What the Heart Wants (What the Heart Wants, #1)(39)

With the day as hot as it was, Laurel wished she could get up the nerve to wear shorts to the store. There were a few pairs stuck in the back of her bottom drawer, leftovers from high school physical education classes that might still fit, but not wearing them had somehow become a way of honoring her mother’s memory.

On the other hand, Mama used to pull on pantyhose whenever she went out, which Laurel could never imagine doing. Times change. Maybe someday she’d try wearing shorts in public and see if the world would come to an end. But not today.

She sat down at her dressing table. Sunscreen, lipstick, her favorite gold hoops in her ears, and she was ready. As she gave herself a final check, posing in front of the cheval mirror in the corner, Jase moved behind her and rested his hands on her shoulders. She smiled at their reflection.

Was it true that some mirrors could retain images forever?

*



Fifteen minutes and one long shopping list later, they were in the car. Jase backed Laurel’s Escort out of the garage, turned it around in the brick-paved parking area, and drove to the edge of the street to ease his way into the traffic.

A redheaded woman in white capris and a yellow tank top was playing three-sided catch with two boys in the front yard across the street, while an even younger boy, a carrottop like she was, clung to her leg. She looked vaguely familiar. Damn. What was her name?

He nodded in the mystery woman’s direction. “That woman over there—she looks like someone I used to know, but I can’t place her.”

Laurel froze and her voice turned brittle. “Sarah Edelman. She used to be Sarah Bridges. She was All-District in softball.”

“Yeah, now I remember.” Sarah Bridges was also a cheerleader and played the lead in the class play. In fact, she did pretty much everything in Bosque Bend High School that Laurel didn’t do. Between the two of them, they had the school all sewn up. He made the turn and gave Laurel a questioning glance. “You two hung out together all the time. Wasn’t she your best friend?”

“I guess so.” Laurel stared down at her hands, refusing to meet his eyes.

“Well, what happened? I mean, she stared at us for a second there, then looked away. Y’all have a fight or something?”

Laurel tossed her hair in an I-don’t-care gesture.

“I guess we grew apart. She married a doctor and lives in Austin now. They have three children. Eric, the eldest, is my godson. Then there’s Luke and—and…I don’t know the name of the youngest.” She smiled—a little too brightly. “It’s hard to keep up with everyone.”

Jase frowned. What was going on here? Another mystery? He mentally shrugged his shoulders. It was none of his business who Laurel chose for her friends.

He drove down the street for several blocks and turned left into the Piggly Wiggly parking lot. The little Escort fit easily into a space that a bigger car could never have managed, which reminded him that he needed to pick up his Cadillac at the airport tomorrow. He wasn’t going to let himself run into anybody he used to know without the luxury car somewhere in the background. Let them all see what Jason Redlander had made of himself.

As they walked toward the store, Laurel seemed to hesitate, to hang back. Jase was instantly suspicious. Gossip systems function quite effectively in towns the size of Bosque Bend. Was she ashamed of being seen with Growler Redlander’s spawn?

But she wasn’t like that, he told himself. Laurel had been willing to stand up for him sixteen years ago, and she wouldn’t let him down today. Besides, it’d been a long time since he’d been in Bosque Bend. No one would recognize him. Probably she was just shy, embarrassed that people might guess he’d spent the night in her bed.

His protective instincts caught fire. No one was going to make any snide remarks about Laurel Harlow while he was around! Maybe it would be a good idea to be more discreet, to minimize the time they’d be seen together in the store.

As soon as they went through the door, he grabbed a plastic grocery basket and slid its handles over his arm. “Why don’t you take the cart and go get the groceries while I pick up a few things for myself. Meet me in the bakery when you’re through.”

“Sure.” She ran her eyes down the list they’d made. “Give me thirty minutes. I’ll try to be quick.”

He watched her head off in the direction of the produce department, checked his watch, and started wandering around the store, accumulating random items he might possibly have a use for.

He caught sight of a few faces he thought he recognized, but no one showed any particular interest in him. Instead, people smiled and nodded at him along the way, saying “excuse me” or “con permiso” when they crossed in front of him—or when he inadvertently cut in front of them—which startled him at first until he remembered this was standard operating procedure in small towns. People had enough time to be courteous to each other.

Half an hour later, he started walking slowly toward the bakery by way of the pharmacy. Laurel was probably on some kind of birth control, but he’d better grab a package of condoms, just in case.

He paused for a moment. If he could have had Laurel all to himself without sex, would he have claimed her? Would he have accepted her as the eternal virgin princess? Was that the way he saw her? Maybe back then, but not now. That was one thing the shrink had cleared up in therapy. Sex did not have to be a dirty secret leading to guilt or anger. Good sex was a tender, joyful fulfillment of an honest relationship.