The Grand Finale

  The receptionist glanced up from her computer and smiled. “We don’t schedule appointments on Sunday. Only emergency cases. Is this an emergency?”

  “We think the puppy ate a ring. A big expensive ring.”

  The receptionist nodded sympathetically. “That could be an emergency.” She gave Jake a card to fill out. “I’ll get Dr. Pruett.”

  “I hope Dr. Pruett knows what he’s doing,” Berry whispered to Jake. “Maybe we should have taken Jane to a specialist.”

  “Maybe we should have taken her to a jeweler.” Jake slid an arm around Berry’s shoulders. “Honey, she’s going to be fine.”

  “I know.”

  “Then why is that tear hanging onto your eyelashes?”

  “Poor Jane. She’s just a baby, and she has a scratchy ring inside her.”

  Jake cradled Berry in his arms, being careful not to squash the panting puppy. “You love her, huh?”

  Berry sobbed a strangled “Yes,” and buried her face in his shoulder. “Why does love always have to be so painful?”

  “It’s not always painful.” He tenderly kissed her temple. “Jane probably thinks love is pretty great. She’s so happy to be getting all this attention and affection, she probably doesn’t even notice the ring in her stomach.”

  Berry let her cheek rest against his chest. “You think so?” It was a nice thought, that she could make Jane feel better just by loving her.

  The receptionist beckoned from the hallway. “Mr. and Mrs. Sawyer, you can take Jane into Examining Room Two. Dr. Pruett will be right with you.”

  Berry opened her mouth to correct the receptionist and then thought better of it. It was an innocent enough misunderstanding, and it was sort of fun to test-drive the name. Mrs. Sawyer. Mrs. Berry Sawyer. It had a certain sound to it. Besides, she reasoned, it legitimized their puppy.

  Dr. Pruett was a short, stocky man with a receding hairline and an obvious love of animals. He scratched Jane’s neck while he took her temperature and told her dog jokes when he examined her teeth. “She seems to be in perfect health,” he told Jake and Berry. “With the exception of possibly having a diamond stuck somewhere in her gizzards.” He tucked Jane under his arm. “I’m going to take a couple X-rays. We’ll be right back.”

  “X-rays,” Berry worried, “that sounds so serious. And do you suppose they’re safe? She’s just a baby.”

  Ten minutes later Dr. Pruett returned with Jane and proudly displayed her X-rays. “There it is! She swallowed the ring, all right. It’s lodged in her stomach.” He turned to Jake. “Looks to me like you’re engaged to a cocker spaniel.”

  Berry gripped Jake’s hand. “Does she have to be operated on?”

  Dr. Pruett stroked the glossy black ears. “There’s a good chance that she’ll pass the ring all by herself. If you like, you can leave Jane here for a day or two. We’ll keep a real close watch on her and feed her a little mineral oil to help ease things along.”

  Berry nodded numbly. “You’ll call us if anything happens?”

  “For sure,” Dr. Pruett said. “You’ll be the second to know.”

  Whump. Berry slammed the wad of pizza dough onto the butcher-block table and punched it with her fist.

  Jake watched out of the corner of his eye and flinched. “You’re not very big, but you sure do pack a wallop.”

  Thwup. Berry hit it with the rolling pin. “I get rid of my frustrations this way.”

  “You must be really frustrated. You’ve been beating up on that dough all day.” He leaned across the table at her. “You want to know how I get rid of my frustrations?”

  “No!”

  “Are these frustrations of yours physical in nature?” he asked.

  “No.”

  His voice gentled. “Want to talk about it?”

  Berry sighed and pushed her curls behind her ears, leaving white flour smudges on her flushed cheeks. “No.”

  What was there to talk about? She was confused and scared. Her heart told her to marry Jake, and her head told her not to rush into anything.

  Jake slouched against the counter. “I hate to ruin your fun, but it’s ten o’clock. We’ve had three customers in the past two hours, and you’ve got enough pizza crusts to last through November. What do you say we call it a night?”

  Berry looked up from her pounding. “It’s ten o’clock already?”

  His silky voice held a teasing challenge. “If I didn’t know better, I’d guess you were avoiding going to bed with me.”

  Berry dusted her hands off on her apron and tipped her nose defiantly into the air. “That’s absurd. And I’m not going to bed with you. We’re going to bed separately. I go into my bedroom, shut my door, and go to sleep. You sleep…somewhere else.”

  “Where else am I supposed to sleep? You don’t even have a couch. And besides, we’re engaged, we’re adults, and we’re in love. Am I right?”

  Berry nodded. All that was true.

  “Here’s the problem,” she said to Jake. “We’re two entirely different kinds of people. You’re a risk taker. You’re a man who trusts his instincts. I’m more of a plodder. Look at my shoes.” Berry stared down at her feet. “I wear running shoes. A trustworthy brand. Not too cheap, not too expensive. Middle-of-the-road shoes. I’ve worn middle-of-the-road shoes all my life, and I’ve never been really sure where they were taking me until a year ago when I went back to school and bought the Pizza Place. It was really difficult to scrape the money together. I had to talk a bank into taking a chance on me. I had no collateral and no business experience, but I had confidence that I could succeed. Now, thanks to the lunch contracts, my pizza business is in the black. I made a sound business decision, I stuck by it, and I succeeded.”

  “And?”

  “And while that felt like the logical, sensible thing to do…marriage right now feels impetuous.”

  “Okay,” Jake said. “I can appreciate your point of view. Let’s temporarily take marriage out of the equation and just get to know each other.”

  “Does that involve sleeping together?’

  “Yes.”

  “Without the imminent threat of marriage?”

  “Yes.” At least for tonight, Jake thought.

  Chapter 10

  Berry opened one eye and sniffed. Someone was cooking bacon. She snatched at the digital clock on her nightstand and squinted at it. Someone was cooking bacon at five o’clock in the morning. She ran her hand through her tangled hair, wrapped a short terry robe over her University of Washington nightshirt, and shuffled out to the kitchen.

  Jake waved a spatula at her in greeting.

  “What on earth are you doing?” Berry asked.

  “Making us breakfast. I knew the smell of bacon would get you stumbling out here.”

  “It’s five in the morning. Couldn’t you get me stumbling out at seven or eight?”

  “Have you forgotten what day this is? This is not an ordinary day.”

  Jake poured Berry a cup of coffee and set a plate of scrambled eggs, a buttered muffin, and half a pound of bacon in front of her.

  “Isn’t this the day you take your art history exam?” he asked. “I know you’ve been studying for it all week, and then you had sort of a disruptive weekend. So I thought you’d probably want to get up early and do some last-minute cramming.” He plunked her school notebook beside her plate.

  There you have it, Berry thought. Good sex makes you stupid. All the blood rushes from your brain to other body parts and there’s nothing left in your head but euphoria. And whatever the price, the experience was worth it. Sleeping with Jake Sawyer was a life-changing experience. It was wow. It was yummmm. It was yes! And as if this orgasmic miracle wasn’t enough, the man had gotten up early to make her breakfast.

  Suddenly there was a mental thunderclap and bolt of lightning, and Berry figured it out. They were a team. A good team. If they just worked together, there wasn’t anything they couldn’t do. They could sell pizza, invent glop, raise puppies, and love each other. Ber
ry didn’t have to do it all alone.

  Jake cocked an eyebrow at her. “You have the strangest expression on your face. Are you feeling okay?”

  “I’m feeling wonderful. I’m going to eat this entire scrumptious breakfast, then I’m going to study my brains out until two o’clock, and when I come back from my exam I have big plans.”

  Jake sat opposite her and forked into his eggs. “When you come back from your exam, if I’m not mistaken, you’re going to have to study economics.”

  At ten o’clock in the morning the phone rang.

  “It’s Dr. Pruett,” Jake called to Berry. “Good news. The ring is in Jane’s intestines. Not long now!”

  Berry smiled. Everything in her life was turning out right. She’d probably ace her art history exam. She didn’t know why she was bothering to study. “You sound like an expectant father, waiting for your spaniel to deliver a healthy one-carat ring.”

  Jake shook his head in amazement. “Two months ago if anyone had told me I’d be this worried over a dog, I’d have told them they were crazy.”

  “She’ll be fine.”

  His eyes watched her intently. “Something strange is going on here. That was my line last night. Now you’re reassuring me.”

  “That’s because I feel fine.” She shook her pencil at him for emphasis. “Not everyone can be a successful pizza tycoon.”

  “That’s what’s important to you, huh? Being a pizza tycoon?”

  Berry buried her nose in her art book. “Nope. I don’t give a fig about pizza. It’s the success part.”

  Jake stared at her for a moment, lost in thought. He nodded slightly, as if he understood, and kissed her lightly on the top of her head. “I don’t give a fig about pizza, either. Nevertheless, I shall now descend to the bowels of the Pizza Place and work my fingers to the bone fulfilling lunch contracts. Do you know why I’m going to do this?”

  “I can hardly wait to hear.”

  “I got rid of your ladies for the express purpose of getting you into the sack, and now that I’ve boinked the pizza tycoon I have to pay the piper.”

  Berry gave the door to the Pizza Place a shove and staggered to the counter where Jake was working. “One more slide of sixteenth-century bucolic splendor, and my eyes will fall out of my head.”

  Jake wiped his hands on his apron. “Tough exam?”

  “I don’t know. My mind is numb.”

  “Good thing you only have one more exam.”

  “Yeah, good thing.” Her attention was diverted by a yelp from the corner of the small restaurant area. “Jane!”

  The little black dog was confined in a playpen. She hopped up and down at the sight of Berry. She wagged her tail and made excited puppy sounds and rolled on the plastic playpen mat.

  Berry rushed over and hugged Jane. “She remembers me. She’s so smart!”

  “Not only is she smart, but she’s also empty, if you know what I mean.”

  “What a good dog.” Berry laid her cheek against the silky black head. “It was so clever of you to get rid of that ring.”

  Jake delivered a salad and a hamburger to the table nearest the playpen. “Come here, Goldilocks. I made you some supper, and then you’re excused to go upstairs and study.”

  “Yum, I’m famished.” She plopped the puppy back into the playpen.

  “No more upset stomachs?”

  “Nope. All gone. I’m fine. Never been better in my whole life.”

  Jake stiffened. “Great. I suppose that makes you real happy.”

  “Yup.” She munched on a carrot stick and watched Jane attack a rope dog bone.

  He gave it his best shot, Jake thought, but in the end she had to get rid of the ring to feel good. And he was almost out of time. He was hopelessly in love and he was running out of time.

  “This playpen is a great idea,” Berry said.

  “I borrowed it from my sister. She’s one of those family-type people.”

  Now what? Berry wondered. All of a sudden he sounds absolutely cranky. She ate the last bite of hamburger and stabbed a lone chunk of raw broccoli from her salad bowl. “Well, that was terrific. Guess I’ll go hit the books now.”

  Jake bent over a wad of pizza dough. Whump. He smacked it with the rolling pin.

  Wow, Berry thought, I’ve never seen him whack pizza dough around like that. Maybe he’s cracking under the strain of fatherhood. Maybe he isn’t ready to have puppies. Boy, wouldn’t that be the pits? Here I am all set to go off and start researching baby food, and Jake gets cold feet. Well, if that’s the problem, we’ll work it out together. We’re a team. She smiled at a scowling Jake and hummed as she went through the door.

  Several hours later Berry was startled out of her studying by stomping and thumping on the stairs. Jake swung the collapsed playpen around the corner and unceremoniously tumbled a squirming puppy onto the rug. “Damn, I didn’t think I was going to make it. This dog didn’t want to hold still.”

  Berry closed her economics book and stood at her seat by the table. He was still cranky. Can’t blame him, she decided. He’s had a long day. Up at five to help me study. Worked making pizza for twelve hours. And somewhere in between he’s had to be responsible for Jane.

  Rrrrf, Jane squeaked, running in circles, chasing her tail.

  Well, all that was about to end, Berry thought. He could relax now. She’d take care of Jane. She’d show him they could be a team and raise puppies by the hundreds. She grabbed Jane and kissed the top of her head. “Has the puppy eaten?”

  “She had a pepperoni pizza at about seven.”

  “Is she allowed to eat that? I mean isn’t she on a special diet after her ordeal?”

  Jake gave her a black look. “I let her run around loose as a special treat, and she ate some guy’s pizza when he went to the john.”

  “Oh, dear.”

  “She even ate his napkin.”

  “Anything else I should know about? How’s her stomach?”

  “Her stomach’s fine. How’s your stomach?”

  Obviously he didn’t want to talk about the dog. “My stomach’s okay.”

  “Humph.” He slouched onto a kitchen chair and turned his attention to the newspaper.

  Humph? What kind of an answer was humph? How was she supposed to make conversation with a man that said humph and then pressed his nose into the sports page? She had to tell him about success and failure and commitment. She was ready for all that stuff. More than ready—practically panting. Marriage would be wonderful this time. She looked at Jake and thought her heart would burst. Lord, she loved him. Allen had been a roommate. Jake was her friend, her lover, her helpmate, her hero. She hugged herself and twirled around as she went to the kitchen to fill a water bowl for the puppy.

  Jake squinted at her antics over the top of his paper. “Humph,” he mumbled, rattling the funnies.

  Berry glared down at him. “What’s all this humph?”

  “It’s nothing,” he said. “I’m just happy to see you so happy.”

  “Do you know what would make me really happy? Going to bed. Are you coming with me?”

  Jake stayed hidden behind his paper.

  “Okay,” Berry said. “I’m going to take that as a yes. I’m going to take a nice long, soapy shower and then I’m going to take my overheated naked body to bed.”

  Thirty minutes later, Berry was in bed alone and her overheated naked body was cooling off fast. Now what? Where the heck was he? She rolled out of bed and stomped out to the darkened living room.

  When her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she blinked in disbelief at the inert form stretched out on the floor. Jake was asleep! Berry stood openmouthed, listening to his gentle regular breathing, watching the slow rise and fall of his chest. The puppy slept beside him, curled into a ball, tucked securely under his left armpit. Adorable, she thought. And all done in. Obviously they’d both had an exhausting day. She tucked a quilt around them and went to bed. She shut off the lamp on her nightstand. She watched the minutes change on
her digital clock. She watched the lights of passing cars reflect on her window shade. She picked the nail polish off her index finger.

  “I can’t sleep,” she groaned. “I’m in lust.”

  Okay, we’ll do this scientifically. Relax toes. Relax ankles. Relax knees. Relax thighs. Relax whatever was next. It wasn’t working! She turned onto her stomach and smushed her face into the pillow. She needed something to get her mind off her body. She could worry about Mrs. Dugan. Mrs. Fitz and Harry were wheeling their way south. Berry opened one eye and checked out the clock. What was Mrs. Fitz doing right now? Berry rolled her eyes. They were probably in bed. Together! Damn. She flung herself onto her back and thrashed around until she was hopelessly tangled in the sheet. This was all Jake’s fault, the slimeball. How dare he sleep when she was in such a state.

  She heard rustling in the living room, and a band of light flashed on under her door.

  “What the devil?” Jake mumbled. “Oh, damn!”

  Berry thought about it for a minute and reached the obvious conclusion. “Pepperoni pizza?” she called to Jake.

  “My dream about a floppy-eared dog didn’t include this.”

  “Is Jane okay?”

  “Jane is great. I put her in the playpen, and she’s asleep already.”

  Berry hugged herself and curled her toes. What a shame. Now Jake was going to have to take a shower and find another place to sleep. She smoothed the sheets and plumped her pillow.

  Jake stormed into the bathroom, muttering colorful phrases, and slammed the door. Minutes later he emerged with damp hair and a towel precariously draped on his hips. He stood at the edge of the bed and peered at Berry in the semidarkness. “Well?”

  Berry looked up at him. “Well what?”

  Jake dropped his towel and slid under the quilt and turned to Berry. “Listen, Berry—” He sighed heavily and rolled away from her. “Oh, hell.”

  Something was going wrong here, Berry thought. She was in bed with a naked man, and he just turned his back on her. She understood about being tired, but this was going too far. This was getting insulting. So, the hell with him. She rolled away and straightened the sheet. She shaped her pillow just so. She looked for just the perfect position.