Tequila And Tingles: Turtle Pine, Book 2 (5 page)

Chapter Six

If some man-to-man talk wasn’t enough to clear his head of all things Beth, Jason was in serious trouble. It was just…her mouth. The way her lips parted before she laughed. The flip of her hand tossing hair off her shoulders and the turn of her body as she leaned to be closer. It was all ingrained in his head. The flirty way she’d blinked at him and how her laugh had warmed through his skin. All of it amazing, and he couldn’t figure out why she was continually ducking him.

When Sean sent a text and asked if he was up for a quick run, Jason jumped on the opportunity. Not a lot of time for a good run before he had to be back to give swim lessons later, but if it gave his mind a break from the sway of her hips on replay, then running it was.

Jason pushed through the front door of Meredith’s house for a quick change of clothes and made it as far as the living room before Meredith called after him, “Hey, I wasn’t expecting you, but I have some news.”

“Can it wait? I’m in a hurry to meet Sean.”

Her face pinched. “Sean? Why?”

“Because he asked if I wanted to go running with him, and I don’t know anyone in this town but you.” And Beth. He also knew her. And he wanted to know her more, but that was a problem he hadn’t figured out yet. He started for his room, but the pinching of her sister’s face slowed him down. “Is that a problem?”

She shifted. “No. It’s fine.”

Female code: big-ass problem. He leaned on the doorway. He liked Sean all right. Liked the guy as much as he could for the length of time he’d known him. The guy didn’t seem like an asshole. “You’re acting like it’s a problem.”

“It’s not.” She stuffed hair behind her ear. “He sold me my minivan.”

He studied her, and, yeah, he might not have been super close to his sister, but he knew when her panties were in a twist. “Was there something wrong with the sale? Did he screw you over?”

She narrowed her eyes to slits. Temples ticked. “Nope. It fits my needs perfectly.” Arms over the chest. Chin tipped up. “Like he said it would.”

“Okay. What’s the problem then?”

“No problem.”

There was a land mine straight ahead in this conversation, and she didn’t look like she wanted to talk about it. “Since it’s not a problem, I need to get changed.” He headed for his room.

“My news is about Beth.”

He stopped in his tracks and faced her. “What’s that?”

She chuckled and shook her head. All the tension that had been there was gone. “That was easy. It’s like you’re already wrapped around her finger.”

“Don’t be mean.”

“I asked my friend Cindy, who knows Jenna, who works at Jaspers. According to her, Beth got married shortly after she started college, to a guy she met there. They got divorced about a year ago and Beth moved back home.”

“That’s it?”

“Yep.”

That was pathetic. “That small-town rumor is lame.”

“When the gossip doesn’t happen here, there’s not much to find out. She’s best friends with Tina Velvet, but they’re really close, so I doubt you’ll find out anything from her.” Meredith started turning away and then looked over her shoulder. “And Cindy said her kids never miss Sunday school at church. If Beth doesn’t bring them, her parents do”

“Okay. That’s good that she gets them there every week.”

Meredith shook her head. “You’re missing the point. Beth’s mom babysits the kids through the week during the day while Beth works. They go home with Beth at night. Plus, Beth has them every weekend. When do they see their dad?”

In other words, they didn’t. He nodded and went for a change of clothes for the run that was supposed to get his mind off Beth. Probably wasn’t likely to happen now. He hoped Sean liked to hit the pavement hard and fast.

He headed out in a comfortable walk toward Sean’s and had made it to the corner when he caught sight of the other man coming his way. Jason waited there, walking in place to get his legs warm while he stretched his arms. To the left, then again to the right. Muscles worked and pulled and he concentrated on each side, finally finding some focus that didn’t involve figuring out a way to talk to Beth. That was, until he thought her name, and it sent him right back to square one.

Sean got across the street to him and pointed toward Meredith’s house. “I usually run that way to make a big circle and come back here.”

“Sounds good to me.” Jason didn’t wait so much as he turned and started off. Sean kept pace as they jogged, but Jason wanted more.

He wanted sweat soaked in his shirt, breath pounding through his lungs. He wanted the burn in his muscles so strong, they’d be the only muscles he’d be able to wrap his mind around. He wanted to be tired at the lesson tonight so he wouldn’t have energy for stealing glances toward the parents to catch a glimpse of Beth. Sean’s breathing was even and patterned next to his, so as they reached the corner, Jason pushed a little more. The man kept up with him, and finally that wanted burn grew in his thighs.

He ran on, getting closer to the next corner.

Sean’s breath took on a harder note. “You run like you mean it, don’t you?”

Too winded to laugh, Jason managed a nod. Maybe taking off full throttle on his first run in several months wasn’t his brightest idea, but he wasn’t giving up. Jason didn’t give up on anything. He certainly wasn’t giving up on Beth Revlin either. But maybe he shouldn’t kill his new running partner in the meantime. At the corner, he slowed to a jog and caught his breath. “Sorry. Shit on my mind.”

“Good shit or bad shit?”

He laughed. “Shit I can’t figure out.”

“Something I can help you with?”

“It’s a woman.”

Sean was the one laughing now. “I’m probably not your best option for help then.”

Jason nodded and considered mentioning Beth’s name, but he held that back. With the way she’d run out of his hotel room, she was probably embarrassed about the whole thing and wouldn’t want it out how they knew each other. “She’s dodging my steps and I’ve got something of hers to give back.”

“Leave it on her porch?”

“I’m new to town and I don’t know where she lives. That also feels a little on the creepy side. Her kid is in the swim class I teach, so I figured I would catch her after a lesson one day, but she slips out before I can. I’ve tried to see her before class, but she’s started coming in late. I’m going to try again tonight.”

“Tell her kid you want to talk to her.”

“I didn’t want to single her out.” Since Beth looked like she wanted to disappear every time he saw her, he had a feeling she wouldn’t appreciate that at all. He was already on an uphill struggle and didn’t need to make it worse.

“Nah. Coaches want to talk with parents about something or other all the time. I can’t remember how many times my Little League coach had me tell Mom he wanted to talk to me after practice.”

Put that way, it didn’t sound like too much of a bad idea. “If I don’t catch her before lessons start tonight, I’ll give it a try and see where it goes.”

“Do I get to know the woman you’re chasing after?”

“
Chasing
is a strong word.” Except that was basically what Jason was up to.

“Right.” They stopped at a corner. Sean jogged in place as a car moved through the intersection. “Let me rephrase. Do I get to know the name of the woman you need to return something to?”

Jason shook his head. “Just don’t go telling people I’m chasing after her.”

“Last I heard, you weren’t chasing.”

“Good answer.” They started across the intersection. “And it’s Beth Quakes. She was a Revlin from what I understand. Or maybe she took her name back. I’m not sure.”

Sean lifted his brows and nodded as if to give approval or make note of something. “The sheriff’s daughter. Good luck with that.”

“Sounds like I should know something.”

“Not really. I don’t know much about her since she’s older.”

That was the second time he’d heard that “older” comment. The night he’d met her at the bar, he never would have guessed he’d soon be surrounded by people calling her
older
. They clearly didn’t know the woman at all. If they did, they’d never use the word
old
, even if she had a few years on them. He was damn curious to find out her exact age. His sister claimed she was about eight years older. He’d never gotten that whole age thing after he left high school anyway.

“Not by that much,” he clarified for reasons he didn’t know. He didn’t like her being considered old, if nothing else.

“When I was ten, she likely would have been starting college.” Sean shook his head. “I’m not saying she’s old, as in
old
, just that she was older than me, so I didn’t know her that well. I hang out with her brothers, but by the time we started running together, she had already moved off.”

Same type of explanation his sister had given. Jason still didn’t like the reasoning. Beth was a stunning, lively, beautiful woman. There wasn’t a speck of old about her, even if she had a few years on him.

He lifted a shoulder, parted ways from Sean and headed to TPC for the swim lesson. He had just enough time to grab his shorts from his locker, rinse in the shower and take a quick dip in the pool to refresh him. The stench of the chlorine and whatever else had been dumped in had softened to normal smells. Normal in that there was only a hint of it coming from the pool. That promised good things for the test strips tonight. He finished a few laps and swam to the shallow end, where his kids waited on the steps. They swung from the handrail and stood on the edge of the last step at the bottom. There were a few minutes before they were technically due to start. But by the looks of them, they’d have his head if he made them wait it out.

Not that he could ever make them wait. The way they craved the pool was infectious and invigorating. A breath of fresh air to make him love the water all over again. Seeing them antsy and hardly able to wait took him back to their age, when he wanted to be in the water all the time.

Jessica had her hand up before he even got all the way to them. “Can we jump off the diving board?”

He pointed at her. “If everyone works really hard with our lesson today, we can spend some time at the end jumping off the board.”

He’d never ever tell a single one of them that the diving board wasn’t just for fun. He got them all set up in a line and demonstrated swimming with arms only. Remembering they were supposed to be loving the water and having fun, he even showed off the doggie paddle. The kids’ barking laughter echoed against the high ceiling of the pool room. They weren’t the only ones laughing. For ages, his time in a pool had been all about laps and time and precision movements to cut through the water with professional ease. Being with these kids brought back memories of swimming with Meredith before his training. His sister had said it would be different, and it certainly took his mind off things.

With the kids paddling through the water, he stole a glance to the parents and found Beth there. She sat to the far edge of the bleachers as usual. Her gaze lifted and met his for a second before she dropped it again. For the moment their eyes met, he was pulled to their briefly shared past.

His mind was made up. He’d take Sean’s advice. As soon as this lesson was over, he’d sink to low levels and use a tiny girl to get what he wanted. He only felt a little guilt for that. Once he saw Beth, there’d probably be less guilt.

He lined the kids up for the diving board and instructed them to swim to the ladder using their arms only. They took their turns and the line went through so that they had four times each. As he high-fived the kids at the end of the lesson, he stopped Katie. “Can you tell your mom I need to talk with her real quick before you two leave?”

Katie eyed him for a bit. “It’s snack time.”

He smiled. Maybe he was slowly breaking through her barrier that was bigger than she was. She’d at least spoken to him when she’d had the option to just run for her mom instead. “I’ll be fast, I promise.”

Katie tugged on her mom’s arm and said something. Beth said something back and the girl jumped in the pool with a wide grin on her face. So much for being in a hurry for snack time, but considering what was on his mind, it was for the best she was in the pool and not hanging on to Beth.

Rebecca managed to get by his side once again. “Hey, Jason. Are you up for that coffee today?”

He shook his head. “I appreciate the offer, but I have a meeting and a lot more to do around here today.”

“Maybe next time.”

He didn’t answer and made his way to Beth, who stood to the side with her arms crossed. She lifted a brow and twisted her lips slightly, fidgeting. As he got closer, she lowered her arms. When he got even closer, she rubbed her hips. “Katie said you wanted to speak with me.”

“I did.” He smiled. She didn’t. “Thanks for waiting, Beth.”

Beth cleared her throat, shook her head just enough that her hair went behind her shoulders. All professional. So different from the woman who’d leaned toward him on a bar stool. She adjusted her fingers over her purse straps. “Is there a problem with Katie?”

He grinned. “No problem. She’s doing well in class.”

“That’s good.” She sidestepped. “Thanks for letting me know.”

That time, he couldn’t help it and he chuckled. “Relax. I’m not going to announce to the whole pool how I met you.”

The tip of her pink tongue darted out and licked her top lip. “Thank you. And, um, if you can just not bring it up, ever, that’d be great. I want to put it in the past and forget about it.”

Yeah, that wasn’t happening. “That’s part of what I wanted to talk about. I’ve been trying to catch you since the first lesson. I have your shoes. I wanted to return them.”

Her eyes widened. “You kept them?”

“Of course.”

“But…how did you know you’d see me again? I didn’t mention—” She touched her forehead and shook her head. “At least I don’t remember telling you where I was from. I certainly don’t remember you telling me where you were going or what you were doing. If you’d said you were coming here, that night wouldn’t have happened.”

What? They had talked about it. They hadn’t gone into any deep, dark details, but she’d mentioned Turtle Pine and he’d said that’s where he was headed. They had clinked shot glasses, licked salt off each other and drunk another mouthful of Patron. “What do you remember?”