Harlequin Superromance September 2014 - Bundle 1 of 2: This Good Man\Promises Under the Peach Tree\Husband by Choice (35 page)

“It's not a
he,
” Gram clarified. “I believe it's Scott Finley's wife.”

Bethany? Too surprised by the unannounced visit to be embarrassed at jumping to conclusions about Mack, Nina brushed the extra flour off the apron and moved toward the door.

She opened it wide to let in the fall sunshine and fresh air. Bethany Finley hopped out of a small, extended-cab pickup with a custom paint job that read Finley Building Supply. Scott's wife still had the thick, wavy hair that Nina remembered—a distinctive feature that she'd passed on to Ally. But she was thinner now to the point of appearing unhealthy—as if eating hadn't occurred to her for quite a while. Bethany carried an arm full of binders, her sleeveless white blouse showing how angular she looked. Spotting Nina, Bethany quickened her pace, her red flip-flops slapping the pavement as she walked.

“Welcome home, Nina.” She held out one arm and enveloped her in a quick hug. “It's so good to see you.”

“Thank you.” Nina stepped back. “I hoped to catch you yesterday when I stopped at your mother-in-law's house, but you must have been working.”

“Always.” She gave a tight smile as she came in the house and set the stack of binders on the kitchen table. “Hello, Mrs. Spencer.” She gave Gram a hug, too. “You haven't spoken to Ally today, have you? I thought she was going to text me an update of her plans before supper, but I haven't heard from her since she left the house early this morning.”

Nina's timer went off for the cupcakes and she pulled them out of the oven while Gram explained she hadn't seen Ally since she'd driven her home from her hair appointment the day before. Nina shut down the baking operation, putting the last trays on cooling racks. She could frost everything later.

“I don't mean to get in your way if you're working, but I'd volunteered to bring you some of the notes on the festival.” She pointed toward the binders, her cell phone vibrating in her hand. She glanced at the screen but ignored the call. “Mack said you might be able to help out with the food?”

“Yes.” Guilt pinched that she'd blown off the meeting. “Sorry I wasn't there today.”

“Have a seat, honey,” Gram gestured to Bethany to sit down. “You want some tea?”

“No, thank you. I can't stay. The store is really busy this time of year and I spent a couple of hours away for the festival meeting. Scott got Mack to sub for him, but unfortunately, I don't have a sibling to come to my rescue.” She laughed, but there was an edge to it. Aware of what she was going through with Scott, Nina wasn't sure how to respond.

“Did you set a date for the next meeting?” Nina eyed the binders, wondering if she'd gotten in over her head.

“Next Friday at three, but if you want to go over any of the notes with me before then, just give me a shout at the store. It would be great to have some company for a while.”

There was a lonely desperation in her eyes and Nina promised herself she would visit soon.

“I'd like that, too.” She pointed toward the cupcakes everywhere. “I'll bring some treats for you and the staff once I get them frosted. Want me to fix you one to take home?”

She tried not to eye Bethany's thin arms while she willed her to accept the gift.

“They smell fantastic, but I just ate.” Bethany stepped toward the door. “I'm sure the staff at the store would turn cartwheels to try them, though. And in the meantime, if you see Ally, will you remind her to call me? I know Ethan Brady works over here occasionally, and where Ethan goes, Ally is soon to follow.”

“He's a dear boy,” Gram reminded her. “Nice to see you, Bethany.”

“I'll walk you to your car,” Nina offered, holding the screen door for her. “Thanks again for coming out here.”

As the door swung closed behind them, Bethany lowered her voice. “I volunteered because I wanted to make sure you knew that I'm really glad you're staying in town for a couple of weeks. I was so distracted with my own family and the business after the accident, I didn't say goodbye or wish you well when you left for college.”

“Oh. No worries. That was a long time ago.” Nina hadn't guessed Bethany would feel any regret about that. She'd always been kind to her. “Things were so awkward afterward, I thought it best to just...leave.”

“But I should have written. I meant to after you'd been so good to Ally.” Bethany's phone kept buzzing, making Nina think business must be going pretty well at the building-supply store.

“I know things were hard for Mack, too.” She remembered the handful of phone conversations they'd had when they'd still been speaking that summer. Mack had been truly devastated to lose Vince and had gone over that night a million times in his head—and aloud to her—about what they could have done differently.

But hadn't it come down to what
she
should have done differently? That's what had hurt most. Mack kept wondering why she'd had to be so hotheaded and come down so hard on Vince. As if she wouldn't already be haunted for the rest of her life knowing that her last words to that boy had been thoughtless and harsh. That he'd been so hurt he'd...

“Mack had his whole family.” Bethany laid a hand on Nina's forearm. Squeezed gently. “And with the Finleys, that's a formidable amount of support. I should have reached out to you.”

Nina glanced down to where Bethany touched her and noticed her fingernails were chewed down to the quick, the polish chipped and faded at the tips. Bethany pulled her hand away.

“Mack and I are going to try and put it behind us,” Nina assured her. “We agreed we needed to move on.”

“I'm glad.” She smiled, but there was something strained about her expression, as if she hadn't really smiled for a while. But then it faded and she leaned closer. “Nina? Did Mack tell you about Scott and me?”

“He said he came to town to help out so Scott and you could have some time—”

“We're separating. He hasn't really looked at or listened to me for years, so he probably hasn't gotten the message.” The sadness in her voice was unmistakable as she spun her wedding ring around and around her finger with her thumb, almost like she couldn't wait to get it off. “I'm trying to wait it out until Ally graduates, but things are so bad now, I'm not sure we'll make it that long.”

“I'm so sorry.” Her heart went out to this woman, remembering how happy Mack's brother and sister-in-law used to be. Did Mack know they'd already decided to call it quits? “You two were the perfect couple.”

“I used to think so, too.” She blinked fast and then folded her arms across her chest. “But I figured you should be aware because it will have repercussions in the family, and if you and Mack—”

“There's no ‘me and Mack.'” She wanted to make that clear right away. “It was by accident that we ended up in town at the same time. We'll be lucky if we can salvage some kind of friendship. We're definitely not—” She shook her head even as she remembered how she'd flirted with Mack earlier that same day. “Too much water under the bridge.”

“Yeah?” Bethany tipped her head to one side, as if deciding whether or not she believed that. “There was a time when a lot of people thought you two were the perfect couple.”

That dream had died in a car on Washburn Creek Bridge, right beside Vince McClean. But then, that hadn't been the only dream riding shotgun that night.

Nina cleared her throat. “If there's anything I can do for your family while you are going through this—”

“Actually, there is.” Bethany stuffed her hands in her pockets. “Ally could use a friend right now. She's completely shut down at home. Her grades have dropped. She's angry with both Scott and me. It's tearing me apart to see what this is doing to her.”

Nina remembered how confusing it had been when her own parents had split. She'd been younger than Ally, but she hadn't understood what went wrong any better at seventeen than at ten years old. It didn't help that neither of her parents had ever bothered explaining what had happened.

“I'll bring Gram to her next hair appointment and try to catch Ally then. I don't know if she'll have much to say to me, but I can certainly offer an ear if you think it will help.”

Bethany bit her lip. “She would never want me to interfere in her life. But I just thought...if you happen to be talking to her...”

“Of course.”

“I meant what I said about being glad to have you back in town, Nina.” Bethany's smile was crooked, but didn't look quite so pained this time. “Will you consider staying? Mack said you moved some of your baking equipment into the barn.”

Nina smiled at how fast news traveled in a small town.

“I'm keeping my apartment in New York for now. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do.” Her stomach clenched whenever she thought about it. She didn't want to leave Gram on her own. But how could she ever stay in this small town that had suffocated her and then—after that accident—looked at her as the woman whose words had driven Vince to his death? At least, that's how she'd felt on the weekends she came home during college. When she'd tried asking one of her closest friends about it, she'd confided that most people had “sided with Jenny,” agreeing that Nina had let her temper get the better of her when she lashed out at Vince the night of his death.

That had hurt. Still did.

“New York.” Bethany backed up a step toward her pickup truck, considering. “Maybe I'll go with
you,
then. The city sounds like the perfect place to start over.”

Had she started over, though? Or had she just run away?

CHAPTER FIVE

“M
ACK
F
INLEY
, you're a sight for sore eyes.” The waitress at Lucky's Back Porch sized him up as she chewed on the end of her pencil in a not-so-subtle attempt to flirt. “A fine, fine sight.”

On weekend nights, Lucky's Grocery turned into an outdoor rib joint with live music and picnic tables dragged over from the town gazebo. The town council had debated the permit for over a year before approving it, arguing that the family atmosphere of the town square would be compromised. But having live music and dancing outside brought out people in droves. All the vendors on the town square stayed open later and did more business because of it. Mack had dropped by to check out the place, always interested to see a successful bar business in action. Plus, tonight's band had a growing following for their country-bluegrass blend of music.

At sunset, the place was already rocking with a supper crowd feasting on barbecue chicken and ribs. Kids played on the playground near the gazebo while moms clutched their after-dinner coffee mugs and followed them around, the dads sharing beers on the “back porch”—an extended platform deck that was added on to the existing patio for the weekends. A bunch of white lights hung from low tree branches and a couple of patio heaters flanked the porch, but since the evening was mild enough, they hadn't been switched on.

Mack stared up at the waitress and tried to remember how he knew her.

“Nice to see you, too—” he peeked at her name badge, half hidden under a blond ponytail that rested on the front of her shoulder “—Shirley.”

“Sherry.”
She rolled her eyes and took her pencil out of her mouth. “Thanks, Mack. I was only your lab partner in biology for a whole year.”

Ah, crap. He definitely hadn't inherited his father's ease with names and faces, which sucked all the more because everyone in town knew
him.

“Sorry, Sherry.” He shook his head. “My mind was a million miles away.”

She frowned. “Are you sure your mind wasn't on Nina Spencer?” She pointed to Nina and her grandmother sitting off to one side of the crowd. Daisy Spencer had her leg propped on a chair while she clapped in time to the music. Nina shared something from her plate with a bulldog on a leash held by Kaleb Riggs, a guy they'd graduated with. “Because I seem to remember that Nina was the reason I couldn't snag your attention in biology, either.”

He'd probably ducked Sherry's attention for more reasons than Nina if she was as abrasive then as she was now. He honestly didn't remember. Mack handed her back the menu and tried not to stare at Nina while she smiled at some other guy.

Not that it ought to matter to Mack.

“I'll just have a Coke and the rib special. Thanks.” He obviously hadn't succeeded in not staring at Nina because she turned toward him just then and their gazes locked.

Seeing her still messed with his head. And not just because of the past they shared. If he'd never laid eyes on her before tonight, he'd still be attracted to her. And damned if that wasn't going to be a problem.

What had he been thinking to suggest they could be friends? He trusted she'd do a great job with the festival because she'd never done anything in half measures in her whole life. But just because she threw everything she had into it, didn't mean that she'd do it the way he wanted her to. And that meant they'd be thrown together far more often than was probably healthy.

“One rib special. Coming right up,” Sherry scribbled on her notepad and tucked it into her apron pocket. “You think Nina will move home for good now that her business went under? I heard she's going to have to sell off all the assets if she doesn't want to go bankrupt. That's why she moved everything into the barn.”

“I'm sure she just wants to spend some time with her grandmother.” Mack may not have learned the trick to memorizing names and faces from his old man, but he sure as hell had learned how to deflect conversational landmines after growing up with his mom.

“Can you believe that partner of hers ran off with one of their clients the night before his wedding?” Sherry poked him in the arm with the menu she carried, as if they'd shared an inside joke. “Disaster has a way of finding that girl—”

She broke off in the middle of her sentence as if realizing how freaking insensitive she sounded. The whole town knew the biggest tragedy of Nina's life had been her argument with Vince the night he died.

“Sorry, Mack.” She clamped the menu under one arm. “I'll go put your order in.”

If Mack's ears were ringing with this kind of crap, what must Nina be going through on her side of the bar? He stole another look in her direction even as he told himself to forget about her and focus on why he was here—to scope out Lucky's and escape the house for a few hours.

Except for the people who came up to ask him about Harvest Fest, it was a perfect, clear night with a town full of people celebrating the fact that it was Friday. Bluegrass serenaded him as he finished his ribs and made lots of mental notes on Lucky's bar business.

But he couldn't seem to forget that Nina was ten tables away, and after an hour, he had no excuse not to go say hello to Nina and her grandmother.

Except by the time he got to his feet, an old farmer in his best Saturday-night jeans sat in Nina's seat, chatting up Daisy Spencer. Mack knew Nina wouldn't leave her grandmother there alone, so where had she gone?

He looked toward the gazebo and saw her on the dance floor with Kaleb Freaking Riggs. Mack didn't care...yet he found his feet walking straight toward them.

Turn around.

Turn around.

An upbeat song played, and a handful of couples two-stepped on the grass near the stage beneath a canopy of white twinkle lights. Nina was smiling up at Kaleb in a way that made it impossible for Mack to just walk away, even though he cursed himself out about it the whole time he approached them.

“Nina.” He arrived beside them just as the song ended and the crowd applauded.

The smile faded from her face, her expression shifting to surprise.

“Kaleb, I got an earlier promise on this one, okay?” Mack couldn't even take his eyes off Nina long enough to look at the guy as the band changed tunes and slowed down the pace.

“I've gotta get home anyhow and put the kids to bed.” Kaleb shifted closer to Nina, but if the guy thought he was going to steal a good-night kiss after one dance, he had another think coming.

Mack stared him down.

“Right. Great seeing you, Nina.” Kaleb stepped back. Nodded. “Mack.”

As the guy strode off to retrieve his dog, Mack held a hand out to Nina.

“Sorry to interrupt if you were having fun. Can I still have this dance?”

“Mack.” She closed her eyes for a second and Mack could almost hear her telling herself “Turn around.” But then she opened her eyes and nodded. “Just one.”

He never dreamed he'd have the chance to hold her again, so for a split second he just stared, taking in the moment and the woman. He must have hesitated a moment too long, though, because she narrowed her eyes and lowered her voice.

“You asked
me,
you know. You can't change your mind now.”

“Hell, no. I haven't changed my mind.” He put his hands on the curve of her waist where a pink sheer blouse met the band of her jeans. He drew her closer and she lifted her arms to slip around his neck, the action stirring a hint of her fragrance.

It wasn't the same citrus-sweet scent of the past. This perfume was more complex.

“What are we doing?” she asked.

“Saving you from Kaleb?”

“More like saving Kaleb from me.” She rolled her eyes. “What the hell is he doing out dancing on a Saturday night when he has young kids at home?”

“My sister told me he got divorced last year.”

“Right. That's what he told me, too. So on his weekend with his kids he hires a sitter?” She shook her head. “It's almost as bad as dumping your kid with a grandparent and never returning.”

There had been a time when Mack would have kissed the top of her head or given her an extra squeeze to comfort her when she made a comment like that. Now, fighting the urge to do both, he kept his eyes on hers and tried not to dwell on how perfectly she still fit in his arms.

“Have you seen your folks much over the years?” Her father was an entrepreneur who'd made a tidy sum in a dot-com venture, and her mom had lived off a small trust fund until she'd met Rick Spencer and then wealthier husband number two whose name Mack had forgotten.

“My mother called me after Olivia ran off with the hotel magnate and asked why
I
hadn't been the one to elope with a billionaire.” She stepped closer to him to avoid a couple of giggling kids chasing each other through the dancers and then racing back toward the playground equipment near the gazebo.

“Leave it to your mom to be a source of support in a crisis,” he muttered, pissed off for Nina's sake.

“That's not totally fair of me, I guess.” She plucked at the edge of his shirt collar absently while she spoke. “Mom was a good customer, with a standing order for cupcakes on all my half siblings' birthdays.”

A good customer didn't make a good mother, but of course, Nina was well aware of that. Besides, Mack didn't really want to talk about her family or her business.

“Sorry I didn't show up for the meeting last week about the Harvest Fest.” She quit playing with his collar, probably only just becoming aware that she'd been doing it.

The back of his neck tingled.

“I'd only asked you about it that morning. You'd mentioned you might not be able to be there. No big deal.” Although it pleased him that she was committing to the festival. Romantic history aside, Nina was a hard worker.

“I felt terrible that Bethany made the trip out to the farm to bring me the notes.”

“Don't.” He'd tried not to take sides in his brother's marital problems, but it wasn't easy when he heard only one half of the arguments. “She finds reasons to stay busy so she can avoid Scott. And I don't think either of them realize how deeply it's affecting Ally.”

“I saw Ally earlier tonight and she barely waved at me when I said hello. She looked really unhappy.” Nina frowned. “For that matter, they all seem really unhappy. I don't understand how you can go from being deeply in love to being so...uncaring about each other. Once you love someone, you don't just
stop.
”

Her gaze flipped up to his, searching for answers he couldn't give.

“For what it's worth, I didn't just stop caring about you, Nina.”

Even in the dim twinkle of white lights, he noticed the color rise in her cheeks.

“I didn't mean us.” Nina shook her head, pink beads jangling from her earrings. “We were hurt because of a traumatic event that changed the world around us. We were still teenagers. We didn't have all the history of a long-married couple. What changed for Scott and Bethany?”

The slow song they'd been dancing to came to an end and Mack realized he'd have to let Nina go. His hands lingered.

“Some people fall out of love. I'll be damned if I understand why.” They stopped their shuffling steps on the grass, but didn't move away from each other.

“If you speak the vows, there shouldn't be any falling ‘out' of anything. You stay. You fight through it and stand up for the person you made promises to—” She paused. Cursed. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to come out like that.”

Because he knew her well—at least he used to—he understood that the passionate words weren't about Scott and Bethany. They were about her own parents.

Knowing that on an intellectual level didn't stop Mack from feeling like it was an indictment of his own marriage. Somehow, he'd failed Jenny. But even before that, he'd failed Nina.

“Right.” He agreed 100 percent. “Keep in mind I'm not the one who left. Not with Jenny. Sure as hell not with you.”

Her hands fell away from his shoulders, her gray eyes registering confusion and—for a split second—hurt. The music shifted into another upbeat tune, sending dancers near them back into a two-step while he and Nina remained locked in old memories and hurts.

“I didn't mean—”

“Yeah. I know.” He understood her better than she realized. That didn't lessen the bite of the words. “Thanks for the dance.”

Unable to handle the pressure sitting on his chest or the unique hurt of simply being close to her, Mack turned and walked away, wondering how many times it would take letting go of her before he finally stopped feeling her in his arms.

* * *

A
ND
THE
F
OOT
in Mouth Award goes to...

No drumroll needed. The winner was the perennial frontrunner. Nina hurried off the dance floor toward the table she'd shared with Gram, wishing she'd phrased her words more carefully with Mack. They used to understand each other so well. Used to anticipate each other's thoughts. Now, she felt as if every conversation was potentially explosive. If they were going to work together—let alone resurrect a friendship—they'd have to get past that.

She'd almost made it back to the table when she noticed an older gentleman sitting in her place. She didn't recognize him, although his suspenders and John Deere ball cap suggested he was a local farmer. A farmer Gram quite liked, if her laughter was anything to go on.

“Gram?” Flustered and frustrated about her conversation with Mack, Nina was ready to call it a night. “Do you mind if we head home now?”

“So soon?” She tugged aside the cuff on her blouse and peered down at her watch, an old thrift-store piece that she'd owned for as long as Nina could remember. “It's only nine.”