by Sarah Hegger
“Yeah.” Vince nodded.
The waiter arrived for their drink order and Kelly ordered a dirty martini. Vince ordered a sparkling water. “I’m driving.” He grimaced. “Can’t risk even the smallest infraction on my driving record. Not with what I do.”
“That reminds me.” She had wanted to know since his divorce. “If you’re not doing the long hauls anymore, what are you going to do?”
“I can’t be away from home that much anymore.” Vince shrugged. “Chelsea is not that keen to keep the kids for days on end, and her new man doesn’t have children.”
“Ah.” The topic of Chelsea always made her want to hit something.
“I’m running trailers between here and Denver. That’s keeping me plenty busy.” He shrugged. “But I have some money saved. I thought I could see this as a chance to look around, work out what I want to do. As you know, I was a father straight out of high school. I pretty much got the first job I could that paid okay money.”
The old stab of resentment didn’t come. Maybe because she and Vince were moving on.
All around them, people were chatting and laughing. A couple in the corner had their heads together like they were seconds from jumping each other’s bones.
The waiter put her martini in front of her, and she smiled her thanks.
“What about you?” Vince looked over the top of his menu. “Store going well?”
“Very.” She glanced at her menu. “In fact, I need to take on some help.”
“That’s great, Kelly.”
“Yeah, it is.”
They both ducked behind their menus. There had to be something they could talk about. She tried to remember what they had talked about when they were younger.
She decided on her meal and closed her menu.
Vince was still deciding. Ginger ninja from the coffee shop sat at the bar talking to Robin. That girl was getting more dates in the last week or so than Kelly had gone on in months. A number of faces around the restaurant didn’t look familiar.
Was that Horace Winters over there with Peg Hardwhistle? Dear God, Claire must be freaked out by that. No wonder they were doing the wine whine at Winters House.
Vince put his menu down. “Do you know what you want?”
“Yup.”
Kelly leaned forward and lowered her voice. “Horace and Peg are over there. Together.”
“Horace and Peg?” Vince frowned at her. “Do I know them?”
“Horace Winters. Peg Hardwhistle?”
“Oh.” Vince nodded. “I’m sure I’ve seen them around town.”
“Horace is Claire’s dad,” she said. “And Peg is…” Well, you had to know Peg. “It’s a strange combination.”
Vince shrugged. “Okay.”
Fortunately, the waiter came over and they ordered. With wine off the table, she hesitated over a second martini and then decided against.
Vince smiled at her and nodded. He had the classically handsome features of a matinee idol. “The food’s good here.”
“It is?” She couldn’t remember conversation being quite this hard before. “I’ve never been here.”
“You said. No, the food is great.” He smiled. “I’ve been here a couple of times.”
With Chelsea, she was willing to bet.
“Are you still in contact with people from high school?” They couldn’t sit there in silence all night.
Vince shook his head. “No. Many of them have moved away. I lost contact with the others. We had different priorities.”
“Because you were already a father?”
“Exactly.”
The dreaded silence descended again.
“So.” Kelly cycled her memory banks for some topic of conversation. Then she hit one. The relief made her almost giddy. She should have ordered that second martini. “Did you decide about Hannah and the makeup?”
“I did.” He nodded. “I consulted with some parents with kids Hannah’s age and it seems like a lot of girls are allowed to wear some.”
“Sounds about right.” Kelly drained the last drop from her glass. “Mom never supervised those things, but I remember most of us wore mascara, lip gloss, that sort of thing.”
The waiter arrived with their food.
“This looks great,” Kelly said.
“Yeah.” Vince looked at his plate and then her. “The food here is great.”
Vince turned his full attention to his salmon, cutting a careful piece and combining it with an equally careful piece of asparagus. She didn’t remember him being quite that precise.
Screw it! She motioned the waiter for that second martini.
“I had a thought.” Vince looked up from his meal. “This is the first dinner we’ve had in a fancy restaurant.
“You’re right.” Kelly was desperate enough to leap at the conversational opening. “We didn’t do much of this sort of thing back then.” She had to grin at her memories. “Mostly a lot of heavy petting in the back of your mom’s car.”
Vince blushed and cleared his throat. “There was that.”
“Right.”
“Fun times.”
“Yup.”
Vince ate his salmon.
She dug into her meal, and Vince was right, the food was good. “How are the kids?”
“Good.” Vince nodded a shade too vigorously. “Doing great. Hannah has a dance recital this weekend, and Chelsea will be there.” He looked stricken. “I mean, she is Hannah’s mother.”
“I know that.” Kelly touched his hand across the table. “You can’t twist yourself into a tangle every time her name comes up. You and Chelsea were married and have two children together. Anybody who is going to be part of your future is going to need to be fine with that.”
Vince let out a relieved chuckle. “I never know how much to talk about her. Given what happened between us.”
“That was a long time ago.” A lifetime ago. The place in the middle of her solar plexus that used to contract at the thought didn’t seem to do that anymore. Chelsea was a bitch, and they would never be besties, but the anger wasn’t there anymore. “We were all so young, and we all made mistakes.”
“We did.” Vince’s dark gaze grew serious. “I really am sorry about what happened, Kelly.”
That time had been a vortex of hormones and hurt, on both their parts. “I am too. If I had been older, who knows, I might have handled the whole thing differently.”
“I know I never would have jumped into bed with Chelsea.” Vince looked pained.
Kelly appreciated the sentiment, but she couldn’t be certain. “Who knows what you would have done, Vince. Horace Winters has this thing he says, and it makes sense to me. He says that we all think we can change one part of our past in isolation, and that it wouldn’t have a knock-on effect.”
“Meaning?”
She sipped her martini. “If you hadn’t slept with Chelsea, you would never have had Hannah. I never would have left Twin Elks and discovered that this is really where I wanted to be. It’s pointless to speculate about changing that one instance or decision. We are where we are.”
“Huh.” Vince shrugged. “That makes sense.”
“Right.” She put her knife and fork down. Killer little black dresses were not best friends with food babies. “We are where we are, and all we can do is decide where to go from here.”
Gabe needed to decide where he was going next, and she and Vince needed to decide if there was a next for them. That thought rocked her, and she had to take a huge slug of martini. She had been so busy obsessing about her missed chance with Vince she hadn’t given Horace’s words too much thought. Time had moved on, and she and Vince were different people. She’d focused so much on their lost opportunity she hadn’t really asked herself if she wanted that opportunity back.
Sitting there, over a dinner
where they could barely find a subject in common, she questioned that. She and Vince were different people. They were what their lives had molded them into, and those things might no longer be compatible.
“Would you like dessert?” Vince took her hand over the table. “I remember you had a sweet tooth.”
“I still do.” She laughed. “Do you remem—”
“Well, isn’t this cozy?” Chelsea, poured into an electric blue dress and now a blonde, stood by their table.
Vince dropped her hand as if it had the plague and stood. “Chelsea.”
“Vince.” Chelsea’s sneer blasted Kelly. “I should have known you would be hanging around, waiting for my leftovers.”
Holy batballs! Kelly knew she had to come up with something, but Chelsea’s rudeness completely blanked her mind. And Vince. He stood there and hung his head like her speaking about him like that wasn’t hideously insulting.
“Aren’t you two the sweetest thing?” Chelsea could have been pretty if she didn’t look so bitter all the time. “Young love never dies and all that crap.”
“Come on, Chelsea.” Vince kept his voice down. Heads had already turned their way. “There’s no need for this.”
No, there wasn’t. Kelly recovered the gift of speech. “What the hell is wrong with you, Chelsea?”
Vince turned to her and made pacifying hand motions. “Kelly—”
“Everybody at this table knows you got pregnant on purpose.”
Chelsea gasped.
Her date looked horrified.
Kelly nearly told him to run now, or at least make sure he provided his own condoms. “You wanted Vince in high school, and you got him. You played your hand, and you won.”
The diners of the Grove weren’t even pretending not to be loving this shit. They even had a couple of smart phones facing their way. Chelsea would be delighted if it went viral.
“Congratulations, Chelsea.” Kelly leaned closer to her. “You’re the winner. Now, get over yourself, and get on with your life.” She gathered her purse and looked at Vince. “And that’s a no on dessert.”
In the car, Vince turned to speak to her.
“No.” Kelly held up her hand. “I’m mad as hell right now, and I can’t talk about it.”
Vince nodded and drove. They arrived at her condo in a stiff silence, and Kelly stepped out of the car before Vince got around it to open the door.
“Kelly.” Vince caught her hand. “I’m sorry our evening ended that way.
“Me too.” All her pent-up teenage rage had risen to the fore. As for that feeling like she might finally be over it? Nah, not even a little bit. Chelsea and her spite were the gift that kept giving. She managed to modulate her voice enough to say, “Listen, I’m not mad at you. There is no reason for you to apologize, because none of this is your fault. I need to be alone right now.”
Vince dropped his head and nodded. “Okay. But for the record, I really am sorry. This is not the way I saw the evening ending.”
Ya think! “I know that. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
She climbed the stairs to her condo but didn’t go inside. Restless anger drove her, and she knew exactly where she wanted to be.
*
The Bugling Elk was still going strong. At this time of night on a Friday, drinks were flowing, and music was pumping. She could have joined Saturday wine and whine, but a girl in a killer black dress and heels needed more.
She hit pay dirt.
Over in the back, Gabe and Cara were playing pool and laughing. Jealousy took a swipe at her. They looked so comfortable together. Well, screw that! Gabe couldn’t be kissing the crap out of her one day and the next pulling the friend line with Cara.
She marched over there to set him straight.
“Hey.” A tall thirty-something blond man lurched into her path and leered at her. “I’m new in town.”
“Good for you.” Kelly sidestepped him.
He got in her way again. “You’re not very friendly.”
“I don’t know you.” Kelly couldn’t believe the nerve of that guy. “And you’re in my way.”
“It said on Facebook that all we had to do was say we’re new in town, and you locals would make us more than welcome.” Stepping closer, he ogled her cleavage. “Now, I’m new in town and ready for you to make me feel real welcome.”
“You wanna take a step back, pal.” Gabe appeared behind the blond, looking ready to throw down.
The guy whirled, looked at Gabe and reconsidered his options. He threw his hands up. “Hey! She didn’t say she was taken.”
Jeez! Like she was a barstool.
“She shouldn’t have to.” Gabe stared him down. “But to be clear, she’s with me.”
With a curt nod, the blond disappeared around the far side of the bar.
Turning back to her, Gabe took her all in and a slow, sexy smile spread over his face. “And hello to you.” Looking like sin and smelling like heaven, he leaned down and kissed her cheek. “You look good enough to make me lose my mind.”
Kelly smiled back. “Behave yourself.”
“With you in that dress?” Gabe stood back and took another slow look from her feet to her face. “Not a chance.”
“Ahem.” Cara waggled her head. “Standing here.”
Laughing, Kelly turned and greeted Cara. “How are you?”
“I’m good.” Cara grinned around the neck of her beer bottle. “Kicking his ass at pool always puts me in a good mood.”
“Way I hear it, you kick everyone’s ass.” Kelly threw some sass into her voice. “Of course, you haven’t played me yet.”
Cara’s eyebrows shot up. “That’s some fighting talk right there.”
“Umm…Kelly.” Gabe sidled closer. “She’s really good.”
Kelly didn’t dignify that with a response but selected her favorite cue and chalked it. “Why don’t you get the beers?”
With a grin, Gabe strolled over to the bar. He had a damn fine ass on him.
Cara stood next to her. “How did your date go?”
“It was…interesting.” She dragged her gaze off Gabe. “This being Twin Elks, you’ll hear all about it in about fifteen minutes.”
Cara snorted. “That must be some story if you’re here instead of there.” She also studied Gabe, who stood at the bar with one foot on the rest. “Gabe and I are just friends.”
Kelly heaved a sigh. “Same.”
“Great ass, though.” Cara tilted her head for a better look.
Kelly got her green monster under control. “He has brothers.”
“I’m happy to hear it.”
In the end, Cara beat her, but Kelly didn’t make it easy for her. Being at the Elk helped her forget about Vince, Chelsea, that weird dinner, and her even weirder thoughts about where they went from there. It also helped her not worry about India constantly.
Claiming an early morning the next day, Cara left after their third and decisive game.
“Come.” Gabe pulled her on the small dance floor. “I want to dance with the most beautiful woman here.”
He wasn’t much of a dancer, but he did a really good thigh to thigh, chest to chest slow shuffle to the music. Ignoring the warnings going off in her brain, Kelly pressed her face to his neck.
They fit together like they’d been grafted that way. Even sexually loaded silences with Gabe were more comfortable than the dinner she’d endured with Vince.
Endured? And wasn’t that a telling use of vocabulary?
Chapter Sixteen
Kelly stopped her car and stared at what had once been a cabin and now looked like a beautiful family home. Ben Crowe, all-around great guy and local police chief, had bought the piece of land after his divorce from Chelsea’s bestie, and all-around venomous bitch, Tara.
“Hey.” Poppy emerged from the front door, h
er big beautiful smile already in place. “You made it.”
Kelly held up the bags. “And as instructed, I brought provisions.”
The plan was for Ben, Poppy and their four kids to move out of Winters House, where they’d been living with Claire, Finn and Horace, and into this house when it was ready. From what Kelly could see, that day didn’t lay far off.
A deep porch skirted the front of the stone and wood house. Ben had managed to retain the feel of a cabin and add a whole lot more to it.
“Kelly!” Poppy’s five-year old son Ryan ran down the porch steps toward her. “Did you come to see my new house?”
“I did.” Kelly ruffled his hair. Ryan had more energy than he knew what to do with and had never met a stranger who wasn’t his best friend. “It looks beautiful.”
“Wait until you see my room,” Ryan said. “And I get my own room and don’t have to share with Sean.” He caught sight of the bags in her hands. “Did you bring food?”
Poppy reached her and kissed her cheek. “India and Jacob are inside with Dot.”
Dot had called Kelly and invited Kelly and India to spend Sunday helping Ben at the cabin. Poppy’s youngest was a few months older than Jacob, and it would be good for India to be among people, so Kelly had accepted.
“There you are.” Gabe strode around the side of the house. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
That should not have made her heart go all dumb and pittery-pattery, but it did. “Me or the food?”
Taking the bags from her, Gabe gave her a naughty grin. “Both. It’s an all you can eat buffet.”
Oh no, he did not! But he was grinning at her, so he clearly had.
“You’re a pig.” Kelly shoved his shoulder.
Gabe raised an eyebrow. “And this is news to you?”
Poppy looked from her to Gabe and back again. As Gabe turned away, she gave Kelly a look that promised they would talk later.
Kelly pulled a face. Nothing to say.
Inside the house, Ben had made amazing progress. Of course, most of Twin Elks had lent a hand at some point or the other. Ben was their beloved police chief, and after his disastrous first marriage to Tara, everyone wanted to smooth the way for him and Poppy.