Hope Smolders (10 page)

“Just hanging out,” Luke said. “Have you eaten?”

“No. I’m doing an order to go. There’s some hot reality TV at home calling my name. How about you two?”

“Eating,” Will said, the evidence of that on his plate.

“Master of the obvious, aren’t you, Will?” She looked over at the counter, then turned her attention back to Will. “So…have you talked to Jane?”

“Tried to. She won’t answer my calls. But you probably already know that, so why the question?”

She shrugged. “Just thought I’d ask. Give her some time, Will. It’s not you. She really cares about you.”

“You should mind your own business, Chelsea, and stay out of this.”

“And you know damn well Jane is my best friend, and I’m only looking out for her best interests.”

“I wonder how she’d feel if she knew you were talking to me about her right now.”

Chelsea frowned. “Low blow, Will. I’m also looking out for you, so don’t be a dick.”

Luke crossed his arms, obviously amused at the interplay between the two of them.

“Don’t you have some poor kid’s life to ruin by failing him or her in math?” Will asked.

She laughed. “Don’t you have some poor bastard’s day to ruin by writing him an unwarranted speeding ticket?”

Luke snorted. “You two should take this act on the road.”

“Hey, Will knows I give as good as I’m given. And he can’t rattle me.”

“No, but I can tell you to go away and mind your own business.”

Chelsea let out a very loud sigh. “Fine. I’ll take the not-so-subtle hint and grab my to-go order and hightail it out of here. Seriously, though, Will. Don’t give up on Jane.”

“Seriously, though. Butt out, Chelsea.” Will waved her off and dug into his fries.

“That was interesting,” Luke said as Chelsea wandered off, grabbed her bag, and left Bert’s.

Will finished off his meal by taking a long drink of iced tea. “Don’t even ask.”

“Okay, I won’t.” Luke took a bite of his burger, chewed, swallowed, then washed it down with milk. “Unless you want me to ask.”

Will sighed. “You and Chelsea tag teaming me on this? The two of you should couple up.”

Luke laughed. “Tried that for about five minutes in high school, remember? It didn’t work then and it won’t work now. We’re more like brother and sister.”

“Yeah, I do remember. It’s kind of like her and me. Surely there’s a guy out there for her somewhere, someone who will rein her in and keep her from meddling.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. She’s kind of a free spirit. But what
is going on with you and Jane? Unless you’d like me to mind my own damn business, in which case you can tell me to and it won’t hurt my feelings any.”

“Honestly? I don’t know. We went out, had a great time. Her little girl got hurt and I took them to the ER. Then I tried to call her the next day and she brushed me off, saying she was busy with her parents and her kids, which was fine. She said she’d call me back, and when she didn’t, I called her a couple days later. She brushed me off again. I tried one more time, and got the same ‘I’m really busy and I’ll get back to you’ speech.”

Luke popped a fry into his mouth. “Maybe she’s just not that into you.”

Will gave him a hard look. “Trust me—she’s into me.”

“Overconfidence is a killer, my friend.”

“No, really. We had a great night. I know she felt the same way I did.”

Luke leaned back. “Then I have no idea. Women are a mystery to me, as you well know. I couldn’t figure out the one I was married to.”

“Yeah, well, the one you were married to was a mess.”

“Don’t I know it. Haven’t been able to figure out women since, so I tend to stay the hell away from them. Boomer is companion enough for me.”

Will shook his head. “Dude. Your dog? You have got to get out more.”

Luke laughed. “You’re right. I do. But I’m not the one with woman problems right now. That’s you. So what are you gonna do about Jane?”

“I don’t have a clue. Give her some space, I guess. I’m not going to keep calling and bugging her if she doesn’t want to talk to me. I figure she’ll either come around so we can talk, or whatever we had that one night was just that—one night.”

“Too bad. I like her with you.”

“Me, too, man. Me, too.”

I
n what was an unprecedented moment of pure joy, Jane found herself with an evening to herself. She didn’t have to work at the day-care center, and both kids were spending the night elsewhere. It was Friday, and Ryan was sleeping over at one of his friend’s houses, while Tabitha had begged to stay with her grandparents. At first Jane had balked at that idea, considering the last go-round, but her mom had assured her the chances of Tabby’s accident being repeated were slim to none. One of Tabitha’s school friends lived a couple houses down from Jane’s parents, and they’d made plans to play together, so Jane’s mom picked Tabitha up right after school. Jane was scot-free and alone for the entire night.

Which, as a single woman, meant she could have a date if she wanted. But since she was a total coward, she had no date and no prospect for a date. Because God forbid she should grow a set of balls or some courage or whatever and call Will, who likely thought she hated him or had hated their date, when the exact opposite had been true.

Idiot. She couldn’t even handle dating. So instead, she was going to make a grand attempt to work out in the gym, ignoring the women in their tight little workout pants and workout bras, and go in there with her decidedly not tight anything and do her best to not fall off the elliptical trainer.

She changed into her sports bra and T-shirt and yoga pants, tied her tennis shoes, and used her employee card to swipe her way into the workout room, daring anyone to give her the side eye. She grabbed a towel and found a vacant elliptical, read the instructions, and set a program—something easy, like baby level—then started walking, holding on to the handlebars.

Okay, so this wasn’t so bad. For the first thirty seconds anyway, until her thighs started burning. If it wouldn’t have been such an embarrassment, she’d have stopped the damn thing and gotten off. But since there was currently some kind of fashion model with a centerfold’s body walking next to her—wait, did Jane know her? She looked familiar, but Jane couldn’t place her. Really light brown hair, full lips, and small, perky breasts. Obviously she hadn’t had two kids, because this woman’s thighs were perfect. Everything on her was perfect. And she was working her elliptical with the ease of a gazelle, the bitch. No way was Jane going to get off after—she looked at the timer—four and a half minutes.

Jane had set her program for twenty minutes.

Twenty minutes? Was she insane?

God, she was going to
die
on this thing.

She tried to focus on the television. Something sports-related was on. Ugh. She couldn’t focus. Sweat pooled and ran like a river down her back and between her breasts, and she was pretty sure she’d lost all feeling in her thighs and calves. She had no idea how she was continuing to walk. She took a quick glance over at the centerfold, who glanced back and had the audacity to smile at her.

“Jane Smootz?”

The woman knew her maiden name. “I used to be, but now it’s Jane Kline. I’m sorry, you look really familiar to me.”

Another smile. Not fake, but genuine. “We went to high school together. I’m Emma Burnett.”

“Emma. Of course. I’d heard you were back in town.” She could barely breathe, while Emma was walking along like she did this every day. Hell, she probably did do this every day. And did she have to be so damn gorgeous?

“I am. I bought out Dr. Weston’s vet clinic. I’ve been working to get everything ready to reopen it and I’ve hardly had any time to get a workout in.”

Right. Like it looked as though she didn’t work out. “Glad to have you back in Hope.”

“Thanks. I’m really excited to be here. So, you’re married?”

“Divorced, actually.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It’s okay. It’s been a couple years since the divorce. But I have two great kids.”

Again, that charming smile that made her look even more beautiful. Could you hate and like someone simul-
taneously?

“Two kids? That’s awesome, Jane. Congratulations. How old are they?”

Emma continued to engage her in conversation, forcing Jane to try to work this elliptical and breathe and talk at the same time. But it did help pass the time, and before she knew it, her timer beeped and her hideous workout was finished. She moved her nearly immobile legs off the elliptical.

“I guess I should move on to the weights,” Jane said while huffing and puffing. And sweating. In the meantime, Emma looked like a catalog model for perfect fitness.

“It was great to catch up with you,” Emma said. “If you have any pets, I’d love to see you at the clinic once we open.”

“No pets, though Ryan and Tabitha keep pestering me about a dog.”

Emma grinned. “Well, kids and dogs. They kind of go together, you know.”

“So they keep telling me. See you around, Emma.”

Jane went and grabbed a cup of water, downed it in three very unladylike gulps, then swiped the sweat from her neck with a towel and limped over to the weight machines.

She wasn’t sure she had any energy left to lift more than the towel in her hand, but she set it down and tried the chest press, keeping the weight low.

Not bad. Not impressive to anyone but herself, but at least she was doing something.

She was on her third set when she saw Will come in.

Crap.

He hadn’t seen her, and he went right for the treadmill. She watched him as he stopped to greet a few people he knew, then he set his machine, plugged in his earbuds to listen to some music, and began to walk, slow at first as he warmed up, then faster, finally settling into a comfortable run.

Where she was clunky and out of shape on the machines, he seemed a part of his, running fluidly, his muscles hard with tension as he ran. She was so lost in watching his arms flex and the tightening of his calf muscles that she got lost and forgot she’d been hogging the chest press until an older man came up to her and asked her if he could work in with her.

“Oh. I’m so sorry. I’m finished here and guess I was daydreaming.”

She climbed off the machine and looked around, trying to figure out where she could hide so Will wouldn’t see her.

Or, she could be an adult and go talk to him instead of avoiding him like she’d been doing for the past two weeks.

She hovered around a couple machines, watching him while he finished his run. When he got off and swiped the
sweat off his brow, heading for the water, she met him there. He looked surprised to see her.

“Jane.”

“Hi, Will. I don’t mean to disrupt your workout.”

“It’s okay. What are you doing here?”

She offered up a half smile. “Fumbling my way through a few of these machines.”

He glanced around the room. “Need some help?”

Leave it to him to give her an out. “That’d be great. Thanks.”

She told him what she’d already worked on. He took her past the machines and into the free weight room.

“I’m not sure I’m ready for these. The elliptical nearly killed me.”

“Yeah, I hate that damn thing. I avoid it.”

“That makes me feel better.”

“We’ll start with really light weights and you can do multiple reps. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

The way he said it, the way he looked at her, made warmth coil low in her belly. “Thanks.”

He walked her through a workout that made her feel good—made her feel strong. By the time she was finished, she felt like she’d worked every body part. And he lifted alongside her, with much heavier weights of course, so she got to see his muscles flex, which was a nice bonus.

“Do you need to go pick up the kids?” he asked as they left the weight room.

“No. Actually, they’re both spending the night elsewhere.”

“I see. So, you have a free night tonight.”

“Yes.”

“That’s nice.”

He wasn’t going to let her off the hook quite that easily. She was going to have to eat a little crow, which she deserved. “Will, would you like to go out with me tonight? If you don’t have anything else going on?”

His lips curved. “I’d like that.”

Her already shaky legs wobbled just a little more. “Great. I’m going to head home and take a shower.”

“I’ll pick you up in an hour. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”

For the first time in a while, she felt relaxed. And eager. “Me, too.”

She dashed home and into the shower, then grabbed a pair of jeans and a silk T-shirt she was certain Chelsea would approve of. She slipped on a pair of fancy sandals, and was just putting the finishing touches on her hair when Will rang the doorbell.

She opened the door and inhaled his crisp, just-showered scent. “Hi.”

“Hi. You ready to go?”

“Definitely.”

“I thought we’d eat local tonight. There’s a new Italian restaurant that opened up here in Hope and I thought we’d give them some business.”

“I saw that sign go up last week. Sounds great.”

New business was always something exciting in Hope. The parking lot was full because, like them, folks in town tried to check out new restaurants. There was a line waiting for tables, and the owners were enthusiastic and welcoming. And oh, the place smelled fantastic, which was a very good sign. After about fifteen minutes they were seated at a charming table by a window.

One of her former students scurried over to take their order, another girl trailing behind her.

“Mrs. Kline,” she said. “How are you?”

The one thing about small towns was you couldn’t escape running into someone you knew. “Hi, Melanie. Nice to see you. Are you still on school break?”

Melanie gave Will the once-over, and then grinned. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll be heading back to school in about a week, but since the Serranos are friends of my parents and their
restaurant is new, I’m picking up a little extra money before I go by helping them train the new staff. This is Tina, by the way. She’s the trainee.”

Will and Jane both said hello to Tina. Jane didn’t recognize her, so she wasn’t in any of her math classes.