Sweet Tea at Sunrise (2 page)

So far, he’d been pretty much flying under the radar here in Serenity, just the way he wanted to, while he gave his future some serious thought. He’d seen the occasional flicker of puzzlement, maybe a fleeting, vague hint of recognition, but not one single person had approached and asked for an autograph. That, too, was a refreshing change from the very public life he’d been leading.

At 29, he’d come out of baseball with a decent amount of money in the bank, no permanent ties beyond his divorced parents and a couple of well-meaning, but annoying sisters, and absolutely no sense of direction. The only thing he’d known for sure was that he couldn’t get back to the South fast enough. The northern weather was too cold and unpredictable and Boston too crowded. Then, too, he hadn’t especially wanted to hang around a town where he’d been dumped by its beloved sports team.

For the past several days he’d spent countless hours right here at this kitchen table talking over his options with the older cousin who’d always been a mentor to him, and with Tom’s wife, Jeanette, who treated him like a younger brother, but without the nagging of an older sister.

This morning, as he’d listened to Grace Wharton try to tune in the nearest radio station from over in Columbia only to wind up with mostly static, an idea had bubbled to the surface. He could hardly wait for Tom and Jeanette to get home so he could try it out on them. It was a plan that would make good use of his education and just might satisfy his folks, plus it offered the challenge he craved.

He’d already done some digging around on the Internet and discovered that a small radio station that had virtually no signal and little programming beyond the weather and a stockpile of oldies was for sale. He’d even made a phone call to the owner and determined he could not only afford to buy it, he could buy the current owner’s expertise for a few months until he got the hang of running it himself. Now all that remained was getting Tom’s stamp of approval…or, more likely, a stern lecture detailing why he’d be out of his ever-lovin’ mind to even consider such a thing.

To grease the wheels for the conversation, Travis had spent the past hour on the back patio tossing a salad and heating up the grill for the thick steaks he’d picked up at the market. He’d even set the table and uncorked a bottle of halfway decent wine in honor of the occasion. He had his favorite beer on ice for himself. The serene garden setting—which Jeanette claimed was the sole reason she’d bought the house right out from under Tom before they’d even started dating—was ideal for a good meal and some serious conversation.

An hour later, with Tom and Jeanette sighing with appreciation over his pretty basic culinary efforts, Travis launched into a description of his brainstorm.
The incredulous expression on Tom’s face was a little daunting, but Travis forged ahead anyway. When he’d finished, he waited expectantly.

“Are you nuts?” his cousin demanded.

Tom’s reaction was pretty much what Travis would have expected from his father, so it was a little discouraging to have it coming from his cousin, whom he’d expected to be more supportive.

Jeanette, however, regarded him with obvious delight. “I think it’s a fabulous idea. It’s just what this town needs.”

“Since when does Serenity need its own radio station?” Tom asked, his expression dubious.

“You said so yourself after that last hurricane looked as if it was aiming straight for us,” Jeanette responded. “You said we needed a way for everyone in town to get up-to-the-minute information relevant to Serenity, instead of just what was going on over in Charleston or Columbia.”

Tom scowled at her. “That was different.”

“How so?” Jeanette inquired.

“I was just saying
someone
should do it,” Tom grumbled. “I didn’t mean my own cousin should come into town and throw his money away.”

“Are you so sure a radio station wouldn’t make money here?” Travis asked. “There’s no competition, at least not close enough to matter. I’d get all the local advertising dollars.”

“Haven’t you heard?” Tom said. “We’re in the midst of an economic crisis. None of the businesses around here have money to throw away on advertising. They’re all just trying to stay afloat.”

“Which is precisely why they need to advertise,”
Jeanette chimed in, backing up Travis. “When did you start to sound so negative about this town, anyway?”

“I’m not down on Serenity. I’m just being realistic.” He faced Travis. “Why would you want to stay here, when you could locate anywhere in the country?”

“Why not?” Travis responded. “You did. In fact, if I’m recalling correctly, you had a chance to move back to Charleston and you decided to stay right here.”

Tom glanced at his wife, undisguised adoration in his eyes. “I was persuaded that someone here might make it worth my while.”

“Don’t blame it all on me,” Jeanette said, obviously not taking his gallant words as much of a compliment. “When the town heard you might leave, they put on a full-court press to keep you here. All that flattery is what changed your mind. It certainly wasn’t the salary or even my wiles.”

Tom shrugged. “Okay, I succumbed to the challenge of solidifying the town’s economic base,” he admitted. “I decided I couldn’t walk away when I hadn’t finished the job I came here to do.”

“That’s exactly what I’m looking for,” Travis told him. “A challenge, and a place where I can make a real contribution to the community.”

“Then I think a radio station in Serenity is perfect for you, Travis,” Jeanette said. “Goodness knows, you love to talk. And with that low, sexy drawl of yours, you’d be great on the air. Every woman in town will tune in, especially if you go on the air at night.”

She made an exaggerated show of fanning herself with her napkin, which drew a disgruntled look from her husband. She merely grinned and added, “And I
already know for a fact that you’re the hot topic of conversation in Wharton’s. When I got back to work today, Annie asked me if I had any idea who the new stranger in town might be. She thought maybe Tom should have the sheriff run a check on you.”

Travis chuckled, but Tom looked shaken.

“What the devil have you been doing to stir things up?” he asked Travis.

“He’s been flirting with Sarah, apparently,” Jeanette said, her amusement plain. “Now Annie’s on the case. I tried to dodge her questions, because I know you wanted to hang on to your privacy as long as possible, but you should know Annie’s not going to let this rest.”

“Who’s Annie?” Travis inquired.

“One of Sarah’s best friends. She’s also married to Ty Townsend.”

“Pitcher for the Braves?” Travis asked, impressed when she nodded. “He has one heckuva fastball.”

“How about we discuss your flirtatious ways and Ty’s fastball a little later,” Tom suggested. “Right now maybe we should put this radio idea to rest.”

“I still like it,” Jeanette said, giving Tom a stubborn look. “I think he’ll be a huge hit.”

“And who’s he supposed to put on the air the rest of the time?” Tom inquired testily.

“He’ll hire people,” she replied.

“Are there a lot of frustrated radio deejays in Serenity?” Tom scoffed, apparently content to have this conversation with his wife without any input from Travis himself.

“He won’t know until he puts out word he’s hiring,” she told him. “I vote yes, but since it’s clear I’m butting up against my husband’s superior wisdom, I’ll leave
you two to thrash it out. I have an early meeting at the spa in the morning.”

She leaned down to give her husband a blistering kiss that made Travis’s stomach knot with envy. Oddly, it also brought the image of the waitress from Wharton’s to mind. That probably wasn’t a good thing.

Then, again, it might not be one bit riskier than this radio venture that had captured his imagination.

S
arah was jittery as a june bug all day Saturday. Walter was on his way over from Alabama to see the kids—well, to see Tommy, anyway—and it was the first time he’d been here since she’d started working at Wharton’s. She imagined he’d have plenty to say about that. Waiting tables in a local diner didn’t fit the Price definition of a suitable career. They hadn’t even wanted her to make use of her degree in education, as if teaching at the local elementary school would be beneath a member of such a lofty family.

Worse, Grace had been in a bind this morning, and Sarah had agreed to cover an extra shift, so she wouldn’t be at the house to break the news herself. She’d left it to the sitter and Raylene. She figured that could go one of two ways. Walter would shrug it off as one more irrational decision she’d made, or he’d come flying over here to try to drag her back home where he thought she belonged.

She was clearing tables after the breakfast crowd, getting ready for the bigger than usual Saturday lunch rush in less than an hour, when she saw Walter’s gas-
guzzling luxury SUV pull up to the curb. Even without seeing the driver through the tinted windshield, she knew it was Walter because most people in Serenity had adapted to the economic times with more practical cars. She sighed and prepared herself for battle.

She wasn’t surprised when he pulled Tommy out of a car seat in back, but when he also emerged a minute later with Libby, she thought maybe her imagination was playing tricks on her. Walter never willingly took Libby anywhere, claiming he didn’t know how to handle babies. That might have worked when she was six months old, but it had stopped being an effective excuse now that she was nearly two. She saw Raylene’s hand in this. For a woman who was jumpy around strangers, she was a fighter for those she cared about. She must have come out of hiding to shame Walter into taking both kids.

“Mommy, Daddy said we could have pancakes for breakfast,” Tommy announced excitedly, pushing his way inside and heading right for her. “Is it okay, even if we already ate?”

“It’s fine with me,” she assured him, casting a wary glance toward Walter, who was trying to slow his pace to Libby’s. Once she’d learned to walk, Libby’s independent streak had kicked in, and she never wanted to be carried anymore except when she was exhausted. Walter’s expression radiated frustration, but to his credit he hadn’t just picked her up or tried to rush her. Maybe he’d already discovered that was a sure way to get her to throw a tantrum.

Sarah met his gaze. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here,” she said, trying to gauge his mood.

“I wasn’t expecting to find you working in a place like this, either,” he said as he settled Libby in the booth next to Tommy. “I think we should talk about that.”

“Not while I’m working,” she said firmly, keeping her expression cheerful but unyielding. “What can I get you to drink?”

“Coffee for me,” he said. “Milk for the kids, I guess. Tommy, you said you want pancakes, right?”

“This many,” Tommy confirmed, holding up two fingers.

“How about one, and then we’ll see,” Sarah said. “Libby, you want a pancake, too?”

“She’ll make a mess of it,” Walter immediately protested.

“Not if you give it to her in little pieces,” Sarah said. “I’ll be back in a minute with your drinks.” She escaped to the kitchen before she asked him why he’d brought them here if he was so worried about any messes they might make. She already knew the answer, anyway. Lecturing her was evidently his top priority.

When she returned with her ex’s coffee and milk for the kids, he frowned at her. “Sit down so we can talk, okay? There’s nobody in here.”

“There will be soon, and I need to have the tables set up,” she said. “Once I’m finished with that, if there’s time, we can talk.”

Just then Grace emerged from the kitchen, recognized Tommy and Libby and apparently guessed the identity of the man with them. “Honey, you go ahead and take a break,” she told Sarah. “I can finish up with the booths, and I’ll bring those pancakes out when they’re ready.”

“You don’t need to do that,” Sarah protested. “You’ve been on your feet all morning. You’re the one who should be taking a break.”

“It’s okay. I’ve had a lifetime to get used to that. I’ll bring you a glass of sweet tea, too,” Grace insisted.

Sarah sighed and sat down, crowding into the booth next to her ex-husband. There wasn’t nearly enough room to keep as much space between them as she’d like to. Reluctantly, she met his stormy gaze. She could barely recall what it had been like to have those bright blue eyes light with pleasure at the sight of her.

“You wanted to talk,” she said mildly. “Now’s your chance.”

“Okay, then, what I want to know is if you’re working here just to embarrass me?” Walter inquired in a strident tone that carried all the way to Grace, who was placing setups on the counter. She whirled around and gave him a hard look.

Aghast by Walter’s rudeness, Sarah regarded him incredulously. “You’re the only one embarrassing you,” she said in a low voice. “What I do in Serenity is no reflection on you or your family. We’re not married anymore.”

“But it suggests I’m not paying you enough in alimony and child support,” he said.

She had to try hard not to laugh at his twisted but all-too-typical logic. “No, it suggests that I want to work and contribute to my own family’s well-being.”

Walter was clearly exasperated by her reply. “Then why not teach? Isn’t that what you were always claiming you wanted while we were married? Day in and day out, I heard about how you were wasting your college degree.”

“In case you haven’t checked a calendar, it’s almost the end of the school year,” she said, clinging to her patience by a thread. “I’ve put in an application for next year, but it’s too soon to know if there will be a position open.”

“Well, you could wait until you hear before taking a job like this.”

Sarah shook her head at his demeaning tone. “Do you happen to remember what I was doing when you and I met at college?”

“Waiting tables,” he admitted grudgingly. “But we were kids then.”

“And it’s still a perfectly respectable job,” she said. “You weren’t such a snob back then, Walter. In fact, you seemed happy enough when I could give you a free burger and fries. Has living in the shadow of your family turned you into the kind of man who can’t appreciate hard work, no matter what it is?”

She already knew the answer. Working for his father and living close to his family had changed him from the independent, fun-loving man she’d fallen for into someone she no longer even recognized. Every time he opened his mouth to criticize her, the words she heard were an echo of something either his mother or father had said about her. And nothing they’d ever said had been good.

He winced at her accusation, but for once he didn’t bother trying to defend himself. “Okay, okay, I just hate to see you wearing yourself out when you don’t need to. You couldn’t keep up with the kids when you were home all the time. Now they’re probably running wild because you’re too exhausted to chase after them.”

She doubted this had anything to do with consider
ation for her, but she pretended he was sincere. “Thanks for worrying, but I’m managing just fine.”

“Well, you look like hell.”

“Thanks so much,” she said wryly, then forced a smile. She refused to rise to the bait of one dig after another. She’d finally learned it wasn’t worth arguing with Walter, especially in front of the kids. She turned her attention to Tommy. “So, what do you have planned with your dad for today?”

“Daddy and me are gonna play catch,” Tommy said eagerly. “Right, Daddy?”

“Right,” Walter said, his eyes lighting up as he looked at his son. There was no mistaking his love for the little boy who looked just like him, with the same blue eyes and sun-streaked brown hair.

Their crooked smiles were exactly alike, too. Every time Sarah saw that smile on her Tommy’s face, she thought about the man she’d fallen in love with, the one it seemed no longer existed.

“And Libby?” Sarah prodded.

“Play, too,” Libby insisted, her adoring gaze on her daddy, who plainly was less than thrilled with the idea.

“That’ll be fun,” Sarah enthused.

“Yeah, it’ll be a barrel of laughs,” Walter said.

Sarah regarded him with dismay, and he had the grace to look sheepish. He ruffled Libby’s golden curls. “Who knows, you could turn out to be the first girl to play in the majors.”

Over my dead body,
Sarah thought, but kept the thought to herself. If the outrageous idea gave Walter a rare moment of rapport with his daughter, who was she to ruin it?

Just as Grace brought the pancakes for the kids, a few of the Saturday regulars started straggling in.

“I have to get back to work,” Sarah said, leaving Walter looking flustered as he tried to deal with Libby’s pancake and her demands for more syrup.

“Sure, abandon me in my time of need,” he grumbled as she rose, but for once there was a spark of his old sense of humor in his eyes.

That glint made Sarah’s heart catch. Walter Price had been handsome, no question about it. He still was, for that matter. But it was his sense of humor that had captivated her. When that had died, driven out by his demanding father and exasperating mother, she’d lost all hope for their marriage. That didn’t mean she couldn’t hope that one of these days he’d find himself again.

When Travis walked into Wharton’s for lunch on Saturday, he noticed that Sarah seemed to be operating on autopilot. She never once met his gaze while taking his order. Nor did she respond when he told her she was looking mighty fine today.

He watched her as she went through the motions of handing out meals, writing tickets and making change, barely exchanging a word with any of the customers. She looked as if she were a million miles away. Wherever she was, it seemed to be an unhappy place.

Travis liked a puzzle as well as the next person, but he’d always figured the quickest way to figure one out was to ask what you wanted to know. When Sarah brought him a tuna sandwich instead of the chicken salad special he’d ordered, he snagged her hand.

“Hold on, sugar. I ordered the special.”

Jerking her hand away, she looked down at the plate on the table as if seeing it for the first time, then blushed furiously. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know where my head is.”

“You’ve been looking distracted ever since I came in,” he said, choosing his words carefully. Something told him she was one harsh word away from coming unglued. “Is there a problem?”

“Not really. I just made a mistake, that’s all.”

“Never seen you make one before.”

“If you only knew,” she said with an edge in her voice. “I’ll get your chicken salad and be right back.”

Travis decided to let her go. When she returned with his meal, he tried again.

“You know what I’ve been thinking?” he said, then went right on before she could walk away. “I’ve been sitting here thinking about how much I miss that smile of yours.”

She regarded him skeptically.

Travis nodded. “That’s the gospel truth,” he assured her. “I count on that sunny smile. It makes people feel real welcome.”

She frowned at his comment. “Sorry. It’s not on the menu today.”

“Any particular reason?”

Her frown deepened. “Why are you making such a big deal about this? Everyone has a bad day from time to time.”

“Because it always bothers me when I see a woman looking so unhappy.”

“So, what? You think you have to rush in and play Sir Galahad?”

He grinned. “Something like that. It’s a curse, but that’s just the way I am.”

Her lips twitched slightly, as if she were fighting a smile. “Eat your lunch, Sir Galahad. I’m busy.”

“Really?” he said with an exaggerated look around. He was the only customer left.

She blinked as she realized the same thing. “Oh.”

“I hope everyone didn’t slip out without paying,” he said with feigned worry.

She did smile then, albeit with obvious reluctance. “You going to pick up their tabs, if they did? In the interest of putting a smile on my face?”

“Absolutely,” he said. “Or you could just sit down here and talk about your troubles.”

“With you? A total stranger?”

“Now, that’s not quite right. I thought you and I had been getting to know each other for days now.”

“I don’t even know your name.”

“Well, I know yours, Sarah. Mine’s Travis. Travis McDonald.” He held out his hand. Schooled with good manners, she took it, but released it almost immediately.

“McDonald?” she repeated, recognition obviously dawning as the name registered. “Any relation to Tom, our town manager?”

“He’s my cousin,” he admitted, then smiled. “Now, see, we’re practically old friends. You can tell me anything.”

“I thought men hated listening to women pour out their problems,” she said, studying him curiously.

“Really? I’ve found it’s the best way to get to know a woman. If you don’t listen to what’s going on in her
life, how are you supposed to know how to make her happy?”

“And making women happy is what you do?”

He laughed at the innuendo in her tone. “Not in
that
way, sugar, though we could probably work something out.”

She stared at him for a beat, clearly uncertain whether he was joking or not. Finally, she chuckled. “You’re outrageous.”

“Just one of the words I’ve heard used,” he admitted. “Sit, and I’ll tell you some of the others.”

“But I thought you wanted to talk about
me,
” she said, feigning disappointment.

Travis laughed. “That’ll work, too.”

“Sorry. I really do have to get back to work. As soon as I get this place back in order, I need to get home to my kids. They’re always upset when their daddy goes back to Alabama.”

“You’re divorced,” he concluded.

“Yes, and a single mom of a girl who’s not quite two and a boy who just turned four.”

“No wonder you look a little shell-shocked. That’s a heavy load to be carrying.”

Her gaze narrowed. “You don’t like kids?”

“I love kids, as a matter of fact. I’m just saying I know how demanding it is to raise a couple of them on your own.”