Sex and the Widow Miles (The Women of Willow Bay) (2 page)

“
Very nice to meet you.”

After I poured, he held his glass up and touched his rim to mine.
“To… new beginnings?”

“
To finding me a cab to the airport.” I downed half the wine in one gulp.

“
You’re leaving? But you just got here.”

“
This was a stupid idea. I don’t belong here.” I swilled the rest of the Riesling and then refilled my glass.

Okay, so maybe I
’d stay for two drinks.

“
How do you know that? You haven’t even given it a chance.” Will toyed with the corkscrew, removing the cork from the spiral and then twisting it back on again before nodding his head toward another bar stool. “Have a seat, why don’t you?”

His smile disarmed my anger, but only a little. I was fuming and I wasn
’t even sure anymore who I was mad at. Will Brody, for scaring the crap out of me? Carrie, for making me come here when all I wanted to do was stay in the warm cocoon of my house on the shore? The therapist, for forcing me to rethink… well, everything? Charlie, for fucking dying in the first place?

Yes. Yes to all of those.

My conscience nudged me.
Or maybe you’re just mad at yourself.
I ignored it and topped off my beverage before plopping down in the stool across from Will Brody.

“
How did you get in here?” The question sounded surlier than I intended, but he just responded with a friendly smile.

“
Normally, I use a key. Today, you left the door wide open. I know Carrie and Liam are back in Michigan, so I thought something was wrong. Then I remembered Carrie telling me you’d be here in the late afternoon. This is a very safe building, but I don’t recommend leaving the door open.”

“
I didn’t realize I had.” I sipped the wine a little slower, letting the crisp fruity taste linger on my tongue. He was studying me, and suddenly I was very aware of my bare feet, my wrinkled blouse, and oh, damn, that goofy hat. I yanked it off my head, but my hair became knotted in the plastic hooks in the back when I pulled. “Shit.”

Before I could release it, Will
hopped up and came to my aid, gently untangling the long strands and then handing me the cap. “Nice hat.” He grinned, white teeth gleaming against his tanned face as he returned to his seat.

“
A welcome gift from Carrie.” Heat flushed my cheeks, so I changed the subject. “Where’d you get a tan like that in January? Florida?”

“
Italy. I’ve been over in Europe checking out venues for Liam’s summer tour.”

“
That’s a sweet gig.”

“
No complaints.”

“
Aren’t you kinda young to be someone’s business manager?” What had Carrie said about Will? My mind was a blank. Sitting across from me, he looked like my oldest son, Kevin, who was also tall and blond and a very nice man at twenty-nine years old. Will could be a little older, but probably not much.

“
I’m thirty-nine.” He reached for the wine bottle and refilled both our glasses.

I did the math in my head. Thirteen years between us. He was a baby.
“To me, that’s young, kid.” One more glass of wine and then I was calling a cab and heading back to the airport.

“
You’re not
that
much older than me.” His eyes twinkled and in the light they appeared almost teal blue. Aquamarine. Had to be contacts. Nobody’s eyes were naturally that shade of blue.

“
I’m fifty-two.” I blurted. “Old enough to be your mother.”

“
Well, only if my mother had been a very young teen mom, which I assure you she wasn’t.” A long pause set in before he spoke again. “I’m sorry about your husband. Carrie told me about him.”

I shrugged and shifted on my stool.
“Thanks. Ironic, huh? A heart surgeon dying of a massive heart attack?”

“
Life can be ironic. How long has it been?”

“
It’s been a year… barely.”

“
You doing okay?”

When I met his steady ga
ze over the wine glasses, his eyes were warm and full of concern. He wasn’t simply making small talk. He was genuinely interested, but I couldn’t imagine why. He didn’t know me.

“
I don’t know. I guess. I feel so… empty… so displaced. I don’t know where I belong anymore or who I am. I’ve been Mrs. Dr. Charles Miles since I was nineteen years old.” The words just poured out of me like they did with Dr. Benton or with Carrie. Why was I telling him all this stuff? I resisted the urge to clap my hand over my mouth, but with each question he asked, I dumped more details on the table.

“
But that’s not all you are,” he pointed out. “What about your own career? Didn’t Carrie tell me you’re a model?”

“
I
was
a model, but I think that’s pretty much over.” I gave a short laugh. “We were planning our retirement when he—” I was scared that saying the word would start the tears burning in my eyes. I blinked and focused on my wine, and for a moment, my mind slipped back to what might have been.

Just a few months before he died, Charlie had been due to retire from his job as chief of cardiac surgery at St. Anne
’s Hospital in Traverse City, and I was going to be done with modeling after the Macy’s spring line shoot in October. We’d planned to rent a house in Aruba and spend the first winter of retirement on the beach, drinking ourselves stupid and making love until we ached.

All that was gone now. Charlie was dead, and I
’d spent the last year trying to figure out a way to go on without him. But I hadn’t been able to get motivated to do anything at all. The therapist had helped… and so had Carrie, although I still wasn’t convinced this trip was necessary.

When I glanced up, Will was watching me, concern furrowing his brow.

“It’s been a… rough road,” I finally said.

“
Did you try one of those grief support groups? My grandma went to one when Pops passed. Seemed to help her.”

“
I went to one at the library in Willow Bay after I started with the therapist. Carrie made me go.” I exhaled a bitter laugh. “Lord, it was depressing. Some of those women had been there for years. I could tell they’d been rehashing their dead husbands’ lives for ages… meeting after meeting.” I smoothed my hair back off my face. “No way that was gonna work. But the therapist started me on an antidepressant and—” I broke off with a self-conscious shrug.

What the hell was the matter with me? Spilling my guts to a perfect stranger? Even if he was a close friend of Carrie and Liam,
I shouldn’t be sharing intimate details of my life with him. I sounded as pitiful as those women in the grief group. God, I didn’t want to be that tragic figure. Not anymore.

“
And what?” Will gave me an encouraging smile.

Was this guy for real? Why on earth was he interested in hearing an old widow
’s tale?

I closed my eyes. My tension eased as the wine worked its magic. I was going to have to find some food pretty soon or I would pass out on the kitchen floor. Surely Carrie had something to munch on in this vast kitchen.

Almost as if he’d read my mind, Will said, “You could probably use something to eat. Why don’t I order us a pizza?”

“
That’s okay. I’ll just find some crackers before I call a cab.”

“
Oh come on, you need more than crackers, and I’m hungry too. Guido’s down the block makes a great hand-tossed and they deliver. I’ll order and then I’ll haul your trunk over here. It’s sitting in my living room. It arrived this morning and since Carrie had it expressed to me, Javier just had them put it at my place.”

“
Oh, good God, she sent all those clothes here? I told her to just give them to a charity up there.” I rolled my eyes and rose to ransack the cupboards for something crunchy and salty. My first step wobbled. I clutched the granite counter to keep from falling on my ass.

Will was next to me in a heartbeat, his hand on my elbow, helping me back to the stool.

“Better get us both some food
now
. Wine on an empty stomach ain’t workin’.” He pulled his phone out and in a few short taps ordered a pizza online. “It’ll be here in about twenty-five minutes. Carrie’s gotta have something around here we can fill in with.” He went right to the pantry off the kitchen and came back with a bag of pretzels, a box of crackers, and a can of peanuts. A trip to the huge Subzero fridge produced two kinds of cheese, a couple of varieties of dip, and two bottles of water.

Reaching under the bar, he pulled out small paper plates and cocktail
napkins
that made me smile. They were imprinted with,
Wine—it’s how classy people get trashed
.
It was pure Carrie Reilly. Will grinned, too, as he pulled lids off the dip and opened packages of cheese.

“
Dig in.” He offered me the bag of pretzels.

What was the use of fighting it at this stage?
Obviously, I wasn’t going anywhere in the next couple of hours. I was tired, hungry, and more than a little buzzed. The thought of a cab ride was bad enough, but another few hours at O’Hare? That simply was not going to happen tonight.

Okay, Carrie
, you win this one.

The notes, the bear, the cozy apartment, and a kind, handsome neighbor could be construed as unfair tactics, but you win. I
’m here. I’m staying.

A
t least tonight.

THREE

The pizza tasted incredible. I devoured two huge pieces, washing it down with the water. Carrie would
’ve been delighted to see my appetite returning. She’d been enticing me with casseroles, huge fresh salads, and endless baked goods for months. When Will offered to open a bottle of Chianti he had at his place, I declined, even though it was tempting to simply drink until sleep overcame me. Dr. Benton would’ve frowned on mixing that much wine with the antidepressants, and besides, I had some thinking to do. Even though I’d resigned myself to staying the night, I still wasn’t sure I was going to unpack and settle in for the winter.

While we ate, Will told me a little about the places he
’d been, arranging dates and venues for Liam’s summer tour in Europe. It was clear Will loved his job managing Liam’s career as a symphony conductor, and hearing about the different cities where Liam would be guest conducting orchestras gave me a sneak peek into Carrie’s summer. It was going to be wondrous—Athens, London, Munich, Paris, Rome, even Budapest.

Charlie and I had talked about doing Europe when he retired. I wanted to backpack, take the trains, and stay at tiny inns, but Charlie longed for luxury hotels, five-star restaurants, and a hired car and a driver. It didn
’t matter anymore. We wouldn’t be touring Europe together.

Before he left, Will helped me clean up, which entailed tossing the paper plates and bottles in the recycle bin, rinsing out wine glasses, and closing up the pizza box so he could take it home. He even earned my grudging respect for not trying to manhandle my huge trunk all by himself. Instead he welcomed my assistance in bringing it across the hall. I couldn
’t deny I felt better, so as he left. I thanked him more graciously than I’d greeted him earlier.

I had to grin as I locked the door behind him and heard
him call, “The chain too, Jules.”

I latched the chain. Apparently, he was taking Carrie
’s instructions to “keep an eye on Jules for me” to heart. I appreciated how he’d made the whole evening so easy with his relaxed manner and no probing questions about what I planned to do with my life. It was nice to simply listen to his travel stories and get out of my own head for an hour or so.

Switching off lights as I made my way back to the bedroom, I suddenly realized that I was probably tired enough to fall asleep with
out any help from the little pink pills. A shower sounded lovely, so as soon as I hit the bedroom door, I dug in my suitcase for my toothbrush, face wash, and soap. The canvas tote on the floor caught my eye and I remembered my cell phone was still turned off from the flight.

Whoops.

I powered it on and saw that I had five missed calls, three of which were from my oldest son, Kevin. I’d no more seen the list of missed calls than my phone rang, vibrating against my palm.
Kevin.
I answered it and tried to put some life into my voice. “Hey, honey.”

“
Mom, thank God! I’ve been trying to get a hold of you all day.”

“
I was flying today, remember? I’m at Aunt Carrie’s house in Chicago.” Unbuttoning my blouse, I sat on the edge of the bed.

“
Well, where was your cell phone?” Kevin’s deep voice reminded me so much of Charlie’s, a pang pierced my heart.

“
I just turned it back on. Sorry, I forgot to do it when I landed.”