by Misty Simon
“And is that part of the price I pay for staying here? To have you wait on my daughter? Or will I owe extra?”
His eyes gleamed for just a second with an emotion she was unwilling to put a name to.
“Call it a favor for an old friend.” He shrugged. “I’ll find your mom after we’re done. Then I’ll be back, once Mazzy is settled, to help you with the rest. Or you can get ready for the afternoon in peace. Your choice.”
Her choice. She hadn’t had choices in a long time. “I can start getting the room upstairs finished up by myself, if you don’t mind. I’ll let you know if I need you.” This way she’d still have his help if necessary but wouldn’t be in the same room with him alone again just yet. She was going to need a little time to get herself back on an even keel. And she could trust Jack with her daughter even if she couldn’t trust herself with him. And wasn’t that going to make for an awkward engagement? “I’ll call my mom right now and have her meet you in the kitchen.” She pulled out her cell phone and had her finger hovering over the speed dial.
“Tell her to take her time if she’s in the middle of something. We’ll be fine, won’t we, Mazzy?”
“Yep. Just fine. Bye, Mommy, bye!” And her baby dragged the man up the stairs without a backward glance.
Chelsea dropped her cell phone down to her side and bounced it against her thigh a few times. Waiting to call her mom might be a good idea until she got herself calmed down. She didn’t want to sound as breathless as she still felt from that kiss. Jack might not have known how to kiss properly when he was younger, but he certainly knew what he was doing now.
Groaning, Chelsea thumped her head against the wall. What had she gotten herself into? This was a huge mistake. Only three more days.
Reminding herself of that a few more times helped. But then her mom came down the stairs and her calm washed away as the older woman quirked an eyebrow at her.
“Were you planning on using that phone or is it a prop so you can keep your hands to yourself with Jack when Mazzy’s around?”
Oh, Lord. “I was just going to call you.”
“I see that.” She smiled a Cheshire-cat smile.
“I really was. Jack took Mazzy upstairs to get her a snack, and I wanted to see if you could help with some of the things for the party.”
“He’s so good with her, honey.” Chelsea found herself in a tight embrace. “I’m so happy you found him. And it’s not going to hurt Mazzy to see a healthy relationship. I know I don’t know all the parts and pieces of your relationship with Paul. But I know enough to know it wasn’t a good one. You want Mazzy to have a healthy outlook on love. Now she’ll have all of us to see how it can work.”
She had to get her mother out of here. It was unbearable to have these conversations. Thankfully it was only a few more days, and she’d have to pick up the acting if she wanted her mom to think it was real for that amount of time. She didn’t think she was going to have to fake the heartbreak as she drove away from here.
****
Frank and a bunch of his buddies were in the kitchen when Jack pushed through the swinging door. Jack had a strict no-smoking policy in his inn, and Frank and his poker buddies followed it to the letter. But they still chewed on their unlit cigars while staring hard at their cards. Wednesday midmorning was not their usual poker time, but with all the activities and extra duties, Frank had agreed to move it up. Jack had forgotten it was today, but it shouldn’t be a problem.
After Jack cleared his throat, Frank jumped to attention. His green plastic visor circled his balding head and the armbands at his biceps were garters he claimed were from women he knew back in the day. He was quick to drop the cigar.
Just not quick enough.
“Smoking is very, very bad for you, Mr. Frank!” The tiny girl shook her finger at the grizzled man. “What would your mommy say if she knew you were doing bad things?”
Frank had the grace to flush, and his six friends dropped their own cigars within seconds of each other.
“All gone now, Mazzy,” Jack said, but had to grin at the way she still stood with her fists on her hips and a scowl on her face.
“That’s very bad. I learned it on the cartoon, and Mommy told me. Didn’t your mommy learn you that too?”
Laughing, Frank scooped her up off the floor, making her whoop with glee. “Yes, my mommy learned me that, but I guess I forgot. Now what can I do for my helper? You need a snack? Should we give one to Mr. Big Man, too? Has he been a good boy today?”
“He sure has! He gave me three kisses and let me kiss him. I told him he had to because Mommy wasn’t the only one who wanted kisses from Big Man. I should get kisses, too, right? Right?”
“Big Man kissed your mommy?”
Jack nearly buried his head in his hands. He should have said something to Mazzy about not repeating that information. Frank knew the engagement wasn’t real and so did Adele, but that was it. Then again, how do you tell a precocious four-year-old to not mention something? He had a gut feeling she wouldn’t have listened anyway. And she’d want to know why she couldn’t say anything. He was not going to be the one to introduce her to lying.
“Yep.” She smooshed Frank’s grizzled cheeks between her palms, then pulled at a couple of his whiskers. “You’re scratchy. Why are you so scratchy? Big Man isn’t. Don’t you shave? My mom doesn’t have to shave her face, but her legs get hairy and she has to shave those. Her armpits, too.”
Muffled laughter sounded behind him and Jack tried to suppress his own chuckle. Man, she was something else.
“Let’s get Frank to give you a snack, and then you and I can go into the parlor. We can play a game until your grandmother comes to get you.”
“But I want to stay with Mr. Frank.”
“Now, sugar, Mr. Frank’s friends are here today and then he has to make tea for this afternoon. They’re playing a grown-up game of their own. You can have your snack, and then maybe you can beat me at Candyland again. I’m not a bad loser, right?”
Anything to get her out of here and himself away from the twinkling in Frank’s eyes. Adele would know by this afternoon that he had kissed a guest. He’d have to brace himself for her to light into him the way he had lit into her when she had become involved with a man who stayed here for two months to write a book. He was not going to hear the end of this from either of them. A breather would be nice before it got really bad.
“You’re a good loser! I bet I could play Go Fish here, though. Do you want to learn Go Fish? I win that one, too.” She smooshed Frank’s face again. He had new wrinkles and a lot more patience than Jack had ever thought he possessed.
“Tell you what, kid,” Frank said in his gruff voice. “I’ll let you teach me Go Fish tomorrow after the breakfast dishes are done. How about that? You go beat Big Man at your game today and we’ll play our game tomorrow.”
A disgruntled look came over her face, her brow scrunching and her bottom lip sticking out. Frank tugged on that protruding lip. “Should we see if I can wrap that big lip around your head?”
“No! You’re silly!” she shrieked, giggling and squirming. “You should let me down now so I can get my snack and beat the Big Man.”
He and Frank exchanged a look as she automatically reached for chocolate chip cookies. Frank gently nudged her toward a pumpkin cookie. He’d told Jack earlier he was trying out a new recipe. It was made from all organic ingredients. It had little sugar, was made with applesauce, and would be actually almost good for her. Almost. At least Chelsea would probably approve.
The mere thought of Chelsea made him take the seat Frank had vacated. It brought back the kiss they’d shared in the speakeasy. No way would she be able to mistake that one for an accident. And yet he didn’t know how he felt about it, or the way he’d impulsively taken the kiss as far as he could, or how much he’d enjoyed it.
He thought she enjoyed it, too, but something inside told him he was probably not going to get another one anytime soon. And he shouldn’t want on
e, he told himself as he watched Mazzy suck down her pumpkin cookie. He didn’t need the complications or the added weight of anyone else when he’d just started getting the inn in order, and his life with it. He had a good setup here. One he wasn’t willing to mess up for a kiss or two. Especially because Chelsea was a package deal. This little girl was a handful and wonderful, but he didn’t think he was ready to take on a readymade family even if Chelsea was willing. Which apparently she was not.
Mazzy brought him back from his musings by climbing into his lap. He didn’t know where to hold her, where to put his hands, so he did what felt right and put one on her shoulder, using the other to hold her legs on his lap. She snuggled her head into his chest and sighed.
“I like you, Big Man. You’re not squishy like Mommy, but you’re comfy.”
“Thanks,” he said, baffled. He had to move on to the game portion of this afternoon before he got sucked into this little girl’s charm.
He lifted her and set her on her feet, and she thanked Frank with her cheeky smile, then gave him one more warning about smoking. Without another word, she skipped out of the kitchen.
She was going to be a killer when she grew up. Just like her mom was now and had been when they were younger. He’d missed the in-between years because she hadn’t come home, but he was thankful he had gotten a chance to see Chelsea again finally. And that kiss was worth a little angst because he’d finally gotten her out of his system. The one thing he’d wished he’d done all those years ago was finally a done deal.
Now if only he could convince himself he didn’t want just one more taste.
Chapter Seven
Bustling around the sitting room where the second part of the bridal shower would be held, Chelsea put last-minute touches on the mantel of the fireplace and the small round table Paige had asked Jack for on one of her many lists. Flower petals of dark purple and rich red rested on the sand-colored linens Jack had also had on hand. She’d brought the chocolate kisses, but Jack had supplied the cut crystal bowls and the beautiful jewel-toned cloth napkins. Jack had also made sure the petals smelled faintly so as not to overpower but enhance.
Jack, Jack, Jack. Chelsea’s hand drifted up to her mouth for about the thirtieth time before she planted it on her hip. She would not touch her lips again. In fact, she would not think about that kiss at all, since it would never happen again, shouldn’t have happened in the first place. Fake engagement or not, kissing had not been part of the bargain.
“You look lost in thought,” Chelsea’s mother said from the doorway to the sitting room.
Chelsea was quick to pull her face into an innocent expression. She would not share anything with her mom about Jack. What could she say? Supposedly they had already been kissing before now, and she had gotten the tingles plenty of times. Enough, anyway, to want to marry him. Sharing that the first—or technically second—time he’d kissed her in their whole lives had rocked her foundation would not go over well.
“Just making sure I have everything I need,” Chelsea answered, running her hand over the violet ribbons she’d twined through the fresh oak branches already decorating the fireplace. Jack had good taste, or a great interior designer.
And there she went about Jack again.
“And do you?” her mom asked, bringing her back to the conversation.
“Do I what?” But she registered the question a half second later. “Oh, yes, I have everything we need for this afternoon. Is Snazzy Mazzy ready to come into the basement and make her very own painting?”
“Yes, I had to let her walk Big Man back to the kitchen after she trounced him several more times at the board games. Then she wanted me to see your room and let her escort Belinda down, since it was a very important job.” Her mother gave a soft laugh. “You are going to have your hands full when she gets older. Happy Mother’s Day to me.”
“You just love saying that.”
Leigh’s Happy Mother’s Day came more often than once a year. It came every time she chortled with glee over something that, to her, was payback for Chelsea’s younger years.
“And I’ll probably say it for all the years my Mazzy is growing up, too, but you know I love you, honey, and she’s a really good child. Just precocious.”
“That’s one way of putting it. But I’d do anything for her.” Chelsea watched Mazzy lead Belinda down the stairs, keeping a tight grip on her hand and telling her to watch her step. A buzz of excited voices in the foyer filtered up and over her.
She’d separated herself from her family while trying to work things out with Mazzy’s father, thinking she couldn’t accomplish her goal with her family’s interference. It was a terrible decision, one of many, and one she was still trying to make up for with her family. After Paul left, money was too tight even with child support, keeping her job too important, to get away even for a weekend. They had come down to her a few times, but it wasn’t the same.
And this was the perfect chance to make amends. Despite how everyone assured her they’d understood her decision to concentrate on just Paul and Mazzy, she’d still felt the distance. Helping with the wedding was a huge step toward bridging the gap, and one she felt was going well. She wasn’t going to accomplish more than that by mooning over Jack or even thinking about him.
With her resolve solidified in her mind, she tied a blindfold around Belinda’s eyes when she reached the bottom of the stairs, then led everyone down one more set of steps with Belinda’s hand in hers.
This time was for her sister, not for an affair that would never go anywhere.
Everything went off wonderfully, for the most part. What should have been fun bonding had turned into some kind of raging hormone fest as Belinda had gone teary, then rambunctious, sullen, then ecstatic and back to teary. Chelsea got that she was probably nervous about getting married, but Belinda had been with Marcus for nine years and they were happy. What was there to be nervous about? They had been dating since seventh grade, for heaven’s sake!
Chelsea only hoped this wasn’t a precursor to the rest of the next three and a half days.
****
The next day, with the house silent and all the ladies out doing manicures and pedicures, Jack called a staff meeting to be held in the kitchen right before lunch. He needed to touch base with everyone, see how things were running, ask if any of them had been accosted by Belinda, and find out if they had everything they needed.
He brought a list of topics along with him and expected to be interrupted a hundred times before he was done with the hour-long get-together.
But he hadn’t counted on being taken to task almost immediately upon entering the kitchen. He had successfully avoided Adele and Frank except for small exchanges in passing. Stupidly, he had thought they’d have forgotten about his indiscretion. Apparently not.
“So, I hear you’re kissing a guest now.” Adele sat at the small table where Frank and his cronies had been playing poker. Her posture was relaxed; however, her mouth smiled but not her eyes.
Jack knew better than to look to Frank for any help. He was the likeliest person to have spilled the news in the first place.
“It was a mistake and one I won’t repeat, not that it’s any of your business.”
Frank snorted from his place at the counter where he was building Reuben sandwiches.
Jack braced himself against the back of a chair and prepared to pull rank. But Adele beat him to anything he would have said.
“I think she’s really sweet and nice. You should go for her.”
“What?” he said, taken aback. After all, he was the one who had dressed her down for getting involved with that writer.
Now the smile reached her eyes. “You heard me. Did you think I was going to tear your head off? She’s a very nice woman. She’d make a great innkeeper and a great woman for you. Just as long as I’m not going to lose my job.”
“I…we…but…” he sputtered, before he took a deep breath and ordered his thoughts. “It’s not like that. I knew her l
ong ago and was proving a point about something from the past.”
“With your lips? That’s an interesting way to go about proving a point. I’ll have to watch out for a disagreement with you. Frank, you should do the same,” she said over her shaking shoulder. Her snicker was anything but quiet.
Frank’s snicker wasn’t, either. “I’ll be sure to agree with him from now on. I don’t want any points made to me that way. Not that you aren’t quite the guy, boss, but you understand I have some limits.”
Jack rolled his eyes and clamped a hand to his forehead. This was going to be a nightmare. Unless he made his point now without using a kiss.
Running his hand down his face, he then looked at them. “Look, it was something from the past. If I have to tell you, then I want you both not to mention a word of it in front of Chelsea or her family.”
Two eager sets of eyes found his, and the snickering stopped immediately.
“Back when I was a counselor at a summer camp, I tried to kiss her, and she thought it was an accident. I was showing her what I had intended ten years ago.”
This time it wasn’t snickering, it was all-out laughing. They had a congenial working relationship, almost like a family, since they were all together so often. He should have known better than to put himself in this position. But one look at Chelsea’s laughing eyes yesterday seemed to have leaked his brain right out of his ears.
“You can laugh all you want, but do it on your own time. We have situations to take care of and people to care for.” It should have come out as a command, but the more he thought about the situation, the more it made him laugh at himself. He shook his head as a chuckle came out. It lasted a while and lightened his heart.
“All right, down to business. Apparently we have to be on our toes with Belinda. I’m going to need you guys on your game.”
Groans were followed by avid gazes.
“It’s going to be a challenge, but one I think we’re all up to. Chelsea and Belinda put a safeguard into effect before coming here. Belinda has to clear any changes with Chelsea before making them. She’s on a full-out assault, but Chelsea put Belinda back in her place.”