by Beth Andrews
Josie sighed. “A few weeks isn’t so bad, plus Dr. Marshall promises that I can get back to a normal routine soon. I remember when I was young, time seemed to slow to a standstill at Christmas. Turns out, the same time distortion happens when you’re pregnant.”
“Can I do anything to help?” Maeve asked. Josie seemed down today, and though they hadn’t been friends for long, that wasn’t the norm. “I mean it, tell me what would make it easier on you.”
“Don’t look so worried. I’m fine. It’s just one of my feeling-as-big-as-a-house days. You’ve distracted me. I’m going to imagine the wedding, and finish my present for Benjamin.” She held up a crocheted blanket. “I want to finish the hat. It looks like an owl when it’s all done. And there’re booties, but those go very quick. When they’re done, would you take them to Sophie?”
Maeve looked forward to having an excuse to go see the baby. “I would be happy to.” She stood. “I’ve got to get going or I’ll be late.”
“One more thing before you go?”
Maeve nodded. “Yes?”
“You told me everything about the wedding...everything except the fact that you kissed two men.”
Maeve sank back down on the couch and looked at Josie whose expression seemed innocent, although a sparkle danced in her eyes. She was new to town. How could she be part of the Valley Ridge grapevine already? “Seriously, you heard about that? How?”
“Well, JoAnn and I hit it off at the library and she stopped by after the wedding to check on me, and she might have mentioned it.”
Maeve sighed. “Really. It’s ridiculous how things get blown out of proportion around here. I did kiss two men. A peck on the cheek for both Aaron, who’d asked me to dance, and one for Dylan who is doing me a favor.”
Both statements were true. Not mentioning that Aaron had kissed her afterward wasn’t a lie, it was an omission.
Josie was silent, waiting, her focus on Maeve.
Maeve threw in the towel and admitted defeat. “You are going to be such a great mother when Carl and this new baby get bigger. You can holler with just your eyes.”
Josie still didn’t say anything.
“Fine.” She wasn’t used to someone taking such an interest in her goings-on, much less insisting she talk about them. “So, Aaron kissed me after I kissed his cheek. Then we got in a fight.”
“Did you fight because you didn’t want him to kiss you?”
“Yes. No. Well, maybe, but it turns out, Aaron’s married.”
Josie didn’t say anything, but her mom-look gave way to a murderous look that didn’t bode well for Aaron Holder.
“It’s fine,” Maeve added hastily. She had no clue why she was protecting him. “He said he wasn’t ‘precisely’ married. I’m not sure what that means. It struck me as one of those black or white issues. You are or you aren’t. Anyway, I let him know in no uncertain terms that I don’t date, much less kiss, married men.”
She’d tried to think of any and all excuses for Aaron as she tossed and turned last night. Maybe he’d married someone to get them a green card. Maybe he’d married someone who went into witness protection and now he couldn’t get a hold of them to get the divorce papers signed. Maybe he’d married someone after a drunken night in Vegas and didn’t know who they were in order to divorce them. Maybe...
She wanted a logical explanation, but nothing felt plausible.
“Did you ask him to explain?” Josie asked.
“No. Sophie went into labor, and then...” Maeve shrugged. “There was really nothing left to say after that.”
Josie took Maeve’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. Someday I’ll find my someone. I know what love should look like, and Aaron wasn’t it.”
“You’re sure? I’ve seen you two together and I thought there was potential there.”
“I’m positive.” If she was honest, she had thought that maybe they had something special, but that was squelched the second he’d told her he was married. “I’ve got to run. But if you need anything today, you text me. I can be here quickly.”
“Thank you.” Before Maeve got up, Josie hugged her. Josie’s huge stomach pressed against Maeve’s and she felt the baby kick.
Josie pulled back from the hug. “He’s going to be a gymnast, I swear. Do you want to feel?”
She’d never actually felt a pregnant woman’s stomach. It always felt like a cheeky request. Maeve nodded, and let Josie guide her hand to a spot. She felt a series of kicks or moves. “Wow.”
“I know. When they first start moving, it’s amazing. But at this point in the pregnancy, I want him or her to settle down. I’m pretty sure he’s bruised a rib.”
“That’s awesome. Not that he bruised a rib, but the whole baby thing.” Someday, she’d like kids, but maybe it wasn’t in the cards. Maybe she’d stay in Valley Ridge and express her maternal urges toward the kids who came to the library.
She looked at the clock on the other wall of the RV. “I really have to go. But I’ll stop back in and see you tonight. And, Josie, thanks for being on my side.”
“We’re friends. Even after Boyd and I leave, you and I will be friends. I’ll always be on your side. And Aaron Holder better watch out.”
Maeve felt warm in the glow of Josie’s friendship.
If Josie got her hands on Aaron, he was in real trouble. That shouldn’t make her feel better, but strangely enough, it did.
* * *
AARON WAS IN real trouble. He’d brought five dozen doughnuts to the Culpepper house thinking it would be plenty, but as he looked around at the number of people who’d come to help Maeve, he didn’t think it would be enough. The house was alive with the sound of hammers, a circular saw that Finn had brought in and the hum of conversation.
This house that had sat vacant for so long was suddenly alive. He wanted to find Maeve, stand by her side and savor the feeling.
And Maeve was at the house. But standing by her side wasn’t in the cards because she was anywhere but where he was.
Everyone was buzzing about Sophie and Colton’s new son. He knew without asking that the boy was named Benjamin Sturgis—two family names. He knew the baby was twenty-one and a half inches long, and weighed eight pounds and ten ounces.
He also knew that was a huge baby for someone as petite as Sophie to deliver.
Aaron knew all this without asking because every other person working in the house wanted to know if he’d heard about the baby, then, even after he assured them that he had, they would give him all the details again.
The fact that seemed to delight everyone the most was that the baby was born at 11:59 p.m., which meant that he was born on the same day Lily and Sebastian got married.
Aaron heard from more than one person how special that was because Sophie and Colton shared an anniversary with Mattie and Finn, and now their baby shared a birthday with Lily and Finn’s anniversary.
He started taking down the dining room chandelier, which would have looked totally at home in some ’70s disco.
“Those three couples seemed destined to be tied together,” Stan, the former mayor, told him. “They all fell in love at Sophie and Colton’s first almost-wedding. It was destiny.”
It was on the tip of Aaron’s tongue to call the retired mayor a romantic, like he’d called Maeve, but before he could, Stan said, “Yeah, I know how I sound. I blame Maeve. I joined the girls’ romance book club at the library. Oh, hell, don’t tell them I called them girls. Women. I meant women. Anyway, they’ve got me hooked on HEAs.”
“HEAs?” He unscrewed the bulbs and handed them down to Stan.
Stan nodded. “HEA, short for happily-ever-after. It’s a must in a romance. There’s something nice about reading a book and knowing you’ll be happy at the end.”
“You read roman
ce?” Aaron couldn’t imagine admitting that he read romance in public. He’d like to think he was secure in his masculinity but there were limits.
He eyed the metal cover that hid the chandelier’s wire and began to unscrew it.
The older man laughed. “Yes. And while you might scoff, I’ve learned a lot about how women think. And what they think about it. My first wife, bless her soul, would have loved the fact that I read them. Romance is a genre most men run scared from, so the meetings are all women. All women and me. I either learned enough from reading, or improved my odds enough that I’m dating again. Well, dating is a strong word. We’re neither one in a place for that. Keeping company is a better description.”
Aaron had heard that Stan had gone out with Vera, Lily’s mother, once or twice. “Congratulations.”
“I only mention it because maybe you could learn a thing or two about women if you read a romance or two. After that kiss, then the fight with Maeve, you could use some help. That girl has a bit of a temper, and more than that, she has a streak of pride that’s a mile wide.”
“How did you—”
The retired mayor shook his head. “Well, last night, most everyone at the reception saw you kiss Maeve. And most noticed the fight after. Right now, you’re in the calm before the storm because they’re all focused on the new baby. But you can bet that they’ll come back around to you and Maeve in a day or two.”
Aaron handed the rest of the fixture down to Stan. The power was still off to the living room and dining room, but to be on the safe side, he used the voltage meter to test before he began to disconnect the wires. “I live in Orlando and it’s nothing like this.”
“Florida is full of transient residents. Snowbirds, vacationers. This is Valley Ridge and the people who are here are here for the long haul. We were born here. We went to school here. We work and farm here. We’re lifers. And Maeve’s one of our own. We care about her and we’re watching you.”
What had started like a friendly conversation was ending like a mafia movie. Aaron realized that he was being warned. “I’ll keep that in mind, sir.”
“You do that, boy.” Then the romance-reading former mayor smacked Aaron’s back and went off to spackle the drywall in the master bedroom.
Someone else smacked his back as he stared after Stan. Aaron turned and found Finn Wallace grinning at him. “So, the mayor gave you the I’ve-got-my-eyes-on-you line?”
“It was more like he warned me that the entire town has their eyes on me.” Aaron suddenly felt very vulnerable here at the house, where people wandered in to work then left. Most checked in with him, but now he felt they were checking him out, as well.
“We’ll he’s not wrong,” Finn said slowly. “We all saw the kiss and then the fight.”
Aaron felt as if he needed to explain. “I—”
Finn held up a hand. “No, don’t tell me. Really, I might have been born here, but I spent a lot of years in Buffalo. I had a condo there. I could recognize my nearest neighbors to wave at them, but I didn’t know any of their names, and I certainly didn’t know, or care, about who they kissed or fought with. But I’m not in Buffalo and neither are you—”
“Florida,” Aaron corrected. “I’m not in Florida.” Florida—the sunshine state. Where his lanai sat unused. It was snowing again today in Valley Ridge. He was pretty sure it wasn’t snowing in Florida.
“Florida. And here in Valley Ridge, people do care. It’s the blessing and the curse of a small town. And everyone in town cares about Maeve.”
Before Aaron could think of anything to say to that, Finn added, “Make it right. Say you’re sorry or whatever you need to say, but make it right. I know that not every woman’s as simple to understand as Mattie is...well, Mattie didn’t always seem simple.”
“But she is now?” Aaron asked. He grew up in a house full of women, and he’d never found any of them to be simple.
Finn got a weird smile. “Yes. Take Christmas for instance. Some men worry about buying jewelry or other stuff. You know what one of my presents is for Mattie? I guarantee, no matter what else I give her, it will be her favorite.”
“What?” Aaron still had his family to shop for and he’d take any hints for gifts he could get.
“The Sunday paper,” Finn said. “I can’t promise every Sunday, because some days I’m on call, but when I’m home, I am giving her a year of Sundays hiding out in the bedroom with a carafe of coffee and the paper before church. I will feed the rabble and get them dressed for church. And unless you’ve ever tried to herd cats, you can’t imagine what that entails.”
“And that’ll be her favorite present?” Aaron wasn’t sure any of the women in his family would think that was the best present ever.
Finn didn’t look the least bit worried. “I guarantee it. But what I’m trying to say is, talk to Maeve, listen to what she says, and maybe even more importantly, listen to what she doesn’t say. Pay attention. Women like that.”
With that sage advice, Finn pushed his glasses up on his nose and walked away humming Waltzing Mathilda, if Aaron wasn’t mistaken.
He’d barely recovered from Finn’s conversation and was eyeing the chandelier wires when Maeve’s mother came up to him and shoved a finger in his chest. “You.”
“Me?” He tried to sound as if he had no idea why Renie was you-ing, but he knew.
She shook her head. “I know everyone else in town is caught up in the baby news, but I’m not everyone. I am Maeve’s mother.” Renie took a deep breath as if to calm herself. “Now, I know Maeve is an adult and she wouldn’t welcome my interfering, so I’m not going to interfere, and if she asks you, I’d appreciate you telling her that I didn’t interfere. But I’m going to say this. If you hurt her...” She didn’t say any more. She just gave him a fierce look.
Well, he knew it was supposed to be fierce. But as much as Maeve had the temper of a stereotypical redhead, her mother didn’t. He didn’t think Renie Lorei had a fierce bone in her body. But he knew that was the look she intended, and so he tried to look sufficiently cowed and nodded.
Then, as if to emphasize how un-fierce she was, she kissed his cheek. “I’m sorry I had to get tough with you. Now, I’m going to go wallpaper the bathroom.”
I know everyone’s talking about the baby, but...
If Aaron heard that phrase, or a variation of that phrase, once, he heard it a hundred times during the course of the day. According to everyone, they’d all witnessed the kiss and the fight. The fight that had grown to epic proportions by some people’s accounts.
Aaron had been offered motherly advice.
Aaron had been offered friendly advice.
Aaron had been offered guy advice.
Aaron had been offered a woman’s perspective.
And more than once, Aaron had received Godfather-esque warnings.
What it came down to was that Maeve Buchanan was part of this town. Probably more a part of it than she realized. And the townspeople took a real interest in her well-being.
He wished he could talk to her and try to explain, but not only was she avoiding him, there was no way he was opening himself up to even more gossip by having that discussion in public.
He ordered in pizzas from North East Pizza for lunch, but couldn’t bring himself to eat with everyone.
Instead, he carried garbage bags from the back porch to the Dumpster.
On his second trip, he felt something whack his shin. “What the—” He cut off the expletive and turned to see who was there to read him the riot act this time.
Tori, wearing jeans and a T-shirt that announced CSA: America’s Farming Future, glared at him.
He knew why she was there, but in the hopes of staving off yet another lecture, he tried, “Isn’t it too cold to be out here in only a T-shirt? I know I’m from Florida and you all think I have thin
blood, but seriously, I don’t think it’s even hit thirty today. You’re going to catch a cold.”
“Colds are caused by viruses, not by being out in a T-shirt in cold weather. Plus, it’s a long-sleeved T-shirt.”
“What’s CSA stand for?” he asked, feeling encouraged. She hadn’t started her lecture yet, maybe she’d forget.
“Community Supported Agriculture, though I’ve heard it called Community Sustained, too.” She didn’t miss a beat as she said, “I might be a kid, but I know what you’re doing and I’m not falling for it. What did you do to Maeve?”
“If you know what I’m doing, why would you ask? Because if I’m avoiding your third degree, like you think I am, there’s no way I’m going to answer. I’ll try to deflect your rather impertinent question. You’re a child. I’m an adult. Maeve’s an adult. We’ve got it handled.”
She stamped her foot, acting her age for the first time since he’d met her. “Aaron, you and I both know there’s no deflecting me. Ask my parents what happened when they tried to keep me from finding out about my birth mother. So, I’ll ask again, what did you do?”
“I threw some garbage into the Dumpster,” he said, playing obtuse.
She took a deep breath and seemed to be counting. Then she slowly said, “No, last night at the wedding. I saw the kiss and then...” She didn’t go into detail, but she kicked him again. “What did you do?”
“Listen, I appreciate the fact that you care about Maeve—that the whole town cares about Maeve. But I’m not explaining myself to you.” He’d have liked to believe he was saying that because he didn’t owe Tori any details, but the truth of it was, he just didn’t like those details.
Tori gave him a look that was far fiercer than Renie could ever have managed.
He didn’t respond.
Her eyes darted from him to some point beyond him.
“Tori?”
He turned and saw what she was looking at. Who she was looking at.
Maeve.
“What is going on? Why did you kick Aaron?” Maeve seemed annoyed and she was far more intimidating than Tori.