Lavender Morning Read online

  “So who makes your heart beat faster when you see him?”

  “Luke.”

  “Who do you want to spend every minute of every day with?”

  “Luke.”

  “Who do you see when you imagine a home and kids?”

  “Ramsey.”

  “Oh, my,” Sara said. “You do have a problem. I think you need to make up your mind and stick with one of them. You can’t bounce back and forth.”

  “It’s not as though either of them has asked me to…what do you call it as an adult? Go steady.”

  “Luke wouldn’t say anything until the annulment is final.”

  “And Ramsey?”

  “He could possibly return with an engagement ring. He likes grand gestures.”

  “But I hardly know him!”

  “Interesting,” Sara said. “I wonder what you would have said if I’d told you Luke was returning with a gift for you.”

  “Where is he? Where did he go? He left town, and I don’t even know where he is.”

  Sara sat up on the bed and looked at Jocelyn. “You may think you can’t decide between the men, but I think you have decided. Didn’t Luke take you hiking?”

  “Yes.”

  “Up to some lake?”

  “Yes. We stayed up there and ate sandwiches while we took turns reading Miss Edi’s story. Sara, you should read it! It’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever read in my life.”

  She stood up. “You know what I think is romantic? The way you’ve made my cousin smile. Luke may act tough and as though nothing ever bothers him, but underneath he has a very soft soul. He married a woman he didn’t love because she was carrying his child. How sweet is that? He’s the one who helped her get started in modeling and she repaid him by—” She stopped talking.

  “I know,” Jocelyn said, “with an abortion.”

  “Who told you that?”

  “Dr. Dave.”

  “My goodness, but you do get around. Dr. Dave told you about his grandson’s problems in his personal life?”

  “Yes. What’s wrong with that?”

  Sara stood there, looking at Jocelyn for a moment. “You know what I think? I think it’s possible that you’re so in love with Luke that when he’s gone for even a few days you’re down in the dumps.”

  “The last thing I am is in love with any man on this earth. I’ve known Luke what? Two months?”

  “How long did your precious Miss Edi know the man she loved?”

  “Days.”

  “There you have it. I want you to put on some makeup, pull your hair back with one of your headbands, and I want you to spend the day with Greg and me at the new shop. You need to get away from this house, from the story you’re so involved in, and you need to talk to people other than my cousins.”

  “Is that possible in this town?”

  “Funny,” Sara said, “but jokes won’t help you.” Reaching out, she took Joce’s hands in hers and pulled her to stand. “Now fix yourself up and let’s go. I have so much work to do that I don’t know where to begin.”

  “No, not there,” Greg Anders said to Sara. “It should go over here, not there.”

  Jocelyn was sitting on the floor, her legs crossed as she painted the bottom of one wall of the store. She’d been with Sara and Greg for hours now, watching them, and all she could say was that Greg made her want to find Luke and run to him with open arms. How in the world sweet Sara could like such a bossy man was beyond Jocelyn’s ability to understand.

  The store they were refurbishing was going to be beautiful. It had been full of old furniture for many years, and Sara told Joce that the owner had been so old that the store was rarely open, and when it was, he was asleep. “People used to leave checks and money on the counter, then take what they wanted to buy. When my mom saw tourists go in the shop, she’d send one of her delivery boys over to watch the place, and make sure they didn’t steal anything.”

  “So now you’ve bought it,” Jocelyn said, looking around. It was quite large, and when it was painted and the floors refinished, it was going to be exquisite.

  Soon after they’d arrived, Greg had come in, grabbed Sara about the waist, and bent her over to give her a kiss that Jocelyn thought should have been done in private. But Sara didn’t seem to mind. “Jocelyn has come to help us today,” she said when they finally finished kissing.

  As Greg held on to Sara’s waist tightly, as though he wanted to let people know she “belonged” to him, he looked Joce up and down in such an appraising way that she had to work not to frown. “So you’re the owner of the town mansion,” he said. “Would you like to sell it?”

  “Stop it!” Sara said, smiling. “She’ll think you’re serious.”

  “I am serious,” Greg said, looking at Jocelyn. “Sell it to me and Sara and I’ll make it into a showplace.”

  “Will you stop it?” Sara said, but in a giggling sort of way, as though she found what Greg was saying highly amusing.

  “I think I’ll hold on to the house,” Joce said, forcing a smile.

  “So, Jocelyn,” Greg said as he let go of Sara, “how about if I give you some painting to do? That is, if being the lady of the big manor doesn’t mean you’re too good to do a little painting.”

  “Greg!” Sara said.

  “It’s okay, Jocelyn knows I’m just teasing, don’t you, Joce, ol’ girl?”

  “Yeah, sure,” Joce mumbled. “Very funny jokes.”

  Now, she’d spent about three hours in the new shop, and Greg had worked both her and Sara half to death—while he disappeared often. He wandered in and out of the shop at will, never telling anyone where he was going or when he’d return, and doing no real work at all.

  During his second disappearance, Sara went to where Joce was painting. Sara was holding an electric drill, as she was putting together some big oak frames that Greg had ordered. Joce thought that if Greg was as rich as he seemed to be, why couldn’t he hire a carpenter and not dump that work on Sara?

  “I know he’s a little rough,” Sara said as she looked down at Joce, “but Greg makes me feel so alive. I spend most of my life with a needle in my hand or at a sewing machine, and my only excitement is whatever I have on DVD. But Greg is full of ideas and he wants to do everything now. If I had approached one of my cousins about putting in a clothing store, he would have spent months researching whether it was a good idea or not. But Greg and I talked about it over dinner one night and the next day he told me he’d bought the old furniture store.”

  “That was fast,” Joce said. “But maybe a little thought would have been good. How are you going to get customers to come out here?”

  “Greg has that all planned. He’s hired an advertising firm to let all of Richmond know that we’re here.”

  “Wow,” Joce said. “Richmond. What about Williamsburg?”

  “Greg says Williamsburg is too small for us. We have to look at the big picture. He wants us to go to New York a couple of times a year to buy designer clothes, then bring them back here and sell them for twice what we paid for them. He really is a great businessman.”

  Or a dreamer, Joce thought, but said nothing.

  “Uh oh, there he is. I better get back to work.”

  “Did I see you two ladies goofing off while my back was turned?” Greg said as soon as he was in the store. “I’ll have to dock your pay for that.”

  “I wasn’t aware that we were being paid,” Jocelyn said, and more animosity than she meant to reveal came out in her voice.

  “Now, now,” Greg said, “ladies need to keep their tempers in check. Hey, Joce, maybe you’d like a job working here. It might help support that big house of yours.”

  Jocelyn could feel the blood leaving her face. It looked like the news that Miss Edi had left her no money for the upkeep of the house was out.

  “Greg!” Sara said in exasperation. “I told you that in confidence.”

  “Oh, right. Sorry, Joce.”

  Joce stood up. “Listen, it’s almost l