Miz Scarlet and the Bewildered Bridegroom (5 page)

Standing there, I
studied my reflection in the mirror. Staring back at me was a woman
sliding into mid-life romance with the brakes on. Why was I so
hesitant to dress up for Kenny?
I’ll just be disappointed. Something will eventually happen,
Kenny will go away again, and I’ll be left with an overstuffed bag
of useless dreams to keep me going on the road to old
age.

“Boy, talk about
cynical!” I shook myself out of my gloom-and-doom party. “What do
normal women my age do when they date?”

The answer was right
there on my dresser. I grabbed the bottle of the aptly
named
Romance
and gave myself a spritz of perfume. Cloaked
in a mist of floral notes with just a hint of spice, I hurried down
the two flights of stairs just as Huckleberry and January barked to
announce a new arrival at the front door.

“I’ve got it!” I
hollered over my shoulder. The last thing I wanted was for the
dinner guests to join us for a meet-and-greet in the
vestibule.

“Well, don’t you look
nice,” said the cheerful man on the porch. Kenny leaned forward and
gave me a warm kiss on the lips as he grasped my hand. “Mmm...you
smell good, too.”

“Gee, thanks.” I
started to step past him, but he maneuvered me back
inside.

“We’re not in that much
of a rush, Scarlet. I want to say hello to your
mom.”

“You do?”
Just my luck.
“I’d hate to miss the opening credits.”

“Nonsense. We’ve got
plenty of time.” With that, he strode down the hallway purposefully
on those long legs of his, rounded the corner, and continued
towards the dining room.

“Kenny! How nice to see
you! Pull up a chair.” The Googins girls offered him strawberry
shortcake, which he promptly accepted.

“Crap! Now we’ll never
get out of here alive,” I groaned to my canine companions as they
waited for me to make a move. “Come on.”

Reluctant, even
resistant to the notion, I forced myself to trace Kenny’s route
into the dining room, accompanied by the dogs. My date was now
sitting between Laurel and Lacey, coffee mug in hand, deep in
conversation with the group. The little glob of white on his upper
lip looked suspiciously like whipped cream.

“Kenny says he’s
available for Scrabble tomorrow night, Scarlet, so count him in for
dinner,” my mother informed me. “Florence and the good doctor have
suggested that we can do a round robin.”

“Have
they?”

“I haven’t played
Scrabble in years, but it sounds like fun.” Dr. Van Zandt hoisted
both thumbs in the air. “I’m in.”

“That means we have
five players for two boards. Too bad we don’t have three more,”
Lacey announced. All eyes seemed to turn in my direction at the
same time. “Scarlet, are you doing anything tomorrow
night?”

Chapter Four --

I was pretty sure no
one would accept the old “have to wash my hair” excuse, but my mind
seemed to freeze up as I scrambled for an answer. Desperate, I
glanced over at Kenny, who gazed expectantly at me. How could I say
no?

“I guess I’m
available,” I heard myself say. “Count me in.”

“Too bad we’re leaving
in the morning,” said Robin Johnson. “Scrabble’s our thing. Maybe
next time we’re in town we can play.”

“We can ask Myrtle and
Willow to join us,” Lacey suggested. Myrtle was a distant Googins
cousin, who lived down the road with her daughter. “And as a last
resort, we’ve got Bur.”

Ask Bur, the man most
likely to make up words out of thin air? Great! I’ll spend the
entire game challenging every combination of tiles he places on the
board. Won’t that be fun?

“Splendid,” said the
retired medicine man, adjusting his glasses on the bridge of his
nose. “I shall look forward to it.”

“Well, now that’s
settled, please excuse Scarlet and me. We’re off to the movies,”
Kenny told the group, hopping up from his seat. As he did, I caught
him winking at Lacey. That’s how I knew she got to him -- it must
have been at the gas station.
Of
all the low-down, sneaky, conniving....

I waited until we were
in the hallway, on our way to the front door, before I tossed out
the hook to catch my unsuspecting fish. “So, does this mean you
approve of the Googins girls’ plan?”

There it was, just as I
suspected, the dead giveaway -- a slight misstep in his gait and an
avoidance of eye contact. Kenny’s always been a fairly honest guy.
My brother, Bur, used to call him Mr. Goody Two Shoes in high
school.

“What?” He paused a
moment, his hand on the knob of the front door, and by the time
he’d turned it a few seconds later, I knew he’d constructed his
response. I thought it rather lame. “What are you talking
about?”

“Did you really think I
didn’t know? Good heavens!” I let out an amused chuckle as I
brushed past him. “It’s not like I’m completely in the dark when it
comes to the Googins girls, for heaven’s sake. Give me a little
credit, Captain Peacock.”

“So, you don’t
mind?”

“Mind? Why should I
mind?” I played along, pretending to know what he was talking
about. I wasn’t even close.

“I just assumed you
might think your mother is too old to date a guy like
Thaddeus.”

“Huh?” We were half-way
to the car when I stopped in my tracks. My mouth dropped open like
a proverbial Venus flytrap, ready for the unwitting housefly to
buzz in.
Did I think my mother
was too old to date? It had never even crossed my mind. More
importantly, it had never occurred to me that the woman in the
wheelchair had a desire to land herself a date with Dr. Van
Zandt.

I quickly scrambled to
recover my equilibrium. This was no longer just a scheme to start a
wedding business. Now it was about roping players into a game of
Scrabble so that my mother could get herself a date. Had the world
gone completely and utterly mad?
Never underestimate a wily senior citizen. Be wary when two
of them conspire.

Kenny opened the car
door for me and stepped back as I slid into the seat. Once I was
in, he shut the door and came around to the driver’s side of the
car. Climbing in behind the wheel, he leaned over and gave me an
unexpected kiss, one that left me breathless.

“What’s that for?” I
asked, when we came up for air.

“I’m just glad you’re
okay with this. When I first moved back here, your mother was
someone I could talk to about being widowed. She understood me like
nobody else. She’s the one who encouraged me to give love another
try.”

“You talked to my
mother about dating? Where was I?”

“You were in the
kitchen, cooking dinner.”

“Ah,” I nodded,
thinking about all the times I fussed over a sauce for the beef
tenderloin or grilled mahi-mahi on my stovetop grill, while Kenny
sat with my mother in the living room. I had no idea the two of
them ever had any significant conversations.

“Your mother knows what
it’s like to lose the man she loved, Scarlet. She still loves your
dad, but....”

“But she’s lonely?” I
replied, filling in the blank in his sentence. We were finally at
that stage in our relationship where it was acceptable, rather than
presumptuous.

“Yes.”

“Dr. Van Zandt is the
first man she’s expressed an interest in.”

“That’s the long and
short of it.”

“Well then, I guess we
should help Mama out.”

“We should.” He reached
over and turned the key in the ignition. “And if I’m any judge of
men, the good doctor is equally interested in your
mother.”

“Do you really think
so?”

“I do.”

I do.
Those two little words surfaced yet again. My
luck -- there was just no escaping them tonight. I pulled myself
together and focused on the matter at hand. How could I help Laurel
find some happiness at this stage of her life? I was still
adjusting to the idea of my mother dating when Kenny threw me
another curve ball.

“How do you feel about
me moving down the road? Would that bother you?”

For the second time in
less than ten minutes, my jaw dropped. “Moving down the
road?”

“Bur called me and said
he’s thinking of taking over Wallace’s house for an event venue,
but he wants to use the upstairs as business offices and apartment
space for himself. He offered me the third floor. How about it,
Scarlet? We’ll be able to spend more time
together.”

I looked into those
eyes and felt myself melting under the heat of his gaze. The idea
of spending more time with him delighted me.
“It’s just the nearness of
you....”
For a moment, that old
romantic ballad flooded my head and I felt myself swept away. And
then, suddenly, the spell was broken.

“So?” Kenny spoke.
“What do you think?”

I shook myself out of
my daydream and forced myself back into reality. “But what about
your place, the one you just rented a few months ago after you sold
your house in New Jersey?”

“Honestly? It doesn’t
feel much like home to me. It’s too empty. Besides, I spend most of
my time here when I’m not working. I’d prefer to be your
neighbor.”
Your
neighbor.
That sentiment had such
a lovely ring to it.

“It would be rather
convenient,” I admitted, flushed at the thought of the former boy
heartthrob becoming the man next door, “especially if I need to
borrow a cup of sugar.”

“Aw, you’re just saying
that because I’m such a sweet guy,” he smiled.

“And a good kisser,” I
acknowledged with a grin. “Pucker up, Captain
Peacock!”

The following morning,
I lay in bed, trying to sort through the many thoughts swirling
around in my head. That Laurel might want some romance in her life
was a shocker for me -- admittedly so; but she was an interesting,
intelligent woman with a good sense of humor and a heart of gold.
Why shouldn’t she have a companion to share the remaining years
with on life’s often rocky path? I tried to picture my mother going
out on dates -- what would that be like? Should I worry if she
wasn’t home by midnight? Would she suddenly start shacking up with
the good doctor at every cheap motel from here to Kennebunkport?
Hardly likely, I decided. For one thing, I doubted cheap motels
install wheelchair ramps and that was a must for Laurel. Still, I
wasn’t really sure how it would all play out.

And then I remembered
that Kenny would be living a few doors down the road. It all seemed
so surreal to me, like a dream I wished I had dreamed long ago.
Kenny was, at heart, a family man. He had loved his late wife
dearly; of that, there was no doubt. Why would he enjoy living
alone after so many years of being a devoted husband and father?
Some folks are just born “people persons” and Kenny certainly fit
that description. That was obvious to me once we began dating in
earnest. But did that mean he would commit his heart to loving
me?

A warm little fur ball
rolled over in bed and pawed my arm, looking for a tickle.
Huckleberry was ready to rise.

“Who’s the boy?” I
asked him, giving his belly a rub as I ran through the day’s
schedule in my mind. There was a lot to do. At the top of the list
was to get started on the wedding plan. “I suppose we should get
moving.”

Twenty minutes later,
after a brisk jaunt through the neighborhood with Huckleberry and
January, I was in the kitchen, whipping up banana nut muffins in
anticipation of the breakfast crowd.

“Good morning!” Jenny
popped in with her little Cavalier King Charles spaniel at her
feet. “Mozzie and I are off for a hike up to White Oak Hill, but I
need a little food for the trail.”

An adventurous teen,
she liked to climb to the summit with the little dog most summer
mornings, travel mug of coffee in hand. I suspect it was because it
reminded her of her old life in New Hampshire, the one she shared
with her late mother.

“I’ve got blueberry
muffins left over from yesterday’s breakfast in the freezer and
Greek yogurt in the fridge.”

“You’re a peach, Miz
Scarlet.”

“I am indeed; that also
happens to be the yogurt flavor of the day,” I replied. I opened
the oven door and slid the muffin pan in as Jenny tucked the yogurt
and muffin in her insulated fanny pack and zipped it up. She poured
coffee into her thermal cup, added some cream and sugar, capped the
lid.