His heart seesawed back up when he exited the locker room and found Grandpa and Kate waiting for him.
“I took the liberty of asking Kate to eat with us,” his grandfather said.
“Great. I’m starved.” He’d have to do something special as a thanks to Grandpa.
“How about that steak place we went to in Rhinebeck the last time,” Grandpa said.
“The Coach House,” Jon said. He made a quick comparison between the Briarwood and the historic Coach House tavern. “Good choice. But, Kate, you’ll have to take Amtrak rather than the Metro home.”
“I offered to put her up at the farm,” Grandpa said.
Score another point for Grandpa.
“I’m okay with taking Amtrak from the Rhinebeck Station,” she said
His grandfather shook his head. “I don’t like it. A woman alone at Penn Station after dark.” He looked toward Jon as if inviting his support.
As much as he wanted to lend support to Grandpa’s invitation Kate, something in the way she’d set her jaw when his grandfather had said “a woman” stopped him.
“We’re over there, the other side of the green pickup,” he said. The trio walked to Jon’s vehicle.
Three hours later, they walked out of the Coach House toward the car again. Jon had forgotten how busy the restaurant was on Saturday night. But Kate hadn’t appeared bothered about their wait for a table, and the food, service, and dinner company had been stellar. At least as far as Jon was concerned.
Kate’s phone pinged as she settled into the front seat with him. Grandpa had insisted he’d be more comfortable in the back seat. A good man to have on his side, if he could figure out what his side was.
She dug in her bag for her phone. “I have to check it.” She apologized. “I have it on do not disturb, so this has to be an important exception to ring through.”
“Work?” He failed to stop the twist his lips took. He’d been doing his best to keep today strictly personal—two friends enjoying themselves—and didn’t want any reminders of their work relationship changing that.
“No, my travel app.”
She wrinkled her nose accenting the freckles sprinkled across it and resurrecting his age-old desire to kiss her that simmered beneath his controlled surface.
“Something wrong?” he asked.
“You could say that. A freight train derailed just north of Poughkeepsie. Neither Amtrak nor the Metro will be running for hours.”
The corners of Jon’s mouth twitched. He would not grin, although a grin would be better than his other inclination: to shout woohoo. Kate would have to take his grandfather up on his invitation to stay at the farm.
“My app recommends the Rhinebeck Village Inn as a hotel that has rooms available tonight.” At a price that was enough to make a dent in Kate’s carefully budgeted spending money for the month. “Do you know it? Is it a decent place?”
“I won’t hear of it,” Jon’s grandfather said from the back seat. “If Jon and I hadn’t talked you into having dinner with us, you would have been on your way home before the derailment. You’ll stay with us.”
Jon’s face ran such a gamut of expressions at his grandfather’s proclamation, that she was tempted to pull out her phone and record him. “Is your grandfather always so, uh …” She didn’t want to be disrespectful. “So direct?”
“Yes, he’s always this bossy,” Jon said with a laugh.
“Harrumph.” Jon’s grandfather cleared his throat in the back seat.
“It’s one of the things I love about Grandpa. You always know where you stand with him.”
Unlike his grandson. Kate folded and unfolded her hands in her lap. Or maybe she wasn’t being fair. Jon had made it clear in words more than once that he didn’t want a permanent position—the fund manager position she wanted—and hadn’t said anything to indicate he was attracted to her. She assigned those positive assumptions to the equation herself.
“Stop at the chain drugstore in Red Hook and go in and get Kate whatever she needs to get through until tomorrow,” Jon’s grandfather said.
Kate looked over her shoulder at Pete. “I would like to pick up a few things, but I’ll pay for them.” She’d be more comfortable if Jon didn’t come in the store with her. Silly as it might be, the idea of Jon buying her a toothbrush and other personal grooming items struck her as too intimate.
“You wouldn’t have to buy them if we didn’t talk you into having dinner with us,” Pete replied.
Jon just shook his head.
“He can afford it,” Pete said.
As if she couldn’t? What part of her being Jon’s boss hadn’t his grandfather caught?
“You’re saving your money to buy your apartment,” Pete added.
Jon had told his grandfather that? The smaller but still lingering doubts she still had about swinging the apartment deal rose to the surface, along with her brother’s old taunt only a girl to which Kate’s doubts added versus Jon being a man and, by default, better able to pay. She wouldn’t be buying anything she wouldn’t eventually have to buy anyway. Kate bit her tongue hard. She didn’t want to be disrespectful.
Jon pulled into the drug store parking lot. She’d settle this with Jon, privately, on their walk into the store. He got out and walked around to her door, which she opened quickly before he could. She stepped out and noted, to Jon’s favor, that he let her close the door. Well, didn’t let her, just didn’t reach over and shut it for her. She shook her head. Maybe she was taking her I am woman, hear me roar too far.
“I know,” Jon said, misconstruing her head shake. “There’s no arguing with him. If he checks the debit card—our joint account—I’ll tell him it’s against company policy for me to buy my boss gifts other than the allowable holiday gift exchanges? It is, isn’t it?”
Jon’s lopsided grin shot right through her, intensifying the already warm feelings his respect for her as an equal had ignited.
“I’ll wait for you here.” Jon stepped over to the book rack on the other side of the checkout and away from any view his grandfather would have from the car.
“Thanks. And, yes, bribing your boss with personal hygiene gifts has to be against company policy.” Kate did nothing to restrain the bounce in her step, nor did she try to figure out why she was getting such a kick out of her and Jon’s little conspiracy against his well-meaning grandfather.
Kate giggled when she approached the checkout with her things and Jon moved so that he would be blocking any view his grandfather might have of her paying the cashier. He opened the door for her and followed her out of the store, walking her to the car and opening the passenger side door for her with a muted, “I can’t have grandpa lecturing me on my manners as a gentleman.”
“Certainly not,” Kate agreed.
“Did you get everything you needed?” Pete asked.
“Yes, I did.” And then some, she added to herself, remembering how Jon’s intuitive treatment had warmed her. She swallowed hard. Jon’s thoughtfulness as an adult wasn’t any different than his thoughtfulness in high school. Back then, she and her group had seen it as weak and nerdy. She pretended to be looking at the scenery out of the car window to hide the heat that flamed her cheeks.
“Our place is on the next road.” Pete broke the silence in the car.
“I’m looking forward to seeing it. When Jon told me about the farm on our trip to Genesee, he invited me to come up some weekend and see it.”
“He did, did he?”
Kate heard the speculation in Pete’s voice and resituated herself in her seat. First, Ava thinking they were a couple. Now, Jon’s grandfather thinking … whatever he was thinking. They were coworkers. Jon was no more than that. Maybe a friend. Yeah, a friend. A friend she’d kept thinking about kissing ever since the night they’d had pizza at her apartment.
Jon pulled up a tree-lined driveway to a house that reminded her of her parents’ house.
“My wife and I planted those trees as a wind and snow barrier th
e summer we bought the farm,” Pete said as he climbed out of the car. “Only lost one, the winter my daughter was born.”
From what Jon had told her about his family, Kate wasn’t going to touch the latter part of the older man’s statement.
Jon stepped in to break the awkward silence. “You guys go ahead into the house. I’m going to take care of the evening chores before it’s fully dark. Let Barney out to help me.”
“Good with me,” his grandfather said. “I’m bushed and won’t be much company. Take Kate with you, too. Show her the place, what we do.”
Jon rolled his eyes at his grandfather’s back. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to. I’m just going to check the pasture the herd is in and the water source, make sure they haven’t gummed up the flow to the trough.” He patted the head of the shepherd that had joined them, tail wagging. “It’s not like you haven’t seen cows before.”
She laughed. “That’s an understatement.” But she hadn’t seen his cows. “It’s a nice night and after that dinner I could use a walk around. Besides, I think your grandfather may have had enough socializing for the day.”
“Probably. We have a new calf. If we don’t spot her tonight, we can walk out tomorrow morning and check on her. That is, if you want to.”
Kate would have had to be totally disconnected from Jon—which she wasn’t given how he’d affected her earlier—to miss the excitement in his voice when he’d mentioned the calf.
“Sounds like a plan.” She smiled. “I always liked the babies. It was just when they got bigger, I could do without them and the work we all had to pitch in on. Although evening chores that consist of just checking the pasture and water are a lot better than all that has to be done afternoon and evening with a contained dairy herd.”
“Why do you think I talked Grandpa into selling off the Holsteins?”
“So you wouldn’t have to do dairy chores.”
“Smart woman.”
“Smart man.” On impulse Kate lifted her hand and Jon high-fived her. From the way he’d jerked his hand away, she wasn’t the only one who’d felt a jolt of electricity at their touch. He shifted his weight from foot to foot. There was definitely something going on between them. It was the 21st century. If Jon wasn’t going to take the initiative to find our what, she was.
While he was still immobilized from the current of their pressed palms, Kate stepped forward, rose on her toes, and pressed her lips to his. If she’d thought their high-five had packed a jolt, it was nothing compared to the bone-melting charge that the touch of their lips was sending through her.
Before she could ground herself, Jon pulled her tight to him and continued what she’d started, tentatively at first, then deepening it to the point where her world was shrunk to him and her.
Sooner than she wanted, Jon gently ended the kiss and disentangled them. “I … uh … the chores.”
Kate’s heart soared. This was her endearing, nerdy Jon. She stepped back from the intense emotion that thought evoked in her. She knew who Jon was, but who was she? His friend? His boss? The consummate professional? The small-town girl she’d escaped from being?
“I … yes, the chores. You go ahead. I forgot I bought creamer. The flavored kind I like in my coffee,” she stammered. “At the drugstore. On the hood of the car. In the bag. It needs to be refrigerated.”
She fled before she sounded any more insane, holding one thought in her mind and heart.
So, that’s what kissing Jon was like.
Jon had spent too much of his high school days wondering what it would be like to kiss Kate. None of that speculation had come close to reality. A reality that was imprinted on his brain as clearly this morning as it had been when he’d come in last night from chores to find both Kate and his grandfather retired to their rooms. The combination of relief and disappointment that had struck him had been staggering.
But what had he expected? Kate to meet him at the door ready to pick up where they’d left off in the pasture? Her awkward escape from him should have told him firmly no. Although she had initiated the kiss, he hadn’t had to let his hormones override his reason. She was his boss, even if only temporarily, and his friend. He didn’t know in what order. Not that it mattered. He didn’t want to mess up either relationship.
He put on the coffee and whistled softly to Barney to come outside with him and move the herd to today’s pasture. Once he had the cattle moved, Jon surveyed today’s pasture. If they didn’t get a good soaking rain soon, he’d have to supplement their grass grazing with hay. He double checked the latch on the gate. Maybe he should haul out a bale this morning. What was he thinking? The herd didn’t need hay today. He just wanted to delay facing Kate.
“You’re just in time for pancakes,” his grandfather said when Jon stepped into the kitchen. “I’m not much for cooking, but I do make a mean pancake.”
Jon let go of the screen door. It closed behind him with a click. Grandpa wasn’t talking to him. Kate had entered the kitchen from the dining room at the same time.
“It all smells so good, but I need coffee first.”
“You can thank Jon for that.”
Their gazes locked over the kitchen table that separated them, Kate breaking the connection to take the coffee mug his grandfather was offering.
Jon walked over to the refrigerator, opening the door and holding it open while he studied Kate from the back as she filled the mug. Something was different about her. Something that had nothing to do with their kiss. She turned around and he ducked his head into the appliance. He was an idiot. A besotted idiot? The same besotted idiot he’d been in high school? All that was different was that her hair was down, rather than pulled back and up or in a fancy braid.
He righted himself and closed the refrigerator. “Here’s that creamer you were concerned about last night.”
Kate’s eyes widened and his grandfather frowned at him.
Jon had his answer. He was the same besotted idiot he’d been as a teenager. And, at the moment, he didn’t feel any better equipped to deal with it than he had then.
“Thanks,” she said.
“I’ll put it on the table,” and shut up, Jon said. Anyone seeing him now would never believe he’d dated an up-and-coming super model for a while. A woman who didn’t hold a candle to Kate. He waited until Kate had sat at the table before walking around it to fill another mug with his coffee. Before he turned around with his coffee, he decided he was safest sitting next to her at the four-seat table, rather than across where he’d be directly facing her.
His grandfather placed a plate with a stack of pancakes and sausage links on the table in front of the two of them. Jon took a long gulp of coffee to allow her to get her breakfast first. He watched her over the rim. After her initial reaction to his coffee creamer comment, she appeared to be perfectly comfortable sitting next to him, digging into her breakfast.
He forked a couple of pancakes and sausages onto his plate and smothered them in butter and maple syrup. She’d been upset after the kiss last night, couldn’t get away from him fast enough. Had she thought it over and was good with it this morning? His pulse raced at that scenario. He had no idea, and the only way to put himself out of his misery was to ask Kate.
Jon opened his mouth as his grandfather left the stove and sat in the chair on the other side of Kate. But, of course, he shouldn’t ask in front of his grandfather.
Kate rested her fork on the edge of her plate. “Your grandfather said you were out moving the cows. Did you spot that new calf you told me about? I’d still like to see her, him.”
“Right.” The pancakes he’d eaten sat heavy in his stomach. I’m not going to make a big deal about this. “We can go after we finish breakfast, before I drive you to the train station.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he searched her face for any indication of disappointment, that she might want to stay longer.
“Sounds good. I’d like to make the 10:30 train this morning. The track is cleared. I
checked.”
He swallowed the pancake he’d stopped chewing while he’d waited for her response. “Sure.” Jon let his grandfather take over talking while he finished his breakfast.
Kate pushed away from the table. “That was delicious.” She patted her stomach. “I really need that walk out to see the calf now. But first, let me do the dishes.”
Jon glanced at the kitchen clock. Her doing the dishes would give them less time alone. “I’ll give you a hand.”
His grandfather waved them off. “No go ahead. I’ll clean up.”
“If you’re sure …”
Had Kate reconsidered? Was she looking for a way out of being alone with him?
“Go,” his grandfather said.
“Come on,” Jon was at the door pushing it open. He followed her down the steps. “The calf and her momma were at the near side of the pasture when I saw them earlier.”
Kate looked over her shoulder at the house as if checking to see if Grandpa was watching them. “I do want to see her, but first about the elephant in the room—the kiss.”
His heart sank. He hadn’t been fast enough, and now Kate was in control of the conversation.
“I don’t know what got into me.”
He’d been rooting for a mutual attraction.
“I take full responsibility. I’m your boss. It won’t happen—”
“Don’t,” he interrupted. “Don’t deny that there’s something going on between us.”
Kate nudged a stone in the grass with the toe of her Teva. “I won’t … can’t. That doesn’t change that I’m your boss, at least for the time being. Nor does it change my priorities. I’m not about to give DeBakker any reason to pass me over again for fund manager. Nor the fact that now is the wrong time for me to even think about beginning a relationship with someone, with you.”
No Time for Apologies (The No Brides Club Book 5) Page 10