Chapter 9
“You seriously asked my sister to dance last night?” Basil slapped his thigh as he uttered a loud guffaw. “What are you, some sort of glutton for punishment?”
Nathan sighed. “It seemed like a good idea at the time. Didn’t you see how great she looked in that pink dress?”
His friend shook his head. “Uh, I can’t say that I did. She’s my sister.”
Did that mean a man couldn’t notice how pretty a girl looked?
No, not girl. Woman. The image of Jasmine’s light olive skin and long dark hair done in some kind of fancy bun on her head, wearing that amazing pink dress would be stuck in Nathan’s mind for the rest of his life.
Lace had covered the entire dress. He’d never known Jasmine to wear pink, let alone lace.
He’d never really noticed the soft, feminine side of her before.
Oh, sure, he’d definitely always known she was female.
He hadn’t dated her all those years ago without realizing that full well.
But last night… whoa.
“You can’t seriously be thinking of getting back together with my sister. ”
Nathan knew the appropriate answer. It was no , so he shook his head.
“Nah, I don’t think so. But you still have to admit she looked pretty amazing last night.
She must’ve gone out with half a dozen guys at least in the last few years.
” He glanced sideways at Basil. The two of them sat outside on Alex’s back deck on this sunny Easter Sunday afternoon.
All the hard work from the previous few weeks had paid off in neat lines of raised garden beds with gravel paths between them.
The black soil was already sprinkled with the tiny green shoots of the seeds they’d planted.
Of course, some of the beds waited until the last hint of frost would be gone from the air and the soil warmed up more.
“Not that I’ve ever heard of.” Basil narrowed his gaze as he looked out on the backyard.
“It seems to me like she’s always been very content with her life just the way it is, without a guy in sight.
” He chuckled and glanced at Nathan. “Like me. Happily single. No one to tell me what to do or when to do it, other than the bosses at my job, of course. But I’m done with all that now.
” He grinned smugly. “Jasmine was even smarter than me, opening her own clinic.”
“A massage therapist. Not what I was expecting her to do with her life.”
“Why not? It pays reasonably well and, because she owns the business, she can set her own hours. My sister has always had a rather independent streak, if you ask me.”
But still, she’d been thinking of going on to become a physical therapist at one time.
Whatever happened to change her mind had been after Nathan left for Los Angeles.
As for the independent part, yeah, he could totally see that.
She’d sent out mixed signals even when they were teens.
On the one hand, looking to Nathan to fulfill all her dreams, and on the other hand, dancing to the beat of a drummer only she could hear.
“You can do a whole lot better than my sister if you’re looking to settle down,” Basil added. “You could check out Kass North, for instance. That girl can cook.” He rubbed his hand over his belly.
The North cousins. Kass seemed nice enough for sure, and even Hailey had managed to turn off the flirting long enough to get serious work done regarding the promotional campaign they were looking to start running in a few weeks.
Both women were pretty, Kass with her long red hair and Hailey with her short blond bob, but neither stirred anything in him.
Not like Jasmine. He definitely should push that thought right out of his mind, now and forever.
The sight of her fiery eyes last night when she told him no were only eclipsed in his memory by the image of her slipping her high heels off and stalking out of the community center in bare feet.
He’d seen her jog by the window a moment later.
Bare feet in April. That was more like the Jasmine he remembered, but it’d never been because she was trying to get away from him before.
“What about you, Basil? Seeing anyone?” As near as Nathan could tell he wasn’t interested in anyone from the church, not that Basil attended every week.
No woman swung by the house looking for him, either.
Not that Nathan was keeping close track.
Didn’t Basil spend a lot of evenings out, though?
Well, that was his business. Not Nathan’s.
Basil shrugged. “No one I’ve been serious with. I guess you could say I date occasionally and recreationally.”
That sounded more like the California Nathan, except he would have changed the occasionally to frequently .
But that had only left him with a dissatisfied feeling in his gut.
None of them had seemed worth committing to.
Even Rae, whom he’d called his ray of sunshine for a few months, had quickly become a rain cloud complete with thunder and lightning when he’d figured out her dual shopping and gambling addictions.
“Well, that makes quite a pair of us, then. Two guys pushing thirty and as single as the day we were born.”
“The difference being, you seem to care about it, and I don’t.” Basil stared off into the distance, not meeting Nathan’s eyes.
Did Basil truly not mind? It seemed unlikely.
Maybe someone had broken his friend’s heart and left him jaded.
Maybe as they renewed their friendship, living in the same house, Nathan would get more of the story.
Forget it. That would mean sharing some of his own miserable choices, and he wasn’t sure Basil or anyone else needed to know about those.
A truck crunched gravel on the other side of the house then the engine cut out. A moment later Peter and Alex rounded the corner of the building. “Hey, guys.” Peter’s gaze bounced between them. “Beautiful day, huh?”
Nathan nodded.
Basil jerked his thumb toward Nathan. “This bozo asked Jasmine to dance last night.”
Peter’s brows furrowed as his gaze zeroed in on Nathan. “It was pretty crowded in there, but I don’t remember seeing you two together.”
Thanks, Basil. A good reminder that the guy couldn’t keep a secret worth anything. Nathan stretched his legs and crossed them at the ankles. “That’s probably because she turned me down.” He shrugged. “It was just a moment of weakness. Don’t worry, it’s unlikely to happen again.”
But only because of the fierce darts coming from her eyes. If she’d have said yes, he might’ve figured he’d died and gone to heaven. In that case, it was a good thing she’d rebuffed him.
Kass put her hands on her hips as she stared at Jasmine’s Harley-Davidson. “When I said I’d love to come foraging with you, I thought you meant your truck.”
Jasmine held her spare helmet toward her friend. “You know I always park the beast over the summer. I love to feel the wind on my face far too much to drive around in anything with a roof when I don’t have to.”
“I thought you might have to, now that you’re working with the guys at Bridgeview Backyards.” Kass did not reach for the helmet. “At least, that’s what I hoped.”
Jasmine flipped the helmet vertically and plunked it over her friend’s head. “Do up the buckle on that, Kassidy Jane, and let’s get going. I have all my favorite wild asparagus spots to check this afternoon.”
Kass sighed and fastened the helmet under her chin.
“Fine. You know I’ve been dying to learn more about wild foods.
Not that I can really incorporate them into the batch cooking classes or even meals at the bistro.
It would just take too long to get enough of anything, right? And I have so little free time.”
Jasmine swung her leg over the Sportster’s seat and thumbed for Kass to climb on behind her.
“Doing that would require a whole different level of dedication to local food, yes.” She jumped her foot down on the starter, and the engine roared to life.
She felt Kass’s arms wrapped around her waist as she twisted the throttle, and they shot out of the bistro parking lot and onto West Main.
Jasmine navigated out to West Riverside then down along the Spokane River, keeping her eyes peeled for the damp, partially shady spots she knew wild asparagus grew.
The wind rushed past her face, making her wish she could strip off her helmet and toss her long hair into the wind, but she valued her noggin.
Besides, the strands would whip Kass’s face something awful.
A few minutes later she spied the first of the tall thorny bushes that marked a wild asparagus stand.
She slowed the bike and veered to the side of the road before turning it off then pointed across the drainage ditch before tugging her helmet off. “Right over there. See the bush?”
Kass swung off the motorbike and unsnapped her helmet. She shaded her eyes and stared into the distance as she shook her head. “What am I looking for?”
“Come on, I’ll show you.” Jasmine made her way across the weedy ditch, jumping the flowing water. She clambered up the bank on the other side and pointed her pocketknife toward a sparse bush taller than herself. “Asparagus.”
Kass frowned. “That doesn’t look like any asparagus I’ve ever seen.”
Jasmine chuckled as she knelt at the base. She pushed aside some dead twigs until she found a stalk eight or nine inches tall. “Oh, here we go.” She flicked her blade open and sliced the protrusion just above the ground level then held it up for Kass to see.
Kass’s eyes lit up. “That’s amazing. I had no idea, honestly.”
Jasmine grinned. “And we’ve been friends for how long? ”
Kass waved a hand. “I know, I know. Remember what I said about being busy all the time?” She looked around the peaceful spot.
The Spokane River thundered in the distance, out of sight.
On the road behind them, a few vehicles whizzed past while the spring sunshine warmed Jasmine to the core.
This. This was what she needed to ground herself after getting so furious about Nathan last night.
She pointed a few feet away. “See over there? You go find some spears.”
Kass hurried over and dropped to her knees in front of the bush. “Look! There are several. I just can’t believe this. How come you don’t teach classes in foraging?”
Jasmine shrugged, not that her friend could see it. “Maybe because I don’t like people that well. Maybe because I don’t want to share my favorite spots with people who won’t respect them. I don’t know, but I’m not at all interested in teaching.”
Kass sat back on her heels and looked over at Jasmine. “You’ve been to Green Acres Farm in northern Idaho, haven’t you?” At Jasmine’s nod, she went on. “I’m sure they would love to have you come for some workshops like this. Possibly once for every season.”
Jasmine shook her head. “I don’t think so. I was there in February for a workshop on making essential oils. I think Liz Waterman already knows a fair bit about foraging. At least, she identified many plants useful for medicinal oils in the slideshow she used for the presentation.”
A shadow fell over Kass’s eyes. “Oh. I don’t know Liz that well.”
“Didn’t you go to high school there in Galena Landing? Wouldn’t you and Liz have been in about the same grade? She was Liz Nemesek then. ”
Kass pursed her lips. “She was a few years older than me and, like I say, I didn’t really know her well back then.” She heaved a deep sigh. “I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but she married the guy I’d been dating just before I moved back to Spokane.”
Jasmine schooled her expression to show nothing. “Mason Waterman? Him with the twins?”
Kass nodded and swept a few dry leaves away with her hands. “Avery and Christopher were in my Sunday school class. They are adorable children, and I know Liz is a good stepmom to them.”
Well. Jasmine knelt beside her friend and handed over the pocketknife so Kass could cut the asparagus. Funny how she’d never known this tidbit before.
Kass dropped a few cut spears into the bag Jasmine held out and glanced up at her. “Enough about that. It’s water way under the bridge. Wasn’t Eden and Jacob’s wedding lovely yesterday?”
“It was.” She wasn’t about to tell Kass how Nathan had invited her to dance, and why she left early. “Was Jacob’s groomsman from Portland fun to be with?”
Kass shrugged. “Devon was all right. He couldn’t stop talking about the amazing girl he just asked to marry him back home, so don’t go thinking any sparks were flying. They weren’t.”
“So, what do you think is wrong with you and me?” Jasmine chomped on the inside of her cheeks. Why on earth had she said that?
Kass shook her head and let out a small laugh.
“All I can say is, some day my prince will come. At least if it’s meant to be.
After I left Galena Landing with Mason engaged to Liz, I spent a lot of time in prayer pleading with God to grant me my heart’s desire — the love of a good man who loves Jesus even more than he loves me.
” Her eyes drilled into Jasmine’s. “So I’m trying to be patient.
In the meantime, God has given me a great job where I can interact with a lot of people.
I can make a difference in their lives by selling them good food that nourishes them.
I can teach folks how to prepare a month’s worth of meals at a time so they don’t have to scramble every night wondering what’s for dinner.
I have a good life, Jasmine. If this is what God has for me for the rest of my days, I’m trying to be thankful.
Because, honestly, it’s pretty amazing.”
Funny thing was, a couple of months ago Jasmine would have said a fervent amen to Kass’s words.
But after her cousin Rob’s wedding and now Eden and Jacob’s, she wasn’t so sure.
Okay, fine. Add in Nathan Hamelin’s return to Bridgeview.
Was that all it had taken to make her yearn for a life that didn’t look like it was anywhere in front of her?