Unfinished Business

Tucker—and that automatically labels me an adult.” He skewered a hot dog. “It’s hell growing up.”
    “Being dignified,” she added as he popped it into a bun and slathered on mustard.
    “Setting an example for the younger generation. Say ‘ah,’” he told her, then shoved the hot dog in her mouth.
    She chewed and swallowed in self-defense. “Maintaining a certain decorum.”
    “Yeah. You’ve got mustard on your mouth. Here.” He grabbed her hand before she could wipe it off. “I’ll take care of it.” He leaned down and slid the tip of his tongue over the corner of her mouth. “Very tasty,” he decided, then nipped lightly at her bottom lip.
    “You’re going to burn your burgers,” she murmured.
    “Quiet. I’m setting an example for the younger generation.”
    Even as she chuckled, he covered her mouth fully with his, lengthening the kiss, deepening it, drawing it out, until she forgot she was surrounded by people. And so did he.
    When he released her, she lifted a hand to her spinning head and tried to find her voice.
    “Just like old times,” someone shouted.
    “Better,” Brady said quietly, and would have pulled her close again, but for a tap on his shoulder.
    “Let that girl go and behave yourself, Brady Tucker.” Violet Driscoll shook her head at the pair of them. “You’ve got hungry people here. If you want to smooch with your girl, you just wait till later.”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    “Never had a lick of sense.” She winked at Vanessa as she started back to the shade. “But he’s a handsome so-and-so.”
    “She’s right.” Vanessa tossed back her hair.
    “I’m a handsome so-and-so?”
    “No, you’ve never had a lick of sense.”
    “Hey!” he called after her. “Where are you going?”
    Vanessa shot him a long, teasing look over her shoulder and kept walking.
    It was like old times, Vanessa thought as she stopped to talk to high school friends and watched children race and shout and gobble down food. Faces had aged, babies had been born, but the mood was the same. There was the smell of good food, the sounds of laughter and of a cranky baby being lulled to sleep. She heard arguments over the Orioles’ chances for a pennant this year, talk about summer plans and gardening tips.

    She could smell the early roses blooming and see the tangle of morning glories on the trellis next door.
    When Brady found her again, she was sitting on the grass with Lara.
    “What’re you doing?”
    “Playing with my niece.” They both lifted their heads to smile at him.
    Something shifted inside him. Something fast and unexpected. And something inevitable, he realized. Seeing her smiling up at him, a child’s head on her shoulder, sunlight pouring over her skin. How could he have known he’d been waiting, almost his entire life, for a moment like this? But the child should be his, he thought. Vanessa and the child should be his.
    “Is something wrong?” she asked.
    “No.” He brought himself back with a long, steadying breath. “Why?”
    “The way you were staring at me.”
    He sat beside her, touched a hand to her hair. “I’m still in love with you, Vanessa. And I don’t know what the hell to do about it.”
    She stared. Even if she could have latched on to the dozens of emotions swirling through her, she couldn’t have put any into words. It wasn’t a boy she was looking at now. He was a man, and what he had spoken had been said deliberately. Now he was waiting for her to move, toward him or away. But she couldn’t move at all.
    Lara bounced in her lap and squealed, shattering the silence. “Brady, I—”
    “There you are.” Joanie dropped down beside them. “Whoops,” she said as the tension got through to her. “I’m sorry. I guess it’s bad timing.”

    “Go away, Joanie,” Brady told her. “Far away.”
    “I’d already be gone, since you’ve asked so nicely, but the limo’s here. People are already heading around front to stare at it. I think it’s time to see the newlyweds off.”
    “You’re right.” Almost using Lara as a shield, Vanessa scrambled to her feet. “We don’t want them to miss their plane.” She braced herself and looked at Brady again. “You’ve got the tickets?”
    “Yeah, I got them.” Before she could skirt around him, he cupped her chin in his hand. “We’ve still got unfinished business, Van.”
    “I know.” She was grateful her voice could sound so calm when her insides were knotted. “Like Joanie said,