Leaving Normal (38 page)

Sarah's eyebrows rose thoughtfully. "Probably not. Remember when Mom sold your hair to the lady next door so she could make a fall out of it?"

"I totally remember that. It's a little creepy now to think about it."

"You always grew such pretty, long hair, then you chopped it off each summer so you didn't have to mess with it after a day at the lake."

"I know. I can't believe I did that."

Natalie adjusted the plates of hors d'oeuvres, even though the trays and bowls of gourmet goodies were already nicely aligned and presented.

She had nothing more to do. Right now she was very organized, but she needed to keep busy or else she'd spill the news to her sister that she'd invited Tony over, too.

She'd thought about telling Sarah beforehand, then opted against it. Better to have Sarah's attention focused on Iris than on Tony. Sarah would know soon enough when Tony showed up. There was no point in making a big deal about it prematurely.

Tony should be here within the next thirty minutes.

Everyone's arrival time pretty much centered around three o'clock. Everyone, that is, except for Cassie. Natalie frowned, trying not to dwell on that disappointment.

The doorbell rang and Sarah was halfway to it before Natalie could take a step.

"I'll get it," Sarah said, swinging the door open. "Dad! Hi. And you have to be Ms. Come in."

Glad her dad had extended the invitation to Iris, Natalie ran her hands down her apron, checked the oven clock to make sure she wouldn't be late putting the rolls in, then went to greet her dad and his friend.

Iris was very pretty. Her glossy hair was swept into a soft style. She was dressed in a nice pair of slacks and a light sweater that complemented her skin tone. She was tall, statuesque, with a wonderful smile on her lovely face. Her smile was charming, engaging and it reminded Natalie of someone else's.

That thought came from nowhere and Natalie quickly discounted it.

Ridiculous.

Fred wore a sports coat and slacks, his hand on the small of Iris's back as he ushered her inside the wide foyer and then into the kitchen area. He was visibly nervous, made evident by the way he kept a smile plastered on his mouth, those dentures of his looking a little too predominant.

Natalie warmed up to Iris immediately, liking the lavender smell of her perfume; very fragrant and sweet.

"This is my youngest, Sarah," her dad said, making the introduction. "And this is my oldest, Natalie."

"Hello," Iris said, but her demeanor was distracted as she glanced at Fred. Then she broke into a smile, dis-belief alight in her brown eyes. "I'm sorry, but my mind is still elsewhere. I just told Fred about an amazing coincidence when we pulled into the neighborhood and parked in front of your house."

Sarah, her usual vivacious self, asked, "What coincidence?"

With her pulse spinning, Natalie didn't have to wait for Iris to say it; she had a strong hunch she knew already. That smile had tipped her off.

"My son, Tony, lives across the street." Iris smiled a Tony-smile, still looking incredulous. "He told me he was seeing one of his neighbors. Knowing my son, she's young and pretty and blond. So, Natalie, do tell me where she lives and maybe I'll pop over there to get a good look at her."

Her words were spoken harmlessly. Of course, she'd conclude her son was dating a young and beautiful woman.

If Tony hadn't been coming over any minute, maybe Natalie would have played along. But she wasn't in the mood, and failed to see the ironic humor in any of this. In fact, her heart sank.

And while Natalie was nice and blond—albeit courtesy of the beauty parlor—she was not younger, nor very perky or anything else that described a thirty-something woman who probably had fake boobs.

The tension of the moment wove itself between Sarah and Natalie, and Sarah, bless her, spoke up. "Well, now, Iris, that is a coincidence, and you will be so glad to know my sister is the neighbor. She's pretty and I think she fits your description perfectly."

Fred Miller stared between Iris and Natalie, his jaw slackening. "Is that true, Natalie?"

Suddenly needing to check on the ham, Natalie ig-nored the question and opened the oven door. A wave of heat slapped her face, burning and leaving an imprint of…what? Embarrassment?

Why in the world would she be embarrassed by seeing Tony Cruz?

Because it defied convention, went against stereotype.

Hot firefighters dated hot women. It was a given.

She, on the other hand, was a former PTA president, a mother of a college-age daughter and a divorcee who had had two years to find Mr. Right and had, instead, found Mr. May who'd set her heartbeat racing out of control.

Natalie closed the oven door, turned and faced the group. "Well, it is a coincidence, isn't it? Tony and I are friends."

Iris's eyes softened. "Oh, I didn't mean to sound as if I… Oh, I'm so sorry. I don't disapprove of
you
. It's just that, I was assuming that he would have… Oh, my."

Oh, my was right.

At that moment, the doorbell rang again. Silhouetted behind the etched glass was Greg and his girlfriend.

Wonderful.

Natalie didn't think he'd actually show up even though he'd called the other day to confirm the time. He had this annoying habit of saying one thing and doing something else entirely.

Leave it to her ex-husband to follow through on this particular day, of all days.

With a slight sigh of annoyance Natalie opened the front door. "Hi, Greg," she said almost bluntly. She had to remind herself to breathe correctly. She'd never met his girlfriend and, after everything that had happened in the last few minutes, she had no inclination to do so right now. But she put on a civil face and chiseled a smile onto her mouth.

"Hi, welcome," she said, greeting the girlfriend.

Greg came in, bringing a rather plain-looking woman with him. She was petite, wore glasses, had red hair and freckles. She looked about forty with laugh lines at the corners of her eyes.

"Hi, everyone," Greg said, shaking Steve's hand.

Steve Brockner had been taking everything in stride so far, watching as the scene had played out around him. Now that his former brother-in-law had arrived, Steve stood in the middle of the group. "Hey, Greg."

Greg Goodwin's palms were sweating because he wiped them down the sides of his jeans. Natalie watched, the gesture familiar and slightly annoying. 'This is Renee O'Neil," he introduced.

Natalie, still feeling shell-shocked over Iris being Tony's mother, was helpless to do anything but give Renee a quick, "Hi."

Sydney and BreeAnn came bounding down the stairs just as Natalie was wondering if anyone would notice if she left right now and didn't come back.

"Miss O'Neil?" Sydney said. "What are you doing here?"

"You know her?" Greg's puzzled tone hovered in the air.

BreeAnn supplied, "Oh, this is so weird. She's our new history teacher at the middle school."

Miss O'Neil looked like a history teacher now that Natalie took a closer look.

"Hi, girls," she said, her voice sounding very bookish. "Isn't this fun? What a coincidence."

Natalie couldn't take another coincidence.

She excused herself and grabbed the tray of rolls, shoved them in the oven and set the timer. The sooner everyone ate, the sooner they could all leave.

"We were just talking about coincidences," Iris said. "My son lives across the street and he's dating Natalie."

Greg shot Natalie a look—as if it were okay for him to have a postdivorce girlfriend, but not okay for her to have a boyfriend.

And Tony wasn't even her boyfriend!

"Can I pour anyone a glass of wine?" Natalie asked, and a chorus of adult yesses filled the kitchen.

As glasses were filled and the adults relaxed, the conversation began. They briefly covered the territory of Tony being newly divorced, Greg and Renee's last trip to McCall, Miss O'Neil's class project due after spring break, the sunroof on Fred Miller's Elantra acting up, Iris announcing a big Easter sale at Target, Steve mentioning that Micron stock had taken another header in the market and Sarah talking about getting food poisoning once from an undercooked ham.

Not bad for fifteen minutes and two bottles of wine.

Just as everyone was getting comfortable with one another the doorbell ran again.

Natalie's head shot up as Sarah said, "Gee, who could that be? You want me to get the door, Natalie?"

"No, no, I'll get it, thanks."

With a mixture of dread, excitement, confusion and just plain terror, Natalie opened the door, knowing it was Tony.

The expression on her face caused Tony to ask, "Nat, are you okay? You look kinda stressed."

"Oh, I' in stressed all right. You better prepare yourself. When I told you this might be awkward I had no idea."

As they walked into the kitchen even the calm, cool and collected Tony Cruz paused for a moment as he met the quizzical gazes of eight pairs of eyes. As he looked from one to the other, his eyes suddenly did a double take.

"Mom?"

"Hi, honey, imagine seeing you here," Iris squeaked. "Tony I'd like you to meet Fred Miller, Natalie's dad. Fred and I are dating."

The confused expression on Tony's face turned to incredulity. "Natalie?"

At that moment Natalie's composure was at the breaking point, so she asked Sarah to make the introductions while she murmured something about needing to check the oven.

The rolls were browning, but not quite ready. Natalie turned toward them all, put her hands on her hips and announced to the crowd, "Dinner should be ready in just a few more minutes. Now, if you'll excuse me for a moment I need to…need to do something."

The temperature in the room had grown suddenly stifling. She needed air.

Natalie walked through the living room, past the downstairs bath, and went into the cold garage. She took in deep gulps of air that smelled like automobile oil, and tried to regain a semblance of composure. She walked back and forth over the concrete, hands on her hips as she pulled herself together.

Her dad and Tony's mom? How did that happen?

She was still trying to digest the news when Tony appeared in the garage and leaned against the fender of her car.

Folding his arms over his chest, he asked, "What are you doing?"

She all but barked, 'Trying to figure out this mess."

"So let me get this straight—that silver-haired guy in there is your dad, and he and my mom are dating?"

"You win the prize," she said, instantly regretting her sarcasm. But honestly, this was just too strange for words. "So what are we going to do about this? Your mom and my dad are a couple!"

Calmly, Tony responded, "There's nothing to do."

"It's not normal for my dad to date your mom after you and I have, you know—been together. My God, it's almost like incest or something."

Tony's eyebrows shot into a frown. "It is not."

"It's still weird." Natalie felt the cool bite of the air in the garage, and rubbed her hands up her arms.

"It's not weird. It's no big deal."

"It is a big deal. She expected me to be younger than you and have fake boobs."

"My mom said that?" he asked, his voice rising an octave.

"No…no. She didn't have to. I filled in the blanks."

"Jesus, Natalie, you're coming unglued for no good reason." Tony's ability to take everything in stride rattled her. "Was that your ex-husband in there with the redhead?"

"Yes. She's a schoolteacher."

"I never envisioned your ex would look like that."

Natalie's chin rose. "How did you picture him?" .

"I'm not sure. Not like him. He's sort of short and he looks so much older than you."

Not sure if that was a compliment or not, Natalie let it go.

Maybe she needed to let Tony go, and this was a rude awakening.

"I have to check on my rolls," she uttered, moving past him. But his hand caught her and he pulled her to his chest, engulfed her in his arms.

"I don't know what's going on, but nothing's changed between us, so whatever you're thinking, get it out of your head."

She closed her eyes, breathed in the scent of him on his shirt, took comfort in his embrace and his body, so solid and confident.

"I don't know what to think," she said in a small voice. "This is so out of my comfort zone. I can't handle it."

Tilting her chin up so she could meet his eyes, she saw the dark look he gave her. "The Natalie I know would never say she couldn't handle something. So cut it out."

She swallowed, knowing he was right. Damning herself for even having the thought, and so thankful he didn't let her get away with it.

Reaching up on tiptoe, she gave him a kiss full on the mouth. "I'm so glad you came."

"Me, too."

With that, Natalie reentered the house, the buzzer on the oven going off, but before she could take the rolls out, the doorbell rang.

"Again?" Sarah said, glancing toward the door, then at Natalie. "Who else did you invite and not tell me about?"

Natalie shrugged, her shoulders slumping. "Nobody else. Who in the world could it be now?"

Natalie went to answer the door and stood back as Cassie and her carry-on luggage filled the threshold.

"Cassie?" Natalie gasped.

The steady notes of the oven timer kept sounding and the smell of burning dinner rolls filtered through the house in a waft of acrid smoke. But Natalie didn't notice.

"Mom." Just that tiny utterance of her name, and Natalie knew that something had happened.

Cassie flung her arms around her mother, holding tightly just as the smoke detector triggered and ear-piercing beeps resonated through the house.

With brief instructions to Sarah and Tony to start dinner without them, Natalie ushered Cassie upstairs. While the guests pitched in getting the windows and doors open to air the house out, and laying out the Easter dinner, Cassie began to cry and cry in her mother's bedroom.

Just then the smoke detector finally stopped screeching.

Natalie couldn't get much of anything out of Cassie except for the news that Austin had done something upsetting.