Just Married! (12 page)

Instead of telling him the truth, she’d just nodded and affected a cool sneer. “Of course. Who wants that? I was just trying to get a good grade.”

That had been the end of that. The only one she’d confided in had been Kelly, because if she’d told any of the Group of Six that the essay had been true, word would have gotten back to Colton. Even back then, she’d been half infatuated with him, and she couldn’t stand to hear him laugh at her dream. She could only pray he’d forgotten the whole incident since then.

“Okay,” Vivian conceded. “So maybe for a split second, I dreamed of living a normal life. Open up a place like this, run it during the day, and…” Her voice trailed off.

“Go home to a husband and two kids every night,” Kelly finished for her.

Vivian scowled and held up two slim pieces of paper to the bright sunlight streaming through the plate-glass windows. “You know what this place
needs? An awning. I was thinking striped. White and…which color? Cotton Candy Pink or Light Lemon Yellow?”

“Viv, it’s not a crime to want a regular life.”

“Definitely the yellow.” Vivian waged the color chip. “It seems more friendly. And it matches the sign better.”

Kelly sighed, clearly sensing it was time to drop the subject. “The yellow for sure,” she said. “It’ll invite people in, whether the owner’s here or not.”

Colton had never seen a man look more miserable. “Here.”

Charlie took the opened beer, and nodded his gratitude. “Thanks.”

Colton settled in the second Adirondack chair, and propped his own drink on the small table to his right. Night had begun to fall, draping a soft blanket of deep purple over the manicured oneacre yard. Dozens of flowering plants and fancy shrubs lined the space, plants Colton couldn’t name and didn’t tend. He rarely had time anymore to enjoy the yard, and had finally hired a landscaper to take care of it.

He missed the simplicity of taking time to plant a tree, trim branches. He could see his future ahead of him—the same life his father had lived—filled with political events, endless days in the office and
the inevitable campaigning, and knew that investment of time came with the reward of building the community he loved.

He might not be able to make a difference with the rhododendrons, but at least he would with the streets and businesses.

Charlie let out a long sigh. “I never thought marriage was supposed to be like this.”

“It’ll get better. You guys have been together for a long time,” Colton said, returning to his friend’s problems instead of his own. “Plus, we’ve all been friends forever. You’ll work it out.”

Charlie harrumphed.

“Did you ever think it might be hormones? You know, her being pregnant and all?”

“I did. And I said that to her when we argued about going to my mother’s. At Sam and Ethan’s wedding.” Charlie glanced over at Colton. “That’s when she threw her shoe at me.”

“Oh.” Colton took a sip of beer. “
Oh.
”

“Yeah.” Charlie took a longer gulp. “She’s still mad at me for telling my mother she was pregnant when we got married. She thinks I married her because…” He let out a sigh.

“Because you had to.”

Charlie nodded.

“Did you?”

“Hell, no. I love Mandy. She’s just not listening to me when I tell her that.” He glanced down at the
beer. “Do me a favor, Colton. Don’t get married. It’s way overrated.”

“Marriage is not in my plans, Charlie.”

That empty feeling returned again, as if Colton was missing out on something. He poured himself into his job, and yes, found fulfillment there, but a part of him wondered—

Was that all there was?

Marrying a life of politics with a regular life, though…Colton couldn’t see it happening. Not for him, not for his father, and not for his grandfather. Not a single St. John man had been happy in his marriage. Edward had picked the “right” woman, something he had lectured his son about over and over again, as if a wife were a registered pedigree puppy.

Colton had no intentions of making the same mistake. He’d already seen how that kind of preordained union worked out.

Better to stay single. Much better.

“Trouble is, I’m already married.” Charlie twirled the bottle between his palms. “And I love her. Love her more than anything.”

“Then go talk to her.”

Charlie glanced at Colton. “Come on, Colton. You know Mandy. She’s stubborn. I’ve been talking for the last month, and it’s gotten me exactly nowhere. We’re right back where we started.” Charlie rose, leaving the beer bottle on the small table. “Which is circling around the big
D
word.”

He let out a curse and then he was gone, leaving behind a heavy air of sadness.

Colton sat there for a while, wishing he could do something to help two of his best friends work out their problems. But really, what could he do? Go talk to Amanda? And what would he say?

Best to stay out of it.

Charlie’s sorrow gnawed at Colton. Enough that he abandoned his half-finished drink, and headed out of his house and down the street toward the one person who knew both Charlie and Amanda as well as he did.

Vivian.

H
ER
father was grinning—never a good sign.

Vivian put down her pencil, and pushed aside the legal pad she’d been jotting notes on, all plans for the Frozen Scoop. Business had been good at the shop ever since the doors had opened, and now Vivian was running the numbers to see about hiring more help for August and September. There were so many teenagers—too many—that she wanted to give a helping hand to, provide with a new direction, a vision of a future. The Frozen Scoop might not be able to employ them all, but she’d do what she could.

“What?” she said to her father.

“Someone’s here to see you.” He practically sang the words.

She eyed him with suspicion. “What has you so chipper? Have you been sneaking pie again? You know what the doctor said about watching your cholesterol.”

“I’m dessert free.” Daniel held up his hands as
evidence. “Now come on out and say hello. It’s not like we have company marching through this door every five minutes, you know.”

Vivian shook her head, then rose and headed into the living room, figuring Kelly had stopped by to try once again to persuade her to stay in town and operate the ice cream parlor herself. “I’m not going to—”

She stopped talking.

Colton stood in the living room, tall and impossibly handsome. Just by his sheer presence, he had a way of tempting her to stay awhile, to linger in the one place she’d never wanted to hang around. There was just something about the way he stood, the deep comfort in his blue eyes, that called to her. And that was dangerous.

She needed to head back to L.A. Immediately. Staying in St. John’s Cove would have her considering crazy thoughts—like getting involved with Colton.

“Hey, Viv.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Nice to see you, too.” He grinned.

“I didn’t mean that, I meant—” She glanced over her shoulder. “Dad, I’m not seventeen anymore.”

Daniel harrumphed. “At seventeen, you were climbing out your bedroom window and hopping on the back of a motorcycle at two in the morning. This is the most traditional date you’ve ever had.”

“This is not a date. Colton’s a—”

“Friend,” Colton finished for her.

Her gaze met Colton’s and something Vivian refused to call disappointment sank in her gut. “Exactly. A friend.”

The way she wanted things to stay.

Uh-huh. Then why did her heart skip a beat when a grin curved across Colton’s face?

“You’ve been a hell of a mayor, Colton. I’ve really noticed a difference in this town since you took over.” Daniel leaned in conspiratorially. “If you don’t mind my saying so, you do a better job than your father. You relate to people. Talk to ’em. And even better, listen to their problems. Then, surprise, surprise for a politician, you
solve
’em.”

Colton chuckled. “Thank you, sir.”

“Yep, this town is better for having you.” Daniel glanced at his daughter, then back at Colton.

She could feel her father staring at the two of them, as rapt as a preschooler in front of a full cookie jar. She could stay here, and let this soap opera unfold with a patriarchal audience, or take the conversation somewhere private.

“I was just about to go out for a bite to eat,” she said to Colton. “You want to come with me?”

“We just had dinner,” Daniel cut in. “You and Colton should stay here. Have a soda, some barbecue chips. A snack, ya know?”

“Thanks, Dad, but I was thinking more like—”

“Wings at O’Reilly’s?” Colton said.

Their old hangout. The place they’d both loved, for its anonymity and easy style. “You read my mind.”

And then she was gone, before her father threw some potato skins under the broiler. And started quizzing Colton about his intentions. If there was one person in town who
did
want to see Colton and Vivian together, it was her father.

Vivian climbed into the passenger’s seat of Colton’s Mercedes. The luxury vehicle wrapped her in a cocoon of quiet and lush, comfortable leather. “Let me guess. You came by to check up on me? Make sure I wasn’t expanding my crime wave to something bigger, beyond sneaking into the neighbor’s pool?”

“Like grand theft auto?” he finished before she could.

Vivian laughed. “That was a fun night, wasn’t it?”

“One of the best memories of my teen years.”

She noticed the distance he added at the end—teen years. Another signal Colton had put those moments behind him. He had moved on, past whatever he and Vivian might have had in common.

Still, some masochistic part of her kept searching for the thread that used to extend between them. “Well, you know who to call, next time you want help putting the principal’s car on the roof of the high school.”

“Not to mention helping to steal that crane—”

“We were
borrowing
it, Colton. Get your terms right.” She laughed.

“Okay, borrowing. Too bad the St. John’s Cove cops didn’t agree.”

“Until your father talked the company into dropping all charges,” Vivian pointed out. “Thank goodness, because we would have been in
so
much trouble if they didn’t. We were stupid teenagers back then, weren’t we?”

That was the Colton she remembered, not this more formal, all-business Colton who had clearly become
mayor.
Who had stepped into the very shoes he had fought so hard not to wear.

Why? What had changed?

“That stunt cost me a year’s allowance and two months of privileges.” He chuckled softly. “And it was worth every second of the home confinement.”

“And I spent a week in the principal’s office, doing all my class work ‘under supervision.’” Vivian laughed. “Of course, I probably needed a lot of that in those days.”

“You weren’t the only one,” Colton said. “We got into a lot of trouble back then. Fun trouble, but trouble all the same.”

Instead of continuing to reminisce, Vivian was silent for a long time, her gaze on the dozens of beach houses passing by outside the window. Just beyond them, the ocean curled gently in and out, small whitecaps announcing each wave.

If Colton didn’t know better, he’d say Vivian looked almost melancholy. Impossible. Vivian was
always the party girl, the one ready to run off on a wild tear and bring everyone else with her.

“Do you ever…”

Colton glanced over. “Ever what?”

Vivian straightened, back to her usual sassy self, as if the thoughtful moment had been an aberration. “Nothing.”

What had she been about to say? And what’s more, what was with this mood of hers? Ever since Vivian had arrived in town, she hadn’t seemed the same.

Then again, what did Colton really know about what was ordinary for Vivian Reilly? She’d been gone for years, and in that time, she’d surely changed. Just as he had.

They weren’t the same old gang anymore, no matter how much they wanted to think they were. The six had grown up, some had gotten married. They were diverging along their own paths now, the kind of grown-up paths that meant it was time to stop reliving a past that couldn’t become the present.

Because there were responsibilities waiting in the morning.

A minute later, they pulled up to O’Reilly’s, a busy bar in Stone Harbor, the next town over. The distance wasn’t much, but it was enough for Colton to feel like he’d stepped away from work. Put some distance between himself and the spotlight of being mayor. Most of the St. John’s Cove locals stuck to the town’s bars, and few ventured to the neighbor
ing establishments. Here, he felt normal, like a regular guy, not a St. John. It was a nice change, from time to time, just to
be.

“Tonight when you came by, you seemed like you had something on your mind,” Vivian said. “Want to talk about it?”

He could have asked her the same thing. Probed into what was warring within her. There was something…but what it was, Colton couldn’t even begin to guess. Once again, he was reminded of how things had changed in half a decade.

Instead he said, “Charlie and Amanda.”

Vivian sighed. She’d been around the newly married couple enough in the last few weeks to see what Colton had seen. Heck, astronauts in space could have seen the discontent in the Weston marriage. “Things haven’t gotten any better between them?”

Colton shook his head. “Charlie came to me and said they’re even talking about divorce. I guess married life hasn’t been what they expected.”

“Maybe they expected the wrong thing,” Vivian said.

Colton considered those words. “Maybe.”

He expected Vivian to say more, but she didn’t. Instead she seemed again to shift gears, go back to the smiling, teasing person she used to be. She cocked a hip his way and winked at him. “It’s kind of quiet in here right now. Maybe we should go out the door and come back in. Really make an entrance.”

“That’s your specialty.” He chuckled. “Remember graduation?”

“Hey, I just wanted to make it memorable.”

“My father nearly had you arrested.”

“He just didn’t get the joke.” Vivian laughed, thinking of the horrified look on Edward St. John’s prim and proper Bostonian face when she’d roared into the ceremony on a motorcycle, wearing a bikini, a Hawaiian lei and her dark blue graduation cap.

And nothing else.

“Where did you get that Harley anyway?”

“I borrowed it from Jack.”

A chill invaded the space between them. Colton backed up. An imperceptible distance, but one nonetheless. “Oh, yeah. I remember now.”

It had also been the motorcycle that had carried her out of town, but that time with Jack at the handlebars. Away from St. John’s Cove, from her friends, and from everything that she could never have.

Colton crossed to the bar, and Vivian followed. He ordered two light beers, then handed her one of them. “Where’d you two end up?”

“Los Angeles. Jack opened an auto repair shop. He does pretty well.” In the semidarkness of the bar, it seemed easy to open up, to share the details of her life with Colton, as if no time at all had passed between them. She wanted to tell him more, to lean on his shoulders, just like she used to.

No. Leaning led to more…and Vivian was
not
going down the path of more.

“And you?”

“I…” What should she tell him? The truth? No. That would only lead to complications, and with Colton, she couldn’t have complications. Those would only tie her more to this town, and she couldn’t do that. Not to him, not to her. “I work in the food industry.”

He chuckled. “Now that I’d like to see. Maybe sometime I’ll come out to L.A. and dine wherever you’re working.”

“That would be nice,” she said. Except she wasn’t working at a restaurant, not anymore, and the one she did own wasn’t on that side of the country. But she kept that to herself. If the day ever came when Colton said he was coming for a visit, she’d find a way to put him off.

She had this night—these last few days before she left to return to L.A.—and that was it.

It would be enough.

“You and Jack…you have a house? A dog?” The words seemed to leave Colton with a painful wince, and for the first time, Vivian wondered if maybe she wasn’t the only one with leftover feelings from that summer.

“I’m…I’m not with him anymore,” she said softly.

“Since when?”

“Since I caught him with his receptionist. At a bar. Kissing her.”

“Oh.” Colton’s gaze met hers. “Sorry.”

Vivian shrugged. “I’m not.”

“So are you…?” He let the question hang in the air.

What was Colton asking? If she was single? Available?

Oh, this was opening up a can of trouble she couldn’t open, not again. She’d made her decision five years ago, and she needed to stick to it. For both their sakes.

Across the room, four members of that night’s band took their places behind their equipment on the makeshift stage tucked in the corner of the bar. The drummer raised his sticks, counted off two beats, and then the band launched into a toe-tapping, rousing rock single. “Want to dance?”

“Are you avoiding the question?”

“Of course not.” She shimmied a little to the music. “I’m just in the mood to dance.”

“Then we will.” He stepped closer to her, and put out his hand. She slipped hers into his larger palm, sending a rush of electricity through her veins. And just like that, before they even made it to the dance floor, dancing together became more than just exchanging a few steps.

Their gazes locked, and even in the darkened room, Vivian knew the look she read in those blue depths. Desire.

They weren’t dancing—they were playing with temptation. Which was exactly what Vivian was
trying to avoid. Colton was on his way—and it was a path that Vivian wouldn’t follow. She had to remember that.

Except every time he touched her, or looked at her, she forgot.

The square of parquet flooring crowded with couples, moving in and out, dancing a busy pace to the steady beat of the music. The crush of bodies pushed Colton and Vivian together, his arm settling around her waist as if it had always been there.

“Well?” he asked. “Are you dating anyone now? I don’t see a ring on your finger—” he held up her hand as proof “—so I know you aren’t married.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Then…”

The question hung there, and Vivian knew it was more than just a friendly query. They both knew it. “Don’t, Colton.” She turned away, trying to avoid the question, not just between them, but in his eyes.

“You know, every once in a while, I think back to those days in college, and I wonder why didn’t we stay together? I think we would have been good.” His voice seemed as dark and intimate as the room around them.

Vivian let out a little laugh. “Come on, Colton. We’d never have worked out.”

“Maybe we would. Maybe we wouldn’t.” He closed the gap even more, and Vivian’s pulse began to race. On the dance floor, their body parts brushed,
each step making them exchange a feather of a touch. Another. A third. “I can tell you one thing, Vivian.”

“What’s that?” The words were a breath, and she knew she was definitely in trouble now. Dancing with Colton had been a bad idea. This wasn’t fun…

It was
danger.

“I’d never leave you for my receptionist. And I’d never kiss another woman in a bar.”