by Jeannie Moon
“Awkward,” Mia said. “How awkward? I see a ring on that finger, so it must not be that awkward. I think it’s exciting. And a mystery.”
“A ring? You didn’t tell me he bought you a ring?” Lilly lunged and grabbed her left hand. “Oh, my God. It’s beautiful. It’s…” Lilly froze. “Holy crap, is this what I think it is?”
Mia and Fiona looked at Jordan’s hand, which Lilly was holding up for them to see.
“That is a beautiful ring,” Mia said quietly. “It’s stunning. Is it an antique?”
“Yes.” Jordan knew Mia believed in the compass myth like little kids believed in Santa Claus, so the word on the ring would blow her mind.
Lilly looked at the two librarians. “It’s Lucy’s ring.” She smiled at Jordan. “I remember seeing it years ago. Mr. Jennings had it on display for some reason.”
Mia gasped. “Oh, that’s… that’s incredible. Really? I mean… how?”
Jordan took a sip of her tea and let the hot liquid soothe her throat. “Lucy is my tenth or twelfth great-aunt. Because I’m the only living female relative, the ring, which has been in possession of the compass shop, came to me.”
Lilly was still beaming. “So, you’re engaged? To Nick? That’s amazing!”
Mia clapped her hands together. “This is wonderful! I’m so happy for you.”
“I, ahh…” Jordan felt her will crumbling. She just couldn’t do it. “Not… exactly.”
“Not exactly?” Fiona asked. Immediately, Mia and Lilly stopped talking, waiting for Jordan to explain.
“We’re not really engaged, Fiona. My father jumped to conclusions when Nick went to visit him, and Nick didn’t say it wasn’t true. It snowballed from there. I don’t like pretending I’m something I’m not. I don’t want anyone to think I have to have a man in my life.” She took a deep breath. “I know Nick meant well when he let my father to believe we were together, but… God, this is such a mess.”
“That’s not what I expected you to say,” Lilly said quietly.
“I know. And I’m so torn. I see how happy it makes my dad, but I hate lying. And Nick…”
Jordan dropped her eyes, staring straight into her teacup, but she knew everyone was looking at her, waiting for more information. She wasn’t going to tell them about the kiss. She wasn’t…
“I kind of kissed him.” Shit.
“Really?” Mia leaned in. “Why?”
“It was a bad idea. I don’t know what came over me, we were walking back to the car after dinner, and he’d just put Chase in his place, and he’s so sweet to my dad…” This was sounding more pathetic by the minute.
“And he’s gorgeous, and he took care of you,” Lilly added.
“Yes. That, too.” Jordan took a long sip of her tea. “I completely lost my mind.”
“Okay, but how was it?” Fiona, who was right next to her, bumped her shoulder.
Jordan sighed. “It was amazing. The guy is a bona fide panty-dropper. Which is why this is so bad.”
Lilly was standing in the corner, grinning like a fool, while Mia and Fiona were puzzled as to why this was bad.
“I’m very confused,” Fiona said flatly. “Again. I mean, I can see why you don’t want to lie. But if he is all good things, and you’re attracted to him, why is he a bad idea?”
Mia was now lying on her back with the dog draped across her stomach, shaking her head. “I tried the avoidance thing with Adam. Didn’t go as planned.” She wiggled her left hand, which was sporting a very sparkly diamond ring. “Sometimes you have to go with it. How did it feel? The kiss?” Mia sat up, adjusting Gertie. “And I don’t mean physically. I mean here.”
She clasped her hands over her heart.
Jordan didn’t want to think about it because the feelings—the deep down, this-could-be-about-forever feelings—were the scariest part. She could handle attraction, she could handle sex. But when her heart was involved, that was the danger zone.
Still, she couldn’t lie to her friend. “The kiss was magic. Perfect. And it made part of me wish everything about us was true.”
“So, why are you writing him off?” Lilly’s question was the one she’d started asking herself. “I’m confused.”
“Me too! I’m so confused. He’s perfect, and I thought Chase was perfect, and we all know how that turned out.”
“Well,” Lilly began with a shrug, “that’s just dumb.”
“It’s not dumb.” Ever the romantic, Jordan should have known Lilly wouldn’t understand. “I have no judgment with men. It’s self-preservation.”
Fiona burst out laughing. “No, it’s not. You’re chicken.”
Here she thought her friends would be supportive; she should have known they were going to gang up on her. Suddenly, Gertie was up, barking at the door. Mia was on her feet. “What is it, honey? Is something there?”
Jordan heard the front door open and saw Mia step back. “Yep. There sure is.”
Nick stepped into the room, carrying one of his grandmother’s thermal bags. She’d sent food. Hopefully she’d also sent alcohol.
“Wow, this party came together quickly.” He flashed that perfect grin and made eye contact with all of them. No one was immune to Nick’s ovary-popping charms, including Mia, who even though was engaged to a big, gorgeous jock was gazing at him like a smitten thirteen-year-old.
Even her dog was in love with him. As if she was staking her claim, Gertie laid at his feet and rolled over with a moan. The slut.
“Hi, what brings you over?”
“Nona cooked, so I was dispatched. Should I put this in your fridge?” Why did he have to be so nice?
“Oh, yeah. Sure. You didn’t have to bring it over.”
“No problem. Oh.” He fished in his pocket and pulled out a blue case. “You left your glasses in my car.”
Taking the embossed case when he offered it, she dropped it onto the table. “Thank you.”
Nick made quick work of the cooler, all while the women sat quietly enjoying the sight of a gorgeous man in the kitchen. Jordan had to admit, she liked having him back in her space.
When he was done, he walked right to her and left a soft kiss on her cheek. The smooth, soft pressure of his lips against her skin muddled her brain. It was completely unexpected and left her weak at the knees. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he whispered.
Nodding absently, Jordan bit her lip and tried to stop the meltdown that was inevitably coming. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Ladies, good night.”
Before leaving, he crouched down and rubbed Gertie’s belly. Then he was gone.
Mia nearly keeled over when the door shut. “Mother of God. What is your problem?”
Her recent romantic success had Mia pushing everyone to be open to falling in love. It was sweet, and wonderfully optimistic, but in Jordan’s view it was also incredibly naïve.
Mia threw up her hands. “He cares about you, Jordan. There was nothing fake about that.”
“That may be true, for now, but I don’t believe there’s staying power in a relationship that starts as a lie. I know he meant well, but it’s still a lie. And none of you can breathe a word about our…arrangement.”
“What happened, exactly?” Fiona asked. “I’m confused how he went from personal physician and boy next door to fiancé.”
Jordan curled into the couch and rubbed her temples. She was growing more exhausted by the minute. Just thinking about everything that had transpired that day was taxing her strength, but it was the reality of her father’s illness that weighed most heavily “My father doesn’t have long. Nick knows this, and he also knows that Dad is worried about me. He sees the engagement as a way to give my father comfort.”
“So, this whole charade is for your dad?” Fiona’s expression softened. “Wow. What kind of guy takes himself off the market like that for someone he barely knows?”
“Right?” Jordan squeaked. “Don’t you find that odd?”
Fiona moved next to her. “I f
ind it sweet. Kind. Sexy.” Fanning herself, Fiona blew out a breath. “Should I go on?”
“No. I get your point. And I don’t disagree, but…”
“Nana told me you never know who is going to be your love story. It might be Nick, it might not, but you’ll never know unless you try.”
Fiona nodded, her head bopping up and down like it was on springs. “Yes. That. I’m no romantic, but she’s right. You guys have chemistry to spare, you should see what happens. I mean, none of us are getting any younger.”
Now she was over the hill. Perfect. “I’m thirty-one, Fiona.”
“Exactly, and every year there’s less of a chance you’ll find someone. Statistics don’t lie.”
“You’re just a ray of sunshine.” Like Jordan, Lilly was also thirty-one, and had no romantic prospects on the horizon either.
“Hey, I deal in facts, not fairy tales. Plus, he has the advantage of being a real gentleman, a war hero, and he’s hot as hell. My question is: what are you waiting for?”
Jordan slumped back against the couch cushions. “I have so many issues, and we went into this knowing it wasn’t forever.”
“Issues? I have a kid. I did okay.” Mia rose from her spot and circled the room like she was looking for something. “Everyone is dealing with something.”
Jordan thought about the first time she met Mia, and how much had changed since that night at Dock’s End when they shared a table, and their friendship bloomed. She adored her new friend, but there were times she was jealous of the way Adam Miller fell at Mia’s feet. She had no idea what it felt like to have someone so totally devoted to her. She wouldn’t know what to do. That realization brought her back to her previous epiphany.
“He scares the crap out of me,” she finally confessed. “And his experiences in the war haunt him. He won’t talk about it. There’s this big unknown piece…”
“He went through hell to recover, but yeah, my brother told me he’s not talking about what went down in that clinic. People can only guess.”
Mia sat on the arm of the sofa. “Putting your heart on the line is a risk. Anything risky is scary. And there is an unknown piece.”
“So maybe I should find a nice, safe, boring guy. Someone who doesn’t generate so much electricity.”
Lilly laughed. “You mean stable, like Chase? That’s what you said about him. He’d be steady and predictable.”
Lilly’s memory was way too good.
“Obviously,” Jordan conceded, “I was mistaken.”
“No kidding. Safe didn’t work out for you. Safe turned out to be a nightmare.” Lilly looped her arm around Jordan’s shoulder. “Maybe you need to consider taking a little risk. Try to get through to him. I think he’s worth it, and so are you.”
*
As soon as he stepped in the house, Nick felt the charge from being near her slice through him. Raw, primal, her scent, her skin teased out every bit of hot lust. A kiss on the cheek drove him crazy.
He ignored his grandmother’s calls and focused instead on clearing the woman out of his head. Heading up to his room, he figured he needed to beat up on something. The heavy bag in the basement would be perfect.
He kicked the door shut with one foot and somehow managed to hold back the urge to punch a hole in the drywall.
He wasn’t angry at Jordan. He was angry at himself. He’d jumped to conclusions, pushed her in a direction she wasn’t ready to go. Yeah, he was a fucking prince.
His whole life, Nick did the right thing. So why had he made such a huge miscalculation with her?
Heading back down the stairs and right into the basement, he once again ignored his grandmother. He knew some of his reaction was buried in the PTSD he never talked about. He’d let so many people down, and he didn’t want Jordan to be added to that list. It was the same with the nightmares. Sometimes control was beyond him, and that’s when he had to find a way to work it out. A way to push past his doubts.
Taping his hands, he pulled on his handwraps. The thick padding over his knuckles would keep him from getting too banged up.
Stepping onto the rubber mat he’d laid out in the basement, Nick got to work. He jabbed. He hooked. He crossed. He beat the shit out of that bag. Hitting it harder and harder, within five minutes he was breaking a good sweat. Ten minutes in, he was dripping. Still, he didn’t feel any better, and that sucked.
By now the entire town knew they were engaged. He’d seen Chase eyeing her ring at the restaurant. A colleague from the elementary school where she teaches saw her and said everyone at school was happy she was getting better, and they were excited for her about the engagement. His shift at the pediatrics clinic tomorrow would bring more congratulations. And all of it, everything, was based on a lie.
Still hitting the bag like he was trying to knock it off its hook, Nick thought of all the ways gossip could spread in Compass Cove. Everyone knew everyone in town. The community was close-knit. It’s what made the place special. It was also a freaking nightmare.
Breathing heavy, he dropped his hands to his knees and bent forward. He heard the basement door open and close, and footsteps on the stairs. Pops, more than likely. But when he looked up, it wasn’t his grandfather. It was his dad.
“What the hell?”
“Jesus, I’m all for a good workout, Son, but do you want your head to explode?”
“Maybe. Why are you here?”
“Are you kidding? Your mother heard you were getting married and you didn’t tell us? We were on the first plane we could catch to New York. Flights have been backed up since the storm.”
“Yeah. Lots of people were stranded. I’d give you a hug, but I stink.” Nick took a towel from a white plastic laundry basket on the far side of the room before making his way back where his father was standing. Realizing he was dripping with sweat, he mopped his face before running the towel over his neck and chest. “Mom’s here too?”
His father raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?”
“Sorry, stupid question.”
“Yeah, it is, but Nona has her corralled for now. I wanted to talk to you first.”
Nick picked up a twenty-pound weight and sat on the edge of the bench. “Is this going to take long? I’m a little old to be lectured, Dad.”
“I’m still your father, Nick.”
“Yeah? Where were you when I was in the hospital for, oh, I don’t know, forty-five fucking days?” Nick knew that was harsh. There wasn’t anything Dad could have done while he was recovering. His father looked away and Nick scrubbed his face with his hands. “Sorry. I’m in a shit mood.”
“I got that. Want to tell me what happened? You’re engaged to George Velsor’s daughter?”
“It’s complicated.”
“What’s complicated, exactly? Are you engaged or not?” His father’s face was stone. Absolute stone. No one would ever accuse Marco Rinaldi of being warm.
“He assumed. He’s dying, and I wasn’t going to argue with a terminal patient. Then it got caught in the gossip train and that’s when it spiraled.”
“You’re telling me? Laura Earl called your mother to congratulate her. Imagine Mom’s surprise. She came running into the bottling room to tell me. But she didn’t know if she should be thrilled, or furious.”
The last thing he wanted to do was upset his mother. For as tough as his dad was, his mom was soft as goo. She was hurt.
“How is the girl handling it?” Leave it to his father to reduce Jordan to the girl.
“Her name is Jordan. And she’s having a hard time right now.” That was an understatement. “Let’s keep this between us, Dad. At the core of all this is George, and until Jordan makes a decision about telling him the truth, we need to keep the story going.”
“Understood. But about Jordan, do you love her? I mean, that’s a big lie to tell.” Dad got right to the point. He had to give him credit for not beating around the bush.
“It’s all so new.” He put the weight on the floor, and faced the truth that had be
en swirling around for days. “I don’t know. I’d like to find out.”
“Fair enough. Then find out.”
“She’s resistant to the idea. Had a bad experience. Cheating fiancé. Broken engagement.”
“Ah. A history.” His father made a small circle around the room, finding a stool and bringing it over. “I wish I had a bottle of scotch. You sound like you need a shot.”
Nick chuckled. A shot sounded good. “She’s gun-shy. Independent. In short, she’s a lot of work.”
“Son, a good woman will always make you work for it.”
“Great.”
“To tell you the truth, it is great when you finally get there, but it’s not going to be easy. And, you know what? It shouldn’t be.”
Nick thought about that. It resonated. Made sense. The question that lingered was, did he want her badly enough to work for it? Was he ready? Was she? They were both so conflicted, there was no right answer.
Figuring all that out was the challenge. For Nick, it meant moving past his own history to make something new with her.
Chapter Eleven
Her classroom was exactly how she left it, except for one little thing. There were twenty-two pictures taped to the whiteboard behind her desk—one from each of her students, welcoming her back to school.
Jordan had never been so happy to get up in the dark as she had been that morning. Not only had she missed her kids, but she felt well enough to go to work. That was a huge improvement from the soul-sucking tiredness she’d been feeling for almost two weeks.
How she would be by that afternoon was anyone’s guess, but she was anxious to get back to her work.
Jordan was a born teacher. She knew the very first time she went to school with her parents to help set up their classrooms for the school year that she would be a teacher someday. And no matter how many people—from guidance counselors, to advisors to friends—had tried to wave her off, Jordan knew it was the only place she wanted to be.
Teaching was in her family. Her parents, her grandparents, had all been teachers. Jordan never thought twice about her career choice.
“Yay! You’re back!” Jordan barely had time to turn around when she was tackle hugged by her good friend Shannon O’Neill. Shannon was a social worker in the school, and she and Jordan had started together. They were the same age, both single, and both cynical about men.