Love Inspired November 2013 #2 (33 page)

Chapter Fourteen

D
avid couldn't be happier with his choice of locations for their first date. The food at Messina's was amazing, as evidenced by Laura humming her contentment with nearly every bite. He pinched his lips together to keep from laughing, and she noticed.

“I'm doing it again,” she said, shrugging. “I don't think I ever made noises when I ate before I got pregnant.” She picked up another bite of lasagna with her fork and grinned. “But I also don't remember enjoying eating quite this much before.”

“Personally, I think it's cute,” he said. “In fact, I think several things you do fall into the ‘cute' category.”

She paused her fork in midair and then slowly placed it back on the plate, one corner of her mouth lifting as she turned all of her attention to David. “Several things?”

He nodded, enjoying the flirtatious banter of their first date. “Several.”

“You realize you can't make a statement like that without elaborating,” she challenged. “So...what things?”

“What things do you do that I find cute?” he asked.

The other side of her mouth joined the first to give him a full smile. “Yes. Tell me.”

“Okay.” He wasted no time with his list. “The way your eyes glisten when you talk about your baby girls. The way you glance away at the bookstore when you catch me looking at you. The way your voice softens when you read to the kids in the book club, and the way I know that it'll do the same thing one day when you read to your little girls. And the way the base of your neck blushes when you're embarrassed, or flattered, or whatever it is that you are...right now.”

Her hand touched that small pink spot at her neck, and she looked down at her plate. “You sure do notice a lot, don't you?”

“When I find something interesting.”

She lifted her eyes back to his. “You find me interesting?”

“I always have.”

“I've always found you interesting, too.” She cleared her throat, and David thought for a moment that she'd say more, but then she pushed her plate away. “I'm done. Actually, I think I was done three bites ago, but it was too good to stop.”

He understood that they'd gotten a little more personal than she'd planned for their first date. But he was satisfied, sensing that they were growing closer, step by step. He finished off the last of his own lasagna and nodded. “Agreed, but I kept going, too.”

“It is that good, isn't it?” the waitress said, nearing the table with a tray of assorted desserts. “We have our famous tiramisu, pignoli nut pie and cassata.”

“Oh, I can't hold another bite,” Laura said, “but those do look amazing.”

“They are,” the woman said.

“We'll take a tiramisu to go.” David handed his credit card to her. Then to Laura he said, “You know you'll want it later.”

She laughed. “Didn't take you long to figure that out.”

The waitress nodded her approval then left the table to tally their check and get their dessert. A few minutes later she returned with the tiramisu boxed and bagged, David's card and receipt.

Laura started to stand, and David hurried to get up and help her out of her chair.

“I'm attempting to be a gentleman here.”

“And I'm getting more and more used to having one around,” she admitted. She leaned into him as they left the restaurant, the two of them admiring the elegant décor and also saying hello to a few people they recognized from town.

When they neared the exit, David opened the door and a blast of cold air pushed inside.

“Oh, my.” Laura turned her head away from the chilly wind.

David pulled the door shut. “Wait here. I'll go get the car.”

She nodded. “I'm not going to argue with you.”

* * *

Laura watched through the window as David walked across the parking lot toward his car.

“Excuse me.”

She turned toward the man. She'd seen him before at church but didn't remember ever being introduced. “Hello.”

“I'm Milton Stott,” he said. “David's accountant for the bookstore. You're the lady he hired, aren't you?”

Laura nodded. “I am. I love working there.” She glanced out the window and saw that someone had stopped David in the parking lot to talk, but she couldn't identify the man. She wished David would hurry. Milton seemed harmless enough, but he was definitely crowding into her three feet of personal space.

Then she realized why. He wanted to tell her something in private. His voice wasn't a whisper but just louder than one.

“I'm not trying to interfere in another person's business,” he said softly, “but when I saw you tonight, I couldn't live with myself if I didn't warn you. A woman in your condition and all.”

Laura turned her attention to the man. “Warn me? Warn me about what?”

“The bookstore,” he said. “I'm assuming you're, well, relying on it as your source of income?”

She blinked. “Yes, I am.” That was all she had for income until something came through at one of the school systems, which she didn't see happening before next fall. Then it hit her; this was David's accountant. He knew the true financial state of David's business. Laura had suspected that it wasn't doing well when she first arrived, but lately things had seemed so much better. “We've been doing very well,” she said, in case the guy hadn't checked the books in a while.

“I'm sorry, miss.” He shook his head, opened his mouth as though he were going to say something else, then stopped and pointed out the window. “Your ride is here.” And this time it was a whisper, then he returned to his table in the dining room.

Even though the man hadn't directly said anything about the stability of David's business, he'd certainly implied that things weren't going well. And if anyone would know, it'd be the accountant, right? Laura felt like she'd been kicked in the stomach. What else could she do if things didn't work out at the bookstore? Especially after she had the babies?

She stepped into the cold, and the wind made her eyes water and drip. Or that's what she would tell David, if he asked. Because now the fairy tale she'd begun to see was starting to disintegrate before her eyes.

David hopped out of the car and moved to open the door. “I've got another surprise for tonight,” he said. “I can't wait to take you...”

She forced a smile. “David, it's been such a long day, with work and then visiting the kids at the hospital and all. Would you mind taking me on home?”

* * *

David didn't know what had happened, but from the moment he'd helped Laura in the car at the restaurant, her disposition had turned a one-eighty. She'd been laughing, even flirty, throughout dinner, and now she stared out the window and didn't say a single word during the entire drive to her apartment. He parked the car by the rear entrance to Carter Photography. “You want to share the tiramisu before we end the night? That would at least put a little something special at the end of the date. I'd planned to take you to see the Christmas lights at Hydrangea Park, but tiramisu will do.”

She'd finally turned her attention away from the window, and David was fairly certain she'd passed her hand across her cheeks before facing him. Was she crying? A few rapid blinks and a forced smile told him she had been, and he couldn't fathom why.

“Hey, what's going on?” he asked. “I thought our date was going well. Did I do something, say something wrong?”

She shook her head and did that rapid-blink thing again to ward off her burgeoning tears. “Tonight,” she said, her voice raspy and raw, “was one of the best nights of my life. You didn't do anything wrong. You haven't done anything wrong at all, from the first day I came to Claremont.” Then she sighed and added, “You've never done anything wrong toward me, from the time that we first met at UT. In fact, everything you've ever done has been,” she sniffed, bit her lower lip and then finally said, “perfect.”

“Okay...” he said, confused beyond measure. “Then why are you so upset?”

“The pregnancy hormones, they make me emotional.”

“That's it? Because you seemed to be really enjoying yourself at the restaurant.” He'd noticed her sensitivity over the past few weeks, the way she bonded so intensely with the children and the way she'd worried about her parents. However, he'd never seen her emotions change this quickly, and he suspected there was a reason. But he had no clue what it was.

“David, I...” She hesitated. “I need to ask you something, and I want you to tell me the truth.”

As if he'd ever give her anything less than the truth. “Anything.”

“You'll tell me the truth, even if you don't think I want to hear it?”

He'd always told Laura the truth, even when she didn't want to hear it, like in college when he told her Jared wasn't right for her. Back then she didn't listen, but now, he could tell that she would. “I can't imagine what you don't already know, but yes, I'll tell you the truth. I promise.”

“You always have,” she said, reiterating David's very thoughts.

“So ask me what you need to know,” he said.

“The bookstore. Is it not doing well? And are you paying me when you can't afford it?”

Her questions blindsided him. He ran his hand through his hair, his jaw tensing as he instantly dreaded giving her the truth this time. “Why are you asking?”

“Your accountant was at the restaurant tonight,” she said. “He came to talk to me when you went to get the car, and he hinted that things weren't going well at the bookstore...at all.”

David was floored. He hadn't seen Milton at Messina's, but the restaurant by nature had several dimly lit areas to provide the customers with privacy. But this time, it'd given his accountant a chance to hide...until he apparently found a chance to speak to Laura alone. “What did he say, exactly?”

“He said he felt like he should warn me, and he asked if I was relying on the bookstore as a source of income. I think he was trying to help me.”

“Milton had no right.” David plunged his hand through his hair again then moved his fingers down to his neck and pushed against the tension spreading like wildfire.

“I'm sorry if I upset you,” she said.

“You didn't. He did.”

She fidgeted with the strap of her purse. “Is it true?”

“The bookstore has been doing better than ever since you came. I've told you that, and I meant it,” he said, keeping his voice calm in spite of his anger toward his accountant. He didn't want Laura feeling as though she'd done anything wrong by asking about the state of his business. Because of her, David thought he might actually make it into the black again by spring. “It's been amazing since you've put your touch on the place.”

Laura lifted her brows and tilted her head as though waiting for the “but” that she knew was coming. And in order to tell her the truth, David had to say it.

“
But
the problem is, it hasn't been doing that good for the past couple of years, ever since I inherited it. Or truthfully, it'd started going down years before. People are moving into the ebook market, and a lot of folks stopped shopping at a brick-and-mortar store. Or that's what I'd thought. It turned out, they just needed the place to offer events of interest, get books they wanted to read and promote them. Everything you've been doing. If I'd have started that two years ago, everything would be different now.”

“You're saying that our recent sales aren't enough, though,” she said.

“You shouldn't be worried about any of this,” David said. “And Milton may have just lost himself a client.”

“I really think he was only trying to help, David,” she said. “And I've...” She took an audible breath. “I've decided what I'm going to do.”

“What do you mean, what you're going to do?” David feared what she was about to offer, for her to stop working at the bookstore, because that was the exact opposite of what needed to happen. He
needed
her there. More than that, he
wanted
her there. “You don't need to do or change anything. You just need to keep helping me make it happen. We can do it together, Laura.”

He'd just started thinking that there could be something between them, more than friendship, more than a boss-employee relationship. This had been their first date! And, because of Milton, it'd gone from perfect to the perfect storm. Because he could see it in her eyes. Laura had made up her mind.

“You can run the things at the store on your own, and I can eliminate all of the expenses associated with my employment. Besides, I wasn't going to be able to keep coming in during those weeks after I have the babies, and honestly, I still didn't know how I was going to afford to put them in day care whenever I could start back to work,” she said, telling him exactly what he didn't want to hear.

“I told you...” he said.

She interrupted him. “I know you said I could bring them to the bookstore, but there's really no place there for babies, and I can't do that to you.” Another deep breath, and then she set her thoughts free. “I'm going back to Nashville, to my parents' home. Everything is going to be more settled there now that my dad has finally figured out what's been bothering Mom all these years. And they're happy to support me until I get a teaching job somewhere.”

“Laura, that's not what you need to do,” he said, but she opened the car door and started out without waiting for David to help her this time.

“I'm sorry, David. I'm going home.” And then she closed the door to the car...and slammed the door of his heart.

Chapter Fifteen

L
aura should've called her mother last night, but she didn't feel like talking about everything and only wanted to cry herself to sleep, which she did. Reluctantly, she dialed the number this morning. The phone rang once, twice and then Marjorie picked up.

“Laura, how are you, dear!”

Laura moved the phone away from her ear to make sure she dialed the right number. Her mother always had a polite greeting, but today she was practically singing. Sure enough, the display showed she'd dialed
Mom
.

“I'm—” she didn't want to lie to her mom “—I've been better.”

“Oh, honey, what's wrong? Is it the babies? I can come right now. Early labor? What are you feeling? Have you called the doctor?”

Laura should've thought about how close she was to her delivery date, merely a month away, before she said she wasn't doing well. “It isn't anything physically, Mom.”

“Aw, bless your heart. It's David?”

Over the past weeks, her mother had insisted that Laura had feelings for David. Laura never denied it, but she didn't specify the extent of those feelings before. Today, however, she would.

“I think I may love him.”

Her mother got silent on the other end and for a second, Laura thought she'd lost the connection. Then her mother's sigh echoed through the line. “Oh, honey, that's wonderful. I'd been so afraid that your heart was so torn by Jared that you wouldn't be able to fall in love again, at least not for quite a while. This, well, like I said, it's wonderful. Does he feel the same?”

“I don't know. I think he may feel the beginnings of something because he asked me out on a date.”

“When are you going out?” her mother asked.

“We went out, last night,” Laura said, and before her mother had a chance to start celebrating, she added quickly, “and it didn't end well.”

“Wh-what? How did it not end well? What do you mean?”

“I'm fairly certain that he took me in as a charity case. The bookstore has apparently had some rough years, and it doesn't look like he's going to catch up. I don't think he can afford to pay me. In fact, I don't think he's ever been able to afford it, but he's been doing it anyway.”

“The bookstore seemed to be doing well when I was there,” her mother said, “and your father said it was packed on Black Friday.”

“It is doing well now,” Laura said, “but his accountant hinted that it happened too late. And from the way David acted when I asked him how the business was doing, I'm afraid it's true.” She'd walked to the kitchen while they were talking then opened the refrigerator and stood there. Nothing looked appealing, and she thought she knew why. She didn't want to go back to Nashville, but she also didn't want to hurt David in any way. “Mom, I'm coming back home.”

“Here? To Nashville?”

“Yes. It's still okay for me to stay with y'all, isn't it? Until I have the babies and then find a job?”

Laura waited, and when her mother didn't readily answer, she asked again, “Mom? It is okay, right?”

“Well, yes,” her mother said. “Or, it would be-e...” She drew the word out. “I was going to wait and surprise you with our news, but now I'm not sure how we'd surprise you. We thought you loved Claremont and would be there for Christmas, and then stay there when the babies are born. We were kind of counting on it.”

“Counting on it?” Laura asked, closing the refrigerator door. “What does that mean?”

“I guess I'll start with the first part of our news,” her mother said. “I quit!”

“You quit what? Your job?”

“Yes, after twenty-one years of service, I left. Told them just last night. And I am so surprised at how great it feels to retire!” She paused. “Can you call it retiring if you're only forty? Anyway, whatever it is, I did it, and I'm thrilled!”

Laura was floored. Her mother quit work? “I'm glad you're happy, Mom, but why did you quit?”

“And that's the second part of our news. Your dad,” she giggled, “it sounds so funny to say this, but your daddy asked me to marry him again! I know you saw the ring and all—he told me you were with him when he picked it out. But you should've seen the proposal. He took me to the Opryland Hotel night before last and got down on one knee right there in the middle by that big fountain. Then he announced to everyone that he loved me and wanted to spend the rest of his life with me.” She laughed. “Can you believe that, Laura?”

“Yes, but I thought he was going to wait until Christmas. He told me to keep the secret.”

“That's the rest of our news. I quit because we want to enjoy each other more, and we want to enjoy those grandbabies we're about to have. So I was planning to come to Claremont for Christmas and stay there to help you until the babies came and then also stay after they were born for a while. If I don't have a job, I can do that. And your dad went ahead and asked me so I'd know his plans, and then I could decide whether I wanted to quit work and spend all of the holidays with you in Claremont. And—this is the best part—we're going to renew our vows at the little community church there that you said you love so much!”

“Here? In Claremont?”

“Yes. Your father called and reserved the church this morning. It's going to be extremely small, with the preacher there, Brother Henry I believe was his name, and you as my maid of honor and then David as the best man.”

“David?” Laura's head spun. “Dad is asking
David
to be the best man?”

“It seemed only natural, since we're having the ceremony in Claremont. Your dad has some good friends here, but none that want to travel to Claremont for us to renew our vows on Christmas. Everyone spends Christmas with family, and we're going to spend it with you.”

“And David.” Laura didn't plan to stay here more than long enough to pack her things. She couldn't be here at Christmas. She couldn't continue hurting David's business—or David, period—by sticking around. And she couldn't help but wonder if this wasn't the best thing anyway, her leaving town and severing this “relationship” or whatever it was with him before it really got started. His business was struggling, and he loved that bookstore, and he didn't need a dependent—a woman who was about to have two dependents of her own, no less. Talk about baggage.

“Honestly, when your dad mentioned him, I thought it'd be a great idea, since you two have been getting so close. Your dad is going to call him this morning. He may already have called, in fact. And you did say you think you may love him.”

“I also said I'm hurting him financially, and I have no way to fix that. David—” she swallowed “—he deserves so much.” Way more than she had to offer. Laura plopped down at the kitchen table and shook her head. What would she do now? “I can't let him take me in like a charity case.”

“You aren't a charity case.” David's voice came from behind her, and Laura whirled around to see he'd entered the kitchen from the front of the store.

“Oh, is that David? Tell him I said hello,” Marjorie said.

“Mom says hi,” she said miserably. This phone call was supposed to cement her return home; instead, it seemed her mother wasn't interested in doing anything but coming here. “I'm not going to stay and cause you to go further in the hole. I'm going home.”

“Oh, Laura, do you really think...” her mother began, but Laura cut her off.

“I'll call you back later, Mom. I have to go.” She disconnected and looked at the tall gorgeous man invading her kitchen. “How did you get in?”

“It's ten o'clock. Mandy opens the front door at ten, and I was waiting for her when she arrived. You're supposed to be arriving at the bookstore now, by the way.” He smirked. “You're late.”

“I just need to get my coffee mug,” Mandy said, entering the kitchen. She stopped in her tracks when she took a look at Laura. “Oh, uh, are you not working today?”

“No.” Laura then remembered looking in the mirror before she'd started down the stairs. Her hair was sticking out like a troll doll, and she'd been so upset last night that she hadn't taken time to match her pajama top to her pants. Consequently, her hot pink and neon green plaid maternity pajama pants clashed severely with her oversize Vols orange nightshirt and purple slippers. But Laura didn't care. She wasn't going to work, and she didn't invite David over. He could take her the way she came, which was messy. And fairly gross. Maybe this would convince him that he didn't want to keep her around after all.

“Yes, she's coming to work,” David said, deflating that idea, “if I have to drag her there.”

“You wouldn't dare,” Laura challenged.

“You think just because you're a little pregnant that I couldn't toss you over my shoulder and haul you down the street if I wanted?”

Mandy's laugh came out with force, and Laura shot her a look that promptly shut her up.

“S-sorry, Laura,” she said. “But the thought of you, as pregnant as you are, being hauled down the street on his shoulder...”

“It's not happening,” Laura said.

Mandy looked to David as if wanting affirmation.

“I'm not hauling her anywhere, especially when she's dressed like that,” he said.

“Hey!” Laura snapped, and Mandy laughed again, then grabbed her coffee mug and retreated to the gallery.

“I need you to work,” he said, “at least until Christmas.”

“David, your accountant insinuated that you didn't need to hire me, you don't need to pay me. If I went back home, that would help you. You can still do everything without me.”

“No, I can't. I need someone to run the
Boxcar Children
book clubs. I need someone to lead the women in their discussion this week about Rahab. They don't want to listen to me do it, and you know you're enjoying those meetings. Plus, there are the kids at the hospital. They look forward to you reading to them.”

“You could do that,” she said.

“Not like you. Are you really going to let them down? Could you live with yourself if you let Faith down? She looks forward to our visits each week, and she'll ask why you aren't with us. Seems to me she's gotten even more attached to you, probably since you're female, or maybe it's because you're having the babies. But in any case, I can tell Faith really likes you and enjoys your visits.
I'm
not going to tell her that you aren't coming back. If you're going to Nashville, you'll have to be the one to tell her.”

“You know I can't do that. I can't hurt her.”

“But you can hurt me?”

“I am hurting you, your business, every day I stay.”

“We've still got the holiday season. You never know what could happen at Christmas,” he said. “What if we sold enough for me to catch up on my line of credit and even see the bookstore make a profit? What if we could make it work...together? There is a possibility, but there isn't if I have to do it all on my own.”

“Milton Stott didn't think so,” she reminded.

“Then that's what we'll pray for.”

She grabbed an apple from the bowl of fruit on the table, rolled it between her palms as she thought about his suggestion. “You want me to stay until Christmas.”

“I do. And you really should anyway. It'd be a shame for you to miss your parents' wedding.”

She cut her eyes at him. “Daddy already called you?”

“I'm the best man. Of course he called.” He sat beside her at the table smiling as though he'd won first prize at the fair, then he reached for the apple in her hand, brought it to his mouth and took a bite.

“That's mine,” she said.

“Say you'll come to work, and I'll give it back.”

She glared at the apple. She hadn't really been all that hungry for it before, but now that David was teasing her, she wanted it. Now. “Just until Christmas. I don't want to let the kids down.”

He handed her the apple. “That'll work,” he said, “for now. And get dressed. You're late.”

Laura chomped a big bite of the apple, and he laughed, then turned and left the kitchen.