The fact that her grandmother lived here had made he destination an easy choice, but even with the intention of finding a place to call home, she had been off track, she realized, now.
Meeting J.T. had taught her that. He had returned home…and still, something was missing in his life.
And now, she knew what…thanks to him. The way her insides quivered at his nearness, she realized all she needed to feel she belonged was the love of the right man.
The man standing at her side. The man who returned to his roots, knowing he would have to fight to bury the past. The man who fixed Mr. Jensen’s house out of affection and adopted the ugliest dog she had ever seen.
She loved J.T. Knight.
Edee sucked in a shuddering breath as she realized what that admission meant. J.T. made her want to stand up for what was right. Hope filled her heart as she realized how far she had come from the life she had spent as a tumbleweed.
She reached out a trembling hand and grabbed a fist full of his shirt. It was time to tell him…
J.T.’s warm hand pressed her hand to his chest as a laughing crowd came out the door of town hall. He looked down, his eyes glittering as bright as the stars. “I want to kiss you, but the time isn’t right.”
She dropped her hand and followed the direction of his nod, using every ounce of control she possessed to hold back the urge to stomp her foot and demand why not.
Suddenly, she noticed they were standing alone. “What happened to Sam and Ellie?”
J.T. glanced back at the people on the steps and shrugged. “Committee meeting, I guess. Want to stop in the drug store for ice cream?”
Feeling cool air swish around her as he put space between them, her glance jerked to his face. What she saw there was the same pain she felt. And the shared pain eased her sense of loss at not sharing his kiss.
“I didn’t know they served ice cream.”
Taking her elbow, J.T. urged her across the street. His hand felt as hot as her face. The first of May had brought warmer temperatures, but a cool evening breeze lifted the curls around his ears.
“One of the great things about a small town, change happens slowly.”
Edee gulped as she clutched her sweater across her chest against the tug of the breeze. The cool air made her eyes bleary. Or maybe it was relief at having a chance to clear things up with J.T.
“Tell me about growing up in Redbud.”
He held the door open, and then steered her toward the low counter on the opposite wall. He didn’t say a word, except to ask what she wanted, as they waited for the woman behind the counter to take their order.
“Thanks, Colleen.”
“Do you know everyone in town?”
J.T. turned on the stool to face her, his green glance solemn, as he nodded. “Everyone knows everyone. That’s the way it is in a small town.”
“That sounds—”
“Like a pain?” J.T. lifted a questioning brow as he crossed his forearms on the counter.
Edee glanced around the store. Modern products filled the shelves, but the snack bar looked like something from the past. She turned back to face J.T. They were sitting so close, their elbows touched. She could see the various colored lights reflected in his eye. “I-I was going to say it sounds comfortable.”
He studied her for long seconds. “You ever live in a small town?”
Edee met his probing glance, feeling he was asking more. Then her gaze dropped to his twitching lips. She swallowed the lump in her throat. “I-uh-off and on.”
“And you still think it’s comfortable?”
Tearing her eyes from the twist of his lips as he grinned, she focused on the circle she was drawing on the counter with her fingernail. “Actually, I’ve never been in one town long enough to know what it felt like.”
If anything, the look in his eyes intensified as he studied her face. His glance danced over her features, before he looked deep in her eyes and spoke in a near whisper. “It was comfortable.”
Edee gulped when his low voice shimmed over her skin as if he had touched her. They were sitting in public, but after the way his eyes caressed her face, inch by slow inch, as if he had kissed her, and it left her wanting more.
The moment evaporated when the waitress put great servings of ice cream in front of them. Edee took one look at J.T.’s banana split and bent over with laughter.
Scoops of ice cream, topped by a mountain of whipped cream and cherry on top, looked large enough to serve a family. “You’re going to need help to finish that.”
She held his steady gaze and prayed he read the message in her words. Did he suspect that she was admitting she was ready to stand by his side in the future?
He sent her a grin and wagged his brows.
“Look at mine.” Edee swallowed a moment of disappointment at his lack of response and indicated the hot fudge Sunday in front of her. “My serving is large enough for two.” She glanced at the two dishes of ice cream. “Why didn’t you warn me?”
But that wasn’t what she wanted to say! She wanted to tell him they could work through anything if they worked as a team. But courage deserted her. She had shown him how she felt by her actions at the council meeting. It was up to him, now. She had to wait.
“Just checking.”
“Checking what?” She picked up a plastic spoon like a person in a daze. Ice cream was the last thing on her mind. She wanted…
“You really didn’t live in a small town very long, did you?” J.T. aimed his spoon in her direction. “I know, because small towns are the best places in the world to get good ice cream.”
The best places in the world for everything, Edee thought as her glance rested on the dot of whipped cream on his nose. Instead of giving in to a rush of dark memories from her past, she laughed. It was a sign. A message that proved she was ready to let go the past and look to the future and suddenly, that future looked bright.
“So, what else is good about living in small towns?”
J.T. concentrated on stabbing his spoon in the mound of ice cream. “Knowing the people in town.”
“I thought you would put that on the minus side.” She licked the hot fudge sauce off the back of her spoon, and thought of kissing him with the sticky sauce on her lips…
He nudged her arm with his elbow. “You’re supposed to eat that ice cream before it melts, not play in it.”
“This serving is so large.”
“So, think of how much better you’ll feel when you finish.”
Edee knew how much better she felt just conquering her fears of the past. She glanced from his gigantic serving to her generous bowlful and laughed. “I’m supposed to feel good about gorging myself on ice cream?”
Tuning in her direction, J.T. winked. “Ice cream is a comfort food.”
You can say that again!
Her body quivered as she inhaled his warm masculine scent. If she opened her mouth, she would say something she would regret. Her heart trembled in response to his sassy wink. What would he do if she said something silly, like, ‘Kiss me’?
“I’ll second that!” Ellie’s laughing voice came from behind Edee. “Ice cream and pizza are my comfort foods.
“I figured we’d find you here.” Sam plopped down on the stool beside J.T.
Ellie sat beside Sam. With the L-shaped counter, they formed a cozy foursome. “Guess what! It’s official! We’re having a Fourth of July Parade!”
“Thanks to you know who.” Sam aimed his thumb at his smiling wife.
“No, kidding? I don’t remember Redbud ever having a parade.” J.T. frowned.
“Times are changing,” Sam nudged J.T. with his elbow, “all the new blood is trying to take over running the town.” But the look he turned on Ellie left no doubt he was proud of his wife’s efforts.
“Well, I’ll be…that’s great.” J.T. turned to Edee. “We always have ball games over at the park and a town picnic. You’ll enjoy it.”
Edee noted the excitement filling his expression
and smiled. J.T.’s fondness for his hometown warmed her insides. “It sounds like fun.”
“And a lot of work.” Sam huffed.
“You’ll be on a committee by the next meeting, I’m sure.” Ellie leaned over Sam to tell Edee. “We’ll need all the help we can get to organize a parade.”
Sam paid for two ice cream cones. “Come on woman. I’m taking you home before you hatch up more ideas to put us to work.”
Ellie’s laugh tinkled until the door closed.
“Don’t they make a great couple?” Edee’s glance followed the embracing figures until they stopped under a street light. “They seem so happy.”
J.T. glanced over his shoulder and nodded. “Yeah, about time, too.” Seeing Edee’s frown, he added. “Sam’s due some happiness. He lost his parents, then his grandparents. All he had left in the world was that old house.”
Edee’s ears started buzzing. Sam had lost his parents and grandparents. He and Ellie seemed happy. She could make it on her own, too. “It’s good that he found Ellie.”
“Yeah,” J.T. scooped in a spoon of ice cream. “It sure is.”
Silence settled around them for long minutes. Other than the voices of the employees talking somewhere out of sight, Edee heard nothing but her own heart beat.
It was time she cleared up a few things.
“J.T., about the other night…It’s not like you think…I just—”
His arm froze, suspended in mid-air with a spoonful of ice cream. The glance he turned on her was chilly as arctic water. “You were snooping in my business just like your granny and all the other women in this town.” He dropped the spoon and shoved to his feet. Muscles bunched along his jaw as he jerked out his wallet and dropped some bills on the counter. Then he turned in her direction.
“That’s why I left this town. I was fed up with everybody asking questions!”
***
Shoving through the drug store door, J.T. stomped down the street with his heart thudding in his chest. Great! Just great. Edee had tried to apologize and he snapped her head off.
Was he losing his mind?
He had come back to Redbud to mend fences. Why had he blown up in Edee’s face? She didn’t deserve that.
Like he really didn’t know.
Like seeing Sam with Ellie hadn’t reminded him of all that was missing in his life. He raked an impatient hand through his hair. Feeling the longish strands curl around his fingers, and huffed with impatience. It was about time he let go of things he couldn’t change.
It was time he forgot the pain his mother had lived through. He couldn’t have a future if he didn’t start living in the present. Coming back to Redbud should have been a new beginning. But somehow, he had started off on the wrong foot.
Well, he knew better, now. He knew he wanted to make this town his home, and it was time he acted like it. Inhaling a deep breath, he filled his lungs with cool night air.
Thousands of stars filled his vision and filled his heart with hope. It was time he stopped dilly-dallying around, time he got serious.
Dilly-dallying?
He made an impatient snort and crammed his hands in his jean pockets. Edee would laugh if she heard he say ‘dilly dallying’.
Thoughts of Edee brought him back to his problem.
***
Edee stirred her ice cream and blinked something from her eye. Her vision blurred.
She would not cry! She would not cry. She. Would. Not. Cry.
The last thing she needed was for someone to see she was up-set at the way J.T. had dashed out, and spread the word around town.
That was how small towns were.
She would finish her ice cream…and go home.
Hand trembling, she lifted the spoon to her mouth. Okay, maybe she would cry…but not here. Not in public, and definitely not where Jacob Troy Knight might see her.
Shudders shook her body as her lips closed around the spoon. But she fought the urge to give in. Her mind was made up, and according to her father, she had always been hardheaded. This time she had good reason. Her heart and her dreams rested on the right man saying he wanted her in his life.
More shudders shook her.
She forced in another bite of ice cream.
New worries…the fear that she would run… because, her father had always tried to escape his problems, filled her head.
Her father kept running after he married her mother and dragged her along with him. He ran after Edee was born, adding her like excess baggage. He ran again, when he and her mother sold everything and hit the road her freshman year in college.
It had hurt, but she had pulled herself together and worked her way through college. Time spent with her grandmother had kept her going. That’s why she had jumped at the chance to come live with her grandmother and search for her roots.
Now, she had fallen for a man like her father. She knew all the signs. J.T. was charming. He hadn’t wasted any time escaping his hometown, just like her father.
But…
She forced down another spoonful of the creamy chocolate mixture and faced facts. Leaving Redbud was where the similarities between J.T. and her father ended.
J.T. had returned home, unlike her dad. And J.T. wasn’t running from trouble, like the delayed permits. He was looking for answers, looking for his future, just as she was.
And she had just ruined any chance she had of sharing that future with him. She stared down at the fudge mixture in her bowl and forced the spoon to her lips.
When Edee Cutt scrapped the bowl…she always hit bottom.
***
Ten minutes later, Edee trailed her fingers along the back of the sofa in her grandmother’s parlor. The room had an old world formal feel. Looking around at the lace dollies and the stuffed furnishings, Edee saw traces of her grandmother’s touch. But her thoughts skipped back to J.T. The image of his broad shoulders disappearing out the door seared her memory.
This was the second time he had walked away from her.
Her insides curled like wind tossed waves on a stormy ocean. Old feelings of rejection rushed back to choke her. She tightened her grip on the cat snuggled under her chin and shivered as painful memories flashed through her head.
Just like all those times in the past, she felt like the new kid-on-the-block all over again. Except this time, she had more to lose. This time her heart’s desire was at stake.
With all the moving around her family had done, she had found it difficult to adjust when newcomers turned a cold shoulder on her.
She knew enough about rejection to fill a book.
Her parents hadn’t just run from the past. They had cut all ties…even with their own daughter. All through childhood, she had felt like excess baggage.
Watching J.T. walk away brought those old feelings of rejection back to curdle in her chest.
Getting up from the sofa, she drifted through the dining room, letting her fingers trail along the backs of the chairs around the elegant old table. Images flashed in her head…faces of the women who had arrived on her doorstep, pretending to want a refresher course in dancing when they were really offering her comfort.
And with that memory, came the realization that they had come with the offer of friendship and support to one of their own.
Hope surged to life inside her.
Tears gushed to her eyes. But these tears were tears of happiness. Clutching a fist to her mouth, she glanced at the empty chairs. But she saw the smiling faces of the women she had met in this town. Memory of their laughter as they talked about the big dance filled her head.
She stood there clutching Albert in one arm as she pressed a fist to her smiling lips and tears streamed down her face as she finally made sense of all that had happened.
Her grandmother had brought her back to Redbud for a reason.
Chest heaving, she looked around the room with new eyes. Her grandmother had known she would find a warm welcome in Redbud. All the roots Edee had ever dreamed of having were right here…w
ithin her grasp.
After admitting the business had failed, she could cut her loses…now, before she heard from J.T. She could run. Or she could return the kindness shown to her since coming to Redbud and stay in the town she loved.
If she left, she would be repeating the mistakes from her past…even if she hadn’t been the one making those choices.
But not this time.
This time, staying or leaving was her decision.
She wanted a place to call home. A place to belong. Even if J.T. pushed her away, she wanted to live in Redbud.
Dashing up the stairs, Albert racing at her feet, thoughts of J.T. filled her head. She retraced his steps through the house, feeling like a lovesick teenager, confusing her cat to no end. But she knew the emotions roiling inside her were different.
Her feelings for J.T. ran deeper than a crush.
Not just because his kisses made her knees go weak. Not because his kindness drew her to him, or because his laughing eyes offered her a side of life she had missed.
Her emotions ran deep because she felted connected to him. They had something in common. She sensed he wanted his roots in Redbud as much as she did. He loved this town.
She loved the fact that he had the courage to return.
Going to her desk, she opened the laptop and settled down to work on the web page. Since the day J.T. hired her to design his website she had edited and polished the same design.
Well, not this time.
Almost choking over the lump in her throat, she opened a new page. It was time to start over, both in her personal life and in her design work. If she really wanted to be a designer, she would create web pages that excited her clients. If the clients liked her work, fine. If they rejected her attempts, she would keep trying until they were satisfied.
The same guidelines applied to her personal life. If she wanted to sooth things out with J.T., she needed to work on that relationship, as well.
It was a scary thought. Love hadn’t been kind to her in the past. Her life had been spent moving from town to town, school to school, but she had learned to be flexible.
A Bride For Mr. Right (Redbud Romance Book 2) Page 17