Jared

by Lori Wilde

  The microwave clock showed that it was only 8:52. Since the last thirty-one minutes had ticked by faster than the four he’d watched, he decided to turn his attention to some of the potential dangers he’d noted around the house.

  After locating some tools in the utility room, Jerry spent the rest of the morning tightening the stair banister, fixing the uneven porch step, and shoring up the loose leg on Kimber’s favorite chair. The workmanship wasn’t the best, but at least his efforts would reduce the risk to Kimber.

  That done, he ate his leftover spaghetti in front of the television. Today, Dirk and Andrea were conniving to send their rich aunt to an early demise so they could collect a fat inheritance.

  Jerry snorted in disgust. It was people like this who made the job of protectorate so difficult. He punched the TV zapper until he came to an attractive woman extolling the qualities of washable wall paint. A telephone number scrolled across the bottom of the screen, and she urged him to get his credit card now.

  He didn’t own a credit card—at least, he didn’t think he did—but Kimber had one in her desk. When he’d asked her what it was, she’d explained that a person could buy stuff with it and that she kept hers at home so she wouldn’t be tempted to use it.

  Well, this would be his good deed for the day. By using the credit card for her, he’d be sparing her the temptation. Jerry gave himself a congratulatory pat on the back for being so virtuous. He hoped he’d get bonus points in his performance folder for this.

  Before the day was over, Gerald’s cell phone got quite a workout. He’d ordered the paint, sheepskin seat covers for the car, a set of limited-edition prints depicting various kinds of horses, an all-purpose kitchen utensil, a year’s supply of chewable vitamins, a copper bracelet for Kimber, and a picture of Elvis in neon colors on black velvet.

  He smiled and returned the credit card to her desk drawer. Kimber would be so pleased when she found out what he’d done.

  BY THE END OF THE WEEK, Kimber was ready to kick off her shoes and put her feet up in the chair Jerry had fixed for her. What with all the work that had piled up while she’d been pulling nurse duty, not to mention the merger deal that was finally getting under way, she hadn’t taken the time to eat lunch today.

  Her stomach growled as she pulled into the driveway, reminding her that Jerry may have started dinner again. This week, he’d attempted some simple microwave recipes, all of which had turned out fairly well. She’d asked him not to try using the stove yet since this old farmhouse would go up like a torch if he made a mistake.

  She got out of the car, and a brown van pulled up behind her. A man in a matching brown uniform got out and handed her a small package.

  Kimber frowned down at the box in her hands. “Who’s this from?” she asked. “I wasn’t expecting anything.”

  He shrugged and turned to get back in his delivery van. “Probably something else for Jerry.” With a smile, he added, “Tell him my wife wants that microwave cake recipe. I’ll pick it up when I see him next week.” And then he was gone.

  Jerry met her at the door. “Oh, good, it came.”

  He started to take the package from her, then seemed to reconsider.

  “Go ahead and open it. I know you’re going to love it.”

  Kimber looked down at his legs that, except for the orange cast, were bare from the knee down. “What happened to your good slacks?”

  “They’re shorts now.” He looked as proud as if he’d sewn them himself. “Everybody on TV is wearing them, so I thought I’d try it, too. I’m just having a little trouble getting them to sag.”

  The custom-tailored pants had been chopped off at the knees and pushed down at the waist to expose the white elastic band of his skivvies.

  He hooked a thumb under the waistband of his plain white briefs and gave a tug. “And these tighty whities aren’t cool anymore,” he said, using the teen slang he’d heard on television. “But I should be getting some new boxers any day now.”

  Kimber closed the door and sank into the overstuffed chair. Out of habit, she braced herself for the inevitable jolt. Then she remembered that Jerry had fixed the chair earlier this week. She’d been trying to hold on to such positive thoughts when faced with the surprises he’d sprung upon her return home each day. She sank back into the chair again and covered her eyes with her hand.

  “Is something the matter?” he asked in all innocence.

  Innocence. It helped to keep in mind that he wasn’t intentionally driving her crazy.

  “You’d think so if you remembered how much those slacks originally cost you.”

  He looked down at the abomination with an expression of disdain. “I thought they were hand-me-downs. Didn’t imagine anyone would purposely buy clothes like these.”

  “You may as well get used to them. The closet in your apartment is filled with that style of clothes.”

  Jerry—correction, Gerald, as he was known before the accident—had always insisted on buying the best brand-name clothes from the most exclusive shops. He never wore jeans and always prided himself on his crisp, tailored appearance.

  She found it amusing that these clothes clashed with the new, casual side of his personality that had emerged since the accident. She’d tried to get Gerald to loosen up in his attire, at least when he wasn’t at work, but he’d refused.

  “If you want, we can go shopping for new stuff this weekend,” she told him.

  Jerry’s demeanor brightened visibly. Apparently remembering the package she’d carried in, he pushed it toward her. “Aren’t you going to open it?”

  He perched on the edge of her chair and watched her tug the filament tape that held the parcel shut. Kimber tried not to notice the strong, muscled thigh that crowded her or the light furring of hair that covered the exposed part of his leg. When he balanced himself by propping one hand against the back of her chair, it was all she could do to keep from leaning back into him.

  It was too bad that the men with heavenly bodies couldn’t also have personalities to match. Of course, since the accident, Jerry had been sweeter and more personable, but she knew it wouldn’t last. As soon as his memory returned, he’d go back to being the same hard-driving, goal-oriented, me-first kind of person he’d always been.

  Maybe, once she was ready to start dating again, she should keep her eyes peeled for the homeliest, most wimpy-bodied man in Bliss and ask him out. If she couldn’t have both looks and personality, she’d opt for the man on the inside.

  She sneaked a glance up at Jerry, who was urging her to be quicker about opening the package. Dark eyebrows that color-matched his short-cropped hair hooded the shimmery blue of his eyes. His well-defined nose, cheekbones, and chin offered a classically masculine profile. And his lips, which she’d grown accustomed to seeing pulled in a thin, straight line over his white teeth, were now turned upward in a most endearing smile. The gesture created a small, vertical dimple in his cheek that tempted her to touch it.

  What a shame all of that was wasted on him.

  She pulled away the bubble wrap that surrounded the contents of the box, and something mooed.

  Jerry laughed. Unable to wait any longer, he reached into the package and withdrew two colorful plastic figures, one a cartoonish cow wearing an apron and the other a pig in overalls.

  “Aren’t they great?” He pointed to the holes on the tops of their heads. “They’re salt and pepper shakers. Watch this.”

  He turned them upside down and shook them as if he were seasoning his food, and each made its respective barnyard sound.

  “I’ll bet you’ve never seen anything like this before.”

  “There’s a reason for that,” she said dryly. Even so, she couldn’t resist shaking the tacky things.

  Before the accident, he would have insisted on nothing less than Waterford lead crystal, a style that would have been even more at odds in her rustic farmhouse than these childish gadgets.

  “How much?” she asked.

  “Fourteen ninety-f
ive.” He paused. “Plus shipping and handling.”

  Kimber sighed. “Well, that’s still less than Waterford.”

  Jerry swiveled on the arm of the chair to face her. “You don’t have to worry about the cost,” he assured her. “I used your credit card.”

  “You what?”

  “When I called the number on television, the person who answered asked for the numbers from a credit card. And since you didn’t want to use it yourself, I spared you the temptation.” He beamed, apparently proud of his industriousness. “You know, those people were so nice. They said that because of all the stuff I ordered, I am now a preferred customer.”

  “You mean there’s more?”

  “Sure. Do you want to see it?”

  She followed him to his room, shaking her head in disbelief. How could a man with such a cute butt have such a thick head?

  If she’d been surprised by the salt and pepper shakers, then she was flabbergasted by the rest of the junk that littered the guest room.

  “Why did you buy all this stuff?”

  “I didn’t buy it,” he insisted. “I just gave them the numbers on your credit card, and they sent it to me.”

  She was going to have to block all but the Disney channel if he kept this up. “It’s got to go back. All of it.”

  Jerry started to argue, but she resolutely shook her head. Why was she being tested like this? She picked up a bottle of vitamins shaped like Jerry’s favorite cartoon characters. Beside the carton of vitamins lay a copper bracelet.

  “What did you intend to do with all this stuff?” she asked.

  “Most of it’s for you.” He slid the bracelet onto her wrist. “This is to ward off bad luck, and the vitamins are to keep you healthy. I want you to live at least into your eighties. Or maybe even into the triple digits.”

  He seemed so sincere that Kimber hated to disappoint him. But there was no way she could afford all of this. Briefly, she explained how credit card purchases worked, and his surprised reaction proved he hadn’t even considered the possibility that she would eventually have to pay for them.

  By the time they went through it all, they’d decided to keep the paint because the kitchen could use a fresh coat, the horse prints because Jerry convinced her they’d look better than the magazine pictures that currently adorned the den, and the salt and pepper shakers because...well, she hadn’t figured that one out yet.

  The only thing still unboxed for return was the Elvis-on-velvet picture. “You’re not thinking of keeping that, are you?”

  “Of course.” He thoughtfully ran a finger over the black velvet. “I met him once.”

  Kimber couldn’t hold back a snicker. “But he died in 1979, before you were born. There’s no way you could have met him.”

  “But I did. After he died, of course. We played fenuki.” He looked up, his sky-blue eyes capturing her gaze. “I would’ve won if he hadn’t cheated more than I did.”

  Kimber hadn’t the vaguest notion what he was talking about. “We’ll have to talk to the doctor about these hallucinations of yours.”

  “That reminds me,” he said, holding a finger aloft. “The doctor’s secretary called today. I have a follow-up appointment scheduled for Tuesday.”

  Great. Maybe the doctor would give him a clean bill of health so he could return to his own place. Better yet, if she didn’t see him every day, she wouldn’t be tormented by traitorous thoughts of reconciling with him.

  Then again, maybe fairies lived in the woods beyond the lake.

  Chapter Eight

  “Tell me what you see.”

  Jerry sat on the edge of the flower box that the previous owner had built at the base of the mulberry tree. He liked mulberries. Maybe, if Kimber would let him use the oven, he could bake a pie.

  Reaching a hand up, he tugged at her wrist until she joined him.

  Once she was seated, Kimber leaned wearily against him. Turning to her, Jerry draped an arm around her shoulders.

  “I see a lake, a barn, and a patch of woods behind them both. Now, if you don’t mind”—she moved to get up, but Jerry held her tight—“I have work to do.”

  “What’s so important about your work that it won’t wait until the sun finishes showing off for us?”

  As if to punctuate his statement, the pink-and-orange ball slipped lower over the lake, its image reflecting on the water’s surface and blending with the sky in watercolor shades of pink, purple, orange, and yellow. The ducks, shaking their feathers as they came out of the lake, seemed unaware of the magnificent display behind them.

  She didn’t answer his question, but she made no move to leave, either. Finally, she admitted, “It is beautiful. I’ve lived here two years, and this is the first time I’ve watched the sun set.”

  They sat in companionable silence until the glowing ball had submerged itself behind the trees, leaving a fading canvas in its wake.

  “Here,” he said, handing her a small blossom plucked from the rosebush beside the house. “Smell this.”

  She accepted the flower and gave it an appreciative sniff.

  “You work too hard,” he said solemnly. “You need to learn to enjoy the many blessings you receive every day.”

  She touched the rose to his cheek, noting the coarse whiskers that had sprouted since this morning. A month ago, even if she and Gerald had bothered to walk down here to the lake, their conversation would have been filled with details about the pending merger. This corporate change had been high on Gerald’s priority list. Now, if it was on his mind at all, it was pushed far to the back.

  “Maybe I can slow down after this business transaction is completed,” she suggested.

  “Maybe?”

  “You’re starting to sound like my father.”

  “And you’re starting to sound like a workaholic.”

  “Well, you’re a fine one to talk.”

  She didn’t mean for her tone to sound so snippy, but it irritated her that he was the one who had insisted on the merger and now he was chiding her for picking up the ball he’d dropped. When she spoke again, her voice was softer.

  “You were the one who initiated the merger,” she reminded him. “You said this would be a good way to increase our profits.”

  He looked thoughtful for a moment. “Is your father’s company in financial trouble without the merger?”

  Kimber gave a little laugh. “No, Barnett’s Bakery has never been stronger.”

  Giving a nod of understanding, he turned to face her. “So, merging will help reduce your workload.”

  She looked down at the ground and followed the progress of a beetle through the grass. “Actually, it’ll mean increased responsibilities.”

  “Then why are you going through with it?”

  Bless his heart, he looked as though he really cared about how this change would affect her. Last month, he’d been more concerned with how the new promotion opportunities would affect him.

  “Because of you,” she said honestly. “It was something that meant a lot to you. Dad doesn’t care whether he expands the business this late in his life, and I have enough work and income to keep me happy. But since you were so gung ho about the possibility, we were willing to support it.”

  She stretched her foot out to block the beetle’s path, and the bug did an about-face.

  “When Alison suggested that you be given a position on the subsidiary company’s board of directors, Dad said it was the least we could do to keep his future son-in-law happy.”

  As soon as she said it, she realized her mistake. By bringing up their former relationship, she was certain she’d opened a can of worms. She glanced over at him to see if he would bite at the bait she had inadvertently dangled in front of him.

  He did.

  “Why didn’t it work out?”

  Kimber took a deep breath. It was a question she’d asked herself many times. Rather than bring up the incident that had sealed his fate with her—and risk a second humiliation—she summed it up as simply as
she could.

  “You weren’t ready to settle down.”

  Leaning back against the tree trunk, he idly stroked his hands over the cheerful mix of spring flowers that grew at its base. “What besides work did you and Gerald have in common?”

  By now it seemed natural to refer to Jerry’s previous persona as a separate being, for the man she talked with tonight was nothing like the man she’d been engaged to marry. Her lack of an answer should tell him what he wanted to know.

  “Then what attracted you to him?”

  Kimber couldn’t help grinning as she recalled the first time she’d seen the new executive her father had hired.

  Gerald was bending over the water cooler, his crisp, tailored slacks pleated to perfection and providing an outstanding showcase for what was one of his best features.

  “His butt,” she said without hesitation. “He had the cutest derriere that was neither too tight nor too round.”

  If she’d thought Gerald was impressive from behind, she had been stunned into speechlessness when he had straightened from the water cooler and given her a glimpse of the broad shoulders, firm chest, and thick upper arms that filled out his white dress shirt. “My gosh, he was something else.”

  She stopped, suddenly embarrassingly aware that she was talking about Jerry. It was bad enough that she had let him know what power he held over her by way of physical attraction. It was worse that he may have wrongly interpreted her remarks to mean she was still interested in him.

  “I—I’m sorry. I don’t know why I blurted that out.” She stood, trying to distance herself from the man who had managed to wring her emotions inside out. “Let’s just forget I ever said anything.”

  He didn’t move from his seat. Didn’t try to gloat or laugh it off. Just sat there, staring at her as she shoved her hands into her jeans pockets and paced in front of him.

  “Do you know what I first noticed about you?” he said gently.

  Kimber stopped pacing, her back to him. She wanted to end the conversation and go back to the easy friendship that had grown between them in the weeks since the accident. But even more, she wanted to hear what he had to say. Needed to hear that there was something he’d found attractive about her...that is, before he’d noticed something even more tempting in that other woman.