“What are you doing now?” Natalie asked.
“Well, I was doing some photography.”
M.B. leaned closer. “Where? What kind of photography?”
“I went to Venice and then around Europe a bit. I came back to Savannah and New Orleans,” Zach smiled at the memory. “Shot some great stuff.”
M.B. and Ian laughed. “It's easy to see how you two found so much in common,” Ian said to Jen. She flicked a lethal look at Zach, but still didn't say anything.
“Jen has waited tables in twenty-eight countries,” M.B. supplied with some pride.
Zach tried to not look shocked. That Jen had a wanderlust to match his own seemed to be something he should have known already. “That many?” he asked her.
Jen met his gaze, her expression sober. “Only sixteen, really, but who's counting?” She shrugged. “I couldn't decide on a major, so I bought a plane ticket instead of paying my tuition.”
Zach stared at her in awe, trying to hide his response. No wonder he felt such a strong connection with her.
“And traveled far and wide,” Natalie said with satisfaction. “I've always believed that backpacking around the world was the best way to both learn about the planet and to find oneself.”
“Absolutely,” Zach agreed.
“I doubt you travel student class,” Gerry said to Zach.
“Actually, I walk a lot,” Zach admitted. “I'm more likely to snag a good shot that way.”
“And here I'd thought you were a Club Med kind of guy,” Jen said.
“But instead, he's environmentally responsible,” M.B. said with a nod. “Bonus.” Jen didn't look very pleased with this bonus. “You know, Zach, I'd love to see some of your work. I teach high school art, which doesn't mean I'm an expert by any means, but photography has always been something I admire.”
“It would be great to have another opinion,” Zach said, surprised by how easily the words came.
“New Orleans is some place,” Pluto said with approval. The mood was changing around the table, Zach could sense it. They were starting to side with him, and he was determined to win them over even if he couldn't understand it. Quitting law school and going to Europe to take pictures had, after all, almost gotten him disinherited from his family.
Strangely enough, Jen had done something similar but her family approved. That was a bit weird, but he thought he could navigate this meal with the information at hand. He stuck with a safe and popular subject.
“New Orleans is a great place, unique in America,” he said with enthusiasm. “All that wrought iron and old architecture, misty mornings, great coffee. The history is incredible...”
“There was money there before the Civil War,” Gran said. “From the cotton trade. It was the biggest city in the colonies.”
“Due to slavery and the exploitation of people who had no choice,” Gerry interjected.
“True,” Zach agreed. “It's not a part of our history to be proud of. New Orleans itself, though, has this artistic mood, this
joie de vivre
that's very seductive.”
“We should go there,” Cin said, giving Ian a nudge. “You could use some
joie de vivre.”
“Not in hurricane season,” he said grimly. “I'm not much for snow, but you can shovel it out of your way and it doesn't destroy your house.”
“See what I mean?” Cin said in an undertone.
“You should go for Mardi Gras,” Zach said, always ready to convert another potential traveler. Jen, he noticed, was watching him warily. “That's what I did and I ended up staying afterward. I just couldn't get enough of it. You know, I'd probably still be there if I hadn't gotten busted...”
This wasn't strictly true. Zach had come home because his father had died and he'd been executor, but in his haste to keep that truth from ruining a social occasion, he made a blunder.
He knew as soon as he'd said the word.
“Busted?” Gran echoed sharply.
They all stared at him in silence.
“You mean, as in
arrested
?” Pluto asked.
“Well, yes,” Zach admitted.
Jen chewed vigorously but her expression was benign. Or controlled. Zach met her gaze and her eyes widened slightly. It was as if she was daring him to dig his way out of this.
And there was a hard light in her eyes, as if she disapproved more than anyone else.
Zach was suddenly aware that he'd made a tactical error.
“You were arrested in New Orleans, man?” Pluto asked with a laugh. “Is there anything illegal in that place?”
“Busted in the big easy,” Gerry said with relish. “Now, there's a story.”
To Zach's surprise, they were interested, and not particularly condemning. He glanced to Jen who had developed a fascination with her stuffing and gravy. She looked grim and he understood that he was on his own. “Well, it was different from being arrested here, that's for sure...” he acknowledged.
“You've been arrested more than once?” Natalie demanded.
“Well, several times over the years...” he acknowledged but got no further before Jen put down her cutlery with purpose.
“Excuse us, please?” she said, interrupting Zach's story.
She didn't give anyone a chance to argue, just seized Zach by the elbow and hauled him from the table. She was stronger than she looked and her eyes were flashing with fury. Jen pulled him into the kitchen and slammed the swing door behind them.
One look at her face and Zach knew he'd made a mistake so big that there might not be a way to fix it.
* * *
“What are you doing?” Jen demanded. She gestured in the direction of the dining room. “What was that? How is it that you forgot to mention to me that you were in jail? More than once?”
Zach tried to talk his way out of a corner. “Well, it's not exactly something that comes up in everyday conversation, you know...”
“Bull! You knew I was asking you here to meet my family. It wouldn't have taken a rocket scientist to either guess that jail time served might be an important detail to share beforehand. You could have at least shut up about it at the dinner table.”
“Sorry, it kind of slipped out.”
“I guess that can happen, when you routinely spend time in the slammer. It just crops up, like all the other routine details of your life...”
Zach snapped his fingers. “Wait a minute. The guys were giving me a hard time about it at Mulligan's on the day we met. You must have heard them.”
“I thought they were just teasing you,” Jen's expression didn't soften. “I thought they'd played a joke on you. I didn't think that you were a career felon.”
“I'm not.”
“You just get busted all the time?” She folded her arms across her chest. “There's a credential.”
“Look, I'm sorry. I just got talking and forgot myself.” Zach was not going to tell her the real reason he messed up. He was not going to think about his father, not now. “It'll blow over. This kind of stuff does...”
“Not in my family.”
“We'll go back in there and the conversation will have moved on...”
“I don't think so.” Jen pinched the bridge of her nose, looking suddenly a lot more like her grandmother. “I can't believe this is happening.”
“I think it will be okay,” Zach said, trying to console her. “I think I can talk my way through it. They seem to be pretty understanding about it all.”
She gave him a cold look. “That's exactly what I'm worried about.” It wasn't the first thing someone had said since his arrival here today that Zach hadn't understood, so he let it go. Jen was leaving anyway, her hand already on the swing door.
“Wait a minute,” he said. “Let me ask you a couple of things so I don't mess up again.”
She paused, her expression wary. “Things like what?”
“Is Gerry your father?”
Something that might have been a smile touched Jen's lips then was banished forevermore. “If ever I needed proof that there is a God and She loves me, the fact that Gerry is not my father would be it.”
“Then where is your father?”
“I forget. Baja California or Alaska. Maybe Bali.”
Zach couldn't believe that she was as indifferent as she appeared. “Don't you see him?”
“No. The last time was in 1987, I think.”
“But...”
“It doesn't matter, Zach. He might technically be my father, but he's never done much beyond that initial burst of enthusiasm.”
Zach could see that it really didn't matter to her, even though he had a hard time understanding that. “Then he's not the father of all of you?”
“No. And â” she held up a finger “âI'll anticipate your next question here. Gerry is not the father of any of us. He's a recent addition. In fact, we all have different fathers.”
Zach decided to guess. “None of whom are present and accounted for?”
“Exactly.” Jen leaned in the door frame. “That's why we have different surnames.”
“And your mother...”
“Decided to stick with her maiden name after her second divorce.”
“That sounds as if she had more than two.”
“A third, from my father.” There was a definite twinkle in Jen's eyes. “She liked to be married when she was pregnant, although she calls it a concession to paternalism.”
Zach tried to fold his mind around this family history without turning his brain into origami and failed. At least he managed to keep his expression neutral. “One last question. Did I hear your brother's name right? It's Pluto?”
“That's right.”
“And that was his given name?
Pluto
?” Zach asked. The corner of Jen's lips was tugging upward, although she was fighting the impulse to smile. “I'll guess not Pluto after the Disney character.”
“Nope.” Jen looked at the ceiling and put one hand on her hip. She was losing the battle against that smile, although Zach was enjoying the show. “If I remember correctly, it was a reference to an orgasmic sensation, a kind of celestial journey.” She looked at him, her eyes dancing.
“Astral travel during orgasm,” Zach said.
Jen nodded as the smile curved her mouth. She looked like a spoonful of mischief. There was nothing Mona Lisa about this smile. It threatened to break free at any moment.
Zach leaned against the wall, entranced by the view. He was going to shake that smile loose before he went back into the dining room. He wished he had brought his camera into the kitchen. He was ready to do anything to keep Jen smiling.
And he was wonderingâagainâhow she kissed.
After all, it seemed that he had passed muster with her grandmother, if not with anyone else.
He moved closer and Jen didn't run. “You know, the really scary thing is that that makes sense.”
Jen laughed, surprise dragging the sound out of her, and Zach was charmed. She looked ten years younger and her eyes were filled with starlight when she laughed. He immediately wanted to make her laugh again.
“Here's another one for you,” she said, her tone playful. “M.B. is short for Moonbeam.”
Zach was skeptical. “Moonbeam is your brother's actual name?”
“He prefers M.B. It keeps the other teachers from razzing him.”
“I'll bet. Never mind the students.” Zach pretended to be serious. “I'll guess that Moonbeam refers to another such orgasmic journey. At a lower orbit.”
“Ah, no, it's a reference to the sensation of riding a moonbeam.”
“I've never done that.”
“Neither have I.”
Zach grinned. “Maybe we should try it.”
Jen caught her breath then turned to the door. “Maybe we should go back and eat our mashed root vegetables before they get cold.”
Zach put a fingertip on her arm. He felt her shiver. “Maybe you could tell me how you and your sister ended up with normal names like Cynthia and Jennifer.”
Jen flashed a smile again. Zach was mesmerized by the change that happiness made in her features. “What makes you think those are our names?”
“Well, Cin. What else could that be?” Zach felt his eyes widen. “Unless it starts with an s, like Sin?”
“Guess again.”
Zach shook his head, watching the stars in her eyes. “I'm fresh out.”
“Cincinnati.”
Zach groaned. “Not because she was conceived there?”
“Bingo. She always counted herself lucky that her name hadn't been Ford Pinto instead.”
This time Zach laughed. “And Jen...?”
“I use Jennifer, but it's not my legal name.”
“What is?”
“The old version.” When he shook his head, she continued. “Guinevere.”
Zach leaned against the wall to consider Jen. He still had a hand on her arm and he let his fingers slide over her skin. She smelled sweet and feminine, like a scented soap not perfume. He watched the curve of her lips and had a hard time thinking about anything other than kissing her. “So you're named Guinevere because your father was Cin's father's best friend?”
“You're good at this.” Jen tapped a fingertip on his chest and Zach caught her hand in his. To his surprise, she didn't immediately pull away. “It could have been worse: I could have been born a boy.”
Zach let his admiration of her gender show. “That would have been worse.”
Jen blushed. “I mean my name would have been worse.”
“Lancelot?” Zach tried not to wince.
“No. Their child was Galahad.”
At that, Zach did wince. Jen chuckled again. She stopped when he let his thumb slide across her palm and tried to pull away, but he held fast and she gave it up after a minute.
“And your mother has no idea that this is maybe a bit too much information?” He bent and put a kiss into the palm of her hand. Her eyes widened and she trembled a little bit. Her lips parted just a little, as if in invitation. Zach eased closer.