Finding Love in Payton (5 page)

"I thought you might be stopping by."

His eyes narrowed. "Did my sister tell you that?"

Big mistake. "No, but she was in the store earlier."

"And?"

Oops. "And, I had an idea, from where I don't
know, that she might enlist your services. Since you're
not working."

A muscle in his cheek clenched. "I start my job
tomorrow."

Why was that a sore subject? "Well, then. I'm glad
you had time today." She walked the fabric and envelopes to her back room, deftly depositing them in
one of the many laundry baskets she used to cart books
and Bryan's things back and forth from home.
"Thanks for bringing this in."

"Where's Bryan?"

His question, and his presence caught her up short.
How had he followed her to the back without her being aware of it? "He's home with Valerie. Valerie
Redmond. Do you know her?"

'No."

"Well. She's home from college. This is the second
summer in a row that she's worked as my nanny. He
loves her."

Jeremy seemed to be in no hurry to step away from
her. All at once she wondered if her hair was a mess.
If her lipstick ... had she even remembered to put any
on today? Without the shopping carts between them,
he looked bigger, his presence seeming to suck all the
oxygen out of the room, leaving her breathless.
"Well," she said.

"Well."

Frantically she tried to think of something to say.
Anything to redirect her mind from thoughts about his
broad shoulders; from his unusual gray-blue eyes,
from the way she was happy to see him again.

Anything to remind her of Joanne's veiled hints that
he was young. Much too young for her. "Um, well.
Next time I see Valerie I'll have to tell her I met you.
She's a nice girl, so friendly, and I don't think she's
dating anyone at the moment."

"Are you?"

She stuffed her hands into the pockets of her apron.
"No."

A hint of a smile played at the corners of his mouth.
"I'm not either."

"We don't even know each other." The moment the
words were out she tried to figure out how to get them
back. Those were the wrong words to say. She was
older than him! His sister was going to kill her if she
even thought about dating him.

And Jeremy ... surely he would want someone
young. Someone without a baby. Someone without a
marriage and another man's old coat in her closet.

The chimes at the front of the shop rang then and,
hurriedly, she stepped forward. Jeremy moved to the
side, just enough to let her get by, but not far enough
to prevent their bodies from touching as she passed.

Just that brief contact made Dinah's pulse race. Jer emy Reece smelled good. Like starch and honey. And
outside. "Do you run?" she asked.

"I bike. Why?"

"You smell ... like outside."

"I was on the trail this morning. We ought to go
there together sometime. We could take Bryan for a
walk or something."

That did sound good, which of course made her
nervous.

Not knowing what to say, she continued to the front
of the store and exchanged pleasantries with the couple who had just entered. After offering them coffee,
she stepped toward her counter, and slid behind it just
as Jeremy approached. Anything to provide a barrier
to her emotions.

"Thanks for bringing the material by, Jeremy."

"You're welcome."

She pasted a smile on her face. "Maybe I'll see you
around."

His mouth thinned, and she could tell it was all he
could do not to let out a torrent of words; he looked
that frustrated. "I'll see you soon, Dinah. Take care."

"You too."

"And tell Bryan hey for me."

She laughed at that. "I will."

And then he left, leaving a longing in her heart and
the faint scent of pine in his wake.

"Uow was your day?" Valerie asked Dinah two
days later as she walked in the living room and collapsed into her favorite overstuffed chair.

"Exhausting. I didn't think the UPS man was ever
going to stop unloading boxes of books. Then I had
to un-box them and enter everything into the computer. And Mrs. Edwards came in."

Valerie frowned at the last part. "How was she today?"

Dinah smiled. "Not too bad. She only stayed for an
hour today."

"I don't know how you handle that. She's there
sometimes two and three times a week and never buys
a thing."

"I like her. It's just sometimes I don't get a lot of work done when she's around." She had, though, she
thought with a secret smile. And she'd even decided
to close up shop a little early, at 4:30, just to get a
chance to enjoy a Friday night for a change.

She had actually gotten a lot done today, and that
made her proud. She'd have something to be happy
about tonight when she went to bed, she realized with
some pleasure.

When she was growing up, her father would sit with
her at the end of each day and asked what she had
done. Any accomplishment, playing with a friend,
drawing a pretty picture, cleaning out a desk drawer,
was met with praise. Sitting around doing nothing was
not.

It was all she could do on some days just to relax.

Of course, Bryan's appearance in her life changed
all that. Now each day was loaded with dozens of
mini-accomplishments. It had been a long time since
she'd sat down for any length of time. "Where's Bry?"

"On the living room floor, sound asleep. He was
playing with the plastic containers, stubbornly saying,
,not tired, not tired,' then practically collapsed on
them. Don't worry, it's only been about thirty
minutes."

"Good, he'll sleep well tonight, then." Dinah stood
up and reached for her purse. "Let me pay you, sweetie, then you can run off and have fun. What do you
have planned for this evening?"

Valerie's eyes lit up. "I've got a date."

"Oh yeah? Anyone special?"

"Maybe."

Dinah couldn't help but laugh. "They're all maybes
huh?"

"Not this one. He's kind of special. And we've gone
out before, so we're practically a couple."

Dinah couldn't help it, she did laugh at that. "I remember those days."

"Was it like that with you and your husband?"

Dinah sighed, thinking back. "You know, I guess it
was. One day we were just dating, then somehow, we
were a couple."

"Then you were engaged and married."

"Yep," she agreed, thinking that it all had gone by
much too fast. "I hope you have a great time. And
thanks for watching Bryan."

"No problem, Dinah. See you on Monday."

Dinah waved her off, then slipped off her shoes and
closed her eyes for a long minute. It did feel good to
do nothing! She'd have to tell her dad that one day.

As if on cue, the phone rang. It was her mother.
"Want to go to the club tonight?" she asked after the
usual pleasantries were over.

Dinah didn't go out much, but since it was Friday
night and she and Bryan were just sitting home alone,
the offer sounded pretty good. "You know, I think we
would like that."

"Great. Want Dad and me to pick you up or to meet
you there?"

"I'll meet you there." She checked the grandfather
clock on the far wall. "It'll have to be early, though.
Bryan will have a fit if he has to be good at seven
P.M."

"So will your dad," her mom joked. "How about we
meet there at six? That way we can eat before the
crowd filters in."

Dinah didn't go to the Payton Country Club a lot
with her mom, but the times she had the restaurant
could have never been called crowded. "You think it
will be busy?"

"Without a doubt. That new chef there is all anyone's been talking about."

"Have you tried anything yet?"

"No, but Mrs. McKinley has and she said the spinach chicken wraps are just to die for."

It did sound good. "Bry's still asleep, but I should
be able to get him up and going soon. Save me a spot."

They chatted for a few more minutes, then hung up,
leaving Dinah to finally hop off her chair and check
on Bryan. And as soon as she saw him, curled up
around a set of measuring cups, her heart melted.

"Hey there, handsome," she said, lying down on the
floor next to him and rubbing his back. "How's my
best man?"

His little eyelids fluttered open. "Mama."

"Yep. I'm home and we're going out to eat with
Nana and Pa."

Bryan's little smile widened, then he held out a hand to hers. Dinah clasped it with pleasure. "I missed
you today."

He smiled again, revealing six teeth, then immediately replaced it with a frown. "Val?"

"Val went home. It's just you and me, buddy,
okay?"

He sat up. "Okay." And then with another sweet
smile, he was off, arranging containers again.

Dinah knew without a doubt that she would rather
be with Bryan than most any other person in the
world, even though Valerie's date did sound like fun.

Jeremy knew without a doubt that Payton and Priscilla needed to come to some kind of agreement, soon,
because their constant bickering was going to drive
him crazy.

If Payton wasn't following Priscilla around, giving
her well-meaning advice, he was talking her up to Jeremy.

Not that he'd ever given Payton any indication he
wanted to know anything about his love life.

And to make matters worse, Priscilla actually seemed
to like the guy. More than once, Jeremy caught her
making calf's eyes at Payton when he wasn't looking.
And she'd actually stuck up for him when the golf manager said something snarky about him, too.

It would have been amusing if he didn't have to be
a part of it all.

Lucky for him, he didn't have to deal with the two of them much at the moment, because the dining room
was packed. Already they had turned over tables
twice, and if they were lucky, a few might even get
turned three times. People were flocking into the restaurant to get a glimpse of the pretty chef and to try
out her daily specials. Jeremy did his part by sampling
each and telling everyone that it all was delicious.

And it was. Ruefully, he realized he was going to
have to start biking a few extra miles a day in order
to keep up with the extra calories.

"Here you go, Jeremy. Three orders of sea bass and
one chicken teriyaki for table eight."

"Thanks," he said to Priscilla, then hurried out to
give the Andersons their order.

Inwardly, he smiled. There were actually quite a
few advantages to waiting on people who had known
him all his life, especially when they learned that he
was working to save money for a house. The tips had
been great, and most folks had given him a break
while he got used to the ebb and flow of the room.
Nobody yelled at him if he was slow taking their order
or refilling their iced tea.

But he had to admit that each day had gone a little
smoother, and by next week he would be feeling more
at ease.

Well, he thought that until he wandered over to table twelve and almost lost his bearings.

Dinah Cate was there, with Bryan and two people
who could only be her parents. She looked up and gave him a million dollar smile as he approached, her
dimple in full glory. "Hi, Jeremy. I was hoping you
were working tonight."

"Hi Dinah. Bryan." With manners that would have
made his mom and dad proud, Jeremy turned to her
parents. "Hi there. I'm Jeremy Reece. I met Dinah the
other day at the store."

Her parents eyed him with interest. Her dad, a
husky man with a balding head of hair, held out a
hand. "Mark Ryan. Nice to meet you. Jeremy Reece,
huh? Any relation to Jim or Cameron?"

"Jim's my dad; Cameron's one of my older brothers. There's a whole crew of us."

"Jim and Cam are good lawyers. Decent."

Jeremy got a kick out of that. "They are that," he
said before turning to Mrs. Ryan. "Ma'am."

She held out a hand, as well. Jeremy would have
expected her to look just like Dinah, but she didn't,
not really. Her eyes were brown and Dinah had her
cheek bones, but where Dinah's hair was golden
blond, Mrs. Ryan's was a more auburn color. And she
also looked to be a few inches taller than her daughter.
Interesting.

Mrs. Ryan shook his hand and smiled brightly. "It's
a pleasure. I'm Winnie." A dimple appeared. "I know
your mom; we've been on a golf league together. We
practically kidnapped Dinah tonight. She's not one for
going out much."

He looked at Dinah to see what she thought of that, but she only looked happy, like there wasn't a thing
her parents could say that she would ever worry about.
Interesting.

"Well, I'm glad you came out," he said. "Our new
chef is terrific." He went into the specials, describing
each dish in detail, then opened up his small notebook
to get their drink orders.

"Just iced tea, Jeremy," Mrs. Ryan said. "For three.
And some apple juice for Bryan."

"Gotcha," he said before walking away to take care
of things.