Romance By the Book by Sarah Ready

Will

At twenty minutesafter seven I stroll into Tybalt’s Italian restaurant. I wanted to be early, but I had an emergency phone call from the head of the Shanghai office. I hire people I trust to put out fires on their own, so when I get an urgent call, I know I’m needed. It took nearly two hours to remedy the tangle and put the right people in place. I hung up at ten minutes after seven. Then it took me all of ten minutes to shower, throw on a suit, and speed to downtown Romeo. I had to park a few blocks down, it’s busy tonight. At first I walked fast, then I figured, the hell with it, and I sprinted down the sidewalk to Tybalt’s. I slowed to a walk when I neared the restaurant, smoothed back my hair, and adjusted my tie. When I pushed open the heavy wood front door I was only slightly out of breath.

I look around the dimly lit dining room. Tybalt’s is fine Italian dining. It’s been in the same family for four generations. When I was a kid, it served big family-style spreads, huge plates of freshly made pasta and just-out-of-the-oven focaccia sprinkled with parmesan and rosemary. The latest owner went and studied culinary arts in Rome, then Paris, and came back to make Tybalt’s a Michelin-starred family-style Italian restaurant. Like Mr. Frank said, it’s where you go in Romeo when you want romance to happen—engagements, anniversaries, first dates.

“Welcome to Tybalt’s. Do you have a reservation?” The hostess smiles and reaches for a stack of leather-bound menus.

The dining room is crowded, nearly every table is full. I scan the room, it’s dimly lit by crystal chandeliers and candlelight. The light reflects off the silverware and white tablecloths. There’s a quiet hum of happy conversation and clinking silverware. The familiar smell of warm yeasty bread, rosemary, garlic, roasted meats and seasoned vegetables fills the air. The last time I was in Tybalt’s, seven years ago, Jessie sat near the back. I look past the diners toward the table for two nestled in an alcove in the back corner.

“I see my party,” I tell the hostess.

I stride through the dining room. Neither Jessie nor Gavin notice me. They lean toward each other, Gavin speaks animatedly and Jessie listens with a happy, open expression on her face that she’s never given me. I pause. They look like a couple. Jessie leans closer to Gavin and her arm brushes against his shirtsleeves. Gavin gives her a wolfish grin. The candlelight shines on the black of her hair, coloring it the blue of a hot flame. She blushes and looks down at the table. There’s a bottle of wine, a plate of bread, and a large plate of spaghetti placed between them.

A plate to share.

The scene of those two darn dogs, slurping up the spaghetti and kissing, hits me. This is a seduction scene, no doubt about it.

I catch the look on Gavin’s face and alarm bells go off in my mind. I know that look. He gets it right before he’s about to do something horribly self-destructive.

Whenever things are going well in his life and it looks like he might succeed, be happy, or come out on top, he gets this look and does something to sabotage it all. This look is the precursor to every school expulsion, failed business venture, and ruined relationship in his life.

Dang it all.

Jessie glances up at him and the light flashes on the beading of her dress. Gavin’s eyes dip to the low vee showing off her… I swallow… her breasts.

Dang it all to hell.

I unclench my fists and walk forward, grabbing an empty chair on the way.

“Gavin. Jessie. Funny running into you too. Mind if I join?”

Gavin tears his eyes from Jessie’s chest. He looks at me and his brow wrinkles in confusion.

“Uh, hey Will…um, no?”

“Yes,” Jessie says at the same time. “Yes, we do.”

“Great. Thanks,” I say. I situate my chair across from Jessie and drop into it. The table is meant for two, it’s a tight fit.

Jessie’s red lips purse together. I remember in old cartoons they’d make steam blow out of characters’ ears with a train whistle sound when they were really mad. I never understood that graphic until now. Jessie literally looks like there could be steam coming out of her ears.

I grin at her.

She lets out a low growl.

I turn to Gavin. “I didn’t know you guys were friends. You should’ve invited me along. Jessie and I go way back.”

Gavin’s eyebrows lower, and I can tell he’s trying to work out what’s going on. I see it the second he decides that I’m here to keep him from making a mistake he’ll regret. Like he said, I don’t have friends.

“I thought you were in the throes of fixing some crisis in Shanghai.” He turns to Jessie and smiles his suave grin. “My brother here has been known to miss two, three meals in a row. He forgets to eat when he’s in the middle of work. Remember that week in Tokyo? I went out to the…uh…to have some…uh…” He gives a side-look at Jessie and realizes what he did in Tokyo isn’t fit for polite company. “I, uh, when I got back Will was nearly passed out on his desk. The idiot hadn’t eaten or slept in nearly 48 hours. That Tokyo deal was hell for Will.”

I grab a piece of warm focaccia and dip it in the olive oil, avoiding the searching look Jessie’s sending my way.

“Right, Will?” asks Gavin.

“Mhmm.” I shove the bread in my mouth and let the flavor of rosemary and parmesan spread over my tongue. Really good.

“That was when we were 17. Will was still trying to dig Williams and Williams out from under its mountain of debt, get his degree, and prove to our father that he was—”

“Have some focaccia,” I say to Jessie. I hold the plate out to her. “It’s delicious.”

“No thanks.” She gives me a tight smile. “You were saying,” she asks Gavin.

I shake my head at Gavin, but as usual, he ignores subtle hints. Instead he focuses on the encouraging smile that Jessie gives him. He doesn’t want her, not really. I know my brother and I can tell he loves Lacey. He isn’t interested in Jessie. Thank God. Unfortunately, that fact isn’t as clear to Jessie. She’s still trying her darnedest to make Gavin see her as his true love. I scowl. Not happening.

“Right. What was I saying? I guess just that Will’s lucky he has me. Because otherwise he wouldn’t eat, or have conversations that don’t involve business acronyms, or get out and have fun.”

“He’s definitely lucky to have you then.” Jessie gives Gavin a sugary sweet smile. I catch her eyes and raise an eyebrow.

Gavin turns his attention to the wine, pouring himself another glass.

Jessie takes advantage of his inattention.

“Leave,” she hisses at me.

“You look beautiful,” I whisper back.

Her cheeks flush pink. “Go away,” she whispers.

“What did you say?” Gavin asks.

“Oh. I just wondered how you like the spaghetti?” Jessie flutters her eyelashes at Gavin and I try not to scowl.

Gavin picks up his fork. “It’s delicious. It reminds me of the pasta I had at a little family restaurant in Capri.”

“Oh wow. I’ve never been. Sounds amazing.” Jessie picks up her fork and drags it through the long noodles. She waits until Gavin starts to roll spaghetti around his fork then she moves her fork trying to capture his moving noodles.

I’ll be…

She might actually pull off this noodle kiss farce.

I watch the noodles on her fork go taught. She smiles in triumph. Gavin doesn’t know it, but their noodles are connected.

He starts to raise his fork to his mouth. Jessie raises hers in anticipation.

No way.

I grab my fork and quick as I can I slash it through their joined noodles. Jessie gasps. I take the noodles and shove them in my mouth.

Gavin laughs. "You really are hungry.”

I chew loudly. “Mhmm,” I say through my mouthful, “starved.”

Gavin goes for another bite and Jessie drags her fork through the plate and tries to capture the ends of his spaghetti.

“You were telling me about your adventures. I’d love to hear more,” she says.

Gavin lifts his fork to his mouth. I grin as a single noodle of his slips through Jessie’s fork.

“Jessie’s going to do a travel book article in her next library newsletter. She wants to use my experiences as a basis for it,” Gavin says to me.

I perk up. “This is a work dinner?” That’s interesting. Jessie hasn’t been honest with Gavin.

“Funny, right?” Gavin says. “I’ve never had a work dinner and even when you try not to, here you are, at another one.”

“Hilarious,” I agree.

Jessie won’t look me in the eyes.

The waiter comes by with another wine glass and the menu. I assure him I’m content sharing the family plate of spaghetti.

Gavin launches into a story of ballooning in South Africa. Jessie nods and smiles and tries her hardest to pretend I’m not here. I keep my eyes on her. It’s not hard. I could watch her for hours and never grow tired of it. Gavin is entering the exciting part of the story, the bit about the lion and the jeep, when Jessie finally breaks. She subtly turns my way.

She points at me, and then makes the “get out of here” gesture with her thumb.

“And then the lion jumped over the…” Gavin continues.

I raise my eyebrows and point to myself, feigning confusion.

Jessie nods and makes the “get out of here” gesture again.

I shake my head, look around, and pretend I don’t understand.

“And that’s how a jeep and a baobab tree foiled a lion and saved my life,” Gavin says triumphantly.

Jessie looks at him in confusion, while Gavin looks at her expectantly.

“Oh. Ah. Wow. That’s amazing. I never heard anything like that. The baobab. Wow.” She flushes bright red.

I hold back a smile. She wasn’t listening, not at all. I’d bet my bank account on it. She was too focused on me.

“Tell the story about Cambodia,” I say.

Gavin nods. “That’s a good one.”

He moves to take another bite of spaghetti, then stops with his fork hanging in the air. “It was six months ago. I was hang gliding over the jungle, there were some ruins I wanted to see.”

Jessie watches his fork move up and down. He finally goes to twist his fork in the noodles. Jessie follows.

“…the snakebite burned. I had minutes…” Gavin is wrapped up in the memory of meeting Lacey. He doesn’t notice that once again his and Jessie’s forks are attached by a ridiculously long noodle.

But I notice.

So does Jessie.

I reach forward with my fork, ready to cut the noodle.

But Gavin moves his fork up off the plate. Jessie’s eyes widen. She sees my fork coming, so she shoves the spaghetti in her mouth. She starts to suck in the long noodle. I watch it pull taught. Gavin is oblivious. His fork is six inches from his mouth.

Jessie’s eyes are wide. Her lips purse as she pulls on the connecting noodle.

The freaking noodle trick is going to work.

I don’t stop to think. I drop my fork and grab Gavin’s and I shove it in my mouth.

“Hey! What the heck, Will?” Gavin says.

I suck on the noodles. They pull taught and one long sauce covered noodle dangles between Jessie and me.

Triumph fills me.

The noodle between our mouths gets shorter as I suck, pulling us closer. I suck harder. Tug.

Jessie moves forward, closer to me.

Then she panics. She jumps up from her seat. Swipes at the noodle and breaks it in half. Her movement flips the plate of spaghetti over and the noodles and sauce fly onto her dress.

Oh no.

The clattering of the dish on the floor sounds loud in the hushed restaurant. Everything stops as people turn to look at our table.

Jessie stands stunned as noodles slide down the front of her dress.

“And that is how my life was saved and I met my wife-to-be,” says Gavin into the silence.

Jessie turns to look at him, shocked.

He grins and shrugs.

I come around the table. I pull the pocket square from my suit pocket and dip it in the glass of water.

“Here. Let me help.”

The waitstaff rushes over, ready to help clean up.

Jessie looks down at her sauce-covered chest and then back up at me. I hold out the handkerchief like a truce flag.

“Here use this.”

There’s a glint in her eyes. She ignores the handkerchief. “You…you…”

She grabs a handful of noodles resting between her cleavage, and I watch as she hefts the handful and smashes it into my chest.

I look down at it in surprise. Her eyes light with satisfied glee.

Behind her, I hear Gavin begin to laugh.

“I won’t dignify that with a response,” I say.

She smirks, grabs of glob of sauce from her collar bone, and smashes it against my cheek.

Gavin’s laugh is full belly now. “Having fun, Will?”

I ignore him. “That wasn’t nice.”

Jessie grins at me, and I’m so distracted by it that I don’t see her reach around and smack a handful of spaghetti against the back of my head. It runs down my collar under my shirt. I jerk back in shock. Jessie watches my expression, then it seems she can’t hold it back anymore, because she begins to laugh. I feel a smile form as I watch her wipe tears of laughter from her eyes.

“Here.” I hold up the handkerchief and gently wipe away the streaks of tomato sauce and happy tear tracks from her face. I carefully draw the fabric over her skin. She stands quiet and still, her eyes watchful.

Gavin clears his throat. “I’ll help get this cleaned up. You two should head out and get changed.”

It seems that Jessie suddenly remembers where we are and that she’s trying to impress Gavin. Her face flushes as red as the tomato sauce.

“No. I mean, I’ll stay—”

I cut her off. “You’re right, Gavin. Thanks.”

I grab Jessie’s purse and her arm and pull her to the front door.

“But…but…” she protests. When we make it to the sidewalk she spins out of my arm and shakes her finger at me. “You’re unbelievable.”

I raise my hands. “Me? Why? I’m just doing what I told you I’d do.”

She stares at me, mouth open, dumbstruck. Not for long though.

“This isn’t what friends do,” she says.

I raise an eyebrow. “I disagree. Friends save each other from making stupid decisions.”

She turns away and starts marching down the street away from the restaurant. I follow her. Her spine straightens when she hears me.

“He’s not interested in you. Couldn’t you tell?”

“No.” She turns toward me and a noodle slides off her and lands on the sidewalk. “I couldn’t tell because you interrupted. He may have been interested, he may have felt that spark, but you sabotaged it.”

I throw my hands up. “For crying out loud. He was telling you the story of how he met his fiancée. That is the epitome of a man who is not interested.”

She slows down and I think maybe I’m getting to her. But then she lifts her chin and walks faster. We cross the street and near the bakery. It’s closed this time of night, it’s almost nine o’clock.

“I’m going back to the library, getting in my car, and driving home. Tomorrow, I’m going to get up and try again. No matter what you say and no matter what you do.”

“Jessie. Don’t be a fool.” It’s only been two days of this madness, well two days and two decades, but I want so badly for it to stop.

“A fool? Who is the fool? I finally found my soul mate. I’d be a fool not to go after him. Okay, maybe he doesn’t want me, or like me, maybe he doesn’t see me, but he could. If I don’t try, then what? Then I’d be the fool.” She slows her pace and comes to a stop at the bakery window.

“Sometimes I wonder, if even my soul mate doesn’t want me, then who will?” Her voice breaks and I see her sitting in the tree, telling me that her mom’s gone, that her dad doesn’t want her, and that she’s all alone. A tear trails down her cheek and she angrily wipes it away. She turns her face away from me. I feel unequal to this moment. I don’t have the words. Me, I want to say, you’d have me.

“I…” I begin. She looks at me and I swallow the lump in my throat.

“I know. You don’t have to say it. I’m a fool. He’s getting married, he’s not interested, I’m not his type, blah, blah, blah. I know.” Her voice breaks again, and I want to reach out to her.

“But you know what?” she asks.

I shake my head. “What?”

“I disagree. I believe in love. I believe in fate. And even if I have to get drenched in coffee, or spaghetti, or…whatever…I’m going to keep trying. Because…” She pauses, then tilts her chin up and continues. “Because I have a lot of love to give. A lot. And I’ve been waiting my whole life to give it to that boy I fell in love with a long time ago. So…so there.”

I don’t say anything. I just stand there and take in the passion coloring her cheeks and the spark in her eyes. I want her so badly it hurts.

A water drop hits me in the forehead. Then another. Jessie looks around, and an expression of shock then guilt comes over her. The sparse drops turn to a light shower. Jessie closes her eyes and groans.

“Jessie?”

She shakes her head. I look around. It’s raining in a five-foot circumference around us. I look up. Petunia and Gladiola wave gleefully at me from a second-story window. Wanda holds a large sprinkler over us. A suspicion enters my mind.

“Is this a kiss in the rain?”

“No,” Jessie says. She opens her eyes and peeks at me. “Turn it off,” she shouts up at the ladies.

I take a step toward her. “Were you going to lure my brother here for a romantic kiss in the rain?”

“No. Of course not.” She takes a step back. “Turn it off, Wanda,” she shouts up.

“Can’t hear you, dear, I lost my hearing aid after class,” yells Wanda.

“She said turn it up,” Petunia says.

A slow grin spreads over my face. I take another step forward. Jessie takes a careful step back. Water runs down my face. I wipe it from my eyes. Strands of hair are starting to fall out of Jessie’s French twist. I reach forward and brush a lock off her cheek. Jessie takes another step back and bumps into the brick bakery wall.

The rate of the fake rain shower increases. Water pours down around us. Drops stream over Jessie’s face and onto her dress, washing away the spaghetti and sauce. I put my forearms to the brick wall on either side of her, closing her in. I bend down, until our mouths nearly touch.

“Did you think a kiss in the rain would make him fall in love?”

“No.” Her eyes turn dark and luminous. A drop of water trails down her cheek and settles on her lip. I groan. I’ve never ached to taste a drop of water so much.

“You want to know who would want you, Jessie?”

“Who?” she asks reluctantly.

“Me.”

I press her against the wall and send my lips to hers. She gasps and her mouth opens to me. I send my tongue in, I run it over her lips and drink the falling water and the taste of her.

I press my body over hers and shield her from the rain. I bury my hands in her hair and pull her closer. She makes a small sound in her throat and I lick it up. I take her lip in my mouth and tug, then I send my tongue across her lower lip. She’s heaven.

She was right. If I didn’t already love her, then this kiss in the rain would make me love her for forever and beyond.

Her hands settle hesitantly on my shoulders and I groan. I need more. I need more of her. It’s been too many years since I’ve touched her. It’s been too many years of wanting her and not having her.

I grab her hips and pick her up. Her dress rides up and she wraps her legs around me. I press her against the brick wall. She’s positioned in the perfect spot. I rub against her and she gasps. I jerk my hips and she gasps again. I catch the noise with my mouth. I run my fingers down her cheeks, rock my hips against her and catch another cry in my mouth.

“Jessie,” I say against her lips. I kiss the corner of her mouth. “I want you. I’ll always want you.”

She stops moving. Her hands tighten on my shoulders.

I pause. “What is—”

The sprinkle of rain water turns into an ice-cold flood as three 10-gallon buckets of water pour on my head.

I sputter and cough. The shock of cold runs through my system. I manage not to drop Jessie.

“Save it for the wedding night, Lothario!” shouts Petunia.

Freezing cold replaces the drunken warmth of Jessie’s kiss. I clench my jaw to keep my teeth from chattering. I look down at Jessie. Her expression is…enraged?

My chest tightens and worry stampedes through me. “Are you okay?”

“Put. Me. Down.” She shoves at my chest.

I lower her to her feet and steady her on her high heels. She’s soaking wet. The beaded dress clings to her, outlining every curve. Her hair is loose and wet around her face. She shivers and wraps her arms around herself.

The window to the second floor slams shut. Our audience is gone.

“Don’t ever do that again,” she says, voice cold. She shivers again.

I swallow. It hurts to take a breath. I pull off my suit jacket, the outside is wet, but the inside lining is still dry.

“Here,” I say. I put it around her shoulders.

She shakes it off and hands it back. She starts walking.

“I’ll walk you to your car,” I say.

She scowls and I think she’s about to say no, but then she concedes.

“Alright.” She starts toward the library, her heels click on the sidewalk.

“I meant what I said,” I say in a quiet voice.

She shakes her head. “I know you said you’d do anything to keep me from Gavin, but this is low, even for you.”

It takes a moment for her words to sink in. She thinks… “You think I’m trying to seduce you to keep you from Gavin?” Disgust fills my voice.

She sighs. “I don’t know, Will. What else would it be?”

We’ve made it to the library parking lot. The tall streetlamps flood the lot with light. Jessie’s hatchback is the only car in the lot. The quiet of the night settles around us. We stand in the lot and watch each other.

Water drips down her face. I pull the damp pocket square from my pocket and hold it out to her.

“Here.”

She takes it and wipes her face then starts to hand it back.

“Keep it,” I say. Then, “You know, I’d control Z the past if I could.” I’m quoting her computer class—control Z erases your past actions.

She gives me an odd look.

“I wouldn’t. Then I wouldn’t be me.”

“That’d be a shame,” I agree.

She lets out a short huff of breath. “Night, Will.”

The lamplight spills around us and I don’t want to leave her.

“See you tomorrow,” I say.

She rolls her eyes. “Do we have to?”

I nod. “Obviously.”

“Maybe you should talk to some people around town. They’ll convince you that Erma’s soul mates are real. Then you can leave me alone.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Why would I want to do that?”

She snorts. Then she climbs in her car, shuts the door, and drives away.

I watch her tail lights until they disappear.