Then Comes Love

by Candice Poarch

  “I love it already. Your place looks like a home. I worried that you lived in some stark hovel, but this is so nice, Jasmine.”

  “There are some brochures in the bedside table. Things you might want to see and do while you’re here.”

  Amanda waved a hand. “We’re going to be here at least a week. Plenty of time for that.”

  Oh, God, no. How would she make it through an entire week? One day at a time. “I don’t want you to cook on your first day, so I’ve already arranged to have a late lunch delivered.” She heard someone coming up the stairs. It sounded like Norman’s lumbering steps.

  “Now, why did you go and do that? I could whip up something.”

  “You’ve got plenty of time to cook. I have to go.”

  Amanda gathered Jasmine in her arms again. “It’s so good to see you, honey.” Her mother’s eyes were glassy again.

  Jasmine hugged her awkwardly. “You, too, Mama.”

  And then Jasmine ran downstairs, passing Norman on the steps. Outside, Drake was talking to Steven. He looked up when the door slammed and Jasmine headed for her truck. He left Steven’s side and Steven pulled luggage from the trunk of the rental car.

  “What time will you be in tonight?” Drake asked.

  “In time to take my family to dinner with the Averys. You’re still coming, aren’t you?”

  “I’ll be there.”

  “Good, good.” She glanced at her watch. “I’m running behind.”

  “Not too late, I hope. I want to see you.”

  “We’ll see.”

  “Okay.” He pulled her close and kissed her, then he opened her door for her.

  “I don’t get to do this often. You always beat me to it.”

  Jasmine shook her head and climbed inside. The last thing on her mind was a silly door she opened a thousand times a day. Drake closed her door and she watched him march to his truck and start the motor. He pulled out behind her. Once they reached the major road, she went one direction and he the other, but not before he tooted his horn. She waved and pulled off.

  Would they ever be on the same wavelength? He’d already made it clear their relationship wasn’t going to be a lasting one. But she felt comforted by his presence today. At least he was with her now. But Steven was here, too, and his actions confused her. After the tricks he’d played in the past, she didn’t know what to think.

  Her cell phone rang and after looking at the number on the display, she answered.

  “How are you?” Drake asked.

  “I’m fine.”

  “Are you sure? If you need me to, I can take a few minutes to be with you.”

  Even if she wasn’t okay there wasn’t a thing she could do about it. “I have to get to my next appointment.”

  “Jasmine, sometimes you have to take care of you.” His voice was firm. “You can be a little late. You can’t always time these things anyway.”

  “Ponce already thinks I’m getting special privileges.” He was mumbling something the other day. She’d immediately put him in his place because she wasn’t going to let anyone interfere with her work. “I have to be careful about doing anything to give him or anyone else a reason to complain or accuse me of getting special privileges.”

  “Forget about him. You have to deal with your emotional state.”

  Nobody had ever cared how she felt. She felt a catch in her throat. “Just knowing you’re in my corner buoys me,” she said softly. “Thanks for caring.”

  “Glad to be of service. I’m here if you need me. You know that, don’t you?”

  “Yes, I do. Thank you.”

  “Can’t wait to get you in my arms again. The other night was fantastic.”

  Heat flowed through Jasmine and spiraled in every direction. She sighed, wishing she could be in his arms now.

  “What was that?”

  She sighed again. “I’ll see you tonight.”

  She could tell herself a million times it wasn’t good to depend on another person. That didn’t keep her from falling for Drake—the most unlikely person she could have ever considered falling for.

  Drake grabbed a sandwich on the run and drove back to the office. Floyd was finishing up with a patient when he went in. Drake tossed his wrapper in the trash and guzzled the last of the water in the bottle.

  “Thanks for covering for me, Floyd.”

  “Anytime,” Floyd said. “I’ll be on my way. Have a few shots to give this afternoon. Also, we have a movie star who moved here recently. I looked in on her horse the other day. She has a couple of toy dogs. I gave her your card just in case she needed a local vet.”

  “Thanks, Floyd.”

  He named the actor who used to appear on soaps.

  “She’s still quite the looker.” He wiggled his bushy eyebrows. “And she’s single.”

  “Even better.”

  Floyd looked around to make sure they were alone. “So tell me, have you talked to Jasmine about your medical issues yet?”

  Drake shook his head.

  “Don’t you think you should?”

  “It’s complicated.”

  “It always is until you talk about it. Then you wonder why you took so long.”

  “The timing isn’t right,” he said. “Her family’s visiting right now.”

  “Excuses. I know one thing. You’re not going to get anything solved keeping it to yourself. You have to share. And if the two of you put your heads together, you just might come up with a solution. Now, take a stallion for instance.”

  “You’re not going to start with one of your horse analogies, are you?”

  “If it works, it works.”

  “You know, I could have gone all day without hearing that.”

  Floyd patted him on the back and left. Floyd was right about one thing. If he expected things to go further with Jasmine—and he wanted it to—he had to tell her soon.

  Dread sank deep into his gut. He did not want to ruffle the smooth waters of their relationship. One little ripple could send it spiraling in all directions. What he feared was that it would go in any direction except the one he wanted it to go in.

  And now Jasmine’s family was here. This was the worst possible time to talk to her when she was already so stressed out.

  “Where are we having dinner?” Amanda asked as she climbed into the car.

  Jasmine was beginning to regret accepting the offer. “At Mr. Avery’s.”

  “Avery?” Amanda asked. “He wouldn’t happen to be Mackenzie Avery’s father by any chance, would he?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why did you contact him when I explicitly asked you not to? I think it’s insensitive of you to impose him on us. You know how I feel.”

  “It would have been rude to refuse his invitation. He wants to meet you.”

  Just the two of them were in her truck. The others were riding with Drake.

  Amanda sat tight-lipped as they rode up the impressive lane. It was still light outside, and the flowers and oak trees showered the thriving estate.

  “Well, I see he’s wealthy enough, but money can’t buy love, Jasmine.”

  “I know that, Mama. I don’t want his money. That’s not why I wanted to meet him, and you know it.”

  “When I went into that procedure all those years ago, I went with the knowledge that Mackenzie was giving up all rights to you and that’s the way I wanted it.”

  “Mackenzie is dead,” Jasmine said, tiredly. “He isn’t fighting for any rights.”

  They stopped in front of the house. Jasmine was glad to escape the confines of the truck. Drake parked his next to her. He raised an eyebrow at her pinched lips, then glanced at her mother, whose lips were equally tightened.

  He shook his head as everyone piled out of his car in a jovial mood.

  Mr. Avery met them at the door. Noelle and her family were already present.

  “Good evening,” Mr. Avery said. “Welcome.”

  A round of introductions were made, but everything went downhill from
there. It was apparent her mother did not appreciate the Averys’ interference in Jasmine’s life. It was as if she felt Jasmine would abandon her for the Averys.

  As affable as her grandfather had been, Jasmine’s mother was tight-lipped and barely cordial, creating a pall over dinner. The succulent dinner Leila had knocked herself out preparing could have been sawdust for all the enjoyment they attained.

  Jasmine could not have been happier when dinner ended and they were ready to leave.

  “Mrs. Pearson,” her grandfather said, “I hope you visit us again before you return to California. You’re always welcome at River Oaks.”

  Amanda nodded her head. “Thank you for dinner. It was delicious.” And they all departed.

  Back at the house, still tight-lipped, Amanda got ready for bed. Norman quickly got under the covers, out of the line of fire.

  Jasmine stayed downstairs with Drake, making sure everyone had towels and whatever else they needed. The strain had given her a splitting headache.

  Her stepbrothers and sister escaped to the family room to watch TV, while Drake and Jasmine sat in the kitchen.

  “I’m going upstairs to make sure Mom and Norman are settled in okay.” Reluctantly, Jasmine climbed the stairs to her mother’s room. Amanda had changed into her nightgown and was rolling up her hair with quick angry movements. Norman was pretending he was asleep.

  “Do you need anything, Mom?”

  “Not a thing,” she retorted.

  Jasmine sighed. “Okay.” She went to her room. Her mother followed her and closed the door behind her. Here we go again, Jasmine thought.

  “It’s as if you don’t think I provided a good life for you.”

  “It has nothing to do with you.”

  “You don’t know this man. You don’t spend time with your own family, yet you go out of your way to be with him. You didn’t even want us to come. And you want to toss us into some hotel more than an hour’s drive away.”

  “Mama, you know how your stepchildren and I feel about each other. We can’t be in the same room without wanting to stab each other. I don’t understand why you brought them, why you didn’t just come with Norman. You probably had to pay for their tickets in addition to threatening them.”

  “From the time your father and I divorced and I remarried, you haven’t made any effort to become a part of the family and that’s all I want.”

  “My stepsiblings and I aren’t family. I don’t know why we have to rehash my childhood every time we talk. Some people just don’t mix. It’s just the way life is.”

  “Yet you and this Noelle act as if you’re long-lost sisters.”

  “We are. Like it or not, we share the same genetics.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

  They were at an impasse. Jasmine knew her mother was hurt. But she didn’t know what she could do to fix it. She wasn’t going back to California. Not in a million years.

  “I have to go see if everyone else is comfortable,” Jasmine said, walking through the door to make her way downstairs.

  Drake glanced at her. She was unaware he was still there.

  They’d moved the coffee table aside in the living room and pulled out the bed. Jasmine got pillows from the closet.

  When she went back upstairs, she noticed her stepsister hogging her bed and talking on her cell phone to someone.

  Jasmine went back downstairs and outside with Drake.

  “How are you holding up?” he asked.

  “This is already the longest night of my life.”

  “Come on, let’s go for a drive. Get you to relax.”

  “I have company. I can’t just leave.”

  “They’re family. Besides, Steven has my cellphone number for emergencies.”

  Gratefully, Jasmine climbed into his truck. “I have to work tomorrow.”

  “It’s still early.”

  Jasmine glanced at the digital-clock display. “Then why does it feel like I’ve been up for forty-eight hours?”

  Drake inserted a CD into the player, turned the volume down low and gathered her hand in his.

  Jasmine leaned her head against the headrest and closed her eyes, letting the flow of the music lull the tension out of her.

  “Is that better?”

  “Lots.” Jasmine hadn’t realized how quickly tension could dissipate. With her eyes closed, she’d almost nodded off when the car slowed and turned. The texture of the road changed and Jasmine opened her eyes. They were at Drake’s place.

  It was two-thirty in the morning when Jasmine returned home. The house was quiet. “If I’m lucky everyone will be in bed asleep, but with their bodies set to California time, I know they’re still up,” she said to Drake.

  He walked her to the door, kissed her and gave her a comforting hug. Jasmine put the key in the lock, gathered her breath and opened the door. Most of the lights were out. Except the glare coming from under the door to the kitchen. Slowly she walked in that direction and opened the door.

  Her mom was sitting at the table sipping on a cup of tea. Jasmine closed the door behind her. Then she made her way to the other end of the table, pulled out a chair and sat. All the stress that had drained off came roaring back like a tornado.

  “You didn’t have to leave your own home,” her mother said.

  “I just went for a drive.”

  “Until two?”

  Jasmine let that ride. She was twenty-six. She supported herself. She wasn’t going through that.

  “I don’t understand it, Jasmine. How could you accept that man who’s never done a thing for you and you can’t accept your own family?”

  “I never got along with them, and you know it. You can’t force a relationship between us. It didn’t happen in all the years I lived in California. It isn’t going to happen now. I wish you and Norman had come alone.”

  Her mother shook her head. She looked so desolate that Jasmine wished she could get along with her stepsiblings. But having them under her roof set her blood pressure soaring.

  “Maybe I shouldn’t have married Norman.”

  “Mom, none of this matters now. We’re all grown. We’ve made our own places.”

  Her mother sipped her tea. “You haven’t really been home since you finished high school. Every summer you went off on some project or another. Every summer—all summer. And then you took the little money you made to spend a week with a friend one place or another. As much as I asked you wouldn’t come for more than a week.” She rubbed her forehead with her hand. “I know I worked long hours when you were young. I had to to make a living. But I’d hoped that one day, maybe we could do things together. I’d save during the year so we could go on shopping sprees or visit museums, tour, something, anything together. To just…” Tears ran down her mother’s face.

  Jasmine felt tears slipping down her own cheeks. But she didn’t go to her mother. She didn’t know how to breach the chasm between them.

  Jasmine plucked up a napkin from the holder Noelle had brought and wiped the tears from her face.

  “There’s a nice shopping center at Tysons. It seems like it has a thousand stores. I’ll take you there after I get off work the day after tomorrow. Just you and me,” Jasmine said. “And there are quaint little shops in Middleburg. You’ll love going through them. We’ll find time to do both.”

  There was such longing in her mother’s eyes, Jasmine was forced to look away. In the silence they both sipped on their tea.

  “Well, you better get to bed,” her mother finally said. “You have work in the morning.”

  Chapter 11

  When the alarm went off at six, Jasmine reached to turn it off and nearly fell on the floor. She was on the very edge of the mattress. Her feet fell to the ground and she pushed the off button. She glanced at the bed. Barbara was hugging the edge of the mattress on the other side.

  So much for her mother’s plans of them getting along.

  Jasmine started to the bathroom and stopped. She smelled bacon
and coffee. “Bacon?” she whispered. When she opened the door, she saw a faint light from downstairs. Only her mother would get up this time of morning to cook. She was on vacation, for heaven’s sake.

  Shaking her head, Jasmine headed to the bathroom and dressed in record time.

  Her mother was washing a frying pan in the kitchen.

  “Mama, why didn’t you sleep in? I don’t expect you to cook breakfast.”

  “Goodness, child. I’m used to getting up early. Besides, I doubt you cook before going to work. Thought it would be a nice treat for a change.”

  “It is, thanks. But I want you to get some rest, so sleep in for the rest of your stay.”

  “Just take your plate and sit before you’re late for work.” Her mother handed her a plate and a cup of coffee. Then she prepared a plate for herself and sat across from Jasmine. Their conversation from the evening before lingered in the air, but neither of them mentioned it. They talked about everything but.

  “I prepared a plate for Drake,” her mother said when Jasmine was ready to leave. “I’m sure he’ll appreciate a nice breakfast, too.”

  “He would. Thanks Mama.” Awkwardly, she hugged her mother and left.

  In the office, her brain was still asleep. The coffee had pumped a little energy into her, but even caffeine didn’t take the place of an extra three hours of sleep.

  She poured herself her second cup. “I hope it’s strong,” she said to Drake.

  “It’s lethal. I take it things didn’t go well when you returned home?”

  “My mother was in the kitchen nursing a cup of tea when I got back. We had this little heart-to-heart. She wants to do things with me. Like shop,” she said. “I’m not a shopper, but I promised her I’d take her to Tysons after work.”

  “She just wants to be with you, honey.”

  “Hmm, by the way, she sent along your breakfast.” Jasmine handed him the plate she’d set on the countertop.

  Drake groaned. “Remind me to kiss her,” he said, taking the plate and removing the covering to glance at the contents.

  “She likes you.”

  “I have that effect on mothers. So what are you going to do with everyone else while you and your mother shop?”