Her Charming Heartbreaker (14 page)

Joyce slammed her
fisted hands against her hips and glared at him. “Did you ever
think of announcing your presence?”

“Um… I’m done. Joyce,
are you coming?”

Joyce made a point of
firming her lips and lifting her chin. “I suppose you’ll let me
know when the tea cups finally arrive,” she threw over her shoulder
as she strode out of the store.

“I’m not sure it’s a
good idea to lock horns with Bradford,” Eddie warned when they were
outside.

“I’ve been too lenient
with him. He has no idea how close he’s coming to being served an
inferior blend of coffee. I might have to pilfer some from your
place…”

Eddie listened with
only half an ear while her eyes dashed from one end of the street
to the other looking for Theo. It was time to classify her interest
as bordering on obsession, she thought. “I’m going to give the
coffee a miss. If I don’t get back to work, I’ll never hear the end
of it.”

Theo’s car was nowhere
to be seen. She wanted to kick herself for checking and worse,
figuring out school would be out soon so he’d probably made his way
over to pick Ben up, although it was still too early for
that...

The sooner Theo went on
his way, the sooner she could resume her regular, uneventful life.
It couldn’t happen quickly enough.

She’d experienced being
left behind, first by Derek, and then by Roy. They’d both played
significant roles in her life and she’d survived. She knew all
about heartbreak and disappointment and betrayal. She’d wished
Derek well and, to this day, they remained friends. It had been
easy to wave good riddance to Roy after he’d made another woman
pregnant. With Theo, she suspected his parting would leave a hollow
space inside her with a burning question mark. What might have been
if she’d met him first…

She would survive. In
fact, she’d already had a trial run, spending a couple of days with
her grandmother. When Theo left for real, she had several common
behavioral reactions to fall back on. For starters, her personal
woes could be treated with the healing power of ice cream. And if
that didn’t work, she could… she could adopt a pet. A dog she could
walk. A cute puppy to demand all her time and attention.

Yes, but... What if
Theo decided to make Eden his home?

Striding into The
Gloriana, she caught sight of him moving from the chair by the
fireplace and heading toward a table. Matthew and Mitch were behind
the bar and Markus had just disappeared into the kitchen, probably
to pick up a lunch order. She was half tempted to do an about turn
and leave. Like it or not, this would be her life from now on.
Wherever she turned, he’d be there. If he stayed.

She might as well get
used to the idea. Besides, she’d always wanted a dog...

Eddie did a mental
rolling up of her sleeves and headed toward the kitchen.

“Where have you been?”
her brother Markus asked.

“Playing hooky and
getting up to no good with Joyce. Do you have a problem with
that?”

He shook his head and
gave her one of his rare smiles. “You’re not supposed to offer
explanations when you play hooky.”

“Clearly, I’m a novice.
But I’ll know better next time.”

“And you’re not
supposed to let on you’ll be doing it again. Now I’m going to have
to keep an eye on you.”

“Lucky me.”

“I’m done for the day,
so you can take this out,” he said and handed her a plate. “It’s
for table five. We’ve been making him wait for half an hour.”

“Let me guess. This is
for Theo.”

Markus grinned.

“Please don’t do that.
It’s scary in an evil sort of way.” She checked the plate. “What
did you do to it?”

“Me? Why do you assume
I did anything to it?”

“I don’t trust you.
You’re all serious on the outside, but I know better…”

“Ouch. You wound
me.”

“I thought you guys
were fine with Theo. You play pool together.”

“So?”

She rolled her eyes at
him and strode out. “I don’t want to alarm you,” she said as she
set the plate down in front of Theo, “But I’d take a tentative
taste of that steak first.”

He smiled up at her.
“Glad to see you made it back.”

“No thanks to you. Did
it occur to warn us Bradford was on his way back? I nearly jumped
out of my skin when I saw him.”

“I don’t have your
number,” he said and pulled out his cell phone. “Give it to me now.
I suppose this won’t be the last time you girls use me as your
accomplice.”

She rattled off her
number. “Now taste the steak. I’ll wait to see if I have to call an
ambulance.”

He cut into his steak
and smiled. “Just the way I wanted it.”

Her eyes widened. “That
is so blue an undergraduate vet in training would be able to
resuscitate it.”

He smiled. “So did
Joyce find what she was after?”

“No and that worries
me. One of these days, she’s going to push Bradford too far.”

“What do you think
he’ll do?”

“I don’t know and
that’s the worrying part. He’s lived in Eden for a year but we know
next to nothing about him. Keeping to himself doesn’t help. I’m
surprised you managed to get him out of the store.”

“The lack of trust
works both ways, but in his case, his wariness is justified.”

“We’re harmless.”

He laughed under his
breath. “And yet I’m beginning to find comfort in your brother’s
constant eyeballing. As long as I’m in their sights, I feel
safe.”

“If you’re going to
spend any time in this town I suggest you chose your friends
wisely. We don’t care for fence sitters.”

“We?”

“Joyce and I. We could
make life very difficult for you.”

“All right. What’s my
loyalty worth to you? I know you’re open to bartering and my
culinary skills are lacking in the type of dishes that appeal to
kids. So we could cut a deal.”

“Are you telling me you
can’t scrounge up a plate of mac’n’cheese?”

“You think Ben will
like that?”

“Turn it into an oven
bake and hide some veg in the mix. Stuff like broccoli and pumpkin.
Maybe disguise it with some bacon.”

“You’re devious. I like
it. If he grumbles about the broccoli, I could try to distract him
with a story or two.”

“Muddle him with words?
Now who’s being devious?” She bit the edge of her lip.

“He’s a curious boy.
He’ll take the bait.”

“Okay, out with it. I
want to hear it too.”

“If he whines about me
hiding broccoli in his mac’n’cheese I’ll... I’ll quote Horace
Walpole, ‘Traveled young men who wear long curls and
spying-glasses’.”

Eddie drew a chair out
and, sitting down, she gestured with her hands for more.

“The Macaroni Club. Get
it, mac’n’cheese.”

“No, I don’t get. Tell
me more.”

He smiled. “See, that’s
how it works. He takes the hook and I distract him away from the
broccoli.”

“And? What about the
Macaroni Club?”

“All right. In the late
seventeen hundreds, before the French Revolution, young, well to
do, English dandies used to travel to the Continent. It was called
the Grand Tour, a sort of sowing the wild oats time for them. They
were quite slavish with their imitation of Continental styles and
customs. They wore tall, powdered wigs, make-up, rouge—”

“I’m beginning to think
Ben’s not safe in your hands.”

“I’d like to whet his
appetite for history.”

“Is there more to the
story?”

“It’s not a story as
such. Now that I think about it, I might start off by whistling the
Yankee Doodle tune.”

Eddie found herself
whistling it in her head. “I can’t think of the words.”

“Yankee Doodle went to
town, riding on a pony. He stuck a feather in his hat, and called
it macaroni. The lyrics make fun of the belief that a feather in
the hat was sufficient mark of a macaroni.”

She crossed her arms on
the table. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think Ben will
want to know more.” And so would she. “Although, you might try to
avoid overdoing it. He might catch on to the fact he’s been duped
into eating broccoli while learning something. Boys can be strange
about that.”

He nodded in agreement.
“So what else you got? I need two more meals taken care of before
he goes away to camp.”

Eddie was almost
tempted to suggest she could go over and prepare a meal, something
elaborate. She imagined Theo and Ben hovering in the kitchen,
bantering—

“Baked beans on toast.
He’ll love you for it. And there wouldn’t be any harm in having
another pizza night.”

Chapter Eleven

“His scrambled eggs
aren’t runny and he doesn’t burn the bacon. It’s all thumbs up down
this end, mom. You don’t need to worry about us,” Ben said with a
toothy grin. “We’re about to leave now. Theo checked everything off
the list last night, so I’m all packed and good to go. It’ll be
perfect weather for surfing…”

Theo waved to Claire
and took Ben’s backpack out to the car. He’d already spoken with
her and had been given an update on his father’s condition. More
good news. The fractured ribs were healing nicely and the surgeon
had assured them the cuts and scratches would fade away soon. Then
Claire had mentioned staying on another week, time enough to deal
with the other matter, she’d said cryptically because Ben had been
within hearing range.

Five… seven more days
in Eden. He could do it. Easily. The thought caught him by
surprise. Theo closed his car door and leaned against it. With Ben
gone for the week he’d have to find ways to keep busy. And if he
didn’t think of something, he was sure he could hang around town
long enough and be roped into taking part in another one of the
girls’ shenanigans.

Who was he kidding?
Spending any more time than he absolutely had to with Eddie would
pave the way for more complications and he’d had enough of those to
last him a while.

He went back inside the
house. Despite Ben going away, he’d be staying on at Claire’s
house. At least he’d be sleeping on the new couch. He might even
hunt down some furniture for the spare bedroom...

“All set to go?” he
asked Ben.

“As soon as I do the
breakfast dishes. Mom said so, or else.”

“She’s got you well
trained.”

“Does she ever. She
says she wants her future daughter-in-law to be forever grateful to
her,” Ben said as he rinsed his plate. “Did your mom say stuff like
that to you?”

“She’s more the teach
by example type,” he said filling in what would have been an
awkward silence. Unlike women her age, his mother never spoke about
wanting grandchildren or being desperate to see him happily
married. She’d never pushed him to fit into a stereotype mold, and
since he’d always appeared to be reasonably content with his life,
she’d never worried about his happiness. Then again, his mother had
given her life and soul to her profession. It would never occur to
fuss over him.

“How come you’re not
married?” Ben asked.

“I’ve never thought
about it. I guess I haven’t fallen in love.”

“Mitch says love is
something you have to be careful of because it makes you do stupid,
crazy things you’ll live to regret.”

“Sounds like you spend
a lot of time with Mitch.”

“He’s our football
coach. His brother Matthew has opinions too and I get to hear them
when he comes around to cut the grass.”

“That’s nice of
him.”

“We do stuff too, me
and… I mean, mom and I. She cuts the old ladies’ hair for free and
I clean out their yards. It’s called giving back to the community.”
He shrugged. “That’s what mom says.”

If his father had his
way…

Theo had no idea what
was going through his father’s mind but the look on Claire’s eyes
when she’d spoken about him had said a lot about the depth of her
feelings. If Jon Kendrick turned his regrets into a
happy-ever-after, Claire would have to think about leaving all this
behind, uprooting her life and re-establishing herself and Ben…

What if she couldn’t
bring herself to leave Eden?

He hoped his father
didn’t have to deal with another round of regrets.

* * *

Eddie carried the two
baskets she’d packed full of sandwiches toward the school bus. Luke
Sterling, the town’s largest landowner, had donated the funds for
the school trip to the coast and The Gloriana Hotel had done its
bit by organizing food for the trip. She’d filled two large baskets
catering to all tastes, but with twenty boys ranging from nine to
fifteen years of age, it wasn’t always easy to tell what they might
or might not like, so she’d packed extra energy bars and some
fruit.

Parents and children
mingled around the school bus. One sweep around the school grounds
was enough to spot Theo and Ben. They were deep in conversation and
Eddie imagined Theo playing the role of adult, or at least doing
his version of it, imparting solid advice and warnings, probably
memorized from a list Claire had prepared for him.

Drawing closer, Eddie
heard laughter drift toward her. Ben’s shoulders shook with it. She
hesitated. While she’d come to make her delivery, she didn’t want
to seem too obvious about also wanting to stop and chat with Theo,
but she should at least say hello. Before she could decide how
she’d tackle this encounter, Theo made the decision for her.

Turning toward her, he
smiled and waved, but didn’t stop talking. When he noticed the
baskets she carried, he patted Ben on the shoulder and then strode
toward her. The easy sway of his hips had her licking her lips and
delivering a severe reprimand. She could look but she really should
draw the line at appreciating him too much because that would bring
her a step closer to wanting...

“Do you ever ask for
help?” he asked and took the load off her.