by Olivia Miles
Sophie nodded, beaming through her tears, and well, there was no way Jane could say no to that face. She stood, her heart sinking with dread as she handed over a few more dollars and stared into the barrel of water.
Here goes nothing. Pulling in a long breath, she gripped her hair back with one hand and bent down to the apples, attempting as best she could to grab a stem with her teeth for minimal damage.
“You’re not going to get it that way!” Sophie was instructing her. “You have to try to bite it! Stick your face in! Your whole face.”
Obviously, the humiliation was not going to end until she managed to catch an apple, and so, with an internal eye roll, she did as she was told and attempted to bite the side of an apple before it rolled away.
“Oops! Almost!” Sophie giggled.
At least one of them was finding this funny. Jane heaved a breath, and tried again. Minutes seemed to tick by as she tried in vain, and Sophie’s cries of delight seemed to grow louder and louder and louder, attracting, Jane suspected with sudden horror, a bit of a crowd. She tried another approach, coming at it from the side, and then reverted to her original plan to pick one up by the stem, and she was just about ready to call the whole thing quits and put up with Sophie’s emotional outburst for a bit, when she pinned a Red Delicious against the side of the barrel.
“You did it!” Sophie screamed, jumping up and down. Jane laughed and plucked the apple from her teeth, but her smile immediately faltered when she saw Henry standing a few feet from Sophie, barely suppressing his smirk.
“How long have you been standing there?” she asked, quickly wiping her face with her scarf.
His grin widened. “Long enough.”
“She did it, she did it! Did you see me, too?” Sophie ran up to Henry and he bent down to grin at her.
“I sure did! In fact, I even snapped a photo. Do you want to see?”
Sophie jumped up and down, eager to see herself in a moment of fun-filled success, but Jane’s heart began to pound harder when she saw the phone in his hand. “Please tell me you didn’t take a picture of me, too.”
“Of small-town fun at its best?” His blue eyes danced, but for once, her heart didn’t flutter at the sight. “You were the one who insisted Briar Creek had so much to offer. It’s not every day you get a chance to bob for your apple…”
Every time Jane blinked, the image of her with her head in that barrel, teeth bared, flashed. “Please delete the photos.”
Henry chuckled softly and took a step toward her. With the pad of his thumb, he brushed her cheek until the remains of the cold water were gone, replaced with the warmth of his skin, which set her body on fire. She met his eyes for a beat, surprised at the intensity she saw flash through them and waiting for him to say something, pull back, take his hand from her face. She was breathing hard, but not over concern about a potentially embarrassing photograph. “I didn’t take any photos,” he reassured her with a slow smile. Dropping his hand to nudge her with his elbow, he added, “Though based on your reaction, I’m sort of wishing I had.”
Jane arched a brow up at him. “Blackmail, is it? Though I don’t know what you’d be looking to get from me.”
“Oh, I could think of a few things…” Henry’s smile slipped, and his gaze latched onto her. Jane felt her breath still, and every nerve ending stood on alert. He was standing close, close enough for her to sense the musk on his skin and feel his breath on her face, to see the way his lips were parted ever so slightly. She wondered what it might be like to kiss him. He was probably a very good kisser.
“Mommy! Mommy!”
Jane broke Henry’s stare and turned to Sophie, who was pointing to something in the distance. “It’s Daddy! Daddy’s here!”
Jane felt the blood drain from her face as she watched Sophie take off across the grass and throw herself into Adam’s arms. Her heart was beating so fast it felt like it might come out of her, and her mind was spinning with every emotion she’d kept bottled up for too long.
Beside Adam stood Kristy. Jane couldn’t resist letting her gaze drop to the other woman’s stomach. No noticeable baby bump yet. For a second she dared to think that Sophie had been telling stories, or somehow she’d misunderstood, but as Kristy’s cool gaze met hers, she set a proprietary hand to her abdomen.
“Jane.” Adam nodded, then glanced behind her, perking up at the sight of his friend. “Henry. I’m surprised to see you here.”
“Sophie tells me congratulations are in order.” Jane tipped her head, thinning her mouth. “When’s the big day?”
“Three weeks,” Adam replied.
Jane could barely suppress her shock. “Were you planning on telling me or letting me find out through the local grapevine?”
“I figured I’d tell you eventually.”
Something in the casual way he said it, in the lazy way his lids drooped, brought every hurt and every betrayal to the surface. Her heart began to race with adrenaline, fresh anger aching for a release. She couldn’t hold back any longer. “That’s all you have to say, Adam? You’re just going to pretend like everything’s okay?” She glared at him, hating the cold set to his gaze as he locked her stare. “Didn’t you think I had a right to know? Wouldn’t it have been respectful to tell me all this news directly?”
“What do you expect me to say, Jane?”
Sensing something was amiss, Sophie ran back over and took her hand. Jane held it tight before motioning to the face-painting stand. “There’s no line. Why don’t you run over now and surprise me with what you pick out?” With trembling fingers, she gave Sophie a five-dollar bill. She waited until Sophie was cheerfully seated in front of the artist before turning back to Adam, who had the nerve to reward her with a condescending smile.
“We had a deal, Adam. You and I agreed that I would stay home, and you would work. That was our deal.” She was probably making a scene now, and oh, wouldn’t this feed the gossip mill for weeks, but she didn’t care. She’d kept quiet for too long, tried to be the bigger person—where had it gotten her? Her voice was shaking, and she took a steadying breath to control it. “I could have gone to college, had a job, but instead I took care of the house, of you, and our daughter. And now you’re trying to use your career and financial position as leverage?”
Adam’s jaw pulsed but his gaze remained steady. “I’m her parent, too.”
“You made your choices, Adam,” she said, sliding a pointed glance at Kristy. For once, there was no sting upon seeing the other woman. “There are consequences.”
“You can’t deny me my daughter.”
A bitter laugh escaped from somewhere deep inside her, and she realized with sudden panic that it just as easily could have been a sob. He wasn’t going to stop. He really couldn’t be reasoned with. “Oh, but you can deny me? I’m the one who bathed her, took her to every doctor’s appointment, and registered her for school. I’m the one who checked on her every night before I went to bed. I cooked her dinner. I gave her medicine if she was sick.”
“And now I’d like a chance to do that.”
“Now?” Jane cried, but the hysteria in her voice was turning to one of desperation. “I’m her mother, Adam,” she hissed, willing herself not to cry. Crying would give him more power to hurt her, and it wouldn’t solve a damn thing. “How can you justify taking her from me? She needs me.”
He had the nerve to shrug. To dismiss her efforts, her role, so carelessly. God, she hated him! “And she needs me, too. I don’t want to miss out on seeing her grow up.”
“Then don’t move!” Jane tossed her hands in the air. She gripped them into fists, and brought them down tight at her sides until her nails embedded on her palms. It was her only restraint.
“That’s not an option,” Adam replied firmly.
Her breath was so heavy, she could barely hear her words over the sound of her blood rushing in her ears. “Adam, think of what you’re doing. She needs me. She’ll miss me—” Her voice cracked on the last word, and she felt a st
rong hand on her shoulder. She didn’t need to look over to know it was Henry’s.
“Don’t say anything else,” he said quietly, and his voice was thick, so steady and assured, that she nodded. She shouldn’t have said anything at all; the lawyer had advised her not to. If there was any part of her ex-husband that still cared for her, she had to try to get through to him. But from the set of his jaw, she was beginning to wonder if he’d ever given a damn about her at all.
Jane let Henry lead her away, keeping her eyes firmly on the ground. If she looked up at the bastard again, she wasn’t sure she could hold herself back. Sophie came running up to her, her nose painted black, with whiskers splayed over her cheeks.
“I can’t stay here,” she whispered aloud, but Henry was already steering them toward the exit.
“But I don’t want to leave!” Sophie wailed. “No one will see my kitty face!”
Jane opened her mouth to reason with her, but Henry cut in: “I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty hungry. I don’t suppose kitties like pizza and ice cream?” To Jane he said, “That pizza joint’s still around, isn’t it?”
Jane nodded and motioned to her car up ahead. “You don’t have to—” she said, as she popped the locks.
Henry opened the passenger door. “I want to.”
“How’d you learn to be so good with kids?” Jane asked, as she rounded the corner into the kitchen. Upstairs, Henry could hear the sounds from a music box winding down, no doubt just in time for Sophie to fall asleep, her stomach full of the roasted pumpkin seeds they’d made together.
He folded the top on the pizza box and tucked in the chairs around the table. “I had a lot of practice. With my sister,” he added.
Jane tipped her head. “But Ivy’s your twin.”
Henry shrugged. There was so much he wanted to say, but couldn’t. “I guess I always felt protective of her growing up.” Still did.
Jane smiled. “That’s sweet.” She pulled a bottle of wine from a rack. Turning to him, she asked, “Would you like any?”
Henry stiffened. “No, I, um…” He could make his excuses, call his sister for a ride back to town, but he wasn’t ready to leave just yet. Jane’s house was cozy and warm, with thoughtful decorations and just enough clutter to make it feel lived in. One of Sophie’s dolls lay facedown on the counter, and the fridge was covered with her drawings and school event news. The weight of what Jane must be going through came more alive than ever. Sophie was Jane’s life.
“Do you have any soda? Or coffee?”
Jane’s gaze narrowed slightly, but she put the bottle back. “Decaf okay? If I have regular now, I’ll be up all night.”
He stepped back to give her space, watching as she swiftly moved about the kitchen, his gaze traveling down the curves of her tight-fitting jeans and back up to the swell of her breasts under that soft sweater. He swallowed back a surge of desire and glanced around the room, feeling suddenly out of place in the home that until recently had been Adam’s. It was like all those nights the three of them would spend together, back when she and Adam were just dating, and he’d feel like a third wheel, but not enough to make him want to leave. From the first time Adam had introduced her, he’d wanted to be near her.
Henry pulled in a breath. Still did. That was one thing that hadn’t changed.
Noticing a framed picture of Jane and Sophie at what must be the dance studio, Henry smiled. He used to go to every dance performance he could just to see Jane turn around the floor, her hair pulled back to reveal her long, graceful neck. Jane didn’t mind; she liked the support. And Adam wouldn’t be caught dead alone at one of those things. The only way Henry could get him not to blow her off was to cajole him into making a group thing of it, and he was always rewarded by the huge smile that lit Jane’s face when she spotted them in the audience at the end.
The flowers were his idea, too. Girls like that type of thing, he’d been sure to tell Adam, always purposefully stopping off at the grocery store before the performance, and all but handing Adam the flowers to buy. Early on Jane had remarked she loved peonies best, and so that’s what she got.
Sure, Adam wasn’t exactly the ideal boyfriend. He got drunk at college parties and made out with a few girls, and yeah, Henry had sat stone faced when Adam relayed it, barely able to suppress that sloppy grin. When he announced he was going to ask Jane to marry him, Henry experienced a plague of emotions. It was what Jane wanted, but was Adam really the man who could make her happy? Forever?
His doubts were confirmed when Adam bailed on Jane’s senior prom—last minute. Though he’d never tell her, Adam had confided there was no way he was spending his Saturday night at a high school dance. Henry hung up the phone and made up his mind to take Jane himself, easing her disappointment by telling her Adam had sent him in his place, knowing damn well that Adam hadn’t given her feelings a single thought. Nor did he when he showed up two hours late to her graduation party, or the time he missed her birthday.
Henry stepped away from the photos, turning his back to the happy family, feeling weird and out of place, reminded of everything he didn’t have and had never found.
He thought of Caroline, and his jaw set.
“Here you go.” Jane handed him a steaming mug, served just the way he liked it. She let out a long sigh as she led him into the living room and sat down on the sofa. Her eyes had lost their earlier glow, and she looked small in her fuzzy sweater.
“You have a lot going on every day,” he observed, coming to sit next to her. He set his mug down on a coaster. “The dance classes, and the bookstore. Raising Sophie.”
“Oh, it’s not too much, really.” She gave a weary smile and pulled her feet up under her.
“But you’re doing it all on your own. Some women in your position wouldn’t handle it so well,” he said tightly.
Jane blew on her coffee, clutching the mug with both hands. “There’s no real choice, is there?”
“There is, though, and that’s why I’m so sorry you’re going through this.”
Jane smile drooped. “We don’t need to talk about this. You’re Adam’s friend—”
“I’m your friend, too, Jane.”
She blinked up at him, her full pink lips pulling into a small smile. His groin tightened and he reached for his coffee before he did anything stupid. Like kiss his buddy’s ex-wife.
“I have to admit I get a little tired sometimes. The stress lately… I haven’t been sleeping much.”
That made two of them.
“Why don’t you try to rest, then?”
“Oh. No… I don’t want to kick you out.” Her cheeks flushed, and for a second he dared to think she might not want him to go. He considered it, imagining how nice it would be to stay here in this cozy house, with Jane, sweet, loving Jane. He pulled back.
Jane was his friend. He’d told her so and he meant it. And that’s all she could ever be.
He reached over and took her mug from her hands and set it down on the end table. “Who said I’m going anywhere? You make some of the best damn coffee around, and I’m going to sit here and finish it while you get some much-needed rest.” When she opened her mouth to protest, he said, “I’ll call Ivy to give me a lift back into town. Don’t worry about me. You have enough to worry about.”
Hesitating briefly, she finally leaned back. Her brown hair spilled over her shoulders as she set her head on the pillow. “That does feel good,” she admitted.
Henry pulled a soft blanket off the back of the couch and draped it over her.
“Thanks,” she said, and then paused for a beat. “Thanks for everything, Henry.”
He stood. “Get some rest. You need it.”
Letting her have the full sofa, he sank into an armchair and reached for his coffee. The wind howled outside, and the branches rattled against the windows that framed the hearth. Jane’s breathing grew steady within minutes, and he suspected she’d be out for the night. He knew he should really call Ivy and ask for a ride into town. T
he longer he stayed in this house, the more he didn’t want to leave. But at the end of the day, he’d have to. This was her life, her world, and just like with the Browns, and his in-laws, and every hotel he stopped at on the road, he was only passing through.
CHAPTER
16
Oh, there you are, Mr. Birch!”
Henry closed his eyes, savoring the darkness for a moment, and then glanced over his shoulder. Mrs. Griffin was bustling toward him, her lips curved into a knowing smile.
“Good morning,” he said, keeping his tone light.
“Indeed it is! And my, don’t you look rested, if I may say.” She blinked up at him, but he refused to take the bait.
Yeah, he’d slept well. Better than he had in years, even if it was on an armchair and ottoman. Something about being in Jane’s house, with her steady breathing lulling him, had brought a sense of calm and comfort he hadn’t had in… possibly forever.
“We missed you at turn down last night,” Mrs. Griffin continued, giving him a knowing look. “I trust you found the key under the urn and let yourself in? Hmm?”
Henry just gave a mild smile. “It was a late night.”
“Well, it must have been! I just happened to be sitting in the lobby until past midnight—too much excitement from the festival no doubt!—and I didn’t see you come in…” She fluttered her eyelashes and folded her hands in front of her blouse, waiting.
“As I said, it was a late night.” He smiled again and headed to the door, but Mrs. Griffin hurried to keep up with him, blocking his path.
“But then I saw you after breakfast, and I thought, oh, see, safe and sound. Nothing to worry about. He must have made it back last night after all and I just didn’t see him.” Her eyes glimmered.
