Love Rising: Spring (Mandrake Falls Series Romance Book 4) Page 6

  Jocelyn answered the door, red-eyed and tear-stained. Her blonde hair hung straight and long, screening her face.

  “I just tried to call Ryan and his secretary blew me off. She said he was on the other line which means he’s not taking my calls. I said don’t talk to him and you went anyway! Don’t deny it—his secretary told me you just left there. She thinks you and me are engaged! She thought I was calling to speak to you and when I asked for Ryan, she blew me off, obviously acting on instructions from her boss. Ryan hates me now. I said don’t talk to him!”

  “Ryan likes you; he said he wants to see you again. He was cool about the whole thing. He said we should wait until the Gazette prints the retraction and then we’ll go back to our regular lives.”

  She wiped her eyes. “What does that mean?”

  “It means he’ll call next week after everyone has read the retraction and knows you had nothing to do with it.”

  “He’s dumping me.”

  Jeremy shook his head firmly. “No. Where do you get that? I said he’s going to call you next week!”

  “After the gossip dies down. After a retraction appears in the paper. I’ve been through this enough times to know the language. He’s being polite but he’s dumping me.”

  “You’re wrong.”

  “Oh really?” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Let me ask you this—if this was you, would you need a week for a correction to run first before you could see me again?”

  Jeremy shook his head. If he had the chance with Jocelyn that Ryan had, he wouldn’t need a week. He wouldn’t need five minutes. But he was in love with Jocelyn and Jocelyn was in love with Ryan. The twist was now he had to protect the man she loved so she would be happy. Love was a merciless taskmaster.

  “Give him a chance,” Jeremy mumbled. “Don’t take this decision to mean anything. You can wait a week.”

  Jocelyn turned away and he followed her over the threshold. Jeremy stepped into a house that smelled of winter trapped inside. Ventilation was poor and there were too many houseplants. Humidity clung to the walls and dripped down the panes of glass. It was a homey living room though. Crowded with plants and mismatched furniture. He stood in the middle of the small room, awkward and yet at home because she was here. For all the differences between them, Jocelyn was the one girl he felt at home with even though she was gorgeous and didn’t love him. Jocelyn was always straight with him, which was brutal sometimes. But it was better than guessing what a girl wanted when she was just being nice and then realizing he’d guessed wrong. Jocelyn had more respect for him than the girls who were nice to him out of pity. Jocelyn Tate didn’t pity him at all.

  “What else did he tell you?” Jocelyn’s face was wary but he could tell she was already coming around to the idea of keeping the Ryan dream alive.

  Jeremy pushed his glasses up on his nose and linked his hands behind his back. “Well, he said the classified ad was a sign and he wanted to know what my intentions were toward Paula Dunlop. I think he wanted to make sure he wasn’t crossing the line by asking you out. I said I was going to call Paula for a date but he talked me into waiting a week.”

  “Why?”

  “He thought I shouldn’t leave you hanging high and dry until the Gazette clears up the misunderstanding.”

  “Oh, I get it.” She nodded her blonde head. “I would look pretty ridiculous if you took Paula out. Jocelyn Tate does it again. Yeah, never mind. I don’t care. If you want to call her, call her. I can handle myself.”

  Jeremy lifted his eyes to a water stain on the ceiling. “I know you can but I think Ryan has a point and if it’s all the same to you, I’d rather wait it out.”

  Jocelyn scrutinized him. Just a minute ago he said he couldn’t wait a week to see if her if he was in Ryan’s shoes, but he’s willing to wait a week to call Paula. She wanted to kiss him on the mouth for that. She didn’t realize how scared she was about facing the public until Jeremy said he’d see this thing through with her. A bogus engagement announcement wouldn’t be such a big deal if she hadn’t blown her credibility over Hudson.

  “Ryan thought we should find out who put the engagement notice in the paper. I doubt it will change anything but I’m willing if you are.”

  She sighed and smoothed a strand of hair from her forehead. “I guess we could. If it’s important to Ryan.”

  “Why do you care about his opinion so much?” Jeremy snapped impatiently. “Do you actually give a shit about Ryan McIntyre or is it his money you’re horny to get your hands on.”

  Jocelyn slapped him—a hard crack across the face.

  They stared at each other in shocked excitement for several seconds. A crimson bloom oozed over Jeremy’s cheek.

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

  She was trembling. “Then why did you?”

  “Because I’m jealous.”

  Jocelyn reached out and touched the red mark on his cheek with her fingertips. “I’m sorry I hit you but don’t say cruel things to me. I can take it from anybody else but you. Especially since you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “You want to marry rich. You told me so yourself.”

  “You’re such a hypocrite,” she said bluntly. “You want a hot girlfriend. How does that make you any better than me? Do people go around accusing you of being shallow because you want a beautiful wife? I’m not the one who said good looks had value—society did. I’m poor as all hell but I have great cheekbones and clear skin. I’d be stupid not to exploit that asset.”

  “I hate every word of that sentence.”

  “You can hate it all you want. We can both hate it but don’t hate me because it’s the way things are.”

  They were standing in the middle of her living room with her hand pressed to his cheek. Jeremy thought it was strange they hadn’t moved but he wasn’t going to be the one to break contact. His eyes were drawn to her lips. Jocelyn’s face was wide-open and innocent, that’s what made her beautiful. Her mouth was full, pale pink and pulled up at the corners making her appear fragile. He thought she must be lit from within because her skin seemed to radiate; it was glowing like the sun and flawless. Her blonde hair sparked and twinkled with reflected light. And her eyes were so blue, robin’s egg blue with hard black rings around the iris as if to contain the blue depths. Her expression was wary and curious as though she couldn’t make up her mind about a person but she was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

  She must have noticed him staring at her because she shoved him lightly and then crossed her arms over her chest. Jocelyn looked at her feet, embarrassed. He’d actually embarrassed her.

  “If you want, I could make us some tea,” she said. “It’s all I have on hand. Unless you have to get going.”

  “I’ll have some tea if you’re making some. The library can wait.”

  He followed her into a tiny kitchen. The floor sagged and water stains showed through the paint. She’d decorated her house with bright, cheap fabrics and a hodge-podge of furniture and lamps. The kitchen was tiled in red and yellow linoleum. There was a table and two chairs for dining. Not enough room for anything else. He sat on one of the chairs and she put the kettle on.

  Jocelyn opened the fridge to get the milk and Jeremy noticed how little food she had on hand. That might only mean she had a bevy of men taking her out every night. In his worst despairing hours he imagined Jocelyn out every night of the week, sleeping with one man or another. He was more surprised than anyone when he found out the man she was rumored to be sleeping with this past Christmas was not Hudson Grace after all.

  But she always hurried off after rehearsals. Jeremy just assumed she had a date. If she wasn’t seeing Hudson, then who was she seeing?

  “I can’t even offer you a cookie. I spend most of my money on ingredients for my soaps and organic creams for my store. I had a good year last year. My profits paid my rent. The house is more than I can afford right now but I need the backyard to grow my herbs. The rent
on the store is hard enough to keep up with. There isn’t much left over at the end of the month. I think I’ll probably have to move soon.”

  “To where?” He tried to keep the alarm out of his voice. “Where would you go?”

  “Back to my dad’s place, most likely. He’s stressed these days. Maybe I can help out with the mortgage. This place—I like living here but there’re problems and I can’t afford to get them fixed and I can’t get the landlord on the phone. The plumbing is hit and miss. Every tap in the house leaks so every time I turn on the water I have to deal with a flood.”

  “I’ll take a look at it.”

  Jocelyn raised an eyebrow skeptically. “You know something about plumbing?”

  He pressed his hand over his heart, expansively. “I know everything about plumbing. I know more than a stage manager should be required to know about plumbing. Who do you think has been fixing the pipes in the theater for the past two years? Prepare to be dazzled, Jocelyn. I know how to handle a wrench. Where is it leaking?”

  “Under the sink. I have a bucket there to catch the flow but I think the water is getting behind the cupboard. There’s a musty smell in here. Do you smell it?”

  “Yeah, I noticed it when I first came in. It could be as simple as replacing the washer.”

  “Seriously?” Her eyes widened. “Okay, if you think you can fix it that’d be amazing—only I don’t want to give you any wrong ideas. I haven’t given up on Ryan. I wouldn’t want you to get hurt or be pissed with me when this doesn’t go anywhere. I like you—”

  Jeremy groaned and raked his fingers through his hair. “It’s all right—I get it. You’re not going to fall in love with me because I fix your tap. No one is going to get hurt, except maybe your landlord if he doesn’t start doing his job. But you’re in the clear with me. We’re friends. It’s a leaky tap, not an engagement ring.”

  He removed his corduroy jacket and then pulled his sweater vest off over his head. Jeremy pushed his body under the sink to get a look. His white button-down shirt was getting dirty but he didn’t seem to care. The jeans he was wearing were baggy and loose but the shirt fitted his body snugly. He rolled up the sleeves, revealing tanned, surprisingly strong forearms.

  Jeremy handed her the bucket so he’d have room to work and asked her if she had a flashlight and wrench. Jocelyn scrambled to find them, hoping the batteries still worked. Nothing seemed to work for long in her house and there was never enough money to replace the broken stuff. She had gradually learned to live with less and less until she was pretty sure she wasn’t living at all.

  Jeremy held his hand out to take the wrench and when she gave it to him, their fingers touched. Jocelyn never really noticed his hands before. Jeremy Marks had big square strong fingers, the kind that blue collar guys developed over the years. He did a lot of physical labor with the theater but there was also in his other job with the forestry service. Jeremy used to work with Hudson occasionally before he got the contract with the theater.

  Jocelyn blinked and looked closer. Good god. Jeremy Marks had muscles. They bunched under his shirt. Not huge muscles but strong enough to wield the wrench which was quite heavy. He banged on one of the pipes.

  “Hold the flashlight for me, Joce. Aim it up here. The cold water tap is leaking but I think the whole unit has to be replaced. It looks like the pipe is cracked.” He grunted and pushed with his heels to leverage himself up. “I’ll try to get a better look.”

  “That sounds expensive. Wait! Don’t take it apart!” she cried as Jeremy hammered on the pipe. “I’ll call the landlord again. Maybe he’ll deal with it if I sound like I mean business.”

  “He’s ignored your calls so far. He’s not going to respond now that the problem is a real problem. We’ll fix it ourselves and take the cost out your rent.” He removed his glasses and handed them to her. “Hold these.”

  Jeremy gave the downspout another bang with the wrench and the join was loosened. He twisted on the metal sleeve and the drain pipe separated.

  “The landlord isn’t going to agree to take less rent.” Jocelyn winced as the plumbing under her sink was dismantled.

  “He has no choice. It’s the law.”

  “It is?”

  “Sure it is. You told him about the problem, he hasn’t fixed it, you had to fix it yourself so you take it off the rent. You have to have water in your kitchen, Joce.”

  He eased his long body out from under the sink. She was squatting beside him, still holding the flashlight. His hair fell in thick waves in his eyes. “Come on. We’ll go to the hardware store, get everything we need and then you can submit the receipt with your rent check at the end of the month. Your landlord will just have to suck it up.”

  “You mean we’re doing this today?”

  “Do you have plans? I can come back tomorrow after work.”

  “No, I’m totally available but I don’t have enough cash at the moment so if we could do it next week, that’d be better.”

  Jeremy stood up and brushed off his jeans. “We’ll see how much everything is going to cost and take it from there.”

  She nodded, certain that it didn’t matter how much it cost—she didn’t have the funds. Still, a trip to the hardware store was better than sitting in her house worrying about her future.

  ♥

  NODEN’S HARDWARE on Main Street was one of the oldest buildings in town, sided in red-painted clapboard and white trim. It stood majestically opposite the town green, three stories high, slightly listing to the left. The interior was cramped and low-ceilinged. Deep wooden shelves lined the walls and were neatly stocked with hardware and household goods of every type. A narrow wooden staircase bisected the building leading to the second and third floors where dry goods, farm supplies, clothes and toys were sold. Noden operated on the principle that once a customer had wandered into his establishment, they should have no reason to wander back out again until they found everything they needed. Consequently, Noden’s Hardware was cornucopia of the exotic, the unusable and the mundane. But there was a heck of a plumbing department.

  Jocelyn and Jeremy moved down the poorly lit aisle and stopped in front of a shelf loaded with bins of chrome pipe, packaged washers and metal flanges. Since Jocelyn had no idea what Jeremy was looking for, she wondered if he would object if she moseyed over to the garden center. Noden had got in a new order of seeds that she was dying to check out. For all her faults, Jocelyn could truthfully say her one debilitating vice was spending too much on plants. This was the first spring she didn’t have enough money in her account to invest in her garden and now with this plumbing bill, she was in the red.

  Jeremy picked up a metal something-or-other and frowned. “Is there room in the budget for this? I’m thinking of the shower head in the bathroom.”

  “No, not this time. We’re broke, remember? Let’s just get what we need.”

  Lydia Rutherford and her husband Walter were in the next aisle examining baby proofing products. Lydia lifted her head, turned to Walter and in a flash was around the aisle and standing quivering and giddy with excitement, in front of Jeremy and Jocelyn.

  “I thought it was your voice I heard! Oh, my goodness, that is so cute—buying plumbing supplies. Walter, come and see who it is! The newly engaged couple are doing some home repairs. Isn’t that the sweetest thing you ever saw?”

  Chapter 7: Young Love

  THE YOUNG people met Lydia Rutherford’s ecstatic greeting with an air of dismay.

  Walter Rutherford emerged at the top of the short aisle. “Scout and Ryder have been doing home repairs for months, Lydie. You don’t get this excited when you see them with an armload of plumbing. Hello Jeremy, congratulations.”

  The older man extended his hand and Jeremy shook it not knowing what else to do.

  “Hi Mr. Rutherford. If you’re talking about that thing in the Gazette, there’s been a mistake—”

  “Oh, what did I tell you, Walt, I just knew that date was wrong! Don’t worry, sweetheart,” croon
ed Lydia, “no one thought for a moment that your wedding date was April first. It is obviously April eleventh or eighteenth. You should insist the Gazette print a correction and give you a free ad to compensate. Jocelyn, I have to tell you I’ve been using that cream you made for older women and I couldn’t be happier with the results. Do you have a line of baby products? Scout doesn’t want the boys to be exposed to commercial baby soaps or shampoos.”

  “Yes, as a matter of fact, I have a whole organic mother-baby product line in stock at The Country Barn. Baby shampoo, soap, ointments and a special aromatherapy bath line for moms. I went kind of crazy in my kitchen this winter.” Jocelyn flushed.

  “Wonderful!” Lydia beamed with grandmotherly delight though she looked too young to be a grandmother. “I’ll buy everything you have. Consider it my wedding present to you. Will you set it aside for me? I’ll pick it up tomorrow morning. With two babies, I’m sure Scout will go through it in no time. You’ll be back in your kitchen making more, I’m afraid.”

  “Oh, that’s okay—fantastic, actually! I hope you like it. I took extra care with this product line and I’m really proud of it. How’re the twins doing?” she asked politely. “Did Scout and Ryder choose names for them yet?”

  “The first born was named Walter after Scout’s dad and the second was named Grady for Ryder’s uncle. The original Grady was an old booze hound who died in the farmhouse and Scout is convinced his ghost haunts the place. She’s hoping by naming one of the boys after him the old man will finally be at peace. My daughter has always had a fanciful imagination.”