Welcome to Serenity (12 page)
“That is not what I meant,” he protested. She brushed past him. “Oh, I think you made yourself perfectly clear.”
“I’m not finished.”
“Oh, believe me, you’re finished,” she said. He stood where he was, staring after her retreating back and trying to figure out how it had all gone so terribly wrong. By the time he went outside to join the others, Jeanette was nowhere in sight. Worse, six pairs of accusing eyes were homing in on him as if he’d suddenly morphed into pond scum.
“What happened in there?” Helen demanded. “You upset her.”
“Not intentionally,” Tom said, feeling compelled to defend himself. “I was in the middle of explaining how attracted I am to her, how I wasn’t expecting to meet anyone like her when I came here, when suddenly she took off.”
“And that’s all you said?” Helen demanded. “I don’t believe you. Jeanette doesn’t overreact.”
“Well, she did this time.” Tom sighed. He wasn’t going to win over this crowd, not tonight, anyway. “I should go.”
At least he would see Jeanette in the morning at the Christmas festival meeting. Maybe between now and then he could figure out exactly what he’d done to upset her and how to make things right.
Jeanette was counting jars of skin moisturizer when Maddie walked into her office on Monday morning.
“Isn’t there a festival meeting this morning?” Maddie inquired.
“Not going,” Jeanette said succinctly, avoiding Maddie’s gaze.
“You can’t hide from him,” Maddie told her. “I have no idea what went on between the two of you last night, but Serenity is a small town. You will run into each other. You might as well make peace with that.”
“I’ll go next week or the week after,” Jeanette assured her. “Just not today.”
“Was what he said or did so awful that you don’t even want to be in the same room with him?”
“I’m not discussing this,” Jeanette said. “You’re my boss.”
Maddie looked as if she’d been slapped. “I’m also your friend.”
Jeanette sighed and reached for her hand. “I’m sorry. I know you are, but you can’t help. I don’t even know myself why I’m so upset, at least not entirely. The man infuriated me. I’ll get over it eventually.”
“I could help you figure it out, if you’d talk to me,”
Maddie offered, giving her hand a commiserating squeeze.
“Thanks, but there’s nothing to figure out. Not really. I just hope this will finally put an end to any matchmaking plans you and the others have. Tom and I are doomed. Period.”
“Okay,” Maddie said, surprising her.
“Okay? Just like that?”
“You’ve made yourself clear. Do you want some help unpacking that shipment?”
“No. I need something totally mindless to occupy me this morning.”
“So you won’t think about whatever happened last night?”
Maddie asked. “Or so you won’t imagine Tom’s reaction when you don’t show up this morning?”
Jeanette gave her a chagrined look. “Both, more than likely.”
“Okay, then, I’ll leave you to it. My door’s open if you change your mind about talking this through.”
“Thanks,” she said, then added, “And Maddie, you are a really good friend.”
“I must not be that great if you’re so miserable and there’s nothing I can do to fix it.”
“Fixing it isn’t up to you, but I appreciate you wanting to try.”
After Maddie had gone, she put down the jar of moisturizer and sank into the chair behind her desk. This mood of hers was ridiculous. Tom wasn’t the first man she’d been attracted to. He wasn’t the first man that she’d known at first glance was a dead-end road. But last night when he’d flatly declared his intention to leave Serenity—and therefore her—behind, it had shaken her more than she wanted to admit.
It had stirred memories of too many other instances when she’d unwittingly been the short-term interlude. This time, at least, she knew in advance. If she allowed it to happen, if she gave her heart to a man who already had one foot out the door, then the heartache was all on her. And no way in hell was she allowing that to happen again.
8
Mary Vaughn had been looking forward to the festival committee meeting all weekend. Dealing with her exfather-in-law was a small price to pay for a chance to spend time with the new town manager, who was without doubt the most promising male to hit Serenity since Ronnie Sullivan had returned.
She’d spent an extra half hour this morning choosing just the right suit—a lightweight turquoise wool that would be fine as long as the early-October temperatures didn’t skyrocket. She’d added the perfect accessories—silverand-turquoise earrings and a matching bracelet from a trip to New Mexico—and a pair of strappy high heels that showed off her shapely legs. Her hair was artfully tousled to suggest the way it might look if she’d just left a man’s bed. The total effect was sexy, yet professional, a look that was darn hard to pull off, but one she’d mastered years ago. Few men were immune to it.
When she sashayed into the meeting room at Town Hall, Ronnie Sullivan gave a low whistle and winked at her.
“Got your sights set on a new man, darlin’?” he asked impudently.
“Go to hell, Ronnie.” She deliberately went to the opposite end of the table, even though it meant she was farther away from Tom’s seat than she would have preferred. No sooner was she seated than her BlackBerry rang. She’d finally figured out how to use it, so she snatched it from her purse with more confidence than she might have a few weeks ago.
“Hello, this is Mary Vaughn Lewis,” she said in the practiced low purr she’d perfected just in case there was a male on the other end of the line.
“Mom, that tone is wasted on me,” Rory Sue teased.
“Oh, sorry, sweetie. I didn’t look at the caller ID. What’s up? I’m in a meeting that’s about to start,” she said, keeping her gaze fixed on the door that led to Tom’s office. She deliberately adjusted her jacket, opening another button to reveal a bit more of the lacy black camisole underneath, then caught the glint of laughter in Ronnie’s eyes and buttoned it right back up.
She realized then that she’d missed half of what her daughter was saying. “Sorry, hon, tell me again.”
“You didn’t hear anything I said?”
“Afraid not.”
“Why? Is there a man in the room?”
Mary Vaughn blushed at the question. “I only have a minute,” she reminded Rory Sue, deliberately ignoring her daughter’s impertinence.
“I wanted to talk to you again about my going skiing,”
she said. “Now that you’ve had some time to think it over.”
“I didn’t need to think it over,” Mary Vaughn said. “I’ve already told you no and I’m not going to change my mind.”
“Do you really want me to be miserable during the holidays? I’ll be bored out of my mind in Serenity.”
“Your friends will be home. You’ll find plenty of things to do right here. And you know how much your daddy and granddaddy love having your around for the holidays. They always make a huge fuss.”
“I talked to Dad. He said it would be okay with him if it was okay with you.”
Damn Sonny! Mary Vaughn thought. Couldn’t he agree with her about anything? He’d probably been finalizing some car deal while Rory Sue was talking and hadn’t even heard her request. It wasn’t like him to give up time with their daughter, unless he’d done it just to rile her—although she was pretty sure he wouldn’t waste the energy bothering with that now that he’d moved on.
“Well, it’s not okay with me, which you knew before you called him,” she told Rory Sue. “We’re celebrating the holidays right here and that’s final. Look, why don’t you plan a big party so you can catch up with all your friends as soon as you get here. You can have it at our house or the club, whichever you like. Then you all can make lots of holiday plans together. Your schedule will be so full you won’t have a minute to even think about skiing.”
“Boring!” Rory Sue intoned. “The club is way too stuffy and if we have it at the house, you’ll freak over every detail.”
“I’ll stay completely out of it,” Mary Vaughn bargained.
“You can plan the entire party yourself. You can make sure it’s not boring.”
“How? Will you let me bring in beer?”
“Absolutely not. You and most of your friends are underage. No drinking.”
“Then what fun will that be?”
“You don’t need alcohol to have fun,” Mary Vaughn scolded. “Come on, Rory Sue, meet me halfway here. I promise you’ll have a great time. Have I ever broken a promise to you?”
“The most important promise of all,” Rory Sue retorted without missing a beat. “You told me I’d always have a family I could count on. That hasn’t been true in years.”
The barb stung. Flushed, Mary Vaughn turned away from Ronnie’s penetrating gaze and her former father
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law’s frown. “You can always count on me and your daddy and your granddaddy,” she said in a hushed but emphatic voice. “Just because your daddy and I aren’t married does not mean we don’t love you as much as ever.”
“If you loved me, you’d let me go skiing.”
“I have to go now, Rory Sue. And don’t you dare call your daddy and beg him to change my mind. I intend to have a talk with him today and make sure he knows exactly how I feel about this.” The truth was, she should have had that talk with Sonny after Rory Sue’s first call, but she hadn’t quite figured out what to say to him. Now she knew exactly where to start. “I mean it, Rory Sue. This is settled once and for all.”
“Fine,” Rory Sue said in a huff and cut off the call. Seconds later, her ex-father-in-law’s phone rang. Howard answered and his face lit up. “Darlin’ girl, how are you?”
Mary Vaughn made a dash around the table and yanked the phone right out of his hand. “Don’t you involve your grandfather in this!” she snapped to Rory Sue, then handed the phone back to Howard.
“Problems?” Ronnie inquired as she went back to her seat.
“Nothing I can’t handle,” she replied.
“I’m familiar with the divide-and-conquer technique. During her recovery from anorexia, my daughter Annie tried it all the time with Dana Sue and me until she figured out it was counterproductive to her real goal of getting us back together.”
“How’d you handle it?” she asked, even though she didn’t really want advice from the man who’d spurned her twice.
“Dana Sue and I compared notes. We presented a united front.”
Mary Vaughn considered that. She and Sonny hadn’t had a conversation in months. They hadn’t been united over anything. They acted, in fact, as if they barely knew each other, much less had ten years of marriage behind them and a daughter in common. If Ronnie was right and they went on like that, Rory Sue would do her best to take advantage of the situation every chance she got.
Much as she hated the idea, she really did need to talk to her ex-husband and come up with a plan. Maybe at the same time they could devise a way to make this Christmas Rory Sue’s best, so she’d be glad she’d come home to Serenity.
“Thanks for the tip,” she told Ronnie grudgingly. Just then Howard clicked off his cell phone and scowled at her. “What are you and Rory Sue fussing about that you don’t want me to know?”
“She didn’t tell you?”
“After you’d busted in and told her not to, no. She just filled me in on what’s happening at school. Now you can tell me the rest.”
“She doesn’t want to spend the holidays here,” Mary Vaughn told him. “She wants to go skiing with her roommate’s family.”
Howard looked crestfallen. “Not home for Christmas?
Of course, we can’t have that. This is where she belongs.”
“For once, we’re on the same page.”
“What does Sonny say?”
“He told her it was okay with him if it was okay with me.”
Howard shook his head. “I’ll talk to him.”
“No,” Mary Vaughn protested. “I’ll handle this. Sonny and I need to present a united front, for a change.”
“You tell him it just won’t be Christmas without our little gal here. And if you need backup, you let me know.”
Though on most issues, Howard would rather eat dirt than support her on anything, Mary Vaughn wasn’t totally shocked by his backing on this. He adored Rory Sue. “I appreciate it,” she told him sincerely. “It would break my heart to have her so far away.”
“Mine, too,” he said, giving her hand a pat. “This is all going to work out, Mary Vaughn. Don’t you worry about that.”
His confidence bolstered her spirits, but not quite as much as Tom’s arrival. Even though he looked as if he’d rather be miles away from this meeting, he was the handsomest thing in a suit she’d seen in a long, long time. She suspected he’d look even better out of it. Tom didn’t even try to hide his disappointment over Jeanette’s absence from the committee meeting. He’d been peeking into the room for the past ten minutes, hoping to delay his entrance and the start of the meeting until she arrived. By nine-fifteen, he was forced to accept that she wasn’t coming and that the others were getting restless.
“Good morning, everyone,” he said, taking his seat.
“Sorry I’m late.”
“Punctuality is a sign of respect,” Howard said, sounding very much the way Tom’s parents would have sounded under similar circumstances. “None of us have time to waste sitting around here.”