Making It Right

by Kathy Altman

  “I didn’t mean what I said. Please. Give me another chance.”

  “I can’t,” she whispered, and moved up to the bottom step. “It’s selfish of you to ask. It’s a mistake to try to force this. When it doesn’t work out, the person who will suffer most is our child.”

  “We don’t know it won’t work out,” he snapped. “Goddamnit.” He swung away, paced to the lamppost at the end of the walkway and slapped it. Held his hand there, despite the acid bite of the cold metal, and hung his head.

  “I do trust you.” He pushed upright. “Want to know how I know? Eight days ago I got the results back from the paternity test. I haven’t opened the letter. I don’t need to. You said I’m the father. That makes it true.”

  “And you said you’d be there with me every step of the way. All we’re doing is taking turns breaking each other’s trust.”

  “No,” Gil said stubbornly. “We’re building more than we’re breaking. I called my mother, you reconciled with your father—”

  “Wait, you called your mother?”

  “Yeah.” He made a gesture with his hand, and it looked more helpless than dismissive. “I needed to remind her not to enable Ferrell. I’m not sure she’ll pay any attention to that, but we ended up having a nice conversation.”

  “I’m glad for you.”

  When she started to turn away, a bolt of anger shot through him. He hollered at her to stop. “So that’s it?”

  “That’s it,” she said, not quite steadily. “Good night, Gil.”

  He watched her slip inside and realized he’d better start searching for a place to live. Once Valerie Flick managed to sell the store, he wouldn’t be going house-hunting with Kerry after all.

  * * *

  TWO WEEKS AFTER Harris bragged that he and Eugenia were getting married, they did. They decided on a small courthouse wedding—like, four people small—because after all they’d been through, neither wanted to put their union off any longer.

  Kerry stood behind them, watching as her father stumbled over his vows and he and Eugenia laughed together. Moments later Eugenia choked up and Kerry’s father used his hankie to stroke the tears from her cheeks. All the while a tight-throated Kerry thought back to all the ups and downs the couple had shared, all the arguments and reconciliations and adaptations they’d made in their struggle to create a life together. They’d changed, and their love had changed, too. Strengthened. Deepened.

  She was so happy for them. And so ashamed of herself for the envy poking at her heart.

  After the ceremony, Eugenia and Kerry walked arm in arm to Eugenia’s Volvo. The plan was to gather at Eugenia’s house—now the official residence of Mr. and Mrs. Harris Briggs—for cake and champagne.

  “You’re a lovely bride,” Kerry said tearfully. And the new Mrs. Briggs was, in her elegant lavender suit and headband of fresh white roses, her skin flushed with happiness.

  “Thank you.” Eugenia beamed. Her expression sobered, and she patted Kerry’s arm. “That must have been hard for you, having to listen to all that sentiment without Gil at your side.”

  Kerry shrugged, but it was an effort to lift her shoulders. “I’m hoping we can stick to the plan to be friends, for the baby’s sake.” Though she was desperate for more. So much more. Everything, even.

  “Enough of that,” she said determinedly. “It was a lovely ceremony and I can’t wait to celebrate with you two.” She winked. “But I won’t be in your way for long.”

  Eugenia laughed. “We appreciate that. Oh, here comes Harris.” She smoothed her skirt and touched her hair. Caught Kerry watching and blushed.

  “You two are so sweet together,” Kerry said.

  Eugenia smiled, and nudged the festive waves of Kerry’s hair behind her shoulder. “Have I told you how proud I am to be your stepmother?”

  They hugged, and choked out a matching set of self-conscious laughs. As Eugenia stepped away and dabbed a tissue to her eyes, Kerry felt a giddy swell of thankfulness that they’d finally managed to recover their old footing. The successful restoration of the apartment had helped. A lot. Once Gil, Seth and Joe had finished their repairs and reconstruction, Eugenia had hired a decorator who shared an equally obsessive appreciation of the color white.

  One more reason Kerry was glad to be settled in her father’s house—that plaid-covered furniture of his could hide a stain better than a piña colada could hide the taste of alcohol.

  Only, Harris would be living with Eugenia from here on out. The quiet had already shrouded his little home.

  Now that Gil was going to be selling the store, she wondered where he’d be living.

  Don’t do that to yourself. Not today.

  Harris ambled up to them, looking even more radiant than his bride. He made a rude noise as he opened the passenger door of the Volvo for Eugenia. “Maybe now that we’re married, I can convince you to drive somethin’ with a little more style.”

  “Like a pickup truck?” Eugenia blew a raspberry. “I love you, Harris Briggs, but there are things even I would never do for you. You may as well get used to that, old man. No pickup trucks, no hemming your overalls, and no chewing gum.” She winked at Kerry. “Don’t worry, I’ll make you a list.”

  After getting Eugenia settled in her seat, Harris opened the door behind her. “Ready to go, Kerry girl?”

  She managed a nod, though her head felt way too heavy for her neck.

  “...there are things even I would never do for you.”

  Why had she worried she’d lose herself trying to make Gil happy? She’d changed. Grown. And as he’d so convincingly—so logically—explained, they trusted each other. They’d be there for each other.

  She would never do for Gil what Burke had done for Ruthie, and he’d never expect or want her to. And she would never do for Gil—for anyone, ever again—what she’d done for her ex-husband. What she’d done for herself. To herself.

  Because she wasn’t that Kerry anymore.

  And she was actually starting to believe it.

  But a big part of that new Kerry was Gil, and how he made her want to be a better person. And she’d shoved him away with everything she had.

  She got in the car and buckled her seat belt, and pressed both hands to her stomach.

  “You are more than your mistakes,” Gil had once told her. Fingers crossed he still felt the same way, because it was her turn to beg for another chance.

  * * *

  A COUPLE OF HOURS LATER, Kerry finally managed to break away from the newlyweds. She considered running home to change, then decided her plum-colored dress and high heels might very well give her an advantage. And she could use all the help she could get.

  Cooper’s Hardware closed at six, but when she parked out front at ten minutes past, the Open side of the sign still faced the street.

  She pulled open the door, frowning over the crack in the glass. If things didn’t go well here today, her heart was going to look an awful lot like this. Once inside the store, she turned the sign around. The cowbell, of course, had announced her presence.

  “We’re closed” came Gil’s impatient voice from the office. “Come back tomorrow.”

  “I won’t be wearing this dress tomorrow,” she called. Instantly sweat sprouted on her palms, and she caught the inside of her cheek between her teeth.

  Gil slowly emerged from the back, clothes rumpled, hair every which way, gaze wary. “Hey.”

  “Hey.”

  He hesitated, eyeing her neckline, then gestured with his pencil. Given the state of his hair, and the slowly fading preoccupation on his face, she must have interrupted his calculations.

  “That is a nice dress,” he said.

  At least he hadn’t totally lost interest in her. “Thank you.”

  “Wedding go well?” As soon as he asked it, he
winced. A mighty blow to her hope that he might still want a commitment.

  “It did. I officially have a stepmother.”

  “Congratulations.”

  She clasped her hands behind her back, taking the opportunity to wipe the clammy from her palms. She moved farther into the store, her heels click-clacking on the old wood floor.

  Gil stuck out his hand and leaned against a circular rack of batteries to his left. She was impressed he didn’t knock the thing over.

  He lowered his gaze to her belly. “How are you?”

  “Good, thanks. The morning sickness is kicking in, but it hasn’t been too bad so far.”

  “I’m glad.” With his free hand he pushed at his glasses. “Your hair looks nice.”

  She swallowed a sigh. All this “nice” talk wasn’t exactly encouraging.

  “What do you need, Kerry?”

  It seemed a little too soon to say “you.”

  “I need to apologize.”

  His expression shuttered. “For what?”

  “For everything. For not being trusting. For pushing you away. For letting my stubbornness get in the way of you and me.”

  “That’s a lot of apology.”

  “It comes with a lot of honest regret. The only thing I don’t regret is not telling you who I was when we met. I apologized for that, but I didn’t mean it. If I’d been straight with you, I would never have found the love of my life.”

  He cocked his head, but the iron grip of his jaw made it clear no words would be escaping anytime soon.

  “Gil, I’m sorry,” she said huskily. “I’m sorry for calling you selfish. You’re the least selfish person I know, and you’ve done so much for—”

  “Screw that,” he ground out. He strode forward, no longer the wounded lover but an infuriated, stone-faced man. “It doesn’t matter what I did for you. What matters is why. I love you. I told you I love you and you didn’t believe me.”

  Her palms itched with the need to touch him, but she and Gil needed to hear each other out. And she wasn’t entirely sure he wouldn’t reject her, anyway.

  “I didn’t think you loved me enough,” she said. “I’m clued in now, so if you want to rant and rave and say hurtful things, you go right ahead, because I love you enough to take it.”

  His eyes narrowed, and his chest rose as he pulled in a breath. Then he moved forward again, crowding her against the checkout counter, his hands on her hips. “You’re not going anywhere, right?” The rumble of his voice traveled straight to her core.

  She closed her eyes, hoping it wouldn’t be the last time she felt his touch. “Not while you’re holding me here.”

  Instantly he was gone. She lifted her head and watched him step back, hands held up as if in surrender. His chest rose and fell with ragged breaths. “I’m not holding you,” he said.

  “Yes.” She pressed her palms to her flushed cheeks, and felt the tremble all the way through to her teeth. “Yes, you are.”

  His face lit, and his throat worked as he swallowed. “I love you.”

  Her heart punched once at her ribs, as if to say yes. “I love you, too,” she said. “And I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Thank God.” He gathered her close again and tipped up her face. “I missed you so much. Both of you.”

  She squeezed her eyes shut against a sudden surge of tears. “Please kiss me.”

  “Damn it,” he growled.

  She opened her eyes to see Gil staring in the direction of the front windows.

  His jaw pulsed. “Did you call in reinforcements?”

  “What?” She turned to look. Hazel, June and Audrey stood in a row outside the window, peering in through cupped hands. June gave an excited wave, her entire body shaking with the force of it. Her hand connected with Audrey’s earring, sending a plastic cheeseburger the size of a golf ball swinging wildly. Audrey elbowed June, who tipped into Hazel, who braced both hands against the glass as she turned her head and gave the others what-for.

  “I just cleaned those windows,” Gil said with a sigh.

  Kerry winced. “Actually, the ladies are with me, though they weren’t supposed to show up quite so soon. Well, Hazel and June are here for me. Audrey came along to see if you’d decided to mark down your garden hoses yet.”

  “So you’re not done punishing me,” he said wryly.

  “A small part of me did want to see you suffer. I’m not proud of that.”

  Someone thumped on the window and they both jumped. Hazel and June continued to peek through the glass, their brightly painted lips stretched wide with approving grins. Hazel gave them two thumbs-up while a scowling Audrey stood with one hand on her hip and the other rounded into a fist, poised to bang on the window again.

  “Ten percent discount?” Gil asked.

  “Make it fifteen. She’s the only one of the three who doesn’t stop me in the grocery store and talk baby-talk to my belly.”

  Bang, bang, bang.

  Gil groaned. “Do we have to let them in?”

  “They’ll keep banging until we do.” With an apologetic smile, Kerry moved away and opened the door the ladies hadn’t realized wasn’t locked.

  They scurried in and formed a line in front of Gil, who was back to looking wary. Kerry, meanwhile, pressed a hand to her fluttering belly.

  Hazel stepped forward. One hand faced up, the other down as she clasped her fingers in front of her waist, looking like a member of the von Trapp family.

  She cleared her throat. “As we are all well aware, building a clubhouse on the lake for community use was the former mayor’s pet project. If he hadn’t forged the property deed, we might actually have a clubhouse by now.”

  June stepped up beside Hazel, her hands in prayer position.

  Kerry shot a glance at Audrey, almost expecting her to have her hands over her eyes. Instead they were rummaging through her purse, no doubt in search of a processed meat snack.

  “We’ve been fund-raising for years for a Castle Creek community center,” June said. “The former mayor tabled that whole effort so he could concentrate on his clubhouse. As nice as a lakeside facility would be, as co-mayors, Hazel and I believe a centrally located community center would better serve the county.”

  Audrey rolled her eyes at Gil. “They want to buy your store.”

  Hazel reached across June and smacked Audrey on the arm. “Blabbermouth.”

  “Audrey’s right. We’d like to make you an offer.” June bounced up and down on her toes. “This is a perfect location, and the store is practically a landmark. We wouldn’t have to hear everyone complain about how a brand-new facility would spoil Castle Creek’s charm.”

  Gil scratched his head. “But don’t you already own property, over by the motel?”

  June gave her head a mournful shake. “Dear heart, the mortgage on that land is heavier than a truckload of blue jeans caught in a rainstorm.”

  “Still, we do have some equity,” Hazel said, and ruined her businesslike tone with the excited clap of her hands. “So we’ll sell it. Use the proceeds to do whatever improvements are necessary here. As little as possible, of course.”

  “We’ll need a separate meeting room,” June said.

  “A bigger kitchen,” Hazel added.

  “And a game room.” Audrey folded her thick arms over her chest. “With a foosball table.”

  “So what do you say?” Kerry asked breathlessly.

  Gil pushed a hand through his hair. “This can’t be up to me.”

  “The town council will have to vote on it, but we can’t have a vote without a signed intent to sell.” June sidestepped over to the basket on the counter and helped herself to an apple.

  With a gasp, Hazel rounded on her. “We forgot the best part.”

  “We did forget th
e best part.” June polished the apple on her sailboat sweater.

  Gil’s eyes narrowed. “What’s the best part?”

  “The tenderloin,” Audrey said. “Or it would be, if we were talking beef cattle.”

  “Oh, for heaven’s sake, Audrey.” Hazel clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth.

  “It’s not her fault,” June said. “We skipped dinner to come here.”

  “Fine,” Hazel snapped. “Burgers at Cal’s after this, on me.” She turned to Kerry and gave her shoulder a pat. “Kerry, hon? You want to tell him the best part?”

  Kerry drew in a breath and cursed the sudden swelling in her throat. “The community center,” she said huskily. “Since it will be here, where your family ran their store for so long, they want to name it after your father.”

  “The Edgar F. Cooper Community Center,” Hazel announced, with more than a little satisfaction. “What do you think of that?”

  June bounced some more, this time with a bite of apple in her mouth. “Isn’t it wonderful?”

  Gil shook his head, not seeming to know where to look. “That’s...wow. That would be amazing,” he said.

  “We thought so, too,” Audrey said gently.

  Gil blew out his breath and faced Kerry. “You did this.” With his thumb and index finger, squeezed the bridge of his nose. When he dropped his hand, his eyes were wet. “All of it. Saving the building, naming it after Dad...this was your idea.”

  “Teaching is your passion. Solving obscure math problems...that’s your passion, too. You were getting lost here, every day moving farther and farther away from ever being found. Selling was absolutely the right decision. But this store represents a legacy, a part of you I didn’t want you to have to surrender. Not completely.”

  He reached for her. “What did I ever do to deserve you?”

  Her eyes filled, and she gave herself time to blink the tears away by dropping her head to his shoulder. “You say the sweetest things.”

  He bounced his shoulder to bring her head back up. “You make it easy.” When he licked his lips her skin went hot, her breath tight. He squeezed her hips as he bent toward her. The instant before his mouth touched hers, he paused.