Love in a Victorian

by Lisa Norato

  “I’m glad you came.”

  Jamie watched them standing there, smiling into one another’s eyes, and felt forgotten. After the fun, eventful afternoon she’d shared with Rick, it was not a pleasant feeling.

  Until Vera’s arrival, this had been a good day. Jamie had begun to see Rick in a new light, not the stuffy lawyer she had first met but a desirable man.

  What had she been thinking? She’d never be his type. She didn’t want to be. She was happy with who she was. Happy without dressing to impress or killing her feet in high-heel boots. She was average, her father’s daughter, most comfortable away from the spotlight, in flannel and her lucky ball cap, covered in sawdust and working with her hands.

  Then why did she suddenly feel as if the air were slowly being squeezed from her lungs?

  Why was she comparing herself to Vera? Petty envy was so beneath her. Vera had nothing she wanted. Or did she? Rick? No way. This was her mother’s doing. Her mother had gotten into her head.

  Or maybe this time it wasn’t her mother’s fault at all. What an awful thought.

  Chapter Ten

  Rick watched Jamie’s departure with Dorie from his open doorway. The women paused at the end of his driveway to exchange a final goodbye before Dorie continued home and Jamie headed for her father’s truck.

  Without a backward glance.

  Hmm.

  Had he offended her? To him, it seemed she’d left in a hurry, as if she couldn’t get away fast enough. Suddenly it had become urgent Jamie get home and return her father’s truck. Rick didn’t buy it. Something was off with her.

  He hoped Jamie hadn’t left on Vera’s account. Finding Vera on his doorstep with a housewarming gift had come as a pleasant surprise. Maybe it was just ego, but seeing her today after her obvious disapproval of his move brought him a certain satisfaction.

  Why, suddenly, had he introduced her as his girlfriend? Had he gotten overly excited by her visit? After knowing Vera for about six months, he wasn’t anywhere near ready to make a commitment. Jamie, on the other hand… .

  He never would have thought of Jamie as his type, but he could really see himself with her. He liked her. Genuinely liked her. There were loads of reasons to date someone — business interests, shared goals, family connections, physical attraction — but when was the last time he had dated someone for no other reason than liking her? Liking her for herself. Liking the way she made him feel whenever he was around her.

  Not that he wasn’t physically attracted to Jamie. He was. She was beautiful in a less obvious way. You had to get to know her to truly appreciate the depths of her allure. And then there was her delicate face and soulful brown eyes. Yeah, he was attracted.

  She was a woman who’d made a career of tackling big physical jobs, and Rick liked that about her, too. She surprised him every day. A Jamie Kearly didn’t come across his path often. In fact, he’d never met anyone quite like her.

  Whenever he was with her, the world seemed to slow down around him, and Rick found himself enjoying the simple, everyday stuff he usually took for granted in his fast-paced life. Things like a comfortable home, the rewards of caring for a pet, kind people, everyday conversation, savoring a meal. Or a childhood treat. He’d bought Jamie a salted caramel apple at the farmers’ market, while he’d gone for the old-fashioned, red hard candy apple. Holding their apples, they’d challenged each other. No messing around with polite nibbles. Just open wide and go in for a big, sloppy bite straight through to the crisp apple beneath. Once they’d managed to smack enough sticky candy off their teeth to allow for speech, they’d argued over the deliciousness of hard shell over caramel. This, in turn, called for an exchange of bites from each other’s apple, which still didn’t settle the matter, but for Rick it had been enjoyable watching Jamie lick apple juice off her full Italian lips.

  She’d gotten right in there, lifting muddy pots of mums and ornamental kale, not afraid to get her hands dirty, dragging aside heavy hay bales in her search for the perfect pumpkin or ear of Indian corn. He had even let her talk him into posing for an image of his face to be carved on a pumpkin. He’d done it to please her … and to show her he could be a good sport.

  “Looks just like you,” she had commented, amazed at the results.

  “So now what am I supposed to do with it?”

  “Light it on Halloween. I guarantee it’ll scare the kids right off your porch,” she’d quipped before laughing at her own joke.

  “Okay, just for that, I insist you pose for your own jack-o-lantern.”

  Rick smiled at the memory. Both carved pumpkins were on his porch right now, sitting side by side on a bale of hay.

  The black truck peeled out of his drive and sped off, spewing crushed stone from beneath its heavy tires.

  He was an idiot.

  If he had to be honest, announcing Vera as his girlfriend had more to do with Jamie than it did Vera. He’d been hoping for a reaction from Jamie. A spark of jealously would have been nice. Something. Anything to let him know this attraction he was experiencing wasn’t one-sided. He thought perhaps they’d both felt it, an attraction that might turn into something special, but obviously Jamie didn’t feel anything more for him outside of a friendly, professional relationship. How many clients had he schmoozed to “make happy” in his career? When Dorie asked if they were newlyweds, Jamie had looked embarrassed. So he’d spoken up. He hadn’t wanted her to feel uncomfortable.

  He was nothing more to her than someone she worked for. The man who’d stolen her house.

  “Rick? Ooh, Rick? Hello! Are you going to stand there all afternoon?” Vera called from behind.

  Rick shook off his thoughts and closed the front door. “Sorry, Vera. I didn’t mean to be rude. I appreciate you stopping by.” It had only taken her how many months to get here? Well, she was here now. “C’mon, let me show you around. At first, I wasn’t sure how I’d feel living in my gran’s house again, but it’s been good. Lots of memories here. Good ones. It’s home.”

  She didn’t seem to be listening. Staring at him with a look of triumph in her hazel eyes, she moved toward him with confidence and her lips curled in a devilish smile. “You’ve never called me your girlfriend before,” she remarked, and Rick could see her reveling in the sense of power he’d given her over him with those words. She closed in, and just as she reached up to slip her arms around his neck, a low, rumbling purr halted her.

  She backed off. “Did you hear that?”

  A few steps behind her sat Boo Boo, olive green eyes glowing, watching all.

  Rick nodded. “Behind you. I have a cat.” He smiled like a prideful pet parent, because, for some reason, he felt as though his feline friend had just saved him.

  “You got a cat and never told me?” Vera shot him a look of betrayal before turning to look in the direction of his gaze.

  Boo Boo gave a switch of her tail. Vera’s expression brightened instantly.

  “Turned out I inherited her with the house,” he explained. “Her name is Boo Boo. Just so you know, I had no hand in choosing her name. She came with it.”

  “Boo Boo. Oh, look at you. Hi there, pretty kitty.” Vera slowly approached with one hand extended.

  “Yeah, Vera, cats don’t really like—” Too late. Vera reached to give Boo Boo’s head a pat and the little gray jumped to tiptoe, arching her back and presenting Vera with a flash of fang.

  “Oh!” Vera snatched back her hand and whirled around. “Not very friendly, is she? Why is she looking at me like that? Is she going to attack? Rick, could you please shut her in a room somewhere. We need to talk.”

  Rick scowled and rather than argue scooped up his cat and shut her in the billiards room he’d been about to show Vera.

  When he glanced up, Vera looked upset, shaken.

  “Vera, what’s wrong?” he asked.

  “You never shared the fact you had a cat with me. For a moment I thought maybe I was making a mistake by coming today, but this only proves my point. It’s just an
other reason why… .” She shook her head as though she couldn’t go on.

  Why what? Rick got the feeling they were headed for an argument. “I have coffee in the kitchen,” he said.

  Turning on her heels, Vera proceeded down the hall, and as Rick moved to follow, he spied a little gray paw swiping out from the narrow space beneath the door.

  Quietly, he cracked it open, hoping Boo Boo would retire to her window seat in the front parlor and out of Vera’s sight. When he joined Vera in the kitchen, he found her at the dinette holding one of the photographs from those he’d been sharing with Jamie and Dorie.

  She glanced up from the photo with a glare.

  What now? Rick stepped to her side and saw that she’d been looking at a photo of himself as a boy in his gran’s sitting room with its flowery navy and pink wallpaper.

  “Why haven’t I ever seen these photos?” she asked, quickly adding, “You can’t even let me in enough to share childhood photos with me.” She gave him a pointed stare. “Why did you buy this house, Rick?”

  He was confused and losing patience. “You know why. I’ve explained numerous times. Don’t make me repeat myself.”

  She dropped the photo back onto the pile. “Do you know what I think? I think you bought this house as way of distancing yourself from a serious relationship with me.”

  “That’s ridiculous.”

  “No, I don’t think it’s ridiculous at all, Rick. You’ve changed. And not for the better. You’ve always enjoyed the best life has to offer, and when we started dating, you introduced me to your urban lifestyle and drew me into your social circle. I was the perfect fit, and you liked that about me. We complemented each other. We made an impressive couple, a huge success whenever we entertained. Even in the quiet moments, with just the two of us, we’d relax and enjoy that wonderful view of Providence’s historic skyline and the First Baptist Church steeple. Saturday nights, we would eat on your terrace and watch the Waterfire crowds, the fire braziers, and the gondolas on the river. Your condo was a showplace—high ceilings, crystal chandelier, bookcases lining the walls, marble floors, and black granite accents.”

  She sighed. “I began to picture myself making a home there. With you. Then one day, without warning, you told me you were selling it all to buy this … an old granny house in the middle of suburbia.”

  Old granny house. Rick didn’t see the point in having this conversation again. Reclaiming his grandmother’s home had been his decision, and he hadn’t thought he needed the approval of someone he’d been dating a few months to make the purchase. Most women might have interpreted his move to the suburbs as a yearning to settle down. He would have pointed this out, but Vera seemed to have worked herself into a state where she wasn’t going to let him utter a word until she was finished speaking her mind.

  “I think you realized our relationship was going well and could possibly lead to something serious, so you removed yourself to a place where you knew I wouldn’t be happy.”

  Rick wasn’t sure how to respond. At the moment, he didn’t have a good defense. They’d met at a black tie event early in the summer. He’d done nothing but watch Vera for half the evening — this tall, beautiful woman he recognized as a local celebrity. He’d asked around whether she was single and available before finally working up the nerve to approach her. They’d danced, talked, laughed, and Rick went home that evening with her number. He invited her to Sunday brunch the following weekend at the Coast Guard House on the shores of Narragansett Beach. She asked if he’d be her date to a friend’s upcoming wedding. Perhaps there was some truth to her words. Their relationship had worked at the beginning, and it was true he didn’t feel ready for commitment, but his purchase of the Victorian had been impulsive and had nothing to do with Vera.

  “Then I’m sorry if I’ve disappointed you,” he said, meaning it.

  She shoved her hands into the pockets of her tweed blazer. “Midlife crises are supposed to be about sowing wild oats, but with you it’s just the opposite. You’ve withdrawn from an exciting lifestyle in the heart of the city to live like an old woman in an ancient Victorian with a picket fence and a cat. And, in case you haven’t noticed, you’re even growing a pot belly, stuffing yourself on that Italian food.”

  Rick patted his relatively firm abs, frowning in offense. He might have put on a pound or two, but he didn’t think it was noticeable.

  “I guess you won’t be joining me for a sugar-coated muffin then?” he said.

  She shook her head in frustration, turning to pace and saying something about having accepted a job offer in New York City with a major television network on a morning news show. “I need to move on with my life. This relationship isn’t working any more. It’s clear to me a future together isn’t going to happen for us. We obviously want different things out of life. Though I don’t know what it is you really want, and I don’t suspect you do either.”

  He knew Vera had needed to go out of town for a few days, but she never mentioned anything about applying for another job.

  “Wait,” he said, gathering his thoughts. “You’re moving to New York? So you’re breaking up with me?”

  “Don’t look so surprised. We haven’t been together all that long and it’s not like we’ve been exclusive.”

  “That’s a surprise to me. It was my understanding we were exclusive.”

  Actually, he couldn’t have been more surprised, but he felt a tremendous sense of relief. “I haven’t dated anyone else since we started seeing each other, but I understand. I always knew you had aspirations beyond being a traffic reporter. So, congratulations on the job offer, Vera. It sounds like a fantastic opportunity for you, and I wish you well. But don’t pick a fight with me because you feel guilty about leaving. It’s okay. Let’s part as friends.”

  He watched the tension drain from her shoulders and her expression relax. “I’d like that.” She stared thoughtfully at him for a moment, then smiled. “You know, I don’t leave for another couple of months, and one of the newscasters has invited me to a harvest party at his Barrington estate on the thirty-first. Everyone from the station will be there, some politicians and other local personalities. It will probably be my last chance to socialize in Rhode Island before the move. It might be nice for the two of us to attend together.”

  “Are you sure you want to be seen with a fat old goat like me?”

  She lifted her head and laughed. “Oh, come on, Rick, don’t sulk. You make an impressive escort, and you just said we should part as friends. So, how about it? One last night on the town?”

  She figured she’d use him as an escort one final time, but Rick wasn’t about to let that happen. “Sorry, Vera. I have other plans. I’m staying put and handing out candy on Halloween. Do you know, in my entire adult life, I’ve never passed out candy to kids on Halloween? I’ve always lived in a dorm, apartment, hotels, and then there was the condo.”

  She gave him a long-suffering glare. “I don’t know who you are anymore.”

  He followed her from the kitchen, her heels pounding the hardwoods. Out in the foyer, right where he’d left it, stood the beautiful spider plant. Or what remained of it. Boo Boo sat in the tiled pot surrounded by shreds of spiky leaves. A telltale piece of greenery hung from her mouth.

  Vera sighed in disgust as she hurried out the door and down the porch steps — the second woman in the space of an hour to leave him standing bewildered in his open threshold.

  *

  Rick awoke the morning of career day for Elm’s Elementary’s first graders with Boo Boo asleep on his head. He closed his eyes again, feeling her soft, warm body against his cheek, and the sensation brought him back to his childhood. He was a boy again, stealing a few extra winks before he had to get ready for school. Gran’s cat, Selena, would often creep into his room in the middle of the night to curl up on his pillow. Any moment now, he could expect to hear Gran in the kitchen below preparing breakfast.

  The smell of frying bacon would drift up the stairs, and Sel
ena would dash off, chasing the scent and sometimes scratching his face in her haste. His stomach would growl, and that’s when Rick would know it was time to get out of bed.

  For him, autumn had felt more like a time of beginnings than the first of the year. Fall heralded the start of a new school year, a reunion with classmates, after-school sports, harvest festivals, and the approaching holidays. It was, and always had been, his favorite season. The crisp fall breezes, drying leaves, and overcast skies lent an expectant feel to the damp, earthy air and a subconscious reminder that at the end of the day he’d be returning to the warmth and security of his gran’s home.

  He was a grown man now and all too aware there’d be no one to make him breakfast this morning.

  Or anytime in the foreseeable future for that matter.

  He might have tried harder to make it work with Vera. They seemed to have had a good thing going at the beginning. Why hadn’t he ever confided in her about his childhood or shown her his old photos? She’d been justified in her anger and disappointment. He hadn’t let her in, hadn’t revealed the man past the professional world traveler. The well-connected figure in Providence society. He supposed he’d done it to impress her. She had enjoyed being impressed, and they’d shared some good times. Then, out of the blue, he’d bought this Victorian without a word of warning or an explanation. He’d never considered what a shock it would be to Vera. He’d been so wrapped up in his own longings he hadn’t even considered the pending buyer he’d stolen the sale from — Jamie.

  He’d let down two women with his impulsiveness and what had he gotten for it?

  An empty house and no one to make him breakfast.

  At least he wasn’t sleeping alone. Boo Boo gave a gentle snore and her paw dropped limply across his left eye.

  Still, he didn’t regret Vera ending their relationship. And as for Jamie … well, he had no regrets there either, because if he hadn’t bought the Victorian out from under her, he never would have met her.