Beauty and The Best (Once-Upon-A-Time Romance) (24 page)

“
I’ll keep that in mind. You know, Todd, you’re pretty lucky to have Jolie working for you.” Chloe munched away with a curious gleam in her eye.

“
I know.” Todd’s soft voice did awful/wonderful things to Jolie’s insides.

“
She’s an awesome cook.”

“
I know.”

“
Hello? I’m standing right here?” Chloe’s method was so transparent and Jolie really wished she wouldn’t do what she was obviously trying to do.

“
Not to mention, very helpful with my girls.” Chloe blathered on as if she hadn’t heard the censure in Jolie’s voice.

“
Really?” Todd asked.

“
Yes. She takes them shopping or, if I need to run a few errands, she’ll stop by.” If Jolie still had her kicky yellow flat it’d be protruding from Chloe’s mouth at that moment. “She always has the girls in the kitchen helping her. Some of their best memories are going to be decorating cookies on rainy afternoons.”

“
Rainy afternoons. You don’t say.”

Jolie chose to ignore Todd’s gaze as it rested on her—or rather, she let him think she was ignoring it—by adding more cookies to the doily-covered trays in a vain attempt at blending into the background. How did one ask one’s friend to shut her trap in public? Perhaps a well-aimed glare?

“
Yep. And every Christmas we have enough gingerbread men to form an army.” The glare hadn’t worked, but luckily for Chloe, a whistle sounded from the field.

“
Time for the kickball tournament,” she announced, grabbing another cookie. “I’ve got to get my team set up. Catch up with you two later. Jolie, if you can come by a week from Monday, I’d appreciate it. I’ve got another appointment about the house.”

Jolie nodded and Chloe ran off, and, oh, the awkward silence she left behind.

“
So,” Todd said, “gingerbread men?”

“
Yep. With chocolate chip buttons, licorice scarves—”

“
Whipped cream fur on their hats?”

Okay, that earned a smile from her. She shook her head and finally looked up. Those crinkles around his eyes she liked so much were back. “I refuse to introduce impressionable children to the hazards of whipped cream. We use icing.”

“
Ah, icing. Definitely much less hazardous.” For a moment they smiled, and then… it just happened. One little chuckle, then another, and they were back to the easy camaraderie of before. Before The Kiss.

“
Looks like you’ve got a lot in common with Mrs. Carleson.” Todd pulled out another aluminum tray and covered it with doilies. Only a real man could handle doilies and maintain his masculinity. “Chloe’s girls are going to remember you later on in life with good memories.”

“
I hope so. The good memories, I mean. They are so lucky to be living with Chloe.” Jolie retrieved another bag of cookies and loaded the tray, trying to ignore Todd’s shoulder mere inches from hers. “She’s trying to adopt them, but it’s pretty hard for a single woman, and she’s got a problem with some builder so all her money’s tied up in that legal battle. It’s a bit of a strain on all of them since nothing’s permanent in the girls’ lives. I try to help out where I can.” She folded the empty plastic bags. “If, God forbid, any of the girls gets moved, at least she’ll have our time together to remember.”

“
And maybe she’ll become a baker or chef someday, too.”

Boy, did the guy get her or what? “At least she’ll have a direction in her life, a career goal. I know it helped me stay focused. I knew what I wanted in life, where I was going. It kept me on the straight and narrow.”

Todd took the folded bags from her and their fingers brushed. Not much, and not deliberately, just enough to remind her there’d been a
reason
for The Kiss.

“
I guess there are opportunities aplenty for them to stray from that path,” he said as if his skin wasn’t scorched.

“
Yeah, desperation and despair are the Pied Pipers of scared and lonely kids.”

“
I admire you, Jolie.” His voice went all soft and her legs started with that wobbly-knee syndrome again.

“
You… you do?”

“
Yes. You’re not about to let life get you down.”

“
I’ve only got one life. Might as well make the best of it.”

“
When life hands you lemons—”

“
I make some pretty awesome lemonade.”

“
I’d like to try it sometime.”

They were talking about a drink, right?

“
Hey, Todd!” Mike jogged up to the table. “The games are about to start and we need a few words from our CEO.”

Todd’s eyes flickered once more over her face. “Can we talk about… lemonade later?”

She gulped. “Sure.”

He wrapped his un-scorched fingers around her upper arm and gave it a little squeeze. “Thanks. I’ll look forward to it.” He jogged after Mike to the podium on the field.

What a view. Gluteus Toddius all the way.

***

Jonathan Griff popped up at the cookie table, heavy satchel in hand, intent on putting his latest plan into action. This Guardian stuff was not for the faint of heart or the lazy. So many variables, it was like conducting an orchestra. And he was determined to get it right. “How are you doing, my dear?”

“
Hi, Mr. Griff. I’m doing well. Yourself?” Jolie looked like a beautiful spring day in her sunny dress and even sunnier smile.

“
Good, thanks. I’m doing just fine. It’s good to see you so cheerful. Not like the first time when you were having a bit of a bad day with your shoe.”

“
I know. And then both my shoe
and
I went on to have an even worse night.”

Guilt wicked its way down his back. “Ah, yes, the fire. Have you found a safe place to live yet?” Of course, he already knew how well it’d worked out, but she couldn’t know he knew. It’d be so much easier if Guardians could share their job description with their Charges, but with so many non-believers these days, not to mention dissection-happy scientists and government agencies, that wasn’t a good idea.

“
Actually, Mr. Best has let me use one of his rooms until I can find a place in my price range.”

“
He’s a good man, that Todd Best. You should stick with that one because you could do a lot worse than him.” But certainly not any better; he was one of the best, no pun intended. There was a reason his family had that last name. Generations before him had earned it.

Jolie’s face reddened and she shuffled the cookies around on the platter before her. “What brings you here today, Mr. Griff?”

“
Oh, er, I’ve had my eye on this picnic for a while.” He leaned against the table, crossing one ankle in front of the other and settling in for those Heavenly words of wisdom it was his duty to impart. She was a smart girl; she’d take the message to heart.

“
I was thinking that the children would like a few books of their own, and since books are my business, I’d like to donate some. Nothing like losing yourself in a good story, I always say.” He nodded, waiting for her to agree, as he knew she would—and did. “And how are you doing with the one I gave you?
The Dashing Rogue
, I believe?”

“
I love it, thank you. Regencies are my favorite.”

Of course he’d known that. That’d be why he’d chosen it. Full of hope and dreams and, of course, happy endings. All wrapped in a package she’d like.

“
They were simpler times then, weren’t they? Nowadays there are all sorts of rules to follow, approvals to be gotten… It’s much harder. But back then, a girl’s Guardian only needed to tell her who she was to marry and she’d go along with it.” Ah, for the good ol’ days.

“
That’s simpler? I’d call it indentured servitude of the worst kind.”

That wasn’t supposed to be her conclusion. Indentured servitude? How did people come up with these things?

Jonathan uncrossed his legs and raised himself to his full height, which The Boss had assured him was considerable when righteousness backed it. “As long as the Guardian had the girl’s best interests at heart, it’d be a good thing, right? Most young people can’t tell who’d be perfect for them, so who better to see things clearly than the one who cares for them?”

She…
snorted
? “Yeah, but if we let the older generations decide everything we’d never have technology or rock music or the right to vote.”

“
Ah, but with age comes wisdom, don’t you think?” Goodness, she was a tough sell. He wouldn’t have thought it. Of course, there was her upbringing.

“
In some cases, sure,” she argued. “But for a spouse? I don’t think so. How well did all those arranged marriages work out? Were the people happy?”

“
And the divorce rate nowadays is such a good indication of the choices your generation has made?”

“
But at least they have the choice.”

“
So, if someone, say a Guard, er,
good
friend, drops the perfect man in your lap, you’d walk away from him simply because you weren’t the one doing the choosing?”

“
Are you trying to fix me up, Mr. Griff?”

Fiddlesticks. He hadn’t meant to be so transparent.

“
Oh no, my dear. I don’ play matchmaker. That’s best left up to those who know better.” Though how much better, he was beginning to wonder.

He glanced skyward. Hopefully The Boss hadn’t heard that. It couldn’t be good to doubt Him or an archangel, but with Jolie’s reticence on the subject, Jonathan had to wonder if Todd truly was the correct choice for her. “I, er, just like giving out some food for thought, that’s all.”

Well, regardless of what he thought, The Boss knew what was best. It was not Jonathan’s place to question—unlike Jolie’s. And he’d better not stay any longer; she’d already guessed too close to the truth. Besides, he had his plan to put into action. “Speaking of giving out food for thought, I’d better get this brain food out to the kids.” He reached into his satchel for a few books and put them on the table, careful not to crush any of the cookies. “I’ll see you again, my dear. Have a blessed day.”

“
You too, Mr. Griff. Here, would you like a cookie?”

“
Thank you. Why, I knew the sweetest woman once, who could make the best cookies. The woman had a heart of gold.”

Yes, Marybeth Carleson had a heart of gold. One, it seemed, she’d passed on to Jolie, along with the recipe.

***

The picnic was pretty spectacular in Jolie’s opinion. Todd, er, his company went all out for the kids. The picnic was more a fair than an ordinary picnic. Dunking booth, carnival games, the kickball tournament, a watermelon seed- spitting contest, pie-eating contest, and more food than teenagers and their younger counterparts could possibly consume. But Jolie knew these kids; they were hungry in more ways than one. Food was simply the physical manifestation of that hunger, so there wasn’t much left to clean up when the day ended.

And, yes, she was both gratified and proud that every child got at least three cookies and not a single crumb remained.

“
My work here is done,” she muttered, rounding up the trays.

“
Spoken like a true superhero.”

She spun around to find Todd right behind her and her face took on the temperature of liquid chocolate, warm and melting. “Uh… Hi?”

“
Hi.” He laughed and helped toss doilies into the trashcan. “Have fun?”

“
It was wonderful. This is a great event.”

“
It’s one of my favorites. We’ve been doing it for about six years now.”

He leaned over to wipe the table and she struggled not to watch—that whole “sorry” episode earlier rearing her self-preservation instincts. “The kids seemed to get a lot out of it.”

“
They used to get more out of it.” He was still wiping away.

“
What do you mean?”

“
We used to have an auction in the evening for the community. A lot of corporate sponsors, Best Enterprises, included.” He’d wiped that spot on the table at least six times. “But I haven’t organized it in the last few years.”

Few—or two?

Jolie found her own spot to wipe. “Well, the picnic’s a wonderful thing to do for them. I’m sure they appreciated it.”

“
Just like they appreciated your cookies.” The tone in his voice made her look at him. Sure enough, a soft smile graced his lips.

And she had to stop remembering what those lips had felt like.

She turned back to her wiping. “Glad to help.”

“
Really?”

That got her attention. No one should ever doubt her sincerity about helping kids in crisis. “You don’t believe me?”

“
It’s not that, no. But I’m thinking of doing something else and could use your help.”

Oh, well that was different. She abandoned her cleaning frenzy and stood, resting her hand and the dishtowel against her hip. “That sounds mysterious.”

His eyes twinkled. “No James Bond, I promise.”
Pity
. “Did you see your friend Mr. Griff here today?”

Of course. Covered in a suit so that she’d worried about heatstroke in the midst of their chattel discussion. “Yes. He was giving out books to the kids.”

“
I know. What a great idea, and the kids loved it.” Todd reached past her to lift the stacked aluminum trays and she was treated to those flexing pecs and biceps again.