Sprinkled with Love

by Jennifer Faye

  So if that guy he saw her with wasn’t her boyfriend, then who was he? Because it sure looked to Avery that if this guy wasn’t her boyfriend now, he certainly wanted to be in the very near future.

  Still, she was single and offering him help. Not to mention Beth and the Monroes were counting on him. “You’re sure you don’t mind?”

  “Avery, what’s up with you? I’ve never had to repeat myself this much in the past. You know me. I don’t offer unless I want to do something.”

  That much was true enough. She’d wanted to help when his parents died. At first, he thought she’d just taken the nanny position out of pity. But when he thought about her offer, he realized that she’d worked as a babysitter for his brother and sister since she was sixteen. If his parents had trusted her, why shouldn’t he? In the end, it had been one of his best decisions.

  He swallowed down the last of the hot chocolate. “You really think I should do this Bachelor Bake-Off?”

  She nodded. “I do. Besides, it’ll keep you from missing the rodeo, or at least help keep your mind off it for a little bit.”

  It was the problem of the ranch that was foremost in his mind. But that was a subject he didn’t want to discuss. So far no one in town knew about the terms of the will and for now, he wanted it to stay that way.

  He did not relish the idea of answering everyone’s questions—especially when they’d want to know why he wasn’t jumping on the offer to buy it. He didn’t want to admit that he’d depleted his savings. He didn’t want anyone pitying him.

  “Then I accept the offer,” he said, wondering if he was making a big mistake. “I’ll pay you for your time.”

  “Pay me?” She shook her head. “I’m not doing it for the money.”

  “I have to repay you somehow.” He watched as a myriad of expressions passed over her face. She had something on her mind and he wanted to know what it was because he didn’t like being indebted to anyone. “What is it?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I saw that look on your face. You thought of some way for me to repay you. Tell me what it is and I’ll do it.”

  She hesitated. “First, are you dating anyone?”

  What in the world was she about to propose? His gut tightened, but he was already committed. “No, I’m not. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have bothered you for baking lessons.”

  “Good point. Are you sure—”

  “Jillian, out with it.”

  Her fine brows rose. “Be careful about agreeing to things without getting the details first.” When he motioned for her to spit it out, she said, “I need an escort for a wedding.”

  This was not what he’d been expecting. He got to his feet and moved to the fireplace. A wedding? He didn’t go to those things. In his limited experience, it always felt like if you weren’t already part of a couple that people were trying to set you up.

  And yet, he’d already told Jillian he’d do it. She did, after all, offer to help him even though she was busy starting up her own shop.

  He turned to face her. He should tell her that he’d do it, but the words were stuck in the back of his throat. Of all the things she wanted, did it have to be this?

  Jillian fidgeted with a silver ring on her middle finger. “I can tell by the look on your face that you’d rather have all of your teeth pulled out than do this.” Disappointment reflected in her eyes. “Don’t worry. You’re off the hook.”

  “Is it really that important to you?”

  She shrugged. “My mother RSVP’d that I’d be bringing someone.”

  “Can’t you just tell them that you’ll be alone?”

  She shook her head. “The wedding is this weekend. With it being this close, everything has been planned out. But don’t worry, it’s not your problem.”

  It sure felt like his problem. He’d told her that he would do whatever she needed. “What happens if you go alone?”

  “My mother has a fix for that. She wants to set me up with a friend’s son. Did I mention that most of her friends are much older than my mother and therefore their sons are much older than me?”

  “Ouch. Sorry about that.” He supposed he could go for just a little bit. “But it won’t be a date?”

  “What won’t be?”

  He realized that he’d vocalized his thought. He cleared his throat. “I’ll go with you, but it won’t be a date.”

  “But you don’t have to—”

  “We aren’t going to have that conversation again, are we?”

  Jillian smiled. “I suppose not. Thank you. And no, it’s not a date. You’ll just be my plus one.”

  Plus one? He thought about it for a moment. It didn’t sound so bad. There were no romantic implications or anything.

  His gaze met hers. “That’s me. The plus one.”

  “Now that we have the details all worked out, how about we get started on the baking tomorrow evening? Because right now, I need to take Romeo home before my upset mother hunts us both down.”

  When she stood up to take her now empty mug to the kitchen, Avery stepped forward and held out his hand. “I can take it.”

  As she handed over the mug, their fingers touched. It sent the strongest sensation zinging up his arm. The fuzzy warm feeling settled in his chest before it emanated throughout his body. As their fingers continued to touch, his gaze met hers. Did she feel it too? She must have felt something or she wouldn’t be looking at him the way she did.

  And just like that snowy night not so long ago, he wondered what it would be like to kiss her. His gaze dipped to her lips. They were glossy and tempting.

  Why exactly had he waited this long to kiss her? At that particular moment, he couldn’t remember. Whatever his reason, it didn’t seem so important now.

  His heart picked up its pace as he moved closer to her. All he could think about were her lips. It was time to put an end to all of the questions in his mind—

  Thunk!

  The sound of something falling drew Avery out of the spell Jillian had cast over him. All too soon, she withdrew her hand from his. Disappointment assailed him.

  They both turned to find a stack of magazines from the coffee table had fallen to the floor. Romeo sat on the coffee table and stared down at the mess.

  Avery cleared his now dry throat. “I’ll clean it up as soon as I take these to the kitchen.”

  He moved to the kitchen and placed the mugs in the sink. He couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if the cat hadn’t interrupted them. Would Jillian have welcomed his kiss? It really bothered him that he’d never know.

  Avery drew in a deep, calming breath and then returned to the living room. He was immediately greeted by unhappy meows. “What’s going on in here?”

  Jillian held out the cat carrier. “Just to be sure that Romeo doesn’t pull another disappearing act tonight, my mother sent along his cat carrier. As you can tell, he’s not too fond of it.”

  “Marshmallow doesn’t like those things either. She howls the whole way to the vet’s office.”

  “How’s Marshmallow doing now that no one is home much?”

  He shrugged. “She’s not too crazy about it. She stays at my neighbor’s house. Luckily, the older woman next door loves cats and doesn’t mind taking in one more from time to time. I don’t think Marshmallow likes the other cats over there, but I don’t have any other options at this point.”

  Jillian started for the front door. “If you ever need someone else to take Marshmallow, perhaps my mother could try it. Obviously Romeo wouldn’t mind. I’m just not so sure Marshmallow is as fond of him.”

  They both smiled.

  “I’ll keep that in mind. It might be best.” When Jillian briefly frowned, he couldn’t help asking, “Why don’t you look happy about that? If you think it’d be too much for her—”

  “It’s not that.” Jillian shook her head. “Never mind.”

  “Talk to me, Jillian.”

  “I was just thinking that if you didn’t have Ma
rshmallow you’d be all alone.”

  Oh. Is that all? He breathed a little easier. “It’s not bad being alone. You should know.”

  “I’m not alone. Trust me. Now that I live next door to my mother, I see her every single day and she has me babysitting Romeo any chance she can. She’s worried that he’ll get lonely.” Jillian rolled her eyes. “This isn’t good.”

  “What isn’t?”

  “I just realized I’m turning into my mother.”

  He chuckled. “That isn’t such a bad thing. I like your mother.”

  “Thanks. But no one wants to turn into their parent. And yet, I’m bothering you about ending up old and alone like she does with me. Ugh!” Jillian pulled open the door. “On that note, I’ll say goodnight.”

  Avery watched her go and realized he was still smiling. For the first time since he’d returned home, he’d actually enjoyed himself. But he knew not to get used to having Jillian around. They wanted very different things in life.

  While she longed to be tied down with a baby, he’d already raised a family. He may be anticipating the commitment of a ranch, but that was far different than the pressures of a family—of always wondering if he was doing a good enough job as a guardian or a parent.

  The truth was he didn’t feel worthy of his own family. He’d already done so much damage to the family he had with his parents and siblings. If only he’d done things differently—

  Chapter Ten

  Jillian yawned.

  For the most part, sleep had evaded her the night before as she’d contemplated the pros and cons of the deal she’d just made with Avery. His presence at the wedding would hopefully make her mother happy. As for her relatives, they’d probably still comment about her being the last single female of her cousins. Didn’t they know that train of thought was antiquated?

  But the part that concerned her the most was that if not for Romeo, she and Avery would have kissed the night before. Just the memory of the way Avery had stared at her made her insides shiver with excitement. How was it possible that he’d slipped past her very carefully laid defenses?

  She swallowed hard as she considered this serious turn of events. And the way she saw it was that their chance of happiness had passed them by. Whatever happened last night had been a fluke—a glimpse of what might have been. It didn’t change things.

  She was over Avery. He was a friend. Nothing more.

  Exceptionally tired that morning, not even the two mugs of coffee had pumped her up. She yawned countless times as she drove to work. The shop door jingled as she let herself inside. Suzanna was already hard at work painting a figurine.

  “Good morning,” Suzanna said cheerily followed by a bright, glowing smile.

  “Don’t you ever sleep in?” Jillian grumbled.

  “Not when I have things I want to do.” Suzanna studied her. “I take it you didn’t have a good night.”

  Jillian shrugged. “Too much on my mind.”

  “Anything I can help with?”

  This was as good as any time to tell her friend the latest development. “I’ve agreed to give Avery baking lessons.”

  “Oh.” Suzanna turned back to her project.

  “Is that all you’re going to say?”

  “What do you want me to say?”

  “I don’t know.” Jillian sighed. “I keep wondering if this is a big mistake.”

  “Because you’re not as immune to Avery’s charms as you want to believe?”

  “I’m over him,” she said too quickly.

  “Uh-huh.” Suzanna’s tone was one of disbelief.

  “Why do you have to say it like that?”

  “Like what?” Suzanna said all innocently.

  “Like there’s more going on than baking lessons?”

  “Well, isn’t there?”

  “No. It’s not like that.”

  Suzanna nodded her head, but her eyes said that she wasn’t buying anything Jillian said.

  “I’m so over him,” Jillian insisted. It was time to turn the tables. “And what about you? Isn’t it time you had another date?”

  Suzanna shook her head. “I’ve tried and I’m done.”

  Jillian knew how hard it was for Suzanna to put herself out there. She’d been hurt badly when she’d been jilted at the altar. But Jillian also knew that deep inside Suzanna was a romantic. And Jillian didn’t want Suzanna’s creep of an ex to steal her friend’s chance at happily ever after.

  “Not everyone is like—”

  “This isn’t about me,” Suzanna said, taking time to rearrange a few items in the jewelry display case. “You’re just trying to avoid the subject of your date with Avery.”

  They weren’t going on a date. Not even close. The bake lessons were for a good cause. It had nothing to do with how cute Avery looked or how he was starting to acknowledge his appreciation of her.

  Suzanna set aside her paintbrush. “So when are these lessons to start?”

  “Tonight. We don’t have much time. The competition is in less than two weeks.”

  “Really? Why is there such a rush?”

  “From what I’ve learned from my mother, there’s a problem with the sale of the house they plan to use for the kids’ center. And the committee has less than ninety days in which to come up with money for the repairs or else the Chamber of Commerce is going to let an outside business take over the place.”

  “I don’t like the sounds of an outsider coming in.”

  “Me either. That’s why just about everyone in town is planning to support the Bake-Off in one manner or another. Speaking of which, those wristbands I ordered should arrive soon.”

  “Actually, there was a delivery for you this morning.”

  “Good. Where are they?”

  “I don’t think it’s the wristbands.”

  “I didn’t order anything else that I can think of, but then again I’ve had a lot on my mind.”

  “I put the box in the office on the desk.”

  Jillian moved to the office. She hung up her coat and turned to the desk to find a white oblong box with a big red bow. That box definitely didn’t contain wristbands. Her guess was that it contained flowers. From Avery?

  Her heart picked up its pace. Was it possible she’d totally misjudged him? Did agreeing to teach him to bake create that big of a response in him?

  She rushed over to the desk and slid the bow from the box. Inside were a dozen long-stem red roses. They were absolutely gorgeous. She’d only received roses from one other guy and that had been Glenn after their first date. He’d done everything he could to turn her head and it had worked, until she refused to let him control her life.

  There was a little white envelope enclosed. She withdrew it and slid out the note.

  I know that we’re meant to be.

  Give me another chance.

  Glenn

  Jillian’s heart sunk. She slid the card back in the envelope. Did he really think that after the way he’d publicly dumped her that this would make up for things?

  When she returned to the showroom, Suzanna glanced her way. “So which man are they from?”

  “Glenn. Can you believe that? He breaks up with me one minute and the next he wants me back.”

  “That’s because he came to his senses and realized what an amazing woman he gave up.” When Jillian didn’t respond, Suzanna asked, “Do you think there’s more to this?”

  Jillian shook her head. “I think I didn’t get enough sleep last night and my imagination is running wild. Enough of that. It’s time to get to work. The first thing I’m going to do is find out where those wristbands are.”

  *

  Don’t make a big deal of this.

  That evening, Jillian stopped running the vacuum over the floor—for the second time. After all, it was only Avery coming over. It wasn’t like they hadn’t known each other forever.

  But this was different. She was no longer his employee and there were no longer energetic kids pulling them in opposite directions.
And that made this feel more—ugh, what was the word she was searching for? Intimate? No. Special? Maybe. But there was another description just beyond her reach for how she felt about this evening.

  Jillian returned the vacuum to the closet. She glanced around the living room. Everything was in its proper place, thanks to Romeo not being there. She’d quickly learned that he enjoyed rearranging her decorations, especially anything round or lightweight. But this evening, her mother’s favorite show was on television so Romeo would be busy helping her mother knit. Jillian smiled at the thought. Her mother spent more time untangling Romeo from the yarn than she did knitting, but they both seemed to enjoy it.

  Jillian glanced down at her outfit, wondering if it would do. She’d switched her clothes three times now. When she’d arrived home after closing up Tangled Charms at a few minutes after six, she’d immediately changed into her usual jeans and a sweatshirt. However, that just didn’t feel right. So then she’d put on some fresh work clothes consisting of black slacks and a white blouse, but that felt too dressy—like she was trying too hard to impress him.

  After another search of her closet, she’d settled on a fuzzy purple sweater and dark jeans. It wasn’t dressy but it wasn’t too casual. It was something that she’d wear to a friend’s house or FlintWorks for a night out.

  Before she could change her mind again, there was a knock at the door. Avery was early. She’d forgotten that about him.

  She rushed to the door; all the while her stomach shivered with nerves. Stop freaking out! Everything will be fine. Jillian paused and took a deep breath.

  She swung the door wide open. “Hi, Avery. Come on in. Don’t mind the mess.”

  He glanced around. “What mess?”

  Erm, she was nervous and had uttered the first thing that came to mind. “Oh, um, I guess I got it all picked up.”

  “This is the first time I’ve been in your new place.” He glanced at the galley kitchen and then the living room. “It’s smaller than your house, but it has a lot of character.”

  “Thanks. My mother was between tenants at just the right time. We, or rather I, remodeled the place and made it my own. One of the perks of being related to the owner.”