap at the idea. Thank God. That had to be a good sign. If she could feel excited about Gerald “making his move,” then the Brady thing really was just an accident, something that happened because she was in a weird state of mind that night, and he just happened to be next door. Except she’d felt it again, that strong attraction, at her house when they were talking. She suddenly realized that must be what people meant when they talked about “animal magnetism.”
Too bad Gerald lived so far away. No doubt proximity had a lot to do with it.
“I don’t know,” Lily said. “But it does seem interesting that he’s made a reservation at Augustine’s of all places. I’ve never even mentioned it to him. I don’t know how he found out about it.”
“Ah, he did a little research,” Penelope said. “Another good sign. So what are you wearing?”
A breeze rustled the trees around them, and Lily pushed the hair up off the back of her neck. Summer was definitely coming. Though it was only May, it was already hot.
“I thought I’d wear that blue dress I have. The one I wore to Susan McNally’s wedding last summer.”
“Oh no!” Penelope protested, shaking her head. Then she tipped it to one side. “I mean, that’s a pretty dress. And you look gorgeous in it. But you want something sexy for tonight, Lil. You want to give him the signal the moment he sees you that you’re on his wavelength. That tonight’s the night.”
The thought of it made her stomach flip. Was she ready to try to seduce Gerald? And if she wasn’t, after two years, what did that say? Maybe they’d waited too long, that’s why she was so nervous about it. They should have just leapt on each other the moment they met, like she and Brady had.
“Oh God. I don’t know if I’m ready for this. I suddenly feel so unprepared.” Lily dropped her hair, put her face in one hand, and rocked forward. Maybe she should wear her bathrobe; it had worked for Brady.
She really needed to tell Penelope about the kiss, she thought. Now, in this conversation, before things got any more awkward. If she told her later, Penelope would always wonder why she hadn’t said anything in this conversation.
But really, the devil on her shoulder counseled, did anything really have to be said? It wasn’t as if she and Brady were involved. Not now. It was just their little secret, hers and Brady’s. A momentary lapse. He wasn’t going to tell, and neither was she. So maybe it was just as well to let it lie.
For one thing, she’d bet her bottom dollar that if she told Penelope about it, Pen would back off and ruin a good shot at a nice guy.
Because of course Brady would be interested in Penelope. Why wouldn’t he be? She was beautiful, and smart, and available.
“Lily? Hello? Are you still with me?”
Lily sat up and pushed her hair back off her face. She glanced apologetically at her friend. “What? I’m sorry. I just got to thinking. About tonight, what to wear. What did you say?”
“I said”—Penelope laughed—“that you are prepared. I’ve never seen anyone more prepared. You’ve been waiting for this moment forever, Lil. When it happens, it’s going to be wonderful. Trust me.”
“I hope so,” she said, thinking It had better be. If it weren’t, how in the world would she stop thinking about Brady?
“But you should wear that little red dress,” Penelope continued, “the one you had on at Georgia’s barbecue last year. That was adorable. And make sure you lower those spaghetti straps! That dress was made to show cleavage, which you have got, girl!”
Lily laughed nervously. She couldn’t imagine Gerald being interested in cleavage. She couldn’t even imagine him naked, now that she thought about it. He was Mr. Knightley. He dressed impeccably and was the perfect gentleman. What in the world would Gerald be like, naked? It seemed too…improper.
“Maybe you’re right. Maybe I need to rethink things,” Lily said, feeling trepidation hit her like a Mack truck.
She couldn’t picture her boyfriend naked. What in God’s name did that mean? It meant she had better see him naked soon, or he was going to take on the form of a neutered Ken doll in her imagination, and that wouldn’t do either of them any good.
She stood. “I better go, Pen. I’ve got to shower and change and feed Doug.” She looked at her friend. “Thanks for listening to me go on about this.”
“What, are you kidding? I can’t wait to hear what happens! This is a love story I’ve been following for a long time.” Penelope smiled, reached out, and squeezed Lily’s hand. “I just know it’s going to be wonderful.”
Lily smiled past her guilt. Penelope wouldn’t have held back on her. She was as open as a child, wearing her emotions on her sleeve and wanting the best for everyone around her. She would have told Lily if the situation had been reversed.
But then, Penelope really did deserve to meet this guy, unencumbered by Lily’s mistake. She never needed to know. Why spoil it for her?
“Are you all right?” Penelope asked.
Lily shook herself. “I’m fine. Sorry. Just…I’ve got myself all wound up about tonight. Listen, I’ll call you in the morning. Have a good night, Pen.”
She rounded up Doug and went home, feeling like the worst kind of friend. It was just so hard to know what to do. Part of her thought telling was the right thing to do and keeping it secret a cowardly pretense. The other part thought keeping quiet was right and telling just a selfish unburdening that would ruin Penelope’s chance at possible happiness.