“What do you mean, it’s obvious?” She made her best are-you-crazy? face.
“Look at you. You’re exhausted. You’re a wreck. I know you well enough to see the signs.”
Okay, there was intuitive and then there was freaking mind reading. This was whacked.
Had she let something slip? She’d been careful to confine all of her pregnancy research to her home computer. Even then, she’d searched incognito. She’d written the obstetrician’s name, number and the date of her appointment on a piece of paper and had tucked it inside her wallet. She’d written only the time on her calendar, without explanation, so as not to double-book. However, she knew she hadn’t been herself. Maybe she’d let something perfectly obvious slip.
Lucy decided to test the water. “You can’t tell anyone, Jules.”
A look of compassion spread over Juliette’s pretty face. “Of course not, but, Lucy, this is a huge commitment. You need to know there’s no shame in asking for help. No one is going to judge you.”
Lucy didn’t know whether to run or stand there and let Juliette see her burst into tears. Her eyes were already beginning to sting. She wasn’t sure if it was from relief that she would finally be able to talk to someone about it, or because she wasn’t sure how she was going to tell Zane that Juliette had guessed their situation.
“I mean, if they do judge, let them. Who needs them?” Juliette said. “I don’t see anyone else raising their hands to help you with Picnic in the Park. They want to make suggestions and leave all the work to you.”
Wait. What? She’s talking about Picnic in the Park?
It was the annual Fourth of July event in Celebration’s Central Park. It was a big, labor-intensive deal.
“When you volunteered to chair, I was afraid it was going to be too much for you to handle on top of everything else. Not that you’re not perfectly capable. I just know how all-consuming a new business can be, and even though getting involved can be good exposure for your business, chairing the event is another level altogether. Not to be smug, but when you raised your hand, I saw this coming.”
Lucy saw stars. She had nearly spilled the beans to Juliette when Juliette had been talking about something totally different. She stood there unable to speak, unable to breathe, because of the close call.
But it didn’t matter, because Juliette continued, “That’s why, if you’ll have me, I would love to be your cochair. I was going to talk to you about it later, but since you brought it up, there’s no time like the present, right? So what do you think? Want some help? May I be your cochair?”
Cochair?
Cochair. Holy...
That was when Lucy realized she was shaking. Her head was spinning and before she could stop herself, she enfolded Juliette into a hug that was laced with equal parts gratitude and numb relief. Relief for obvious reasons; gratitude because she was right that she had bitten off a little more than she could chew. Throwing a pregnancy into the Picnic in the Park/fledgling-business mix was going to add a whole new level to the challenge. But the event would be over in a few weeks and she’d cross that bridge when she came to it. For now, she would focus on how fortunate she was to have such a selfless friend in Jules. Her brother Jude had been an idiot to let her get away. But that was between Jude and Juliette.
When she and Zane did decide to share the news of the baby, Juliette would be one of the first people she told.
As Juliette pulled free from the embrace, Lucy realized she had been holding on a little tighter than she should have.
Juliette frowned. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Lucy needed to get herself together—and fast.
“Yes. I’m fine. I’m great. I’m so happy that you offered to help me. It will make things so much better and it’ll be so much more fun to work together.”
“Luce, one of the first and most important rules of being in business for yourself is to know when to ask for help. You don’t have to go this alone. Okay?”
The lump returned to Lucy’s throat. She nodded, afraid that if she opened her mouth she might give herself away. She was already acting way too emotional for Picnic in the Park turmoil.
“Good, then,” Juliette said. “I am going to get quotes on how much this gossamer-tulle endeavor is going to set back our client. I’ll call John Rogers and see what he’ll charge us to rent scaffolding. By the way, what are the dimensions of the barn?”
“About forty-eight by sixty feet,” Lucy said, happy to ground herself in business talk.
Juliette pulled a notepad from her purse and scribbled down the information. “I’ll call Maude’s Fabrics and see if she can give us a deal on the tulle. I’m thinking wholesale. I’ll let you know what I find out.”
Lucy walked with her toward the doors.
“Let me know what I can do to help lighten your load with Picnic in the Park,” Juliette said.
“Since you’re offering, do you want to be in charge of herding Judy Roberts or Mary Irvine?” The women were longtime committee members who loved to make suggestions but never wanted to do the work.
Juliette’s nose wrinkled. “Yikes, that’s like choosing between bamboo shoots under the nails or eating an entire casserole of Mrs. Radley’s tuna-noodle surprise. Let me ruminate on it and I’ll get back to you. Maybe if I take long enough, you’ll forget you asked me.”
“Don’t count on it.”
After Juliette left, Lucy stood in the middle of the barn watching dust motes dance in a ray of sun streaming in from the skylight overhead. She put her hand on her flat stomach. This baby was going to change everything, but she was already attached to the tiny being growing inside her. They were going to be okay. No matter what Zane had to say, no matter where Zane ended up working and living, she and her baby would be fine.
* * *
During the two days that Zane was in Ocala, Lucy learned that she was much better off if she stayed busy. It gave her less time to dwell and obsess over the photos Zane had been texting her. She’d nearly driven herself crazy trying to decipher whether Hidden Rock was a good fit for him by looking at the photos and the level of his enthusiasm in his brief messages. It was like trying to read tea leaves. Since her to-do list was a mile-and-a-half long, she actually did need to stay busy so that she didn’t fall behind.
The following night, she was in her office, a small nook toward the back of the barn, which she’d had built as part of the first phase of renovation, when her cell phone rang, startling her out of her zone. She glanced at the crystal clock on her desk. It was nearly eleven o’clock. She’d lost track of time. But who in the world would be calling at this hour on a weeknight?
She muted Harry Connick Jr. singing “It Had to Be You,” which was streaming from her computer—her favorite music was old standards, and ’60s and ’80s retro tunes; tonight she was in a Harry mood—and fished her phone out of her purse.
A photo of Zane mugging for the camera, the default picture for his phone number, showed on the screen.
“Hey,” she said. “What’s going on?”
“Hey, yourself. I’m home from Ocala. Where are you?”
She leaned back in her chair and savored the butterflies incited by the sound of his voice. He must’ve just gotten in. And he was calling her.
She hadn’t expected to hear from him tonight...tomorrow, maybe.
“I am in my office working. I didn’t realize it was so late.”
There was a pause on the other end of the line. “I didn’t even think about the time. I’m glad I didn’t wake you up. I’m actually outside the barn, can I come in and talk to you?”
Lucy sat up in her chair and looked around as if she might be able to see him, which was silly because the lone window in her office was covered by shutters. No one could see in or out.
“You’re outside the barn?” she
asked, smoothing her hair into place and licking her dry lips, then biting them to create some color.
“Well, I’m sort of in between your house and the barn. I’m in my truck. I knocked on the front door of your house and then I tried the barn door, but it’s locked. I know it’s late, but I really need to see you.”
He needed to see her? Needed to?
An entire troop of butterflies swarmed in her stomach in formation.
Common sense warned her not to get carried away. It was doubtful that Zane had come to profess his love. But the hopeful side of her, the romantic in her who had been in love with Zane since she was old enough to know what love was, wanted to believe he had finally realized the love he needed—the love of his life—had been in front of him all these years.
Her old daydream suddenly played out in her head: Zane taking her hands, getting down on one knee and saying, “It’s you, Lucy. It’s always been you.”
“Okay” was all she could muster and the word sounded more like a squeak than an invitation.
Okay? Ugh. Way to woo him with your quick wit and charm. No wonder it’s never been you, Lucy.
She squeezed her eyes shut. The phone was still pressed to her ear.
“Meet me at the door,” she said. “I’ll be there in a sec.”
She ended the call and gave herself a good mental shake before she got up and started toward the front door. This was Zane. Zane. The same guy who had always been so easy to talk to...before she’d slept with him. Now he seemed out of reach. Even though everything had changed, at heart they were both still the same people. Weren’t they? Because of that, there was no need to get all goofy and moony and shy around him now.
After all, he’d seen her naked. She’d seen him, too, and gawd, he was beautiful.
The memory generated a slow heat that started at her breastbone and worked its way upward. She wished she could blame it on her pregnancy hormones, but she was experiencing a one-hundred-percent Zane-induced moment.
When she opened the door, he was standing an arm’s length away from the threshold, a safe distance, in the outer reaches of the carriage lights’ amber glow. The scent of jasmine from the bushes that grew in reckless abundance on the ranch loomed heavy in the humid air. Off in the inky distance a nocturnal creature hooted mournfully. She understood the feeling.
“Come in,” she said.
He stayed rooted to the spot, looking stiff, with his hands folded one on top of the other in front of him.
Lucy shooed away a mosquito that buzzed between them. She was just opening her mouth to say “Come inside so the bugs don’t get in,” but Zane spoke first.
“I’ve decided we should get married.”
* * *
Zane realized he could have proposed in a different way. Maybe he could’ve tried to make it more romantic, but this wasn’t about romance and it wasn’t really a proposal, in the traditional sense of the word. It was a partnership.
Didn’t most marriages end up as partnerships anyway? The good ones did—the marriages that lasted involved two people who may have thought they were in love at one time, but they managed to hang on after the fireworks died and enter into something more permanent and lasting.
He’d never had that with anyone he’d dated. That was why he’d never considered getting married, but now that there was a child on the way, everything was different.
While he was in Ocala, he’d had a lot of time to think. He realized that he and Lucy were just skipping the doomed romance and diving straight into real life.
Too bad she didn’t see it that way. She stood there in the doorway blinking at him, as if he had just suggested they put soap bubbles in Celebration’s Central Park fountain. Or go swimming in the water tower on the outskirts of town. Both of which they had done when they were teenagers.
As they stood there in silence staring at each other, it dawned on him that his asking her to get married really was just as outlandish as soap bubbles in the fountain and water-tower swimming. Only, their situation deemed it necessary.
While he was away, he’d come to the conclusion that if pregnancy had to happen, he was glad it happened with Lucy. He liked her. He enjoyed spending time with her. Didn’t it say something that not even sex could screw up their friendship? This could work.
Really, settling down wasn’t such a bad thing. While he was away, he kept having a crazy thought that his past dating life had been like a big game of musical chairs: when the music stopped, you grabbed a chair. But it was almost a given that sometime in the course of things the song would end and you’d be without a chair. The pregnancy had left him without a chair. Or maybe another way to look at it was that he had been the one to claim the last chair.
Lucy was his prize. He cared about her more than anyone he’d dated. That was probably because they’d never dated.
“Just hear me out, Lucy. Please, can we talk about this?”
She stepped back, clearing his path, but still looked as if she smelled something bad.
“I know this isn’t what either one of us wants, but it’s logical,” Zane said.
He heard her shut the door behind them. It echoed in the cavernous belly of the empty barn, which was empty of chairs and props because it wasn’t set up for an event. He walked straight through to her office.
When she joined him in the office, he repeated the question. “Don’t you think that’s the logical thing to do?”
“I’m not going to marry you, Zane.”
“What? Why not?”
He lowered himself onto one of the chairs across from her desk. She walked behind the desk and sat down.
“How was Ocala?” she asked.
“It was great. Pretty darn near perfect. Exactly what I’ve been looking for. But don’t change the subject. You didn’t answer my question. Why won’t you marry me?”
She winced. She actually winced at the thought of marrying him. Ouch.
He knew he was no prize, but he was trying to do the right thing. He wasn’t going to flake out on his child like his own father had. His dad had ignored his sons—at least the ones he’d had with Dorothy—and he’d treated her like crap. He never took responsibility, always blamed someone else, and had so many excuses for his shortcomings that Zane couldn’t even keep track. Then the bastard had had the nerve to show up at his ex-wife’s funeral.
Zane was going to be different. Different started by marrying the mother of his child and sticking around for the kid.
“Did they offer you the job?” Lucy asked.
“Not yet.”
Lucy raised an eyebrow at him.
“I mean, it seemed to go well and I’m hopeful that they’ll make me an offer. We talked money, I spent time with the staff, they showed me the cottage that comes with the job as a benefit.”
She was still looking at him in that way that was so un-Lucy-like. The Lucy he knew and cared about would’ve cracked a joke by now. This Lucy was way too serious. But then again, he had just suggested they get married. It was a sobering thought. Obviously, she found the idea pretty unpalatable.
“So you’re going to take the job if they offer it to you?” Lucy asked.
“Well, yeah. Especially now with circumstances being as they are.” He put a hand on his stomach. “The money is good. A baby is expensive.”
She nodded. “I’ve heard. Do you want something to drink? I have water and there’s some soda in the refrigerator left over from an event we had last week.”
He really could use a beer right about now, but she wasn’t drinking alcohol and it just didn’t seem right to drink in front of her. “No, thanks, I’m good.”
Lucy stood up. “Well, I need some water.”
She grabbed a glass off her desk and left the office. Zane followed her into the barn’s kitchen. It was a functional spac
e, a working kitchen with ovens and an industrial-size stainless-steel refrigerator that could accommodate food for wedding receptions and other catered events. He’d lent a hand with the construction to help save Lucy money. He got a boost of pride every time he entered the room.
He planned on helping her with phase two of the renovations—the second-story loft area she planned to build in the near future. Well, if he got the job in Ocala, he would help as much as he could whenever he was in Celebration. But they would cross that bridge when they came to it.
The humming of the fluorescent lights and the splash of Lucy pouring water into a glass from a pitcher she’d taken from the refrigerator were the only sounds in the room.
“I didn’t expect you to do cartwheels at the suggestion of getting married, but I had hoped you’d be a little more enthusiastic.”
She glared at him and he felt like an idiot. Of course—
“You probably need time to digest this,” he said. “I’ve had a couple of days to think about this—about what we should do. I’m sure you’ve been thinking about it, too. But don’t you think we owe it to our child to be a traditional family? That’s the conclusion I keep coming back to.”
“I think we owe it to our child to be the best parents we can be,” she said.
“Exactly.” He smiled at her. Now they were getting somewhere. “How do you feel about having the ceremony right here?”
She set down the glass on the counter with a thud. “You’re either not hearing me or you’re completely misunderstanding me. So let me make myself perfectly clear. I am not marrying you, Zane.”
He really didn’t think this would be so hard. When she stormed out of the kitchen, her rejection made him feel...empty. This wasn’t a game, obviously. It didn’t have anything to do with the thrill of the chase, but he had ended things with more women than he could count after they’d started pressing him for commitment. Now that he was willing to take the ultimate leap, Lucy couldn’t get away from him fast enough. If he didn’t know better, he’d think she hated him.
A Bride, a Barn, and a Baby Page 5