Up with the dawn, Tansy scribbled a note for her mother and headed to Kitty’s.
Time to watch a master at work. Kitty had no doubt been at the bakery a good hour already, but she wanted to see firsthand what went on behind the scenes, and hopefully, it would take her mind off the call she’d make the minute Quin’s office opened.
An hour later, a borrowed apron tied around her waist, Tansy flipped the door sign to “Open” and took her place behind the counter.
“You’re sure you trust me to do this?”
Kitty raised a brow. “Honey, if you can’t run a counter and cash register, you need to reconsider plunking down good money on that house ’cause this is the easy part. The fun part.”
She was right. As friends and neighbors came through the door, Tansy caught up on their lives and families, their views on politics and world events, on the happenings in town.
“Kitty, do you have any more glazed doughnuts?” she called over her shoulder.
“Sure do. I’ll be right out with a tray.”
The door opened again, and Tansy’s heart dropped to her toes. Beck.
He stopped, hand on the knob.
Gathering her courage, she smiled. “Good morning, Beck. You can come in. I promise not to bite.”
He said nothing.
“Grab your coffee and doughnuts and get over here, Beck,” Sam called. “I need to pick your brain about siding for the house. Cricket and I are at odds.”
“You’re gonna pit me against my own blood?” Beck replied.
“Heck, yeah.”
“I don’t know.” Beck glanced at Tansy. “Loyalty’s awful important to me.”
Tansy, heart sinking, met his gaze. “And it should be,” she said quietly. “Sometimes the people who hurt most are the very ones who break our trust—and who regret the mistake they’ve made.”
His eyes narrowed, then he seemed to shake himself. “I’ll have a coffee and two raspberry-filled doughnuts.”
“Beck—”
“Not now.” He tossed some money on the counter. “Not a good time for this talk, Tanz.”
“But I—”
He scooped up the doughnuts, grabbed his coffee, and walked over to Sam’s table.
“A little hard on her, weren’t you?” Sam said.
Tansy didn’t want to hear Beck’s answer, so she stepped into the back for that tray of glazed doughnuts.
* * *
At his office, the doughnuts sat in Beck’s stomach like two lumps of concrete. Sam was right. He had been hard on Tansy. But looking at her, talking to her—it was almost more than he could bear. She’d been his world, and he’d have done anything for her.
Did she really regret what she’d done? Did she hurt, too, because of it?
Argh, he was a mess! She did that to him. Scrambled his brain.
Since she’d been gone, he’d dated. Lots. Heck, that first year, he’d gone through women like a junkie went through crack. Then he’d got his feet under him and slowed down, but it was never quite right. He’d never found what he’d had with Tansy, someone who completed him, and he’d decided he probably never would.
Yet he’d walked into the bakery this morning and wham! It’d hit him right between the eyes. He finally felt it again—for Tansy.
But now that he understood, he’d get over it, wouldn’t he? He had to because she sure had.
The day could only get better, right?
His office door stood open, and he glanced up to see his dad making his way down the paint aisle.
“Hey, Dad, you’re up early. Mom got you paintin’ another room? The kitchen again?”
“Nope, and thank Jesus for small favors on that one.” His father, at fifty-five, was the picture of health—blond, tanned, and trim. He’d started taking more and more time off as Beck grew into the job. He still came in three days a week, but he wasn’t scheduled today.
Beck grinned. “Glad to hear it. Thought I’d have to avoid the house for a while.”
“Don’t want you doin’ that. In fact, why don’t you stop by after work? I’m grillin’ a couple racks of ribs tonight, and your mom’s makin’ some of her baked beans. Her sweet potato casserole, too.”
“Say no more. About six?”
“That’ll work.”
He eyed his dad. “Anything else?”
Stanton shook his head. “Nope. See you later.” With a wave, he headed back outside.
Beck stood in his office doorway and watched him go, a little voice nagging at him the whole time. Something was up. He suspected more than an invite to dinner was on the table. If he wasn’t mistaken, his folks had something up their sleeves and whatever that something was, they’d share it with him tonight over one of his favorite dinners. Oh, yeah. That made him more than a tad nervous.
Another trip? If so, good for them. But he didn’t think so. His dad would have told him if that were the case. No, this was more than the two of them flying off to the Caribbean.
Was his mom or dad sick? Pops?
Anxiety gnawed at him and promised a long day.
The phone rang. “Elliot’s Lumberyard and Construction.” He listened, then asked a couple questions.
When he hung up, he shook his head. It seemed the workday would start with a plumbing project at Lucinda Worthington’s preschool. A couple of the boys had decided to try out their own plumbing skills and had somehow managed to unscrew the plastic pipes under the little boys’ room vanity.
Then, just for giggles, they’d turned on the spigot. By the time they’d exited the bathroom for morning milk and cookies, using the dismantled pieces of pipe for horns, water was already streaming into the hallway.
Beck had to laugh. While the landlord wouldn’t be amused, he had to give the boys credit for a job well done. Damn! He might have to hire those tykes in a few years!
“Jeeters!”
“Yeah, Boss?” Jeeters stuck his head inside the office.
“We’ve got an emergency job over at the preschool.” He explained the situation. “Gather up the supplies and stow them in the truck. I’ll take Darrell along.”
“Got it.”
“They’ve shut off the water, so I’ll take a minute and finish this order. Have everything ready to go in five.”
Jeeters nodded and closed the door behind him.
A few minutes later, Beck shut down the computer. No doubt Lucinda was well on her way to a nervous breakdown by now. He stuck his head out the door. “Jeeters, is the truck loaded?”
“Yep, and Darrell’s waitin’ for you.”
“Good enough.”
When they arrived, even though he’d promised himself he wouldn’t, he looked for Gracie. She was nowhere in sight. Guess that made sense. Tansy probably figured she needed a couple days at home before sending her into another new environment.
Whatever else he thought about Tansy, he had no doubt she was a great mother.
What in the hell had she been doing at the bakery this morning? Working for Kitty? She couldn’t need the money.
Unconsciously, he rubbed at a spot over his heart, then set thoughts of her aside and grabbed a length of PVC.
* * *
Beck hadn’t been wrong about it being a long day but not because he’d worried over what his parents intended to spring on him. Instead, he and his crew had put out one fire after another. First the preschool fiasco, then a very rattled Mrs. Stuckey called and asked for a ladder. She’d climbed out the bedroom window to clean some gutters and, somehow, the window had closed behind her. She hadn’t been able to open it and found herself stuck on her roof.
Fortunately, she’d had her cell in her pocket. Her son had run into some legal trouble a few months back and, even though things had been ironed out, she hadn’t wanted to call Sheriff Jimmy Don. Since Beck sold ladders, she’d called him.
He’d taken one over himself to save her any more embarrassment and suggested next time she let her son, Jeremy, do the gutter cleaning. She agreed, then promised Beck a fresh blackberry pie later in the week, a more-than-fair trade.
Potato salad yesterday for a repaired screen and blackberry pie today for helping a damsel in distress. Sounded like something out of The Andy Griffith Show. Whatever. Misty Bottoms was, despite the changes happening, still a small town. His small town. And he loved it.
He hadn’t been back to the store ten minutes when his delivery truck pulled in from Atlanta. Unfortunately, not everything they needed for a job the next day had been on it. Three phone calls later, he was assured the materials would be there before closing.
Now, though? Time to head to his mom and dad’s for a home-cooked meal.
It was the question of what they intended to serve up with it that bothered him.
Well, just like the missing supplies, they’d work it out.
As he cranked up the air in his truck, he decided he’d better run home, shower, shave, and change into some clean clothes before he showed up at Judy Elliot’s table.
* * *
Beck had to hand it to his folks. They were good. Academy Award–winning good. They’d finished dinner and were working on wiping out a pan of his mom’s brownies drenched in vanilla bean ice cream and not a word about upcoming events. Still, he’d bet his new Dodge truck there was a hidden agenda behind this dinner.
“Have they announced the Oscar nominees yet?” he asked.
Frowning, his dad swiped the last of the ice cream from his bowl. “Don’t think that happens till mid-January, Son. Why? You see a good movie?”
“Nope, haven’t had time.” He looked from his dad to his mom. Pops wasn’t home. He’d gone somewhere with Lem. “Thought I might see your names on the list.”
“What do you mean?” His mom looked toward her husband, the tiniest hint of apprehension in her eyes.
Beck pointed his spoon at her. “You two are up to somethin’. I know it as sure as I’m sittin’ here. What’s goin’ on?”
“We’ve had an offer on Pops’s house.”
He took the blow, telling himself that was a good thing. Yeah, it would hurt to see someone else in the house he’d practically grown up in, but he’d known this was coming.
“Okay.” He dragged out the word. “A good offer?”
“Full price.”
“But?” His stomach wrapped itself in knots. Something was wrong here.
His mother stacked their bowls and carried them to the sink.
“Dad?”
His mother came back to the table and laid a hand on her son’s. “You know we love you more than anything in this world.”
“I do.”
“Your grandfather does, too.”
He tilted his head. “Now you’re scarin’ me.”
His mother went pale, and his dad’s face flushed.
“We can’t keep the house.”
“Understood.”
“We offered it to you,” his dad said.
“You did, but I have a house, and I don’t need another.”
“Right.” His dad took another sip of coffee. “There isn’t much of a market in Misty Bottoms for a house that big.”
“Again, understood. Is the buyer somebody from out of town?”
“In a sense. It’s somebody who’s moving back.”
The tumblers clicked into place. “Tansy.”
“Honey, I know this must seem like a betrayal to you, but Tansy’s had a hard time of it, too. She needs to come home.”
“To Pops’s house?”
“Apparently she wants to start a business on the first floor and live upstairs.”
“This is okay with you two?” He looked from his mom to his dad.
“To be really honest, I wish it were different, that someone else had made an offer,” his dad said.
“They will,” Beck insisted. “Give it time.”
“I know this is hard, Son. Tansy broke your heart, and don’t think for a second I’ve forgotten. But that sweet little girl needs a home,” his mother said.
“Tansy is far from sweet. I—”
“I’m talkin’ about Gracie Bella.”
That shut him up for about three seconds.
“That sweet little girl’s daddy can afford to build her a new house.”
“He won’t lift a finger or a cent to help them, and you know it.”
Surprise jolted through him. He didn’t know that. He’d assumed Tansy had taken the jerk for everything she could get. That she’d left with a pile of cold, hard cash. Of course, his mother could have things all wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time.
His father studied him over his coffee cup.
“What?”
“Thought you were over her.”
“I am.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I have to be honest here. I’m angry. Very angry,” he said slowly, emphasizing each word. “Her coming back has stirred up things I thought I’d buried. You’re gonna have to give me some time—and some space.” A muscle ticked in his jaw.
“Beck—”
He pushed back his chair and stood. “Dinner was great. Thanks.” Woodenly, he bent down and kissed his mom’s cheek. “I need to head home. If I don’t get some laundry done, I’m gonna have to go to work buck naked.”
“Drop it off here in the morning, honey.”
He shook his head. “I can handle it. I’m a big boy.”
* * *
Beck hopped into his pickup and turned the key, then sat a minute, rubbing his eyes. His grandfather’s house? He and Tansy had planned to move into that house together, had talked about raising their kids there. Instead? If the sale went through, she’d be moving in with her kid.
He’d asked around this afternoon, and rumor had it she was taking over for Kitty, that she planned to open a bakery in Misty Bottoms. That surprised him. For the life of him, he couldn’t figure why she’d work. Maybe his mom had been right.
No. No way had she left that gold mine without a few hefty nuggets of her own.
It didn’t matter. What she did or didn’t do wasn’t his concern. But why’d she have to pick Pops’s house to do it in?
Had his grandfather signed off on it? Didn’t blood count for anything anymore? It would probably be best if he stayed away from his family for a few days. The last thing he wanted was to argue with them. If he was lucky, Tansy would change her mind and it would all be a moot point.
Having her in Misty Bottoms would take some getting used to, but he didn’t know if he’d ever get used to having her in his grandfather’s house. The sign for Duffy’s Pub came into view, and he whipped into the parking lot. Stuffing his keys in his jeans pocket, he headed in. He’d have one beer, then go home. It had been a long day and another was coming tomorrow.
He took a small table in the corner, away from everybody else.
“Hey, Beck, how you doin’ tonight?” Binnie, the pub’s waitress, came up behind him. “You want a menu?”
“Nope. Already ate at my folks’ place. I’d like a beer. Whatever you have on tap.”
She frowned. “Everything okay?”
“Just dandy.”
“Why don’t I believe that?”
He sighed and planted his fingertips at his temples. “Binnie, I don’t mean to be rude, but what I really need is a beer and a little thinkin’ time.”
“Fine.” Nose in the air, she crossed the room and placed his order.
Behind the bar, Duffy drew his drink and carried it across to Beck himself. “There you go. Won’t solve your problem, though, whatever it might be.”
“That’s not a very good sales pitch.”
“You’re a friend first, a customer second.”
Beck swore. “You make it damn hard to nurse a mad, Duffy. So tell me this. What’s your take on loyalty?”
“It’s invaluable—regardless of the situation.”
“There you go.” Beck lifted his glass in a salute. “I agree.”
* * *
Beck sat alone, nursing both the drink and his hurt.
Tansy Calhoun Forbes, of the red hair and Caribbean-blue eyes, of the brilliant mind and nimble tongue. He’d thought he was going to die the day he found out she was pregnant and marrying another man. He kept thinking she’d call and tell him she’d changed her mind, that she was coming home to him.
She hadn’t.
At some point, he’d pronounced himself cured. Oh, sure, she’d waltz back into town for a quick visit, and one look—one single Tansy sighting—was all it took to put him in a nasty mood. But he’d always known it was temporary. That by the next day she’d be gone again, back to her husband. It didn’t look like that was going to happen anymore.
Not if she truly had come back to Misty Bottoms to stay.
Not if she intended to buy Pops’s house.
The door opened and Sam stepped inside to dark lighting, loud music, and the chatter of diners. Not in uniform, he wore a pair of worn denims and a Maroon Five T-shirt.
Their eyes met and held.
In quick strides, Sam crossed the pub and slid onto a chair across from him. “What’s going on, bud?” He raised his voice over the din. “How about a couple coffees here, Duffy? Black.”
“I don’t want or need coffee, Sam. This is my first and only beer of the night, so I’m good, Deputy. Believe me when I tell you I’ve earned this one.”
“Make that one coffee, Duffy. And a burger, medium well. With fries.”
“Gotcha.” Duffy came over with the coffee. “Burger’ll be about five minutes.”
After he left, Beck asked, “Did my parents call you?”
“Your parents?”
“Yeah.”
“No.” Sam shook his head slowly. “Cricket’s at Jenni Beth’s. They’re talking weddings. One’s coming up soon. I’m hungry, figured I’d grab a burger.”
Neither man spoke again for a few minutes. Beck felt a grim sense of satisfaction when Sam winced at his first taste of the brew Duffy passed off as coffee. Another Misty Bottoms ritual, he guessed. Anybody who’d been in town long enough knew not to order the stuff in here.
The song on the jukebox ended and another started.
Finally, Sam asked, “You’re not yourself tonight. What’s up?”
“No deep, dark secret. Tansy’s back in town.”
“I heard that.”
“She left. She was supposed to stay gone.”
“Don’t you think you’re being a little unreasonable?”
“So?”
A bark of laughter erupted from Sam.
Beck shrugged and grabbed a handful of peanuts from the bowl he’d snagged from the bar. “Okay, before you ask, here’s the Reader’s Digest version. Tansy and I dated all through high school. I asked her to marry me, and she said yes. I saved up months for the ring I gave her. Our folks insisted we wait to get married till after we’d graduated from college.”
Sam grunted, mostly, Beck supposed, to let him know he was listening. Or maybe it was a technique they taught in detective school. Don’t interrupt. Keep the suspect talking.
Whatever.
“I loved her, Sam. I’ve never loved anyone like that. I waited to start college till she graduated from high school so we could go together. Then my grandmother passed away, and Pops got sick. Dad needed help, so I thought, what the heck. I didn’t need a degree to run the family business. I already knew it inside and out. We agreed she should go, though. The day she left for college, it damn near broke my heart.”
He grew quiet.
“But Tansy didn’t come back,” Sam said into the void.
“Nope. She met the very wealthy Emerson Forbes, and before you could say ‘spit,’ she was pregnant and they had themselves a wedding. Guess I didn’t rank high enough on the financial or societal ladders to make the cut.”
“People change, Beck.”
“You on her side?”
“No. She did you wrong. I’ve only ever met her a couple times, but she doesn’t seem like a snob to me. Oh, she dresses well and is kind of formal, but I don’t see her choosing money over love.”
“Just goes to show what you know, Mr. Big-City Detective, ’cause she did exactly that.”
Beck hadn’t wanted company, but Sam was easy to be with. His cousin had chosen well.
Or did you choose your mate? Maybe it was some predestined thing. Nah. It just felt that way right now because he was in a funk.
One of these days, he might find the right woman. It wasn’t Rachel in Savannah, though. Or Cindy or Roxy or Lucinda.
“Time to go.” Sam pushed his plate aside. “You good to drive?”
“Like I said, one beer, Deputy.” He lifted his right hand. “I swear. And I’ve been nursin’ it for the better part of an hour now, so I’m good to go. That’s not somethin’ I mess with. One drink’s my limit if I’m getting behind the wheel.”
He and Sam threaded their way through the tables, speaking to several acquaintances as they passed.
Halfway across the parking lot, Beck jerked to a stop. “You still drivin’ that rust bucket you bought from Lem Gilmore?”
“Yep.”
“Cricket deserves better than that.”
“Strangely enough, your cousin likes it.”
“She probably does. Tansy wouldn’t.” His chin jutted high, mimicking her nose in the air. Then he patted the truck’s ready-to-drop-off bumper. “Too much the lady for a ride like this.”
Sam scratched his head. “You know, Beck, if the lady’s not interested…”
“I know. Get over her. I honestly thought I was. Now, here she is again. And my world?” He made the sound of a huge explosion and mushroomed his hands to show it expanding.
Beck watched as Sam started the old truck and headed home. To Cricket. The woman he loved.
Him? He’d go home to an empty house. And the knowledge the woman he loved—the woman he used to love—would soon be calling the Elliot house her own.
He’d definitely had better days.
* * *
Halfway home, he spotted a vehicle pulled over to the shoulder, the hood up. His headlights swept over it and the person standing beside it.
Tansy.
Was the woman everywhere?
He couldn’t drive by and pretend he hadn’t seen her. He’d stop for any woman stranded on a dark stretch of road. His tires crunched as he pulled up in front of her and rolled down his window. Immediately he saw the panic flare in her eyes.
“It’s me, Tansy. Beck.”
Instead of welcoming him, she groaned in frustration. “God, I’m so sorry. I’m a real pain in your backside, aren’t I?”
“I won’t argue that.”
“My car just quit. I was driving along, and all of a sudden, the check engine light came on. The car bucked, then nothing. Look, you don’t have to stay. Apparently, I left my cell at Mom’s, though, so if you’d call a wrecker for—”
“Stop.” He held up a hand. “Let me take a quick look. It might be an easy fix. You do have gas, don’t you?”
Exasperated, she sighed. “Yes, I have gas. I filled up at Tommy’s.”
“Before or after you put in a bid on Pops’s house?”
A full minute of uneasy silence followed.
“Beck—”
“Forget I asked that. For now.” He ducked beneath the hood, shining his flashlight over the engine area. “I don’t see anything, Tansy. It’s late. I’m tired, I’m more than a little pissed, and I want my bed. Despite the fact that you’re the reason I’ve got a good mad goin’, I absolutely refuse to leave you here alone on the side of the road in the dark. Get what you need from your car, then hop in. I’ll drive you home. We can call a wrecker to come pick up your car.”
“You don’t need to—”
“Tansy, don’t argue. Just get your stuff and hop in.”
When she got in, he turned up the radio to avert any attempt at conversation. Still, she tried.
“About your grandfather’s house—”
“My parents told me tonight. I don’t want to discuss it.” He shot her a sideways glance. “Why’d you come back?”
“This is home.”
“It hasn’t been for years.”
“You’re wrong. It’s always been home. It just hasn’t been where I’ve been living.”
“Semantics.”
“No. Heart.”
He snorted. “You still have one of those?”
“Yes, I do.” She paused. “Beck, a stranger won’t ever love Pops’s house like I do. I have so many memories there. Not nearly as many as you, but they’re all good ones. They’re all ones I cherish. I want Gracie to make memories there, too.”
“I wanted our kids to make memories there. Or have you forgotten that?”
“No,” she whispered. “I haven’t forgotten anything.”
The scent of her wafted to him and filled the truck cab.
The night wrapped itself around them, and Beck had an incredible feeling of déjà vu. Fate had one hell of a warped sense of humor.
He hit the in-dash phone button and asked to be connected to Elmer’s Wrecking. When a very sleepy Elmer answered, Beck filled him in on the location of Tansy’s SUV and asked him to pick it up. Elmer promised he’d take care of it right away and deliver it to D&J’s. By the time everything was ironed out, they’d reached Tansy’s mother’s with no blood drawn. He reached across her and opened her door.
“I’d see you in, but your mother might have a shotgun.”
“Very funny, Beck. My mother actually called you a prince the other day.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Don’t let it go to your head.”
“I’m sure you corrected her.”
“I tried, but she wouldn’t listen. Sometimes there’s simply no accounting for taste.”
“Ha-ha.”
One hand on the door, Tansy turned to him. “My mom told me you’ve helped her out with things around the house.” She chewed at her bottom lip. “Thank you for that.”
“It was my pleasure, believe me.”
“All the same, I appreciate it.”
He studied her in the cab’s overhead light. “You know, most sons-in-law would realize a widow might need some help now and again, and maybe spend one or two of his valuable weekends here doing a few things for her. But then, Emerson wasn’t most sons-in-law, was he?”
Heat crept up her cheeks. “No. He wasn’t.” She ducked her head, letting soft curls fall over her eyes. “Again, I thank you. From the bottom of my heart. I don’t expect you to believe that, but—”
“Tanz, I’m sorry.” He threw his head back against the seat and closed his eyes. Then he rolled his head sideways, drew in a big breath and let it out slowly. “I’m bein’ an ass again, aren’t I? Might be a terminal condition. What do you think?”
She simply shook her head.
“Not sure what that means.” He studied her, that mass of auburn curls, those eyes a man could drown in, and that inviting mouth. If he let her, she’d break his heart all over again. “Maybe you can cure me,” he whispered. “You might be just what the doctor ordered. Kiss me, sugar.”
“Beck, I can’t. I’m the one who’s been the ass.”
“One little kiss. Right here. Come on. Lay one on me.” He leaned toward her and tapped his cheek.
On a sigh, she touched his cheek with those soft, full lips. He angled his head, ever so slightly, so that lips touched lips. One hand moved to the back of her head, cupped it, and drew her closer. The other hand started at her waist and slid south. He groaned.
Tansy pulled away and slipped out of the truck. “Good night, Beck. You saved my bacon tonight. I’m not sure what I’d have done if you hadn’t come along.” Her voice shook as she added, “Maybe Mom was right, and you actually are a prince.”
“Don’t get your hopes up, Tansy. You’ll be disappointed.”
“Disappointment and I are on a first-name basis, Beck. Sleep well. Thanks again.”
He sat in the dark and waited till she disappeared inside. The porch light blinked to let him know all was well, and he felt something inside him break free. She’d always done that when he’d dropped her off after a date, even if he’d walked her to the door and kissed her senseless before sending her inside.
As he pulled away, her scent lingered, feminine and mysterious. Foreign yet familiar. He seriously doubted he’d sleep tonight.