A Great Kisser

by Donna Kauffman

  Lauren silently cursed herself for the inadvertent slip. They were just renewing their bonds. Now was definitely not the time to get into another potentially divisive conversation. But she also knew it was pointless to try to divert her mother from the subject. She was going to have to divulge the latest turn in her life at some point. She’d just hoped it would be after she’d had more time to reconcile the latest sharp turn in her mother’s life. But maybe it was the very fact that her mother had made such a sharp turn that might give her the right insight to truly understand why her daughter had, more or less, done the same thing. “You know I’ve been unhappy. For some time now. So—”

  “I know, sweetheart. But you’re here now and I just know we’re going to be fine now that we’ve patched things up. I hope you’ll stay long enough to get to spend some time with Arlen and get to know him better. Or, at the very least, agree to schedule some time in for a real vacation out here with us. If you could do that, I know you’ll feel even better about this change in my life. Arlen has just been beside himself with your impending visit. I know I’ve never seen him so nervous about anything. It was like you were a state dignitary or something. But I know it’s just because he wants that part of my life settled and me reconciled with my only child.”

  “Does he have children? I didn’t think—”

  “No, life didn’t favor him in that way. But he does understand my need to be connected to you, to keep our bond strong. That has to count for something, doesn’t it?”

  “Of course it does. Mom, I might not fully understand about the suddenness of it all, or how completely you changed your life in such a short time. But I am happy that you’re happy.”

  Her mother pulled her into another tight embrace. “Oh, sweetie, this all means more to me than you can know.”

  Lauren could hear the thickness in her mother’s voice again and felt her own throat tighten, but for different reasons. Lauren realized that her mother hadn’t noticed she hadn’t gotten an answer to her question. And, for now, though she didn’t feel great about it, Lauren left it that way.

  Charlene broke the hug and slipped her arm through Lauren’s. “The botanical gardens are just around the next bend. Care for a stroll? Arlen was a major force in getting this park built ten years ago. He really feels strongly about preserving the beauty of our town, of our mountain way of life. Which, I tell you, is a challenge with the resort holding an iron fist on our town’s revenue potential. It’s such a fascinating blend here politically, with all the demands of a small, very close-knit town balanced against what amounts to the huge corporate presence of the resort and all that goes with it. It’s an international draw, just as Aspen and Vail are, and it requires some pretty tricky maneuvering, let me tell you, to balance their needs with those of the year-round residents. Then there is the small college just outside of town, and the fact that part of the resort is used as an Olympic training ground; it’s really an amazing mosaic.”

  “I never thought about it like that,” Lauren admitted. But it explained, at least in part, why there was enough here to spark her mother’s avid intellect and continued need to be dedicated to something. It was funny, but Lauren thought that it looked like Charlene had found a rather unique place to stretch her later-life wings, in a place where no one would have ever pictured her steel magnolia mother settling down.

  However, the man her mother had chosen to settle down with, well, Lauren still didn’t entirely comprehend that part. Her mother’s love for Cedar Springs and her new way of life presented a strong possibility of what the draw might really have been, and yet she’d fallen for the man—married him in fact—before she’d even seen the town, so…go figure.

  Lauren let herself be led through the iron gates into the park. It was quiet, with hardly anyone milling around the path that circled several small ponds. Various local varieties of plants and flowers were carefully tended along the trail, all clearly marked with signs detailing the information about the plant, as well as who was responsible for donating it. And almost every flower and twig had a sponsor. Not that it was unheard of for a county to expand its services on the foundation of private donations. Everyone benefited then.

  But it did give her another place to continue her digging.

  And she still had every intention of continuing with her private little investigation. Her heart was less heavy now that she’d talked to her mother, but…she couldn’t help it, her gut was still insisting that something wasn’t right. She might be able to better understand now why her mother had so abruptly changed her life to come to Cedar Springs with a man she hardly knew…but that didn’t mean she understood why Arlen had made the same choice. Not that her mother wasn’t the catch of the century for any man, but given the lack of any obvious passion between the two, and what she knew of the man thus far, it made her wonder what his motives might have been.

  She made a mental note to tour the park again later, alone. With a camera and a notepad. Where she could start compiling a donor list. It wasn’t much, but it was a start. And one that hopefully wouldn’t so easily trigger the town radar where she was concerned. She’d known she’d have to be discreet in her digging, once in town, but she’d had no idea the level of scrutiny her every move would command. She didn’t want to disturb or in any way threaten the peace her mother had apparently found here, but until she felt more certain that the man who was living under the same roof as her mother also had her best interests at heart…she’d continue to learn as much as she could about the man, professionally and personally.

  “It’s a lovely park,” Lauren said as they made their way to the front gate, which opened onto Main Street, on the east side of her motel.

  “Do you have any plans for dinner?” her mother asked as they stepped back onto the sidewalk.

  Lauren smiled. “What plans could I possibly have?”

  “Well,” her mother smiled now, too, and in that moment, it felt like old times. “You did seem rather…animated when I saw you talking with Jake earlier. I just didn’t know if, perhaps, the two of you—”

  “He’s taking me for an aerial tour this weekend.”

  “That’s wonderful! So you two are hitting it off.”

  “I think his sister asked him to do it. As a favor to the mayor.” She didn’t know that for certain, but she had a hunch the chauffer service and tour had been a package request. What remained to be seen was whether or not it still felt like a favor after they’d spent the afternoon together.

  “I wouldn’t doubt that’s where the idea originated,” Charlene said, the gleam still in her eye. “She’s a wonder, Ruby Jean is. I don’t know what Arlen would do without her. That was nice of her, to think of that. You’ll be in awe, when you fly over. You’ll see why I love it here so much.”

  There was no denying the grand majesty of the mountains, or how awe inspiring the scenery. Still…“Do you, Mom? Really love it here? I mean, not the political landscape or the small town embrace, but the mountains and…well, it’s just so different from Virginia and Florida.”

  “The thinner air took some getting used to, and I definitely had to readjust my thoughts about snow,” Charlene said more frankly than Lauren had expected. “We get a lot of it here. But it’s just so stunning, this view. It gives a person a different perspective. I can’t really explain it, but I feel like I better understand myself here.”

  “Jake said something similar…about looking at the mountains and understanding where you fit into the scheme of life.”

  “He’s absolutely right. I didn’t know this was where I belonged until I got here.” She shifted her view from the mountains back to her daughter. “It’s different, and I won’t say it’s come without compromises, but in a new relationship, there are countless give and takes.”

  “What is Arlen compromising?”

  Her mother just gave her an admonishing look. “I’ve managed to come this far in my life without making any disastrous decisions. So you’ll have to trust me, and, if I make
foolish mistakes, now or in the future, you’ll have to allow me to endure them, the old-fashioned way.” She touched Lauren’s hair and smiled. “Just like I do with you.”

  Lauren laughed. “I love you. And I worry because I do love you. But I do trust that you’re here because you want to be. Seeing you, listening to you, there is no doubt about that.” What Lauren didn’t add was that while she’d heard the rhapsody and joy her mother professed to have in her life now when talking about the town, and the mountains that surrounded it, she hadn’t heard that at all in her voice when she’d talked about her husband. In fact, other than to call him a catalyst, and reference his good deeds toward the community, she really hadn’t talked about him much at all.

  Lauren wondered if it was just as Charlene had said, that even though their impulsiveness about marrying suggested a grand passion, or at least highly engaged hormones, they’d connected on a more intellectual level and were content with growing their relationship slowly.

  Charlene pulled her into another hug. “I’ve missed you so. I’m so glad you’re back, that we’re back.” She slid her hands down Lauren’s arms and squeezed her hands before letting her go. “I’m so thankful we had the chance to spend some time together. I really hate this, but I have a meeting with the women’s council, and then—”

  “It’s okay, Mom.”

  “Arlen has asked if you’d come out to the house for dinner. Casual. We’re cooking barbecue on the patio.”

  “What time?”

  “Is seven okay?”

  “Sounds good.”

  Charlene clasped her hands together, looking almost ridiculously pleased. “Good! Now, will you be okay on your own the rest of the day? Because I’m sure Ruby Jean—”

  “Has done enough,” Lauren said with a laugh. “I’m fine. I’m going to knock around a bit, maybe take my bike out again. The path we were just on looks like it might be good for a bike ride. In fact, if you’re serious about it being casual, I’ll bike over to your place this evening. That way you won’t have to pick me up.”

  “Perfect! Debbie can give you directions. It’s just outside of town, but not much of a climb. We’ll see you at seven.” She paused for a moment, then added, “Of course, if you’d like to ask someone along, we have more than enough.”

  Some things never changed. “I’m happy you’re happy, Mom. And I’m perfectly happy flying solo.”

  “Okay. But the invitation stands if you change your mind at the last minute. I’m sure Arlen would love the additional company. We’re used to entertaining. Wait until you taste the fruit salad I’ve put together. I even made a centerpiece.”

  “Sounds delicious.” Lauren took a step back as two women approached, and paused, just outside their immediate circle, clearly waiting to speak to Charlene. “I’ll let you go,” Lauren said, nodding beyond her mother’s shoulder.

  Charlene glanced back, smiled at the two women. “Oh, hello, Lina, Beatta.” She looked back at Lauren. “The offer stands. And…if you do bring a guest, you don’t have to be quite as casual.” She winked.

  Lauren resisted the urge to roll her eyes. A part of her wondered if she’d actually missed this part of their relationship. “I’ll be presentable.”

  “Fun, not frumpy,” her mother said. “Those suits you wear—”

  “Are not in my luggage.”

  She beamed. “That’s my girl. See you soon.” Then she turned around and was immediately ensconced in a conversation about some garden committee or other. It was clear the two older women were quite willing to pull Lauren into the conversation, so she politely said her good-byes and excused herself quickly, ducking around the trio and heading toward her motel. Never was she so thankful that she’d had the foresight to book her own room.

  She even had a little time to do a bit more digging—for her own peace of mind, at this point, if nothing else—before dinner. And the best place to start was her tote bag full of newspapers. Which, she remembered now, were not in her immediate possession.

  She smiled. Gosh. It looked like there was a trip to the flight school in her immediate future. Well, she had said she was going on a bike ride….

  She thought about her mother’s obvious desire that Lauren would bring someone with her—a specific someone. It was a shame Lauren wasn’t willing to fan the flames of her mother’s matchmaking fixation, or subject Jake to what was sure to be another stilted evening, because she could dearly use the support, and the diversion.

  But there were other flames that would be fanned then, too, and she wasn’t sure that was a wise idea, either. Still, that didn’t mean she couldn’t stop by the school to see him.

  After all, she did need those papers back….

  Chapter 9

  She was waiting for him as he walked away from the Piper, back toward the main hangar. Jake’s pulse kicked up a notch seeing her standing there. But first things first. “Good job, Ben,” he said, patting his young student on the shoulder. “Best landing you’ve done to date.”

  “I really want my solo.”

  “You’re getting there. Another couple of hours and it’s all you.” Jake could all but taste the impatience in the sixteen-year-old. He’d been much the same, and at a much younger age. “Next Tuesday?”

  Ben looked wistfully at the plane. “Only because it can’t be sooner.”

  Jake laughed and waved as Ben walked over to the bicycle he’d left leaning up against the fence. Then he turned his attention to the woman who was leaning herself against the side of the hangar, pink bike helmet under one arm, a contemplative smile on her face.

  “Want a lesson?” he asked.

  “I’ve never thought about it, but I admit, it does look like fun. Scary, and intimidating, but fun.” She glanced at Ben who’d just taken off back toward town. “How old is he?”

  “Just turned sixteen.”

  “How close is he to getting his license.”

  Jake grinned. “Not as close as he’d like to be, but he’ll get there. He loves this more than anything.”

  Lauren smiled. “Even girls?”

  “Well, just imagine how hot they’ll be for him when they know he can drive at ten thousand feet.”

  She pushed away from the hangar and fell into step beside him. “Is that why you started flying?”

  He shot her a sideways grin. “No, but when I was old enough to figure that part out, I can’t say I was disappointed.”

  She laughed. “How young were you when you learned to fly?”

  “I grew up in the cockpit of a plane. I was playing copilot to my dad, and my granddad, before I mastered a two-wheeler. They had to build a special booster seat so I could reach everything.”

  “Precocious.”

  “No, I imagine it would have been that way in any business if you’re exposed to it young enough.”

  She gave him a considering look, then nodded. “I probably resemble that remark.”

  Jake laughed.

  “Does your sister fly?”

  “She’ll tell you otherwise, but she missed her calling. And the military missed out on what might have been their best fighter pilot ever.”

  “She was in the service?”

  “No. She just has the most uncanny ability to focus regardless of the chaos surrounding her of anyone I’ve seen. And she can handle a plane like it’s an extension of her own body. A true natural. Remember I said my grandfather used to do air shows? Well, Ruby Jean was only twelve when she started actually performing with him.”

  “Twelve? Aren’t there regulations?”

  “There are. Just as there are ways of getting around them. At least in some of the more rural, remote places where they performed. Not everyone was such a stickler for those things. She looked a lot older. She got all her height and most of her curves pretty young. She’d also learned to fly even younger than I did and there was no disputing her abilities. Anyone who saw her fly never questioned it. Not that anybody would have guessed she was that young. Anyway, they only had a ye
ar together on the circuit before he passed away, but they were a big hit. Usually she flew, and he walked. But she was a good walker, too.”

  “Walker?”

  “On the wings.”

  Lauren’s eyes widened. “No way.”

  “Oh, yes, way.”

  “On the Mustang’s wings?”

  Jake laughed. “No, no, we had another plane back then that they used for that. Haven’t had it now for quite a while. Paddy—my grandfather—left it to Ruby Jean. She sold it to pay, in part, for her college education. She earned the rest of her tuition from the air show circuit. She missed a few seasons after our grandfather died due to her age, but she got back to it, mostly flew in the aerobatics shows for other owners. She was pretty well known.”

  “What made her stop?”

  “Her heart wasn’t in it the same way, flying for other people.”

  “And you said that it wasn’t your thing.”

  He shook his head. “No. I’d have done it for her, but she knew it wasn’t where I wanted to be. I just like to fly. The annual race is icing on the cake for me, but the school is where my heart is. She stuck with it as a way to keep his memory alive, and later as a means to earn tuition money, but without him as a partner, she lost her desire for it and no one really stepped up to fill that role. Boys entered her world, and most of them weren’t too impressed with the fact that she could out-fly, out-drive, and out-ski all of them.” He looked out across the short runway toward the mountains. “She doesn’t do any of it anymore. She turned her focus to school, then trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life. She’s been with the mayor for almost two years now.”

  “Is she happier?”

  “She likes it well enough. Ask me he’s the one getting the better deal, but her options are limiting here. I’m not sure who or what she really wants to be, and I’m not too sure she’s really come to terms with who she really is, or who she thinks she’s supposed to be. But she’s trying to figure it out.” He looked back at Lauren. “That’s all any of us can do.”