Conflicted on 5th: A 5th Avenue Romance Novel, Book One (5th Avenue Romance Series 1)

by Abbie St. Claire

  “Ty, come with me to drop off the cookies at the Briggs’ house.”

  “Isn’t it supposed to be a secret?”

  He’s so observant. “It didn’t say that.”

  “Well, I think it is. I can run fast. I can ring the bell and run.” His tone was insistent. He tried so hard to be the man of the house.

  “Okay, fine.” I had to pick my battles, and a cookie run wasn’t one of them.

  The afternoon air was chilly as I stood on the sidewalk and watched while Ty did exactly as he said. We ducked quickly back in the house, hoping we weren’t caught, both giggling all the way. I think he enjoyed it as much as I did, but for totally different reasons.

  With a plate of warm cookies, we sat on the sofa and watched Christmas movies all evening. About eight o’clock, the doorbell rang, and I went to see who was coming by so late.

  “Did you do it?” Shawna’s voice was just short of a squeal.

  “Do what?”

  “You know, cookies to Dr. Delicious.”

  I pulled her into the kitchen. “Shhh. Yes, I did. In fact, we sat together at church and went to lunch afterwards.”

  She plopped down at the kitchen table. “Oh my God, spill. I want all the details. Jorge thinks the world of him. I’m jealous ’cause he seems to be the only one who gets to hang out with him.”

  Pouring her a glass of wine, I decided another one would be fine for myself. After all, “drinky-drinky, no drivey today.”

  Taking a seat beside her, I brought her up to date with all the happenings.

  “You make the best darn snickerdoodles I’ve ever eaten. He will be begging for more, for sure.”

  “How? He won’t know it’s me.”

  “Duh, sometimes you are so blonde. If your note said to pass to the north, he will know his came from the south.” She shook her head. Most girls wouldn’t figure that out, but a pilot would. She had me on that one.

  “I’m not sure about it. Yours didn’t say north or south. Well, time will tell. Are you done with Christmas shopping?” With bottle in hand, I refilled our wine.

  “Yes. When are you picking up the puppy?”

  “Tomorrow.”

  “He’s going to be so excited.”

  “Carson has already said it would be fine to bring to it to his house, but I think it will get confused on the puppy training. Don’t you agree?”

  “Give in, because you’ll have to pry it out of Ty’s arms and have a big war on your hands.”

  “I always thought I’d give him a brother or sister, but I guess he has to settle for a fur baby.” I sighed.

  Lying in bed later that night, I tried to focus on my to-do list for the next day, but my mind kept flashing back to Ian’s sweet smile surrounded by ruby red lips. Those delicious dimples. He was a dead ringer for Nate Berkus, blue eyes and all.

  I laughed out loud at myself for having a curious thought as to whether or not he could decorate like him. Then my thoughts drifted off to Oliver’s mother. I wondered why neither of them had mentioned her at lunch.

  Unable to sleep for thinking about them, I got my laptop and started Internet snooping. Then I came up on the headline, “Local physician’s wife dies in fiery crash in Seattle.”

  “Oh, no.” My hand covered my mouth as I re-read the article and checked the date. Oliver could’ve only been a couple of months old at the time.

  The pit of my stomach roared up to greet the back of my throat and ripped me to shreds. So, the lady I’d seen come and go at his house must’ve been a nanny or a grandmother who watched Oliver. She looked too old to be a girlfriend, unless he was in to cougars.

  Further research revealed an obituary with a photo. Dr. Olivia Briggs was beautifully mysterious with dark hair and dark eyes, and Oliver looked just like her. The article said her parents lived in Seattle where she was born and raised, and she’d met Ian in college at UCLA.

  She must’ve died visiting her parents.

  How did he get from southern California to Dallas?

  There were dozens of photos from charity events and lectures to look through.

  She had studied infertility, and he had made sports medicine his field, which explained why he would want to practice in Dallas with three major sports teams and top-notch medical care available.

  After some time, I began to feel like a gawker, intruding myself into his personal space.

  I closed my computer and stared at the ceiling fan, watching the blades spin in the shadow cast by a nightlight coming from the hallway. What a loss for a child and for a husband. They must’ve had a very happy love affair. It had been eight years, and there wasn’t a sign of another woman I could find as far as social media and pictures.

  An explanation for the chill in the air when I’d mentioned picking up the tab “next time”. He wasn’t ready for another love, for he’d found his one true love and lost her.

  Ian was one and done…while I was zero for one.

  Chapter 6

  The bed dipped beside me. With one eye partially open, I looked at the clock—oh, my gosh, it was nine-thirty.

  “Mom, aren’t you gonna fix me breakfast?”

  I grabbed him and started tickling his belly. “Good morning, my little rascal. What would you like?”

  “Cookies,” he giggled.

  “Ekkkk. Try again.”

  “Yogurt and oatmeal.”

  “That’s better. Go, get your shower while I fix it. Then we have an errand to run.”

  He huffed. “Can’t I stay with Ms. Shawna and Mr. Jorge while you run errands?”

  Arguments. They never seemed to stop.

  My hands filtered through his morning-hair hair, blond tendrils going everywhere. “Actually, you’ll have to trust me on this one. You’ll want to go.”

  A sigh. “Okay, I guess.”

  He hopped off the bed, and I got up, wrapping my robe around me as I followed him out of the room.

  When I opened the front door to get the morning paper, I found a red gift sack sitting on my doorstep. When I opened it, I let out a round of laughter at the note included.

  Chelsie,

  Thank you for the cookies—the best I’ve ever eaten. If you’re throwing out any left-overs, we’d love a refill or perhaps a doggie bag. Thank you for yesterday. I can’t remember when I enjoyed a lunch more.

  If you aren’t too busy, we’d love to have you and Ty for dinner tonight. We’re dining around seven, and you don’t need to bring a thing, but if you happen to have snickerdoodles left over, Mam says they are the best she’s ever eaten. I agree.

  Hope to see you soon,

  Ian

  I had a newfound spring in my step. Shawna was right; it was easy for him to tell who brought the cookies. Duh. I should’ve figured it out. It’s not like I lack intelligence although, I playfully resented her blonde connotation.

  After breakfast, I loaded Ty into the car, and we headed off to the outskirts of town. I had hopes he would be excited about his present. I’d already made a spot for the puppy to stay at the boutique during the day and had a closet full of puppy stuff just waiting for us back home.

  “Mom, where are we going?”

  The last turn onto a county road toward our destination, McCarty Farms, was quickly upon me.

  “Hard for me to describe, but you’ll see in about five minutes.”

  We pulled up to the stables as I’d been directed. Ty bolted out of the car within seconds. That’s when Pauline McCarty put the yellow Labrador puppy on the ground, which ran straight for Ty’s open arms.

  It was instant love and quickly they were rolling around in the grass together. Pauline walked up beside me. “I don’t think he likes her much.”

  We both laughed.

  “Not at all.”

  We toured the farms, and Ty got to ride one of the horses. They had goats, and Mr. McCarty took Ty and the unnamed puppy out to feed them.

  Ty tugged at my sweater; something he did often if I wasn’t giving him my undivided attentio
n. It must be a male thing. “Mom, it chased the goats all over the place. You need to go watch. Those goats, they fussed at it. One even tried to stomp it.”

  “They probably thought she was a nuisance. What do you say we take her home?”

  He wrapped his arms around my waist and hugged my hip. “Sweet. I can call her Yolo.”

  “Yolo?”

  “Yep. Can I take her to Daddy’s house?” That didn’t take long to pop into his brain.

  “Sure.”

  If I had my thoughts in order, there was certainty Carson would figure out a way to get rid of the puppy.

  The puppy, or Yolo as Ty was calling her, was the cutest thing sitting in his lap and sticking her head out of the window. I thought about her size and how fast she would grow. At ten weeks, she could fit. I seriously doubted she would still be doing it at six months.

  We arrived back home, and I started making more cookies for our dinner with Ian.

  Was I going to meet his parents or hers?

  He’d written “Mam” in his note. That thought made me nervous.

  I had spinach and strawberries left over from Bunco, so I made a salad to take as well.

  But what to wear?

  Dressing up was better than being underdressed. I decided black pants paired with a champagne cashmere sweater set with heels was comfortable and not too over the top.

  Rather than a tin, I filled a holiday tray with cookies. If it was his mother, I certainly wanted to score as many cookie points as I could.

  My hand trembled as I reached for the doorbell.

  A man I’d never seen before opened the door. “You must be Chelsie?” He paused to rub Ty’s head. “And this here must be Ty?”

  “Yes,” was all I could squeeze out.

  He stepped to the side. “Come in, out of the cold air.”

  As I stepped into the entry, I noticed Ian and an older woman standing at the end of the hall. “Welcome. Chelsie, I want you to meet Oliver’s grandparents, Sylvia or Mam as we call her and this is Richard, or Grumpa, as he’s so pleasantly named.”

  “Hello” was uttered around the room.

  Richard looked over to Ian and back to me. “I don’t know why that boy started calling me a Grumpa. I’m the furthest thing from a grump, but it stuck and—I kinda like it, so feel free.” He laughed.

  Ty ran off to play with Oliver.

  We walked down the long hall to the back of the house. It was beautifully decorated, and I smiled to myself at my thoughts the night before about his decorating skills.

  When we walked into the kitchen, Ian took the tray of cookies from me and also the salad. “You brought too much.”

  “Okay, I’ll take the cookies home then,” I teased.

  “No,” Ian and Mam exclaimed in unison.

  “Don’t you dare,” Grumpa added.

  Ian ushered me to a seat at the tall bar which had stools for six people to sit with ample room for more.

  “Wine?” Ian asked.

  “Please.”

  He winked. He must’ve sensed my unease. It was always uncomfortable being the new person in a room where everyone was ready to ask you twenty questions.

  “Dear, I must have your recipe for those snickerdoodles,” Mam asked from across the bar.

  “Please do us the favor of the recipe. She’s been telling her friends all day about your cookies.” Grumpa teased as he took the chair beside me.

  “Are you a chef?” Mam inquired.

  Ian handed me a glass of wine, and I took a big gulp to settle my nerves for the looming fire drill of questions. “No Mam, I own the Boutique on Fifth Avenue downtown.”

  “Oh, how fun,” she responded. “Wait, you live on Fifth Avenue and your boutique is on Fifth Avenue too?”

  “Yes, believe it or not, I inherited the boutique from my mother, so it was already named. After my divorce, the realtor showed me property until I was exhausted. The final home was the one two doors down here.” I pointed in the direction of my home. “When I noticed it was also on Fifth Avenue, I knew it was a sign from my mother and bought it immediately.”

  She was an attractive lady. Her daughter had got her dark hair and her father’s eyes. “Do you have help?”

  “Yes, I just recently promoted, Isabella, my assistant to store manager. This has been the first time I’ve taken a long weekend off before a holiday. Ty usually spends his Christmas holiday with me at the store, and although he’s quite the salesman, it was time I stopped doing that.”

  Ian placed a notepad and pen in front of me. Without questioning what it was for, I took my time writing the recipe down. It bought me peace from the twenty-question routine I was afraid Mam and Grumpa had started.

  Once I delivered the secret recipe, I joined Ian on the other side of the bar, where he was working on dinner and was thrilled when he allowed me to help in the preparations, while Mam and Grumpa played Uno with the boys. I saw the cork for the wine and couldn’t help myself from placing it beneath my nose to allow the fragrance to fill my nostrils. It was a habit of mine. Just call me the cork-sniffer.

  “Is the wine bad?” His brows furrowed.

  I dropped the cork on the counter. “Gosh no, it’s awesome. I’ve loved the bouquet of wine long before I was old enough to drink. I would pick up all of my mom’s corks and smell them. Although I’ve since learned the fragrance from the cork has no bearing on the flavor from the wine.”

  “I’m not a connoisseur, so I’d love a lesson if you’re willing to teach me?”

  “Sure.” I felt a blush veil slowly consume my cheeks.

  “Not exactly the best first date, is it?” he mused as he opened the refrigerator door.

  “This is a date? I didn’t get the memo,” I teased.

  He shut the refrigerator door and moved within inches of me. “After yesterday, I couldn’t wait to see you again.” His voice was soft.

  Moments lingered as I took time to answer. His eyes never left mine. “I feel the same way.”

  He moved a strand of hair which had fallen in my face. “The cookies were just a good excuse.”

  “Oh, so you don’t really like my cookies?”

  “Nah, I loved them. Mam and I fought over the last peanut butter cookie. Maybe we can make some together.”

  “I’d love to play in dough with you.”

  We shared a smile. He touched my cheek with his finger. The moment was tender, and I craved to be alone with him.

  My whole body burned. Then, without notice, my brain shut things down. It’d been years since his wife’s death. What on earth would he want with me? Besides, I was a lonely, broken single mother with lots of excess baggage.

  Dinner was pleasant, and I learned Mam and Grumpa didn’t have any other children and usually came down every four to six weeks to see Oliver. They’d bought a home a few miles away and would be moving permanently as soon as they wrapped up a sale of their car dealership. It was odd no one ever mentioned Olivia’s name directly.

  Right after dinner, Grumpa and Mam decided it was past their bedtime. Oliver said his goodnight to them before they left. Then he took Ty upstairs to the playroom.

  Ian joined me on the sofa in front of the fire. “Would you like more wine?” he asked, with the bottle in hand ready to pour.

  “Just a little. We need to be going soon.”

  “I know you probably have a lot of questions. I just don’t speak of Olivia around Oliver in public, unless he asks because it makes other people feel weird. He never really knew he was different until he started school. Seeing other kids with their moms made him inquisitive, and he went through a tough period and was bullied by a couple of kids, so we moved here to get him into another school and start over.”

  “Oh, I am so sorry for that. Kids and parents both can be so cruel, but I don’t think geography makes a difference, since it’s everywhere. How’s he doing now?”

  “Amazing, actually. He’s read the articles online. He knows the accident wasn’t really anyone’s fault. Ther
e was ice on the road, and both cars slid into each other. But, I didn’t bring you here to talk about my former life. I’ve moved on and believe everything happens for a reason.”

  “I know that feeling well. Carson and I split up three years ago, and we co-parent very well compared to stories I hear from other divorced parents. We don’t agree on every single thing, but we wouldn’t even if we were still together. He’s supposed to pick Ty up tomorrow after lunch if he doesn’t bail like he usually does. Ty’s taking his new puppy with him, so that may be a challenge.”

  “Is the puppy at home by himself?”

  “Yes, I didn’t know what to do with her, and it wasn’t right to bring her here without asking and everything was so last minute.”

  “I want to see her, so let’s bring the puppy back here. I’ll go with you.”

  We walked down to my house, and when I opened the door, I didn’t hear a sound. I opened the laundry room door, and Yolo was quiet, which was strange. Peering into her little bed, I noticed she’d wrapped herself tightly in her blanket and was soundly sleeping. She looked so cute, but not so much for being a guard dog.

  Ian took her from my arms, and she gave him puppy kisses before nuzzling into his neck.

  “Okay, she’s really adorable. Labs are great dogs. Rip has been a godsend for Oliver. You did well. How did Ty react?”

  “Even more excited than I predicted. I know the newness of pets can wear off, so we’ll see how long his attention span lasts.”

  We locked up and quickly walked back to his house with Yolo tucked in his arms, while tightly wrapped in her blanket like a baby. We stopped in the front yard to let her potty. I was amazed how quickly she was taking to house breaking.

  Ian took her blanket and made a bed in front of the fire, and she stayed there for only a few minutes before starting to sniff around. Oliver and Ty came down to play with her, but I wouldn’t let them take her back upstairs.

  With his arm extended along the back edge of the sofa, Ian took a big sip of his wine. “Would you have dinner with me?”