With This Ring (Windswept Bay Book 6)

by Debra Clopton

  “Oh, we are glad you’re home, and you’ve made it back in time to see what I figure will be the catfight to end all catfights on Friday night.” Betty Lou gave Max a hug and patted his chest. “Mmm-hmm—hard as a rock. The gals will like that.” She smiled. “I’ll let your brother explain all the cakes and the pie and estrogen.” With a grin, she strode back into her office.

  Max looked at Levi. “Do I dare ask what’s going on?”

  Levi grimaced. “Have you not heard? Our sisters have lost their minds. They’re having a bachelor auction for Valentine’s at the resort this Friday, and you may not know it yet, but now that you’re back, you’ll be on the auction block along with the rest of us.”

  Max’s gaze narrowed. “I haven’t heard anything so far. I got in late last night. But after what I’ve been through for the last several days? Cake and a date sounds really, really appealing right now. I might have to give our sisters a hug.”

  Levi glared at him. “You are not helping the situation, man. You’re willing to take a date with whoever pays the highest price for you?”

  “I’ll suffer through.”

  “Right. If you had gals gunning for you like I do right now, you might not be so enthusiastic. Those cakes are from a bunch of single moms—oh, forget it. You’re dadgum lucky you live outside of town where almost no one can find you, or you might start finding a pile of cakes beside your fence.”

  Max laughed. “What bee has got up your shirt?”

  Ryan walked in, took one look at the desk and laughed. “This is great.” He walked over to get a better look at the desserts. “What do we have here? Chocolate, chocolate, and chocolate. They all look good to me. And to answer your question, Max, Levi is the most wanted bachelor in Windswept Bay at the moment.”

  Levi did not want a date with anybody but Jessica. “Have at it, guys. Eat your hearts out. I’ve got rounds to make.”

  Not even looking back, he headed out the door with their laughter following him. It was heck when a man couldn’t get any peace at work. He’d backed off and kept his distance from Jessica all these days but maybe that had been the wrong thing to do. He’d had a small hope that she would seek him out. Make the first move. But that hadn’t happened. Jillian had told him that she was making it okay. That she just wasn’t ready for a relationship right now.

  And so he had stayed away. But could he keep it up?

  Jessica didn’t think the last bell of the day was ever going to ring. She was so ready to go home. To hole up and pretend her heart wasn’t hurting. When there was a small tap at the door, she looked up from where she was grading papers. Lana was reading the kids a story over in her area of the classroom. They liked to take turns doing story time. It gave each of them a little time to get caught up when they took turns. Today, Jessica struggled to concentrate on the papers and was relieved to have a distraction as she walked to the door. Dawn Lively, who owned the florist shop, stood in the hall with a vase of red roses. She smiled at Jessica.

  “Oh, hi, Dawn.” It was Valentine’s week and so she’d been seeing Dawn’s delivery girl delivering flowers several times today and would probably be here many more times until Friday. But this was the first time she’d seen Dawn delivering flowers herself.

  “You must have the wrong room—”

  A twinkle lit her eyes. “No, not at all. These are for you, Jessica,” she said brightly. “I’ve heard rumors that there are a lot of women wishing they’d gotten these flowers from our hunky police chief. Happy Valentine’s Day. And lucky you.”

  Jessica could do nothing but accept the vase as it was pushed into her hands. They were beautiful. It had been a very long time since she had gotten roses. Butterflies tickled through her. “Thank you but—”

  Dawn was already walking away. “Enjoy,” she called over her shoulder. “Oh, I hear he’s up for grabs at the auction Friday night. You might want to get in on that action.”

  Jessica cringed and stared back at the gorgeous, deep red roses. They were perfect, each and every one.

  “What’s that, Mom?” Kevin called.

  She spun and found him and the entire class watching her. Including Lana.

  Her friend cocked her head to the side and grinned. “Yes, indeed—what is that?”

  Questions came from all the kids in a rush. They jumped up and raced across the room; she found herself surrounded as questions flew.

  What was Levi thinking?

  “Are those from Chief Sinclair?” Lisa asked, suspiciously. “My mom took him another cake this morning. She is going to buy him at the auction.”

  Meg stuffed her little hands on her hips and glared at Lisa. “My mom is going to buy him at the auction on Friday. For a Valentine’s gif, she took him a chocolate pie this morning. My favorite. He will love it.”

  “My mom cooks better than yours,” Lisa snapped.

  “Girls, no fighting,” she said, shocked by everything that was transpiring. “Stop this. Everyone take their seats.”

  Lana stood behind everyone and bit her lip to keep the laughter from escaping. Jessica shot her a warning glare that only made her friend clamp a hand over her mouth to hide her laughter. Thankfully the bell rang at that very moment.

  The next little while was spent getting the kids out the door and to the bus stop and the pickup line. To her joy, Jessica did not have after-school duty since she’d had it that morning. Therefore, she hurried back toward her room, where Kevin would be waiting. With the flowers.

  Her son had asked about Levi all week. She’d finally given up and refused to acknowledge that he was continuing to insist that Levi was going to be his daddy. That’s all that she knew to do. And now Levi had sent flowers. It was going to confuse Kevin.

  Grudgingly, a tickle of happiness at seeing the beautiful flowers seeped through her. She fought to ignore the feelings. Levi had stayed away all week, so why send flowers now?

  She’d been trying to ignore everything about Levi but her thoughts had made him tough to ignore. And since she’d agreed to help with the Valentine auction, the tension had been growing.

  Why had she agreed to help when Jillian had asked her?

  Jessica was not dumb. She knew that Jillian had an ulterior motive and yet she still was going to help. She came up short as she entered her class room and found Kevin leaning on her desk staring at the flowers. He grinned excitedly.

  “Momma, Levi sent you flowers?” Kevin asked, with hope in his eyes.

  “Yes, he sent me these flowers and I’m not sure why.”

  “Because he loves you,” Kevin quipped happily. “I told you he loves you.”

  She counted to ten. “Levi is just being nice.” It was lame but what else could she say? She refused to tell her son that he was right. His declaration of love moved over her as she thought of him on the deck.

  “He loves you, Momma. And what’s a bachelor auction?”

  Could she just curl up in a dark corner for a moment? “They’re having a fun thing on Friday evening for adults—an auction for Valentine’s Day dates.”

  Lana walked in. “An auction is where you have something and people try to buy it and the one who offers the most gets it.” Lana leaned against Jessica’s desk.

  Jessica decided she would hurt her later.

  “What’s a bachelor?”

  Lana grinned. “A single man.”

  “Like Levi?”

  Lana nodded. Jessica edged close to her so-called friend and kicked her lightly in the ankle. Lana yelped and shot her a startled glare, to which Jessica mouthed, “Cut it out.”

  “So Lisa’s mom and Meg’s mom are going to try to win Levi?” Kevin then added anxiously, “You have to win him, Momma.” He crossed his arms. “He sent you roses. It’s probably a sign that you should help him. Lisa’s mom is scary.”

  If it wasn’t so important, it would be funny. “Kevin, I’m not going to bid on Levi. And it’s not like marriage or anything. It’s for a date.”

  Kevin glared at her. “Donal
d told me that his mom and dad went on a date and got married two days later. Just so you know, dates lead to marriage.”

  “Kevin, you are too smart for your own good.” She glanced out the window and saw his friend playing on the swings while he waited for his mom to get through in her classroom. “Look, Tom is on the swings waiting, so don’t you think you need to go get some exercise?”

  Kevin shrugged. “Okay, but this is serious. Just so you know.” He stomped out the door.

  Lana’s lip should be bleeding by now, to keep from laughing she had clamped down on it so many times today. She was biting it again as Kevin strode out of the room and her eyes were bright with laughter as she looked at Jessica. “He’s right,” she chuckled.

  “This is not funny, Lana. My child is going to have a breakdown over all this. He’s living in a delusional world. And you aren’t helping.”

  “Jessica, maybe you’re the one living in a delusional world. You have not been yourself this whole week. Ever since Friday when all that happened. When you were telling me about it—it’s just not right. I get that it’s hard. And I honestly don’t know what to tell you about Kevin. He has gotten this infatuation with Levi—of course, there are several women and their children who have infatuations for him also. That poor man is going to need help at the auction. It should be very entertaining. You could just save him from the vultures if for no other reason. Heck maybe I should if you aren’t.”

  “You’re going?” Jessica asked.

  Lana’s eyes widened. “Are you kidding? I wouldn’t miss it. They are charging a cover fee, and for good reason—that resort is going to be packed. Nearly all the teachers are going. And between you and me, there will be several teachers putting their bids in on those Sinclair brothers. Those guys are hot.”

  “Are they bidding on Levi?” Jessica’s gut tightened.

  Lana shrugged. “I don’t know. Not that it matters to you.”

  Jessica watched her friend walk across the room to her desk, sit down and pull out her paperwork. She had a sly smile on her face.

  “This isn’t funny, Lana.”

  “It is a little,” she countered. “And come Friday night it could be one dickens of a show.”

  Friday evening, Levi arrived grudgingly at the resort fifteen minutes before six, just as his sister had instructed him to do. His brothers were all hanging out at the poolside bar area of the resort, along with the handful of other bachelors who had agreed to this ridiculousness.

  To his surprise, they all looked at ease, standing around, talking and laughing and mingling with the ladies who had started to arrive. Like Max had said, they were just here to have a good time.

  “Good time my foot,” Levi grumbled as he took a spot at the edge of the pool house, next to the sea life mural that Cali’s husband Grant had painted.

  Leaning against the painting of a playful seal, he did not feel playful at all. Nope. Arms crossed, he scanned for a glimpse of Jessica. He spotted her helping Jillian take names at the table where the women evidently signed up to get the privilege of bidding on the bachelors. It reminded him of the setup when he’d adopted Jaco. And he knew what the pup must have felt like in that cage that day.

  He resisted going to talk to her and remained firmly ensconced in his surveillance position.

  The cakes had continued to come to the office. About ten of them sat on the coffee bar but he hadn’t eaten not one piece of those desserts. And didn’t plan on it, either. He saw several women who had dropped off their cakes and he fought the urge to back out of this and head home. Suddenly, Jessica looked up and her gaze found him.

  Even from this distance, he saw her breath catch. His heart exploded with love.

  Time. He just had to give her time. And be prepared for her to walk away again.

  To his surprise, she left the table and came his way. His heart felt as if it were going to break out of his chest. He had missed her.

  “Hi,” she said, almost shyly. “They told me you were going to be here. It looks like you’ll have a lot of people bidding on you. That will be good for the charity.”

  “Right. How are you?” He didn’t give a hoot about the charity right now.

  “Okay. Making it. Thank you for the flowers. I wish you hadn’t.”

  “I worried about you all week,” he said. “But I stayed away like you wanted. Not like I wanted.”

  She glanced away and then back. “Maybe you’ll meet someone tonight. I’m fine. This is for the best.”

  “Jessica, I’m not in any hurry. I love you. With all my heart,” he added. “I will not meet someone tonight. I’m only here because of my sisters. I know you’re not ready to hear that I love you but I do. This is not a race, though. Love is patient. I’m not going anywhere.”

  She looked down and he wanted to pull her in his arms so desperately that it hurt. Instead, he picked up a strand of hair from her shoulder and felt the soft gossamer between his fingers, just needing to touch her in some small way.

  “You can’t wait for me. I’m trying to tell you I can’t go through what I went through again. Everybody told me I handled Adam’s death so well. But they didn’t know inside my heart was a mess. I can’t do it again.”

  Levi stared at her and it finally started to sink in. “I’m never going to win your heart, am I? I never stood a chance competing with Adam.” He was competing against the dead man and he always would be with Jessica. Adam was a hero, a great man, a great father, and he had been a great husband. “I don’t know how to compete against that—against a perfect dead man. And I hate even saying that because it sounds awful. But I have to tell you, Jessica, I have never, ever envied anyone before but I envy Adam. If he loved you like you love him, he would not want your warm, vibrant heart lying in that casket with his body.”

  Her mouth fell open in a gasp. “I need to go back and help,” she said, her voice weak. And then she turned and walked away.

  And he let her.

  “Wow.” Jake stepped out from the side of the building. “That was intense. You okay, brother?”

  “No, but it doesn’t matter.” Levi saw the concern in Jake’s eyes. Jake played hard, enjoyed life and lived it to the fullest. He was not ready to settle down and of all of his brothers, Levi thought he would be the last to settle down. Jake put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed.

  “You picked a tough problem. She’s not looking like she’s going to come around anytime soon. Are you going to bail on the sisters? I’ll let them know, if you want.”

  Levi frowned. He wanted to bail but he’d promised all of his sisters. Jillian, Cali, Shar, and Olivia all expected him to participate in their fiasco. And he was a man of his word—though this was pushing his boundaries.

  “I promised them I’d be in this thing and I will be. Like it or not.” But never again.

  Jake’s expression turned skeptical. “I have to tell you that with that scowl on your face, I’m not sure you’re going to be doing them a favor. Your fans might not even be bidding with you looking like an angry pit bull.”

  Levi grunted. “That would be the best end to my night.”

  “I’m looking forward to my date. Not sure who’s going to win me, but I’m betting I’ll go higher than any of you guys,” he teased. “Especially with you wearing that expression—but I get it. You’ve got problems.” Jake sobered. “Really, though, are you going to be okay?”

  “I’ll live, so rest easy and go have a good time.”

  “Will do.” He gave his shoulder a pat before he headed over toward the crowd. He was sidelined by a tall blonde before he got too far away. And Levi saw several other women edging toward him. Levi might not be happy about this but Jillian did have a good idea to promote the resort. He saw cameramen arriving and groaned.

  What had he gotten himself into? He wished he could’ve said to heck with his integrity, loaded up and gone home.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Jessica was a nervous wreck when the auction started. They had had a p
odium erected beside the pool for each of the single guys to stand on as the auction began. She had to sit there with her list of bachelors and know that Levi was going to be number five of twelve.

  The auction was a family affair. Cali and Grant, along with Shar and Gage, would be watching the crowd and taking bids. Olivia and BJ would be on the podium, acting as announcers, with BJ doing the actual auctioning. Jillian and Ryan were coordinating, while Ryan was also ready to take control if there was trouble. She’d heard him joking with Levi’s brothers that the crowd could get unruly when it was Levi’s turn and all the first-grade moms came out to fight.

  It might be a joke but the thought gnawed a hole in her stomach.

  Plenty of women had asked her whether it were true that Levi was up for bids. They’d heard the rumor that she and Levi were getting married and she had to set the record straight more times than she cared too.

  And now they had news station coverage too. The camera crews hovered about and Jessica wasn’t sure what to think about all of that.

  She should have stayed home.

  She’d have an ulcer before the night was over.

  Some of her students’ mothers were ready with their bidding number—that Jessica had had to assign them and then write on their paper-heart bidding paddle.

  Lisa’s mom, Trisha, looked like a million dollars…or a Victoria’s Secret model. She wasn’t sure why the woman wasn’t married. If she really wanted to be, she definitely had all the attributes to get attention. But then, Jessica had also dealt with her in class and knew that she was pretty hard to handle. Maybe that was the problem.

  Or maybe Trisha had gotten a raw deal—who was Jessica to judge?

  She watched Tricia locate Levi and head over to talk to him.

  Levi immediately, while talking, inched his way toward his brothers. As if being alone with Trisha was not something he wanted.

  His movement was blocked when other females, some of them mothers from her class and others she didn’t recognize, drifted toward him. It was evident that the women of Windswept Bay had a thing for their police chief.