Chapter 19
Jack breachedthe surface of the water and shook the water from his hair. If his mom hadn’t insisted on having a heater installed in the pool when he and Ethan were kids, it’d be much too chilly to swim. May in Texas was weather roulette. You could start the day in a coat, be melting by noon, and looking at snow by dinner.
Shielding his eyes from the sun, he strode over to Ethan, who sat on the steps waist-deep in water and took a seat next to him.
As far as bachelor parties went, Ethan’s was… well, Jack wouldn’t call it a party. His brother, two friends, and no alcohol or women in sight. In his college days, he wouldn’t have called this a party. A get-together, maybe, but a party? No. He”d sworn off parties years ago and had no intention of changing that now.
The sound of feet rapidly hitting concrete brought him out of his thoughts just in time to watch Booker hit the diving board and then belly flop. A wave of water sprayed in all directions, giving rise to loud grumbling.
To say Jack was surprised to see Booker in Wishing Well was an understatement. He’d made it clear when he left that he wasn’t returning. He’d graduated the year after Jack. All Jack knew was that he’d had a tumultuous relationship with a girl, and he’d vowed never to return.
“Ooohhhh, that had to hurt!” Ruger Jennings called out.
Booker broke the surface, a patch of red skin growing.
“Ouch,” Jack said, nodding to it. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” He covered the spot with his hand. “But next time, I’ll have better aim. If there’s a next time.”
Ethan laughed. “My fiancée will kill me if I do anything to damage any part of my body, especially my face.”
Jack scoffed. “She’d wait on you hand and foot and come after us for letting it happen.”
His brother grinned. “She’d still have words for me.”
“And tar and feathers for the rest of us.”
Ethan laughed. “You might be right.”
Ruger grabbed a bottle of tea from the cooler and took a seat in one of the chaise lounges stationed poolside. “No might about it.”
A brief silence hung in the air as the rest of the guys climbed out of the pool, grabbed a drink, and found a seat on the lounge chairs.
“Are you going to let Serenity set you up with Maddy again?” asked Ethan.
“Oh, man, I don’t know. She wasn’t even willing to come out of her room. I think I should take that as a sign, don’t you?”
Ethan shrugged. “I just think she needs a little more time.”
Jack looked from Ethan to Ruger and back. “Time for what?”
Ethan went on to explain what happened with the woman and the heartbreaking reason she seemed reluctant to date. Jack had to agree with her. He wasn’t sure how he’d handle being left at the altar, but he suspected she was dealing with it much better than he would have.
“What about that date with Jo?” asked Ruger.
Booker grinned. “Date with Jo?” His eyes went wide. “Jo Stewart? Nose in a notebook or behind a camera, Jo?”
Jack grumbled under his breath. “It wasn’t a date. We had dinner. That’s all.” He looked at Booker. “Yes, Jo Stewart. She’s the one writing the article about Serenity and Ethan. And, she is a fantastic photographer.”
“I guess I just didn’t put it together.” Booker shook his head. “Guess life didn’t throw all of us curve balls, huh?”
“Guess so,” Jack replied, pushing off the steps and strolling over to the lounge chair next to Ruger. He checked the time on his phone. “I’m going to go ahead and dry off. The pizza should be here shortly, and I need to get the poker table set up in the living room.”
Even with the heated water, after the sun went down, there would be no more swimming. It was warm in May, but not nearly enough for that.
Grabbing his towel, he dried himself off as he walked to the back door, stopping long enough to dry a little more. He was a grown man, at least a foot taller than his mom, and smart enough to know she wouldn’t put up with water all over her floors.
When he was sure his mom wouldn’t kill him, he went inside, dug in his bag for a T-shirt, and put it on. The doorbell rang, and he trotted to the door. “You’re ear—” The word died on his tongue. “Jo?”
Tonight, her hair was in loose curls and hanging past her bare shoulders. She’d picked another sleeveless dress that looked as soft as her skin and sandals. He pictured himself pulling her flush against his body, slipping his hand behind her neck, and bringing his lips down to hers.
The wiggle of a brown paper cylinder brought him back to the present. She smiled. “Hey, sorry to interrupt. We thought you guys might like some homemade chocolate ice cream.”
“Chocolate ice cream?” he asked as he took the canister. “And who is we?”
“Well, I should say Lucy since she made it. I’m just the delivery girl.”
“I thought you’d be with Serenity and the bridal party.”
She chewed her lip. “I stayed at the café to help Lucy clean for dessert when they returned.”
“Ah. Well, thank you. I’m sure we’ll love it.”
She grinned. “Good. I also have some news for you.”
“Me?”
She hesitated a moment.
“Is everything okay?”
“Craig is meeting with Grandma and me tomorrow morning to go over the offer.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Oh. Wow.”
Crossing her arms over her chest she looked at the floor. “I’ve given it some thought, and as much as I hate the idea, maybe it wouldn’t be a bad thing if she sold.” She lifted her gaze to his. “Grandma could come live with me in New York. There’d be plenty for her… for us to do. I think she’d love it.”
While Jack could picture a lot of things, Charlie living in New York wasn’t one of them, but if that was their choice, then he’d support it. “Have you talked to your grandma about living in New York?”
“Not yet, but if she sells the house, she’ll need to live somewhere. Why not with me? It would give us a chance to spend time together.”
He wanted to ask her about the traveling she’d be doing over the next year but thought better of it. “I’m sure she’d love that.”
Shrugging, she kept her gaze lowered as she nodded. “It’s at least something to discuss. It would mean I’d never have to return to Wishing Well.”
Jack wasn’t sure how many times he’d been slugged in the gut either by joking around, being tackled, or a myriad of other ways guys goofed around, but Jo’s statement winded him. “Never?” The word came out as breathless as he felt.
Her head lifted, and their gazes connected. “Well…”
He quickly recovered. “I mean, that would be great for you. All those bad memories and stuff. Never having to deal with those again.” Inside, he was shredded and being shredded with every word.
“Right.” She nodded to her car. “Well, I should get back so I can finish helping Lucy.”
“Sure. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He went to shut the door and paused.
Yes, she had horrible memories of her mom, but weren’t the great memories of her and her grandma enough to cover the others? When they’d talked about their high school experience, it wasn’t terrible. She wasn’t a homecoming queen, but she wasn’t an outcast either. Why was she so bent on leaving and never coming back? Why did the negative outweigh the good?
He debated with himself a second and then took a few quick strides to catch her. “Jo.”
She turned. “Yeah?”
“Nothing. I can tell you tomorrow.” Yeah, he was a big, fat chicken. What if he said all of that and made her angry? If Charlie accepted that offer, how long would Jo be in town? The wedding was just about over. The article would be written, and he’d be in her rearview mirror. Was he ready to risk losing her before she even left town? No.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, it’s nothing. I probably should get this ice cream in the freezer.”
“Okay. See you later.”
“Night, Jo,” he said.
Once she was in the car and driving away, he walked into the house, shut the door, and leaned his back against it.
Jo Stewart was going to be his undoing. He’d cared about Natalie, and if he’d been asked at the time, he would even said that he loved her. It wasn’t even a drop in the bucket to what he already felt for Jo. He was absolutely falling for her.
Losing Natalie was hard. Losing Jo… had the potential to hurt worse than the injury to his leg. He’d recovered from that. Would he recover from this? At the moment, he didn’t have an answer.