by Molly Cannon
Theo looked up from the list and was happily surprised to see Nell standing by their booth.
Marla Jean spoke up first. “Hey, Nell. I’ll have an unsweetened iced tea.”
“Me too,” Jake said with a smile.
Nell turned to Theo. “And what about you, Mr. Mysterious Man of Adventure?”
Jake laughed. “So, you’ve met my brother, I see.”
Nell grinned. “I’ve had the pleasure. I have to say, you clean up real nice, Theo.”
Theo lounged against the booth, pleased with her attention. “Why, thank you, Nell. Make that three iced teas.”
She grinned and said, “Will do. I’ll be back in a sec to get your order.”
Theo watched her go. “She’s cute.”
Jake unwrapped his silverware from the paper napkin. “Are you planning on breaking a few hearts while you’re in town?”
“No, but there’s no law against having a good time while I’m in Everson, is there?”
“Just remember Marla Jean and I have to live here with these good people after you are long gone, little brother.”
Marla Jean put her hand on top of Jake’s. “Don’t be such a stick-in-the-mud, Jake. I’m sure there is more than one woman in this town that would love to show Theo a good time. And Nell’s a big girl. I’m sure she can handle herself.”
“Thank you, Marla Jean. I’m glad someone has faith in my sterling character.”
She laughed. “Let’s not get carried away. But I don’t think you should let Jake guilt you into making your time here all work and no play.”
Jake shook his head. “I couldn’t if I tried.”
Theo went back to reading the list of jobs. “Number one: painting Lily Porter’s new garage, number two: new bookshelves for Lee Wheeler. Okay, wait a minute. What’s this?”
He handed the paper back to Jake and pointed to the notation three places down.
Jake took a minute to read it and then looked up. “Oh yeah. ‘ID, ID office and float.’ That’s some work I’m doing for Irene Cornwell’s business, I Do, I Do. We made a bargain in trade for part of her wedding planning fee. Her new office needs a few built-in shelves and some storage areas. Simple stuff. Since you two already know each other this will work out nicely.”
Theo didn’t say anything. He sat staring at the list like it was suddenly radioactive.
Marla Jean chimed in, “Oh, goodness. I forgot all about the float. For the Fourth of July parade. Building that should be lots of fun. I bet Irene will go crazy with wedding decorations.”
Theo didn’t know anything about building a float, and he didn’t want to build one for Irene. “Will you have a float for the barbershop?”
Marla Jean nodded her head. “Hoot and Dooley will help my dad throw something together. Since we’ll barely be back from the honeymoon, Jake will just decorate one of his old cars for the remodeling business. He can wave to the crowd from there. It will still be lots of fun. You can ride with him, Theo. The parade is always a highlight of the Fourth around here.”
Theo turned his head to stare out the window. Across the square he could see the sign. I Do, I Do. White letters bordered in black on a bright pink background. To be honest he’d stopped processing anything anyone said after he realized he was going to have to work with Ree. That hadn’t been part of the bargain. She must not realize that Jake planned to foist this work off onto his brother, because Theo had trouble believing she’d ever agree to this arrangement. But then again maybe she hadn’t wanted to cause a fuss right before Jake left for his honeymoon. No doubt she’d wait until they were gone to tell him his services wouldn’t be necessary.
Nell came back to the table. “Are y’all ready to order?”
Marla Jean clapped her hands. “I’m so ready. I’m starving. I want a double cheeseburger with no onions and sweet potato fries.”
Jake smiled like her appetite was one of her many charms. “I’ll have the chicken fried steak, Nell.”
Theo didn’t feel all that hungry anymore. Thinking about Irene had dulled his appetite, so he just ordered the same thing as Jake. “I’ll have the chicken fried steak, too.” He could always get a doggie bag and send it home to Sadie if he couldn’t eat it. Irritated that he was letting Irene ruin his day, he took a deep breath, and before Nell could walk away, he asked on a whim, “So, Nell, how would you like to go out tonight? I haven’t made it to Lu Lu’s yet since I’ve been back in Everson, and I could use a night out. How about it?”
Nell stuck her pencil behind her ear and put her hand on her hip. With a saucy smile she said, “Well, now, you must be reading my mind, Theo. I was all ready to ask if you wanted to help me paint the town tonight, but you went and beat me to it.”
Theo allowed himself to be flattered by her enthusiasm. A little fun with a woman like Nell was the very thing to keep his mind occupied. With someone—anyone—other than Irene Cornwell. “Great. Just tell me where and when to pick you up.”
She scribbled her address on an order pad, tore off the sheet of paper, and slipped it to him before skipping back to the front of the diner.
Theo watched her go and then turned back to face Jake and Marla Jean. “Hey, bro, I need to borrow one of your cars. If that’s okay with you.”
“Sure. You can use Jasper. The keys are at my office,” Jake said. “We’ll stop by and get them after lunch.”
“Jasper?”
Marla Jean patted Jake’s hand and explained, “Jasper is the Jeep, Theo.”
Theo laughed. “Great, because it looks like Jasper and I have a hot date tonight.”
Chapter Three
Irene checked herself one last time in the mirror before heading out the door. She was wearing a tight black dress designed to give all but the hardiest of men heart failure on sight. Her lipstick was blood red, and her long black hair was straightened into a sharp blade hanging halfway down her back. With her armor firmly in place, she grabbed her purse, climbed into her Shelby, and backed out of the garage. Her headlights sliced past the tall trees that lined the road, piercing through the dark night and guiding her car downhill toward town.
All in all, it had been a productive day. In addition to her meeting with Marla Jean, she’d taken copious notes on Margo Douglas’s dream wedding. The woman wasn’t fooling around. It promised to be a gigantic affair. Now as soon as good old Jim proposed they’d be all ready to get to work on their big day.
After that she’d had a long conference call with her banker regarding several of her charity foundations. She had several ideas on the children’s hunger initiative she wanted to implement, but that meant a trip to Dallas to discuss the details with the board. She scheduled several other meetings for next week. One was to discuss her proposal to provide prom dresses for girls who couldn’t afford them, but that was going to take some convincing. The old men she had to deal with didn’t appreciate how a decent dress could make all the difference when a girl was poor and trying to fit in with her peers. As always there was a lot to do, but today her concentration had been scattered, her thoughts tumbling in a million different directions.
All day long she’d been plagued by a feeling of lightheadedness. A bumble-headed, unfocused vagueness that wouldn’t go away. If that wasn’t bad enough, the surface of her skin prickled with awareness that something had changed. Something in the air was different. Any other time she would have thought she was coming down with the flu. But she knew she wasn’t getting sick. No, she knew it was because somewhere within the ten-mile radius that made up the town of Everson, Texas, Theo Jacobson was out there. Looking up at the same sky, walking the same streets, breathing the same air she did.
It made her want to jump right out of her skin. And it was probably just fanciful thinking on her part, but the world around her suddenly seemed to sparkle and shine with life. Brighter colors. Deeper shadows. Everything seemed less dull simply because Theo was nearby. In the flesh. Not just in her head where he’d lived for the longest time. It was as if her body knew
he was somewhere close, and that old longing to touch and be touched had come roaring back to life.
While getting ready tonight she’d spied an old beat-up box in the top of her closet. Her heart beat out a crooked rhythm while she pulled it down and opened the top with trembling hands. It had been a long time since she’d bothered to look inside. She’d almost thrown it away several times, but could never bring herself to do it. She couldn’t part with this final piece of her past—a past that now fit so easily inside the small cardboard container.
So instead of drying her hair, she found herself sifting through old notes, a few pictures, and a small stuffed teddy bear. She picked up the fuzzy purple bear, straightened the aqua bow tied around his neck, and hugged him to her chest. Clarence. Sweet, silly Clarence. While they lived together in Dallas, Theo had won the bear for her at a small carnival by knocking over milk bottles. He’d been so proud, and she’d been thrilled. They’d been happy back then. A picture of her standing with Theo drew her attention. It had always been one of her favorite pictures of the two of them. Instead of smiling at the camera, Theo had his arm around her shoulder, and they were caught up completely in each other, smiling into each other’s eyes, shutting out the rest of the world as only young lovers could. She closed her eyes remembering that sweeter time.
Seeing him again had hit her a hell of a lot harder than she’d expected it to. When he’d walked into the backyard at the Inn, the sight of him was like a shot of whiskey rushing to her head. Intoxicating and dangerous. Dammit, he looked so good her teeth hurt. That dark head of hair curling at the back of his neck just like she remembered. His long, lean body calling to her in all the old familiar ways. Easygoing and carefree, that’s how Theo faced the world. But when his blue eyes raked down her body, pinning her in place like a butterfly on a mounting board, his words made it clear that any love he’d felt for her was long gone.
In any case he would be in town for only a few days. And she could manage anything for a few days. But what if he stayed longer? What if he stayed forever? According to Marla Jean that’s what Jake wanted, wasn’t it? There was no point worrying about it before it happened. After all, she knew from hard experience that Theo didn’t do forever. No, he’d stay a few weeks at most, and then he’d be gone. And that she could survive. She’d done it before, and she could do it again.
So tonight she needed the comfort and ease she always found at Lu Lu’s. The local bar had become a sanctuary over the years where she could kick back and block out all of her troubles for a few hours. She didn’t drink much. Maybe an occasional beer, but the rhythms of the place soothed her like a colicky baby. The constant hum of low conversations, the smell of stale beer and being surrounded by all of the regular bar patrons. Nothing ever changed at Lu Lu’s, and she appreciated that. But the thing she loved most of all was the dancing. Moving, spinning, and waltzing mindlessly around the floor to the music.
Up until a few months ago she could always count on Donny Joe Ledbetter to provide her with a dance partner. Despite what folks around town had believed, they were just friends. It was true neither of them had done anything to disabuse the good people of Everson of the notion they might be more. Having someone to hang out with gave both of them an escape from the pressure of the singles scene with no questions asked. Neither of them had wanted a relationship, so their friendship served their purposes. But now Donny Joe had fallen head over heels for the owner of the town’s new bed-and-breakfast, and he spent all of his time wooing Etta Green. So she’d head into town and find someone harmless to fill out her dance card, because tonight she longed for the mindless part more than ever.
Lu Lu’s was loud for a Tuesday night. Theo guided Nell around the dance floor, and for the first time since he’d hit town, he felt a sense of relief. He was in his element. A pretty woman in his arms, some lively music to set the mood, and a happy crowd of mellow people letting off steam after a day’s hard work.
Nell was friendly and flirty, just the way he liked a woman to be. She wanted to have a good time, and he was more than willing to show her one.
“So, Theo, tell me about Alaska. Are you going back after the wedding?”
“Nah. I loved it up there. But I’m thinking I might head for someplace warmer.”
“Everyone is buzzing about you flying your own plane into town. That must be terribly exciting.” Her eyes gleamed like she thought that made him pretty exciting, too.
It wasn’t the first time a woman had been turned on when they found out he was a pilot, and he never minded using it to his advantage. “Flying is my one true love. Nothing like soaring through the clouds to make all your troubles fall away.”
She let her arm slip from his shoulder to his waist. “I think I’d be too scared. A small plane like that.”
He snuggled her closer. “You might be surprised. Would you like to go up sometime?”
“Oh, gosh. If you were doing the flying maybe.” She giggled like she couldn’t control her delight at the idea.
The sound of another laugh—an all too familiar laugh—drew his attention, and his good mood took a nosedive. Irene was holding court in one corner of the bar. He tried to ignore the way his breath caught when he spotted her, tall and regal, surrounded by men.
During his visit to Everson the summer before he’d suddenly caught sight of her on the street one day. Back then he had no idea she even lived in Everson. He assumed she was still living in Dallas with her rich husband. And even if she was going to move back to this area of the state, he would’ve thought she would move home to Derbyville.
But there she’d been big as life, walking alone down the street with her head held high like a queen, nodding occasionally to her loyal subjects. He’d stopped in his tracks feeling breathless as she approached, overcome with a mixture of excitement and terror, not having a clue what he would say. But it hadn’t mattered. She looked straight through him and walked by like he was invisible.
True, he was older, but he didn’t believe for one second that she didn’t recognize him. It was a deliberate snub, and he’d been surprised at first and then a little angry. But from that moment on he’d said the hell with her, taking his cue from her and simply acting like they were strangers when they crossed paths. But every time she ignored him, every time she pretended he didn’t exist, she tore another strip of flesh from his soul.
No doubt those slights from last summer had spurred him to buzz her house on his way into town. This time he’d been determined that she would acknowledge him one way or the other. But in the end that proved to be unnecessary. She must have known he’d be part of Jake and Marla Jean’s wedding, so ignoring him wouldn’t be an option she could exercise. For him the challenge was to find a way to appear cool and calm whenever she was around. And tonight was a good time to start.
He planned to have a great time dancing with Nell, even though he would be acutely aware of Ree and who she was dancing with at every moment. Nell deserved his undivided attention, but it felt like a sort of self-defense to keep an eye on the woman across the room, too.
The song ended and he escorted Nell to their table. “How about another beer?”
“Thanks. I would love one, Theo.”
“You got it.” Theo smiled and left her at the table. He made his way to the bar and ordered a pitcher. As he waited he watched Irene take the dance floor with some old geezer. The old guy was grinning like he’d struck gold, and she was having a high old time, too. He remembered very clearly how much she loved to dance. It was like the music buried itself inside her and had to come out as she moved around the floor. Most people danced. Irene became the dance.
She must have felt him watching because she turned her head and their eyes collided. She raised an eyebrow, questioning his attention. He waved and tipped his hat just for fun. He wasn’t about to let her ignore him again. She returned his greeting with a tiny nod, and then he smiled and turned away.
The bartender put a pitcher of beer on the bar. “Here you
go, Theo.”
“Thanks, Mike.” He grabbed the pitcher and mugs and made his way back to Nell.
He’d barely gotten settled in his chair when Nell said, “I saw you waving at Irene Cornwell.”
“Pardon me?” He poured some beer into their frosted mugs.
“Irene Cornwell. She’s a beautiful woman, so I can understand why she would get your attention, but I probably should warn you about her.”
His hackles went up, and his first instinct was to defend Irene. And he didn’t even know what he was defending her against yet. “That’s okay, Nell. I’m sure I don’t need any kind of warning. She’s planning Jake’s wedding. That’s all.”
Undeterred, she leaned closer and said conspiratorially, “You know everyone calls her the black widow.”
Theo leaned away and looked at Nell like he’d heard her wrong. “Like the spider? I thought that was saved for women who marry a string of men for their money, and they all end up dying.”
She nodded. “Exactly. Old Mr. Cornwell grew up around here, but then he goes off to Dallas and makes his fortune. He marries and has a kid. The first wife dies, and before the dust settles, he comes back married to her.” She nodded toward Irene in case he’d lost track of who they were talking about. “He built that big house on the hill for her, and next thing you know he was dead, too. He didn’t even live a year after they moved back to Everson. It was quite a scandal.”
Theo knew most of this story, and the word “scandal” hadn’t come up until now. During his last visit, he’d asked a few discreet questions about Irene and learned the basics. He hadn’t been able to help himself. But the exquisite pleasure Nell was having at sharing the story with a total stranger rubbed him the wrong way. “Humph. Didn’t you just say he was old?”
Nell smiled with delight at this chance to air someone else’s dirty laundry. “Old enough to be her grandfather.”
“Wow. So maybe his dying had more to do with his age than it did with his young wife.” He could feel his blood start to boil at the unfair rumors swirling around about Ree. Not that he hadn’t had more than a few uncharitable thoughts about her himself. But that was personal and somehow altogether different than this.