by Barbara Lohr
“I’ve probably gained three pounds today.” Scooping up a spoonful of whipped cream, she studied it and smiled. “Not that I care.”
“Calories don’t count on weekends or vacations,” Harper reminded her between hearty sips of her malt.
Chocolate soda rich in her mouth, Selena nodded. “I’m with you on that. So what’s Cameron’s family like? I’m looking forward to meeting his mother and his sister.”
Harper took a second to think about that. Sometimes she reminded Selena so much of Seth. “They’re not what you expect. Think I’ll leave it at that. Cameron comes from a small town a couple hours outside Savannah. He really gets along with his sister Lily but the mother? Not so much. His dad died last year and I went to the funeral with him to watch Bella. The two of them had never gotten along. Very weird vibes.”
“At least Bella has grandparents.”
“Right, and Tammy’s parents are still in town. Cameron makes sure that Bella sees them, although it wasn’t always that way. Of course, adults love Bella. She charmed Big Mike and Reenie when we came home for Christmas.”
Christmas seemed so long ago. The holiday had felt warm and cozy with Seth. The chocolate soda chilled Selena’s mouth, suddenly hard to swallow so she stopped. She let the ice cream melt in her mouth. When they drove up to Kalamazoo, Michigan, to visit her parents over the holidays, her mother had gotten her alone for a minute and asked her about the future. Selena didn’t have an answer. Her mom had married very young, often a necessity in Juarez, so it was hard to explain where she was with Seth. Feeling strangely protective, she didn’t want her family to think less of him because they had no plans.
In his later years, her father had taken a job in a nursery, while her mother worked in the reception area of a hospital. They saved up and bought a home in Kalamazoo. Rarely talking about the past, the entire family focused on the future. Clearly her mother saw Selena's future with Seth.
Her soda glass was empty and she blotted her lips.
“Time to head back?” Harper glanced at her phone and smiled. “Just a note from Cameron.”
Yes, Selena wanted to be that girl, telling Seth all about this shopping trip. Despite all the fun she’d had with Harper, she was uncomfortable about the evening. For the last two years, she’d spent Valentine's Day with Seth. Those memories weighed on her heart.
Grabbing her bags, she followed Harper out of Leopold’s. She would not check her phone today. That was about as hard as trying not to scratch her chicken pox years ago. The walk down Broughton felt long, but Selena's heavy bags made her happy. Finally they reached the parking garage near City Market.
When they got home, Bella was waiting for them in the kitchen. “You should’ve taken me,” she said, lips puckering.
“This was big girls’ day, okay?” Harper ruffled Bella’s hair and the rueful smile dissolved.
“Hey, you’re home.” Looking comfortable and casual in jeans and a gray T-shirt, Cameron came into the kitchen and kissed Harper’s forehead.
Selena headed for the staircase. “Think I’ll go put my new clothes away.”
“Can I come, Selena? Pretty please?” Leaving Harper’s side, Bella turned toward Selena, hands clasped and pleading. The little girl could be a real drama queen.
Peering out the back door, Cameron held up a hand. “Wait a minute. Bella, I think your grandmother’s here, along with Aunt Lily.”
In the confusion that followed, Selena made her escape. With plenty of time to meet Cameron’s family later, she took the stairs to the third floor two at a time. When she reached the bedroom, she threw herself onto the high queen-size bed and checked her phone. Sure enough, there were two more texts from Seth.
As if they were still together.
Stopped in at my folks today. They both asked about you. Said to say hi.
So he hadn’t told them? And of course McKenna would never tell other people’s news. She was as far from being a gossip as anyone could get.
Early in the afternoon another text had come.
Wanted to wish you a happy Valentine’s Day in person. Bad. So bad.
He was bad. Bad to the bone and every pore in her body wanted him. She longed to feel Seth’s lips, his warm breath, his strong arms. Head aching and heart sore, she drew a bath in the claw foot tub. After tossing in some lavender epsom salt from the linen closet, she turned on an old radio and sank into the steamy water. Smelled good and felt wonderful. Twenty minutes later, her body was totally relaxed but her heart ached.
She missed him.
What was she going to do about it?
Chapter 7
A knock came on the door.
“Selena? Everything all right in there?” Harper sounded concerned.
“Absolutely. Just unwinding.” She couldn’t remember the last time she’d fallen asleep in a tub, if ever.
“Cameron has a reservation so we should hustle.”
“Got it. Down in a second.” Harper’s footstep receded and Selena could hear barking and voices from below. Pulling the drain plug, she grabbed a fluffy white bath towel. Back in her room, she pulled on black leopard skin tights with a leather mini-skirt and a black quilted jacket over a lavender turtle neck. Time to show off her killer boots with the tights and short skirt. A few dashes of makeup and she was ready. Most people wore red on St. Valentine’s Day but she was in a purple mood. The hammered gold hoops would be a great contrast to her shoulder length curls.
She wished Seth could see her.
The steps were kind of steep and she kept one hand on the railing going downstairs. When she drew close to the kitchen, the voices grew louder.
“Selena come and meet Cameron’s mom and sister,” Harper called to her from the TV room, where they gathered.
Harper had been right about Cameron’s family. Selena never would have put these three together. The straight-faced older woman with iron gray hair sat alongside a younger woman who was her clone. No one would ever think these two were related to dapper Cameron. In between them sat Bella in a pretty red dress with black tights. Swinging her legs, she looked very pleased to be with her grandmother and aunt.
Harper motioned to the women. “This is Cameron’s sister Lily and his mother, Wanda Blodgett.”
“So glad to meet you.” When the two women each shook Selena’s hand, their palms felt work-hardened, like Selena’s mother’s hands. Wanda’s eyes were glued to Selena’s mini skirt.
“Selena is a friend from Chicago,” Harper explained.
Not my brother’s girlfriend. Just a friend. Well, she’d get used to it.
Cameron jumped up from the leather chair. “Guess we should hit the road. We have a private room but they won’t hold it for more than fifteen minutes.”
“A private room?” Harper echoed, looking gorgeous in a red mini-dress and black tights. Her heels with the dainty ankle straps must have come from Globe’s.
“Yes, thought it might be nice. Special.” He adjusted his red tie. “There’s a shop along with the restaurant. Maybe you’d like to look around if we have to wait for our table.”
“I don’t really need anything,” Cameron’s mother said, hands folded across her purse.
“We just can look, Mom.” Maybe Lily always acted as a buffer for her mother.
With a group this size, they took two vehicles. Cameron drove his mother and sister, and Bella wanted to ride with them. Selena climbed in with Harper.
“So what do you think of Cameron’s mom?” Harper asked when they were about a block away from the house.
“Not quite what I expected, but no one ever is.”
“Cameron’s family helped me connect the dots. I understood him better.”
Selena turned that over in her mind. “You’re right. You can enjoy being with a man, feel physically attracted to him but long term? The family can seal the deal or be a deal breaker.”
“Maybe you can love someone before recognizing it.” Obviously Harper was still processing her words. “You kn
ow, without realizing that the feeling is love.”
“How did you get so smart?” Selena teased while Harper turned red.
“Do you love my brother? I mean, I’m guessing you do. Just slap me if I’m being too personal.”
“Loved him the first time I saw him. I had no reservations and maybe no common sense.” One beat of silence and they both dissolved into laughter.
“But you know I love your family,” Selena continued. “For me, the Kirkpatricks were the deal maker.”
“And Seth? Does he like your family?”
“I think so. We’re not together all that much.” So far Seth didn't seem to have reservations about her family, even though he didn't know the whole story.
When they followed Cameron’s car into the parking lot of what looked like an old, repurposed school, things promised to get interesting. They both got out and Selena studied the brick building that was definitely from a different time.
“I know this place looks weird but wait ‘til you get inside. It reeks of charm,” Harper told her.
Bella chattered from the minute she got out of the car. Taking his little girl by the hand, Cameron led the way, careful to help his mother up the steps. Seth was the same way with Reenie, although Cameron had a grand style all his own.
“Very cool.” Inside the renovated school, Selena couldn’t stop staring. The stunning gray decor was accented with chairs in orangey brown cordovan. The place smelled of leather, rich and warm. Working in a hospital, Selena was accustomed to a very different antiseptic smell. Cameron stepped over to talk to the receptionist while Harper led his mother and Lily down the corridor that led to the shops.
But Selena was shopped out. Growing up, they lived on a strict budget and it wasn’t until she graduated from nursing school and made her own money that she began to buy things she really didn’t need. It took a while before “impulse buying” became part of her vocabulary.
“Will you look at this old stuff?” Selena heard Wanda Blodgett mumble to her daughter. Used iron pans hung from the wall along with other antique kitchen utensils. Original artwork was displayed on another. Bed linens and woven blankets were folded on low tables. Ropes held monogrammed towels. Shops that had once been classrooms opened up on either side of the long hallway. Cameron’s mother and sister disappeared into one.
Harper gave Bella strict instructions. “Don’t touch anything.”
So hard to do. This was a place set up to be touched with tons of stuff all over—lamps made of driftwood, buckets full of clamshells, napkins in every color, as if paper napkins weren’t enough. The series of shops screamed “budget breaker.” While Cameron’s family ambled down the hall, Harper came back to where Selena was admiring some egg coddlers. She certainly never had time to do anything that fancy. Besides, Seth liked his eggs fried, sunny side up.
Would Selena ever use any of these frivolous things to outfit her home? Somehow she doubted it. She had her basic pan set and mixing bowls. Her favorite utensil was her molcajete, the mortar and pestle used to make guacamole. Good sturdy stuff–that’s what her mother had used.
The shops gave her a whole new appreciation for the kitchen. With things the way they were, maybe Selena should buy her own house. Then she’d have a reason to use all these things. When she first met Seth and learned he was a bachelor with his own house, she thought he was planning for the future. In time, she began to suspect it was a continual project he enjoyed.
Her ears were attuned to the sound of the phone vibrating and she could hear it now, insistent and seductive. She resisted the urge to see who was calling. When Cameron’s seating alert buzzed, he shepherded them back toward the restaurant, where a waitress showed them to a long, narrow private room.
Wanda Blodgett took it in with wonder. “Pretty fancy. Candles, huh?”
“Never seen anything like it,” Wanda’s daughter agreed. The wall was made of rough-hewn logs that jutted out to hold creamy candles glowing in the dimly-lit room. Like the walls, the table was a burled plank with tall chairs covered in cordovan leather.
The menu proved to be as unusual as the environment with root beer-braised short ribs and crispy squared flounder. The low country offerings made Selena’s mouth water. Eyes roving the room, Bella looked awestruck and silent.
“And what is it you do in Chicago?” Lily asked Selena after the waitress had taken their orders.
“I’m in a midwifery practice with Harper’s sister, McKenna. We specialize in water birth.” Her career usually proved to be a conversation starter and tonight was no exception. Questions kept coming and she loved to talk about her work. When the first course arrived, conversation stopped and with good reason.
Selena started with a wonderful low country chowder and then went to the flounder. Bella seemed content with chicken fingers and sweet potato fries. Harper hovered over the youngster as if she were her own. From time to time, Selena caught Cameron giving Harper a glance that could have melted every one of the candles on the wall.
This was probably the most unusual Valentine’s Day Selena could have but that was all right. Sometimes it’s good to be with people you don’t know that well. Cameron’s family wouldn’t ask her how she felt. Wouldn’t feel sorry for her because she wasn’t with Seth tonight.
While the conversation flowed around her, Selena felt pleased with herself. Wearing her new boots and looking pretty kickass, she was doing just fine without Seth. By the time they reached the chocolate mousse dessert with cinnamon hearts sprinkled in the dark swirls decorating the saucer, she almost believed it. The waiter served coffee and she was listening to Wanda and Lily talk about Hazel Hurst, their hometown, when Cameron tapped on his water glass.
As if they were at a wedding reception.
Then it hit her. She just knew. Excitement and horror knotted in her throat.
“I’m glad that families can be with us tonight, both my family—” and then he turned to Selena, who felt faint, “—and Selena, who’s standing in for the Kirkpatricks.”
Now, that was a stretch but she wasn’t about to say anything to spoil this moment.
Harper’s face paled when Cameron took a tiny blue box from his pocket. “I want witnesses tonight. I want everyone, both our families, to know how much I love you, Harper. How much I want you in my life always. Will you marry me?”
With a soft gasp, Harper pressed shaking fingers to her lips. The few freckles sprinkled across her nose darkened as she paled.
Bella’s head swiveled between her father and Harper, who looked close to crying. “Say yes, Harper. Say yes, okay? What’s in the box, Daddy?”
Cameron flipped the box open. The biggest rock Selena had ever seen winked against the velvet inside.
“Oh, Cameron. Yes.” Harper struggled to her feet. Her left hand shook when she extended it so he could slide the lovely solitaire onto her finger. Then he kissed her with such tenderness that Selena wanted to sob. The moment was magical. The way it should be, although proposals rarely are. Family and friends...wasn’t that what marriage was all about? Cameron took Harper in his arms as if she were the most precious thing in the world. Yes, this was just the way it should be.
Selena joined Wanda and Lily in light applause.
Bella settled back, her eyes still on the box. “Can I have that box, Daddy. Can I?”
His handsome features creased into a smile. “You’ll have to ask Harper, darlin'.”
While the waiters brought coffee, Harper dialed her parents. Selena could hear Big Mike roar, “It’s about time.”
The rest of the evening was a blur. The longing in Selena’s heart felt almost painful, she missed Seth so much. That proposal was what she wanted.
Forgetting Seth flew out the window. Getting Seth became her new agenda.
~.~
Seth didn’t like this. He didn’t like it all. Valentine’s Day alone had been bad enough. Seemed like all his high school cronies were married or engaged. Another Sunday dinner at his parents’ house without S
elena felt a hell of a lot worse than the wedding or Valentine’s Day.
“Here, could you hold Sean while I check and see if Amanda’s all right?” Connor handed him a bundle of smelly baby. Just what Seth needed. “She’s been in the bathroom for at least fifteen minutes.”
“Your wife’s pregnant with twins, Connor. She probably has lots of girl stuff to do.” His brother took off. One of Sean’s tiny hands moved, the fingers tickling Seth's face. He froze when the baby smiled up at him, all gums and spit. “Listen little guy, don’t get too comfortable. This is temporary, hear me?”
Although his mom’s meatloaf was one of Seth’s favorites, this Sunday it tasted like sawdust. He had been waiting for a good time to cut out when Connor caught him. Wasn’t it enough that Cameron had popped the question this weekend? The family was celebrating Harper’s engagement. The fact that Selena happened to be there with Harper turned his stomach. That wouldn’t help his case one bit.
With a wet gurgle, Sean worked at cramming both fists into his mouth. Maybe Seth should have stayed home with the cat. From what he could see, cats were easier than kids but maybe just as expensive. He’d spent the whole day buying supplies. Darn kitten followed him wherever he went in the house and hadn’t seemed pleased to see him leave.
Sean started to cry. Seth jiggled him. The kid sounded outraged, fists waving while his face turned pink. Seth swayed. Nope, no difference.
“Up on your shoulder,” Mark told him across the table. Two kids and Mark was an expert. Younger than Seth by one year, he’d married right out college. In high school, Mark hadn’t played sports. Instead he’d lived in the computer lab—a total nerd. Now he created video games, making money hand over fist, as their father liked to say. Dad was proud of Mark.
Seth shifted Sean onto his shoulder. Sometimes he wished he’d gone on to school. Instead, the wail of the ambulance siren had called to him. He loved being an EMT. Loved never knowing what the day would bring. High school had been so boring, except for the sports. How many detentions had he racked up for falling asleep in class?