* * *
PEGGY HADN’T SPENT such a pleasant evening with anyone in a long time. Rory was so interesting to talk to, so sexy, so sweet, so everything she wanted in a man. For him to be this perfect meant he had to have a huge flaw buried somewhere. No man was this easy to talk to, this much fun to be around and not have a female attached to him. Women loved men like Rory.
She needed time to think about this, to seek Gayle Sawyer’s advice on what had to be going on. If her feelings around him were any indication, she’d just found the man of her dreams, and the search hadn’t been easy. She’d dated a lot of men with potential, but somehow the relationship always hit a snag. Either she lost interest, or she learned something about them that turned her off completely.
Of course, she didn’t have to overcome a huge secret like Gayle did, or deal with a teenage son, but still she needed to talk to someone about this. Good advice was essential before she got in too deep with what seemed like just the right man. “Will you excuse me?” she asked as the desserts arrived.
“I’ll order coffee while you’re gone,” he said. “What would you like?”
“Cream. No sugar.”
“Hey. That’s weird. Me, too,” he said, a smile on his face, the one that made her want to smile back at him until her face cracked along the smile lines.
Definitely time to take a break from this enticing man.
Once in the ladies’ room, she glanced at herself in the mirror. Her cheeks were positively rosy. Her eyes were shining. She looked like a very happy woman. Yet it felt so strange, mostly because it had happened so easily, as if they were meant to be together.
She needed some helpful advice. She dialed Gayle’s number and was so relieved when her friend picked up the phone. “Gayle, it’s me, Peggy.”
“How’s your date? Don’t tell me. You’re home already because it turned out to be a bad night. I’m sorry.”
“No! Not that at all. He seems perfect...too perfect.”
“Is there such a thing?”
She propped one hip against the restroom counter. “See. That’s it. There is no such thing as a perfect man.”
“I don’t know about that. I’ve got one sitting across the table from me.”
Her friend had gotten engaged to Nate Garrison two weeks ago and was so happy it almost hurt to watch her. “You’re biased.”
“I am. So tell me more,” Gayle said.
“Like I said, he’s perfect. So perfect I’m afraid.”
“Of what?”
“Of what has to be going on beneath his gorgeous exterior. With my luck, he’s been through a horrible divorce and is looking for a shoulder to cry on.”
“Maybe...”
A woman came into the restroom and approached the sink next to Peggy. “Can you meet me for coffee tomorrow morning?”
“Sure. I’ll come in a little early and have coffee with you. Can’t wait to hear all about him.”
“I’ll tell you when I see you.” She hung up quickly, applied more lipstick, checked that her dress was fitting right over her breasts. As she adjusted her bra, she felt a sharp pinprick of pain on the side of her right breast. She loosened the bra a little and the pain eased. She opened the door and went back down the corridor toward the dining room. As she approached the door, she looked over at Rory to see that he was watching her as if she was the only woman on the planet. How sweet was that?
How much she needed to talk this over with Gayle. There was something definitely amiss. Instant happiness hadn’t happened to her ever before.
“I got him to hold our coffee until you got back,” he said as she sat down.
“That’s really nice,” she said and meant it. “I love my coffee hot.”
“I do, too.”
She sat there feeling like a...a princess. It had a lot to do with the way he looked at her, as if she was special, even beautiful. Where had this man been hiding all her life while she kissed frogs and fought off groping hands?
She couldn’t seem to take her eyes off him, only long enough to allow the waiter to place a cup of coffee beside her untouched dessert. She took a forkful of cake and sighed at the luscious chocolate flavor.
“Good or what?” Rory asked.
“What?”
“The cake. It’s delicious, isn’t it?”
“Absolutely.” She took another forkful and tried not to groan with delight.
* * *
RORY WALKED HER to her car and waited while she unlocked the door. “Thanks for tonight. I had a good time.”
She glanced up into his eyes, her expression one of interest. “I did, too.”
He wanted to reach for her, pull her into his arms and kiss the breath from her. But he wasn’t very good at this dating thing. He definitely didn’t want to blow his chances of seeing her again by doing something she didn’t like. “You know, a braver man than me would kiss you.”
“A braver man?” she asked, tilting her head back, exposing her long neck.
He wanted to touch her neck, feel her skin under his fingers. He settled for touching her shoulder. “I... I...” He leaned down to her as his fingers caressed her shoulder.
She edged closer, her sighing breath his undoing. He kissed her lips, gently and slowly. She tasted like chocolate and coffee. He wanted more, so much more. He wanted to follow her home, carry her to her bedroom and make love to her all night long. He wanted her in a way that shook him to his core. But he vowed he’d take it slow. If he had anything to say about it, they’d be spending the rest of their lives together. Whoa! You’re not ready for this.
He eased away from her, opening her door as he did so. “Maybe I’ll see you at Ned’s.”
“Maybe you will,” she said breathlessly.
He watched her get in, start her car, wave to him and drive away. Or nearly. She drove over the corner of one of the flower beds as she left the parking lot. He grinned. “I won’t tell a soul,” he said, smiling to himself.
He drove to his apartment, feeling the best he’d felt since he’d come back home. He’d needed to go out with a beautiful woman the way a fish needed water. He’d missed that in Haiti. He’d been too exhausted after each day to wish for anything more than a chance to sleep without dreaming of the desperate lives so many people in Haiti experienced.
Rory drove the three blocks to his apartment, his mind on the evening and how much he’d enjoyed it. He especially enjoyed watching Peggy drive over the flower bed. To him it meant that she was feeling as excited as he was over their time together. Or maybe she was a really bad driver... Yet her car didn’t seem to have any visible dents, no missing fenders.
He eased his truck into the parking space near the rear entrance of the building, got out and went up to his apartment. When he unlocked the door, the whole space seemed different, more inviting somehow. Or maybe it was simply his good mood. He felt invigorated and upbeat. As he dropped his keys on the counter and pulled off his tie, he wondered what Peggy would say if he invited her here for dinner some night. He glanced around his living room, at the jukebox he’d salvaged early in his working career and the framed photos of his sister and parents hanging on the wall in the hallway leading to the bedrooms. With so many clients to do work for, those photos were about the only decorating he’d done since he moved in. But all that would change if Peggy became part of his life.
He had so much he wanted to share with her. So many ideas on how they could spend their time together. Or not...
Maybe she wasn’t nearly as excited about him as he was about her. He yanked off his shirt, pulled off his pants and climbed under the covers.
He was getting ahead of himself. He’d sleep on it and see how he felt in the morning. It took two to make a relationship, and at no point did she say anything about her life or whether she was interested in him. He’d jumped to the conclusion that she was interested in him based on the fact that she’d driven over a flower bed.
Way to go, MacPherson.
* * *
&
nbsp; THE NEXT MORNING Peggy awoke feeling great. Is that what a decent date with a gorgeous man did to a woman? Of course, there was that not-cool moment when she’d driven over the flower bed. He’d been watching her mortifying misstep from his vantage point of the parking area, so there’d be no way she could deny it. Would he bring it up to her when they saw each other again? Would they see each other again? She sincerely hoped so.
In the meantime, she needed to get to work and to coffee with Gayle. She raced through her morning routine, including feeding the horses. When she arrived at work, the cafeteria was just opening up, and Gayle was waiting for her.
“So, how was your date?” Gayle asked as they made their way toward the cafeteria doors. The early morning light streaked the sky outside the wall of windows, highlighting the water clinging to the waxy leaves of a shrub pressed against the glass.
“It was perfect. Absolutely perfect. I don’t get it.”
“That it was perfect, or that it happened to you?”
“Both, I guess.”
“Why don’t you simply let things be? If he’s that charming and nice, he’ll be in touch. If not, you won’t get hurt,” Gayle said as they arrived at the coffee shop.
“You think it’s as simple as that?” Peggy asked, pouring coffees for both of them.
“I know it is. Don’t chase him. I’m pretty sure he’s going to be in touch really soon. The question will be whether or not you’re ready for a relationship.”
“Gayle! I’ve been ready all my life. I just keep coming up with the wrong man. That’s the kind of man I attract, which means that Rory will probably be just like the others.” They paid for their coffees and moved toward a table near the back of the cafeteria.
“I don’t think so. Call it a hunch, but I believe you’re in for a surprise.”
“You’re in love, so your judgment can’t be relied upon,” she teased.
“Maybe a little. But in my opinion, it’s your turn for happiness, and this might be the man,” Gayle said, glancing around the space.
“Are you a fortune-teller in your spare time?”
“No. I simply believe that when two people are meant to be together, there’s nothing that will stop them.” Gayle’s smile warmed the entire room. “I happen to know that to be a fact.”
Peggy pointed at the diamond sparkling on Gayle’s finger. “It’s easy for you to be so optimistic.”
“Just trust your instincts. In the meantime, tell me more about this Rory person.”
Peggy had no trouble spending the next half hour on Rory and their date. Gayle laughed when she told her about him being late for coffee. Gayle smiled knowingly when Peggy told her about him waiting for her at the inn. As they headed down the hall to work, Peggy realized it was the first time in her life that she had talked for so long about a man she’d only just met.
Later that day as she returned to her house, driving along the narrow track road that led past Ned Tompkins’s house, she did a quick check for Rory. He wasn’t there, and she was disappointed.
Give it a rest. You just met this man!
When she got to her driveway and turned in, Ned was standing there waiting for her. What was so important that Ned was in her yard? She pulled to a stop and got out. “Is there something wrong? Did Zeus get out again?” He’d gotten out a week ago, and she’d been forced to search the neighboring fields looking for him.
Ned approached her, his eyes bright. “This is probably not mine to ask, you understand.” His eyes focused on hers. “What’s your connection to Bill Cassidy?”
She’d come to Eden Harbor, where her mother had grown up, looking for anyone who might know about her mother’s past. She was very interested in whom her mother had dated growing up in Eden Harbor, whom she’d been friends with. She hadn’t been able to learn very much about her mother, only that her parents had both passed away. Eden Harbor was her only lead in finding who might have been her birth father. She’d first met Bill Cassidy when he’d found her searching her mother’s graduation class photo at the local high school. Bill Cassidy had walked up to her wanting to know if he could help her. When she asked about Ellen Donnelly, he was curt with her. Feeling intimidated by his presence, she left when the opportunity arose, hoping to learn more about her mother some other way. “He’s the coach at the high school. He coaches the volleyball team I play on each Wednesday night.” She had no intention of telling Ned about her earlier encounter with Mr. Cassidy. “Why do you ask?”
“Is that all?”
“What do you mean?”
“My sister is Lisa Sherwood. You know her?”
“Yeah, she’s on the team. You know that. I mentioned it to you the first time I went to the practice.”
Ned rubbed his chin and scuffed his feet on the dirt of the driveway. “Some of the team feels that you and Bill are a little too chummy.”
She’d hardly describe their relationship as chummy. “What are you trying to say?” she asked, angry and hurt that people would talk about her that way. She was always very careful to be friendly but not overly so, especially with men, for this reason.
“He’s a man twice your age. That’s all. You don’t want people talking that way about you, do you?”
She clenched her fists and searched for a calmness she didn’t feel. “What if I didn’t care what people talked about?”
“Are you saying there’s something going on between the two of you?” Ned’s expression was one of fascination.
Peggy would like to tell her nosy neighbor to get lost. But she didn’t need any gossip going around about her, and even worse, Bill probably had a wife who wouldn’t be happy to have baseless rumors circulating about her husband. Most of all, Peggy didn’t want Bill Cassidy to hear gossip connecting him to her. He was the school sports coach. “I told you. He’s only my volleyball coach. He almost certainly has a wife. For the record, there is no relationship between Mr. Cassidy and me, other than the obvious one.”
“Bill Cassidy doesn’t have a wife. He doesn’t have a girlfriend that anyone knows about.” Ned continued to watch her in that odd way of his. “I wouldn’t have asked about him, only he was over at your house one day,” he said quietly. “Look, I didn’t mean to upset you. Just trying to look out for you, that’s all.”
Bill Cassidy had been visiting her neighbor farther down the road past her house, spotted her in her paddock with Zeus and had stopped by. Nothing more to it. “He came to see my horses once. He’s a great coach. That’s all. He’s kind to everyone, including me.” He’d been very nice. Very interested in where she had gotten the horses and how she had chosen each of them.
“I’ve known Bill Cassidy all his life, and he’s never been interested in horses.”
“People change,” she said. Thinking about it now, it did seem very peculiar.
“If you say so,” he mumbled, looking just a little embarrassed.
Ned had been a good neighbor in the two years she’d been here. But his sister was in a whole other league when it came to minding other people’s business. If she were a betting woman, she’d bet that Lisa had pressed Ned to ask questions about her relationship with Bill Cassidy.
Ned headed off along the road, disappearing into his house a few minutes later. Peggy breathed a sigh of relief. She shouldn’t have gotten angry with Ned. Although he was nosy, he had been helpful and kind to her over the years. When she moved in, he’d helped her fix the fencing, clean out the stalls. When she told him she’d pay him, he refused, saying that he was happy to have someone living on the road.
This was the first time he’d behaved so strangely. Maybe he was genuinely concerned about her reputation. She went into the house and turned on the TV for company as she organized her dinner before heading out to feed the horses. She loved the routine of her day, especially looking after her horses. Sherri Brandon, one of Peggy’s other friends at work, had stopped her today to ask about giving her stepdaughter, Morgan Brandon, riding lessons. She was looking forward to the oppor
tunity, wondering at the same time what day of the week she should offer Sherri.
She had a volleyball game this evening and was looking forward to it. She loved the game, something she had shared with her mother, Ellen. When she was a teenager, she and her mother used to practice around a net her father had put up in the backyard of the Craftsman house they lived in during her father’s time in Canada. Her favorite place of all the places they’d lived.
When she got to the gym, everyone was there, ready to play. The game was fast and exciting, during which she scored four times, a record for her. Coach Cassidy had been generous with his praise, reminding her of Ned’s inappropriate comments.
She was determined not to let Ned and his dreadful sister influence how she behaved around the coach and agreed to join the team for a drink to celebrate the win. She showered and dressed, ready for a fun evening.
She hadn’t thought of the sore spot on her right breast since she’d been out on the court, and she didn’t plan to think about it now. Tomorrow would be time enough. She had a routine physical in the morning, and she’d talk to Dr. Brandon about it then. She’d looked on the internet, and what she had near her underarm didn’t look like any of the pictures she saw, some of them really awful.
Once at the pub, they pulled a couple of tables together.
“That was a great game,” Tina Sullivan, a nurse from the hospital, said as she settled in next to Peggy.
“It was. And we have our coach to thank for most of it,” Peggy said, feeling generous toward the man who had been pretty tough on all of them these past months. “To you,” she said, holding up her beer to the man sitting across the table from her.
“Hey! This isn’t about me. It’s about you ladies. You deserved to win tonight.” He raised his beer and clicked her bottle. “To all of you.” But he seemed to be saying the words to her. Or was it her imagination? Had Ned’s insinuations changed how she saw her coach? She hoped not. She’d learned more about playing volleyball since joining this team a year ago than she’d ever learned during all her high school years.
Sweet on Peggy Page 3