A lock of her hair was tangled in one of her earrings. Freeing it, he rubbed the silky tendril between his fingers.
She smiled lazily and said, "If Teeny and Rosalind are watching, we'll be the talk of the town."
"I want you to stay at my house. I don't care if they talk."
"I want to stay, but I am mayor."
"I'll put a disclaimer in the newspaper. 'The mayor is sleeping alone, not with that rapscallion who inherited the Thornbury house.'"
Lily's laugh tinkled like wind chimes in a breeze.
"I really have to go."
"You do a lot of things here I didn't know about." She stirred something inside him, a warm feeling that filled his chest and throat. He hoped to start a conversation so she wouldn't leave, but she unlocked the door and turned back to tap a finger against his chin. "If you really want to spoil me, you can have my dinner and bath ready when I get home from work."
Sam's breath seemed to catch in his throat. He caught her fingers in his. "Does that mean you are staying with me?"
"What do you think?" Giving him a peck on the cheek, she stepped inside and started to close the door.
He put out a hand to stop it. "I didn't hear the chime ring when you opened it."
"I forgot to mention it doesn't always work."
"You forgot?"
She chuckled. "So much has happened since then, I really did."
"With you and me, something is always happening." He leaned against the doorjamb. "Makes life interesting, don't you think?"
Her eyes twinkled. "Are you saying you're glad I dropped a bottle on your head?"
"If you hadn't, we might not have gotten to know one another. So, yes, I'm glad."
"We might have met when you borrowed my water and Brandy tackled you."
"Or when your dog went AWOL and I took her in."
"Or when I set my house on fire."
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking? That destiny brought us together."
"Destiny must have a sense of humor." Laughing, Lily shut the door behind her.
Sam stood there, grinning. Browning was no longer a town without people or sound. Birds chirped, bees buzzed, and his heart beat faster when she touched the door glass and he matched his fingertips to hers.
Chapter Six
Shortly before time for Lily to arrive home, Sam stopped sorting household goods and made a trip to the market. He'd have her dinner waiting when she came home.
Going in, he noted some high school guys, waiting for their frozen pizza to heat in the microwave, taking turns talking to someone on a pay phone. Girls, probably, judging from their grins. In Phoenix, all the kids carried cell phones, making payphones a thing of the past. Times had changed most places, but Browning stood still.
Sam planned to buy steaks, but the guy behind the meat counter told him Brandenburg's Market sold mouthwatering rotisserie chicken. If he was preparing dinner for a lady friend, women preferred chicken to red meat. A pip-squeak with thinning hair and a thickening waist, he didn't look like an expert on women, but Sam had discovered a wonderful warming oven built into the deluxe range at his house that would keep the chicken warm until time to eat. So he took the clerk's advice, and to show his appreciation before going across the street, bought Idaho potatoes, white wine, and salad greens plus a magazine on collectibles. It couldn't hurt to know the value of furnishings and bric-a-brac he'd found at the house.
Back home, he scrubbed the potatoes and rubbed their rough skins with butter and sea salt. A jab or two with a fork, and he wrapped them in foil and stuck them in the oven. Next, he refrigerated the greens and set the wine in the fridge to chill. Inhaling the fragrance of the chicken he'd bought, Sam closed the oven door with a click.
Lily was teasing about dinner, but he'd make good on the joke and surprise her. They both had to eat, and he was used to cooking for himself. Hoping she'd be surprised and impressed, he showered and shaved before resuming his sorting and packing.
It was hard to keep his mind on what to keep and what to discard while listening for her yellow bomber to pull into the driveway next door. He'd learned enough about Browning to know she wasn't fooling anyone by parking at Jenny's. She had to know it too, but if it made her feel better to park there, fine.
It wasn't like they were sleeping together. That thought stuck in his mind as he carried an armload of blue jars to the kitchen, where he'd marked a box with her name. It wasn't that he wouldn't like sleeping with her. Well, not exactly sleeping.
The roar of her banana-mobile broke into his thoughts, and seconds later, she burst through the door and shoved a wicker basket into his hands. "Welcome to Browning."
"You already welcomed me." He chuckled. "But this time you're handing me something, not dropping it on my head."
She wrinkled her nose at him while tapping the yellow visor she wore, and he saw it said Welcome Wagon in blue letters. A big round pin on her jumper proclaimed her, Browning Friendship Ambassador. "This is official. It's a community welcome from the town merchants. We give one to all new residents. We don't have many arrivals, but we strive to create good will and win people over so they'll never move away."
He smiled at the sincerity in her voice, while shaking his head in disbelief. She was an entire municipal department. "Do you do everything in this town?"
"Of course not." She took off her visor and sat down at the kitchen table. "We have six people on the town board. As mayor, I preside over those meetings and the welcome wagon idea was mine, so I offered to take over the duties. There are other city officials but we double up a lot. You know about the dogcatcher collecting trash. Joe Bottomley serves as clerk-treasurer and attorney. Local funeral director, Wynn Moster, holds the coroner's job. We have a town marshal…" She paused for breath.
"Who's also…? " Sam held his hands in the air.
"Superintendent of schools." Lily took off, leaving him standing in the doorway holding the basket, and came back with a brown bag.
"None of the jobs take a lot of time." Shrugging, she produced a loaf of freshly baked bread--warm and aromatic--and a cherry cheesecake. "I bought these as a small thank you for lodging."
She turned toward the refrigerator with the cheesecake and stopped dead in front of the door. "My magnets. You are so sweet, Sam. Thank you." She deposited the pastry and turned to throw her arms around his neck, laughing and sniffling at the same time.
"I wanted you to feel at home." He slipped his arms around her waist and nodded toward the oven. "I have dinner ready but your bath isn't drawn."
"Dinner is plenty." Lily gave him a slow, sexy smile. "You look good in that color. It brings out the blue in your eyes."
His light blue polo shirt was old but a favorite of his. "My mother said that's why she bought it."
"I noticed you have mostly neutrals in your closet."
He hadn't switched his clothes to the other bedroom yet. "They're easy to mix and match."
"If you don't mind a suggestion, you should experiment with color--not just to find ones that complement your looks, but for the way colors make you feel. This shirt makes you feel closer to your mother, so other clothes in shades of blue might do the same."
He hadn't said it made him feel closer. "I feel comfortable but I don't think blue makes me feel different than tan."
"It makes you look breathtaking."
Sam blinked, and realized he'd been doing that a lot lately. Lily surprised him constantly. He wasn't used to receiving compliments. Elizabeth always looked like she'd just stepped out of a salon and expected him to notice. Lily made looking lovely seem effortless and complimented him without reservation. "Okay, so now I feel better in blue." He chuckled.
She smiled and touched his arm again. "Could dinner wait until you see your gifts?"
Her eyes sparkled. How could he refuse? "Sure, but you know I'm not really going to become a Browning resident," he said, as Lily moved the plates aside and set the basket on the table.
She motioned him to sit d
own and took the seat opposite him. She bounced on her chair, more excited than he was, and she undoubtedly knew what the basket contained. "I haven't had Oliver, my assistant, chalk you up on the billboard yet."
"So that's how it's done." Chuckling, Sam lifted the blue and white checked dishtowel that covered the contents and saw it bore a tag identifying the merchant who donated it. Digging deeper, he found homemade jam, a crocheted potholder in the shape of Indiana with an embroidered gold star for Browning, and a hand-painted thimble with a cardinal. "That's the state bird," Lily told him.
Unearthing a plastic rain hat from the Pink Poodle Hair Salon, he looked at her questioningly. "You don't have to wear that." She giggled. "Although I'd really like to see you in it." Sam set it aside quickly.
"This might come in handy." She lifted the next item out for him, a magnet that resembled and advertised Moster Funeral Home.
He narrowed his eyes. "Are you planning something?"
"I meant you can use it to hold notes on the refrigerator. I was going to bring you a billboard magnet but forgot."
"I can look at yours." He nodded toward the fridge, and the smile that lighted her eyes would make looking at magnets every time he opened the door worthwhile.
"Mm," he said, extracting a bag of salted peanuts in the shell from The Twilight Inn. "I'll enjoy these."
She tossed her head, and her hair shone in the sunlight, reminding him of the glass prism his mother hung in the kitchen window wherever they moved. They'd both loved the rainbows it cast in the room, and she did it first thing when they arrived, trying to make each new house seem like home. He should have brought Lily's over.
Sam pulled out complimentary cards good for a pair of breakfasts at Jodie's. Two admissions to the local movie theater were next. There were also passes for two meals at the "Moose Lodge Walleyed Pike Booth at the Fireman's July Fourth Carnival." Sam read aloud. "That's quite a mouthful."
"So's the fish. It's delicious and people stand in line for it. If you're still around, the Fourth of July is the highlight of Browning's summer. The whole carnival is an experience you'll remember, and it runs for three days."
He knew he'd enjoy it, with her. Lily made the simplest experience seem eventful. He'd visited many of the country's biggest and best-known amusement parks but only been to a couple of carnivals in his life, he told her. "If I'm here, do we have a date?"
"You bet." She put the plates back in place while he moved the basket, and they set the food on the table together. "I didn't give you pairs of tickets so you'd ask me to go with you. Contents are standard and most people arrive in town as couples."
She often blushed but he sensed her uneasiness over this. "If you're worried I'll think you were fishing for an invitation, don't. However, I'd like very much to take you."
A smile broke across her face, and they ate hungrily with her complimenting him on his efforts. When they'd cleared the table, she brought the basket out again and lifted the mound of flowered tissue he thought covered the bottom. "There are a couple more things you haven't seen. Items that aren't…standard."
He was surprised to find the candle he liked from Radiance, brass wind chimes, and a dream catcher. His eyes met hers. "You put these in special? For me?"
"The sound of wind chimes is soothing, and I want you to latch onto your dreams and have balance in your life."
Sam didn't know what his dreams were, and there she went, thinking he was tense again. He rubbed the spot between his eyebrows. If he was off balance, she was the cause. He'd been fine until he saw her legs and she dropped a bottle on him. He grinned and shrugged. "Then I'm not special. I'm unbalanced."
"Yes. I mean, no. You are special," she said, backing toward the door to the hallway, her face a lovely shade of magenta. "You just need to loosen up." She backed faster.
"I have to change clothes now. Before I walk. I like to exercise every other day and I'm off schedule."
"You're babbling. Why are you so nervous?" He didn't expect an answer since she was already halfway up the stairs. Breathless and bewildered, he fastened the complimentary passes to the refrigerator with the funeral home magnet.
Sam was washing dishes when the phone rang.
"I called twice earlier and you weren't home. I wish you'd carry your cell phone."
"Elizabeth." He hadn't expected to hear from her again and wished she hadn't called. "I ate lunch downtown." He looked toward the doorway, thinking about Lily. "With the mayor."
"Whatever for? It's not as if you're moving there. You're in Brownsville to unload that house, not meet city officials."
"Browning, not Brownsville." Lily was half of the city officials in one outstanding package. He smiled. "The mayor lives next door. Her name is Lily Madison."
"Why are you telling me this, Samuel? I had lunch with the dean, Mark Rybolt. So what?"
She was acting like a spoiled brat, and Sam would have ended the conversation right there, if he weren't curious. Elizabeth and Rybolt had never lunched together before, to his knowledge. Was she digging to find out about the appointment? Her father was CEO of a big company and prestige was important to Elizabeth. Sam suspected that was why she wanted him to be made department chair. She told him once that she liked being seen with the best-looking man on campus. He wasn't, but if she thought so, wouldn't it be better yet if he held a higher position?
"Did he explain why he postponed naming the department chair?"
"I don't suppose he thought he needed to explain. The important thing is, you have the next few weeks free to spend in Boston."
She was a chameleon who fit in wherever she wanted and would have a great time without him. "This was my mother's home, and I want to take my time sorting things that were left."
"We'd have fun."
He'd never known her to act this hardheaded. "Can't you understand, Elizabeth? Some things are more important than a good time."
"'More important than me', is what you're saying, and if that's how you feel, I hope you understand when I say…you are finished."
She banged the receiver so hard, Sam winced. You are finished? Didn't she mean 'you and I?'
"I would have helped with dishes if you'd waited." Lily popped into the kitchen, wearing yellow running shorts that fit like a second skin and a matching tank top so loose he could see her white rib-skimming tee shirt through the armholes. Consternation evaporating as rapidly as soap bubbles in dishwater, he pulled the plug.
"There were only a few." The water gurgled noisily away.
"I wasn't thinking." Her cheeks reddened and she turned to take the dog's leash off a doorknob. "Will you join Brandy and me?"
"Okay; sure." He washed and dried his hands, unable to tear his eyes away from Lily. "Citrus colors look better on you than on fruit."
"That's the most unique compliment I've ever received." Chuckling, she stuck out a foot and he saw she was wearing white canvas shoes and half socks with fuzzy green pompoms on the back. "Do you want to change shoes first?" she asked.
"I don't have footwear that would compete."
She poked a finger in each of his cheeks to emphasize his smile. "You should show your sense of humor more often."
"I'll make a note of that," he said, tweaking her nose.
Lily took off, out the door and down the street, walking fast. "Slow down a little, will you?"
"To benefit from walking, you have to get your heart rate up," she said, without missing a breath.
"If you don't slow down, mine will go over the top and I'll have a heart attack."
"People walk to prevent heart attacks."
"Walk is a misnomer. We're practically running."
"Speed walking."
"I think I need to work up to walking this fast, gradually."
She turned her face toward him and slowed her pace. "Your face is red."
"No kidding."
Slowing even more, she turned off, on a path that led down a hill. Sam hadn't realized where they were going until he spotted a fami
liar tan brick building ahead. "Browning High."
She nodded, coming to a stop. "I ran track here, all the way through high school."
"You wore your hair short then."
"You wore yours long. I remember you standing on the bleachers watching me one day. Funny how things come back little by little." She rested her hands on her hips.
"It's nice to know I'm not entirely forgettable." He sank down gratefully on the bleachers. He lifted weights and thought he was in good shape. She was obviously in better. He admired her long legs, gently curved hips, and softy rounded breasts. Very nice shape.
"Will the reunion be held here?"
"No. This is a grade and middle school now. Grades six through eight are on the end closest to us, and kindergarten through five are in the far wing. If we walked around to that end, you'd see playground equipment.
"The high school was consolidated before I came back to Browning. The new school is located in the middle-of-nowhere on what looks like a college campus. I hate seeing small town kids lose their sense of community. I fought to keep the grade and middle schools in Browning and was able to persuade the town board to bring them together instead of consolidating with other towns."
She tapped a fingernail against those perfect white teeth. Had she picked up the habit when she wore braces?
"That was one of the reasons I was persuaded to run for mayor. I also wanted to bring a care center to the area and I did after taking office. Country Care is a nursing and rehabilitation home with an immediate care outpatient clinic at one end of the building. It was a blessing I accomplished that before Jenny suffered that fall."
Sam stood and took her hands in his. Everything about her impressed him. Her goals were lofty for a town the size of Browning, but look what she'd done already.
"Now, you have to hear about my big dream." She took a breath and fixed her gaze on his. Her eyes twinkled like emeralds in starlight, her excitement traveling through her heated hands into his, sending shock bursts to his nerve endings. "I want Browning to have a community building with daycare as a primary function."
Love in a Small Town Page 7