Unforgettable (12 page)

“This costume is fantastic, Susan. I love it, and I love you! You look pretty spiffy yourself there, lady. I can’t believe you put that together in less than a day and even managed to remake the entire angel costume for Patrick from scratch. You, my dear, are unbelievable,” Tom said.

“You make a wonderful Cowardly Lion, Tom. I’m so glad I went with the scarecrow instead of the angel.”

“Cowardly? You call that slide down the banister cowardly?” he asked playfully.

“No, I call it dangerous! You’re too old to be sliding down banisters,” she teased.

“Too old? You just wait till everyone goes home, I’ll show you old! However, if you continue to insult me, I shall be forced to catch me another scarecrow for the evening. They don’t call me a tom cat for nuttin’ ya know!” he said just as the doorbell rang.

“Oh, go answer the door before I make a rug out of you! You couldn’t catch a mouse,” Susan laughed affectionately. As Tom went to answer the door, Susan made her way to the kitchen.

“The Wizard was right you know…you don’t have a heart!” Tom pouted before opening the door to their first guests.

“That was the Tin Man, dearest,” Susan smirked, wiggling her raffia-covered fingers at him before disappearing into the kitchen.

“Rats!” Tom exclaimed, trying to snap his fur-covered fingers without success.

***

The guests were arriving back-to-back and, although the house was already full of people, neither Breezy nor Patrick had yet to make an appearance. Susan made another bowl of punch and prepared to fill the tub with water for apple bobbing. She’d just put the last apple in the tub when Tom came into the kitchen.

“Breezy’s here. You’re not going to believe her costume.”

“Oh, I can’t wait! She always has such great costumes. Where is she?”

“I’m right here, Susan,” Breezy laughed as she followed Tom into the kitchen.

Susan’s jaw dropped in awe. There she stood, between a lion and a scarecrow, dressed as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, right down to the ruby red, high-heeled slippers sparkling in the bright light of the kitchen. As a final touch, Breezy carried a woven basket on one arm with a little stuffed Toto dog peeking out of it.

“No one is going to believe we didn’t plan this,” Susan grinned.

“I know. You two look amazing. You’ve outdone yourself this time, Susan,” Breezy replied.

“If you think this little coincidence is amazing, you should see Janet! Green-faced witch with a pointy hat, broom and a wart on the end of her hooked nose…need I say more? Oh, and Mr. Banner is a leprechaun but he’s so short I swear, if you took off his hat and put a lollipop in his hand, you’d mistake him for one of the Lollipop Kids, Tom chuckled.

“Oh, no!” they both laughed at the same time.

“If the Tin Man walks through the door, I’m outta here!” Breezy giggled.

“Susan, I wanted to tell… Oh, hey! Look at us! Some coincidence, huh?” Janet grinned, entering the kitchen in full Wicked Witch of the West regalia.

“You look great, Janet!” Susan exclaimed.

“I think you three have been spending way too much time together at the shop. You’re starting to think alike,” Tom joked.

They all laughed until Janet noticed Toto peeking out of Breezy’s basket. Breezy had anticipated a scene like this and was ready for it. Janet playfully swung around to face her, crouching at the waist with a broom in one hand. With long black fingernails, she curled a green hand into a claw and shook a long, bony finger in her face.

“I’ll get you, my pretty, and your little dog too!” she screeched.

Breezy feigned fright as she slapped her hand to her mouth and pushed the tiny button on the wireless remote held in her other hand. The toy dog gave three quick, high-pitched yaps and fell silent. Janet jumped backwards in shock and they all laughed at her reaction.

“That’s great, Breezy! How’d you do it?” Tom asked, and she showed them the cordless remote hidden in her hand.

“With this costume, I knew someone would say that to me at some point in the evening. I saw this little guy in a toy shop window in New York and just had to get him.”

“Oh, I almost forgot why I came in here. There’s someone upstairs calling for you, Susan,” Janet said.

“My goodness, I forgot all about Patrick! Breezy, those cookies on the counter still need faces. Would you mind doing that for me while I go see what Tom’s friend needs?”

“Sure thing, hon. Where are the foil trays?” Breezy asked.

“We’re out of those. You’ll have to use Gran’s Sterling silver tray. The black icing is right there on the counter. I’ll be back in a minute,” Susan said. She winked at Tom as she walked away, hardly able to contain her excitement.

Upstairs, Susan knocked on the guest bedroom door, “It’s me, Susan…can I come in?”

“Sure,” Patrick replied, holding one of the huge feather wings in his hands and looking at it curiously. “Hey! Look at you! You’ve done all that since last night?” Patrick asked, admiring her scarecrow costume.

Susan giggled as she closed the door. “Yes, I did…and then some. You should see everyone else. You look pretty great yourself but you’ll look much better once we get those wings on!”

“I have you to thank for that. I can’t believe you made this yourself. It’s extraordinary! Only real angels in heaven could have better garments than these,” he praised. Susan blushed with pride. Patrick was a stunningly attractive man and his compliment truly touched her heart. She suspected compliments were not things Patrick handed out lightly.

“Well, thank you, Patrick. I think that’s one of the nicest compliments anyone has ever given me.”

“Remind me to have a word with your husband about neglecting you. I mean it, Susan…this is beautiful and extremely well made. I know some buyers in New York who would kill to have quality costumes like this in their inventory. I can hardly wait to see that shop of yours.”

“Actually, it’s Breezy’s shop. I just hopped on board after she got it going,” Susan said, adjusting the angel outfit here and there. The main robe was made of heavy, ultra-white linen lined around the neck, sleeves and bottom hem with braided gold edging. A sash draped from the top of his left shoulder, around his back, falling almost to the floor on his right before swooping back up the front to his left shoulder where it was held in place by a large, golden medallion pin. The heavy and obviously expensive material of the sash was tapestry in a rich shade of burgundy with gold edging and tiny gold threads running through it creating a pattern of doves and laurel branches.

Patrick’s wings were cut from two layers of heavy poster board to make them stronger. Susan had taken a great deal of time, painstaking effort and patience to hand glue each and every Marabou feather meticulously in place. They looked remarkably real. As Susan fastened the last wing in place, he studied himself in the mirror.

“This is incredible, Susan. When you first suggested an angel costume, I had my fair share of doubts. Normally, you just don’t picture men as angels…at least, I don’t. I thought it would be delicate and frilly-looking, but this… this is fabulous! I don’t mind this at all. It must’ve taken you hours and hours to make this.”

“It did,” she replied, remembering she hadn’t slept at all last night trying to get it finished in time. When the party ended tonight, she will have been up for more than forty-two hours straight. “How do those wings feel? They aren’t uncomfortable, are they?”

“No, not at all.”

“Turn around and face me, I want to try something.”

As he turned to face her, Susan pulled a long loop of fishing line over his head. She slipped one large gold bead onto the fishing line and knotted it to keep the bead in place. Grabbing another bead off of the dresser, she repeated the same actions, leaving a small space in between before cutting off the excess fishing line. Patrick eyed her curiously as she worked. He couldn’t begin to imagine what the fishing line and beads were all about, or what they could possibly be doing to enhance the gorgeous costume.

Finally, Susan added a small gold dove between the beads before taking a step back to admire her handy work. She looked up at Patrick in triumph. “That should do it,” she said, smiling brightly.

Patrick eyed her suspiciously. To him, it just looked like a decoration that matched the sash. The fishing line was virtually invisible. “What’s that for?” he asked curiously.

“I’m not sure it’ll work yet, but turn around and look in the mirror. Now, hold onto the dove and slowly slide the top bead up and down the fishing line.”

Patrick did as she suggested and, to his utter amazement, the wings began to flap slowly with the movement. Each time he slid the bead upwards, the wings spread out wide behind him and, as he slid it back down, they fell perfectly back into place. He looked like he was going to take flight at any moment.

“Susan, that’s brilliant! This is pure genius!”

“A little trick Breezy taught me. She’s absolutely going to freak out when she lays eyes on you. I can’t wait to see the look on her face.”

“I just can’t wait to see her,” Patrick sighed.

“You like her, don’t you?”

“Susan, I can’t begin to explain it. I mean, I don’t know her at all so I can’t honestly say I like her or I don’t. It’s just…well, I…I’ve felt drawn to her, even connected to her, from the moment I picked her up off the pavement. Sort of like I’ve known her all my life, or like my life will never make sense if I don’t get to know her. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it?” Patrick blushed, dropping his shoulders in defeat. He couldn’t raise his eyes to meet Susan’s gaze. He’d been afraid someone would ask a question like that and he knew any explanation he gave would sound completely lame.

Susan couldn’t believe this big, strong, obscenely wealthy, absurdly powerful, stunningly gorgeous man was blushing over his feelings for Breezy. Oh, this was going to be sooo good!

“No. Strong feelings often occur between two people when one person saves the other person’s life. I think Breezy feels the same way about you and that’s partly why she’s tried so desperately to find you,” Susan said, smiling up at the man towering over her in much the same way as Tom. “You still need one more thing before you go downstairs, though. Here…take these.” Susan handed Patrick a pair of sandals.

“What are these for?”

“To wear, silly. Angels don’t wear dress shoes and black socks. Quite frankly, Patrick, it looks kinda dorky. Besides, no party is complete without a few people spilling things and dropping glasses so I can’t exactly have you running around barefoot,” Susan explained. Patrick looked down at his expensive footwear, glanced back at the sandals and studied his reflection in the mirror again.

“Hmmm, I guess this does look pretty silly, doesn’t it? OK, sandals it is.” Patrick sat back down on the edge of the bed to remove his shoes and socks. He couldn’t believe Susan had actually called him dorky! If anyone else ever found themselves a big enough pair of balls to do that, he’d personally remove said balls with a pair of rusty garden shears and stuff them down their throat. But, it was Susan saying it so naturally, so unaware of just who she was talking to, that he found it extremely comical. Chuckling softly under his breath, he tried to imagine the look on Liam’s face if he’d heard Susan say those words to him. “By the way, is Breezy here yet?”

“Yes, she just got here a few minutes ago. Do you know what you’re going to say to her yet?”

“I haven’t the faintest idea, Susan. Hi? Hello? God, I don’t know! That’s what took me so long to get dressed. I sat stretched out on the bed trying to think of something clever to say and must’ve dozed off for a while. I guess I’ll just have to wing it…no pun intended.”

Chapter 8 “That’s the Way the Cookie Crumbles”

Squeezing the black icing gently and evenly from Susan’s favorite Featherweight decorating bag, Breezy concentrated on the delicate task of outlining jack-o-lantern faces onto pumpkin shaped sugar cookies. The tip of her tongue peeped from between clinched teeth as she dotted two tiny black eyes onto the last cookie. She was vaguely aware of footsteps approaching from behind but was too focused to turn around immediately as Susan and Tom ushered Patrick into the kitchen.

“Breezy, I’d like you to meet Patrick Day, Tom’s old college friend. Patrick, this is Breezy Spring,” Susan said, struggling to keep a straight face.

Placing the last cookie carefully on Gran’s large, Sterling silver serving tray, Breezy picked it up with both hands and turned to face them.

“Hello,” Patrick said, just as her eyes widened in shocked recognition.

Both hands flew to her face and she fell back against the countertop, dropping the large tray of cookies. Each and every cookie seemed to fall in slow motion before hitting the floor, icing faces smeared across the linoleum while shattered pieces and fine crumbs flew in all directions. The silver tray hit the floor with a deafening ring, bounced once and spun like a silver tornado before wobbling to a halt with a clang. Time stood still as she stared wide eyed at the man who had saved her life and haunted her dreams, the man she had believed to be an angel and who had been on her mind constantly for the past several weeks.

A thousand thoughts at once threw her mind into chaos.
He’s not here, he can’t be! This isn’t happening, I’m hallucinating! No, it’s a dream! I’m dreaming and I can’t wake up! Dear God in heaven, he’s even more handsome than I remembered!

When she finally tried to speak, the only word that came out of her mouth was,

“You!”

“That’s what she said,” Patrick snickered, nodding in Susan’s direction. The sound of his voice released Breezy from her stunned silence and galvanized her into a flurry of motion.

“Oh, my God! Oh, Susan! What have I done! The cookies…Gran’s tray! Oh, no! It isn’t damaged, is it? I didn’t mean to…I wasn’t expecting…” She fell to her knees, grabbing the cookies off the floor and piling them into one hand. Both hands were soon covered in orange and black icing while she continued stammering, “I thought…how did…why didn’t…”

With an apologetic smile, Patrick bent down and took both her wrists gently in his hands. The warm current of electricity that passed between them at his touch startled them both. Her hands were visibly shaking and he instantly regretted causing her such distress. “Hey, take it easy, Little One. I won’t bite, I promise. Well, not unless you want me to,” he added with a wink.