Authors: Sherryl Woods
“What’s going on, Jess?”
She gave him an innocent look. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but this scene has seduction written all over it. It seems out of character, at least when it comes to you and me. You’ve been keeping me at arm’s length for a long time.”
Bright patches of pink climbed into her cheeks, even
as she mustered up a heavy dose of indignation. “You’re imagining things,” she insisted.
“Am I really?” he asked doubtfully. “Something’s changed tonight. I’m trying to put a finger on what.”
“Can’t I just be grateful to you for coming to my rescue?”
“And that’s all this is?”
She shrugged. “Sure. What else?”
Will sighed, more disconcerted than he’d been in years. What else, indeed? For a couple of minutes there, he’d wondered if perhaps his dreams were about to come true.
Jess hadn’t expected Will to call her on her intentions, especially since she wasn’t even certain herself why she was suddenly considering breaking her hard-and-fast rule about not dating him. She had to admit, though, that he was right about one thing: something had changed between them tonight. There was a sizzle in the air she couldn’t remember ever being there before. Oh, there’d always been the heat of anger or a quick spark of indignation, but never this powerful pull, nor this simmering attraction. At least not until that kiss at Brady’s. Since then, she’d felt it more frequently.
Maybe Gram’s advice had simply sunk in. Maybe she was finally at a point when she was ready to put her fears aside and embrace whatever there might be between the two of them. How ironic it would be if she was ready now, and Will was the one who held back.
“How often do you go to Moonlight Cove?” Will asked, watching her intently, an odd wariness still in his eyes.
“Not so much anymore. Why?”
“I just heard a few stories,” he said.
“From my brothers, I’m sure. To hear them tell it, I was putting my virginity at risk over there at least once a week throughout my teens.”
“Were you?”
“Realistically, I suppose I did take a lot of chances,” she admitted. “It’s funny. Now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure I always counted on Kevin or Connor to rescue me in the nick of time.”
“A pretty risky game, don’t you think?”
“I do now, of course,” she admitted, then shrugged. “But back then, I just wanted to connect with somebody. I was too young and stupid to realize that sex wasn’t the answer.”
Will looked genuinely surprised by her response. “You were lonely?”
Jess thought about the question. “Not exactly. I mean, our house was always crawling with people, you know what I mean?”
“I do,” he said. “I was one of them.”
“Did you ever happen to notice that none of them were my friends? Oh, I was tolerated because I was Connor’s kid sister or Kevin’s or Bree’s, but kids my own age steered clear. I got a reputation early as the kid who stirred up trouble in school, the kid who was always disrupting the classroom. No parent wanted their children around me, as if the ADD might be contagious.”
Will’s expression filled with sympathy, which Jess found annoying.
“Don’t you dare pity me,” she told him. “That’s just the way it was. By the time I hit my teens, I figured out how to compensate, at least with boys.”
“Sex,” he said, sounding unbearably sad. “Oh, Jess,
didn’t you know that all of us hanging out at your folks’ place adored you?”
“Maybe
you
did,” she said. “The others, not so much. I think my brothers just put the fear of God into them so they’d tolerate me.”
Will’s expression changed, as if something had suddenly clicked for him. “And that’s why you don’t trust me when I say I care about you,” he said. “On some level, you’re still that little kid who’s wanting to belong but doesn’t think she ever will.”
Jess was uncomfortable, as always, when Will started analyzing her. She didn’t like it that he could see her so clearly, especially the insecurities she’d worked so hard to hide from the world.
She forced a smile. “How’d we get off on this tangent, anyway? It’s all old news. This sandwich is amazing. Thanks for fixing it.”
Will gave her a knowing look. “There you go, scurrying back into your shell. Why do you do that, especially with me?”
“You’re the shrink. You tell me.”
“Okay,” he said, clearly accepting her words as a challenge. “Here’s the way I see it. You’re scared to death to let anyone get too close. It goes back to your parents’ divorce. If the two adults who were supposed to love you could all but abandon you, then how could you possibly be lovable?”
The analysis, which so closely mirrored what she herself had said to Gram recently, gave her pause. It should have annoyed her to have Will hit the mark so accurately, but amazingly it felt oddly comforting. He actually got her…and, it seemed, liked her anyway.
Still, she wasn’t prepared to give him credit for it too easily.
“I’m not scared of letting anyone get close,” she insisted, mostly to be contrary. “I signed up for your dating service, didn’t I? Doesn’t that prove that I want to find someone to spend my life with?”
“All it proves is that Connie and Laila caught you at a weak moment,” he retorted.
She hated that he’d figured that out, too, but she couldn’t deny it.
“How many dates have you been on?” he asked.
“You only matched me up with one guy,” she reminded him.
“Have you gone out with him?” he pressed.
She sighed. “No.”
“Why not?”
“It didn’t feel right.”
“Tell me why.”
She stared at the fire, stubbornly silent.
“Come on, Jess,” Will said impatiently. “How about the truth? How am I supposed to make adjustments in my system’s criteria if you won’t be honest with me? What about this guy didn’t feel right?”
“So it’s all about you and your precious computer program?” she said, miffed and not really sure why. She didn’t want Will digging around in her psyche, did she? So why wasn’t she more relieved that all he cared about was how he could fix a Lunch by the Bay computer glitch?
Will’s gaze was unflinching. “You’re avoiding my questions.”
Jess sighed. “It was nothing specific,” she insisted. “Maybe it was just the timing. Maybe I was having an
off day or something. Don’t make a big deal about it. I’ll go out with the next guy or the one after that. How many dates have you gone on?”
“Three,” he said.
“Including Laila,” she said, unable to keep a testy note out of her voice. “What was that about?”
“The computer program said we had a lot in common. We do, too,” he added, a surprisingly defiant tone in his voice.
“Then why didn’t you ask her out again?”
“No chemistry,” he conceded. “I haven’t figured out how to factor that into the program. I don’t even think it can be done.”
Jess chuckled. “Yep, those old pheromones can be a killer, can’t they? No telling when they’ll kick in.”
“Some would say that any two people who are well-suited on other fronts can develop a sexual attraction in time,” he said.
“But you’re obviously not one of the so-called experts who believes that,” she said.
Will frowned. “Why would you say that?”
“The Laila experience. If you believed that attraction can grow over the course of a relationship, why didn’t you ask her out again?” she pressed.
“Because, if you must know, you were sitting right there between us on the whole date,” he said irritably.
“Me? I was nowhere near Panini Bistro that day.”
“You might as well have been,” Will grumbled. “Laila referred to you as the elephant in the room.”
“How incredibly flattering!” Jess said wryly.
“Oh, you know what she meant,” Will said. “She and I both knew I’d have preferred to be on a date with you.”
“And yet when you were doing the matches for her, Connie and me, you left yourself out of the running when it came to me. Laila told me.”
“Because you’d made it plain that you didn’t want to date me. Whatever your reasons for that, I had to take you at your word.”
“I see,” Jess said, then fell silent. She picked up a fork and took a huge bite of Gail’s moist double fudge chocolate cake, then closed her eyes as the rich, dark chocolate flavor burst on her tongue. “Oh, sweet heaven!” she murmured.
She opened her eyes to see Will staring at her intently. “You have to try this,” she told him, cutting into the cake and holding a bite-size piece in front of his mouth. He accepted the offering, then sighed.
“It is pretty amazing,” he said, though his gaze still seemed to be locked on her mouth. “You have chocolate right here.” He touched the corner of her lips with his finger. “And here.” His finger skimmed across her lower lip.
To her astonishment, Jess trembled. There it was again, that incredible sizzle. It was even more alluring than the cake, which was saying quite a lot. The unexpected feeling rattled her. “Um, Will?”
“Yes,” he said, still holding her gaze.
“Would you do something for me?”
“Just about anything. You know that.”
“Run my data through your computer again,” she requested. “But this time, leave yourself in the mix.”
“No,” he said so quickly it left her head spinning.
“No?” she asked incredulously. “Why not?”
“Because the computer’s not infallible. Even I accept
that. If it comes back without a match, I don’t want you using that as an excuse to justify never going out with me.”
“Don’t you trust your program?”
“Of course I do, for what it is. It’s a way to match up strangers who might be compatible on a variety of fronts.”
“Okay, then why not put it to the test with us?” she pressed.
“We’re not strangers.” He leveled a look into her eyes. “And I already know we’re well-suited. I think you do, too.”
“But—”
“No, Jess,” he said, cutting her off. “Don’t even try to deny it. The truth is that you know we could be great together, but you’re too terrified to admit it. What I can’t figure out is why.”
Jess looked away. She had her suspicions about that, but she wasn’t ready to own up to them. Ironically, though, it was a relief to know that for once, Will didn’t have her totally pegged. Somehow it made him seem less like a shrink and more like a guy she could fall for.
A
s Saturday approached, Connie grew increasingly nervous about seeing Thomas at the fall festival in a neighboring community. Something had changed between them on Sunday. They’d taken their blinders off, admitted to a mutual attraction, but for the life of her, she couldn’t imagine what came next.
At her age, did two people just jump into bed together or did they dance around that for weeks on end until one night they found themselves tearing each other’s clothes off? The thought of having sex with Thomas—or any man, for that matter—terrified her.
She’d been so young when she’d fallen for Sam. He’d been the only one for her. And after the divorce, there had been Jenny to consider. She didn’t want to confuse her daughter by bringing an endless parade of men into the house. Not that there had been any kind of parade lined up, anyway. Even the most casual dates had been few and far between.
Now, out of the blue, there was Thomas O’Brien, an intelligent, sexy man who’d lived a far more sophisti
cated life than she had. She had no idea how to handle whatever was happening between them.
Pacing around the home she’d lived in almost her entire life, she punched in the numbers for Connor’s wife on the portable phone. Heather had been the first to witness the growing attraction between Connie and Thomas and had reserved judgment. Maybe she’d be able to help without laughing her head off.
“Tonight, my place,” Connie commanded when her friend answered. “I’m calling Jess, too. I need pizza, a lot of ice cream and a complete makeover.”
Heather laughed. “You sound nervous. What’s going on? Does this have something to do with the fact that you’re seeing Thomas tomorrow?”
Connie stilled. “How on earth did you know about that? This whole festival appearance was fairly last-minute.”
“Shanna asked me if I could help you out since I’m taking some quilts to the festival to show,” Heather explained patiently. “I called and asked the organizers to make sure our booths are next to each other. Shanna didn’t tell you?”
“No, but that’s fantastic,” Connie said, already feeling better. “Now if I can just talk Jess into coming along, I’ll feel…”
“What?” Heather teased. “Safe?”
“Okay, yes, at least marginally.”
“You do know that you are over forty, the mother of a college student and a beautiful, intelligent woman, don’t you?”
“Blah, blah, blah,”
Connie said. “You try being in my shoes. I haven’t dated in what feels like a million years.”
“I know for a fact you’ve had lunch with Thomas, you’ve had coffee with Thomas, you’ve even had dinner with Thomas. Call those occasions whatever you want to, I’m thinking they were dates. Were they that scary?”
“No,” she admitted. “He’s extraordinarily easy to talk to.”
“Well, there you go.”
“But those were all before,” Connie said, trying to explain.
“Before what? Before you knew sex was an option?” Heather chuckled even as she spoke.
“It is not funny!” Connie told her. “I shaved my legs the other day for the first time in ages, and now I have all these little nicks. I am so not ready for dating. I’m pretty sure my last tube of mascara has hardened into some kind of fossil that future generations will examine with awe.”
This time Heather didn’t even try to hide her laughter. “You are so cute. Please say I can tell Connor about this.”
“Not if you value your life,” Connie said direly. “If Thomas wants his nephew to be privy to our private life, he’ll have to tell him himself.”
“Not fair,” Heather protested, then added in a noble tone, “Besides, I shouldn’t keep secrets from my husband. It’s very hard on a marriage.”
“You were happy enough to keep a few when you didn’t want him to know you were living in Chesapeake Shores,” Connie reminded her.
“We weren’t married then. Now we have this total honesty pact.”
Connie sighed. She understood what Heather was
saying. She really did. “Am I going to regret calling you?” she asked plaintively.
Heather hesitated for just a fraction of a second, then said, “No, absolutely not. There are a very few occasions when being a friend trumps everything else. This is one of them.”
“Thank you.”
“You do remember that Connor already knows about this whole thing between you and Thomas, right? He picked up on it ages ago.”
“And then blabbed to Jess and who knows who else,” Connie said. “I don’t trust him to keep anything to himself anymore, so the less he knows, the better. At some point he might feel he’s duty-bound to spill the beans to my brother. I do not want Jake jumping all over me about this.”
“You might have a point about that,” Heather agreed. “O’Briens do love trumping each other with the latest family gossip. Are you sure Jess is an exception to that? She’s joining us tonight, right?”
“You see, the thing about Jess is that I know a few of her secrets, too,” Connie explained. “We sort of neutralize each other. She’ll keep mine or I’ll spread hers far and wide.”
Heather laughed. “Is it any wonder I love this town and this family? See you tonight. Seven-thirty okay? I’ll come as soon as I put little Mick down for the night. Connor can take over then. I’d let him do the whole bath and bedtime thing, but I’d come home to a bathroom that looks as if a pipe has burst.”
“Seven-thirty’s great, thanks. If you own any makeup, you might want to bring it along. I haven’t used anything more than lipstick in so long, I’ve forgotten how to put it
on. I flatly refuse to go out and spend a fortune on new stuff till I know whether I can put it on without looking like a clown.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t bother at all,” Heather said. “You have that lovely, wholesome look that is obviously very attractive to a man who loves the outdoors as much as Thomas does. He seems awfully taken with the way you look now.”
Connie was startled by the observation, but then a smile curved her lips. “He is, isn’t he? I’ll be darned.”
She wondered how many more surprises were in store while she figured out this whole dating thing.
Will hadn’t gone to a fall festival in years. He wasn’t especially fond of the crowds or the junk food or the country music that seemed to be a staple of these events. He was, however, way too fond of Jess, and rumor had it that she was going this year. Connor asked if he wanted to tag along.
“Heather’s going to have a booth and I’ve been drafted to help her sell quilts, and she’s been drafted to help Connie at the foundation booth. The way I hear it, Jess is going along as moral support for Connie.” He shook his head. “It all sounds ridiculously complicated, if you ask me, but I’m a mere man.”
Will regarded him blankly. “Why does Connie need moral support?”
Connor’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “Haven’t you heard that she and my uncle have a thing going?”
“Connie and Thomas?” Will stared at him, flabbergasted. “Since when? Does Jake know?”
“I sure as heck haven’t told him,” Connor said. “And I doubt that Connie has. The jury’s out on how Jake
will react. You know how protective he’s been of his big sister ever since she and Sam split up.” He grinned. “So, you interested in coming along tomorrow?”
“Count me in,” Will said.
Connor gave him what passed for an innocent look from a man who didn’t have an innocent bone in his body. “So, how are things between you and my sister these days?”
“Awkward,” Will said. “I thought maybe we were making a little progress last Sunday, but then I said the wrong thing, she tensed up, and we were right back where we started.”
Connor looked puzzled. “You weren’t at dinner last Sunday.”
“No, I wasn’t,” Will agreed, amused as he watched Connor trying mentally to fit the pieces together.
“Then when did you see her?” Connor asked eventually.
“She called and asked me to rescue her from Moonlight Cove,” Will admitted, knowing he was opening a can of worms.
Connor instantly looked incensed. “Who was she with this time? What is wrong with her? Hasn’t she learned anything after all the times either Kevin or I had to go save her before she did something idiotic?”
“She wasn’t there with a man,” Will said, not surprised that Connor had leaped to that conclusion. “She’d kayaked over there, and then her kayak drifted off while she was taking a nap or something.”
Connor’s annoyance faded for barely an instant, before he got worked up all over again. “I’m not sure that isn’t just as bad. What if she’d been stuck there all
night? What if she hadn’t had her cell phone? I swear, when I see her—”
“When you see her, you’re going to keep your opinions to yourself,” Will said flatly. “Those opinions are precisely why she called me, rather than you or Kevin. If she’d wanted to hear from you, in fact, she could have hiked through the woods and been at your place in fifteen or twenty minutes.”
“Well, somebody has to tell her like it is,” Connor grumbled. “She can’t behave irresponsibly without someone calling her on it. I don’t suppose you did that?”
“No, I didn’t. She did have her cell phone. She did call me. She got home safe and sound. All in all, she behaved perfectly logically and responsibly.”
“You mean other than letting the stupid kayak drift off in the first place,” Connor said, still not pacified.
“It could have happened to anyone,” Will insisted. “Do I need to remind you of the time we got stranded over at Jessup’s Point because your boat got stuck on a sand bar? I believe it was the Coast Guard that finally tracked us down.”
“We were fifteen,” Connor retorted.
“And had been out on these waters a hundred times and we still screwed up,” Will said. “Stuff happens. It won’t help anyone if you make Jess feel bad for making a mistake. She’s sensitive enough to everyone’s opinion as it is.”
Connor sighed heavily. “I know you’re right. I just worry about her, you know? She doesn’t always think before she acts.”
Will understood Connor’s concern, but he also thought he knew Jess in some ways better than Connor did. “I worry about her, too,” he said. “But here’s the
difference between you and me. I trust her to handle whatever problems crop up. You still think she’s that kid who needs her big brothers to bail her out. Jess is an adult.”
“But—”
Will gave him a warning look that silenced whatever he’d been about to say. “Sure, she’s an adult with ADD, but she’s not some basket case who can’t be trusted. Look at all she’s accomplished, Connor. She’s amazing. It’s time the rest of you started seeing her that way and stopped making judgments and rushing to her rescue before she says anything about needing help.”
Connor studied him long and hard. “You really do have it bad, don’t you?”
Will shrugged. “Nothing new about that.”
Connor shook his head. “What is wrong with my sister? Why can’t she see what’s right in front of her face?”
“She will,” Will said. He was increasingly confident of that. The only thing he couldn’t pinpoint with any certainty was the timetable. He just hoped they both lived long enough for it to happen.
Saturday morning had dawned with bright sunshine, a crisp fall breeze and promised to be the kind of day that energized people. Jess helped Connie set up the foundation’s booth displaying books about the Chesapeake Bay and providing information on memberships and donations. There was a large jar for cash donations as well.
Right next door, Connor was helping Heather set up the Cottage Quilts booth with its selection of colorful quilts hanging on three sides and additional quilts
showcased on tables. Little Mick was scampering between the booths, hoping someone would read to him or take him to one of the food booths set up across the park.
“Come on, kiddo, I’ll take you,” Jess offered. “Let’s go see what kind of sticky food we can find that’ll make Mommy crazy.”
Heather scowled at her. “Please do not indulge my son with a bunch of junk food.”
Jess grinned. “How about a caramel apple? They’re a little on the gooey side, but there is fruit inside.”
“An interesting spin, but you’ll need to cut it for him, then make sure he washes his hands before he comes back here,” Heather said, then turned to Connor. “Maybe you should go with them.”
Jess feigned a scowl at her sister-in-law. “Did you just insult me? I am perfectly capable of taking care of a toddler for a few minutes.”
Heather laughed. “Not the issue. My kid has you wound around his little finger. There’s no telling what he’s liable to talk you into buying him.”
“That’s an aunt’s privilege,” Jess told her.
“Then you get him when he starts throwing up,” Heather warned. “That’s the rule I apply to Connor, isn’t it?” She gave her husband an affectionate poke in the ribs.
“Sadly, she’s telling the truth,” Connor said. “The kid’s all yours, sis. Just be prepared. Unlike us, he apparently wasn’t blessed with a cast-iron stomach.”
“He’s three,” Jess said. “Give him time.”
She held out her hand and little Mick grabbed it. “Over there, Aunt Jess,” he said, dragging her toward the funnel cake.
“Looks good,” she said at once. “Nothing like a little grease and powdered sugar to start the day.”
They were waiting in line when she looked up and spotted Will heading her way, weaving through the crowd and head and shoulders above many of them. Sometimes she forgot how tall he was, and how petite he’d always made her feel.
“What brings you to the festival?” she called out to him. “I thought you hated this kind of thing.”
“It’s a nice day. I felt like being outdoors, and Connor told me you all were going to be helping out down here. I figured I could lend a hand.”
Little Mick held out his arms, and Will immediately scooped him up. “Hey, buddy, how you doing?”
“Me getting cake,” he said excitedly, gesturing toward the sign over the booth. “And ca’mel apple and ice cream, too.”
Will laughed. “Is that so?” He looked at Jess. “You’re a brave woman.”
“So they tell me. Can I get you anything when I get to the front of the line?”
“Not me. I’ll stick to coffee for now. I think I saw some a couple of booths down.”
Normally Jess avoided caffeine, but she loved coffee. “I don’t suppose they have decaf?” she said wistfully.