Burned

by Hope, Amity

  “We didn’t decide anything,” I said. “I was only, like, what? Five when you left Marcus? Nine when you left Peter?”

  “Not the point,” she said curtly. “But I imagine that your redirection of the conversation means that you did tell Jake. Sweetheart, you’re a beautiful girl. There’s no need to try to lure a boy in with your bank account.”

  Just once I wish she’d say I was a smart girl. A kind-hearted girl. Hell, I’d settle for a nice girl. Because luring a guy in on looks alone seemed just as bad as luring him in with the bank account she mentioned.

  Not that I was doing that. Not that I had ever done that. Especially not with Jake.

  “It’s not like that! His family is wealthy. Really wealthy.” Once again, I wished I’d kept my mouth shut. I realized belatedly that the harder I tried to explain, the deeper the hole I dug myself would be.

  “Oh,” she said, her tone instantly morphing into interest instead of reprimand. “The boy has money.”

  I squeezed the bridge of my nose. “He did.”

  “Did,” she echoed.

  “It’s complicated.”

  Another sigh. My mother was the sigh master. “It always is.”

  “Don’t be like this,” I said. “He’s a great guy.”

  “Aren’t they all at first?” she said wryly.

  “Actually, no. Not always,” I argued.

  “But you thought Kyle was.”

  “And we’re back to him again,” I muttered angrily.

  “All I’m saying is that it doesn’t sound as if you know this Jake very well. Be careful Lanna. They’re almost always nice boys at first. Remember how you defended Kyle to me? I was right. Sometimes mothers know what they are talking about.”

  “Rarely,” I griped.

  “Lanna,” she chided. “I’m only trying to help. Be careful. Take it slow. Watch your back. Don’t be so trusting. That’s all I’m asking.”

  “Should I run a background check while I’m at it?”

  “It probably wouldn’t hurt.” She actually sounded serious. She probably was serious.

  “No offense, Mom. But I hardly feel obligated to take dating advice from you.”

  “Well, you clearly need dating advice from someone!” she scolded.

  “Thank you, Mother,” I said brightly, “for reminding me why I don’t often take your phone calls. Have a nice evening.”

  I disconnected before she could protest.

  I powered my phone down before she could call back.

  I set my phone on the counter, as if it were an offensive object.

  A knock on the door tugged me out of my angry stupor. For just a blink, I thought it was Jake. Then I realized he’d just been letting himself in. Probably it was Paige stopping by. I’d talked to her briefly, filling her in on the wedding and our trip to the café the next morning.

  I pulled the door opened and was surprised to find Clarissa there. She held out a cardboard cup from the café. A straw was poking through the top.

  “What is this?”

  “It’s a Mango Tango shake. Your favorite, right? That’s what you usually order?” She stared at me a moment as if for clarification, then she went on. “It’s also my way of saying thank you. You were really nice to me the other day.”

  I took the shake from her. She was right. It was my favorite. I often made myself one at the end of my shifts at the café. “You didn’t have to do this. It was no big deal.”

  “It was to me.”

  “Okay then,” I said. “Thank you.” She stood there a moment. “Holly’s not here. Neither is Max.” I offered up in case she was looking for either of them.

  “Right. Of course! I should go!” She started to back away.

  I suddenly felt rude, assuming she was sticking around for them.

  “You don’t have to go.” I motioned toward the beach with my cup. I realized she had a Mango Tango shake of her own. “We can go down to the water to drink these.”

  She didn’t hesitate to accept. “Okay!”

  I hopped down the front steps and we made our way down to the beach.

  “I would die to live here!” she chirped as we walked. “You must love it!”

  “I do. I feel pretty spoiled,” I admitted.

  “Yeah, Max and Holly are great,” she said.

  I made myself comfortable in my favorite chair. It was hot today. The breeze off the ocean felt good. But the sunshine on my skin felt even better. I took a sip of the shake. It was heavenly.

  “It must be so nice to have this place to yourself for a few weeks,” Clarissa said. “It’s like being on a permanent vacation.”

  “You grew up around here,” I said with a smile. “I thought you’d be used to the ocean.”

  “That doesn’t mean I’d ever take it for granted,” she said, gazing out at the water. “Someday I want to live on the beach.” She sighed dreamily.

  A slobbery tongue slapped me across the cheek. I yelped in surprise. Quigley stared back at me.

  “Down! Down!” Jarrett scolded.

  Quigley obeyed.

  I grimaced as I wiped dog drool off my face. Gross. Just…gross!

  “Lanna!” Jarrett exclaimed. “I’m so sorry! He usually never does that!”

  I smiled through clenched teeth. “It’s fine.”

  “Oh, crap, you’re mad,” Jarrett announced.

  “Oh my gosh! He’s so cute!” Clarissa trilled from beside me. Quigley had moved on to her. She was enjoying his affection as much as he was enjoying hers. She scratched at him and drool dripped from his panting mouth. His eyes looked frantically happy and his whole body shook with frenzied energy. Clarissa cooed to him like he was a toddler. He flopped to the ground, inviting her to scratch his belly.

  Ugh.

  Clarissa, clearly, was a dog person.

  I scrubbed the sand out of my lap, left behind by his huge paws.

  “Are you sure he’s okay?” Jarrett asked hesitantly. He was speaking to Clarissa but he snuck a furtive glance at me.

  Clarissa looked at him and giggled. “He’s fine. I just adore animals. I’d love to have a dog of my own but my parents are not pet people.”

  Jarrett let Clarissa pet his dog for approximately thirty seconds. He kept sending apologetic glances my way. I tried to smile but it probably looked fake. Before long he was backing away from us.

  “Sorry about bothering you ladies,” Jarrett said. “I’ll let you get back to whatever you were doing. Come on, Quig! Come on boy!”

  Quigley slowly peeled himself away from Clarissa. He trotted after Jarrett as soon as Jarrett took off at a run.

  With a wistful sigh, Clarissa watched them go.

  “You really like him, huh?” I asked with a laugh.

  She turned to me and nodded. “With abs like that, who could blame me?”

  “With what…like…what?” I blinked. “You like Jarrett?” Oh, heaven help me. I had meant the dog.

  “He comes into the café once in a while,” she said. She glanced back down the beach, craning her neck to see past me. “Not that it matters. I don’t think he recognized me. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t know that I exist.”

  I leaned back in my chair. A smug smile tugged at my lips. “Oh, Clarissa. We’ll just have to see about that.”

  Chapter 10

  “Should I be alarmed?” Jake asked.

  I lowered my binoculars and twisted away from the sliding glass door to face him. “Hmm? What?”

  “Do you have a super secret life as a stalker? Is that something I should be aware of?” He crossed his arms over his chest and eyed me up with mock concern.

  I rolled my eyes, in part out of mock irritation, in part to peel them away from the sight of Jake fresh out of the shower. His hair was damp and neatly combed. He wore a pair of cargo shorts and a blue tee that shifted his steely eyes to something a little more like the sky. The way his arms were crossed made his already impressive biceps bulge.

  He moved toward the coffeepot but kept
his questioning gaze on me.

  I quickly told him about Clarissa’s crush. “I swear, that boy shows up whenever I don’t want him around, and never shows up when I do!” I made an apologetic face. “Actually, that came out wrong. It’s the dog I don’t really want around. But it’s a package deal.”

  Jake took a sip of coffee. I could see him smiling behind the rim of his cup. “So you’re just planning on staking out the beach until you catch him?”

  “Eh,” I said with a shrug as I placed the binoculars on the table. “That was the original plan. But I’m already bored with it. He usually takes a run on the beach every morning. Maybe he took a different path today. I’ll catch up to him eventually.”

  “Who is this guy again?” Jake asked.

  “Jarrett. He moved here from Southern California,” I explained. “He’s enrolled at the university.”

  “Got it. That would explain why I don’t know him. He didn’t grow up here.”

  “Right.”

  “Does Clarissa know you’re on a stake-out for this guy?”

  “No. I thought I would surprise her.”

  Jake looked amused. “Can’t imagine anything going wrong with that plan.”

  I huffed in protest. “Well, I don’t plan on just dumping Jarrett on her. I thought I’d, you know, feel him out first. See what he thinks of her.”

  “But first you have to catch him.”

  “Right.” I grabbed the binoculars and did one final scan of the beach. “Doesn’t look like today’s going to be the day, though.” I slipped Max’s binoculars back in the case and stuffed them back into the junk drawer where I’d found them.

  I went to the fridge and poured myself some juice.

  “So what’s new with you?” Jake asked as he dropped two pieces of toast into the toaster.

  “Funny you should ask. I got some astonishing news yesterday. Turns out, my mother is in love with her husband,” I said flatly.

  He chuckled. “Your mom is in love with the guy she’s married to? That’s new?” His expression evened out as our drunken conversation clicked into place. “Oh. Your mother, who is in the middle of a divorce.”

  I nodded and told him about the conversation we’d had.

  He listened intently. When I was done he studied my face. “How do you feel about that?”

  “Honestly? I feel skeptical. That’s how I feel.” I thought it over. “But I guess she could surprise me. People change.” I just wasn’t convinced my mother could be one of those people.

  His toast popped up and he quickly slathered on some peanut butter.

  We wandered into the living room, him with his coffee and toast, me with a refill on my orange juice.

  “Other than that, how was your talk with her?”

  I scoffed at the question, not sure how to answer it. I was hardly about to delve into an explanation of how my mom thought every guy I’d ever dated was a loser. Or how she was already questioning Jake’s sincerity when really, we hadn’t even gone on our first real date yet.

  “It was a typical conversation,” I finally admitted. “By the time we hang up, I’m always ready to strangle her.”

  “That bad, huh?”

  I nodded. “Definitely.”

  “Hey,” Jake said as he nodded his head toward the wall of windows that faced the beach. “Is that your guy?”

  I hopped to my feet and hurried to the window. I let out a growl of frustration. Jarrett and Quigley were shrinking as they charged into the distance.

  “Guess I’ll catch him next time,” I said. “I think he and Clarissa would be the perfect match.”

  I moved back to the chair I’d been sitting in. My juice glass was empty. I knew I should probably put some thought into how I was going to fill my day. I had called into work to let them know I was around. I felt like a high-school kid playing hooky when I’d taken time off for a trip I didn’t go on. I offered to come in but my boss, Terry, assured me Denise was more than happy to take my place. She was an older lady who also worked part-time in the office. She had three kids to help support and when I’d asked her, she’d been more than happy to take the extra hours.

  I had the next few weeks off, guilt free.

  “So you’re not disillusioned by your mom’s numerous marriages?” Jake asked.

  His question snapped me out of my reverie.

  Was I? No.

  “Just the opposite actually. I think true love exists. You just have to find it. And sometimes, you have to fight for it.”

  “You think so?”

  I laughed. “Have you met Max and Holly?” He chuckled at that and answered with an amused nod. “I want what they have,” I said.

  Although I had to admit the two of them had some great examples in their lives. Even though Holly’s mom drove me batty most of the time, she and Mr. Hannigan had been married so long they’d be celebrating their fiftieth anniversary in no time. Max’s grandparents, too, had a wonderful relationship. Villette and Charles were the cutest elderly couple I’d ever seen. There was no doubt that even at their age, they were still head over heels in love.

  “What about you?” I asked. It wasn’t as if he’d had the best example, either. Not if his mother had lied to her husband Jake’s whole life.

  He laughed. “It’s hard not to feel disillusioned after everything that’s happened. But yeah, even though Darby pretty much annihilated my heart, I guess I still have faith that there’s someone out there for me.”

  I wondered if just maybe, I was that person.

  Before things could get too awkward, Jake’s phone chimed.

  “Sorry, I have to get this,” he said. He got up and moved to the kitchen. The muted sound of his voice floated to me.

  I glanced outside again, wondering if tomorrow I should sit on the beach with a cup of cocoa while I waited for Jarrett to jog by.

  Jake came back into the living room wearing a grin.

  “Good news?” I guessed.

  “Yeah. That was Clark McMillan. He asked if I could meet him for lunch on Friday.”

  “Clark McMillan…of McMillan and Sons?”

  Jake nodded. “He’s one of the sons. I’ll be interning under him. He thought it would be good to go over expectations before I start in the fall.”

  “You seem really happy about this internship.”

  He nodded. “I am. It’s a way for me to pave my own way. Up until the accident, I’d planned on following in Frederic’s footsteps. He works in land development and I know he can be pretty ruthless. Used to be that I didn’t hold that against him. I mean, business is business. But now, the more time that passes and the further I get from the situation, the more I start to think maybe this is for the best. I don’t want to be like him. I sure as hell don’t want to follow in his footsteps. I mean, sure, he’s respected. But he’s not well liked.”

  “It sounds like this internship will be a good move for you.”

  “What about you?” Jake asked. “What are you interested in?”

  “Real estate,” I said decisively. “My mom’s worked in real estate for as long as I can remember.” I did not tell him that at one time, I was sure it was a serious career for her. But since the death of my dad, I thought she probably only dabbled in it out of boredom. And because that’s how she’d met her last two husbands. Instead I continued with, “I love walking through houses. I love checking out the architecture. I love seeing how people’s personalities really come through in the décor. But mostly, I’m interested in it because I can’t imagine a lifelong career where I’m stuck behind a desk all day. For now, it’s fine.” I explained to him that I was a receptionist at Grove City Realty. “I’m more of a go-fer than anything. I’m learning a lot, I’m meeting people, I’m becoming familiar with the community.”

  He raised his eyebrows at that. “So you plan on sticking around indefinitely?”

  I nodded. “I do. I don’t plan on crashing with Max and Holly forever, though. I’ve mentioned moving out and so far, they both have man
aged to talk me into staying.” I didn’t want to overstay my welcome but they both assured me that wasn’t the case. “I’d like to look into getting my license. I’ve talked to Terry, the owner of the office I work in, and he was really supportive.”

  “Sounds like a good move for you,” he said.

  I nodded. “I think so.”

  “I should get going. I’m taking a few classes over the summer,” Jake said as he got up again. “I need to get to campus.” He moved toward the door but stopped in the arched frame. “So this date we’re going on, how’s Friday night?”

  I smiled. “I’ll clear my calendar. I’m pretty sure I was just busy doing nothing.”

  “Perfect.” He still hesitated, as if he had something else to say. “Any chance you’d want to do something tonight? Just hang out?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Awesome. Have a good day, Lanna!” he called over his shoulder.

  A few minutes later the front door slammed.

  I tossed a load of laundry into the washing machine, made my bed and put the half dozen dirty dishes into the dishwasher.

  My mother’s infuriating phone call had lodged itself in my brain. How could she condemn my relationship before it had even gotten started? Why did I let myself care? Scrubbing the kitchen floor did not help scrub the bothersome thoughts from my mind.

  “She doesn’t even know Jake!” I growled to the empty kitchen.

  I dumped out the dirty water and put everything away. I found myself wishing that Terry had needed me today, after all. Work would’ve been a nice distraction. Now I had all day to hang around the beach house doing…nothing.

  I was not a fan of doing nothing.

  My mom’s call had angered me. But also…I found that I was second guessing myself. What if she was right? What if I saw what I wanted to see when I looked at Jake? What if I was doomed to forever and always be a horrific judge of character?

  I snatched my phone off the counter, powered it up, and hit the first number on my speed dial.

  Holly answered on the second ring. “Hey, Lanna. What’s up?”

  “Can you talk? I need some advice. Like…now.”

  “Um…give me a minute.”