Love in a Small Town

by Betty Jo Schuler

  Lily hoped she'd say Sam's mother wanted to raise him there, so he'd make his life in Browning, but that was too much to expect. "The conversation you overheard must have taken place twenty years ago. How long did the Thornburys stay in their house?"

  "Another ten years, I'd reckon, and after they moved into a smaller one-story place, their house stood empty. Samuel came back and mowed for a short while, but then he hired a boy to do it. They both died three or four years ago. Joe Bottomley's had the yard mowed and such, but I didn't know who owned it or why they never moved in or sold it. Now, I understand. Evelyn's husband didn't want to live here and she didn't want to sell. It would have pleased Martha and Samuel if your Sam chose to live in that house. His mother too. I remember her sitting on a bench at the back of the lot, making a chain of daisies."

  Would Sam like hearing about his mother? Lily thought he would. It sounded like he'd gotten his looks from her. Lily told Jenny about Duke and his dislike of small towns. "I think Sam might learn to like it here, if he stays long enough. He and his mother were close."

  "A woman as lovely as you should be able to persuade him." Jenny fanned herself with the morning paper. "Whip out the romance candles, girl."

  Laughing, Lily hugged her. "I'm trying, Jenny."

  "Men are stubborn. Remember that and don't give up. You do want him to stay, don't you?" She caught Lily's hand and looked up from her wheelchair.

  Lily gave her a watery smile, damning her emotions for giving her away. "I'm hoping he'll ask me to go to our class reunion."

  "Is that all you're wishing for?" Jenny chuckled. "I've been wishing I could cast a love spell over you two, and if this old brain doesn't deceive me, he's cast his spell over you." When Lily didn't deny it, Jenny continued. "Now, you do the same to him. If you're in love with Sam Champion, do something about it."

  This morning, as Lily seated herself at the counter in the Chrome Grill, Jenny's words from the day before echoed in her ears. She didn't know if she was in love with Sam, but she did know she wanted time to find out. Inhaling the intoxicating aromas of strong coffee and freshly baked sweet rolls, she thought about all that had transpired in the days and hours since she'd met Sam. So much and yet so little, but her feelings had skyrocketed.

  "So, are you living with him?" Jodie set a cup of coffee in front of Lily.

  "Please, speak quietly." Lily reached for a pack of sweetener. Jenny said she was under Sam's spell. If she saw right through her, so would everyone else.

  "Cripes. You've been bitten by the love bug."

  "What makes you say that?" Was she giving off the heat she felt every time she so much as thought about Sam? Love spell. Love bug. It all sounded so juvenile.

  "I'm an expert." Laughing, Jodie plucked one of Lily's favorite sweet rolls, a Hound Dog's Paw, from a warming tray and deposited it on a heated plate.

  At other restaurants, the pastry would be called a Bear's Claw, but not here.

  Jodie leaned her elbows on the counter. "You've got that goofy grin and those eyes that look like they're melting at the edges."

  Lily shuddered. "You've succeeded in making it sound like an atrocious disease."

  "Not really." Jodie shrugged. "Love's a trip, and Sam's a dreamboat."

  Jodie even used fifties' terminology. Lily smiled. "Heard any more tall tales about roaches at the hotel?"

  "I thought you might see through that, seeing as how McFarlands own the hotel and an exterminating business."

  "Why were you trying to get me to stay at Sam's?" Lily closed her eyes over the delicious bite she'd taken into her mouth. "You should bake for a living," she said as an aside.

  "That's like telling me I should make love for a living." Jodie snickered. "I wouldn't enjoy it as much. As for Sam, do you have to ask? The guy is a living, breathing hunk, and talk about convenience. Tell me about him and his house."

  "Both are fantastic, but the house needs work and Sam wants to sell it."

  "Drats. Foiled again, as they say in cowboy movies." Jodie was slightly plump but in the right places, and her jovial manner attracted men. She loved western movies, country music, and guys who wore cowboy boots or Stetsons. If Lily had set up a western shop in Browning, she'd have gotten rich off would-be Jodie suitors. She had many talents, one of which was choosing the wrong man.

  "I'm hoping to change his mind."

  "You'd better. He's too cute to—"

  "Who's cute? Morning, ladies."

  A perky blonde in a two-piece pink dress sat next to Lily and ordered coffee and a cinnamon sugar donut. Carla Baker.

  "You wouldn't know him," Jodie said, sliding her food in front of her.

  "Don't be too sure." Carla smirked and Lily chuckled. Jodie and Carla were always interested in news about men.

  "I believe I heard the word 'convenience' and I know all about 'convenience dating.'"

  Lily wondered how much else she'd heard. "Please explain," Jodie said, leaning her elbows on the counter.

  "Some men are right for one occasion, some for another. Some you'd take home to a family dinner; those are the tolerant ones. Some you'd ask to something like a class reunion; those are the handsome, successful ones. If I feel like doing something different, say, bowling--note, this happens once every couple of years--I know a man who'd love to take me. Then there's this man who gets tickets to the opera; his mother's a patron of some sort and—"

  "We get the idea," Lily said. Wasn't it unethical to have a man for every occasion? She didn't even have one all-occasion man.

  Carla pouted for a half second, then brightened noticeably. "The reunion plans are all in place. I've had the hall reserved for months, and the caterer booked. Our decorating committee has wonderful ideas. I think it's safe to say it will be a grand affair."

  "Who's having a grand affair?" Jodie, who'd walked away to get another pot of coffee, returned to pour them both some.

  Lily smothered a groan. She was beginning to feel like a party to two of "The Three Stooges."

  "Not me," Carla said. "I don't even have an escort for the reunion, unless I drag my son along."

  "Go stag and you might run into an old boyfriend who's footloose." Jodie rubbed her hands together gleefully. "I met a guy at my GED reunion that I had a great time with."

  Lily still didn't know why Jodie dropped out of school, but she'd gone to live with a relative in Colorado for a year. While there, she'd taken night classes and gotten her Graduate Equivalency Diploma. That was where she'd fallen in love with western clothes and country music, along with a cowboy who broke her heart. That one must have been for real, because she never talked about him. She told too much about the others.

  "A man who's thirty-eight and still single has issues," Carla said.

  Sam was thirty-eight and he said he'd put other things first.

  "And divorced men have baggage," Jodie said, nodding.

  While they commiserated, Lily tuned out. Jodie fell in love with every guy she met and had her heart broken at least once a month. Flirting was a game with Carla. She'd dated half the guys in their graduating class and never gotten serious with anyone, as far as Lily knew. There must have been someone afterward though. Carla left town following graduation and came back a couple of years later with a toddler. Jet, a good-looking boy who'd gotten that nickname because of his black hair, was in college now. Lily couldn't remember his real first name and didn't know what last name he went by.

  Lily didn't flirt and didn't fall easily. Unless you counted Sam.

  "There weren't many guys in our class, so pickings will be slim." Carla looked at her diamond-studded watch and pushed her plate toward Jodie. "Ah, plenty of time for another donut. I have a home to show at nine."

  "Is the owner anyone I know?"Jodie asked.

  Lily gave her a warning look. She wasn't good at keeping information to herself.

  Carla shook her head. "It's a family from Indiana looking for a big old house to buy cheap, and I don't have any such animal. I'm going to show them a
couple of places that don't fill the bill, hoping they'll like one anyway. Everyone wants a lot of space for little or nothing but those listings are hard to come by."

  Jodie cleared her throat and Lily stood up. "I have to get to the office."

  "Before you go," Carla said, "I wanted to ask if you'd found the other missing class members."

  Lily remembered she'd flirted with Sam and wondered if she was asking about him.

  "She found Sam Champion," Jodie volunteered.

  Lily didn't want him to think she was fishing for a date so she hadn't given him his invitation. She'd been waiting to see if he stayed and whether last night's kiss meant to him what it did her.

  "You're blushing, Lily," Carla said, laughing. "I didn't know you had a crush on him. Of course, I couldn't blame you. I remember how cute he was, with all that dark hair and blue eyes to die for."

  Every muscle in Lily's body tensed. Sam's hair was collar-length in high school and he'd look good no matter how he wore it. Carla was cute then, but flirty. She was attractive now, and still flirty, but less blatantly so. Would Sam find her appealing these days? He hadn't then, and Lily was glad. She'd never been jealous of any man, except him. Not even Nick. "I haven't found the other two."

  Carla's laughter faded and her hazel eyes clouded. "You said you could find everyone."

  Lily bristled. She hadn't seemed concerned about locating her for the ten-year-reunion. "I found a dozen you couldn't find."

  "I know, and I'm aware you're still ticked I didn't locate you, and I'm sorry. Who haven't you found?"

  "One's a girl that was really, really shy. Tina—"

  "Grusinger." Carla finished for her, and Lily nodded.

  "The other is a guy I can't place, someone named Jack…."

  Carla didn't supply the last name, but their eyes met and Lily suddenly remembered it was Ryan. Why did the name come to mind now? It was almost as if Carla beamed it into her mind. She shook her head to clear it.

  "Don't stop looking," Carla said, and Lily, hearing the urgency in her voice promised she would find him.

  "Wait," Carla called as she opened the door. "Is Sam coming to the reunion?"

  "Darned right." Jodie returned from the kitchen just in time to butt into their conversation. "Sam is Lily's date."

  Chapter Eight

  Brandy kept Sam company in the storage room while he rooted through boxes of things. Too bad she couldn't help since he was having trouble keeping his mind on the job at hand.

  He shouldn't have kissed Lily but couldn't help himself. Or didn't want to. She'd left that morning before he got out of bed. He'd heard her moving furtively about and figured she'd rather not face him, so he'd stayed put. How did she feel about their kiss? He wasn't sorry; it was sensational. But he didn't want to start something he couldn't follow through on, and his stay in Browning was temporary. He had a job waiting in Arizona and a home.

  But not much of a life. Where had the years gone? It seemed like yesterday he graduated from college, determined to stay in one place, geographically. Not emotionally. He'd expected to fall in love, marry, and have kids. He'd never thought of himself as a person who put things off, but something was sure the hell wrong.

  Elizabeth was the only woman he'd dated since he finished college; he needed to bond with a woman before asking her out, and he and Elizabeth had gotten to know one another through their jobs. He'd shied away from serious relationships in his younger years and blamed it on his gypsy lifestyle. Now that he'd settled in Arizona, nothing had changed except he'd fallen into seeing one woman instead of dating around. "And that is nothing more than laziness," he told his canine companion.

  He and Elizabeth were finished; she'd said so, and even though his social life would be nil, he wasn't upset about the end of their relationship. But it would make working together uncomfortable, particularly if he got the appointment since she was the one who urged him to go for it.

  When Sam went to see Rybolt, he'd already had his file out, but he hadn't told Elizabeth, and he could see her now, taking the credit and expecting Sam to show his gratitude. Her story about being afraid to fly was likely a gimmick used to get her way. When it didn't, she might have gotten past his refusal to go to Boston if he hadn't told her he had more important things to do. She liked to be center stage and would be livid if she knew Lily intrigued him.

  Unlike anyone he'd ever met, she could make gloomy days sunny. Just knowing she was in the same house made him feel less lonely. Was he getting in over his head here? Sighing, he passed a green vase back and forth from one hand to another. Trash? Treasure? Lily had him puzzling over a number of things.

  Suddenly a scary thought hit him and he almost dropped the vase. What if Elizabeth had wheedled Rybolt into postponing the appointment so Sam could go to Boston with her? He gritted his teeth, picturing her with the dean, saying, "Sam knows the ropes. He doesn't need a long lead time."

  When he first realized the time frames were identical, he'd believed it was a coincidence, and Elizabeth was trying to use it to her advantage. But if she'd planned and connived so he could go, that would explain her fury. He didn't need her going to bat for him, and he'd be furious if he learned she did.

  He put the vase in the trash box, pushed the whole ugly mess out of his mind, and as he transferred a stack of old calendars from a packing box to the trash, exposed a picture album. Rubbing his hand over the brown leather cover, he wondered what he might find inside. His grandparents' wedding photo? His mother's baby picture? A snapshot of him? He flipped open the front cover.

  On the first page, a young girl with waist-length hair held a cake with a "first prize" ribbon in front of her. His grandmother? Most likely. And she must have entered the cake in some kind of baking contest. Didn't small towns have county fairs? Lily had given him tickets to a carnival, and that might be similar.

  His fingers itched to turn the page, but he laid the album firmly aside. It would be interesting to peruse when he had time, but he wasn't going to find out whether his Browning grandma had blue hair. The pictures were black and white. Still, Lily might enjoy looking at them with him. She was more curious about his family than he'd ever been.

  Maybe he should use the tickets she'd given him and take her to the carnival or a movie. He sighed. Or, maybe he should leave town before he did something foolish, like falling for a woman married to Browning, Indiana, population, 3653. A town with a billboard that featured cornstalks and kept count of people. In cities, no one cared or knew if you stayed or went, or lived or died. But most towns didn't have a red-haired mayor who loved everything and everyone.

  Lily was a good person. Beautiful, warm. He had a home and career in Arizona. He'd planned to list the house with a realtor first thing and hadn't done it yet. He had to act responsibly and think realistically.

  He could…should…take that step.

  Grabbing the Browning phone book from the top of the refrigerator, he looked up "real estate" in the slim yellow-paged section. It figured. Only one listed. He punched in the number with uncertain fingers.

  "Superior Realty. Carla Baker speaking," a sugary voice piped. "May I help you?"

  Sam told her the address and asked when she could come by to see the house and list it.

  "I could come tomorrow if one o'clock is all right," she said, and he told her that was fine. "Would you give me your name again, please, sir?"

  He hadn't given it to her in the first place, but did now. "Sam Champion."

  "Sam," she squealed. "This is Carla Baker, the blonde who sat across the aisle and flirted with you in psychology class at Browning High. Are you going to make it to our twentieth reunion?"

  "I don't think so." He wasn't as delighted as she was to discover they knew one another. He was surprised she remembered him since Lily said she flirted with everyone.

  "But Jodie said—"

  "Nice to deal with an old classmate. See you tomorrow." He hung up the phone. What did Jodie say? Maybe he should have let Carla finis
h.

  * * *

  Sam had fixed a pot of coffee but hadn't had anything solid to eat since he rolled out of bed. He washed his hands in preparation, and spotting Lily's juice glass in the sink, picked it up. Studying the lipstick print on the edge, he pictured her sipping, eyes closed with long auburn lashes fanned out against her cheek. He'd never known a woman could look sexy drinking from a glass.

  He looked out the window over the sink, at her place. Workmen were visible outside, and through her window, he could see others inside. She could move home soon.

  Setting the glass back, he popped a piece of bread in the toaster and was starting to get the margarine out of the refrigerator, when a piece of paper fluttered, catching his eye. He took it loose from the billboard magnet.

  "Look on the table if you haven't already. L."

  She'd propped an envelope addressed to him against the jar of daisies. He slit the edge with a paring knife and pulled out the stiff paper with hesitant fingers. Why would she buy him a card?

  He chuckled under his breath. He should have guessed. It was an invitation to Browning's twentieth class reunion.

  There was a note at the bottom. "I hope you can make it, Sam," he read aloud. The handwritten note on the computer-generated invitation matched the writing on the envelope. It was signed with the same feminine scroll, half written and half printed with looping L's . . . Lily.

  Below her name, Lily had written, "P.S. Save a dance for me."

  Sam sat down and slowly buttered his toast. The last dance? Or first dance, or all in-between? The reunion was four weeks away. If he fixed up the house, he'd be around to spend the evening with old classmates. He traced the looping L`s in Lily. He could ask Lily to be his date. But he'd come here to sell as quickly as he could, and if he stayed, he might start to form relationships. Or roots.

  Browning's roots were people.

  Brandy came into the kitchen, generating a cool breeze with her enthusiastic tail wagging. He gave her a dog biscuit and scratched behind her ears. He'd expected to be bored in a small town, but he felt comfortable here.