Beauty and The Best (Once-Upon-A-Time Romance) (9 page)

“
Classical,” he returned,
sans
emotion, his fingers stilling.

Oh, dear God, she’d done it again. Trista must have been a big classical fan. Restaurant, book, music…

Just shoot her now.

“
Todd, really, it doesn’t matter.” She reached for his hand and a thousand fires started under her skin. The guy was potent, so she ripped her hand away and stuffed it in her lap. How could she feel like that while he was remembering his wife? How could she feel like that at all? It just wasn’t a good idea, no matter how she tried to rationalize it. “We don’t need music. Or you can put on anything. Rap, hip-hop, Alternative, Top 40, I don’t care. Whatever you want.”

“
What I want is... ” He blew out a breath and sat back in his seat, his hands clenching the steering wheel, eyes closed, mouth tightening.

This was so not a moment she wanted to be a part of. She had to leave.

She undid her seatbelt and scrambled for the door handle. She couldn’t be witness to this. It was too personal, too intense.

“
What I want, is dinner.” He turned her way with the barest semblance of something called a grin and nodded at the seatbelt hanging over her shoulder. “Want to buckle up?”

“
Um… all right.” She re-attached the seatbelt. If he wanted to pretend that flashback didn’t happen, she could too, though who were they kidding?

“
Oh, here.” Todd did a funky sliding/grabbing movement over the seat. “I assume this is yours.” He handed her something small, rectangular, and paperback, and she wanted to slink under the seat.

“
Unless you ordered
The Dashing Rogue
from the grocery store for dinner tonight?”

If she could order a dashing rogue for dinner, Todd would be her first choice.

Yeah, yeah, bad idea.

“
Sorry. It must have fallen out of my purse. Thanks.” She shoved it under her thigh. “A new bookstore opened down the street from Arena’s Grocery and the owner gave it to me.”

“
So, do you read those or was he just giving out anything?” Todd started the car and backed out of the parking spot.

This would be the perfect time to tell him she was writing one, but did she really want to do that? She couldn’t afford him to ever link himself to her story—not with the whole “I don’t want my life to be an open book” comment. He wouldn’t be too thrilled to show up in the pages of her manuscript, disguised or not, so she better make sure he had no cause to recognize himself.

“
I’m a big fan of romance novels,” seemed like a safe answer since he’d caught her reading one on her first day.

He couldn’t take exception to that, right?

***

Jonathan Griff stared at the figures on the television screen in his sparse apartment. Guardians didn’t need many comforts. He wouldn’t even have the television if it weren’t absolutely necessary. Having given Bixby his laptop after Bixby had accidentally flung his into the river dodging that dog, and the human economic downturn having inspired tightening of gold-braided belts in the Celestial Realm, Jonathan had had to put in a request for a retro model television to be able to monitor his Charges. Rafael had raised his brow when he’d first seen it, but the archangel was nothing if not supportive.

Though how much longer Rafael would be patient with him, Jonathan didn’t know. He wasn’t quite sure what the criteria was for earning his wings, but he was going to try his hardest.

Starting with getting these two on the same wavelength.

Eye twitching, he’d cringed when Jolie shoved the book under her leg. He’d thought for sure the romance novel would help, but if she kept forgetting it or hiding it, the notion wouldn’t take hold. And Todd had totally dismissed the flyer.

Jonathan tapped his index fingers together then steepled them beneath his chin, resting his elbows on his knees. He needed another angle on this. Those two were in want of some serious help.

***

Todd ran a hand through his hair, then hit the turn signal at the entrance of the complex. Romance novels. That figured. “So, you’re one of those.”

“
Those?”

“
Happily-ever-after types.” A horn blared as the driver swerved around him. Stupid kids, doing fifty in a thirty-five-mile-an-hour zone. Thought they’d live forever.

If they only realized.

“
Well, yes, I do hope for happily-ever-afters.” Graceful hand movements accompanied Jolie’s words as if the words alone weren’t enough to convey her hopefulness. Someone ought to bottle that enthusiasm as an antidote for depression. “Sure beats the alternative. Who wants an unhappily-ever-after? You have to find something good in any bad situation. Otherwise why bother doing anything? So, when life gets a little too real, it’s always nice to hop into a book where you know things are going to end up okay, no matter how bad they seem.” She dropped her hands into her lap, the fingers interlaced.

He’d been that optimistic once. “Real life’s not like that.”

“
I know, but isn’t it cool to hope?” There went her hands again, a ballet of movement as she slicked her hair over her shoulder. “I mean, good things have to happen to people. Look at those who go through absolutely horrible situations then go out and become beacons of hope for others.”

“
Such as?” He glanced over to see her eyes widen.

Violet. Her eyes were violet.

“
Wow. Really? You don’t see this? At all? What about that fire on River Road?”

“
Tragic.” No one would ever forget the largest block fire in the town’s history five years ago. He tapped his brakes and came to a stop at the traffic light behind a Salvation Army truck.

“
I know. The factory exploded and the whole block went up in flames.”

A truck bearing the Red Cross logo crisscrossed the intersection with a Meals-On-Wheels delivery van. “I fail to see the hope in that, Jolie. Many people died, even those who went in after the kids in the daycare center.” Oh, yeah. He remembered that fire. And the new daycare his painting at the auction had funded afterward.

“
But it’s the hope they gave us, Todd. The hope in human nature.”

“
Hope in human nature? That’s your happily-ever-after?” Had she
seen
the news reports of that devastation? Hope in human nature? Oh to be that rose-colored-glasses-hopeful again.

She touched his arm, and Todd pulled his gaze from those violet eyes to where her warm, graceful fingers tightened against his skin.

“
Do you remember that day?” she continued. “First the boom, then the smoke. No one knew what had happened before the building was one big gas ball. And then it spread. All those houses just went up in flames, fire racing down the street like a match to gunpowder right toward the daycare center. They couldn’t get those kids out fast enough.”

Todd let up on the gas as the truck in front of them started moving, and gave Jolie one last glance, the star on the Make-A-Wish Foundation billboard behind her framing her head like a crown. “You find this story uplifting?”

“
Argh!” she huffed, facing front and throwing her hands in the air. Even that was a symphony of movement.

“
Not uplifting, Todd. Of course not. But when the neighbors came, and all the factory workers who were running for their lives stopped to help get those kids out, it was amazing. People were coughing and crying, some were bleeding, but they ran into that building to get those kids. Babies were asleep on the upper floors in their cribs. And not one of the children died. If everyone had waited until the firemen arrived, most of the kids would have died from smoke inhalation or worse. That, to me, is heroic. And hopeful. Those injured and scared people chose to help others.”

A local bus pulled up, a banner for Habitat-For-Humanity gracing the side. “Some would argue it was instinct.”

“
Not instinct, Todd. A genuine goodness in the human race. They could have elected to keep on running, got themselves out of harm’s way, but they didn’t. They chose to stop and help. We always have choices, Todd. It just depends on how we make them.”

As they passed Children’s Hospital, a car merged in front of them, American Cancer Society bumper stickers across its fender.

What was with all the charity advertising? Some philanthropist come to town? He’d been one of those once— “So, Jolie, do you have any idea where my happily-ever-after comes in, since you’re apparently able to see the good side to everything?”

“
Well, actually, yes, I do.”

He did a double take. He probably should have expected that answer from Little Miss Sunshine, but honestly, she was surprising him at every turn.

“
Your happily-ever-after is one day at a time. Seeing the people who care for you. Your brother, for instance. He wouldn’t worry himself about your business and welfare if he didn’t.”

Todd snorted and almost missed the turn-off. “Don’t forget the six-figure paycheck.”

“
Really?” she squeaked. “Now I’m surprised. I wouldn’t have pegged you for being so negative. Or so cynical.” She shook her head. “You think your brother’s only helping you out for the money?”

She was right. Mike wasn’t like that. And Todd knew it.

He gauged the merging traffic before joining it. “No, you’re right. Mike’s a great guy. He jumped right in when I was... floundering, I guess, and has kept the company rolling. I owe him a lot.”

He owed him more than a lot. Hell, he didn’t know if
he
would’ve hung around taking the abuse, the constant barrage of “leave me alones” Mike had had to deal with.

But Mike had taken it all and more. Those first few days…

There’d been no hesitation on his brother’s part. He’d quit his job to take on the task of overseeing Best Enterprises, the company Todd had built with Trista’s encouragement. The company that kept his pictures in the public eye and his bank account full. The company that had proved Trista’s faith in him.

And what was he doing about it now? Griping. Being annoyed that it even existed. Wanting it gone.

What did that say about his value of Trista’s memory?

Todd reached over and squeezed Jolie’s hand. “How do you do that?”

“
Do what?”

He didn’t think her eyes could get any wider. Even more so than when she’d gotten an eyeful of something she never should have had to deal with this morning. He really did owe her this dinner and a nice time. Enough with the angst.

“
Put a person’s life in perspective with a few simple words.”

She straightened her back. “Okay, number one—simple? I’ll have you know I’ve read and read, and studied, took classes to get my vocabulary out of
simple
.”

He bit back the smile. Such indignation. “And number two?”

She crossed her arms. “Number two is none of your business.”

And now he really wanted that answer. He cocked an eyebrow and the corresponding corner of his mouth at her, letting a little of his smile through. “Please? With whipped cream on top?”

Her exuberance returned in her smile. What was it she’d said earlier? He got her? Yes, he sure did.

“
Okay,” she said after the laughter receded. “Number two is just a sunny outlook on life, because it’s true, you know. People do have choices. You’ve got a choice each morning to get out of bed on the right side or the wrong side. I mean, yeah, life’s hard. Different people have different definitions of hard, but it’s all in your perspective.

“
Take me, for example. I could have let the system turn me into another welfare mom at age sixteen like a dozen girls I know, but I chose to get out of it. I wanted more for myself. So I struggled and stayed clean, and got myself into a decent school and learned a trade. I had the perfect excuse to be mad at the world, but I got mad at my circumstances instead and changed them.”

“
And here you are.”

He was wrong. Her eyes could get wider.

“
Ye…yes. Here I am.”

***

Jonathan sat back in the threadbare BarcaLounger. Had Jolie really said all of that? To Todd?

Jonathan tapped the corner of his mouth.
My, my. Big strides for her
.

He couldn’t help smiling.

Oh, yes, this was going to work out. He just
knew
it.

***

Jolie clamped her mouth shut. Had she just said what she thought she had? Had she just laid her entire life on the table for him? What was she thinking? She’d never told anyone that stuff. It made her feel a little weird, kinda open and vulnerable. Naked.

And they were back to that.

“
So, Jolie Gardener,” Todd said after a few minutes of much-needed silence.

Much needed for her so she could recover from that unplanned therapy session. Not that she needed therapy; she was just fine. Really. Talking about it without breaking down was a positive. Proved she was beyond it all.

She smoothed her dress over her lap and checked her earrings. Proving it to herself just like Todd was with his determination to have dinner at
The Midnight Maiden
. See? They had something in common.

“
Yes, Todd Best?” There. Pleasant, solid, no shakiness in her voice. She was fine.