A Perfect Homecoming

They shared a chuckle and Tom asked, “What brings you back to town? Not enough happening in Richmond?”

She smiled, surprisingly relaxed as she told him about Paula’s condition. “And now I’m also filling in for Stan Mitchell until he’s ready to come back to work after his heart surgery.”

“What?” Tom’s eyes widened. “I met with Kyle earlier and he never mentioned any of that.” He checked the time on his watch.

Ashleigh wasn’t surprised that Kyle hadn’t talked about her being in town. After all, he didn’t want her here in the first place.

“You had a meeting with him?” she asked. Tom was the hospital lawyer. Could their meeting have been about Kyle’s lawsuit?

Tom checked his watch again, as if he’d forgotten what time it was a few seconds ago. “I did.” He sounded rushed all of a sudden. “Ashleigh, I have a meeting in ten minutes that I’m probably going to be late for.” He cocked his head. “How about lunch tomorrow?”

Ashleigh didn’t hesitate. “Name the time and place.” Tomorrow was Saturday, which meant drop-in morning hours at her office, but then she was free. She’d discharged both of her hospital patients, so as of right now she had no hospital rounds to perform. “Maybe a late lunch since I have to work in the morning?” She recalled times when her waiting room was filled with sick children and she hadn’t finished seeing them until midafternoon. Hopefully tomorrow wouldn’t be one of those days.

“One o’clock at The Tavern?” he suggested.

“Perfect.” She smiled, then gave him a quick hug. “Thank you,” she whispered close to his ear.

Puzzlement clouded his eyes when he asked, “What for?”

She shrugged, a little embarrassed. “I haven’t gotten what you’d call a warm reception since I’ve been back, so I appreciate that you actually want to spend time with me.”

“Of course I do.” He rubbed her upper arms in a friendly gesture of support. “I could never take sides between you and Kyle. You know that.”

She did know that. She’d been friends with Tom since they were kids, neighbors on the same street.

“I can’t imagine not being friends with either of you,” Tom added. “In fact, I’d love to get your opinion on something at lunch tomorrow.”

Ashleigh’s throat tightened at his sincerity. “Of course. You know our friendship goes both ways.” She’d worried about him after Theresa broke their engagement. Hopefully, enough time had passed and he’d gone on with his life.

“I know.” He glanced at his watch a third time. “Gotta run.” He took a few hurried steps away from her and waved. “See you tomorrow.”

“Looking forward to it.” She spoke loudly enough for him to hear it down the hallway.

She slowly followed in his path as she made her way down to the first floor and her car. Getting to her sister’s for more bickering wasn’t appealing in the least, so why rush the inevitable?

“Paula’s napping,” Emma told Ashleigh when she got home. “The boys are in the basement playing video games. I thought it would be okay since there’s no school tomorrow,” she added quickly as she gathered her long brown hair into a ponytail.

“I’m sure that’s fine.” Ashleigh smiled. “I’ll take the blame if there’s a problem.”

“I’m also supposed to tell you that Dr. Jennings will be here for dinner.”

Ashleigh’s eyebrows rose. Had Paula invited him? Before or after they ran into each other at the hospital? He never mentioned it, not that they’d had an in-depth conversation.

After Emma left, Ashleigh inventoried the food and checked on the boys so they knew she was there.

“What should I heat up for dinner, guys?” She recited the list and one wanted spaghetti and the other wanted hot dogs, which she’d never even mentioned. “Tell you what. I’ll ask your mom and Uncle Kyle what they want and we’ll see which meal gets the most votes.”

They both cheered. What was it with boys always making things a competition?

She returned to the kitchen, preheated the oven and put together a salad before checking on Paula again.

“You’re awake.” Ashleigh felt ridiculous after voicing the obvious.

Paula looked up from the magazine she was thumbing through.

When Paula simply stared at her, Ashleigh continued. “I told the boys I’d take a vote on dinner, but I’ll make whatever sounds good to you.” Again she recited the growing list of food Paula’s neighbors and friends had been bringing by, and she realized how well-liked her sister was in the community. “I already made a salad to go with whatever you choose.”

“Spaghetti sounds good,” Paula said. “There should be a frozen loaf of garlic bread in the freezer that we can throw in the oven, too.”

Ashleigh turned to leave.

“Ashleigh?”

She faced Paula.

“I invited Kyle to come for dinner.” Paula’s complexion deepened.

“I know, Emma told me.” Ashleigh couldn’t stop from asking, “When did you invite him?”

“Right after lunch. He came to take my blood pressure. Why?”

“Because he didn’t say anything when I ran into him at the hospital.”

Paula scratched her head. “I wonder why.”

Ashleigh shrugged. “My theory is he’s trying not to cause problems between any of us.”

“Yeah, that’s probably it.” Paula essentially dismissed her by turning her attention back to her magazine and muttering, “But so far he hasn’t done a very good job of it.”

* * *

“WHY DON’T YOU invite your friend over, Uncle Kyle?” Ryan asked in the middle of dinner. “She was a lot of fun when she came to my game.”

Kyle nearly choked on his mouthful of spaghetti. He must mean Theresa. Dinner had been civil so far, with the conversation centered on his nephews—he intended to keep it that way.

Kyle held up one finger, swallowing his food before speaking, which gave him a moment to think. How could he explain why the woman who used to be engaged to his best friend was now pretending to spend time with him?

He glanced at Ashleigh before answering. She appeared to be patiently awaiting his reply. “I don’t know. Maybe we can call Theresa and see if she wants to do something with us.”

What the hell! Why had he said that?

“Yay!” Ryan cheered, while Paula’s eyebrows rose in surprise and Ashleigh turned pale.

He caught Paula’s eye over the table and winced. She didn’t approve of what he was doing—heck, he didn’t even have a reasonable explanation to satisfy himself.

“Excuse me.” Ashleigh rose, her skin still pale.

“Ashleigh?” Kyle stood without thinking, ready to do whatever necessary to make her feel better, including confessing that there was nothing going on between Theresa and him. They’d innocently met several times about the charitable organization he was forming, but it instantly revved the rumor mill into a frenzy. Theresa then decided she might as well use the situation to make Tom jealous.