by Jen Gilroy
He forced the past back where it belonged. “I…uh…I have a lot of work today. In fact, I’ll have to work late.” To fix broken families and broken lives and find a neat legal solution to messy human traumas.
Another memory blindsided him. This one of Mia’s killer body in the bikini she’d worn as a teenager when she’d hung out on the town beach.
“If you change your mind, drop by. Kylie would love to see you.” Mia snapped her fingers at Pixie. “The way you took care of the bears, you’re that girl’s hero.”
With another smile that made Nick’s stomach knot and his breath get even tighter, Mia slipped out of his office, with Pixie walking beside her in an obedient, un-Pixie-like way.
Mia had him wound up in a way he never got wound up. She made him think about things he’d avoided for years. Like a home, a family, and a dog. Things that were permanent and not broken. She made him feel alive for the first time in a long time, too, and made him want her, even as she made him want to run as far away from her as possible.
And she made him wonder what it would be like to be her hero.
Mia put another armful of clothing on Gabrielle’s bed. The vintage four-poster was flanked by a matching walnut dressing table and chest of drawers. A floral-patterned easy chair was tucked into an alcove by the window that overlooked the gardens and lake, and a bank of closets ran along one wall, stuffed with clothes, shoes, and accessories that were a treasure trove of styles through the years.
Apart from a one-line text, Mia hadn’t heard anything more from Naomi. She sat on the edge of the bed and checked her phone yet again. Since her daughter texted as much as she talked, often at the same time she talked, the silence pressed in on Mia. Like the worries pressed in, too.
Damn Jay. And damn her for pretty much falling into Nick’s arms in his office earlier.
She fingered a beaded white cocktail dress. Its simple, elegant lines contrasted with the rest of Gabrielle’s clothes, which tended toward the artsy. It was the kind of dress Mia’s mom would have worn. As a child, she’d spent hours dressing up in her mom’s old clothes and bribed a reluctant Charlie to join in. She’d tottered in her mom’s heels and pretended she lived someplace far away, like London, Paris, or even Australia. So far away she could start over and be someone else. Mia slid the dress off its padded hanger and took it to the window to examine the beading in the light.
“I’d forgotten all about that dress. Where did you find it?” Gabrielle came into the bedroom. A paint-spattered smock billowed around her slender figure to expose a pair of white capris and a turquoise top.
“In a garment bag at the back of one of your closets. It’s beautiful.”
“My ex-husband didn’t like it on me. He said it was too fancy for small-town Vermont, as well as too short, but I wore it anyway. You should try it on.”
“I couldn’t.”
Gabrielle took the dress from Mia and lowered the side zipper. “Sure you can. We’re about the same size, so I bet it would be a perfect fit.”
Five minutes later, Mia looked at herself in the dressing table mirror. Gabrielle was right. The dress was a perfect fit, although it was shorter than anything Mia had worn in years, ending well above her knees. She tugged at the hem. “I don’t think a dress like this is right for me either.”
“You’re a beautiful woman, and Jay is a fool.”
Mia’s reflection in the mirror blurred, and she blinked away the sudden moisture at the back of her eyes. “I trusted him.”
“Of course you did, but he broke your trust, so you’re getting on with your life, aren’t you?”
“For the girls.”
“No.” Gabrielle smoothed a strand of Mia’s hair away from her face. “I don’t deny you have a big responsibility to Naomi and Emma, but I mean for you.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you.” Gabrielle eyed Mia from head to toe. “If you went out in this dress, every single man in Firefly Lake under the age of sixty would be knocking at your door within a day. Even the older ones, at least those who can still breathe on their own, would think about it.”
“I don’t want another man.” Nick didn’t count. He was her friend.
“Don’t make the same mistake I did.” Gabrielle wrapped her arms around herself and looked at the rug. “When Nick’s dad left, he took a shedload of my family’s money and his clients’ money with him, and he embarrassed me in front of the whole town and half the state. He almost destroyed the law firm our families had built, and his behavior put his parents into an early grave. I had three young kids, and I was hurt, angry, and so ashamed. If it hadn’t been for the children, I’d have wanted to curl up and die.”
She rested a hand on Mia’s shoulder. “I hurt so bad I closed myself off. I took back my maiden name as soon as I could, and I told myself I was over Brian and what he did, but I wasn’t, not really. Then I woke up one day. Nick and his sisters had left home, and I was almost sixty and all alone in this big house.”
“You had a job, your garden, hobbies, and lots of friends.” Mia unzipped the dress and let it pool around her feet while she slipped her T-shirt and skirt back on. “From what I remember, nobody blamed you. Besides, after what happened, why would you want a man in your life?”
Firefly Lake had talked of nothing else for months. The money Brian McGuire had embezzled from McGuire and Pelletier. The big deal he’d orchestrated that had bankrupted a slew of investors. How he’d somehow escaped the jail term everybody expected he’d get and disappeared to Las Vegas, leaving his family to face the resultant scandal.
“After a few years, Nick and his sisters were older and my bed was pretty big and empty. Now I’ve got two daughters who rarely come home, a granddaughter I don’t really know, and a son determined to pack me off to a retirement bungalow and make me old before my time.” Gabrielle stared at the lake, her expression sad. “Don’t wait for something like cancer to make you see everything you did wrong.”
Despite the warmth of the room, Mia shivered. “Nick loves you, and he wants what he thinks is best for you.”
“If he keeps on the way he’s headed, he’ll make some of the same mistakes I did.”
“What do you mean?” Mia picked up the dress and hung it on a hanger on the hook behind Gabrielle’s bedroom door. For an instant, she imagined wearing it for Nick and the expression on his face, the spark of desire in his deep-set eyes.
“I’m not surprised he didn’t tell you. My boy was always close-mouthed, and he’s turned into a close-mouthed man. His wife cheated on him with someone at work. He came back here, supposedly to look out for me when I was sick and turn around McGuire and Pelletier, but I think he’s hiding out.”
“She cheated?”
“Yes, but they’re divorced and have been for more than a year.”
Mia moved toward the bed and the scattered piles of clothing. Everyone in town knew Nick had been married, but surprisingly for Firefly Lake, folks were vague about the details.
Gabrielle sat on the edge of the bed. “Nick still does some ad hoc criminal law work for another firm in New York, on top of McGuire and Pelletier. I tell him he’ll kill himself working such crazy hours, but will he listen?”
Jay worked all the time too. Like her dad. Mia was an expert when it came to workaholic men, and there was no way she’d let another one into her life, at least not permanently. “Nick, his wife, she…” Nick’s marriage was none of her business. Not even if he’d been betrayed like her.
“Isobel’s married to someone else now and has a little boy.” Gabrielle answered the question Mia hadn’t asked. “She was beautiful, smart, and a rising star in the legal world. I tried to like her for Nick’s sake, but I never saw much of a person behind her pretty face and designer clothes. I don’t know the whole story, but Nick was hurt bad, even though he’ll never admit it.”
Mia’s breath hitched. “So he’s—”
“Very much single.” Gabrielle’s tone was amused. “Despite the best efforts of every eligible woman h
ereabouts to catch him like one of those largemouth bass Firefly Lake is famous for.”
“I wasn’t…” Mia’s face heated.
“Fishing?” Gabrielle’s eyes twinkled. “Underneath his conservative, buttoned-up exterior, there’s still a good bit of the teenage hell-raiser left in my son. Except Nick turned his life around, and these days he wants to save the world, not fight against it.”
And Mia had always played it safe and never dated a hell-raiser. She’d always gone for the kind of boy her dad would approve of, and she’d chosen the perfect husband and the perfect life. Which had turned out to be a mirage of cheating and lies that had broken her heart and betrayed two innocent girls.
“What do you want to do with all these clothes?” She didn’t want to talk about Nick with his mother. Or about the unknown Isobel who’d put the look in his eyes Mia had wondered about. A guarded look that kept her and the rest of the world at a distance.
“I’ll never wear them again.” Gabrielle rose from the bed, and her smock floated around her like a sail. “Give them to charity, I guess.”
“You’ve got some good labels, so those could go to a costume museum, or a vintage clothing store might take pieces to sell on consignment. Before that, though, what would you think of letting me use them in the fashion show for my mom’s foundation? I still need a final number, and you’ve got enough clothes here for a through-the-years showcase.”
An almost forgotten excitement coursed through Mia. It would be the perfect tribute to her mom. Thanks to her mom, clothes were something Mia knew about. How to wear them to project an image and how to hide behind them.
“What a great idea.” Gabrielle cocked her head to one side, her cropped silver hair an ever-present reminder of what the older woman had been through. “I kept some of Cat and Georgia’s old things in those trunks up in the attic. Do you think the girls from Camp Rainbow would like to wear those clothes in the show?”
“I’m going out to the camp this afternoon, so I’ll ask. Most girls like to dress up.”
“There are even some of my mother’s clothes in the attic. I’ll call Cat and see if she and Amy can come here that weekend. Amy’s such a tomboy we’d never get her into a fashion show, but Cat loved my mom’s wedding dress and maybe she could wear it. It was made in Montreal by a Paris-trained dressmaker. I was too big to wear it, but Cat’s petite like my mom was and I always hoped…” Gabrielle swallowed hard, and her shoulders drooped. “Never mind. If I ask her, Cat might wear the dress in memory of my mom, and you can wear my white dress.”
“I couldn’t.” Mia’s breath caught. “Besides, I won’t be in the show.”
“Honey, you’d be the star.”
Which was what Mia was afraid of. “I’m happier these days behind the scenes.”
“Your husband sure did a number on you, didn’t he?”
“This has nothing to do with Jay.” Mia turned her back on Gabrielle and put several silk blouses into a garment bag.
“I’m sure Nick would like to see you in my dress.” Gabrielle’s tone was light.
Mia’s heartbeat sped up. “He…I…”
“You don’t need it, but you have my blessing.”
Mia swung around, but Gabrielle had gone and the house was silent. The white dress still hung on the bedroom door and swayed in the breeze through the open window.
Jay was the only man she’d ever been with. For all its virginal color, that dress might as well have had a neon sign to tell the world the woman who wore it was ready for sex. Which she wasn’t. Mia closed the zip on the garment bag with a sharp tug. Even if she couldn’t remember the last time she’d had sex.
That dress was temptation on a hanger. Like Nick was temptation in a suit.
Outside the house, Gabrielle greeted someone, her voice high and musical, and a deep laugh rang out in response. Mia moved to the window and stayed hidden behind one of the floral drapes.
On the patio below, Ward looped an arm around Gabrielle’s shoulders and pointed to a boat on the lake. Their heads were close together and Pixie pranced between them, dainty on her tiny paws.
Mia backed away. She wasn’t Gabrielle. She wasn’t ready to let a man into her life, let alone one like Nick. Besides, if what Gabrielle said was true, Nick wasn’t ready for her either.
Chapter Five
Ten days later, Mia sat on the edge of a table in Firefly Lake’s town hall and swung her feet in time to Jace Everett’s “Little Black Dress,” which blared out of the speaker system.
It was only a song. It had nothing to do with the little white dress hanging in its garment bag backstage. Mia hugged herself as the girls from Camp Rainbow clustered with two of the camp counselors at the top of the makeshift runway. She’d done it. Close to the wire but, thanks to Gabrielle’s clothes, the fashion show would end on a high.
Even Kylie had joined in. From her neck to her knees, the girl looked sweet in a pink ruffled party dress that had once belonged to Nick’s sister, Georgia. However, Kylie had customized the outfit with a pair of black and white high-top sneakers, white lace gloves, several pink streaks in her blond hair, and black nail polish.
“There’s something hot about guys doing physical work, isn’t there?” From beside Mia, Charlie’s voice carried above the music. “It makes you want to haul them away somewhere and do them.”
She whistled at Sean, who cleaned away the last of the construction debris with an industrial-sized vacuum cleaner. Then she poked Mia in the ribs and waved at Nick, who wielded a hammer to tack a curtain to the side of the stage. They were part of a crew of volunteers from across the county who’d pitched in to transform the hall, more suited to town meetings and the annual Christmas pageant, into a venue for the fashion show Mia had first imagined last winter.
“You’re pregnant,” Mia said.
“You’re also a professional woman. We don’t like it when men ogle us, so we shouldn’t ogle them.” From Charlie’s other side, Cat’s disapproving tone was at odds with the teasing glint in her eyes. “Besides, one of those guys is my brother, which is downright icky.”
Charlie gave them a cheeky grin. “How do you think I got pregnant, sister dear? As for you, Dr. McGuire, I wasn’t ogling, I was appreciating like I would sculptures in an art gallery. Aren’t I lucky one of those yummy pieces of art is all mine?” Charlie whistled at Sean again.
Cat’s laugh bubbled out, engaging and infectious. “True, but don’t tell some of my more serious women’s history students I said so. Or that an avowed spinster like me will be up on that stage tonight in a white wedding dress to rival the meringues served at Firefly Lake’s annual strawberry supper.”
“Spinster? That word went out of use a hundred years ago.” Charlie gave Cat a warm smile. “You’re a closet romantic who hasn’t met the right man yet. And speaking of men, the always-thoughtful Mia has paired you with a super sexy groom who is Firefly Lake’s very own Olympic and all-American hockey hero. Luc Simard is so hot he might as well have steam coming out of his ears.”
“He’s also widowed and a retired hockey player who has come back to Firefly Lake because it’s his home.” Mia covered Charlie’s hand with hers. “Luc only agreed to take part because he remembers Mom and the show’s to benefit the health center. Sure, he’s a media draw, but he wants to keep his participation low-key. The way he talked about his late wife…Cat, what is it?”
“Nothing.” Cat slid off the table and knocked a spray of artificial flowers to the floor. “That’s why you paired us up for the show. Nobody could be more low-key for Luc than me. He’s a jock, and the kindest thing anyone could say of me is I’m athletically challenged and have my head in a book most of the time. Nor am I a knockout like Mia, who the press would fall over themselves to get a picture of him with. And don’t get me started on all those jokes about tall men and short women.” She cleared her throat, bent to retrieve the flowers, then stuck them back on the table behind Charlie. “Sorry. I have to check on my daughter. I’ll catch yo
u later.”
“No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…” Mia stared at Cat’s retreating back. “Cat never gave any indication she was uncomfortable being part of the show with Luc. As for him, he said it was great to see her again and laughed about how he sat on her Care Bear at some play group they both went to.”
“Don’t worry about it. As far as I know, there’s no history between Luc and Cat beyond going through school together.” Charlie gave Mia’s arm a comforting pat. “I guess it’s one of those nuances of small-town life you have to be born here to understand. Cat’s super smart. She skipped a grade and, even then, at least from what I’ve heard, she was still way ahead of everyone else in most subjects. It must be hard to grow up different like that. You can talk to her later, but for now let’s ogle as much as we want.”
Mia zeroed in on Nick and the way the old jeans he wore cupped his ass. A great ass. How his white T-shirt hugged his chest. A great chest. The guy was eminently ogle-worthy and built in a way those suits he wore from Monday to Friday kept hidden.
“Mia?” Charlie’s voice faltered, teasing gone. “I’m glad you’re here. I need you. Sean’s done this baby thing before with Ty, but I’m scared I won’t know what to do.”
“Sean’s never done it with you or this baby.” Mia squeezed Charlie’s shoulder. “You’ll be fine. Babies have pretty simple needs. Food, sleep, clean diapers, and cuddles. It’s when they get older things get trickier.”
Like with Naomi and Ty. Mia glanced at the stage, where Ty was perched on a ladder. Sean’s son was also built, which wouldn’t have escaped her pretty daughter’s notice.
“Have you heard anything more from Jay?” Charlie’s brown eyes, like their mom’s, softened in sympathy.
“No.” And when Jay brought the girls back to Firefly Lake, he’d barrel into her life like a Texas tornado in spring, destroying everything in his wake. “Naomi texts me a couple of times a day and we FaceTime every night. On her birthday, it was like a chunk of my heart was missing, but although I was afraid this trip might mean she’d want to move back to Dallas, she says there’s no way she’ll leave Firefly Lake. Jay will have to drag her across the Vermont state line kicking and screaming.”