27. Teddy
THE FRONT DOORBELL JINGLED, AND IN WALKED JACK AND Pete dressed in identical nylon multi-pocketed fishing pants and long-sleeved sun shirts. Brooke eyed Teddy, who tried hiding her surprise. The expression on Jack’s face indicated he wanted to tell her something. She attempted sending him a message right back. Why in the world did he bring Pete into the shop?
“He had a hankering for some candy.” Jack pointed a thumb at Pete.
“And you?” She asked.
“I just came by to see the prettiest girls on the island.” Jack put an arm around her.
Brooke threw her a thumbs-up.
“You’re ready for Halloween,” Pete said, smiling at the Hansel and Gretel house.
“Brooke, why don’t you show the customer your new display? I don’t think he’s been here since we opened.” She grabbed hold of Jack’s arm and dug her fingernails into his skin.
He flinched and tried pulling away, but she yanked Jack into the breakroom.
“I love a woman who takes charge.”
“This is not a time to make fun. What’re you doing here?” She whispered, but she wanted to shout.
“He wants to tell her.” Jack shrugged.
“Here?” Teddy peeked out the doorway.
Brooke showed the Candy Land game to Pete. From the expression on her face, Brooke hadn’t heard the news yet. Brooke pointed professionally to the chocolate volcano, as if Pete were an important client touring the store for a possible buy-out by a major corporation.
Brooke offered Pete a marshmallow on a stick to dip in the volcano. Pete accepted the sweet, carefully dipped the square into the bubbling chocolate, and then stuck the marshmallow into his mouth. He gave her a warm smile and nod of approval. They talked and even laughed.
Brooke’s jaw dropped. “You’ve got to be kidding!” Brooke screamed.
Teddy’s stomach flipped. She rushed out of the breakroom. Brooke ran to her and wrapped her arms around her. She stroked Brooke’s hair. Pete’s face had turned pale.
“He’s my father.” Brooke’s jaw trembled.
She squeezed her tightly. “Are you all right?”
The sadness in Pete’s eyes sent a pang through her, and Brooke’s trembling body made her want to break down in tears.
Brooke pulled out of her embrace and turned to Pete. “Long time, no see. Why?”
“I wish I’d known. It’s not her fault. Your mother didn’t want to hurt you.” Excuses spewed from Pete’s mouth in rapid fire. “I was a different person.”
“This sucks. Oh, by the way, here’s your father.” Brooke glared at him.
“I want to make things right,” Pete said.
Jack locked the front door and flipped the sign to CLOSED . She made eye contact with Jack and mouthed: Seriously? Jack turned his palms up in an I-don’t-know expression. Jack probably didn’t want to be in the middle of this any more than she did.
“I don’t know what to do.” Pete shook his head.
“I’m a kid. You’re supposed to be the adult.” Tears streamed down Brooke’s face.
Brooke had wanted to know her father in the worst way. And now, she knew.
“Do you want me to call your mother?” she asked.
“She’s the last person I want to see.”
She cringed. Poor Dot. Poor everyone. What a mess.
Smears of mascara stained Brooke’s face. “I wanted to know like years ago.”
“I must be a disappointment.” Pete combed his silver hair from his face with his fingers.
“It’s not that.” Brooke’s voice sounded calmer now.
“Shall we get Dot?” Teddy asked again.
“I don’t know that I ever want to see her again. My parents . . .” Brooke glared at Pete, “robbed me of all this time.”
“It’s not your mother’s fault.” Pete stuffed his hands in his pockets.
“Don’t defend her.”
“I can’t let you blame her.” Pete dropped to his knees. “This is on me.”
Brooke rested a hand on his shoulder. Tears poured over her cheeks.
“What can I do to make up for lost time?” The whole arrangement of his face changed.
Teddy backed away. She shouldn’t be here. Part of her was glad Jack brought Pete to the store to meet Brooke, but another part worried this could turn out badly. And, Dot. What about her? Teddy fiddled with her apron strings. Stay out of it. Stay out of it. Jack slipped an arm around her waist. Whatever had happened on Jack’s fishing trip with Pete had prompted this reunion.
“I want to know all about you,” Pete said. “Do you get good grades in school? Did you like to play outside? Did you play kick the can in the street or video games on the drag?”
He stood and touched Brooke’s face while gazing deeply into her eyes. “You have my eyes.”
A smile curved onto Brooke’s tear-stained face. Her shoulders relaxed with a deep sigh. “I hate video games, and my grades are okay.”
“That’s a start,” Pete said. “Would you like to go to the beach?”
Brooke turned to Teddy.
“It’s fine.” She swallowed the lump in her throat. “If you want. We’re about to close up. I mean, we’re closed.”
Pete extended a hand to Jack. “Thanks, man. I don’t know what I’d have done without you.”
“You’d have been fine. Now, you go hang out with your daughter.”
Brooke and Pete walked down the path to the beach, a licorice rope of space between them.
Jack placed a hand on Teddy’s shoulder. “Letting a cat out of the bag is a lot easier than putting one back in.”
She chuckled. Jack always had a joke. A life with him would be filled with laughter. She was getting ahead of herself.
“What now, beautiful?” Jack squeezed her shoulders. “Shall we take our mutt for a walk around town? We can see how the businesses are shaping up.”
She slipped an arm around his waist and squeezed. Heat rose into her neck, and she pulled away.
Jack wrapped her arm back against his waist. “It belongs right here.” He hugged her waist and led her to the backroom where Pickles had settled onto her dog bed.
“One of us will have to let go and leash her up, and it’s not going to be me.”
Her heart fluttered with a sensation she hadn’t felt since the aftermath of her first kiss at sixteen. She snapped a leash onto Pickles’s collar and followed Jack out the door. Violet shadows of dusk fell over Crane Street, the main drag. Workers loaded into pickups. Dot’s would be packed within the hour.
Should she call Dot and give her a heads-up? No, let them work things out.
When she and Jack reached The Islander, the twenty-foot-tall wooden fisherman statues had been restored to their positions flanking the parking lot entrance. In front of the store, Hank snapped a photo of Estrella at their new selfie station.
“You’ve had a productive day.” She inspected the resin Whooping Crane.
“You like it?” Estrella pointed to the crane.
“It’s perfect for the Whooping Crane Festival.” She stroked the extended wings of the sculpture.
Estrella cast what appeared to be an I-told-you-so glance at her husband.
“Mr. Mayor, what do you think? Will Bird Isle be ready for the festival?” She pretended to hold a mic in her hand. She knew what he would say: of course, Bird Isle would be ready.
“We’ll have two motels, Dot’s, the Taco Hut, Cap’n Ahab’s . . . Pete’s going to have a Dolphin Viewing Boat . . .” Hank paused and put a finger to his chin. “The Islander, The Sandpiper, bird watching, and even Walt’s place—Surftown.”
“Don’t forget my barbecue truck.” Jack took her hands. “I painted over Angela’s name.”
Teddy sucked in a breath of air. “You what?”
“Yep, it’s just a generic barbecue trailer now.” He put his index finger on her nose. “Just so one particular woman would know I mean business.”
“I don’t understand, I mean . . . it’s your livelihood.” She slowed her breathing with deep breaths.
Jack pulled her closer. “I told you how I felt the night of our date. I want us to be together.” Jack eyed Hank and Estrella, then kissed her on the forehead. “There’s more where that came from.”
Hank cleared his throat, a quizzical expression on his face. Apparently, Estrella hadn’t briefed him on the whole barbecue name kerfuffle. Finally, he broke the silence and said, “The barbecue truck, of course. We could never forget you.” Hank raised an invisible glass to Jack. “The Hurricane Relief concert turned things around. There’s no doubt.”
“Don’t thank me.” Jack bowed and motioned to her. “Teddy’s all ready for Halloween. Have you seen the shop?”
“It’s for the local kids.” She gripped Jack’s hand. “We might have a few trick-or-treaters.”
“It’s great. I love the witch with her pot of gummy worms,” Hank said.
“Speaking of that, do you have a line on dry ice?”
“I’ll drive to Beeville if I need to,” Jack said. “Halloween isn’t Halloween without dry ice.”
Estrella pulled Teddy aside saying in an overly loud voice, “Let me show you what we’ve done with the store.”
Teddy handed Jack the leash to Pickles.
Inside the shop, in an aisle of women’s swimsuits, Estrella said, “Let’s have it.”
“Have what?”
“Word on the street is you dumped Daniel for Jack.”
Estrella obviously feigned interest in the swimsuits as she flipped through the rack of bikinis.
“Sometimes this town is just way too small.”
“Maybe so. But don’t you like the family feeling? Speaking of that, I’ve seen the way Jack admires at you. He’s in love.”
A shot of adrenaline coursed through her. She imagined a partnership with him. Pops would take to Jack right away. But . . . “You do know his wife died. I don’t think he’s over it.”
“Most men don’t last past the first load of dirty shirts. For him it’s been five years. He’s over her.”
“I don’t know.”
“May seem that way to you. From my viewpoint, he’s ready to move on. Not that moving on will be easy. You know better than anyone about grief.” Estrella smiled at her. She took both of Teddy’s hands and said, “Hear me now, Jack painted over Angie’s name on the barbecue wagon. That’s huge.”
“Yes, but . . . I don’t need to take on that baggage.”
“Better than no baggage at all.” Estrella pulled a tube of lipstick from her pocket and applied it.
Hearing Jack’s laugh, Teddy cupped her hand across her mouth. Her heart slammed against her chest. If he had heard a word she said, she’d be horrified.
Estrella put a finger to her lips. “I won’t say a word. For what it’s worth, I never thought Daniel was right for you.”
“Everyone is saying that now. Where were you when I was making a fool of myself?” Teddy admired a hot pink bikini, checked the price tag—eighty dollars—and then put the bikini back on the rack. Eighty dollars for a quarter yard of cloth, no way.
“For you, I’ll give you my end-of-season discount,” Estrella said. “It’s perfect for you.”
“Maybe me ten years ago.”
“Maybe what ten years ago?” Jack popped up behind Teddy displaying a T-shirt that read: “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Except Sharks. Sharks will kill you.”
“It’s perfect,” Teddy said, picturing Jack wearing the shirt so unlike his usual cowboy garb.
“It’s sold.” He sized the tee to Teddy’s back. “Did I mention it’s for you?”
“No way. You said you like it.” Teddy found herself drawn to the teasing and the perpetual twinkle in his eye.
Estrella raised her eyebrows with an I-told-you-so expression. Teddy caught Jack observing her, a warm smile on his lips, and his dark eyes full of mischief. A tremor traveled down her spine followed by the zap of an electric current, as if a light had switched on inside her.
Teddy slipped the T-shirt over her head. While Estrella and Hank clapped, Jack folded his arms across his chest and watched her. She pouted her lower lip, placed a hand on her hip, and assumed a model’s pose. Jack snapped a photo. She tossed her hair, he snapped again. Estrella sidled up, and they posed together.
“We’ll Facebook this. It’ll be good for business,” Estrella said. “Does Sweet Somethings have a website? A Facebook page?”
Teddy hadn’t updated her page since she had reopened the shop. As far as Texas and the rest of the world knew, Sweet Somethings remained closed. She’d fix that the minute she got home.
Outside, a harvest moon rose over the Gulf, its face golden orange and unnaturally large, as if photo-shopped to a super-size.
“Wow, just wow.” Jack slipped his free hand to the small of Teddy’s back.
She sucked in a breath, enjoying the warmth of his hand on her back. Her relationship with Daniel had played out like a bad batch of fudge—the results seemed okay on the outside, but the fudge never set. She knew now that she wanted to be Jack’s girl, or whatever they called dating nowadays. She wanted lots of kisses in the moonlight not just a buddy who helped walk the dog and build candy shelves.
Few cars traveled down Crane Street as they walked. They peeked into the window of Surftown where one light remained shining. Walt had managed to stock the store with a rack of body boards and surf boards, but his board short and swimsuit stock remained limited.
A string of big-bulb multicolored lights hung outside Taco Hut just the way they used to. Teddy inhaled the homey aroma of fried onions and tortillas while mariachi music played from through the window. Her stomach growled.
“All of a sudden I’m starving.” Jack steered them to an outside table where they could watch the moon.
After taking Teddy’s order to the window, he returned to the table and moved up close to her. They watched the moon rise over the recently restored thatched roof of Taco Hut.
“You think Brooke and Pete are going to be all right?” Jack peered into Teddy’s eyes with concern on his face.
“I have a good feeling about them,” Teddy said. “But Dot may take the heat.”
“Too bad they’ve missed out on all those years together.” Jack had a sad half smile on his face.
Teddy kept her eyes focused on her sparkling water. They pooled with water. Jack placed a hand on hers.
The owner arrived at their table with two red plastic baskets. Teddy waved the smell of their meal toward her nose and breathed in the scent of seasoned beef, cilantro, and cumin. She spooned pico de gallo over her taco and placed a sliced avocado on top before crunching into the crispy shell.
“Whoa,” she said, after a bite of eye-stinging jalape?o. “I got a hot one.”
“Favorite food?” Jack dipped his burrito in red sauce and took a bite. “Mexican or barbecue?”
“Depends,” Teddy said.
“It’s Mexican, isn’t it?” Jack blasted her with his most devious smile.
“I confess, but you already knew that.” She laughed and gobbled the rest of her taco.
Pretending to be offended, Jack turned his smile into an exaggerated pout. “For you, I’ll add fajita tacos to the menu.”
“Now you’re talking. But fajitas were invented in Texas. It’s Tex-Mex. But I love that, too.” Under the festive lights of the Taco Hut, her life felt right, almost too good to be true. What were the odds that a handsome stranger would walk into town and steal her heart? The storyline came straight out of an old western.
Jack placed his bag from The Islander on the table. “I didn’t have a chance to wrap it.”
“The shark T-shirt? No, thanks.”
“Nah, this is better.” Jack’s eyes gleamed. “Open it.”
Beneath the white tissue paper, she saw the hot pink sheen of the bikini. “I don’t know.” She used to wear bikinis all the time and not think a thing about it. “Wow. I can’t believe you bought this. I mean . . . well . . .”
“I can’t wait to see the bikini on you.” He squeezed her hand.
“It’s a long time until swimsuit season.” She said, then swallowed.
“Maybe we can find a hot tub somewhere.”
Teddy shook her head. “You’re terrible.”
A soak in a hot tub with Jack sounded divine. He painted over his barbecue trucks and now this.
She felt him staring at her. “Let me guess,” he said. “You think my intentions aren’t honorable. I painted over Angela’s name because I’m committed.”
His eyes pleaded with her, big, round, and earnest. A warm rush passed through her. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
Jack leaned over to kiss her.
Teddy held her breath as his lips brushed against hers, and she whispered that she didn’t know what to think.
“Don’t think, just kiss.” Jack kissed her again, this time she didn’t say a word. “Let’s go walk on the beach and kiss some more.”
“Pickles will be wondering where we are.”
“Okay, then. First kiss, then Pickles, then kiss, then the beach, then kiss.”
“That’s some itinerary.”
By the time they retrieved Pickles, the moon had risen midway into the sky and glittered a shimmering path over the Gulf. Jack moved closer. The moon reflected off his eyes. Jack bent his head to meet her lips, and she rose onto her toes. Pickles barked and jerked. Jack grabbed the leash with both hands.
“Sit!” Jack yelled.
Pickles tugged.
“What’s gotten into you?”
Pickles barked. She pulled him to a pile of trash that included a kid-size Spiderman boogie board, a sand bucket and shovel, and a deflated plastic floatie. Pickles sniffed around the trash, whimpered, and pawed a hole in the sand.
“She really knows how to destroy a romantic moment,” Jack said, still struggling to keep hold of Pickles. “What do you think this is?” Jack asked. “I’ve never seen Pickles act like this.”
“Just a bunch of kid’s toys.” Teddy felt a sudden shock as she watched Pickles dig at the pile with uncharacteristic persistence.
Was there a dead animal somewhere? If so, Teddy would have smelled it. Pickles smelled something else. Pickles rolled over on top of the toys. Teddy lifted the bucket. Pickles barked, ran around the pile of toys, then barked again.
“C’mon Pickles, it’s time to go home.” She tugged at her leash, then tugged again, until Pickles finally left the pile of toys.