Finding Home (17 page)

“Sarah. Hi.”

Shit.

Karen’s tone of voice was a combination of surprise and

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sweetness. She and Derek both stopped at her table, looking the slightest bit uncomfortable, but obviously allowing manners to win out over the stronger desire to run away quickly. “How are you?”

No sound came out when she opened her mouth to speak, so Sarah cleared her throat to try again. “Um, good. I’m good.”

“You remember Derek?” Karen gestured to her Þ ancé, who smiled warmly—if uncertainly—and held out his hand.

Taking her own turn with manners winning out over creating a scene, Sarah shook his hand quickly, hating the gentle warmth of both it and his eyes. He wasn’t necessarily a handsome man, but he was ruggedly attractive somehow and for that, she hated him more. Wanting to crawl under the table until they went away, she could do nothing but blink rapidly and drown in the awkward silence.

Suddenly, a warm hand was on her shoulder, squeezing gently. Natalie’s voice said, “Hey, there. How’re we doing?”

As if just noticing Karen and Derek, she squinted at them for a second. “Oh! You’re Karen, aren’t you? Hi!”

Karen studied her, furrowed eyebrows just barely noticeable, and Sarah felt a stab of confusion poke at her head.

Natalie held out her hand. “Sarah’s told me so much about you, it’s nice to Þ nally meet you.” She shook Karen’s hand enthusiastically, then turned slightly. “And you must be…Derek, right?” She gave him the same treatment, continuing to smile in an open and friendly manner.

Her hand shifted, sliding from Sarah’s shoulder to cup the back of her neck and massage it gently and—very clearly to anybody looking—possessively. Sarah chewed on her bottom lip happily as she watched Karen watch Natalie, trying not to notice how good Natalie’s hand felt on her skin.

“Don’t you just love it here?” Natalie asked, looking around the restaurant.

Derek nodded. “We’ve only been here a couple times, but it’s always been good.”

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“And the wine list,” Natalie said. “To die for.”

“We had a 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon that was out of this world,” he said, apparently enjoying his conversation with Natalie, probably happy to have a tangible subject on which to focus that didn’t have to do with his Þ ancée’s history with Sarah.

“We almost ordered that one, too,” Natalie said, pushing at his shoulder in an affectionate move that said she’d known him for years. “But we had seafood, and we thought white made more sense, so we went with the Sauvignon Blanc instead.” She grabbed the empty bottle from the table and showed it to him.

“This one.”

Sarah watched the two of them in disbelief, feeling as if all four of them had been unknowingly submerged in some alternate universe. Judging by the look on Karen’s face, she felt the same way. Sarah was aware of nothing more speciÞ c than the dim lighting in the room, the sound of Natalie and Derek conversing—though she had reached the point where she could hear their voices, but had no idea what was being said—and the comfort of Natalie’s warm palm still resting on her neck, absently kneading the muscles there. Everything else seemed to fade away, and she brieß y wondered if she was having some sort of existential meltdown.

Finally, as if deciding she’d had enough of this weirdness, Karen tugged gently on Derek’s arm. “We should go, honey.”

Sarah sent up a prayer of thanks, even though she could have lived the rest of her life without hearing Karen call somebody else “honey.”

“Oh.” He turned to look at her, almost as if he’d forgotten she was standing next to him. “Okay. Sure.” He was clearly disappointed.

“I’m so glad we got to meet,” Natalie said sweetly, shaking both their hands again.

“Me, too,” Derek said.

“Have a great night.”

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Karen waved halfheartedly and then they were gone. Natalie followed their departure with her eyes before returning to her side of the table, dragging her hand lazily back across Sarah’s shoulder, and taking a seat. As she picked up her wineglass, she looked at Sarah, who was staring at her with an expression that mixed pride, annoyance, and jubilation.

“What?” Natalie asked, then sipped.

Sarah searched her brain for the right words to express what she was feeling, but to no avail. After several seconds, she nodded once and said simply, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Natalie’s wide smile told Sarah that little power play had entertained her immensely.

“You enjoyed that, didn’t you?”

“Is that bad?” Natalie scrunched up her face as she posed the question.

Sarah couldn’t help but chuckle. “No. No, it’s not bad.” They sipped quietly, watching patrons come and go. “How’d you know that was her?” Sarah Þ nally asked.

Natalie toyed with the corner of her napkin. “You still have a picture of her in your living room.”

“Oh.” Sarah poked at the inside of her cheek with her tongue.

“Yeah, I should probably get rid of that, huh?”

“Might be a good time to put it away.”

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CHAPTER TWELVE

Sarah didn’t spend nearly as much time with her mother as she wanted to. They’d always been so close…hell, they were still very close. But since her breakup, Sarah had let her job take over because it was the only thing that seemed to keep her from going out of her mind. Suddenly, there never seemed to be enough time in the day, or in the week, and sometimes in the month. Before she knew it, weeks would go by without her seeing either of her parents and she was getting to the point where she wondered if questioning her own priorities was something she should be looking into. That was why she’d called and invited her mom to lunch on Wednesday.

Now, scanning the midday crowd and spotting her mother seated at a nicely located table on the patio, Sarah felt a hundred times better, lighter.

“Hi, Mom.” She kissed her mother’s cheek and took the seat across from her.

“Hi, baby.” Her mother held up her soda. “I started without you.”

“Am I late?”

“No, no. I got here a little early. I wanted to people-watch.”

She said the last line in a lowered voice, like she was telling Sarah a secret.

Sarah grinned at her. “Anything scandalous?”

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With an exaggeratedly disappointed sigh, her mother responded, “No. I’m afraid everybody’s boring today.”

“That’s too bad.”

For the next hour and a half, they chatted, laughed, listened to one another, and generally enjoyed each other’s company. Sarah was reminded why her friends were envious of her relationship with her mom. They were like the very best of friends and she had always felt like she could talk about anything with her.

“You seem so good,” her mother said to her as the waitress took their empty plates away.

“I do?” Sarah was surprised by the comment. “What do you mean?”

“Just…lately. The past few weeks. You seem…good. I don’t know how else to put it.”

“As opposed to bad?” Sarah said lightly, curious about her mother’s words.

“As opposed to sad and depressed.” Her mother made a face that said she hadn’t wanted to use those exact words, but they were the truth.

“Oh.” Sarah sucked on her straw.

Her mother placed a hand over Sarah’s. “Have I made you angry?”

“What? No. No, not at all. I’m just absorbing what you said, that’s all.”

“I don’t mean anything by it,” her mother said in an attempt to reassure her. “I just wanted you to know that you seem to be enjoying life a little more.”

At that, Sarah smiled. “I think I am.”

“Is it because Bentley’s back? That must have helped.” Sarah had Þ lled her parents in on what had transpired with her dog, and though they weren’t thrilled that Natalie didn’t just give him back, they understood when Sarah explained things to them.

“That’s deÞ nitely part of it.”

“What else? Is there more?”

Sarah began tallying up the latest signiÞ cant events in

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her life—the return of Bentley, Regina Danvers telling her the managers noticed her good job overseas, her date with Suzanne Kennedy, her new friendship with Natalie, the run-in with Karen and Derek the previous week. “There’s a bunch of stuff, Mom.

But it’s all good.”

“Tell me.” Her mother hunkered down over the table like she was getting ready to receive a juicy piece of gossip. Sarah laughed at her.

“Just a bunch of little things.” She gave a quick, abridged version of everything that had happened, including the facts that she’d left a message for Suzanne Kennedy that morning, and that she felt seriously giddy whenever she replayed the restaurant scene with Karen and Derek in her head.

“Life has a way of working things out, honey. I’ve always told you that. You just have to hang in there long enough to make it through the shit so the sunshine can come along. Everything will be Þ ne in the end.”

“If it’s not Þ ne, it’s not the end,” Sarah Þ nished, knowing the phrase well. The waitress dropped off the check and Sarah snagged it out of her mother’s reach.

“I’ve always told you that,” her mother repeated, tossing a mock glare at Sarah while she pulled some money out of her wallet.

“You always have, and I’m sure you’re right.”

“Well, it’s just nice to see you smiling.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

“Thank you for lunch.”

“It was my pleasure.”

Later that afternoon, Sarah found herself having trouble focusing on the second marketing presentation being given in the conference room. The company was trying to Þ nd a marketing Þ rm to help them with advertising and promotion and Sarah knew there were at least two more presentations to see. The nerdy guy standing before them didn’t have an ounce of Suzanne Kennedy’s charisma, not to mention that his faintly pin-striped shirt and

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patterned tie were wreaking havoc with her ability to focus, like she was looking through a screen and her eyes couldn’t decide what was the central focal point.

As if reading her mind, her cell phone buzzed against her hip. She glanced down at it, saw Suzanne’s number, and couldn’t keep the smile from spreading across her face.

v

“One more weekend, baby,” Andrea said with great exuberance.

“You’re not excited, are you?” Natalie teased as they sat at the little break table in the back of the shop.

“I just need to get the hell away, you know?” Andrea shook her head. “I need a little mindless entertainment.” Mr. Valenti pulled a tray of hot confections from the oven across the room.

“Lookin’ good, Leo. You’re gorgeous.”

Natalie shook her head as Mr. Valenti blushed to the roots of his white hair, a boyish smile decorating his stubbled face. The line of customers had diminished and Mrs. Valenti bustled into the back to get a reÞ ll on cannoli. She glanced at the two women at the table and pointed at Andrea as she passed.

“You. You always here. You never work?” Her wink told them she was bantering, and Andrea schooled her expression into mock insult.

“I’ll have you know it’s Superintendent’s Day. Or something.”

“I should have been teacher,” Mrs. Valenti scoffed.

“It’s not all it’s cracked up to be, Mrs. V.,” Natalie said.

“The million days off aren’t worth the red tape, politics, and disrespectful kids. Trust me.”

“And you wouldn’t know how to Þ ll cannoli,” Mrs. Valenti said with a grin, carrying a tray out to the front.

“There you go.” Natalie smiled tenderly at her and stood.

“Here, let me carry that.”

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Mrs. Valenti held it away from her. “You sit. You’re on break.”

Natalie sat, well aware that arguing with Angela Valenti was an exercise in futility.

“You’re going to own this place one day,” Andrea whispered.

“Oh, I don’t know about that.” Natalie waved her hand dismissively.

“Mark my words.”

Since any idea of the ownership of the shop transferring meant the Valentis either retiring or worse, Natalie was anxious to change the subject. “So…are you packed already?” The camping trip was a very safe topic, being something fun that Andrea was really looking forward to.

“Not yet, but I’ve made my list.” Her face lit up with anticipation. “There are going to be a lot of us this year. Like, twelve or Þ fteen or something.”

“It does seem to get bigger every year.” The annual trip had started with only four women and had increased exponentially for the past six years. Natalie had joined in three years before and Andrea had come along the previous year. A realization hit her and she smacked herself in the forehead. “Shit. I forgot to tell Sarah.”

“Why does Sarah need to know?”

“Because I need her to keep Bentley for the weekend.” She stood and crossed to the phone mounted on the wall, then dialed Sarah’s cell from memory. She was surprised when Sarah picked up. “Oh. Hey, it’s Natalie.”

“Hi, Natalie. How are you doing today?”

Natalie smiled at the friendly tone, the voice that had grown so familiar. “I’m good. How about you? Having a good day?”

“I am, as a matter of fact.”

“Good. Hey, I need a favor.”

“What a coincidence. So do I.”

“Interesting,” Natalie said, lowering her voice. “Two women

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in need. Whatever shall we do?” She waggled her eyebrows even though Sarah couldn’t see her.

“It’s a conundrum,” Sarah played along. “How about you go Þ rst and we’ll see what we can come up with?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Perfect. What do you need?”

Natalie turned toward Andrea just in time to see her making a gagging motion with her hands at her throat. Natalie stuck her tongue out at her. Into the phone, she said, “My camping trip is next weekend, over Labor Day. Can you keep Bentley from Friday until Monday and I’ll take him on Monday?”