Doubling over at the waist, Jessica raised a hand in an attempt to stop Kate from saying anything more. “Okay, stop, I’m going to piss my pants.”
Laughing with Jessica was a much needed break from the crashing emotional rollercoaster she had been on over the course of the last week. She had to admit, going through the situation at the airport had been overwhelming, what with the irritation and tension, but it couldn’t compete with what happened at the hotel the next day.
“There’s more,” Kate said, holding a finger up to warn Jessica. “The creep showed up at the hotel!”
Jessica’s jaw dropped and a sense of seriousness crossed her. “Are you serious?”
“Yes, I had to call security.”
Recalling that whole situation was unnerving. The thought of what could have happened if she had opened the door...
“What did he want?” Jessica asked, her brow raised in concern.
Kate shrugged as she turned and motioned for Jessica to follow her to the kitchen. She had a bottle of unopened wine she had bought after being let go from the school, but had decided against drinking a whole bottle by herself—which would have likely happened if she’d pulled the cork.
“He begged me to meet up with him to talk,” Kate explained, pouring two glasses for them to talk over. “He was pretty upset when I declined his offers. He must have thought showing up at my room would change my mind.”
Sticking a finger in her mouth, followed by a gagging sound, Kate scrunched her nose and shook her head. “Some men never take a hint.”
“You can say that again. My husband never took a hint either,” Jessica said, cracking a smile at her own joke.
“But you enjoy yours, ha. My ex-husband was far from the dream guy,” Kate said, chuckling before taking a drink.
“Are you saying Cory’s a dream guy?” Jessica asked. “Because, girl, he is far from that.”
Laughing with her, Kate held her wine out for a quick cheer against Jessica’s glass. Of course there was no such thing as a perfect man, but... “Speaking of a dreamy kind of guy... Jordan came to my rescue.”
Jessica nearly shot her last drink out of her mouth. “You’re joking, right?”
“No, I’m not. Matter of fact, he came to my room shortly after the creep was escorted away by security.”
“That’s a story for your kids someday,” Jessica said, attempting to take another drink, she swallowed quickly to prevent spraying it out when Kate’s facial expression changed.
“Kids?” Kate questioned. The thought of her and Jordan having kids had crossed her mind once or twice over the last month or two.
“Yeah, you know, first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes...”
Kate couldn’t resist the urge to laugh. Jessica’s chanting was loud and boisterous. “Whoa, take it easy. We’re still getting to know one another.”
“As in... between the sheets or...”
Smacking Jessica’s arm had been a sudden reaction and she hadn’t meant to slap her as hard as she had. Laughing hysterically, Jessica said, “Tell me... how was it?”
Embarrassment flushed Kate’s cheeks. Of all the things they could be talking about, she didn’t want to discuss her nonexistent sex life with her best friend. “I wouldn’t know.”
Jessica sat back in the chair across from her and folded her arms—her face expressed her unwillingness to believe Kate. Uncrossing her arms, she leaned forward and grabbed her glass from the stand between them. “You mean to tell me you haven’t taken it for a test drive yet?”
Kate pinched her lips shut in an attempt to keep the drink she had yet to swallow from spraying out of her mouth and all over her living room. After a hard swallow, she shook her head and asked, “Did you just say a test drive? Like test drive a car?”
She couldn’t believe the things that came out of Jessica’s mouth. The fact that Jessica was older and had more experience than Kate sure showed up at the most unforeseen times. Not that Kate wouldn’t talk about her sex life—if it had actually happened and was something worth bragging about, which she was banking her money that it would be. Jordan was everything a woman could ever want—physically and mentally. She was positive that he’d be bringing his A game to the bedroom too.
“Yes, like test driving a car!” Jessica said, holding her hands above her head in exaggerated disbelief. “Come on girl, do I have to explain everything to you?”
Laughing, she darted over to the counter where they had left the bottle of wine. The counter divided the living room and kitchen nicely, leaving a wide-open atmosphere for the times Kate had a crowd of people to entertain. The counter was loved by company as well, and had been one of the things she loved the most about the house when she decided on purchasing it.
Jessica grabbed the bottle from Kate’s hand and filled her glass while she gave Kate a disapproving look. “You’re telling me that you haven’t had sex with him yet?”
Taking the bottle back, Kate poured a full glass for herself as she ignored Jessica’s questioning stare. Tempted to take the bottle back to the kitchen so she didn’t have to feel the heat of Jessica’s fierce stare of curiosity, Kate turned, but Jessica caught her arm before she had a chance to escape the conversation.
“Kate, what’s the hold up?”
Laughing along with her, she couldn’t help but wonder the same. Taking things slowly had been agreed on, but lately there was so much more that had been postponing an advancement in her relationship status with Jordan.
* * *
Leaving Kate’s house, he decided to check in at Hughes Plants. Paul hadn’t called him so he thought it was safe to expect things had gone good while he was in Arizona. He wished he could say the same about his time there.
He was more than thankful he’d had the opportunity to go to Arizona to be with Kate when he did; otherwise she would have had to deal with her ex by herself, along with the death of her mother. He was more than happy to help out and be there for her.
Her ex was definitely a creep, and the thought that had constantly bugged Jordan was the simple fact that her ex knew she was now living in Iowa. Jordan needed to keep a close eye on her, without bombarding her space and making it seem like he didn’t trust her. The last thing he wanted was for her to get the impression he was insecure or didn’t trust her based on her ex-husband, because that was far from the case.
“Hey, you’re back,” Paul’s voice bellowed, as Jordan walked through the front door. “How’s everything going? How’s Kate holding up?”
“She’s doing better than I had expected her to,” Jordan said. He hadn’t expected her to take the death of her mother as well as she was, regardless of being a strong woman—physically and emotionally. “She’s taking her mother’s death better than I thought she would.”
“Well, that’s good to hear,” Paul said. “Everyone handles death differently. I’m glad she’s pulling through.”
“Yeah, me too,” Jordan said, debating on telling Paul about the run in of her ex. It wasn’t really his business to share, but the fact that he had witnessed it... “Met her ex-husband.”
If Paul didn’t have extra chins, his jaw may have dropped farther than it did. Rubbing the stubble along the multiple chin lines, he shook his head. “Not sure if I want to hear about it or not, but you’ve got me curious. What was her ex there for?”
If Jordan had the answer to that, he wouldn’t have been so unsure of how to answer that question. There were many reasons why an ex would show up, but the way the events had transpired prior to him arriving at the hotel, he hadn’t been too concerned whether or not Kate was interested in her ex. She had wanted her ex out of sight and out of mind no sooner than the guy had shown up at her door. Whatever history she had with the guy was none of his business, but her future was. He would do whatever it would take to keep that creep out of Le Claire and away from her.
Without much of an answer, Jordan shrugged his shoulders and continued on his way towards the back room where inventory wa
s waiting to be counted. “I’m not really sure what he had in mind, but I’m going to make sure he doesn’t come around anymore.”
He was happy not to hear heavy footsteps follow him as he entered the back room. He had plenty of work waiting for him, and the last thing he wanted to do was overthink what had happened while they had been in Arizona.
Instead, he counted, and re-counted the same row several times in the last five minutes of preparing his count for order week. Blaming a lack of sleep as the main cause of his inability to focus, he moved on to the next item on his to-do list. Removing his count sheet from the clipboard revealed the couple’s photo contest announcement he had received in his mailbox a while back.
It was still a couple of months away, but if he was lucky, he could have everything set up and ready to go within a month. If he was really lucky, his plan would work out just the way he had thought of it over and over again during the last week.
With no time to waste, he grabbed the phone from his desk and called an old friend with connections in the photography department.
Kate needed to keep her mind off things, and the only way she could manage to do that was if she hung around Thistle Do all day. It seemed pointless, but the never ending conversations with Jessica were always worth it. Their friendship had blossomed over the course of the last week and for that, Kate was thankful. She didn’t have a lot of people in this town to have deep, meaningful conversations with—mainly due to her not so perfect life.
The main reason for moving to Le Claire was for a fresh start. A chance to build a life from the ground up. Sure, she had run from her past in Arizona, but no one here in Iowa needed to know that. And as far as she knew, no one would know too much about her past as long as she didn’t talk to too many people. All that mattered now was her future and what she had planned for it.
“So, since you two are a couple now...” Jessica blurted out, as she wrapped several flowers in cellophane in order to prepare for this week’s sales. She envied Jessica’s abilities to keep the plants and flowers alive for longer than two days. Jessica had told her over and over again, like a broken record, that it hadn’t been Kate’s fault for the flowers opting out over the week of Valentine’s Day. And as much as Jessica wanted to forget about it and move on, Kate couldn’t. That week had proved to be so much more than what she had expected.
“We’re not really a couple,” Kate said, setting her friend straight on the facts. She wasn’t even clear on what she and Jordan were, but she wasn’t comfortable with calling them a couple, even though he had called himself her...
Dodging a roll of colored tape, Kate stepped aside and ducked behind the counter. Peeking over the counter long enough to realize that Jessica wasn’t through throwing things at her. “You’re a couple whether you want to admit to it or not. I already asked Jordan and he said...”
Standing up, without caring what could possibly hit her, Kate held up a hand to either stop her friend from saying another word or protect herself from being hit by something that could possibly leave a mark.
“Wait... You what?” She couldn’t believe that Jessica would actually take the time to talk to Jordan. She knew that Jessica tolerated him, but to go so far as to have a conversation with him? Especially a conversation that included Kate? Whoa, that’s where it got weird and was unexpected. “You did not.”
Jessica’s laughter echoed throughout the shop and told Kate that her friend was full of crap. “What if I did?”
“You didn’t,” Kate said, damned near tripping over her own two feet on the way around the counter. She was amazed she arrived safely at her friend’s side without getting hurt in the process. “There’s no way that you would have taken the time to talk to him. You can barely tolerate him because of this whole competition thing that you speak of,” Kate said, flinging her hands around dramatically as she spoke. Pointing a finger at Jessica, she said, “Which in fact doesn’t exist, because Jordan is far from the type to compete.”
Jessica tossed her head back like a mad woman. “Ha!”
Kate crossed her arms in front of her. “What’s so funny?”
“That you don’t know him like I do,” Jessica said, collecting the pile of trash from the floor and carrying it to the nearby trash can. “You’re in love with him so you only see what you want to see. I, on the other hand...”
“I’m not in love,” Kate called after her, matching step for step behind her on the way out to the dumpster. The last thing she needed was for everyone to believe she had fallen in love with a man she barely knew. She did that once before, and never again.
“I say you are,” Jessica said, tipping the trash can over the edge of the dumpster to empty its contents—mostly Styrofoam, plastic, and packing peanuts. “And the way you’re defending the fact that you’re not... says that you are.”
Kate couldn’t believe this. There was no way she could argue the fact that Jordan had swept her off her feet. It had been insta-attraction with an instant connection, but she hadn’t technically fallen in love with him... yet. She would deny that all the way until she was blue in the face. She did not love Jordan Hughes.
“The silence tells me that I’m right,” Jessica taunted, as they walked back into the flower shop. Kate crinkled her nose and mocked Jessica behind her back as she bobbed her head around like a crazed lunatic. If this is what talking to a guy and getting along with him leads to around here, she would have to figure out a way to get out of it. “There’s nothing wrong with falling in love, Kate.”
“Says the woman who damned near lost her mind when I mentioned his name.”
“That’s because it involved my business,” Jessica blurted, and quickly followed up with, “And my best friend.”
“You didn’t even know him. He hasn’t been here that much longer than I have,” Kate said, eyebrows furrowed and she could hear the snip in her voice as she defended Jordan’s character. He was a decent man and she hated the fact that Jessica hadn’t taken the time to know him before passing her own judgement against him, for the sake of business. “He’s nothing like how you perceived him to be.”
Jessica’s eyes widened and her mouth curved as she held in a fit of laughter. Kate didn’t see what was so funny about any of this. “And if it wasn’t for him, your business wouldn’t have gotten the sales that it did while you were gone.”
Kate stopped talking once Jessica raised her hands in front of her. “Take it easy, Kate,” she said, smirking as she chuckled. “I’ve already told you how I felt about that whole situation. I’m thankful that Jordan helped out. I have already admitted...”
“That you were wrong and that you should have never passed judgement on him, because he has turned out to be all right.”
Kate wasn’t as upset as she had been. Jessica was still her best friend and nothing had changed that, but she wasn’t about to let Jessica off the hook that easily, especially when it was she who had told her to take things slowly. How much slower things were supposed to go, Kate couldn’t quite figure out. It already seemed like they have known each other forever, regardless of how long it had really been since she ran into him.
Jessica’s laughter caught Kate off guard. Raising an eyebrow with a look of what-the-heck-is-going-on, Kate waited for Jessica to explain.
“Sorry, it’s just that you’re so defensive when it comes to Jordan,” Jessica explained, taking a short breath between the fits of laughter—which Kate had yet to find the reason for. “It’s cute when people are first in love and they’re so innocent with everything. It’s just cute how you’re acting, Kate. I can’t help but laugh at how you’re acting.”
Kate couldn’t believe that her friend actually believed she was in love. Maybe she was falling, but she hadn’t completely fallen, yet. Regardless of what her friend thought—or the whole town for that matter—she wasn’t rushing into anything.
* * *
Lining up a photographer was easy when you had the right connections. Preparing what he had planned was
only easy if you had the right help. His friend had agreed to help in any way he needed it.
He kept that in mind as he strolled by the local jeweler’s showcase window on his morning outing. He hadn’t put a lot of thought into what he would do if she said no—and he refused to think about it for as long as he could help it. The thought of rejection had crossed his mind only a few times since the beginning thought of going through with his plan.
He hadn’t talked to her all week, because she had been busy with Jessica at Thistle Do. He wanted to give her the space she needed. The time to heal from her loss—at her own pace. He didn’t want to crowd her. She would talk to him when she was ready to. For now, he had a list of things he needed to get done—including counting inventory, which he would have much better luck with today, since his thoughts seemed to be clearer than they had been in the last week.
“Hey, glad to see you back,” Nancy called out from the counter as he entered the café for his morning coffee. “How was Arizona?”
It never surprised him how fast word traveled in a small town. Not that he cared if they all knew about him and Kate, but it was still Kate’s business, so he had made up a little white lie to cover bases if he was asked why he had gone to Arizona.
“It was warm,” he said with a silenced chuckle, as he handed over a few dollars. “Heck of a lot hotter there than here.”
“What made you go there?” Nancy asked, tapping the keys on the register in order to exchange his money for change. “You couldn’t pay me enough to take a trip that way. Hot as hell, and with these hot flashes, this old woman would be sure to melt into a puddled mess.”
Shaking his head at her reference of old age, he took the change and tossed it into the tip jar next to the register. Nancy reached across the counter and patted his cheek. “You’ve always been such a polite gentleman. I hope she doesn’t leave you like she left Arizona.”
Kate's Forever (Thistle Do Flowers Book 1) Page 8