“You’re only visiting, aren’t you?”
Silently, he watched her for a minute and then nodded. He tipped his head to the side and then stared up at the ceiling. She thought it looked like he was considering something deeply.
Bonnie watched him square his shoulders like he was about to take a hit. “I’d like for you to consider coming home with me when I leave.”
She couldn’t help the words that slipped out. They beat having a panic attack at his suggestions.
“I’m not a souvenir.”
Chapter 7
Rita Miller’s oversized t-shirt surprised JT. Mildred wore a granny nighty to bed and that’s what he expected from Bonnie’s mother, too. So, the shirt with a giant picture of a fat, orange cartoon cat on it shocked him.
Kind of a shock, too, that she would answer the door without even putting on a robe. It had to be after midnight by now. He and Bonnie hadn’t checked the clock when she’d pulled him out of the motel and told him to drive. The look in her eyes sort of frightened him, and he’d done as told.
Now, faced by the older woman in the ridiculous nightwear, JT wanted to laugh. Bonnie had said her mother was very determined. Well, he could say the same thing about Bonnie. It was doggone attractive, too.
“Mother, why did you do this?” his wife’s words sounded so different from what he’d expected. For the short trip, she’d raved about what she’d say. Anger had spiced her words then. Not now. No, as she faced her mother, sorrow and hurt dripped from each word.
Rita answered her daughter by opening her arms. He felt his jaw drop when Bonnie walked into them. Where was the angry hellion? This mother-daughter thing was a more powerful connection than he’d realized.
JT watched as the woman rocked his wife for a minute before moving to put one arm around her shoulder. She led Bonnie into the house. With a quick look of censure over her shoulder at JT, she gruffly threw him an order.
“Shut the door. I’ve got the air on, you know.”
Okay, Bonnie was delivered. He could turn around and return to that no-tell motel. It wouldn’t take more than a few minutes to gather up his things. A bit more and he’d be in bed at Ma’s house. After all, his mother-in-law hadn’t invited him in.
Any man with an ounce of pride would do that. He thought those words as he shut the red-painted front door and followed the women inside.
JT plopped down into a recliner opposite the plaid couch where the mother and daughter sat. The crocheted afghan with its colorful granny squares slipped off the back and onto his shoulders as he all but fell into the chair.
With a cluck of her tongue, Rita grumbled at him. “Clumsy one, aren’t you! And couldn’t you figure out what to do in that motel room we arranged for you two?”
Feeling his face blaze, JT only stared at Rita with goggle eyes. Next to the woman, Bonnie gasped and pulled out of her mother’s hold.
“Mother! You don’t think we’d actually… Not after meeting for the first time tonight!”
Crossing her arms, Rita’s face was mutinous. “Why not? Mail-order brides slept with their husbands after meeting the same day. If it was good enough for the women who shaped the west, it’s good enough for you.”
Amazingly, a chuckle bubbled up in JT’s throat. He opened his mouth and let it roar. Both women jumped at the sound of the loud laugh.
“What’s so funny over there?”
Looking at the older woman, JT wiped a tear from his eye. “You and my mother. You’ve decided women are in such short supply that I needed an arranged marriage.”
A harrumph came his way. Then Rita stood with her thin hands on her scrawny hips. The woman had to weigh no more than one hundred pounds soaking wet.
“You’re both in your thirties.” The bite to Rita’s voice faded. The lines in her forehead disappeared as her face softened. “It was high time someone stepped in to keep you from growing old all alone.”
“But Mother, why did you do it?” Bonnie’s plaintive voice was low. Almost like she’d reached the end of her strength.
Her mother sat again beside her and picked up her daughter’s hand. “Gus, Mildred, and I started comparing our children one day. You both have so much in common. It was a perfect match, except…”
Rita’s voice trailed off. It didn’t matter that JT had known Bonnie for only a few hours. He’d figured enough about his wife to finish Rita’s sentence.
“Except, that I didn’t live in Oak Grove. Right?”
Bonnie’s gaze went between him and her mother as Rita nodded. Her question came out on a small sob. “Mother, why would you match me with him? You know I don’t want to leave town.”
Rita fixed JT with a cold stare as she answered her daughter. “Do you have to leave?”
“Did you get anything more out of your mother after I left last night?”
Bonnie lowered the warm chip she’d only just lifted to her mouth with a sigh. She really wanted that bite of chip. Hacienda was her favorite restaurant in Janesville, and the warm tortilla chips and fresh salsa were almost the best part of the visit.
Almost. Her mouth watered as she thought about the enchilada with spicy verde sauce. They’d already ordered so Bonnie knew she’d be eating that soon.
They’d spent the afternoon walking the trails of Palmer Park. She’d been pleased to learn that they could comfortably be together for long periods of silence. When they did talk, it had been about things from their past. Questions like, “Have you dated much?” or “What’s your favorite memory from school” occasionally passed between them.
As they walked, JT held her hand. Remembering that feeling of warmth and attraction from his touch sent a zing of awareness through her as she sat across from him. She knew the beginnings of a smile tugged at the corner of her lips.
His brow contorted upward. “What? She told you something ridiculous like my mother told me last night, right?”
Oh, yeah. He’d asked about her mother. Bonnie got ahold of her thoughts and answered.
“No, I was just remembering our walk today. I really enjoyed it.”
A boyish grin, sort of shy and enthusiastic, covered his face. JT reached for her hand across the table.
Bonnie had been glad when he didn’t push into the same side of the booth with her as the hostess seated them. She always thought it looked odd when couples did that. Since he’d chosen to sit across from her, they could see each other better as they talked. Or when he chose to touch her, like now.
“So, did you get anything out of your mother?”
Mush. Her mind was mush with the cloudy feeling he created in her head. She opened her mouth to answer, and Bonnie heard a different set of words come out. Not what she’d been about to say at all.
“You send the most fantastic tingles through me whenever you touch me.”
JT’s eyes widened, a wolfish look erasing the boyish grin. He lifted her hand to his lips. She expected him to kiss the back of it. Shock zinged through her followed by a warm knot in her stomach when he turned it over and placed his lips to her palm.
Lifting his head, the corners of his eyes crinkled with laughter. “How about that? Any tingles?”
“Tingles? Oh, yeah. And a lot more.” Like joy at just being with him. Sexual attraction mixed with joy at being together and sharing a laugh.
Releasing her hand, JT gave a muted groan. “Okay. No more of that. I can’t handle touching you. I feel my own set of tingles, you know.”
Bonnie took pity on him and changed the subject. “We’ll talk about my mother. She gave me some strange story about this being her Christmas wish, even if it was only July.”
“Christmas in July? I thought that was some sort of retail thing. Does Santa even give Christmas in July wishes?”
Bonnie laughed lightly. “He must. Didn’t you get a package from his wife?”
JT hummed. “Hmm. That was strange. I wonder where the mothers found an ornament that looks so much like you.”
“Santa’s workshop?”
They both laughed. A sizzling of the fajitas JT had ordered interrupted them as the waiter set the meals on the table. For a while, the conversation centered on the food.
Near the end of the meal, while they shared a dessert of sopapillas dipped in honey, JT brought up last night’s suggestion.
“I do want you to come home with me. At least for a visit.”
Leave Oak Grove? The thought almost had Bonnie’s hand reaching into her Vera Wang purse for the white bag. Rather than do that, she softly chanted, “My hands are warm.”
“Sweetheart, it’s really not that scary.”
No one, not even her mother, had ever called her sweetheart. “I can’t be that.” The words left her lips before she even realized she was speaking out loud.
“What? Scared?” His hands gripped hers. A bit of stickiness suctioned the ends of his fingers to hers. They both needed to wash off the honey, she thought. Oddly, it didn’t bother her.
“I can’t be your sweetheart. We don’t know each other well enough.”
His fingers squeezed hers. “Somehow, I think we were made to be together. Don’t you sense a sort of blessing on this?”
Numbly, she nodded. He looked pleased. Bonnie watched him shake his head as the waiter approached. The man left, and JT leaned a bit further across the table.
“My parents don’t really need me, you know. Pa’s got a nurse coming in every day to help. Nancy, my sister, lives close by. That’s why they moved here, after all. To be near her and the kids.”
Somehow, Bonnie couldn’t speak. The glow of believing she was really someone’s sweetheart gripped her. Her silence didn’t bother him, it seemed. He bulldozed ahead with what was on his mind.
“I have eight more days before I have to return to work. You’ll spend them with me, won’t you?”
That finally opened the floodgates of speech. Bonnie sighed and explained, “I have a restaurant to run. I’m always closed on Sunday. Tomorrow it’s back to the daily grind.”
“Don’t you have an assistant manager?”
That had her laughing. Without even knowing why she laughed, he joined in with his rich baritone that thrilled her soul.
“I live in a small town. There’s not enough business so I can’t afford another manager.”
His shoulders fell. Just for a moment, though. Then, he arched an eyebrow. “Let’s play pretend. Who would you hire, if you could afford it?”
Pretend was safe so Bonnie played along. “That’s easy. My mother.”
The fun of the moment slipped away, and her face grew somber. “I think something’s wrong with her. She’s losing weight and looks tired a lot.”
JT stood up. Had her tone offended him?
Rather than leaving, he moved to sit beside her. Regardless of sticky fingers, her husband wrapped an arm around Bonnie and pulled her into his side. Leaning down, he kissed her hair.
“I’m sorry. She hasn’t told you anything about it?”
Under his lips, Bonnie shook her head. “No. I asked last night when I was trying to get her to explain about the whole Elvis wedding thing. She put me off, saying something like ‘None of us know what tomorrow will bring.’ That kind of malarkey.”
He pulled away to look down at her. “You say that like you’ve heard it before.”
“Oh, yeah. Ever since my father’s death five years ago.”
JT leaned down to whisper close to her ear. His breath tickled her, causing her to shiver. “You know, she’s right. And you certainly can’t throw God’s blessing back at Him.”
This time she pulled away to meet his eyes. “I’ve never thought of myself as a blessing. I like that, a sweetheart and a blessing. It’s been a good day for me.”
The warm chuckle stopped as his mouth brushed across hers. Briefly. That contact only left her longing for something more.
Trying to smother that longing, she played devil’s advocate. “What if I don’t like living near Racine? What then?”
A long silence. Bonnie saw JT squeeze his eyes shut. His head tipped upward, as if he were praying.
Why was she fighting this? A godly man. Someone she was relaxed with, attracted to, and a person who wanted to provide for her.
What more could she ask for from the Lord? That he live in Oak Grove. That sounded petty to her now. Like nowhere else was as good as her little town.
JT’s words startled Bonnie out of her thoughts. “I can only think that we’re meant to be together, whatever happens.” His face creased into that little boy grin she found so attractive. “After all, mother knows best.”
His words eased the tension of a moment earlier. She giggled and added, “Mother and Mrs. Claus.”
Chapter 8
On Tuesdays, The Oak Grove Tattler published its weekly edition. Somehow, a photo of Bonnie and JT standing in front of Elvis made the front page. She didn’t even know someone had been taking pictures.
As she refilled JT’s coffee cup, he pointed it out to her. “Look at that local celebrity.”
Bonnie glanced down and grinned. “Yeah. Elvis is popular in this area. Thank goodness that talk about his death in the seventies was just a rumor.” She added a wink when she said that.
With a shake of his head, JT grinned at her. “No, ma’am. You’re the celebrity in the photo. Everyone loves you.” At her blush, he teased her a little more. “I’m surprised they let an out-of-town boy marry you.”
Two could play this teasing game. “Nah, they’ve just given you to me on a trial basis. Kind of like a fish I might throw back.”
That earned a raised eyebrow from him. “Well, now that you’ve got me wiggling on the hook, what are you going to do with me? Is it thumbs up or down for the poor trout?”
Bonnie pretended to study him, still holding the coffee pot. It was easy to tease since they were alone in the restaurant. The plumbing problem kept her doors closed, and she wondered if that wasn’t a sign about her business’ future.
“I think I’ll keep you, poor fish.”
His ringtone sounded, one she’d never heard in their time together. The Darth Vader theme rang out ominously, and JT frowned. Not bothering to pretend otherwise, Bonnie listened to his side of the conversation.
“But, I have another three days on my leave. Can’t it wait until Monday?”
Silence as he listened. Bonnie turned and placed the pot back on the burner. By his expression, it was bad news. At his mention of leave, the caller had to be JT’s work.
Groaning, her husband in name only set the phone down on the counter near him. “I have to go back tonight. There’s a problem at the factory.”
Glumly, Bonnie nodded. “I’ll miss you.”
His eyes compelled her to meet his gaze. “You know you don’t have to miss me.”
“Back to wanting a souvenir to take with you?” Bonnie tried without success to inject a teasing tone into her words. They rang hollowly with no humor.
JT’s face reflected her glumness. “I know it’s right and so do you. Our parents support this, and Marsha Stewart’s offered to buy the business.”
He moved around the counter quickly and grabbed her close to him. “It’s all lined up. All except you.”
It should have been a white-bag moment. Anxiety skittered through her, leaving her feeling as if she tried to find her footing on ice. Rather than panic, she squeezed his waist with all the strength in her arms.
Other than reacting with a grunt, JT didn’t say anything. He moved his hands up to her back and rubbed in soothing circles. And waited.
He didn’t convince her with kisses or words. Not this man. He was all that was gentle and comforting.
And sexy. All that, too. Why fight it?
“I can’t leave tonight. I’ll follow you this weekend.”
Her husband pulled back enough to tip his head. With a slow, tender kiss, he thanked her silently. When he lifted his head, his eyes searched hers.
“You promise? You’ll come no later than Sunday?”
> Bonnie’s lips, moist from his kiss, parted but nothing came out.
The remainder of the week passed in a hectic haze. JT spent twelve-hour days at work, straightening out the mess with production. One week and the place fell apart? HR was going to need to replace his assistant, that was clear.
He’d even gone in on Saturday. Kyle, the assistant Production Manager, called in sick Thursday and Friday. When JT called the man’s cell, it went straight to voicemail. This wasn’t the first problem with the man’s work performance. In fact, if he hadn’t been the previous manager’s nephew, Kyle never would have been promoted. Not with the number of absences he had.
JT had only been at the factory for a year, hired in specifically to straighten things out. He’d given Kyle enough rope to hang himself with during that time. It looked like this would finally bring the problem with the man to a head.
Today, JT flew around the house, cleaning dirt that never bothered him out of corners and along the mopboard. He figured Bonnie might notice things like that and wanted the house to be inviting when she arrived.
He’d purchased her favorite flower, an orchid, and it stood on the oak table in the kitchen. Strangely, the flower almost looked like it had a face. Should it worry him that it seemed to frown now? As if Bonnie wasn’t coming.
No matter that he couldn’t get her to promise, JT trusted her. She said she would come. Was nine in the morning too early to expect her?
The house’s silence had him on edge. He moved to turn on the television. Maybe he’d watch one of Joseph Prince’s sermons on the Roku.
As he lifted the remote to turn on the flat screen, Blue Hawaii sounded from his phone. JT had decided that would forever be Bonnie’s special ring tone. Hearing it now sent a jolt of worry rather than joy. There could be only one reason his hula girl was calling him.
She wasn’t coming.
JT left five days earlier. Why did it feel like so much longer than that?
Bonnie held her mother’s hand as they waited. Nurses scurried around the ER. Someone had just left with vials of blood collected from her mother. This was not the way Bonnie wanted the day to go.
Aloha My Love: Christmas in July Page 5