Chapter 22
Laine
“What’s the deal with you two?” Allison asks after Jack and Phillip have disappeared down the path to the lake.
“We used to date.”
“Seems like he’d like to date you again.” She looks at me over her coffee cup.
I shake my head. I don’t know her well enough to get into all this. She’s supposed to be having fun this weekend. I’m looking for a way to change the subject when she speaks again.
“You know, when I first started dating Henry, he loved that I wore a bathing suit for a living. But then after he said he loved me, he freaked out. He was so worried about me that he broke it off. I allowed myself to be mad for a while. Then I showed up at his house and told him I’d take him over my career any day.”
“Why didn’t I know this?” Paisley asks.
Allison shrugs. “We were playing things pretty quiet. We didn’t want the tabloids to get involved.”
“Laine hasn’t decided what she wants.” Trish proceeds to tell everyone the story, right up to our current confused state.
Allison pats me on the arm. “You can do whatever you want. I’d rather have you at my wedding than him.”
I chuckle. “I think Henry and his parents might disagree. Their dads’ friendship goes back to being in their twenties.”
“Julia has talked about you,” Allison says. “I think you have more people on your side than you think.”
“I don’t want anyone to have to be on any side,” I tell her. “But thank you.”
Once everyone is done eating, Allison and Trish go off in search of their partners, and Paisley scoots down beside me. “How are you doing?” she asks.
I shrug. “Can I ask you something?”
She nods.
“I’m feeling a lot of loyalty from Allison that I haven’t really earned. Is that just who she is?”
Paisley thinks a moment. “It is, and she trusts Julia. Mind you, Julia would never say a bad word about anyone, but she does talk about you often. Your pieces in the Vancouver Sun made her so proud. And Allison has a few friends from where she grew up, but she’s worked as an actor for so long that she doesn’t have many current friends. She knows this is a tight group, so she probably feels like she knows you better than she does.”
I nod. That makes sense. I guess I’m just paranoid about everything at this point.
We sit for a little longer, and then Jack reappears on the deck. “May I sit down?” he asks.
I smile. Seems like he’s making an effort not to come on too strong. “Sure.” I take a sip of my orange juice. “Have you checked on Abdo?”
Jack nods. “I called last night and again this morning. He’s healing just fine. The Biors stayed later than usual last night, and the paperwork has come through that will allow them to become his foster parents, hopefully, on the way to full adoption.”
“That’s fantastic, and I’m glad his recovery is going well. He’s not a complainer at all, so I worry it would be hard to tell how he’s doing. I’m glad the Biors are there.”
“Absolutely. Me too,” Jack says. “Anyway…are you okay being my partner for the jet ski races?”
I suppose there’s no need to be antisocial. I can do that and manage the brackets. “Sure. But I’m not driving.”
“There’s one heat I think you might have to, but we can figure it out.”
“And Phillip has wet suits? I dipped my toe in the water last night, and I swear it would take an ice cube a week to melt.”
“I think you’re right. Henry put a thermometer in, and it’s barely above freezing.”
I shiver.
“Wet suits are required.”
Paisley stands. “Well, good luck, you two. I hope Davis isn’t planning to participate.”
“You’d better check with him,” Jack says. “He was throwing some serious shade at Griffin today.”
Paisley rolls her eyes. “I’m not a very good swimmer, so I don’t like the water.”
“We’ll all wear life vests, and we’ll be ready to jump in if we need to save you,” he assures her.
She narrows her eyes. “Hmmmm… I’m going to find out what Davis has planned.”
She slips inside, and Jack turns to me. “I’m really glad you’re here. I know you’ve been wanting some space from me, and I feel like that’s because I upset you. When I said what I said about, uh, loving you, I didn’t mean to imply that I’m taking anything for granted. I just want to be sure you know you have me in your corner, no matter what. I made a mistake with the way I behaved after your article came out last year. I see that now, and I want to keep working to make it right. That’s not going to happen again.”
I study him a moment, wondering who’s been coaching him behind the scenes. Did he really come up with this on his own? His eyes are almost pleading, and I guess it doesn’t matter. I should believe him. It does feel good to have him as part of my life.
“Thank you for saying that,” I tell him. “It’s hard for me to trust you, but I do want to try.”
“Thank you.” He nods, and then after a moment, he claps his hands together. “Are you ready to win this thing?”
Right back to the jet skis, huh? But I have to smile. “Let’s do it.”
The afternoon is full of jet ski races, and everyone’s competitive streaks are out in full glory. At the end of the day, Allison has the best time on the individual runs. She’s probably the lightest of all of us—not to mention her TV career as a lifeguard—so that makes sense. Steve and Eliza won the partners event, but Jack and I came in a close second.
“I’m fine losing to Steve,” Jack announces with a shrug once we’re all back to lounging around on the deck. “In fact, I lose to him every week we play golf, so I’m conditioned to lose to him. All I care about is beating Davis and Griffin.” He looks over at them and lifts his hand to me for a high five. “And that mission was accomplished.”
I five him, and then Merry calls us in for dinner.
Everyone shuffles in to eat, which is a raucous affair, and we’ve just finished our incredible meal—whole salmon cooked over an open fire—when Prudence Maher from Ruby Blues Winery drives up in a 1968 VW van. She has a selection of wines made from grapes that were sourced from their own vineyards and from those of friends and neighbors along Naramata Bench, which is very close to Phillip’s house.
“As we like to say, make wine, not war!” Prudence declares. She explains each of the wines and the methods used to create them, and it’s like a fascinating science lesson. Even better, she brought ten cases of wine for everyone to purchase, and at the end she leaves with several orders to ship wine back to people in Vancouver. This was a great start to the evening.
Now that everyone’s had a few drinks, the evening’s pool tournament gets underway. It meanders on all evening through various brackets, and in the end, Jack was unopposed in snooker, so he won that and also the name your pocket competition.
I won nothing, but I did keep all the brackets in order, so I call that a success.
As I organize the last of my files, I look up and see Jack clowning around out on deck with some of his friends. There are so many good things about him, and it was fun spending time with him today. During the jet ski races, he took care of me and made sure I was tucked tightly into my wetsuit and life vest. It almost felt like the way things used to be. I miss that, and I’m finding I miss him. But I’m not sure that’s the smartest way to feel. I have a bit of an angel and a devil on each shoulder, but for once they’re singing the same tune: “Give Jack a Chance.”
I join the others on the deck and have one more glass of wine. As the party finally breaks up and people are going to their rooms, Jack takes my hand. Suddenly, we’re alone on the deck. “Where did you sleep last night?”
“I was in the bunk room.”
“I have a fantastic room with the most incredible view of the lake. Would you like to stay with me?”
I feel frozen in place. “I don’t know.”
He smiles. “We can do this any way you want to, but I need you to know, I’m going to do whatever it takes to get you back.”
That makes me blush, in spite of myself. And I do think he means it. But I’m not sure that’s enough. I sigh. “I just worry we’ll end up right where we were before. I still don’t think I totally understand why you had the reaction you did to the article. You just shut me out. Why weren’t you willing to do whatever it took in October?”
He looks at the ground for a long minute. “I don’t have a good reason, and I don’t fully understand my reaction myself, especially looking back on it now. I feel like an idiot. But I know I panicked. I blamed you for my license audit, and I was freaking out about my next WMC mission and how it might be derailed, and I almost entirely shut down. I didn’t listen to my friends either.” He clenches my hand. “I’ve thought about it a lot since then, and I know I had some guilt about Stacy, too. Your article didn’t name me, but it highlighted her problem, and I knew I’d been part of it. I tried to help her, but I couldn’t, and then she went to someone who wasn’t equipped to keep her safe. Your piece and the medical review made me think a lot about the ethics of the cosmetic work I do, and I struggled. I’m still struggling.”
I look at him, surprised. “Why didn’t you tell me that before?”
He shrugs. “It’s taken me a long time to understand it myself. And none of it is any excuse for what I did. I was terrified, and I reacted poorly. And then I was gone. I’m sorry. Can you forgive me?”
I look in his eyes a moment. “What if you change your mind?” I ask. “I barely made it through the last time. I can’t build a relationship—of any kind—with you if your response to conflict is to shut me out. You threw me away because you blamed me for something without even talking to me about it.”
Jack gets down on his knees and bows his head. “I’m so sorry. I can’t tell you I’ll never hurt you again, but I promise I’m not going to change my mind about us. And I won’t allow myself to react that way again. I want us to be a team, to talk things through, work together on a future. You are my everything.” He wraps his arms around my hips and rests his head against my stomach. “Can you forgive me?”
My heart melts. “I can try.”
Jack nods. “Thank you. That’s more than I deserve, I know.” He gets to his feet and leads me by the hand inside. Trish smiles and gives me a thumbs up as we pass.
As soon as we enter his room, Jack pulls me into a passionate kiss. His lips are warm and soft, and I can feel my body responding. I wrap my arms around his neck, deepening the kiss. His hands roam over my body, sending shivers down my spine.
“I’ve missed you so much, baby. I need you.” His words send a wave of desire through me. Without another word, Jack picks me up and carries me to the bed. He lays me down gently and kisses me relentlessly as he removes my clothes, piece by piece. When I am completely naked, I can feel the heat of his gaze on my body.
He takes one of my nipples into his mouth, swirling his tongue around it. I moan softly, arching my back. He switches to the other nipple, giving it the same attention, and then moves south, kissing and licking my skin. I can feel myself getting wetter with each passing moment.
When he reaches my core, he spreads my legs and dives in, his tongue exploring every inch of me. I grip the sheets, moaning quietly as he brings me to the edge of ecstasy. He stops just before I can reach my peak and crawls up to kiss me again. I can taste myself on his lips, which only makes me want him more.
“I need you now,” I whisper, pulling him on top of me.
He reaches for a condom and rolls it on before positioning himself at my entrance and slowly sliding in. I gasp at the feeling of him inside me, and he thrusts slowly, building a rhythm that has us both moaning in pleasure.
We move together, our bodies in perfect sync, and I move closer and closer to the edge. Jack reaches down to rub my clit, and with a final thrust, I come undone. I whisper-yell his name, and my body shatters, pleasure flooding through me.
As I’m coming down from my high, Jack groans, and I feel him shudder as he reaches his release. After we catch our breath, Jack rolls over and wraps an arm around me. “You’re amazing,” he whispers.
“So are you,” I respond, leaning in to kiss him.
This is what I’ve been craving. This closeness. I just need it to be real. But if he wants to work at this, so do I. People make mistakes. It doesn’t have to be a death sentence for our relationship. I’m not giving up.
Eventually, we fall asleep in each other’s arms, and when I wake up the next morning, I feel like I’m on top of the world.