“Thanks, Em,” she said as she accepted the mug and stepped inside. “What smells so good?”
“I’m baking cookies for tonight, but I think we need to do a taste test. There’s oatmeal and chocolate chip.”
“At least your apartment smells good. I’m sorry I don’t. I just finished my run and wanted to come over before I went home to change to go to Mom and Dad’s tonight.”
“You don’t smell bad, but just to be safe I’ll hold my breath when I hug you.”
Emily wrapped her arms around her sister. Anna was careful to not spill the tea. Then Emily took her sister’s hand and pulled her toward her tiny kitchen. When Anna stepped inside, she could see a plate of deliciousness waiting for her atop her sister’s glass-top café table.
“You’re an angel, Em. This is exactly what I need.”
Emily squinted at her sister, the concern obvious on her face. “What’s going on?”
They sat down. Anna placed her cell phone on the table and took a sip of tea. It was supposed to fortify her, but instead it burned her tongue.
“I slept with Jake.” As she blurted the confession, she set down the mug a little too hard. The table rattled and tea sloshed over the rim. Anna grabbed her phone to save it from the tea tidal wave and braced herself for her sister to call her a bull in a china closet or something equally as snarky. But when she looked up, Emily was staring at her wide-eyed and slack-jawed. She stumbled over her words for a moment, sputtering and spitting sounds that didn’t form a coherent sentence.
“Oh! Uh. Well. Hmm. Ummm... Wow!”
Emily popped up and grabbed a paper towel and wiped up the spill with quick, efficient swipes. By the time she’d disposed of the soaked paper and returned to the table, she seemed to have collected herself. She smoothed her denim skirt and reclaimed her place at the table.
“I like that blouse on you,” Anna said, suddenly feeling the need to backpedal. “You look good in magenta. I can’t wear that color.”
“Don’t change the subject,” Emily said. She gave her head a quick shake and a smile broke out over her pretty face. “This is the best thing I’ve heard in...maybe ever. Did I call it or what?”
“Stop gloating. It’s not like that.”
“Not like what?”
“It’s not like however you’re imagining it. Because if you knew how it really was, you wouldn’t be smiling.”
Emily’s hand flew to her mouth. “No! Oh, no. Is Jake bad in bed?”
Anna squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, trying to block out the memory of exactly how far from the truth that was.
“No... Jake is actually quite good.”
Emily’s mouth formed a perfect O and her eyes sparkled. “Ooh! Do tell.”
God, she couldn’t believe she was talking about this. Even if it was Emily. She didn’t kiss and tell...well, actually, with Hal there hadn’t been much to talk about. So...
“Tell me everything,” Emily insisted.
“I’m not going to give you a blow by blow—”
Emily snorted. She actually snorted.
Anna cringed when she realized her unfortunate choice of words. She couldn’t help but think how gleeful Joe Gardner would’ve been if he’d heard that pun. He probably would’ve bowed down in reverence.
Anna frowned at her sister. “Are you thirteen years old? Get your mind out of the gutter.”
“Well, this is a conversation about sex and according to you, it was mind-blowing. I’m not seeing the problem here.”
Ah, the problem. Right.
Anna took a deep breath and, using very broad terms, she brought her sister up to date on the situation.
“I will not allow this to degenerate into a friends-with-benefits pseudo-relationship. But I’m so attracted to him, sometimes I can’t seem to help myself. I knew exactly what I was doing last night, and I knew exactly how I would feel afterward, but I did it anyway. And I’m afraid I might do it again if I get the chance.”
“Wow” was all that Emily could offer.
Anna plucked a chocolate chip cookie off the plate. It was still warm and gooey. Sort of like her resolve with Jake—unless she turned into the superwitch she’d been at the park.
“I’m mad at myself, but I’m taking it out on him. I mean, I know he feels bad because I’m acting like this and his good friend just died, and now this. What is wrong with me, Em? Was Hal right? Could he see all along that I was attracted to Jake? You saw something. Am I as much to blame for the breakup of my marriage as Hal was?”
And now she was babbling—because this wasn’t about Hal. It was about Jake and her and how everything was now upside down.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Emily said. “You weren’t the one who cheated. I’m sorry to bring that up. But it’s true. How can you be guilty of feelings you never knew you had. I mean...unless these feelings aren’t new?”
“No! I promise you, this is as big a surprise to me as it is to you. Come on, this is Jake.”
“Well, sis, I hate to break it to you, but Jake is pretty darn sexy.”
“Tell me about it.” Anna raked both hands through her hair and stared up at the ceiling.
“I am not going to play a game of ‘Don’t. Stop. Don’t. Stop.’ I just need to know how to get things back to where they were before. How do I do that, Em?”
The refrigerator motor hummed and, overhead, one of the fluorescent lightbulbs blinked a couple of times.
Emily sipped her tea, looking thoughtful. “First, if you’re sure this relationship isn’t good for you, you can’t sleep with him again.”
“I know that,” Anna said. “I wish I could promise you I won’t do it again.”
“Hey, don’t promise me. That’s all on you. Personally, I think you two would make the perfect couple.”
“Emily, stop. Jake and I want different things. He doesn’t want to get married. He definitely doesn’t want kids. I hate to admit this, but I’m not getting any younger. I do want kids. I never thought I’d be one of those women lamenting her biological clock. But here I am.”
“God, you two would have gorgeous children.”
“Emily. Have you heard a word I said?”
“Of course I have. But it’s true.”
Anna tsked. “Really? Are you going to torture me after I turned to you for help?”
Anna resumed her tea-gazing, and Emily reached out across the table and took her sister’s hand.
“Even though it’s my prerogative as your younger sister, I won’t tease you. The next time you’re alone with him, if you’re afraid you’re going to be tempted, text me an SOS and I’ll come and rescue you.”
“Actually, that’s not a bad idea,” Anna said. “The only thing is, unless I fix things with him, it’s a moot point. I was so mean to him this afternoon, I’m ashamed of myself. I wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t want to talk to me. I don’t even like me after the way I acted.”
“Then that’s all the more reason you need to talk to him,” Emily said.
Anna grimaced.
“Don’t be such a baby,” Emily said. “Based on what you said, he was trying to meet you halfway this afternoon and you were a total B. You need to reach out and make this right. Tell him exactly what you told me. Except for the part about being in love with him.”
Anna jerked ramrod straight in her chair. “I did not say that.”
Emily tilted her head and smiled. “You didn’t have to, sweetie. It’s written all over you. You’re oozing Jake love out of your pores.”
Feeling her cheeks burn, Anna buried her face in her hands. “Am I that obvious?”
Emily nodded. “Sorry, hon, just calling it as I see it.”
“Then I definitely can’t...”
“You can’t what?” Emily’s voice sounded impatient in that way that only a sister could get away with.
“I can’t call him. I certainly can’t see him.”
“So you’re just going to let him walk away? You’re essentially going to set
a match to a thirty-year friendship and watch it burn? Is that what you want?”
“No.” Even though the word came out as a whisper, Anna nearly choked on it.
“Then call him, for heaven’s sake.” With a manicured finger, Emily slid Anna’s phone across the table. Anna recoiled and fisted her hands in her lap as if the cell would burn her if she touched it. “The longer you put it off, the more difficult it’s going to be.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Invite him to dinner tonight. You know Mom and Dad would love to see him. And Mom always cooks enough for fifteen. Think about it. A family dinner will take both of you back to your roots. How many times did he have Sunday dinner with us when we were kids? He was like a part of the family.”
Hence the problem. Only he certainly didn’t feel like a brother. Anna wondered if he ever had. She sighed. “Funny you mention it. I’d intended to invite him before everything got so weird.”
“Then do it.” Emily stood, pushing back her chair with the bend of her knees. The wrought iron scraped a mournful plea on the tiled kitchen floor. She picked up Anna’s phone and handed it to her. “I’m going to go put in a load of laundry.”
In other words, her sister was going to give her some privacy.
Once Emily cleared the room and before Anna could overthink it, she opened her phone address book to the contacts that were saved as favorites—all six of them—and pressed the button to call Jake’s phone.
He picked up on the third ring.
“Hey, Jake, how about dinner tonight with the Adams family?”
Chapter Ten
“Jake, honey, it’s so good to see you,” said Judy Adams. “It’s been far too long.”
“Thanks for letting me come to dinner tonight,” he said, offering Anna’s mom a smile.
“You have a standing invitation. Please don’t wait for that daughter of mine to invite you.”
Judy gave Anna a pointed look and Jake smiled at the way she blushed.
“Thank you,” he said. “I appreciate that.”
“Would you care for more lasagna?” Judy offered. “Hand your plate to Norm and he can dish it up for you.”
“It’s delicious, but I’m stuffed. In fact, everything was fabulous.”
“I’m sorry we couldn’t make it to the party yesterday,” Norm said. “We’d promised my folks that we would take them to see the fireworks over in Plano. Now that they are in the retirement community, we have to get over there every chance we get.”
Jake nodded. That was the thing about the Adams family; they seem to have longevity in their genes...and in relationships. Both sets of Anna’s grandparents were still alive and together. This move to the retirement community for Norm’s folks was a new turn of events. Earlier, Judy had mentioned that her parents were on a cruise around the world.
The Adamses’ world was different from—in fact, it was polar opposite to—the one he’d grown up in. While the Adamses had always been generous to include him, more often than not he’d felt like an outsider looking in. That was all on him, though. It was nothing they’d done. They’d always been as warm and welcoming as they were this evening.
Jake glanced at Anna, who had been quiet for most of the dinner, allowing her sister to entertain with tales of crazy customers at the restaurant and a few sidebars about customer woes at the bank. As he listened to her talk, he wondered why his brother Luke had never shown an interest in Emily. The woman made no secret about her affinity for him. No doubt Luke had his reasons, and far be it from Jake to interfere.
Anna caught him staring at her. She gave him a shy smile and turned her attention back to the lasagna that she’d been pushing around on her plate. He’d been so glad to get her call. After the way they’d left things earlier in the park, he wasn’t sure what to do next. He would’ve figured it out, because there was no way he was going to let this indiscretion come between them. He was simply going to give Anna some room until she was able to realize that, yeah, they may have feelings for each other—and there was nothing more that he wanted than to have her in his bed every night—but he wasn’t the man for her.
The only conclusion he’d come to was he would make the ultimate sacrifice by putting a lid on his feelings for her to make sure that, eventually, she ended up with a man who deserved her.
They’d arrived at Judy and Norman Adams’s place in separate cars. So they hadn’t had a chance to talk. Yet here they sat in the same dining room, at the same table, in the same places that they’d occupied on all those Sundays all those years ago.
Judy and Norman each sat at each end of the table; Jake and Anna sat to Judy’s right, Emily across the table from them. The dining room still had the same traditional feel and furniture set—a large table in the center of the room, a sideboard and china cabinet on opposite walls, blue-and-white wallpaper depicting old-fashioned scenes of men and women courting on benches and under trees. What did they call it? Tool or toile—something like that. It didn’t matter.
What was important was that despite how everything had changed between him and Anna, there was still that connection, that lifeline that kept them from drowning. Sharing a meal with the Adamses felt as if they’d stepped back in time nearly a decade and a half. Suddenly, what he needed to do was as clear as the crystal goblet on the table.
He was going to let bygones be bygones and fix her up with Dylan Tyler. The guy had asked about Anna several times since he’d seen her at the jazz festival. Jake had had his trepidations about fixing up the two of them—if he was honest with himself, the feelings probably stemmed from his being afraid that Anna and Dylan might actually be a good fit. Not that he thought the dates he’d arranged for her wouldn’t work, but it just took a few go-rounds to realize who would work—who would be the best person for her.
Jake mulled it over as he helped clear the table. That was one thing about the Adamses; they all pitched in and it made him feel even more like family when Judy and Norm didn’t excuse him from doing his part—even after all these years.
During cleanup, he and Anna made small talk and, to the untrained eye, nobody probably realized anything was different. God, he hoped not. All he had to do to set himself straight was think of looking Norman Adams in the eye and telling him that he’d had a one-night stand with his daughter.
Yeah, that put everything into perspective.
When they finished washing the dishes, he said to Anna, “Want to take a walk around the old neighborhood?”
The unspoken message was “It’s time we talked about this.” He could tell by the look on her face she understood and that she was ready to talk.
Outside, twilight was settling over the old neighborhood. Fingers of golden light poked through the branches of the laurel oaks and the sun had painted the western sky with broad strokes of pink, orange and dusky blue.
It was always bittersweet coming and going from the Adams house. Because the house he’d grown up in was right next door. After leaving for college, Jake had only been back for Christmas and to visit his dad occasionally when he wasn’t taking classes over the summer. When his dad had married Peggy—two years after Jake’s mom had died—the house had gone from feeling discombobulated to cold and unwelcoming. Peggy, who was only twelve years older than Jake, had no interest in being a mother to Karen Lennox’s children. The moment she moved in, it was apparent that the countdown clock had begun for when she could get the four boys out of her house and out from under the obligation of caring for them. At the time, Jake didn’t realize what she was doing—even worse, he didn’t realize that his father was allowing this woman to push his sons out of their own home. But that was because his father had always played the victim, making his wife out to be the villain who had walked out on her own family.
As Jake and Anna stepped out onto the sidewalk, Jake tried not to look too hard at the house next door to the Adams family. It looked cold and haunted and only dredged up the worst memories. As far as Jake knew, Peggy still lived the
re. He and his brothers hadn’t had contact with her since the day of his father’s funeral, when somehow Peggy had managed to let all four Lennox brothers know that she and their father had been together a lot longer than they had realized. They’d started seeing each other the year before his mother had left the family.
That was when everything had clicked into place. His mom hadn’t just randomly left the family as his dad had led them to believe. She’d left because her husband was involved with another woman, and just a few days later she died in that accident, unable to defend herself or let her voice be heard—that she fully intended to come back for them once she was able to get herself established. Even though Jake had no hard evidence of this, he felt it down to his bones. It was so out of character for his mother to abandon her home and the children she adored. She had probably been flummoxed by the realization that the man she’d trusted with her heart was in love—or under the spell of—another woman.
The only good thing Peggy had ever done for Jake and his brothers was to tell them the truth, which had vindicated their mother. Of course, it had also revealed their father for the weak, henpecked, poor excuse of a man that he really was—letting Peggy dictate the fate of his family, turning a blind eye and simply going along for the ride because it was the path of least resistance.
If Jake had had trepidation about marriage and family before his father’s death, Peggy’s revelation was the wax that sealed the deal. Jake would never let himself be that influenced by a woman. After living with Peggy for years and seeing what she’d done to their father and family, Jake vowed never to let a woman render him weak like that.
As he turned his back on his childhood home and walked with Anna in the other direction, a warm evening breeze tempered the fierce July heat, making it almost pleasant to be outside. Still, Jake felt the heat of apprehension prickle the back of his neck because of what he was about to do. He just needed to figure out how to say it. He could go all corny and sentimental opening with the old saying, “If you love something, set it free.” But that was a little dramatic. So he opted for taking the more direct route. But before he could find the words, Anna spoke.
How to Marry a Doctor (Celebrations, Inc.) Page 13