by Josie Kerr
She dialed Rob’s number, and of course, voicemail picked up.
“Hey, Robbie Mac. I’ve got an idea. I know it wasn’t the original plan, but why don’t you bring Lily over and Chloe can babysit while we have dinner? That is, if you still want to do this. Okay, yeah. Um. Call me back and let me know, all right? I’ll talk to you soon.”
She pressed the End button and collapsed with her arms and shoulders on the counter. Dating—you needed nerves of steel for this mess.
Rob had to smile at Lily’s recitation of all the animals, their names, and which one she was going to visit with first. She had a whole process. Not for the first time, he wondered where in the world his child got her orderly personality, because it sure wasn’t from either of her parents.
“Daddy, who are you going to visit first?”
His answer of “Miss Saffy” got him a stern look.
“Oh, you mean which four-legged creature I’m going to visit first? Hmm. I’m not sure. Probably not Jasper. He doesn’t seem to like me very much.”
“Jasper doesn’t like anyone except for Miss Saffy,” Lily stated matter-of-factly. “But Tom Petty likes you!”
“Yeah, he may like me a little too much.” Rob chuckled. It was funny now, but his first interaction with the very large Bourbon Red turkey included the discovery that, contrary to common folklore, turkeys could fly. In this case, it was to the hood of Rob’s truck, where Tom Petty decided to park himself for a good while. Now, the thirty-pound turkey followed Rob around like a love-struck teenager whenever he dropped by to get honey or cheese from Saffy, a one-woman animal rescue brigade.
Rob pulled into the gravel-covered area that served as the parking lot of both the Creekside Bed and Breakfast and the small boutique that sat adjacent. When he got around to the passenger side of the truck, Lily was craning her head around, looking for the animals that roamed around the property and practically vibrating with excitement.
“You ready?”
“Yes!” she squealed as Rob undid the seat belt of her booster.
“Hang on there, busterette.” Rob snagged her as she was just about to dive out of the truck. “What are the rules again?”
Lily peered around his legs and gave him an irritated grunt. “If the animals don’t seem interested or are eating, leave them alone.”
“And?”
“When you say it’s time to go, it’s time to go,” she grumped.
“That’s right.” Rob kissed her on the top of the head. “Okay, squirt. I’m going to be right inside the shop with Miss Saffy.”
“No, you’re not—Miss Saffy’s right there!” Lily pointed at a space completely opposite the small shop.
Rob turned to look, but before he could really gather himself together to react, Saffy McNabb was grinning widely and gathering his hands in hers.
“Robbie Mac, I was just telling the soon-to-be Mister and Missus Bryson about you!” As usual, the words bubbled out of Saffy’s mouth in a raspy, breathy mass. “Miss Sampson wants a gazebo, or a pergola, or an arch of some sort, and flowers or vines or some kind of greenery as a backdrop, and you know I don’t have that, but you do. You have all those things, and I was just getting ready to drop your name in their ears and give you a call, but here you are!” She beamed at Rob and wiggled her eyebrows, cutting her eyes in the direction of that rat fink Chad Bryson and the poor thing he’d hoodwinked into believing he only had eyes for her.
“Bryson.”
“McFerrin.”
The two men stared at each other before Rob forced a grin onto his face. “This is like déjà vu, huh?”
“Something like that.”
Before Saffy could ask the question, Robbie leaned toward her and, while staring Chad straight in the eye, said, “We had almost this exact conversation a few days ago when I ran into him and Tally Douglas outside the bank.”
“Tally Douglas? She works at The Backward Glance, right? Oh, honey, that’s where I saw the most darlin’ arch! It would be perfect in front of a field of flowers.”
Rob grunted. He knew the arch in question because he’d just purchased said arch to put on the edge of the grounds, over the path that led to the daylily fields.
“Miss Sampson?” Rob extended his hand and lasered his attention on Chad’s fiancée. “Your mama is the president of the County Women’s Club, right?”
“Oh, yes, she is,” the younger woman stuttered. “I’m Mary-Leland. It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. McFerrin.”
“Please, call me Robbie Mac. Now, darlin’, when would you like to come visit the Owl Creek Orchards and Vineyards grounds?” Rob knew he was being overly familiar and smarmy, but the chance to get Chad Bryson’s goat twice in a week was too good to pass up.
“MeeLee, honey, there are a ton of gardens and grounds in North Georgia—” Chad began, but Mary-Leland put her hands on her hips and actually stomped her foot.
“Yes, there are, but Miss McNabb recommended Mr.—I mean, Robbie Mac, and you said, and I quote, ‘Saffy McNabb is top-notch, and you need to listen to whatever she suggests.’ ”
“That is one thing I will agree with,” Rob piped up.
“Yes, I did say that, didn’t I?” Chad ground out. “But, darling, I can’t take off any more time to go look at venues.”
“Are you free during the day tomorrow?” Rob interjected.
“Why, yes, I am, actually.” Mary-Leland’s eyes sparkled with delight, and Rob suddenly felt sick to his stomach. He needed to figure out a way to sabotage this marriage, even though he could definitely use the income a wedding of this size—and he just knew this wedding was going to be huge—would generate.
“Saffy, are you free as well? I think Mary-Leland would appreciate your being there because you obviously understand her vision of her dream wedding, and this will help me understand.” Rob gave Saffy his biggest, brightest grin, and she narrowed her eyes at him. Oh, fuck.
“I’m available,” Saffy replied to Mary-Leland after leveling Rob with a deadly look that told him she’d skin him alive if he was trying to pull a fast one.
“Well, then. Let’s decide on a time, and we’ve got ourselves a plan.” Rob grinned at Chad, who seemed to pale under his golfer’s tan.
´*•.¸(*•.¸ *¸.•*´)¸.•*´
Rob smiled as he waved goodbye to Mary-Leland and Saffy as they drove away from the vineyard, but he positively beamed when Chad Bryson gave him a death glare when their eyes met. The only thing that would make this situation better would be if Chad Bryson was paying for the wedding. That would be icing on the proverbial seven-layer wedding cake. As it was, Rob’s little orchard was going to host what would most likely be the wedding of the year, and a guest list that would hopefully include future clients.
He practically skipped into the house and to the kitchen, where Lily was hard at work, coloring in a fancy coloring book while singing along to a playlist that included some songs that had earned him the stink eye from her mother. His little girl was the spitting image of her mother, and it was at times like these, when she was involved in activities her mother had enjoyed, like painting or reading, that almost took his breath away.
“Is that lady gonna get married here?” Lily asked. She hadn’t taken her eyes off the coloring sheet; she just cocked her head to the side, studying the picture.
“Yep, she is.”
“I liked her lipstick.”
Yep. Definitely her mother’s daughter. “It was a pretty color all right.”
He leaned against the counter, just looking at her, and thought about his own wedding, or rather, the day he got married. He and Rebecca didn’t have a wedding. They just went to the justice of the peace and got married after they’d gone to the doctor and had seen the little fluttering heartbeat of the brand-new life they’d created. Nothing like what Becca had most likely planned, though she wouldn’t ever admit it. Whenever their non-wedding came up, she merely stated, “A wedding does not a marriage make.”
It hadn’t. The two of t
hem, Rob and Becca, had been deliriously happy through Becca’s difficult pregnancy despite the fact that no one in either of their families approved of their love match.
“We’re not married to any of them, so their opinions are moot,” Becca would say with a wink and a little sassy sway of her hips.
“What’s wrong, Daddy?”
“Hmm? Oh, nothing, baby girl. I’m just thinking about stuff.” Rob slid into a kitchen chair. “Like what we’re going to have for dinner. I think we might need . . . a pizza pie. Why don’t I call Jet’s and order so it’ll be ready when we get there, huh?”
“Yay!”
Rob chuckled as Lily hurriedly gathered up her pencils and coloring pages into a satchel and then disappeared around the corner, buzzing up the stairs to her room to retrieve her shoes. He turned his phone back on to call the pizza place and was surprised to see a message notification. As he listened to the voicemail, the smile crept back onto his face.
Immediately after listening to the message, he called Tally back. She picked up on the first ring, and he could hear her talking to someone.
“All the veggies? Well, make up your mind, Chloe. Hello?”
“Hey, Tally.”
She was silent for two beats. “Robbie Mac? Do you work at Jet’s, too?”
“No, I was calling you back . . .” Rob frowned, suddenly unsure.
“Oh, good. I was about to ask how many jobs you had,” Tally said with a laugh. “What’s up? Did you get my message? Oh, of course you did. You said you were calling me back. Duh. Yeah. So, what do you think? I mean, Lily and Chloe seemed to be comfortable with each other when they went home with the uncles after Mom’s wedding. I think it will be fine. I mean, I know it’ll be fine, if you’re okay with it. The uncles are just a few minutes away, if there’s an issue, which there totally won’t be—”
“It’s a perfect solution, Tally. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it earlier.” He cleared his throat, a little nervous. “So, yeah. To clarify, ‘just dinner’ is a go if you’re still up for it.”
“Yeah, we’re up for it. So, same time, except meet at my house instead of the restaurant? Does that sound right?”
“Yeah, it does. It sounds great.” Rob heard the squeak of sneakers on the linoleum as Lily came to a screeching halt. “Why’d you ask about Jet’s, specifically?” he asked, an idea forming.
“Oh, we were just about to order. It’s been kind of a crazy day, and I don’t feel like cooking. Okay, I’m babbling, and you don’t need to know my whole story.” Rob heard Tally blow out a frustrated breath. “Wow. I’m kind of all over the place.” She giggled, and Rob thought he might have heard her slap her hand over her mouth.
“Well, this a coincidence, considering we were just about to order from Jet’s.”
“Really.”
“Uh-huh. What do you say we each do our ordering, and if we happen to get there at the same time, we might share a table?” he impulsively asked.
“Well, the place is super small. It would be polite to share a table since we know each other.”
“Exactly. So . . . definitely on for tomorrow night for ‘just dinner,’ and maybe tonight, seeing as we’ll most likely be there at the same time?”
“Sure. Yeah, yeah, that sounds good, Robbie Mac.”
Rob thought he could hear the smile in her voice, which in turn made him smile. “Excellent. We’ll probably see you soon. If not, we’ll see you tomorrow.”
They said their goodbyes, and Robbie clicked off the phone and blew a breath out.
Robbie Mac, you’ve lost your damn mind.
´*•.¸(*•.¸ *¸.•*´)¸.•*´
Tally stood in the middle of the living room and looked at the phone in her hand like it was a piece of alien technology capable of mind control. Not only did she confirm a date she could have easily avoided, but she’d also just agreed to meet the man and his daughter at the only pizza parlor in town.
“Mom, what did you do?” Chloe stood with her arms crossed around her middle and impatiently tapped her sneakered foot.
“I just agreed that we’d meet Robbie Mac and Lily at the pizza place.”
“Okay . . . so we’re eating there, now?”
“I guess.” Tally blinked. “Yeah, I assume so.”
Chloe rolled her eyes. “Thanks for telling me. Now I have to go put on real pants.” She stomped off with a huff and was halfway down the hall before she turned around. “Are you wearing that?”
Tally looked down at her paint-splattered jeans and T-shirt and then sprinted down the hall to her bedroom. She’d just done laundry the night before, and the load hadn’t made it from the basket to her closet, so she quickly tore through the contents until she found something that wasn’t matronly, stretched out, or stained but also wasn’t classified as “work clothes.” She slipped what her mother described as a dressy T-shirt over her head and pulled on a different pair of cropped jeans, shoved her feet into her super-cute leopard-print Mary Janes, and dashed to the living room, where Chloe was waiting. Tally smoothed and adjusted her ponytail while Chloe surveyed her from head to toe.
“That’s cute. Mimi would say you need lipstick.”
“I am going to put on lipstick. Give me a minute, child.”
The child had resumed her foot tapping, and Tally thought she might strangle her only daughter. “I think he’s probably thinking we’ve ditched him, which is not cool, Mom.”
“All right, let’s go. Sheesh!” Tally grabbed her tote bag, and they headed out.
Jet’s Pizzeria was the only pizza parlor in Hemlock Creek, though “parlor” was stretching it since the space had only a walk-up counter, no delivery, and no indoor seating. Despite this, the place was busy from open to close, and the round tables and benches scattered liberally around the downtown square were usually commandeered by someone with a pizza. Thursday nights seemed to be especially busy, so when Rob saw a couple vacate one of the full-sized tables, he staked his claim by means of an adorable eight-year-old girl with a ferocious death glare and a stuffed unicorn. Of course, he was only a few steps away and could see her at all times—he wasn’t a complete imbecile—but nevertheless, Rob breathed a bit easier when Tally and Chloe arrived a few minutes after he got in line.
Chloe plopped down next to Lily, and the two immediately began jabbering. Tally stood and watched the two girls for a few moments, but when Rob caught her eye, she slid in line next to him and gave him a smile and a shy “Hi, Robbie Mac.”
“Hey, Tallulah.” Rob tried to act casual, greeting her with just two words and a lift of his chin, but truth be told, he was nervous. Very nervous. Probably more nervous about this than about their “just dinner” plans for the next night. No matter what they called it, they had a date, and plans, and seeing as how their plans had already been derailed a couple of times, Rob felt pretty confident he would be able to roll with whatever fate threw at him. But this? This impromptu “Hey, what are you doing for dinner?” thing, complete with kids, in public, on a crowded night? Who the hell knew what would happen, and Rob wasn’t at all sure that he could wing it. Then he noticed the stripes of paint on Tally’s ankles and the flecks in her hair and realized that she was probably as ill-prepared for spontaneity as he was, and that made him feel a whole hell of a lot better. “You look nice.”
Tally blinked at him, seemingly stunned, and then snort-laughed, which caused her to dissolve into a full-blown case of the giggles. She smoothed down her hair with her hand and then tugged at the hem of her T-shirt.
“Thanks. You look nice, too.” She cleared her throat. “Um, have you been here long?”
And with that question, the two downshifted into small talk while they waited for their names to be called over the loudspeaker. They ended up talking about the nice weather, and Rob found himself wanting to touch her. Not groping, but wanting to tuck the little piece of hair that escaped her ponytail or to rub away the bit of white paint that was smeared on the soft curve of her ear.
“T
. Douglas!” a disembodied voice boomed.
“Oh, that’s me. I’ll be right back.”
Tally ducked expertly through the crowd to retrieve the pizza, which she managed to get back to the table without incident. Rob wasn’t so lucky this time. As soon as he stepped away from the counter, a random guy jostled him, causing Rob to tilt the box up. He got back to the table and set the box down with a thud.
“Warning, Lilybelle. I don’t think this is going to be pretty.”
The little girl nodded sagely, and then the whole table turned their attention to the closed box. Rob flipped open the top and sighed.
“It could be worse,” Chloe offered. “I mean, there could be only sauce left on the entire pizza. You at least have a bunch of toppings on one half.”
“You’re an optimist, aren’t you?” He chuckled when she shrugged and her mother mouthed, Yes, at him in an exaggerated manner.
Rob separated a slice from the pizza and proceeded to transfer the toppings back to the nearly bare portion and handed it to Lily before working on his own.
“So, what were you painting today?” he asked.
Tally stopped in mid-chew. “How did you know I was painting?”
“Mom, you’re covered in paint. It’s in your hair and on your legs. You got more paint on you than you did on that chair.” Chloe shook her head. “She claims it’s because she’s left-handed.”
“It is! Those rollers and paint pans aren’t made for lefties. It’s like handheld pencil sharpers. Totally useless to a left-handed person.”
“I’m a lefty, too!” Lily piped up.
“You are? That’s awesome!” Tally held up her left hand, and Lily gave her a high five and a big grin before returning her attention to the slice of pizza.
“Robert McFerrin?”
Rob inwardly groaned because the woman who just called his name was none other than Una Sampson, Mary-Leland’s mother and the self-proclaimed grande dame of the County Women’s Club. She was also a one-woman rumor mill and social-climber extraordinaire. Rob had no doubt that this woman was using her daughter as some sort of hapless wedding surrogate. Bless her heart. But it wouldn’t do any good, and in fact could actually be very harmful, to be rude to the woman, so he plastered a smile on his face and greeted her.