Adams Grove 03-Wedding Cake and Big Mistakes (11 page)

Carolanne felt a little useless, and she was quickly realizing that when Jill got married, it was going to change their relationship, and that made her sad. Or maybe it was just everything piling up on her at once.

“I’ll make a breakfast casserole. You need something in your stomach in the morning, or the nerves will get to you.” Patsy looked at Milly for confirmation.

“She’s right, and her breakfast casserole is the best,” Milly agreed.

They placed the last two ribbons on the pews, and then Mrs. Markham from the bed-and-breakfast up the road came in to announce that the dinner was ready to be served.

“Perfect timing,” Patsy called out to her. “I’ll get the gentlemen.”

“Great. I’m starved,” Jill said.

When Carolanne opened the door to the meeting room in the new wing of the church, she and Jill both paused to take it all in.

“It looks beautiful,” Carolanne remarked.

Candle flames licked the air under glass globes, and the fine china and silver glistened in the candlelight.

Soft music played and the smells coming from the kitchen seemed five-star for sure.

Patsy Malloy led a parade of men and children into the room.

“Patsy, you’ve outdone yourself,” Jill said.

Carolanne stepped out of the way as Patsy slid into the chair next to Jill that she’d started to sit in herself. Carolanne maneuvered to the far side of the table and tugged Milly by the hand to sit on her other side to keep Connor from sitting there. She wasn’t ready to be that close to Connor in a nearly dark room.

She caught the look on Connor’s face. He was clearly disappointed. Just as well. If he thought there was going to be anything
long term between the two of them, then he was going to be disappointed eventually. She wasn’t going to put herself at risk for the kind of breakdown her daddy had had. It just wasn’t something she was willing to test. Distance was the best remedy for now.

As everyone finished their dinner, Connor stood up and cleared his throat. “I know we said we weren’t going to do toasts and all that, but I do want us to raise a glass for Jill and Garrett.”

Everyone lifted their glasses.

“First, thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Malloy, for a wonderful dinner. Garrett, I’ve known you since grade school, and even then, you were pinky-swearing with Jill under the monkey bars. I don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone in this town that the two of you are getting married. Love isn’t just about gazing into each other’s eyes day after day after day after day…”

Everyone laughed, and Connor continued. “Well, you get the idea. Real love is about looking outward together, toward your dreams, and working together to make them come true. You two are doing that.”

Connor glanced in Carolanne’s direction.

A flicker of apprehension coursed through her, and Connor’s mouth pulled into a sly smile, like he could tell what effect he had on her.

He then nodded to Jill and Garrett. “I can only hope to have as lovely, graceful, and smart a woman as you do by my side someday. May your good luck rub off on us all.
Salut.
”

Garrett raised his glass. “Guess I know who’ll be diving for the garter tomorrow!”

Jill raised her glass toward Carolanne and gave her a nod.

Carolanne wished her glass had been filled with something other than water—something that would knock her out.
What is this? A conspiracy?

Everyone pushed back from the table, and Mrs. Markham whisked in to clear the dishes.

“Mrs. Markham, you outdid yourself. This was an amazing meal,” Jill said. “Thank you so much.”

Franny Markham beamed. “It was my pleasure, Jill. I appreciate y’all letting me live out my little fantasy of being a caterer. It was as fun as I thought it would be.”

Carolanne said, “This was as nice as the five-star restaurants in New York City.”

Everyone chimed in with appreciation, and the hugs and good-byes ensued with a flurry of excitement about the big day tomorrow.

Carolanne couldn’t wait to get home and crawl into bed. She went straight to her car and slid behind the steering wheel, but just as she went to close the door, Connor stiff-armed it. He stepped between the door and her seat, filling the space.

“Not even going to say good night?”

“We did,” she said.

“I mean you—to me.”

“Good night, Connor.”

He stooped down. “Are you mad at me? You’ve barely said a word to me all night.”

Please. You don’t know why I’m upset? Fine. We’ll play games.
“Why would I be mad at you?”

Connor lolled his head back. “Oh no, you don’t. Don’t turn that back around on me.”

“Fine. Then don’t play coy with me.” She pressed her lips together. “Yeah, I’m a little miffed.”

“Is that like a little pregnant?”

“Hardly.” She twisted the key in the ignition, but Connor didn’t budge. “Look, I know you were close with your parents, and I know you don’t get how I feel about my dad, but you can’t just start dragging him into the office on some stupid pretense and throw him in my face, hoping for the best.”

Connor stood quiet. “It did go pretty well.”

“It’s not your business.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think you were going to be in the office. Honestly, I wasn’t trying to pull anything.”

“Not. Your. Business.” She pulled the lever into drive.

“I’m sorry. Believe me. But you’re my friend and my business partner, and he’s my friend, too. I think that makes it a little my business.” Connor stood, put his arm on the roof of the car, and peered down toward her. “Tell me the truth. Is this about Ben, or is this about the kiss?”

She winced like he’d stuck her with a dart.

“I thought it was a pretty fine kiss. I’d do it again.”

“Don’t you dare.” The heat she felt could be passion or fury, but either way, it wasn’t his to take. “We’re business partners, and that kiss was a mistake.”

“It didn’t feel like a mistake to me.”

“I can’t do that, Connor.”

“I felt something. You felt something, too. I could tell,” he said.

“Don’t stick your nose in my business with my dad, and don’t kiss me again. I didn’t like it like that.”
Not so
, her heart argued. “Let’s do ourselves a favor and just pretend it didn’t happen.”

“Calm down,” Connor said. “Come on. It’s not as bad as you’re making it.”

“Don’t.” She raised a hand and pointed a finger at him. “Don’t you tell me what I feel.”

“Got it,” he said, taking a step back. “As usual, you’re just going to pretend everything is status quo. Is that it? Ignore the problems and they’ll go away.” He stepped back from the car and closed the door. Through the window, he said, “For the record, that never works. You can’t ignore it away. You should know that by now.”

“I know what I want, and it’s not you.” She clicked the lock button.
OK, that was a little dramatic, but doggone it, I wish locking you out of my business was that easy.

In the red glow of her taillights, Connor stood there shaking his head.

Icy panic twisted around her heart as she realized she couldn’t tear her eyes from the rearview mirror and the lost look on his face.

Why did I lie to you?

Back at their building, she stomped up the stairs and slammed the door behind her. Connor hadn’t been far behind her, although his entrance wasn’t nearly as loud as hers had been.

She hadn’t even bothered to turn on the lights. She sat on the couch and cried. She cried so much she didn’t know how there could possibly be another tear in her body. Connor was snoring already.
Must be nice to be able to sleep.
She grabbed her keys from the top of her purse and headed down the stairwell with no regard to being quiet, since it was quite clear that Connor was sleeping like a log splitter.

The air smelled fresh, and thousands of stars sparkled across the clear night sky. She’d make a wish on one of them if she knew what the heck to wish for.
How about wishing I could forget that kiss?
She visualized the worry of what that kiss meant falling into the gutter, then slowed as she turned down Laurel Road. She’d grown up in the neighborhood that backed up to Main Street. When she was a kid, it was filled with so many families you could round up enough kids for a game of kickball just about any day of the week. Now it was a mix of more seniors than young families.

The sidewalk only stretched as far as the back end of the Main Street block, so she found a comfortable pace along the paved road. Fireflies lit the dense lines of red-tip shrubs that separated many of the properties. Childhood memories of the kids gathering at dusk to hunt down lightning bugs and trap them in clear jelly jars with the tops punctured by one of the dads filled her mind. It was a united effort until dark, when the kids divided into two camps. Jewelry and war paint. Most of the girls were in the jewelry camp,
plucking the shining lights from the bugs to pretend they were diamonds. But she’d always ended up with the boys choosing to use the fluorescence as war paint, like the Indians who had settled in these parts so many years ago.

Not one car had passed by since she’d been out. If New York was the city that never slept, Adams Grove was the town where everyone hugged a pillow at the same time every night.

She turned right at the next block. Dad lived on this block now. Not in the house she’d grown up in, which was two blocks over, but in one of the smaller homes. The lights were on in his kitchen. She knew this not because she knew the layout of his particular house so well, but because there were only so many floor plans in the neighborhood. If you knew one, you kind of knew them all.

She touched the necklace at her throat and considered stopping in to see him.

Connor’s words echoed in the quiet.
One of you is going to have to make a move someday.

Dad made the first move. It’s my turn.
But her heart galloped at the thought, leaving her feeling a little dizzy. She’d protected herself from being hurt by keeping that distance between them. She felt dangerously close to a point of no return.

Watching Connor mourn the loss of his mother had been heartrending, and she still missed her own mother every single day. Now, in her thirties, maybe it was time to put the past behind her and find a peaceful existence with Dad, even if it did scare her half to death. Yesterday had been a good step in the right direction.
I hope it gets easier.

His old Pontiac sat parked in the driveway. She stopped just behind it and stood there wrestling with herself over whether or not to approach him.
Just say hello. How hard can that be?
Squeezing her keys in the palm of her sweating hand, she took a steadying breath and headed toward the door.

As she stepped from the driveway to the sidewalk, the front porch light flipped on. Without an extra second to consider it, she leaped behind the tall spruce tree at the corner of the house.
Maybe it was a motion sensor.
She leaned against the brick, holding her breath. The rough brick picked at her shirt. If she’d thought explaining the visit was going to be difficult, how the heck was she going to explain hiding in the flower bed?

She pressed her fingers against her lips.
This is your fault, Connor. If you hadn’t kissed me, I wouldn’t be all screwed up tonight, and I wouldn’t be right here, right now.

Footsteps padded quickly down the sidewalk. Carolanne squeezed her eyes shut and slowly sank to the ground, praying she’d still be concealed when the headlights came on.

She held her breath, waiting for the engine to turn over, but it didn’t.

The sound of a woman’s voice surprised her. She could barely make out the words, but it was definitely not Dad’s voice.

The spruce was itchy against her skin. The thought of spiders and bugs crawling around just added insult to the predicament she’d gotten herself in, but there was no backing out of this plan now. Her breathing sounded so loud that she tried to hold her breath to stay hidden.

Carolanne heard a snippet of the conversation.

“I love you, too, Joey. Ben’s been so nice to let me stay here. I never thought that I’d find so many answers right here in Adams Grove. Thank God I stopped here first. Soon. I hope. No. Don’t call me back on this number, this is his phone.”

She’s using Dad’s phone?
None of it made sense, and who would be staying with him? She slowly leaned out to brave a peek. She leaned out carefully, and then she recognized why that voice had sounded vaguely familiar. It was Gina—the girl from the library.

Carolanne’s composure was under attack. If Gina knew her father, surely she had to have known she was his daughter, and she hadn’t said a word. The sound of the engine turning over sent Carolanne lunging back for cover just as the car eased out of the driveway.

The headlights swept across the front of the house as Gina turned onto the street and then disappeared down the road.

Carolanne stood from the cramped spot in the flower bed. Should she go to the door and demand answers? He’d just want to know what she was doing in his yard to begin with. Was it even any of her business? She’d practically written him off over the years. Did she even have a right to know, and if not, why the heck did it bother her so much?

With more questions than answers, Carolanne walked down the street.

Why would Gina be staying with my father?

A pang of jealousy turned her walk into a jog all the way back home. She pictured Gina at her dad’s house, and that made her feel something unfamiliar. Not jealousy, but a terrible sense of bitterness that she wasn’t proud of. She’d held that wedge tightly in place between her dad and herself over the years, and now someone else had swept right in and taken her place.

She didn’t slow down until she approached the alley behind the office. She climbed the back stairs to her apartment, still winded, wondering if the creaking stairs or her breath was louder. Proof she wouldn’t like running.

A roaring snore came from Connor’s apartment. Carolanne gave up the attempt to be quiet and zipped down the hall, retreating to the safety of her apartment.