Any Way You Dream It Page 11

  “You’re right. I still don’t think you need to do this.”

  “I know, and I regret starting it, but I’m kind of in deep now and can’t see a way out.”

  “He must be a decent guy to go along with this.”

  “Good-looking, decent, and did I mention loaded? He’s the full package, Mom.”

  “Well, that’ll get Patty’s knickers in a twist for sure.”

  The man himself stuck his head through the doorway. “Hey, Lucy, do you want to show me around town?”

  She stood and gave me a gentle push. “You two go ahead. I’d love some time alone to reacquaint myself with the kids.”

  “I’m coming.”

  I was going to say that she couldn’t reacquaint herself with people she’d never been exactly acquainted with but I left it alone. She wanted to make amends and those kids wanted a grandmother so I wasn’t going to stand in the way. But I wasn’t falling for the new homespun version of her quite yet. I would be watching very, very carefully.

  Chapter 13

  We decided to walk to Main Street since it was only a few blocks from my mom’s place.

  I promised to take him to Lincoln’s Ice Creamery, my favorite place into town.

  “So how was it?” he asked.

  “Weird. It was very weird.” I didn’t quite know how to explain it to him. “I told her about us. The true story.”

  “Your call.” He didn’t look surprised.

  “I didn’t want her confusing the kids.”

  “Makes sense.”

  “Plus, I didn’t want her spending the weekend planning our wedding only to be disappointed.”

  “You think she would have?”

  “The last time I saw her completely sober was when she planned Minnie’s wedding. She’s already sober right now so I can only imagine what she’d do.”

  “Ah.” He looked around as we walked. “Pretty town.”

  “I guess.” We walked past the park with its bandstand and children’s playground.

  “I bet you used to hang out there and create mayhem as a teen.”

  “Not so much mayhem for me. People went to the river for that because there was less chance of getting caught.”

  “Good to know where to go should I be looking for any this weekend.”

  “That’s also where people went to make-out.”

  “Even better to know.” He waggled his eyebrows. “So Kevin seems like a good guy.”

  “They met at AA.” I filled him in. “By the look of the house, I’d say that he’s good for her. Not bad for her, at least, and that alone is progress. And she’s not drinking which is a win as well.”

  We were stopped by a woman I recognized as Mrs. Marchant, my fifth grade teacher.

  “Lucy? Well, my goodness, look at you. I can’t remember the last time I saw you in town.”

  “It’s been a while Mrs. Marchant. I live in Boston now.”

  “Good for you. Are you staying with your mom?”

  I nodded.

  “I’m so happy to see her doing so well these days. So what do you do now?”

  I filled her in on my life as well as I could in thirty seconds.

  “I’m so pleased for you. You were always such a sweet kid. Lord knows, if anyone deserved to make a success of it, it was you.”

  “Thanks, Mrs. Marchant.”

  Chase threw his arm around my shoulders as she walked off. “I told you there’d be plenty of people in this town who wanted to see you happy and successful.”

  “She’s just one woman.”

  “There’ll be more, mark my words.”

  Maybe he’d be right.

  But then I saw them coming toward us.

  Jacob and Patty.

  They weren’t arm-in-arm, I was happy to note. They also weren’t the picture of marital bliss I’d expected to see, or the one she would have presented to me if she’d seen me first. In fact, she looked very much like she was nagging him but they stopped when they saw me.

  A flash of something crossed Patty’s face. Envy, maybe?

  “Well, Lucy. You actually came. I must same I’m a little surprised,” Patty said, stepping over to air-kiss me.

  “I said I’d be here.” I leaned in to accept her air kiss but refrained from kissing her air back.

  Jacob’s hug was more genuine.

  When he released me, it felt as if Chase was standing too close to me. Well, rather he was probably standing exactly where a real fiancé might stand if his woman was hugging her ex but still, it felt very close. I could feel the warmth of his body behind me as he leaned in and whispered, “Aren’t you going to introduce me?”

  “Oh, sorry.” I mumbled. “This is Patty and Jacob. Patty is organizing the reunion.”

  As if he didn’t know. He placed one hand on my waist and held his other out to them. “Hi, I’m Chase.”

  I watched Jacob take his hand. He looked tentative as Chase’s hand engulfed his.

  “So you’re the fiancé?” Patty asked.

  “I guess so. I hope I’m the only one. I am, aren’t I, Luce?”

  I nodded.

  “Lucky me.”

  “So when did you two get to town?”

  God, she was annoying. “We dropped the kids off at Lucy’s mom’s house a bit earlier.”

  “You have kids?”

  “No. Her nieces and nephews. We’re holding off on kids for a while because we have so much going on at work and therefore, little time for kids at the moment.”

  “Everyone has time for kids,” Jacob contradicted him.

  “Not everyone. A lot of people have them and then the kids spend their whole life being shuttled from daycare to relatives or raised by nannies. We don’t want that, do we, Luce?”

  No, but also because we weren’t married, and we weren’t engaged, and, despite his hotness, this was not a real relationship.

  I was almost mute. I needed to snap out of it. “No, we definitely don’t.”

  “Plus having a nanny living with you really cramps you style,” Chase said. He was laying it on thick. “Even in a big place, you still have to be aware you’re sharing it with someone else. I don’t want to share Lucy quite yet.”

  I nudged with my elbow, hoping he’d get the hint to go easy.

  Hopefully, the squeeze he did around my waist said he did.

  “How sweet,” said Jacob in a monotone.

  “So Patty, what do you do when you’re not organizing reunions?”

  “We have two small children so I’m home with them full-time.”

  “Good for you,” Chaser replied inching closer to me.

  “My mom tells me you make pies, Lucy,” Jacob said, his tone snarky.

  “That’s right. “ I was going to leave it there. I knew he was being a tool. I knew he knew very well that I did a whole lot more than that because word travelled fast in a small town. “Your mom is a riot, isn’t she?” Chase, apparently, had different ideas. “You know most mothers brag about their daughter’s achievements, but not yours. I mean if my kid was the Operations Manager of a nationally franchised business that she’d help build from the ground up, I wouldn’t be down-playing it, but I guess she knows more about small town life and how to manage people’s fragile egos than I do.”

  “And where are you from then, Chase? Obviously not a small town.”

  I really wanted this conversation over with.

  “I live in Marblehead, usually, but I split my time between there, New York, and Miami.”

  He did? Even I didn’t know about Miami.

  “So where will you settle down then?” Patty was fishing for as many details as possible.

  “Boston,” we both said at the same time.

  “That’s where my work is,” I explained.

  “Well, this was fun. But…” Jacob couldn’t get away fast enough.

  “Yes, we need to get going. We’re going for banana splits,” Chase added. “We can catch up at the reunion. Maybe you’ll save me a dance, Patty?”<
br />
  Her smile said maybe, but Jacob dragged her away before she could respond.

  “That was quite a performance Chase.” He’d done a fine job of having my back and I appreciated it.

  “Isn’t that why I’m here?”

  “I don’t know, Chase. I’m not sure I know why either of us is here. I thought I wanted to come back and show them who I am now, but now that I’m doing it, I’m not so sure I needed to.” I looked into Chase’s eyes searching for some reassurance.

  Chase put a hand on each of my shoulders. “There is probably a bucket-load of reasons, but the main one is so that you can see you didn’t lose a damn thing by not getting that guy. If there is a loser in this scenario, it isn’t you.”

  And then he leaned in and pressed his forehead against mine. “Now, may I please have that banana split you promised me?’

  How could I say no to that?

  Sitting across from Chase in the booth was nice. Apart from a different teenager working behind the counter, my favorite ice-creamery, Two Scoops, looked—and even smelled—the same. Warm waffle cones, sugar, and coffee; it was an intoxicating combination.

  “This is cute. Like a movie set.”

  “Welcome to Pleasantville.” I said waving my hands around like a game show hostess.

  “Exactly. Are you Reese Witherspoon or the mom?”

  “I don’t know. Are you Toby Maguire come to shake up the town?”

  “Depends. Does it need shaking?”

  “Too soon to tell.”

  The girl who looked like a teenager and whose name-tag read Chloe took our orders. We ordered banana splits and coffee. The parlor was quiet, but school wasn’t out yet. I looked around taking it all in.

  “Did you hang out here a lot?”

  “I worked here.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. Mr. Lincoln hired me when I was fourteen and I worked here all through high school. He gave me a lot of shifts and was always really sweet to me. He was one of my college references.”

  “Where is he now?” Chase looked around.

  “He moved to Florida. Someone took over for him, though I’m not sure who.”

  “So this place has loads of memories for you?”

  I didn’t know if he was referring to the ice-cream parlor or the town because his question fit both. I tried to remind myself I wasn’t an awkward teenager anymore, but it was hard. Being back here brought back all those emotions.

  “So you and Jacob? How’d that start?”

  Chapter 14

  “The thing about small towns is you know everyone. You see them everywhere or you’re aware of them even if you don’t know them. So I always knew Jacob, but this town has two middle schools so we weren’t together. Then, when we hit high school, there were a lot of overlapping things in our lives, and that’s not including our classes. We were both on student council, both wrote for the school paper, so we got to spend a lot of time together.”

  “Hormones and opportunity, enough said.”

  “It wasn’t quite like that. Well, maybe it was. We started dating junior year and it was one more diversion so that I didn’t have to think about the mess at home. I had school, my clubs, my job here, and Jacob. Not much time to be home and dealing with that.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me how bad it was with your mom?”

  Lucky for me our banana splits arrived at that moment. They looked as amazing as I remembered. A whole banana, three flavors of ice-cream, chocolate syrup, whipped cream and a cherry on top. Heaven on a plate.

  “This looks awesome,” Chase said to our waitress.

  “Oh it is.” I took a mouthful and sighed. It was exactly how I remembered it. “I invented this, recipe.”

  “You what?”

  “Invented it. As in, came up with the recipe.”

  Chloe turned to me. “Are you the Lucy who worked here for years?

  I nodded since I couldn’t talk through a mouthful of deliciousness.

  “Ohmygod it’s so nice to meet you. My uncle, Mr. Lincoln, told me so much about you. You were his favorite employee ever.”

  I swallowed. I was really touched to think Mr. Lincoln spoke of me that way. “That’s so sweet. How is he doing in Florida? There’s a lot of ice-cream there to keep him happy.”

  “Ice-cream and ass, oops did I say that out loud?”

  Chase and I both nodded.

  “Yeah well who knew, but Uncle Linc is quite the ladies’ man. He lacked opportunity up here. I thought he was coming back for the summer, but he said I could stay here and keep the business because he was staying where the ladies were. I guess there a lot more retired women there than here.”

  “Are you serious?” I didn’t remember Mr. Lincoln ever dating. Now I knew why, no single ladies.

  “Yup.” She extended her hand. “I’m Chloe Lincoln.”

  “Wow, you look so…young.”

  “I’m in my early twenties but I know I look younger. It’s a curse. I worked very briefly in a law firm and I always wore glasses to look older. Here, it’s good for business to look young. The high school boys flirt with me, the college kids passing through flirt with me, and t sells a lot of ice-cream.”

  “You’re a marketing genius, Chloe,” Chase said, waving his spoon at me. “And you, Lucy, are a culinary genius.”

  “She is. Lucy invented a few of our sundaes. What do you do now, Lucy?”

  “I make pies.” I filled her in on my life and the pie trucks.

  “That is so great. I wonder if they’ll ever get a franchise up here.”

  “I can’t see it. Maybe Nashua or one of the bigger cities where it makes economic sense.”

  “Well, it is really so nice to meet you. Stop by any time; I’d love to have a proper chat.”

  “I will.” If I survived this weekend.

  Chase held my hand as we walked back to my mom’s place. I shouldn’t have been encouraging him, but it felt good to have physical contact with someone. It’d been a long time since I’d walked hand-in-hand with a man anywhere.

  “So, Lucy, what I was going to say back there about your mom…”

  “Yeah?” I was distracted by his thumb moving in slow circles across the back of my hand.

  “You didn’t exactly tell me how tough it was growing up.”

  “Sure, I did.” I’d told him my mom spent too much time chasing men and not enough time with me; I’d told him the whole town judged us, so what more was there to tell?

  “You didn’t tell me she was spending all the food money on booze or that you were on your own so much.”

  “Details.”

  He stopped and turned toward me. “Lucy, that stuff is huge. It’s not just details. It was well, horrible.”

  “Yeah well, what can you do?”

  “I’m really sorry. That must have been very…”

  “Lonely,” I finished for him. “It was also scary at first and embarrassing later on, but mostly, it was incredibly lonely. Before my dad left and Minnie went to college, we were a normal family. And then, we weren’t. It was only me, and I remember feeling really alone.”

  He pulled me in to a hug. “I’m so sorry.”

  “I was lucky because the town did look out for me in its own way. Mr. Lincoln gave me a job; certain teachers gave me extra volunteer roles at school to keep an eye on me. I see that now. My friend’s parents, like Patty’s mom and even Jacob’s to an extent, invited me to hang out or have dinner many nights.”

  He put his hands on my shoulders and looked into my eyes. “That must have made turning your back on this town hard.”

  “I felt betrayed. I was off at college and Patty and Jacob were hooking up. People must have known. Someone could have warned me. It felt like another case of Poor Lucy how can we tell her? I’d had enough pity by then, but it made me question everything, you know?”

  He pulled me back into a hug. “Lies have a habit of doing that. It sucks. I don’t think it was like that from the people I’ve met. I think m
aybe it just gave you a reason for a clean break.”

  “I guess.” I took a moment to breathe him in. He felt good, but he smelled even better. It was the smell of the perfect man. Maybe he actually was the perfect man. So far he was certainly better than any boyfriend I’d ever had. I meant, yes, he was still arrogant and probably spoiled, but he was basically a really decent guy. When I thought about it I had a very long list of examples to prove just how great he was. He hadn’t baulked at the kids moving in with me. He’d been a perfect gentleman; he was nice to my mother, and appropriately possessive in front of Jacob and Patty. It was a shame this was all a fantasy. The next guy, the real guy, wherever and whoever he was, was going to have big shoes to fill.

  “I can see why you’re extra protective of those kids.”

  “Exactly.” I pulled back and we started walking towards the house. “I don’t want them to go through what I did, but also I owe it to their dad and even Minnie to not let them down.”

  “Why?”

  “My dad left, then pretty soon Minnie started college in Boston. She and Joe met there and were together from early on. They were kids, too, but they did stuff for me. They visited more than they wanted to, sent me money, checked in on me. Minnie was my sister, but I always felt Joe was the driving force behind them taking care of me.”

  “So that’s why when he got sick you moved in?”

  “Yes. He was like my favorite uncle, I guess. We had our own unique relationship; we were tight. So now, I feel like I need to do for his kids what he did for me.”

  “You think Minnie will come around?”

  “I don’t know. It’s taken my mom fifteen years to figure things out. I’m really hoping Minnie’s a faster learner, but seriously? I don’t know.” And I didn’t want to even think about it.

  “Then let’s just worry about that when we get back to Boston.”

  Could Mr. Perfect read minds as well? “Sounds like a plan.”

  When we came around the corner, my mom was sitting on the porch talking to the girls while Kevin threw a ball to Oliver, the little dog running between them. It looked idyllic. This only proved that appearances could be deceptive. Anyone else would see a happy family; I saw three abandoned kids, two reformed alcoholics, and a whole lot of heartache. Oh yeah, and a puppy.