“I’m okay,” he whispered. “I really am.”
It took all of ten minutes to deal with Juliet’s tenants before they were back on the road and headed for their first dinner destination, where Juliet wanted to show him the specific ways the cocktails were paired with the small dishes. When they walked in, a smartly dressed hostess led them to a table with a dynamic view of the darkening city. Lights came on in all directions, illuminating the skyline, but the sunset still burned with subtle shades of red and yellow. Theo felt self-conscious and slightly underdressed. But he followed Juliet’s lead, ordering a cocktail that intrigued him with its ingredients like bergamot and egg white, and ordered several small plates that already invigorated his creative spirit.
When their drinks arrived, Juliet and Theo clinked their glasses and studied one another. It was as though the previous three weeks of working together suddenly occurred to them, and they laughed gently. Theo thought that pointing it out might ruin it, so he tried to think of something, anything else to say. “You’ve been here before?”
Juliet nodded. “My ex-husband took me here for my birthday one year. Our friends came, other people who lived in our swanky building. We ran into a few people from our neighborhood while we were here, which I remember being a good thing, as it was always good for Alvin to schmooze with potential clients. He was a lawyer. Is a lawyer, I guess.”
“I remember,” Theo said, thinking of that night before she’d married him. “You called me and told me you were marrying Alvin the lawyer.”
Juliet winced and set down her cocktail. “If only you’d told me not to marry Alvin the lawyer.”
“You never would have listened to me. You never listened to anyone,” Theo said, but there was no malice in his tone.
Juliet squinted at him, as though she were trying to make sense of the puzzle of him. “I thought in coming here tonight that I would want to get back to the city immediately. I thought I would feel that I’ve missed everything. But instead, I find it… stressful? Loud?”
Theo laughed. These were all adjectives he might have used, but he’d never been a city guy. He remembered, after Marie had left him, how she’d called him from Manhattan, and he’d heard a thousand car horns and angry street-walkers and thought, I can’t follow her, no matter how alone I feel. So he’d stayed in Bluebell Cove, perhaps pathetically, and waited for something to happen to him.
Was Juliet coming back that “something”?
“I lost you again,” Juliet said.
“I’m lost in my head, I guess,” Theo offered.
But a split-second later, the first of the small plates arrived, and their minds and palates were allowed a wonderful reprieve, one that took them on an adventure of flavor and spice. By the time the end of the night came around, they’d each had two cocktails and a glass of wine, and Theo felt unsteady but also hilarious. He bubbled with laughter and good conversation. Had he heard himself from another table, he might have thought he was charming.
He could tell from the glow in Juliet’s eyes that she thought he was charming, too.
When they reached the hotel, they took the elevator to the fifth floor, then stood outside their rooms for a full five minutes, talking about their dinner and Theo’s new ideas for the restaurant. Juliet had taken off her heels, and they hung from the scoop of her thumb. Theo had the thought that this was the most attractive thing he’d ever seen.
Something in Juliet’s eyes told him that it would be all right—maybe even good—if he leaned over and kissed her. But Theo held himself back, unwilling to complicate something that had been so wonderful, so good. Juliet was his friend again. He didn’t dare ask for anything else from the universe.
Juliet and Theo were not meant to be. So when the next natural break in the conversation came, Theo raised his hand and gave a half-hearted wave. “See you tomorrow morning for breakfast?”
She high-fived him awkwardly. “Good night,” she said. “Sleep well.”
With that, Theo strolled into his private hotel room, fell belly-first onto the mattress, and groaned into the comforter. He said, “Why, why, why, why?” But he wasn’t entirely sure what question he was asking, nor why his heart ached so.
22
In the very next room to the left, Juliet was in a similar panic. Throwing her shoes into the corner, she collapsed on the bed and felt tears drain from the corners of her eyes. There was no reason to be crying. There was no reason to pick apart the lovely evening she’d spent with Theo and ask herself what had gone wrong.
But why was she crying?
It was nearly eleven at night, which meant that calling Ivy to check on Danica was probably out of the question. Ivy had to wake up early to open the flower shop, and she needed everyone to respect her sleep schedule. But Juliet had arranged for her daughter to spend the night with Ivy during her trip to the city, which, she knew, had activated a whole gossip channel through the Harper family about the state of Juliet and Theo’s relationship. “We’re not falling in love,” Juliet had said to each of her sisters, over and over again, as she and Theo had thrown themselves through the process of reigniting the restaurant. But going to the city with a man like this was certainly cause for conversation. Juliet understood that.
Juliet texted Celia, Ivy, and Danica, telling them she was in for the night and wishing them well. Ivy wrote back immediately, her text sounding groggy, if only because she mistyped a few words.
IVY: It’s sweet u brought dan w u. She was so happy to go.
At this, electricity shot through Juliet. Brought Dan with you? Juliet jumped to her feet again, calling Ivy. But maybe Ivy had only woken up for the briefest of moments, long enough to write that message. Ivy didn’t answer, and when Juliet called Danica, Danica’s phone went straight to voicemail. Immediately, all the fears about having a teenage daughter crashed through Juliet, and she burst into tears.
Obviously, Danica had told Ivy that she was going to the city with Juliet and Theo after all. Ivy had believed her, because, why wouldn’t she? She hardly knew Danica. She didn’t know what Danica was capable of.
Then again, did Juliet know what Danica was capable of? She was beginning to think she was a stranger.
That morning before Juliet and Theo had left, Juliet had sat with her daughter, watching as Danica made a list of the things she wanted to pack for Aunt Ivy’s place. Juliet had asked if she wanted to be driven to Aunt Ivy’s, or if Danica would rather walk herself down, and Danica had laughed and reminded her mother that she wasn’t a kid anymore. “Besides, you’ve been so busy the past few weeks,” Danica had said, which had felt loaded. “I can walk, like, ten minutes by myself.”
Again and again, as her fear mounted, Juliet called her daughter. She called Ivy. She called Celia. She wasn’t sure if she was overreacting, if Danica was actually asleep, if she’d wake up tomorrow to a thousand phone calls. But Juliet wasn’t embarrassed. She wouldn’t be embarrassed if this all turned out to be a fluke. Please, she prayed, let this be a fluke!
