Liz Flaherty - The Happiness Pact

Next had been Cindy, who worked at the winery, followed by Risa, who taught algebra and coached middle school volleyball. After Risa, Libby had threatened Tucker’s life if he used the word chemistry in her presence ever again.

“Well,” Libby explained, taking in the three pairs of curious eyes at the table, “Valentine’s Day is in two weeks. I thought maybe I could find Tucker a good date for the party at the clubhouse. My last day off, he took me to the casino at Rising Sun and gave me two hundred dollars. When I won two thousand and he lost five hundred, I tried to give the two hundred back, but he wouldn’t take it.” She was a little embarrassed. “I think I could really like gambling, so I probably don’t want to go back.”

“Seriously? You won?” Holly’s eyebrows rose. “I don’t think I’ve ever done that.”

Libby nodded. “Yes. I’d won before, but to me winning just meant not losing, as in I went home with the same twenty dollars I took to gamble with. So two thousand was great.”

“What did you do with it?” Arlie went back to eating.

Libby sighed blissfully. “I got a new stove. I’d been getting by on the two four-burner ones I bought used when I opened the tearoom ten years ago. They were okay for a long time, but I was down to two burners on one and three on the other, and one of the ovens wasn’t working right. If I had to bake for a party or got a double order from someone, I was in a mess.” She nodded at Gianna. “You know that—I borrowed your oven often enough. You need to come into the kitchen and see it before you leave. I feel like a kid at Christmas.”

All of the Gallagher women loved to cook, so they had to understand the feeling. “Well, then, you do need to find Tuck a good date. He earned at least one.” Holly chuckled. “I think he’s spent time with about everyone on the lake, though, except maybe Mollie and you and me. And don’t even think of asking me,” she warned. “That would be way too much like dating my brother.”

“I get that.” Libby took a moment to ponder offering her real brother up to Holly. That was a thought that deserved some serious consideration.

“I’ll say something to Meredith if you like,” Arlie offered. “She’s mentioned dating, but only in general, not specifically, so I don’t think there’s anybody special.”

“Thank you. Maybe you could have them for dinner at the same time? I’m always there for these introductions, and Tucker and I end up talking about high school basketball or constellations. The woman he’s supposed to be entertaining...er...isn’t entertained. I don’t go on actual dates, thank goodness, but I’m still in the way when they meet.” Libby smiled, although she didn’t feel quite as happy as she had a little while ago.

Arlie nodded. “We’ll do the dinner thing.”

“Thank you.” Libby looked around again. “I need to get back to work. Enjoy your lunch. The tea’s on me since I just drank half the pot.” She kissed Gianna’s cheek and waved at Arlie and Holly before going to refill coffee cups and teapots.

The day was busy. Even the little gift shop in the sunroom did a booming business, a good thing for the local vendors who stocked it with their creations.

Libby was more relieved than usual when she locked the doors at four o’clock. She wondered sometimes if she should consider staying open for evening hours all the time instead of just when a party booked the tearoom. The extra income might be nice, but since she’d have to give up baking for Anything Goes and the Silver Moon, she might lose money in the long run.

If she hurried, she could get a walk in before darkness fell. She wasn’t usually alone, since many of the lakers gathered to walk or ride bicycles in the evening, but she liked it best on the rare occasions that Tucker came. They didn’t walk together, since the group had the usual divisions—gender, age and interests—but they usually ended the walk with a glass or cup of something at Anything Goes.

He wasn’t around tonight, though. She walked half her normal route and turned to go back. “I’m just tired,” she said when some of the others expressed concern.

At home, she prepared dough for the morning. She loved baking, loved kneading and forming the dough, but her fatigued muscles burned a path of protest across her shoulder blades when she was done. The long shower she took afterward was like an answer to a prayer.

Dressed in pajamas and a robe, she carried a glass of wine and a book out to the enclosed porch off her living room. She settled into the wing chair that had been her mother’s and that Libby had reupholstered in soft teal corduroy. The porch was insulated and heated, with windows all around and a skylight in the ceiling. The enclosure had been a Christmas-and-birthday gift from Jesse and Tucker two years ago—the best present ever. She kept her telescope downstairs so it was easy to take outside, but she watched the sky up here, too. She was never alone as long as she could sit in a comfortable chair and see the stars and talk to Venus.

Elijah settled into her lap, bumping his head against the bottom of her book when she went too long without petting him. She relaxed, sipped her wine and thought about what a nice life she had. She had wonderful friends, a fairly successful business, a brother she loved and a nice cat. She dated sometimes when she wanted to or when the stars were aligned just so. She was happy. No, contented.

And sometimes she was lonely.

* * *

TUCKER LOVED TIME with his family. He loved coming to the Toe, Arlie’s house that sat on a skinny inlet of the lake called Gallagher’s Foot. However, coming here to meet a woman felt weird. And uncomfortable. Where was Libby? She was the one who’d arranged it—she should be here to pick up the pieces when it all fell apart. As it invariably did.

“Meredith is a nice girl. She has good kids and a neurotic poodle-mix puppy.” Arlie didn’t even look at Tucker. She was reading Charlie’s journal entries for eighth-grade English class. “Did you help with this?”

“No.” Tucker shot his nephew a scowl. “I offered, but he indicated he was likely better off without me.”

His future sister-in-law finished reading, initialed the pages and caught Charlie in a headlock so she could kiss his cheek loudly. “Good job!”

“With the journal or because I didn’t let Uncle Tuck help?”

She grinned at him. “Both, wise guy. Go tell your dad supper’s ready. Tucker, Meredith is walking up to the front door. Answer it and be on your best behavior. Got it?”

Charlie moved toward the stairway, walking backward. “Do I have to stay? You’re just going to talk about grown-up stuff, and Grandma Gi said I could come to her house. That way you could talk about me and it would at least be interesting.”

Jack came down the stairs, catching his son before he could trip over the bottom step in his reverse progress. “The kid has a point. Not that he’s interesting but, you know, we should let him go because we’d probably have more fun without him.”

Tucker hiked an eyebrow at Arlie. “And you’re worried about my behavior?” He opened the door, smiling a greeting. “You must be Meredith. Welcome to the Toe, where madness and dysfunction prevail.”

Man, she was...gorgeous. As in the drop-dead variety. Her hair was short and spiky, dark with purple tips. She was wearing a slim black skirt—Libby called them pencils or stovepipes or something—and a sweater the same color as her hair.

“I realize I look ridiculous—I should be wearing a coat,” she said. “February first on a lake in central Indiana calls for it, but the kids got a puppy, and she peed on it.”

“Don’t say you got a puppy in front of Charlie.” Tucker put his hands over his nephew’s ears. “He’ll think it’s a new trend.”