Once and Again - By Lauren Dane Page 0,28
His grin sent all sorts of naughty and inappropriate signals pinging through her body.
Boy howdy he was pretty.
“Lily Travis!”
She turned to catch sight of Polly Chase click-clacking over. Even at a backyard barbecue she wore toweringly high heels. She was a lovely, if slightly scary woman Lily had known most of her life.
Polly opened her arms, and Lily went, hugging her right back. “Mrs. Chase! It’s wonderful to see you. Mom was just talking about you and the project you and the historical society did for the old library. I wanted to tell you that if you needed the services of a photographer I’d love to help.”
“Aren’t you sweet! Thank you, honey. I most surely will. I’m glad you’re back. I know your momma has had a hard time of it. Your brother’s looking better than I’ve seen him look in a long bit of time. Nathan and Beth both tell me it’s all down to you.”
“Well that’s what you do for family.”
“No, that’s what you do for family. Most people wouldn’t have bothered. You know, I consider Tate and her brothers and sisters part of my family too. She sure has been good for my boy. A good woman does that. She makes a man want to be better. Be he a boy trying to make his sister happy, or a man like Nathan, who made some big mistakes. You’re a good woman, Lily. Make Nathan a better man.”
She blushed, but held back her immediate comment. She hadn’t been raised to sass an elder. “Nathan already is a good man. And he’s Chris’s teacher. And our history is complicated. He doesn’t need me to be a better person. He’s doing just fine.”
“Bullpucky, girl. He doesn’t need you so he can be a better man. He wants to be a better man because of you. See, that’s how you know it’s real. They’re all good at talking a woman right out of her drawers.” Polly waved that away and then called out a hello back to her husband Edward. “He’s the biggest scamp of them all. Why do you think all my boys fell so hard when the right woman came along?”
“You talking about me, lamb?” Edward Chase shook his head as he smiled toward his wife.
She wanted that. More than she’d ever wanted anything. Wanted that sort of connection with someone that made her light up.
Maybe she should try one of those computer-dating things. She deliberately didn’t look at Nathan that time.
“I most assuredly am. But it’s all good. I save the bad stuff for when I’m mad at you.”
Lily laughed and patted Polly’s hand where it laid on her arm. “I’ve always admired what you and Mr. Chase have built.”
“Thank you. It’s been work, I tell you. I’ve had my own share of times when I despaired of the man I loved. Wondered if I made the right choice. Wondered if I could forgive something he did.” She raised her shoulders briefly. “Any other man on the planet, I’d have probably run from. That one though? He’s the one for me. He lets me natter on and on. Nods his head. Remembers the big days. He’s a great father and grandfather. A good, solid man who also happens to have great buns and a face that still turns my head. A woman needs that. Needs that to keep her place, you understand what I’m saying?”
“My place?” She’d never had this sort of conversation with her own mother, Lily realized.
“Oh none of that nonsense about a woman’s place. A woman’s place is wherever she chooses. No, I mean the place you’re meant to be. People like to think on marriage or love as something that weighs you down. Holds you back. Marriage is an anchor, but in the best ways it can be said. You’re a beautiful, smart woman who cares about her family. Right there makes you better than three-quarters of the people on this old earth. Love takes work. Oh sure, you can love someone without trying. But when things get rough, if you don’t love someone right down to your toes, it’s way too easy to up and leave when they muck things up. And my goodness, they’re men, it’s part of who they are.”
Anyone else and that statement would have seemed dour and maybe even bitter. But from Polly Chase it made sense.
“He’s Chris’s teacher.”
“He looks at you like you’re the best thing he’s ever seen. I’ve been knowing that boy some time now. I’ve