“Oh great, just great! What the hell am I supposed to do now?”
She stopped and looked around for someplace to hide, but couldn’t figure out where to go.
Behind her, Erik had placed the basket above his head to avoid the hail and had begun to run as fast as he could to get down the hill. He hoped Jess had made it to the bottom before the deluge started, but just as he rounded a turn he saw her standing there looking dazed. As if in slow motion he dug his heels in to stop. His feet slipped on the hail and he plowed right into her.
The picnic basket went flying, scattering their lunch all over the ground. Jessica flew to the side of the trail and sat there stunned. Erik saw her head bobbing as if it might help her avoid the hail which hurt like hell. Instead of laughing at the comical sight he grabbed their picnic blanket which had landed on a nearby tree stump and held it out.
“Here, hold this over your head while I see if I can salvage any of the food.”
Erik felt Jessica’s watery eyes on him as he scrambled around picking up whatever food was closest. Once he had re-packed what he could easily get ahold of he put the basket over his head again and turned back to Jessica.
“Come on. We’ve got to be close now. Let’s see if we can make it down the rest of the way without getting knocked out.”
Jessica stumbled up, slowed by the now full blanket. She tipped it, letting the hail slide out before returning it to its job as a makeshift umbrella then followed after Erik like a lost puppy.
Chapter Fifty-five
After what seemed like hours Jessica and Erik finally reached the bottom of the trail. It opened up to a small beach and the gothic Vikingsholm Castle. The castle was completely dark, and for a frightening minute Jessica thought maybe it was closed. But no, through the window she saw people moving around.
“Come on Jess,” Erik called. “At least it will be dry.”
He grabbed the blanket out of her hands and covered the last few feet with the basket once again bouncing against him and Jessica’s freezing hand captured in his. They pushed their way into a front room crammed with people.
“Should we find the others do you think,” he started to ask until he glimpsed Jessica, whose lips were blue and teeth were chattering. He headed straight for the fireplace. The warm glow that came from it was like a beacon.
Noting their frozen state people quickly moved out of their way, opening up a path in an otherwise packed room. Someone, Jessica didn’t see who, handed Erik a fresh blanket and he laid it over her lap as she sunk down onto the hearth near the fire. She had yet to say a word, and Erik got a worried look on his face. He squatted down in front of her.
“Jess? Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
He waited for an answer, and finally she lifted her head. She stared at him blankly, trying to take in not only the disastrous end to their hike, but also the fact that this meant she’d reached another dead end in her project plan. She couldn’t hold back the tears.
“Oh, no.” Erik leaned in so that her head was on his shoulder. He started rubbing her back. “You’re freezing.”
“I, I, I th, th, thought it mi, might work,” Jessica got out between chattering teeth and tears.
“Shh, shh! It’s okay.” He smoothed down her dripping hair.
Feeling was starting to come back into her fingers and they tingled and hurt. She moved out of Erik’s grasp and pulled her hands from beneath the blanket to push her hair out of her face. She looked at Erik, seeing how wet and cold he looked for the first time. Quickly she shifted on her perch and pulled him to sit next to her.
“Here, here. You n,need to w,warm up too.”
Jessica opened up one side of the blanket and pulled it around both of them. Jessica glanced over at him and felt awful. It was her fault he looked so miserable. She opened her mouth to apologize, but Erik shushed her, as if reading her mind.
“It’s not your fault it rained.”
“Rained? Is that what you call it?” She laughed. “I’ve never in my life been in a rain storm that felt so much like a war.”
Although her laughter seemed a bit hysterical it was much better than tears, so Erik smiled.
“Thank God you found that blanket to put over my head,” she said gratefully.
The sincerity of her feelings shocked her. How could Erik, her worst enemy, the guy that always made her feel awful, be the one who had taken care of her on the trail? She didn’t know what to do with the overwhelming gratitude she felt at being so protected, but she did know it didn’t make her feel like laughing anymore, it made her feel like finishing what they had started on the golf course.
Their faces were inches apart and she watched the last of the raindrops dripping from his hair into his eyes. Her fingers reached out. Simply to swipe at them, she thought, but instead they rested on his cheek. Erik barely took a breath before Jessica leaned in to close the distance between them.
Their gentle kiss warmed up their freezing bodies. She was lost in the feeling of his lips against hers. The heat of his mouth engulfed her, ridding her of the chill as well as any coherent thoughts. Jessica tangled her hand in his sopping hair. Some part of her brain registered his hand moving from her waist to her back and then to the back pocket of her shorts. She moaned softly and tried to deepen the kiss.
The fire from the fireplace competed with the one building inside her and Jessica knew she would have to come back to reality soon. She wished she could avoid it. As it was, it turned out to be Erik that eventually ended the kiss. Unlike their previous kisses, though, this time they were stuck without an obvious escape route. Their eyes roamed the room, careful to not look at each other.
Jessica felt their awkwardness like a physical presence drawing all its power from their two linked hands. She couldn’t figure out how to pull away; not her hand or her emotions. Part of her didn’t even want to, but that was also the part that was starting to scare her. What the heck was going on? What was this?
She shifted away from the fire, tugging her hand from his so she could remove the blanket. Erik gave a frustrated sigh and Jessica bit her lip, glancing at him nervously.
“Don’t worry Jess,” he said wryly. “You don’t have to say anything. I can’t imagine what’s going on in your head, but at least we’re not yelling at each other for a change.”
Chapter Fifty-six
Life was weird, Peter thought as he made his way back to Becky.
All he had been trying to do was stay out of Becky’s way while she talked with Blaise. His spontaneous tour of the castle had been interesting, if a bit crowded; especially once he’d ended up in the front room. That area had been jammed full of people, most of whom were standing near the huge hearth where someone had lit a fire… and not just in the fireplace.
Everyone around seemed to be conspicuously ignoring the couple who was sitting in front of the fire making out as if no one else was in the room. He laughed and was about to turn away when he caught a glimpse of the girl’s profile.
“What the hell?”
Damned if it hadn’t been Jessica and Erik. His first thought was to kick Erik’s butt for taking advantage of his sister but he stopped himself. Becky had sure called this one right. To him it had always seemed like they hated each other… Obviously not. Jessica was clearly as much a part of the kiss as Erik was.
He had spied the basket sitting on the floor and wondered if he could dare sneak over and grab it. The last thing he wanted, though, was to be the one to interrupt the two of them. Instead he’d decided to go back and get Becky to do it.
The thought of Becky made him suddenly eager to find her again. Peter returned just in time to see Blaise’s departing back.
“You okay?”
Becky looked at him and grimaced.
“Well, it was easier than I thought since Blaise had obviously worked up his own list of reasons why we should call it quits. I let him get a little ways into it before I realized how awful I was beginning to feel.”
Becky rolled h
er shoulders, shrugging off the bad karma.
“Anyway,” she said, shaking her head, “at least it’s over. So, where have you been?”
Peter studied her, making sure she was really ready to change the subject before deciding to let it rest for the moment.
“So I,” he said, “went to explore the castle and instead found Jessica and Erik making out.”
“Really? So was it like a hot and heavy kind of kiss or just, you know, like a little peck?” Becky didn’t slow down to let him answer. “Either way, though, it’s a start, isn’t it?”
Peter grimaced but let Becky continue on her roll. Why could no one seem to get that this was his sister they were talking about? He watched Becky waving her hands animatedly while she asked and answered her own questions.
“I mean, it’s like I said, all that hostility is simply a cover up for how much they like each other, don’t you think? I’m beginning to think Erik may have resolved himself to it, but is Jessica really there yet? She is still on this crazy campaign, but then that’s all wrapped up in Erik too, since the bet is with him. I don’t know, what do you think?”
Peter waited a second to see if she was really asking him.
“Well, it sure seemed like Jessica was as much part of the kiss as Erik was. She wasn’t pushing him away, if you know what I mean.” Peter frowned at the image. “But you have to admit, that this crazy bet has made Jess more, I don’t know, more…” he struggled for the right words.
“Cute? Confident? Relaxed? Focused?” Becky suggested.
“Whatever, yeah, all of that I guess. So the bet hasn’t been all bad. Although,” he finished, “today sure was a bust.”
“Well, I’m not sure I would say it was a complete bust,” Becky said. She reached out and squeezed his hand.
Peter looked at her and thought of all the things he’d wanted to say for so long. He sighed. It would have to wait a little longer since he knew they were all starving.
“That would be the understatement of the year,” he laughed.
She tugged at his hand drawing him toward the front room.
“Come on. Let’s go find some food.”
By the time they reached Jessica and Erik the kiss was very clearly over. Peter watched Jessica shift herself farther from Erik when she saw them coming.
“Hey guys, what took you so long?” Jessica asked when they got close.
“We’ve been here the whole time,” he said, giving them a pointed look. “Where have you been?”
Becky saw Jessica pale and as usual jumped in.
“Gosh we’re so glad you guys made it down the trail okay.” She sent Peter a pointed look.
“Yeah, we’re starving.” He backed down.
“Well,” Erik said. “We can’t really vouch for the food.”
He pulled the basket next to them then glanced at Jessica and smiled. “It’s probably a little worse for being caught in a war.”
Jessica’s tense shoulders dropped a notch. She opened up the picnic basket and started to rummage through it.
“Let’s see what we’ve got, shall we?” She glanced up for a moment and then continued digging around in the basket. “By the way, you can thank Erik for dragging it down the mountain.”
She was so busy pulling stuff out that she missed the looks that passed between Becky, Peter and Erik.
They were finishing their salvaged meal when Jessica finally noticed Blaise was missing in action.
“Hey Beck, where’s Blaise? Is he still upset with us?”
“I caught up with him and we agreed we should probably call it quits.” Becky glanced at Peter as if to apologize for not sharing all the details. Then she caught Jessica’s smile.
“You don’t have to look so happy,” she laughed. “I’m sure he would be perfect for someone.”
“Yeah, someone with an iPhone, all the right clothes and plenty of patience,” Peter said.
“Well, anyway, last I saw he was talking with one of the park rangers trying to figure out how to get back to the condo. I gave him my key; I hope that’s okay Jess. He said he’d leave it on the counter when he took off.”
Jess compared the loss of his share of the expenses against how nice the atmosphere would be without Blaise and decided she would just have to do some extra catering work with Katie when she got back. Surprisingly the thought didn’t upset her much.
“So, what do you guys think?” Jessica joked. “If we see him hitchhiking on the road home, do we stop and pick him up or let him find his own way?”
They finished packing up the rest of their garbage and Jess dusted the crumbs off her lap.
“It looks a lot better outside. I suppose we have to risk it at some point.”
“Don’t worry,” Erik answered Jessica’s hesitation. “I’ll protect you again if it decides to pour.”
Obviously flustered, Jessica folded up the blanket that was sitting next to her.
“Sorry it was such a fiasco today, guys. At least tomorrow I’ll be helping at MealTime so you guys will get the day off to recover. And I know our boat trip will be much more successful. We’ll go out on the lake Wednesday and find Ian that way.”
Peter watched as Erik’s grin was replaced with a scowl. The hail storm may have departed, but the air was still pretty frosty. So much for romance, he thought.
Chapter Fifty-seven
Two days later Jessica rubbed the sleep from her eyes and looked out the window. It was a picture perfect morning in Tahoe. From her vantage point in bed she could see the bright, deep blue sky framed by the prickly needles of a pine tree.
Mmm, she thought stretching; it was still early enough to relax a little before she had to return to MealTime to help with the day’s prep. Even though she had been hired as a back-up for Sandy and Mandy, everyone had to spend some time working in the kitchen. So far when Jess had gone in she’d really enjoyed seeing how they managed things. It was pretty different from Katie’s set up.
For one thing, they tended to do more home concierge type work. Since the area was so busy with vacationers, they had a prepared meal service and would go in and set up the fridge with favorite foods. Plus MealTime did a lot of single meal catering for their wealthier clients who, for whatever reason, hadn’t brought along their personal chef.
Jessica couldn’t wait to see Katie again so they could brainstorm ways to incorporate some of these ideas into her business. Even though Boston was a totally different market, people tended to work long hours. Jessica could see concierge type services being just as valued.
So, although she’d stayed up late the night before helping to clean she was still looking forward to returning today. She had a lot more to learn about how they coordinated the myriad of daily demands given their few chefs and servers. Jessica hopped out of bed and grabbed her robe. As she headed out to make coffee she ran into Becky and Peter coming in the front door.
“Oh, hi Jess. We were just, um, actually I got up to take a walk and ran into Peter so we decided to go together… uh, for a walk I mean.” Becky giggled nervously. “We would have asked you but I thought you were asleep.”
“Yep, sound asleep and it felt great,” Jessica said, oblivious to Becky’s odd behavior. “Hey, you guys want some breakfast? I’m feeling generous and thought I’d make my famous vanilla French toast.”
Jessica opened the cabinet doors and started pulling out ingredients.
“Well, I will if I can find the vanilla I bought. What was I thinking anyway buying vanilla when I knew we’d only be here a month?” She laughed to herself, continuing what was now a monologue since Becky and Peter had already left. “Yay! There it is. So what do you think?”
She turned around wielding the small bottle of vanilla and found herself face to face with Erik and no one else.
“I think it’s too early to start drinking.” Erik laughed, mistaking the vanilla for one of those airplane liquor bottles.
“Oh. Hi. Where did the others go?” Jessica asked, turning back around to h
ide how flustered she was. “I was asking them if they wanted French toast, but I’ll make it for them anyway. What about you? Do you want some?” Jessica asked as she reached into the fridge to get out the bread and eggs.
Feeling a brush against her shoulder she jumped a foot in the air and spun around.
“Sorry,” Erik said leaning over her to get the milk from the fridge. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“I’m not startled,” Jessica giggled nervously. “I mean, I just didn’t expect you to be right there.”
Erik stood inches away and looked down at her with thoughtful eyes. Why did he suddenly seem so tall, Jessica wondered.
“So, anyway, what do you think?” She asked trying to squeeze between him and the counter.
“You really want to know?” Erik interrupted.
“About the French toast,” Jessica finished quickly.
“Oh yes… that,” Erik finally stepped away to get some coffee. “Sure, it sounds great.”
Jessica mulled over Erik’s odd behavior while she finished frying the toast. It was totally weird; like they had gone from being mortal enemies to practically friends. And then there were the kisses; which when she thought about it didn’t make any sense. Erik was a Cynthia kind of guy. Besides, she and Erik had been fighting forever; people didn’t just turn that around, did they?
No, there were only two reasons why Erik would be acting this way; either he felt guilty about the bet or he was trying to get her to lose her focus… and thereby the bet. This last reason made the most sense but somehow left Jessica feeling both annoyed and sad. Not wanting to dwell on why, she shifted her attention back to the breakfast and her need to get to MealTime. The French toast was on the table in record time.
“Okay,” Jessica said as everyone dug in, “here’s the plan for today.”
“Oh yes, we mustn’t be without a plan,” Erik put in sarcastically.
So much for him being nice to her, she thought.
Betting Jessica Page 20