Construction Beauty Queen (13 page)

“Toby.” Connor sighed. “I heard he skipped school again. That boy is going to land himself in serious trouble if he doesn’t watch it.”

“He’s a good guy,” Matt pointed out. “How many kids skip school so they can work instead?”

Connor shook his head. “His friends are trouble, and I worry about Becca. She’s got her hands full already.”

Something in Connor’s tone made Matt take a second look at him. “Becca, huh?”

“By the way, Mrs. Parker’s on my case to arrest you,” Connor said, pointedly changing the subject. “Something about an overdue library book.”

Ugh. If Mrs. Parker was that worked up about it, he wished she would go through with her threat to march over to his house and get the book herself. “What a terrible crime wave. You might need to bring in backup for this case.”

“You’re three weeks overdue. She
almost
has a case. Can you get her off my back and just return the damn thing?” Connor stared across the park.

Matt could smell the burgers burning, but he ignored the grill to follow Connor’s gaze.

Veronica smiled at the balding banker and gave him an overdone two-handed shake.

“That’s quite the friendly handshake,” Connor said.

Matt’s fingers squeezed around the spatula until his knuckles ached.

“Of course. I don’t know why I didn’t see it before.”

“What?” Matt tried to wrench his gaze away from Veronica but couldn’t. The banker held her hand long after any business handshake would have ended. If he didn’t let go of her right now, Matt was going to march over and deck him.

Veronica pulled away and stepped back, depriving him of the opportunity. She sashayed away from the stage toward the parking lot.

“You’ve got it bad,” Connor said. Before Matt could play dumb, Connor’s attention was diverted to the parking lot. “Holy moly. Towing that Mercedes yesterday was the highlight of the decade for Fred. I didn’t expect it to be around today.”

Mrs. Jamison was back. Kortville Construction could have been all his if he’d taken her offer. Veronica might be on her way to the city to marry that other guy. All his problems would have been solved. But for some reason, he just hadn’t been able to stomach the thought.

“Take over burger duty for a couple minutes.” Matt tossed the metal flipper to Connor and strode across the lawn toward the parking lot, where Veronica was joining her mother.

Mrs. Jamison handed Veronica a platter. She looked at it, and her expression deflated. “Did you bring anything besides sushi?”

“Pauline and I spent five hours last night getting them exactly right. They are the best sushi rolls I have ever had,” Mrs. Jamison declared.

Matt was right in front of them now. He’d eat every single burned hamburger if that platter wasn’t crystal.

“We already stick out like the proverbial sore thumb. People are looking for a reason to resent us,” Veronica said in a low voice.

Her sensitivity to the townspeople’s opinion made him pause. He was as guilty as Connor for thinking she was too busy looking at them with condescension to notice anything else.

She shifted the crystal tray arranged with circles of sushi. “I trusted your judgment when I should have worn jeans and brought a Crock-Pot of baked beans. You might think you’re doing me a favor, but all you’re doing is pushing your daughter further away.”

Matt couldn’t stand still and listen to her heartbreak for another second. “Hey.” He stepped forward and reached out to put his arm around her waist. “Did you bring a dish to pass?”

“Apparently, we did.” Veronica sidestepped his embrace and pasted on a smile. She did it so convincingly he wouldn’t have known she felt out of place if he hadn’t seen her expression moments before.

“I didn’t do this because of you,” Mrs. Jamison said. “I brought the sushi because Pauline worked hard on it. She’s really proud of what she made, and I wanted to help her show it off. And that’s your grandmother’s crystal tray. Don’t get me started on how long it took to convince Daddy to let me borrow it for the day.”

Veronica smiled genuinely this time. “In that case, I think it’s time we introduced Kortville to the culinary delight that is sushi.”

Matt tried not to be like the banker and let his gaze drop below her smile. Unfortunately, allowing his eyes to feast on her full, sultry lips only made him want to kiss off every speck of her rosy-pink lipstick.

Oblivious to his thoughts, she waved Pauline over to join them. “My mother is giving your sushi rave reviews.”

Pauline beamed. “Did you try one yet? Matt, have you tried it?”

“Believe it or not, I’ve had sushi before,” he said. “It’s not my thing.”

Veronica picked up a seaweed-wrapped roll and popped it in her mouth. “Oh wow, Pauline, this is amazing. Mother, you were right. Perfect ten. Ron!” she called, waving him into their circle from the parking lot. “I love your wife’s crystal tray. It’s absolutely stunning. You have the perfect match for this delectable concoction Pauline came up with. Have you tried one of her sushi yet?”

Ron limped over, leaning on his cane, and reluctantly plucked a roll off the tray. He chewed for a moment, considering. “Not bad for something that belongs at the bottom of the ocean.”

“I knew we’d make some converts,” Veronica said, as if he’d also bestowed the delicacy with a perfect ten. She stood on tiptoe and brushed her lips across Ron’s weathered cheek. “Come on, Pauline. Let’s take these around to the tables and make sure everyone gets a bite.” She walked away, the heels of her ridiculous, bewitching shoes sinking into the ground with each step.

“I thought the sushi would remind her of her favorite food and give her another reason to come home,” Mrs. Jamison said, sounding flummoxed. “But she acts like small-town life agrees with her.”

“A lot of people would say that you’ve come home, too, Angela,” Ron pointed out.

“I might decide to visit on occasion if you would welcome me, but my home is in the city with my husband, Daddy.”

“I thought…if I convinced you to come home, you’d want to stay.”

Matt had never thought of Ron as an old man, but he certainly looked every one of his seventy-eight years as he twisted the end of his cane into the grass.

Mrs. Jamison simply rolled her eyes and turned to Matt. “Have you thought any more about my offer?”

“What offer?” Ron demanded.

“To take my money and buy you out, so he can fire Veronica. She and I have a dinner party in
our
hometown tonight. She has a man waiting to marry her, and her father needs her to make sure he doesn’t get squeezed out of his own company in a merger.”

“I’m not taking money from my daughter.” Ron hitched up his cane and slammed it down again. “I paid for you to go away to that fancy school so you could come back and run my distribution company, Angela, not marry some rich trust-fund pansy. You are not paying me with a cent of his money.”

“He’s a good person, Daddy. You never gave him a chance.”

“If he’s such a good person, why did Veronica come to me for help getting away from him?”

“Mrs. Jamison.” Jenny skipped toward them. “Can you come see me on the playground? I can do a cool trick on the monkey bars. Come watch, please.” She grabbed her hand and tugged.

“Jenny, leave Mrs. Jamison alone,” Matt warned, reaching to peel his niece off the woman’s expensive pant leg.

“I’m perfectly capable of telling people to leave me alone if they’re bothering me,” Mrs. Jamison informed him, shifting Jenny out of his reach. “This girl is not bothering me. You and Daddy, however, are getting on my last nerve.”

She dismissed Matt and Ron with a flick of her head and took Jenny by the hand. “I’d love to see you on the monkey bars, honey. Did you know they were Veronica’s favorite part of the playground when she was your age?”

“Really?” Jenny’s words faded as she walked away, but the skip in her step remained.

Matt looked at Ron. He was leaning on his cane and staring after his daughter, his undisguised wistfulness and loneliness making him appear old and frail. He caught Matt looking at him and growled, “Wait until that niece of yours gets old enough to leave and ends up in some ritzy Chicago neighborhood where she’s suddenly too good to come back and visit you. Then you’ll know how I feel.”

Matt knew Ron was trying to rile him up. Still, as he watched Jenny stare adoringly at Mrs. Jamison, he remembered how she’d gazed at Veronica with the same reverence and adoration. And Matt could all too easily imagine Ron’s prediction coming true.

…

“Who would have guessed sushi would be the hit of the picnic?” Becca laughed as she helped herself to another one, but her expression quickly sobered. “You haven’t run into Toby anywhere, have you?”

“No, but I’ll keep my eyes peeled,” Veronica promised. She looked over the park, but the only person who stood out was Matt, chatting with another family a few tables away.

“Want me to ask Connor to look for him?” Pauline asked.

“No,” Becca said quickly, panic filling her face before she masked it. “I mean, no need to bother the police. Toby’s around somewhere. Just tell him to check in with me if you see him.”

“Sure thing,” Veronica said, for now going along with Becca’s desperation to play it cool.

Becca smiled a weak thanks and hurried off.

Pauline shook her head. “She’s got her hands full with that brother of hers. And you have your hands full with that hideous car you’ve been driving. Have you met Fred yet?”

“Fred?”

“Agatha’s cousin’s son-in-law. He’s the mechanic who’s kept my car running for the past five years. I’ll introduce you. He’s at the picnic table on the far right, wearing the blue shirt and talking to Matt.”

As if hearing his name, Matt looked up and caught her eye.

Veronica’s cheeks heated, and she curled her toes as the tingling shot through her body. She said the first thing that came to mind to keep Pauline from suspecting how hard she was falling. “Those strawberry-mango chilled espressos you sent with dinner last night were divine. I love that you’ve figured out a way to offer gourmet options at diner prices.”

The restaurant owner blew out a breath. “I haven’t figured out anything. Every one of those darn things costs me more that I sell it for, and that’s assuming I charge for it and don’t offer it as a free tasting.”

“You can’t operate a business that way.” Veronica’s professional concern was instantly on red alert. For all of Matt’s sloppy record-keeping, she hadn’t seen any evidence that he was taking on jobs that cost him more than he charged. He simply needed to do a better job of collecting what he was owed and pulling profit out of services that people were willing to pay a premium for.

“Tell me about it. For years, I’ve been trying to figure out a way to keep the restaurant profitable while scaling back my own hours, and every year I’m working harder and longer for less. The only part I love is trying out new gourmet options.”

They were almost to Matt and Fred’s table. Veronica rushed to offer Pauline her services before they arrived and Matt could remind them both she already had a job—one she was intensely bad at. “This is going to sound totally dorky, but I love cranking out that kind of analysis. If you’ll trust me with your financial books and long-term goals, I’ll do it for fun.”

Pauline eyed her suspiciously. “What’s in it for you?”

“Sushi and strawberry-mango espressos, I hope.” She tried to keep her voice light.

“Deal,” Pauline proclaimed.

Veronica blinked. She’d half expected Pauline to sneer and trample her offer, but she hadn’t. Maybe Veronica was starting to make progress. “Thank you.”

“No. Thank
you
.” Pauline smiled and turned to Fred. “This is Veronica Jamison. She’s the sad owner of the atrocious olive-green Oldsmobile that belongs in the demolition lot.”

“Nice to meet you,” Veronica said, holding out her hand to him. “Do you think there’s any hope for my car?”

“Hope’s what keeps me in business, honey,” Fred said, accepting her handshake. “I’ll take a look at it and see what I can do. Since you’re Matt’s girlfriend, I’ll give you a special rate.”

Matt’s girlfriend.
She looked at him to see if the words sounded as good and right to him as they did to her.

He had frozen in the process of turning away. “Better give her the full rate, Fred. We’re not together.”

She swallowed her disappointment. He was right; he already was in charge of too many decisions that could ultimately dictate her success or failure. She couldn’t allow him to take control of her future happiness as well.

…

Matt made his way back to the grill and relieved Connor of the spatula, vowing to concentrate on the burgers. But Veronica kicked off her shoes and started walking around barefoot in her designer dress. The next time he looked down, the meat was black.

He put another set of raw burgers on the grill, but Veronica’s interactions with the townspeople sidetracked him again. Glenda clucked her tongue at him. “I’ve had several requests for Connor to come back and take over the grill,” she said. “But I think we can call it a day when you finish that set. I’m going up on stage to announce the raffle winners.”

The burgers were just about cooked to perfection when Glenda announced Veronica’s name as a winner. She cheered with genuine excitement as she made her way to the stage to collect her raffle prize of an oversize Kortville baseball T-shirt. She held it up to show everyone and then slipped it over her head and wiggled it down over her dress.

“Thanks for helping me dress appropriately,” Veronica said, giving Glenda a hug, the microphone picking up her words for everyone to hear. “Now I need to win some pants.”

Matt guffawed and laughed along with the rest of the crowd as he watched her stroll back to the picnic tables. Instead of silently watching her walk by and whispering after she was gone, people reached out to talk with her. Veronica laughed and modeled her shirt for her new admirers, looking sexier than anyone had a right to look in a shapeless tee.

“I was wearing those shoes. Give them back,” a girl shouted across the park.

“They’re not yours.”

Matt looked up as he recognized Jenny’s voice. She was holding on to the heels of Veronica’s black shoes and arguing with Stephanie, who was sporting a bizarre hairstyle of multiple pigtails and overteased bangs.