Love Finds You in Carmel by-the-Sea, California

by Sandra D. Bricker

  “I was just telling Annie that, once I get out of here, I’m going to start expecting updates on what you’re doing. We’ll start with weekly meetings, then daily ones, before I come back to work.”

  “What makes you think there will be a business to come back to after that long, Deacon? You know I’m working hard at running it into the ground.”

  “Oh-ho-ho-ho,” Deke chortled, and he clutched his heart gently.

  As different as the two men were, Annie realized as she watched them together that they were a perfectly matched pair. At the root of their sarcasm and digs and humor, a true affection and brotherly spirit always emerged.

  A male version of Zoey and me.

  “So how is Jenny getting settled?” Deke asked, and Annie’s heart plopped down into her stomach.

  “Good. She’s with me, actually. But she made a stop in the gift shop. I told her you didn’t need anymore flowers in this place, but you know Jen.”

  Jen. Deke knows Jenny?

  Annie wondered how long she and Nick had been dating. The sudden realization that she wasn’t just a casual date brought her pulse to thudding.

  “There she is!”

  As suspected, Auburn Beauty entered the room.

  “How are you feeling, Deacon?” she asked sweetly. Then she smiled at Nick knowingly. “We’ve all been so worried.”

  “Not all of us,” Nick added. “I haven’t been worried in the least.”

  “Oh, hush,” she countered playfully, and their rapport caused an ache so deep inside Annie that she couldn’t even pinpoint its exact locale.

  “You must be Annie,” she said, extending her hand.

  Annie forced a smile and nodded. “And you’re Jenny.”

  “Nick has told me so much about you. Honestly, I don’t even know how you put up with him.”

  “Well, it isn’t easy,” she returned.

  Jenny presented a charming bunch of daisies wrapped in blue paper to Deke and sat down next to him on the bed before smacking his cheek with a kiss. “It’s so good to see you again.”

  “How are you surviving living with this slob?”

  The words echoed through Annie as if she were a gaping cavern, and she didn’t even process Jenny’s reply.

  Living with—

  Living with—

  Living with??

  “You’re living with Nick?” Before Annie could stop them, the words dove out of her mouth and into the room.

  “Temporarily. Until I find a place of my own.”

  “Uh… Oh. I see.”

  “If you know about any apartments for rent, let me know? I’m desperate.”

  Jenny and Nick exchanged a laugh, but Annie couldn’t even fish out a polite one.

  He’s living with her?

  “I—I—” She forced her mouth shut, but all eyes rested on her. “I have to go.”

  “Already?” Deke exclaimed. “You just got here.”

  “You have a nice visit with Nick and Jenny,” she told him. “And I’ll be by to see you again in a day or two. Jenny, nice to meet you. Nick—” Annie couldn’t think of one thing to say to him. “Bye.”

  “I’ll walk you to the elevator,” he offered.

  “No! I mean, no need. That’s okay. I can walk on my own.”

  “Bye, Annie,” said perfect, auburn-haired Jenny.

  “Good-bye.”

  Annie wished times like these didn’t inspire such bad behavior. Not a woman without her faults, passing Red’s Donuts on her way home proved just too compelling to resist.

  “Two glazed and two chocolate-filled. And an extra-large Diet Coke.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Probably not.”

  Four donuts and twenty-two ounces of caffeine. Yep. That should do me quite nicely.

  While she waited for her order, Annie marveled that she didn’t weigh three hundred pounds. Then, after pausing to thank God for her good genes, she dipped into the bag to indulge in her spoils.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Insanity runs in my family.

  It practically gallops.”

  Cary Grant, Arsenic and Old Lace, 1944

  Nick powered up the computer and flipped on the webcam, twenty minutes late.

  “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Have you been waiting long?”

  “Oh, you’re finally here,” his aunt Tess cried as she came into full view on the screen. “I thought I was doing something wrong with this gadget.”

  She’d been using it every week for two months, ever since he made the trip out to Illinois and set it up for her. He’d taught her how to use it so they could communicate face-to-face, but Tess called the webcam a gadget and wondered if she might have broken it each and every time he’d spoken to her since.

  Her silver hair looked like spun silk pulled back into a loose bun, and her tawny brown eyes sparkled as she moved in closer.

  “You look good, Nicky. Can you see me?”

  “You look beautiful, Tess.”

  “I tried something new on the market. It’s a face-lift in a bottle,” she told him, using both hands to stretch the skin at the sides of her face. “Do I look any younger?”

  “You look perfect,” he told her with a grin.

  “I thought about getting one for real.”

  “Getting what?”

  “A face-lift.”

  “Don’t you dare.”

  “Well,” she croaked, “I gave up on that idea once I saw Lois Brighton at bingo on Thursday. She had hers three weeks back, and I walked by her twice without realizing who she was. Nicky, she looks like a flat, waxy mannequin. Like one of those dummies on the Old Navy commercials.”

  It amused Nick to hear Tess talk like that. And it particularly surprised him that she knew about Old Navy commercials.

  “What else have you been up to this week, Tess? Aside from bingo.”

  “Oh, don’t discount the bingo, sonny. I won a face-lift in a jar and two free bingo cards.”

  “Score!” he replied on a laugh.

  “It was like Christmas.”

  “I bet.”

  “Ooh, and the big news around here is that Joe Deemis found a mouse in his shoe. He nearly wet himself!”

  Nick chuckled. “A mouse?”

  “His place is on the second floor. He opened his closet door and poked his foot into his loafer, and a little gray mouse popped out.”

  Nick frowned, wondering if he needed to have a talk with the administrator about maintenance.

  “Oh, don’t pucker up like that, Nicky. There’s no rodent problem here at the home. It turned out to belong to Nellie’s grandson. He brought it to show her and it got out of his coat.”

  He leaned back in his chair and laughed, gazing at her image on his computer screen. He’d lived with his mother’s sister for several years while he floundered around after high school, trying to figure out where he was headed. If not for Tess, there was no telling what he might have become, but she’d gently led him toward the idea of law enforcement and following in the footsteps of his uncle. He’d been badgering Tess to leave the assisted living facility in Des Plaines and give northern California a try, but Tess was well-planted and stubborn about it. She had no intention of leaving her friends at the home behind.

  “And let me tell you what happened to Karen Jarvis, Nicky. You won’t believe this!”

  “It’s never a dull moment with you, Tess.”

  “Oh, none of it happens to me, honey. But happening to my neighbors is the next best thing to being there.”

  “Do you need anything?” he asked her. “I’m packing up a box this week. If there’s anything you need me to include—”

  “I’d love some more of those chewy chocolates you sent last time. Now that my dentures are locked down, I could really enjoy them.”

  “You got it. Anything else?”

  “Well… Is there another visit from you in my future?”

  “Next month, Tess. Like clockwork.”

  “Oooh, good. I can�
�t wait to show you my artwork. We’re into pastels now, and Cloris thought mine was so good that she hung it on the rec room wall. I call it Spring Flowers. I feel like a real artiste every time I walk by it. Maybe you’ll bring Jenny with you, Nicky?”

  “I don’t know. She’s started a new teaching job, and I’m not sure she can get away until the summer.”

  “Oh. Well, you’ll give her my love, then?”

  “She sends hers as well.”

  As she pulled into the driveway, Annie wondered if she could actually smell whatever her mom had cooking on the stove or whether she just had a very keen sense of memory, like Pavlov’s dogs when they heard the bell. Perhaps whenever she approached her mother’s house, a bell went off inside her head and she automatically smelled stew. Or stuffed peppers. Or baking bread.

  Approaching the front door, she realized to her horror that the treat of the day appeared to be cinnamon rolls. The four Red’s Donuts from the night before saluted in respect as her stomach flopped over.

  “Annie! Nathan, it’s Annie. Are you hungry, honey?”

  “No, I’ve had din—”

  “I made a ham for supper. There’s plenty left. I’ll make you a plate.”

  “No, Mom. Really.”

  “Nonsense. I’ll make you a plate.”

  Her mother stood before her, examining Annie’s hair like a questionable painting hanging on the wall of a museum, before reaching out and smoothing it with both hands.

  “Go in and say hello to your father. And Linda’s here. We’re making cinnamon buns.”

  “I didn’t see her car.”

  “Teddy dropped her off, and he’s picking her up after his meeting. Go on in, honey. Say hello.”

  Her father lounged in his favorite chair, and his heavy breathing told Annie he didn’t care much about watching the news playing on the television before him. Linda, curled quietly into the corner of the sofa, raised one finger to her lips to shush her as she walked in.

  She scooted to the edge of the sofa and stood up, the small bulge in her belly catching Annie’s eye, first thing. When Linda noticed, she molded her blouse around it and turned sideways with a broad, toothy grin.

  “Mom and Dad told you?” she whispered as they stepped into the kitchen.

  “Yes, and I’m sorry I haven’t called.”

  “I hear you have a new job,” Linda replied. “You’re probably all tied up with that. How’s Evan?”

  “Oh, he’s fine. I don’t see as much of him as I did before. Both of us are just—”

  “Linda, there’s just two more minutes on the timer and our cinnamon buns will be ready to come out!”

  Annie pulsed with gratitude for the interruption. She just hated being there on the verge of having to explain once again that Annie plus Evan did not equal Couple.

  “Tell me when you’re due.”

  Ask an actor for his resume or a pregnant woman about her pregnancy and you’re guaranteed a lovely one-sided conversation for at least a half hour. The cinnamon rolls dripped with icing, three of them half eaten and coffee having been served, in the time it took for Linda to recount the day she found out, what the doctor said, how adorable Ted’s reaction had been, and the progress of the future nursery.

  “I’m really happy for you, Linda.” Okay. I know. But it’s not a total lie. Just a fraction of one. “You’re going to make such a great mom.” And that’s the truth, isn’t it? You’ve had years of practice on my brother.

  “I think Ted is hoping for a boy, of course. But can I tell you a secret? I’m really counting on a little girl.”

  “Don’t let her fool you, Annie. That is no secret. My wife is completely transparent.”

  They looked up to find Ted standing in the doorway, and the way he looked at Linda just about melted the icing on what was left of Annie’s roll.

  “Oh, honey, good. You’re back. I’ll pour you some coffee.”

  Annie watched her mother move around the kitchen, always at her absolute best when hungry people surrounded her. Or people she perceived to be hungry, anyway.

  “If you won’t eat this now, I’ve packaged up a little ham and some scalloped potatoes and a few string beans in here,” she said, placing a large green plastic container in front of Annie. “You can take it for lunch tomorrow or save it for dinner after work.”

  “Thanks, Mom.”

  No use declining. Annie figured her mother would just hide it in her bag before she left or chase her car down the street until she stopped to take it.

  Annie made more polite conversation about the baby and the possibility of Linda quitting her job so that she could really enjoy the planning stages.

  Linda, being one of those people just courteous enough to know when to ask the obligatory question or two about someone else when the whole world had been revolving around her for long enough, said, “So tell me about your new job, Annie.”

  “I love it, actually. It’s something different every day, and with my boss in the hospital, I have a lot more responsibility sooner than we’d expected.”

  “Your boss is in the hospital?” Annie’s mom always honed in quickly on subjects involving health. After food and the ever-discouraging state of Annie’s hair, it ranked high among her very favorite topics.

  “He had to have heart surgery. But he’s doing very well. Now it’s just a matter of keeping him out of the office and at home long enough for a full recovery.”

  “It’s a shame I didn’t know,” she replied in earnest. “I could have sent him some flowers—or a cake.”

  “The man is in for heart surgery,” Ted exclaimed with a chuckle. “Don’t send him butter cream cake.”

  “All right. Flowers, then.”

  “You know, Mom, Deke has so many flower arrangements in that room that we can hardly find him in there. Flowers aren’t necessary, but I’ll send him your good thoughts.”

  “Yes, do that, honey. Tell him your father and I wish him well.”

  Out of nowhere, Annie found herself thinking about the flawless bunch of daisies wrapped in blue paper. With all the roses and gladiolas and carnations on every tabletop and filling every inch of windowsill, those daisies really stood out.

  A sour taste at the back of her throat, having nothing to do with her mother’s cinnamon rolls or hazelnut coffee, choked her until she derailed the train of thought completely on purpose.

  “You know, I have a really early day tomorrow, so I’d better get going.”

  “How’s Gram doing?” Ted asked as she started to gather her things.

  “Fantastic,” Annie replied with a smile. “She’s got more energy than anyone I know. You two should come visit her and let her pat your new belly.”

  “We should, Ted,” Linda piped up.

  “Give Dad a kiss for me when he wakes up,” Annie continued. “He needs his beauty sleep.”

  “Well, don’t forget your care package.”

  The ham dinner, now adorned with a cinnamon bun wrapped in plastic and a small thermos of creamed hazelnut coffee, ended up in a large brown paper bag with the edges neatly folded down.

  “We love you, honey.”

  “Love you too, Mom. And congratulations, you guys.”

  Annie tried to hum along with the radio on the drive back to Carmel, but her heart wasn’t completely in it. So many issues buzzed around in her head, making it hard to pinpoint which one had brought about the strange heaviness on her heart.

  Linda had the makings of a great mother, and Ted looked happier than Annie ever remembered. Her little brother just always seemed to excel in every situation, leaving Annie behind in his dust. He finished law school and became an attorney while she meandered around at Equity Now; he got married before her; and now he would give their parents the grandchild they’d longed for, all before Annie even had a dateable prospect.

  There was Evan, of course. But he’d been a moot point for much longer than Annie would admit. And Colby, but the bloom fell off that rose the night of the gala, and no amoun
t of replacement roses seemed likely to change that.

  And then…Nick.

  Ah. Now I know what’s weighing down my insides.

  The mere thought of him drew tears to her eyes, and with one blink, they cascaded down her cheeks like huge raindrops down a windowpane. At a stoplight Annie closed her eyes, but all she saw was Jenny. With her perfect little daisies and her sparkling, radiant smile.

  What kind of woman wanted to kick a perfectly sweet Auburn Beauty simply because she was first to wrangle the Perfect Man?

  Nick Benchley? The Perfect Man? Have I been drinking?

  What otherworldly planet had she drifted toward, where the Nick Benchleys of the universe became perfect?

  But what kind of person didn’t call her own brother upon hearing the news that he would soon be a father and made his miraculous news all about her?

  What is wrong with me?

  With that question hanging loudly unanswered, Annie made a U-turn and headed back in the direction of Monterey before fishing out her cell phone and dialing Zoey’s number.

  “Can I come over?”

  “I’ll frost up a soda glass.”

  “See you in fifteen.”

  The last time they’d poured Diet Cokes, it had been Zoey slumped over Gram’s kitchen table, weeping about the troubles plaguing her life. And now, Annie’s turn. Collapsed onto the counter, a half glass of cola standing near her limp hand, she wiped her tears with a wad of tissues.

  “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Why can’t I be happy for Ted and Linda? And for Nick and Jenny, for that matter! Echh, you should see them together. They’re perfectly suited to one another, Zo. It’s like they came out of the very same mold.”

  “I did see them together. And she’s too young for him.”

  Annie loved that about Zoey. Complete and loyal support available at any time, day or night.

  “She is. She really is too young for him,” she sniffed in agreement. “But he doesn’t seem to care. When he looks at her, all he sees is someone he adores.”

  “You don’t know that, Annie. You don’t know what he sees when he looks at her.”

  “He sees what the rest of the world sees, Zo. Silken auburn hair… big, round doe eyes…and…and…” She spat out the final word like the pulp of a lemon. “Daisies.”