Almost Home (30 page)

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Steffie’s surprise, Greg was back the following afternoon.

“I couldn’t stay away,” he told her. “I had to come back for more of that salted caramel ice cream.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it.” She dished up another couple of scoops for him. “It’s a gorgeous day. We don’t get too many late October days this warm. You might want to sit outside in the sun and enjoy the scenery.”

“I like the scenery in here just fine.” His eyes held hers as he took a seat near the door.

Tina kicked Stef in the shin lightly as she headed to the back room. “Flirting,” she whispered.

Stef pretended to ignore her.

“By the way,” Greg called to her, “I took your suggestion and tried Captain Walt’s last night. Best tuna I ever had. Thanks for the tip.”

“You’re welcome,” Stef replied. “Glad you enjoyed it.”

“I did. As a matter of fact …” He got up and started toward the counter when the door flew open
and Brooke Bowers came in with her son, Logan, and a few of his friends, including Cody.

“Hey, why aren’t you guys in school?” Steffie asked. “I know it isn’t three o’clock already.”

“We didn’t have school today,” Cody told her.

“Our teachers are all being serviced,” Logan added.

“In-service day,” Brooke clarified for Steffie. “And it’s such a nice day, we decided to have lunch in town. Which, of course, includes dessert at Scoop.”

“That’s why we like to have lunch in town,” Logan said, and Cody nodded enthusiastically.

“You boys do know how to flatter. So what will it be today?”

By the time Stef finished serving Brooke’s group and the two groups that came in after, she noticed that Greg had slipped out.

“Who was the guy sitting over near the wall?” Brooke asked.

“Guy taking some R and R for a few days,” Stef said.

“He was cute.” Brooke wiggled her eyebrows.

“He was that,” Stef agreed.

“He was here yesterday, too,” Tina piped up. “He’s been flirting with Stef.”

“Has not.” Stef brushed off the remark.

“Has too,” Tina told Brooke.

“So word has it that you and Wade …” Brooke left the rest unspoken.

“Where’s the word coming from?”

“Clay said he saw you and Wade leave the party together the other night,” Brooke confided.

Steffie made no response.

“So you think he’ll stay in Connecticut for long?” Brooke asked.

“That’s his plan.”

“Too bad. Clay’s still hoping to talk him into starting up a brewery together. He’s been reading up on how to make beer and growing crops you make beer from and all that.” Brooke paid for the boys’ ice cream. “He even had a name picked out for their brewery.”

“And that would be …?”

“Mad Mac.”

Stef laughed. “That certainly fits the two of them.”

“That’s what I thought.” Brooke was herding the boys out the door when she turned and said, “Clay hasn’t given up, you know. I’m hoping for everyone’s sake that Wade has a change of heart.”

“I wouldn’t bank on it,” Stef said.

Before she left Scoop for the night, Stef stocked a small portable cooler with the ice cream she’d promised Vanessa, then stopped at the market for the other snacks. She took the ice cream inside and put it into the freezer when she stopped at her house, where she hoped to finish painting the kitchen cabinets. Bling was open until nine on Wednesday, so she had a few hours before Vanessa closed up, and she didn’t intend to waste them. The sooner the kitchen was finished, the sooner she could start painting her bedroom.

Painting was the kind of work you could lose yourself in, she was thinking as she applied the first coat to one of the cabinet doors. It could be as mindless as you wanted it to be. Sort of like watching an ice-cream machine do its thing after all the ingredients
had been added, she mused. You could go on autopilot and—

Her phone was ringing in her pocket. She put the brush down and checked the caller ID.

“Hello, Wade,” she said.

“Hey. How’s it going?”

She could have said,
Better now that I hear your voice
, but she settled for, “Just doing a little painting here at the house. You?”

“Just got Austin to sleep. These past few days have been long ones for him. He’s not used to quite so much activity.”

“How’s he doing with Angela?”

“Angela?” Wade laughed. “Right. Lansbury. He’s doing really well. He keeps asking for Cody and Berry, but I told him that he’d see them soon.” He paused. “Like, tomorrow.”

“You’re coming back for your stuff?” she asked. Before he could respond, she said, “I guess you found a house that you like.”

“Actually, there were several that I liked. One more than the others, but they’re all in the same really nice neighborhood. Lots of kids Austin’s age, it’s not too far from the brewery, the elementary school is just three blocks away.”

“Great.” She tried to sound enthusiastic. “So it sounds like everything’s a go for you. The job, the child care, the housing situation …”

“Yeah, everything’s even better than I could have hoped.”

“I’m glad things are working out the way you need them to. You deserve a couple of breaks after, well,
after everything that’s happened over the past couple of months.”

“Thanks, Stef. I appreciate hearing you say that. Hey, maybe we’ll stop down when we get home. Austin needs his ice-cream fix. There’s nothing up here even remotely like Scoop.”

“Of course there isn’t.”

Wade laughed. “We have an early flight, so I’ll see you soon.”

“You know where to find me.”

She hung up and put the phone on the counter, her heart still beating a little faster at the sound of his voice and the prospect of seeing him tomorrow. No matter what, she told herself, she was not going to let him see her cry. She’d thought long and hard over this, thought about what it would be like if for some reason she lost Scoop and had to go to work for someone else. It would be hard enough to leave her business behind without having someone she cared about getting all weepy on her. She knew exactly what it was like to work your butt off to build a business that you loved, one you were proud of, one you’d given everything to. She was pretty sure she could figure out what it would take from her if it was lost to her. She understood all that. But she didn’t have to like it or the hole Wade’s absence was going to leave in her heart.

She heard the front door open and she jumped. She tiptoed to the doorway and peeked into the hallway.

“Ness, you scared the crap out of me.” Steffie exhaled the breath she’d been holding.

“Sorry. I saw the lights on and thought I’d come in and help you clean up so that we could get over to my
house and change into our pj’s and get our little party started.”

“And you’re how old?”

“Chronologically old enough to legally buy a very nice bottle of champagne to share with my BFF,” Vanessa told her, “but mentally, I’d have to say thirteen tonight.” She reached into her shoulder bag. “Wait till you see the movies I picked up. Horror classics.”

She pulled out several DVD cases from her big leather tote. “
Night of the Living Dead. Scream. Psycho. Nosferatu.
”

“Have you seen that last one?” Steffie frowned.

“No, but my sister-in-law said it was really creepy.” Vanessa grinned. “Actually, they were all highly recommended by Mia, and after nine years in the FBI, she knows horror. But I also got
Ghostbusters
in case we wimped out.”

“Any one of those will make you afraid to close your eyes, so we’ll probably be up all night.” Stef put the lid back on the open paint can.

“Good. More time to eat junk food.”

“And soon we shall. As soon as I clean this brush.”

Stef finished cleaning up while Vanessa wandered through the house.

“The heart on the dining-room wall is just killing me.” Vanessa strolled back into the kitchen.

“I know, right? Old Horace was a romantic. Who knew?” Stef dried off her brush.

“And you have three fireplaces! You expect one in the living room, but I love that there’s one in the dining room. And in your bedroom, too—woo-hoo! At
least, I’m guessing that’s the room you’re going to use, the one with the fireplace and the bathroom.”

“Good guess.”

“That’s the one I’d pick, too.”

“I’m done,” Stef told her. “Let’s just get the ice cream and we can lock up.”

“What kind did you make?”

“Butter brickle …” Stef removed the containers she’d earlier placed in the freezer.

“One of my favorites.” Vanessa smiled.

“… and s’mores.”

“S’mores ice cream?”

“Yup.” Out of habit, Stef checked the back door to make sure it was locked.

“Genius.” Vanessa followed Steffie out the front door. “Stef, seriously. That’s sheer—”

“Hey, Steffie, is that you?” A man called from the sidewalk.

Stef looked up from the lock. “Who’s there?”

“It’s me. Greg. From Scoop?” He stepped out of the shadows near the sidewalk. “Sorry. Did I frighten you?”

“No, I …”

“I did. I’m sorry. I was out for a walk and saw you coming out the door …” He appeared much chagrined. “I’m really sorry.”

“It’s okay. I just wasn’t expecting to see anyone,” Stef told him.

“Is this your house?” he asked.

“Uh, no. It’s my mother’s cousin’s. I was just doing a little painting for him.”

“That’s nice of you.” He gave Vanessa the once-over.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you around …” Stef said as she went to her car.

“Right. I hope so.” He smiled at Vanessa as he walked on.

“Ness, I’ll meet you at your place,” Steffie said under her breath, as if afraid of being overheard.

“Are you all right? You look rattled.” Vanessa looked after the departing figure. “Who was that guy?”

“Tourist. He’s been in Scoop a couple of times this week.”

“Has he been, like, stalking you?”

“No.”

“Then why’d you lie? Why’d you tell him this wasn’t your house?”

“I don’t know. It just came out.”

“Do you want me to say something to Beck? Because he can—”

“No, no. The guy just startled me. He was sort of just there when we came out of the house. I overreacted. He really seems like a nice guy.” Steffie slammed the back car door and opened the driver’s side. “I’ll follow you to your place.”

“Okay.”

They decided to forgo the sleeping bags in favor of the sofa.

“Grady said we could use a couple of his sleeping bags, but they smell like pine and, I don’t know, bears, maybe, to me.” Vanessa stood in the living room in her bare feet. “Which end would you like?”

“Either is fine.”

“You’re the guest, so you get to choose,” Ness told her.

“In that case, I choose the end closest to the fireplace.”

“Good choice.” Vanessa plopped her pillow on the opposite end of the sofa and curled up. There was a big bowl of popcorn drizzled with melted chocolate on the coffee table and two wineglasses. “So what about that guy freaked you out?”

“Greg?” Steffie shrugged. “He didn’t freak me out. Like I said, it was just that he sort of popped out of the darkness. It was just sort of creepy.”

“He was awfully cute, though. Maybe the universe sent him, you know, in response to my …” Vanessa pondered.

“Stop it. This is going to be a woo-woo-free night.” Steffie reached for a handful of popcorn.

“Boring,” Vanessa told her. “Besides, if you believe, as I do, that everything happens for a reason, you’d know that the universe brings you what you need.”

“True enough there. Hence, popcorn and wine.”

“He—Greg—is here for a reason, Stef.”

“Right. It’s called vacation. Now pass the bowl over and slip one of those movies in so we can get the crap scared out of ourselves.”

“I want ice cream first.”

“Of course you do, my little thirteen-year-old friend.” Steffie got up and patted Vanessa on the head. “I’ll get it.”

A few minutes later, when Stef returned with two bowls, Vanessa asked, “What kind to start with?”

“The butter brickle. I thought we’d save the s’mores for when we have—ha-ha—s’mores.”

“I do like the way you think.” Vanessa held up a hand and Steffie placed a bowl in it as she walked past. “Oh, hey, I almost forgot. I found Alice’s diary.” She leaned over and grabbed a leather-bound volume the size of a paperback book from the table. “I called Miss Grace to let her know I had it and I was going to give it to her, but she got talking about her daughter and the diary got lost in the shuffle.”

“What about Lucy? Is she all right? Last I heard, she was an event planner in California.”

“She still is. Miss Grace was just saying how she doesn’t understand why Lucy won’t come back to St. Dennis and do the event thing at the inn, because they’ve lined up some heavy-hitter weddings and Daniel doesn’t have anyone who he thinks can handle them. She said Lucy gets testy whenever she brings it up.” Vanessa placed a throw pillow behind her back and leaned against it. “I told her maybe it was just, you know, the normal mother-daughter thing that everyone goes through.”

“I didn’t. I’ve always gotten along with my mother. And Lucy’s what, thirty-five now? You’d think she’d be over whatever issues she might have had with her mother by now.”

“I don’t know her, so I can’t say. But anyway, I forgot to give Miss Grace the diary, which is why I still have it.”

“So what’s with the diary?”

“It seems Alice had a lover. Listen to this: ‘He came to me again last night. I cannot put into words the love I have for him and the joy he brings me. But even
that great love fails me when I try to imagine myself joining him out in the world as he begs me to. The thought of leaving my own walls terrifies me to my soul. I would do anything—anything—to be released from this fear that grips my soul and my mind. What dark forces have inflicted this evil on me?’ ”

Vanessa looked up. “Alice was agoraphobic; you know that, right?”

Stef nodded. “What’s the date on that entry?”

“April 1934.”

“I wonder if people understood agoraphobia then? Did they even have a name for it in 1934?”

“I don’t know. Doesn’t it sound as if she thinks she’s under some sort of spell?”