by Josie Kerr
Tally chuckled at Billie’s genuine goodwill and slipped into the shared office to quickly gather her transcription equipment and tote bag. She stuck her head out into the hall as she rummaged for her keys, and as her fingers snagged in the key ring, she darted to the front door. She rushed through the lobby, her gaze lasered straight ahead because she spied Chad Bryson chatting up the barista at the small coffee kiosk.
She almost made it. She ignored Chad when he called her name, pretending like she didn’t hear him, but somehow he managed to close the space between them and tap her on the shoulder.
“Oh, Chad. Hey! I didn’t realize you were still around.” She smiled blandly at him while edging toward the outer doors.
“I was actually waiting for you to finish up with your last client. I know you’re busy, so I’ll just cut to the chase. Well, I’ve been chasing, right?” He laughed and gave her a toothy grin.
Tally laughed weakly because she knew what was coming.
“I know your mom got married last weekend, and congratulations to her finding love at her age. Anyhoo, I know they’re on a honeymoon cruise for the next two weeks, and I figured this would be the perfect opportunity for us to go out to dinner.”
“Oh, Chad. Um, I . . . I’m actually seeing someone,” she lied. “It’s fairly recent, but yeah.”
Chad’s handsome face crumpled in confusion. “Who?”
“Well, um . . . ,” she said, stalling. And then she spied the perfect excuse—all six-foot-three, bearded, beflanneled, booted, bad-boy brewer. “Robert McFerrin. I’m seeing Rob McFerrin.”
“Rob McFerrin,” Chad repeated. “You are dating Robbie Mac. Really. Since when?”
Tally had never been a very good stress liar, but she was going to channel her fifteen-year-old self and hope that Robbie Mac was as intuitive to her needs as he was on Saturday night. “Like I said, it’s recent. And there he is!”
Tally skipped up to Rob and threw her arms around his neck. “Just roll with it, Mac. I’ll explain later,” she hissed in his ear. “Whoop!”
Tally’s jaw dropped when she felt Rob’s big hand squeeze her rear end.
“Hey, darlin’, perfect timing, looks like.” Rob winked at her and gave her hip another squeeze.
“Yes, perfect timing,” she said through a frozen smile.
“Robbie Mac.”
“Bryson.”
Tally’s eyes darted between the two men. Oh dear. Tallulah, what have you gotten yourself into?
If this were a spaghetti western, the main theme song, complete with whistles and the cries of coyotes, would be playing as the two men faced each other across the dusty expanse of desert. But this was actually the lobby of the only modern three-story building in the county, and the elevator music version of that damn Toto song was all Rob could hear as that jackass Chad Bryson eyeballed him.
Rob realized his hand was still cupping Tally’s ass, and while he definitely was enjoying a second helping of the taste he got on Saturday night, he needed to concentrate on Chad Bryson, who was a sneaky sumbitch with a tendency toward being handsy and not taking a damn hint when a woman declined a date. He highly suspected that this was the current situation, seeing as Tally had completely shut him down after their little post-wedding make-out session. He moved his hand to Tally’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. That ass Bryson continued to stand there and gape, which was worth whatever fallout he was going to deal with.
“Here, let me take that.” Rob plucked the bulky tote bag from Tally’s hand. “You ready to head out, darlin’?”
Tally’s head snapped toward him. “Sure, honey.” She turned to Chad. “I’ll see you next week, Chad.”
“See you next week, Tally.” Chad still looked completely befuddled, and it took everything Rob had not to dissolve into obnoxious snickering.
“See ya, Bryson,” Rob said as he was steering Tally toward the building’s exit. When they got out of earshot, Rob began hooting with laughter. “Oh, Tallulah Douglas—girl, I owe you dinner. Where do you wanna go?”
“Stop.”
Rob’s mirth died in his throat. “What? You said ‘just roll with it,’ so I did.”
“That did not mean you needed to grab my butt!” She crossed her arms in front of her chest, which just highlighted her ample bosom and made him want to paw her some more.
“You seemed to like it on Saturday night.” Rob held out her tote bag, and she snatched it from him.
“I was a little out of sorts on Saturday night, and besides, that was then and this is now.” She sniffed. “What were you doing here, anyway?”
“I was making a night deposit. Jeez.” He pulled a money bag from where he had it nestled inside his jacket. “See? I had legit business. It’s not like I was stalking you.” His grin faded. “Has Bryson been bothering you?”
Tally sighed. “I accepted his invitation for coffee.”
Rob sucked in a breath through his teeth. “Oh God.”
“Yeah, big mistake.” Tally closed her eyes and shook her head. “He’s been pretty insistent about taking me to dinner. I told him I was seeing someone, hoping that would defer him, but . . .”
“You know he’s got a fiancée, right?”
Tally gasped. “No, he does not!”
“He does. They’re scheduled to view the orchard as a wedding location.” Tally’s furious expression was exactly the reaction he’d hoped for.
“That rat bastard.”
“Yep.” He didn’t expect her to thump him on the arm. “Hey! What was that for?”
“Gloating isn’t a good look for you, Robbie Mac.” She shifted the heavy tote bag. “Now, I need to get home.”
“I do, too, but I was serious about dinner. I would love to take you out for a proper date, and not just . . . you know.” He cleared his throat. “I’m being completely sincere. I actually wanted to call you yesterday, but I didn’t know how you’d feel about hearing from me after . . . you know.”
She had her eyes closed, her fingers moving in a circular motion, massaging her forehead. “Oh my God, how do I get myself into these situations?”
“Well, when you fib and say you’re seeing someone . . .”
She opened one eye. “Rhetorical. That was a rhetorical question.”
Rob shrugged a shoulder. “So, what do you say? Would you go out to dinner with me?”
She didn’t say a word for a few long moments, then she shook her head but said, “Yes.”
“You sure?” Rob scratched the back of his neck, fidgeting.
“Yes, I’m sure, unless you aren’t. I mean, no harm, no foul if you were kidding.” Tally swallowed hard and peered at him.
“I wasn’t kidding. I’d love to take you to dinner.”
“Well then, I’d love to.”
Tally sat in her car in the driveway of the little lemonade house, wondering how in the world she’d gone from just trying to get divorced to being asked out by two very different men in one day. She touched her collarbone where the love bite Rob gave her still stood out lividly. Whatever had possessed her to make out in his truck like a teenager? Oh, wait—it was that damn delicious muscadine wine he’d offered her.
Of course, she knew it wasn’t really the wine. Robbie Mac was the first nonfamily person she encountered after she arrived in Hemlock Creek. That first afternoon when he’d brought some moonshine over to her uncles’ vintage shop, it was as if her hormones suddenly awoke. She didn’t know if it was the accent or the beard, or those flashing eyes, but suddenly she found herself flirting, or actually, trying not to flirt and failing. The fact that he was an incredible flirt didn’t help matters at all.
“Mom, what are you doing sitting out in the car?” Chloe scowled at her through the half-opened window. “If you’re going to be a weirdo, at least do it inside where the whole neighborhood can’t see you. Sheesh.”
“Well, hello to you, too, dear.” Tally opened the car door, and Chloe stepped back to let her mother exit the vehicle. “I’m sorry I’m late, s
weetie. How was your day?”
Chloe did a familiar one-shoulder shrug. “It was all right. I’ve had better and worse.”
“Well, that’s good, right?”
Chloe rolled her eyes. “Oh my God—I said it was all right!”
“She has a lot of emotional upheaval going on. She has a lot of emotional upheaval going on.” Tally repeated her mantra several more times as she followed her daughter into the small pink-and-yellow clapboard house.
“Oh, something smells good.” Tally inhaled deeply, then she did it again. Maybe she just needed to take some deep breaths to restore her clarity. She sucked in more air and blew it out, but when she opened her eyes, Chloe was gaping at her from the kitchen. “What?”
“Did something happen today? You are acting way weird. Like, much weirder than you usually do.”
“We had some interviews that were a little intense, I suppose. I think I’m just still a little wound up from Mimi’s wedding. Speaking of Mimi, that’s her roast recipe, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is. I thought I’d try something other than tacos.” Chloe fiddled with the hem of her T-shirt. “I figure she’s not going to be around as much since she’ll be married and stuff, and I’ve been wanting to try something grown-up, so, ta-da! Mimi’s roast.”
“Oh, honey. You know Mimi will make her roast anytime you want it.”
Chloe shrugged. “I suppose, but still. I wanted to make it.”
“Well, it smells delicious.” Tally set her tote bag and purse down on a small bench next to the door. “So tell me what you got up to today,” she said while she set the table.
“Just the usual stuff. Nothing good or bad. But . . . we did get a phone call from Chula Vista. They didn’t leave a message or anything.”
Tally paused, because Chula Vista was where Chloe’s father’s parents lived. “Did the caller ID say anything?”
“Nope, nothing but ‘Chula Vista.’ I thought it was kind of weird. I mean, it’s not like it’s one of my friends, because they’d just text me.”
“Maybe it’s someone from my old work. I had to hand off files that weren’t quite done when we moved.”
“You mean after we ran away from Daddy.” Chloe’s voice broke, and when Tally looked up, alarmed, big silent tears were running down the teenager’s face. “I miss him so much, Mom, and I know why we left, but . . .”
“Oh, honey.” Tally dropped the silverware on the table and went to Chloe. “Can I hug you?”
“Yeah, I need a hug.”
Tally embraced her daughter tightly and rocked them back and forth as they stood in the small kitchen. “I know; he’s still your father, and you love him.”
“I don’t like him very much.”
“No, I don’t like him very much either, but I do still love him—at least, the good parts of him, when he’s acting like his old self.”
Chloe sniffled. “Yeah, me, too,” she said with a nod.
The timer went off, and Chloe broke the hug. “Thanks, I feel a lot better now. But I bet it’ll even better when we eat. I think am a little bit hangry, too.”
“Oh, honey, I know I’m hangry. You wanna just serve from the stove?”
“Yeah. Let’s dig in.”
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Tally sat in the master bathroom, gearing up to back out of this dinner thing. There was no way she could go on a date with Robbie Mac, not with Chloe being such a mess. If she were being completely honest, she wasn’t really ready to go on a date, no matter how nice the man was or how well he kissed. She pressed Rob’s contact and then the green phone icon and listened to the line ring after it connected.
He picked up halfway through the third ring. “Hey, Tally. You backing out already? I figured you’d make it until Thursday at least,” he joked, but when she was silent, he huffed an exasperated sigh. “Oh, man. You are canceling on me, aren’t you?”
Tally read the script she’d typed out on her phone. “Rob, I sincerely apologize for this. I should have never agreed to go out with you. I’m just not in a place where I can date.”
“Are . . . did you just read me a script? A blow-off script?”
“If I was going to blow you off, I’d just not show up,” Tally retorted with a snort but immediately regretted her hasty words.
“Well, at least you’re honest.” Rob’s voice was rough. “Is there something that changed between the business center and that little house?”
“No. I mean, yes. I mean . . . this is exactly why I can’t go on a date with you, Rob. My life is a hot mess. Hell, I’m a hot mess, and besides, I’m not even divorced, and I don’t want to do anything that would cause question about my suitability as a mother.” She made a few more weak excuses, and then she waited for a reaction from him.
“Well, I can tell you that you’re definitely hot.”
“That’s all you have to say? After all that blathering I did?” Tally made a very unladylike snort.
“Well, it’s true. You are. But if you truly aren’t ready to go out with me, and it sure sounds like you’re not, I will respect that. I’m not going to like it, but I’ll respect it. And I won’t pester you again until you tell me you’re ready.”
“That’s really sweet, Rob.”
“It’s called being a fuckin’ grown-up.”
“Thank you for being so understanding.”
“Oh, hell. I don’t understand at all. It’s dinner—just dinner. Everyone’s gotta eat.”
“That’s true.” Tally chewed on her lip. “Just dinner?”
“Just dinner. I promise that if this isn’t good, I’ll never ask you out again.”
“Just dinner?” she asked again.
“Yep. I’ll sweeten the pot—you pick the night. Saturday or Friday?”
Tally shook her head, thankful that Rob couldn’t see her, and then took a deep breath. “Okay, Robert McFerrin. Friday night, just dinner. I’ll meet you.”
“Cool. I am looking forward to just dinner. Take care, Tally.”
“Bye, Rob.”
She was still sitting on the bathroom floor, holding the phone, when Chloe knocked on the door and opened it up.
“Chloe Elizabeth, what if I was doing something private in here?”
“Oh my God, Mom, you did not just make reference to masturbating!”
Tally blinked and then doubled over with laughter. “Oh God. I meant more along the lines of pooping, but, hell . . .”
She continued to roll around on the floor, laughing, as Chloe glowered at her.
“You are being weird again, Mom.”
“That’s because I have a date. With a man. I have a date with a man.” Tally snorted before breaking out into more giggles.
“Oh my Lord. What am I going to do with you?” Chloe spun on her heel and stomped out of the room, and Tally continued to laugh.
Rob chuckled as he settled into a chair on his back porch, still thinking about the conversation with Tally. He fully expected her to back out at least twice before Friday, but he was pretty sure he’d still get to meet her for dinner. He’d even made arrangements for a babysitter, which he usually didn’t need because most of his dates in the three years since his wife had passed away were of the afternoon delight variety.
He took a sip of cider, savoring the light, crisp flavor. A train whistle cut through the cool night air, and Rob stared into the inky sky, thankful that his property was far enough out that he could see the stars.
He was just getting ready to light a cigar when he heard a tiny voice peep, “Daddy?”
“Hey, baby girl, what are you doing up?”
Eight-year-old Lily hovered on the other side of the screen door. “I had a dream.” Her voice was soft and shaky. “It wasn’t a very good dream.”
He put his drink and cigar down and held out his arms. “Come on, baby; come here to me.”
Lily zipped out the door and clambered into his lap, burying her face in his chest. Rob rubbed his daughter’s back as she curled up
in his arms.
“You wanna talk about it?”
“I was dreaming about Mama, but I couldn’t see her face. And then when I woke up, I couldn’t remember what she looked like.”
“Oh, honey.” Rob just hugged her tightly because he had no words for an eight-year-old who lost her mother right before she started kindergarten.
“What if I forget her, Daddy? I don’t want to forget her. I don’t want to forget when we went strawberry picking, and when we all went to the grocery store in our pajamas, and-and-and,” she stammered and sucked in a shuddering breath. “And that time your birthday cake caught on fire and she smashed it with a pan.”
Lily giggled at that last memory. Rob did, too, but tears ran down his face, and he thought his heart might break.
“You know what, Lilybelle? That’s exactly how you keep her in your memories. All those good things.”
Rob rested his cheek against her soft hair, so much like her mother’s. Some of those memories weren’t actually very good. The strawberry picking wore Becca out so much that she ended up back in the hospital for a week, and the and the trip to the grocery store while wearing their pajamas happened because they all had a stomach virus and didn’t have any clean clothes to change into to go get more electrolyte drinks and laundry detergent. But even when Becca had been her sickest, she always managed to put on a big smile for her little girl, their little miracle.
“Can I have some water?”
“Of course, baby. Let’s get you something to drink and maybe read another book, and then you can go back to bed.” Rob smoothed down that one piece of hair that stood up. “What do you say about that?”
“Okay, Daddy.” Lily slid off his lap, and they went into the house, hand in hand.
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Rob was padding around the kitchen, turning off all the lights and preparing to go to bed, when he spied a white SUV pull into his driveway with the lights off. He heard the light knocking on the door and groaned when he didn’t manage to dart into the hallway quickly enough to avoid being seen by the woman who had her face mashed against the sidelight window adjacent to his front door. When their eyes met, she waved enthusiastically and flashed him a huge grin.