Love in a Nutshell

  Kate smoothed her hands over the black pencil skirt, which she’d last worn when working at Detroit Monthly. Mom didn’t believe in jeans, paper napkins, or ketchup at the dinner table. As a teen, Kate had tried to assure her mother that all those things were perfectly real and even kind of cool. Mom had never bought in.

  Tonight, Kate didn’t mind being dressed up. If nothing else, the change in wardrobe kept it front and center in her mind that she’d been right not to expose Matt to this. Somehow, she couldn’t picture him wearing a button-down shirt just to eat beef stew.

  Stella’s ears perked at the sound of a car in the drive. She trotted toward the front door and gave a welcoming yip.

  Kate gave the dog a gentle pat. “Sure, it’s all happiness and sunshine, now. But let’s see what tune you’re singing by turkey day.” The truth was, she was excited, too.

  Kate pulled on her jacket and went outside to greet her parents. Stella, who wasn’t a fan of the icy wind off the lake, lurked indoors.

  Though Kate had visited with her parents just a handful of months ago, she felt a surprising sense of nostalgia seeing them here, at The Nutshell. The years had treated her father well. With his Florida tan, silver hair, and aristocratic features, he still reminded Kate of a diplomat in the foreign service.

  Mom was no slacker, either. Her hair might have tipped the scales from blond to gray, but otherwise, she looked much as she had when Kate was a teen. And she still stood a good four inches taller than Kate, too.

  After hugs and greetings, Kate looked into the back of the SUV her dad had rented.

  “That sure is a lot of luggage, Mom,” Kate said.

  Kate’s mom removed a suiter from the back. “It might seem excessive, but you never know what events might pop up and how the weather might be.”

  “In this case, not many events and freezing would be good bets.” Kate glanced at her mom’s pale pink and very thin cardigan sweater. “Do you have a coat in one of those suitcases?”

  “I have another sweater or two, but I left my mink in cold storage.”

  Kate was no fan of furs, but if her mom had to wear one, now would be the time. “You can borrow one of my jackets while you’re here.”

  “That’s all right. I’ll ring up Bunny and ask her to bring something appropriate,” Mom said. “In the meantime, your father and I can pretend we’re snowbound and stay indoors. It could be very romantic.”

  Kate put her muscles to work, helping her dad haul the luggage. In the time it took them to get everything inside, Stella had fallen asleep on her mom’s lap.

  Kate’s mother sat on the flowery sofa, stroking Stella. “Your dog’s a charmer, Kate. What do you think I should get her for Christmas?”

  “Anything in cashmere would probably do.”

  Her mother laughed. “Well, naturally. She is an Appleton female. And how about you?”

  “I … uh … Let me get back to you on that one.” Kate couldn’t think of the last time her mother had gotten her anything other than a gift card. Of course, she also couldn’t recall when she’d gotten her mother anything other than a silk scarf. “Why don’t you two get settled in, and I’ll get dinner on the table?”

  Half an hour later, after her parents had their cocktails in hand, the family sat down to Kate’s fake boeuf bourguignon. The onions tasted weird even to Kate, but no one mentioned them. In fact, her dad said that stew made the perfect meal when snowed in. Never mind that they weren’t really snowed in, and that Kate had started the stew hours before their arrival.

  Toward the end of the meal, Kate’s dad stuck an old Johnny Mathis album on the stereo. “Katie, the house looks just great. Better than I remember. I really think you could make your plan to turn this place into a B&B work.”

  He turned to Kate’s mom. “Remember seeing Johnny perform that winter in Lake Tahoe?”

  The two of them shared a smile and clasped hands on the tabletop. Kate pushed around the onions in her stew, not wanting to break into their moment.

  “Kate, if you’ll excuse us, your mother and I need to have this dance. And don’t worry about clearing the table. We’ll do that … later.”

  “Sure,” Kate said. “I’ll just go take care of some stuff in my room.” She didn’t feel like telling them right now about Matt and his plans to turn the house into a restaurant.

  She listened to her parents laugh through the walls of her room. If this was to be a nightly event while playing snowed-in, Kate was going to need more chips and chocolate in her stash. For crying out loud. These people were her parents.

  * * *

  ACCORDING TO Kate’s clock, it was now ten at night. It felt more like three in the morning. Kate was bored out of her mind. The music downstairs was still going strong, though her parents had moved on to Frank Sinatra.

  For lack of anything else to do, Kate dumped her purse onto the dresser and began to sort through the bag’s contents. A cleaning might make it weigh less than a ton. Kate pulled out her wallet, makeup bag, and the notepad she carried to write “to do” lists that she could then ignore. At the purse’s bottom, in a nest of pennies and market receipts, lay the letter from her mom that she’d tucked away and never finished reading.

  “Now’s as good a time as any.”

  Kate settled on the bed. Because she’d already heard a fresh update on all nieces and nephews during dinner, she fast-forwarded past the opening chat and the bit where her mom wished that Kate would have gotten a business degree.

  But there’s no remaking the past. Your road won’t be as easy as mine, her mother wrote. Still, I know you’re up to the challenge. Yes, you’ve been struggling, and it was obvious to both your father and me how much it upset you to ask us for help. But we were happy to give it, darling. And though it’s not kind to say, neither your father nor I were especially fond of Richard. He tended to try to build himself up at your expense. You’ll be a happier woman without him.

  “You’ve got that right,” Kate said.

  I think in many ways, I envy you, Kate. You have a spirit I didn’t have at your age. Oh, I had my moments, but you have me beat. You also have the determination to weather the tough times. I’m not so sure I would have had your sort of grit. I am very proud of you. I need to tell you that more often, and you need to begin believing it. Then we’ll rule the world.

  Kate smiled. Maybe she could imagine her mother dancing on tabletops, after all. And maybe she had been wrong about her parents all these years. It wasn’t that they thought she couldn’t do anything, it was that they thought she could do everything.

  * * *

  A WHILE before midnight, Matt sat alone at his closed bar nursing a tall glass of water. Since Kate had moved out, his universe had been totally jacked up. He’d even been feeling sorry for himself, which was a new and unpleasant sensation.

  When the cuckoo clock over the bar struck twelve, Matt planned to get the hell over this. Somehow. And in the meantime, he’d watch the clock’s minute hand move.

  A sharp rapping sounded on the taproom window, pulling Matt’s attention from the clock. Lizzie stood at the glass in her police officer’s uniform, flashlight in hand.

  Matt pointed her toward the front entrance.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “My promised late-night rounds,” she said. “The bigger question is, what are you still doing here?”

  “Waiting for midnight.”

  “Why? Are you going to turn into the guy version of Cinderella or something?” She grinned. “Kate mentioned your shoe fixation.”

  “More like I was hoping to turn back into myself.”

  “I didn’t know you weren’t yourself. I mean, you skipped last Friday’s fund-raiser and everything,” Lizzie said.

  He rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, well, Kate moved out, and I wanted to enjoy my new peace and quiet, but Chuck really misses her.”

  “He’s really stuck on Kate, huh?”

  “This isn’t the kind of stuff we talk about,” he s
aid. “It feels wrong.”

  She gave him a crooked smile. “It’s just that ‘Chuck’ doesn’t generally have relationship problems, and I don’t generally have relationships.”

  “Good point,” he said.

  Lizzie sat down on a barstool next to Matt. “So why did Kate move out?”

  Matt was surprised by the question. Kate and Lizzie had grown pretty close.

  “You mean she hasn’t talked to you?”

  “Not in the past few days.”

  “She found out her parents were coming in for Thanksgiving, and she kind of freaked out. Apparently, they don’t believe in sleeping in a guy’s guest bedroom before you’re married.”

  “Interesting,” Lizzie said. “And in more ways than one. Kate slept in the guest bedroom?”

  “Don’t let it get around. My false reputation is at stake.”

  “As if I would. And no one would believe me, anyway. But, really, so what if she moved home? Things have been calm here, and she’ll be safe.”

  “Well, I’m also about to foreclose on her childhood home and destroy her dreams so I can expand my evil empire.”

  “I know.”

  “You do?”

  “Yeah. I’m a police officer and I’m a woman. That makes me a big snoop. I also know you made arrangements with Kate’s contractor to secretly pay him yourself and have him reimburse you once he gets the money from her. Does she really believe a contractor would ever wait for his money?”

  Matt grinned sheepishly. He’d been caught. “Does anyone else know?”

  “No. I don’t think so. Why’d you do it? You have a lot of money invested in this project, don’t you?”

  Matt shrugged. “I love her.”

  Lizzie burst out laughing. “Look at you. You’re a mess. Do you want my advice?”

  “Give it your best shot, because I’m coming up blank.”

  “I love Kate. I think she’s fabulous. I hope you two work it out and have a million kids, or whatever it is you’re looking for. You’re my big brother … heck, my only brother. I want to see you happy. My advice to you is—Suck it up.”

  Matt raised an eyebrow at his sister.

  “Since when was Matt Culhane a quitter? You never gave up in football or hockey. You didn’t give up in the eighth grade when Mary Lou Petty refused to go to junior prom with you. You certainly never gave up on Depot Brewing—even when a lot of people thought you should. If you love Kate that much, go get her!”

  Lizzie was right. He’d go to Traverse City for a couple of days, giving Kate the space she needed and a chance to get reacquainted with her parents. When he returned, he was sure Kate would be ready to invite him to dinner, and if she wasn’t, he’d invite himself. Desperate times called for desperate measures. After all, Chuck really missed her.

  NINETEEN

  It was the Monday evening before Thanksgiving. Kate’s mom and dad were still living out their snowbound fantasy, and Kate was beginning to lose her mind. Sinatra playing on the stereo twelve hours out of twenty-four was part of the issue. The rest was that her parents gave her little privacy.

  In a house this size, how could they be everywhere at once? Kate was beginning to think cloning was involved. She was currently holed up in her bathroom for both prime cell phone reception and a little alone time.

  The doorknob rattled. “Kate? Are you in there?”

  “Yes, Mom,” Kate said from her resting spot in the dry bathtub.

  “You’ve been in there awhile.”

  “Yes, I have. I’m taking a bath.”

  “That’s odd. I didn’t hear the water run, and you know how the pipes in this place are.”

  Kate turned the page in her magazine and readjusted the pillow beneath her head. “Maybe Sinatra drowned it out.”

  “Maybe,” her mother said. “Are you going to be out soon? I think Stella needs to go potty.”

  Kate felt a little guilty for having abandoned her poodle in the name of solitude, but Stella would get over it. Dad could feed the dog table scraps, since Kate wasn’t out there to stop him.

  “Her chain is at the kitchen door, Mom,” Kate said. “Just put her on it, and she’ll do the rest.”

  “You’re sure you’re okay in there?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Her mother moved off, leaving Kate to her thoughts and a cell phone that didn’t want to ring back. She knew from Ginger that Matt was going to be up in Traverse City on Tuesday and Wednesday. From Matt, she’d heard nothing directly. Not even so much as a hello since the staff meeting early last week. She missed him. She wanted to find a way back into his life. It was chilly here on the outside.

  “Attempt number four,” she announced, then pressed the speed dial number she’d assigned him. At this point, she didn’t really expect an answer. It was more for the sport of hearing his voice mail message that she called. But this time, Matt answered.

  “Hi, Kate.”

  Kate’s hands started feeling a little sweaty. For the love of Mike! She hadn’t felt this nervous since asking Scotty McDougall to the Sadie Hawkins dance in ninth grade. “I hear you’re heading out of town for a couple of days.”

  “I’m on the road now.”

  “I was wondering if you’d like me to help take care of Chuck? I can check on him as many times a day as you think he’d need, and he knows who I am, so that would be nice for him.” She was babbling and couldn’t stop. “And, honestly, it’s no big deal. You’d be doing me a favor by giving me an excuse to get away from here in the evening for a while, and—oh hell, I really miss you.”

  “I miss you, too.”

  Kate smiled with her entire body. She felt like the Grinch when his heart grew three sizes that day.

  “How are you doing with your parents?” he asked.

  “I’m hiding in the bathtub to make this call. No place is private anymore. If I go into my bedroom, my mother wants to have a girl-to-girl. She wants to know if I’m recovering from my divorce. She wants to tell me how to find a new man. I mean, I’m glad we’re talking a whole lot more than we used to, but sometimes I just need a break from her advice.”

  He laughed. “That good, eh?”

  “That 1960s outlook. I don’t get it, but I guess I don’t have to. Bottom line is that I love her and Dad.”

  “I think I’d like your parents,” he said.

  Kate smiled. “You probably would. And they’d like you, too.”

  They were silent, but it wasn’t in the least uncomfortable.

  “So I’d really be doing you a favor if I had you check on Chuck?”

  Kate’s smile had taken up permanent residence. “Definitely.”

  “Actually, that would be great,” he said. “Lizzie has promised to stop by, but she has the next couple of days off. Before I enlisted her, she’d been talking about visiting a college friend downstate.”

  “I’d be happy to cover for her. Really.”

  “Well, thank you. I’m going to try to hustle it along, but I need to meet with my attorney and get things wrapped up with Chet before we get any closer to Thursday and family time.”

  “Thanksgiving … That’s kind of a tough time of the year to be doing something like that. I never thought I’d say it, but I almost feel sorry for poor Chet.”

  She paused before continuing. “I want to tell you something, though.… I know Chet has been thinking about things. He’s probably sitting in his bathtub right now, feeling a little selfish and hoping that he hasn’t messed up a great friendship.”

  The bathroom door rattled again.

  “Kate, is there someone in there with you?”

  “No, Mom, I’m just talking to myself.”

  “I worry about you, Kate.”

  “I’m fine. Promise. Could you check on Stella? I think I hear her barking.” Another lie, but she wanted to finish this call.

  “Goodness!” her mother said. “That dog is worse than a toddler.”

  “I think she’s gone, but I know she’s going to be back,??
? Kate said to Matt after listening to the sound of her mother’s footsteps fade. “How often should I check on Chuck?”

  “Lizzie’s going to be there tonight, but if you could stop out tomorrow morning, then again in the evening, that should work. And Wednesday morning should be good. I’ll be back in the afternoon. And I know he doesn’t like it, but put him on his leash when you let him out. It’s deer season.”

  “And you haven’t painted him orange,” she said, and smiled at the sound of his laughter.

  “Chuck has enough dignity issues as it is,” he said.

  “So true.”

  Kate sat upright at the sound of her mother back at the door.

  “I have to go. And thank you for letting me watch Chuck.”

  Her mother was back, rapping on the door. “Kate? It’s almost dinnertime, and I can’t find a single thing to light the candles.”

  * * *

  AFTER WAITING an appropriate amount of time to theoretically dry off and get dressed, Kate cruised downstairs. As she’d expected, Dad was slipping Stella some of whatever Mom had served as an appetizer. At least he was keeping his double Manhattan, extra cherries, to himself.

  He looked over at Kate. “Who’d have thought a dog would like kippered herring?”

  She chose to take the question as rhetorical, since she couldn’t say she knew many humans who liked the stuff. “Just do me a favor and don’t feed her too much.”

  He raised his Manhattan and gave her a wink. “All things in moderation, Katie-bug.”

  Her mom popped into the room. She was a festival of color this evening. Her dress competed with the sofa for which held the most flowers. But her mom’s dress was more in Monet watercolor shades than the sofa’s warring hues.

  “Are you positive you don’t want to join us for dinner, Kate? We’d love more time with you before the rest of the family arrives tomorrow.”

  “Thanks, but I’m not all that hungry.”

  Which wasn’t quite accurate. She’d turned down dinner before she’d talked to Matt. Now that they’d talked, the knot in her stomach had disappeared and she was starved. But no way was she interrupting what looked to be another major romantic event. She’d just grab something from the kitchen and go read a book.