“What looks good to you, Ms. Townsend?” Tina asked.
“Everything looks good, Tina. It always does.” Berry scanned the contents of the case. “I think the young master here will have a small scoop of chocolate in a dish. I’ll have the maple pecan.” She turned to Wade. “And for you, dear?”
“I’ll go with the chocolate.”
After they’d been served and Wade was at the cash register, he asked, “Is Steffie around?”
“She’s tied up right now,” Tina replied without looking up from the register. “Did you need to speak with her?”
“Just wanted to say hi.”
“I’ll let her know.” Tina handed Wade his change with a smile.
“Thanks.”
Odd, he thought, when he stopped in the following afternoon, that she was still tied up. He made sure to include Olive Street on his nightly run, but there were no lights on in Stef’s house. Odder still, she was not available the following day when he took Cody and Austin for ice cream.
“Is Stef in?” he asked Claire.
“She’s in but she doesn’t want to be disturbed,” Claire told him.
“Could you just tell her that Wade was asking for her?”
“Sure.” Claire smiled.
She was busy again on Thursday when he called and left a message, and she wasn’t around Friday after dinner, either. Too busy to return a call? Too busy to stick her head out the door and just say hi? What the hell?
He almost caught up with her on Saturday. He was in the kitchen giving Austin lunch when he looked out the window and saw her talking to one of the caterers. He watched as several of the young guys on the crew helped her unload coolers from the back of her car and place them into one of the portable freezers on two of their trucks. He wanted to run out to catch her before she left, but by the time Austin had finished eating, she was gone.
It wasn’t until he was getting dressed for the party that it occurred to him that she was avoiding him. He tried to dismiss the thought, but it wouldn’t leave. Why would she be annoyed with him? It wasn’t as if he …
He paused, thinking back to the previous Saturday night. Forgetting for a moment that he was acutely aware that he hadn’t seen Steffie since he’d closed the car door and watched her drive away that night, he went over the scene in the parking lot. The chitchat. The embrace. The kissing before his conscience got the best of him and reminded him not to start something he wasn’t going to be around to finish. What, he wondered as he looked out the window and saw the first of Dallas’s guests arrive, had been wrong with that?
Steffie could hear the band from the street, and it was really rocking. She wondered what the neighbors must be thinking. But of course most of the neighbors had known Dallas since she was a girl and were probably all partying just as she would be in another moment or two.
It was so odd, she thought as she passed through security, to see so many people standing around outside Berry’s fence on River Road, many with cameras trying to catch a glimpse of this actor or that actress. A well-known entertainment-show hostess interviewing the arrivals apparently thought that Steffie was “somebody,” as she’d momentarily attempted to interview her before realizing the mistake. The crowd of locals had booed when the microphone was turned from Stef to a famous director who was just alighting from his limo.
Times like this served as a reminder that, as much as Dallas fit into St. Dennis, she was one of them only because she chose to be.
The first person Stef recognized when she walked down to the tent was Grace.
“Hi, Miss Grace.” Steffie waved. “Are you here as a friend of the family or as a reporter for your paper?”
“Both.” She leaned toward Steffie and confided, “Dallas left word at the door that I was to be allowed to bring in my camera. I don’t believe anyone else is being permitted.”
“I think you may be right. Dallas didn’t want a lot of candid shots popping up on the Internet. I know Grant has his camera because he’s asked me to take a picture when he asks Dallas to—” Steffie tried to stop herself from letting the cat out of the bag, but it was already too late. She tried to cover by adding, “When he surprises Dallas with a special gift.”
But Grace was having none of it.
“Oh, my, is Grant thinking about proposing tonight?”
“I could just shoot myself,” Steffie mumbled.
“No, no, dear. Not to worry. I won’t say anything.” Grace laughed.
“Thank you, Miss Grace. Grant would just kill me if he got word of this.” Steffie gave Grace’s arm an affectionate squeeze.
“Oh, I’ve kept more secrets for more people in this town than anyone could ever imagine,” Grace said.
“Well, then, we just added one more.” Steffie took two glasses of champagne from a passing tray and handed one to Grace. “Here’s to the keeper of the secrets.”
“I’ll have just a sip to accept the honor.” Grace barely touched her lips to the rim of the glass. “I need to stay sharp to get lots of good shots tonight.”
“I’m sure you will.” Steffie glanced around the crowd that milled about the lawn and under the one big tent that the caterer opted for instead of the several smaller tents they’d originally planned on having. At the last minute, a tent they felt would be large enough to hold the entire group was found to be available from another caterer in Annapolis and was borrowed for the occasion.
“It certainly is festive, isn’t it?” Grace nodded to the scene under the tent, where the band was playing, a few couples were dancing, and dozens of round tables for ten were draped in brown cloths and decked with flowers in shades of purple and orange and touches of red. “It’s just beautiful. I think Olivia has outdone herself with the flowers. I’ll have to seek her out and compliment her on her work.”
“She always does beautiful work. I love to walk past her shop and just look in the windows and at the displays out front. It always picks up my spirits.”
“Oh, look, there are Vanessa and Grady. Don’t they make a stunning couple?” Grace pointed them out in the crowd.
“They do,” Steffie agreed.
“I must say, though, that you look quite stunning, too, dear. That shade of green is so lovely with your coloring.”
“Thank you.” Steffie pushed back the shrug she was wearing to show off the thin straps of the dress. “I bought this from Vanessa’s shop, but I wasn’t thinking about how cool it would be tonight, so I had to add the shrug. I hate to cover up the top of the dress because it’s so pretty, but I hated the thought of shivering all night even more.” Steffie continued to scan the crowd from her vantage point near the house. “There’s Barbara.” She noticed the bookseller in the crowd. “I know she was looking forward to this. She said she came to a lot of garden parties here when Berry was younger.”
“Oh, yes, I remember. Berry was quite the social butterfly back then.” Grace nodded. “She was every bit the hostess. Back in the day, it wasn’t at all unusual to have Hollywood types about. Speaking of which, isn’t that Cindy Sims, the actress?”
“Where?” Stef squinted. “Oh, over there near the tent. Yes, that’s her. Everyone says she’s the next big thing.”
“She’s lovely, and she’s talented. I saw her in something not too long ago, and I said to myself—”
“Hey, kiddo. Glad you could make it.” Grant appeared through the crowd in the tent and hugged his sister and planted a kiss on both her cheek and Grace’s. “And you’re looking lovely, Miss Grace.”
“Thank you, Grant. You look quite handsome this evening.”
Grant laughed. “Wait till you see Berry. And Dallas.”
“Beauty definitely runs in the family,” Grace told him.
“Gee, Grant, this is pretty heady company you’re keeping these days. I see movie stars, directors, producers …” Steffie looked around the tent. “And half the guests haven’t arrived yet.”
“I know, it’s crazy, right?” He shook his head. “All friends of Dalla
s’s.”
“But I see friends of yours, as well,” Grace pointed out. “I see the Madisons are all here. Brooke, Clay, their mother …”
“Oh, yeah. Dallas couldn’t have a party without her St. Dennis buddies.”
“Steffie.” Grace grabbed Stef’s arm, “Isn’t that Victoria Seymour, the writer? The author of Pretty Maids, the book that Dallas is making into a movie?”
“I don’t know what she looks like, so it could be.” Steffie turned to Grant. “Do you know?”
“I think it might be.” He watched Berry approach the woman with both arms out in welcome. “I know Berry’s been talking with her on the phone on and off for the past couple of weeks and they’ve been looking forward to meeting each other since Berry’s going to be playing one of the leads in Pretty Maids.”
“And that would be Laura Fielding joining them,” Grace noted. “She’s to play the role of Charlotte, Dallas said. It’s so exciting to see the three of them there together. Oh, and there’s Dallas, joining them. I must see if I can get a picture. If you’ll excuse me …” Grace sped off.
“Dallas looks gorgeous, as always.” Steffie watched Dallas glide across the lawn in a beautiful deep plum dress.
“She is the most beautiful woman on the planet.” Grant was clearly still mesmerized.
“So are you all ready to get down on one knee and propose in front of all these people?” Steffie teased, thinking that would be the last thing her brother would ever do.
He shocked her by nodding solemnly.
“Get out.” She laughed. “You’d never … Grant? Really?”
“Really.” He nodded. “I started thinking about what you said the other day, about giving Dallas something that no one else could. And I talked to Mom about Nana’s ring and she thought it was perfect. Then I was thinking about how much Dallas loves a little bit of drama.”
Steffie rolled her eyes. “Duh. Actress?”
Grant smiled. “So after she’s finished welcoming everyone, and Brooke brings in the cupcakes and we sing ‘Happy Birthday,’ I thought that would be the time.”
Steffie’s eyes misted. “I never thought of you as a romantic soul, but I have to hand it to you. That’s just beautiful.”
“Unless, you know, she says no …” Grant’s voice trailed off.
“You are just so …” She gave him an affectionate whack on the arm and he laughed. “Dallas isn’t going to say no. She loves you. God knows why but she does.”
“I know. I can’t believe it either.”
“And how great was it that Krista let Paige come for the long weekend?” Steffie pointed out Grant’s teenage daughter, who was walking across the lawn with Cody and Austin.
“I really am grateful to my ex-wife for that,” Grant said. “Paige is delighted that Dallas is going to be her stepmother and that Cody will be her brother.”
“I don’t imagine having a movie star as your stepmother damages your social standing,” Stef observed.
“Probably not.” Grant watched his daughter for a moment, then turned to Stef and asked, “So what’s with you and Wade?”
“What are you talking about?” Steffie frowned. “There’s nothing with me and Wade.”
“That’s what I mean. What’s going on?”
“Nothing.” She felt her voice rise slightly in defense, and tried to tone it down. “We’re friends.”
“Friends return friends’ phone calls.”
“I’ve been busy. I had a boatload of ice cream to make for tonight and another boatload to make for the Halloween thing in a couple of weeks. There are only so many hours in the day.” She folded her arms across her chest. “Besides, Wade’s a jerk.”
“I think you need to have that conversation with him.” Grant lowered his voice. “And it looks as if you’re going to be able to do exactly that in about twenty seconds. Since I have enough to deal with tonight, I’m just going to fade away and see if I can catch up with Paige.”
“Coward,” she said from the corner of her mouth.
“Damn straight.” Grant snagged a glass of beer from a waiter and took off in search of his daughter.
Steffie took a sip of champagne and tried to keep her temper in check. For two cents, she’d have let it rip, but this was an important social event not only for Dallas, but for Grant as well, and the last thing she’d ever want to do would be to embarrass them. Still, it took most of her control.
“Hey, Stef.” Wade came up behind her and she turned to him. “You look … you look … beautiful.” He stared at her for a moment, then frowned. “And pissed off.”
“Oh, gosh,” she deadpanned. “What on earth could I be pissed off about?”
“I don’t know. I’m the one who’s gotten the brush-off this week. I’ve called you, left messages, stopped in. Haven’t heard a word from you.”
“And you can’t figure out why?”
He shook his head. “No, I can’t.”
“Perhaps it has something to do with a little bit of information that you neglected to share.”
Several people walking by turned to look at the two of them. Wade took Steffie by the hand and said, “Let’s move this out of the entrance to the tent, shall we? No need to—”
“No need to tell me that you were leaving the day after tomorrow for a job up north someplace and you weren’t coming back?”
“I was going to tell you—”
“When? When you got there and got settled?” She shook her hand from his. “When you came home for Christmas?”
“When you returned my phone call from Wednesday. Or Thursday. Or Friday. Oh, that’s right.” He snapped his fingers. “You didn’t call back any of those times.”
“I didn’t see any reason to, after you left me hot and bothered in the parking lot last Saturday night. Which was, I might add, the second time you’ve done that to me.” Her eyes all but shot fire. “Well, you know what they say: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice …”
“Stef, I wasn’t trying to—”
“Your loss, buster. You would have gotten lucky.” She pushed him away and started past him. “It would have been a night you’d never forget.”
“Stef, I was only trying to—”
“To what? Screw up the local girl? Again?”
“That’s exactly what I was trying to avoid. Look, I know what happens every time you and I get too close.” He reached out and tried to take her arm, but she pulled away. “You know it, too. Knowing that I was going to be moving away, I just thought I should …” He paused.
“You thought you should what?” Her eyes narrowed. The tone of her voice all but dared him to continue.
“I just thought I should … back off. Protect you,” he said. “From, you know, getting hurt because I was leaving.”
“Oh, wait. Let me get this straight. You were protecting me because if we’d gotten involved, I would have gotten hurt.”
Wade nodded and almost looked relieved for a moment, but the moment didn’t last.
“You are the biggest ass I have ever known in my life.” Her voice rose. “How dare you presume to make that choice for me?”
Before he could respond, she went on. “And what makes you think I can’t protect myself? Do you really think I’m so helpless and so stupid that I can’t take care of myself when it comes to you?”
Wade appeared stunned.
“Say something,” she demanded.
“I … I’m sorry,” he started, but she cut him off.
“For insulting me?”
“For … whatever it was …” He ran his fingers through his hair, a look of sheer confusion on his face. “Stef, I never meant to … to do any of those things I’ve obviously done. It just seems like I’m always leaving you, Stef.”
“You are always leaving, Wade,” she shot back. “You’ve been leaving since you were eighteen years old. But you always come back.”
“I’d think you’d be tired of it by now.”
“Aren’t you?” she asked.
“When I took this job, I didn’t think about coming here or leaving here. The only thought I had was that I needed a job to support Austin and me. I didn’t think about how it would be to see you, or what it would feel like to kiss you.” He tried to force a smile. “You might recall that I’ve tried to avoid kissing you for a long time.”
“My high school graduation party. I tricked you into coming out to the grape arbor with me and I made you kiss me.”
This time he did smile. “Even then I knew how hard it would be to resist you, Stef.”
“Is it?” She took a step closer to him. “Hard to resist me?”
“Gets harder all the time,” he admitted.
“Then why do you? And if you say it’s for my own good, I will kill you right where you stand.”
He hesitated, then said, “It’s because of the look.”
“The look?” she frowned. “What look?”
“The look you get on your face when you’re disappointed. I keep seeing the look on your face the night of Beck’s wedding. You looked so crushed and so hurt … Let me finish. You asked, so I’m going to assume you want the truth. I never wanted to see you look like that again. I never wanted you to feel like that again. I hurt you that night when I left.”
“You did hurt me that night, but I understand now why you left, and I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and say that I think you were so blindsided by your neighbor’s phone call that you wouldn’t have had time to explain the whole thing about Robin that night. I understand that you thought there was a good chance that Robin would die before you got back and I’m sure the prospect terrified you. I can accept that.”
“Thank you.”
“And I appreciate that you did tell me about Robin.”
Wade nodded.
“What I don’t appreciate is you deciding for me that I can’t handle whatever would come next. After this.” She stepped closer again, and wrapped her arms around his neck. She drew his face to hers and kissed him on the mouth. He seemed to hesitate for the briefest moment before his arms tightened around her.
She pulled back from him and looked into his eyes. “Because I can handle it, Wade. I can handle going wherever this leads. Can you?”
The Chesapeake Diaries Series 7-Book Bundle: Coming HOme, Home Again, Almost Home, Hometown Girl, Home for the Summer, The Long Way Home, At the River's Edge Page 84