“Would you like to get a bite to eat? There’s a deli not far from here that offers great sandwiches. They have salads, too.”
“Thanks, but I’m meeting my mother and my daughter at the park for a picnic.” She shrugged. “You know how it is.”
Actually, he didn’t. And a surge of disappointment rushed through him, reminding him of the rejection he’d suffered the day she’d shut him out. But he shrugged it off.
“Have fun,” he told her before heading to Elena’s desk.
“Are you up for a sandwich?” he asked his aunt.
“I’m sorry, Marc. I packed a lunch today.”
Then he’d just go to Dagwood’s Deli by himself. “That’s okay. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Yet as he walked to the elevator, intending to dine alone, he couldn’t help wishing he’d packed his own lunch.
And that he could eat it in Mulberry Park.
Chapter Six
As Marc sat outside Dagwood’s Deli munching on barbecue potato chips and eating a turkey on sourdough, he couldn’t help checking out the park, hoping to spot Jenn having lunch with her mother and daughter.
Sure enough, she and her mom were seated at a picnic table, watching several children play on a colorful climbing structure.
He watched her talk to her mom, saw her nod and smile. As she took a bite of her sandwich, a little girl in pigtails, her hair a darker shade of blond, ran up to her and chattered animatedly about something. After listening intently, Jenn wrapped her arms around the child and gave her a hug.
Marc had spent a lot of time in high school studying his teenage crush, but there was something even more appealing about her now that he’d spotted a maternal side to her.
He’d never actually dated any single moms before, although he hadn’t avoided them. One of the guys he used to work with once told him that he preferred only to go out with women who had children. “For the most part,” the guy had said, “they’re more responsible and less self-centered. They also tend to be a lot more nurturing than those who are unattached.”
Marc hadn’t given it much thought before now, but as he watched Jenn with her daughter, he wondered if his coworker’s observation was true.
If he asked her out…
Whoa. Who said anything about dating her?
Besides, did he really want to complicate his life in that way?
No, he didn’t.
But after he finished his lunch, instead of going to the office, he found himself turning left instead of right, crossing the street and walking to the park.
It was warmer than it had been yesterday, a perfect day for eating outdoors. Birds chirped in the treetops, and the vast array of colorful flowers near the water fountain had turned toward the sun and opened in concert.
As Marc neared the green fiberglass table where Jenn sat, he noted that she was still wearing that macaroni necklace, and his coworker’s words came to mind: considerate, more nurturing.
When Jenn looked up and saw him, her breath caught. “Oh. Hi.”
“I was heading back to the office and saw you out here,” he explained. “So I thought I’d stop by and say hello.”
Her lips parted as though she was dumbstruck by his presence.
Great. Super Geek strikes again. On his first day at Fairbrook High, he’d made the mistake of sitting at the wrong table in the cafeteria and had been chased off by a couple of jocks. Had he made a mistake in crashing Jenn’s family get-together?
“I…uh…” She turned to her mom and managed a smile. “This is my boss, Mr. Alvarado.”
He reached out his hand in greeting. “Let’s not be formal. Call me Marc.”
“Susan Kramer.” The woman smiled as though she’d met someone noteworthy or famous. “I’ve heard a lot of nice things about you.”
Marc glanced at Jenn, whose cheeks were a telltale shade of pink.
Had she been talking about him?
Jenn turned to her mom. “I didn’t realize you even knew who Marc was.”
“I did a Google search,” Susan said. “And it’s no wonder that the community has welcomed you with open arms. The Fairbrook branch of your company will provide jobs for a lot of people.”
Jenn’s cheeks grew pinker still.
Marc had gotten used to women finding him attractive, but he’d realized many of them were especially enamored with his financial success. Some guys might find that helpful or even appealing, but he didn’t. Sure, he hoped the woman he got involved with would be proud of him and his accomplishments, but he didn’t want his success to be the deciding factor.
What would happen if he lost his money or was crippled or scarred in some way? He wanted a woman to be interested in him because of the real man inside. And he wanted to know that she would stick by his side no matter what the future might bring.
Before he could conjure a graceful exit, Jenn’s daughter, the cute little girl in pigtails, skipped up to the bench. “Can I have a cookie?”
“Did you finish your sandwich?”
“Yes, but not the yucky crust. I threw that part in the trash.”
“And the apple slices?”
When the child nodded, Jenn reached into a brown paper sack, withdrew a plastic baggie that held what looked to be homemade chocolate-chip cookies, and gave one to her.
“Thanks, Mommy.”
“Jennifer,” Marc said so the little girl would hear. “Did I tell you how much I like that pretty necklace?”
The pixie turned to him and grinned, her eyes bright. “I could make one for you, too. Some men wear necklaces, like the man who came to see Daddy and wanted money. He had a big gold chain.”
A bookie, Marc suspected, but he smiled at the child, noting that while she looked a bit like her mother, she favored her father in looks, too, getting the best of both of them. “If you have time someday, that would be great.”
Caitlyn lifted the cookie to take a bite, then paused. “Mommy, will you come and push me in the swing before you have to go back to work?”
Susan quickly got to her feet. “I’ll do it, honey.” Then she ushered the child back to the playground, leaving Jenn and Marc alone.
He had the feeling that had been her plan all along, but he figured he’d never know for sure.
For a moment, he considered asking Jenn out to dinner so that he could get to know her as an adult and let her have a chance to meet the real Marcos. But in spite of his self-confidence and accomplishments in the business world, as well as having a couple of successful romantic relationships under his belt, when it came to Jenn, he still harbored a little more adolescent insecurity than he was willing to admit.
“Well,” he said, “I’d better get back to work.”
“Me, too.” Jenn got to her feet. “I’ll be right behind you.”
As Marc turned and made his way back to the office, he had the strongest compulsion to look over his shoulder. He couldn’t be sure, but he had an unshakable feeling that Jenn was watching every step he took. But he didn’t dare look.
He would have been disappointed to learn he was wrong.
Jenn watched Marc cross the lawn until he reached the sidewalk. Then she finally tore her gaze away and went in search of her mother.
Susan Kramer was returning from the swings at a pretty good clip and grinning like a yenta. “I have a really good feeling about you and Marc hitting it off.”
Jenn crossed her arms. “I can’t believe you did that.”
Her mom’s smile drooped, and her brow lifted. “Did what?”
“Implied that Marc was a great catch. And to his face.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “What’s worse, you made it sound as though I’d been talking about him at home.”
“I said I did a Google search. And I did.”
So had Jenn, but that was beside the point.
“He clearly would be perfect for you,” her mother added. “He’s tall, dark, handsome, successful, rich…. What more could you ask for?”
; “Mommm,” Jenn said, dragging out the word. “Come on. I’m working for him. He’s my boss. I don’t want to jeopardize a paying position right now. Besides, what makes you think he’d be interested in me? After all, I’m…” She glanced at the slide, watched her daughter climb up the steps. “Well, let’s just say it’s going to take a big man to step into a ready-made family and to be the husband and father Jason never was.”
“Marc Alvarado would be lucky to have you, Jennifer. Any man would.”
Yeah, right. Even with a FICO score that had dropped to the cellar? Jenn blew out a sigh of resignation. Not that she wasn’t working on paying off her debt and improving that score, but it was going to take time—a lot of time.
“And he’d be even luckier to have Caitlyn to round out his family.” Her mom’s glowing smile threatened to split her face in two. “Didn’t you notice how sweet he was with her?”
“Yes, I saw that.” And to be honest, she’d quit thinking of him as her employer right then. Instead, she’d momentarily considered him a potential romantic interest. And that was not only crazy—it was unthinkable.
“You’re too young to be alone,” her mom added.
“I’m not alone, Mom. I have you and Caitlyn.”
“Yes, but you need more than us.”
“No, I don’t. And even if I did, I’m not going to throw myself at the first eligible bachelor I meet.”
“Why not? My mother always used to say that it was just as easy to fall in love with a rich man as a poor man. And from what I’ve read, that company Marc owns is worth millions.”
Jenn smiled. “Then what happened to all Daddy’s millions?”
Her mom chuffed. “I didn’t listen to my mother. But looking back, I wish that I had.”
“Then you wouldn’t have had me,” Jenn said, looking at her own daughter and realizing how much her life would lack had she not married Jason and had his child.
“I hope you’re not down on matrimony because neither of our marriages worked out.”
“You have to admit,” Jenn reminded her, “that we are two for two.”
“I know. But try not to let it make you bitter. Some people are really happy, no matter how old or how young they are when they tie the knot.”
“I’m not down on men and marriage,” Jenn said. “It’s just that I made a big mistake by jumping into a relationship so young.”
“Your father and I married young.”
“Case in point.”
Her mom’s eyes grew misty. “We were happy once.”
Jenn couldn’t remember when. And try as she might, she just couldn’t seem to believe in happy ever after anymore.
“You know,” Jenn admitted, “I thought marriage was my only option after high-school graduation, but that wasn’t true. I wish I would have gone to college first and then gotten married when I was older and wiser. And I wish that you and Daddy would have encouraged me to do that.”
“You weren’t a studious child,” her mother said. “And you never brought home the kind of grades that would have led us to believe you were college material.”
Maybe not, but Jenn could have excelled in school if she’d wanted to. She’d loved working on the yearbook staff and had pulled As in journalism, even if, admittedly, her heart hadn’t been in math or science. The trouble was, she’d been one of the popular kids and extremely social, so homework had always taken a backseat to fun and extracurricular activities.
“Besides,” her mom said, “you were in love.”
Had she been? She really wasn’t sure what she’d felt for Jason. Attraction, to be sure. But over the years she’d wondered if she’d been riding on the tail of high-school popularity and all that homecoming king and queen hype, which the entire senior class had bought into when it had voted her and Jason the couple most likely to get married.
Last night, at the reunion meeting, she’d learned that Danny Litman, the guy voted most likely to succeed, had gone on to do just that. However, Marcos “The Brain” Taylor, the valedictorian who’d been in the running for that position and had shown even more promise than Danny, seemed to have disappeared from the face of the earth.
So who knew what the future might bring?
She wondered what would have happened if she and Jason had continued to date and had enrolled in the local junior college. Would they have eventually outgrown each other? Or would their marriage have been better? Stronger? More durable and better able to withstand life’s storms?
That was the trouble with hindsight. It usually pointed out the error of one’s choices, but there was still no guarantee of actual outcomes.
Either way, she wished her parents had tried to talk her out of marriage and into college. There was a great big world that went beyond Fairbrook city limits. But at eighteen, how had she been able to know that?
Jenn had grown up believing that life was a modest home on a quiet street in Fairbrook, that all fathers went to work at blue collar jobs and most mothers were housewives. That parents were content when their kids had average GPAs and an occasional mention on the honor roll with no effort whatsoever.
That college was only for students like Danny and Marcos. And that a pretty smile and a full calendar of social events was enough to guarantee a bright and happy future.
“Mommy,” Caitlyn said, drawing Jenn’s attention away from the dark realities of the past and back into the sunlight of the here and now.
Jenn turned to see her daughter carrying a pink Gerber daisy with a short stem.
“This is for you, Mommy. Somebody left it on the teeter-totter, and I found it. Isn’t it pretty?”
“It sure is. Thanks, honey.”
“You can take it back to work with you,” Caitlyn added.
“I’ll do that.” Jenn looked at her watch. She still had a few minutes left in her lunch hour, but maybe she ought to start back now. No need to be late on her first day.
After giving her daughter a hug good-bye, she brushed a kiss on her mom’s cheek, then returned to the office. She was a little uneasy about seeing Marc after her mom’s comments, but she figured she might as well get it over with.
However, when she reached the eighth floor, stepped out of the elevator, and looked through the glass door and into the office, Elena was the only one in sight.
“Good afternoon,” Jenn said as she entered. “Did you have a nice lunch?”
The older woman smiled warmly. “It was all right. And it was quiet, which gave me a chance to read for a while.”
“Good.” Jenn peered down the hall, wondering if Marc had gone into his office already.
Apparently, she’d been caught craning her neck, because Elena said, “Marc had to leave. Two of our best customers have gotten into a tiff, and he’s going to try and smooth things over.”
“Will it hurt business if they don’t work things out?”
“No, it won’t hurt us at all. But Marc’s always been a good mediator.”
That was yet another plus, Jenn thought as she twirled the short stem of the pink daisy in her fingers and considered Marc’s many attributes.
“That’s a pretty flower. I’ll get you something to put it in.” The silver-haired woman slipped away, then returned with a paper cup filled with water. “This ought to work.”
Jenn took it from her. “Thanks.”
“Did you enjoy your picnic in the park?” Elena asked.
“Yes, I did. It’s nice that the playground is so close. It’ll give me a chance to see my daughter during the middle of the day.”
“It’s heartwarming to see a young woman put her children first. Not all mothers do that.” Elena smiled. “I hope Marc finds someone like you someday. He’s going to make a perfect husband and father.”
Uh-oh. Was Elena playing matchmaker?
Whatever Jenn did, she’d better not bring her mother to the office. Between the two women, they’d drive Marc and Jenn crazy.
Besides, Marc wouldn’t have any trouble finding a woman on his own.
A woman who didn’t already have a child or a mountain of debt.
Chapter Seven
The next morning, Marc rolled out of bed before the alarm went off. Ever since starting his own business, he faced most days with a smile. But now that Jenn would be at the office, he was even more eager to get to work.
Originally, he’d wanted to see her reaction when she learned who he was. He wondered if she would be sorry for giving him the cold shoulder in high school. But after seeing her at the park, he was beginning to like the idea of asking her out to dinner, although he couldn’t quite bring himself to do it.
He wasn’t ready for another let’s-just-be-friends response.
After taking a shower and shaving, he put on the coffee, then went outside to get the morning edition of the Times. The dew-covered grass chilled his bare feet as he crossed the lawn to get the paper, which had been tossed into the hedge again. As he reached through the branches to grab it, a thornlike twig scratched the top of his hand, and he grumbled under his breath.
The newspaper carrier, whoever he was, had a lousy aim.
On the way back to the house, Marc removed the rubber band and unfolded the paper enough to scan the headlines. When he was convinced there weren’t any world, national, or state calamities that needed his attention, he entered the house and returned to the kitchen, where he poured a cup of coffee and sat at the table.
He turned to section B and looked for Jenn’s column. After learning that she was Diana, he’d been reading the letters and her responses, which gave him some insight into the woman she’d become.
The first letter in today’s edition was from a woman whose friends were concerned that the man she was dating was forty-two and still living at home with his parents. She signed her letter Tired of Being Lonely.
Marc figured there were a lot of reasons why a person that age would live with his parents and wondered what Jenn’s thoughts were.
Ten years from now, Jenn wrote, you might find yourself in an even lonelier place if you hook up with the wrong man because it seems like the right thing to do at the time.
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