Charmed (Contemporary Romance) (12 page)

“I’m happy, of course. You can’t
not
be happy about a baby, I think.”

“You think?” Mrs. Kirkpatrick raised an eyebrow.

Charlene sighed. “I know I’m happy, but I’m feeling a little overwhelmed at the same time, I mean, three kids … ”

“How does Dennis feel about it?” Alex asked.

“Dennis is ecstatic. I know he’s hoping for a boy, which makes me feel anxious for some reason. I mean, it’s not like it’s up to me.” She paused and turned to Alex. “Anyway, what’s up with you? You’re on the edge of your seat, and you can’t keep still.”

Alex sat back and casually draped an arm along the back of the booth. “You’re looking at the new owner of Cup a’ Joe’s.”

“You bought
this
place,
this
coffee house?” Jamie slid her hands around the table, her smile widening, knowing how exiting starting a business could be. People needed support; something she’d lacked when she’d decided to start hers. Scott had not been pleased. Jamie sipped some coffee and pushed the thought away.

“Yup.” Alex’s eyes were bright.

“That is so exciting!” Charlene clapped her hands together. “What’re you going to do with it, though? Is it going to stay a coffee house?”

“What about your insurance business?” Mrs. Kirkpatrick asked.

Alex put one hand up and took another gulp of coffee before addressing them. “I never wanted to go into the insurance business. It just sort of happened, you know? I always thought I’d open a cocktail lounge or something like that — a place where people could hang out and feel at home. And
this
is that something. Only instead of a bar, I’ve got myself a coffee house.”

“What plans have you cooked up so far?” Jamie leaned forward. She hadn’t wanted to get too close to her new acquaintances, but she couldn’t help feeling excited for Alex. She wanted to be supportive. And how could she not be excited about Charlene? She was having a
baby
.

“Let’s see … I’m selling the insurance business, and I’ve got a hefty client list so I should do really well. I’m shutting this down and remodeling — giving it a real local feel — Norman Rockwell prints from when he lived in Stockbridge, and I’ll feature local artists, as well. Cheeses, cranberries, and maple syrup from the state for sale at the counter, and I’m putting local folk tales and legends on the backs of the menus.”

“Wow. How long have you been planning this?” Charlene asked.

“I just thought about it a few nights ago, and then I couldn’t sleep — idea after idea just started popping up. The next day, I put in an offer. Choosing a name has been the only hard part. Everything sounds like a cliché or downright idiotic.” Alex leaned back and looked as if he could take on the world at that moment. Jamie knew exactly how he felt. “What about you guys? Anything new with you?” Alex turned to Mrs. Kirkpatrick and Jamie.

“Nothing new,” Mrs. Kirkpatrick said.

“Same old, same old,” Jamie agreed, though she knew something
was different. She had friends again, and nothing to dread day after day.

Later, as they walked the kids to the parking lot, Alex and Jamie tried to think of names for Alex’s café. “Rhodehouse Café, you know, cause of my last name, Rhodes,” Alex thought aloud. Jamie groaned.

It was fun listening to Alex talk about launching his new business. And she was grateful he was including her in his musings. Pouring your hopes and expectations, not to mention savings, into something new could be scary.

• • •

Nick tried to concentrate on what Yazmeen Aboud’s mom was telling him about a family vacation, but his eyes and attention kept shifting toward Alex Rhodes and Jamie. It was the second time he’d seen them walking together, and this time they were laughing like old friends sharing some secret joke.

It had taken him a while to get Jamie to open up to him, and there she was, laughing and murmuring with the guy who’d been so dense as to ask her out in front of him and Claire. He remembered clearly how annoyed she’d been. Why had she let go of
that
so quickly? Again, Nick had to call upon years of practiced self-control to get Jamie out of his head and focus on the parent in front of him.

The next day, Emma came home, and Nick asked her if she’d like to go ice skating with Jamie, her niece, and her kids. She loved the idea. So they showed up at Moe’s Ice Skating rink, Nick telling himself he just wanted to make sure Moe hadn’t sold out to Viera’s team.

When they met at the door, Jamie seemed surprised, and Hannah eyed him wearily. Michael and Timmy nearly crawled out of their own skins with excitement. Their reaction almost made him regret the decision to come, but they started asking about his trip again, and he was reminded that they knew he was leaving soon.

Soon, Jamie and Hannah each had one of the twins by their hands and were making slow progress in teaching them to ice skate. Emma and Nick came around to help and give pointers as the kids alternated between frustration when they fell and ecstatic
yeses
when they achieved some sort of balance.

• • •

They’d been skating for half an hour when Timmy and Michael became hungry for a snack, and Emma and Jamie took them to the tables just outside of the rink while Nick and Hannah stayed on.

“So anyway,” Emma continued when they sat down. Jamie laid food and juice boxes out on the table and listened intently. “She wants me to join her sorority, and I just don’t have either the heart to join or the heart to say no to her. Were you ever in a sorority?”

“No, it really wasn’t my thing. I had a really great group of friends, and my head was in a million other places. But I know my sister-in-law really loved it. To this day, she still feels I should regret not joining hers, but I really don’t.”

“That’s what Celine says — that I’ll regret it later. Celine says her network of sorority sisters helped out whenever she had fundraisers and things like that.”

Though Jamie wished she had the nerve to ask who Celine was to Nick and Emma, it made no sense to care. “Well, it boils down to how you feel about it. I’m sure your mom just wants you to be happy and make good decisions. Whatever you decide to do, just make sure she knows it makes you happy and why.”

“Well, next week is Halloween and I have to make a decision by then ’cause that’s when initiations start. I wish I could come to the Autumn Falls Halloween celebration instead. Are you taking the kids?”

“Of course!” Jamie smiled. “It’s one of the things I’ve looked forward to most.”

That led to a conversation about Halloween costumes, and they each shared their favorites from the past.

Jamie had to give it to Nick, Emma was a fun, smart, and kind young woman.

• • •

Nick watched Emma and Jamie with mixed feelings as he circled the rink a few times. He wanted them to get along, but … why? It bothered him that it mattered. It shouldn’t.

He took a few more turns around the rink as Viera’s kid, Hannah, did the same. “Hey, how about a race?” he asked when she skated by.

“You would really race a twelve-year-old girl?”

“Not just any twelve-year-old girl — Justin Viera’s twelve-year-old girl. And I’ll give you a head start.”

“You’re on — three times around the rink, and I get half the rink as a head start.”

“Half the rink?”

“That’s the lead my father gives me.”

“Okay, let’s go,” Nick called.

They raced, and Nick held back so they could come in at a tie. “Wow, we tied. My father always wins, so I guess my father really is better than you,” Hannah said after she steadied her breathing.

“So, your father doesn’t let you win?”

“Well, he always wins, but he lets me come in second by a hair.”

Nick readjusted his skates, aware Hannah was openly studying him.

“You
do
kinda look like the guy who plays Wolverine,” she remarked.

“Who?”

“You know — the guy who plays Wolverine in the X-Men movies. My grandma thinks you look like him, and my mom and Jamie agreed.”

Nick grinned. “You were all talking about me?”

“Um …
no
.” Hannah’s smile quickly faded. “It’s just when Aunt Jamie said the twins were going to your school, Grandma kind of thought it out loud when she remembered you, and we all agreed, that’s all. Geez, your ego is worse than my dad’s.” The smile came back, and Hannah rolled her eyes at him before skating away.

• • •

An hour later, the twins had tired of skating, so Jamie and Hannah took them across the street to Milford Park while Nick and Emma locked up. Jamie was happy, the twins were having a blast, and the weather was cool enough to layer up, but not cold enough to be uncomfortable.

“Aunt Jamie?” Hannah turned toward her.

“Mhhmm?”

Hannah hesitated a moment. “Please don’t be mad, but I kinda sorta told Nick we all think he looks like the guy who plays Wolverine — but I told him Grandma said it first, after she found out the twins were going to his school.”

“All right, hon, that’s not a big deal. Everybody gets told they look like somebody else at some point. Don’t worry about it.”

Nick and Emma were crossing the street now, and Jamie was surprised. She thought they’d leave after skating.

“Hey, isn’t this where you almost split your head open with your ‘snow wand’?” Nick asked when he saw Jamie sitting on the edge of the slide.

“Yes.” Jamie laughed. “I guess we have a history of disastrous first meetings.”

“You guys first met here? Right on Hero’s Trail? Just like the legend of Autumn Falls?” Emma’s eyes were as bright as her dad’s when he was in the mood for mischief.

“Did the stars crash in the sky above?” Hannah teased, following Emma’s lead.

“I was
eight
, people.” Jamie kept her tone light, but shot Hannah a warning glance.

“This is Hero’s Trail?” Timmy immediately knelt down and began digging under the slide. “Maybe this is where those dolls are buried.”

“
Dolls
?” Michael’s face twisted in disgust at the mention of dolls.

“Dolls?” Nick asked.

Jamie groaned. “The charm dolls from the legend. Timmy’s obsessed.”

“It’s such a tragically beautiful story.” Emma sighed.

“Beautiful? Flinging yourself off a cliff over a man is not beautiful, it’s lunacy.” Jamie shook her head.

“Idiotic,” Hannah agreed.

“Definitely extreme,” Nick chimed in.

“Wow, you guys sure are sour on love,” Emma remarked.

“Mom says that when the Hero and Autumn met, stars crashed into each other,” Michael, who was more interested in the sky above than in dolls, informed them. “Do you know what happens when stars crash, Nick? ’Cause Mom doesn’t know.” He rolled his eyes at this.

Nick bit his lip, obviously trying not to smile at Michael’s frustration with his mom. “Well, it’s pretty rare for two stars to crash into each other. Too many things have to happen at once. The galaxy is really large, and stars are usually too far apart to be on a road to collision.” Michael and Timmy seemed disappointed, so Nick kneeled down and spoke to their imagination. “But when they do crash, the sheer energy of the cosmic clash turns them into something entirely new, like a stunning, never-before-seen form, or a newer, brighter star.”

Emma sighed. “You know? I think the stars colliding in the sky above the very moment the Hero and Autumn met symbolizes how rare and beautiful it is for any two people to truly fall in love.”

“It sounds like a stellar disaster to me. Something like that could probably signal the end of the world as we know it,” Jamie said. Hannah giggled and the boys, disgusted with Emma’s lovey-dovey analogy, high-fived their mom.

Emma changed the subject by asking Jamie if she could take the kids for a walk along the lake and Hero’s Trail to look for ducks to feed. Jamie agreed, and Emma asked Hannah along.

When they left, Jamie got up and walked over to a park bench beneath a blazing red maple tree where she’d have a better view of the kids, and Nick followed. For a while, each was lost in thought.

Jamie glanced over at Nick, and he seemed content, but she couldn’t help feel that a part of him was always distant. Teasing, smiling Nick was probably lonely in his own very particular way. He just wasn’t the type to let it show. She knew he’d grown up with a notoriously difficult and distant mother, and he’d then gone on to an unhappy marriage. But he had Emma, and he was well liked with plenty of friends and admirers.

She wondered how many female friends he had, and if all his female friends had wicked thoughts about him.

Did Celine Bliss get to act on her thoughts? Jealousy pricked her chest and she rolled her inner eyes at herself. Her schoolgirl crush on the headmaster of her children’s school now came complete with antagonistic feelings toward beautiful blondes. Life was peachy.

But what woman could look at his lips and not wonder if they were warm? They certainly seemed firm, she thought as she looked over at him. She quickly lifted her gaze to his eyes and away from his lips when she saw he was watching her, too.

“Your expression has changed at least six times since you’ve been sitting there. What is going on in that mind of yours?” he asked.

“Nothing. Just thinking, or daydreaming, or whatever you want to call it.”

“About what?”

“Nothing special.” Jamie sprung up and began walking toward the tree. Nick got up, too, and made a gentle grab for her hand, turning her around.

“Come on, share. What goes through your mind when you’re lost in thought, Jamie? I’d love to know.” He let go of her hand and looked at her in earnest. Her breath caught painfully in her chest because she had this need to share something, anything.

She swallowed hard. “Well, sometimes I wonder what it would be like for the kids if Scott suddenly came home again, how much better their lives would be if they could share it with their father. I know it doesn’t accomplish anything, but my mind just goes there sometimes.

“Other times, I just think about what I want a charm to ultimately look like, and along those lines, I also like to think about my business, about where I want it to go, which helps me plan for it. Other than that, I also worry about being a good mom, so I try to imagine what my kids will think about me in the future. At least, those are the places my mind goes when I’m into heavy thinking.”