Lavender Morning (18 page)

she’d often made cupcakes and cookies for Miss Edi’s fund-raiser tea parties didn’t count as actual cooking.

But Luke’s talk of an herb garden and Joce’s memory of the lavender cookies she used to bake had made her

think of a kitchen and a…well, of a home.

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She looked in the refrigerator and saw that there were eggs, milk, orange juice, and bread in there. She

frowned for a moment, then shook her head in wonder. It looked like while she’d been out with Luke yesterday

evening, someone had put them in her refrigerator. Sara? Ramsey? Somehow, she didn’t think it was Tess.

She used one of the pans from the day before to make herself scrambled eggs and toast and ate while

looking about her. If she did have the money to remodel the kitchen, what would she do to it? Gut it and put in

lots of granite and recessed lighting? The very thought made her shiver.

Before she knew it, it was after ten and she needed to get dressed to go meet Ramsey.

Jocelyn had heard of The Trellis restaurant and knew that it was quite upscale, so she put on her new

oatmeal-colored linen trousers and her new pale pink knit top. Ramsey seemed to like her in conservative,

feminine clothes.

Her suitcase was still on the floor, not yet fully unpacked. In the back, in the big zipper compartment, she

pulled out a framed photo of her and Miss Edi. It was the only one she had. Bell had taken it one sunny day after

she’d received a digital camera for her birthday. Of course the Steps hadn’t been invited to Miss Edi’s house,

but both the Steps liked to show up unannounced—as though they hoped to see something they shouldn’t.

“What do you get out of staying over there all the time?” they used to ask. “The house is boring, and the old

woman is mean. There’s nothing to
do.
”

Jocelyn didn’t bother to reply—which made them furious. Why try to explain to two girls who only thought

of how they could decorate their bodies?

Jocelyn had known better than to ask for the photo—the Steps would never be so kind as to just plain give

it to her. At best, they’d make her pay for it by doing something for them, such as writing a couple of school

papers. At worst, they’d destroy the photo just for the pleasure of doing so.

In the end, she waited until the twins went out, then she’d taken the card from the camera, copied the

photos onto her laptop, and put the card back. Later, the Steps taunted her with the picture, since they knew

she’d want it, but Jocelyn just shrugged. As she knew they would, they erased the picture off the disk.

Now, she put it on her bedside table. She and Miss Edi were standing side by side in front of a Mr. Lincoln

rosebush. The deep red of the rose contrasted nicely with Miss Edi’s white linen dress. She was smiling at

Jocelyn in a way that showed her love, and Joce was smiling back in the same way. When she first saw the

picture, Jocelyn understood more of why the Steps were so jealous of her. Not even their doting mother looked

at the twins like Miss Edi was looking at Jocelyn.

With another glance at the clock, she hurried to finish dressing, and was soon running down the steps to the

front door. When she opened it, she gasped. Three women were standing on her doorstep, and she nearly ran

into them.

“So sorry to have frightened you,” said one woman.

“You’re off to see Ramsey, aren’t you?” asked the second. She had on jeans and a T-shirt and looked too

young to have gray hair.

She’d seen them at church, had even been introduced to them, but she couldn’t remember their names. For

all she knew, one of them was Ramsey’s mother. Or Luke’s.

“I’m sorry but I can’t stay. I’m late as it is,” Joce said.

“That’s all right, he’ll wait for you,” said the third woman. “We came to get our dishes and to see how

you’re doing. Did you like the squash casserole I made?”

“I, uh…,” Jocelyn began. She didn’t know whose dish was what.

“Don’t mind her,” said the woman in jeans. “We all know what you did with the food. That was Tess’s

idea, wasn’t it? And noble of you girls to do that.”

“Yes,” said the first woman. Her hair was dyed a dark red that looked good on her, and by the roll around

her middle, she didn’t bother going to a gym. “We know how noble Tess is.” She rolled her eyes when she said

it and looked like she wanted to giggle.

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The way they spoke of Tess made Joce give a silent thanks to Luke for not telling that he’d been in her

house after Ramsey left. She didn’t want these women rolling their eyes over her. “The dishes are on the table in

the kitchen,” she said as she went down the stairs to her car. “Help yourselves and thank you all so very much.

You’ve made me feel very welcome. I can’t possibly thank you enough.” She opened her car door and got

inside.

She put her hand out the window and waved as she went through the gates. The women were standing on

her doorstep, watching her. “I’ll probably be branded as the rudest Yankee ever to have moved to Edilean,” she

muttered under her breath.

Minutes later, she saw Ramsey’s office—and he was sitting on the sidewalk in front. Beside him was a big

picnic basket and under him was a folded quilt. When he saw her coming, he got up and put the quilt and the

basket over his arm. She pulled to the curb, he opened the passenger side, got in, and put the items in the back.

“Bigger than it looks,” he said, looking at the interior of the car.

“I bet you say that to all your dates.”

“Only a few of them,” he said in a husky way.

“So where are we going?” she asked even as she started to turn toward Williamsburg.

“No,” Ramsey said. “Go right.”

“But—”

“But what?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she said. “I just assumed we were going into Williamsburg.”

“I thought about it, but there’s time to do that later. I thought we might spend some time alone together.”

“‘Alone together,’” she said under her breath.

“What?”

“It’s just something I heard and I liked it. ‘Alone together.’”

“Turn here,” Ramsey said at a sign that said they were now leaving the State Wilderness Park. “Unless you

want me to drive?”

“No, I’m fine.”

“So how many ladies did you get this morning?” he asked.

“Surprisingly few. There were three of them on the doorstep as I left. I almost knocked them down.”

“So who were they?”

She glanced at him.

“Right,” he said, smiling. “You have no idea. Describe them.”

“Dark red hair, not natural. Not athletic.”

“‘Not athletic.’ How diplomatic of you. Ken’s mother. You haven’t met him, have you?”

“I thought I was going to meet him today, but you were outside waiting for me.”

“Tess’s idea. She said everyone would be staring at you, so if I actually wanted to talk to you, I should take

you away.”

“Ah,” Jocelyn said.

“I’m not sure that’s a good sound. What does ‘ah’ mean?”

“Luke said that Tess runs your life. In fact, everyone says that.”

“And she does a good job of it too,” Ramsey said. “Please tell me you’re insanely jealous and you’d like to

snatch her bald.”

Joce laughed. “Sorry, but no. She’s abrasive and has a chip on her shoulder the size of a mountain, but I

almost like her.”

“If you do, you’re only the second woman in town who does. You and Sara. The girls in the office are

terrified of her. They run into the restroom and talk about her so much that now if Tess is going in there, she yells

‘incoming’ then gives them three seconds to shut up.”

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‘incomin

3/16/2010 g’ then gives them three seconds to shut up.”

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“Why would they hate her for
that
?” Joce asked, wide eyed.

“Beats me,” Ramsey said, smiling. “Turn here, down this dirt road. There! That’s it. Park under that tree.”

She pulled under a big oak tree and got out of the car. Ramsey got out, then pushed his seat back and

removed the basket and quilt.

“Can you bear another picnic?” he asked.

It was beautiful where they were. Overhanging trees closed them in, and she could hear running water in the

distance. “If this is where the picnics are, I can stand them every day.”

“Come on, then,” Ramsey said as he started walking. She followed him down a path until they came to a

meadow that was covered in spring wildflowers.

It was while they were crossing the meadow that Jocelyn got the idea that Ramsey had something important

to tell her, something that he didn’t want to say in a public place, like his office or a restaurant. She hoped it

wasn’t something that was guaranteed to make her cry.

When he looked back at her, she said, “It’s beautiful here,” and gave no hint as to what she was thinking.

“Virginia on a bad day is still the best there is.”

“And this is a scientific observation?”

“Yes. Utterly without prejudice.” He was walking backward in front of her, through the meadow, the

sunlight glistening off his hair and his blue shirt. “Keep looking at me like that and we’ll never get back to the

office,” he said, teasing.

“Why, whatever do you mean, Mr. McDowell?”

When he reached a row of trees, he slowed as he walked into them and waited for her to catch up. “My

grandfather planted these trees,” he said once they were in the shade.

“Does that mean you own this land?”

“My sister and I do. She and her husband are building a house on the other side of the meadow.”

“Do you plan to build here?”

“Maybe,” Ramsey said. They had come to a little creek, with willows hanging over the water. “Do you like

this place?”

“Very much,” she said. “Where would you put your house?”

He gave her a sharp glance. “You’re worried that I’ll put in some concrete monstrosity in the middle of the

meadow, aren’t you?” He spread the quilt in the shade on a flat piece of land.

“It went through my mind.”

“Farther up is a site where an old house burned down. The trees are gone and it’s open land. I’d build

there and keep all this exactly as it is.” He motioned to the pretty little creek as he put the basket on the quilt and

opened it. “I have no idea what’s in here. Tess—” He broke off.

“Tess packed it,” Jocelyn said. “I know. I’m getting the picture. I guess you heard what we did with all the

welcome food that was left at my house.”

“Yeah,” Ramsey said, smiling. “Tess is like that. She thinks of people with less than she has.”

As Jocelyn looked at him, she again wondered how much was between him and Tess.

“Don’t you start too,” he said as he pulled a loaf of bread out of the basket, and she knew he meant

speculating on him and Tess. “If this is from Aunt Ellie’s store, you can bet that it’s half twigs and a quarter

bark.”

“You don’t like it?”

“Love it!” he said loudly, then lowered his voice, “but sometimes when I’m out of town I order a tuna on

white. Not whole wheat, but plain ol’ white bread. Every time I do it, I expect Aunt Ellie to run through the door

and lecture me on my digestive system.”

“Tell her that white bread goes well with tequila.”

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At that, Ramsey gave a laugh. “You have picked up a lot about our residents, haven’t you?”

“One or two things.” She got on her knees, brushed his hands away, and began to unpack the basket. It

was full of things that she loved: brie, crackers, olives, three kinds of berries, what looked to be homemade pâté,

coleslaw, and bottles of juice. “Lovely.”

“It’s my guess that Tess watched what you ate yesterday, memorized it, and applied it to the basket.”

“How scientific,” Jocelyn said as she spread the meal on the quilt. There were plates in the bottom, and she

put them out. She unscrewed the cap off a bottle of juice and started to pour some into a paper cup, but he took

the bottle. She watched as he put it to his lips and drank. She liked that he didn’t “swallow” the rim, but put his

upper lip across the top.

She looked out at the stream and said, “Would you like to tell me whatever it is that you’re dreading telling

me?”

He gave her a look of astonishment and shook his head. “Remind me never to play poker with you. What

did I do to give myself away?”

“I don’t know. There just seems to be something serious in your eyes today. And from what I gather,

taking me out here on a second date is out of character for you.”

“The curses of living in a town where people know me,” he said, but he didn’t smile. “I haven’t been to bed

all night. My father and I stayed up, and he told me what I’ve come to think of as the Great Family Secret.”

“And now you have to share it with me? Is it as bad as all that?”

“Maybe,” Ramsey said, looking away from her. “It depends on how you take it.”

“So tell me,” she said.

He filled a plate with food and took his time before saying anything. “Miss Edi and my grandfather were

great friends, and they exchanged letters until he died. Even when I was a little kid, he read the letters to me, and

as he got older, I read them to him. Miss Edi used to write a lot about you. She was proud of your intelligence,

but she never mentioned what a good observer of people you are.”