In the meantime, though, out of the blue, here was Jeanette, a woman who captivated him, who filled him with a desire to protect her, who made him just a little bit crazy with lust. What the heck was he supposed to do about that, especially given her issues?
Right now, she was standing beside the tree Howard had picked out for the town green. The towering pine dwarfed her. She gazed toward the top, her expression awed, as if it was the first Christmas tree she’d ever seen. Maybe, in a way, it was. Not the very first, but the first since that terrible Christmas when her world had died right along with her brother.
He moved to stand beside her and clasped her hand in his. “It’s awfully big,” he said critically.
“No, it’s perfect,” she said. “Howard’s right. This is the one. I’ve never seen anything like it. I can just see it with hundreds and hundreds of twinkling lights. It will be amazing.”
“It’s bound to cost a fortune,” he said, still playing devil’s advocate.
She frowned at him. “So find the money,” she said in a tone oddly reminiscent of Howard’s. “Tom, we have to have this tree.”
He gazed into her eyes. “It means that much to you?”
She reached out and reverently touched the thick branches. “It does.”
“Then we’ll find the money somewhere, but if anyone complains about potholes not being filled, I’m sending them to talk to you and Howard.”
Just then Howard returned, trailed by Ronnie and Mary Vaughn. Howard’s expression was glum. “The man wants an arm and a leg for this one,” he said. “We might have to settle for something smaller.”
“No,” Jeanette protested. “Did you tell him it was for the town square?”
“Of course I did,” Howard said. “Told him all about the choirs and the kids and Santa. Bottom line, he’s a hardheaded businessman. Can’t say I blame him, but it’s still a disappointment.”
“We’re getting this tree,” Tom said decisively.
Howard regarded him incredulously. “You’re the one who set the price limit.”
Tom shrugged. “I’ll find a few more dollars somewhere.”
“It’s not just a few bucks,” Ronnie reported. “More like a few hundred.”
Tom glanced around at the circle of grim expressions. “Is everyone agreed that this is the tree we want?”
“Yes,” Mary Vaughn said, her eyes sparkling much as Jeanette’s did. “We’ve never had one this magnificent.”
“Then I’ll authorize purchasing it,” Tom said. “Mr. Mayor, are we in agreement?”
“You can find the money in the budget?”
“I’ll come up with the money,” Tom said. Out of his own pocket, if need be. Anything that put that shine back into Jeanette’s eyes was worth every penny. To keep it there, he might even be persuaded to help decorate the monstrous thing, though he vowed to grumble about doing it just on principle.
Jeanette threw her arms around him and planted an enthusiastic kiss on his cheek.
Tom grinned. As incentives went, that wasn’t a bad one, either. “Where’s the farmer?” he asked. “Let’s get a tag on this tree and arrange for it to be delivered.”
“I’ll take care of that,” Howard said, beaming. “Knew you weren’t the grinch you’ve been pretending to be.”
“Yes, I am!” Tom called after him.
“Oh, give it up,” Jeanette said. “None of us are going to buy that act anymore. You caved in and bought the perfect tree.”
“No tree’s perfect. It’s probably lopsided,” he grumbled, trying to restake his claim to being a bah-humbug kind of guy. “Probably has a trunk that’s crooked as an old walking stick. Did anybody check that?”
Ronnie laughed. “Too late, pal. You’re today’s hero, whether you like it or not.”
“Mine, anyway,” Jeanette said, regarding him with surprising heat.
Well, damn, Tom thought. He’d been relying on stolen kisses to get her attention, when all it had taken was a thousand-dollar Christmas tree.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
After two months on the job, Tom had established a routine of sorts. He stopped by Wharton’s every morning for coffee and gossip on the way to the office, he had lunch at his desk and at the end of the day he went jogging to work off some of the restless energy from being confined all day. He’d joined Dexter’s Gym, but as everyone had warned him, he found the atmosphere so depressing, he rarely did more than one or two workouts a week there.
His job was surprisingly challenging. With development in and around Serenity booming, there were plenty of plans being submitted that required detailed scrutiny. No one else on staff had his expertise when it came to looking for potential problems and the impact new development would have on Serenity’s schools and other institutions.
He’d been actively seeking new business for downtown and working with owners of the vacant properties on Main Street to give one-year rent concessions to people willing to open shops. He hoped that a lower overhead to start would encourage people to take a risk on the town and give them a chance to get their businesses established. So far he’d had two people commit to opening shops after the first of the year and three more considering leases for spring. He’d be reporting that at the next council meeting.
He’d also ordered a methodical and thorough check of the town’s infrastructure, something that had been ignored for too long. There was a narrow bridge over a tributary to the Great Pee Dee River that worried him, but the engineering reports indicated it was structurally sound for now. He wanted to get a jump on making sure it stayed that way. Water and sewer lines needed updating. In fact, the entire water-treatment system needed to be overhauled because of the demand from all the new development. He had a proposal for defraying much of that cost with hookup charges and other fees to the developers.
And he’d committed the start-up money for Cal’s Little League proposal. He put it into the Parks and Recreation Department budget with the council’s blessing. He’d promised to coach that second team, too.
All in all, despite his short time here, he felt as if he’d already made a contribution to Serenity. With so many irons in the fire, though, he’d had little time to hunt for a house or to pursue Jeanette the way he’d wanted to. That only added to his stress, which increased the necessity for these nightly runs. He usually made his way through town, then looped around the lake, which was surrounded by azalea bushes that he suspected filled the landscape with vivid color in the spring. There was usually a group of women sitting in the gazebo chatting in the fading evening light. He’d grown so accustomed to seeing them there that he always greeted them, even though he recognized none of them. He knew they’d be gone as soon as darkness fell, as would the last stray couples who’d been enjoying an evening walk.
He was pushing himself on a final lap around the lake when his cell phone rang. He was tempted to ignore it, but the police and fire departments had the number in case they needed to reach him in an emergency, so he stopped and bent over to catch his breath as he glanced at caller ID. His mother. It was her fifth call today. He’d managed to evade the others, but clearly she didn’t intend to give up.
“Hello, Mother,” he said, giving in finally.
“What’s wrong with you?” she demanded. “It sounds as if you’re out of breath.” She sounded more irritated than worried.
“You caught me in the middle of my run. What’s on your mind?”
“Have you found a house yet?”
“I haven’t had time to look,” he told her.
“Which is exactly why I wanted to do it for you,” she said, clearly miffed. “But I was told in no uncertain terms to butt out.”
“I seriously doubt Mary Vaughn phrased it that way,” he said.
“Well, of course not. She’s a lovely woman. She’s available, too, I
believe.”
Subtlety was not his mother’s strong suit. “I’m aware of that,” he told her.
“Have you asked her out?”
“Mother!” he said, a warning note in his voice.
“Well, surely you’re not considering going out with that little strumpet, Jeanette whatever-her-name-is.”
“Okay, that’s enough,” he said. “I’ll talk to you later.”
He was about to cut off the connection when he heard her call his name insistently. He relented and put the phone back to his ear. “Yes?”
“Okay, I didn’t mean to get your dander up. I know that’s exactly the wrong thing to do. After all these years of watching you and your father, you’d think I’d know better. You’re like a child. You’ll do exactly the opposite of whatever I suggest just to spite me.”
“Was that supposed to be an apology?”
She sighed dramatically. “I’m sorry,” she said without much sincerity. “I didn’t call about any of this.”
“Then why did you call?”
“The drapes for your office are ready. I’d like to bring them over tomorrow. I thought afterward we might have time to look at a few houses.”
This time his sigh was as dramatic as hers. “Bring the drapes if you want, but I don’t have time to go house hunting tomorrow,” he said.
“Well, surely you’ll at least be able to find the time to have lunch,” she said.
He thought about that. Sooner or later he and his mother were going to have to spend some time together. She was not the sort of woman to let anyone push her aside forever, especially one of her own children. Though she was sometimes her own worst enemy in those relationships, she tried her best to be a good mother in the only way she knew how. It had taken him thirty-five years to recognize that.
“We can have lunch,” he said. “On one condition.”
“What?” she asked warily.
“That we include Jeanette and you promise to be civil to her.”
“Absolutely not,” she said at once.
“Okay, then, no deal.”
“Thomas McDonald, I do not appreciate your attempt to blackmail me into spending time with a woman I can’t abide.”
“You barely know her.”
“Just the same, I have no desire to know her any better,” she said stubbornly.
He knew it was vanity and pride more than snobbery that made her so determined to keep Jeanette at arm’s length. Surely she was embarrassed over the fiasco she’d created at Chez Bella’s. At least that’s what he wanted to believe.
“And it doesn’t matter to you that she’s important to me?” he asked quietly.
She gasped. “How important?”
“I’m not one hundred percent certain yet, but right now I’d have to say very important. And I would very much appreciate it if you would at least give her a chance. Come on, Mother, it won’t be the first time in your life you’ve had to be polite to someone you’re not fond of. You do it all the time for the sake of one charity or another. Can’t you do at least as much for me?”
“Well, when you put it that way, I suppose I have no choice,” she said grudgingly. “I’ll be at your office at eleven-thirty to drop off the drapes. Make a reservation for lunch at noon. Tell your little friend not to be late.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, hiding his amusement at her dictatorial attitude. He recognized it as an attempt to have some control over the situation.
He hung up, pleased with himself for setting in motion a truce between Jeanette and his mother. Unfortunately, though, only one side had agreed to a meeting. Something told him Jeanette was going to be a much tougher sell.
* * *
“Oh no, no way!” Jeanette said, staring at Tom as if he’d grown two heads or, at the very least, lost his otherwise intelligent mind. “I will not have lunch with your mother! Not for a million dollars.”
“Not even to thank me for making sure the town got the Christmas tree you wanted?” he cajoled.
“Not even for that,” she said flatly.
If she’d known why he’d suddenly appeared at her apartment bearing pizza and a bottle of expensive wine, she’d have tossed him right back out on his sexy backside. Now, with the aroma of the pizza teasing her taste buds, it was a little late to send him on his way. That didn’t mean she had to agree to this absurd plan of his.
“Your mother will take one look at me and dump a glass of ice water over my head,” she predicted.
“I already have her word that she won’t do that,” he said.
“What did you do? Make a list of rules for her to abide by?”
“It wasn’t a list. I just reminded her that she is perfectly capable of being civil, even under the most awkward circumstances, and that I expected nothing less of her under these.”
“Gee, that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy,” Jeanette said sourly, reaching for a slice of pizza with black olives and mushrooms, just the way she liked it. She was getting at least one slice before this conversation deteriorated—as it was bound to do.
“Have some wine,” Tom said, filling her glass to the brim.
“I’m not going to go along with this, no matter how drunk you try to get me,” she said, but she did take a sip of the wine. It was excellent. He hadn’t bought it in Serenity, unless he’d managed to wheedle it out of Dana Sue from Sullivan’s wine cellar.
“Look, I know my mother made a mess of things when the two of you first met, but she’s basically a nice woman.”
“Nice?” she repeated skeptically. “Is this the same woman who behaved so badly last time we ran into each other that you walked out on her?”
He looked chagrined. “The same one.”
“Yet you think the three of us having lunch is a good idea,” she mused, then gave him a piercing look. “Are you delusional?”
“More than likely,” he admitted. “But we could try. I have her commitment that she’ll behave. If you’ll go at least that far, it shouldn’t be awful.”
She shook her head. “Can you even hear yourself? You’re inviting me to a lunch that ‘shouldn’t be awful.’ That is not a great recommendation. Why do you even want to try this?”
“Because she is, for all of her flaws, my mother. And you matter to me. I’d really like it if the two of you got along.”
“You mean better than the two of you do?” she asked.
He winced. Then, as if he sensed she might be wavering, he leaned closer. “I would be really, really grateful.”
She studied him with a narrowed gaze. “How grateful?”
“Very.”
“Grateful enough to help me move when the time comes?”
He grinned. “I was planning to do that anyway.”
“Really? That’s great. Would you be grateful enough to help me paint the living room and bedrooms downstairs?”
His smile spread. “I could be persuaded to do that.”
“Would you fix every leaky faucet in the house?”
He looked hesitant. “I can try, but you might be better off asking Ronnie to do that. Or hiring a plumber.” He brightened. “Yes, definitely a plumber. I’ll hire a plumber for you.”
“And an electrician? I’m thinking there should be a lot of ceiling fans.”
“Done,” he said.
“A new roof?”
His mouth gaped a little at that, which made her laugh. “Just kidding. The roof’s in great shape. I just wanted to see how far you’d go.”
He shrugged. “Pretty far. Look, nobody knows better than I do how impossible my mother can be, but if it makes you feel any better, she was just as difficult with the men my sisters chose to marry and every one of them had trust funds and family trees she could trace back to the Mayflower. It’s just a mother-hen t
hing.”
“Except you and I aren’t planning to get married,” Jeanette reminded him.
“Speak for yourself,” he said.
Well, that certainly upped the stakes in an unexpected way, she thought, waiting for a panic that never came.
Eventually, she allowed herself to meet Tom’s gaze and the earnest entreaty she found there. She struggled against the tide of emotions it stirred in her, but predictably, she lost the battle. “Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. This is a bad idea.”
“No, it’s not,” he said confidently. “You’ll charm the socks off her.”
Jeanette would settle for getting through the meal without strangling her.
* * *
Mary Vaughn’s car sputtered to a stop on the side of the highway ten miles outside of Serenity. She’d bought the stupid gas guzzler because it was supposed to be reliable, and also to stick it to Sonny who didn’t approve of any car that didn’t come off the lot at his dealership.
Unfortunately the closest dealership for this car was an hour away at best; most of the mechanics at the garages in Serenity wouldn’t touch it. She needed a tow truck and a ride home.
Gritting her teeth, she punched in Sonny’s number, prepared to listen to a diatribe about what a mistake she’d made in getting the car in the first place.
When Sonny picked up, she announced, “I’m stranded on the highway. I don’t need a lecture. I need help.”
“Flat tire?”
“No, the stupid thing just died on me. I’m lucky there was no traffic and I could get to the shoulder without anyone hitting me.”
“Where are you exactly?”
She told him.
“Whatever you do, don’t stand on the side of the road,” he instructed. “Stay in the car. Help’s on the way.”
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