by Loree Lough
Laughing, Maude said, “I was wondering if you’d bring that up. You had the poor girl hopping like a toad on a hot rock, fetching this and that. Reminded me of an I Love Lucy episode. Remember the one where Lucy is pregnant and Ricky insists on serving her breakfast in bed?”
“Yes,” Holly said, joining in her laughter. “The one where he can’t find anything and Lucy has to keep getting up to go into the kitchen, and just when she’s all settled back in bed, he needs something else, and—”
“All right, you two. The least you could do is wait until I’ve left to have a chuckle at my expense.”
“Sorry, son.”
“Yes, sorry, Parker.”
“Fibbers,” he said without missing a beat as he loaded the dish-washer. “Just remember that other old saying: ‘What goes around, comes around.’ ” Then, “Hate to eat and wash and run, but I have an appointment in town.” He folded the dish towel and hung it on the swing arm above the sink. “Catch up with you later, Holly? Maybe we can actually get that outline written before nightfall.”
“Sure. What time should I meet you at your place?”
“I’ll pick you up when I’m finished in town. Should be lunch-time by then. How about if I pick up a pizza?”
“The usual,” Maude said.
“Pepperoni-mushroom, crispy crust, easy on the cheese, extra sauce.” He bent to kiss her cheek then winked at Holly. “You two behave while I’m gone, hear?”
Maude snickered. “And what’ll you do if we don’t?”
“I’ll bring home thick crust with extra cheese and light sauce, that’s what.”
He didn’t wait for a reply, and when they heard the crunch of gravel beneath his shoes, Maude sighed. “Some days I think it’s a miracle my heart doesn’t just burst with love for that boy.” She brightened and said, “Breakfast was delicious, Holly. Can I convince you to write down your recipe? It’ll be a hit around here, I guarantee it.”
“I’d be happy to.” She refilled their coffee mugs then draped the casserole with aluminum foil. “It heats up great in the microwave, one slice at a time. And it’s fantastic on toast with—”
“You don’t need to sell me on it, girl. There’s a tablet and pen in that drawer right behind you.”
While Holly wrote down the ingredients and directions, Maude said, “When Henry was here earlier, he told me that you filled in as first mate yesterday. That’s quite a job, especially for a little slip of a thing like you.”
She looked up, but only long enough to say, “I was only too happy to help out.” I’d do more, so much more, if only he’d let me. Holly wondered if, by summer’s end, she’d understand what made Parker tick. Sighing, she turned her attention back to the recipe.
“I just have to say, you’re nothing like his other girlfriends.”
She almost laughed. “Girlfriends?” She handed the recipe to his mom.Don’t let Parker hear you say that! she thought. You’ll jinx things! But that would have been a silly thing to say, even if she believed in such things. And she didn’t. Well, with the possible exception of Murphy’s Law. And who could blame her for that?
Maude glanced at the paper before tucking it into her pocket, and for the next hour, she held Holly spellbound with stories of Parker’s romantic past. Or, to be more accurate, his unromantic past. Her heart ached for him, for the way he’d been used and abused and even left standing at the altar once. No wonder he seemed so ill at ease around her.
“And what about you?” Maude wanted to know.
“What about me?”
“Well, I can’t believe that a girl as pretty and sweet and smart as you are doesn’t have some sort of romantic past. What are you, twenty-something?”
“Thirty,” Holly said.
“Okay, thirty. You didn’t get all the way to the ripe old age of thirty without making some poor man fall head over heels for you.”
She debated whether to tell the woman about Jimmy. And Ethan. “There was only one ‘head over heels’ episode in my past,” she said. “He was my best friend, my confidant, the answer to my prayers.”
“Was?”
“We were in the Florida Keys when…” Holly didn’t know if she had it in her to tell the story, especially to a near stranger. But then, maybe it would be easier, reciting cold, clinical facts to someone who had never met Jimmy, who didn’t know her well enough to hear the agony in her voice. “I was working for the University of Maryland at the time, researching rays for an upcoming class on marine biology. And Jimmy was there doing an underwater photo shoot for National Geographic. A motorboat raced by overhead, stirred up the water, and agitated the rays. One speared him, and—”
Maude gasped. “You mean like that TV fellow from Australia who always did such dangerous and crazy things?”
“Exactly like that.”
The woman reached across the table and blanketed Holly’s hands with her own. “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry.”
Holly only nodded.
“How long ago did it happen?”
“It was three years last month since…” She sipped her coffee, afraid that if she said another word, she’d burst into tears. And if Parker walked in while she was blubbering like a baby, well, how would she explain herself?
“Were you together long when…you know…?”
Holly nodded. “We were the stereotypical high school sweet-hearts. Attended the same college, got our doctorates at the same university, secured jobs in the Baltimore/DC area…” She exhaled a shaky sigh. “We were supposed to get married that year. In December. And take a Christmas cruise for our honeymoon.”
Maude nodded too. “I know it’s hard to believe, me being more than twice your age and all, but I know how you felt. How you still feel. Parker’s father was the love of my life. When he left, I thought I’d just dry up and blow away like sand.” She took a deep breath and sat up straighter. “But here we sit, survivors of the worst kind of heartache, none the worse for the wear.”
Easy to say, Holly thought—but from where she sat, there wasn’t an ounce of truth in Maude’s words. If Ethan had come along at some other time in her life, they might have had a chance. How many times had he said that she seemed detached? How often had he accused her of still being in love with a dead man? Too many times to count. Remember that, Holly, she told herself, next time you get all googly-eyed over Parker. The poor guy had already suffered too many broken hearts. She couldn’t in all fairness subject him to another, on the off chance she’d finally put Jimmy’s memory to rest.
“He was a test pilot,” Maude was saying. “Oh, what a dashing figure he cut in his uniform! I can’t believe how young and foolish I was back then, telling myself that if he had to choose the Air Force over me, I’d win.”
They heard the roar of Parker’s old pickup, followed by the creak-slam of the driver’s door. “He won’t have any trouble believing we sat here this whole time, chattering like a couple of magpies,” Maude said. “What he won’t believe is that we barely scraped the surface!”
Her merry laughter echoed in the sunny kitchen and inspired a smile on Holly’s face too. “I’ll grab some napkins and paper plates,” she said. “At least that way one of us will be in a different spot than we were when he left here.”
“You’re such a thoughtful, helpful girl,” Maude said.
Thoughtfulness had nothing to do with it. And she wasn’t doing it to be helpful, either, Holly admitted. The sole reason she’d put her back to the door was to give her time to erase any misery that her storytelling might have etched on her face, because the last thing she wanted to do was explain it all again to a concerned Parker.
More important than that, the last thing Parker needed, with his history, was to hear all about it.
* * * * *
“I can’t believe my eyes,” he said, grinning, as he slid the pizza box onto the table. “Have the two of you been here blabbing the whole time I was gone?”
“Not the whole time,” Maude said. “Holly helped me to the
powder room once. And talked to her mom for a minute on her cell phone.”
“I hope you got all the gossiping out of your system this morning, because once we get started on this book, it’s hard to tell when— or if—you’ll get another chance at it.”
“Gossip?” Maude groaned. “Of all the…well, I never!”
Holly handed out paper plates and napkins then lifted the lid on the pizza box. “What makes you think we were gossiping?”
He looked from Holly to Maude and back again. “You’re women, that’s what.” If she knew exactly how much a woman he thought her to be, Holly might turn tail and run.
“What’ll you have to drink?” she asked him. “I made iced tea and lemonade, and Maude has a few sodas in the fridge.”
“Nice tall glass of ice water will satisfy me just fine.”
“Make it two, sweetie,” Maude said, “as long as you’re up.”
And turning to her son, she added, “This girl is just one big ball of thoughtful, I tell you!”
From his point of view, there wasn’t anything big about Holly. Except for her eyes. And her heart. And okay, the thoughtfulness that inspired her helpful nature.
“So what sent you into town?” Maude asked. “Another ‘Save the Light’ meeting?”
“No. That isn’t until Monday.” He glanced at Holly. “Might be nice if you sat in on it. You know, see what you can pick up that we might include in the book?”
Nodding, she took a bite of pizza—such a huge bite that he almost added “mouth” to his list of her big things. Chuckling, he continued explaining where he’d been all morning. “Stray cat showed up at my door night before last,” he said. “Big friendly thing without a collar or an ID tag, so I took him to the vet to see if maybe his owners had implanted him with one of those microchips. Turns out they didn’t. And the cat’s a she, not a he.” He helped himself to another slice of pizza. “I put some 3x5 cards in all the usual places, hung ‘lost cat’ signs on a few telephone poles… . And the vet said that if anybody comes into the clinic claiming to have lost a cat, he’ll give them my number.”
“What if no one calls?” Maude asked.
He shrugged. “Then I guess I’ve got me a cat.”
“Have you named her?”
“No. I figure there’s plenty of time for that if nobody claims her.”
Maude sniffed. “I can’t picture you with a cat, Parker.”
“Why not?”
“Well, you’re…you’re—”
“More a dog kind of guy?” Holly put in.
“No, more like, he’s not a commitment kind of guy.”
That was hardly fair, considering his past, but he didn’t intend to open that can of worms right here, right now.
“So where is it?”
“Took her back to my place.”
“She isn’t declawed, is she?”
“Matter of fact, she is. I couldn’t have done it to her, but she gets a big kick out of trying to claw up the furniture, so I’m not about to judge whomever did.”
“So she’s over there with the free run of your house?”
“Yes, Maude,” he said with as much patience as he could muster. Why the third degree, anyway? It was a stray cat, for the luvva Pete. “If it turns out she’s staying, I’ll make her one of those little swinging doors, so she can go in and out any time she—”
“Oh no, son. That would be irresponsible. She has no claws. How would she defend herself against dogs or bigger cats or whatever else might attack her?”
“She did all right before adopting me,” he pointed out. “Vet says that by the looks of her, she’s been on her own for months, that I’m lucky she didn’t turn feral.”
Suddenly, Parker had no appetite whatsoever. What was it with Maude, anyway, that inspired her to zero in on his sore spots and peck away like a starving hen? She’d nagged every man who’d come into her life, whether for a month or a year, making Parker wonder, even as a kid, why they’d put up with it for as long as they did.
He didn’t like the resentful thoughts. Didn’t like himself much for thinking them, either. Experience had taught him that if he didn’t put a little time and distance between himself and Maude, so he could gather some perspective, he’d end up blurting out something he’d regret. Because for better or worse, Maude was his mom, and as such, she deserved his respect. The Good Book said “Honor thy father and thy mother.” Period. God hadn’t tacked on any qualifiers like “when respect has been earned.”
On his feet now, he put his paper plate and napkin into the trash can and his water glass into the dishwasher. “I hate to rush you, Holly, but we’ve got a lot to do.”
“Oh, don’t give that another thought. I can be ready in two minutes.”
Something in her sparkly blue eyes told him that she understood exactly why he’d decided to leave all of a sudden. He didn’t know what it was, but he could have hugged her for it all the same. “You go ahead and do whatever you need to,” he said, “and I’ll get Maude situated in the parlor.” Almost as an afterthought, he said, “Any new guests checking in this evening?”
“Nope. I’m free as a bird for the next few days.”
“Good. That way you won’t be tempted to push yourself.” He rolled the wheelchair into the parlor as Holly bounded up the stairs. “Couple more weeks off your feet and you’ll be right back where you were before the surgery.”
“Dear Lord,” she said, laughing, “I certainly hope not! I limped around for years on these corn-and bunion-ridden feet before finally making the decision to have my old tootsies repaired!”
Thankfully he was behind her, so she couldn’t see that he’d clenched his teeth to say, “Well, yeah, that’s true. But you know what I meant, right?”
She reached back and patted his hand. “ ’Course I do. You’re the best son any mother ever had. I know how blessed I am.”
If that’s true, he wanted to say, then why do you jump at every chance to find fault with me?
“Have I told you lately how proud of you I am?”
He put on the chair’s breaks then gently lifted her from its seat and deposited her on the sofa. “I’ll gather up a few snacks and something for you to drink,” he said, handing her the TV’s remote control. “You have a yen for anything special?”
She patted her belly. “I had one too many slices of that pizza, so no. I should be fine until Henry gets here. He’s bringing my favorite movie. And popcorn!”
Parker chuckled. “What will this make, a hundred viewings? More?”
“A hundred. Listen to you.” Laughing, she said, “If we watch it once tonight, it’ll bring the total to seventy-nine.”
And she could recite every line right along with the actors. Well, whatever floats your boat, he thought, heading into the kitchen. Holly was there when he entered, putting away the last of the pizza mess. “You weren’t kidding when you said you’d be ready in two minutes, were you?”
“There are few things I hate more than to be kept waiting.” She shrugged. “Golden Rule, y’know?”
He slid a tray from under the sink and filled it with chips, chocolates, and bottled water. Holly tossed a few napkins onto the pile and then dampened some paper towels and tucked them into a zipper bag. “In case her hands get sticky, eating the chocolates,” she explained as she added it to the tray. “This might be a tad indelicate, but…”
“But what?” he asked, hoisting the tray.
“If she can’t walk, how will she use the, ah, you know, the facilities? Do you think maybe we should work here? I brought my laptop.
We could set it up right here, or in the dining room.”
How like her to worry about something like that. “Nah. All my notebooks and research papers are at my place. Hank will be here soon and—”
“I’m sure he means well,” she interrupted, “but Parker…he’s a man. Don’t you think your mom would be more comfortable taking care of, you know, things with another woman instead?”
“She�
��s never complained.”
“She doesn’t seem the type.”
He could tell that he was fighting a losing battle. If he had a white flag, he’d wave it. Grinning, Parker handed the tray to Holly. “It’ll only take me ten, fifteen minutes to go home and gather up my stuff. After you deliver this to Maude, maybe you can set us up in the library. It’s right beside the parlor, so if she needs, you know, things, you’ll be able to hear her.”
All his life, he’d been hearing the phrase “Her face lit up like a Christmas tree.” But until that moment, Parker hadn’t experienced it firsthand.
“We’ll both be able to concentrate better,” she said, backing out of the room.
She’d been gone a full minute before he unpocketed his keys and walked toward his truck. “Well, if that don’t beat all.” He couldn’t help but chuckle a bit as he slid behind the wheel. “If that just don’t beat all.”
Chapter Eleven
“And here I thought I knew what an outline was,” he said, leaning over the table. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.”
“I sort of pulled it together from a bunch of how-to books I’ve read and seminars I’ve attended. So if you notice anything that might streamline it, say the word and we’ll incorporate it into the plan.”
“Hard to improve upon perfection,” he said. And he wasn’t just referring to her outline, either. “In just a couple of hours, we’ve nearly finished it.” He sat back and, crossing both arms over his chest, nodded. “You’re something else, Dr. Hollace Leonard.”
“Cut it out,” she said, laughing. “Blushing cuts off the blood supply to my brain.” She met his eyes and, reading his smile, arched an eyebrow. “What? You don’t believe me? Keep it up, Captain, and you’ll see for yourself.”
He couldn’t say “uncle” before, but he could say it now. “Okay, you win. From now on, you’ll get nothing but nagging and criticism from me.”
“Oh, dear…”
Parker leaned forward again. “Oh, dear?”