Strawberry Wine (23 page)

That got her attention. She narrowed her eyes at him, but wouldn’t ask him to elaborate. He didn’t keep her waiting.

“Your Jason will more than likely be serving jail time by then.”

Alli pressed her lips into a flat line. He could see the doubt and worry in her eyes.

“It doesn’t have to be this way Alli. I can make sure he doesn’t go to jail.”

“You’ll drop the charges?” Her hopeful tone tugged at his heartstrings. First love was a powerful drug. It wasn’t going to be easy to detoxify the girl.

“No. I can’t in good conscience drop the charges. What I can do, and
will
do, is make sure Jason serves no jail time, providing you and I can come to an agreement.”

She regarded her father warily. “What sort of an agreement?” She asked.

Bill took a deep breath. He had her right where he needed her. “You agree not to have any contact with him until you have graduated.” Alli was confused. She would graduate before her eighteenth birthday. “With your
bachelors
degree.” He clarified.

Alli’s eyes widened. Bill continued before she could say anything. “Think about it Alli. If he’s in jail you wouldn’t be seeing him before then anyway. If he is as in love with you as you seem to think, waiting for you to finish your education shouldn’t be an insurmountable obstacle.”

“You have to let me tell him-”

“
No contact
. That’s my offer.”

And she had taken it. She couldn’t bear the thought of Jason rotting in jail because of her lies. She also fully intended to break the agreement and get a message to Jason, but in the wake of the scandal he had disappeared from all social networking sites, and the email address Alli had for him was through the school district and obviously no longer viable.

A fresh wave of grief hit Alli as she remembered going to the Taylor’s the day after she graduated. She hadn’t expected Jason to still be there, and he wasn’t. What surprised her though was Mary Taylor’s dismissive demeanor, and her unwillingness to tell Alli where to find Jason.

“Alli, Jason has moved on, and I wish you all the best in doing the same.”

That hadn’t stopped Alli from looking for him. She even went so far as to hire a private investigator. How hard could it be to find a registered sex offender? Well, as it turned out, it was impossible. Especially when unbeknownst to Alli, her father sabotaged her efforts.

The fact that Alli had found Jason again despite all of those difficulties confirmed for Alli that they were fated to be together. She just couldn’t entertain the idea that he wouldn’t take her back. He
had
to.

“Mary, Jason, I’m so glad you could join us tonight.” Linda hugged Mary in welcome and gave Jason a peck on the cheek before accepting the bottle of wine he offered her.

“Is this some of your famous strawberry wine?” Linda asked, looking over the label.

Mary smiled and shook her head. “No, but I can bring some more by if you’d like to try it. We thought a white would go better with dinner.”

Jason followed the women into the dining area as they chattered amiably about fermented grape juice. He was determined to put on a happy face tonight. There had been no way around Linda’s dinner invitation, and he was grateful to have his mother here with him to help run interference while he did his best to avoid both of Linda’s daughters for very different reasons.

He smirked mentally at the irony of his mother having wanted to arrange just such a dinner a few short weeks ago.

Alli and Margot were bustling around the kitchen, playing sous chef and kitchenhand to Gran’s executive chef. Gran had wanted to make her specialty chicken dish, but they had changed the menu to a vegetarian dish at the last minute because when Alli had opened the plastic wrap on the meat, she found it had gone bad.

Alli could hear her mother talking to their guests in the dining room. She couldn’t help noting her heart’s pace accelerating with the knowledge that Jason was on the other side of the door. She had tried every angle possible to get her mother to abandon her match-making plans. She was horrified at the thought of having to endure an entire evening of watching her mother throw her sister at Jason. Margot felt the complete opposite. She thought it was hilarious.

“Ooh, sounds like my hot date has arrived!” Margot chirped, taking off her apron and dramatically patting at her hair to be sure every piece was in place. Alli just rolled her eyes at her sister.

“Please
behave yourself.” Alli begged. She crossed her arms and leaned her hip against the counter. “
Quack!
” said her apron. Alli jumped away from the counter as if she had been electrocuted. Bernard gave the apron a suspicious growl and a half-hearted sniff before deeming it unworthy of further attention. Why anyone would make a novelty quacking duck apron was a mystery to Alli second only to the mystery of why her gran continued to buy them. She had quite the collection; There was a rooster, a frog, the duck Alli was currently wearing, and what appeared to be some kind of manatee. That was Alli’s best guess, anyway. The sound it made was more gas-like than anything she’d ever heard come out of a manatee.

“She’s right, Margot dear. Jason is Alli’s teacher. It wouldn’t be kind to embarrass him or your sister for a cheap laugh. Isn’t that right, Bernard?” Gran made a kissy face at the dog and dropped him a piece of carrot. “Not to mention, he is a delightful young man.” Gran caught Alli’s eyes and gave her a ghost of a smile. “A girl could do a lot worse than Jason Taylor.”

Alli’s stomach dropped out from her middle.
What exactly was that secret smile supposed to mean? Did Gran know? No. She couldn’t possibly...
Alli tried to catch Gran’s attention again, but the older woman was suddenly very busy bringing dishes out to the dining table.

Alli was the last to leave the kitchen and join the rest of the party in the dining room. Linda had just introduced Margot to Jason.

“Oh, we’ve met.” Margot was saying. “Isn’t that right, Jason?”

Jason smiled politely and nodded his head. “Yes, briefly. At Alli’s birthday fête if I’m not mistaken.”

Margot snorted a laugh at Jason’s tongue-in-cheek description of the diner incident and turned to Alli. “He’s funny. Your English teacher is funny, Alli.”

Alli smiled warily. “Yeah. Mr. Taylor is a regular comedian.”

Jason met her gaze. She was clearly on edge, and even more nervous about this forced get-together than he was. He didn’t like to see her so high-strung. “That’s a lovely apron, Ms. Wilson. I had no idea you were so fond of water fowl.” He arched a single brow and gave her a crooked smile.

Alli quickly pulled off the offending garment and Jason immediately regretted drawing her attention to it. Underneath the apron she was wearing a scooped neck dress with small capped sleeves. It showcased a large expanse of creamy skin, broken only by the delicate silver chain that held the tiny goat charms he had given her. The light from the overhead lamp winked off the shiny silver and Jason ran his thumb over the tips of his fingers, remembering the night he had clasped it around the column of her neck.

“So! Let’s eat.” Margot said loudly at the exact moment Mary said, “Everything looks lovely!” Both of them obviously trying to fill in the deafening silence.

“Jason, you sit here, across from Margot.” Linda indicated which chair he should take before directing Mary and Alli where to sit as well. Linda and Gran sat at the head and foot of the table respectively, Papa and Mr. Taylor having opted to attend a poker game rather than sit through a forced dinner date. Alli wadded her apron and tossed it on to a side table. “
Quack
.” it said as she took her seat.

The dinner was delicious, made all the more so for Alli by Margot, who decided to entertain herself by calling attention to how poorly matched she and Jason would be every time Linda tried to find a commonality between them.

“Jason is a painter.” Linda announced. “Margot loves painting - don’t you Margot.”

Margot turned toward Alli so her mother couldn’t see her face. She shot Alli a quick wink before beaming a sickeningly sweet smile at her mother and answering, “Not in the traditional sense. I’m more appreciative of graffiti artists in an urban landscape. You know, like Banksy, or Bab2.”

Jason caught on to her game immediately and decided to play along. He flipped through his mental rolodex of the things he knew about Margot from Alli. She loved the city... She was saving up to buy a motorcycle... She played the saxophone - ah ha! Perfect.

“Oh. A graffiti enthusiast, huh? I don’t understand how the defacement of property can be considered art.” Mary perked up at her son’s words. She knew for a fact that he liked Banksy. “In my opinion, graffiti is to art what jazz is to classical; An insult.”

Alli choked on a laugh, quickly turning it into a cough. She kept her eyes downcast and tried not to giggle as Jason and Margot proceeded to argue politely about everything from politics to religion and all the topics in between. By the time dessert was brought out Linda had given up any and all hope she had harbored of ever having success as a match-maker.

“Thank you for a lovely evening.” Jason said to Linda as he helped his mother on with her coat. “Margot, it was a pleasure getting to know you better.”

Linda mustered up a defeated smile and Margot graced Jason with an impish smirk. “Likewise. My sister is a very lucky girl.” Linda furrowed her brow in confusion and Margot hastened to add, “A good teacher is a Godsend.”

Jason’s eyes flashed briefly, and he turned toward Alli. “Ms. Wilson. Thank you for a delicious meal. I’ll see you on Monday.”

Alli nodded demurely but didn’t meet his eyes as she turned away from the door. Jason couldn’t bear the thought of leaving without knowing if she was at least more relaxed than she had been at the start of the evening. “Uh, Alli?” He heard himself call out.

She stopped and looked up at him. “Hmmm?”

He was relieved to see the tightness around her mouth had left, and her eyes were soft, if still a bit sad. He quickly floundered for something to say. “I... ah... don’t forget your essay is due on Monday.” He narrowed his eyes, silently apologizing for how patronizing he sounded.

“I know.” She answered. “Thanks.”

Alli turned from the door to see Gran giving Linda an encouraging pat. “Don’t look so disappointed, my dear. You can’t force these things.”

Linda nodded morosely. “They would have made such a lovely couple...”

Gran chuckled deep in her throat. “The heart wants what the heart wants.” And there it was again. That knowing smile being directed right at Alli. This time there was no mistaking it. Alli smiled back, and quickly excused herself to clean the dinner dishes.

Doug sat at the counter, staring at Jason in disbelief. Finally he shook his head slowly back and forth and took a pull on his beer bottle. “I don’t even know what to say.”

Jason set his own beer down on the counter with a clunk. “Don’t patronize me Doug.”

“Patronize you? I’ll do a whole lot more than patronize you Jason. Have you really forgotten what that girl has cost you? Uh, well, let’s see,” Doug set his beer down and started counting off on his fingers. “Your career, you are a
registered sex offender
, you can’t go-”

“Enough.” Jason cut Doug off. He didn’t need Doug to tell him what Alli had cost him. He was very well studied in that matter.

Doug looked contrite. The vehemence in Jason’s voice had taken the wind out of Doug’s sails. “I just don’t get it, brother. You’re my oldest friend, and I hate to see you suffering. Nothing has caused you more suffering than
that
girl. So why? Why
that girl
? What is it about her?”

Jason looked down into the neck of his bottle but didn’t say anything. Doug continued. “Laurel really liked you, you know. What happened between you two?”

Jason’s head snapped up to look at Doug. “What did she say happened?” He asked.

Doug shrugged. “Nothing. But obviously something happened because one minute she was all about you, and the next she said she couldn’t see a future with you. I figured you must have done
something
to screw it up. Now that I know Alli is back in the picture I can only surmise it had something to do with her.”