Love Finds You in Hershey, Pennsylvania (7 page)

Oh, we’ve been keeping score for a while, Velichko. Get your game on.

“So. Hobbies.” She was going to find something she could use, one way or another.

He thought about it for a moment. “I like to read.”

“That’s good. What else?”

She forced herself to relax, her hands folded in front of her on the table.

Tell me the truth! Say it. Say it! “I enjoy putting independent restaurant owners out of business.” Tell me how you’re planning to take me down. Go on, I dare you!

He mumbled something she couldn’t quite catch. Unfolding her hands, she laid them palm-down on the table and leaned closer.

“What was that?”

Here it comes… The confession…

“I like old movies,” he repeated again, his voice still soft.

Her eyes widened in surprise as she straightened up.

“Really? You do?”

He nodded, and suddenly an interested fire lit his pale blue eyes. “When my parents brought my grandparents over from Russia, they couldn’t speak any English. It was my job to try to teach them. My grandfather had a very difficult time of it until one particular day when I turned on the television set and this black-and-white Cary Grant picture came on—
Arsenic and Old Lace
. My grandfather sat through the entire thing, demanding me to translate. He was simply enthralled.”

Sadie felt drawn to the way Dmitri held out his hands as he spoke and the gentle rush of his words. It was like watching ice cream melt—tempting and sweet without even taking a bite.

“From that moment on, I taught him English through old movies. And until the day he died, Cary Grant was always his favorite.”

“Like in
Charade
?”

If possible, Dmitri’s eyes sparkled even more. “You know Cary Grant?”

She smiled in bemusement. “Not personally, but my mother once had a thing for him.”

“What thing?”

“A thing, like—like she thought he was cute.”

“Ah.”

“My grandfather also loved Greta Garbo.”

“Oh yeah! Like in
Ninotchka
?”

“You’ve seen it?” Dmitri’s expression rivaled Kylie’s when Jasper had suggested they go out for pizza last night.

“Sure, I’ve seen it!”

Sadie flung back her hair and attempted her most serious Garbo impersonation. “ ‘And there is an old Russian saying—the cat with cream on his whiskers had better find good excuses.’ ”

Dmitri was positively exuberant. “Yes! Yes! You do a wonderful impersonation of her.”

Sadie couldn’t help glowing even as she blushed slightly. “Thank you.”

Willow reappeared then with a steaming plate of eggs tostada and a jealous expression. Sadie waited as Willow laid out the food and sweetly asked if there was anything else she could get for him. He replied there was not and thanked her.

She backed away from the table with a girlish grin. Sadie watched her go for a moment and then turned back to Dmitri.

“You know, the Hershey Theatre here in town shows classic films once a month on the big screen. They’re running one this Friday.”

Dmitri’s eyes lit with interest.

“I haven’t been over there in ages, but it used to be pretty cool. If you’re ever interested in going, let me know.”

It took a second, after the words left her mouth, for Sadie to realize what she had just done.

Oh…my…word. Did I just ask Dmitri Velichko out?!?

His delightfully endearing grin returned. “Ms. Spencer, are you asking me out on a date?”

Sadie made a face. “What? No! Besides, I’m not even in the market, if you know what I mean. Well, not that I’m
not
in the market, exactly…it’s just that it’s been awhile since I’ve seen anyone—or seen them in that context, I mean, and although I’m sure you’d be a lovely date, I just don’t think—”

He grinned at her. “Well, in that case…sure.”

“W–what did you say?”

“I’d be delighted to go to the theater with you—you said this Friday? Tomorrow night then?”

Sadie wasn’t entirely certain what had just happened or even whether it was a good thing, but she had the distinct feeling she could use this to her advantage. Of course, there was no point in looking desperate.

“Tomorrow? I’ll have to check my schedule.”

Clearly Dmitri wasn’t fooled. “I’ll pick you up at six? Will that be enough time?”

Her voice cracked when she attempted to answer. Clearing her throat, she tried again. “Plenty.”

She slipped out of the booth with what she hoped demonstrated more elegance than Grace Kelly. “Enjoy your breakfast,” she casually tossed over her shoulder.

She was grateful she couldn’t see his face when he bemusedly answered, “I intend to, Ms. Spencer.”

“You
what
?”

Sadie had never seen Jasper so shocked. While he was thus distracted, she stole a french fry (made from organic potatoes with no unnecessary preservatives) and popped it into her mouth.

Suncatchers was now knee-deep into the lunch rush hour, and Jasper had stopped by, as he often did, to grab a bite before heading back to his class at Agape Christian Academy. If she had known that her announcement would provoke such a reaction from him, she’d have saved the news until later that night.

“It’s not like I
tried
it,” she defended. “It just sort of happened.”

“Sadie.” He gave her the “don’t-feed-me-that” kind of look. “With you, nothing ‘just happens.’ ”

“But it did!” she insisted. “One minute I was telling him about the downtown theater, and the next minute, we had plans to go out tomorrow night!”

Jasper frowned. “Tomorrow night? What about Kylie’s party?”

“What about it?”

“It’s on Saturday.”

She looked at him as if he were simple. “Yeah, I know. Like I said, we’re going out
Friday
night. I’m going downtown, not to Kansas. I’ll be back by midnight, I swear. It’s not a problem for you to watch her, is it?”

Jasper toyed with his napkin, shredding the edges. Sadie couldn’t help thinking he looked a little ragged at the edges himself, following her announcement.

“Jasper? Do you mind?”

He looked up, and she touched his shoulder with concern.

He sighed. “No, it’s not a problem. I just thought you’d be busy with last-minute party preparations and stuff.”

“Well, I’ve got Karl delivering the cake on Saturday morning, and then I’ll decorate it with Belle and all that cursed yellow icing. I’m finishing up the other stuff tonight. No worries.”

He looked at her sharply. “With you? No worries?”

“Have a little faith in me, Jas.”

“I do, Sadie, I do…but don’t you think—” He dropped the rest of his sentence when she looked away, distracted by movement near the front of the restaurant. From the corner of her eye, she saw Jasper’s head swivel as well.

Oh no
.

It was Mac. He’d entered the restaurant and was self-consciously scanning the room, most likely looking for Sadie. To her annoyance, Jasper suddenly raised his hand and waved him over.

Mac spotted them with obvious relief and smiled, threading his way around the customers and toward the back of the room. Jasper jumped as Sadie smacked his hand down.

“
Ow!
What was that for?”

“What are you doing?” she hissed.

“He looked lost out there,” he reasoned.

Sadie scowled.

“Chances, Sadie,” he reminded her. “It’s all about second chances.”

“Easy for you to say. It’s not
your
chances he’s been using up.”

The remark cut, and Jasper’s expression told her so. But there was no time to discuss it further before Mac was upon them.

“Hello, Sadie girl,” he greeted her.

Sadie clenched her jaw. “Hi.”

“You really oughta lay off those lemons,” Jasper murmured to her.

Okay, maybe she deserved that, but still…

“Can I get you anything?” Sadie attempted to treat her father with some small measure of civility.

Mac didn’t answer her right away. Instead, he let his gaze wander over the restaurant, seeming, in particular, to focus on the myriad of suncatchers gracing the mirrored walls.

“It’s really pretty in here,” Mac finally commented. “Like walking underneath a rainbow.”

Despite her best intentions, Sadie warmed at the compliment.

“It was Mom’s idea,” she softly remarked.

Mac turned, his eyes alight in a way Sadie had never noticed before. “You don’t say. Did she make all of these?” His hand swept the room.

Amelia Cameron used to make suncatchers and display them, even selling them for a time. She’d give them as gifts or donate them to church fundraisers. People from several counties over would come just to purchase one of her detailed suncatchers. Sadie swallowed at the memory.

“Most of them,” she quietly offered. “I made some myself, but I was never as good at it as she was. Kylie made a couple.” Sadie gestured to an octagonal mirror behind her. The set of suncatchers displayed there was a smear of blended colors, clearly a child’s work of art.

“That’s another reason it’s named Suncatchers,” Jasper joined in. “ ‘Cause Amelia always said that Kylie’s smile was just like a suncatcher— it’d light up a room with color.”

Mac grinned at this, and Sadie felt a strange little feeling in the pit of her stomach, almost as if a dozen caterpillars were suddenly crawling around and tickling her insides with their furry spines.

Sadie cleared her throat, and Mac focused on her. She cocked her head expectantly, silently communicating her growing impatience with this unexpected visit.

“That’s what I came to talk to you about.” He finally came to the point.

“Suncatchers?”

“No. Kylie.”

Sadie felt every muscle within her tense unmercifully.

“What about her?”

Mac swallowed and shifted his weight. Sadie felt Jasper’s eyes on her, silently pleading for her to at least make the effort to get along. She ignored him.

“I wondered if I might take her out sometime. For ice cream or something. You know—whatever she likes.”

Sadie frowned unhappily. This was
not
something she felt prepared to allow.

“Or maybe I could come see her?” Mac hastily amended. “You know, at the house.”

She pursed her lips in silent answer to this question. “I didn’t know you’d be in town long enough to do that,” she acidly stated.

Mac looked her straight in the eye. “I’m here for as long as it takes.”

It was Sadie who dropped her gaze. “Well, promises are cheap, Mac. You know that better than most.” Her voice grew soft and filled with remorse. “I spent half my life looking forward to when you’d show up again and the other half dreading when you’d decide it was time to move on.”

She lifted her eyes and met her father’s squarely. “I’m sorry. I really am. But I can’t put Kylie through that.”

Mac seemed to respect her honesty. He nodded, and Sadie realized her heart ached. It ached for the understanding in his eyes. He might have been a scoundrel and a poor excuse of a father, but at least he knew it. The worst part was that he seemed to accept how
she
felt about it. Something inside her cried out,
Wait! Don’t give up on me yet—try again!

But Mac had already turned to go.

“I’ll be seeing you, Sadie.”

“All right.”

When he was gone, she blinked her eyes several times and rearranged the remains of the Cajun burger on Jasper’s plate.

“Do you think I’m a terrible person, Jasper?” she suddenly asked.

Jasper stilled her fingers by wrapping them in his own.

“No, Sadie. I’ve never thought that.”

She looked up and stared at the door where Mac had just exited.

“Yeah? Well, sometimes I do.”

Dmitri Velichko shook hands with the contractor before bidding him farewell. Left on his own, he turned and stared up at the face of the building he had recently purchased. The late afternoon sun shone on the structure’s exterior, and he felt a swell of optimism at the dappled display of light. He wished his grandfather could be here with him now, to witness this. He liked to think the man would be proud, seeing his grandson take this step of faith on his own terms.