Well, that definitely could’ve gone worse.
Jet smiled and ruffled her hair. “Come on, kid. Let’s go grab something to eat.”
When Mila had first asked him, about twenty minutes before, if he wanted to go to lunch, just the two of them, he’d hesitated. Not because he didn’t want to spend time with his sister. That was pretty much one of his favorite things to do. But he wasn’t quite sure he was ready to be seen in public yet.
He was supposed to be in seclusion. If the tabloids got wind of where he was, then soon there’d probably be reporters sniffing around. Even a photographer or two, hoping to strike it big by taking and then selling their first paparazzi-level pic.
He’d been right on the verge of saying no, suggesting they play a game or watch a movie instead, when he remembered one critical thing: they were in Valentine Bay. That changed everything.
It wasn’t that he labored under the delusion that every single citizen of his small hometown would be loyal enough to him to keep his secret. He wasn’t that naïve. Far from it.
It was just that, in a town the size of Valentine Bay, word would’ve already spread that he was here. A neighbor would’ve seen him on the front porch the night he came back. Or maybe someone would’ve been driving by at the exact same second he’d walked into Abby’s shop. Possibly, someone had seen the rental tags on the car that was now parked outside his childhood home and put two and two together.
No matter how it had come out, he was sure of one thing – every single citizen of Valentine Bay probably knew he was back by now. That was just the way it was.
So, there was no point in turning down time with Mila.
They stepped through the front door of the diner and a wave of nostalgia passed over Jet, one that was so strong it nearly knocked him off of his feet.
Damn, the place looked exactly the same way it had when he was a teenager. Smelled the same, too—a mouthwatering combination of coffee, French fries, and meat on the griddle.
His stomach growled, and both he and Mila laughed.
“Laughter, that’s what I love to hear! It’s music to my ears,” came a cheerful voice, and Jet turned to see Grace Dobrevski bustling out from behind the counter to greet them. God, that was another thing that hadn’t changed. Grace and Serge, her husband and short order cook at the diner, had been fixtures here since before he could remember.
His eyes welled up a little as she enfolded him in a bear hug.
He wasn’t a rock star to her. Or a legendary screw-up. Or a meal ticket. Or a photo op. Or…well, anything that he represented to all of the people he dealt with on a daily basis. He was just Jet Valentine, the kid who liked his burger medium rare and extra salt on his fries, and who she’d had to chastise more than once for idly doodling on the tabletop with his pencil.
And that felt damn good.
“Hi, Grace. God, it’s good to see you again,” Jet said.
Grace put a hand on her substantial hip. “Now, honey, I didn’t know you were in town. How long are you here for?”
Jet laughed. “Thanks for the courtesy of pretending, but you can drop the act.”
Grace blushed. “Well, okay. I guess I’d heard something about you maybe being back. But I didn’t know for sure.”
“Well, as far as how long I’m here, that remains to be seen.”
She patted his arm, the grandmotherly concern choking him up slightly again. “Well, I for one certainly hope it’s a good long time. Now let’s get you two kids settled in a booth so I can feed you. I’m pretty sure I heard a stomach growling just before I came over.”
Mila clapped her hands together in front of her chest. “You did! Jet’s stomach totally growled! That’s hilarious!”
Dang. Between Abby and his sister, it seemed like all the Valentine Bay women in his life were intent on teasing him.
He smiled and ruffled her hair. “Glad I could amuse you, kid.”
They sat down at the table and opened their menus. Mila’s stream of consciousness monologue about the goings on of Valentine Bay Middle School’s population started up again and he was grateful for the distraction.
Jet had barely begun scanning up and down each side of the oversized plastic bi-fold to see if anything had changed, and feeling relief and satisfaction when he saw that nothing really had, when the front door of Main Street Eats opened again and a new pair of people walked through them.
Jet slumped down slightly in the booth and pulled his baseball cap down a little further. He didn’t want to be obvious, but he did want to shield his face as much as possible.
He heard shock in Grace’s voice as she greeted them. “Oh my word, honey…are you who I think you are?”
Well, that was strange. Grace knew everyone in this town. He tuned his internal radar to focus a little bit less on Mila’s loosely-connected story and a little bit more on the conversation unfolding by the front door.
Who could it be, if Grace wasn’t sure who they were, but still recognized them? He supposed it could be a local celebrity. A Portland news anchor or something. Valentine Bay, with its luxury resorts and quaint downtown shopping area, was a popular day trip and weekend getaway destination. But, somehow, that wasn’t what Jet thought Grace’s voice had sounded like.
Of course, he could just turn around and satisfy his curiosity – but that would’ve meant showing his face.
He had no idea why the little drama had captured his attention so completely. Maybe his brain was desperately grabbing at a distraction from all of the stress he was under, wondering what the hell was going to become of his life. Maybe. But a little tingle at the back of his brain told him it was more important than that.
A low, husky voice responded to Grace’s question. “I most likely am. It’s sure nice to meet you.”
“Oh my word. It’s nice to meet you, too.” Grace sounded star-struck, which was something Jet had never heard before. It took every ounce of self-control he possessed to keep from turning around in his seat and solving the mystery, recognition be damned.
But he thought that might not be necessary. The voice had triggered a spark of recognition in his mind, and it was slowly growing into a full-fledged flame.
“I wonder if you can help me? I’m looking for the Valentine residence, and I’m a little turned around.”
Grace laughed. “You mean the other Valentine residence! Because I’d imagine your own house qualifies, and you could probably find that easy enough!”
Yep. His suspicions were confirmed. The voice belonged to Ginny Valentine, the crown princess of country music. Also, the bane of Jet’s existence any time he had to do an interview. It seemed that there wasn’t a music journalist in existence who could resist asking if the two of them were related. He got tired of thinking of new ways to say that the last name was just a coincidence, and he’d never even met the woman.
So, what the hell is she doing here?
“Exactly,” Ginny chuckled.
“Well, darlin’, I can do you one better. I’ve got two of the Valentine siblings sitting right over there.”
Mila looked up from her menu as Grace approached the booth, and then she promptly screamed, “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my GOD! You’re Ginny Valentine. I can’t believe it. Oh my God. I love you so freaking much. Oh my God! We have the same last name!”
Jet turned around to look at the country singer, who he’d never seen in person before. She was smiling at Mila. He liked that. It would’ve been easy for her to be aloof or condescending in the face of his sister’s over the top enthusiasm, but everything about her radiated warmth.
“I know, honey. That’s why I’m here. You’re Mila, right?”
The color drained from his sister’s face, and Jet was glad she was sitting in a padded booth because he thought she might pass out.
“You know my name?” Her whisper was barely audible.
“I sure do,” Ginny replied. “I’ve been waiting to meet you.”
Mila’s jaw dropped, and Jet
figured he’d better join the conversation before the shock completely overwhelmed her.
He slid out of the booth and stood to face the two newcomers. He extended his hand to shake each of theirs in turn. “Hi, there. I’m Jet.”
“Hi, Jet. I’m Ginny, and this here is Dax.”
Jet indicated the booth bench he’d just vacated. “Please, join us.”
“I don’t want to interrupt a family lunch.”
“No! Seriously! You have to! I mean, it would be the awesomest. Like, ever!” Mila piped in.
Jet laughed and slid into the booth seat next to his sister. “I hear no objections. Please join us.”
“Well, all right, then. Thank you.”
“How do you know my name?” Mila asked, before the two had even gotten completely settled in their seats.
Ginny laughed. “Well, you jumped straight to it. Okay. To make a long story short, I found out about your family when I was doing genealogy research. I wanted to find out more about where I came from, and this is where I landed.”
Jet’s eyes widened. “Wait a second. Are you saying that every time I’ve denied the two of us were related, I was lying to the interviewer?”
She shrugged, a twinkle in her eye. “Guess you should’ve prefaced it with, ‘to the best of my knowledge.’”
“Oh my gosh. I can’t believe we’re really related!”
Ginny turned to Mila. “Well, it’s distantly, sweetie. Our great-great grandfathers were brothers. I wish it was closer. You seem like a real doll. But, yes, we’re related.”
Mila’s eyes shot open wide and she clasped her hands together. “Oh my gosh. You have to come over for dinner. You have to meet my other brothers!” She turned to Jet. “And we can invite Ella and Gen, too.”
“Their girlfriends,” Jet explained to Ginny, then turned to Mila. “But, slow down, kid. You don’t even know how long they’re in town.”
“We do have to get on the road tomorrow, unfortunately,” Ginny said. “But if it can happen tonight, we’ll be there.” She and Dax intertwined their fingers on the tabletop.
“Oh, it can happen tonight,” Mila stated, conviction providing a steel structure for her words. “Believe me, I will make it happen tonight.”
Ginny laughed. “I like this girl,” she said, a wide grin splitting her face.
“Oh, man,” Mila said, “I just realized – Grandmother Valentine is out of town. I know she would’ve loved to meet you. She’s really into finding out more about our family, too.”
“Well,” Ginny said. “Funny you should mention that. She and I have actually been exchanging messages on Ancestry.com. She was the one who suggested that Dax and I swing through town when we had a chance.”
Jet shook his head. “I don’t know why it surprises me that she’s been talking to you, or that she never mentioned it. Neither one of those things should come as a shock at all.”
Ginny grinned. “She’s a real pistol, that one.”
Jet laughed. “You don’t know the half of it.”
Mila jumped in. “So, it’s set, though? The dinner? Tonight?”
Jet nodded. “It’s set, kid.”
Ginny said, “I can’t wait to meet everybody. It’s going to be a real treat.” She opened her menu and perused the choices. “Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, I’m starving. Let’s eat!”
Chapter 8
Abby
Abby stood outside the front door of the Valentine residence with Gen and Ella after ringing the doorbell, her palms sweating and stomach full of butterflies.
Of course, she was nervous about attending a dinner party with her favorite country singer, Ginny Valentine. She’d loved her music for years. The last name was what had originally attracted her attention, like a novelty. But when she’d listened to the songs, she’d fallen in love and followed Ginny’s career ever since.
So to socialize with her was a dream come true. Obviously.
But, to be honest, that wasn’t the true source of her jitters. No. those came from the fact that this would be the first time she’d seen Jet since the night.
Would it be stilted and awkward? Would he be sweet to her, as he’d been in the back room of the shop, or would he be cold and ignore her?
But most of all, she just wanted to know if he’d look at her with that glint in his eye, the one that made her feel like the most adorable, sexy woman in the world. She wasn’t quite sure how she’d handle it if he acted like she was just some random girl from his hometown. Like she was nothing special.
The door opened, and Mila greeted them with a wide grin.
Well, here we go. Whatever it’s going to be like, we’re about to find out.
“Oh my gosh, you guys are here! Come in!”
Abby had to smile. One of her favorite things about Mila was how every single one of the sentences she spoke seemed to have an exclamation point after it. Young teenagers like the thirteen-year-old Mila were often very enthusiastic about things, but this was something Mila had been doing since she was a little kid.
The three women stepped inside the house, each in turn giving the teen a quick hug.
“Where is everybody?” Ella asked.
“Troy and Donovan and Gavin are in the kitchen. Jet’s still upstairs. Dax and Ginny aren’t here yet.”
“Well, that’s my cue,” Gen said. “If my man’s in the kitchen.”
“Right behind you,” Ella added.
The two of them crossed the living room, Mila in their wake, but Abby paused a moment to look up the staircase. God, just knowing Jet was up there filled her with tingly anticipation. It was like her skin could sense he was here in the house with her, like an internal radar system that was tuned only to sense him.
As if summoned by her thoughts, Jet rounded the corner of the landing at the top of the staircase, locking eyes with her as he descended.
Oh, lordy lord lord. Every second that she’d spent worrying that his gaze would be flat and detached when he looked at her, that it wouldn’t make her feel special and desired, was a waste of damn time. Heat pulsed through her when their eyes met, and the temperature only built with every step he took down the stairs.
When he finally reached the bottom, he leaned in close and whispered in her ear. The sensation of hot air blowing across the skin of her neck as he did, rustling her hair slightly, was so heady and overwhelming that she didn’t even process what he’d said at first. When she did, it carried her off on another wave of lightheadedness so that she wouldn’t have been completely surprised if she just up and floated away.
“What do you say we ditch this dinner and get out of here? You look so freaking sexy, I don’t know if I can keep my hands off of you long enough to eat, let alone make small talk.”
She closed her eyes and let the words roll over her like the fog that came in most mornings in their Oregon coastal home, summer and winter. It felt just like that, in fact, thick and impenetrable. The only difference was that the fog was cold and damp, often leaving little beads of near-freezing water on your skin. The sensation that washed over her as Jet whispered in her ear was the opposite – hot and steamy as a Savannah summer afternoon.
Then a realization snapped her into the present. She took a step back and swatted him playfully on the chest. “No way, buster. You think I’m gonna miss the chance to meet my favorite country singer? Not gonna happen.”
He shrugged, his lip twitching. “Hey. Can’t blame a guy for trying.”
She ran her finger down his chest. “I don’t. And just because I don’t want to miss the dinner doesn’t mean I’m not open to some suggestions about where the rest of the night might take us.”
He chuckled, the sound low and sexy in her ear. “Well, then I’ll have to think of some good ones.”
She was just about to fire off a sassy, sexy comeback but was cut off by the doorbell. Her head snapped in the direction of the front door. “Oh my God, it’s Ginny,” she breathed.
Jet narrowed his eyes at her as he
crossed to the door. “You realize you sounded exactly like Mila when you said that.”
The rest of the crew came flooding in from the kitchen as Jet opened the door. Abby sucked in a deep breath. There, looking like she’d stepped right off of an album cover, was Ginny Valentine – and standing next to her, looking like a renaissance statue, was a very handsome man, one that Abby recognized from some online articles she’d read about their romance. It was Ginny’s bodyguard-turned-love, Dax.
Ginny’s eyes widened at the room full of people, but she recovered quickly. Abby was impressed; the woman was a real pro.
Mila rushed to the front of the group. “Hi! Come on in! So, this is Troy, and this is Gavin and his girlfriend Gen. This is Donovan and his fiancée Ella. And this is Jet—you met him—and this is Abby.”
An unexpected little stab pierced Abby’s heart. There was nothing wrong with Mila’s introduction. It was totally accurate. But on the heels of “girlfriend” and “fiancée,” hearing her own name with nothing attached served as a reminder to keep her head on her shoulders. She and Jet were nothing official to each other, and it was probably wise to keep her heart from racing ahead of itself.
Ginny greeted each person in turn with a quick, friendly hug, and Dax gave everyone a nod.
When it was Abby’s turn, she surprised herself by becoming completely flustered and babbling through the entire exchange. “Oh my God, it’s so great to meet you. I’ve followed your career for years. I love all of your songs. This is so incredible. I can’t believe it’s really happening, honestly. This feels like a dream. Oh, God, someone please shut me up! I can’t believe it, I can’t stop talking! I’m so sorry, I think I’m just nervous because I’ve never met anyone famous before.”
All of this was said in one giant rush of breath, no breaks, and she found herself completely lightheaded afterward.
“Hey, what am I?” Jet teased. “Chopped liver?”
Abby glanced over at him, surprised. It was hard to think of him as famous. “Oh, God, Jet. You don’t count!”
Rocking Her Heart Page 4