Thomas stood on the doorstep of Mandy’s new house holding flowers for her. He checked his phone again to make sure that he’d gotten the right time when another text came in.
Sorry! Coming! I’d offer to have you come inside and sit down but I have no couches. Be right there.
Thomas chuckled and leaned against the railing on the porch. He knew all too well what it was like to get lost in work. He’d done the same thing and was relieved when she said she’d be later than they’d planned.
A few minutes later, Mandy opened the door and Thomas just stood there. She was dressed in a long-sleeved dress that hugged her curves. Her hair was pulled up and her makeup was light.
“Sorry again. I lost track of time.” Mandy pulled on a pair of designer boots and grabbed a thick fur coat. “Ready?”
“You’re already moved in?” Thomas asked in surprise.
Mandy grabbed her keys. “Sort of. I have everything except a couple of things from Laura’s house. Esther’s boys came and helped move the rest of her stuff out of here.”
Thomas hadn’t ever met them, but he’d heard stories of how they’d been wild in high school and then went on to be successful businessmen. They just didn’t care to come home and visit their mom.
“That’s great. When is the rest of your stuff supposed to get here?” Thomas pulled the door shut behind her and they walked to the truck.
“That’s a good question. I’ll have to call in the morning.” Mandy climbed in.
Thomas drove them to the small diner in town. He waved at Jamie, the woman who owned the diner. She came over, grinning.
“Hey, it’s Mandy, right? I haven’t seen you here for a while.” Jamie handed them their menus.
“But you’ll be seeing a lot of her now.” Thomas put an arm around Mandy. “She just moved here from New York.”
Jamie glanced between. “Wait. Are you the one who’s opening the clothing shop?”
“Yes.” Mandy turned to Thomas. “Seriously. How does everyone know that?”
“I gave up trying to figure that out a long time ago.” Thomas took a seat near the back of the diner and opened the menu.
Mandy put a hand on his menu. “No. I really want to know. Who’s been telling people about my store?”
Thomas shook his head. “I don’t know. I really don’t. Rachel would never say anything, and neither would Laura or Justin. And you know I wouldn’t. Maybe it was one of the contractors working on the store?”
“Maybe.” Mandy moved her hand and opened her own menu. She was quieter than usual after they ordered their food. “Do you think I’m crazy to open this here?”
“No.” Thomas leaned forward. “What’s going on? Did someone say something to hurt you?”
Mandy stared down at the menu for a moment before finally telling him what had been said that morning. It made his blood boil to know that someone could be so rude.
“You don’t know who it was?” Thomas clenched his jaw.
“No, I didn’t want to turn and look.” Mandy froze. “They’re here. Well, one of them is.”
Thomas looked around the diner. There were a few families there. “Where?”
“Behind me. I recognize her voice.”
When Thomas saw who it was, he rolled his eyes. “Figures. She knows more gossip in this town than anyone I’ve ever met. If it was her saying those things, I wouldn’t let it get to you. It’s more than likely that she bugged the contractors until they told her everything they knew. I’ll take care of it.”
Mandy jumped. “No. Please no. You already said it doesn’t matter.”
“It doesn’t, but she needs to stop anyway.” Thomas was tired of the small town gossip. It was the one thing that he could live without.
“It’s fine. Besides, I can just prove her wrong by putting this town on the map with my designs.” Mandy grinned.
Thomas took her hand and squeezed it. “I have no doubt you’ll do exactly that.”
Mandy dug into her biscuits and gravy and Thomas took a bite of his burger. The only one who could make a better burger than Mrs. Poulton was Jamie—but he’d never admit that to anyone. Not if he wanted to keep his job.
When they stood to leave, Thomas tried to lead Mandy away from Sherry, but she stopped and purposely walked past. Thomas groaned inwardly. He knew where this was going. Why’d Mandy have to be such a firecracker?
“Oh, Thomas, how nice to see you. I hear you’re building a ranch of your own out near Cottonwood Ranch.”
“Yes, ma’am. Although the weather is making it rather difficult.” Thomas took Mandy’s hand. “We’ll see you later.”
Sherry caught the motion and her eyes lit up. “And who is this beauty? I didn’t know you were dating someone.”
“This is Mandy. She’s been here a few times before.” Thomas saw Mandy open her mouth and he continued. “She’s moving here from New York City.”
“Yes, I’ll be opening up a cute little shop just down the road from here. I’m so excited.”
Okay, that was enough. Thomas waved and steered Mandy out of the diner and to the truck. It wasn’t until both doors were shut that he finally let out the laughter that he’d been holding in the whole time.
“Did you really have to do that?” He wiped his eyes.
“Are you kidding? If I hadn’t, we would have missed that priceless expression when she put two and two together.” Mandy held her stomach as she laughed. “I’m sorry. It shouldn’t be this funny.”
Thomas started the pickup. “Oh, but it was. Hopefully that will be the end of the gossip.”
Mandy coughed out one more laugh before her face grew serious. “Do you really think it will? Or did I make it worse?”
“I’m one of her favorite people. She tries to set me up with her nieces all the time. One glare from me and she should stay quiet.” Thomas pulled up to the house and frowned. “Were you expecting company?”
Mandy’s eyes grew wide. “No.”
“Do we need to call the police? Maybe we should change the locks just to be sure.” Thomas picked up his phone, but she shook her head.
“They’re my parents.”
The room had an icy cold feel to it, and there was no way that Thomas wanted to leave Mandy alone in there. But when her dad demanded that he leave so they could talk, he didn’t argue. They spoke in low voices so that Thomas wouldn’t hear, but Mandy would speak loud enough that Thomas could at least hear her side.
“I’m sorry you came all the way here. Everything is fine.” Mandy’s voice was pleading. “Dad, you told me you were okay with this.”
“Your father made a mistake.” Her mom’s voice carried through the house. “You will come with us tonight. We have a flight in the morning. We can ship the rest of the stuff then.”
Mandy laughed. “I’m not sixteen anymore, Mom. I have a job—or I will once the building is done. I have friends here. I have this house. You can’t just take me away.”
“You may not be sixteen, but you’re certainly acting like it. Charles, tell her she’s coming.”
“Dad. Don’t.” Mandy’s voice was harder than Thomas had ever heard it.
“Natalie, I think we need to talk about this.”
Thomas set down the glass unicorn figurine he’d been holding and took a step toward the room. They weren’t taking her away from him. Not when he’d just gotten her back.
“Charles.” Natalie’s voice rose.
Thomas strode into the room and put an arm around Mandy. “She’s not leaving.”
“Thomas it’s okay. I’ve got this.” Mandy stepped away. “I’m not leaving. I have commitments here that I can’t walk away from.”
Charles turned toward Natalie. “She’s right, honey. She already signed contracts on the business and this house.”
“Contracts can be broken.” Natalie stuck her chin up in the air. “Charles, bring our things in. We will stay here tonight in this . . . house and leave in the morning.”
That was it. He had to do something. Now.
“Wow, they really are just like my parents.” Thomas looked down at Mandy. “They’d fit right in at the Hamptons.”
Mandy’s eyes widened. Thomas’s heart beat rapidly. It was a dangerous game he was about to play, but it was his last shot. He just hoped Mandy would go with it. Thomas noted that Natalie had paused at the door.
“Hamptons?” She glanced between them. “What is he talking about, Amanda?”
Mandy squared her shoulders. “I didn’t tell you that, Mother? Thomas’s family lives in the Hamptons. He moved here with his uncle in high school, but goes back to visit them for the holidays.”
That last part was a lie, but they didn’t have to know that. Yet. Thomas watched her reaction to see if they needed to push it farther. Her mom was caving slowly, but the look she still gave him . . .
“Yes, in fact, I’d planned to take her there this Christmas. As my wife.” Where had those last three words come from? He’d told Mandy he wasn’t going to propose for a while. And now this.
“Is this true, Amanda?” She glanced down at Mandy’s hand as if expecting a ring.
Mandy tucked her hand into her dress. “Yes. We’ve known each other for years, so when we ran into each other, we knew there was no point in waiting. It was so unexpected that Thomas hadn’t had a chance to ask Dad for permission yet.”
Smooth. But Thomas was still reeling inside. There had to be a way to back out of this without losing face in front of her parents, right? Probably not. And it wasn’t like he didn’t want to marry her. That had been in the plans since the moment he realized it was her he’d saved from the bus in Indianapolis. And when she’d suddenly shown up at the convention the next day.
Mandy’s mom dropped her hand from the doorknob and she folded her arms. “What is Mandy’s favorite color?”
What? Thomas felt Mandy stiffen next to him, and he knew he’d better get the answer right. He thought for a moment, but then it hit him. No matter what pattern or style she wore, there was always one color present. “It’s red.”
“What instrument did she play in high school?”
Thomas had no idea. “She danced, not played an instrument.”
Her mom smirked. “Trick question. Well done. Mandy’s favorite meal.”
“Biscuits and gravy. They remind her of her grandma who died when she was twelve.” He’d heard enough of the story at the diner when they’d first eaten there. She just didn’t know it at the time.
“Clever boy. And last one. Her favorite designer.”
Not Walker Apparel. That was too easy. He had no idea what her mom did and by the look of her clothes, she didn’t design them. “She doesn’t have one. She prefers to create her own.”
Thomas felt Mandy relax in his arms. That was a total guess, but she’d always seemed to do her own thing as far as clothes went, and she was building her own shop. He just hoped he was right.
Mandy’s mom held a hand out for Thomas to take. “You may call me Natalie. Now, we must find somewhere that’s open for a wedding as soon as possible or you will be out of luck. I assume you’ll have another reception in the Hamptons at Christmas?”
“Uh, sure?” Thomas’s parents were going to flip when they found out he was having a wedding reception there. His mom would go as crazy as Mandy’s mom.
Mandy stepped toward her parents. “Hey, we can do this in the morning. Why don’t you two grab your things and I’ll find a place for you to sleep?”
“Very well. But no sleeping in. We have too much to do in too little time.” And for the first time since Thomas met Mandy’s parents, Natalie smiled.
They left the house and Mandy turned to Thomas, her hands on her face. “What are we going to do?”
“I don’t know.” Thomas took her by the shoulders. “We talked about this earlier today and both of us said we weren’t ready. I’m still at that point. What about you?”
Mandy covered her face with her hands. “I don’t know, I don’t know. I mean, we both knew it was going to happen. Just . . . not like this.”
Thomas tipped her chin until she met his eyes. “Mandy, I know it’s the day after I first officially kissed you, but we’ve known each other for two years. We’ve set up our friends, I’ve saved you from a bus . . . I don’t know that there’s much more for us to do. Will you marry me?”
Mandy searched his eyes for a moment before finally nodding. “Yes.”
Thomas bent down and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him back. It wasn’t until they heard the door open that they pulled away. Mandy pointed to her lips and Thomas quickly wiped his to get the lipstick off.
Natalie laughed and swatted her husband’s shoulder. “Look at that, sweetie. They act as if we’ve never seen a kiss before.”
Mandy’s face turned almost as red as her lipstick. “Your room is upstairs. Come on. Thomas, Justin and Laura have an inflatable mattress downstairs that I was sleeping on. Can you grab it really quick?”
Thomas nodded and left the house in a daze. Things had happened so fast that he wasn’t even sure what was going on. It took three tries to get the code right on Justin’s garage before he was able to get inside. He took the steps down to the basement two at a time and found the mattress Mandy had been talking about. While that one deflated, he looked around for some sheets and blankets and found another mattress for Mandy. He laid everything inside one of the quilts and wrapped it up to make it easier to carry back to the truck. He’d have to remember to tell Justin that he’d taken them.
Mandy answered the door when Thomas got back, and she closed the door behind her. “I want to ask you one more time if you’re okay with this rather quick turn of events.”
He brushed the hair away from her face. “We met because you and Laura spun a globe and ended up here. Whirlwind is just how you do things. And I’m more than happy to be a part of the craziness.”
“Good answer.” She reached up and kissed him on the cheek. “Come on. Mom and Dad are upstairs.”
Thomas helped get everything set up before he bowed out and headed back toward the ranch. Between the Poultons, his parents, and Justin, Thomas had a lot of explaining to do the next morning.