Authors: Cher Carson
“Is Jake the only reason you’re doing this, hon? ‘Cause if he is…”
“He’s not. I’m sick and tired of living this way, Ava.” She sighed. “Everyone, including Jake, sees me as little Ms. Goodie Two-Shoes. I’m the former cheerleader/homecoming queen who doesn’t smoke or drink or swear.” She looked her friend in the eye, pleading with her to understand and support her decision to change. “I’m wasting the best years of my life daydreaming about a guy who’s never going to take me seriously. I’m tired of it. I don’t want to live my life to please other people any more. I just want to be happy.”
“Oh, honey,” Ava said, drawing her into a hug. “I want you to be happy, too. Whatever I can do to help, you know I will.”
“You can start by helping me talk this guy into taking me to Daddy’s party.”
Ava laughed as she picked up the digital camera beside her computer. “I don’t think that’s going to be a problem. We’ll just email him a picture of you, and you can consider it a done deal, my friend.”
Jake cursed a blue streak all the way back to the police station. The more he thought about Jess putting herself at risk by going out with some stranger she met online, the more pissed off he got. If she was doing this just to get to him, she was wasting her time. But what if this had nothing to do with him? What if she was serious about getting on with her life?
He stormed into the police station, nodding to the two other officers on duty as he made his way to his desk. He had to get his mind off that little temptress, or he was going to go crazy.
“Hey, Jake, is that you?” his boss asked.
Jake grimaced. Jess’s brother, Tucker, was the last person he wanted to deal with right now.
“Yeah, it’s me, man. What’s up?”
“Can you come in here for a minute? I want to talk to you about something.”
Jake tried to come up with a viable excuse to avoid him within the span of ten seconds, but with Jess still fresh on his mind, he couldn’t think straight. “Yeah, just give me a minute.” He straightened his desk, checked his voice mail messages, got a cup of coffee, and took a few deep breaths before making his way to Tucker’s office. “What can I do for you?”
Tucker gestured to the chair across from his desk. “Have a seat. I want to talk to you about something.”
Jake prayed it had something to do with work. He could use the distraction of a new case to take his mind off Tucker’s sister right about now. “Sure, what’s up?” He claimed one of the upholstered chairs as he gripped the steaming mug in his hand.
“It’s about Jess.”
Jake’s years in law enforcement hadn’t been wasted. His poker face could earn him a nice living in Vegas. “What about her?”
“Mama’s worried about her.”
Jake cleared his throat as he set his coffee down on the table beside him. Had Jessica shared her hare-brained scheme to meet a man online with her poor old mama?
“Why’s Lorna worried?”
Merle and Lorna Carlton were like his second parents. They’d been a part of his life since he and Tucker bonded over G.I. Joes in the second grade. If they knew the kind of impure thoughts he was having about their baby girl, Merle would haul out his shotgun and use him for target practice, rightly so. If Jake had a daughter, he’d have felt the same way. It made him grateful he had a son.
“She said Jess hasn’t been herself lately. She’s been kinda down.”
“Hmm, is that so?” Jake couldn’t imagine where Tucker was going with this, but he had a feeling he wasn’t going to like it.
“Mama’s thinking it’s time for her to find a serious boyfriend, ya know?”
Jake held his breath, waiting for his friend to continue.
“I was thinking about setting her up with Phil. What do you think?”
“Are you crazy?” Phil was their newest recruit. “If someone asked that kid to make change for a five, it would probably take him all goddamn day.”
Tucker laughed. “I know, but he’s got it real bad for my sister, and he’s a good kid.”
Phil had never mentioned Jessica to him. “Is that right? I didn’t know he was interested in her.”
Tucker rolled his eyes. “Yeah, she came in here to drop something off last week, and you should have seen the poor guy, tripping all over himself to impress her.”
Jake cracked his knuckles. “The fact that he hasn’t shot himself playing with that gun impresses the hell out of me.”
Tucker pointed at him, chuckling. “Be nice. You know we’re short-handed since McGinley retired. I’m really hoping that kid’s got what it takes to fill his shoes.”
“Don’t count on it,” Jake muttered. His mood had gone from angry and frustrated to dejected in a matter of minutes. The Carlton clan had actually hand-picked Boy Wonder as their future son-in-law? The thought made Jake queasy. Jess,
his
Jess, married to that loser? No way, not gonna happen. “He’s not right for your sister.”
Tucker frowned. “What makes you say that? He’s a nice enough guy. I did a thorough background check when I hired him and he’s as clean as they come. Besides, he comes from good stock. His parents are the salt of the Earth.”
Jake knew all about Phil and his whole damned family. “Yeah, we went to high school with his older brother, Lionel. He was a year behind us, but I seem to recall he was a dumb as a stump, too.”
Tucker laughed. “What the hell’s got you in such a mood today? Is Diane giving you grief about visitation again?”
Diane was his ex-wife, and the bane of his existence. He must have been out of his mind to think he was in love with her for even a minute. The only good thing to come from their relationship was their son. In Jake’s mind, Jared made that sham of a marriage worthwhile.
“What’s your old man think about setting Jess up with Phil? Does he think it’s a good idea?”
Merle Carlton was the epitome of an over-protective father, and Jake knew there wasn’t a man walking God’s green Earth he’d deem fit for his little princess. Wait ‘til that old tyrant caught wind of his son’s idea. He’d shoot it down faster than a wounded duck during hunting season.
“I haven’t talked to him about it yet. I was hoping you’d back me up when I do.”
Jake crossed his arms as he scowled at his friend. “Now why the hell would I want to do that?”
He sighed. “Because you care about Jess and you want her to be happy.”
Tucker was right about that, but he sure as hell didn’t want to see her happy with Phil… or any other man for that matter. What was wrong with him? Since when did he start developing these feelings for little Jessie Carlton? “Uh, yeah, but…”
“Come on, man. At least get to know the kid. Give it a chance.”
He supposed it was marginally better than her idea of hooking up with some guy online. At least Phil wasn’t a serial killer, and if he stepped out of line with Jess, Jake could break both of his arms. “I’ll think about it. Anything else you want to talk to me about?”
“You wanna go to Dixie’s for a beer after work?”
“Yeah, if I’m not too tired.”
Tucker laughed. “Man, you are getting old.”
“Tell me about it,” Jake said, getting to his feet.
There may be seven years between him and Jessica chronologically, but they were worlds apart in terms of life experience. At thirty-five, he had a son to raise and a divorce under his belt while Jessica was still living under her parents’ roof.
“Hey, you’ll think about what I said about Jess and Phil?”
“Yeah, sure.” He had a feeling he’d be able to think about little else.
Jessica walked into the bookstore the next day waving a hot pink flyer in the air. “This is step two in Jessica Carlton’s life makeover!”
Ava grinned as she claimed the chair behind the counter. “Okay, I’ll bite. What have you got there?”
“Have you heard about that new dance studio down the street?”
“Oh yeah, the owner, Rachel, stopped in last week to ask if I’d mind putting a flyer up in my window.” Ava reached under the counter to produce the hot pink flyer. “I’ve been a little busy with the new inventory, so I haven’t gotten around to it yet. I liked her though. She seems like a sweetheart.”
“Yeah, I like her, too. She stopped by to ask if we’d mind putting up a flyer too, and we started talking.” Jessica pulled up a stool and sat down on the opposite side of the counter. “Turns out she moved here from clear across the country. She’s Dixie’s cousin.”
Dixie’s family owned the one and only bar in town, and she and Jessica went to high school together. They didn’t share the same set of friends in school but had developed a casual friendship as adults.
Ava reached under the counter to produce two foil-wrapped packets. “Craig barbequed that chicken you love so much last night. I had him make extra, so I could bring sandwiches.”
Jessica quickly dug into the foil as her mouth watered and her stomach grumbled. “Bless you and your future husband, the grill master.”
Ava laughed. “So you’re thinking about taking dance lessons at Rachel’s new studio?”
Jessica couldn’t resist taking a bite of the sandwich before responding. Her news was big, but the sandwich was too tempting to ignore. She put her hand over her mouth. “Sorry. I ran five miles before work. I’m famished.”
Ava sighed. “I’m so jealous. I wish I still had time to work out.”
“You will, after the wedding.”
“Yeah, I guess. Anyways, tell me about the dance lessons.”
Jessica grinned. “Okay, so I used to love to dance as a kid, right? Jazz, tap, ballet, you name it and Mama enrolled me.”
“I think getting back into dance is a great idea. It could be a good distraction for you right now.”
Jessica winked. “Oh, I’ve already found my distraction, but I’ll tell you more about that later.” She was so excited with all the recent developments in her life. After months of boredom and depression, she was finally taking action to turn things around.
“You’re making me nervous, Jess. Maybe you should just tell me what’s going on.” Ava reached behind her to snag two bottles of water from a mini-fridge intended for customers.
“Okay, so Rachel and Dixie got to talking about ways to bring in new business.”
Ava frowned. “Dixie’s is the only game in town. They’re always packed on weekends.”
Jessica shrugged. “I know. I think she’s just doing this to help her cuz get her feet on the ground. Anyways…” She reached across the counter to squeeze Ava’s forearm. “Get this; I just signed up for pole dancing classes.” She squealed. “Can you beat that?”
Ava’s mouth dropped open. “Pole dancing, as in stripper poles…”
Jessica rolled her eyes. “Don’t you watch those reality TV talent shows? Those pole dancers are serious athletes.”
“Okay, how does Dixie’s play into all of this?”
Jessica bounced up and down, barely able to contain her excitement. “They’re going to run a contest there for six weeks, every Friday night. The patrons are going to be asked to vote, and the winner gets an all-expenses paid Caribbean cruise. Can you believe that?”
Ava set her sandwich back in the foil wrapper. “Jess, you can’t be serious; pole dancing at Dixie’s bar? Your family would go ballistic.”
She shrugged. “I’m a big girl. I can do what I want. Besides, that’s how I got stuck in this rut in the first place, by listening to them, doing what they wanted me to do. I want to start living my life for myself for a change, doing what makes me happy.”
Ava sighed. “I get that, I do, but this seems so out of character for you, hon. Everyone thinks of you as the sweet little homecoming queen who volunteers her time at the animal shelter and bakes cookies for the church. This just doesn’t seem like something you’d do.”
“That’s just it. People think they know me, but they don’t. I’m so much more than the blonde haired, blue-eyed little cherub who sold them Girl Scout cookies when I was five. I hate being judged like that. Everyone assumes that just because my father is the mayor, or my brother is the police chief, I’ve never even considered doing anything naughty.”