“And you thought being with me would get in the way of all that,” he said.
“Sure.”
“Being married and having B.J. didn’t stop me from starting my restaurant, expanding into a couple of other markets.”
“Obviously you turned out to be a better multitasker than I am. I thought I needed to focus a hundred percent on my dream.”
“So, have you achieved everything you wanted to achieve?” he asked.
“Not everything, but I do have an amazing career.”
“And a personal life?”
“I date,” she hedged.
“Anybody special?”
She shook her head, reluctant somehow to admit that there was no one—other than a few clients—who’d even notice that she was away from Los Angeles for an extended period of time. It sounded too pitiful, even to her, despite the fact that she was mostly perfectly content with her life. It was as if losing the most important relationship of her life had soured her on ever trying again.
“Too busy to get serious, I guess,” she said eventually. “You? Have you been dating?”
“I’ve been out a few times, but it’s too soon for me to be bringing anyone new into B.J.’s life. I have plenty on my plate without worrying about a relationship these days. And I’m trying to be respectful of the Farmers’ feelings. Jenny’s death crushed them. If I got serious about someone, they’d hate me for attempting to replace her. There’s enough ill will between us already.”
“You don’t get along with your in-laws?”
“We do okay, as long as I don’t rock the boat. Dating right now would be rocking the boat big-time.”
“Our reasons may be different, but it sounds as if we’re pretty much in the same place.”
He turned to meet her gaze, his expression vaguely startled. “That’s how you see it?”
“Sure. Don’t you?”
“Em, I don’t think we’ve been on the same page since we were teenagers sitting out here on nights just like this.”
“Oh,” she said softly, her eyes stinging once more as the unexpected barb hit its mark.
He frowned. “Are you about to cry?”
“No, of course not,” she said, swiping impatiently at a tear. “I just thought...we seemed to be getting along, maybe even making peace.”
“And that’s what you want? To make peace?”
“We were best friends once, Boone. Wouldn’t that be a good place to start over?”
“Sure. I guess,” he said with unmistakable reluctance.
“You don’t think it’s possible?”
“Possible? Anything’s possible. Men walked on the moon, didn’t they?”
“Are you putting the likelihood of us being friends again in the same category as a space walk?” she asked, not sure whether to be amused or insulted by the unlikely odds he seemed to be suggesting.
“Yeah, I think so,” he said.
Emily let his doubts wash over her. Oddly enough, they stirred an unexpected reaction. She doubted he’d intended it, but he’d just uttered an irresistible challenge. For whatever time she remained in Sand Castle Bay, she suddenly found herself with a new mission—getting back the friendship they’d once shared and that she, at least, had treasured.
At least until she’d stupidly thrown it away. However she viewed his marriage to Jenny, she was the one who’d set the wheels in motion by walking away.
7
Boone realized his mistake too late. The instant he saw the glint of competitiveness in Emily’s eyes, he realized that he’d just uttered a challenge she wouldn’t be able to resist. While all he’d hoped to do was warn her off, keep her from chipping away at his defenses, instead he’d ensured that she’d try harder than ever to recapture what they’d once had or at least to get his attention. Either way, he was probably doomed.
“Do not start getting ideas,” he warned her, his gaze narrowed.
“What sort of ideas?” she inquired innocently.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” he accused. “Games, challenges, the whole routine. We’re over, Em. We have been for a long time. It’s best to leave it that way.”
“Boone Dorsett, are you suggesting that I might try to work my feminine wiles on you just to prove a point?” she asked, laying on a sugary accent she’d otherwise trained out of her voice.
He barely resisted the desire to laugh at her exaggerated Southern persona. He didn’t want to encourage her, not when the game spelled danger. “Maybe not to prove a point,” he admitted. “But to get your way? Absolutely.”
She, however, did laugh, obviously not concerned with the seriousness of the stakes. Though he’d alluded to the uneasy relationship he had with Jenny’s parents, she couldn’t possibly understand the threat they constantly held over his head to fight for custody of B.J.
“You know me so well,” she teased. “I guess we’ll just have to see how this plays out. Have you had your inoculations?”
“Inoculations?”
She batted her eyes in a very un-Emily way. “Against feminine wiles?”
“Sweetheart, trust me, I’ve definitely built up an immunity,” he declared, wishing he were half as certain of that as he tried to sound. He regarded her with frustration. “Emily, why do you want to stir this particular pot, anyway? Wasn’t breaking my heart once enough for you?”
She blinked at that, looking vaguely nonplussed for the first time since they’d headed down this particular path. “I’m not going to break your heart again, Boone,” she promised with quiet sincerity.
“If you try to start something you don’t intend to be around to finish, what do you think will happen?” he asked, unconvinced.
She studied him, her expression suddenly thoughtful. “Okay, I hear you,” she said eventually.
“Seriously? We can go back to the original plan? No craziness while you’re here?”
“Seriously,” she insisted. “No craziness.”
Boone held her gaze, trying to determine if she’d taken his warning to heart or if she was just lulling him into a false sense of complacency. Unfortunately, despite what she thought, he couldn’t read her quite the way he once had. Or maybe he just didn’t trust his own instincts where she was concerned. After all, he’d once believed that their love was strong enough to survive anything.
Either way, he had a hunch this thing he’d inadvertently stirred up between them was far from over. And once again, if he dared to let his guard down, he’d wind up the loser, this time in ways more devastating than she could possibly imagine.
* * *
The day after her disquieting conversation with Boone, Emily walked inside Castle’s, her eyes taking a couple of minutes to adjust to the dim interior. The sight that greeted her when she finally got a good look across the room was every woman’s dream of a blue-collar god.
A white T-shirt stretched across a broad chest and was tucked into faded, form-fitting jeans. Sun-streaked brown hair, just a little too long, skimmed over a tanned forehead. Wide, work-roughened hands caressed the wood of the cashier’s counter the way a woman dreamed of a man’s hands on her body.
“Holy saints in heaven! Who is that?” she muttered to no one in particular, though she was well aware that Boone was within earshot. Though she’d intended him to hear every word, they were nonetheless heartfelt.
Boone appeared at her side, his expression amused. “That’s Wade Johnson. I told you I intended to get him in here today. He does the best custom cabinet work in the region.”
“I’ll bet that’s not the only thing he excels at doing,” she murmured, watching his hands stroke that wood.
Boone slanted a look at her. “I’m suddenly very leery of introducing you. You sound a little intense.”
“You probably should be jealous,” sh
e suggested. “That man could make a woman forget her own name, much less any other man in her life.”
“I’m so pleased you’re impressed,” he said wryly. “That is exactly why I had him come around.”
Just then Gabi came in, stood next to them for a moment as her eyes adjusted from the sun, then followed the direction of Emily’s rapt gaze.
“Do you see what I see?” Emily asked, not taking her gaze off of Wade.
Gabi looked at her blankly. “What?”
“The god that Boone has brought to our doorstep,” Emily replied.
Gabi glanced at Wade again, then shrugged. “I guess he’s good-looking in that HGTV, home repair guy way.”
Emily stared at her incredulously. “Are you blind?”
Just then Wade glanced up, his blue eyes glittering with amusement at his audience. “Hey, Boone, do I get paid extra for being a sideshow?”
“Only if you strip,” Boone replied.
“Oh, my God,” Emily whispered, stunned by the thought and deliberately exaggerating her reaction for effect.
Gabi stared at her impatiently. “Get a grip, Em.” Then she seemed to grasp that more might be going on here than she’d guessed. “Oh,” she said softly, then laughed. “You’re wasting your time.”
Emily regarded her with feigned confusion. “Meaning?”
“I know what you’re up to,” Gabi said.
Boone chuckled. “We all know what she’s up to. And I’m not jealous.”
Emily scowled at her sister, then gave Boone an indignant look. “As if I’d bother trying to make you jealous. Did I not promise you just yesterday that I would not play that sort of game?”
“A promise I took with a grain of salt,” Boone admitted.
“Does anybody here care about my suggestions for building the new cashier station?” Wade inquired, studying the three of them curiously.
“I care,” Gabi said. “And I may be the only female in the room who poses no danger to you.”
Wade gave her a very thorough, appreciative once-over, then commented, “Too bad.”
Gabi blinked in confusion at the flirtatious remark.
“Seems you caught his attention,” Emily said, chuckling at Gabi’s reaction. “Hard-to-get always works.”
“But I am hard to get,” Gabi said in an undertone, casting a worried frown in Wade’s direction. “I have a boyfriend.”
Emily just rolled her eyes. In her opinion, whoever this man was in Gabi’s life, he couldn’t be too important or he would have been here by now helping out. Instead, as far as she knew, he hadn’t even been checking in that regularly.
She observed as Gabi approached Wade with unexpected caution, as if his comment really had thrown her. “Interesting,” she murmured.
Beside her, Boone laughed. “Quite the little wrinkle in your plan, huh?”
“What plan?” she asked, maintaining her innocent posture, even though it had lost some of its credibility.
Rather than answering, he bent down and pressed an unexpected and way-too-brotherly kiss to her cheek. “That’s okay, sweetheart. I was maybe a tiny bit jealous for about two seconds.”
She frowned at his teasing. “I’m so relieved.”
She should have known better, of course. Boone had always been an uncomplicated, confident guy. He’d never liked games. As far as she knew he’d never once been unsure of himself when it came to her. He’d certainly never had any reason back then to be jealous.
What had made her think that feigning an interest in a friend of his would work now? Not that Wade hadn’t been interest-worthy. The man really was sexy as all get-out. She hoped Gabi noticed that. Emily thought he might be exactly what her sister needed to shake up her workaholic life. Wade obviously wasn’t what Emily needed to shake up Boone.
That was going to take an entirely different plan. She’d have to give it some more thought. Because Boone had been right about one thing—she didn’t have especially honorable intentions when it came to her promise to behave.
* * *
Cora Jane took a hurried step away from Jerry when Emily and Boone walked into the kitchen. A guilty blush crept into her cheeks. She had no idea why she felt that way over the fact that she and Jerry had grown closer or why she felt the need to keep her feelings from her granddaughters. Maybe she was just old-fashioned enough to believe that a late-in-life romance was a bit unseemly, that no one would understand.
Jerry glanced down at her, his amusement plain. “You don’t think they’ve figured out that something’s up with us?”
“Probably,” she admitted in an undertone, “but we don’t need to confirm it. I can live without the aggravation.”
He merely shook his head, his expression tolerant. “Your call.”
Cora Jane noted that Boone seemed oblivious, but Emily was studying the pair of them with suspicion.
“Did we interrupt something?” Emily asked.
“Not a thing,” Cora Jane said brightly. “Jerry just asked me to taste his crab soup to see if he’d made it too spicy.”
“And?” Jerry said, going along with her.
“Just right,” she said. She turned to Boone. “How’s Wade coming along in there?”
“He has some ideas for the new cabinetry,” Boone said. “He’s going over them now with Gabi.”
“Really?” Cora Jane said, oddly pleased.
In her opinion, a laid-back, grounded man like Wade would be perfect for Gabriella, but she doubted that her granddaughter would see that without a little nudge. She tended to gravitate toward uptight professionals exactly like her father, bless him. Sam might be Cora Jane’s son, but she was well-versed in his flaws. It was a wonder he’d managed to stay married as long as he had. In her opinion, the girls’ mother had been a saint to put up with his late nights and frequent absences.
“Grandmother, is that a matchmaking gleam I see in your eyes?” Emily inquired.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m not the one who brought Wade over here today, am I? Boone did that all on his own.”
“And I’m wondering now if it wasn’t a really bad idea,” Boone muttered. “There seem to be a lot of nefarious schemes afoot.”
Emily laughed. “Not a lot,” she corrected. “I think Grandmother and I might be on the same page about this one.”
“So, you see it, too?” Cora Jane asked, eager to have an ally.
Jerry sent a commiserating look over her head in Boone’s direction. “Think we should warn Wade?”
“Don’t you dare,” Cora Jane ordered. “He’s a grown man. He can take care of himself.”
“Gabi, then?” Boone suggested. “She might deserve a heads-up.”
“Or maybe you should both stay out of it,” Cora Jane said.
Boone held up his hands. “Okay, then. I’m out of here to safer territory.”
Jerry nodded. “Can’t say I blame you. I wish I could come along.”
“You can walk out any time you tire of being around,” Cora Jane said tersely.
Jerry lifted her off her feet and planted a kiss on her mouth. “I never tire of you. Don’t you know that by now?”
Cora Jane felt her cheeks flame. “Now you’ve gone and done it,” she muttered.
But he only laughed. “You were the only one who thought the girls weren’t onto us.”
“He’s right,” Emily confirmed. “And we may not know exactly what’s going on, but you have my approval. Gabi’s and Samantha’s, too.”
“Did I ask for approval?” Cora Jane inquired with a little huff of indignation.
Jerry gave her a chiding look. “Just say thank you, Cora Jane. You know perfectly well you wanted their blessing.”
“I might have wanted it, but I certainly didn’t need it,” she gr
umbled, then met Emily’s sparkling eyes. “Okay, fine. Thank you.”
Emily gave her a fierce hug, then kissed Jerry’s cheek. “I’m so happy you two have each other.”
Tears gathered in Cora Jane’s eyes. Despite her grumbling, that was exactly what she’d hoped to hear. Maybe these feelings she had for Jeremiah weren’t so crazy after all.
* * *
“That was a nice thing you did in there,” Boone said when he and Emily were outside alone on the deck.
“What?”
“Giving Cora Jane your blessing. I think she was scared to death you all wouldn’t approve.”
“She was right about one thing. It’s not really our place to approve or disapprove,” Emily said.
“But the approval matters to her. She was worried sick you’d think she was behaving like an old fool.”
“She talked to you about it?”
“She mentioned it,” he confirmed.
“So you knew there was something going on with her and Jerry?”
He nodded. “Anyone around the two of them for more than a split second could see it.”
Emily immediately got defensive. “Is that some sort of knock about Samantha, Gabi and me not being around enough?”
“Take it however you like,” he said. “Bottom line, I think Jerry has had a thing for Cora Jane for years, but there was no way he’d ever act on it while your grandfather was alive. He and Caleb were friends. He’d never have betrayed the friendship like that. He’s an honorable man.”
“I guess I never really thought about why there was never a woman in his life,” Emily admitted. “He always seemed like part of the family. You know, the bachelor uncle who keeps his private life private.”
Boone gave her an odd look. “You thought he was gay?”
Emily laughed. “Oh, please. Not even for a heartbeat. I’d seen him looking over the women customers a time or two. For all I knew, he could have been seeing a different woman every night. He just never made a big deal about it.”
“My hunch is he went out just often enough to keep your grandparents from guessing about his real feelings. Once when I was helping out in the kitchen, I overheard your grandmother trying to set him up with a friend of hers. He turned her down flat, said it would be too awkward if it didn’t work out. Obviously he couldn’t say that the woman didn’t stand a chance compared to Cora Jane.”
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