by Laura Drewry
“See? And we’ve only known each other a few years. Those two have been friends for twenty.”
“But they’re guys,” Regan said. “You know what they’re like; they’ll beat the crap out of each other and then go grab a beer together.”
Ellie nodded, but Maya wasn’t convinced.
Jayne, who hadn’t said a word until then, drummed her fingers quietly on the table. “Jack knows about Griffin?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“And he understands what you gave up by saying no to that?” There was a look in Jayne’s eyes, sort of a cross between anger and protectiveness.
“Yes,” Maya said, then frowned. “You’re the one who told me I shouldn’t have the baby with Griffin, Jayne, so what’s with the tone?”
“I know, and I think you were right to say no.”
“But?”
Never one to enjoy conflict, it took Jayne a second to answer.
“We all like Jack, Maya, you know that, but you said it yourself—he’s going back to Seattle in a few weeks, so where will that leave you? I mean it’s great that you’re so happy with him, it really is, but I swear to God, if he drives away next month leaving you here, brokenhearted, I just…” She pinched her lips together and inhaled deeply. “You just make damn sure he knows Brett has a gun.”
As red in the face as she was, it got all of them laughing.
“That’s right,” Regan snickered. “Maybe they can draw pistols at high noon right out on Main Street or something.”
“Ponch would totally win,” Ellie said, shooting Maya a wink. “He’s quick.”
“Too bad for you,” Maya muttered behind her glass. “Jack likes to take his time.”
She held it in a second then burst out laughing as the other three choked over their drinks.
“I’m guessing Jack didn’t offer the same thing Griffin did?” Regan asked, still chuckling.
“It’s a little soon for that,” Maya said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen, so until that gets figured out…”
“Good.” Jayne nodded. “That’s smart.”
“We’ll see. Let’s talk about something else, or I’ll drive myself crazy.”
All it took was for Jayne to avert her gaze; she didn’t have to say a word, and Ellie was all over her.
“What? Are you pregnant?”
“No! And will you stop asking me that please?”
The two of them were so busy nattering at each other they didn’t notice the way Regan’s hand shook a little when she tucked her hair behind her ear.
“Regan?” Maya asked. “What’s up?”
With a small smile at Jayne, Regan straightened her shoulders and nodded slowly.
“We’ve started the paperwork to become foster parents.” It took a second for her to look at Maya, but when she did, they both laughed and wiped their eyes at the same time. “We’re still hoping to adopt, but after meeting Jack, and hearing what you told us about some of the things he went through…and you know what a pushover Carter is when it comes to kids needing help, so…I just hope whoever they place with us doesn’t hate us.”
Without a word, Maya pushed out of her chair, rounded the table, and wrapped her arms tight around Regan.
“Okay.” Regan laughed. “Stop it or you’re going to make me cry again.”
Maya didn’t care; she just hugged her tighter and pressed a loud kiss against her friend’s cheek before finally going back to her own seat.
“That’s so great,” she said. “You guys’ll be amazing. You’ll be ‘that’ family every foster kid dreams of, I know it.”
“I hope so,” Regan said, worry etched across her face. “We agreed to keep it quiet until we knew for sure, but then Carter got all excited and went and blabbed to Nick.”
“Who of course blabbed to Jayne,” Ellie said. “When will you know?”
“We’re not sure. The paperwork alone is mind-boggling, and I think at some point we’ll have to go in and be fingerprinted, but we need to get through this part first.”
An hour earlier, Maya wouldn’t have believed she could love these three any more than she already did, but she would’ve been wrong. Lifting her almost empty glass, she tipped it toward Regan.
“You’re going to be an awesome mom.”
They all clinked, then ordered another round to toast her properly.
—
Jack hadn’t talked to Genie since he’d left her house a week ago. She’d left two messages, both of which he’d deleted, but he couldn’t put her off forever, because he’d meant what he said to her that night. No matter what, he did owe her everything, and he’d always be grateful for what she’d done for him.
But she’d also intentionally set out to make Jack feel small and demeaned in front of Maya, and as much as Jack wanted to hate her for that, he couldn’t. She’d done it for Will—her real son—and who was Jack to dog her for that? She’d done what she thought she had to do and now Jack would do the same.
When he’d told Maya earlier in the week, she’d agreed to go along with whatever he wanted to do, and like every other time he was with her, what he wanted to do had absolutely nothing to do with Will or Genie, so the discussion had gotten derailed by him peeling Maya’s clothing off one piece at a time.
It was days later now, and they were both fully dressed, so he needed to make sure she was really on board with it and not just blowing smoke.
“Hey, Snip?”
They were sitting on her couch, Maya tucked up under his arm, watching Denzel Washington and the new Captain Kirk try to stop a runaway train.
“Hmm?”
“Are you sure you’re okay with this?”
“With what?”
“Not telling Will about us until after the wedding.” Before she could answer, he shifted over a little so he could see her face. “I don’t want you thinking I’m just trying to put it off until the last minute so I can spring it on him right before I leave town.”
“That’s not what I think,” she said, her eyes so clear, so open.
Had anyone ever looked at him with so much trust?
“It probably doesn’t make sense, but I feel like if I do this one last thing for Genie then I’ll be done.”
“Jack.” Her voice was almost as soft as her lips when they brushed his. “You’ll never be done with Genie, and I don’t think you should want to be. For better or worse, she’s the only mother you’ve ever really known, and that’s not something you just walk away from. If this is what you want, this is what we’ll do.”
God he loved her. And every damn time it hit him like that, it felt like he needed to crack his chest open to make more room inside.
“But be warned,” she said. “If we wait much longer than the wedding, Ellie’s going to beat us to it.”
“You could come with me to the wedding,” he said, grinning down at her. “Stella put me down as a plus one, so it’s not like there won’t be enough food for you.”
“I’d rather ram needles into my eyes than go anywhere near that wedding.”
“So that’s a no?”
“That’s a hell no. You, my friend, will be going solo unless you can find someone else to be your plus one.” She started to curl back under his arm but stopped. “What’s the verdict on the bachelor party?”
He let her get settled again, then pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Stella doesn’t want it the night before—”
Maya snorted. “Guess she’s not as stupid as I thought she was.”
“So a couple of us are going to take him out to the pub on the Thursday night before.”
“Is that it?” she asked. “Just to the pub?”
“It’s not like the city, Snip, our options are kind of limited here.”
And for that, Jack was incredibly thankful.
He and Pete spent the night at Maya’s—again—and the next morning, being of no more use to his own work, Jack went back to the Luna Building to see if Nick needed any help.
—
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The next couple of weeks were a chaotic mishmash of amazing nights spent with Maya and dragged out days keeping it from Will. What made it worse was every minute spent with Snip, Jack loved her a little bit more, and yet the more time he spent with Will, the more he was reminded of why they’d always been friends.
Neither Maya nor Will was pulling on him, yet he still felt like the red ribbon tied around the middle of a tug-of-war rope.
The Newport Ridge office of TMJ opened right on time, the first Monday in November, and Keith was there ready to rock. Well maybe not rock, but he got around pretty well with his cane.
The rest of the team had driven up from Vancouver and were wandering around their new place in shock. The old office had been nice enough, but not like this. If they couldn’t be inspired or creative in this place, then they were in the wrong business.
A steady stream of people stopped by to see the final result, starting with Will and Stella, who came by on their way to school, then all the neighbors from the other businesses in the building. Nick showed up midmorning just to make sure everything was okay, and right around noon Maya arrived with an arrangement of…not flowers.
“I know creative people,” she said. “And the whole lot of you will be too distracted with whatever you’re working on to bother watering flowers, so I thought this would be better.”
It was a bouquet made up of everything Apollo, from the characters and ships to the weapons and planets. Each one had been printed, double-sided, on thick hard plastic, then cut into shapes and arranged on floral sticks. Instead of filling the vase with water, she’s filled it with cotton and then somehow managed to wrap the entire thing with printouts of the game covers.
“Holy shit, Snip—how’d you do that?”
“A little trial and error and a lot of glue.” She didn’t touch him, but the smile she gave him was almost as good. Almost. “I gotta get back. Can I bring Mrs. G by after I close up shop? She likes to be one of the first through the door of every new business.”
“Sure, bring her by whenever you like.”
Another smile, this one with a slow wink, and she was gone, leaving Jack to count the minutes until she came back. He’d expected to be the only one left by then, but it was like none of the team wanted to go home, so the place was still jumping when Maya and Mrs. Goodsen showed up.
“Well, holy Moses.” Mrs. Goodsen took a couple shaky steps inside and then stopped, leaning heavily on her cane. “It’s like a giant playroom.”
Laughing, Jack pulled over one of the five-wheeled chairs and held it steady while Maya helped Mrs. G settle onto it for a ride around the room. None of it made sense to her, not the hammock chairs, not the huge semi-circular couches, and not the beanbag chairs thrown here and there.
“But where are the desks? Where do you work?”
“Wherever people are comfortable, that’s where they work.”
It was a lot for her to take in, and even being wheeled around the space seemed to tire her out, so Maya took over and steered her slowly back toward the door.
Jack rode down in the elevator with them, making sure the old girl got back in the car safely.
“See?” Mrs. G let him help her in and get her buckled as Maya settled herself behind the wheel. “I told you you can’t go wrong with a man named Jack. They’re good people.”
“Yeah.” Maya grinned. “He’s not bad.”
“Just remember what my Jack used to say.” Mrs. G reached for Jack’s hand as he bent over at the waist to bid them goodbye. “A hard man is good to find.”
“Uh…” Maya blushed. “Okay, I think it was Mae West who said that.”
“Maybe you’re right.” Mrs. G shot Jack a quick wink. “But she wasn’t wrong.”
—
It was late in the afternoon when Maya hung up the phone and turned her ear toward the radio.
“Highway crews are waiting for the arrival of structural engineers who will need to assess the site and determine when it’ll be safe to start the cleanup, but a source at the scene tells 89.3 NewsRadio”—the door whooshed open and in came Ellie, hood up, two take-out teas in hand and dripping all over, but before she could say anything, Maya pointed to the radio—“it’ll be at least tomorrow. Stay tuned for updates as they come in.”
“What happened?” Maya asked. “That’s the first I’ve heard.”
“Big rockslide on the highway; sounds pretty bad,” Ellie said, handing her one of the cups. “Right where the highway narrows this side of Porteau, where the rock face goes straight up. Looks like half the cliff came down.”
“You’ve seen pictures already?”
“Twitter, baby. Look.” She pulled out her phone and started flipping through the pictures the local paper and radio station were posting.
“Holy crap.” About a dozen boulders, ranging from about the size of a MINI Cooper right up to dump-truck size, covered the highway, carried along not only by their own momentum but by all the mud and water still cascading down on the side of the cliff. “Was anyone hurt?”
“Doesn’t sound like it, but it took out the tracks, too.”
Sure enough, there must have been a good hundred meters of railway track buried and probably destroyed.
“God, when was the last time we had a slide like this on the highway?”
“I don’t know,” Ellie said, heading back toward the door. “When was the last time we had this much rain? You wanna come over tonight?”
Maya considered it for a second; her ex-husband and his skank were getting married tomorrow…shouldn’t she be more upset about it?
Nope, nothing. She wasn’t about to send them a gift or anything, and if she never saw either one of them again, that’d be okay, too, but other than that…nothing.
“Nah, I’m good, thanks.”
“You sure? We could burn things in effigy.”
“Tempting.” Maya laughed. “But I’ve got some work I need to do. Thanks for the chai!”
For the next while she stopped every time an update came on, but the truth was she learned more from the people posting on Facebook and Twitter. By all accounts, it seemed awfully optimistic to hope that any of it would be cleared any time soon.
At home, Maya changed into her nightshirt and curled up on the couch with the small stack of catalogs she needed to look through for the store. She should have gone through them before now, but she’d spent almost all of her non-working time with Jack, and they had other things to do. More enjoyable things. Naked things.
It was too bad he was stuck over at Dickhead’s tonight, because there were a few more naked things they could have been doing right then, too.
Page after page she flipped through, dog-earing the ones with interesting ideas on them—either for arrangements or products to sell in the store, like those miniature glass bubble gardens. She was almost through her last catalog when her doorbell rang.
“What the—” It wasn’t that late, not quite nine, but she wasn’t expecting anyone, and this time she’d darn well use the peephole.
“Jack!” Seeing him there, grinning at her like that, sent her heart into backflips that would have impressed even Mary Lou Retton.
“Hey, Snip.”
“Hey.” She went up on tiptoe for a kiss then pulled him in for a second one before letting him go. “What are you doing here? I thought you’d be at Will’s all night.”
He didn’t answer until they were back upstairs and by that time, his grin had taken on a decidedly worried shade. “Don’t kill me.”
“What?” She stood just inside the kitchen with her hands on the counter, expecting him to say something like he’d just crashed his Jeep into her car or he’d eaten the last of the Cherry Vanilla Häagen-Dazs.
“I’m the best man, remember, so it’s my job to help out.”
Ooooh, whatever this was, she hated it already. “Jack.”
“The road’s out.”
“Yeah, I heard. Looks like you might have to hang around another day or so.
Darn.” She grinned up at him, but his grin was all nerves now. “What does that have to do with you being the best man?”
Before answering, he looked around the kitchen and over at the coffee table in the living area.
“What are you looking for?”
“Weapons.”
“Ja—”
“Their flowers were coming up from West Van.”
It took a second for his words to sink into Maya’s brain and then another second for her to stop sputtering.
“Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. No way.”
“You got your delivery in yesterday morning, right? Mondays and Thursdays, that’s what you told me.”
“Not gonna happen.” Maya crossed her arms over her chest and stared him square in the eye. “No. She can go to the grocery store and get whatever wilted pieces of crap they have left.”
“Snip,” he said, his voice soft and way too damn soothing. “It’s her wedding.”
“I don’t give a shit if it’s her funeral, Jack. No.”
“Her whole family’s here.”
“Do. Not. Care.”
“Come on, Snip.” He took a tentative step closer, his voice soft, coaxing. “Here’s your chance to be the bigger person.”
“I’m never the big person, remember? Snippet, that’s me. No.”
Another step. “Please?”
“No.”
“Pretty please?”
The next step brought him right up in front of her so she had to tip her face up to see him. God, why did he have to look at her like that? Like he’d make it well worth her while if she’d do him this one solid, like he’d make it worth her while right there in her kitchen, and for a second she felt herself waver, then shook it off.
“No.”
With her back against the counter, and his arms boxing her in on either side, there was nowhere for her to go, and to be honest, she didn’t try very hard to get away when he leaned down and kissed her.
He could kiss her all he liked, she wasn’t doing it. And she wasn’t going to kiss him back.
Okay, she’d kiss him back, but she wasn’t going to slide her hand over his jaw like she always did. Okay, maybe she’d press her palm against his cheek a little, but she wasn’t going to go up on her toes or wrap her hands around his neck or…