by Elaine Fox
“So,” Delaney pressed, an odd mix of bad feelings getting the better of her, “seems you and Jack are pretty…well, you’re pretty close friends, huh?”
“Close friends?” Kim asked. She looked surprised by the question, as if she hadn’t expected Delaney to notice she had a thing for Jack. “Sure, we’re close, I guess. We’ve been friends for a couple years now. But we’re not too close, you understand. I mean there’s nothing, you know, going on, though you might hear some people say there is. Why do you ask?”
Delaney shrugged, thinking the lady doth protest too much. “Curious, mostly. Of course you know he’s my landlord.”
Kim nodded, her brow furrowed.
“So I see people coming and going at the house a lot. And I’ve heard so much about him since I’ve been here. About his…exploits, I guess I should say. I’m not sure what to make of him.”
“Oh, well, I wouldn’t listen to the gossip about him, if I were you. You know how gossip is, it never tells the whole story.”
“But it often tells part of the story.”
How could Kim be involved with him, knowing what a womanizer he was? But then, maybe she didn’t know, not really. Not in the firsthand, one-night-stand way Delaney knew.
Kim leaned back in the booth and picked up her pickle, her eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “Sure, some of the basic facts are true, but the situations and how he felt about them are not what the gossip would have you believe.”
“Really? How do you know? I mean, how did he feel about them?”
Kim sipped her Coke. “Well, let’s just be clear here. We’re talking about the women, right?”
Delaney tipped her head. “Basically.”
“That’s all that’s really talked about. Most people like Jack, personally, they just have this disapproval thing going. Like they’re jealous or something. But most believe he’s a good guy, just a ladies’ man.”
Delaney frowned. “You say that like it doesn’t make any difference to you.”
Kim laughed. “Why should it? I don’t think it’s true, first of all. Well, not any truer than it is for any good-looking guy. Besides, I know what he’s really like.”
Ah, the mantra of the mistreated woman, Delaney thought. “Which is…?”
“He’s a gentle, sensitive guy. Very sincere. I think his reputation just evolved from him looking for the right woman. Everyone dates, you know, but not everyone lives in a town the size of a friggin’ supermarket. And not everyone’s considered one of the best-looking guys in the county. You watch, the second this town knows he’s found the right girl, they’ll have nothing to say about his behavior.”
Delaney nodded, watching Kim crunch into the pickle, apparently confident that the moment the town would know about this “right girl” was imminent. To Delaney, her defense of Jack sounded suspiciously like a woman justifying her own inconvenient emotions.
“Well, that’s good,” Delaney said, picking up a potato chip. She didn’t much feel like eating it but needed something to do with her hands.
They sat in silence a moment while Delaney debated telling Kim that Lisa Jacobson was at Jack’s house just last weekend. She didn’t want to be a tattletale, but she liked Kim. If she was involved with Jack, she should know that he wasn’t exactly the paragon of sensitivity she seemed to think. It wasn’t that Delaney was jealous or wanted to put doubt about Jack in Kim’s mind or anything like that. It really wasn’t.
I’d want to know, Delaney told herself, if I were Kim.
“Oh God,” Kim muttered through the end of her pickle.
Delaney glanced up to see Kim’s eyes on the door.
“What?” She turned in her seat for the umpteenth time and saw Jack coming toward them through the crowd. “Speak of the devil.”
Now that she saw him, his arrival made perfect sense. When he’d asked Kim where she was of course it was because he wanted to come to her. Why, she wasn’t sure. Unless it was because he was afraid Delaney would say something to Kim about their night on the beach together.
His grin was cocky—even playful—Delaney thought, as he made his way around the tables. He waved a hand to the diners club and pinched the cheek of one of the hassled waitresses, who, to Delaney’s disgust, blushed and giggled like a girl half her age.
Delaney wanted to roll her eyes. Instead she turned back in the booth to face Kim.
“What an idiot,” Kim murmured.
“Why do you say that?”
Kim did roll her eyes. “Long story.”
“Well, hello there,” Jack said, arriving at their table. “Fancy meeting you two here.”
“Yeah, fancy that,” Kim said dryly.
“Mind if I join you?” he asked, shifting his gaze to Delaney.
She hated herself for the butterflyesque twinge in her stomach. What a mess this whole thing was.
“Not at all,” Delaney said.
“We’re almost finished,” Kim said, “but you’re welcome to the table.”
Jack sent a lazy grin Kim’s way and sat on the bench next to Delaney.
He was so close she could smell the clean fragrance of his laundry detergent and it took her straight back to that night, that damned fateful night, when they’d danced at the Hornet’s Nest. She wished she could move farther away but she was nearly pressed up against the wall as it was. Despite herself, her heartbeat accelerated.
“So what are you girls talking about?”
“Business,” Kim said. “We were just discussing various modes of billing and whether or not we should outsource some of the payroll and accounts-receivable responsibilities.”
He laughed easily. “I’m in over my head, is that what you’re telling me?”
“You’re not the only one,” Delaney murmured.
He gave her a quizzical look, then shifted it to Kim.
Delaney looked at Kim, too, and found her watching the two of them with undisguised amusement. Which was odd.
“Oh, by the way, what are you doing tomorrow night?” Jack asked.
Delaney thought he was speaking to Kim until she realized they were both looking at her expectantly.
“Me?” she asked, with a classic finger to her own chest.
Jack smiled, sending her hormones spiraling. “Yeah, you.”
“I don’t know. Why?” She lowered her brows ominously.
“My aunt would like to meet you. And Emily. Said she’d love to have another baby around the house.”
“Aunt Linda’s going to take care of Emily?” Kim asked.
Delaney glanced at her, noting the excitement in her voice. “I don’t know…” she said.
“Oh, you should. That would be wonderful,” Kim added. “Aunt Linda’s the best. I wish she would take care of me!” She laughed.
Jack looked at Delaney again, those brown eyes warm on her face. “So what do you say? Tomorrow night? Sevenish?”
Delaney glanced from Jack to Kim and back again. If Aunt Linda was so great, she’d be fool to keep Emily in day care. And Emily was what mattered here.
“All right,” Delaney said uneasily. “But now, I really should get back to work.” She dug through her purse for her wallet. This time she wouldn’t forget to pay her bill.
“So soon?” Jack asked.
“Oh we’ve been here a while.” Delaney tossed a few bills on the table. “Kim, I appreciate your coming out with me, we should do it again sometime. I’ll see you back at the clinic.”
“Okay, I won’t be long.”
Delaney turned to face Jack, as he’d made no move to let her out of the booth, and he looked down at her. Awareness of their proximity swept over her again. The breadth of his chest and the length and strength of his arm next to hers seemed ridiculously masculine, like Mother Nature had wasted a good deal of attractiveness on a man who clearly didn’t need so much. They sat suspended for a second, an arc of electricity between them, before Jack laughed.
“Oh, sorry,” he said, pushing out of the booth.
Delaney s
lid out behind him, awkwardly brushing against his chest as she rose. Her nerves spun at the contact. They stood next to each other for a moment after Delaney collected her purse, and she felt small and flustered beside him. She wanted to find a way to say something to him, to tell him she saw right through him, that he should be more careful in playing with women, but nothing came to mind except the way his thigh had run hot alongside hers when they were sitting and the way his hand had looked lying on the table near hers.
“Well,” she said after an awkward silence, “see you guys later.” She smiled at Kim and glanced once more at Jack before beelining for the door.
“You fool!” Kim crowed to Jack as Delaney headed out the door. “But oh my God, did you see the way she looked at you?”
Jack dragged his gaze from Delaney’s stiff, slim back and moved it to Kim’s incredulous expression.
“How did she look at me?”
“Like she was a dog and you were wearing sirloin underwear.” She smiled with satisfaction. “I’ve always wanted to use that line.”
Jack chuckled and slid back into the booth. “So why am I a fool?”
“Because I was just getting to the good stuff,” Kim said, throwing up her hands in disgust. “She was involved in the conversation, she was asking questions, she was talking about you, you moron.”
His brows rose. “She was? What was she saying?”
“It wasn’t what she was saying so much as how she was saying it. She was relentlessly interested in you. And I swear to God, she acted like she was jealous of how close you and I are.”
“She was jealous of someone who calls me a moron?”
“Well, I didn’t tell her that. No, you owe me, big-time. I sang your praises.”
“I can just imagine.”
“I had to. Jeez, my imagination was working overtime.” She grinned. “But she ate it up. Asked about all the gossip she’s heard about you, about the women you’ve supposedly been involved with. It was great. She could hardly contain her curiosity. And when I told her what a great guy you were I could tell she was about to say something important, but then in you walked. Dummy.”
This was interesting. Delaney Poole, asking about him. Could Kim be exaggerating? Definitely. But she rarely got things completely wrong.
“And what did she say about her husband?” he asked.
Kim leaned forward. “That was the best part.” She gave a Cheshire smile. “I got the distinct impression that Old Jim is about as close to history as a man can get. And what a creep he seems to be.”
“Really?”
“He’s cheated on her,” Kim said, not without a certain amount of salacious satisfaction. “That’s why they’re not together. And I got the impression the only reason she’s thinking about staying with him is because of Emily, though she seemed pretty concerned about the kind of father Jim could be while being so unfaithful.”
Jack’s eyes narrowed. So the bastard was cheating on her. The guy didn’t deserve her and Emily if he couldn’t even appreciate what he had. Anger on her behalf leapt to his chest.
Then a little voice in the back of his head reminded him: She had cheated too. With him.
“Well, you never know. Maybe she cheated first.”
Kim gaped at him. “What are you talking about?”
He shrugged. “Nothing. You just never know the circumstances behind these things.”
She leaned back in the booth and folded her arms across her chest. “You guys. You always stick together, don’t you? I thought you liked this girl.”
“I do like her. I just don’t know her all that well, and for all we know they’ve both contributed to their bad marriage.”
“Well, according to Delaney, the marriage has been bad the whole five years.”
Jack’s attention shrank to laser intensity. “Five years?” Hadn’t Delaney told him two? Or had he just assumed that from something she’d said?
“But it was weird, she said something about him not really being dishonest about it.”
“They’ve probably got some kind of open marriage,” he said, the thought curdling his stomach. “That would explain her actions some.”
Kim leapt on the comment, and Jack could have kicked himself. “What do you mean?”
“Nothing.”
“No, come on, I’m telling you everything. What do you mean?” Her eyes widened. “Wait, don’t tell me. Have you guys…? Is that why you seem so sure you’ve got a shot, even though she’s married?”
Jack gave her a look. “No. In fact I don’t think I have a shot at all.”
“I don’t believe you. You—something’s happened between you two, hasn’t it? Oh my God! Wait a minute. Carol told me you met her last spring. She saw you guys at the bar together.” She gasped with delight and shock, then put a hand over her mouth.
He shook his head. “Kim, your imagination’s running away with you. Say, did I tell you about the job offer I got?”
“Don’t change the subject,” Kim warned with an accusing finger. Then her brow furrowed. “What job offer?”
“From Briarly College. Hugh, a buddy of mine from high school, is their head coach and when one of his assistants suddenly quit he thought of me.”
“Briarly College! That’s, like, eight hours from here. You can’t leave Harp Cove.”
Jack raised a brow and shrugged noncommittally. “I don’t know. It’s an attractive deal.”
Kim looked at him assessingly for a moment. “Then you should take it.”
He gave a half smile. “I should, huh? Why? You just said I couldn’t leave Harp Cove.”
“Because it’s a good opportunity.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.”
She hesitated. “It’s more money, right?”
He nodded.
“And a better job, certainly. More resources. Some travel, probably. What’s not good about it?”
He looked away. “I don’t know. I’m still thinking.”
“Wait a minute…” Kim looked from his face toward the door through which Delaney had just exited. “This is about her, isn’t it? My God, Jack, you’ve got it really bad. I had no idea.”
“Kim,” he warned.
But he couldn’t quite maintain the stern look to go with it, because something in what she said was ringing the bell of truth within him. Was that really why the job offer had seemed such a disruption? When his friend had called he hadn’t leapt at the chance. He’d told his friend he’d think about it, feeling unexpectedly reluctant to leave Harp Cove. Could it really have that much to do with Delaney?
The question seemed stupid, suddenly. Obvious.
He picked up Delaney’s coke and polished it off.
“Jack. ’Fess up. You know you can trust me,” Kim persisted.
He snorted and Kim slapped his arm.
“All right. I met her a year ago,” he said, “when she was here to check out the town or interview or something. Though I had no idea at the time that she might be back. I sure would’ve done a few things differently if I had known.”
“Like what? What happened between you?”
He looked at her avid face, her hands clasped before her on the table and her plate shoved to one side. He was tempted to talk about it with someone, that much was certain, but it seemed imprudent for that someone to be Kim.
He smiled. “Nothing I’m going to tell you about.”
She sat back and after a second, a smile curled her lips. “You know what? That, Jack Shepard, tells me everything I wanted to know.”
Chapter 10
Jack met Delaney at the carriage house the following evening to take her to his aunt’s. Delaney had just gotten home from running a bunch of errands, and neither she nor Emily were in a good mood after dealing with parking lots and shopping centers, not to mention Route 1, but Jack was. He practically filled the house with light and energy when Delaney opened the door to his knock.
“Ready to go? Where’s Emily?” he asked, looking around the front hall. In his h
ands was a small, fuzzy, pale blue elephant.
Delaney was wiping her hands on a dish towel and feeling trepidation about the whole endeavor. “We’re almost ready. We’ve had an exhausting afternoon. I’m not sure Emily’s going to be the most charming baby in the world. Maybe we should wait to introduce her to your aunt.”
Jack shook his head. “Naw. Aunt Linda’s seen it all. She can calm even the crankiest baby. Trust me.”
Delaney raised a skeptical eyebrow.
“Besides, I got her this.” He held up the elephant by one leg, and it rattled softly. “This ought to cheer her up.”
The look on his face was so optimistic and cheerful Delaney had to smile.
“Oh, well, if that’ll do it, thank God you’ve brought it. I’ve been needing it for months.”
“You mock me,” he said.
Emily gave a short, frustrated cry, and he looked up the stairs.
“You just watch, Mom.” He bounded up the stairs.
Delaney heard him enter Emily’s room saying something in a croony kind of voice. Emily either cried louder or continued crying and it just sounded louder because the door was open. Either way, the elephant’s magic seemed to be lost on her.
Leaning one hand on the downstairs railing, Delaney smiled. The croony voice continued. She could hear the faint rattle of the toy. Emily’s wails grew longer.
“You all right up there, Jack?” she called, biting back a laugh.
Emily was hungry, Delaney knew. That’s why she’d been in the kitchen, fixing a bottle. Still, it amused her to let Jack try to console her. Amused her in a deep, comfortable way. Someone else was up there undergoing the same frustration Delaney had all day, sparing her from more of it.
Emily wasn’t normally fussy, but the days she was Delaney thought she’d lose her mind. Dealing with an inconsolable baby was like being in a tunnel from which she couldn’t emerge. She’d reach her wit’s end and feel as if she were going to be living that day for the rest of her life. Emily was never going to calm down, the crying was never going to stop, and Delaney would simply expire from aggravation.