Chapter 17
Chapter 17
“MEREDITH. IT’S SO NICE to see you.” I gave her a brief hug. It was forced and unnatural, her body rigid.
A smile formed on her face. “Bailey. You look wonderful.”
“Thanks. You do, too.”
On the outside, I was smiling and composed.
Inside was a completely different story.
“Do you have a moment?” Meredith asked.
“Sure do.” I turned back to Marissa. “Can we . . . pick this up later?”
Whatever “this” was.
“Of course.” Marissa nodded. “I’ll call you later.”
I couldn’t think about Marissa’s warning not to date her brother right now. Seeing Meredith was like a foghorn going off in my brain, reminding me of my past—reminding me of Dan.
I shot Marissa a quick smile as she left the kitchen for the café. I returned my attention to Meredith, still standing at the door. She was never a large woman, keeping herself very “trim” as my would say. She was always nicely turned out, wearing beautifully tailored jackets, a string of Mikimoto pearls always around her neck.
Today was no exception, although there was something about her, something I couldn’t put my finger on. A type of tension in her features.
“Can we go somewhere to talk? I know you usually close up about this time. I thought you might be able to spare me a few minutes?”
“Oh, of course. I’ll, ah, I’ll just go and do a couple of things to close up. How about I meet you in fifteen minutes?”
She gave me a tight smile. “Wonderful. Where?”
I racked my brain for somewhere to go. Most of the cafés in the area closed at the same time as us. “There’s a burger place open at this time of day over on Wallingworth Street.”
I was certain Meredith hadn’t set a refined foot in a burger joint for at least twenty years—if ever—but it was all I could think of on the spot. Her sudden appearance at the café had totally thrown me.
Seven minutes later, Paige had bustled me out of the café, insisting she could close the café up by herself, telling me I needed to do what I needed to do.
“Do you have any idea why she’s here?” I slipped the strap of my purse over my shoulder. “I mean, when she was running the place with me we’d catch up every week, but I haven’t seen her at all since you became my partner.”
If anyone had the inside scoop behind Meredith’s sudden appearance at the café, it would be Paige. She was dating Meredith’s youngest son, after all.
She drew her eyebrows together. “I should have told you.”
“Told me what?”
“Josh and I had dinner with her last night and she asked after you.”
“And?”
“And I mentioned you had gone to the ball.”
I chewed the inside of my lip. “She knows I’m dating someone?”
Paige nodded. “I’m really sorry if I put my foot in it, Bailey. I wanted her to know you’re doing great, that’s all.”
First with the website mess up and now with this? Paige was outdoing herself today.
“I’m really sorry if I said something I shouldn’t have.”
“No, no. It’ll be fine.” I sounded at least twice as confident as I felt.
As I dashed passed the empty florist shop and down the street, my mind went into overdrive. Meredith and I used to be close. I’d gotten to know her when I began dating Dan, back when we were in our early twenties, back before everything went so horribly wrong. She shared my love of food, although unlike me, she ate like a bird, something I’d never been able to manage.
Still, she appreciated fine food, and was incredibly supportive of Dan and me when we decided to go into business together, opening the Cozy Cottage Café.
When Dan passed away, Meredith stepped in, buying Dan out. If she hadn’t done so I would have lost the place. I was eternally in her debt. She’d told me at the time she didn’t want me to lose my business as well as my fiancé. She never got involved in the day-to-day management, but the simple fact of her doing what she did was life saving for me.
I owed her a lot.
I pushed the heavy wooden door of the burger joint on Wallingworth Street open, my eyes adjusting to the darkness of the room.
A host wearing a pair of white pants and black T-shirt, a pair of bright red braces the only color in the outfit, materialized at my side. “Welcome to Gourmet Burgers. Can I get you a table?”
“Oh, I’m meeting someone. I think she’s already here.” I scanned the room, looking for Meredith.
“An older woman, looks like she belongs at a museum fundraiser?”
I smiled. She’d got her pegged. “That’s the one.”
“Right this way.”
I followed her over to a table by a window overlooking a small courtyard.
Meredith looked up at me, still with that pinched expression on her face. “Bailey.”
“I’ll be right back to take your order.”
I thanked the server and pulled out a chair, taking the seat opposite Meredith. “Hi again.”
“Thank you for meeting me.”
“Of course.”
She looked so small and frail, I had the urge to collect her up in a hug—and then feed her a large meal.
“How have you been?”
“Oh, fine. Just fine. George and I’ve been away in Europe recently. We had a wonderful time, traveling around Italy. The lakes, Tuscany, Rome. You would have loved it. It was a shame you never made it there.”
Dan and I had planned to go to Italy for our honeymoon. Despite my Italian heritage, I’d never been to Italy before.
I swallowed down the lump forming in my throat. “Yeah, I would have.”
“I bought this while I was in Sicily.” She produced a small, silk purse and handed it to me.
“Thank you.” I opened the dome on the purse and pulled out a dark gray beaded necklace. “Oh, it’s beautiful.”
“It’s made from volcanic rock. There are two active volcanos in Sicily, did you know?” I shook my head. “I thought it would go just lovely with your dark hair.”
I placed the necklace around my neck.
“See? Beautiful.” She smiled at me.
A waiter, who looked about thirteen, dressed in the same outfit as the host, materialized at our table, holding pad and pen in hand. “Can I get you drinks?”
“Vodka tonic, light on the ice,” Meredith instructed without hesitation.
My eyes widened. It was only four o’clock in the afternoon. I didn’t remember Meredith as much of a drinker.
“Are you joining me?”
“Oh, I . . . sure. Vodka tonic for me, too, please.”
I might need a dash of Dutch courage to get through this conversation—or since it was vodka, it should be called “Russian courage” instead? Whatever it was, I bet I needed it.
The waiter left to collect our drinks, and I decided there was no point delaying the inevitable. As I’d just discovered, thanks to Paige, Meredith knew I’d started dating again. I was certain she wasn’t happy about it. It may be almost three years since Dan passed away, but that clearly wasn’t long enough for her to come to terms with the idea I’d moved on.
I clasped my hands together under the table. “I know why you wanted to see me.”
“You do?”
I nodded. “It’s because Paige told you I’ve been dating someone new.”
She nodded. “Yes, I’d heard that. Is he a nice man?”
I bit back the smile that always wanted to spread across my face when I thought of Ryan. He was more than nice. In fact, I was pretty darn sure he was the guy for me—my Last First Date.
I nodded.
“That’s good, Bailey. I can see by the look on your face you have strong feelings for him.”
I wrung my hands in my lap. “Meredith, I know this must be really hard for you, and I’m so sorry.” My chest tightened as tears stung my eyes. Seeing Meredith brought Dan’s loss screaming back. “You know I loved Daniel, I’ll always love him. No man could ever take his place in my heart.”
Her shoulders drooped, her lips forming a thin line.
My tears threatened to spill down my face. I sniffed, willing them not to.
“Oh, Bailey, sweetie. Here.” She popped the clasp on her purse and pulled out a nicely pressed lace handkerchief. She handed it to me.
I shot her a watery smile and took it, dabbing the corners of my eyes. “Thank you, I don’t know what came over me.”
The waiter delivered our vodka tonics and I took a large gulp, and then another, hoping the alcohol would do its work.
“Do you know why I wanted to see you today?”
I nodded, looking down. “Dan.”
“Oh, Bailey. Yes, it’s about Daniel, but mainly it’s about you .”
I looked up into her eyes. “Me?”
“I wanted to tell you it’s okay. When Paige and Josh told me you had met a man, I admit it stung at first. Daniel was meant to be the one you spent your life with, to make a home with.”
I bit my lip, willing myself not to cry again.
“I know that can’t be, and as his mother, there will always be a huge hole in my heart. I know it will never mend.” She paused, and I could tell she was struggling to keep her grief in check. “You? You’re young, you have your life ahead of you. Daniel would have wanted you to move on, to find someone worthy of you, worthy of your love.”
Well, that was it. The floodgates were officially open. Here was my almost-mother-in-law, telling me she condoned me dating another man. It was heartbreaking and kind, and oh-so difficult to hear.
“Thank you,” I managed, although with my stuffed-up nose and watery eyes it probably sounded more like “dangoo.”
She reached across the table and squeezed my hand. As I looked up into her face, I could see her own eyes were wet.
“We will always love him, we will always miss him, no matter what. I can’t have another son. I had two, and now I’ve only got Joshua. But you? Bailey, honey, it’s been three years on the twenty-sixth since he passed away. Three years.”
I nodded, my heart aching. A week after Cassie and Will’s wedding, I’d be remembering what I could have had with Dan. In some ways, it felt like forever since he’d gone, in others, like it was just yesterday.
“You deserve to live more than a half-life, Bailey.”
“Thank you,” I managed. I regarded her through watery eyes. This woman, with the dead child, was telling me I was free to love again, to move on from her son.
My heart could have broken in two.