Lost & Found Love (7 page)

She glanced up from where she was already mixing colors on her palette. “The stool where you were the other day is fine.” She tossed her hair back over her shoulders and began to fill in the canvas with broad strokes. She stared at him intently, but not in a way that made him uncomfortable. “Sing for me,” she prompted softly. “I want to hear angels.”

He felt himself blush and she laughed. It was a beautiful sound, and the effect on her expression was startling, turning her classic beauty into something earthy and sensual. Joe could only stare.

After an hour, she smiled. “Thank you. I don’t want to keep you any longer. You must have evening service to prepare for.”

“I do. Can I ask you a stupid question?”

Tabby smiled quizzically. “Sure.”

“Just what were you going to eat last night if you had stayed at Evan and Jenny’s house? I mean, it’s obvious you’re a vegetarian.”

Tabby shrugged. “Salad, potatoes…then as soon as I got home a big bowl of hummus and crackers.”

“Hummus?”

She laughed. “It’s a mixture of chick peas, sesame paste, and a few other ingredients all mashed together. Lots of protein and healthy fat.”

“Mmm. Kinda partial to cheeseburgers, myself.”

Tabby tilted her head. “You did all right with the tofu earlier.”

“I was trying to impress you, and I didn’t want my halo to slip.” He was unrolling his sleeves and trying to button his cuffs again when she put down her palette and came around to help him.

“Here,” she offered quietly, “let me.”

He watched her bent head as she quickly fastened his cuffs. Acting on instinct and the urge overwhelming him, Joe lifted her chin with his fingers, but while his eyes lingered on her soft lips, he simply leaned forward and pressed a kiss against her forehead. Slowly, he reminded himself.

“Thanks,” he murmured. She nodded and turned away from him to go back to her painting. He puffed his lips in frustration, unable to tell if it had affected her at all. But why should it? All he’d done was kiss her forehead. Smooth. He watched her a moment longer. Tabby was back in her own world. Was it even a place she would allow someone else to see?

He shook his head and walked quickly down the steps. When he stepped out onto the veranda, Katie Scarlett opened her eyes from her resting place on his suit coat, uttered one last purr, and leaped down onto the porch to rub gently around his legs. Joe smiled at the cat as he picked up his coat and tie. The nagging feeling he was being watched made him glance toward the street where two ladies in flowered dresses now scurried down the sidewalk. Joe closed his eyes briefly and groaned. It looked like the church ladies were already on full alert.

* * * *

Tabby stared at the emerging portrait of Joseph and smiled. It did almost appear that he had a halo. She hadn’t seen Joe at all on Monday but chalked it up to him already having plans for Labor Day. For her part, it gave her time to work on his painting as well as go over her lesson plans for the upcoming week. She would be at the elementary school all day on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the other three days of the week would be split between middle and high school classes since both shared the same campus.

Nerves made it difficult to get to sleep Monday night. Her student teaching hadn’t been nearly as nerve-wracking because she’d always worked with a veteran teacher, but now she was on her own. What if the kids didn’t like her? Tabby shook her head. That was silly. She had gotten along just fine with the students during her student teaching, particularly the younger ones. Everything would be fine.

But everything was not fine. When she hurried outside in the morning, her car wouldn’t start. It was too far to walk. She looked at her bike and her watch. She had time to ride. It would mean being on time instead of early. With a resigned sigh, she ran back upstairs, pulled on her cycling pants, stuffed her no wrinkle skirt into her backpack, grabbed her helmet, and rode her bicycle to school. Since there was no bicycle rack at the elementary school, Tabby had to go in and ask the principal if it was permissible to bring her bike into the building. Mr. Underwood’s eyes popped at her arriving in cycling pants.

“Certainly, Miss MacVie, but I do hope you have more suitable attire for the school day?”

Tabby held her book bag in front of her, feeling suddenly indecent and embarrassed. “Yes sir.”

“Very well. Use the staff restroom to change before you leave this office.”

She felt humiliated. It set the tone for most of her day. While the students seemed to adore her, many of the teachers, older women who were themselves mothers, looked at her askance. A few even glared, and Tabby began to wonder if she had committed some horrible breach of etiquette during her workdays the previous week, but she couldn’t remember any of the women acting hostile toward her then. They had been a little reserved, but she had expected that. She was new and not from around Mountain Meadow, but today she was even getting a cold shoulder from the new kindergarten teacher. About the only one who did treat her normally was Mr. Powers, the P.E. teacher, who had seen her arrive on her bicycle, and Tabby noticed his eyes kept straying toward her butt.

By the end of the day, she was exhausted and frustrated. It was frightening to think that her third, fourth, and fifth grade students behaved more maturely than her colleagues. When she noticed Mr. Powers lingering around the front door, probably waiting for her to come out with her bike so he could see her dressed in her cycling pants, Tabby sneaked out a back door and took the long way around. She arrived home hot, sweaty, and tired. She carried her bike up onto the veranda and took off her helmet.

Hearing someone behind her, she spun around, trying to control the stab of panic that hit her. Joe stood there with a can of Coke in each hand.

“You looked like you could use this,” he commented dryly. He was dressed casually in khaki shorts and a polo shirt, his eyes hidden behind sunglasses. “How was your first day?”

Tabby started to say fine automatically, then let her book bag fall to the porch.

“Terrible.”

Joe’s heart missed a beat at the devastation in Tabby’s expression. He set the two cans of Coke on the porch railing and opened his arms to her, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, and suddenly it was, for Tabby stepped into his embrace. He patted her back and closed his eyes, savoring the warm scent of her and praying she wouldn’t feel the effect she was having on him. After a minute, he felt her relax. He set her away from him, handed her coke back to her, and picked up his own. “Wanna tell me? Sometimes that helps.”

He guided her to the chairs on the veranda and thought it was a sign of how worn out she was that she made no protest.

“Well first, my car wouldn’t start, so I rode my bike to the elementary school. Then Mr. Underwood looked at me like I was naked when I walked inside in my cycling pants to ask if I could store my bike in my classroom.”

Joe groaned mentally. He had forgotten Dennis Underwood was the principal there and one of his more conservative church members. Remembering his own view of Tabby in her cycling pants, he could understand where Dennis might have overreacted.

“All of the teachers treated me like I smelled bad, even the new kindergarten teacher.”

Joe closed his eyes for an instant. Another one of his church members. She’d done her student teaching at the end of last school year and was one of those women ready to redecorate the parsonage if he winked at her wrong. Many of the other teachers were also members of his church. Bless their gossiping little hearts. Joe had a feeling the ladies’ worship committee was already hard at work. He had turned down no less than three invitations to supper for tonight. Now he knew what motivation lay behind the sudden spurt of invitations.

“The only teacher who was nice to me was Mr. Powers, the new P.E. teacher. After seeing me arrive this morning, he spent the entire lunch period staring at my butt. I had to sneak out a back door this afternoon because he was still hanging around the front door.”

Joe’s eyes narrowed to slits behind his sunglasses as an unaccustomed shaft of jealousy sliced through him. Staring at her butt? What kind of man would do that? Then he realized with chagrin he’d done the same thing the first time he watched her walk up the steps in those cycling pants. In fact, he’d done it a few minutes ago. It was a nice butt from his perspective. He could imagine…Lord! He better not think in those directions. He needed to stick with something practical he might be able to handle but thinking of her delicious derriere was not it.

“I work on my own car a lot. I could take a look at yours,” he offered. Cars. There. That was safe.

“Would you? I’ll get the keys, then if you don’t mind, I’ll leave you to it. I need a shower and a change of clothes.”

He smiled, and from behind the lenses of his dark glasses, he allowed himself the luxury of letting his eyes drift over her figure. She was certainly tall and slender, but the curves were in all the right places. As she walked past his chair, his eyes drifted down to the butt the P.E. teacher found so interesting, and Joe smothered a groan. It was definitely worth a second glance, even a third or a fourth. The door slammed behind her, and a discreet cough came from the direction of his porch.

Joe glanced over his shoulder to find Jake Allred standing there in uniform. Joe sprang to his feet, feeling suddenly awkward, even if Jake was one of his poker buddies.

“I see there is some grist to the rumor mill,” Jake remarked.

Joe shoved his glasses onto his tousled hair as he came down Tabby’s steps and popped the hood on her car. “Do I dare ask what the rumor mill is saying?”

Jake joined him, leaning casually against Tabby’s car as Joe methodically checked belts and hoses.

“If you’d get on Facebook, you’d know.”

Joe rolled his eyes. “We’ve had this conversation before. I refuse to encourage gossiping, and that’s all the town’s Facebook page has become.”

Jake snorted. “There’s a general consensus you’re succumbing to the wiles of your neighbor. While some describe her as young and free-spirited, the less charitable are already bandying the words ‘jezebel’ and ‘witch’ around.”

Joe straightened abruptly and bumped the back of his head on the hood of Tabby’s car. “Oh for heaven’s sake. This town’s got more ears than a field full of corn.”

“And more tongues than the tower of Babel?” Jake finished. He patted Joe on the back. “Between Facebook and what I’m sure is going on behind the scenes over the phone, it could get ugly fast. Trust me, I know. I came by to offer some friendly advice if you don’t mind, Joe.”

He looked at Jake warily. “Advice from you I’ll take. There are a few, now, I don’t have a mind to be so charitable toward.”

Jake grinned lazily. “If the lady is worth it, then stand up for her early on and be damned to all of them. ’Scuse me. Holly would have my hide if she heard me cuss in front of the preacher.”

Joe laughed at that. “Trust me, Jake. You won’t say anything I haven’t already heard. I haven’t always been a preacher. Besides, it’s not me you have to worry about. It’s the guy up there… And he hears it no matter where you say it.”

Jake glanced at the car’s engine compartment. “See her publicly. Make all the gossips go public, too, so you can get it out in the open before it festers. And I’m telling you again, you need to get on Facebook. Read what’s there so you can put a stop to it. Good luck to you. She’s a real pretty lady. Classy.”

With that, Jake sauntered back out to his car and drove slowly down the street, waving to some of the neighbors out working in their yards. Joe stared after him. See Tabby publicly? He was having a tough time seeing her at all. She was more skittish than her cat.

Joe looked back at the car. All the belts and hoses were fine. Fluid levels were fine. He checked the battery connections and found corrosion around the terminals. He disconnected them, then went to his toolbox in the trunk of his Mustang for a wire brush. After cleaning the terminals and checking the wires, he reconnected everything as Tabby was coming back outside. He tossed her the keys.

“Get in and try her. Let’s see if she’ll start. You still might need a boost.”

The car started, a little reluctantly, but it started. Tabby grinned.

“Let it run for a few minutes. Chances are your battery is a little low.”

Tabby got out of the car and smiled. Joe couldn’t help himself. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and their eyes met for a long moment.

“Thanks,” Tabby said a little breathlessly. “You saved me calling a mechanic. Can I make you dinner to say thank you?”

Joe shook his head, thinking of Jake’s advice, not to mention the prospect of more tofu. “No, but you could let me take you out to dinner. That way I can have my cheeseburger and you can munch on rabbit food.”

Her face grew wary. Sure, it was easy for Jake to talk about going public, but Joe not only had to contend with his parishioners, he had to contend with Tabby’s own reluctance. He sighed, knowing he needed to deal with it head-on.

“It’s dinner, Tabby, not a lifetime commitment or an altar call.”

She blinked and chewed on her lower lip. “Joe…I…”

“I won’t even denounce you as a heathen.” He kept his tone light. Why was he bothering? Any other woman he would have already cut his losses and moved on, but Tabby was different. Special.

Her breath huffed out on a strangled laugh, and she looked down at her jeans and long-sleeved T-shirt. “Do I need to change?”

Joe felt a surge of relief. He noted she was covered once again from ankle to neck. “Not at all. Go grab your purse or whatever you need. We’ll take my car.”

Tabby’s eyes went to the Mustang and suddenly glowed. “With the top down?”

“Sure.”

“I’ve never ridden in a convertible before.”

What the devil?
Where had she grown up?

“Then hop in.”

Joe’s red Mustang convertible no sooner pulled out onto the street than he could have sworn he saw curtains twitching in several windows on both sides. Jake was getting to him, making him paranoid.