“The mayor,” Elizabeth whispered, leaning toward her. “Herb Trennant, did you know him?”
Zoey shook her head.
“I think he was in Arthur’s class,” Elizabeth continued and her husband raised a finger to his mouth to shush her. She made an impatient gesture back and returned her attention to the stage.
“I recall moving to Stoney Creek when I was ten and didn’t know a soul,” the mayor said. “A Boys and Girls Club back then would have made things a little easier,” he went on. “Moving to a new town can be a mighty lonely experience. Our own young people who grow up here could use a place like this, too, so be generous, folks! It’s for a good cause.”
The crowd clapped and the band struck up a Shania Twain tune, “Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?” and people began to take to the dance floor. The mayor’s words had struck a deep chord in Zoey. She remembered so well the feeling of being alone and new at school, a stranger in town. It had happened so many times. Youth could be highly overrated; she wouldn’t be fifteen again for anything.
“Dance, Lizzie?” Arthur bent gallantly over his wife’s hand. “You’re next, Becky,” he addressed his daughter with a grin and she giggled. “You, too, Zoey. You can get in line.”
At that moment, Zoey spotted Ryan Donnelly pushing through the crowd, headed toward their table. Her heart lodged in her throat. She’d just been thinking she wouldn’t be a teenager again—and here, standing practically in front of her, was one of the reasons.
“Lizzie!”
Elizabeth turned, still holding her husband’s hand.
“Yes? Oh, Ryan, I didn’t see you here.” Elizabeth shot a triumphant glance Zoey’s way.
Up close, Ryan was even handsomer than he was from a distance. His eyes, blue as the summer sky, were vivid and expressive. His hair, a rich tawny color, was neatly trimmed. He had on a dark blue shirt and black jeans, cowboy style.
“Hey, listen,” he said, with a warm glance at Zoey. “I saw you in the hotel.” He grinned, still the grin that could melt a girl’s bones. “Who’s your friend, Lizzie? Introduce me.”
Zoey wanted to sink into one of the cracks in the ancient wooden fold-up she was sitting on. Ryan Donnelly hadn’t recognized her in the restaurant! Had she changed that much? Or had she meant so little that he’d completely forgotten her in the ten years she’d been gone?
“Friend? You’re kidding, right?”
Ryan shook his head. He looked truly mystified. Arthur was grinning.
“For Pete’s sake, Ryan, that’s Zoey Phillips—don’t you remember Joey Phillips? You went out with her!”
CHAPTER TWO
RYAN STARED at Zoey. Her face, then the rest of her. Zoey felt her cheeks burn all the way down to her toes.
Then, with a shout of laughter, he pulled her into his arms. “So it is! Well, well. Man alive, little Joey Phillips!” And he kissed her—right on the mouth! Zoey nearly fell over, she was so surprised. “Welcome home, Joey. Welcome back to Stoney Creek. You stickin’ around for a while? I sure hope so. Man, have you turned into some kinda babe!”
“About a month,” Zoey said, her face still burning. Babe! “If I can find a place to stay, that is. They’re kicking me out of the hotel on Friday. By the way, I changed my name. Decided Zoey was a little more grown-up.” She knew she was babbling. Ryan’s greeting had totally unnerved her.
“No kidding!” Ryan’s gaze hadn’t shifted. He was giving her a look of admiration she’d rarely seen from him before. Certainly not directed at her. “Zoey. Zoey Phillips.”
He glanced around. Zoey noticed that the man and child who’d been with Ryan in the hotel restaurant had followed him to the table. “Hey! This is my brother’s little girl, Melissa. Lissy, we call her.” He patted the child on her head. “And this is my brother, Cameron. Cam? You remember the Phillips girls? Bunch of good-lookin’ redheads? Maybe you knew some of Zoey’s older sisters?”
The man she’d seen at the shoemaker’s nodded. He seemed a little out of sorts. Annoyed. The little girl with them immediately began chattering to the two Nugent girls.
“Hey, these seats taken?” Ryan addressed Arthur, who shrugged.
“Go ahead, Ry. Sit down. I was just going to dance with my wife. Give you and Zoey a chance to get reaquainted.” He winked at her. Honestly! He was as bad as Lizzie.
Ryan’s brother frowned. “I’ll go get us some drinks if we’re going to be parking ourselves here.” He didn’t exactly sound enthusiastic.
“Sure, sure!” Ryan pulled out a chair and sat down, reaching across the table to clasp Zoey’s hands, his blue gaze riveted on her. He was a toucher, all right. She remembered that from ten years ago. A very physical guy. She was still stunned, her heart beating a mile a minute. He hadn’t forgotten her; it was just that she’d changed so much—looked so good—he hadn’t recognized her.
Not in her wildest dreams had she—
“I can’t believe it! And now I hear Mary Ellen’s coming to town to spend some time with Edith.” Edith Owen was Mary Ellen’s stepmother, who was marrying her neighbor after many years as a widow.
“Yes. She’ll be here this week. I can hardly wait. Mary Ellen asked me to help with Edith’s wedding. That’s why I’m here, really.”
“You two used to be good friends, right?” He was so close Zoey could smell the warm, manly scent of his aftershave, faintly woodsy, faintly citrus, could see the tanned crinkles around his eyes. Ryan Donnelly had always smiled a lot. If anything, ten years suited him. He was definitely handsomer than she’d remembered. To think that she’d once dated him! Well…sort of.
“Best friends,” Zoey said, then added loyally, “Elizabeth, too. But Mary Ellen was the first person I met when we moved to Stoney Creek.”
“Well, son of a gun.” Ryan grinned. “We’ll have to get together, the three of us. We had some good times back then, didn’t we, babe?” Was he thinking of the kisses in the Rialto, as she was? Zoey nodded mutely, feeling every bit the gauche teenager she’d once been.
“Listen.” He squeezed her hand. “We’ll have to have a few dances, for old times’ sake, huh? I promised Lissy I’d dance with her first.” He glanced at the little blond girl with the china-blue eyes who was standing at the table, sharing a drink with Tessa. Arthur had brought lemonades for the children. Lissy’s father hadn’t returned yet. “Okay, honey?”
The “honey” was for his niece, Zoey realized after a split second. Then she was sitting alone at the table, with the two Nugent girls. Arthur and Elizabeth were dancing—somewhere, Zoey couldn’t see them on the crowded dance floor. Ryan had whirled off dramatically, his niece clinging to his neck, her short blond hair flying. The girl seemed to be about Tessa’s age, four or five.
“You okay here?” Ryan’s brother—what was his name again?—appeared at the table and put down two paper cups of beer and a can of Pepsi. This time he was accompanied by the blond woman who’d been at the Gold Dust Café earlier. He didn’t introduce her. Zoey nodded automatically, a little confused, and he headed immediately for the dance floor, hand-in-hand with the blonde. The band had segued into an old Hank Williams tune, a two-step.
Zoey watched Ryan’s brother put his arms around his partner, smile at her and start moving to the music. He was a decent dancer. Most cowboys were. He glanced back briefly and Zoey stared at the wall, avoiding eye contact. The wife? Must be. A nice-looking woman, wearing a green print dress. The type men usually went for—lots of hair and big boobs.
Zoey studied