Fools Rush in(36)

My heart stopped singing. “You’re both idiots,” I mumbled.

“No bridesmaid dress for you,” Sam said. I gave him the finger, which just made him laugh harder.

The amusement ended as Katie and I drove home.

“Millie, I can’t believe you forced Sam to ask me out,” she said through gritted teeth.

“Forced, nothing! Come on, Katie. Don’t you know how pretty you are? How great? I mean, all that stuff about wanting to concentrate on the boys is noble and all, but don’t you want someone in your life? Honestly?”

“No, Millie, I don’t!”

“Well, I don’t understand,” I said, looking out the window.

“I know you don’t,” she answered sharply. “No offense, Millie, but you don’t know what’s best for my boys. I do. It isn’t a stepfather.”

“Not even Sam? Sam is so wonderful! How can you not want Sam?”

She shot me a veiled look. “Sam is great, yes, and no, not even Sam.”

“But why? What about you? What about your—”

“Millie, back off!” she barked. She turned suddenly into the Visitors Center parking lot, tires squealing, and jerked to a stop. She took a deep breath and turned to me, her voice tight and quiet. “Listen, you’re my best friend, okay? You’ve done so many nice things for me…I—Look. I love you and you’re great. But for crying out loud, stop trying to fix my life! It’s not broken, Millie!”

“I’m not saying it is,” I began.

“Yes, you are!” She gripped the steering wheel tightly. “Millie, I know you mean well. But the thing is, you’re pretty goddamn condescending when it comes to me.”

“What?” I gasped.

“You think that if I just hook up with Sam, then everything in my sad little life will be fine. I’ve got news for you, Millie. I’m fine. My boys are fine. My being alone is not sad. Our life is not sad, it’s wonderful! I wish you’d get that through your head and just…just…just be friends with me. Stop treating me like I’m your charity case, okay?”

Tears pricked my eyes. “Katie, I don’t think of you as a charity case. God,” I sniffled.

She stared ahead at the locust trees illuminated in the parking-lot lights. “Look. When Elliott first left me, you were a rock. I’m really, really grateful for all that you did. I am. All those trips up from Boston, all those Chinese-food dinners you’d bring me…” Her voice softened. “You were the best. But now things are better with me. I’m making decent money. The truth is, I probably make more than you, Millie. Chris made me a manager, I make a couple hundred a week in tips alone, and now I’m getting benefits. I’m even saving up for a house. Corey and Mike are doing great. I don’t need you to prop me up, Millie. And I really, really don’t need—or want—a husband. Okay?”

I rummaged around in my purse for a tissue. “Okay,” I whispered. “I never meant to make you feel like that, Katie.”

“I know. And I know you can’t imagine wanting to be single. But you’re going to have to accept that I do want it.”

“Okay,” I said.

She continued looking at me with her lovely blue eyes. “I love you, Millie,” she said solemnly. “I love hanging out with you, I love the way your crazy mind thinks, I never laugh so hard with anybody the way I do with you. I want us to be friends forever, but you have to start thinking of me as an equal. Okay?”

“You’re not my equal. You’re my hero.” I leaned over and hugged her. “I’m really sorry.”

She hesitated, then chuckled and patted my shoulder. “Let’s go out sometime, just the two of us, okay? Maybe we can do an overnight or something. No matchmaking, no Joe Carpenter, just you and me.”

“That sounds fantastic,” I said. And I meant it.

IT’S VERY HUMBLING TO REALIZE you’ve been an idiot, especially to someone you care about. With that in mind, I headed for Sam’s the next day. He and Danny were working in the yard, hefting bags of mulch and looking very sweaty and manly. Both of them were shirtless, and I noticed for the first time that my baby nephew had washboard abs. So did his daddy. Had Sam always been so…built? Very nice.

“Oh, such masculine pulchritude!” I called out, hoping Sam wasn’t as mad as Katie had been. “Clothe yourselves, boys! There’s a woman on your property.”

“Get my gun, Dan,” Sam answered. They stopped their machismo activity and came to greet me, Danny giving me a sweaty smooch.

“Hey, Aunt Mil,” he said. “Dad told me how you tried to fix him and Katie up.”

“And wasn’t it a great idea?” I asked.

“I thought it was,” he replied agreeably.

“Thanks, young man,” I said. “Sorry to say, we’re a minority.”

Sam pulled on an old T-shirt. Without looking at me, he said, “Dan, could you get us something to drink?”

“He just wants me out of the way while he chews you out, Aunt Mil,” my nephew whispered loudly. He grinned cheekily and bounded off to the house.

“He’s right,” Sam confirmed, folding his arms. He gave me the old “I’m disappointed in you” stare. The kind that really works.