Her Charming Heartbreaker (20 page)

“Ready or not, Theo,
I’m going to try some of these strawberries.” This was a good place
to be right now. Why spoil it?

Chapter Fifteen

“A cup of your happiest
blend, please.” Eddie leaned over the counter and looked down at
Joyce who was busy stacking a shelf.

Joyce peered at her,
and then rose to her feet. “What’s come over you?”

Eddie grinned. “I don’t
know what you mean.”

“Give me a minute and
I’ll figure it out.” Joyce frowned. “Your face is brimming with…
Oh, wow. You got some.” She clamped her hand over her mouth.
“
Sex
. You had tons of it.”

“Is it that
obvious?”

“Are you kidding me?
Look at you. Your eyes are all shiny and your skin’s flushed and
radiant. And you look… happy.”

Eddie couldn’t hold
back her smile. “I popped into Rosie’s and bought this. Isn’t it
pretty?” She twirled on the spot showing off her new halter neck
dress in a light blue shade the shop owner had called cerulean.
“Everything in her shop always looks so not me, but today, I
couldn’t decide. I loved every single dress she has.”

“I never thought I’d
witness a miracle.”

She twirled again and
surprised herself by saying, “It’s a great feeling and I’m going to
do everything I can to hold on to it for as long as possible.”

“And you want my coffee
beans to aid and abet you.”

“And a blueberry
muffin, please.”

“To go or to have
here?”

“In the spirit of
sharing my cheerful mood, I’ll have my happy coffee and muffin
here.”

Joyce shook her head.
“You have incentive to be good and gracious, yet you choose evil
boasting.”

“Hey, I don’t complain
when I hear birds singing in the morning. Now it’s my turn.
Finally. Let me crow.” Eddie had woken up feeling bubbly and giddy.
She hadn’t recognized herself. Even her toes had tingled.

“As your closest and
oldest friend, I guess I’ll have to support you no matter what. And
yes, I’ll be there if you fall.”

“I won’t think about
that now.” She wouldn’t be able to find the words for it, let alone
the thoughts. Her entire vocabulary had shifted. Everything looked
brighter, even the icing on the cupcakes sitting on the counter
seemed to be smiling up at her.

She drew in a deep
breath and prodded her mind, looking for any residual thoughts
about having a limited time with Theo, but they’d banished...

“
Um…
Before you suspend all reality, can I ask if you’re still going
ahead with your madcap scheme to have a disastrous
relationship?”

“I should never have
made such a rash decision. I’ve taken a different direction. To
quote my grandmother, keep a happy thought, and the rest will sort
itself out.”

Joyce set the coffee
cups and muffin on a tray and led the way to a table.

There was something
slightly off with her. Eddie wondered if it had to do with the
online date she’d been trying to organize. “What about you? Where
are you at with your date for Sophie’s wedding?”

“It’s all good to
go.”

“You went ahead with
it,” Eddie said as they settled at a table.

Joyce shrugged. “I
played it safe and was upfront with him. He knows I only want him
as a one-off date. In fact, when I went through the selection
process, I made sure to pick someone who came across as a
commitment-phobe. He’s a serial dater. This year alone, he’s
clocked up thirty-five dates with twenty different women. I
contacted a few of them, and they gave him a glowing report. He is
a genuinely nice guy, but...” She took a sip of her coffee. “But
enough about me, I want to hear all the gruesome details about your
sexual escapade.”

Everyone around them
seemed to be engaged in their own private conversation, but Eddie
still lowered her voice. “I jumped him. Hell, I would have wrestled
him to the ground. I was that desperate to get inside his pants. At
one point, I might have threatened him.”

“And?”

“You want details? As
in, step by step with graphic descriptions and audio effects?”

“You could at least
brag about how good it was.”

“Do you think anything
short of well worth the wait would have put a smile on my
face?”

“Okay, I get the
picture. So, you had a memorable experience. But you know it’s my
duty to ask. Now what? What are you going to do when he
leaves?”

Eddie forced herself to
smile. “Here today, gone tomorrow. And when the time comes, you can
remind me.”

“I’ll be too busy
picking up the pieces. I doubt I’ll be able to let him go so
easily. I like Theo. He’s great to have around. He’s easy going. He
doesn’t mind a bit of nonsense chatter. I don’t know any other man
who can take our crap and still come back for more. And let’s not
forget the obvious. He’s scrumptious looking and wears really nice
clothes. Makes me want to primp. Do you think you can talk him into
moving back to the pub? I miss seeing him jogging.”

“I’d never get anything
done with Theo staying at the pub.” Setting her cup down, she felt
her smile waver. She looked around the café again and saw the usual
crowd but no sign of Theo. She’d become so accustomed to seeing him
in the mornings...

“You’ve no idea how
hard it is to ease back a little and stop feeling so good.” She
shrugged. “I know I should try to keep it real, but last night was
like a sugar rush and I’m still flying high on the after effects,”
she said as she broke off a piece of her muffin and crumbled
it.

Joyce looked down at
her coffee. “Maybe it’s not such a bad idea to take it easy. Lower
your expectations.”

“Play it safe?” That
morning she’d woken up to happy tingles and smiles and lightness,
so she’d gone along with the feeling and now...

Now, she wouldn’t say
no to Joyce giving her a hearty dose of reality and good common
sense. The pieces didn’t fit together. Her and Theo. Their lives
were rooted in opposite sides of the world.

“Theo won’t hang
around,” she reasoned, “He had some business to take care of, and
now that’s all sorted out, he’s made some time for me. And soon,
he’ll be on his way. I can’t expect more from him.” She pushed out
a quivery breath. “I think I’m about to get the heartbreak I
thought I wanted.”

“Is… is that good or
bad?”

Joyce’s wariness set
off alarm bells. What was up with her? “I don’t know. I’m swinging
like a pendulum.” She chuckled. “One moment it’s all good, and now…
Wow. I’m panicking. I don’t think I can handle this much
uncertainty.” Eddie brushed her hands across her face. “What if, no
matter what I do, the bad relationships keep coming my way?” Worse.
What if Jimmy was right and her failed relationships had to do with
ignoring her abandonment issues?

Did she even have
any?

Sure, her mother had
walked away only days after giving birth to her, but she’d had all
the love she’d needed from her father and her brothers. By the time
she’d been old enough to ask questions, it had made no sense to
miss someone she’d never known.

As for her failed
relationships with men...

Trial and error.

She would never have
been happy if she’d moved to Melbourne with Derek. Roy had tried to
win her back saying that sleeping with his ex-girlfriend had been a
mistake, and that he wasn’t infallible, but he still loved her.
Eddie hadn’t been willing to settle for second best and nothing
could have bleached the infidelity from her memory.

She tried to look
deeper, into her very own engine room, to see if she could find any
residual feelings of insecurity or anything that could be labeled
as unresolved issues of abandonment, but she couldn’t scrape up
anything to justify thinking she’d fail, again.

Her emotions shifted
away from uncertainty and back to feeling happy. But then she
looked up and met Joyce’s concerned expression.

“That’s a serious
frown.”

“Yes, well... You know
how we’re always supposed to have each other’s back?” Joyce looked
away, and then back at Eddie. “Um…”

“You’re about to tell
me something I don’t want to hear.”

“Remember when I told
you Theo wasn’t with Claire and he wasn’t Ben’s father. There was
more...”

* * *

“A dozen yellow tulips,
please.” The words tripped out of Theo’s mouth. The florist had
given him some time to look over the display of flowers before
offering her assistance, but he’d already known what he wanted.

“Who’s the lucky
woman?”

It was a simple
question. But did Eddie consider herself lucky to have spent time
with him? She’d chosen him as her third strikeout. In a roundabout
way, that meant she had struck it lucky.

“Make the card out to
Eddie Faydon.”

The woman’s lips parted
slightly. “Eddie, from The Gloriana?”

He nodded. “On second
thought, I’ll write the card myself.” The florist watched him with
interest and curiosity. Theo guessed this was the first time anyone
had ordered flowers to be delivered to Eddie. “Do you know
her?”

“Of course, everyone
knows Eddie.”

He looked down at the
neat stack of business cards on the counter. Blooming Buds was
written in a florid script with the owner’s name directly below it.
Grace Cossington. She knew Eddie. But were they close friends?

“Do you think she’ll
enjoy the tulips?”

“She’ll be surprised to
get flowers.”

It sounded like a
diplomatic answer. “But will she like them?” It was the sort of
inside information he would already have at his disposal if they’d
managed to get around to having a sit down meal instead of jumping
straight into the business of becoming intimately acquainted with
each other. He didn’t even know if she enjoyed champagne or
soufflés...

“I’m going to go out on
a limb and say she’ll like them because they’re coming from you,”
she said, her high cheekbones coloring slightly. “And, I’m going to
assume she’ll be thrilled by the next bunch you send her,
regardless of what you choose,” she added and arched her eyebrows
in what Theo took to mean there had better be more flowers heading
Eddie’s way or else.

Leaning on the counter,
he wrote out his message. Satisfied, he sealed the envelope and
handed it back to the florist. “Make it light pink tulips instead
of yellow and tie a red ribbon around them.”

He checked the time and
mentally worked out the difference between Australia and London.
His mother had left several cryptic messages. She hadn’t mentioned
the reviews for her latest play, but he knew she wouldn’t be
pleased about the lack of spotlight. It seemed one of the minor
actors had captured everyone’s attention. At the rate the messages
were coming in, he’d guess she was having one of her mini
meltdowns. And, in the past, that had meant going into damage
control.

“Would you like to pay
now or set up an account?”

“I’ll pay now.” He
watched her lips tighten in disapproval. Theo knew the question had
been aimed at determining his interest in Eddie. Maybe even gauging
his feelings for her. “Send the yellow tulips tomorrow and just
sign the card with my initials. And yes, I’ll pay for those
now.”

His phone rang. Theo
handed over his credit card and excused himself to take the call.
The deep rumble of his father’s voice told him this was the phone
call he’d been expecting all along. The one he’d been dreading
because he knew it meant going home. Theo tried to stall the surge
of all hands on deck adrenaline. He could set aside his own
personal happiness, but now he had to consider how his actions
would affect Eddie.

Like it or not, it
looked like he was about to give Eddie the heartbreak she
wanted.

* * *

“I don’t want to leave
a message,” Eddie grumbled. Every time she’d tried calling Theo,
he’d been on the phone. If she left a message telling him she
didn’t want to see him again... because she’d come to her senses...
because now she knew the full details of his conversation with
Joyce...

Had last night been
about giving her what he thought she wanted?

She raked her fingers
through her hair and, staring at her phone, she considered sending
him a text message. But instead, she swung away and tried to focus
on something else.

Eddie never missed her
shift on Friday nights. It was the best night of the week at the
pub with everyone putting in an appearance, dropping by to catch
up, listen to whatever band was playing, shoot a few games of pool,
eat and drink. It almost felt like a big family get together, with
everyone making merry after a week of hard work. Most people
dropped in during the week too, but on weekends, no one had to rush
off or stick to a schedule.

She made the rounds of
the bar checking everything was ready for the night’s influx of
customers. The kitchen had been chugging along serving early diners
and prepping for the next wave of customers. The meals weren’t
fancy but they had a few signature dishes that were always on
demand. Mostly, it was burgers and steaks but the produce was local
and quite exceptional. She wondered how Theo had been coping with
the limited menu choices. Someone like him had to be accustomed to
variety, both of food and venues, among other things.

She swirled away from
the thought and found a table to clear. She could do this. She
could stay on course and not go off the rails. She’d always have
plenty to do and it was the best way to keep moving forward.
Purging Theo Kendrick out of her system wouldn’t happen overnight,
but it would happen. Best to ease into it now, and let herself down
easy...

Last night hadn’t been
the start of a new adventure.

Hearing a low,
determined grumble sound in her throat, she collected some empty
glasses and took them over to the dishwasher.