A Fine Romance

by Christi Barth

  Still no hug or greeting, but at least he’d fallen straight into the habitual role of belittling Mira’s endeavors. And it felt as hypocritical as ever, coming from a man whose entire résumé could be summed up in two words—professional partygoer. The closest he’d ever come to a paycheck were the monthly installments from his trust fund. Well, if he was following old patterns, then she would, in an effort to keep the peace. Dutifully, she nipped forward and kissed both of her parents on the cheek. “Mom, you look beautiful. Younger than ever.”

  Her mother air-kissed back in the general vicinity. “You look tired, darling. Clearly they’re working you too hard. Come for a facial with me tomorrow morning.”

  “Nobody’s pushing me, Mom. I run the store. And since we just opened tonight, I kind of have to be here tomorrow.” Two beaming customers pushed their way up to the counter to check out.

  “Well, when you’re tired of ‘working,’” her mother made air quotes with her fingers, “let me know, and we’ll send you a ticket to catch up with us wherever we are. How does Christmas in Austria sound?”

  “Delightful.” And for a few seconds, she remembered the feeling of schussing down the Alps after ridiculously handsome blond men in thick sweaters. Yes, it had been fun playing all over the world with her parents. Fun—but not satisfying. Nowhere close to the utter fulfillment Mira had felt as people actually stood in line to get in to this reception. She and Ivy had both welled up as they’d cut the big red ribbon across the doorway. That moment defined her.

  Mira certainly couldn’t change her parents or make them understand. However, she could stand her ground, make her own way. Cashing a trust-fund check would never give her that feeling of self-worth. Never again would she question her decision to forego the family’s buckets of money. Anytime she wavered, from stress or exhaustion, she could think back to this night and remember that money hadn’t brought her this level of happiness (if she ignored the sucking emptiness in her heart over losing Sam). Hard work and good friends had. Just like that, she closed the door on any claim on the Parrish fortune.

  Calmer and grounded, she screwed on a determined smile. “However, I hope December will be a very busy time for the store. I’m afraid I won’t be able to join you.”

  “Well, contact our lawyers if you change your mind. They’ll know where to find us.” Hale spun on his heel back toward Ivy. “I recognize you. From that wedding show!”

  Ivy looked up as she swiped a credit card. “That’s me. As you make your rounds, you might also recognize my partner, Daphne—Mira’s roommate. And my fiancé, Ben, shot all the footage. We’re a tight-knit group, and we’re all here to support Mira tonight. Oh, and I think in last week’s episode we highlighted some of Sam’s wonderful chocolate truffles. He runs the bakery next door.”

  Her mother’s eyes, identical to Mira’s, widened. “I remember him. Tall and dark and rather brooding?”

  Ivy laughed. “Some of the time. He wasn’t too happy about being filmed that day.”

  “He’s quite good-looking. Darling, a television star who makes chocolate? You should date him.”

  The bitter irony burned through Mira. Could it really be that easy? Now that she’d turned her back on the money and on the man who didn’t love her enough? And were they really going to have this conversation in the middle of her grand opening? Taking a quick peek at the rest of the room, it looked busy but not out of control. Helen had the food under control, and Hays had a group of six women eating out of his hand. Guess she had five spare minutes to finish off her family drama once and for all.

  “Seriously, Mom? Because you saw him once on television, you think Sam Lyons is an appropriate man for me, according to the terms of Grandfather’s will?”

  Hale shuffled his feet, then cleared his throat. “Your mother and I came to terms a few years ago with the fact that we’d need to relax our standards as to the word appropriate. A man on television, artistic, talented and with his own business sounds like a good catch for our Mira.”

  “Funny you should say that,” Ivy broke in. “As a matter of fact—” She clammed up after Mira clamped her hand in a death grip on Ivy’s arm. “Ow!”

  “We’re distracting Ivy. And I certainly don’t want the person handling money distracted. Why don’t we move this conversation back to my office?” Mira suggested. No way would she let Ivy tell her parents that she’d dated Sam. It would open a Pandora’s box full of pestering. Besides which, she could barely even think his name without choking up a little. She’d deal with her parents tonight. She’d deal with losing Sam every lonely night after this one.

  Then she remembered the cramped size of her office. If her parents saw it, they might drag her out of the store. Better to finish this in the hallway. “Look, I know that lowering the criteria for my potential husband is, for you guys, quite the affectionate gesture. But I don’t buy that you’ll accept any halfway decent man. Be honest. You don’t have some Ivy League, hedge-fund broker waiting outside to meet me?”

  Elizabeth pouted in a practiced, pretty way. “Now, darling, we only want the best for you. To have a life untroubled by worry or responsibility. Does that make us such terrible parents?”

  “Of course not.” In their own, shallow way, they just wanted to hand over her trust fund. Mira squinted at her mother in suspicion. “On the other hand, I don’t hear you denying it.”

  “This is a store opening, isn’t it? Any potential shoppers are welcome? Word of mouth can really build a small business.”

  “Yes.”

  “The son of a friend of ours lives here in Chicago. When he’s not racing. He’s on the America’s Cup team. I think. Greyson races some sort of boat, anyway. We had dinner with him in Monte Carlo and he’s a perfectly delightful man. He knows oh so many people here in town, and he promised to tell all his friends about your little store. If you’re willing, he’d like to take you out for drinks later. To celebrate your big night.” Elizabeth pointed at a tall, super-tan man flirting with Helen’s daughter. “He’s right over there.”

  Wow. Sooo many things wrong with that offer, even when made out of love. Mira didn’t want to be set up. She definitely didn’t want to be set up with a man who “did” Monte Carlo with her parents. Or with a man who spent months at a time at sea somewhere. She especially didn’t want to be set up with a man who looked to be her own age, but found it acceptable to flirt with a college sophomore. Last of all, she didn’t want to be set up with anyone because she loved Sam. Even knowing he didn’t love her enough to take a chance on a life with her, she still loved him wholeheartedly. This was the moment of truth. Her chance to lay down the law to her parents. Mira clasped the butterfly pendant at her neck for moral support.

  “Thank you for taking the time to flush out a potential suitor. Look, you’re welcome to browse the store, but you are no longer allowed to browse for potential husbands. Love will always be more important to me than money. I’ll find my own man, the right man for me, in my own time.”

  They both blinked at her, like a pair of sleepy owls. “It would be nice if we could believe that,” Hale said.

  “Much like the facial, the offer for Greyson will still be on the table if you change your mind. Even after we leave. We’ll give him your number. Just think about it, darling. How on earth are you going to find a man cooped up in here all day? Shopkeeper isn’t a particularly alluring profession.”

  She’d said her piece. Whether or not they accepted it was out of her hands. Mira looked at her watch. Almost time for Ivy’s big speech. “I can’t believe you came all the way to Chicago for the opening. Thank you.” Because even with the jabs, she knew it meant a lot that they were here. The equivalent to normal parents driving a kid to college, or going to a track meet. Mira sincerely doubted her parents even knew that she’d run track in high school.

  “Well, we went to New York earlier this week for th
e opening gala at the Metropolitan Opera. Turandot. Beautifully sung, and with exquisite costumes. As long as we were in the States, it would’ve felt selfish not to come see you.”

  They’d never win a parent of the year award. Or even parent of the century. Not even back in that century when parents sacrificed up their thirteen-year-old virgin daughters to volcano gods. But they were here. Mira put that in the win column, kissed them both again and walked back into the party.

  * * *

  “Helen, if you stay another minute, I’m firing you. Your family’s waiting to take you out. Go.” Sam watched through a tiny crack in the connecting door as Mira toed off her shoes. She probably needed a foot rub right about now. God, what he wouldn’t give to be able to pull her legs into his lap and start rubbing. Of course, at this point, he’d be happy if she just listened to him without slamming the door in his face.

  “You sure you don’t want to come with us? I think Noah has a tiny crush on you. He’d be over the moon if an older woman paid him some attention.”

  “Thanks, but I want to stay her for a while. Soak in all the wonderful things that happened tonight.”

  Two local news stations had carried promos at six for the store, and live stand-ups at nine. He’d watched them all, thrilled for her. Hungrily staring at the television screen for every second of her poised interviews. Every customer that came out raved about the place. By morning it would be the hottest new boutique in Chicago. All of Mira’s hard work paid off, and turned the tide against the previous bad press.

  “Including your parents’ appearance?”

  Sam almost fell through the door in shock. The Parrishes came to support Mira?

  “Surprisingly, yes. You were right to invite them. This time. But don’t go adding them to the store’s mailing list or anything.”

  “You got it.” Helen gave her a big hug. “A Fine Romance might have started out as Ivy’s, but now it is all you. It sparkles like a ten-carat, cushion-cut diamond because of you. Be proud.” Hefting an insulated food carrier off the counter, Helen headed out the door. Mira locked it behind her. She took a few steps forward.

  “Well, it’s just you and me now.” Slowly she walked from the front of the store, trailing her hand over each display case like a coach patting the asses of the defensive squad after a good game. After a detour to grab a sparkly tiara from beneath the counter, she stopped at the kitchen area and sank onto a stool. Lower lip trembling, her head began to droop toward the tiara in her lap. Sam guessed she was about one good sigh away from bursting into tears. It was now or never.

  Holding a doily covered silver tray in both hands, he kicked the door open. Probably a lot harder than necessary. It slammed against the wall and jolted Mira upright.

  “Sam?”

  “You told me not to come to the opening.” He spoke in a rush, worried she’d cut him off before he got it all out. “I stayed away all night. But now that it’s over, we need to straighten out a few things.”

  She shook her head from side to side, giving a clear keep-away signal before speaking. “I’m exhausted. Can it wait?”

  “No. It really can’t.” Sam refused to be waved off before saying his piece. “I can’t take the chance that you’re miserable for another second because of me.”

  “Too late.”

  “Hear me out. Five minutes?”

  Mira nodded. Or did a head bob from sheer exhaustion. It was all the green light he needed. “I talked to my mother.”

  “There’s a shock. The phone line between you two’s a second umbilical cord.”

  Okay. He’d expected her to be a little pissed, to not make this easy for him. “I asked her if she missed Dad taking care of her.”

  “Interesting.”

  Illuminating was more like it. Swiped his feet right out from underneath him. “She laughed in my face. Said that she was the one who’d worn the pants in the family. She’d taken care of him from day one. And as much as she missed him, it had actually been a little bit of a relief to only have to worry about herself.”

  “Is this when you informed her that you’ve actually taken over this caretaker position?”

  “I tried. Mom just laughed even harder. When she finally caught her breath, she said that ever since she got out of the hospital, she’d been letting me take care of her. Thought it was part of my grieving process for Dad.”

  She focused on the tiara, slowly running her finger over each rounded point. “How’d that feel?”

  “Like a slap in the face. Like I’m Han Solo in Empire Strikes Back, frozen in a block of carbonite for the past year.” Like he’d missed the exit he was supposed to take on the road of life, and was now stuck going nowhere. “So I let it all out. I told her about my dream of being a gourmet chocolatier, the expansion and the Fancy Food show.”

  “That’s a lot of sharing. You must be worn out.”

  Another direct hit. Sam absorbed the blow. If it meant she’d keep listening to him, he could take it. “As you predicted, Mom wouldn’t let me give up my dreams for her sake.”

  “I do like to know I’m right. Thanks for telling me.”

  “I know I deserve all these little digs, but would you please be quiet? I’m getting to the good part.”

  She ran an imaginary zipper across her lips. Smart-ass. God, he loved that about her.

  “I couldn’t see the forest for the trees. The solution was right in front of me all along. The juvenile work-release program’s been going great. We called the head case worker, and he’s going to assign us more kids. Javon’s going to play a much bigger role in the bakery. He just passed his GED, so he was about to leave the program anyway. We’re hiring him full-time, and Isaiah part-time. The store doesn’t have to be run by just the Lyons family. We can create an extended family by nurturing these boys who have nothing.”

  Mira raised her hand. She still annoyed him without even trying. “What?”

  “I think that is a beautiful idea. Generous and life-changing and wonderful. I bet your dad would approve.”

  “Thanks. That’s what Mom said. Right before she pulled up the exhibitor registration form on the computer and made me fill it out on the spot. I’m in. I’m going to the Fancy Food show, and I’m starting my own chocolate line.”

  The corners of her lips lifted. Not a full-blown smile, but into soft approval. “That’s really great, Sam.”

  “I realized that I couldn’t give up on my dreams after urging you to follow yours. What kind of a hypocritical idiot would that make me?” Gib and Ben had certainly helped him to realize just how much he was on the brink of throwing away. Good thing he’d come to that conclusion before having Dr. Rubin chip away at his wallet for a few weeks. “We’re both on the same path, and I want us to walk it together.”

  And the lips curved right back down. “No.”

  “Mira, haven’t you heard me?” Wait, he knew what the problem was. He owed her a wheelbarrow full of groveling. Gib and Ben told him that she’d been crying all night. It made Sam sick that he’d been the reason. “I’m sorry. I was an idiot. I thought I was being selfless, but I was actually being a self-centered fool. Give me another chance, and I’ll apologize every day until my hair turns gray. You can remind me three times a day of how stupid I was. I’ll even set an alarm to remind you.”

  She slid off the stool and looked to be about two seconds from walking away. “It’s too late. You can’t decide to run after me just because your mom released you from your dad’s imaginary onus. I won’t be your consolation prize.”

  For such a smart woman, Mira really wasn’t connecting the dots. “You’re missing the point completely. I opened up this whole can of worms with my mother because I already missed you so much that I could barely breathe. I talked to her so that she could help me find my way back to you.”

  “Oh.” She fell back
onto the stool, as if her legs simply wouldn’t hold her up anymore.

  “Here.” He picked up the tray and presented it to her. This was his last, best shot to make her change her mind and stay with him. Forever. “I made this for you. Just for you. It’s a brand-new flavor I’ve created. I call it Fiery Love. Dark chocolate, because that’s your favorite, with a little heat from chile pepper and Chambord. Try it. A small bite,” he cautioned.

  Her face giving away nothing, Mira nibbled at the edge. She scraped it against her teeth and wrinkled her nose. Licking her thumb, she looked down at the remaining half truffle. A gold semicircle peeked out of the middle of the brown, creamy ganache.

  “It’s delicious.” Carefully she reversed the truffle and, hanging on to the ring, sucked off the rest of the chocolate. “Sam, this is a diamond ring.”

  He grabbed it, cleaned it off with a napkin left over from the party until the burnished gold leaves surrounding the stone shone. “Not just any diamond. My father gave this to my mother as an engagement ring. When I told her that I’d do anything to show you how much you mean to me, she told me to use this. Thought it might prove that you are absolutely the most important woman in my life.”

  Mira hitched in a shaky breath. “Kathleen is a very smart woman.”

  “So are you. You’re crazy smart. You can finish an entire Sudoku while you’re brushing your teeth.” Singing her praises came easy. There was so much he loved about her. “Mira, you totally get my passion for chocolate. You don’t let anything get in the way of your goals. You bounce back faster than a Super Ball. You’re thoughtful and loyal and funny and so beautiful I practically drool every time I look at you, and—”

  “Sam, stop.”

  “I can’t. I can’t stop until I convince you to marry me, and be the sweetness in my heart forever. Say you love me,” he begged, because right now, he wasn’t above begging. He’d crawl on his knees over broken glass to hear those words come out of her lips.