She picked up the sweatshirt off her bed and folded it. As she put it away in her dresser, she told herself that the only reason she’d responded to Jared like she had was because he was the only person she’d let in. No, that wasn’t right. She hadn’t let him in—he’d forced his way into her life. But either way, it didn’t matter. What did matter was protecting herself. She wasn’t about to risk her heart on a man who kept his duffel bag packed and had one foot out the door.
She went to her bedside table and picked up the phone. “Maddy?” she said when her best friend answered. “What are you doing Monday night?”
Maddy laughed. “Monday margaritas?”
“Absolutely.”
“Just tell me where and when.”
“How about my place? We can build a fire on the beach.”
“Sounds perfect. And, Jenny?”
“Yeah?”
“It’s about time.”
“Yeah,” Jenny said again, knowing it was true.
Feeling better than she had all week, she headed downstairs.
The closer she got to the kitchen, the stronger the smell of bacon, freshly brewed coffee, and something else, something almost like baking bread, made her stomach growl.
As she rounded the end of the hallway, she stopped at the edge of the kitchen, not quite believing what she was seeing. Jared was at the stove, cooking. His back was toward her. Cody was seated on a stool at the peninsula, a plate full of food in front of him. Hearing her, he turned, his cheeks bulging like a squirrel with nuts.
“Hey, Aunt Jen,” he said around a mouthful. A streak of blueberry syrup ran across his cheek while powdered sugar coated his lips and dusted his T-shirt like freshly fallen snow. “Ya gotta try these,” he said, pointing to the waffles on his plate. “They’re the best.” He stuffed another forkful of blueberry waffles into his mouth and gave her a smile.
She didn’t know what surprised her more: Jared cooking or Cody smiling.
“Good morning,” Jared said, looking over his shoulder. “One or two?”
She sucked in a breath. No one had a right to look that good so early in the morning. He wore an untucked white collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a pair of worn Levi’s, and several days’ worth of stubble. “One or two what?” she asked, trying to keep her eyes off his backside.
“Waffles.” Steam billowed up from the waffle maker as he opened it.
Forcing her gaze off him and onto what he was doing, she started to salivate as she eyed the food. Great. Her appetite had been nonexistent for nine months, and
now
it decided to return? “No thanks. I’m not hungry.”
Ignoring her, he forked two of the fluffiest waffles she’d ever seen onto a plate, smothered them in butter, and topped them with blueberries. He even sprinkled powdered sugar on top. If that wasn’t bad enough, he placed a couple of thick slices of bacon onto the plate before sliding it across the counter.
“Eat,” he said in such a friendly tone she grew instantly suspicious. “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”
She seemed to remember him saying something to that same effect his first morning here. But back then, his tone hadn’t been friendly, and his smile hadn’t been warm. Her stomach kicked over. “You’ve obviously been talking to my mother.”
He smiled and poured himself a cup of coffee.
She took a seat, not because she was going to eat but because it put more distance between them. She tried not to breathe in, tried not to stare at the melting butter pooling in the little squares.
“They’re
sooooo
good, Aunt Jenny.” Cody looked at Jared like he was a culinary god.
“I’m glad you like them,” she said to the little blue-haired Benedict Arnold. She knew her cooking sucked, but she’d thought she’d redeemed herself last night with the ice cream. Obviously it took more than pulling a cartoon out of the freezer to warm up her nephew.
She eyed the perfectly cooked waffles and crisp strips of bacon in front of her. “What are you up to?” she asked Jared, noticing that his fresh-squeezed orange juice didn’t contain one seed or glob of pulp.
He took a drink of coffee. “Aren’t you the suspicious one.”
“Damn—darn right,” she quickly corrected, remembering Cody. “And just when did you learn to cook?”
“Have you ever tried military rations?”
“No.”
“Eat those for several years, and you’d do anything for a good meal. Even watch a few TV shows, read some cook-books.” He leaned his butt against the countertop. “That was the thing I’d always enjoyed most about leave.”
“Food?” she asked, more surprised than she cared to admit.
“Good food,” he agreed with a grin that had her stomach growling again, but not because of the waffles in front of her. “Great food.”
“And you’ve been eating
my
cooking all week?”
When he laughed, a funny tingling sensation settled in the pit of her stomach. It was almost as if he’d let down his guard and, for a moment, let her in.
This
Jared was impossible to resist.
“I hate to tell ya,” he said, a grin still crinkling the corners of his blue eyes, “but as far as cooking goes, you suck.”
She couldn’t help it; she grinned. She’d had the exact same thought not a minute ago.
“Yeah,” Cody chimed in, still stuffing his face. “I thought my mom was kidding when she told me not to eat anything you cooked.”
She bumped shoulders with her nephew. “Thanks a lot.”
“Mom says it’s best to be honest.”
“Remind me to thank her when she picks you up tonight.”
“Like I’m gonna tell her she was right about something.”
Jenny eyed the plate of food in front of her once more before pushing it away. It was the principle of the thing, she told herself. Somehow, in her mind, eating Jared’s cooking would be like agreeing to this farce of a partnership. And she couldn’t help being suspicious of . . . everything he’d done lately. Last night, finding his things in the bathroom, and now this. Him cooking.
“Hey, Code,” she said, getting off the barstool. “Don’t forget. We have a baseball game this afternoon. So after breakfast, you need to get on your homework.”
He stopped chewing long enough to shoot her a look that took no words to decipher.
“I promised your mom you’d have it done before she picked you up tonight.”
Without saying a word, he turned to Jared and did a whole
females
look thing, complete with the rolling of the eyes.
Jenny ignored the look. It wasn’t her fault she had to be drill sergeant and make sure he got his homework done. And just when did the two of them become so chummy? She was about to let out her frustration, then stopped. Maybe she deserved his attitude. She still felt guilty for dumping him on Jared yesterday.
“I know this weekend hasn’t been exactly what you wanted, but after you finish your work, and I finish mine, we’ll do something fun. Promise.”
Slowly, he pivoted on the stool. “For real?”
“For real,” she said with a smile.
His grin was slow in coming, but when it did, Jenny felt her whole insides glow. “See you in a bit.”
“Yeah,” he said, still smiling. “See ya.”
She didn’t dare glance at Jared before she headed outside.
That smile. That laugh
. They captivated her and made her worry that even reconnecting with her friends would not be enough to keep her from falling under his spell. A breeze blew in off the lake, and she rubbed her arms against the chill. She should have grabbed a sweatshirt before heading out. But she hadn’t wanted to take the time. She knew Jared would be busy in the kitchen with Cody for a little bit longer, and she wanted to be alone for what she had to do.
Her steps began to falter as she made her way across the hangar to the office Steven had used. Briefly she closed her eyes and drew in a fortifying breath.
As she reached out to open the office door, her hand wavered. Everything inside of her told her to turn around and run. Leave this place that held too many painful memories. But she knew she couldn’t. Inside this office had to be the solution to her problem, the way to turn Blue Sky around and get rid of Jared. Steeling herself, she turned the knob and opened the door.
A rising sun hit the large windows and illuminated the space in a soft yellow glow. For a moment, Jenny felt disoriented. Like she was at the wrong place. This wasn’t her and Steven’s office any longer. Everything about it had Jared’s stamp of precision and organization.
She made her way to the desk. Just like in the medicine cabinet, everything was in perfect order: the pencil sharpener, the stapler, the tape dispenser, and all the other usual gadgets an office needed. But there were other things on the desk, too. And seeing them brought back a dozen memories.
Tears blurred her eyes as she traced her finger over the small replica of the F-18 fighter jet she’d bought Steven. With a clarity time could never diminish, she remembered the look of pure joy on his face when he’d opened the gift. Next to the jet were two Star Wars action figures. She laughed softly. Steven had always been a total sci-fi geek. Moving away from the desk, she took in the rest of the office and couldn’t believe what she saw. In a short time, Jared had managed to turn a storeroom of an office into a clean and orderly space.
Seeing all the changes, Jenny wasn’t quite sure how they made her feel. For so long, she hadn’t been able to come near this office. Or, if she did, it was only to fill it with more stuff. Anything to keep her from seeing it as it had been when Steven was alive. But Jared had changed all that.
She wanted to feel angry at what he had done, or, more truthfully, she wanted to still be numb and not feel a thing. But seeing the office as it should be, as she should have kept it, made her feel ashamed. She owed it to Steven—and herself—to be stronger. With a renewed determination, she began to search the filing cabinets until she’d located the files she wanted. As she stared down at the manila folders in her hand, it seemed like a lifetime ago when she’d first sat down and tried to come up with marketing strategies to improve the business. She’d shown them to Steven, and he’d looked them over and said they’d figure out which ones were best. But then Steven had died, and the thought of going back through those notes without him was more than she could bear.
Before she closed the door behind her, she took one more look at the office. Before today, she would have thought it impossible for her to walk back into this space and not fall apart. But she had. She’d not only gone into the office, she’d also gone through the files she and Steven had set up. With a sense of strength she hadn’t felt in a long time, she closed the door and headed back to her makeshift office in the house.
As she shut herself in the front office, she could still hear Jared and Cody. They were either still in the kitchen or had moved over to the family room. Either way, they were busy for the time being, and that left Jenny to work on her new plan.
She sat down at the small desk and turned on her computer. As it hummed to life, she opened the top file she’d gotten from the office. This file contained a list of all the businesses in the area that used Blue Sky’s competition. Nothing had ever come of the list, though not for lack of trying on Steven’s part or hers. What made her think she could succeed now was beyond her, but as she stared down at her calendar and saw how few bookings Blue Sky had, she knew she needed to do something. She started by picking up the phone.
Two hours later, she hung up for the last time. Burying her face in her hands, she could only be thankful no one else was around to witness her stupidity. Humiliation burned her cheeks, made her body shake. It was Sunday. No businesses were open. With her face still buried in her hands, she shook her head, unable to believe how foolish she’d been. Any other businessperson would have known not to try to call today.
Still filled with mortification, she put her file away and shut down her computer. Total and complete embarrassment had her wanting to hide out for the rest of the day. But knew she couldn’t. That was what she had been doing for the last nine months, and look where it had gotten her. She was down, definitely, but not defeated. Tomorrow was another day. Besides, she had an appointment with her nephew.
Leaving the office, she found Cody sprawled out on the couch in the family room watching TV. “Hi,” she said, doing a quick glance around, relieved not to see Jared.
Cody seemed startled. He swung his feet off the end of the sofa and sat up. “Hey.”
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”
“No. It’s not that. It’s . . . it’s just that . . .”
She sat down on the edge of the coffee table. “It’s just what?”
“Nothin’. Never mind.” He looked a little sheepish.
“If you can’t confide in your aunt, who can you confide in?”
“My best friend Parker.”
“True. But then he doesn’t have the goods on your mom like I do.”
That got a smile from him. “Mom doesn’t like me to have my shoes on the furniture.”
“Yeah, well she always hated it when I borrowed her clothes. Especially her cashmere sweaters. Who knew they had to be dry-cleaned?”
“Aunt Jenny?”
“Yeah, Cody?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Jenny laughed. “No. I guess you wouldn’t. But what I’m trying to say is, be comfortable when you’re here. This house is meant to be lived in. So plop your shoes up on the couch anytime you feel like it. Okay?”
Cody looked puzzled. After a few moments, he said, “Okay.”
As casually as she could, Jenny asked, “Where’s Jared?”
“He said he had to go out for a bit.”
Perfect
. “Now about our date.”
“I’m not allowed to date until I’m sixteen.”
“Funny. Funny.”
He just grinned.
“So, have you ever been fishing?”
“No.” He drew the one word out, made the two letters sound more like ten.