Welcome to Serenity

4

Because so many of her best clients were working women who could only come in for treatments on Saturday, Jeanette rarely had an entire weekend to herself. She liked it that way. Sundays seemed endless, especially the ones when she didn’t go to church. The day stretched ahead of her with too many empty hours.

How long could she possibly spend doing laundry or stocking her refrigerator for the few meals she ate at home? Serenity didn’t have a movie theater and she wasn’t interested in golf, kayaking or any of the other activities available in town. It was the one drawback she’d found to living in a small community after spending several years in Charleston. Despite all its other charms and the wonderful people, the peace and quiet of Serenity got on her nerves from time to time, especially with no one special to share her life.

This Sunday seemed worse than most. She had way too much time to think about Christmas and her family and all the reasons the holiday had lost its meaning for her.

By three o’clock she was going a little stir-crazy. She glanced at the phone next to her and thought about how long it had been since she’d spoken to her parents. They lived less than two hours away, but she hadn’t seen or spoken to them in months. After leaving home, she’d soon learned that if she didn’t initiate a call, it wouldn’t happen. It was almost as if they forgot her very existence unless she reminded them.

Impulsively, she picked up the phone and dialed before she could talk herself out of it. It rang several times before her mother picked up.

“Hi, Mom.”

“Jeanette, is that you?”

She wasn’t surprised that her mother wasn’t sure. “Yes, Mom, it’s me. How are you?”

“Doing well enough,” she said, not volunteering anything additional.

Despite the terse response, Jeanette pressed on. “And Dad? How is he?” Her father was nearing seventy, but seemed older. Working outdoors had weathered his skin and what her parents always referred to as “the tragedy” had aged him before his time.

“Working too hard, as always,” her mother replied. “The farm’s too much for him, but it’s the only life he knows.”

“Did he hire any help this year?” Jeanette asked, determined to keep the conversation flowing and hoping to spark even a smidgen of real communication.

“He had several day workers when vegetables were coming in, but he’s let most of them go now that the only crop left is pumpkins. He loads those up himself and takes them to the market on Saturdays.”

“Is he there? I’d like to say hello,” Jeanette said. At one time her father had doted on her the way Cal doted on Jessica Lynn. All that had changed in the blink of an eye, and while she understood the reason on an intellectual level, the chasm between them didn’t hurt any less.

“He’s outside working on the tractor,” her mother replied, not offering to get him. After a slight hesitation, good manners kicked in and she added, “But I’ll tell him you called.”

Jeanette barely contained a sigh. She couldn’t even recall the last time her father had spoken to her. Her mother always had some excuse for why he couldn’t come to the phone. Some rang true, like this one. Others didn’t. Sometimes she thought he’d simply stopped talking to anyone after her brother had died.

Forcing a cheerful note into her voice, she asked, “Tell me what you’ve been doing, Mom. Are you still baking for the church receptions every week?”

“Took a coconut cake in today,” her mother said. “I’ll do chocolate next week. That’s everybody’s favorite.”

“Mine, too,” Jeanette said. “Maybe I’ll drive down for a visit soon and you can bake one for me.”

There was another unmistakable hesitation before her mother said, “You just let us know when you’re coming, Jeanette.”

This time Jeanette didn’t even try to stop her sigh. Just once she’d hoped for some warmth, some sign that her parents missed her and wanted to see her. Instead, her mother sounded more as if she needed to be warned if her daughter was about to appear on the doorstep. Or maybe Jeanette had simply grown too sensitive to the nuances in her mother’s voice. She’d come to expect rejection and found it in every word.

“I’ll let you know, Mom,” she said, resigned to ending another disappointing call. “Good to talk to you.”

“You, too,” her mother said.

It was only after she’d hung up that she realized her mother hadn’t asked a single question about how she was doing or what was going on in her life. The lack of interest stung, even after all these years. She still recalled a time when she’d run in the backdoor after school, filled with news of her day, and her mother had put cookies and milk on the table and listened to every word. She’d seemed to treasure those afternoon talks as much as Jeanette had. Now they could barely manage a five-minute conversation and most of that one-sided.

“If I sit here one more minute, I’ll start wallowing in self-pity,” she muttered aloud, grabbing her purse and heading for the door.

Two hours later she was sitting in a Charleston multiplex with a giant box of buttered popcorn, a diet soda and a box of Junior Mints. The movie, a heavily promoted action flick, barely held her interest. Even so, it was an improvement on sitting at home all alone on a Sunday afternoon thinking about her dysfunctional relationship with her parents, a relationship she had no idea how to mend.

As she was exiting the theater, she heard a familiar voice and turned to see Maddie’s son Kyle and several of his friends, accompanied by Cal.

“Wasn’t the movie awesome?” Kyle asked her enthusiastically.

Cal interceded before she was forced to reply. “Something tells me Jeanette might have preferred a romantic comedy.”

Kyle looked puzzled. “Then why did she go to see this movie?”

Cal met her gaze. “I don’t know. Why did you go to see this movie?”

She shrugged. “I figured it would be fast-paced and exciting.”

He gave her a knowing look. “Which appealed because it would keep your mind off other things?”

She frowned at him. “You realize, don’t you, your intuitive questions are sometimes almost as annoying as your wife’s.”

Cal laughed. “What can I say? Maddie’s rubbing off on me. By the way, we’re going for pizza at Rosalina’s on the way home. Maddie’s meeting us. Want to come along? It’ll kill a little more time, if that was your goal.”

The idea held some appeal, but the drawbacks outweighed the benfits. “And subject myself to further interrogation? I don’t think so.”

“Hey, are you kidding? With this gang, plus Jessica Lynn and Cole, the adults will be lucky to be heard. Come on, Jeanette. No questions allowed. I’ll make sure of it.”

She grinned. “When Maddie’s on a mission, there’s no stopping her. And lately she seems to be determined to pry into my life.”

“Obviously you’re not aware of the toddler effect. Maddie is too busy chasing after Jessica Lynn to have time for much else. Mealtimes are no longer the serene part of the day you may recall, especially with Kyle’s friends along.” Jeanette noted that Cal seemed perfectly happy with that, content even. He’d taken to being a stepfather and then father to his own two little ones without missing a beat.

Based on his promise and a memory of the amount of chaos Jessica Lynn had created on her last visit to the spa, Jeanette relented, partly because the popcorn had hardly been a substantial meal and partly because the prospect of good company was a vast improvement over staring at the TV and rehashing the unrewarding conversation she’d had with her mother.

“In that case, I’ll meet you there. Pizza sounds good.”

Cal gave her a considering look. “It’s a long drive, lots of time for second thoughts. Do I need to have Kyle and a buddy ride along with you to make sure you show up? Once I’ve told Maddie you’re joining us, I don’t want to have you renege.”

She frowned. “I won’t change my mind. You don’t need to send an escort.”

He nodded, satisfied. “See you there, then.”

Jeanette watched as he strode off with the teenage boys, then went to her car. Outside the parking garage, she lowered the convertible top, popped in a CD and let the music blast. By the time she hit the outskirts of Serenity, she was windblown, but her mood had improved by leaps and bounds.

Good thing, too, because the first person she spotted when she entered Rosalina’s was the sexy stranger who’d been on the porch at The Corner Spa…and he was seated with Maddie.

Tom was holding the doll Jessica Lynn Maddox had shoved into his arms when he looked up and saw his mystery woman standing just inside the door. She was staring across the room directly at him, and for just an instant he had the distinct impression she was about to bolt.

Instead, Maddie Maddox was out of her seat across from his and charging across the room, Jessica Lynn on her heels, screaming, “Jeanette, Jeanette,” as if they were long-lost friends. He was left to warily eye the baby sleeping in his carrier next to him. He had plenty of experience with his sister’s kids, but mostly after they were past the diaper stage. He’d never bought the idea that infants weren’t as fragile as they looked.

By the time Maddie returned to the table, her hand clamped rather firmly around the other woman’s wrist, Tom was on his feet.

“Jeanette, I’d like you to meet Tom McDonald, the new Serenity town manager,” Maddie said, almost shoving Jeanette’s hand toward his. He clasped it instinctively. “Tom, this is Jeanette Brioche, who runs the spa operations at The Corner Spa.”

“Hello again,” he said, holding her soft hand just a little too long. Her smooth skin was a walking advertisement for the spa’s treatments.

Though her dark eyes were wary, she smiled and said, “Nice to know my first impression wasn’t too far off the mark.”

He blinked. “Oh?”

“I told Elliot, our personal trainer, that you looked trustworthy,” she explained. “Even though you’d been peering in the windows of the spa alarming the women.”

Maddie regarded him with shock. “You did what?”

Tom winced. “It wasn’t the way it appeared. I was looking for a place to have a good workout. I was told the spa was only for women, but I wanted to see for myself if I could join. Jeanette intercepted me outside and made it very clear that I couldn’t.”

“Sorry,” Jeanette said, though her voice lacked sincerity. “Just enforcing the rules.”

“Maybe you and Cal can team up and get something similar going for the men in town,” Maddie suggested. “That way I won’t have to pretend I don’t know he sneaks in there late at night.”

“I don’t suppose you’d let me sneak in with him, would you?” Tom asked wistfully.

“Not a chance,” Jeanette said sharply, drawing a look from Maddie. “I just mean, Cal’s one thing. He’s married to an owner. But if we let you sneak in, then someone else will ask, and the next thing you know we won’t have a special place for women.”

He grinned at her rapid-fire explanation. “For a minute there, I thought maybe you had something against me personally.”

“How could I?” she said. “I don’t even know you.”

“We could change that,” he suggested, and had the satisfaction of seeing her blush.

“I don’t think so,” she said tightly, though yet another sharp glance from Maddie had her adding, “Thanks, anyway.”

He just stared at her for a moment before pulling out the chair next to his. Before Jeanette could sit down as he’d hoped, Jessica Lynn scrambled onto it and tugged on his arm. “I’m hungry,” she announced. “Where’s my doll?”

“Right here,” he said, picking it up off the seat of his own chair and handing it to her. Conceding the fact that Jeanette would be sitting elsewhere—probably as far from him as possible—he leaned down and confided to Jessica Lynn, “I’m starving, too.”

“Count me among the starving,” Jeanette chimed in, surprising him.

“Then let’s order,” Maddie said. “Cal should be here any minute with the boys.”

“Where’s Katie?” Jeanette asked.

“At a friend’s house, in theory doing homework. I have my doubts—the Grahams have a pool.”

Tom regarded Maddie with curiosity. He’d already digested that there was an unmistakable age difference between Maddie and her husband—probably a good ten years—but it also sounded as if they had a large family. And Cal was only around his age—early to midthirties. “How many children do you have?”

“I have five,” Maddie told him. She gestured at Jessica Lynn and Cole. “These two are mine with Cal, but I have three from my first marriage. Ty’s a sophomore at Duke. Katie, as I mentioned, is with a friend tonight, and Kyle will be here any minute with Cal.”

“And you manage the spa full-time?” Tom asked, impressed.

“And does an amazing job of it,” Jeanette added. “Women are great multitaskers.”

Tom frowned at the note of censure in her voice. “I’m aware of that. I’m just trying to learn who does what in Serenity.”

After shooting a bewildered look in Jeanette’s direction, which suggested there would be questions for her later, Maddie said, “Well, you’ll be happy to know that Jeanette is an organizational wizard herself. She’ll be our representative on the Christmas festival committee. Will you be chairing that?”

“Yes,” Tom said. Suddenly the prospect of planning the town’s holiday celebration didn’t seem as dismal as he’d anticipated. He still thought there were better uses of his time, but if it threw him together with Jeanette, it couldn’t be all bad. Right now, though, she was regarding him with undisguised suspicion.

“Since you and Maddie clearly don’t really know each other, what are you doing here?” Jeanette asked as if he’d crashed the party.

Maddie’s expression went from bewildered to dismayed at Jeanette’s rudeness. “I invited him,” she said. “And before you ask, it was Cal’s suggestion. He called on his way home and said he’d run into you at the movies and invited you to join us. He thought it would be nice for Tom to get to know a few people in town.”

Jeanette didn’t look entirely satisfied with the answer, but she sat back and hid behind her menu. The continued high color in her cheeks was the only thing that gave away her embarrassment.

Once Cal arrived with the boys, the tension at the table dissolved, primarily because there was no way Tom and Jeanette could be expected to communicate with each other. It wasn’t until they were on their way out to the parking lot that he had a chance to speak to her privately. As the others drove off, he deliberately lingered beside her.

“I’m sorry if my being here tonight was a problem,” he said, studying her intently. “Have I offended you in some way? When Maddie called, I had no idea who else would be here. I was just tired of staring at the four walls of my room at the Serenity Inn, so I seized on the chance to get out for a meal and some conversation.”

She sighed heavily. “I’m sorry. I know I’ve behaved like an idiot, but you don’t know Maddie that well yet, or her partners. They…meddle.”

Ah, the picture was getting clearer. “Inveterate matchmakers, huh?”

“You have no idea. It was amusing when they were focused on each other, but now they seem to be turning their attention to me. It’s humiliating, to say nothing of unwelcome. And it’s really embarrassing to see you put on the spot the way you were tonight.”

“I wasn’t embarrassed. It made my day when I looked up and saw you crossing the restaurant. I’d been hoping to run into you again.”

His response only seemed to aggravate her. “I don’t date,” she said emphatically.

Tom wasn’t half as put off as she’d clearly intended for him to be. She’d inadvertently created a fascinating challenge for him. He’d always excelled when told that something was beyond his reach.

“I imagine there’s a story behind that,” he said, holding her gaze until she looked away.

“Several of them, unfortunately.”

She started to walk away, but he stayed in step with her. “We’ll have to get together sometime so you can tell me about it.”

Her lips twitched. “Wouldn’t that constitute a date?”

“Not if we don’t want it to,” he said seriously. “Two friends commiserating over a good dinner and a bottle of wine could be perfectly innocent.”

“Not if one of those ‘friends’ is you,” she said. “I may be wrong, but somehow I don’t think there’s anything innocent about you.”

Tom didn’t even try to deny it. “It’s the dimple, isn’t it?” he said with exaggerated dismay.

“You, Mr. McDonald, are entirely too full of yourself. Something tells me you’re a player.”

“I was always told that self-confidence is a good trait. Did I get that wrong?” he asked worriedly.

“You say self-confidence,” she teased. “I say arrogance.”

“I’ll work on that,” he promised.

“We’ll see.”

“Hey, I’m all for self-improvement, especially if it means you’ll eventually say yes to having dinner with me.”

“Self-improvement should be its own reward,” she said. “Good night.”

“Do you need a lift?” he asked hopefully.

“No, thanks. I have my car.”

“Then, can you give me a lift?”

“What about the car in which you just offered to drive me home?”

He shrugged. “I’ll get it tomorrow.”

For the first time all evening, she laughed. “You’re incorrigible.”

He shrugged, unrepentant. “You’re not the first person to tell me that this weekend.”

“Apparently the women in your life are all on to you.”

“The other one was my mother,” he admitted.

“Well, I rest my case. She would definitely know.”

She climbed into her sporty little convertible, gave him a jaunty wave and drove off, leaving him in her dust. Being rejected by Jeanette Brioche was getting to be a little hard on his ego, which of course only made him more determined to win her over. He had a hunch he knew the rules of this game far better than she did and, in the end, he never lost. Not when something mattered to him.

Despite knowing that the Christmas committee would throw him into contact with the elusive Jeanette, Tom had hoped Howard would back off for a while. Unfortunately, when he arrived at work on Monday morning, it rapidly became evident that this was one area in which the mayor was highly efficient. Tom’s secretary beamed at him.

“The committee’s waiting for you in the conference room,” Teresa announced. “I’ve had coffee and doughnuts brought in.”

Tom frowned at her. “What committee? I don’t have a meeting on my calendar for this morning.”

Her smile never wavered. “Oh, dear, I must have forgotten to make a note of it on that calendar you insist on keeping yourself. It’s on the one I keep.”

“What committee, Teresa?” he repeated impatiently.

“Christmas festival, of course. I know Howard discussed it with you. He asked me to set it up.”

Sneaky SOB, Tom thought uncharitably. And as for Teresa and her annoying tendency to take orders from people like Howard Lewis, she did know more than anyone else about how this place operated. He needed her. Otherwise his career in public service in Serenity was going to be very short-lived. That might make his folks happy, but he didn’t want his career to falter even slightly because he’d offended a knowledgeable secretary within his first two weeks on the job.

“Okay, give me a quick rundown on the committee members,” he said, grimly determined to see this through. Once it was over, perhaps he could reconsider whether he was at all suited to a life of public service, after all. It had sounded darn noble once upon a time, but that was before he’d been confronted with making decisions about hanging snowflakes on the town green or whether Santa’s chair needed to be repainted with gold and adorned with glitter or whatever other little crises this committee dreamed up to waste his time. He was pretty sure nothing like this had ever been mentioned in any of his public-administration courses. And he definitely hadn’t run into this sort of thing during his tenure in the planning and finance departments of the other towns in which he’d worked.

He listened as Teresa described the makeup on the committee. In addition to Howard and Jeanette, the other two members were Ronnie Sullivan, who owned the hardware store on Main Street, and Mary Vaughn Lewis, the president of the chamber of commerce.

“You’ll want to watch out for Mary Vaughn,” Teresa added. “She’s bound to make a play for you. It’s what she does.”

Tom appreciated the warning, though he couldn’t help wondering if another woman’s interest might be just what he needed to spark a little life into the relationship he hoped to have with Jeanette. Then again, plans like that tended to backfire, he thought as he prepared to go to the meeting.

Jeanette sat at the conference table tapping her pen impatiently on the mahogany surface. She was thoroughly annoyed that she’d had to switch her entire schedule around at the spa to be here, but to make things worse, Tom was nowhere to be found.

Not that she was anxious to see him again. Dinner the night before had been awkward enough. She’d been rude, and she wasn’t likely to hear the end of it from Maddie anytime soon, either. Nor was she looking forward to more of Tom’s advances. She had a hunch he was persistent.

She turned to Mary Vaughn. “This is a waste of time,” she groused. “You could have sold another house this morning and I could have done two or three treatments. If the town manager isn’t here in five minutes I am out of here.”

Across the table Ronnie Sullivan, Dana Sue’s husband, winked at her. “Settle down, sugar. Things move at a slower pace in Serenity.”

“Tell that to Maddie,” she retorted.

He grinned. “The way I understand it, Madelyn is the one who sent you over here. I’m sure she knew what to expect.”

Discovering that Ronnie was on the committee had been a surprise. Dana Sue had never mentioned that. She wondered if Dana Sue had any idea that Mary Vaughn was on the committee, as well. No way, she concluded. If Dana Sue had known, she’d have been here herself, protecting her turf: Ronnie.

Jeanette stole another glance at Mary Vaughn, who was wearing one of her expensive designer suits, chunky gold jewelry and a diamond-encrusted watch that cost more than Jeanette made in a month. Suddenly she was struck by the thought that Mary Vaughn and Tom McDonald were an ideal match. Both professionals. Both go-getters. And both, apparently, on the prowl. Yes, indeed, that was the solution to her problem. Once those two met, Tom would give up on Jeanette and move happily on to more available prey.

Astonishingly, the idea didn’t hold nearly as much appeal as it ought to.

Finally Tom came into the room, looking no happier than she was to be here. She had to admit that dressed up for work in neatly pressed navy slacks, a blue-gray shirt the exact color of his eyes, gold cuff links and a tie that he’d already loosened, he managed to give a little jolt to her system even though he was definitely not her type. She preferred sexy, blue-collar guys who had absolutely no pretenses. Of course, based on past results, her taste was pretty questionable.

“Morning, folks,” Tom said in a slow drawl that gave Jeanette another jolt to her system. Darn the man. He smiled, introduced himself and shook hands with everyone at the table. His attitude was friendly enough with most of them, but turned a little frosty when he reached the mayor. “Howard,” he said curtly.

“Good morning,” Howard said, oblivious to the undercurrent. He and Ronnie seemed to be the only people one hundred percent happy to be here.

Next to her, as anticipated, Mary Vaughn was studying Tom with a look suggesting he might well become her next romantic diversion. Jeanette noted the way Mary Vaughn honed in on Tom’s left hand, obviously noting the lack of wedding band. She suddenly perked up, readjusting her suit jacket to expose a bit of cleavage. Jeanette sighed. Could she be any more obvious?

“Howard, since you called this meeting, why don’t you get it started,” Tom suggested. “I’m sure you have an agenda. Since I’m unfamiliar with the traditions here in town, I’ll just take notes today and chime in if a suggestion comes to mind.”