Then He Kissed Me

by Maria Geraci

  Was Ted Ferguson insane? She’d have thought by now he’d have the good sense to take that off his car. How had he gotten away with that bumper sticker without being mauled by a swarm of angry feminists? The urge to key his car, though childish (and probably illegal) was overwhelming. But Lauren wasn’t about to stoop to his juvenile behavior. She glanced around the parking lot. The only other businesses in the strip mall besides the real estate company was a nail salon and a ballroom dance studio. Could Ted be getting a pedicure (not that there was anything wrong with that), or leaning to do the samba? Most likely not. Which meant he was probably inside Waterbury Real Estate.

  Her pulse kicked up a notch. She hadn’t seen Ted since that disastrous night at The Harbor House. But she was an adult and more importantly, she could act like one as well. She put on her happy face and opened the door.

  A pleasant looking young man in his early twenties sat at the reception desk. “Can I help you?” She recognized the voice from the phone. ANDY in caps was written on his name tag.

  “Hi, Andy. I’m Lauren Donalan. I lease the property on Beach Street, right next to The Bistro. I was wondering if Orla Butterfield was available. I realize I don’t have an appointment but I was hoping to catch her. I just need a few minutes of her time.”

  “Orla is with someone right now, but if you don’t mind waiting, she can probably see you when she’s done.”

  “That would be great. Thanks.” She took a seat in the small reception area and began reading the latest issue of People magazine.

  “There’s a coffee machine down the hallway,” Andy said. “It’s a Keurig. Help yourself. We have tea and hot chocolate as well.”

  Despite that she’d just had some tea, she wouldn’t mind another cup. “Thanks, I think I will.” She found the coffee machine on a small table nestled against the wall between two doors. Both doors were unmarked, but one was ajar and clearly the restroom. The other door, however, was closed. She was searching the K-cups for the tea when she heard the murmur of voices.

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!”

  Lauren stilled. That was clearly Ted Ferguson’s voice. No doubt about it. She put her ear to the door. A woman’s voice, quiet and conciliatory in tone spoke next, but Lauren couldn’t make out her words.

  Then Ted laughed. But it wasn’t a nice laugh. Then he said something else (speak louder, dang it!). Next came the sound of a chair scraping against the floor. She jumped back just in time to avoid getting banged on the head as Ted flung open the door and stormed out in the hallway.

  “What the—” He stopped and looked at her as if he’d just seen a ghost.

  “Just getting some tea!” Lauren said cheerfully. Her pulse was still on overdrive. “What are you doing here?” she asked in what she hoped was an innocent voice.

  “Conducting business. What do you think?” He didn’t ask her what she was doing at Waterbury Real Estate, which Lauren thought was kind of strange. But maybe not. Ted seemed awfully ruffled for someone who was just “conducting business” as he put it. Maybe he was miffed because he thought she’d overheard him lose his cool. Or maybe he was still harboring a grudge over their last encounter. She wouldn’t doubt that about him.

  Orla Butterfield came up behind Ted. “Ms. Donalan, isn’t it?” There was a puzzled expression on her face.

  Lauren had only met Orla Butterfield a couple of times. She was in her early sixties, with short gray hair and an athletic build. “Good memory,” Lauren said. “I hope you don’t mind, but Andy thought you might be able to see me. I just have a few questions for you about my lease.”

  Ted and Orla exchanged a pointed glance. “I’ll be in touch soon, Mr. Ferguson,” Orla said to him.

  “You do that.” Ted gave Lauren a long look then stomped out the office. Once Ted had gone, Orla’s demeanor instantly relaxed.

  “Please have a seat,” she said to Lauren.

  Lauren took the chair across from her desk. “I won’t keep you long, I just wanted to go over a few details on my lease. I know it doesn’t expire till October, but—”

  “I’m actually happy that you’ve come by. The owner is most likely going to be selling the property. So, unless you’d be… interested in putting in a bid, then I’m afraid we’ll have to play the lease by ear. Right now, everything is up in the air.”

  Lauren stilled. This was exactly what she was afraid of with the whole building inspector thing. “Do you think a new owner might be willing to continue to lease to me? I mean, some people buy property as an investment. Right?”

  “Yes, but your building is on prime gulf front real estate. Plus, it’s actually linked to the lot next door. The owner is interested in getting rid of all of it at once. He doesn’t want to break it up into smaller tracts.”

  Lauren knew Orla didn’t mean the land that The Bistro by the Beach was on. Frida owned her building and was paying a mortgage. Orla must be referring to the large vacant tract of land on the other side of her shop. “How large is the lot?”

  “Two acres.”

  “Can I ask how much the going price would be?”

  “In the neighborhood of about ten to eleven million dollars, I’m afraid. But that’s just the asking price,” she was quick to add. “I’m sure the owner might be willing to negotiate it down some.”

  Lauren nearly swallowed her tongue. “Of course.” Ha! And to think, she’d come over to see if the owner would be willing to do renovations to the building. Fat chance now that the building was going to be sold.

  Wait. If the property had been leased for all these years why were Nora and Vince suddenly interested in selling the land now? As Earl’s daughter, Nora had received a trust fund even larger than Lauren’s. Could she be in some sort of financial trouble? Maybe Daddy would know something about this.

  She stood. “Well, thank you for your time. I guess it’s not too premature to ask you to start looking for another place to lease? Something with the same square footage and for the about the same price?”

  Orla smiled sympathetically. “I’ll keep a look out.”

  Lauren said goodbye to Andy on her way out. Luckily, Ted’s car was gone so there was no chance of running into him again. What a disappointment! She’d been so excited on her way over with her big plans for the building. But maybe Orla could find her something else to lease. It probably wouldn’t be on the beach, or next to The Bistro, of course, but she could compromise. The important thing was to put her plan in action.

  Everyone at Bunco was excited to hear Lauren’s news about her new maternity line. Pilar was this week’s host and she’d set up a taco bar on the outdoor patio of her home. It was early April and the weather was clear and cool. Tiny white lights hung in streamers from the big oak trees and the tables were decorated with brightly colored sarapes and big Mexican hats.

  “Since we’re doing couples Bunco the first week of May, I decided to celebrate Cinco de Mayo early. Just consider this Cinco de Bunco,” she said. The rest of the women groaned, except Pilar who laughed at her own joke as she sipped away on her frozen margarita.

  Lauren was scooping salsa onto her plate and answering questions as fast as the other women could toss them out to her.

  “What are you going to name the company?” Mimi asked.

  “That’s still up in the air. But we’ve narrowed it down to three names.”

  “Is the website done?” Frida countered.

  “Dhara’s brother Rob is working on it.”

  And on it went.

  After discovering the building wasn’t going to be available to lease much longer, the first order of business was trying to find a place to relocate. So far, nothing had come up except an old abandoned industrial warehouse on the outskirts of town that was way too big and way too dilapidated for their purposes. In the meantime, Lauren had been working on dress patterns and experimenting with different materials. Dhara was still busy fine-tuning the business plan, but it looked like they would need at least fifty-thousand dollars to
invest initially. It made her nervous to dip into her trust fund like that, but it was doable.

  The conversation eventually turned to next month’s couples Bunco.

  “Who are you bringing, Lauren?” one of the women asked.

  Since she was the only Babe who was partner-less, it seemed like a natural question for the group. Except they asked her the same question every week and every week she would carelessly shrug and say, “Oh, I don’t know.”

  She’d planned to make an excuse and tell them she couldn’t go, but lately, she’d begun to wonder if maybe inviting Nate wouldn’t be such a bad idea.

  Last week, he “just happened to be driving by” her house and brought Chinese with him. The three of them (four, if you included Hector) had eaten in comfortable camaraderie (Chinese for the humans, dog food for Hector). Now that Henry had gotten to know Nate better, he seemed to really like him, and Nate had never once made any kind of romantic overture toward her. It was a little disappointing. But exactly what she’d asked of him, so she shouldn’t be a hypocrite about it. If they were just friends, then why not invite him to couples Bunco? She just have to make sure he understood they weren’t actually a couple.

  “I was thinking of asking Nate Miller. To couples Bunco,” Lauren said, in case that needed clarification.

  Everyone turned to look at her.

  “Doc’s Morrison’s Nate Miller?” asked one of the Babes who didn’t know about The Kiss. Mimi looked at Lauren with renewed interest.

  “I’ve known him since high school and we’ve sort of become friends, so, why not?”

  “I went to see him the other day,” Frida said. “My migraines were acting up and Doc was really busy so Janie asked if I wouldn’t mind seeing Dr. Miller instead. He was really nice. Not like Doc nice, but okay nice. It’s funny, after he examined me he asked me if I wanted to talk about anything.”

  “Like what?” Shea asked.

  “Nothing in particular, I guess. So I told him how we just installed a new oven in The Bistro’s kitchen and he just listened. And then he told me to make sure that I took a few breaks in the day to go outside and get some fresh air, that kind of thing.” She frowned. “Come to think of it, I haven’t had a migraine since I started doing that.”

  Lauren tried to hide her smile. He was still taking her “five minute” advice! She couldn’t help but be pleased.

  “I think asking Nate to couples Bunco is a great idea,” Kitty said. “Ask him, Lauren. I bet he’ll say yes.”

  *~*~*

  A week later, Nate (and Hector) showed up on her doorstep again. This time instead of Chinese, he brought Tiny’s pizza—sausage and pepperoni, Lauren’s favorite.

  “Oh, boy, I’m going to get fat if you keep this up,” she said. It was a Friday night and barely seven-thirty, but between the shop and all the extra sewing she’d gotten done this week, she was exhausted, so she was already in her pajamas—a very non-sexy pair of oversized flannel bottoms and a camisole top that was probably a bit on the skimpy side. To Nate’s credit, he didn’t stare (or ogle for that matter, either).

  “Hold on.” She ran to her bedroom and tossed a T-shirt over her camisole, taking a second on her way back out to the living room to check her reflection in the mirror. No makeup and her short blonde hair was pulled back in a headband. Perfect for the non-romantic atmosphere she hoped to achieve. On the other hand, she kind of wished she looked a little more put together. She sighed. Her brain told her one thing, but her heart told her something else entirely.

  He glanced around the quiet house. “Where’s Henry?”

  “At his dad’s for the night. I was about to watch a movie.” It was the first time Nate had come by that Henry wasn’t present.

  It just hit her. She was about to be alone with Nate Miller again.

  He deposited the pizza on her kitchen counter. Hector tried to jump on the living room couch, but as usual his short little legs wouldn’t allow it. Not exactly alone, she realized. Hector was here. Nate wouldn’t try to kiss her in front of his dog, would he? Oh, Lord. What was she doing thinking about kissing?

  “He’s really more dachshund, isn’t he?” Lauren said. She picked Hector up and deposited him on the couch, where he quickly buried himself beneath a nest of pillows. “How long have you had him now?”

  “Two months,” Nate said. “But you’d think we’d been together two years the way he acts. He practically struts around the office. Pretty soon he’s going to want his own desk.” He picked up the DVD cover from the coffee table. “It’s a Wonderful Life? Isn’t that a Christmas flic?”

  “Technically, yes, but it’s my favorite movie, so I watch it whenever I get a little overwhelmed. It helps me de-stress.” It wasn’t a guy film. There were no big action scenes or high intrigue or anything. Tom had tolerated it at the holidays, but it wasn’t his thing. She doubted Nate would like it much, either.

  Lauren broke out the plates and they each took a couple of slices of the pizza. She opened a bottle of wine and they settled down on the couch (with Hector between them). Despite offering to watch something else, Nate insisted on It’s a Wonderful Life. “We don’t have to watch it,” she said. “I’ve literally seen it like a hundred times. Maybe even more.”

  “Well, I’ve never seen it, so it’ll be—”

  “You’ve never seen it? Never ever? Even when you were a little kid?”

  He shook his head.

  “Mister, you’re in for a treat.”

  She hit the play button and was instantly transported back to an old black-and-white pre-World War II Americana. A simpler, and yes, probably hokier time. But she loved it. Every second of it. And then of course, there was Jimmy Stewart and the gorgeous Donna Reed, and all that lovely romantic tension between them. She sighed at their first kiss (even though she’d seen it dozens and dozens of times and had every little movement memorized) and she chewed her pizza and sipped her wine, and every now and then, stole a glance at Nate’s profile. At his straight nose and his strong chin and she wondered what he thought of the film. Did he find it boring? He didn’t looked bored, but then he was probably too polite to act anything other than interested.

  About halfway through the movie, he nudged Hector off to the side, and slipped his arm around her. Without thinking (too much!), she cozied up next to him. They sat like that for the rest of the time, side by side with their feet propped up on the coffee table. He’d taken his shoes off and wasn’t wearing socks. It reminded her of that night at the beach when they’d walked barefoot along the sand. She liked his feet, she realized. They were long and lean with just a tiny dusting of dark hair across the toes. She wasn’t wearing socks either, and the urge to tangle her feet with his was overpowering. So much so, in fact, that she hadn’t been paying attention to the movie. When she glanced back at the screen, the ending credits were rolling.

  He sat up and stretched his arms over his head.

  “What did you think of it?” she asked. Please tell me you like it. It sounded dumb, but she just didn’t think she could be friends with anyone who didn’t get It’s a Wonderful Life.

  “It was…good,” he said, and she instantly felt herself relax. If Nate Miller didn’t like the movie, he would tell her so. It was just the way he was wired. “Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you hadn’t been born?” he asked.

  She stared at him. “Are you kidding? That’s my favorite game. Okay, here goes: If I hadn’t been born then my mother wouldn’t have anyone to boss around. But more importantly, then Henry wouldn’t have been born, and that would be the world’s greatest tragedy.”

  “Agreed.”

  She giggled.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “It’s…just the way you do these one word sentences.” She imitated his deep voice. “Agreed. And then there’s my personal favorite. Absolutely.”

  He raised a brow. “Why waste words when one will do perfectly fine?”

  “Agreed.”

  “Smart ass,” he sai
d.

  They both reached for the last slice of pizza and laughed. She nudged it his way. “Go for it.”

  “Okay, I think I will this time.” This time? It occurred to her that he was referring to their dinner at The Harbor House, when he’d given up the last scallop to her. She didn’t know why, but she was ridiculously pleased that he’d remembered.

  “Do you want any more kids?” he asked casually, but she got the feeling he was deeply interested in her response.

  “I would love to have more, but with the right person this time.”

  “The right person?”

  Lauren sighed. “Tom wasn’t in love with me when we got married.” Nate looked incredulous. So she went on to explain. “Most people in town know we got married because I was pregnant. I mean, you can’t really hide something like that in Whispering Bay. But the story’s a little more complicated than that.”

  She went on to tell him how she had unprotected sex with Tom on the night of the senior awards banquet and how she broke up with him the next day, only to discover a couple of months later that she was pregnant. Tom had already moved on to another relationship with his current fiancé, Allie. But he broke up with Allie to “do the right thing” and marry Lauren.

  “When I found out I was pregnant I was so scared. I hid it from Momma for as long as I could, but then I had to eventually tell my parents. It was awful. I’ll never forget the look of disappointment on my father’s face.”

  “I’m sure he was just worried about you.”

  She nodded. “I know, but I’m an only child and it’s hard, having all this pressure to be perfect all the time. I guess the hardest thing was knowing that I would never live up to my potential.”

  He looked at her. “Is that what you think?”

  “I don’t know. I love Henry and I wouldn’t change anything that happened for the world, but having him so young did limit my choices.” She shrugged, embarrassed that she’d told him so much. She’d never admitted that to anyone. Not even to Tom. “So, yeah, I’d like to have more kids, but if I ever get married again, it will be because I’m crazy in love with someone who’s crazy in love with me. And only me.” She cleared her throat. “What about you? Do you want kids?”