by Sally John
“Really?”
“Really. And she was not happy about him being there. Not one bit.”
“Hmm. Maybe the crush goes both ways?”
“Maybe. They’re total opposites.”
“Now we are gossiping.”
“Yes, we are. But it’s a fun thought. Love makes the world go round, right?”
“Right.” Liv smiled. What was going on? Jasmyn’s sweet voice sounded sweeter, more melodious than usual. The air positively shimmered with her bubbly energy.
There was more behind such happiness than chocolate truffles alone. Had something happened in the desert?
“Tell me about your day. All I’ve heard is that you loved the desert.”
“Oh, Liv, I was in absolute awe of it. It’s simply magnificent. It’s so huge. Huger than cornfields. And Overland, the town on the reservation, is just a speck in the middle of all that hugeness, but it was…” She grew pensive. “Well.” She turned to Liv. “It was magnificent too.”
Ah. Now they were getting to it.
Jasmyn described her visit in great detail. By the time she finished telling her about the mission church and an old woman named Nova and the feel of a stone floor beneath her knees, Liv’s cheeks were damp with tears.
Jasmyn wiped her own eyes. “I’ve been thanking God for things lately. I wasn’t sure He was listening until now.”
Liv nodded. “Jasmyn, dear, you experienced a thin place.”
“What’s a thin place?”
“Where the walls of this world go blurry and we get a glimpse of something Other. ‘Other’ with a capital O.”
Jasmyn stared at her. “That was it.”
“You never know where or when you’ll stumble into one. Maybe in a church, maybe in Walmart. And what’s thin for someone might be thick for someone else.” She grasped Jasmyn’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “This was a gift especially for you.”
They sat in silence for several moments. Except for the sound of the trickling fountain, the air was hushed.
Jasmyn breathed out a long sigh. “Love does make the world go round.” She leaned over and kissed Liv’s cheek. “Thank you.”
Liv watched her walk under the jacaranda tree strung with tiny lights, past the bird-of-paradise, between the potted geraniums and mums, and to the grape-purple door of Eleven. Her heart, that thing she needed to take care of, felt ready to burst with gratitude.
Jasmyn knew she was loved. What more could Liv have asked for her? Nothing surpassed the mysterious heart knowledge that the Creator was within her and without, making the world go round.
Thirty-Nine
Midnight. Wide awake. Staring at the bedroom ceiling.
Sam groaned.
Beau Jenner was flirting?
“No way.”
Would she even recognize flirting?
“Nope.”
And what if she did? What was she supposed to do about it? Flirt back?
“Yeah, right.”
She wasn’t sure what that looked like either.
If she was brutally honest with herself—and it seemed a night for brutal honesty—she’d had a few crushes through the years. A few. Three to be exact.
There was the boy in high school, smarter than she was, a loner like she was. A perfect match. Except he was, unbelievably, more socially awkward than she was. They never attempted to have a conversation. Not a hello passed between them before they parted ways, he to Harvard, she to UCLA. She imagined that he had become a researcher. He would probably find a cure for cancer someday.
She met similar guys in college, brilliant and backward. Two relationships had progressed beyond hello and she enjoyed conversing with them about engineering. She even had coffee with one a few times and studied with the other before finals. They both dated bubbly chatterboxes who didn’t know the first thing about the application of the mechanics of equilibrium to force systems, let alone the fundamentals of chemical reactions, kinetics of biochemical systems, or ion exchange.
Sort of like Jasmyn. Her BFF.
Sam grimaced.
She’d never had a best friend, girl or boy. She had acquaintances who generally did not giggle or do meaningless activities like buy refrigerator magnets. She gave those acquaintances the time of day probably because she did not do those things either.
And why was that? Besides the fact that those activities were silly. Was it because no one had included her in those things? Not that she’d ever been exactly approachable. Who purposely approached a porcupine?
Besides Jasmyn. She was different, enough of a fruitcake to ignore Sam’s exterior.
Sam smiled. Okay. To some small degree, she had enjoyed herself that evening, not counting the time between Beau’s arrival and departure. Liv, Inez, and Louis came to the dinner because they were nice people. Chad came for the food. Riley was a standoffish mystery who had her hands full raising Tasha by herself. She must have been desperate for company. And Tasha…
Tasha had hugged Sam, long and hard, and said Congratulations. That was a first. Everybody got Tasha hugs except Sam. Sam wouldn’t dare hug Sam. Why would a little girl approach a porcupine?
That hug had felt indescribably good. So good, in fact, Sam had hugged her back.
Okay, when all was said and done, maybe she was on the verge of accepting friendly overtures, of joining the human race. Liv and Inez were not going away. Jasmyn would be there for a short while longer. Maybe she’d come back to visit. If her BFF wanted to go for a run or occasionally do something silly, Sam might be amenable to it.
Beau, on the other hand, was a no-go. That fish out of water feeling she experienced around him was…well, it was unsettling. Disorienting. She would simply ignore him. He would lose interest. Life would continue.
Sam flipped onto her side. Then she flopped onto her other side.
It was going to be a long night.
Forty
Jasmyn’s boss called her Friday morning. It was their first chance to have a good long talk, and she filled him in on much more than he probably cared to hear about.
But Danno laughed his gruff bark at her stories. “It sounds like you’re having the time of your life, Jasmyn.”
She smiled. For the hundred millioneth time she wished the man was her dad. He had been a part of her life since she was a teenager, if only from the edges.
“Danno, I’m so grateful for you.”
“Ditto, girl.” He paused. “You know, I’d tell you if there was any chance at all we’re related.” He referenced her old wish, which she had said aloud to him once in an ooey-gooey gush after he’d attended her high school graduation ceremony. “I could have handled you being my daughter. You’re a wonderful young woman.”
Tears filled her eyes. “Thanks.”
“As a matter of fact, you encouraged the wife and me so much with your extended stay out there that we’re gonna follow in your footsteps. Except to Florida, not California.”
“You’re taking a vacation?”
“Nah, we’re going whole hog. We’re retiring and moving to warmer climes. Florida’s warmer than where you are.”
“Wow. That’s…that’s, uh, great.”
“You think the Flying Pig is going under and we have to pull out and it’s all your fault.”
“Um, yeah. Basically.” If she hadn’t sold her land to those developers who were building businesses to take business away from Valley Oaks businesses—
“Jasmyn, it’s not your fault. Technically, I’m old enough to retire. I’m overdue. And the restaurant will go on without me if someone buys it.”
“But who would sign up for, you know…” She was on the verge of tears.
“Like I said, not your fault. People who want a McRib, they’re taking care of a snack attack. They stop in at the new place, get a fix. That’s not going to make or break the Pig. Now, this is between you and me. I have people interested in buying it.”
“You do?”
“Yeah. But selling to two local guys
wasn’t my original plan.” He cleared his throat. “I mean, they’ll do all right. One has a business degree. They’re young and gung ho. But I hoped you’d take it over someday.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. You’ve worked here the longest. You have a head for the restaurant business and a heart for the customers. You’d be perfect.”
Blinking no longer kept the tears at bay.
“It’s easy to understand why that woman Liv thinks you’re the cat’s pajamas as her temporary manager.”
Danno was paraphrasing what Jasmyn had told him. She swallowed. “When did you come up with this idea?”
“You were about eighteen.” He chuckled. “Been a while.”
“You never said anything.”
“It wasn’t the right time.”
“Because I didn’t have money and now I do?”
“Nope. Money has nothing to do with it. I would’ve worked something out so you could afford it and I’d still do it that way.” He paused again. “The truth is, I didn’t want to hold you back. You needed to get out of Valley Oaks, spread your wings and fly a little, build up some confidence.”
She wiped at her cheeks. “I never fit in back there.”
“You did so. You just never thought you did because your life was hard here. I understand.” He exhaled. “Anyway, you should hear the customers. They’re griping more than usual. Quinn has a fit when they tell her, ‘Jasmyn would have done it this way. Jasmyn would have done it that way. Jasmyn never wrote down an order and always got it exactly right.’ Blah, blah, blah. I swear, you’ve kept more people coming back here than the sauce.”
He had said such things in the past, but he was famous for embellishing the truth.
“So anyhoo, those other guys aren’t ready to commit just yet, and I told them I wasn’t either, not before Christmas. I wouldn’t expect you to buy it outright. We’d do a long-term deal. No pressure, Jasmyn. Just maybe something to consider.”
Something to consider? Was he off his rocker? She was a waitress!
“Hey, don’t let this mess with your head. It might not be what’s best for you. You’ll want to think long and hard about it. Hear me?”
“I hear you.”
“And, well, I just wanted you to know how much I think of you.”
They didn’t exactly blubber through their goodbyes, but almost.
Jasmyn couldn’t focus on anything except Danno’s news.
She walked the four blocks down to the beach and trudged across it to the hard-packed sand at the water’s edge, her thoughts far removed from eucalyptus trees and wind-whipped whitecaps.
Since the tornado, her life had been a series of hasty actions. From the moment her home disappeared, she had been caught up in a whirlwind herself, making snap decisions. Live with Quinn—sleep on her couch. Buy the first jacket and jeans she touched in the store—wrong sizes, ugly colors. Take the first available apartment—cramped, smelly. Sell the land—tell Zeb Swanson, who didn’t want to buy it, that this year’s corn was his last in her fields. Take a vacation—to someone else’s favorite place.
There had been a short restful lull in San Diego, but then came the stolen rental car, and she fell right back into the whirlwind. Sleep here, wear this, do whatever a virtual stranger invited her to do. Don’t get on the plane.
But…she smiled. Hadn’t that last decision led to two weeks of bliss? Filling in for Liv. Feeling more like a Casa resident than a visitor. Seeing the desert. Getting to know everyone better, especially Sam. Getting to know God.
In the long run, not getting on the plane hadn’t been a bad choice.
Now, with Danno’s plans, the wind began to swirl around her again. She felt as if she were being turned inside out. Her heart thumped, a big bass drum keeping time with a Sousa march.
Very soon she would be going back to yet another upheaval. Danno already had one foot out the door. What was that called? A lame duck. He wouldn’t matter all that much anymore.
New owners would matter. They might not keep her on. She might not want to stay on. If she bought the place— Well, that was totally beyond reason. What did she know about managing anything?
Jasmyn walked long and hard. The weather had turned chilly. The sky was a low-hanging, pewter gray canopy. She wished she had put on a heavier jacket. The denim one—yet another silly purchase—was too light. Oh, wait. She didn’t have a heavier jacket. Did she have one back home?
Home. And where exactly was that?
No home. No job. What a mess! She needed to bounce her thoughts off someone. Not Liv, she was too emotional, too close. Same with Sam.
You call Keagan. Those were Inez’s words. When we women need rescue, he always come. He is our knight.
Keagan? But she didn’t need rescuing, just a friendly ear, maybe a word or two that would help her see things more clearly. He seemed to have a knack.
Jasmyn frowned. Maybe that added up to rescuing. The term didn’t necessarily mean she was a damsel in distress. She would really truly dislike wearing that name tag. Sunshine was bad enough.
Zigzagging through a maze of short blocks, she made her way from the beach to the business area, a hodgepodge of beach culture and small-town flavor. The district was so homey that if it were plopped down in Valley Oaks, no one would notice.
Except for a few things, such as the large bubbly fountain on one corner, the movie theater on another, the touristy shops in between. And except for the fact that Seaside Village covered several blocks instead of two. And that there were palm trees and flowerbeds full of blossoms even now in mid-October.
But, like her hometown, there were restaurants, hair salons, barbershops, a post office, bank, market, and pharmacy. Everything anyone needed sat right there.
Also like her town, there was a gym. Keagan owned this one, or co-owned it. It was located on one of the side streets. Liv had pointed it out once.
Jasmyn had no idea what his work schedule was. From what she had observed of his comings and goings, he didn’t have one. Because she hadn’t seen him around the Casa earlier, she might as well give the gym a try.
The sign painted on the glass door read simply Seaside Village Gym with the hours printed underneath. She pulled the door open, a small bell jingled, and she stepped into an unpleasant memory: PE class and the locker room. Her nose twitched involuntarily.
A buff young woman in black spandex smiled from behind a counter. “May I help you?”
“Hi. I’m looking for Keagan.”
“Who isn’t?” She laughed. “That man has perfected the disappearing act. May I help you?”
As the woman eyed her, Jasmyn sank into another memory, one of feeling intensely uncoordinated, not good enough, and embarrassed at being the last in her class to need to wear a bra.
Her heart started up its Sousa rhythm again and it wasn’t from the brisk walk. “No thanks. We’re, uh, neighbors, and I just wanted, uh, to, uh— He’s not here then?”
“Nope.”
“Okay, thanks.” She pushed open the door and its bell jingled again as it swished shut behind her.
What in the world was she doing? Keagan was totally out of her league.
She stopped in her tracks. Seriously?
Well, in all honesty, yes, seriously.
She was really and truly concerned about her and Keagan’s leagues.
Uh-oh.
Jasmyn looked up at the gray sky and shook her head. She was foolish. A nobody from Valley Oaks and a Southern California hotshot? No way.
She hurried along, weaving in and out of other people on the sidewalk. She neared the library, a large white stucco building with a spacious courtyard dotted with benches. Not exactly Midwest architecture. Another thing that would stand out.
Okay, Seaside Village could not be dropped into Valley Oaks unnoticed.
She had been silly about a lot of things. At least some good news came out of it. If she were attracted to Keagan, it meant that what’s-his-name was history. Actually, she could
probably even say the name of what’s-his-name out loud and not feel nauseous.
“Nick Bloome.”
She pressed her stomach. So far, so good.
Nick had been everything she could have wanted in a husband, but after eighteen months of lovey-dovey he declared she was not what he wanted in a wife. And oh, by the way, he had found someone who was. And, oh yeah, she was pregnant with his baby.
History.
Which she was not about to repeat in any way, shape, or form by paying attention to that annoying feather that fluttered in her chest whenever she saw Keagan. Sean Keagan. She had seen his first name in Liv’s files.
Not paying the feather any attention was easier said than done because there he sat on one of those benches outside the library, his nose in a book, sunglasses atop his head.
And the feather tickled away. She swallowed and kept walking. There were several people between them, standing, talking, and walking. She would pass by and he wouldn’t even notice—
He looked up.
Maybe he simply unnerved her. That sixth sense or whatever it was that told him to look up or show up at fluky moments was just plain weird. Not to mention the gaze that made her wonder if food was stuck in her teeth. Then there was the kung fu aspect. She swore the air shimmered with energy that said You don’t want to mess with me.
Or…it shimmered with the unfolding of the safety net he pulled out of the blue for damsels in distress. Like now.
And she stood twenty feet away.
It was a huge net.
He gestured at the empty seat beside him. An invitation.
She accepted.
He moved to one side of the bench. “Have a seat.”
She sat. “Hi.” On a typical day, she would have asked about the book he was reading. Typical got lost two blocks back.
“What’s up?”
“Um, nothing really.” She hesitated. Liv would say their meeting was not a coincidence. Hadn’t Jasmyn decided to talk to him? “But I was wondering…um, I mean, do you mind…”
“I don’t mind.” He shut the book. “What do you need?”