Page 55 of The House on Blueberry Lane

“Okay.”

She was already sitting down, and he moved to join her at the table. He had eaten at LaFitte’s Seafood before with Vaughn but had never gotten the number twenty-two. Since that was what she’d wanted, he had gotten it as well and the food looked good.

“How did your committee meeting go today?” he asked her, mainly to get her to look at him. She did.

“It was great. We’re making plans for the Blueberry Festival in May.”

Jaye nodded as he began eating. He hoped to be married to her by May, and if not married, then definitely engaged. He had the ring already. He had purchased it right before coming here in November. “How many festivals are held in the cove each year?” he asked in between bites of food. The meal was delicious. He’d had crab cakes before, but these were the tastiest he’d ever eaten.

“In addition to the Blueberry Festival, there’s the Shrimp Festival. Whereas the Blueberry Festival is a weekend event, the Shrimp Festival lasts for three days. However, since the water taxis will be available, the mayor wants to make it a four-day event.”

“What happens at the Blueberry Festival?”

He listened while she told him, loving how her mouth moved and how sexy he thought it was, even when she took a sip of tea. This was what he’d missed as well, sharing a meal with her. He couldn’t say he missed hearing her talk because they honestly hadn’t talked a lot. Again, it dawned on him just how much of their time had been spent in the bedroom doing other things than talking.

Jaye blinked when he realized she had stopped talking and asked him a question. “Excuse me? What did you ask?”

“I asked how things are going at the bank?”

“Great. More new accounts and less foot traffic into the bank now that everyone is getting the hang of online banking. We’re planning to increase the number of drive-through lanes and add a couple of ATM lanes. I couldn’t believe there’re only two drive-through lanes, and an ATM that you can’t access from your car.”

“Larson Barrows didn’t believe much in modern technology,” Velvet said.

“Or making things convenient for his customers, either, apparently.” When there was a lull in the conversation, he said, “These plates are nice, and the design is pretty. I haven’t seen them before. Are they new?”

Instead of answering him, she stared at him with an odd expression on her face. “Is something wrong, Velvet?”

She shook her head. “No, nothing is wrong.”

He knew that there was, and it was about the plates. What was it about them? She switched the conversation to something else—the forecaster’s prediction that a cold front was headed to the cove next week.

He knew something was bothering her and it had to do with the dinnerware. When her conversation about the weather trailed off, he said, “The plates, Vel. What is it about the plates I should know or that I don’t know?”

She hesitated before answering. “I was out shopping one day and saw this dinnerware set and fell in love with it. It was a couple of weeks before my twenty-eighth birthday and things between us were going so well. You had been so attentive, so loving and as usual so sexual.”

Velvet stopped talking but Jaye knew there was more. “Go on.”

She smiled, but he saw the pain in her eyes. “Silly me, I had convinced myself that I was getting an engagement ring for my birthday. When the saleslady told me that this particular pattern would be going out of stock, in my anticipation and excitement, I chose this dinnerware as the one I intended to put on my wedding registry. Of course, we didn’t get engaged but I liked it so much that I bought it, anyway. If nothing else, I figured whenever I ate off of these plates, it would be a reminder.”

A hard knot formed in Jaye’s throat. “A reminder that I let you down?”

She shook her head. “No, a reminder that I let my own self down by believing something that wasn’t true.”

Jaye didn’t say anything as he worked his brain to recall what he had given her for her twenty-eighth birthday. Then he remembered. He had given her a designer briefcase. It had definitely not been the engagement ring she’d been expecting.

“Velvet, I...”

“No, Jaye, it wasn’t your fault. That’s what I got for being overoptimistic, especially when you had told me countless times the nature of our relationship. I honestly had forgotten why I had them when I set the table. When you commented on them, I remembered.”

He wished he could kick his own ass. She began talking about the weather again, pretty much letting him know any discussion about the plates was over.

“Do you have enough wood for your fireplace?” he decided to ask her.

“I’ve never used my fireplace since moving to the cove. From what I understand, the cold front headed this way is pretty unusual for this area.”

“I’ll make sure you have enough.”

“You don’t have to do that, Jaye.”

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