Love Is All Around (29 page)

But it certainly looked like a date.

Will shifted his gaze to the interloper with Patsy. What was he, a colossal Celt? Wrap him in furs, streak him with blue paint, and he’d pass as an extra from Braveheart. Big, burly, and blond. What was attractive about that? Will crunched the dwindling cube into splinters.

Jessica stroked his forearm, blathering on about something. “We should eat together. Wouldn’t that be fun?”

Eat together? With Patsy and the Celt? Will shook the melted ice off his palm.

Sure, why not?

o0o

Will smiled a slow, deadly smile and grabbed a chair from a nearby table. “Sure, why not?”

Maybe flicking the ice cube hadn’t been Patsy’s best impulse. She motioned to their small booth. “Too bad, there’s no room.”

“We could sit there.” Ruthann, the traitor, piped up, pointing at a round table pushed back in one corner.

“Perfect.” Will smiled the smile again, and something in Patsy’s stomach began to tremble. Why should she be nervous? She wasn’t the one on a date. Besides, they were just friends. He had no right to be angry. She was the one who should be angry—at the lot of them.

Grabbing Glenn’s hand, she tugged him out of the booth. “Come on. We’re moving.”

Glenn followed her to the table, a confused look on his face. “Are you going to introduce me?”

“Yes, Patsy, introduce us.” Even on a date with Will, the tramp couldn’t stop flirting with every Y chromosome in the room.

Patsy performed her duty. After they were all settled around the table, she hissed at Ruthann sitting next to her, “What’s going on? I told you I was coming here with Glenn. Why’d you bring them?” She darted her gaze across the table to Will and Jessica.

“Oh, did you mention you were coming here? I must have missed that.” Ruthann lined her knife and spoon up next to her plate.

Yeah, right. “What’s with the double date, anyway? You didn’t say anything about that.”

“It was a last-minute thing. I ran into Jessica after work, and she mentioned wanting to come here, and since you and Will aren’t dating, I didn’t think you’d care if we invited him along.”

Randy whispered in Ruthann’s ear, keeping Patsy from screaming a response. Ruthann set Jessica and Will up? Sure, Patsy wasn’t interested in him, but Jessica? And why would Ruthann consider going on a double date with her, anyway? Ruthann was Patsy’s friend. She had no business going out to dinner with the tramp.

Traitor.

Patsy reached for her water glass.

“Don’t you think you’ve had enough?” Will leaned across the table, removing her glass.

“Funny,” she replied in a dry tone.

“How do you know Patsy, Glenn?” Will sipped out of Patsy’s glass.

“We go way back. Right, Patsy?” Glenn’s arm wound along the back of her chair. “We met three years ago when she took some classes at UMR.”

“Really? I met her when she was seven.”

“Hell, I’ve known her since she wore diapers and drooled. You don’t hear me bragging about it.” Jessica wrapped her hands around Will’s arm. “Would you order for me? I just don’t know what I feel like tonight.”

Spandex-wrapped silicone?

Glenn’s hand cupped Patsy’s shoulder. “We’ve been working on a project together.”

“Really? So have we.” Will’s eyes glimmered.

Patsy elbowed Ruthann. “Give me your water.”

“Hmm?” The traitor turned a love-fogged gaze toward Patsy.

“Water.”

“Oh.” Ruthann handed her the glass and edged back toward Randy.

Love was sickening.

“Are you the friend Patsy was helping? What was it, some kind of website?” Glenn squeezed her shoulder.

What was he doing? When had he become so hands-on?

“She’s helped me with a lot of things. How about you?” Will countered.

“Could we discuss something else, or order?” Jessica waved her menu in the air.

“I hooked Patsy up with Sunrise. Looks like she may get a full-time job out of it.” Glenn flashed his teeth at Will.

Why did he say that? Patsy hadn’t told everyone about Sunrise yet, and this wasn’t how she’d wanted to do it. She shook off Glenn’s arm and joined Jessica in signaling the waitress.

“The mines?” A stunned look passed over Will’s face.

“The ones and onlys,” Glenn replied.

“You’re leaving?” Jessica dropped her menu. “How great.”

She was awfully chipper
. “I haven’t had a job offer yet,” Patsy replied.

“She will, probably by Monday. Sunrise was impressed with her work.” Glenn held his water glass up in salute.

“This is good news. A toast to Patsy.” Jessica’s glass clinked against Glenn’s.

The blonde waitress approached, struck a match to the votive candle on their table, and pulled out a pad. “The specials tonight are…”

As the sharp odor of the spent match mingled with the pine-scented candle, Patsy stared into the two-toned eyes across from her. She was leaving. Now he knew for sure.

o0o

 “What are you up to?” Patsy turned on Ruthann the instant the bathroom door closed behind them.

“Up to? I’m not up to anything.” Ruthann looked under the one stall in the room.

“You never go out with Jessica.”

“I like Jessica. You’re the only one with a problem with her.” She pushed the door open and scurried inside.

“I’ve never known you to go out with her before.” The reflection in the mirror revealed Patsy needed more than just a quick coat of lipstick. She dug out a compact to cover the flush on her cheeks.

“Well, times change, and with you leaving, I guess I’m going to have to find a new best friend.” The door to the stall rattled angrily.

“Is that it? Are you punishing me because I’m leaving?”

“No.”

“Then what?” Patsy snapped the compact shut and tossed it into her bag.

A mumble sounded from the other side of the door.

Patsy rapped on the stall. “What did you say?”

“I need toilet paper.”

“Why did you bring Jessica and Will here?”

“Patsy—” Ruthann whined.

Flipping open the only cabinet in the room, Patsy replied, “Sorry, fresh out. A good friend might sneak into the men’s room and get you some.”

Another mumble sounded from the stall.

“What’s keeping you two?” The door to the restroom flew open and Jessica sashayed in. “Will ordered chocolate mousse, and I can’t wait for him to feed it to me.”

Patsy stomped out of the bathroom. A teenager dressed in a dress shirt and tie paused with his hand on the knob to the men’s room.

“Excuse me, T.P. emergency.” Patsy pushed past him, yanked a roll of paper off the holder and trotted back to the women’s restroom.

“Here.” She flung the roll over the stall door and whirled out of the room.

Back at the table, things were quiet. Randy had formed a fascination with the gilt trim on his plate, while Glenn and Will seemed to be involved in a contest of who could look the most bored and disinterested—keeping their eyes on each other the entire time.

A cloud of tension, thick as mosquitoes at a riverside picnic, hung over the table. Patsy ignored it. She had her own problems. Men and their egos were such a pain. She didn’t know what was going on between Glenn and Will, but as far as she was concerned, it was their problem. She’d never done anything to lead Glenn on, and she’d been as upfront with Will as a person could be—without being downright insulting, that is.

They needed to grow up and get over it.

Now
she
was the one with problems. She watched as two of them walked toward the table.

Jessica was prattling about French braids versus French fries or some such nonsense. Ruthann trudged beside her, her gaze glued to her toes.

“The mousse arrive yet?” Jessica slid into place next to Will, again draping her arm around his.

Patsy was not staying to watch this. She hopped up from her seat. “Let’s go,” she ordered Glenn. With a raised brow at Will, he followed her.

The drive home was quiet. Glenn didn’t even push in his CD. Patsy stared out into the darkness, trying to think of anything other than what had happened tonight.

When they pulled into the drive, Patsy reached for the door. “Thanks for dinner.” Her words were hollow.

“Patsy.” Glenn placed his hand on her arm. She stared at it for a minute, like she didn’t recognize the body part or the message. “Patsy,” he started again.

She cut him off. “Listen, Glenn. I don’t know what happened tonight, but I just want to forget it. You’re a great guy, but I’m leaving, and there’s really no reason to pretend otherwise. Let’s just try to leave this as a nice evening between friends.” Nice evening; yeah, right.

He pulled his hand back. “Is it Will?”

Patsy shook her head. “No.”

He was quiet for a moment. The porch light Granny’d left on didn’t reach the car. In the darkness, she could only imagine his expression.

“I think you’re lying to yourself,” he said.

Why did people keep saying that? “Lucky for me then, I’m doing a damn good job.” She gave him a quick buss on the cheek and headed inside.

o0o

Patsy couldn’t believe Will had shown up with Jessica Saturday night and that Ruthann had arranged it. Maybe Patsy’d said she wasn’t interested in Will, but still, they didn’t have to flaunt their date in front of her. It was tacky.

Will shouldn’t be dating yet. It hadn’t even been a month since he and Patsy made love, and already he was replacing her. There had to be some kind of dating etiquette about that, like a waiting period. Six months seemed fair, maybe even twelve. Yeah, twelve; in a year, Will could do as he pleased, but any earlier was insulting.

Patsy slammed the kitchen junk drawer shut.

She needed pliers. The daisy basket was almost done. Dwayne had dropped off the flaps yesterday, but Patsy needed to attach them. She was on her way to the garage to find some when the phone rang.

The nasal accent on the other end of the line alerted her that this was the call she’d been anticipating. A knot leapt into her throat, making it difficult for her to answer. She croaked out her name and waited.

“This is Kelsey Masters, marketing manager for Sunrise Mines in St. Louis. We’re very impressed with your design.” There was a slight pause. “In fact, we’re in the process of setting up our own web team and thought you might be interested in joining us.”

Was she offering Patsy a job? What about an interview, more samples, references, a urine sample?

“I realize this may seem sudden, but you come highly recommended, and we have seen an example of your work.”

Patsy’s grip tightened on the flap.

“Of course, you may want to check us out before you decide. Should we set up a time for you to visit? You can meet the rest of the team, talk with HR, that kind of thing.” The woman paused as if expecting an answer.

“Yes, that sounds like a good idea,” Patsy managed to stutter out.

“Fabulous. I’ll tell the rest of the team to expect you Friday. Does that work for you?”

After setting a time and getting directions, Patsy hung up the phone. This was it. She had the offer. Any day now, she could be leaving Daisy Creek. Realizing she still gripped the basket flap, she relaxed her hand, leaving a perfect impression of a daisy pressed into her palm.

Chapter 18

Patsy stared out over Daisy Creek City Park.

After months of sticky heat, it was getting cooler. While Pugnacious rooted along the banks of the drainage ditch, Patsy rocked back and forth on an aluminum elephant.

The park was quiet. The pool had closed on Labor Day, and it was past family barbecue season.

People were home or shopping or gossiping at a friend’s.

In other words, life was as it should be in Daisy Creek.

She rubbed the elephant’s smooth aluminum trunk. His clown hat was faded, but he still bobbed and twirled on his giant spring base, just like he had when she was six.

She’d always loved this elephant, just like she’d always loved Daisy Daze.

It would be here soon, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas, and Patsy might not be here for any of it.

She left the elephant and relaxed into one of the rubber-seated swings. Gripping the chain, she pumped her legs and soared skyward. A red VW bug turned into the park and buzzed toward her.

Just the person she didn’t want to see. Not that there was anyone she did want to see right now. The people she normally confided in seemed to have deserted her. She couldn’t talk to Granny. The job offer would send her into a fit of grumbling that would quickly escalate to lectures. There was something going on with Ruthann that Patsy wasn’t quite ready to deal with. And Will had apparently chosen Jessica over Patsy. Not the first time in Patsy’s life, but it hurt more now. Hard to believe that could be true, but it was. Maybe she was getting softer in her old age.

Patsy let the swing creak to a stop as she watched Jessica pop out of her bug and traipse across the grass. Even this late in the season, her legs retained a golden tan. Being jealous sucked. It would be nice if just once Patsy had something someone, anyone, envied.

“Didn’t expect anyone to be here,” Jessica greeted her.

“Yeah, me neither.” Patsy leaned back in the swing and watched white, fluffy clouds roll by.

“I come here sometimes to read.” Jessica held out a book.

“Poems to Open Your Heart?” Patsy asked.

“Yeah, why?” Jessica’s eyes narrowed.

“No reason.” Patsy sounded skeptical, even to her own ears.

“Tell me.”

“I don’t know. I guess I didn’t see you as the poetry type, and then, love poems?”

“What’s wrong with love poems? Poetry can help you see things in a new way, open your heart, just like the title says.” Jessica’s face took on a dreamy quality.

Geez, who knew Jessica was deep? Patsy tilted back again.

“It can.” Jessica’s eyes looked suspiciously moist.

Patsy leaned forward and looked at her in surprise. “I believe you.”

Jessica clutched the book to her chest and leaned against the swing’s metal frame. “Did you get the job offer?”

“Yeah.” Patsy couldn’t believe she was confiding in one of the people she most distrusted in the world. “They told me I could come up Friday and check the place out, but the job is mine if I want it.”