12. Chapter Twelve
Chapter Twelve
T his isn’t a date.
This is just two old friends getting together.
Carrie repeated it to herself as she headed across the snow-covered backyard toward the Wrights’ house. Tonight would be like old times. They would talk. They would laugh. And they would revisit the old days when life was so much simpler.
In one hand, she held a zippered tote with the casserole dish. In the other hand, she had a small box with the shredded lettuce and diced tomato. She kept them separate because she remembered how Jackson would complain when the lettuce would wilt. And she didn’t want anything to go wrong this evening. She knew he would be flying back to London any day now. She didn’t want him to leave on bad terms.
She made her way past the line of overgrown shrubs and tall trees that divided their properties. The vegetation definitely wasn’t this big the last time she’d made her way over to see Jackson. This evening, she practically had to climb through the gangly bush, but at last she and the food made it to the other side.
She headed for the back door just like she’d done a thousand times before. The lights were on in the kitchen. She rapped her knuckles on the door.
“It’s open!” Jackson called from inside.
She let herself inside. She spotted him at the kitchen island, mashing avocados. “Running behind?”
“My visit with my mother took longer than I expected.”
She took off her snow boots and then slipped off her coat. “Is everything okay with her?”
He nodded. “As good as they can be at this point. It’s just that we got to talking, you know, about selling this house and the building.”
The breath stilled in her lungs. “Has she changed her mind about selling the building?”
“No. I’m sorry. But she’s just not up to managing it. Plus, she needs the money to pay off some bills.” Under his breath he muttered, “A lot of bills.”
She had a feeling she wasn’t supposed to hear that part. So, she let it go without comment.
“And how was your day?”
“It was good.” The shop was busy most of the day. The town’s reaction to her new business had been so much more than she dared to dream about.
“Did you get your Happy Hearts menu turned in?”
“I did.” She smiled proudly.
“I bet she was impressed.”
The smile slipped from her face. “If she was, she didn’t say anything to me.”
He sighed and shook his head. “I’m sorry she’s giving you a hard time after all of these years.”
“It’s her problem. Not mine. I let go of the past a long time ago.”
In no time at all, they had their plates filled, and they were sitting around the kitchen table like they’d done so many times as kids. Back in those days, there weren’t worries about paying bills or how to manage a successful career.
In the old days, her mother hadn’t been going on about how her friends’ kids were having babies. Her mother didn’t directly say it to Carrie, but it was obvious her mother wanted grandchildren. And with Carrie’s dismal dating record, the chance of her having a family was shrinking every year that went by.
Carrie picked up a tortilla chip and scooped up some guacamole from her plate. Jackson hadn’t lost his touch. It was delicious.
After Carrie munched on the chip, she asked, “Did you tell your mother I said hi?”
He nodded. “I did. It was near the end of our visit. She said hello and that she’s looking forward to seeing you. But you don’t have to make the trip to the facility, although she will take some chocolate.”
Carrie laughed. “Well, I will definitely put together a gift box for her when we go to visit. I’m just sorry I didn’t think about it today.”
After they finished eating, they worked together to clean up. She washed and he dried. It all felt so natural as though they’d been doing it all their lives. In that moment, the idea of them being a couple appealed to her, but it was nothing more than a fantasy.
Jackson led her to the living room, where the coffee table was covered with old photos. He started to clean them up. “I’m sorry about this.”
When she went to help him, she found herself checking out the photos of an era gone by. “Have you ever seen these photos before?”
“Some of them. The more I look at them, the more I want to recreate the restaurant. All of those people looked so happy.”
“Then do it.” She didn’t know why she’d said it. There was no way he’d give up his impressive position to run a small-town restaurant. But she liked the thought of having him around.
The fact he didn’t immediately shoot down her idea, struck her. Surely, he wasn’t seriously considering it.
“I don’t know.” His brow creased, as though he were giving the idea serious consideration.
He hadn’t agreed to her idea, but he hadn’t rejected it either. She knew it would be challenging for him to supervise the restaurant from London. Still, she thought the idea had possibilities. And she could help him.
Getting excited about the Wrights retaining ownership of the building, she continued to build on the idea. “I know you’ll be in London most of the time.” But if he had another excuse to come home, she would get to see him more often. “But if you were to hire a manager, they could oversee everything for you. And I could help out now and then.”
Ding.
It wasn’t her phone, so that meant it had to be his. He withdrew it from his pocket to check the screen. She wanted to ask who it was from, but she resisted the urge. The thought that it might be from a woman—a woman who was romantically interested in him or worse, a woman he was romantically interested in—made her stomach churn.
“Running a business from a long distance is quite difficult, which I am quickly learning. Just give me a moment.” He lifted his phone, and his fingers moved rapidly over the screen.
While he responded to the message, she tried to think of another way to convince him to keep the building and lease out the area. It didn’t have to be a restaurant, just something so he and his mother would retain ownership of the building, and then she wouldn’t have to worry about being kicked out when her lease was up. And maybe she would get to see him more often.
“Sorry about that.” He set his phone on the coffee table among the numerous photos. “It was work.”
“But isn’t it really late in London?”
He nodded. “Yes, it is. But don’t worry, they weren’t in the office. They were at home. We’re dealing with some bugs in the new software we’re getting ready to roll out.” He went on to explain the problem in technical jargon.
She nodded as though she understood, but every time he talked about computer programming, it went over her head. She attempted to look interested, even though he might as well have been speaking a foreign language.
“Anyway,” he said, “I’m sure you’re not interested in hearing my problems.”
“You know you can talk to me about anything. Just like always. I might not always know what you’re talking about, but I will listen.”
When he smiled at her, her stomach dipped. She chose to ignore the response. After all, it meant nothing.
“Can I help you with the photos?” she asked.
“Sure. I just don’t know what to do with them. My mother is insistent that she’s moving.”
Carrie’s chest tightened as worry coursed through her body. “Is she moving to London with you?”
“I tried to talk her into it, but she insists that she’s not leaving Bayberry. She says this is her home, but she wants to get a smaller place so she doesn’t feel so isolated.”
Carrie expelled a pent-up breath. “I can understand. If she’s in town, she can walk everywhere and not have to worry about driving.”
He nodded. “That’s what she said. So, my job is to get this place decluttered and ready for potential buyers.”
Carrie glanced around. There were pieces of furniture and knickknacks everywhere. This was going to be a big job. “Where would you even start?”
He stared down at the photos. “That is why my visit with my mother was so long. She wrote out detailed instructions for me. We went over them line by line.”
“Oh.” She felt bad for him. This wouldn’t be easy. “What can I do to help?”
His gaze met and held hers. “Thanks for the offer, but you have enough to do with your new business.”
“I am busy, but only until six o’clock. I am free in the evenings.” And then she recalled the Happy Hearts week. “Next week, I do have to step out for a little bit each evening for Happy Hearts, but that shouldn’t take me too long. And I have all day Sunday and Monday when the shop is closed.”
His gaze searched hers. “You’d really want to help me?”
“I can’t believe you have to ask. Haven’t we always helped each other? Like the time my father broke his wrist, and you helped me cut down the Christmas tree, get it in the house, and set it all up. Or the time my dad was out of town and my mother was insistent the garage be cleaned out before he got home. We never would have finished that without your help.”
A smile lifted the corner of his lips and put a twinkle in his eyes. “I hadn’t thought about those times in a while. I remember a time when you were mad at your mom because you wanted to go to the football game, but she said the yard had to be mowed before you left.”
“I forgot about that. I can’t remember why I was so insistent I had to go.”
“I do. You were all crazy for Fred.”
She rolled her eyes. The guy was three years older than her. “Yeah. And I don’t think he even knew I was alive.”
“Well, it was his loss.”
The thing about Jackson was that he’d always been there for her. He knew more about her than anyone else. She was lucky to have a friend like him. Not everyone was so fortunate.
“We better start cleaning these up.” She leaned forward to straighten up a stack of pictures. She stared down at the top photo. “Do you know any of these people?”
He moved over next to her. He pointed out the few people he knew. And for a while, they thumbed through the photos.
He sighed. “I wish my grandparents would have written down the names on the back of each photo.”
“It is a shame.” She studied one photo. It looked like it was taken at a birthday party. “Hey, that’s Penney Taylor.”
Jackson took the photo from her and studied it. “I think you’re right.”
“We could ask her who she knows in the photos.” Carrie gave it some more thought. “I know, what if we create some sort of collage and ask the town to identify the people?”
“I don’t know.” He straightened a pile of photographs. “I don’t want them ruined.”
“True.” She gave it some more thought. “We could post them online on the Bayberry community page.” When he gave her a puzzled look, she said, “You know. The social media page on MyFace where the locals report local news.” The more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea. “More than just locals visit the page. People who have moved away use it as a way to keep in contact.”
He hesitated. “I don’t know. I’d have to ask my mother.”
“Sure.” Carrie nodded. “We can ask her on Sunday when we visit. That is if you think it won’t upset her.”
“We’ll ask her then.”
She helped him put the photographs back into their respective boxes. She’d had a really nice evening, and she hated to say goodbye. There was something warm and relaxing about this home. It was going to take a lot to get used to it being sold. It would be like losing a piece of her past.
She slipped on her coat and turned to him. “Thanks for a fun evening.”
He arched a brow. “You call a dinner you prepared and some old photos fun?” When she nodded, he said, “You obviously haven’t been out much lately. You know what they say about all work and no play.”
“I know, it makes Carrie a very dull girl. But I guess no one can have everything.” And then before things could get awkward like they had the other evening, she said, “Goodnight.”
She turned and slipped out the door without so much as a hug. Even now, it felt as though one thing might lead to another, and she couldn’t let that happen. Jackson wasn’t thinking clearly now, but someday he’d thank her for protecting their friendship.
The memory of their kiss flashed in her mind. Her heart betrayed her as it pitter-pattered in her chest. She never looked at him as anything more than a friend. So, then why did the memory of that kiss get to her?
He should leave well enough alone.
And yet, he couldn’t do it.
Jackson couldn’t get Carrie out of his mind. He had this sinking feeling that this was a turning point in their lives. If he didn’t try to make her see they could be so much more than good friends, they would lose their bond.
They were both at the age when thoughts of settling down were taking shape in their minds. With the great distance between them, they would meet other people, fall in love, and get married. They would lose not only this opportunity but their friendship. The fact that it’d lasted this long was no small feat. But if Carrie thought they could be this close when they were committed to other people, she was kidding herself. That’s why he had to convince her to give their romance a chance.
On Sunday, as he’d listened to his mother and Carrie talk, a plan began to take shape in his mind. And now that it was Monday morning, it was time to put his plan into action. He was going to take a risk and show Carrie how much he cared about her. If she still rejected him, he wouldn’t like it, but he’d accept it.
After a quick trip into town, he came home with all of the supplies he would need to initiate the plan. In fact, his old bedroom now looked more like a craft shop than a bedroom. At that particular moment, he was glad his mother wasn’t around to see him cutting out hearts and trying to think of something romantic to put on the valentine he was making for Carrie.
But as he worked on his crafty creation, he realized the valentine wasn’t enough. To take their lifetime friendship to the next level, he really needed to step it up. So, he started to think about some of Carrie’s favorite things. He would work those into his plan.
He was certain as soon as she saw the valentine, she would figure out it was from him. Still, he wanted to add a little bit of mystery to it.
If he didn’t want her to see him deliver it, he had to make sure of where Carrie was. He grabbed his phone and dialed her number.
She answered on the first ring. “Good morning.”
“Good morning to you too. I was just calling to see if you were still coming over today.”
“Uh, yes. I am. But I can’t do it until twelve or so. I’m at the shop now, prepping some stuff for Happy Hearts this evening.”
“But I thought the shop was closed on Mondays.”
“Normally, it is, but I’m making an exception for this event. It won’t take me that long. I’ll be gone and back so fast that you won’t even miss me. Is that all you wanted?” She sounded distracted.
“Just one other thing. What would you like for lunch?”
“I don’t know.” There was a pause, as though she were thinking it over. “Why don’t you surprise me?”
He didn’t have a clue what to surprise her with. “I accept the challenge, but don’t get your hopes too high.”
She laughed. “I’m sure whatever you pick out will be fine.” In the background there was a loud buzzer going off. “That’s my timer. I’ve got to go.”
After they hung up, he smiled. She wasn’t home, so he could deliver the valentine. His plan was coming together. Now he just had to hurry.