Romance on Mountain View Road (18 page)

The middle-aged woman he'd been sitting next to had been eavesdropping shamelessly and now joined the conversation. “Oh, I love the market. I always come home with one of those beautiful flower bouquets.”

And so the conversation continued, with two more women joining in. Jonathan felt a little like he was in the middle of a cluster of rapidly multiplying cells, talking cells that made it hard to concentrate on what he wanted to say to Vanessa.

Dot and company finally left and Jonathan breathed a little easier. They'd stood talking for so long, he'd begun to worry that maybe they'd wind up accompanying him right to where Vanessa sat and listening in on their conversation.

Speaking of listening in... He turned to the middle-aged woman behind him. “Why don't you go ahead of me.”

“Oh, no. I don't mind waiting my turn.”

He could see her now, jumping into the conversation.
You want help with your love life? How interesting!
“No, it's okay,” he said, motioning her forward. Far away. Then he moved to the very end of the line.

It was an hour before everyone else had finished talking to Vanessa and Jonathan finally got his turn. She was wearing a wedding ring and a fat diamond. Jonathan tried to tell himself that because she was married, she was less intimidating. It didn't work.

“That's quite a pile of books,” she said. “Are you doing your Christmas shopping?”

“No.”
Impressive, Jonathan.
He pushed his glasses up his nose. “One's for my sister.” He set the book on the table. “Can you sign it to Juliet?”

“Sure.”

She personalized it and he put another book in front of her. “And for Anna.”

She signed that one and looked up expectantly.

He laid down two more. “And for Adam and Kyle. They're my friends.”

She smiled. “Your friends have good taste in books.”

“We all play poker. With Vance,” he added, nodding to where Vance stood at the register, along with the younger woman, bagging a book for one of the last customers.

“So you're one of Vance's buddies.”

Jonathan nodded again. “We all read your books. We're, um...” Oh, boy. This was going to sound so stupid. “We're...” He scratched the back of his head. “They make good textbooks.”

“Textbooks,” she repeated, and held out her hand for the last copy.

Jonathan passed it over. “Can you sign this one to me?”

“And you are...?”

“Oh, uh, Jonathan.”
The village idiot.
His face burned.

“So, Jonathan, tell me more about how my novels make good textbooks.”

“Well, they're all about, uh, love. And getting it right. And my friends and I—we need to get it right.”

“I see.” She was serious now, and the teasing light was gone from her eyes.

Jonathan cleared his throat. “I need an expert.”

“I'm not exactly an expert.”

“When it comes to a guy being a hero, you are. Your men always know what to say and do.”

Now she looked uncomfortable.

“Not at first, maybe,” he hurried on. “But they figure things out. I need help figuring things out. So does my pal Kyle. Bernardo, well, he's got it together, but he'd love to meet you, anyway. And Adam, he's really in a mess. His wife is so mad at him she kicked him out. But they're gonna have their first kid. He's got to get his act together.”

“Sounds like it,” she agreed.

Good. She saw the need. Now he had to put it all on the line and ask. “I read on your website that you live here in Seattle, and I was hoping maybe you'd be willing to come to Icicle Falls and meet the guys, let them pick your brain. It's a great town. We'd pay for your lodging. And feed you.”

“What the hell are you doing?” demanded a gruff voice at his elbow.

Jonathan turned to see Vance scowling at him. The burn on his face got hotter. “I'm just seeing if Vanessa would like to meet the guys.”

“Jon, she's a busy woman. She has other appearances. Deadlines.”

Of course she did. He'd been stupid to think a big-name author would have time to come all the way to Icicle Falls and act as a personal love coach to him and his friends.

“When?”

Jonathan blinked. “What?”

“When?” Vanessa repeated.

“Vanessa, you don't have time for this,” Vance told her.

“Maybe I do. For your friends,” she added, sounding more like his mother than his guest author. “Anyway, Pat from Mountain Escape Books was asking me earlier if I'd like to come up and do a book signing. That would be fun. So, when were you thinking?” She looked expectantly at Jonathan.

“Uh, Friday night?”

She nodded. “Absolutely. It so happens that I'm free this weekend. You can show me around town on Friday and I can meet your friends. Then I'll sign books at the store on Saturday.” She turned to Vance. “I think it's high time some of your friends met Vanessa Valentine, Vance. Don't you?”

Vance didn't look at all happy to share. “Just remember what I told you,” he cautioned Jonathan. “She's not Dear Abby.”

No. She was even better.

He called Kyle as he walked to his car. “I just scored big-time.”

“Yeah?” Kyle sounded surprised. “With who?”

“Vanessa Valentine.”

“What!”

“I just met Vanessa Valentine.”

“And she slept with you?” Kyle asked, incredulous.

“No, you dork. I didn't score
that
way. I asked her to come and meet with us on Friday and...she's coming.”

“Seriously?”

“Yep.”

“Oh, man, that rocks.”

“We're gonna have to put her up somewhere, though. Can you chip in?”

“Where?” Kyle asked suspiciously.

“I'm thinking Icicle Creek Lodge.”

“That's kind of pricey.”

“She's a big-name author. I've got to put her someplace nice. And the lodge is the nicest place in town.”

“Yeah, I guess you're right. Count me in,” Kyle said.

“Me, too,” Bernardo agreed when Jonathan called him. “I'm going to have her sign every book of hers we own. Anna will be thrilled.”

“You're shittin' me,” Adam said when Jonathan got home and shared his big news.

“Nope. She's coming.” Jonathan pulled a beer from the fridge and plopped down on the couch. “This is gonna be
great.
”

The only one who didn't think it was going to be great was Vance. “You guys are a bunch of clucks,” he said when Jonathan called to see if wanted to throw in some bucks toward her lodging and entertainment.

Maybe, but they were an excited bunch of clucks. The rest of the week, when he wasn't busy with customers, Jonathan spent his free time cleaning. Adam pitched in, too, ordering flowers from Lupine Floral and, on Friday, picking up fancy cream puffs from Gingerbread Haus. Bernardo and Kyle contributed champagne and chocolate and a scented candle because, according to Kyle, Jonathan's place smelled like dog.

Vanessa arrived in town around noon on Friday and, squired by Vance, met Jonathan for lunch at Schwangau. He was having lunch with Vanessa Valentine. He could hardly believe it.

“You know, this is one of my favorite restaurants,” she confessed as they were seated in at a corner table.

“You've been here before?” Jonathan asked, surprised.

“A couple of times, when I've come up to see my brother.”

“You have a brother who lives here?” Who the heck was her brother?

“Oh, yes. He doesn't invite me here very often, which is too bad since I love the shops.”

“He probably realizes how busy you are,” Vance said.

“Family is important, though. You know that, Vance.”

“Of course,” he said, and looked distinctly uncomfortable.

“I bet you didn't know Vance has a daughter,” Vanessa said to Jonathan.

“Yeah, I heard.” Jonathan didn't normally get nosy but he couldn't help asking, “Does she live anywhere around here?”

“Over in Seattle. She's a good kid,” Vance said.

“Yes, she is. And Vance is a good father.”

Jonathan noticed the way Vanessa smiled at Vance when she said that. There was some emotion packed into that smile. Did Vance have something going with this woman? Maybe they were just friends. Close friends.

“That's enough about me,” Vance said firmly. “Why don't you tell Jonathan about the new book you're working on.”

“Well, I don't know too much about it yet. I'm still getting to know my characters.”

“I guess it takes a while,” Jonathan said.

“It can. It's not easy being a writer.” She flashed Vance a smile. “People don't always understand you.” Now she sobered. “And a lot of writers have a tendency to bury themselves in their work and hide from life.”

Vanessa didn't strike Jonathan as the type of person to hide from life and he said so.

“You'd be surprised,” she said.

Vance picked up his menu. “So, what looks good? I think I'll have the sauerbraten.”

The rest of lunch was taken up with conversation, mostly Vanessa talking about the different cities she'd visited on her book tours and how glad she was to have some time at home with her husband and her cats.

But then it got personal. She wanted to know how Jonathan had discovered her and what, specifically, he'd learned from reading her books.

“I've made a list,” he confessed, “but I'm not sure how to follow it.”

Vance sighed loudly. “This stuff between men and women, you can't learn it from a book. You've got to get out there and live it.”

“And keep living it,” Vanessa said, looking pointedly at Vance.

He shook his head. “I'm too old for that.”

“You're never too old for love,” she insisted. “And it's never too late to learn,” she said to Jonathan. “But I don't know if I'm the one to teach you.”

She wasn't going to back out, was she? “No, you are. You're the closest thing to an expert we've got.”

She leaned back in her seat and studied him. “You poor, deluded man.”

“So, who's for dessert?” Vance asked.

After lunch, they visited Pat at Mountain Escape Books. Then Vanessa wanted to shop. “I'd love to go in that cute little shop with all the nutcrackers in the window,” she said. “Oh, and the one with the imported lace.”

Jonathan wasn't interested in nutcrackers or imported lace. And he wasn't wild about running into Tina, which they were bound to do since the lace shop was hers, but he valiantly said, “Sure.”

“I can take her if you need to work,” Vance offered, clearly anxious to be rid of Jonathan.

Now Jonathan knew what was going on. Vanessa was Vance's Lissa. She considered him a good friend; he wanted it to be more. But it couldn't be. Vanessa was married.

And she obviously needed someone along to make sure Vance behaved himself. “I don't have anything planned,” Jonathan said.

Vance shrugged. “Fine.”

So the three of them went to the cute little shop with all the nutcrackers, where Vanessa bought several. “I always like to shop ahead for Christmas,” she explained.

Then they went to the lace shop, where Tina fawned all over Vanessa and looked frankly shocked to see that she was with Jonathan. “Jonathan, you never told me you knew Vanessa Valentine.”

As if he and Tina were good buds and he'd simply forgotten to mention it. He didn't even try to respond to that.

He didn't need to. Vanessa linked her arm through his. “Jonathan and I are friends. Aren't we, Jonathan?”

They were? “Uh, yeah.”

Once outside the shop she said, “Don't tell me, let me guess. That woman thinks she's better than you.”

Jonathan blinked. “Well. Yeah.”

Vanessa wagged a finger at him. “Don't ever let women like that intimidate you.”

His first advice from Vanessa Valentine. He wasn't sure he could follow it, but he appreciated it.

“I could have told him that,” Vance muttered.

“But I bet you didn't,” she retorted.

Vance just kept walking.

Vanessa dragged them from shop to shop for two more hours. They looked at everything from Christmas ornaments to funny hats. They visited Gingerbread Haus and Jonathan bought her one of Cass Wilkes's popular gingerbread boys. Then it was off for more shopping. Jonathan's feet were beginning to hurt. How did women have the stamina for all that shopping?

By five o'clock shops were starting to close. “I'll take you over to the lodge,” Vance said to Vanessa.

Did he want time alone with her? What was going on with these two? “Would you like to go out to dinner?” Jonathan asked. No matter what was going on, he was determined to be a good host.

“Actually, Vance and I need to discuss a few things,” Vanessa said, and suddenly Vance seemed uncomfortable.

“Uh, okay,” Jonathan said.

What the heck did they need to discuss? Whatever it might be, it was none of his business.

“I'll bring her by at seven,” Vance promised.

Jonathan had secretly hoped for a chance to talk to her about his situation with Lissa at some point during the day, but shopping had been all-consuming. So it looked like he'd have to wait until later, like the rest of the gang. He hoped she'd have time to solve all their problems.

By quarter to seven, four men, showered, shaved and dressed in their best clothes, waited in Jonathan's living room for their heroine to arrive.

Bernardo had brought a stack of books for Vanessa to sign for his wife. “Anna's pissed she didn't get to come,” he said.

“This isn't a party. This is serious business,” Adam said. “We need help.”

“Not all of us,” Bernardo informed him.

Vance's car pulled up outside.

“She's here,” Jonathan announced, his heart banging like a jackhammer. He pushed his glasses up his nose and started for the door.