Seaside Avenue (Cedar Cove #7)(11)

She was in love with Nate and had been from almost their first date, which she’d bought at the Dog and Bachelor charity auction three summers ago. Okay, he was younger by five years, but that had never bothered him and it didn’t bother her, either. What did concern her were his political connections; his father was a Pennsylvania congressman with higher political aspirations.

Then she’d met his mother, and that hadn’t gone well. Unfortunately, Nate had been oblivious to the verbal jabs the other woman had directed at her. He thought Rachel was imagining things, but she knew. Although Patrice Olsen didn’t actually say so, she considered Rachel an inappropriate choice for her son.

Teri, who’d obviously abandoned her plan to hold a runoff vote between Nate and Bruce, trailed her into the kitchen. Rachel had just slipped a frozen entrée into the microwave. The washing machine churned nearby, and the sound of sloshing water punctuated her angry thoughts.

“Don’t you remember what it was like when you met Bobby?” Rachel said, whirling around to face her friend.

“I didn’t want to fall in love with him.”

“But you did.”

A sigh escaped Teri’s lips. “Bobby made it impossible not to. I’ll never forget the night he brought me a dozen romantic greeting cards, flowers and about fifty pounds of expensive chocolate.”

Bobby had been trying to romance Teri, and according to his “research,” that was the way to do it. Naturally, being Bobby, he’d gone completely overboard.

“How could I turn him down when he asked if he could kiss me?” Teri said plaintively.

“You couldn’t,” Rachel agreed.

“What can I say? The man swept me off my feet.”

“You feel about Bobby the way I feel about Nate,” Rachel said and hoped Teri would leave it at that. All this talk about her and Bruce had unsettled her. She didn’t want to think of Jolene’s father as anything more than a friend.

“No, you don’t,” Teri said softly. “You forget I know you, Rachel, probably better than anyone else here. We’ve been friends for a long time.”

Rachel grew even more uncomfortable. She opened the microwave and took out her lunch. Steam rose from the entrée as she gingerly lifted it onto a small plate and carried it to the two-person table.

“I know Nate wants to marry you.”

Rachel had shared that information with Teri and regretted it now. “Your point is?”

“My point is if you truly loved him, you wouldn’t have hesitated. You would’ve accepted his proposal, packed up your life and followed him to San Diego. You didn’t.”

“Oh, honestly, Teri, if you’re gauging my feelings on that, you’re completely off-base.”

“Am I?”

“Yes,” she snapped. Sitting down at the table, she reached for a napkin and smoothed it over her lap. “Would you mind if we discussed something else now?”

“I guess.”

“Good.” She picked up the fork and sampled her first bite.

Jeannie stepped into the compact kitchen. “Listen, about Bruce Peyton—”

Rachel set down her fork with a clang, interrupting Jeannie’s statement, whatever it was. She didn’t want to hear his name again. If it wasn’t Teri, it was some other friend or colleague. People just wouldn’t let the subject drop and frankly she was bored with it. “What about him?” she asked with exaggerated patience.

Jeannie opened the small refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of cold water. “A couple of my clients are hot to trot with him.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“He’s not hard on the eyes,” Jeannie said, twisting off the cap and taking a deep swallow. “They’ve been noticing him….”

“Good for them,” Rachel murmured, returning to her lunch. “I hope it works out for him and whoever he’s dating.”

“I don’t think he’s dating anyone,” Jeannie told her.

“I have no idea.” That wasn’t actually true. Jolene kept her informed, and while Bruce did go out on occasion, those dates had never amounted to anything.

Jeannie left the lunchroom, but Teri stayed. After a moment, she gently pressed Rachel’s shoulder.

“You’ll know,” she murmured. “When it’s the right man, everything will be clear and you’ll wonder why it took you so long to see what was already there in front of you.”

“That’s how it was with you and Bobby?” she couldn’t keep from asking.

A joyful smile softened Teri’s face. “I promised myself I wouldn’t marry him. He had James deliver this huge diamond but I wasn’t going to do it. I had absolutely no intention of marrying Bobby Polgar. Good grief, I hadn’t even been to bed with him and here he was insisting I marry him.”

Rachel smiled at the memory of Teri’s misery the night she’d come to see her. Miserable and in love and so afraid she’d ruin Bobby’s life if she married him.

But Rachel could see, even then, that they were meant to be together. Bobby knew it, too, because he refused to let her go. Teri had figured it out fast enough; Rachel could only take hope from that.

Jane walked in just then, breaking into Rachel’s musing. The happiness that lit her face when she saw Teri was all Rachel needed to know. Teri would be back at the salon where she belonged.