Deeper Read online

  “It is!” His grin got impossibly wider. “We can really do this. We’ll run Sugarland until the end of the season and start checking into the renovations right away. And I have an appointment with a Realtor about the property next door. She said she’s keeping an eye open for any other stores looking to sell, too. Then it’s just a matter of getting it all ready to go by the end of May.”

  “That’s less than a year away.” Bess drank some wine, trying to process it all. “It’s really going to happen!”

  “It’s really going to happen,” Eddie said.

  They toasted again. Bess brought up a few of her ideas for menu items, and he listened to every one. Even the most ridiculous. Dinner was served and they ate as they talked more about what sorts of hours they could both put in. Whether they wanted uniforms, or a logo.

  “So much to think about,” Bess said as they walked back to the car. “It was just a silly idea a couple months ago, and now…”

  “Now it’s the real thing.” Eddied stopped with his hand on the passenger side door.

  They were standing very close. The day that had been so stiflingly hot had turned to a chilly evening, but that wasn’t why Bess shivered. It wasn’t the wine, either, though she’d had her share.

  “Have I told you lately,” Eddie said, “how glad I am you came back to town?”

  “Me, too.” She stared up and up into his eyes, the twinkling blue behind his glasses that had become so familiar. “How come I never noticed what nice eyes you have?”

  Eddie’s mouth curved upward. “All the better to see you with.”

  Bess laughed, but wasn’t sorry she’d said it. “We should get going.”

  He looked down the street, then back at her. “I thought maybe we could go down to the Bottle and Cork. There’s live music tonight.”

  “I haven’t been out in a long time,” Bess said. “To a bar?”

  “You have your ID, don’t you?” He winked.

  “Oh, as if that will be a problem.” Bess scoffed, but followed where Eddie’s gaze had gone before. She’d never been to the Bottle and Cork, but had heard it advertised on the radio. “Who’s playing?”

  “Does that really matter?” Eddie held out a hand in such away it would have looked ridiculous for her not to take it. “C’mon. It’ll be fun.”

  Still she hesitated. Nick was at home, waiting for her. With a start, she realized she hadn’t thought of him in hours. Hours without his face in front of her eyes.

  “Robbie and Kara can close up the shop, if that’s what you’re worried about.” Eddie tugged at her hand.

  “No.”

  “Are you feeling weird again?” His grin faded, replaced by a look of such genuine concern that guilt plagued her. “No, I’m okay. A little tired.” Bess shrugged and looked again with longing toward the invisible but alluring Bottle and Cork.

  She hadn’t been out in ages. So long, in fact, she couldn’t recall exactly when it had been. The taste of beer, smell of smoke and heavy bass beat of “Rump Shaker” were her last memories of club hopping, for her cousin Angela’s bridal shower. Angie’d gotten married what, twelve years ago?

  “We can go home, then.” Eddie popped the lock with his key-ring remote. “If you’re tired.”

  “No,” Bess said firmly. “I’m okay. And I don’t really have to get up early or anything.”

  “Ha.” He pointed a finger. “Yes, you do. You have to take all the paperwork to the copy place and get it out to the bank on time. Partner.”

  She laughed. “Fine. I do have to get up early. Even so, it’s not that late. Sure, let’s go.”

  Eddie clicked his key remote again, beep-beeping the car lock. He offered Bess his arm and she took it. The Bottle and Cork was as crowded as she’d expected for a Thursday night in prime beach season, but that didn’t matter. The opening band was a rip-roaring hootenanny playing everything from washtubs to wooden blocks shoved in the front of one of the members’ pants. It wasn’t the sort of music Bess normally liked, but with Eddie beside her clapping and whistling, she felt no self-consciousness about doing the same.

  She didn’t need alcohol to feel slightly drunk, either. Not with the crowd moving like one solid entity and Eddie beside her with an arm around her shoulder to keep her from being jostled. Not with the sheer pleasure of being out with someone who made her laugh, doing something she enjoyed.

  Last call took her entirely by surprise, since she hadn’t been drinking more than a couple of sodas. Last call was pretty serious business, though, because the crowd around them eased as people swarmed to the bar to get the last drinks of the night. The band had finished playing an hour or so before, replaced by a DJ who spun an odd assortment of country and western and heavy-metal tunes.

  “Want to head out before the crowd does?” Eddie had to lean in close to holler over the rumble of bass and shrieking guitars.

  Bess nodded. The walk back to the car took longer than she’d thought, but that could have been because she was measuring each step and thinking how much she didn’t want to take the next.

  “I had a great time,” she said in the car.

  “My ears are still ringing.” Eddie laughed. “But it was a lot of fun. Thanks for going out with me.”

  “Thanks for asking me.”

  The conversation lagged more on the way home than it had earlier. Bess knew it was her fault. Eddie’s jokes still earned her laughter, but she didn’t offer any anecdotes of her own. She stared out her window a lot, at the hotels and motels and restaurants, and then at the long, dark stretch of highway bordered by nothing but dunes and grass. They’d just passed the tall concrete tower that had been used in World War II when she noticed that Eddie had stopped talking.

  Once Bess realized he’d gone silent, it seemed too awkward to say something. The longer they went without speaking, the more awkward she felt, so that by the time he pulled into her driveway, her palms had begun to sweat.

  Eddie turned off the car, but made no move to get out or to open her door for her this time. He turned in his seat, though, and reached to touch her shoulder. Her hair had fallen out of its ponytail so often during the night she’d finally given up, and Eddie’s fingers twisted the ends a little.

  “Something on your mind?” he asked quietly.

  “I had a really great time tonight,” Bess said. She hadn’t turned to face him, and that felt awkward, too.

  Through the windshield she could see the small, high square window of Nick’s room. Uncovered by a blind or a curtain, it gleamed like a dark, staring eye from the shadows of the carport.

  Eddie leaned forward to peer through the glass. “Either Robbie’s not home, or he’s already asleep.”

  Bess looked to the single light showing faintly through the kitchen windows. It came from the lamp in the living room, the one she’d left on. “What time is it?”

  “Late.” Eddie put a hand over the numbers on the radio. “But he works the late shift tomorrow, so maybe he went out with some friends.”

  “Maybe.” For the first time in her son’s life, Bess wasn’t worried about where he was or what he was doing. “He’s fine, I’m sure.”

  Eddie’s hand hadn’t moved from her shoulder. Now it slipped a little down her arm. His fingers brushed the small bump of her T-shirt sleeve under the soft knit of her sweater, then further down to the scalloped hem of the sleeve. His fingers loosely curled around her hand and turned it palm upward so his fingers could find the steady throb of her pulse on her wrist.

  “Your heart’s beating too fast again,” he said.

  Bess couldn’t lie and pretend she was surprised when Eddie kissed her. Her instant immobility had nothing to do with surprise and everything to do with the sudden hot flash of emotion rippling through her.

  And lust, she couldn’t forget that or pretend not to feel it.

  Eddie’s lips were warm and soft on hers. He didn’t push or try to get her to open her mouth, and when she didn’t kiss him in return he pulled away with a s