Page 19 of Dangerous December (Northern Pines Suspense #8)
Beth paced through her store fluffing pillows on the sofas and rockers and tweaking the book displays.
The tantalizing aroma from a fresh pot of crème br?lée decaf wafted in the air, along with the fragrance of still-warm shortbread cookies she’d baked and dipped in melted Belgian milk chocolate just a few minutes ago.
She paused in the center of the store and spun slowly on her heel, taking in the inviting baskets of ivy and fern hanging in the windows and the colorful afghans draped just so across the backs of the sofas.
Perfect. Just as quaint and inviting as she’d dreamed of, during those long months of feeling lost and alone after her divorce.
With the good friends who would be showing up any minute for their Saturday morning book club, a business she loved, and the warm fellowship and faith she shared with the members at the Community Church, there was nothing else she needed to make her life complete.
An inner voice whispered Dev’s name, but she ignored it. Past mistakes had meant painful lessons that she would not be repeating.
The bells over the front door tinkled.
“Ah...” Olivia stepped inside and took a deep breath as she slipped off her cropped leather jacket. “Now this is why we always want our book club to meet right here. What on earth smells so fabulous?”
“Cookies. Coffee. Keeley’s bringing the healthy treat this time. A fresh fruit platter, I think.”
“You should invite your mother to join us. She’s been here over a week, and I haven’t seen her at all in town.”
Beth switched on a stained glass floor lamp by the section on home decorating. “She and I have lunch and go sightseeing together. Otherwise, she spends a lot of time resting.”
“Is she all right?” Olivia headed for the antique library table, where Beth had set up a fall bouquet and refreshments on her favorite autumn leaves tablecloth.
She poured herself a cup of coffee and picked up a cookie, then leaned a slim hip against the table and dunked an edge of the cookie in the steaming brew. “The Maura I remember would be gadding about from dawn to dusk.”
“I know. She doesn’t seem quite like herself these days. One minute she’ll be as breezy as ever, but then she’ll seem really pensive...like something is bothering her. She just brushes off my questions when I ask.”
“If she’s the Maura I remember, she’ll speak her mind when she’s ready,” Olivia said with a smile. “No holds barred.”
“That would be Mom,” Beth admitted. “She usually doesn’t keep you guessing about what she thinks.”
“How are things going between Dev and her?”
“They haven’t run into each other much, far as I know. If they have, no one’s talking and the town is still standing, so it must have gone all right.”
“I had a nice chat with him when we came to work on the cottage. And once before, when he was at the Walker Building.”
“You did?” Surprised, Beth looked up from pouring herself a cup of coffee, trying to imagine Dev chatting at length with anyone.
He’d become so distant over the years...an intense, guarded warrior who had appeared edgy just setting foot in this pretty little postcard of a town. It had to be worlds away from the life he led as a Marine.
Olivia sipped her coffee. “I have to admit that I’m impressed. With him and his plans.”
“I know his shoulder injury has to bother him a great deal, but he works night and day on that building anyway.”
“Frank tells me it’s going to be quite a place when he’s done.
I gave Dev my brother’s number so he could talk to someone else in the outfitter business.
” Olivia turned back to the table to scoop a teaspoonful of sugar into her coffee.
“He seems like a complex guy. To just look at him, you’d think he’s got his life under perfect control. ”
“If he doesn’t, he isn’t one to discuss it.”
Olivia tipped her head in agreement. “But words unsaid can be just as strong. When I told him how I was proud of him for his military service, he seemed genuinely surprised, as if he couldn’t even fathom receiving praise.”
“His parents hated that he went into the service. They expected him to be a physician or a lawyer, and drummed it into him from early grade school.”
“I figured as much.”
“When he enlisted, they were outraged. They let him know how much of a disappointment he was. Vivian never missed a chance to tell him about her friends’ children who made the ‘right’ choices.”
“I thought I remembered something like that. I wasn’t in her social circle back in those days, of course, and Viv was a generation older than me. But gossip in a small town never dies.”
“Tell me about it.”
Olivia frowned. “From the very beginning, she should have been proud and supportive. I rather enjoyed telling him about her change of heart before she died, in case she hadn’t ever found the spine to do it herself. He was really surprised, so I guess she didn’t.”
There’d been so much bitterness between his parents and Dev that Beth knew Olivia’s description of his reaction was no exaggeration. “What did he say?”
“Nothing. His expression said it all.” Olivia tilted her head and studied Beth over the rim of her steaming cup of coffee. “How are you and he getting along? Any nice, quiet dinners just to catch up with each other?”
“Hardly. I think we may have progressed from ‘painfully awkward’ to just awkward. I don’t think either of us wants to dredge up the past.”
“I’d guess he doesn’t confide in many people. He doesn’t even talk to you?”
“We’ve barely spoken, except for business. There’s no animosity. There’s just...nothing, as if he has no emotion at all.”
“There you would be wrong.”
Beth blinked. “You two must have had quite a conversation.”
“It wasn’t just his words. I think he’s really struggling with something, and he could use a friend. Frank Ferguson says the same thing.”
“Frank?”
“He and I used to teach together...ages ago. I saw him in the post office yesterday, and he mentioned being sorry that he startled Devlin on Thursday morning. To quote Frank, ‘It was like the poor boy had one of those war flashbacks, or something.’”
“Post-traumatic stress disorder.”
“It would make sense, given what he does for a living. Maybe he needs to get help. Or maybe he just needs someone to talk to. Of all people, you’d be the one who knows him best.”
“Not anymore.” Beth swirled the coffee in her cup and stared at the dark liquid, trying to dispel the sudden, graphic images of the horrors he’d probably faced. How could anyone ever get over something like that? “I’d be the last one he’d consider.”
Through the front windows, she caught a glimpse of Keeley and Sophie crossing the street together toward the store, walking arm in arm. Relieved at the distraction, she waved to them through the window.
Olivia touched Beth’s arm and lowered her voice as the other women came in the door. “Don’t forget what I said about Dev, honey, because I think that man is really hurting inside.”
“I don’t—”
“At least try. And say a few prayers for him, too. I’ll sure keep him in mine.”
At ten o’clock, the antique grandfather clock by the front door started its rich, melodious chime, and a customer knocked on the door of the bookstore.
Beth went to unlock it and flipped the window sign to Open, then returned to the circle of chairs in the back.
“We didn’t get very far with our book discussion,” Sophie said ruefully. “And it was my fault this time.”
Keeley and Olivia both enveloped her in a group hug, then Hannah and Beth took their turn.
“Whenever you’re having a bad day, you need to call one of us,” Keeley said, reaching out to grasp both of Sophie’s pale, delicate hands. “I just can’t imagine how hard it is to lose a husband. Actually, I can’t imagine what it’s like to have one, but that’s another story.”
“Usually, it was pretty nice.” Sophie smiled, though her eyes were still damp and her voice wobbled. “I didn’t realize our anniversary would hit me so hard this year.”
“How is Eli doing? Does he still talk about his dad a lot?”
“He does, almost every day. But that’s good for both of us, really. No one at the restaurant or my school even brings it up anymore. I suppose they all think we’ve had enough time to mourn.”
“They’re wrong,” Olivia said flatly. “There’s no timetable for grief. They just haven’t experienced it themselves, bless their hearts.”
“And now, with Eli getting older, he misses having a dad all the more when he sees other dads at school activities and Cub Scouts. I’m so torn—he needs a dad. But I just can’t imagine falling in love again. I tried dating again once, and it was a total disaster. Remember Allan?”
Keeley smiled. “Now, you’ll have to admit that he was an unusual case. How often are you going to run into someone who was an ex-con?”
Sophie’s mouth trembled, then she broke into helpless laughter. “And I didn’t have a clue—even when he had those ‘coffee meetings with his uncle,’ who turned out to be his parole officer. How na?ve can anyone be?”
“Maybe when you get done with school, and have some time for yourself, you’ll find the perfect guy,” Olivia said. “Give yourself a break, dear. Things will happen when the time is right.”
A stout, middle-aged man walked in from the street, smiling as he passed the members of the book club standing near the door. He continued to the back and wandered through the bookshelves and displays as the women said their farewells.
His face, with its folds of flesh, made him look nearly identical to the bulldog gracing the cover of this month’s Dog Lover magazine displayed not ten feet away from him.
“Duty calls,” Beth whispered, hiding a grin. She turned away from her friends and went to the counter. “How can I help you?”
His benign smile wreathed his eyes in wrinkles. “I’m from out of town, and just wanted to stop by to look around. Nice store.”
“Are you looking for anything in particular?”
“Browsing. Is there more upstairs?”
“That’s an apartment.”
His expression brightened. “Available?”
“No—I live there.”