Charlie tilted his head, uncertain if he’d been insulted or Tony was sincere. Maybe both.
Control. He had to hold on to it. He took two deep breaths. “Believe it or not, Tony, I want to please her.”
Tony snorted. “Right. Well, you have a funny way of showing it.”
“You mean, by investing her money, making sure she has enough to do anything she wants with this place she loves so much, giving up my time to perform weddings wearing a ridiculous gold lamé jacket and enough goop in my hair to stop traffic? Those are funny ways.”
Charlie was ready to take his chances with the ex-Marine when Tony held up a hand. His lips were twitching like he wanted to laugh. And Charlie could understand why. It wasn’t every day a man had to say a sentence like that.
“Listen… I know we don’t get along but”—Tony scrubbed a hand over his military cut—“your mom… well, she changed my life. I only want the best for her. And I know she misses you, so this holiday time is nice. That’s all I wanted to say.” His face was sincere, and Charlie remembered all the times he’d been thankful Tony was here protecting the hotel and his mother. Maybe he hated how easily she picked up strays, but he had to admit he hadn’t worried about her safety anymore after he met Tony. He was guard-dog protective.
Charlie rubbed his forehead. “Well, hell. I guess we’re going to have to get in touch with our feelings.” Tony crossed his arms over his chest. “My mom and I… well, we have some things to work out, mainly stupid things I did, and you have every right to think I’m a jerk. I want to change it, but I’m not sure I know how. And… I don’t know. Growing up with this”—he waved his hands around the restaurant—“wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Making a choice to live here’s one thing. I didn’t have one and now I do. I choose something else. That doesn’t mean I don’t love my mother or want her to be happy.” Tony considered him closely, and Charlie did his best not to fidget. Then Tony nodded once. “That’s all true. There’s more to it, though.”
Maybe there was but Charlie wasn’t going to examine his feelings any more.
“Think about treating her like a woman who knows what she’s doing instead of trying to protect her from threats that might not even exist. That’s my advice. It’s not easy, but it’s worth learning.” Tony rubbed his forehead like he was as uncomfortable with giving advice as Charlie was at hearing it from him.
Just then Grace raced past the doorway. Tony glanced out at the lobby and then back at Charlie. “Here’s the thing, McMinn. Willodean’s easy. If you want to fix whatever it is, just do it.” He shrugged. “I’ll help if I can. I owe her my whole life and my future. Whatever I can do, I will.” He held out his hand.
Charlie shook Tony’s hand and did his best not to get into a death-grip showdown. “I might take you up on that, Tony.”
Tony nodded once and then turned on a precise right angle and left the restaurant. Charlie followed him to the front desk. Grace smiled at Tony as he passed her and then looked back at Charlie with the familiar challenge in the tilt of her chin. He didn’t like the smile. He didn’t like the idea that Grace might prefer Tony to him. He didn’t like the jealous burn he got thinking that, along with his mother, the rest of the world preferred Tony Ortega. Why wouldn’t they? He was a hero after all. Charlie just signed the checks.
So he acted like a jerk. “He’s taken, okay? And she’s nobody you want to mess with.”
When she saluted wordlessly, it was easy to see he’d overreacted. He had a feeling jealousy might be a common problem with Grace around. Another good reason to stay away from her, but he didn’t want another Rock’n’Rolla Hotel employee treating him like the boss from hell either. Charlie rolled his head on his shoulders. “I didn’t mean to snap at you for being friendly. I apologize.”
Grace pursed her lips and nodded. “Well, all right.”
“Just like that?”
Grace shrugged. “Just like that. You overreacted. You apologized. I accept. We go on. What else is there to do?”
“Storm off in a huff. Throw things. Yell. Cry. Yell and cry. Seems like there are a lot of options.”
“Know a lot of drama queens, do you? They hold a lot of grudges?”
Charlie laughed and realized with a bolt of revelation followed by a wave of disgust that he might be the drama queen. He was definitely the one who held grudges. “No, not too many.”
When she smiled at him, he couldn’t see any wariness or disappointment or anger. Just like that, she’d really let it go. Amazing. First he’d received potentially good advice from Tony and a very small peace offering. And now maybe he should take a lesson from Grace.
“Well now, here you go, Grace.” Willodean held out the key ring. “It’s the nice green Caddy in the front spot there by the door. Matches my ring. Just leave the keys with whoever’s here at the desk when you get back and have Sam help you with your bags, okay?”
Grace took the keys and nodded. “Thank you, Willodean. I’ll be very careful with her and make sure I get her back without a single—”
“Sure you will! I’m not worried in the least. Better get a move on.”
“See you in the morning, Charlie. Come ready to work.” Looking very satisfied with her parting shot, Grace spun on one squeaky shoe and sailed through the lobby doors.
Charlie watched her until she turned the corner and then looked down to see his mother very interested in his reaction. “She forgot her coat,” Charlie said.
Willodean shook her head. “Nah, she doesn’t have one.”
The insane urge to chase her down and give her his flashed across his mind before he told himself she was driving the finest Detroit had to offer. If she got cold, she could turn on the seat warmers. “Guess I better answer some e-mail if I’m going to spend all day tomorrow on inventory.”
As he settled behind his mother’s desk and pulled up his e-mail, he had to convince himself he was just bored, not dissatisfied at being stuck in the hotel instead of grocery shopping in a big box pre-Christmas madhouse. With Grace. Just another odd feeling he could blame on the Rock’n’Rolla Hotel.
GRACE SIGHED WITH relief as she pulled into a front-door spot in the crowded parking lot. The whole way there she’d been praying under her breath for a safe, accident-free journey while she tried to follow her phone’s map. More than once she’d been honked at for spending too much time at the traffic light, and she’d had to circle back a couple of times when she missed a turn. She’d seen parts of Memphis that she’d never expected to see, and this city under the threat of both Christmas and snow was not a friendly driving place. While she was praying and navigating a car that cost more than the three cars she’d owned in her life combined and had more buttons than anything other than mission control should, she tried to figure out just what she was going to do when she made it to the store.
The answer depended on her making just one decision. Was she headed back to Vegas as soon as possible? If so, she only needed basics: groceries, jeans, a jacket, maybe a cheap T-shirt. But if she wanted to stay a bit, try to make this work… she needed to add to the list, spend what she had. Go for broke. Again.
Taking another, even bigger risk on Memphis was scary.
But she’d never been one to look back. Going back to Vegas seemed like a step in the wrong direction. If she really trusted the journey, she needed to face forward. Right?
Giving up her tiny, clean, safe apartment and the opportunity to do a job that would challenge her for sleeping on someone’s couch and serving drinks to strung-out gamblers made no sense. Not anymore. Maybe it was actually knowing someone who’d lend her a car if she needed it that was the tipping point. Willodean Jackson was a good person to call friend. Or employer. Or whatever.
As Grace pulled a buggy from the short line near the door, she was nearly run over by a harried store employee pushing a load of precious supplies down the wide, crowded aisle. Grace stopped to catch her breath and run through the mental shopping list she’d made while she consid
ered her budget. She’d never been all that great at saving for rainy days, mainly because she needed everything she had to make it through the day she was in, no matter what the weather was.
“Well, I guess we all know how this is going to go.” When the greeter shot her a suspicious look, Grace smiled at him, straightened her shoulders, and swept a meandering path through the destroyed store. She’d forgotten how the chance of snow made most people rush grocery stores. This one looked like it had barely escaped a zombie apocalypse. There was one mangled loaf of bread on the shelf and the only milk left was buttermilk. No matter how hungry she was, she didn’t do buttermilk.
“Guess I’ll put milk on the list for next week then.”
Because she had the afternoon and nothing else to fill her time, she tried on several outfits, thumbed through a whole stack of magazines she couldn’t afford to buy, and filled up on the samples offered in the frozen foods section. And each step she took behind the buggy with the wonky wheel felt better. She was surer that going forward, taking a chance on Memphis and Willodean Jackson and the Rock’n’Rolla Hotel was the right thing to do.
She’d just have to work hard while she was here and prove to Charlie that unemployed and broke didn’t really mean untrustworthy.
Why it mattered what Charlie thought was something she didn’t spend much time thinking about.
When she’d filled the buggy with a few clothes, most of them clearance finds, and some basic groceries to get her through the week, she waited in the endless line and then watched fearfully as the total on the register grew. Her mother’s lifetime of frugal spending, coupon cutting, and searching for the very best deals served her well. She ran her card through and held her breath until the transaction was approved. Apparently she’d guessed how much credit she had left correctly.
“Y’all be careful out there in the snow, now.”
Grace smiled at the woman behind the cash register and took her receipt. “Think we’ll actually see any?”
The woman pursed her lips and fluffed her hair. “Doubt it. Too early even if it has been cold this year. But—” she shrugged, “I wouldn’t mind a flake or two. It’s nice to change things up a little.”
Grace smiled at her and gave the buggy a shove to get it moving. Cans of beans and instant noodles seemed heavy all of a sudden. When she stepped out on the sidewalk and the automatic doors slid shut behind her, Grace looked left and right at the snarl of the parking lot. After dodging two drivers determined to park on the sidewalk, she pushed the buggy next to the Cadillac’s trunk and unloaded her bags.
She rummaged in the bags and pulled out the huge, overstuffed men’s jacket she’d found on clearance. Clearance coats in December. That was something to be thankful for. She’d figured it would be all swimsuits. And if it was blaze orange and looked like it should come with a rifle and binoculars as accessories, she wasn’t going to complain. Cheap warmth had been her goal. And she’d met it.
Before she had the last bag out of the buggy, a man had one hand on its handle.
“Through with this?”
Grace nodded and managed to leap out of the way before he ran over her toes. Shaking her head, she hopped back in the driver’s seat, flipped on the seat warmer, and turned on the radio. She’d driven over in complete silence, certain any music would ruin her concentration. But after the retail therapy and her decision to move forward instead of going back to Vegas, she was in the mood to sing. The streets were empty now that the sun was setting. She made it safely back to Willodean’s parking spot, popped the trunk, wrapped both hands in the plastic bag handles, and heaved the bags out.
She was contemplating how to get the trunk shut again when Charlie reached out to take all the bags in her right hand. “Let me help.”
She stifled the frightened squeak and had to catch her breath before she could say, “You scared me. Don’t sneak up on a person like that, Charlie.”
He reached up and slammed the trunk shut. “You might have heard me if you hadn’t been humming ‘Jingle Bells’ like a good little elf.” While she was distracted by how her pulse raced when he was this close, he took all the bags in her left hand. She didn’t know how long she stood there, just looking at Charlie, but eventually he shook the bags and raised an impatient eyebrow.
“Uh, I can get those.” She reached out to take at least some of them back, but Charlie shook his head and started for the lobby door. “Were you watching for me? Well, I guess watching for the car. Have you called the police to report it stolen yet?” It burned. She wanted to let him know how much.
Charlie didn’t answer her as they walked through the lobby. Grace waved at Tony at the front desk and was very interested to see that Charlie didn’t even acknowledge his presence. When they made it outside to the Christmas wonderland built around the pool area, Charlie finally said, “I was a little worried. It’s getting dark. You don’t know Memphis. You’ve been gone a long time.”
“You mean the car’s been gone a long time.” Grace held open the gate to the staff apartments. After Charlie walked through, she closed the gate with a clang and said, “I enjoyed the trip, Charlie. You might try it sometime. Got a little lost, but then I did exactly as I pleased. I bet you march in, grab the single item on your list, and stride out like a conqueror, don’t you?”
Charlie’s lips quirked up but he didn’t confirm or deny her guess.
She was determined to make conversation. Maybe not about what his problem with her really was, but about something. “Think it’ll snow? Most everybody in Memphis had already been down the bread aisle before me.” He just shook his head. “That’s too bad. I wouldn’t mind seeing some flakes while I’m here. Snow was hard to come by in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Miami, and it was summer when I was in New York.” She could keep talking indefinitely. He’d buckle soon enough.
She opened her door and smiled a little at Charlie’s gusty sigh.
“Listen, about the car, it’s just… my mother has a long history of taking crazy gambles on people. When I was in high school, she loaned her car keys to one of the waitresses and we never saw that car again. Most of the time, they pay off, but I feel like… it’s part of my job to keep her safe. To do that, it seems like I expect the worst of people. And… I shouldn’t. I’m sorry.” He dumped all the bags on the counter and propped his hands on his hips. “Can we just start over?” He rolled his eyes. “Start over again?”
Grace crammed both hands in the deep pockets of her new coat. “Sure. I understand that. It’s smart, Charlie. She’s lucky to have someone to look out for her.”
Their eyes met in the quiet, and Grace could feel that tug again, like there was something invisible that tied them together. He looked so serious dressed all in black, but there was something in his dark eyes that shifted then. And they both smiled.
“Couldn’t you find a brighter coat?” His lip quirked.
Grace tilted her head. “This one met both important criteria. It was warm and cheap.”
He nodded. “And you’ll also never outgrow it. You can rent out room if the snowstorm comes.”
Grace rolled up the sleeves so that she could use both hands. “Just think how cozy that would be… the two of us and my puffy orange coat.” After the words left her mouth, she actually thought about being pressed tightly against Charlie’s broad chest, his arms wrapped around her. And then she wished she’d taken off the coat. Suddenly, she was overheated, a little afraid there was sweat on her forehead. She fiddled with the zipper.
This time the silence was tense, charged, and it was all Grace could do not to look at the bed. Neither of them moved until Charlie cleared his throat. “Well, I guess I should let you… do whatever.” He inched around her and paused at the door. “See you in the morning, Grace.”
After the door closed behind him, Grace shrugged out of her coat and flopped across the bed. She should really get up, put away the groceries, and figure out just what she needed to do to prepare for her first day on the all-important
new job. But for just a minute she wanted to think about how much she’d enjoyed her afternoon. And she wanted to consider the problem of Charlie.
She’d never felt this instant connection. If he were just a normal guy, she’d be ecstatic and scared to death at the same time. Her whole life had been spent looking for something, the chance to be someone special. With a connection like that, she’d be someone special to at least one person and that just might be enough. But not Charlie. He was rigid, suspicious, and had a right to be. He was also the boss’s son. Even if the boss seemed to be just fine with shoving them together, Grace couldn’t ignore the worry about what would happen when it fell apart. Would she lose her job? Her place here at the Rock’n’Rolla Hotel? That seemed like too much to risk, even on an instant connection.
Worrying about such a thing was a sign that things were different about this place and this job. She’d never worried much about the future, expecting it to take care of itself.
She rubbed her forehead and tried to tell herself they only had to work together for a little while on Monday. She’d get there early, come up with a plan, and get him on his way as quickly as possible. Besides, Charlie would never pursue any attraction he might have for her, if he was attracted. He was smart. He’d know better than to get caught up with a girl like her. Then she remembered he didn’t know the whole story yet. When he found out she’d been there to catch a rich husband, he’d make tracks faster than a runaway train.
And that was a good thing. Grace slid off the bed to put away her groceries and did her best to ignore both the anxious dread and the sizzle of anticipation in her stomach. She’d spend some time with Charlie, enjoy it without getting too caught up, and then tell Willodean to hit her with her next match.
Santa, Bring My Baby Back Page 7