Love Is All Around (32 page)

He was wrong on both counts.

Will unwound a small coil of reed before placing the remainder in the box. He weighed the coil in his hand. That should be enough; the box wouldn’t hold much more anyway.

Now to get this little piece of Daisy Creek to the post office and start luring his daisy gal home.

o0o

Monday arrived more quickly than Patsy would have liked. Back at Sunrise, she plodded her way through miles of code. To capitalize or not to capitalize, that was the question. To bash her head against her desk or to not bash her head against her desk, that was a better question. Lex poked his metal-speckled face into her space.

“You decide on alt tags yet?”

What, like they were optional? What a moron. “Anyone ever tell you body metal attracts lightning?” Probably worked as a brain drain too.

“Huh?”

“I saw it on TV. Makes you into a human lightning rod.”

He gave her a “you are so out of it” grunt and left. She returned to work. To bash Lex in the head or to not bash Lex in the head, that was the ultimate question.

“Patsy?” A chipper Kelsey stood in her doorway. “I want you to meet someone.”

Glad for the break, but quickly learning a call from Kelsey was not reason to celebrate, Patsy trudged over. A sleek-haired blonde in flowing pants and a waist-nipping silk jacket stood at Kelsey’s side.

“This is Lisa Barnes. She used to live in that little town you’re from.”

What a treat.

“Patsy Lee Clark?”

“Lisa Barnes.” Will’s sister looked cool and polished. She made Patsy feel like a pound puppy standing beside a pedigreed champion.

Kelsey expressed the normal niceties and excused herself. Patsy stared at the flesh-and-blood reminder of what she had left in Daisy Creek. There was a definite family resemblance. Their coloring was different, but they shared the same sculpted features.

“How long have you been in St. Louis? You know Will’s in Daisy Creek.”

Patsy winced. So, Will hadn’t mentioned her to his sister? So what? “I’ve only been here about a week.”

Lisa looked surprised. “Oh, then did you know about Will?”

“I ran into him a time or two.”

“How was he?”

“Fine.” Okay, mind-numbingly hot was a better assessment.

“I don’t understand him.” Lisa shook her head. “Why he wants to live in Hicksville is beyond me—no offense.”

Patsy take offense? Now why would she do that, self-centered…

“I mean, really, it was bad enough living in every two-horse town in the country when we were kids, but now he could live anywhere.”

“I think he likes it.”

“What’s to like? There’s nowhere to eat but a greasy drive-thru, and the best you can hope for in shopping is some overpriced ‘boutique’ with old-lady clothes.” Lisa flicked imaginary lint off the arm of her jacket. “But you understand. You left, didn’t you?”

Her teeth clenched in a smile, Patsy asked, “What are you doing in St. Louis? I thought your family was in Chicago.”

“Oh, um, I recently had some life changes.”

“Life changes? Little early for menopause, isn’t it?” Annoyance lent an edge to Patsy’s tone.

“Funny.” Will’s sister didn’t seem to be laughing.

Patsy gave her a minute smile in return.

Lisa pulled a blond lock out of its chignon. “I’m getting divorced. My father suggested I contact Sunrise about a potential career move.”

In other words, hubby dumped her, and daddy was pulling her fat from the fire. “How nice. The career part, I mean.”

“Of course.” She pushed back a silk sleeve to glance at her watch. “I’d better get going. Perhaps I’ll see you again. Either here or even in Daisy Creek. I really must visit Will sometime. Just need to make sure my shots are up-to-date first.”

Ha ha.

Lisa twirled off.

It was reassuring to know people didn’t change that much from childhood. Lisa had been a snotty little girl, and she’d developed into an equally snotty woman. How could brother and sister be so different? And Will was different.

Patsy hadn’t admitted it before, but Will wasn’t like his sister. He loved Daisy Creek, maybe even as much as Patsy did. Patsy paused. She loved Daisy Creek. The realization stopped her. She hadn’t thought about it in a long time. In her focus to leave home, she’d forgotten how much she loved the place.

Not that it mattered. Daisy Creek was where she’d failed, where her heart had led her astray, where she’d been stupid. She’d let Johnny cheat on her. People thought she was smart, but she wasn’t. It was all an act. No one with brains would have married Johnny to start with, or maybe it was more than that. Maybe if she’d loved him more, he’d have been happy with just her. Maybe he’d needed more than she could give. Either way, it was her fault, and she couldn’t face it anymore. Love it or not, she couldn’t go back to Daisy Creek.

Not even to be with Will.

Patsy tromped back to the computer to sift through a few more thousand lines of code. Lex slumped in the chair, dragging a virtual ace of hearts across the computer screen. She tapped on his shoulder and prayed for lightning.

o0o

Finally, it was here. Will cut open the carton and poured Styrofoam peanuts onto the floor. The figure nestled inside was perfect. He couldn’t suppress a chuckle as he held it up.

“What do you think?” he asked Ralph.

His companion sniffed the object and sat back on his haunches, one eyebrow tilted.

“It’s for Pugnacious. You think she’s going to like it?”

Ralph nudged it with his nose.

“I think so too.” Will dropped the figure back in the box, along with the note, and sealed it up. The doorbell rang while he was wiping excess ink off Ralph’s foot. Jessica stood on the front porch, a high school annual in her hand.

“Hey.” Her Daisy Creek High T-shirt was stained with paint and her sweats had holes in the knees.

“Jessica.” He tried not to stare. “Is something wrong?”

“No, yes, maybe...” She turned a bare face upward. “We need to talk.”

What? Was there a sign on his door?

“It’s about Patsy and… us.”

There was an us? Will led her to the horsehair loveseat.

“I was Daisy Darling freshman through senior year in high school.”

Okay.

Jessica clutched the high school yearbook. “I was also Sweetheart Dance princess.” She flipped open the book. “Here’s the picture.”

It was the typical high school “court” picture, girls with stiff hair in slinky dresses, escorted by gawky boys in football uniforms.

“This is Patsy’s ex.” Jessica pointed to the boy seated next to her in the picture.

“Patsy’s ex?”

“Her ex-husband. They got married right out of high school.”

Will was silent. Patsy had been married?

“What happened?” he asked.

“I’ll get to that.” Jessica wiped a tear away from her eye with her index finger. The tiny hearts on her charm bracelet tinkled like an out-of-tune piano. “The point is, I wasn’t supposed to be Sweetheart that year. I cheated.”

Still stunned by the earlier revelation, Will remained quiet.

“The football team picked the court, and the cheerleaders gathered and counted the votes. I didn’t win. Patsy did.”

“But she isn’t in the photo,” Will said.

A tear ran down Jessica’s cheek and plopped onto the red velvet upholstery. “I know. Like I said, I cheated. When I saw Patsy won, I trashed the ballots.” Her voice quavered. “I had to win, to know everybody liked me.”

“But you didn’t win.” The woman’s logic eluded him.

“I know.” Jessica wiped her cheek with the back of her hand. “It didn’t matter. Everyone thought I did. That’s what was important, at least that’s what I thought then.”

“I can understand you feel guilty, but that was a long time ago. I doubt Patsy cares.” Who was he kidding? Of course Patsy cared.

“It gets worse.” She sniffed loudly. “After high school, after Patsy and Johnny got married, I—”

Will pulled back. This didn’t sound good.

“I… there’s no right way to say this. I flirted with him. People always liked Patsy better than me, but the titles were mine.” She pointed at her chest. “Then, Patsy got that too. I couldn’t handle it. I knew she loved Johnny, and I was jealous. I wanted to love somebody like that, be loved like that. So I ruined it.”

“How does flirting ruin love?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Explain it.” It wasn’t often Will could resist a crying female, but this time he could.

“Johnny cheated on her.” At Will’s shocked expression, Jessica explained, “Not with me, with some girl from Boss. Patsy’s always been independent. I think Johnny wanted to get her attention.”

“That was one way to do it.” The idiot. He didn’t deserve to wipe Patsy’s shoes.

“He hooked up with this girl. I’m not sure how. Anyway, Patsy found out.” Jessica shivered. “It was ugly.”

Will could imagine.

“She ran his truck into the Current River, ruined the interior—he was always real proud of that truck.” She looked at him like she expected a response. Will nodded.

With a sigh, she continued, “Once she cooled down, they tried to work things out. That’s when I stepped in.” Jessica bit her lower lip. “He was still hanging out at the roadhouse a lot, and I just started flirting with him. I couldn’t stop myself. I didn’t love him. I wanted to prove I could get him. Patsy came in one night when we were dancing. That was it. She just left. It was cold, like she wrote him off. She filed for divorce the next day.”

“What happened to him?” Like Will cared. As long as he was out of Patsy’s life, that was.

“He went back to the girl from Boss. She wound up pregnant, and they got married. They don’t come around here anymore. I think they’re scared of Patsy, though truthfully, I don’t think she’d waste spit on them. The rest of her family’s who they should worry about.”

And Will.

“Why are you telling me this?”

Jessica’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Because of us.” She picked up his hand, squeezed it. “I don’t love you, Will. I was doing it again. Taking what Patsy has.”

After reassuring Jessica he would survive the heartbreak, he escorted her to the foyer. She managed one last tearful hug before he closed the door on her.

Well, that explained the tension between Patsy and Jessica. Knowing Patsy, he was surprised she tolerated Jessica at all. To be honest, he was surprised anybody involved in this little drama survived Patsy’s temper longer than it took her to rev up her Jeep. Jessica said she’d just walked away. That didn’t seem like Patsy. The experience must have hurt her more than anyone knew.

If nothing else, this had been an interesting week. Wonder who would show up next?

Chapter 20

Patsy fought her way down 44. The stop-and-go traffic was giving her a splitting headache. When she got home, she intended to watch whatever mind-numbing selection the networks had to offer and fall into bed.

A giant cardboard carton blocked her path. She unlocked the door and jostled the box inside.

“Look, a package,” she announced to Pugnacious.

The pug scampered over, apparently sharing in Patsy’s delight.

“And it’s a big one.” Enveloped by the same thrill she got from discovering that the biggest box under the Christmas tree was hers, Patsy ripped at the tape. Nestled at the top of the carton was her half-finished jack-o-lantern basket.

“Who would send this?” She set it to the side and dug deeper. The rest of her basket materials were carefully wrapped and packed below it. Digging more, she found a note.

“A deal’s a deal. Less than two weeks to Daisy Daze and you owe me three baskets.

Will”

Of all the nerve. Did he think she had nothing else to do? What made him think he could boss her around? Patsy picked up the orange basket and tossed it back into the box.

“Come on, Pug Girl. Let’s go for a walk.” She snagged the leash and headed down the street.

Ten pigeons, two golden retrievers, and a thousand stop-and-sniffs later, Patsy and Pugnacious trudged home. Pugnacious, after being released from her lead, trotted over to the box and attempted to climb inside.

“No, girl.” Patsy was going to have to find somewhere to keep this stuff. She grabbed one cardboard flap and, with Pugnacious bouncing around her ankles, tugged the box toward the closet. Three feet from her destination, the flap tore, sending Patsy and the contents of the carton spilling to the floor.

 “Damn it all.”

Pugnacious bounded over, nuzzling and snorting. Clawing her way to the top coil of oak strips, she looked down at Patsy.

“Get off there.” Patsy shooed her dog away and hooked her arm through the coil. The heavy weight of it surprised her. Not that she hadn’t lugged around plenty of coils of wood strips, she’d just forgotten. Already.

It hadn’t even been two weeks since she left Daisy Creek. It seemed like months. Running her hand over the wood, she squatted next to the mess and began sorting through it. Everything she needed was here. Wasn’t like she had a hot date or even a cold friend to occupy her time.

Pugnacious scampered back, sending the pumpkin basket rolling toward Patsy. She picked it up and studied the half-finished grin. She hated to leave things incomplete. Pushing herself up, she went to the kitchen to find a pan for water.

o0o

No word from Patsy. The basket materials should have arrived yesterday, and nothing. The note had to have ticked her off. Will’d hoped enough that she would call and yell at him. He missed being yelled at by Patsy.

He looked down at his project. It was ugly, really ugly. Not a redeeming quality to it. He swallowed. He hated to fail, and the atrocity in his hands was proof he wasn’t perfect, he wasn’t good at everything. Lately, he wasn’t good at much.

He couldn’t go through with it. Sweeping bits of reed into the garbage, Will considered his options. Maybe he should give up on the covert lures and be more direct. Approach Patsy head on and tell her she didn’t belong in St. Louis. It couldn’t be worse than this. He thumped his creation with his finger. He couldn’t let anyone see that. No, its destiny was at the bottom of the city dump.

He was disposing of the evidence when the bell rang. Not again. Resigned, he trudged to the door.