“I know. That scares the shit out of me too. But the thrill I got walking across the campus. Like I could smell all the knowledge in the air. Like I could feel the drawings just dying to burst from my fingertips.”
“Good for you.” Katie placed a cup in front of Diane, then settled back into her chair.
Diane wrapped her hands around the white porcelain. “Listen, don’t say anything about this to anyone, okay?” The Cut ‘N’ Curl, Katie’s beauty parlor, was second only to the BB&G for spreading gossip. “I’m still not sure I’m going to do this and even if I do, I don’t want word to get back to my boss before I figure it all out.”
“You can count on me.”
Diane had only taken one sip of coffee when her phone rang. It was Ford. She debated letting it go to voice mail but figured Katie might be more curious if she did that. “Hi.”
“Hey, Di. How are you doing?”
Why should she feel happy just to hear his voice? “Okay. What’s up?”
“Are you busy? I found something of yours and I’d like to return it. I’d bring it to you, but a cast and crutches don’t mix well with ice and snow.”
“Sorry, I can’t. Katie Foster is over here right now…”
Katie popped up to her feet. “I can go,” she whispered.
Diane frowned and signaled to Katie to sit back down. She wasn’t going to drop anything for Ford Harper.
“No rush,” Ford said smoothly. “A couple of hours? I think you’ll be happy to have this back.”
She couldn’t resist her curiosity. “What is it?”
“See you later, Di.”
He hung up before she could try to wrangle an answer. Diane picked up her mug and took a deep drink of coffee, then turned to Katie with a grin. “Tell me what colleges Paige is applying to.”
Chapter 3
“Something smells delicious.”
Ford stood in the foyer, feeling helpless yet excited as Diane took off her coat and hung it on one of the hooks beside the door. It wasn’t often he saw her in something other than her waitress uniform. Her black sweater hugged her curves and highlighted her silver, shoulder-length hair. And those jeans. When she bent over to unzip her boots, he got a grand look at the way they cupped her ass.
He swallowed. “As soon as I get off these crutches I will be a gentleman and take your coat for you.”
She narrowed her eyes and for a moment he thought she was going to declare that she would never be coming here again. He swore every divorcee and widow had been around in the past few weeks, batting their eyes and telling him how sorry they were for him and was there anything they could do for him. Anything at all. He hadn’t taken any of them up on their offers but if Diane hinted that she’d be willing, he’d grab the opportunity to take her to bed. Ha. Bed? His recliner had become his bed so he didn’t have to struggle to go up and down the stairs every day.
“I put one of the pity meals in the oven and there’s way too much for me. I was hoping you’d stay and help me eat it.”
“I thought you had something to give me.”
“I do. And I will, but first, have you had dinner?”
“No, but—”
“Do you have someplace else to go tonight or were you planning to eat alone?”
She stared at him for a minute, then murmured, “Alone.”
He took it as a good sign that she didn’t lie and say she had plans. “Well, then let’s eat alone together. And you won’t even have to cook.” He turned to hobble down the hallway.
She followed him into the big, bright kitchen. “I was going to pick up take-out.” She inhaled deeply. “But that smells amazing.”
“What if I told you Loretta Lewis brought a lasagna over, complete with the baking instructions, a couple of days ago?”
“Talked me into it,” Diane said with a laugh, and he remembered how often they’d laughed together. “Loretta makes the best lasagna in Best Bay.”
“She does.”
“Wait a minute. Pity meals? Is that what you call them?”
“What else would you call them?”
Her lip quirked. “Bribes?”
“Bribes?” He laughed when he wanted to groan. “You think eighty-year old Loretta thought she could bribe herself into my bed with her lasagna?”
Diane shrugged. “You know what they say about the way to a man’s heart…”
He shook his head, not bothering to reply to that nonsense. “We have a few minutes ‘til dinner’s ready. I have a makeshift bar set up on the counter. Want a drink?” Julie hadn’t asked any questions when Ford asked her to drag the booze out of a bottom cupboard where he’d stashed the bottles a few months after Irene died.
Ford had found himself drinking too much after his wife was gone. Putting the bottles out of sight had helped him ease away from relying on their brand of forgetfulness. But tonight he had an itch to share a drink with Diane. Like a real date.
Date? Was he really thinking of this as a date? She’d only come over so he could return the ladybug. But he had asked her to stay for dinner. And she had agreed.
Diane had been his first real love. They’d fought a lot, but it usually led to hot make-up sex. He couldn’t remember now why she broke up with him but he’d never forget the sharp pain that speared his gut when he realized she actually meant it.
Once he’d started dating Irene, though, there hadn’t been another woman in his mind or in his heart. Except for those odd moments when he and Diane had run into each other. Then he couldn’t help but wonder what might have been if she hadn’t told him she never wanted to see him again.
Now that Irene was gone…now that he’d opened that box full of memories…Ford couldn’t get Diane out of his mind. He pointed to the bottles on the counter. “What would you like?”
“I’ll take a little of that Southern Comfort on the rocks.”
“Really?” Ford didn’t know what he expected her to want, maybe a glass from the lone bottle of white wine he found in the wine rack in the corner. They’d been so young when they were together. He couldn’t remember them drinking anything but beer. If he’d thought ahead, he’d have had one of the kids pick up some. “I’ll have the same. Would you mind getting the ice?”
While Diane took the rocks glasses and filled them with ice, Ford balanced against the counter and opened the bottle. “Thanks,” he said when she slid the glasses over to him. “I’m glad you didn’t want anything fancy.” He shot her a rueful glance. “I can’t tend bar like your boss.”
She held his gaze for a moment. “I don’t need anything fancy, Ford.”
“Right.” That was one of the things he’d always liked about Diane. He handed her a glass and poured one for himself. “Have a seat.”
She brought both glasses over to the table, then sat and took a sip. He thought she was going to ask again about the item he found, and he braced himself. But she didn’t.
“I was surprised when you retired from the force.” Her question was there in the comment.
Ford had been Chief of Police before he stepped down. He shrugged and joined her at the table. “I got tired of it all. The politics. The assholes. Seeing too much of the negative in people and not enough of the positive.”
“I can understand that.”
“Irene used to be able to talk me down. I’d get in these moods sometimes and she helped me get over them. Once she was gone…” He took a drink. “I just couldn’t get over them as fast. And after a while, I didn’t want to go into work anymore. So I retired.”
“What do you do with your time now?”
“You mean when I’m not laid up with a broken leg?”
She smiled. Diane had a great smile. “Yeah.” The timer went off and she got up. “I’ll get it. Keep talking.”
“The fire department keeps me busy. Some days it’s like a full-time job.”
She lifted the lasagna pan from the oven and placed it on the hot pad on the counter. “I’ll let that sit a few minutes.” She leaned ba
ck against the counter. “I suppose you still see some of the negative side of the community, though.”
He shrugged and took a healthy swallow. “Yeah, but I guess I feel like I’m helping more.”
“You always wanted to be of service to the community.”
“Yeah.”
She glanced down to the cast sticking out from under the table. “And now you haven’t been able to do that either.”
“It sucks to be a first responder who can’t respond.”
“I was scared when I heard about your fall.”
He grinned, the anger gone in a flash. “Worried about me, Di?”
“Maybe.” She turned and pulled two plates out of the cupboard and dished up the lasagna.
Ford sat back and watched her confident motions. They were both in their fifties now, but he suddenly felt like that kid who first noticed her when she was waitressing at Lenny’s Diner. Diane had kept her great figure and he loved that she’d let her shiny hair go that natural silver. Her smile was as brilliant as ever. She looked amazing.
She made him feel amazing.
“What did you find? I’m dying to know.”
He’d only had one bite of lasagna. He should have known she wouldn’t want to wait. He reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out the ladybug charm. “Open your hand.”
Diane narrowed her eyes curiously, but reached out and he dropped the charm into the palm of her hand.
“Ford!” she shrieked. “My ladybug.” She curled her fingers protectively around it, then opened her fist to study it. “Where did you find it?”
He shrugged. Didn’t know if he wanted to tell her Irene had it. “In a box of old stuff.”
The expression of joy slipped off her face and her eyes flashed. “You had it all this time? I looked all over for it. I lost…I lost a lot of time looking for it.”
Ford placed his hand over hers. Her skin was as soft as he remembered. “I didn’t have it, Di. Julie found it at the bottom of Irene’s jewelry box after I told her you’d lost it. I don’t know how Irene got it. Or why she had it. We’ll probably never know now.”
The anger seemed to drain out of her and she nodded. “I guess you’re right.”
“Let me.” He reached out and slipped his hands behind her neck, letting her soft hair brush against his skin, and he savored the tingles that danced along his body. He unhooked the necklace and drew it off as he’d done many times in the past. Ford held out his hand and she handed him the charm. He’d put a new jump ring—Julie had taught him the term and furnished the ring—on the ladybug and it slid easily onto the chain to dangle with the other good luck charms.
Ford leaned forward to put the necklace back around Diane’s neck, and she leaned in as well. Her scent, a vanilla musk he remembered from before, wound around him, more mouthwatering than the lasagna waiting for them. Their faces were so close now that it wouldn’t have taken much to rub his cheek against hers, or press his lips to hers.
But it wasn’t time yet for that. Not tonight. After he secured the necklace, he leaned back and smiled. “There. Back where it belongs.”
She caught his hand. “Thank you.” Then she picked up her fork and took a bite.
Time for some small talk. “What have you been up to lately? Anything new and exciting?”
Diane froze with her fork halfway to her mouth. Did her cheeks turn a little pink? Could it be she was seeing someone? A new and exciting guy? She cleared her throat and said, “Nothing exciting for me. Same old, same old.”
She sounded sad when she said it. Or was she nervous?
“Me either.” He tried to sound lighthearted. “Unless you count getting the damn cast off.”
“Now that’s exciting.”
They talked about light, inconsequential things while they finished the delicious lasagna. Ford realized he’d forgotten what it was like to have a woman to talk with. To smell her sweet scent and brush up against her soft skin. To feel that charge when she smiled at him. To already be looking forward to seeing her again.
He realized Julie had been right. He was lonely, but not for just any company. For a smart sassy woman with silver hair and tight-fitting jeans who made him suddenly feel alive again.
As soon as he got this cast off, he was going to put his rusty seduction skills to the test.
Chapter 4
“You’ve got a secret.”
Diane froze when Jimmy Best, bartender and owner of the Best Bar and Grill, stepped into the doorway of the storage room Wednesday morning. She pictured the pile of college information still sitting in the center of the dining room table. How had he found out? Had Katie spilled to someone sitting in her chair? Could no one in Best Bay keep their mouths shut?
She couldn’t help the fact that she was going to have to quit her job, or at least cut back her hours drastically if she decided to become a full-time student. Even if she decided to go part-time, she wouldn’t be able to keep the hours she worked now. And Jimmy couldn’t be too happy about that.
Was he going to try to talk her out of it?
“Secret?” She forced a shrill laugh. “I don’t have any secrets, Jimmy.”
He folded his arms and leaned against the door jam. “I heard you had dinner with Ford Harper the other night.”
Relief flowed through her system, but then, rumors about her and Ford didn’t sound all that great either. She rolled her eyes at Jimmy. “You’re slipping, boss. That was three whole days ago. Old news.”
He shrugged with a grin. “A date? That’s a big step for you.”
“It was just dinner. Nothing else.” Not even a good night kiss. Not that she’d wanted a good night kiss. But…hell, maybe she had wanted a good night kiss.
“Not what I heard.”
“What did you hear? Because unless you talked to Ford, you don’t know a damn thing.” Unless Ford had talked to someone else, who’d talked to Jimmy. Or more likely talked to someone else who then talked to Jimmy. And the story would likely have grown and changed with each telling. That was the way the Best Bay rumor mill worked. “And if you did talk to Ford, you’d know there’s nothing to know. Just two friends getting together to share Loretta Lewis’ lasagna.”
“I’ve never known you and Ford to be all that friendly. Though I heard rumors that the two of you used to be tight. Really tight. But then I was too young to remember, you guys being so much older than me and all.”
What was it about Jimmy that always made her want to roll her eyes? “What…ten years maybe?”
“Like I said. Older. Both you and Ford.”
“Jimmy? Really?” She grabbed a package of napkins, which was what she’d been in there to fetch in the first place. “There’s no gossip to spread about me and Ford.”
“I know there were drinks involved because Julie told me her dad had her drag the booze out from a bottom cupboard.”
Not Ford then. Julie had blabbed.
“Get out of my way, boss. I’ve got things to do before you unlock the door.”
They hadn’t called it a date, but it had felt like one to Diane. Felt like a first date, the two of them getting to know each other again. She had such mixed feelings about the whole thing. On one hand, she realized how much she still liked Ford. How much she had missed him even, though she hadn’t realized it until she’d sat at that table with him, shared a meal and conversation with him. They reminisced about some of the trips they took in his old Jeep, talked about friends who’d moved away, and the ones still around. They still laughed about the same things and that made Diane happy in a way she hadn’t expected.
For some reason she couldn’t bring herself to tell him about her dream of studying art. She knew he’d be supportive because he’d seen some of her work before. But maybe that took a little more trust than she could give to him right now.
She couldn’t believe he found her ladybug. Diane remembered she and Irene had gone swimming together at the community pool shortly after her birthday. Diane had left her necklac
e on the poolside table. Had Irene fiddled with it while she was in the water? Had her best friend taken the ladybug charm? She would have known how much that would freak out Diane.
All she knew was the day she lost her lucky ladybug was the day she lost Ford.
But now that she had the ladybug back, Diane felt luckier already.
She and Ford had fallen right into the easy companionship they’d always had before. They hadn’t even had one fight all evening. Maybe they’d grown out of that fiery passion that had caused them to explode—and then take all that fervor into the bedroom.
She laughed out loud at that thought and almost tipped the salt shaker she was filling. The passion she and Ford shared in the past was still there. When he’d leaned in to place the necklace back around her neck, they’d been close…so close that another inch might have led to a kiss. The exciting tingles of anticipation had danced along her skin then and it was still there days later.
She’d felt like she was that twenty-one-year-old kid again, with her whole life ahead of her. With their whole life ahead of them, because back then she’d never thought of the future without Ford being a big part of it.
But he’d dropped her suddenly and without a word. Hadn’t even had the decency to officially break up with her. It had hurt her down to her core, and Diane wasn’t sorry for holding a grudge. As she’d always told her kids, she’d trust them until they gave her cause not to, but once she’d lost their trust, it would be very difficult for her to ever trust them again.
She’d learned that the hard way.
So she’d left Ford’s place without a kiss. Without a promise to see him again. But not without a twinge of regret for what might have been.
The phone in the pocket of her apron buzzed as the first customers were trickling in. She peeked at the screen. He’d texted her.
Call me when you have a break.
Her mind was on Ford all through the lunch rush. She couldn’t stop thinking about the way their lives had intersected again when she’d worked hard to make sure that wouldn’t happen. And while they hadn’t even shared a kiss yet, this felt like it could become something more than just old friends reconnecting, and she wasn’t at all sure she wanted that.
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