Beth and the Bachelor

‘‘I appreciate the concern. Really. And I swear that Todd Graham was a perfect gentleman. He took me to a very exclusive restaurant.’’ Briefly Beth filled Jodi in on the details, including the lack of prices on the menu and offer of bone marrow flan as a side dish for her boeuf du jour.

‘‘That’s gross,’’ Jodi said, and shuddered.

‘‘Tell me about it. All I could think of was that whatever I ordered would be served on plate that had once held bone marrow flan. It made my stomach queasy.’’

‘‘But Todd was nice.’’

‘‘Very nice.’’

‘‘And you guys talked?’’

Beth thought for a second. ‘‘Actually we did, and that surprises me.’’

‘‘Was he having a good time?’’

‘‘I have no idea,’’ Beth said. ‘‘If I had to guess, I’d say yes. We got along.’’

‘‘So why did he let you leave early?’’

Beth sprang to her feet. ‘‘Gee, I wonder if the bread is ready yet?’’

‘‘Mom?’’

Beth hurried to the bread machine. Darn. There were nearly twenty minutes left on the timer. Maybe if she—

‘‘Mom? Why do you have that funny look on your face? What are you hiding?’’

Exposed by her own child. Beth wondered how she was going to talk her way out of this one. Then she reminded herself that she was the adult in the relationship.

‘‘I’m not hiding anything. Todd didn’t say anything about me leaving because I didn’t give him the chance. I excused myself and sent a note to the table.’’

Silence.

Beth cursed herself for raising children who had opinions and were allowed to voice them as long as they were polite and respectful.

‘‘You left him alone at the table and took off?’’

She turned to face her daughter, took one look at Jodi’s outraged face and wished she hadn’t. ‘‘You make it sound awful. It wasn’t like that.’’

‘‘How was it different from what I’m saying?’’

‘‘I’m sure Todd was relieved to have me gone. I’m not his type. He dates women closer to your age than mine.’’

‘‘But you were on a date, Mom. If Matt or I tried to do something like that, you would ground us for a month.’’

Beth tried to ignore the fact that her daughter was right, just like she’d tried to ignore her own guilt from the night before. ‘‘I had my reasons. I…’’ Her voice trailed off. She returned to the table, sank into her chair and buried her face in her hands. ‘‘Oh, Jodi, you’re right. It was a slimy thing to do and I know better.’’ She raised her head. ‘‘I just couldn’t stand it. The restaurant was so upscale. I felt like some hick from who-knows-where. The women Todd dates appear in the society pages. I didn’t fit in.’’

Jodi still looked shocked, which made Beth feel worse. She hated disappointing her children, not to mention setting a really crummy example for decent behavior.

‘‘I was in the wrong and I’ll apologize,’’ she said quickly. ‘‘I already did in the note, but on Monday morning I’ll arrange to have flowers sent to his office.’’

Jodi’s gaze turned speculative. ‘‘What was he like?’’

‘‘Different than I’d imagined. Nice and charming. I thought he would make me feel that he was hating every minute of the date, but he didn’t.’’ She remembered his teasing comments that he was the expert at dating and that she should let him give her advice. ‘‘He went out of his way to make me feel comfortable with what was obviously an awkward situation for both of us.’’

‘‘So you liked him.’’

Beth smiled at her daughter. ‘‘Don’t even go there. I thought he was a pleasant man, and that was unexpected.

I liked him the way I would like an acquaintance, not the way you would like a boy at school.’’

Jodi grinned. ‘‘Sure, Mom.’’ She stood up. ‘‘I’m going to shower. Can you finish the cinnamon rolls?’’

‘‘Not a problem.’’

When her daughter had left the room, Beth stared out the window at her backyard. But instead of seeing the hedges, plants and grass, she saw Todd’s face. He was a good-looking man with nearly perfect features. His dark blond hair had been conservatively cut, barely brushing the back of his collar. Cool blue-gray eyes added to his air of mystery. He’d had a straight nose, firm mouth and a body that filled out his clothes in a very nice way. Either he had the best set of genes this side of the Mississippi or he worked out regularly.

Jodi’s comment still echoed in the quiet of the morning. So you liked him.

Was that the problem? Had she left her date early because she’d found herself interested in the man? Beth didn’t want to think that was possible. Surely she wasn’t such a coward. But she had an uncomfortable feeling that was exactly what had gone wrong. If she found him charming and attractive, what was not to like? She wasn’t in a position to get involved with anyone—not that Todd would want to get involved with her. She also wasn’t interested in getting hurt. She was thirty-eight years old and she had a bad feeling that like everything else in her body, her heart would take a lot longer to heal than it had at sixteen.

‘‘I did the right thing,’’ Beth said aloud. Leaving him like that had been tacky, but getting out of the situation had been exactly right.

She walked to the front door and opened it. Her newspaper lay on the step. She glanced at the house across the street and for once was grateful that Cindy and Mike were gone for the weekend. At least she had a couple of days reprieve until she had to tell her best friend about her evening. She didn’t want to think about Cindy’s response or how Mike would laugh when his wife confessed Beth’s transgressions.

As Beth brought the newspaper inside, the bread machine chimed to let her know it had finished. Upstairs she heard Matt stirring and the running water of Jodi’s shower. Her morning was already underway.

She wouldn’t think about Todd any more today, she told herself. First thing Monday, after the traffic died down, she would drive into the city and find a florist close to his office. She would have them deliver a personal note of apology along with a bouquet of flowers and then she would put the whole thing behind her.

* * *

The scent of roses filled his office. Todd stood staring at the large spray of flowers sitting on his credenza. He’d sent hundreds of flowers over the years but this was the first time he could remember a woman sending them to him.

There was a greeting-card-sized envelope tucked in the greens instead of the usual small florist’s card. He recognized the handwriting—after all, he’d spent much of the weekend reading and rereading the note Beth Davis had left him when she’d walked out on their date. So she’d delivered the note herself to—he checked the address on the delivery notice—a florist just down the street.That was a lot of work for a woman who had stood him up less than seventy-two hours before.

He opened the card and scanned the contents. It was all a repeat of what she’d written on Friday night. That she was sorry to have left without saying goodbye. She appreciated his kindness and hoped he would understand why the situation had been so difficult for her.

‘‘Actually, I don’t understand,’’ he said aloud as he walked to his desk and settled into his leather chair.

She’d walked out on him. Todd still couldn’t believe that had actually happened. He liked to think that while he had a healthy self-esteem, his ego wasn’t overly inflated. But facts were facts. She was some middle-aged woman from the suburbs and he was a rich, single man. Women threw themselves at him, fawned over him and generally made it clear that he could have them whenever and wherever it was convenient. How could she have left their date early?

He told himself to let it go. She and the circumstances didn’t matter. Except he couldn’t think about anything else. Although he’d expected to be bored out of his mind, he’d actually enjoyed talking with her. She’d been nervous, obviously freshly divorced and completely out of her league, but she’d charmed him. He liked that she wasn’t impressed by him. Her being unsure of the situation had been because of her inexperience, not his reputation. Her honesty had startled him, but he’d enjoyed knowing she would say what she thought, not what he wanted to hear.

His phone buzzed. ‘‘Mr. Graham, the marketing team is ready for you.’’

He pushed a button and spoke. ‘‘I’ll be right there.’’

He rose from his seat and crossed to the door. Beth Davis had occupied more than her share of his time. His marketing meeting was scheduled to last all afternoon. When it was over, he would give the flowers to his secretary, toss both notes and never think about Beth again. Maybe he needed to get away for a few days. New York? It was April, the weather could be beautiful there. Or even Paris. He could call up one of his on-again off-again companions and make a mini-vacation of it. He would make up his mind when he left the meeting.