Finding Love in Payton (9 page)

If Joanne was taken aback at the sight of Jeremy
holding Bryan, she didn't show it. As soon as she
entered the coffee shop she waved to them, walked
toward their table, and pulled up a chair after a round
of hello's.

"You, my brother, are surrounded by women," she
teased, reaching out to rub Bryan's ankle.

"Thank goodness for Bryan here, or I'd have to
leave," he joked.

"Don't worry, Jeremy, if it wasn't for Bryan, we
would have kicked you out long ago and ventured into
girl talk," Mary Beth quipped before turning her attention to Joanne. "What's going on?"

"I just brought Stratton some lunch. He's working
late today and couldn't leave," Joanne explained. "And, I have quite a bit of work to do for the reenactment."

"I started the costumes yesterday," Dinah said. "I
should have the first soldier's uniform ready for a fitting in about a week."

Joanne turned all business. "Great. Get with Jeremy
to do that."

"Jeremy?"

"Me?"

Joanne glanced at the pair of them like she couldn't
believe they could be so dense. "Well, yes. One of the
costumes is for Jeremy. You'll be able to make sure
he's all set, right?"

Jeremy caught Dinah's eye once again, and he could
have sworn she blushed. "Sure," she said.

Joanne smiled.

Suddenly, being around Dinah, in the company of
his sister and sister-in-law, and her mother, was more
than he wanted to deal with. There was too much between him and Dinah that hadn't been resolved, the
least of which was him asking her out and her telling
him no.

With one last reassuring pat to Bryan, he stood up.
"I'm going to go ahead and take off," he announced.
"Thanks, Mrs. McKinley, for taking me around. You,
too, Mary Beth."

All four women looked at him in surprise. "Are you
sure you want to leave?"

"Oh, yeah," he said. "I think it's best."

"See you tomorrow at Mom and Dad's?" Joanne
asked.

"Yep. I'll be there." Against his will, he glanced at
Dinah. She was staring at him with soft brown eyes.
Like she actually cared he was leaving.

Well, that was something, he guessed. "Let me
know about the fitting, Dinah."

"I will," she said softly, reminding him of their walk
in the dim light.

His collar felt tight and it wasn't even buttoned. It
was really time to take off. "Bye," he said, then got
out of the Mill as quickly as he could and walked
away.

He walked through the parking lot, only to realize
that he had no car. Grumbling, he wandered down the
block toward the country club. Maybe he could put in
a few extra hours and beg Priscilla or Payton to give
him a ride home later.

Dinah watched him leave with a sinking sensation.
He'd left because of her and she felt terrible about it.
"I'm sorry," she said to the women around her who
seemed perfectly content to look at her with amused
expressions. "I didn't mean to cause a problem."

"You mean because Jeremy took off?" Joanne
asked.

She shrugged. "Yes. I'm sure you love these
chances to get together, as a family."

Joanne chuckled. "We get together often enough. I
promise! Listen, if he left for any reason, it was be cause of me. I drive him crazy," she stated, not looking one bit perturbed about it.

Dinah knew she wouldn't forget Jeremy's wary expression around her anytime soon. "I don't think so."

"I bet it really is the number of women, Dinah,"
Marianne McKinley said kindly. "My goodness,
there's practically enough of us to throw a slumber
party! Any man would leave in a hurry." She leaned
forward, the discussion settled. "Now, tell me, how
was that walk of yours?"

Mary Beth winced. "Mother, Dinah doesn't need to
share her personal business with us."

"She doesn't mind," Marianne retorted. "You don't
mind, do you?"

"I don't mind. There's really not much to share,"
Dinah admitted, wondering why that made her so depressed.

"And you don't have to tell us anything," Mary
Beth said, glaring at her mother. "Although ... I've
always wondered if Jeremy kisses as dreamily as he
looks."

Joanne frowned. "Ew. That's my brother we're talking about."

"Your brother is a dreamboat," Mary Beth laughed.

"You're married to his brother."

"Who's my personal dreamboat," Mary Beth said
with a smile. "I don't want to kiss Jeremy, I just
wanted to know if my hunches were correct." She
glanced at Dinah and smiled encouragingly.

Dinah squirmed. "I don't know," she muttered.

"You don't know how good it was?" Joanne clarified. "Or, you don't know if you want to share?"

Oh, these women! They were like a pack of dogs
with a bone. No wonder Jeremy took off. Resolutely,
she admitted the truth. "I don't know how he kisses
because I haven't kissed him."

"I thought y'all went walking in the moonlight,"
Marianne said, a faint frown marring her features.
"Mayor Kincaid even saw you two holding hands."

"We were, but we didn't kiss."

All three women looked crestfallen and Dinah almost admitted she felt the same way.

"Hmph. I would have thought Jeremy would have
more gumption than that," Joanne said with a frown.

"I wonder what's wrong with him," Mary Beth
added. "Maybe he was sick?"

Just as Marianne was about to add her comment,
Dinah spoke. "He wanted to ... I didn't let him."

Again, three women stared at her in surprise. Surprised and more than a little disappointed. "Why not,
Dinah? Do you really not like him?" Mary Beth asked.

"I do ... but I'm trying not to." She turned to
Joanne, looking for anyone to save her from the bottomless pit of a conversation. "You, of all people
should know what I'm talking about. Don't you think
Jeremy should be around someone younger?"

Joanne squirmed. "Me? Well, I admit that at first I
was a little worried about the age difference ... but now I don't think it matters. I know he's been attracted
to you since he saw you at the grocery store."

"But five years' difference ..."

"Years from now it won't matter at all," Marianne
said. "Not after you two get married and start your
own family."

"We're not getting married," Dinah protested, feeling like she was stuck in the center of a tornado. "I
don't know if we're even going to go out on a date."

Again all three women were confused. "He really
is a great guy," Mary Beth said, ready to defend him.
"And he's different than most men his age. Jeremy's
the kind of guy who plans for everything. He's steady.
And a hard worker. If you're afraid he's going to be
saying good-bye to you and go out with some co-ed,
I just don't see it happening."

"I don't see it either," Joanne admitted, "and to tell
the truth, at first I didn't think the two of you would
be right for each other."

Dinah handed Bryan his sippy cup and another
twenty CheeriosT" when he started to fuss in her lap.
"So what's changed your mind?"

"Seeing how you look at each other. Like you're
dying to stare at each other, but afraid of what the
other might do."

"I haven't been staring at him."

"But you've been going out of your way not to,"
Joanne pointed out. "That's telling."

"Dear, I'm not saying Jeremy Reece is the one for you, but I do certainly feel that he could be," Marianne
said kindly. "Don't let what-ifs overtake you."

Dinah stared out at the street, recalled the faint
sheen of color that stained his face and neck as he left.
What had he been feeling? Probably not anything
good. "I don't think he's going to ask me again. He
said he was going to wait on me."

"Then ask him out."

She stared at the ladies in surprise. "You don't think
that would be ridiculous, like some old woman coming
on to him?"

"You're twenty-eight, not sixty-eight, so stop acting
like you're approaching retirement," Joanne said.
"And second, who cares if someone does think you're
too old for him or he's too young for you? All that
matters is when the two of you are alone."

Mary Beth chuckled at Joanne's words. "Dinah, go
ask him out. You'll be glad you did."

She was almost convinced she should do that, and
wasn't sure if she was proud of herself or ashamed.
"Where?"

"Ask him over to dinner," Mary Beth suggested.
"Missy did that with Kevin. Remember, Jo?"

Joanne's expression turned dreamy. "Oh yeah, the
night after Kevin had dinner at Missy's we all were
together, and it was all Kevin could talk about. You
would have thought she was a personal chef and interior decorator by the way he gushed about her."

"What did she fix for him?"

Mary Beth grinned. "Chicken."

"Chicken?"

"He would have eaten sawdust and gushed," Joanne
explained, holding her arms out to Bryan. "It was the
company he cared about, Dinah," she said, glancing
at the little boy. "Ask him over for dinner."

She sighed. She had been hurt when Jeremy walked
out that door, and knew the only way she was going
to feel happy was when she could look forward to see
him. "I'm going to do it. I'm going to ask him over
for dinner," she stated. "That is ... if y'all are sure
you don't mind?"

"We want you to!" The three other women at the
table practically yelled.

But she still felt awkward. Though she knew she
was just as nervous about dating again as she was
about Jeremy, it seemed as if every insecurity she'd
ever had was now smothering her in waves. "And his
parents? You don't think they'll think it's strange?"

"I'll take care of them," Marianne said. "You call
him up tonight."

For some reason, calling, then asking Jeremy's father to get him on the phone felt scary.

"Or, you could stop by the club," Mary Beth said
brightly.

"I can do that," Dinah said, then finally grinned as
she gazed at the other women. "I'm going to ask him
today."

"Well, hallelujah," Marianne McKinley said, speaking for all of them. "I'm glad that's taken care of."

"So you see, it's not just roast beef and lasagna
we're talking about," Payton explained to Jeremy after
he cornered him at the back table. "It's that Priscilla
has a whole host of dreams and talents that she thinks
is going to waste."

Jeremy set down the water pitcher as best he could,
though a major part of him felt like dumping the whole
thing in Payton's lap. The guy was totally, completely
smitten with Priscilla, and couldn't seem to veer conversation along any other tangent.

All roads led to her. And Jeremy-who had some
girl trouble of his own, thank you very much-was
getting a little tired of hearing about it. "Let Priscilla
out of the contract," he said, somewhat spitefully. "Then you'd be free to date her and she could cook
what she wanted."

Payton rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right."

"What's wrong with that idea?"

"Just about everything. Priscilla's not going to stay
around here if she's free."

This guy was so screwed up, it was amazing he
could survive on his own. "In case you haven't
checked lately, I'll remind you that this isn't the
1800s. You don't own her."

Payton puffed up his heavily starched, white buttondown-covered chest. "I practically do. She has a contract with me."

"With the club."

"With the club." Payton sighed and slouched down
in his chair, a sure sign that he was depressed. "I just
don't know what I'm going to tell her about the annual
Father's Day buffet. The men in the club are going to
expect roast beef and lasagna. They come for roast
beef and lasagna."

"But Priscilla doesn't want to make it?"

"Not really. She actually suggested that we have a
barbecue out by the pool instead, grill steaks, hot dogs,
chicken, fish."

For the life of him, Jeremy couldn't see why this
was causing a problem. "What's wrong with that? I'd
go to that Father's Day buffet."

Payton stared hard at him. "That's because you're not Baron McKinley or your dad. Those men thrive
on tradition."

"Sometimes change is good."

"Sometimes a lot of things are good," Payton replied with a disgruntled look. "Doesn't mean you have
to do them."

Talking to Payton was like talking to a wall. As
deftly as he could, Jeremy excused himself to make
the rounds around the area, offering water and tea to
the ladies at table seven who just finished golfing.

Of course, that led to conversation about his parents,
his sister's baby, and his new job. He was just finishing his rounds when Dinah wandered in, looking determined. Just the sight of her made his afternoon a
little bit brighter.

He ambled over to her. "Hi. What brings you here?"

She gazed at him, her brown eyes wide and cautious, and for a minute he thought she was going to
turn right back around. Especially when it became evident that the golfing ladies were more than eager to
eavesdrop on every word.