Love Finds You in Hershey, Pennsylvania (11 page)

He could convince her they were perfect together. Sure, they worked on each other’s nerves sometimes, but what couple didn’t? And their laughter always outweighed their tears. Always.

Jasper ran over this synopsis a thousand times as he showered and dressed. How to win Sadie’s love? How to reason with a truth he was sure, deep down, she already recognized? Eventually, his thoughts shifted to Kylie. She was like a daughter to him already; it wouldn’t be such a stretch for him to actually become her dad in time, would it? Sadie would see that, wouldn’t she?

He stood in front of his refrigerator with the door hanging open for four full minutes before the cold air jolted him back to reality. Breakfast. He had planned to eat breakfast. He figured Sadie would be more than happy to scrounge up something for him when he got to her place, but he didn’t want to put that on her this morning. Kylie’s party was this afternoon, and he was sure she was going crazy with last-minute preparations and cake decorating.

He slammed the fridge door shut. He was never in his house long enough to keep a stocked fridge, and moldy cheese and mayonnaise did not present a very appetizing meal anyway. Besides, he couldn’t eat a thing if he wanted to. Nerves.

It was too early, he knew. Too early to go over to Sadie’s and tell her how he felt. The timing was off anyhow—today was not an easy day to delve into such a pool of emotions.

That’s when he decided to seek out Mac.

It took him less than a minute to grab his coat and keys, lock the house, step outside, and head to the car. Pleased to feel that summer was on the threshold and melted the need for even his lightest jacket, he tossed the coat onto the seat beside him and revved the 1972 blue Chevy Nova to life.

Before he had even learned to stick a key in an ignition, Jasper had loved Amelia’s old car. Memories of hot summer days riding with Sadie in the backseat, the windows rolled down, as the two of them and their mothers drove to the local pool, were part of the very reason he treasured this vehicle. It was filled with happy recollections of his life. Knowing how fond he was of it (and what a mess Sadie could be when driving), Amelia had left it to him in her will.

It was just a car, some could argue. But no, it was a link to Amelia and days gone by. A purely temporal thing, perhaps, but it was a link nonetheless. Amelia had been kind to this car, and it had been kind to him in turn. Regardless of its age, it was in excellent condition.

Now he took his time, despite his wish to lay pedal to metal and fly, and cruised the car along Chocolate Avenue while breathing deeply of the constant, heady smell of cocoa on his way to the local mechanic’s shop.

He pulled in at ten minutes till 8, according to his Relic watch. He parked the car and pocketed the keys (since there was no need to pin them without Kylie around) and headed to the front office. He greeted the local boys and asked about Mac.

He was out back.

Making his way around the side of the building, Jasper approached the rear lot, where a configuration of cars and trucks sat in haphazard precision. Jasper noted Mac instantly, bent at the waist with his head immersed in the engine of a 1986 Buick.

Jasper approached the car and leaned on its side, waiting for Mac to take notice of him. When the older man finally sensed a presence, he pulled his head out from under the hood, a smear of grease dotting his forehead, and looked at Jasper.

He nodded. “Jasper.”

“Hey, Mac.”

Jasper suddenly felt a little lost. Sure, he’d known Mac all his life (at least the parts Mac had hung around for), and Sadie didn’t put much stock in her relationship with her father anyway. But still, Mac was her dad, whether she admitted it or not…and Sadie was Mac’s little girl. Jasper swallowed.

“Mac, I’ve got something to tell you.”

There was a disturbing gleam in Mac’s brown eyes, and Jasper didn’t know whether to be encouraged or wary. Mac reached for a rag resting on the bumper and began to wipe his fingers with it.

“Go ahead, Jasper.”

Jasper swallowed again and decided that forthrightness would probably serve him best.

“Mac, I’m in love with your daughter.”

Jasper had expected at least a
little
bit of surprise, maybe even shock. A widening of the eyes, an
O
shaping his mouth, a raising of the eyebrows,
something
. What he got was far less.

“You think I don’t know that?”

Jasper frowned. “How could
you
know? I didn’t know myself, at least not for sure, until sometime this week.”

Mac’s expression was entirely amused. “Jasper…I loved Sadie’s mother. I really did—more than I’ve ever loved anyone else on this earth, except maybe Sadie and Kylie. But I couldn’t stay, even when she begged me to.” He took inordinate care with wiping the grease from his knuckles. The dark stains remained. He looked up and locked eyes with Jasper.

“You, on the other hand, have never claimed to love Sadie—at least not in the way that a man loves a woman—and yet you’ve stayed by her side, day after day, for years. Didn’t that tell you something long before now?”

Jasper considered. “That she was a good cook?”

Mac made a noise of disbelief. “And Sadie calls me the thick-headed one.”

“Cut me some slack, Mac. You’re older, wiser, more experienced…”

“Older, I’ll admit to; more experienced, probably.
Wiser
is hardly a good description of me. But it doesn’t take any of those things to recognize love. You’ve had it all over you for quite some time.”

Jasper grew silent in the face of this small speech. He scuffed the dirt with his boots, like a little kid scolded for doing wrong. “How long have you known?” he finally willed up the nerve to ask.

When Mac smiled, it was always with a sad, hound dog–like expression. He wore that face now as he looked at Jasper.

“For about as long as it takes a father to notice these things.”

“Which is pretty much since grade school, then?”

“From the time she knocked you out at the swings, yeah.”

“Why didn’t you say something sooner?”

Mac tossed the rag down. “What was there to say? I was never in Sadie’s life long enough to offer much commentary on it.”

Jasper didn’t have a response to that. They stood in silence for a minute, both of them musing on their lives with Sadie. At last Mac cleared his throat.

“Why exactly did you come to tell me this, Jasper? Not that I don’t appreciate the visit,” he quickly added.

Jasper considered his question for several moments. “Well, Mac,” he finally said, “I figure I’ve come to get your blessing.”

Mac chuckled at this. “I don’t think Sadie gives a hoot one way or another what I think.”

“Yeah?” Jasper looked at him. “Well, I do.”

Mac paused. “You mean that?”

Jasper nodded sincerely. “I do.”

The older man turned slightly and fiddled with the rag in his hands, but Jasper saw him wiping briefly at his eyes. His voice was gravelly with emotion when he spoke. “It ain’t easy, you know. This work of redemption.”

Jasper didn’t know how to respond. He wanted to encourage Mac—to tell him it would all work out in the end, that Sadie would forgive him and he could build a relationship with his granddaughter. But those would be empty promises. Jasper didn’t know anything of the sort. Forsaking hollow words, he simply laid a reassuring hand on the other man’s shoulder.

Mac drew a deep breath and sniffed, turning back toward Jasper. “I couldn’t think of a better man for Sadie. I always regretted never meeting her husband, Ned, before he died. I guess maybe it was hard for me to imagine my little girl with anyone, especially someone other than you.” Mac shrugged. “For what good it does you, son, you have my blessing. You’ve always had it.”

Mac smiled that sad smile again. “I never felt right, walking away from Sadie all those years. But I never worried she’d be alone. Not as long as you were around.”

Jasper’s voice was quiet but without malice. “But it wasn’t always me she wanted—or needed.”

Mac sighed. “I know it. God help me, I know that now. I only hope He gives me the chance to make it right.”

“Oh, He’ll give it to you,” Jasper assured him. “But He’ll probably give you more than you bargained for in the process. He’s like that, you know.”

“Yeah. So I’m finding out.”

Jasper pushed off the Buick and stretched his neck to work out a few kinks. “Well, I’d better get going. Kylie turns five today, and I guarantee you
that’s
more than any man bargained for.”

Mac straightened with him. “That reminds me. Can you hang on a minute?”

“Sure.”

Jasper waited as Mac walked several yards to the beat-up Ford he’d driven into town. He disappeared inside the cab for a moment and re-emerged with an awkwardly wrapped, rectangular package in tow. Jasper’s heart ached for him as Mac returned and clumsily held it toward him.

“I got this for Kylie’s birthday. I wondered if you could give it to her for me.”

Jasper made a decision then, one he found every bit as important as his newly recognized love for Sadie. He pushed the present back into Mac’s hands.

“Why don’t you give it to her yourself? Come to the birthday party this afternoon.”

Mac smiled with pleasure at the invitation, but he shook his head. “Couldn’t do that. Sadie’d have a fit.”

Jasper shrugged. “She has one fit or another at least twice a week. She’s due for one today anyway.”

Mac hesitated but then shook his head again. “No, it wouldn’t be right. I don’t want to spoil the party.”

Jasper laid a hand on his shoulder. “Mac, Kylie asks me sometimes about you. She knows her grandma’s in heaven, but she wants to know about
you
. I think she’d be thrilled if you came.”

Mac raised his head, and Jasper sensed a thread of hopefulness in his tone as he said, “Really? You think so?”

“I know it. Save your gift. The party starts at two.”

Mac nodded. “I’m off at two thirty. I’d be late… .”

Jasper smiled. “No problem. It’ll give Sadie time to get in the flow of things.”

Mac looked nervous.

“Mac? Don’t worry so much. Just come. Please…come.”

Mac drew a deep breath. “All right. I will.”

Jasper grinned. “Great.” With a farewell wave of his hand, he began to walk away.

“You know, Jasper…”

Jasper turned around.

“If you’re looking to woo my daughter, this is hardly the way to do it.”

Jasper looked up at the sky. It was a perfect stretch of unmarred blue. “The way I see it, Mac…I want her to be a fool over me. Not you.”

Mac hooked his thumbs in his belt loops. “If anyone has a fighting chance at that, son, it would be you.”

Sadie didn’t have a fighting chance. She was in a kindergarten nightmare. Twelve screaming four- and five-year-olds blowing party horns; boys chasing the girls with shrieks of delight; wrapping paper crunching like gravel underfoot; Kylie pulling on her sleeve every five seconds and demanding the cake; and Jasper and Dmitri, calm as only men can be in the midst of utter chaos, sipping from Styrofoam cups and discussing the finer points of an Italian coffee roast.

She had never been so stressed in her life. A five-year-old’s birthday party made running a restaurant seem like a piece of cake, no pun intended.

“
Mommy!
”

Sadie felt the familiar tug on her sleeve.

“Kylie wants cake…
now
!”

Sadie gathered up several empty punch cups and felt relieved that the weather had permitted her to move the party
outdoors
to the backyard. Otherwise, she’d have had to permanently dye her carpet fruit-punch red.

“Not yet, Kylie. Why don’t you go open another present?”

“No presents left!” Kylie explained in exasperation.

“Well, why don’t you go play with one of your new toys?”

“No good toys to play with!” she argued.

“Then how about one of your friends?”

There was a constant stream of children, but Kylie had long ago lost interest in the boys chasing after the girls.

Sadie dropped to her knees, grabbed Kylie by the shoulders, and looked lovingly into her eyes. “Kylie? Mommy is about to have a nervous breakdown. Do you know what that means?”

Kylie considered this. “You’re going to stick your arm in the volcano again?”

Sadie couldn’t help it. She smiled. “No, but maybe I’ll put my head in this time.”

Kylie frowned. “That’s gross, Mommy.”

Sadie agreed. “Give Mommy a few more minutes, and then she’ll bring out the cake, all right?”

Kylie eyed her carefully. “Promise?”

“Promise.”

Kylie grinned. “Okay.” And off she skipped, nary a care in her world. Sadie sighed and tossed the punch cups into the trash can.

She passed Jasper and Dmitri on her way into the house and failed to stifle a fresh wave of irritation. The two men, both of whom had kissed her last night, were bonding over coffee without so much as a hint of jealousy for each other.

Granted, was there any reason for jealousy between them? Perhaps neither kiss had meant anything. Certainly neither of them had bothered to bring it up when they arrived at her house that day. Jasper had used his key to let himself in this morning and sailed into her kitchen with a smile to rival the glow of the sun. She had expected something from him—an apology or an explanation. Maybe, on some level, she had even expected another kiss. But all she’d gotten was a cup of tea he’d picked up from Suncatchers for her and a question as to whether Kylie was up yet.