by Annie Rains
His cell phone rang on his desk, and Jack headed to answer it. “Hello?”
His sister’s voice greeted him. “Jackie.”
Jack groaned. He hated his older sister’s nickname for him. “Hey, Amanda.” He sat in one of the lobby chairs and leaned back. His sister didn’t usually call during his work hours. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah,” she said, although he heard the note of hesitation in her voice. “I was just calling to ask for a favor.”
“You got it,” he said.
She laughed on the other end of the line. “I haven’t even told you what it is yet.”
Jack ran a hand through his damp hair. “Okay, what is it?”
“I need you to take Sam for a while.”
Sam was Jack’s nephew. He was fifteen and usually came to stay with Jack a couple weekends a year. Never longer than a couple of days. “You mean for a weekend or two?”
“Longer,” she said. “He’s been out of school for a couple of weeks, and he’s already going stir-crazy here. I’m calling to ask you to take him, possibly for as long as a month.”
“Just Sam?”
She hesitated. “That’s right.”
Jack stood and started pacing, his feet moving as fast as his thoughts. “Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to spend more time with my nephew, but why? Where are you going?”
She was silent for a moment. “I’m not going anywhere. But I think it would be best for Sam if he wasn’t here right now.”
“And why is that?” he asked.
“I can’t really answer that right now. I don’t want Sam to overhear me,” she said, lowering her voice.
Jack stopped pacing. “So I’m just supposed to say yes, no questions asked?”
“You already said yes, actually.”
Jack wavered. “Amanda, are you okay?”
“I will be. But I need to have some time for myself. And I want Sam to have the summer of his life on Silver Lake. The kind of summers we had when we were young.”
Jack didn’t think kids in this technology age enjoyed running barefoot through the grass, swinging off ropes into swimming holes, or catching fireflies at night. Especially not the fifteen-year-old variety.
“Okay,” he finally said without another word. But he’d be asking a lot of questions the next time he and his sister spoke.
Chapter Three
Emma headed to the back room as one of her evening employees took control of the counter that she and Nina had been working all day.
“You still haven’t touched the box that Jack brought you,” Nina noted.
Emma glanced at it. Maybe she hadn’t touched it, but she’d been thinking about it all day. “I will when I get home. I think I need a deep glass of wine first.”
Nina frowned. “Want me to join you?”
Emma laughed. “No. You have other, more important things to take care of. Like that new puppy of yours.”
Nina rolled her eyes. “Why didn’t anyone warn me that puppies were so much work? I had no idea. I thought it’d be easier to get a puppy than try to fill the void in my life with a guy. Now I’m wondering if it’d have been easier to find a date.”
Working with Nina made Emma’s days so much more fun. “I love the puppy stage, but I’m glad Barnaby is older now. Even if he still thinks he’s young and feisty.”
Nina laughed. “Maybe not so young, but he’s still pretty energetic.”
This was true. “Anyway, I’ll be fine opening the box and drinking my wine alone.” Emma had wanted to be alone last night, too, but she hadn’t ended up spending it on her own. “I might stop at Home Décor and More first. I was thinking that maybe I could add a few tables outside on the sidewalk.”
“Still thinking about that review on the A-List, huh?” Nina grabbed her purse from her cubby and pulled it over her shoulder. “I think tables in front of the café would be a nice touch. Do you need a permit for that or something?”
Emma shook her head. “I got it approved when I first opened the café. I just haven’t done it. Halona might even let me put one in front of her shop next door. Coffee lovers can sit and drink while peering inside at her flowers.”
“The reviewer was rude,” Nina said, “but I’m glad you can take that negativity and turn it into something constructive. That is so like you. Well, that and your need to make sure everyone is happy.”
Emma grabbed her purse as well. Then she reluctantly grabbed the box of her mom’s things.
Nina tilted her head as she watched her. “And, while I’m a rip-the-Band-Aid-off kind of girl, it’s so like you to put off something that might not be pleasant.” She looked down at the box in Emma’s hand. “Like procrastinating on finding out what’s in that box. That’s the real reason you’re going shopping before you go home.”
Emma nibbled on her lower lip. Nina had no idea how right she was. Emma had delayed a lot more than opening the box that Jack had left her today. She’d also put off her annual checkup at the Women’s Wellness Center, canceling at the last minute.
That was unlike Emma. With her family history, she was extra cautious with her health. But turning the same age her mom had been when she’d died had really freaked her out. She’d started having heart palpitations and sweaty palms after lunch. She couldn’t bring herself to go. At least not today.
It was just a minor delay, though. She’d reschedule tomorrow.
* * *
Half an hour later, Emma perused the aisles of Home Décor and More and found the perfect wrought iron tables to put outside her business. She would start with two at first, until she talked to Halona about putting an additional one in front of the Little Shop of Flowers.
Emma plopped down in one of the iron chairs on display and sighed. How was she going to get these tables and chairs to the café? She drove a compact car. She’d intended to get them ASAP, but that wasn’t going to be the case. She could have them delivered to the café, but that was likely to take a week. In that time, the sourpuss reviewer might come back and leave another bad comment. Or worse, another customer might go without seating and do the same.
“Fancy meeting you here,” a man said behind Emma.
She turned toward the deep voice, and her entire body sizzled in response. “I just can’t seem to get away from you this week, can I?”
Jack shoved his hands in his jeans pockets as he stepped in front of her. “I’m doing a little home improvement this week.” He pulled out the chair opposite her and sat at the display table.
“What kind of home improvement?” she asked.
“The kind that allows me to have a guest stay with me for an extended period,” he said as he looked around the store. “Amanda called this morning and asked me to take Sam for a few weeks. Maybe a month.”
Emma’s mouth dropped open. “That’s unexpected, I guess.”
“She wouldn’t tell me why, but I’m a little worried about her.” Jack’s gaze slid back to Emma at the table. “She’s had a few rough patches over the last year. She got injured on the job last summer.”
“I remember you telling me that.”
He ran his hand through his hair. A trademark move of his. One that made her ache for some reason. “She was taking some heavy-duty painkillers for a while, but last I saw her, she seemed to be doing better.”
Emma knew that Jack’s father was an alcoholic, and his sister had struggled with her own substance abuse issues when she was younger. “Is she drinking?”
“I hope not.” He blew out a breath. “But she asked me to help give Sam the summer of his life. If things were okay, she’d come too.”
“The summer of his life,” Emma repeated. “That’s a pretty tall request.”
“What am I supposed to do with him when I’m at work? He’s a fifteen-year-old boy. I guess he can be an intern of sorts at the park, but that’s not exactly giving him his best summer.”
Emma grinned. “If I remember correctly, that would’ve been the summer of your dreams when you were tha
t age. All you wanted to do was disappear into the woods.”
Jack looked at her, his gaze sticking for a long moment. “That’s true. Girls had nothing on nature. Most girls, at least.”
Emma wanted to look away but couldn’t. There was something magnetic in his eyes that held her attention. Something about him that made her mouth go dry and her body burn hot.
“Can I help you?” A store manager walked up to the table where they were sitting. For a moment, Emma had forgotten that she was seated at a store display.
“Yeah.” Jack leaned back in the chair and kicked his boots up on the table. “Can we have a couple of lemonades and menus, please?”
The store manager didn’t look amused. He frowned and looked over his small glasses at them. “There are plenty of restaurants around if you’re hungry. I’m afraid this is not the place for social gatherings.”
Emma straightened. “I’m interested in purchasing this set for my café on Main Street. I’d like two sets actually.”
The store manager looked at her over his glasses now. She recognized him as one of her regular customers at the café. Marvin. He always came in for a tall, hot coffee. No cream. No sugar. He liked his coffee bitter, which seemed fitting for his personality.
Marvin seemed to recognize Emma as well. “You want to take the display model today?”
“Well, no, I don’t have the means to take it home right now. I’ll order it and have it delivered, I guess.”
“Then you’re not buying this set right now,” he said, seemingly proving his point that they were doing something wrong. He looked at Jack’s boots and back up at Jack.
Jack put his feet back on the floor. “I was just joking around by trying to order the lemonades.” He pointed a finger. “Hey, wait. I recognize you. I’ve seen you at the park, haven’t I? Are you the guy who tried to take my whole stack of bird-watcher charts?”
Marvin folded his arms over his narrow chest. “They were free. The sign said so.”
“It said take one,” Jack said.
Marvin shook his head, an annoyed sound escaping his mouth. “You asked me to leave your workplace, and if you’re not purchasing today, I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to do the same.”
* * *
Jack stood, towering a good foot over the store manager’s head. He didn’t like this guy. “We’ll take this model and one more set. Today,” he told him. Then he looked at Emma. “I have a truck. I’ll deliver them to the café myself.”
Emma looked at him. “Really?”
Jack nodded and looked at the store manager again. “We’ll take those lemonades and menus, too, if you got ’em.” He couldn’t help himself.
The store manager’s mouth pinched tighter. “I’ll have someone load the tables up for you,” he said curtly before turning and walking off.
“I almost hate to give that guy our business,” Jack muttered.
“He’s a regular customer of mine. His name is Marvin.”
Jack looked over. “You have to see that guy every day?”
Emma laughed. “Some customers are easier than others. You learn to grin and bear it. Like right now. It’s worth dealing with him in order to get these tables and chairs. They’re perfect.” Emma ran a slow hand over the surface of the table. “Thank you for helping out,” she said, looking back up at him, her hazel eyes more green in this lighting.
“No problem. It’s still your birthday week after all. What the lady wants, she gets.”
“But you’re here to get things for Sam’s stay. Now there’ll be no room in the back of your truck.”
“Ah, it’s okay. I couldn’t find what I needed anyway.”
“What were you looking for?” she asked as they headed for the check-out.
“Everything. A bed mainly. I suppose he can take mine, and I can sleep on the couch until I figure something else out.”
They reached the register, and Emma paid for the table sets. Then they headed to the parking lot to wait at Jack’s truck for a store employee to cart them out. That early morning rain shower had helped cool things down, but the temperatures were still higher than normal, even now as the sun made a slow descent.
“I have a spare bed you can take over to your place for the rest of the summer,” Emma offered. She pulled her sunglasses from the front of her shirt where they were clasped and slid them over her eyes.
Jack noticed his reflection in her lenses. “I couldn’t ask you to do that.”
“No one ever uses it. It’s fine. Just come by and get it one night,” she said.
Jack had wanted to kiss Emma last night when he’d been alone with her in her house on her birthday. Going over to her house a second night this week might not be a good idea. They were friends, and he’d made a promise to her dad to never cross that line with her. After Jack had arrived drunk to pick up Emma for prom, her father had cut him off at the pass and said Jack didn’t deserve her. And on some level, based on that one incident, Jack agreed. He wanted to be the type of guy who deserved Emma though.
“Thanks,” he said. “And I guess if you’re sure you don’t mind, I’ll take you up on borrowing that bed.”
She smiled back at him, completely oblivious to his thoughts, and to the fact that he actually had shown up to take her to prom. And he wanted to keep it that way.
“I’m sure.”
The store employee arrived with the boxes, and Jack loaded them into his truck. “I’ll take them over to the café right now and set them up,” he said.
Emma looked excited, which was a welcome change from how she’d looked last night in her house. “I’ll meet you there. We can have those lemonades afterward.”
“Sounds fitting for the best summer ever,” Jack said. Even if his idea of the best summer included a lot more than a friendly lemonade with Emma.
* * *
Twenty minutes later, Jack pulled into the Sweetwater Café’s parking lot and got out. “You want the tables set up out front?” he asked as Emma walked up beside him.
She nodded. “Yes, please. Thank you again. You’re a lifesaver. I’ll help you carry them.”
He started to argue, but she rolled her eyes. “Put your alpha pride away and let me. I’ve been working out, you know.” She flexed her biceps, and he swallowed. “That’s impressive.” And attractive.
10, 9, 8, 7…
He started mentally counting backward the way he did when he needed to cancel his thoughts and refocus his brain.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
He met her gaze. “What do you mean?”
“You just went blank. You completely disappeared.”
He cleared his throat. “Sorry. I guess I got distracted.”
She offered a hesitant smile. “Okay, well, as you can see, I can help with the tables and chairs. Let’s do this.” She grabbed the edge of one box and started pulling, not waiting for him to agree. He grabbed the other side. He could’ve carried it by himself. They weren’t heavy but he didn’t want to tell Emma no. He suspected she wouldn’t have accepted no for an answer anyway.
“I have a toolbox inside the café,” she said once they’d gotten the box to the front of the shop. “Be right back.”
His gaze followed her as she disappeared inside the café.
10, 9, 8, 7, 6…
“Hey, Jack.”
He looked up as his buddy Granger headed toward him on the sidewalk with his two little girls, Abigail and Willow.
“Hey, buddy. What are you guys doing tonight?” Jack asked.
“I promised the girls a trip to Dawanda’s Fudge Shop for a little treat.” Granger looked at the front entrance of the Sweetwater Café and then back to Jack. “And what are you doing standing out here?”
Jack held out his hands. “Just helping Emma set up some new tables out here. No big deal.”
“Yeah, right, Mr. Jack,” Willow said, her perception way beyond her six years. “You like Miss Emma. Daddy told us so.”
Granger shushed his daugh
ter. “I told you it was a secret. That means you’re not supposed to repeat it.”
Willow looked proud of herself.
“Well, I like Miss Emma,” Jack said. “But we’re just friends.”
Emma walked up behind him as he squatted to the girls’ level. “That’s exactly right,” she agreed. “Good friends.”
Jack straightened and turned to face her. “I thought you’d come back out the café door.”
“I took the long way because I couldn’t remember where my toolbox was.” She gave him a strange look, her smile still hesitant. She lifted her chin slightly as she met his gaze.
What? They were just friends.
“Daddy says—” Willow started before Granger put a hand over her mouth.
“Daddy says if you want fudge, you better keep his secrets safe.” Granger gave a sheepish smile. “Hey, Emma. How are you?”
She nodded. “Good, Granger. And you?”
“Just perfect. Happy belated birthday, by the way,” Granger added. “Jack told me.”
She slid Jack another look before returning her attention to Granger. “Thank you. I’m twenty-nine and holding.”
Jack caught the hint of sadness in her eyes though. If anyone deserved to be happy, it was her. She deserved the world. And her father was probably right. She deserved better than a recovering alcoholic who was the son of a drunk.
Jack hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol since he was twenty-one, but for two years before that, he’d gone down a path that he wasn’t proud of. And he never intended to follow that path again. He wasn’t naïve though. He’d watched his father relapse time and again. Had Amanda relapsed too? Recovery was a house of cards that one strong wind could destroy. Unlike his father though, if Jack ever got knocked down again, he wasn’t taking anyone he cared about with him.
* * *
For the second night this week, Emma opened her front door and welcomed Jack inside. Sitting in a home improvement store was one thing. Hanging out at the café with other friends was another. But being alone in her home, just the two of them, was something completely different.