“One meal every few days, that’s hardly saying much. We’ll go to Sullivan’s and let Dana Sue fuss over you.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be supervising the installation of the Christmas decorations?”
“Even a prisoner gets a lunch break,” he said. “But come to the square when you get to town. You can chime in with your two cents on everything that’s happening. I might as well hear one more opinion.”
“Is the tree there?”
“Wobbling around as we speak,” he confirmed.
“Is it beautiful?” she asked, her voice suddenly soft and wistful.
“It’s the perfect tree,” Tom said. “You need to see it for yourself.”
“I’ll be there soon.”
Tom flipped his phone closed, then caught the smug expression on Ronnie’s face. “What?” he demanded.
“You are such a goner,” Ronnie said. “You’ve been grumbling from the minute you got here, but less than two minutes on the phone with Jeanette and you go all mushy.”
“I did not go mushy,” Tom protested.
“Mushy,” Ronnie repeated, then grinned. “It’s a wonderful thing to see. You’ve officially joined the club.”
“The club?”
“Men Who Love the Sweet Magnolias,” Ronnie said. “It’s an exclusive group. Damn lucky, too.”
Tom thought about the way Jeanette made him feel. Maybe he had gone a little mushy, after all. To be perfectly honest and much to his amazement, it wasn’t all bad.
* * *
Dana Sue was hovering over Jeanette as if she’d been gone for a year, rather than the better part of three weeks. Even though Jeanette had ordered only a salad, Dana Sue had brought out meat loaf and mashed potatoes, as well, and insisted that she eat every bite.
“You’ve lost weight you couldn’t afford to lose,” Dana Sue said. “I know since dealing with Annie’s anorexia I’m a little compulsive about people’s eating habits, but you’ll float away on a stiff breeze without a little more meat on your bones.”
Jeanette squeezed her hand sympathetically. They all knew what she’d gone through with her daughter, but happily Annie was now away at college and had her eating disorder under control. They were certain of it, because her dorm counselors had been alerted to keep an eagle eye out for her and Dana Sue checked in with them regularly. Annie knew she was being watched and, though she’d grumbled about the invasion of privacy, she also understood why it was necessary—for her health and for her mom and dad’s peace of mind.
“Dana Sue, stop worrying. I just missed a few meals,” Jeanette reassured her. “I’ll put the weight back on in no time, now that I’m getting back into my routine.”
“I intend to see to that,” Tom said.
Dana Sue beamed at him. “Good. Now, I’m going to see if Erik has that apple pie out of the oven. If it’s ready, I’m bringing you a slice with ice cream on top.”
“Dana Sue, I can’t eat another bite,” Jeanette protested.
“Tom will help, won’t you?” Dana Sue said to him.
“Absolutely.”
Dana Sue headed for the kitchen and Jeanette turned to Tom. “Why did you agree to that? I don’t think I can swallow anything else.”
“Do you want her worrying about you?”
“No.”
“Or me, for that matter. I have a town to decorate. I can’t be worrying that you’re about to be lifted up by a breeze and blown to the next county.”
“I’ve hardly lost that much weight,” she said in exasperation.
He touched a finger to her cheek. “Not quite, but close,” he insisted, his expression solemn. “I’ve missed you. I’m glad you’re back.”
She swallowed hard under his intense gaze. “I’m glad to be back.”
“Things going okay with your father at rehab?”
“He hadn’t bolted as of this morning, but that’s about all I can say. He’s still not happy about being there.”
“How are things between the two of you and between you and your mother?”
“Better,” she said. “The doctor actually convinced my dad to try an antidepressant. You would have thought he was being forced to swallow poison, but he did it. It’s too soon to tell if it will make a real difference, but I have my fingers crossed. The doctor said they might have to try more than one medication to find the best one for my dad.” She shook her head. “To think that we wasted all this time when he could have gotten help. I guess neither my mother nor I realized that his grief had crossed the line into depression.”
“You were just a kid when this started,” Tom reminded her. “And recently you haven’t been around. As for your mother, I suspect she’s not the first person who didn’t know how to handle depression in a loved one, especially when it was much easier to blame it all on grief. That was something she could relate to because she was going through it herself.”
Jeanette smiled at his defense of her mother. “She liked you, you know. I could tell. She admired the way you showed up with food and stayed with me.” She wasn’t putting her own spin on her mother’s reaction, either. They’d talked about Tom after most of his visits. She gave him a sideways glance. “She says you’re a keeper.”
He grinned. “Really? How about you? What do you think?”
“I think I’ve missed you a lot more than I expected to,” she said, her gaze locked with his. “A lot more.”
He regarded her hesitantly. “Okay,” he said slowly. “Just how much are we talking about?”
She kept her gaze steady, then said boldly, “You haven’t kissed me yet.”
“Easily corrected,” he assured her, clasping her head and covering her mouth with his.
What began as a soft, tender kiss quickly escalated into a duel of tongues and gasping breath.
“Holy...” he murmured, breaking away, his expression dazed. “What’s gotten into you?”
Her lips curved. “You, I think.”
His cell phone rang, but he ignored it.
“Don’t you think you ought to get that?” she said, amused by his unfocused gaze.
“You’re propositioning me,” he began, then looked at her hopefully. “At least I think you are.”
“I am.”
“And you want me to answer my phone?”
“It’s the responsible thing to do,” she reminded
