Deeper - Megan Hart

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wanted to do a lot of things I didn’t. Having Connor changed a lot.”

      She and Eddie stared at each other over their cooling coffees and biscotti crumbs. He sent her another smile, not so broad or wide, but sweeter for being so tentative.

      “Kara’s mother, Kathy, and I never got married. We, umm…well, I can’t even say we dated,” Eddie admitted. “The year after your last one here, I shot up about four inches, lost the braces. My face cleared up. I wasn’t Quasimodo anymore.”

      “Oh, Eddie.”

      He shook his head. “I know what I looked like, Bess. Anyway. I guess the sudden transformation sort of went to my head. I got cocky. A little careless. Kathy was the daughter of one of my mom’s friends from church. Both our moms tried to hook us up, but I wasn’t really interested in marrying a preacher’s daughter.”

      Bess swept biscotti crumbs into a pile. “But you had a baby with her?”

      She hadn’t meant to sound judgmental, and Eddie didn’t seem to take it that way. He gave her a rueful grin and crunched the last of his biscotti.

      “She wouldn’t marry me. We both should have been more careful, but Kathy was the one who said she wasn’t going to spend the rest of her life married to the wrong person just because she’d made a mistake. We share custody of Kara. Kathy married an accountant from New Jersey.”

      Bess wiped her fingers free of chocolate with a paper napkin. “And you?”

      “Never got married.” He leaned back in his chair to study her, his head tilted. “Never found the right woman, I guess.”

      Heat tickled Bess’s cheeks. “You look good, Eddie. I’m glad to hear you’re doing well. Really. Even if you are still a townie.”

      They both laughed.

      “With beachfront properties selling in the millions, being a townie isn’t quite a slap in the face, you know. Not that I have a beachfront house,” he amended. “Kara and I have a place in Bethany Commons. The condos. It’s not so bad, even if we do have to share it with you tourists.”

      “Hey,” she protested. “I’m officially a townie now!”

      Eddie gave her the familiar head tilt and an entirely unfamiliar slow, assessing grin. “Cool.”

      “What about everyone else?” she asked, looking away. “Have you kept in touch with any of them?”

      “Ah, well, obviously I don’t hang out with Ronnie Swarovsky at the country club.”

      “Obviously.” She laughed. “Did he and Tammy get married?”

      “They did, actually.” Eddie filled her in on twenty years worth of gossip and news. Bess was surprised at how many of the people they’d known back then still came back for the summer, or lived here year-round.

      “Melissa Palance lives over in Dewey.” Eddie crunched biscotti between his white, even teeth.

      Bess gave him a questioning look, but figured out who he meant a few seconds later. “Missy?”

      “She goes by Melissa now.” He laughed. “She’s got four kids and is married to some real-estate bigwig.”

      “Wow. Four kids?” Bess shook her head. “I can’t believe it.”

      “She stops into the shop sometimes. You wouldn’t even recognize her, Bess. She’s not blond anymore, for one thing.”

      Bess twirled a strand of her shoulder-length hair. So far the silver wasn’t overpowering the gold, but in the next few years she figured she’d have to decide whether or not to go gray gracefully or start coloring. “Who is?”

      Eddie ran a hand over his dark, shaggy hair, where no signs of white glinted. “My dad’s in his seventies and doesn’t have a gray hair.”

      “Wow! Good genes.”

      Eddie laughed. “He’s bald.”

      Bess eyed Eddie’s thick hair. “You don’t look like you’re in any danger of that.”

      “Let’s hope not. How about you? Do you keep in touch with anyone? Brian?” Eddie paused, sounding casual. He sipped coffee and settled back in the booth. “Nick?”

      “I…” Bess stopped to drink some coffee. “I lost touch with Brian after college. And Nick…no. I never kept in touch with him.”

      “You didn’t?” There was no mistaking the sound of pure pleasure in Eddie’s voice, even if he did try to mask it with surprise. “You guys were pretty hot and heavy. Weren’t you?”

      He knew they’d been. “Yes, but…it didn’t work out.”

      “So he’s not the guy you married.”

      Bess looked up, shocked that Eddie might have thought so. “God, no! Can you imagine?”

      She couldn’t, actually. Married to Nick? How her life would have changed.

      Eddie shrugged. “I didn’t know. He up and disappeared. Missy said she thought he joined the army. I thought maybe he went with you.”

      “No. I married Andy.” She paused. Eddie had only met Andy once. From what she could remember, Andy hadn’t been too nice.

      “Ah.” Eddie didn’t ask any more questions. “Sounds like you’ve been doing well. I’m glad for you,” he added, though something in his face told her he hadn’t quite been convinced she was doing as well as she pretended.

      Of course, maybe she was just projecting the truth she knew onto him.

      “I should get going,” Bess said. “Thanks so much for the coffee. It was great seeing you.”

      “Tell your boys about the job offer.” Eddie stood, too. “And don’t be a stranger, Bess.”

      “I won’t.” This time, she held the door open for him.

      Eddie paused on the sidewalk. “You’re staying at your grandparents’ house?”

      “It’s mine now. But, yes. Same old place.”

      “Yours?” Eddie whistled low, then grinned. “Nice.”

      Bess laughed. “By default. I lucked out. Mom and Dad didn’t want to deal with the hassles and the taxes.”

      “Even so. It’s a great property. They had it up for sale for a while, didn’t they?”

      She nodded. “Yep, but then decided not to sell.”

      “I know.” Eddie grinned. “I tried to buy it.”

      “Eddie Denver,” Bess said in admiration. “You really are a mover and a shaker, huh?”

      He laughed and made the same sort of shooing motion Kara had given them in the shop. “I wish. Someday, maybe.”

      Bess joined his laughter and looked toward her car, still parked close to the market. “I’ve really got to go. I need groceries.”

      “You know there’s a Food Lion now, right? It’s bigger than Shore Foods.”

      “There’s a lot of stuff that wasn’t here before,” Bess told him. “It’s like I’ve got to relearn the whole town.”

      “If you ever want a tour,” Eddie offered, “you know where to find me.”

      She smiled. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

      “Well. See you.” He waved and loped across the street, back to his shop.

      Bess watched him go, trying to fix the memory of the old Eddie over this new version, and pleased to find she couldn’t.

      Chapter

      10

      

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