Sealing the Deal (9 page)

“Are you doing this because of Aubrey?” Jules asked, drawing Beth out of her thoughts.

Although her anger at the rejection had faded, Beth wasn’t ready to let Jules entirely off the hook. She still thought it was odd that Jules wouldn’t let her nanny take care of Emma. “Not completely. It will be great to have Robert watching Emma.”

“We can talk about it more… maybe?” Jules’s voice held little promise that she’d change her mind.

So why even offer? Beth cut her off before she could say anything else to stir the anger back up. “No need. Robert’s oldest niece runs a day care out of her house. She’s going to take Emma when Robert and I can’t be with her. Since he works from home a lot, it won’t be too many hours.”

“That’s asking an awful lot of commitment from him,” Dani said. “Especially if you two aren’t even dating.”

“She’s right,” Mallory chimed in. “Why’s Robert willing to take on all this new responsibility?”

The same question Beth had asked herself a million times. She kept coming back to the same entirely inadequate answer. “We’re friends, and friends help each other out.”

Mallory didn’t look convinced. “Robert must be in a hurry to get you and Emma under his roof. Ben’s been pulled off the house in Windsong to work on Robert’s… um… your… er… the house you two are going to share.”

Mallory’s husband was one of the best contractors in the county. Ben liked being his own boss and wasn’t ready to commit entirely to Ashford Homes, but Robert used his services whenever he had a client who was overly particular or one he wanted to impress. Ben had done a lot of the work on the house Robert was moving into. Seemed like Ben would be putting on the finishing touches as well according to Mallory.

“I’m glad,” Beth said, shifting her coffee between her hands. “Then it’ll be perfect.”

“What about gossip?” Dani asked. “You’re telling us that there’s nothing going on between you and Robert, but do you think everyone in Cloverleaf will believe that?”

“I’m not that naïve.” With a sigh, Beth said, “We’ll just make it clear that we’re friends sharing a fantastic house for the good of a poor orphaned baby.”

Jules let out an inelegant snort, the first sign of her normally vocal sense of humor. “You make Emma sound like Oliver Twist.”

“I was being facetious,” Beth retorted, but she smiled as well. She’d laid it on a little thick. “The people who know me will understand.”

“But will the parents or Jim Reinhardt or the school board?” Mallory drew her lips into a grim line. “Cloverleaf is stuck in the 1950s, Beth. There could be repercussions for your job.”

“Not if they don’t want me to sue their butts from here to Timbuktu.” And Beth meant it. There were no laws against adults cohabitating, married or not. “It’s time for Cloverleaf to take a leap forward in time. There’s nothing wrong with Robert sharing a house with me and Emma. Even if we were a couple, that’s no one’s business but ours.”

She might be cavalier with her friends, but Beth’s gut tightened. Being the center of attention anywhere except her classroom made her uncomfortable. She wasn’t like Jules, craving the spotlight. The idea that living with Robert would make her the target of gossip, something that plagued Cloverleaf, almost made her change her mind.

Jules had been fiddling with her cell phone more than paying attention to the conversation. She got to her feet and hefted her purse off the floor. “I’ve got a house showing in fifteen minutes.” She directed her gaze at Beth. “I take it you don’t want to see those houses tomorrow.” Sarcasm dripped from her words.

“No, but thanks for arranging them,” Beth replied. Things between her and Jules were tense enough that the other Ladies had to be picking up on it. Hopefully, time would soothe the rift.

“See you all later.” On that, Jules strode out of the coffee shop. The bronze bell hanging at the entrance rang as she opened and closed the door.

“I should head out, too,” Dani said. “I’ve got a crapload of papers to grade.” She frowned at Beth. “Call me if you want to talk.”

Beth nodded, but the only person she had any intention of talking to was Robert.
He
understood.
He
cared. After Jules let her down, she began to fear her friendships with the Ladies meant more to her than they did to the three of them.

“Mallory?” Dani asked. “You coming?”

“Go on, Dani,” Mallory replied. “I wanna talk to Bethany for a second.”

Bethany
. What Mallory always called her whenever she was frustrated with her. Just like a mother getting ready to scold a child.

Dani left on a snarky, “All righty, then.” The bell marked her departure as it had Jules’s.

“Why do I get the feeling you’re going to start in on me, too?” Beth asked. Her coffee was empty, and the smell of the freshly baked muffins called to her. Baked goods were always her favorite comfort food, but she wouldn’t wolf one down with model-thin Mallory staring at her.

“You’re really moving in with Robert?” Mallory asked.

Beth nodded, not feeling the need to keep justifying her choice by explaining it yet again.

“But there’s nothing romantic? Nothing at all?”

Shouldn’t lying to friends get easier with each new telling? “Nope. Nothing at all.”

“I don’t believe you.” Where Jules was brutally honest, Mallory used tact. Those four words were a polite way of her calling Beth a liar.

Which she was. She simply shrugged. “Believe what you want.”

“Bethany… We all care about you. You know that. But I also know you’ve had a crush on Robert for a long time.”

“A crush? You make me sound like one of my students.”

“Then call it something else,” Mallory countered. “An attraction. An infatuation. Desire.”

“What makes you think I’m attracted to Robert?” If Mallory saw how Beth felt, surely others would as well. Just more fodder for the gossips…

“It’s the way you look at him when you’re together, and you can stop looking like you’re about to have a panic attack.” Mallory let out a little chuckle. “I doubt anyone else sees it as clearly as I do. Or am I wrong?”

Beth stood at a crossroads. Here was her chance to confide in someone about her feelings for Robert and what her fears were about why he was inviting her and Emma to move in. Mallory was someone she could trust to not repeat anything Beth told her, not even to Jules or Dani. Probably not even to Ben.

But if Beth confided in Mallory and Dani found out, she’d be hurt. Dani had always been Beth’s closest friend. Her confidante. If Beth was going to spill her guts to anyone, it should be Dani.

If Ben found out, he’d probably go right to Robert. The last thing Beth wanted was Robert knowing she was jealous that he seemed to want Emma in his life more than her.

Mallory’s hand covered Beth’s where it rested on the table. “It’s okay. I understand. I just… I’ve always felt like I owe you, and helping you with this would be my way of paying you back.”

“Why would you owe me anything?” Beth asked.

“You were the one who helped Ben and I reconcile.”

When Ben had come to Beth to ask for help when he and Mallory had temporarily split up, she’d arranged a big event at Douglas High’s volleyball team’s senior night. Ben showed Mallory how much he supported her in her breast cancer battle by letting Beth shave him bald right in front of everyone. Then he’d gotten down on one knee to propose. How could Beth resist helping true love find a way?

Beth waved Mallory’s comment away. “If I hadn’t helped him, you’d still have worked it out. You two are meant for each other.”

“Just like I think you and Robert are supposed to be together. And for heaven’s sake, learn to take a compliment! Ben said all he did was ask for your help, and voilà, there’s Ben in the center of the gym. Not only did you give him the perfect way to apologize and make amends, but you also raised a couple thousand dollars for breast cancer research.”

“It was nothing.”

“To me, it was a helluva lot more than
nothing
.” Mallory leaned back. “I—
we
—want to help you. Raising Emma won’t be easy, and you’ll need your friends’ help. Don’t shut us out.”

Which was exactly what Beth had been doing. Beth needed to hear the warning, but she’d already made up her stubborn mind, probably because of Jules’s rejection at the first favor Beth had asked of one of her friends.

Instead of tossing out yet another lie, Beth said, “Robert will be there for Emma. You should see him with her. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was his biological daughter.”

“Why do you think he’s so attached to her this quickly?” Mallory asked.

Since Beth had asked herself the same question over and over, she gave the answer she’d finally arrived at. “I think he’s finally ready to settle down.”

“Turning forty will do that to a guy,” Mallory said with a smirk. “So you think this is a midlife crisis?”

“Not at all. He loves Emma. I have no doubt of that. He talks about how smart she is, even claims she’s brighter than any of his nieces and nephews.”

“But how does he feel about you?”

Beth hesitated, not sure she was ready to confront her fears let alone share them with Mallory.

“Beth?”

“We’re just friends, Mallory. That’s all.” How could she tell any of the Ladies how afraid she was that Robert wanted Emma and was willing to settle for Beth since they were a package deal? He was so open about how he felt about Emma, and although he was physically attracted to Beth, that didn’t mean he held any true affection for her.

With a frown and a shake of her head, Mallory pushed her chair back and stood up. “Be careful.”

“With Robert?”

“That, and with the Ladies Who Lunch.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Beth asked. The statement held a note of threat that made her bristle.

“That means don’t push us all so far away that you can never find your way back.”

Chapter Eight

Beth looked around her classroom, tears blurring her vision. There were balloons, streamers, and hand-painted signs welcoming her back. Since the principal normally frowned on parties during school hours, she was shocked to see an enormous sheet cake on her worktable. Next to it rested a pile of paper plates, napkins, and plastic forks.

“Oh my…” She sniffed hard, willing herself not to cry in front of the kids. Her gaze swept the faces of the students in her Service Learning class, the clear organizers of this little gathering. Most were grinning, but a few girls had tears in their eyes as well. “Thank you all.”

For some odd reason, a teacher showing too much emotion freaked out students, as though teachers were supposed to constantly be in total control of themselves. Laughter was allowed. But tears? Never.

“This is so sweet.” Beth turned to see Mallory and Dani standing in the doorway, smiling.

No surprise the Ladies Who Lunch helped make this happen. While Beth’s students started bustling about, cutting the cake and handing it out, she went to her friends.

Brushing aside the guilty feelings that had dragged her down after the tempestuous lunch a few days ago, Beth hugged each of her friends and murmured her thanks.

“We’re glad to have you back,” Dani said before embracing Beth. Then she brushed away a stray tear. “Douglas High wasn’t the same without you.”

“We’ve missed you,” Mallory added with a quick hug. “Oh, and Jules is coming by soon. We’ll be the Ladies Who Lunch again today, if only for the half hour we have to eat.”

“That’ll be heaven.”

* * *

By the time lunch period rolled around, Beth was already exhausted. She’d have to dig deep to face the three classes she still had to teach. After being gone for almost three weeks, there was a pile of paperwork to do, grading would probably never end, and just catching up on absences and tardies took a good portion of her prep period. Her mother used to scold her for going to school and trying to teach when she was ill. Beth had always explained it was easier to be there and be sick than to try to get things ready for a substitute and get back up to speed when she returned.

As she pulled her classroom door shut, heading to meet with the Ladies, another pang ran through her. How was Emma? Was she getting along with the other kids? Did she miss her
matka
? Robert had started calling Beth that when speaking to Emma, claiming it was what he’d called his Czech mother. Beth loved him for finding the exact right thing. Tiffany would always be Emma’s “mommy,” but Beth was now her “
matka
.”

Matka sure misses you, Em
.

Mallory and Dani smiled when Beth swept into the break room at five minutes past noon—the same time she’d eaten with her friends year after year. After grabbing her food from the fridge, she plopped down in an empty seat. “Geesh. Feels like I’ve been gone forever.”

“Three weeks
is
forever in teacher years,” Dani replied.

“Where’s Jules?”

Mallory shoved the phone she’d been fussing with back in her sweater pocket. “On her way. Clearing security as we speak.”

Bethany owed all of them an apology, but she wanted to wait until Jules arrived so she could say the words just once. While they waited, she set out the leftovers from the supper Robert had bought her last night.

“Is that from China Teahouse?” Dani peered at the container.

“Yeah,” Beth replied. “Got carryout last night. Robert and I were exhausted after spending the whole day shopping for furniture.”

“Speaking of furniture, when are you moving in with him?” Mallory popped open her Diet Cherry Coke. “Ben’s working his cute little butt off to get it done quickly.”

“Robert’s packing his place up now.” Beth smirked. “Although he’s in the same predicament I’m in. Most of his furniture is falling apart. We’re donating a lot of it to Goodwill. I’m really excited, though. I get to pull my grandmother’s armoire out of storage for my bedroom.”

Dani arched a blond eyebrow. “You’ll, um, have your own bedroom? You’re not sharing the master?”

Just as Jules marched into the break room, Beth said, “I’ll have my own room. Besides, if Robert and I had slept together, don’t you think I’d have told you?”