by Donna Alward
Forty minutes later Jess pulled into the yard. To Abby’s surprise, it turned out that it wasn’t just Jess getting out of the car; her sister Sarah had come too, and carried a large pizza box while Jess held a bag which appeared to contain more wine and bags of potato chips. Abby’s mouth watered at the sight of junk food. She could afford one night of splurging. Especially since all the cleaning and packing and moving had resulted in the loss of a few unexpected pounds.
“Hope it’s okay Sarah came. She doesn’t get out of the house much.”
“Jess!” Sarah swatted her sister’s arm. “Hi, Abby,” she said shyly, holding out the pizza box. “We come bearing peace offerings.”
Abby smiled. “Not necessary, but welcome just the same. Come on in.”
It was the first company she’d had at the house and she felt a little excited as she led them inside and down the hall, feeling like a real hostess. “Holy hell,” Jess exclaimed, her head twisted around as she tried to look at everything as they went through. “I’ve never been in here before. This place is huge.”
“You get used to it,” Abby replied. “And it looks a lot different today than when I left.”
“Yeah?”
Abby took them into the library, the most comfortable room since the kitchen was out of commission. “Oh, yes. The floors weren’t even stripped before I left. It looks completely different. There’s a new roof and new paint outside, and the downstairs bath is all done. Just hold that a sec, will you?”
She scooted off to the kitchen to get a cloth and dashed back, spreading it on the table to protect it from the heat of the pizza box. “All the dishes are boxed up in the kitchen, but I’m betting that we can find plates and a few wine glasses if we dig a little.”
It took a bit of searching but before long they had plates, utensils, and a roll of paper towel to serve as napkins. In lieu of a proper sofa, Abby plopped fat cushions on the floor for them to sit on and opened the box, releasing the tempting scent of dough, tomato sauce, and melted cheese.
“I’m so hungry, I could eat a horse,” Sarah said, reaching for the first piece.
“How can you say that and stay the size you are? You just had dinner two hours ago!” Jess glared at her sister as she plopped a slice on her plate. “Come on, Abs, dig in.”
Abby took a slice and bit into it. It tasted like pepperoni and cheese and belonging. The way she’d never really belonged before. She’d never had nights with the girls, never felt like she was so intrinsically accepted as she was here with the two sisters. It more than made up for any past transgression.
Sarah shrugged. “It was only chicken and salad. It didn’t last long.”
“Right. The last time you ate like this you gained forty pounds and had Matt—”
Jess halted and looked over at Sarah. “You’re knocked up again?”
Sarah’s eyes got huge as Abby watched the two of them. At Sarah’s small nod, Jess’s smile grew. “And everything’s okay?”
“So far. Fourteen weeks,” she said, smiling, too.
“What? And you didn’t tell me?”
“We wanted to be sure … you know.”
Jess nodded, her eyes twinkling. “Of course you did. Oh, honey. Congratulations.”
Sarah looked over at Abby and explained. “We’ve been trying for quite a while to get pregnant again.”
Jess reached for the wine she’d brought, wielded the corkscrew, and poured wine into two glasses. “No wonder you offered to be the designated driver tonight.”
Sarah took a bottle of club soda from the bag containing the chips. “I was going to tell everyone at the party, but it didn’t quite work out the way I hoped.” She shrugged.
The party, where any announcement would have been upstaged by the Josh and Tom fireworks. “Congratulations,” Abby offered, accepting a wine glass. “Sorry your big announcement got wrecked, though.”
Sarah poured the soda into her glass. “I should have known better. Just ask Jess. I make all these grand plans but something usually happens to derail them. With Josh and Tom both there, I should have known that would be excitement enough.” She scowled. “I really thought they’d be more grown-up about it. I can’t believe Josh punched him.”
“I can’t believe Tom didn’t clean his clock in return,” Jess said, taking a sip of wine. “Tom’s never been one to back down from a fight.”
Just what Abby had thought. Unless Tom did feel guilty. “I felt like knocking their heads together, personally.”
Jess snickered and Sarah grinned. “See? I knew there was a reason we liked you. We’ve been saying that for years.”
Abby took a sip of the wine Jess had poured. “Does Josh really hate him that much?”
Sarah’s and Jess’s gazes met then they both looked at Abby. Jess spoke first. “We think Josh is more angry with himself. Or just angry in general and looking for somewhere to put it. Tom’s an easy target.”
Abby snorted a little. “I would think so. I’d be angry if I were Josh, too.”
“Why? Tom didn’t do anything wrong. Josh is as much to blame as Tom is.”
Abby’s lips dropped open at the unequivocal support for their cousin over their brother. “But this Erin … she was Josh’s wife.”
“Yeah, but she was Tom’s girl first.” Sarah looked sideways at Abby.
The bottom seemed to fall out of Abby’s stomach. “What?”
“You didn’t know? He didn’t tell you?” Jess smacked her forehead with her hand. “No wonder you were still so angry! Our cousin is so stupid. He never comes right out and says what he means anymore.”
“I’ve noticed that,” Abby remarked dryly.
“Well, he did get burned. Like the night Erin and Josh got engaged and he made a fool of himself at the Rusty Fern. We were all there.”
“Erin was dating Tom?”
“Oh, yeah. She was vacationing here with her family that summer before going off to basic. Tom was young too, and full of piss and vinegar as our mom would say. We all knew he was sweet on her. And then Josh came home from school and swept her off her feet.”
“Tom didn’t fight for her?”
Sarah wiped her fingers on her paper towel. “He and Josh had grown up like brothers. Bryce, too. We’d been through a lot as a family that year. Our dad died in a fishing accident and Josh was a mess. When Tom knew Erin felt the same way for Josh, he stepped aside. Problem was, he’d fallen in love with her anyway. I think a part of him hoped the thing with Josh would burn hot and fast and flame out. Or that Josh would go back to med school and that would be the end of it and Erin would come back to him. Only it didn’t work that way. Erin spent Christmas with our family that year. It was barely four months after they met, and Josh proposed.”
“That’s fast.”
Jess smiled. “They were happy. But Tom … he hadn’t gotten over her. The night of their engagement announcement he got drunk, stood on a table, and told everyone that Erin was marrying the wrong man. That she could have done better with him and how he’d had her first anyway. It was quite an uncomfortable few minutes until Bryce came in and told him to get off the table or he’d take him to jail, brother or not.”
Abby tried to imagine Tom standing on a table in a drunken state and making that sort of announcement. Not Tom, who kept his emotions hidden. Who hid behind a slick exterior of charm without really showing his true self. Even the night he’d kissed her, he’d hedged. He’d only done it because he wanted to. No deeper explanation. Just an impulse. Abby suspected the closest she’d gotten to seeing the real Tom Arseneault was probably the fire burning in his eyes as he told his cousin the first punch was free.
“That doesn’t sound like something Tom would do.”
“Oh, the old Tom would. He’s changed since then,” Sarah confirmed. “Josh and Erin got married and Tom retreated to his cottage out at Fiddler’s Rock. We hardly saw him for a long while. We really thought that once they were married, Tom would get over her. But he didn’t. He put all his t
ime and energy into his business. Seriously, you’re the first woman he’s shown any interest in at all. We took it as a good sign.”
“Kind of backfired.” Abby sipped at the wine. Goodness, Jess really did know how to pick them. First the pinot at her shop and now this lovely bold shiraz. “This is really good, Jess.”
“Drink up.” She raised her still-full glass. “And cheers. To new friends and new babies.”
They touched glasses and laughed, a new comfort level settling in around them. Friends. Twenty-four hours ago Abby wouldn’t have thought it. But Jess and Sarah had an easy way about them that was hard to resist for very long.
By nine-thirty the pizza was down to two lonely slices and Jess had opened Abby’s bottle of wine. Abby was still on the floor, leaning back against a chair munching on potato chips as she watched the two women with affection. It had been the best evening. She didn’t really want it to end. “Know what? I think we should have a pajama party.” It was a crazy suggestion. She hadn’t had a sleepover since she was twelve years old.
Jess giggled. “I’m on the downhill slide to thirty and you want to have a slumber party? Are we going to get into your parents’ liquor cabinet and sneak out the windows to meet boys?”
Abby grinned. “I think the ship has sailed on the liquor. And sneak out one of those windows and you’ll break your legs. Sarah would have to drive us to the hospital.”
“We have a doctor in the family. Besides, maybe Josh will take a shine to you, Abby.”
“No way. I’m not getting in the middle of those two again.”
“In the middle?” Jess put on an innocent look. “But if there’s nothing between you and Tom…”
“That’s what Tom said,” Sarah confirmed, waggling her fingers for the chip bag. “Nothing between you at all.”
It stung that he’d said that to them and Abby set her lips in annoyance.
Jess leaned closer. “Unless he lied. Look at her, Sarah! She’s not saying anything. Come on, Abby, out with it!”
“If that’s what Tom said, then it must be right,” she hedged. And if she didn’t want there to be anything between them, why did his blithe dismissal of their kiss get on her nerves so much?
“You’re a terrible liar. Something has happened, hasn’t it?”
They both stared at Abby, looking for the juicy details.
“He just kissed me, that’s all.”
The resulting whoops through the room made her grin crookedly. “Oh, shut up.”
“When? Where?”
“The night he drove me home from your candle-making class, and in the foyer,” she answered.
“And how was it?”
Sarah swatted Jess on the arm. “You don’t have to answer that, Abby.”
“Yes she does!” Jess put down her wine glass.
“It was … nice,” she answered weakly. “But you guys, it was just that one time and neither one of us is in a position to start anything. For one thing, I think I know better than to get hung up on a guy who is still in love with another woman.”
“A dead woman.”
“Jess!” Sarah swatted her again, her eyes wide.
“Well, she is,” Jess answered. “Maybe that’s crass but it’s true. And until someone comes along that pulls Tom into the land of the living…”
“What about Josh?”
“One stubborn man at a time, please.”
Abby snorted. “What about you, Jess?”
For the first time, the glib, fun-loving expression faded from Jess’s face.
“I said something wrong, didn’t I? God, what a buzz-kill I am.”
Jess looked up, her lips curving just a bit, though her eyes remained distant. “First of all, I can’t believe you said ‘buzz-kill.’ And as for me, well, I got burned too, that’s all. I try not to let it make me jaded. I’m just waiting for the right time and the right guy. Until then I get to be Fun Aunt Jess.”
“The right guy’s out there,” Sarah said warmly, squeezing Jess’s shoulder.
Abby felt tears spring into her eyes as the emotional moment drew out. Then she laughed and swiped her fingers under her lashes.
“Shit, I think we’re drunk, Jess.”
They started laughing, even Sarah.
“Please stay,” she said to the women. “I haven’t had this much fun in … never mind how long. Sarah, can’t you call Mark and tell him to get the kids off to school tomorrow?”
“He does owe me,” she replied. “Jess?”
“Is it really true that each room has a four-poster?”
“Most of them do.”
“Then why the hell not?”
They stayed up longer, nibbling on chips and sipping more wine as they chatted. When midnight drew close, Abby led them upstairs to the bedrooms and showed them where things were in the bathroom. She lent them T-shirts to wear as pajamas. When the lights were all out and she was under the covers she let out a contented sigh.
As her eyes drifted closed, she realized something really important.
The house felt happy tonight. The bedrooms deserved to be full and there should be laughter and maybe even tears. She understood now why Marian had chosen to open her home rather than live here alone.
How on earth was she going to bring it back to life?
Marry Tom and fill it with kids.
As if.
CHAPTER 14
Abby woke when the sun was just beginning to filter through the curtains. She checked her watch—just after six.
Jess and Sarah would still be sleeping, but Abby knew that she was awake for good. Quietly she got up and slipped into shorts and a tank top. She wanted to run the mountain. She’d missed it during her weeks away.
The air was crystal clear as she shut the door behind her and let her muscles warm up as she walked to the end of Foster Lane. Once there she began to jog, drinking in the scent of grass and wildflowers and the unmistakable saltiness of the ocean. On one of her mornings, she’d discovered a path that looped around the summit, bypassing the barn and leading up to where the old Prescott house had been. All that was left now was the stone foundation. It made her a little sad, but it made her feel connected, too. Her family had lived here. She wished she’d had a chance to know them.
The path also afforded a wonderful view of the town below. The rainbow of buildings glowed in the early morning light and Abby could imagine the smell of fresh bread coming from the bakery, almost taste the signature chocolate croissants they made. Nothing went better with a hot latte from the coffee shop next door.
Down the street, Breezes Café would smell like coffee and bacon. Men in hats and sun-bleached T-shirts would be at the marina, preparing their boats and fishing rods for a day on the water. In a few hours the shops would open, the wood-and-screen doors letting in the fresh breeze, clacking against wooden door frames as tourists wandered in and out. The water truck would crawl down Main Street, a local teen working the wand to water the hanging baskets hung on lamp posts.
When had she become so invested in the day-to-day goings-on in this town? She paused at the summit and caught her breath. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. She was supposed to remain unemotional, unattached. But there was something about Jewell Cove that spoke to her. She couldn’t put her finger on it. Didn’t want to. But as she inhaled deeply and started running again, she realized that she was going to miss this place when she left.
She arrived back at the house just after seven, opening the door as quietly as she could so as not to disturb her guests. She needn’t have bothered. Sarah and Jess were already up and, from the sounds of it, in her kitchen. She shut the front door and made her way down the hall, following the sound of voices and general shuffling and clanging.
There was a frying pan on the stove and Sarah had a spatula in her hand while Jess was scooping frozen orange juice concentrate from a can straight into glasses.
“Good morning.”
Sarah beamed. “Good morning.” She looked at Abby and grinned. “
Up early, I see.”
“I went for a run. I might be a little sweaty.”
Jess muttered something unintelligible, but it might have sounded a little like “people being a mite too cheerful this early in the morning.”
“Little hair of the dog, sis?” Sarah waved the wine bottle.
“Don’t gloat,” Jess grumbled. “You know I’m generally a one-glass-only person. I don’t know what came over me.”
“I’m entitled to gloat. After six weeks of morning sickness and feeling hungover every day, it’s a relief to wake up hungry and not nauseous.”
Sarah took the spatula and flipped a perfectly round pancake.
“That smells really good,” Abby said.
“You had a bag of mix in your pantry box.”
“And I couldn’t find a pitcher to mix it in, but I did find a can of this in your freezer.” Jess brandished the juice concentrate.
“I’m a terrible host. I should have been here to cook you breakfast, not the other way around.”
Sarah laughed. “We’re friends now. Friends just make themselves at home.”
“Maybe,” Abby said, digging around in the dish box for three more plates. “But since you brought pizza last night…”
Sarah paused on her way to the fridge. “No one is keeping score, you know.”
Abby didn’t think she’d ever met anyone more generous than the Collins sisters. She’d already forgiven them for the barbecue incident. Yes, they’d made a mistake by not letting her in on the plan, but their intentions had been good.
“I’m sorry I yelled at you that night,” Abby said quietly, knowing they knew exactly which night she was referring to.
“You were entitled.” Jess ran water into the glasses and started stirring. “No need to apologize. Are you still mad at Tom?”
She shrugged. “A bit. I mean, we went there together. If anyone should have explained, it should have been him.”
“Especially after…” Sarah let the words hang meaningfully.
Lord, she’d told them about the kiss last night, hadn’t she? Her face burned as she handed plates around and went in search of forks. “Yes, especially after the whole kiss thing,” she answered, her head stuck in cardboard as she dug at the bottom of a different box.