What happened to your finger?”
“Oh, it’s quite the story.” Robin craned her neck to look past Bethany and searched the booths of Val’s Diner.
“It looks like you amputated an appendage.”
“Dr. Dotts said it was close.”
“Who are you looking for?” Bethany stepped in front of Robin’s hopping eyes. “The guys aren’t getting here for another half-hour.”
Heat crept up Robin’s neck. She wasn’t looking for Evan or Gavin. “C’mon. Let’s sit down.” She pulled her friend to a booth in the back corner, heart thwacking her breastbone like a meat mallet, and shimmied her way into the seat facing the door. What in the world was she doing? When she called Bethany to go out to dinner, she could’ve picked Shorney’s or someplace in a neighboring town. She didn’t have to choose Val’s.
“Is something wrong with you?” Bethany asked. “You’re acting all jumpy, like the pain meds are making you loopy.”
Robin opened her menu. “The doctor didn’t give me pain meds for a cut on my finger.”
“Yeah, before we get to that, what’s with the last-minute dinner date? Don’t get me wrong. The night out is much appreciated, especially after the worst ear infection in the history of all ear infections—it was seriously awful—but usually you plan everything five months in advance.”
“I thought it would be fun. We haven’t hung out like this since Elyse was born. Who’s watching her—your mom?”
“Yes. And I keep having these horrible thoughts that she’s going to drop her on her head or give her too much medicine.” Bethany pulled her cell phone from her purse and checked the screen. “Do you think I should call?”
“Bethany, your mom knows what she’s doing. She never dropped you or David and I’m sure she had to give you medicine when you were babies.”
Bells tinkled and the front door swung open. Amanda stepped into the restaurant, black beaded tank top hugging her curvy figure. Robin examined her own willowy arms, then looked up just in time to spot Ian. She ducked behind her menu.
Bethany’s eyebrow shot up, like two marionettes attached to an invisible string.
“When are the guys getting here?” Robin asked. “I feel bad that we haven’t had the chance to sit down with Gavin since he got back into town. I bet he took some amazing pictures in the Caribbean.”
“I just told you. Evan’s finishing up on the farm. Then he’s meeting Gavin over at his place. They should be here …” Bethany twisted around to look at the place Robin’s attention kept hopping.
Robin grabbed her wrist. “Don’t stare!”
When she turned, she wore a knowing look. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“What?”
“Spying? Robin, you invited me to dinner so you could spy on Amanda and Ian?”
“What? No! Of course not.”
“You’re a terrible liar.”
“I’m not spying on him.” The pronoun escaped like a disgusting word.
The invisible puppeteer tugged on Bethany’s eyebrows again.
“I’m not. Seriously.” Robin peeked over the top of her menu just in time to see Ian pull out Amanda’s chair.
“You do realize Amanda’s never going to let you live this down,” Bethany said.
Megan shuffled to the side of their table. She wore a black T-shirt with Edgar Allan Poe’s face printed on the front and tucked a frizzy flyaway behind her ear. “What can I get for you tonight?” Her voice came out duller than usual.
“Water for me, thanks,” Bethany said.
Robin smiled. Unlike Amanda, Bethany knew the difference between real coffee and the cheap imitation. She also knew when a pot had been brewed too long. “Me too,” Robin said.
“Are you ready to order?” Megan asked.
“We’re waiting for two more.”
Megan nodded, her attention fixed on Ian and Amanda. Robin wanted to tell her to stop gaping. “Are they an item now?”
Ian looked over, as if he’d heard Megan’s question, and caught the three of them staring. Robin ducked behind her menu. Great. Now he knew they’d been talking about him. As if the man needed any more confidence. “It’s not like he’s sticking around that much longer,” Robin said. “Whatever’s going on between them won’t last.”
Bethany’s eyebrow shot up again. Robin wanted to chuck the menu at her friend’s head.
“I guess you’re right.” Megan’s shoulders deflated and she stuck her notepad in her apron. “I’ll be right back with your drinks.”
“So tell me about that bandage.” Bethany pulled a disinfectant wipe from her purse and wiped her side of the table. “You said it was quite the story.”
“Amanda came to the café this morning to drop off payroll. When I told her I was upset about her leaving town with Ian, she told me I was taking things too personally.”
“So you took your frustrations out on your poor finger?”
“A loaf of bread. My finger just got in the way. Anyway, guess who was there to rush me to Dr. Dotts?”
“Is he sitting across the diner?”
“Yes.” Robin thumbed her ring, remembering the feel of Ian sliding it on her finger. She’d taken it to Cecile as soon as she finished work. The woman made it sparkly and new, and although dried blood no longer stuck to the diamond, the memory remained. “I can’t believe he asked Amanda out.”
Bethany set her chin in her hand. “I like your pearl necklace.”
“Somebody really ought to tell her to be careful. I mean, she’s my accountant. As soon as Ian figured that out his eyes lit up.”
“You never wear pearls.”
“And what’s she doing dating him anyway? We’re related. Doesn’t that mean anything to her?”
“I like your shirt too. Makes your eyes really pop.”
Robin stopped her one-sided interrogation and stared at her friend. “What are you talking about?”
“I think you look extra nice tonight, that’s all.”
“Stop being weird.”
“I’m being weird?”
Across the diner, Ian leaned over the table and whispered something to Amanda. Robin pressed her lips together and glared at her menu.
“Remember Binky?” Bethany asked.
“Your cat?”
“Yeah. Grandpa Dan gave him to me for my thirteenth birthday.”
Megan clunked two glasses against the tabletop. Ice clashed together, splashing water over the edge. The waitress muttered something about Amanda and tight clothes and left them to their conversation.
“We used to dress her up in our old doll clothes. Remember that? Binky would sit there and purr and let us put dresses on her.”
Robin furrowed her brow.
“She used to sleep on my feet every night. Get them so toasty-warm I thought they’d melt off. And then I’d wake up and she’d be wrapped around my face. I think she was the only cat that snored.”
Bethany was acting like Robin’s great-aunt Agnes, who turned ninety-seven last week and suffered from advanced dementia. “Why are you talking about Binky?”
Bethany shook her head, a faraway, nostalgic look in her eye. “Then she ran away. And Mom found her on the road leading into the trailer park.”
Robin remembered. Somebody had flattened Binky into road kill and Bethany had been distraught. They’d shoveled the cat into an old shoe box and buried her behind Bethany’s trailer home.
“I refused to pet another cat for an entire year.”
Annoyance licked up Robin’s spine. “What’s this about? Do you want another cat or something?”
Bethany shrugged. “I was just thinking that if I did, there wouldn’t be anything wrong with that.” She flipped open her menu. “It’s not like it would be disloyal to Binky or anything.”
Ian snuck a glance at Robin. Their gaze connected and she ducked behind her menu. A smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth. She was checking up on him. If only he knew why …
“Is something funny?”
He set his elbow on the table and shifted forward in his chair. “No, sorry.” He was determined to make up for his lousy behavior last weekend. Sneaking glances at another woman would not help him accomplish his goal, despite Amanda’s Girl Scout pledge to keep things platonic.
She clasped her hands and propped them beneath her chin. “I’d love to know what you were just thinking.”
He skimmed the menu. “I was thinking about how horribly I behaved at the banquet. I’m really sorry about that.”
“You already apologized.”
“I know, but I’m still ashamed,” he said.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Be my guest.”
She pulled out a sugar packet from the condiment rack. “Were Cheryl and Jim the only reason you were distracted, or was something else going on?”
Too many something elses to count, and if he started talking about them now, their conversation would never recover. “Just stressed out about the condominiums.”
“Your dad seems to have confidence in you.”
“Yeah, well, my dad has confidence in a lot of things.”
“Like?”
“Me taking over the family business someday.”
The sugar packet crinkled in her hand. “You don’t want to?”
Ian looked around Val’s Diner and thought about Arton’s Jewelry store. The layout, the dimensions. He imagined replacing the display cases with tables and chairs, maybe a bar. “My dad is passionate about developing. That’s his thing.”
“What’s yours?”
He remembered Robin’s expression when she tried the omelet he made a couple weeks ago. She’d wanted to hate it. He could see the desire on her face, but she couldn’t lie. By the time she took her third bite, she was smiling. “Restaurants.”
“Really?” Amanda folded a corner of the sugar packet. “Then why are you a developer?”
“It’s complicated.”
“I’m sure I can keep up.”
Ian fiddled with his napkin. “I enjoy working with my dad. He’s a good guy, you know? I don’t want to disappoint him.” He’d done enough of that already. Besides, Ian had a stable future at McKay Development and Construction. He couldn’t say those things about the restaurant business.
“Take him out of the equation for a minute. Do you like your work?”
“Do you like being an accountant?”
She shrugged.
“See, it’s a weird question. How many people honestly love what they do?” His attention wandered to Robin. So did Amanda’s.
“But the idea of owning a restaurant. You think you’d love that?”
“I know I would.”
Megan dropped two chocolate milkshakes on the tabletop, tossed them a couple straws, and slunk away. Ian tapped one against the table to remove the paper wrapping and squinted after the waitress’s retreating backside. He’d never seen her so glum. “Is something wrong with Megan?”
Megan took an order from a group of teenagers off to the left. The poor girl looked like a kicked puppy. “Love stinks.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Perhaps the experience will be good fodder for her poetry.”
Amanda dipped her finger into the cap of whipped cream floating over her shake and came away with a white dollop covering her nail. She put it in her mouth and closed her eyes, as if savoring the velvety sweetness. “All the women in here are dying.”
“Sounds serious. Should we leave before the epidemic spreads?”
Amanda smiled.
“Do I get to know what they’re dying of?”
“Half from curiosity, and the other from jealousy. This is a small town, you know. Right now you’re the most eligible bachelor.”
Ian looked over at Robin. “Do you know …?” His question trailed off. How could he ask it without sounding like a complete idiot?
“What half Robin is on?” Amanda dunked her straw up and down in her shake, mixing whipped cream and chocolate. “Of course. Don’t you?”
“She’s not exactly easy to figure out.”
“Let’s just say I told Robin about our date and she doesn’t make a habit of coming to Val’s on a Friday night.”
“She’s part of the curious half, then.”
Amanda took a sip through her straw, cheeks pulling in with the effort.
The front doors swooshed open. Evan walked inside, followed by a man—slightly taller, with shaggier hair and an easy, laid-back swagger. They walked to the far end of the diner, to Bethany and Robin’s table. Robin stood, hugged Evan before he slipped into the booth next to his wife, and then wrapped her arms around the other guy’s neck in an all-too intimate squeeze.
Ian nodded toward the foursome. “She’s obviously not jealous.”
“Are you?”
He let out an uncomfortable laugh just as his cell phone chirped in his pocket. Saved by the bell. He fished it out from its hiding place, thankful for the distraction. His mother’s number lit the screen. “Mind if I take this real quick?”
“Go right ahead.”
“Thanks.” He slipped outside and pressed talk on the fourth buzz. “Hey, Mom.”
“I wanted to check in. Make sure you made it to Peaks okay.” Even through the receiver, her voice sounded weak.
“I made it here all in one piece.” He looked at the sky, dark blue melting into dusk, inky smudges of pinks and oranges trailing through the clouds. “How are you feeling?”
“Glad I’m done with chemo.”
The memory of her wasted body gnawed at him. How could Dad pressure her to continue when it caused her so much pain? Especially when Mom made it sound like the whole thing was unnecessary. “Me too.”
“Have you thought about coming home tomorrow?”
“I just got back.” And Peoria was the last place he wanted to be. Maybe that made him a coward, but he couldn’t stick around and watch her decline. He just couldn’t.
“Is everything okay, honey?”
“Yeah. Everything’s great.”
“You seemed so out of sorts at dinner last night.”
That’s because last night had been altogether disturbing. Watching Mom pick at her food. Watching Dad watch Mom pick at her food. His father might have put up a great front at the banquet on Saturday, but his mother’s ailing health was taking a major toll. Ian could see it in every line on Dad’s face.
“I told your father not to invite Cheryl to the banquet. I don’t know why he insisted.”
“I’m sure Dad had his reasons.”
“It was uncalled for.”
“Mom?”
“I brought a date too, remember?”
“And I heard she was lovely.” Mom’s sigh whispered in Ian’s ear. “I’m praying for you, honey. Every morning. All day.”
Ian leaned against the brick façade and crossed one leg over the other. He wanted to tell her to save her prayers for herself. He wanted to tell her to stop worrying. It wasn’t helping anything. Not her. Not him. “I’m fine.”
“You sound like your dad.”
“He’d tell me I sound like you.”
The rise and fall of her laughter unclenched some of his muscles. “I love you, sweetheart,” she said. “More than you could possibly know. So does your father.”
“I know. I love you guys too.” They said good-bye. Ian slipped his phone into his pocket just as the door opened and Robin stepped outside. He cleared the gruffness from his voice. “Leaving your date early?”
She startled and pressed her palm against her collarbone.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”
Robin pointed toward the street. “My purse is in my car.”
So the guy wasn’t paying? Interesting.
She stepped around him, but Ian took her elbow. Her attention flitted from his hand to his eyes before she pulled away.
“You’re not very appreciative, are you?”
“Why should I be appreciative?”
“First, I saved you from falling off the ladder. Second, I found your runaway son.” He ticked them off on his fingers. “Third, I ensured you’d be able to play the piano with ten digits, fully intact.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I know what you’re doing.”
“What’s that?”
“You’re using Amanda to get under my skin.”
Ian stepped closer. “That’s a bold accusation.”
“Is it true?”
Anger simmered beneath the surface of his emotions. Mom’s worry. Dad’s disapproval. His growing exasperation with this woman in front of him. Why, of all things, did she have to be a beautiful widow? Why couldn’t she be a grumpy old man? “What about you?”
“What about me?”
Ian pictured her in his car, frantically searching for her lost wedding ring, and his anger grew. “Somebody should warn your date.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“He doesn’t stand a chance, Robin. Nobody does. Not when you’re still in love with your husband.” The words tumbled out before he could take them back. Before he could stop and think.
Her cheeks paled, but she didn’t say anything. She pressed her lips together and stalked toward the street, leaving him alone with his regret and the last vestiges of pink receding from the sky.