Champagne and Lemon Drops: A Blueberry Springs Chick Lit Contemporary Romance (7 page)

Still leaning over the table he said, "You
can't move on, Beth. Give me a chance."

"I'm not moving on." She kept her head down.
She knew if she looked up into those warm brown eyes that she'd beg
for him to take her back. Looking around the room she understood
just how much he needed that space to figure out what he wanted.
The old Oz would have laughed at rumors about her being with a city
man. He would have been overjoyed with her outreach plan. This was
not her Oz. Her Oz was MIA.

It was just like the family Christmas photos
her mom used to send out as their Christmas card. Every year,
wearing a new festive sweater, she'd hand Cynthia and her their own
kid-sized versions and instruct them to try them on without
removing the tags. They'd try them on in the living room and her
mother would be so pleased with how they looked, she'd pull out her
camera and pose the girls in front of the decorated tree. Every
year. And every year when Beth went looking for the sweater to wear
on Christmas Eve she could never find a trace of it. The sweaters
disappeared just as they had appeared—hers to wear briefly, to
revel in the joy of having one just like everyone else, but then it
would slip away when she wasn't watching.

And right now, that's how their relationship
felt. The snapshots and memories were proof of its existence, but
she couldn't hold it in her hands or ever truly own it. She feared
that, somehow, she had looked away for too long and it had
disappeared.

"You need longer than a month, don't you?"
she asked quietly.

He withdrew to the chair across from her,
shoulders rounded with defeat.

Silence pleated the air between them and
Oz's legs began jiggling. He stood and moved to the patio door,
bracing his arms against its frame. He hung his head so his
forehead rested against the glass.

"You can't rush this," he said, barely
audible.

"You can't kiss me like that and then push
me away." Emotion cloaked her voice and she stood. "I'll wait for
you, but don't toy with me."

***

Beth burst into Katie's basement suite, her
body aching like she'd run a marathon. "He kissed me," she
announced before realizing Katie was watching a chick flick. The
kind of movies she mocked at great length. She froze in the doorway
and Katie turned off the TV, turning to her with a massive
smile.

"He did?"

She fell onto the couch beside Katie. "But I
don't know what it means. "

Even though she'd had all day to settle her
feelings, she still felt as though her world was resting on a bed
of loose marbles. Somehow their relationship's short-term break had
turned into an open-ended disaster.

"He still looooooves you," Katie said in a
sticky sweet voice.

Beth touched her lips. The pressure of his
mouth was still hot and furious against hers despite the hours that
had lapsed between the kiss and now. "I can't help shaking the
feeling that there's something wrong. Really wrong." She turned to
face Katie. "He drank Johnny Walker right from the bottle and the
place is a mess. He isn't going into work."

Katie frowned.

Beth wove the hem of her sweater between her
fingers. "I think he actually believed the rumors."

Katie frowned. "Huh. Well, you know what? I
think that's a good thing." She nudged Beth and smiled.

Beth shoved her back, unimpressed.
"How?"

"If you're out flirting with other men,
he'll get over his cold feet and come marching back. There's
nothing like knowing another man is after your cherry pie to make
you hustle."

"Katie," Beth sighed. "I was only joking
about that stuff and look where it got me. He totally
misinterpreted attending the training session with Nash. We're
moving away instead of closer." Panic swelled inside her and she
jumped up to pace across the small living space, making the
floor-length curtains flutter.

"I hate to say it... but if your
relationship is as great as you think..."

Beth felt Katie watching her and she
bristled, dreading what her friend's next words might be and if
they might be those same dark worries she'd been persistently
shaking off at every turn for the past week. Katie continued,
picking her words carefully. "Wouldn't he want you by his side if
he's going through a premature midlife crisis or whatever it
is?"

Beth blinked back tears. "I thought so, but
Nash said—"

"Nash?"

"Dr. Leham."

"I know who he is, but you
were talking to
him
about your Oz problems?"

"What?" Beth asked defensively. "He's a good
listener. And he believes Oz is trying to protect me. That Oz needs
time to sort things out alone. I mean, it's pretty noble of Oz
to... well... you know?"

Katie squinted at Beth. "He's protecting you
by making you homeless?"

"I chose to move out. I could have stayed."
Beth worked to fight the coming tears and wandered over to Katie's
shelf of snow globes. One by one, she picked them up and gave them
a shake, making snow fall down on tropical scenes, snowmen,
cityscapes, and fairytale settings.

"What if everything changes? What if after
he finds himself we aren't compatible any more?" She watched the
snow drift and swirl down, and how within seconds the snow globe
world was back to normal.

Envious. She was envious of a snow globe's
world. She sighed and turned to Katie. "He already seems like a
different person." She slumped back into place alongside Katie.

Katie scratched her cheek, her eyes showing
her worry. "Well... don't you think it's worth waiting to find
out?"

Beth thought of her lonely nights on the
hide-a-bed and how much she missed hearing Oz tell her about his
day while wrapped in his arms. How during the day she'd start to
text him about something he'd find funny and have to stop, or how
she'd pick up something in the store, thinking of him, and have to
put it back again. How empty and sad she felt. It was like mourning
him except he was still alive. Living a life without her.

"Of course it is," she sighed. "I just need
to find a way to help him while still giving him space. He's
struggling and I want to show him that I'm still here if he needs
me. He doesn't have to push me away. I can handle whatever he's
going through."

***

Beth cradled the career and self-help books
in her arms and bumped her office door open with her butt. She
dropped the books on her filing cabinet and grinned. Her lunch
break was over, but the inspiration and hope she'd felt in the
fresh April air hadn't ended. Something flowery had been blooming
near the library, tinting the breeze with a gentle sweetness that
had made her never want to stop inhaling. The scent had made the
world feel new and as if anything was possible. Even getting back
together with Oz. She slipped her cardigan off her shoulders and
hung it on the hook by the door. All she had to do was take the
books to Oz during their coffee on Sunday and that fresh spring air
would do the rest. He'd be convinced that it was time to figure out
what his dream was—really and truly—and he'd etch out a plan and
follow it. His world would be lit on fire and he'd yank her back
into his arms where he'd never, ever let her go.

And unlike Katie who thought she should
flirt with other guys to motivate Oz, she knew she had time. She
was young and free and the desperation she felt a week ago had
ebbed away. There was no rush, especially now that she was
crazy-busy organizing her new outreach program. Only two measly
months to go. She grabbed an overstuffed file folder off her desk
and flipped through the top couple of papers, looking for the
permit form she needed to complete and drop off at town hall after
work.

She scooted to the door, pushing it closed.
The latch failed and it drifted open a few inches. She nudged it
again and within seconds it creaked open again. Sighing she put
down her papers and logged into her computer. She fired off a quick
work order to maintenance and finished filling out her permit.

Rubbing her eyes, she placed the completed
permit form in her purse. Wasn't she the gal getting stuff taken
care of today? Two things off her plate and she'd only been back in
her office for ten minutes. And yesterday she'd done pretty well
too. She'd used half her paycheck to replace the alternator and
repair a few things on her car she'd been waiting for Oz to take
care of. When word got back to him he'd see that he had the space
to make the moves he needed to change his life without her assuming
he was the same old Oz. They could both change and still love each
other. Her grin grew even further. He was going to be stinkin'
proud of her. Maybe this week would even be the one where he ended
the break.

She pulled out her outreach sign-up forms
for one last proofreading before printing off a stack. Voices
drifted down the hall and not wanting to be distracted, she rolled
herself over to shut the door. As she reached out to give it a tap,
she caught a glimpse of blond hair swaying like a satin cape and
she quickly scooted behind the door, her heart hammering. That hair
could only belong to one person: Mandy.

"Why don't you date him?" a voice asked
Mandy. Beth held in a gasp, clenching her chair's armrests to keep
herself from sprinting out into the hall and saying something she'd
be sure to regret.

She'd heard the monsoon of rumors about how
Mandy was Oz's new confidant. About how they were hanging out
around town as friends. Everyone was waiting for her to go
screaming into the streets to yell that he was her man and for
Mandy to back the hell off. She could feel it like Gran could feel
rain coming in her joints.

Mandy laughed. "What men want and what they
need are two totally different things. Sometimes it's up to us
women to do what's right for a man."

"Are you talking about Frankie or Oz?" asked
the voice as they drifted down the hall.

Beth stood and put her ear to the hinge side
of the door, but could only make out laughter and murmurs as the
two women continued on their way.

Beth rubbed her temples, a
massive headache closing in.
What did she
mean?

She glanced at the career and self-help
books and put her head in her hands. Did Oz want or need space?
Were the books what he needed? If Oz was hanging around Mandy, was
she a want or a need? And what was she supposed to do that would be
the right thing for Oz? The right thing for her?

Chapter 6

The ring shimmered in the June sunlight.
Beth gazed at it, emotions churning. A happily ever after. A
perfect proposal and dedication of love for the whole town to see
in the square on Main Street during the annual Sports Day carnival.
Bells jangled through the air as a teen won an oversized teddy bear
for his girlfriend. Envy rose up, rubbing a raw spot in her
chest.

"Isn't it amazing?" her sister asked.

The constant crush of
people swilling around them combined with the stench of overheated
frying oil became too much.
Beth choked
back her envy and pulled her sister into a fierce hug. "I'm so
happy for you." This was what Cynthia needed: a reward at the end
of a long stint of taking care of everyone and growing up too
soon.

Beth swiped at her eyes as she released her
sister. But her sister was naturally strong and independent. She
didn't have to work at it. Cynthia was like Katie. They were happy,
free, and independent without men.

Whereas she was still in an unhappy limbo.
It had been almost three months since Oz asked for his break and
nothing had changed. Nothing. Oz hadn't read the library books. He
still didn't know what he wanted to do with his life and it looked
as though everything was falling to pieces around him. And yet he
still pushed her back, not allowing her to stand beside him or
clear a path.

Terrified of rocking their sinking boat, she
kept giving him one more week before she pressed him into taking
some sort of action—any action—and kept hoping that this would be
the week where he figured everything out. Everywhere she looked
people were hooking up, getting engaged, and falling in love. There
was no justice and she was tired of it. He needed to make an effort
she could see.

Straightening her back she decided today was
the day. Today was the day she would take a definitive action to
push Oz out of his rut and into real life again.

Her sister, beaming like crazy, waved to her
new fiancé, Dan, who was leaning against the oak, grinning like the
dog who had finally caught the mailman. Cynthia hugged Beth's arm.
"He convinced me that you'll be okay. That I can let go and live my
life." Her sister rested a cool hand against Beth's cheek. "You
will be okay, won't you?"

"Yeah, of course." Beth tried to shrug off
her sister.

"It'll all work out for you, Beth."

Beth pushed her sister away. "Go give your
man a kiss, Cynthia." If they kept talking she'd end up bawling in
the center of town—just when the rumors were finally beginning to
die down around her and Oz.

She watched her sister jog over to Dan and
flop herself into his arms. Beth wandered off to watch the baseball
games, settling herself in the shade of a large tree. She waved to
Katie who was on the other side of the diamond chatting with her
father. Her friend had spent the past two months nudging her into
other men in the movie theater's lineups and trying to set Beth up
with blind dates, double dates, and plain old dates in an effort to
make Beth look like a hot commodity her brother was about to lose
if he didn't spring into action. But each time Beth would blush and
step away, refusing the hook up.

Beth turned to take in the craziness of the
carnival behind her. She needed to do something that would spin Oz
around. Fast and hard but in a way that wouldn't cause him to freak
out. Through a break in the crowd she caught a glimpse of her
sister and Dan making out and the band of muscles across her chest
tightened as though they had become part boa constrictor. She
caught herself scanning the crowd of familiar faces in an effort to
spot Oz.