Entice Me Box Set: The Truth About Shoes and Men\Cover Me\My Favorite Mistake (25 page)

I snatched up the receiver, trying to quell the hope that Sam would be calling.

“Kenzie Mansfield.”

“Hi, sweetheart.”

I smiled. “Hi, Dad.”

“I was calling to see if we could have lunch tomorrow.”

I brightened. “Tomorrow? That would be great.”

“Actually, I wanted to see what you thought about me staying for a couple of days.”

My spirits soared. “Even better.”

“Good.” He cleared his throat and said, “I was thinking maybe we could visit your mother’s grave.”

I blinked. To my knowledge, my father had not returned to my mother’s grave since the funeral—surely this was a healthy signal. “Urn, sure, Dad. I’d like that.”

“Good. I miss you, sweetheart. I’ll call you tomorrow when I get into town. I’m going to take you shopping and buy you something obscenely expensive for your birthday.”

I grinned. “And I’ll let you. But really, the lilies were enough.”

There was dead silence on the other end of the line. “I wish I could take credit for flowers, sweetheart, but I didn’t send any.”

“Vanessa probably sent them,” I said with a laugh.

He made a rueful noise. “No, Vanessa said she wasn’t covering for me anymore.” He laughed. “You must have a secret admirer.”

I frowned, but thought Dad was probably mistaken about Vanessa. Still, after I hung up, I dug the florist’s envelope from my desk drawer and removed the card. Happy Belated Birthday! it still said. Then I turned over the card and gasped. Fondly, Sam.

Then I began to do what every woman does: dissect the gesture for what it might have meant, could have meant, should have meant. Apparently he
had
given me a second thought after he’d returned to Jar Hollow.

A theory popped into my head and I picked up the phone to call April.

“Hello?”

“Aprii, this is Kenzie.”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

I frowned at her dismissive tone. “When Sam Long called you—”

“Yes,” she broke in. “Yes, Kenzie, he was calling about you.” She sighed. “He asked for your work address and asked me to recommend a florist, but then I’m sure he told you that while you were staying there. Happy?”

“Yes,” I murmured.

“Good.” Then she slammed down the phone.

My heart fluttered—this changed everything. Then I sighed—this changed nothing.

My phone rang, another external call. I snatched it up, daring to hope.

“Kenzie Mansfield.”

“Is this a bad time?” Jacki asked.

I was only mildly disappointed. “No, what’s up?”

“Okay, first of all, Denise and Cindy forced me to make this call.”

I frowned. “Why?”

“Because I didn’t want to tell you this while you’re pining for Sam, but they told me you’d want to know.”

“What?”

“Ted and I are engaged.”

I shrieked. “Congratulations! When did this happen?”

“Last night. You know, since the family meeting didn’t go as well as I’d hoped, I was starting to have second thoughts, and I figured Ted was, too.”

“His mother will come around,” I soothed.

“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “Ted and I love each other and we know there are always going to be obstacles, but we want to be together. That’s it.”

I sighed happily. “It’s great that you can be so clearheaded about how you feel and what you want.”

“I can’t explain it,” Jacki said. “When I look at Ted, everything else just seems to fall away and I just know this is right.”

“I’m thrilled for you,” I said. “And I’m sorry I’ve been such a blubberhead about Sam that you were afraid to share your good news. And now on to the important stuff—did he give you a ring?”

“We’re going shopping Thursday.”

“Then why don’t the girls and I meet you at Fitzgerald’s Friday for some hardcore diamond ogling?”

She laughed. “I’ll see you then.”

23

“T
O
J
ACKI AND
T
ED
,” I said, holding up my glass of wine.

Denise lifted her glass. “And to the biggest freaking diamond I’ve ever seen!”

Cindy lifted her glass. “And to true love.”

Jacki grinned and we all clinked our glasses. She kept glancing at her left hand, as if she were afraid the enormous square-cut diamond might have disappeared since she’d last looked.

My chest was full of happiness for her, so full I hadn’t been able to dwell on the sad state of my own heart, for which I was grateful. I had considered calling Sam a dozen times, and changed my mind just as many times. Even if we somehow managed to get beyond the misunderstandings and my duplicity, there was still the matter of his commitment phobia and our geographical distance and my man allergy. And overcoming those kinds of obstacles required more than…
like
.

But for this evening, I pushed regrets from my mind and dished with the girls about movies and hair and ideas for bridesmaids’ dresses.

As we were paying for the check, Denise’s attention was drawn to something over my shoulder. “Hey, Kenzie, don’t look now, but there’s a guy staring at you.”

I gave her a dismissive wave. “Forget it—I’m taking a break from men.”

She shrugged. “Suit yourself, but he looks pretty determined.”

I wasn’t even tempted to turn around.

“Oh, here he comes,” Jacki said. “Eagle Scout, two o’clock.”

My heart blipped at the familiar reference, and despite my best intentions, I turned to look.

Then my heart did a back handspring.
Sam
.

He was walking, or rather
limping
, toward me, wearing jeans and a J. Peterman T-shirt (I knew T-shirts) and a cautious smile.

“I think I’m going to call it a night,” Jacki said. “Share a cab, girls?”

In the back of my mind, I registered their leaving, but all of my focus was on Sam and on keeping my emotions in check until I knew why he was there.

“Hi,” he said. “I was hoping I’d find you here.”

I smiled, positive he could hear my heart slamming against my chest wall. “We were celebrating Jacki’s engagement.” I decided to get right to the point. “What are you doing here?”

He looked at his hands. “Actually, I brought Val.”

My heart plunged. “Val?”

He nodded. “She’s been wanting to move to the city for ages.”

“Oh.” So he’d been doing a favor for Val. I sipped the last of my drink to hide my disappointment.

“And when I told her I was coming to see you, she asked if I’d mind if she followed me.”

My hopes lifted again. “You were coming to see me?”

“Yes.” He shifted to his bad foot, winced, and shifted back. “The fact is, Kenzie, I don’t care why you came to Jar Hollow, just that I was able to spend time with you. I’m sorry for implying that you might have staged some of
those accidents—I know you would never do something like that.” He smiled. “You once said that a person misses what’s familiar, and the truth is…I miss you.”

I inhaled sharply. “You miss me?”

His Adam’s apple bobbed. “In fact, I love you.”

“You
love
me?”

“Yes. I knew as soon as I saw you’d carried out my animal cages to save them from the fire.”

“I almost left the snakes,” I felt compelled to admit.

“But you didn’t.” He stepped closer and picked up my hand. “I saw in your electronic organizer that you were going to start looking for a nice guy, and that you made the entry
after
you met me. But I came to see if you have any feelings for me. Good ones, that is.”

Astonished, I looked at our hands, palm to palm. “Yes, I have some
good
feelings for you.”

He looked immensely relieved, and went into alpha mode, gesturing emphatically. “I’ve been giving this a lot of thought and you don’t have to feel pressured or anything, but I was thinking maybe I could arrange to teach some classes here in the city so I could see you more often, and…and we can just see where this goes.” He cleared his throat. “And as far as your allergy to me, well, I’m prepared to take things slowly, so you can build up your immunity.”

“Wow, you
have
been giving this some thought.”

He blushed. “I can’t live without you…partner.”

My heart soared, and I blinked back instant tears. When I looked at Sam, everything else fell away, and I just knew it was right, as Jacki had said. He and I belonged together.

“So,” he said nervously, “do you think we can give this a go?”

I nodded. “I think we can give this a go.”

He reached for me and I looped my arms around his
neck and met him for the sweetest, most joyous kiss imaginable. I pulled back and looked at the love shining in his eyes and I was flooded with the feeling that as Helena’s psychic had hinted, my mother was indeed smiling down on us.

Yet I couldn’t ignore the issues between us that remained to be resolved. “Sam,” I said solemnly, “we do have a few things to clear up before we can move on.”

Sam straightened, as if preparing for a litany of emotional debates.

“Exactly what
is
gravy anyway?”

Epilogue

T
O
H
ELENA’S
consternation and relief, the cover curse ended with Sam, but the magazine had gained enough sales and media attention to leapfrog a couple of competitors. My Pet Personality column was a big, fat hit, expanding to a full page after only a few months. We were flooded with celebrities vying to have their pets featured—plus book interest from two publishers. Best of all, we were credited with boosting pet adoptions all over the country.

Helena and I grew closer, especially after Angel gave birth to her three little mongrels. Luckily they took after their mother and were mostly Yorkie, with a splash of something that put a curl in their long coats. As promised, I took one to live with me, and Jacki took one. April Bromley, who had purported not to be a dog lover but had melted when Helena passed out pictures of the litter, took the remaining pup.

Val Jessum adjusted to city living quite well…with the help of Daniel Cruz.

Thanks to gallons of green tea, or maybe just plain old acclimation, my allergy to Sam improved, then disappeared altogether, although Sam still insisted on performing impromptu examinations under my clothes—just in case the hives had reappeared, he said.

Sam taught me how to make gravy—white, brown and tomato-flavored. (I didn’t know there was such a thing.) Oh, and after ten months of living and loving together, he
proposed and I accepted. Our bridal registry was at the Jamison Hardware Store in Jar Hollow and Neiman Marcus in Manhattan. Jacki, Denise and Cindy gave me the most splendid bridal shower—with the most special gift.

They had the dildo bronzed.

My Favorite Mistake

Stephanie Bond

1

“T
HIS IS A MISTAKE
,” I said, suddenly panicked by the horde of women pushing at me from all sides. In the minutes just prior to Filene’s Basement “running of the brides,” the crowd was getting hostile, all elbows and bared teeth.

Next to me, my friend Cindy turned her head and scowled. “Denise Cooke, you can’t back out now—I’m counting on you!” The normally demure Cindy Hamilton shoved a woman standing next to her to make room to reach into her shoulder bag. “Here, put on this headband so we can spot each other once we get in there.”

I sighed and reached for the neon pink headband. It wasn’t as if I could look more ridiculous—I was already freezing and humiliated standing there in my yoga leotard (the Web-site-recommended uniform for trying on bridal gowns in the aisles). February in New York did not lend itself to leotards—I was numb from my V-neck down. “This is a lot of trouble for a discounted wedding gown when you’re not even engaged,” I grumbled.

“This was your idea, Miss Penny Pincher,” Cindy reminded me.

That was true. I was helping Cindy with her Positive Thinking 101 class, and her assignment was to prepare for an event with the idea being that it would then become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Since Cindy wanted to be married more than anything else in the world, she’d decided to buy a wedding gown. Cheapskate that I am (an investment broker-slash-financial planner, actually), I had suggested Filene’s biannual bridal event for a good deal.