“Oh, sorry. It’s just weird seeing myself in a wedding dress, that’s all.”
“We know exactly what you were picturing, don’t we, Sooz?” Tara nudged Susie in the arm and both women laughed. “You’re thinking about him.”
Beth waved her hands in the air between them. “Don’t be ridiculous. I was actually thinking about how to tell Renata that I want my own place.”
Tara rolled her eyes. “You’re so full of crap. You weren‘t thinking about your mother-in-law.”
“Former mother-in-law,” Susie interjected.
“You were thinking about Jack McCauley and you know it,” Tara accused. “I’d be thinking about him and the various ways I wanted to jump his bones. Is he as delicious in person as he is in on TV?”
Jack’s face flashed before Beth’s eyes. “I barely got a look at him.” Liar. She’d gotten a long enough look to know he’d become even better looking than she remembered. He no longer was the cute boy she’d dated that summer, but a man. A gorgeous man. “We didn’t talk or anything. I don’t think he remembered or recognized me.” She kept her voice on the low side, so Zoey wouldn’t hear from where she worked in the back room. The last thing she needed was their young clerk overhearing that particular piece of gossip. She adored Zoey, but the girl was a little too addicted to social media.
Tara stepped back and studied her, shaking her head. “Oh, he recognized you.”
Panic sped up Beth’s heart rate. “Then he couldn’t place me. I was just one of many, I’m sure.” The thought sent a silly twinge of pain through her heart.
“Uh, Beth. You were a virgin that summer. Guys might forget they’re married and have children, but they never forget the virgins they sleep with.” Her sister’s sarcasm masked the pain Beth knew still lingered.
Beth pushed aside her own memories. “I don’t want Jack to remember me.” She turned to Susie. “So? Yes or no? Is this a keeper?”
Susie studied the strapless gown, then shook her head. “It’s a no.”
The front door bell jingled behind her.
“Speak of the devil,” Tara muttered under her breath.
Beth glanced at the door through the mirrors and was pretty sure her heart stopped beating. Her legs wobbled and so did the chair she stood on. Jack and a younger man she recognized as the starting pitcher from the other night—Zoey’s “future husband”—walked into the store.
“J-Jack.” Her voice was breathy. Her body trembled and her ears rang with anxiety. She closed her eyes a moment, hoping when she opened them again, he’d be gone. That he was just a terrible but handsome figment of her imagination. She opened her eyes and met Jack McCauley’s gaze through the reflection. Crap! He was still there. Oh, my God. Why had he come to see her? This wasn’t happening!
All six feet three inches of Jack moved toward her, as the younger man glanced around the store. “Beth Sanders,” Jack said, knowing her by her maiden name. God. Even his voice was sexy. “Wow. This is a surprise. Remember me?” He nodded to her sisters but his gaze came back to her.
Is the Pope Catholic? “Uh, of course I remember you.” She felt like a complete dork standing on the chair in a wedding dress with her bra straps sticking out of the bodice, but she couldn’t get down without her sisters’ help, and they weren’t paying her any attention.
“Was that you at the game yesterday? At the ball signing?”
Beth nodded in a jerky movement. “Um, yeah. My daughter caught a fly ball.” She sucked in a breath. Dammit! Why had she mentioned Lindsey?
He stopped behind her and looked her reflection up and down. “You getting married?”
“No, this is my store.” Okay, that answer made absolutely no sense. “Well, our store.” She motioned to her sisters. “I don’t know if you remember my sisters, Tara and Susie.” He acknowledged them with a smile.
“The dress is mine,” Susie said. “Beth’s modeling it for me because she’s the size I want to be on my wedding day.”
“Beth is one hundred percent single,” Tara added. “No husband. No boyfriend. No dog.”
Beth wanted to punch her. Heat rose from her chest to her cheeks. She realized she could see Jack’s butt in one of the mirrors. Damn, he filled out a pair of Levi’s nicely.
Stop looking!
She pulled her gaze away from the tempting sight only to find Jack’s gaze on her cleavage, if you could call what she had ‘cleavage’. She thought about covering her chest with her hands. Instead, she tugged the bodice upward.
“What are you doing here, Jack?” She grabbed Tara’s arm with one hand, hiked up the satin skirt with the other, and stepped carefully down off the chair.
Someone poked her hard in the back. Probably Susie, who hated rudeness of any kind.
“Would you believe I was in the area?” Jack grinned, showing his teeth. God, he had a great smile.
Great smile. Great ass.
Damn.
She didn’t smile back. She couldn’t. She couldn’t do anything but stare and try to keep down her lunch. Someone poked her in the back again. Beth pulled herself mentally together. “Uh, no. I wouldn’t believe that.”
“Would you believe I’m in the market for a…” His gaze skimmed over her gown, hesitating briefly at her chest again. Beth knew the top of her lacy bra was showing. “…a wedding dress?”
She shook her head and felt a traitorous upward tilt of her lips. “No, again.”
He shrugged and gave her a self-deprecating grin. Her heart flip flopped in her chest. She remembered that smile. It was the same one that got her into trouble seven years ago. She wrapped her arms around herself, then immediately dropped her arms when she realized she’d just squeezed herself some actual cleavage. His charm wasn’t going to work on her this time.
He held out his hands, palms facing her. “Actually, we’re looking for someone named Zoey.” He nodded to the young man he’d come in with. “Ryan met her on Opening Night and she told him she works here.”
Beth blinked. Why on earth was her stomach churning with disappointment that he hadn’t come to see her? That was a good thing. Someone prodded her in the back again. “Uh, yes. Zoey works here. She’s in the back. I’ll go get—”
“I’ll get her,” Tara piped in with a too cheerful voice. She stuck her hand out. “I’m Tara. I also teach yoga across the street. Stop by sometime. First class is on me.” She headed into the back of the store.
Beth wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear as Jack watched Tara walk away. Oh, God. Maybe he was attracted to Tara. It wouldn’t be surprising. Since middle school, boys had flocked to her older sister, sometimes paying attention to Beth to gain attention from the prettier Tara. She was gorgeous with her long brown hair and perfect yoga-built figure. That would be horrible if he—
Chill. Out.
“Ryan.” Jack motioned the younger man over. “Meet an old friend of mine. Ryan, this is Beth. And this is…?” He glanced at Susie, obviously not remembering her name.
“Susie Sanders.” She shook Ryan’s hand, then Jack’s.
“Beth and I met the summer I got called up to the Bigs,” Jack said to Ryan.
An old friend. Is that how he thought of her? Is that all she’d meant to him? She supposed she should be glad he remembered her at all. Wait. No. No! This was all bad. She didn’t want him to remember anything, good or bad. She just wanted him gone.
“Nice to meet you,” Ryan said. He was a very good looking guy, full of charm and charisma. Just like the young Jack had been. She’d have to keep an eye on Zoey, make sure the girl didn’t repeat Beth’s mistakes.
A squeal echoed from the back room. Tara had obviously found their employee. Within a few moments, Zoey burst through the stock room door, her cheeks flushed with excitement. “Ryan! Oh, my God! Hi!”
Ryan left their little group and bee-lined toward Zoey. The two started an animated conversation.
“You playing matchmaker?” Beth asked Jack, amazed she found her voice.
He chuckled, and the sou
nd curled her toes under the long white skirt. “More like big brother and bodyguard rolled into one. He’s my pitcher. It’s my job to look after him and make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.”
Like date a girl from town and get her pregnant? Beth glanced down at her attire. Why couldn’t she be wearing normal clothes and not this stupid dress? Although she had to admit it fit her perfectly the way Tara had pinned it on her. But she couldn’t think straight while wearing a wedding gown with her bra straps sticking out.
“I, ah, need to change.” She glared at her sisters. “And you guys need to help me.” She glanced quickly at Jack. “Excuse us a moment.”
Skirt in hands so she wouldn’t trip, she hurried to the back of the store, into the office where she’d left her clothes. “This is a nightmare,” she said as soon as the door shut behind them.
“More like a hot dream,” Tara said, fanning herself dramatically. “I’ll take him if you don’t want him.” Her sister wasn’t opposed to men. Just relationships.
Beth turned so Susie could unzip her. “Of course I don’t want him. I can’t believe he’s in our store.” Zoey had mentioned giving Ryan her number. In Beth’s wildest dreams—or nightmares—she hadn’t imagined he would show up here. With Jack McCauley in tow, no less. She turned to Susie, the voice of reason. “Can you believe this, Sooz?”
Susie just shrugged. “I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe it’s a sign.”
“A sign about what?” Beth held her arms up so Tara could take out all the pins. “That my life as I know it is in total jeopardy?”
“No, that’s not melodramatic.” Tara rolled her eyes as she helped Beth out of the dress.
“You guys aren’t helping at all.” As Beth pulled on her jeans, her gaze went to a recent photo of Lindsey on the corkboard behind the desk. Holy cow but she looked like her father. Her biological father. Her daughter’s light brown braids stuck out over her ears under the red baseball cap. She’d lost her front tooth the morning that picture was taken.
If she could do it all over again, she’d have hunted Jack down and told him about Lindsey. She’d been young and naïve. And scared. And alone. When David, her best guy friend, offered to marry her and raise Lindsey as his own, she’d thought it a good option. Her only option, really, other than being a single mom at nineteen. She and David had been buddies since kindergarten, their families were close. The decision just made sense. It was the right thing to do. But over the years, guilt had clouded her surety over that momentous choice. Just because something made sense, didn’t necessarily make it the right thing to do. Or at least not the right thing for everyone concerned.
She kissed her fingers and pressed them to the photo, then finished dressing. She’d always done what she thought was best for her child. That wasn’t about to change now.
She needed to get Jack gone. Right now.
***
Jack stared at the closed door of the office. Seeing Beth, and in a wedding dress no less, had been a surprise. He shuddered. Just the thought of marriage made him cringe. So why had seeing her in a white dress shot a jolt of disappointment to his gut? And what about the bigger jolt of pleasure when he learned the dress wasn’t hers? And that she was available?
She looked good. Really good. The years had filled out her body in all the right places. He didn’t remember her being quite so curvy. His palms tingled and he rubbed them against his jeans.
He vaguely remembered her telling him back then that her family owned a store in town. He glanced around. There must be ten, twenty wedding dresses against the wall. He frowned at the sight and turned away.
She hadn’t seemed pleased to see him. Not that he expected her to jump for joy or anything, but a genuine smile would have been nice. Or a “Nice to see you again, Jack.”
Hmm. He scratched the stubble on his chin. They’d parted on good terms, hadn’t they? A memory of her naked body pressed against his as they’d made it in the backseat of her old car flashed through his mind and he grinned. Very good terms. He still couldn’t pass a Ford Escort on the road without thinking about that night.
He should ask her out again. Nothing serious. Just lunch or drinks or something.
Sharp pain lanced through his knee.
Right. Ignore the rest.
Speaking of, he glanced at his watch. They had a game to get ready for. “Hey, kid,” he called across the small shop to Ryan, who hadn’t stopped smiling since he’d laid eyes on the young blonde. Jack held up his wrist and tapped his watch. Ryan nodded and held up a finger, signaling he’d be just another minute.
Beth’s sisters exited the office and shut the door behind them. The taller one—Tara, was it?—spoke. “Beth’ll be out in a minute.”
“Is she decent?”
“Is she—? Oh, yeah. She’s fully clothed.” She grinned. The other sister slapped her on the arm.
He motioned to the closed door. “I’m just gonna, ah—”
Tara waved him on. “Knock yourself out.”
He knocked twice on the door and opened it when Beth said, “Come in.”
She met his eyes through the small mirror on the wall, her hand poised in front of her mouth as she applied lipstick. Her eyes widened. “Oh, gosh!” She hurriedly replaced the cap to the lipstick and shoved it into the purse on her desk. She spun around to face him. “I was just about to—I’m almost—” She cleared her throat and a soft blush reddened her cheeks.
“We’re taking off. Just wanted to say g’bye. It was great to see you. You look—” He swept his gaze over her, from her chin-length auburn hair, to her slim-fitting blue jeans. “—great.” Her hair was shorter than he remembered, but her eyes were the same gorgeous green.
Her relief that he was leaving was almost palpable. If it weren’t so comical, it would be annoying. Big slap to the male ego.
“Oh. O-okay,” she stuttered. “It was nice seeing you, too.”
He reached across the desk and extended his hand. After a slight hesitation, she placed her hand in his. Her skin was as soft as he remembered. Her skin had been soft everywhere.
Ignore the rest.
As he released his grip, a photo on the bulletin board behind the desk caught his eye.
“What the hell?” he muttered, staring at it. He glanced at Beth, who’d followed the direction of his gaze. Her skin turned ashen as if she was about to be sick. “Why do you have a picture of my sister?”
Her brows furrowed into a cute wrinkle above her eyes. “Why do I—? What?”
He pointed at the photo behind her. “Her. That’s my—” He stared at the photo of the little girl wearing a red baseball cap and twin brown braids. Wait. That wasn’t— “This isn’t my sister.”
Oh. God. His eyes narrowed and bile rose in his throat. Beth didn’t look like she was breathing. Her face had drained of all color.
She slowly shook her head. “No. It’s not.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.
“This is your daughter,” he said. “The one who came to the ball signing.” A flash memory of big sunglasses and freckles under a blue ball cap.
She nodded again.
His blood roared through his veins like an out of control freight train. He clenched his teeth. “How old is she?”
Beth blinked once. Twice. “Six.” She blinked again. “Almost seven.”
“Is there something you want to tell me?”
***
“That’s Lindsey.” Beth held her breath. Her pulse drummed in her ears. Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God. This was not happening! “Your daughter.”
Jack swore under his breath and stared at a spot over her shoulder. His eyes, flirtatious and full of laughter just seconds ago, had stopped smiling. Anger and some other emotion she couldn’t decipher radiated from the gray-blue depths as he slowly met her gaze. “My daughter.” He swore again. “Well, no damn wonder you’re not happy to see me.”
“I, I—” She swallowed. Hard. She placed her palms on the desk and dropped into the creaky chair. She wa
s going to be sick.
“Did you ever plan on telling me?” He must have seen the answer in her eyes. “You were going to take this secret to your grave, weren’t you?”
“I’m so sorry, Jack.” And she was. “But I was young and scared, and—”
“When did you find out you were pregnant? Before or after I left Twin Rivers?”
“I found out the day you got called up into the majors. I planned to tell—”
He held up a hand. “Wait a sec. That last night we spent together, up on the bluff in your car—you knew that whole time you were carrying my child?”
Beth stared at the desk and straightened a stack of papers. She nodded. “I knew.”
“And the reason you didn’t tell me was…?”
“Would you really have wanted me to tell you that night?”
The muscles in his jaw clenched and unclenched, along with his hands at his sides. “What about the next night? Or the next week? Or any time in these past six and a half years?” His voice hadn’t risen in pitch, but he might as well have been screaming at the top of his lungs.
“I’m sorry, Jack,” she said, softly.
“You’re sorry.” His voice was flat. Cold.
She bowed her head, feeling as if the world as she knew it—as Lindsey knew it—was spinning like a top, and it was starting to wobble. Any second now it would fall over. “What do you plan to do?” What the hell was she going to do? She needed to be alone to think.
He held up his hands between them. “I need to...” He shook his head and peered back at the photo. He paced across the small room. Then paced back. “I don’t have time for this right now.”
He spun on his heel and disappeared through the office door, slamming it behind him. Beth stared at the closed door, heart racing, temples throbbing.
I don’t have time for this right now. Those were the exact words he’d said to her seven years ago, when he’d broken up with her and she’d decided not to tell him about their child.
Bastard.
Chapter Three
“What’s your problem, dude?” Ryan stared at Jack from the passenger seat.
Summer on Main Street Page 84