Between Us Girls (46 page)

As Sam drove down the street waving in the rearview mirror, Jasmyn thought about another kind of heart hole, the one ripped open when sadness took hold.

Quinn threw an arm around her shoulders. “Come on, Sunshine. Let's move you back into your apartment.”

“Are you kicking me out?”

“I am.”

Jasmyn smiled at her friend, doing her best to wear the sunshine face.

They carried Jasmyn's few things from Quinn's house to the studio, put away her clothes, and changed out the linens. They worked side by side, old friends comfortable with silence, in tune with what they left unspoken.

Housekeeping finished and the first hour or so of Sam's absence gotten through, they sat on the floor. Because only one chair fit at the tiny kitchen table, the floor was the best place for eating cereal and drinking coffee. And catching up on the unspoken.

“I really, really don't like this apartment.”

“In this case, you're allowed to say ‘hate,' Jazz.”

“I hate that word.”

Quinn smiled sadly. “I made a list of possibilities. Two condos for rent, a two-bedroom house near the high school, a one-bedroom really, really close—like right next to—the railroad tracks. Unless you want a farmhouse or something in Rockville, that's it for Valley Oaks. Well, unless you want to buy. There are a few nice— From the look on your face, that's a no.”

“Thanks, though.”

“Mom's offer stands too. My old room. Dirt cheap. She'll knock more off if you cook twice a week.”

They laughed.

Quinn then proceeded to sob. “I loved him. I
love
him. Really and truly. What'd I do wrong?”

“Aw, Quinn, Andrew hasn't said it's over, has he?”

“Actions speak louder than words. It's quite obvious he's moved on. Which is what I have to do.” She jumped up, took her bowl to the sink in the corner that was the kitchen, tore off a paper towel, and blew her nose. “Come on. Let's go buy a restaurant.”

Jasmyn hesitated. She adored Quinn. She ached for her over the Andrew development. She could not imagine anything more fun than running the Pig with her.

But the homesickness still sat like one of those enormous boulders in the desert, smack-dab right in the middle of her chest.

Danno's first reaction to the news about the gung-ho guys building new restaurants in town was to let loose a rare, thundering expletive.

Before he shouted another one, he hurried away from the big round table, aka his office, and disappeared through the kitchen door. Subsequent cussing was muffled.

Jasmyn and Quinn stared at each other.

“I don't think he knew,” Quinn said.

“Nope.”

They busied themselves preparing the dining room for lunch. Danno eventually reappeared and motioned them to rejoin him at the table.

He paced a little before he sat down again. “They said they would buy me out if my potential buyer—you, Jasmyn—did not say yes by January. I thought I had a gentlemen's agreement with them. Young whippersnappers wouldn't know one of those if it whacked them on the nose. My bad.” He folded his hands. “All right. Let's plow through this and see where we end up.”

They ended up with a temporary arrangement. He would keep things going financially until the first of the year.

“I promised Ellie I'd be done mid-December, before Christmas, but we can manage this. Our house buyers want me out yesterday, so that gives us some leeway. I just do not want to be involved here except on paper. I'm outta here a week from tomorrow. I am not coming back. I do not—I repeat, do
not
—want daily phone calls. Got it?”

They nodded for the umpteenth time.

“You two use the next eight weeks as a trial run. You manage, I take a percentage. If you don't love it, we'll shut it down. Get a feel for what the new guys' impact might be. Play with the numbers. I realize it's long before they open for business, but once the word gets out about that, you'll get a sense of the future. If it's not a good one, we'll shut it down and I'll put the property up for sale.”

Jasmyn said, “Sounds fair.”

Quinn added, “Reasonable.”

He smiled. “You two don't have a clue.”

They agreed with him.

“We'll put it in writing on Monday.” He shook their hands. “I have your backs, ladies. You do not have to go through with this.”

His words, as always, comforted Jasmyn. It was the underlying tone of temporary that struck her, though, and not in a good way.

She was eight months into the world of temporary and growing weary of it.

Danno leaned sideways and looked over Jasmyn's shoulder. “What in the name of Sam Hill is that?”

She turned.

Through the windows she saw a huge white horse gallop across the parking lot and come to an abrupt halt. His rider pulled the reins and turned him. They approached the windows. The rider leaned down to peer through the blinds.

Jasmyn grinned. It was Andrew, Quinn's long-absent boyfriend, recognizable by his black, horn-rimmed glasses. His black hair stuck out beneath an odd gray helmet that was topped with a patch of fake hair. The rest of him was very shiny, covered in—

“Foil?” Quinn nearly shouted. “He's wearing foil? Are those tin pie pans on his shoulders?”

Danno chuckled. “It's tough to find a good set of armor these days. Stores just don't carry them anymore.”

Tears pooled in her big blue eyes. “Is he…”

“Oh, yes.” Jasmyn laughed. “He most definitely is.”

Quinn raced across the dining room, grabbing her coat as she passed the rack, and hurried outdoors.

Jasmyn wiped at her own tears. “Is it rude to watch?”

“Are you kidding? The guy rode through town on a white horse. Who does that belong to, anyway?”

Andrew grinned widely and offered Quinn an arm. She appeared, for once in her life, to be speechless. He pulled her up onto the horse behind him, and they trotted away, out onto the street.

Jasmyn sighed. “I guess she was wrong about him losing interest in her.”

“What was your first clue?”

She smiled and met Danno's gaze.

He said, “So, what do you think?”

“If she says yes, then I've lost my business partner. Andrew has all but moved back to Chicago. His work is there. They won't stay here.”

Danno reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “Happy and sad, huh?”

She shrugged and nodded and cried. “It's…” She unrolled a napkin, dumping the silverware from it, and buried her face in the thick paper. “It's just too much to take in since the tornado.”

“I know.”

She blew her nose. “I'm sorry, Danno. You've had a horrific year. Mine is nothing—”

“Let's not compare. Life can be a real pain in the neck. We deal with it one day at a time.”

“I could still take over the Pig—”

“Hush. We'll save that talk for later.”

Silverware clanked as she took apart another place setting. She cried into the fresh napkin.

Danno rubbed his bristly chin. “I suppose she'll want the day off.”

In spite of herself, she laughed. “I suppose.”

“I suppose you'll want your own knight-in-foil—I mean, shining armor.”

The thought of Keagan flashed and fizzled. He was the Casa's knight and a good friend to her, but the ache of homesickness quickly pushed aside romance. Her Valley Oaks family was disintegrating on the spot.

“I'd rather have a home and a family.”

They sat for a long time. Jasmyn's imagination raced down one rabbit trail after another. There were no cozy bunny homes along the way, only black holes.

Could she manage the Pig without Quinn? There was the staff to consider. They were good workers: two cooks, two other waitresses, some part-timers. Everyone was on edge, wondering what was going to happen when Danno left. Could she take care of everyone without Quinn's help?

Then there were the customers. The food. The state inspectors. The maintenance of everything, including the coming winter snow in the parking lot and—

And where would she live?

“Jasmyn.” Danno's voice broke through her crazy thoughts. “You have a home and a family out West.”

“Seaside Village? Valley Oaks is my home. I don't fit in out there.”

“Good golly, Jasmyn Albright!” He scowled. “You said the same thing about Valley Oaks. Get over yourself, already.”

“I never said…” She never? Of course she had. As far back as she could
remember—as far back as to four years old when she got the distinct impression that she was the reason her grandfather glared and snarled—she had believed she did not fit in. She had been saying it aloud for a long time.

“Honey.” Danno's voice became soft. “Once you make yourself fit in with yourself, then you're okay anywhere. Get my drift?”

“I guess so.”

“My hope was that you would go away and learn how to be comfortable in your own skin. I think you got that. You came back all jazzed, ready to plug in here in a new way.”

She nodded. It was true. Except for feeling homesick in her hometown, she had been all set to reinvent herself.

“But I agree that you don't quite fit in with this community, up to a point. Sure, people are getting over the sale of your land and seeing the benefits of it. And sure, your customers love you and will remain loyal as much as they can. And sure, the staff here supports you one hundred percent. But unless you have some close local friend hidden in the wings, I'm afraid that once Quinn and I leave, on some level you'll be alone.”

A friend in the wings? Nope. None that she knew of. Her stomach knotted.

He went on. “The way I see it, you could move to Florida or Chicago or to Seaside Village to be near people who care for you.”

Tears seeped out and she could not speak.

“I like Sam a lot.” He paused. “I like Liv a lot.”

“Liv?”

“We talked. She called the other night.” He shook his head as if in disbelief. “She almost had me convinced to pull our potential deal right off the table then and there. But I don't think that was her point.”

“What was her point?”

“To make sure I know that she loves you like a daughter. That if things did not work out here, there's a whole bunch of people out there who hope you come back to stay.”

Jasmyn yanked another napkin away from silverware and wiped her eyes.

“I wasn't convinced, though. A little bit of ego got in the way. I mean, I liked the idea of you stepping in here, keeping my legacy going. I believed you were ready. Partnered with Quinn, it was a winning plan.
The dynamite duo would be unstoppable.” He chuckled. “Then Andrew and that horse show up.”

She stared at him. “Are we having that talk you were saving for later?”

“Yeah, I guess we are. You don't have to decide this moment. Give it ten minutes or so.”

“You really think I can move to Seaside Village?”

“Of course you can, Jasmyn. You've come a long, long way these past few months. You're coming into your own. It won't be an easy transition. Nothing worthwhile is ever easy. The question is, do you
want
to move to Seaside Village?”

Move to Seaside Village and away from owning a business that would consume her time and money? Away from living alone in some unfamiliar condo or whatever with no one around who cared if she came or went? Away from memories that lay around every corner, memories that were, for the most part, unpleasant?

He spread his hands, as if offering her a gift, and smiled. “Why not?”

She had no answer for that.

Seventy-Nine

Late Saturday night, Sam rolled her suitcase into her cottage, flipped on a lamp, stepped back outside, and shut the door. The first thing she wanted—even before doing email, even before stretching out full-length on her own bed—was to see Liv.