Switched, Bothered and Bewildered (31 page)

"Oh
well,"
Jillian said, then laughed.

Jana Lee was glad she'd made Jillian laugh.

"However," Jillian said, "I don't think Jackson is an issue. From what I've seen, he hasn't left your side for the last twelve hours. I'd say there was some serious stuff going on there."

"Guilt, no doubt. His building fell on me. He probably thinks I'll sue him." *
   
*
   
*

"She burned Jana Lee's house down?" Jackson was incredulous. Dean snorted his coffee laughing.

"No, no, it was lightning."

"You have to wonder about all this, don't you? Sounds like a bad movie of the week," Jackson said.

"Hey, right now we're
living
a bad movie of the week," Dean replied.

"These two are trouble, that's for sure. What's the daughter like?" Jackson asked.

"Really good kid. Are you serious about Jana Lee? Don't mess with a mother, my man. The kid gets hurt."

"Weirdly enough, I am serious about Jana Lee. I had to have a ceiling fall on her to figure that out, but there you go." Jackson put his empty cup back on the saucer and wiped his side of the table with a napkin. "What about you?"

"At this point I have no idea how it will work, but I've never met anyone like Jillian Tompkins. As I said to her last night, the best plan I can come up with is to take one day at a time."

"Can women do that?" Jackson looked dubious.

"Not sure." Dean grinned.

Jackson rang the doorbell and tapped his fingers against the doorframe. No switchy, twitchy twin was going to put him out in the cold. He'd spent the bulk of the day surveying the damage to Pitman Toys, meeting with insurance stiffs and talk-

ing to his father. They'd gotten more than a few things straightened out. He had a whole lot of that to do—straightening out Jana Lee, and her sister too. Jillian opened the door.

"Jackson?" She seemed surprised.

"Move it over, sister, I have business." He marched past her.

"Oh, come right in, you're just in time for dinner." Jillian said that nicely, with an edge.

He ignored her and followed Jana Lee's voice. She was in the kitchen with her daughter, Dean, and—surprise—Oliver. Jackson greeted each one by name.

"Could I steal you for a moment, Jana Lee?" He wanted a private moment. He went right up close to her and wrapped his arm around her waist. She tried to wriggle away, but he guided her out of the kitchen. "Got a bedroom in this place?"

"There," she pointed. Helpful little minx.

"Well, shall we?"

She wasn't sure what to expect from Jackson, and she felt a little scared of what he might say. She turned to protest this little meeting, but he backed her into the room, holding her good elbow.

"First, Ms. Jana Lee Stivers, I'm very sorry about your broken arm." He kissed it. "It was rude of that earthquake to interrupt our quarrel, and even more rude of Gloria whazzername to interrupt us

just before the earth moved. But the earth had already moved for me,
before
Gloria came in.

"Worse than that, I reacted like a fool to your so honorable confession of truth. I'm sorry."

"You were going to leave me naked on a desk." Jana Lee tried to cross her arms awkwardly, but he uncrossed them as he wound his arms around her waist and kept backing her up.

"Actually, at the end there I think you were doing the leaving. I've thought about this a whole lot. We need to get past this whole thing where you did your sister a favor, and stay focused on each other. I know who
you
are, whether I had your name right or not.
You
are the most amazing, colorful, strange girl I've ever met. You have a great mind, and those lips are yours alone." He leaned in and kissed her quickly.

Jana Lee was trying to cling to her new take-charge thing. "You don't
really
know me. I have a daughter."

"And from what I hear, a charcoal house. I did a whole lot of thinking last night watching you in that hospital bed. There is no way I'm going to let you vanish out of my life. I can't promise things will work out between us, God knows. Your daughter might hate me. You might find out I snore."

"I also live in Washington. That's rather major."

"If you had a job, would you consider a move?" He was so close to her she couldn't think. His

wonderful scent was making her dizzy. Or was it the concussion? She moved backward out of his arms and ran around the other side of the bed. He leaned over the silk coverlet and smiled at her. "Going somewhere?"

"Don't make me run, Jackson, I'm not supposed to joggle my head."

"You can stop running, Jana Lee. What do you think of my idea? How about coming to work for Pitman Toys as one of the design team? You obviously don't know your cost ratio differential from your elbow."

She sat down on the bed.

"What about Jillian's job?"

"She can certainly keep it; Jillian is very good at what she does. And Pitman will throw in some therapy, because anyone who thinks they can't take a leave of absence to regain their personal sanity is just plain crazy. We're not that kind of company."

"I don't know, Jackson. I'll think about it. Carly has school and friends."

"Discuss it with her. And one more thing ..." He vaulted right over the bed and took her in his arms. "You're going to need some bed rest." He kissed her neck. "And tender loving care." He kissed her temple. "And I'm just the man to oversee that project." He lowered her down on the bed and kissed her with the most convincing, heart-stopping kiss she'd ever received.

"I love you, Jana Lee/' he whispered.

"I love you, too, Jackson."

She forgot all the crazy thoughts dancing in her head and let Jackson kiss her. Nothing felt as good as Jackson kissing her. The rest of it could wait.

Dinner was served, and Oliver was cooking. Jil-lian's very handsome Dean had been a great assistant in the kitchen. They'd decided on a seafood linguini dish earlier and had had the market send over food, because damn, this cupboard was bare. What
did
that girl live on?

To Oliver, the course of true love had never seemed as rocky as it did with this bunch. He stood in Jillian's kitchen and listened to the chatter of a little clutch of people who were beyond clueless. The universe had literally rearranged their lives, but none of them had caught on—no house, no office, new men, a daughter who loved art and would adjust well in a big city like San Francisco.

Of course it remained to be seen if Jackson would make a good stepfather, and if Jillian could give up her high-stress job and become Mrs. Dean Wakefield. Oliver tossed the Caesar salad and snickered to himself.

"Dean, could you pop the cork on those two bottles of wine? Jana Lee shouldn't be the only one with something to dull the pain."

"I hear you." Dean opened drawers until he

found a corkscrew and went about his assigned task.

"Don't you find it interesting that the very things that held each of our sisters in her rather rutlike, stuck place are now gone with the wind? Or the lightning, as the case may be?"

Dean looked at Oliver while he twisted the corkscrew. "Kind of weird, isn't it? Seeing them together is very enlightening. They are very similar. More so than they think."

"Getting to know Jana Lee after years with Jil-lian, I'm inclined to agree with you." Oliver grated fresh Parmesan cheese on top of the salad. "I've been thinking about what the next step might be."

"I'm sure open to suggestions," Dean said.

"I think a trip, all five of you, including Carly the daughter. But not just any trip—a cruise. Something where you're stuck together and have nowhere to run."

"What about the house in Washington?"

"That will take some planning, and really, do you want to start reconstruction right away? You could draw house plans at sea. It is a joint project, after all."

"I see your point. A cruise. I see."

Oliver could see Dean's brain sorting through all the possibilities and ramifications of that idea.

"What about Jillian's job?"

"I hate to be immodest, but I can handle it. After

you've been someone's assistant for as long as I've been Jillian's, there is no aspect of their job you aren't familiar with." Oliver picked up the appetizer trays. "Shall we? A little wine and antipasto will certainly lighten things up in there."

Dean picked up the two bottles of wine, which probably should have breathed more, but hey, breathing is overrated. A cruise with Jillian sounded like heaven. They'd certainly be able to sort things out in a calm, quiet environment. It would be great for all the girls. Oliver was a genius.

Dean walked into the dining room and set one bottle at each end, then joined Jillian at the table. They were deep in it about the structural aspects of Pitman and what had made the ceiling cave in. Dean poured Jillian a glass of wine and passed the bottle around.

"I think a toast is in order," he said. Everyone got very quiet and stared at him, probably wondering what there was to toast to, considering the recent disasters that had befallen them.

He waited till everyone had a glass except Jana Lee and Carly who were both drinking water. He raised his wineglass. "Here's to the two best looking sisters I know, and their ability to switch, bother and bewilder us all. If it weren't for that, we would have never found our way to each other."

Jackson looked like he was in complete agree-

ment; Jana Lee and Jillian looked at each other and laughed. Carly cheered.

"Now, what say you all go on a cruise to oh, Hawaii?" Oliver said.

Dean laughed at the dead silence. Then the sisters started in, the daughter joined, Jackson bounced replies back. It was chaos. Dean looked at Oliver and noticed he was enjoying himself a great deal, swigging wine and stacking crostini and sun dried tomatoes on his plate. Oliver was a devil, that was for sure.

^Epilogue

Or\& V&ar
and a Few Months Later

p/"KV^ "It was the earthquake."
^>J\*S
 
"It was the lightning."

"It was the cruise. A double wedding at sea. How could you beat that?"

"No, it was rebuilding this beach house."

"It was the Little Princess dolls, and all those royalties."

"What about finding out Harvey the Dragon was doing superstore grand openings in your own county and he was the scary clown Jillian saw? That was a real shocker, wouldn't you say?"

"Scrapbook moment for sure."

"I'd say getting
knocked up
takes the cake, wouldn't you, Dean? And you better say yes," Jillian said.

"Yes, yes! It takes the cake. You win, Jillian." Dean balanced baby Benjamin by his chubby little waist and Jana Lee watched the baby drool and gurgle as Monty Python came over to nuzzle Dean in a rather low-level display of dog jealousy. "Of course that would refer back to the cruise," he teased. He handed Jillian the baby and went off to mind the barbeque.

It didn't matter whose opinion they took about which event had brought them together or shocked them all out of their former lives—they were together again.

Jana Lee was amazed to see the beach house done up like this. Where there had once been a plain, rather characterless beach shack, there now stood a two-tiered beauty with decks and balconies and views out every window. She loved the two master bedrooms and the huge combination art studio/ bedroom for Carly on the very top, plus the extra guest room on the main floor for stray friends. The best part was the modern state-of-the-art everything—wiring, plumbing, kitchen, and lighting. It was now the perfect no-stress getaway for both couples.

Jana Lee sat back against the comfortably upholstered chaise next to her sister. She'd laughed at everyone doing their usual round robin. It was hard to say who had come up with the idea of making the beach house their joint vacation house, but she thought it might have been Oliver.

Good old Ollie, the voice of reason. Oliver, who was now bugging her about packaging costs and safety standards the way Jillian must have bugged other people. Oliver, who had learned to barbeque like a champ, even though he'd never tried it.

"Hey, Ollie, how's it coming?"

"A few more minutes, Princess Jana Lee, you can't rush these things."

Ollie had brought his partner to the grand opening of their beach retreat, and they'd been cooking up a storm along with Dean for the last three days. Thank God someone in this family could cook, because Jana Lee and Jillian and Jackson were pretty pathetic. Carly on the other hand, was learning from her new uncle Dean, and had turned into quite the babysitter as well.

Carly had taken to San Francisco like a champ, and the most amazing thing of all was watching her with Jackson's family, who just lavished her with acceptance and affection—and two boy cousins. Jackson's mother was pretty overindulgent with the designer dresses, and teas at the St. Francis, but she liked to show her only granddaughter off. Once in a while she tried to take Marcus's boys, but they were better suited to soccer match picnics so far.