Small-Town Mom (18 page)

“You have to come, too.”

“I’ll have to take that up with the girls.”

All right, then.
Opal liked him. Rose seemed to as well. Maybe he hadn’t totally blown things with Jamie.

Chapter Twelve

“D
on’t I look beautiful?” Opal asked, spinning around in the middle of the living room so that her skirt flared.

“You do,” Jamie agreed. “And you, too, Rose. You look so grown-up.”

Jamie had taken them shopping last Saturday. Opal had chosen a gauzy dress with a full skirt embroidered with small flowers that she called a fairy dress. Rose had found a turquoise dress in a lacy fabric over a satin underdress that was gathered at the waist and fell softly to just above her knees.

It was far too dressy for Rose’s usual wear. But her big blue eyes—her father’s eyes—had gone wide the moment she’d spotted it.
Funny, Rose was the only one of the kids who had John’s blue eyes.
Jamie couldn’t say no. And she’d let Rose get sheer tights that looked almost like stockings. Rose, her more reserved middle child, sometimes seemed to get lost in the shadows. Jamie had wanted to get her something special.

“Thanks, Mom. You look pretty hot, too, for a mother,” Rose said. “You haven’t worn that dress in a long time.”

Jamie rubbed the fabric of the tea-length cocktail dress between her thumb and forefinger. She’d only worn it once, for her parents’ fortieth anniversary party the fall after John had been killed. She’d bought it for her and John’s date night, as the kids called their infrequent evenings out, to celebrate his return. She dropped the fabric as if it burned and checked the clock to see if she had time to change into something more comfortable. A crunch of tires on the driveway told her no.

“I’ll get the door,” Opal said and opened it before Eli had even reached the top step of the porch.

Eli had traded his familiar ski jacket for a double-breasted wool dress coat. Brushing the dusting of snow off his shoulders, he stomped his feet on the welcome mat before stepping in.

“We’re all ready,” Opal announced, gesturing from herself to Rose to her mother.

“So I see, and you’re all…” He fastened his gaze on Jamie. “Lovely.” His voice dropped on the last word, sending a ripple of pleasure through her.

“I’m a lucky guy to be going out with three such beautiful women.”

“You’re silly. Mommy is the only woman. Rose and I are just girls.”

Eli smiled.

“Go get your coats,” Jamie said, sending Rose and Opal to the other room. “You do realize what you’ve gotten yourself into with Opal as your ‘date’?” Jamie walked across the room, opened the front closet and removed a caramel-colored car coat with faux shearling lining and collar.

As Eli helped her put the coat on, she couldn’t help comparing her department store special to his finely tailored coat. It shouldn’t bother her. She was a single parent with three kids to support.

“I hadn’t realized I was exclusively Opal’s date. I thought I was escorting all three of you.”

“No,” Jamie said firmly, closing the last button and looking up into Eli’s steel-blue eyes inches from hers. “To hear Opal, you’re taking
her
to the dinner-dance and Rose and I are kind of tag-alongs, particularly me. She’s not at all sure why I need to come except, maybe, to keep Rose company.”

“And so I have some adult company.” His gaze held hers and she breathed the spicy scent of winter mixed with a subtle men’s cologne.

Jamie released a rusty laugh. “Or for protection from Opal and her incessant questions. I’m sure she has a select few saved up for tonight.”

“Nope,” he said, shaking his head without breaking his gaze. “That one didn’t make my list.”

* * *

Eli held the school cafeteria door open for Jamie and the girls and followed them in. Someone had been busy this afternoon, moving the tables to a ring around the edges to open up a dance area complete with a DJ stand manned by a couple of the senior boys. He scanned the room and checked his watch, glancing over at Jamie to see if she was watching him. Her comment the other day had made him conscious of how time-focused he was. He relaxed. She was helping Opal take her coat off.

It was a great turnout. At least twenty of the possible forty elementary school girls were here with their various escorts.

“Mr. Payton,” Rose said. “We’re supposed to put our coats on the table over there.” She pointed to the far left side of the cafeteria.

“I was going to tell him that,” Opal said.

Jamie shot her a pointed look and Opal didn’t say any more, although the frown on her face clearly stated her feelings. Apparently, only she was supposed to talk to him.

Eli slipped his coat off, realizing they’d already removed theirs. “I’ll take them over.” He crossed the room, saying hello to several teachers who were there and parents he knew. He placed the coats on the table, with his on top.

“Eli, I didn’t expect to see you here.”

He turned to face Brett Russell. Eli hadn’t expected to see him, either. He glanced across the room to see if Jamie was looking this way. She was talking to Rose’s teacher.

“I’m filling in for Dad,” Brett said. He jerked his head toward the dark-haired girl standing next to him. Eli remembered seeing his sister, Katy, at Jamie’s house. “Grandma took a fall this afternoon, and he had to take her up to the Medical Center in Saranac Lake.”

“I hope she’s okay.”

“She might have broken her hip.”

“Sorry. I’ll say a prayer for her fast recovery.”

“Thanks. Grandma’s pretty tough.”

“Yep, that’s what I remember. She had to be to keep your dad and your four uncles in line.”

“Brett!” Katy tugged on the teen’s hand. “There’s Rose and her mother. We’ve got to get over there so we can get a table with them before they sit with Opal’s friends.”

“I guess I’ve got to move on.”

“Right,” Eli said. He did, too, but uncertainty about how Jamie would react to Brett joining them made him pause. “I’ll walk over with you.”

“Sure. Are you here as a chaperone?”

“Not exactly.”

Opal met them halfway across the room. “Mr. Payton, we have to get our table now.”

“Hi, Opal,” Katy said. “We were coming over to sit with you guys.”

“Hi, Katy. Where’s your dad?” Opal smiled up at Eli. “Mr. Payton brought us.”

Brett gave him a sideways glance.

“Dad had to take Grandma to the hospital. My brother Brett brought me.”

Opal’s mouth formed an
O
as she looked from Eli to Brett.

Eli rubbed the back of his neck, remembering the questions Jamie had told him Opal had asked about Brett and him.

“Oh, there’s Amy.” She looked up at Eli. “She’s my best friend. I want her to sit with us, too. Take Katy and her brother over to Mommy. She’s getting us a table.”

“Katy!” Rose waved and called them over.

Katy raced ahead.

“So,” Brett said, “you brought Katy’s friend Rose and her sister? I thought you and their mother weren’t…”

“We weren’t.” Eli cut him off and glanced at Jamie. But now maybe they were? “Opal, that’s Rose’s sister, has kind of latched on to me. She decided I should bring her to the dinner-dance and that was that.”

Brett knitted his brow. “Ah, okay, if you say so.”

Eli looked away. Who did he think he was fooling? He was here with Jamie.

* * *

“Hi, Katy,” Jamie said. “Rose saved you the seat next to her. Where’s your dad?”

“He couldn’t come.”

Jamie grasped the hard plastic back of the cafeteria chair she was pulling out for herself. “So.” The word came out as more of a croak. “Are you here with your mother?” How was she going to sit at a table all evening with Eli and Charlotte?

“Nope,” she said as she slid into the chair next to Rose. “She wasn’t feeling good.”

Jamie felt only a small pang of guilt at the relief the little girl’s answer had brought.

“My brother Brett brought me.”

Jamie collapsed in the chair she’d pulled out for herself. Brett sitting with them would only be incrementally less uncomfortable for Eli than having Charlotte there with them. And where were Eli and Opal? She hoped her darling daughter wasn’t dragging him around the room like some kind of prize to show off.

“Mommy.” Opal came up from behind and startled her. “I found Amy.” She led her friend and a pleasant-looking man about Jamie’s age to the other side of the table.

“Hi,” the man said. “I’m Scott Murray.”

“Jamie Glasser, Opal and Rose’s mother, as you’ve probably figured out.”

Eli and Brett joined them, and Opal directed everyone to their seats, putting Brett between her mother and Katy and Eli next to her, across the table from Jamie.

Eli extended his hand to Scott and introduced himself and Brett.

“I’m here with Amy,” Scott said. “I take it you’re Opal’s date.”

“Yes, I’m Opal and Rose’s date,” Eli said with a wide grin that emphasized his cheekbones and the slight hollows beneath them.

Scott smiled at Jamie over Opal’s head.

She remembered Opal saying that Amy’s mother’s boyfriend would be bringing Amy to the dance. Jamie forced a smile back.
Scott must think Eli and I are together, along with everyone else here I know from school.

Jamie watched Eli settle into the cafeteria chair. His motions were fluid and relaxed, as if Brett’s presence had no effect on him. She had that “no-script” feeling she and Anne had talked about again.

“You look familiar,” Scott said to Brett. “Do you go to North Country? I teach math there.”

“I do. But I hope to get into the Air Force Academy. Eli is coaching me.”

Jamie looked across at Eli, who immediately dropped his gaze and ran his finger over a scratch on the table. Another page missing from the script. But who was she to expect him to share everything he did with her? They’d gone on one date, and for half of it she’d pretended it wasn’t a date.

“Eli is retired Air Force,” Brett filled in for the confused-looking Scott. “I figured, since I’m not applying right out of high school, I need all the help I can get. He’s my brother’s guidance counselor.”

“Here at the high school,” Eli added.

“Attention everyone,” the teacher who was serving as MC for the evening said. “The buffet is ready. We’ll start with Mr. Payton’s table.” The teacher pointed at them. “And go clockwise.”

While Jamie was glad for something to do, she wasn’t so glad to find everyone looking at them.

Opal pulled Eli from his chair.

“Wait for your mom.”

“Go ahead.” This was the girls’ night. Rose was fine hanging out with Katy, and Opal was in her glory with Eli. She really hadn’t needed to come. But Eli had insisted.

“See, Mommy says it’s okay.”

If Jamie had been in a less self-pitying mood, she would have laughed at the torn expression on Eli’s face.

She nodded to him and he escorted Opal to the buffet table.

“Looks like we’ve been ditched,” Brett said beside her, lifting his chin toward Rose and his sister, Katy. He tipped the chair in front of him back and forth as if unsure how she’d take his quip.

“It’s not the first time.”

Brett frowned at Eli’s back, and she hastily added, “That the girls have chosen a friend over me.”

“Yeah. We should get in line.” Brett stepped back from the table so she could pass by him.

His polite expression had a bit of a lost look about it that touched Jamie’s motherly side. He was an adult, but just barely. And if she felt a little unneeded here tonight, he must feel even more out of place.

“Thanks,” she said with what she hoped was a reassuring smile. She thought his brother, Liam, was a bad influence on Myles and hadn’t been prepared to like Brett.

Dinner passed quickly with Eli and the other men including her in their conversation, which centered on school talk and the next weekend’s NFL games. Soon, the high school DJ was announcing the first dance. Eli danced to a fast song with Opal, and then with Rose, while Jamie worked at keeping her smile under control. She’d discovered something Eli was not good at. He sat out the next one, pleading a need to rest, and the girls danced with their girlfriends. Then the DJ put on a slow song.

“Would you like to dance?” Eli asked.

“Go ahead, Mommy,” Opal said before Jamie could get her mouth open. “Rose and I already danced with Mr. Payton. It’s your turn.”

Something in the way Eli’s gaze rested on her face made her feel he wasn’t asking because it was her turn. She took a breath to calm the flip-flop in her stomach. “I’d love to.”

The smile he gave her in return undid any calming her cleansing breath had achieved. He walked around the table and took her hand. When they reached the makeshift dance floor, he placed his other hand on the small of her back and glided into the song with his usual athletic grace.

To fend off the nervous energy building in her from the pleasure of dancing with Eli and the feeling people were looking at them, she searched for a conversation topic other than her kids or football. “It was nice of you to help Brett.” She let her curiosity get the best of her.

Eli guided her smoothly to the right to avoid another couple. “No big deal. The Lord says we should use our talents. I could help, so I did.”

That was so Eli. Jamie allowed herself to relax in the strength of his arms and not think about what that characteristic could mean to their budding relationship.

“You really like working with kids, don’t you?”

He twirled her around. “I do. During my last few years teaching at Maxwell, I looked forward to each new round of recruits.”

Jamie stiffened. Young men and women, each some mother’s child, being trained to face danger. Maybe Eli’s helping Brett wasn’t such a nice thing.

“Hey.” Eli’s breath caressed her hair. “I didn’t mess up my lead, did I? I know I didn’t step on your foot.”

“No.” She relaxed and let him lead her in flow with the music. “You’re a great dancer. Slow dancer.” She corrected herself.

He laughed, soft and low, strumming a chord deep inside her. “I know my limitations. You don’t need to remind me.”

“But Rose and Opal loved it, and I’m sure they’re ready for more.”