Chapter 3
“Guess I’m not surprised.” Josie stared at her hot fudge sundae.
Why had she even ordered this? Apparently her stomach had gone on strike.
Although she had no appetite, during their quick call the night before, she'd agreed to meet Emily at Sweet Creamery.
Dusk was falling over the square and the Christmas lights had come on, offering a cheerful, twinkling display. But Josie wasn't feeling cheerful.
Her stomach was a tight knot. “This is stupid. I should never have told him that I had a position open.”
“That's ridiculous. Granted, the engagement part is a downer. When you told me he was coming back, I thought…” Emily glanced down. She’d left Alexander at home with Jackson and Josie was glad.
For this kind of conversation, she needed Emily's total attention. Josie was in desperate need of help. But right now, Emily was a bit distracting. Should Josie mention it? Probably. If Josie had a blob of something on her shirt, she’d want to know about it.
“Emily?” Josie motioned to the front of Emily’s shirt. Some kind of cereal was clinging to her top.
Emily glanced down. “Oh my gosh. Again?” Her friend grabbed a napkin, dipped it in her water glass and swiped at the goop. “Baby oatmeal. I'm teaching Alex to feed himself.”
“So he's at that point?” How fun that would be to teach your child to eat. Fun, but messy.
“The kid changes every day. Jackson's afraid to go out and meet with clients. Afraid he's going to miss something.” Scraping back her chair, Emily dashed over to the trash with her napkin.
“Alex is messy,” she said after she’d returned and had gone back to her sundae.
“Maybe all boys are like that. He crows with delight when I hand him a spoon.
After digging into the oatmeal, he waves his spoon everywhere, like he's conducting an orchestra.
He thinks it's great fun when food lands on Spartacus or Maximilian. The two dogs camp out under his highchair, waiting for whatever comes their way.”
That sounded messy and fun at the same time. Emily did look tired. “Are you getting any sleep now that the baby is getting older?”
“A little. Jackson is great about getting up with Alex. But most of it does fall on me, I don't care what they say. Most of the child care winds up with the mother.”
Josie tried to imagine that. Teaching a child to eat in her cottage where books were stacked everywhere, along with a fair number of magazines. Most of the magazines were opened to another article that she wanted to read. She had a bad habit of not finishing them.
“Aren't you going to eat?” Emily asked, her own spoon poised in the air.
“What? Oh yeah.” After hearing about Alex eating, Josie had more of an appetite and drove her spoon into the ice cream. Sweet Creamery churned their own ice cream and it was heavenly. She whisked her spoon through the whipping cream and hot chocolate for another mouthful.
“Bryn didn't want to come today?” she asked. Often they were a threesome although Josie liked to think she had a special friendship with Emily.
“I didn't ask her.” Emily swirled her spoon through the whipped cream. “You know, because we're talking about Malcolm.”
Josie swallowed a mouthful of ice cream so quickly that it gave her brain freeze. She pressed two fingers against her forehead. “I know. Bryn and Malcolm.”
“We always thought those two would get married. Guess Malcolm wasn't to be. Not for Bryn. But you know.” Emily shook her head. “In my mind you and Malcolm would have made a perfect couple. You’re both fitness freaks. You run marathons and you both love camping.”
Here was the sticking point. “Remember the time that Malcolm asked Bryn to go on that camping trip? Do you remember how horrified she was?” Josie had wanted to kill her friend because Bryn had tried everything to weasel out of that two-week trip.
Meanwhile, Josie would've killed to go on a trip that included kayaking in the wild.
“Oh my word. She was so horrified when he mentioned that to her. Remember?” Emily started to laugh, and Josie laughed right along with her. “All she could talk about were the bugs and the lack of bathrooms.”
“That was when Bryn realized that Malcolm was never going to be more than a friend.”
“So who is he marrying?” Emily asked. “When?”
Josie’s laughter died. “Some girl back in New York. Apparently, Malcolm went to private school with her. Darcy something or other. From what he said, his mother set them up.”
Emily arched a brow. “You mean the mother who couldn’t accept that her son didn't want to be a Wall Street financier?” Obviously Emily remembered the story about Malcolm's privileged background.
“The very same. He went back to New York after finishing his time with the Peace Corps at the beginning of last summer. Said he wanted to spend some time with his mother.”
“So considerate. That's just the type of thing he would do.” Emily dug back into her sundae.
“I agree. Evidently, his mom had Darcy waiting. She’d just broken up with someone and wasn't that his good luck?”
The disgusted look on Emily's face matched Josie's feelings. “It would have been nice if he had stopped here first,” Emily grumbled.
“We might have things in common, Emily. But maybe I just never had what he was looking for in a wife.” That really stung but sometimes the truth hurt.
“That's ridiculous. And I don't even want you thinking like that,” Emily said, her eyes snapping.
“I can just picture Darcy.” Josie stared out through the glass window at the Christmas scene on the square. At night the square became a lowcountry winter wonderland, but with no snow. “She’s probably a blonde beauty like Victoria Pomeroy.”
“Let's remember that Victoria's name is now Victoria Darling.”
When Josie snorted, some ice cream shot up through her nose.
She dabbed it with a napkin. “I have trouble saying that full name. It just sounds weird.” Although the three friends had not had much use for Victoria when she took over the shop below Emily's apartment–the shop space that would have been perfect for Bryn’s Blooms–Victoria had redeemed herself when she fell for Dr. Derek Darling, the ER doc.
He’d persuaded Victoria to work in his charity clinic, and the experience had changed her.
“I think Victoria's turned a new leaf.” Emily went back to work on her sundae.
“Doesn't matter. That leaf will always be golden,” Josie quipped. “When she has her babies, they'll probably come out with golden hair...or a gold spoon in their mouths.”
“You mean a silver spoon, right? I think that's the phrase.”
“For Victoria, the spoon would always be gold.” The visual picture in her head made Josie giggle. She loved spending time with Emily. Her friend always lifted her spirits.
Their conversation went on for a while, one comment more ridiculous than the next.
Josie had to shush Emily more than once.
Victoria's Pantry was very popular. The ice cream parlor was crowded and some of these folks might be Victoria's friends.
Music played in the background. “Jingle Bells” always lifted her spirits, and it felt encouraging to sit here with Emily.
But after a while the conversation veered back to Malcolm.
“Let's remember that an engagement is just an engagement.” Emily pushed aside her empty sundae cup, looking ready to get down to business.
“Does it matter?” In her mind, Josie saw Malcolm waiting for his beautiful bride at the end of an aisle in some historic church in New York City.
Staring at her empty ring finger, she felt like a loser.
The cheery Christmas music playing couldn't touch that sad reality. She’d never reached the point of considering an engagement with anyone.
And what did that say about her? She pushed her half-eaten sundae away. “Do you think I'm not feminine enough?”
“Don't be crazy.” Now it was Emily's turn to snort.
Ice cream went everywhere, and Josie laughed along with her friend.
Just about everyone in the place turned to look at them.
As the chortling continued, Josie could feel her face turn red.
She was glad her friend found that comment funny.
But for Josie it was serious. She was a jock and she looked like it.
Her friends had curves. Josie had muscles.
Grabbing a napkin, Emily wiped droplets of ice cream from the table, still shaking her head. “Of course you’re feminine,” she said in a stage whisper. “Why would you even ask that?”
Sitting back, Josie felt the ridges of the wire soda fountain chair against her back.
“Let's pretend that we're not best friends. Look at me. Most days I forget to wear makeup. My idea of casual means torn jeans. Even my running clothes are castoffs. Old T-shirts and shorts I’d only wear to the gym.
If anyone asked me what kind of perfume I'm wearing, it's usually Irish Spring soap.”
Laughter faded from Emily's face. But even then, when she was looking very serious, Emily was beautiful. Her wavy hair framed a face with high cheekbones and wide lips. She was also wearing mascara and lipstick. Suddenly self-conscious, Josie ran a finger over her dry lips.
“I think you’re way out of line here,” Emily finally said. “But if that's how you feel…if that's what comes to mind, why don't you try something different this Christmas? Take a chance.”
The words made Josie push back. “Boy, that sounds familiar.”
Leaning closer, Emily became even more intense than she’d been all evening. “It should. I think that's what Malcolm told Bryn when they’d gotten to the breakup point. After the camping debacle. Remember?”
Bryn had told Emily and Josie that one of the last things Malcolm said to her the night he called it quits was, “Take a chance. Bryn, take a chance on something.”
Take a chance on something. Sure, Malcolm's words had applied to Bryn. But right now that phrase resonated in Josie's heart. Sitting there in the ice cream parlor, she couldn't attribute her shivers to the air conditioning. What did she have to lose? “Okay, I'm doing it.”
“Good. What are you doing?”
“I have to think about this. But just sitting here watching this happen, watching Malcolm marry Darcy-whatever-her-name is isn’t…isn’t...” She didn't know what came next.
“Isn't going to get you what you want.” Emily's words were so deliberate that they became engraved on Josie’s mind. “Let's keep that in mind.”
Emily and Josie scraped back their chairs and headed for the door. Josie’s mind was working overtime. She was so preoccupied that she almost walked out without paying.
Take a chance. Circling back, she dug in her purse for a credit card.
She was a woman with a plan. On the way home, she stopped in front of Coralee’s consignment shop.
Next to a gaily decorated Christmas tree a flouncy, tiered dress in sky blue caught her eye.
Ruffles had never been her thing. But flounces?
Maybe they would be perfect for her plan.