Surrender to Love (12 page)

“So you got homesick?”

“Like crazy. I wanted to drop out in the first quarter, but my father would have none of that. So I stayed, got my degree, and hightailed it out of there.”

“What’s your degree in?”

“Psychology.”

She stopped walking and stared at him.

Carson looked back her. “What’s wrong?”

“You’re a mechanic with a psychology degree?”

He shrugged. “It’s an honest living.”

Julia shook her head as she started to walk again. “I got to hand it to you—you’re something else.”

He laughed. “I would have thought that you of all people would be happy that I had returned as a mechanic.”

“You got me there.”

“Come. Let’s go this way,” Carson suggested suddenly.

Julia frowned when he started walking in the opposite direction. “Are you sure?” She looked around. “I could have sworn that the inn was this way.”

“I want to show you something,” he replied with a wink.

“Show me what?” She remained hesitant to follow him.

He walked back toward her and took her by the hand. “Let’s just say that it’s a surprise.” He pulled her.

Still reluctant, she followed.

After a few minutes he marched her across an open field where the only sounds were the steady chorus of crickets.

“Where exactly are we going?” she finally asked. Despite the fact that he’d come to her rescue more than once, she had to remember that she didn’t really know Carson Webber. Maybe it wasn’t such a keen idea for her to allow him to take her to God only knew where.

He stopped suddenly and turned toward her. “Wait here,” he instructed, then raced out into the dark.

“Wait. Where are you going?” she shouted.

“I’ll be back in a minute,” he called out.

Left with little choice, Julia stood where he’d left her and tried not to think that at any minute something was going to jump out at her.

The minutes drew out at an incredibly slow pace, and the crickets’ melody had somehow transformed into an ominous chant.

There was a loud thump, and in the next moment Julia was blinded by light. She reflexively shielded her eyes and waited for her vision to adjust. She guessed that the soft thudding in the grass was Carson running back over to her.

“Well, what do you think?” he huffed between loud pants.

“I think I’m blinded for life,” she joked, then pivoted to see where they were. “Why are we in the middle of a football field?”

“This is where I used to play high school football,” he boasted with an expanded chest. “I still hold the record here for most yards covered in a single game.”

She smiled at his wholesome pride. There was little doubt
that he was built for football, but she suspected that he was equally as good at other sports.

“Does Bobbi get her love of sports from you?”

He nodded guiltily. “Sports have always been a big thing in our family, even on her mother’s side.”

“Oh, yeah. I remember your telling me that her mother was quite the tomboy.”

He nodded.

“What about her grandparents on her mother’s side? Do they still live in Moreland?”

Carson lowered his gaze and shook his head. “Nah. They moved to Florida last year. It was hard for them. They still wanted very much to be around Bobbi, but I guess Moreland held too many painful memories of their daughter. They seem to be doing better over there, and Bobbi and I visit them as often as we can.”

They walked the length of the field.

“Do you miss the game?” she asked.

Carson’s face broke into another smile. “Do I ever. I was the captain of the team.”

“Then I take it that you used to get your fair share of attention from the women?”

“Ah.” He stopped and held up his hand in mock surrender. “I had eyes for only one girl. I’m a monogamist by nature. I knew at an early age that I wanted what my parents had, and I knew I could have that with Karen.”

Enthralled by their love story, Julia asked, “Was it love at first sight for her as well?”

“I’d like to think so. I like to pretend that she was only playing hard to get up until the fourth grade.”

“Persistent little devil, weren’t you?”

Carson’s gaze sought hers and locked. “I usually go after what I want.”

It was on the tip of her tongue to ask what he wanted now, but she thanked God that she found the strength to curb her tongue.

“So does your old high school approve of your just breaking into the control box to turn on the field lights whenever you feel the need to?”

“Not exactly.” He held up a set of keys. “The school hired me to do a little maintenance during the summer break.”

“Uh-huh,” she said with a growing smile. “It’s good to see that you’re not abusing your power as the keeper of the keys.”

“I’m glad that I amuse you.”

She laughed.

“Come on, Miss Julia. Let’s go turn out the lights so I can get you home.”

It was a while later when they arrived at the Georgia Inn.

“At least I got you back before sunrise.” Carson looked at his watch, then turned to face her.

“That you did.” They stood staring at each other with tentative smiles.

“I had a wonderful evening. Thank you.”

“No need to thank me. I insist on having a rematch on the pool table before you leave town.”

“You’re on.”

He nodded. “Well, good night.”

She hesitated, then conceded. “Good night.”

He didn’t know why he did it. In fact, he didn’t remember thinking that he would do it, but Carson leaned down as if drawn by some unseen force.

The feel of her soft lips against his awakened something he’d thought had died long ago with his wife. Her full lips were sweet and intoxicating. Had it been up to him, he would have drunk from them until he’d had his fill, but Julia placed a restraining hand against his chest and he reluctantly withdrew.

He wasn’t sure what he read in her expression—shock or surprise would have been his guess. He thought of apologizing but didn’t, because he wasn’t sorry.

However, she managed to smile again. “Good night,” she whispered.

His heart squeezed in disappointment, but he managed to speak. “Good night.”

She turned from him and entered the quiet inn. When she closed the door, he expelled a shaky breath and wondered at the game his heart was playing now.

One month later…

F
rankie took a deep drag off his cigarette and blew the smoke in a long stream out of his car window. The day had come for him to tell Uncle Vinny and the boys that he’d failed to locate or uncover the package of uncut diamonds. The thought of admitting defeat settled uncomfortably on his shoulders. How could Dr. Kelley and her daughter have just vanished into thin air? And did their disappearance mean they had the diamonds?

Frankie ground his cigarette into the car’s overflowing ashtray. He was getting nowhere chasing his thoughts. If the good doctor had discovered the jewels, she would have either taken them to the authorities or tried to sell them, but the Montellos had every pair of eyes and ears peeled for such a sale. So where was she?

“Hey, Frankie!”

He looked up to the white warehouse building and saw his
cousin and Vinny’s eldest son, Nicholas Montello, waving for him to come inside.

“Well, here goes nothing.” Frankie stepped out of the car and straightened his leather jacket before approaching Nicholas.

Once inside, Frankie squelched his nervousness and focused on the task at hand. He’d simply tell the boys the truth.

Vincent M. Montello, who’d always bragged that the M stood for murder, was a tall, robust man with striking silver hair and a deadly smile. He commanded respect from everyone he knew—and he always got it.

“Frankie, it’s good to see you again.” He thrust out his hand.

“It’s good to be back home,” Frankie boasted with his best poker face.

Vinny laughed and swung his right arm around Frankie’s shoulders. “Me and the boys are hoping you’ll be giving us some good news today. Like where are our diamonds?”

Frankie caught the hard glint in his boss’s eyes and struggled not to avert his gaze. To do so would have been a deadly mistake. Everyone knew to meet the mobster’s gaze whenever you talked to him. Vincent hated a man with shifty eyes—or worse, sweaty palms.

Vinny’s arms tightened playfully around Frankie’s neck. “Don’t tell me you still haven’t found this doctor?”

Mindful of his body language, Frankie played it cool. But he knew better than to try to con any member of his family. “I swear, it’s as though the woman vanished without a trace,” he admitted.

Vinny lowered his arm and shook his head gravely at him. “This isn’t what I wanted to hear. You know that?”

“I know, boss. But it’s the truth. I’ve even been in contact with our person down at the Bureau, and they’ve got nothing, too.”

“So what do you think? You think this chick has my diamonds?”

Frankie honestly didn’t know. There was no real proof that she had or hadn’t; however, that answer wouldn’t be good enough for the Montellos. “It’s a possibility.”

Vinny nodded. “Then I want her found, and I want you to take Nicholas, here, with you this time.”

Frankie stiffened, but didn’t dare protest. Everyone knew he worked alone. If Nicholas was playing tag, it meant Vinny’s confidence in him was waning—not to mention that Nicholas was little more than a hit man. If he was going, that meant the doctor and her daughter had just been handed their death sentences.

Sheri Higginbotham carefully stepped over various oil spots on the concrete floor of Carson’s Auto Shop. It had taken her a good week to work up the courage to come and speak to him, and the closer she got to the door of his office, the more doubt tried to pry its fingers into her resolve.

At her first sight of him hunched over his desk and milling through piles of paperwork, her breath seemed to abandon her body. She’d had her heart set on marrying Carson for more years than she cared to count. And since Karen’s death, she’d assumed that it was only a matter of time before she finally got him down the aisle.

Then this mysterious Julia showed up and ruined everything.

Everywhere she went now, it was “Julia this” and “Miss Julia that.” It was as if the whole town had embraced the stranger as one of their own. Even the older women at the church were now speculating on a marriage proposal—but between Carson and Julia.

All of their whispering went on as if Sheri no longer existed, and slowly but surely, all of her dreams of becoming the next Mrs. Carson Webber were going down the drain.

She knocked on the glass of his office door.

Carson jumped and looked up. He smiled when he saw her, then waved for her to enter.

Her hand felt slick as it closed around the doorknob. She turned on her best smile and opened the door.

“Hello, Sheri. What brings you out to my neck of the woods?”

“You have to ask?” she flirted without much feeling.

He shrugged and averted his eyes. “As you can see, I’m up to my eyeballs in ordering parts.”

“Including the ones for Miss Julia’s transmission?”

His gaze snapped back to hers. She was treading on dangerous ground. This time she was the one to avert her gaze. His behavior confirmed what she’d already suspected—what the whole town suspected: Carson Webber was in love again.

“Yes. Fixing Miss Julia’s Impala is high on my priority list.”

With a small smile, she shook her head. “You never were a good liar, Carson,” she surprised more than herself by saying. She forced her head up and tried to make out his figure through her sudden haze of tears.

“Last year you fixed Old Man Wilson’s Impala in less than three days. You’ve had Julia’s car now for a month, and it’s no closer to being fixed than when you began. That’s if you’ve ever started.”

He said nothing, but a sad look clouded his eyes. “What exactly did you come to talk to me about, Sheri?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” She sniffed, but remained determined to go through with this. “I want to hear from you about your feelings for Julia.”

He stared at her for a long, agonizing moment before finally saying, “Are you sure you want to talk about this?”

The question pierced her more than any dagger ever could, and still she nodded.

Carson lowered the invoices he held in his hand to the
desk. “To be honest, Sheri, I don’t know how I feel about her. Other than the fact that I do like her.”

“You don’t know anything about her,” she forced herself not to shout.

“I like what I do know,” he answered without hesitation.

Her gaze fell again, this time dragging her hope down with it. “And what about us?”

When he sighed, she regretted hearing the weariness the sound carried.

“There was never an ‘us,’ Sheri. I’ve never done anything to lead you to believe otherwise.”

“Haven’t you?” she accused.

“No,” he said with a firmness that made her flinch. “We have always been the best of friends and nothing more.”

When she said nothing, he went on, “Come on, Sheri. We haven’t gone on so much as a date. How could you think that I led you on?”

He hadn’t, and Sheri knew it, but she couldn’t make herself say it. “Well, I guess that’s that,” she said, turning away from him.

“Sheri,” he said, stopping her before she’d pulled open the door.

She faced him again.

“We’ve been friends a long time. I hope we can continue to be.”

She gave him a tight smile, but said nothing. She turned and walked out of his office with as much dignity as she could muster.

Julia and Robin had fallen in love with Moreland, and it appeared the town had fallen for them, as well.

Julia worked during the week at the Georgia Inn, and had enjoyed the people that filtered through the town. Lilly, in
turn, appreciated having an extra pair of hands with the summer guests.

Word spread throughout Moreland of Julia’s patchwork with Carson’s dog, Champ, and soon people from all around were bringing their pets to see her and were calling her Dr. Julia—which was fine by her.

Robin, on the other hand, was beginning to act more like Carson’s daughter, Bobbi, while Bobbi kept asking Julia for tips on how to act more feminine.

From what Julia could ascertain, Robin had been correct about her new friend’s crush on Stanley Forrester. It was actually kind of cute.

Now the whole town was obsessed with preparations for the Fourth of July celebration. Even Julia had to admit that she was looking forward to attending the small parade and fireworks display.

Carson’s father, Charles, was in charge of the light show, and he’d spent the last few weeks boasting to anyone who would listen of the show that he had lined up.

Carson also found his father’s behavior hilarious, but, in the end, everyone delighted in Charles’s excitement.

Julia finished the morning dishes and decided to take another walk through the gardens before she took Robin and Bobbi to baseball practice.

This coming weekend Robin would debut in her first game with the Wildcats, and from the way she’d been bouncing off the walls, Julia concluded that her daughter couldn’t wait.

To her great surprise and relief, Robin had long stopped asking about David and eagerly accepted that Moreland might be their new home.

As for their car, Julia was beginning to doubt Carson’s ability to fix whatever was wrong with the transmission.
However, everyone kept assuring her that Carson was the best when it came to fixing cars. So she waited.

However, Moreland had become an unexpected detour in her life, and she could honestly say that she wasn’t completely sorry for it.

The days had ticked by at a pace much slower than she was used to, but it was all part of the town’s charm.

“I’m starting to think that you love it out here as much as I do.”

Julia pivoted at the sound of Carson’s familiar voice, then smiled at the gentle giant as he approached her.

“I’m afraid I have to confess that this is my favorite spot.”

Casually, he plucked a daisy and twirled it by its stem as he looked at her. “I can’t tell you how much it means to me to hear you say that.”

She averted her eyes and took her usual seat on the bench.

Carson’s sudden appearance had long stopped being a surprise to her. By now he knew that she escaped out here every day about the same time, and he’d always managed to drop by.

Julia lied to herself, telling herself that she wasn’t touched by the gesture. On the two days that he hadn’t made it out here, she’d been awash with disappointment.

She smiled when he sat beside her.

“I think the simple life agrees with you,” he complimented out of the blue.

“Sometimes it feels like I’ve been here all of my life instead of just a month.” She looked up into his onyx gaze, feeling its pull like a lover’s embrace. She stifled the urge to drown in his trusting eyes.

“Have you thought about staying here?”

Their gazes found each other’s again for a brief, intimate moment, then fell.

“The thought has crossed my mind,” she confessed. “But
I haven’t made a decision.” What she wanted to say was that she was stymied in her decision. The wrong choice could be fatal. So far it seemed she and her daughter were safe, or at least Moreland gave them a sense of security. Or maybe it was the man sitting beside her.

Julia sneaked another glance in his direction while he appeared to be lost in his own thoughts. It was hard to think of him as anything other than a gentle giant. Everyone in town loved Carson, and it wasn’t hard to understand why. The man cared for everyone and would do anything to lend a helping hand. Despite her previous proclamation, Carson, with all his positive attributes, had wheedled his way into her heart.

She jumped when she felt his fingers brush against her ears; then she slowly realized he was placing something in her hair.

“I think it suits you,” he said with a wry smile that made his eyes twinkle.

She reached up and felt the daisy’s soft petals. Another rush of heat burned her cheeks. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re nothing but a big flirt?”

His large hand covered his heart. “Who, me?”

“Yes, you.” She laughed. “Have you ever thought about what Sheri would say if she ever found you out here alone with me?”

“What do you mean?”

She shook her head at his incredulous look. “You can’t be that naive.”

He exhaled a long, dramatic sigh. “All right, so she may like me.”

“May?” Julia’s laughter deepened, and soon his rich baritone joined her husky vibrato to create their own form of music.

Carson watched Julia’s angelic face expand with a magnificent smile, and he felt that strange flutter return in his chest.

“I’d like to invite you and Robin to have dinner with Bobbi
and me at our place tonight,” he said suddenly, then masked his own surprise at the offer that seemed to pour from his lips.

Julia tried to say something, but her mouth only opened and closed without emitting a sound.

“I promise you, I
can
cook,” he quickly added.

“I don’t have any problems believing that,” she finally managed to say. “However, I don’t think that it’s appropriate.”

“Why not?”

Because you’re still in love with your deceased wife and I’ve vowed never to fall in love again
, she wanted to say, but she somehow managed to curb her tongue.

“Mainly because your girlfriend would have a capital
F-I-T
,” she said instead, then laughed.

“You’re as bad as my sister. How many times have I told you that Sheri is not my girlfriend?”

“How many times have I told you to tell Sheri that? Last Sunday she shot daggers at me through the entire church service.”

“I guess you can say that we’ve already had that discussion,” he said almost painfully. “Sheri’s like a little sister to me. I’ve know her forever.”

“About as long as you knew Karen?” Julia’s hand flew across her mouth at the realization of what she’d said.

Carson’s spirits plummeted.

“I’m so sorry,” Julia said through the gaps of her fingers. “I didn’t mean to bring up Karen again.”

“Don’t be.” He smiled. “I like talking to you about Karen. It’s sort of therapeutic. Who knows, maybe one day you’ll let me be your shoulder to cry on.”

Julia highly doubted it, but said instead, “Yeah, who knows?”