The Homecoming
Page 22

She realized she was just standing there while both men waited.
She moved toward them.
“You look beautiful, Iris,” Seth said.
“You sure do,” Troy agreed.
“Thank you. You have me at a disadvantage since I don’t know who invited me to dinner.”
Troy had just opened his mouth when Seth spoke. “You mean you came to meet someone for dinner without knowing who it was? Iris, that can’t be safe!”
“In Thunder Point?” she asked. Then she lied. “I assumed it was Troy.”
That made Troy beam with pleasure. “We have a table ready,” he said.
God, it was him! Would he never get the message? Iris had a very brief and evil idea. She could act as if she was interested in Troy and see how Seth felt about that but the idea vanished very quickly as she imagined many more weeks of Troy trying to convince her they were meant to be a couple. But it would really serve them both right.
“What a nice surprise, Troy!” she said.
“Day late and a dollar short, as usual,” Seth said.
“Huh?” Iris and Troy both said.
“I thought I’d come here after work, maybe eat some crab cakes at the bar or, if I ended up real lucky, I’d run into friends who felt like dinner. But I wouldn’t want to intrude on a romantic evening,” Seth said.
“It’s not romantic,” Iris said before she could stop herself. Well, she had to say that. She’d been trying like hell to explain to Troy she wanted to be friends but not lovers. It was beginning to look like she was going to have to do that the painful way. “Troy is a very dear friend, a colleague I depend on. We’re not dating.” She flushed slightly and couldn’t bring herself to look at Troy. If his expression was crestfallen, she might weep on the spot.
“Well, in that case, do you mind if I pull up a chair?” Seth asked, smiling.
“Gee, I don’t know. Troy might have something he wants to discuss,” Iris said.
“I’ll leave you before dessert,” Seth said, offering no way out. “Lead the way,” he said to Troy. He followed them. “Did you like the apples?” he asked.
She stopped dead in her tracks and looked over her shoulder at him. “What? You gave me apples? There was no note, no card.”
Seth maneuvered around them to hold Iris’s chair for her. “I was up north over the weekend and it was harvest time. The apples were unreal, weren’t they? As big as melons! Sorry, I should’ve thought of a card.”
She sat down and looked between the men. “Cookies? Scarf? Wreath? Horn of plenty?”
“Cookies,” Seth admitted. “I thought you’d recognize them. My mom made them. She always made those when we were growing up.”
“Scarf, wreath and horn,” Troy said, not happy. “Maybe you two can share more childhood stories. I really enjoy those.”
Oh, he’s asking for it, Iris thought. It was one thing for Troy to try being sweet, another to act proprietary when she’d specifically told him if he didn’t stop with the romantic gestures they couldn’t even be friends.
Cliff appeared at their table to take drink orders. Iris didn’t hesitate. “Chardonnay. And hurry.”
The men ordered beer and menus were placed before them.
“So, let me get this right. You were both leaving little gifts on my porch, both of you omitting notes.”
“I just forgot,” Seth said. “Really, I thought you’d figure it out—especially the cookies.”
“I was trying to intrigue you,” Troy said. “The dinner invitation was obviously mine. In my handwriting.”
“It was printed,” Iris said in her own defense. And then she began to laugh. “Oh, my God,” she said, laughing some more. “Well, here we are,” she said, trying to regain her composure.
Seth was smiling but Troy was not.
“What?” she said, looking at Troy. “That was all very nice, Troy, but we’re not dating. We’ve talked about this. We work together.” A slight sound came from Seth and she turned to see he was smirking. “And don’t you get all superior, because I’m not dating you, either. Although apples and cookies are very neighborly.”
Like a man on a mission, Cliff delivered their drinks. When they were all on the table, Iris lifted her glass and toasted them. “To the two very nicest men,” she said. “Friends,” she emphasized.
Seth looked at Troy sympathetically. “Believe it or not, that’s progress. For me, anyway.”
Iris half expected Troy to say that in his case, he was backsliding. She sipped her wine but laughed into the glass. These two, both very handsome, sexy men, had no idea that she’d known both of them in the biblical sense. One of them couldn’t quite remember it and the other one was remembering it too well.
She studied her menu but she barely saw it. No matter, she knew everything by heart. She was thinking about them. On the surface, there wasn’t much that made one more appealing than the other. It was what had happened to her heart that separated them. After making perfectly satisfying love with Troy, she just wasn’t swept away. She didn’t long for more of him. After making completely unsatisfying teenage love with Seth, a clumsy and inexperienced lover, she couldn’t drive him from her mind for seventeen long years. How was something like that decided by a heart? It certainly wasn’t intentional. If she could choose, she would adore Troy and tell Seth to go pound sand. Troy was safer, less complicated, had wanted her since almost the first second he’d laid eyes on her.
Cliff approached their table again and she closed her menu. But Cliff wasn’t there to take orders.
“Deputy Sileski,” Cliff said formally. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I have a situation in the bar and it isn’t pretty.”
“What is it?” Seth asked, getting to his feet.
“Some love triangle thing that started as arguing turned loud and there’s been a little physical stuff. Shoving. Struggling. I can call the cook, Ram, out of the kitchen. But since you’re here...”
Seth walked to the archway that led to the bar and looked at two big guys on either side of a small blonde woman. One brawny man pulled on her left arm, the other pulled on her right arm. “They drunk?” he asked Cliff.
“I only served the guy on the left,” he said. “The guy on the right came in just a minute ago, found them, started a scene. I don’t know those people, Seth. They’re not from around here.”