Sweet Nothings (27 page)

Like Nick had hoped, something about Bob made her feel not quite so alone.

Her eyes finally opened wide enough that she saw her cell phone on the nightstand, lying on top of a folded piece of paper. She reached for both.

The paper held Nick’s bold scrawl…

Call me when you get up. I want to know how you’re doing. I’ll come back and get Bob, if you want. He missed his mama last night.

I miss you this morning.

—N

Oh geez. That was dangerous stuff.

She flopped over on her back, shouting an apology as Bob raced off the bed, and covered her eyes with her arm. Last night had been nice. Very nice. But she had to be careful.

Instead of calling him immediately, she glanced at her phone to find it nearing nine and decided to check in with the nursing home first. She’d have to get GiGi’s belongings, and make arrangements for the funeral. She vaguely recalled Nick telling her that Lee Ann had called the Sugar Springs Funeral Home the day before. The owner, Cheater Thompson, was also the justice of the peace and owned a small wedding chapel. He rearranged his court schedule around whatever came up.

She spoke with the nursing home and found out that GiGi’s room had already been emptied the night before. Joanie could sign for the belongings anytime within the next two weeks. After that, the home would dispose of everything that couldn’t go to charity. Joanie’s throat grew tight at the coldness of it, as she faced reality. It was an empty room now, nothing else. There was probably someone previously on a waiting list already moving in.

Next up was Cheater, over at the funeral home. It always struck her as odd that the justice of the peace was named Cheater. And it was a nickname for good reason. He’d had three wives and several girlfriends over the years, but women still flocked to him. They didn’t seem to mind his reputation, nor the inevitable fact that they would be next on the chopping block.

“Joanie,” Cheater greeted her. “I’ve been expecting your call. How are you, dear? I was so sorry to hear about your grandmother. Anything I can do for you before we get down to business?”

Joanie shook her head, realizing she wasn’t ready for this. She didn’t want to do it alone. Nick’s face popped to mind, but she shoved it away. Things like this were what Lee Ann was for. Her friend would hold her hand and help her through it, and not make anything too big of a deal.

Nick would give her that look like he wanted to fix her whole life, and she would just about die wanting to let him.

She would go with Lee Ann.

Once she made arrangements with Cheater to come in later that day, then texted Lee Ann to see if she would go with her, she had nothing left to do but call Nick.

Bob had returned to the bedroom and currently lay on top of her, smack dab in the middle of Joanie’s stomach. It was comforting. She decided right then that no, Nick was not going to take Bob back. Cat could deal, and if he needed time to adjust, maybe they could have a cat play date.

Oh good grief. She’d lost her mind if she was thinking of cat play dates.

She held the phone up over her head where she could see it without disturbing Bob again, and found Nick’s number. He answered immediately.

“You okay?” he asked, and her heart melted. He was seriously the sweetest.

“I am. Thanks for the coffee.” She glanced down at her stomach. “And for Bob.”

She pictured Nick at the house with a sexy little smile, propped back against whatever he’d been working on as he stopped to talk to her, and her pulse woke up with a vengeance. If only he were there right now.

“What time did you leave this morning?” she asked, realizing it didn’t bother her like it should that he’d stayed over.

“Six. The guys were showing up at seven so I had to get here and shower and get the day’s schedule figured out. And I wanted to bring you Bob.” He paused. “I had a hell of a time not waking you up when I came back.”

“So I could have my coffee?” she teased. After their middle-of-the-night session, something between them had changed, was more comfortable, closer. It’d happened the instant they’d finished and he’d tucked her protectively against his side.

“No.” He chuckled. “Not so you could have your coffee. For some reason, I woke up with something else on my mind.”

She realized she was smiling up at the ceiling as if she were a teen in the middle of her first serious crush. “You’ve met me before my coffee. Think that would be advisable?”

He laughed again, this time loud enough she was sure some of the guys had to wonder what was so darned funny. “You have an excellent point, sweetness. Maybe that’s why you found your coffee waiting for you and me nowhere in sight.”

“Not that brave?”

“Smart is what I am. I could stop what I’m doing and come back now. If you wanted,” he said, his tone dropping to a heated, sexy low. “We could have round two.”

Although she wanted to say yes, more than anything else she wanted to say yes, the idea of him coming back when she was still so raw worried her. Plus, she had a lot of things to do today. To start, she had to run by the shop and put a sign in the window announcing she was closed for a few days. With the tourist traffic beginning to pick up, she didn’t want to leave any confusion. And then she’d meet up with Lee Ann to discuss funeral arrangements with Cheater.

“Sounds fun,” she said. “But I… uh…” She closed her eyes tight and grimaced. “I have a funeral to plan.”

“Ah, babe.” The simple words almost brought her to tears. “What time? I’ll go with you.”

She shook her head and surprised herself with the need to sniffle. She’d have thought she was all cried out by now. “Lee Ann is going. But thanks for the offer.”

He didn’t say anything and she once again tried to picture what he was doing. Probably rubbing his temples with his thumb and middle finger. She’d caught him doing that several times when she knew he was worrying.

“You’ll call if you need me?” he finally asked.

She needed him right then. “Sure.”

“Joanie, I mean it. I’ll be there the instant you need me. Just let me know, okay?”

“I know. And I really do appreciate it, but I’m fine. I just fell apart a little yesterday. I’m okay today.” She wanted to ask him to go get GiGi’s things, but that wasn’t a good idea. The thought left her too vulnerable. “Thank you for coming over yesterday. It… helped. A lot.”

“I’ll tell you what,” he started in a casual tone that had her on instant alert. “How about dinner tonight? You could use a night out.”

“Nick, no. I’m good. I can just come by there when I’m finished.”

“You don’t need to work tonight, sweetness. Take the night off. Let me take care of you.” He paused before urging, “Let me take you out.”

He was definitely trying to turn last night into something more. She’d known he would. And it had been. But it terrified her to death.

“I’ll take the night off,” she promised. “But no going out. We don’t do that, remember? It’s just… casual.” And she was just a liar. “Right?”

“Casual.” His voice was tight. “Right. How could I forget?”

“Nick,” she hesitated. What could she say? Forget last night? I didn’t mean it when I let you get that close? Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. She was not supposed to care this much.

“Yes?” he asked. The calmness in his voice caused her to shiver.

“I… ummm—”

“I need to get back to work,” he cut her off as if refusing to hear what she had to say. “Want me to cook dinner tonight?”

She wanted him to cook dinner every night. “Maybe we should play it by ear. I have a lot to take care of today. Now that I think about it, I’m not positive I’ll have time to come over.”

The silence across the connection was palpable. It made the hair on the back of her neck rise.

“Nick?” Her tone was pleading, though she really didn’t know if she wanted him to accept her words at face value or tell her she was full of crap.

“I get it,” he said. “I’ll wait for your call. Talk to you later.”

His tone caught her off guard, along with the abrupt disconnection. He was hurt. Who could blame him? She’d opened herself to him in a way she never had, and though she hadn’t spoken the words, he’d have to be blind to have missed how much she cared.

Just as she’d have to be blind to not get that he returned the feelings.

And she wasn’t blind.

Before she could call him back and do something stupid, she tossed the phone to the foot of the bed. She had to forget about Nick for the day
and somehow find the energy to face her final act for the woman she’d so terribly let down.

GiGi had deserved better than her for a granddaughter. But then, Joanie had often felt she deserved better than what she’d been dealt, too. Life sucked sometimes.

Then you met a man like Nick.

Whom she didn’t know what to do with.

With a groan, she sat up and swung her legs off the bed, and watched Bob take off at a run. At least she had her cat.

Chapter Fifteen

T
he day shone bright and clear, the sky blue, birds chirping. And Joanie’s grandmother was being lowered into the ground.

She closed her eyes, not wanting to watch, yet unable to walk away. Lee Ann had left with the twins a few minutes ago, as had pretty much everyone else. Except Nick. He stood behind her several feet, silently watching. She could feel him as if he were right beside her, touching her. It was a good feeling. One she wanted to lean into.

Even if she had avoided him for the last two days.

She hadn’t been able to deal with him along with everything else. And though she’d told herself time and again that she needed to end it with him, just nip it in the bud, she didn’t know how she could.

There was something too strong about him that called out to her. She wanted to answer, while at the same time wanting to cover her ears so she couldn’t hear the call.

“Your grandmother was a special woman. She loved you very much.”

Joanie opened her eyes to find Beatrice Grayson standing at her side. The woman was in her early seventies, was the other town busybody, and got around as if she were only fifty. She had a head full of tight gray curls, and wore a long black dress and black shoes with a wide, low heel. Joanie could see her hose gathering into wrinkles at her ankles as if they’d lost the elasticity in them years ago.

“Thanks, Ms. Grayson,” Joanie replied. She gave Nick a quick glance and a half smile, assuming he’d follow, and reached out and hooked her arm through the older woman’s. They both turned from the grave site. She didn’t want to watch anymore. “I don’t think I really realized that until just recently.”

She wanted to say she had been planning to bring GiGi home, but knew the words would have been spoken only to make Ms. Grayson think better of her. It was too late. She should have never put GiGi in Elm Hill in the first place. Therefore, she didn’t deserve to try to make herself look better now.

“She sure loved your grandfather, too,” Ms. Grayson murmured, almost to herself, as she shook her round head of curls. “I still don’t understand what happened with those two. That man doted on her. And she was so proud of him. She thought he could walk on water. I’ve never seen two people more in love. It’s just not right for him not to be here buried with her.”

He’d been buried in Arlington. Though GiGi was the only one who’d attended his funeral, the whole town knew he was there and still respected the time he had served in the military. Even if they did falter in their belief in him, given how he’d up and left GiGi.

They stepped around a small, flat tombstone and Joanie almost tripped when she looked down and read it.

ANTHONY WILLIAM BIGBEE
BORN/DIED MAY 26, 1956
OUR PRETTY BOY

Joanie stopped and stared down, the back of her neck tingling at the sight, her throat opening as if she were going to vomit. She had never seen that.

Not that she spent a lot of time at the Sugar Springs Memorial Grounds. But who in the world was Anthony William Bigbee?

She looked at Ms. Grayson as if she had the answer. Beatrice took in the look on Joanie’s face then glanced down at the small rectangular stone. When she looked up, she had a torn look on her face.

She patted Joanie’s hand. “You didn’t know they’d had a baby boy before your mother was born?”

Joanie’s skin erupted in tingles from the chest out, and for several seconds, she wasn’t sure she could pull in enough air to breathe. GiGi and Pepaw had borne a son? A pretty boy?

That’s what GiGi had said at the nursing home Saturday afternoon. She’d had a pretty boy once.

Oh my God
. How had she never known she’d had an uncle who’d been stillborn?

She shook her head, blinking back tears. “I had no idea.”

Ms. Grayson patted her hand again, then glanced back at GiGi’s grave. When she returned her gaze to Joanie’s, she gave her an accepting little nod. “You know I like to gossip, but I’m going to tell you this not to spread rumors, dear, but because I loved your grandmother like a sister once. She and my older sister were great friends. When we lost Marjorie in an accident when I was only a kid, Georgia made sure I didn’t get forgotten by the other girls. She took me under her wing. I’ve never forgotten that. So with that said, I feel she’d want you to know a few more things she probably never told you.”