“No, that’s not going to happen. I have things under control. Whatever you inherited is yours. I hope it means you can do things you’ve always wanted to, like travel and buy a nice retirement home.”
“I’d really like to help you and your brother,” she insisted.
“Tom will need money when his kids start college, but that’s a long way off,” he told her. “I’m a physician, Mom. I wouldn’t dream of accepting money from you. You’ve done wonders for me my whole life.”
“Well, maybe when you have children … ”
Dan expected her to mention Amy since she’d already told him how much she liked her.
“I have some really big decisions to make,” she said thoughtfully. “I’m thinking of retiring, at least from the museum. I want to do something different while I’m still relatively young.”
“I think you should. You’ve slaved away your whole life.”
“I’m glad you agree,” she said in a solemn voice. “That brings me to my real dilemma. Where should I live?”
“I assumed you’d stay in California.” The more she talked, the more puzzled he became.
“It’s expensive to live in Santa Barbara. I’ve spent so much of my time there working and I really don’t have a lot of close friends.”
Dan could believe that. She’d spent most of her time when he and Tom lived at home doing things for and with her sons.
“You’re leading up to something,” he said.
“Next week I’m going to Tom’s house to have this conversation with him. Then I have to make a decision about where to spend my retirement. I hope you can say something to help me make my decision.”
“Mom, whatever you want to do is fine with me. I’d only urge you to take your time deciding. I’ll be happy for you whatever you decide.”
“I thought you’d say that,” she said, smiling fondly.
After his mother went to bed in his bedroom, Dan was too restless to stretch out on the couch. He wandered outside, cell phone in hand, but he didn’t call Amy as he’d intended. This was a family situation, and it wouldn’t be fair to drag her into it.
His mother was so closely associated in his mind with the lifestyle in California that he didn’t know what advice he could possibly give her. Maybe his brother would be more help than Dan was. Possibly his children would tip the scale in favor of living near his family.
Dan was weighed down by the necessity of making decisions. His medical degree didn’t make him a sage, and he couldn’t see the future. What he did acknowledge was the way he felt about Amy. He wasn’t ready to settle down in California, but what did he want to do with the rest of his life?
CHAPTER 18
“I was sorry to see Virginia leave,” Amy’s mother said.
They were sitting on her back deck on a warm September evening, but Amy’s mind was far away. She’d hardly seen Dan since his mother’s departure early in the week. They didn’t have plans for the weekend, and she was tired of thinking up excuses for his absence in her life.
Sure, he worked a lot. They weren’t committed to each other in any formal way. He wasn’t obligated to tell her everything he did. It still hurt when she didn’t know where he was or what he was doing. She thought their relationship at least called for a courtesy phone message if they weren’t going to see each other that weekend.
“She’s a nice person,” Amy said, knowing her mother expected some kind of response.
“I’m glad I could take the week off to show her a good time,” her mother went on. “She said she hopes we can see more of each other.”
“That seems unlikely.” Amy didn’t want to rain on her mother’s parade, but the only way the two mothers would get together again was if their children married. Obviously, that was never going to happen.
“You never know.” Her mother was getting as bad as Hannah when it came to matchmaking. At least she didn’t call him Prince Charming.
“I think I’ll go home now,” Amy said. “I need to pay some bills, and tomorrow will be a long day at the store. Bert is taking off to visit a cousin in Spirit Lake. It will just be Josie and me.”
“Well, have a nice weekend, dear. Do you and Dan have any plans?”
“No plans, Mom.” Amy quickly left before her mother could ask more questions.
Back at her apartment, she slumped down in front of the TV but didn’t bother to check listings for a good program. She sat cross-legged on the couch, seeing but not taking in some movie with a fake-looking alien attacking a woman displaying her surgical implants in a military green tank top cut down to her navel. She wrote better dialogue on prescription bottles every day.
Enough was enough. She clicked off the television, but her thoughts were much more disturbing than a bad movie. It was so not like Dan to ignore her. Was he tired of her? Had he realized how impossible their relationship was? Was this his way of dumping her?
Crying would only give her a headache, and it wasn’t as if she believed they had a future together. Clutching her cell phone, she checked for messages for the umpteenth time, but, of course, there were none.
When it was past midnight, she forced herself to get ready for bed. Even if Dan never called her again, she still had to go to work tomorrow. Bert was out of town, and a drug store had to have a registered pharmacist on duty whenever it was open for business. She was beginning to realize her dream job had a down side.
It was a shame Dan would never see the lace-trimmed ivory nightie she’d been saving for a special occasion. Nuts to him! Taking it out of the drawer and holding it up in front of the mirror, she decided to start wearing it. As soon as she slipped it over her head, enjoying the silky feel on her skin as much as she could enjoy anything, she heard the strident sound that meant she had a text message on her phone.
Would any man be crass enough to break up with a text? Probably, although it didn’t seem like Dan’s style. Dreading what she was going to see, she picked up her cell.
Hi, on my way to California. We can talk when I get back.
“That is the worst text message I’ve ever received,” she sputtered angrily.
It told her absolutely nothing. Did he have a family emergency, or had he discovered a way to wiggle out of his two-year obligation to Heart City? Why couldn’t he speed dial her number if he had something to say? The man didn’t have a clue! Now she’d spend agonizing hours or even days waiting to hear from him.
“I’m not going to cry, I’m not going to cry, I’m not going to cry,” she sang, trying to match the words to one of Hannah’s favorite songs: “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.”
She cried.
In the morning, her face looked like someone had used it as a punching bag. Her eyes had dark bags from sleeplessness, and her nose was red. Even using twice her usual makeup, she looked as perky as warmed-over oatmeal.
“Gotta hold down the fort,” she said, using one of Bert’s corny sayings.
In fact, Josie, a person not known for being early, was waiting outside the door when she got to the store.
“You must’ve had a big night,” her friend said. “You haven’t been late for anything since your dog followed you to school in the third grade. You were so upset! Taking him home spoiled your perfect record of never being tardy.”
“Tardy! There’s a word I haven’t heard since — well, never. You, on the other hand, were born late. Remember when your dad had to drive you to an away game because you missed the team bus?”
“Hey, cheerleading wasn’t my whole life,” Josie protested.
“Could’ve fooled me.” Amy unlocked the door and turned off the burglar alarm, trying to avoid looking directly at her friend. Sometimes a person could know you too well.
Business was slow on this lazy September day. Since the doctor wasn’t available, she didn’t have any new prescript
ions to fill. By afternoon, no customers broke the monotony.
“Where is everyone today?” Amy mused as she and Josie stocked the painkiller aisle.
“Wow, where’ve you been all week? There’s an Iowa football game. The whole town is glued to TV screens.”
“Sure, I remember now that you mention it.” She didn’t have a clue what team they were playing. Only last season she’d been an avid fan, but so much had changed since then.
“That reminds me. Do you and Doctor Dan have plans for this evening?”
“No plans. He’s out of town.” Amy hoped her friend would leave it at that.
“Great! Brad is recording the game and having some guys over tonight to watch it. It’s girls’ night out for the wives. We’re going bowling. You can join us.”
“I don’t think … ”
“No, don’t say it! When you lock the front door at six, you’re not my boss anymore. I insist you come! How long has it been since you’ve had a wild night with the women?”
“You’re right,” Amy said, suddenly seeing no reason to sit home waiting for a call that might not come. “Girls’ night out it is!”
“I’ll pick you up around seven. We’re going to risk the pulled pork sandwiches at the bowling alley for dinner.”
Amy got home in time to change into jeans and a peasant blouse her sister had passed on to her, claiming it was too sexy for a mother. She scrubbed off her tired makeup and went whole hog in replacing it, determined to look cheerful. If she had it on thick enough for a clown, it didn’t matter. Dan wasn’t there to see it.
On impulse, she turned off her phone and left it on the kitchen counter. The last thing she needed was to mope around all evening hoping Dan would call. Whatever he was doing in California, he hadn’t bothered to tell her. Let him wonder where she was!
CHAPTER 19
“We have a lot to talk about, but I don’t want to do it on the phone. See you soon.”
“Another darn text message!” Amy said when she checked her phone before going to work.
She wasn’t going to answer. There was nothing she wanted to say in 160 characters or less. Dan had been gone a week, and he still hadn’t called. His texts kept telling her how busy he was without a hint about what he was actually doing.
At the store, a few prescriptions had trickled in from a physician in a nearby town who was covering for him. But how long could Dan stay away from his practice unless he had some plan to cut short his time in Heart City?
“We’re having another girls’ night out this evening,” Josie said Saturday morning. “Everyone agreed we don’t do it enough. Can we count you in?”
“Bowling again?” She tried to sound interested.
“No, the Co-op Food Festival. It’s gotten so big they’ve moved it to one of the buildings on the fairgrounds.” Josie was energetically wiping the counter of the soda fountain between customers.
“I’m not much of a cook. The demonstrations aren’t really my thing.” Amy knew the worst thing she could do was sit home moping over Dan, but cooking?
“Forget them. We can watch the Food Network for that stuff. We’re going for the samples. Mandy figured out we can feast for about the cost of a decent meal in a restaurant. I think it’s only ten dollars to get in.”
“What about husbands? Don’t they like trying different things?”
“Have you forgotten the Big H?” Josie finished her clean up and challenged Amy.
“It’s not deer hunting season yet.” She pursed her lips thoughtfully.
“No, but Brad and Mandy’s husband Judson and some other guys are going to a hunting camp for the weekend. I guess it’s legal now to hunt rabbits and squirrels, but mostly they like to pretend they’re bachelors again. So, are you in?”
“Sure, why not. Maybe I can buy my mother a set of glass measuring cups for her birthday next month, especially one big enough to use as a mixing bowl. She saw one at a party she went to but thought it was too expensive.”
“I imagine the party lady will have a booth there. Mandy’s driving. We’ll swing by for you around seven.” Josie hurried to the front to help a customer studying lipstick colors.
When she got home from work, Amy wanted to go out about as much as she wanted a tattoo on her nose. What if Dan finally called to explain his absence?
“All the more reason not to be here,” she said, deciding she wouldn’t even take her phone with her after answering a quick call from her mother.
“Have a nice time at the Food Fest,” she said, tactfully not mentioning Dan or his absence.
At first, Amy had been hurt by texts from Dan telling her nothing. Now she was devastated by the very real possibility it was over between them. She was crushed but angry too. No one could be as busy as he claimed to be.
She was waiting in the parking area when Mandy pulled up in her rusty old Buick with Josie beside her in the front seat.
“We’re meeting the rest of the girls at the fairgrounds,” her cousin said, launching into a monologue about her favorite topic: getting pregnant.
Tying to tune her out, Amy knew it wasn’t necessary to carry on a conversation when Mandy was on a roll. Unfortunately, she couldn’t stop thinking about Dan, even when her cousin gave a really funny description of the fertility chart she’d made.
The Food Festival was being held in the largest of the wooden frame buildings on the fairgrounds. The parking area in the vicinity showed how popular the event was, and Amy forced a smile, hoping it didn’t look as fake as it felt.
“I hope Judson doesn’t bring home some poor bunny rabbit and expect me to cook it,” Mandy said, switching subjects without any prompting.
“Don’t worry,” Josie said. “If the men hit anything but trees, I’ll be surprised. The hunting is just an excuse to hang out and be he-men — except during deer season. They take that seriously. We still have venison from last year in our freezer.”
What little appetite Amy had plummeted at the thought of grown men hunting little creatures. Of course, she’d grown up without a father or brother, so the hunting culture was foreign to her. What did Dan think about it? Would he go native and try his luck when deer season rolled around? She knew so little about him! He was lodged in her heart like a barbed fishing hook, and she didn’t even know his favorite color or how he looked without clothes.
They joined several others including the cheerleader who’d been captain of the squad their senior year. Now Zelda was a dental hygienist with the town’s only dental practice. Her husband owned a service station, and she tended to lord it over her high school friends.
Amy found herself surrounded by a babble of conversation, none requiring more than an occasional nod of agreement from her. She loved her group of friends, even Zelda who’d once stolen a boyfriend from her. But she was the only single woman in the group, and the gap between her and her friends seemed to be widening. Would the time come when she’d regret returning to Heart City?
“Try this,” Mandy urged when they stopped at a booth where a man in a big chef’s hat and white apron was manning a small electric grill. Her cousin held out a chunk of sausage on a stick, and Amy lost it.
She couldn’t stay there pretending everything was normal when she missed Dan so much. Shaking her head, she felt queasy and refused the morsel of meat.
“You don’t look good,” Mandy said, pushing up her glasses for closer scrutiny. “Are you sick?”
“No, just tired, I guess.”
“Do you want me to drive you home? They’ll stamp my hand so I can get back in.” Mandy’s concern touched her.
“Would you mind? I’m really not up to this.”
“Of course not. Let me tell the others. They’re over by the spice booth.”
When Mandy hustled back, she led Amy to the door and outside.
“I really appreciate this,” Amy said. “Sorry to put a damper on your evening.”
“A few lost minutes means a few less calories,” Mandy said in her usual cheerful way. “I didn’t think you were feeling in a party mood when we picked you up.”
Amy followed her cousin to the row where she’d parked, then stood stock still. Mandy followed her gaze and grinned.
“Guess I won’t need to take you home,” she said, falling back after nodding at Dan who was just getting out of his van.
“Thank you,” Amy murmured as Mandy faded into the background.
Whatever she’d expected, it wasn’t a huge bear hug. He swept her into his arms and kissed her so soundly she nearly lost her footing.
“That’s how much I missed you,” he said, backing her against the side of his van and capturing her between his outstretched arms.
“You didn’t call me all week.” She was breathless and a little dizzy from shock, but she needed more than a kiss.
“I couldn’t.” He looked shamefaced but didn’t offer an explanation.
“Your phone was broken? No, it worked for texts telling me absolutely nothing. I forget — you aren’t obligated to keep me informed of your whereabouts. What was I thinking? Oh yeah, I thought you’d left me for good, and I’d never see you again.” She let all her fear and disappointment spill out in a confused jumble of words.
“It seemed too impersonal to tell you I loved you in a text.”
“What?”
A group of teenagers streaked between parked vehicles without giving them a glance.
“Can we talk somewhere else?” he asked, opening the door for her.
“What did you say?” She wasn’t sure what he wanted.
“Get in. Do you want me to propose to you in a parking lot?”
Summer was fading fast, but the stars she saw weren’t the heavenly kind. She stepped into the van, hardly knowing what she was doing, and watched in stunned silence as Dan walked around to the driver’s side and sat beside her.
“We have a lot to talk about,” he said in a low voice. “Your place or mine?”
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