by Janice Lynn
Smiling, he promised, “You’ll see.”
* * *
A knock at her apartment door.
She grabbed a big floppy bag into which she’d put her sunscreen, lip balm, cellphone, an extra set of clothes, and keys, and stepped out of the apartment.
Running his gaze over her, Jack whistled. “You must sleep a lot.”
Confused, she furrowed her forehead.
“You truly are beautiful and if it’s sleep...”
“Ah, I get your drift.” She shot him a wry look. “For the record, I would have gotten more except someone called and woke me up this morning.”
Spotting Jessica, she stopped walking and turned to look at him, eyes huge. “What are those?”
He grinned. “Kayaks.”
“Kayaks?”
“I borrowed them and the trailer from Jeff.” When she still looked clueless, he added, “He works in the lab.”
Ah, that Jeff.
She continued to stare at Jack a bit in awe. “As in borrowed for us to get in and float around?”
He chuckled. “That’s the idea so don’t go all Titanic on me.”
“Kayaking,” she mused. “That’ll be another first for me.” Climbing into Jessica, she exhaled a deep breath. “Hope I don’t ruin your day by totally screwing this up. I mean, I won’t purposely Titanic Jeff’s kayak, but what if I accidentally sink it? I’ve never been into sports or athletic kind of things. If this requires skills of any type, I’m going to disappoint you.”
“The only way you’ll disappoint me is if you let the voices in your head keep you from giving this a go,” he told her. “I enjoy watching you do new things, showing and teaching you new things.” He stood next to the passenger side of the Jeep, brushed his hand over her cheek and grinned at her. “Besides, I’m not worried. You’ve got this.”
Jack really was good for her, so nurturing and positive. She’d been trying new things since her divorce but being with Jack made those new experiences seem like baby steps. Then again, she’d had to start somewhere, and baby steps had been huge at the time.
She flashed a big smile that she hoped conveyed how much she appreciated him, then ordered, “Get in Jessica, Jack. You promised brunch and I’m dying of hunger.”
Laughing, Jack got in the Jeep.
* * *
“That was amazing!” Taylor gushed as she helped pull her kayak out of the river. They’d driven about thirty miles to a rather rundown-looking shack where they’d loaded up their kayaks and themselves on an equally rundown-looking bus without air-conditioning. Kayaks strapped down on top, the bus carried them, along with a dozen others, upstream and dropped them off for them to make their way back to the base where they’d started.
“You know I’m going to want to go again,” she continued, amazed at how good her body felt, how good she felt.
Exhilarated. That was it. She felt exhilarated.
“I’m counting on it,” Jack assured her, winking at her before turning his attention back to the kayak.
She glanced toward where he’d repositioned her kayak on the bank and tingles of awareness hit as she took in his baggy wet shorts, life jacket that covered a sleeveless T-shirt that had to be plastered to his chest, and a backward-facing baseball cap on top of his head to semi-contain his hair that curled and snaked to just past his shoulders. A scruffy shadow beard shadowed his face.
His arm muscles bulged as he gave the kayak one last tug forward.
When he turned toward her, Taylor didn’t attempt to hide her thoughts. She doubted she was that good an actress anyway.
The blue of his eyes darkened as he stared into hers. So much emotion in those depths. So much everything, she thought.
His brow lifted in question.
She’d already been caught and wasn’t sure she cared that she had been. Lowering her gaze, she slowly took in all of him. From the width of his shoulders to the scrumptious chest hidden beneath his life jacket, to his narrow waist, hairy legs, and water-shoe-clad feet.
Sexiest river rat she’d ever seen.
A small smile twisted her lips as she met his eyes again.
“Whatever you’re thinking, hold that thought forever,” he ordered, his dimples dug deep into his cheeks.
Forever?
She hoped not.
But for the next month before he left for new adventures, yeah, she just might.
* * *
“Where are you staying while you’re in Warrenville?” Taylor asked as they finished packing up their kayaks on the small trailer he pulled behind Jessica.
Jack made sure the straps holding the kayaks in place were properly tightened, then glanced up. “I’ve rented a farmhouse a few miles from the hospital. It’s too big for one person but was furnished and available for a few months while the deceased estate is settled so it works. Plus, I like the wide open space.”
“Oh?”
“Nothing around but rolling hills, farmland, and cows with a few barns, silos, and far-off neighbors. Once the estate is settled, the house and personal property will be auctioned off. At least, that’s the plan of the former owner’s children who inherited the place. I don’t think they’ll have any problems. It’s several acres and has a nicely stocked pond for fishing.”
“Fishing?”
He arched a brow. “Something else you’ve not done?”
“I wasn’t hinting for you to take me,” she said, looking cute in her braids and wet clothes.
Cute? Not exactly the right adjective to describe a woman as naturally beautiful as the one who’d barely been able to contain her enthusiasm during their ride down the river.
“I didn’t mean to imply that you were, but I’d gladly take you fishing, Taylor. Just say when.”
“Soon,” she replied, glancing around to make sure they had everything packed and nothing remained on the gravelly ground.
“I look forward to it,” he assured her, walking around the trailer to where she stood. “I had a great time today.”
She grinned up at him. “Even though I lost my paddle and you had to tow me until we caught up with it?”
Jack’s fingers itched to brush the tiny stray hairs back away from her face, to bend down to kiss her pert pink lips.
He cleared his throat, then said, “I’m just grateful that tree branch was low enough to snag it or I’d have been towing you the whole way.”
Not that either of them had had to do a lot of paddling as the current had been good on most of the river with only a few areas where they could idly float.
“Yeah, so was I until you teased me to watch out for snakes on low-lying branches.”
He chuckled. “Hungry?”
“Starved.”
He’d packed snacks for them on their river ride, but breakfast had been a long time ago and they’d burned off the energy from their snacks hours ago.
“Want to see the farmhouse? I have steaks in the fridge I could grill for us.”
Surprise lit her face. “Seriously?”
Not sure why she’d question his invitation, he asked, “Something wrong with steaks? I know you eat meat because I’ve seen you.”
“No, not that. I just meant us going to your place for you to cook for me. It seems...” she shrugged “...such a normal thing to do.”
He laughed. “Normal? Are you implying we don’t usually do normal?”
“Nothing about what I do with you is normal, Jack.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“It’s meant as one and, yes, steaks sound delicious. I like mine medium to medium-well done. Please and thank you.”
* * *
Jake’s rented farmhouse was like something straight out of a picture book. An old but well-maintained white siding house with a navy roof, shutters, and trim work rested down a gravel road that was fen
ced on both sides. Cows dotted the pasture on both sides and to the left was the pond Jack must have been referring to.
The family must still have the land farmed because corn grew off in the distance as did some other crop. Taylor wasn’t sure what it was. Soybeans, perhaps.
“Like it?” he asked as he pulled to a stop in front of a porch that sprawled all the way across the front of the house. A half-dozen rocking chairs were painted to match the house’s navy roof and welcomed any visitor who wanted to spend time rocking away their cares.
Taylor loved it all. Warm, inviting, functional, like it had belonged here a hundred years and would be here another hundred.
“What’s not to like?”
“If I ever settled down, I’d want it to be somewhere like here,” Jack mused, glancing around the place with obvious admiration.
Taylor’s gaze cut toward him.
“Mountains less than an hour away for climbing and hiking,” he continued a bit wistfully. “Lots of lakes for skiing and swimming. Rivers and streams everywhere you look. Caves for exploring. Green in the spring and summer and amazing colors covering the hills in the fall. Snow in the winter for sledding and skiing in the mountains.”
“I take it you like Tennessee.”
He grinned. “Between all the big music festivals in Nashville, Memphis, Chattanooga, Knoxville, and the one in Warrenville, I end up spending most of my summers here, especially now that my mom is in Tennessee permanently.”
Such a strange life he led. “Where is home, Jack?”
He shrugged. “Some music festival far, far away.”
“An actual place?”
He shook his head. “Not really. Just a metaphorical locale that represents all the different places that made up my childhood.”
“You never lived in one place that feels like going home when you visit?”
“Only time I ever lived in one place more than a few months was the year I stayed with my grandparents.” He didn’t look pleased about the experience.
“You lived with your grandparents?”
“A torturous half-year until everyone realized how miserable I was, being stuck in the same four walls all the time.”
She couldn’t imagine four walls containing Jack.
“At first, they put it down to me needing to adjust to the change, but I inherited their need to be on the move. Eventually, they realized their mistake and had me back on the road with them.”
Whereas her parents lived in the same house they’d moved into when they’d got married and would likely live there until they died. She wasn’t sure they’d ever left her hometown other than to attend her graduation from college. Even then, they’d not stuck around but had driven back home that very night, rather than sightseeing or spending time with her.
They were happy, content with their lives, so she didn’t begrudge them what worked for them.
It just wasn’t the life for her.
As the thought entered her head, Taylor smiled that she’d moved away from everything she’d known other than Amy, that she’d sought a new adventure, that she was living a different life.
Her life.
Mostly she was grateful for Jack because he was the greatest adventure she’d ever encountered.
“Come on,” he said, climbing out of the Jeep. “Let’s get the grill fired up.”
Taylor’s clothes had mostly dried on the ride to Jack’s farmhouse. But she felt grungy and when he refused to let her help, saying he wanted to do this for her as repayment for the night she’d cooked for him, she asked to take a quick shower.
“You naked in my tub?” he asked, then, grinning, asked, “You think I’m going to say no?”
Rolling her eyes, she asked him to point her in the right direction.
“Better yet, I’ll show you.”
* * *
Having already placed his steak away from the flame, Jack turned skewered vegetables on the grill next to Taylor’s steak.
When she came to the backyard to find him, he glanced up.
She’d left her hair in her double braids and had changed into a different pair of shorts and tank top from the ones she’d kayaked in earlier. Her skin glowed a rosy pink, hopefully from her shower and not from too much sun. Her eyes sparkled, and her expression was soft, relaxed.
Relaxed looked good on Taylor.
Like it belonged, and she should wear it more often.
The back of the house had a patio and grill and if he cooked, it was usually there. Other than a few friends from work and Duffy a few days prior to Rockin’ Tyme, he’d never had company at the farmhouse.
“Something smells good,” she said, coming close to peek at the food on the grill.
“Yes, you do,” he offered.
“Ha, I probably smell like you because I used your bath wash.”
Lucky bath wash.
“Positive I’ve never smelled as good as you. This is almost done.”
“Yay. Something about being around you makes me hungry.”
“I know the feeling.”
Her gaze lifted to his and she smiled. “Oh?”
He nodded. “Being around you increases my appetite, too.”
“Um...guess we’re both just hungry people around each other, huh?”
“Apparently.” Jack cut into one of the steaks, making sure it was cooked somewhere between medium and medium–well done. “Perfect.”
“Unlike your raw one there.” She crinkled her nose.
Placing her steak on a plate, Jack laughed. “It’s called rare, not raw.”
She gestured to his steak. “Same difference, apparently.”
He put his sirloin on a plate then put a vegetable skewer apiece on the plates. “Dinner is served.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“I ATE TOO MUCH,” Taylor said, rubbing her belly. They’d cleared their dishes and had gone back outside to sit on the front porch.
She was sure Jack would have gone back outside, but she’d wanted to sit on the front porch. It had been so inviting. She wanted to rock.
So she rocked.
Jack was in the chair beside her but seemed more interested in watching her than in rocking his chair.
“Everything was really good, though,” she continued, not content to sit in silence. Surprising because she felt sure she could while away many hours on this porch and feel at peace, but at the moment silence toyed with her sanity.
When he still didn’t say anything, she frowned. “Jack, talk to me.”
“I’m listening.”
“Not the same thing as talking. It takes two to have a conversation.”
“What do you want to talk about?”
Ugh. Why did he have to ask her that? And what was she supposed to say?
“Who’s Courtney?” She wasn’t sure where the question had come from, but somewhere in the recesses of her brain, the name Duffy had thrown at Jack had been agitating her, refusing to go away.
If she’d thought the silence had been thick before, it was nothing compared to the current heaviness of quiet.
“Jack?”
“My girlfriend when I was seventeen.”
Okay. Not necessarily what she’d been expecting him to give as his answer. Why would Duffy have brought up a girlfriend from more than a decade ago?
“She had long black hair, the bluest eyes you’ve ever seen, and I was convinced gravity itself couldn’t hold her down she was such a free soul.”
Ugh. She did not want to feel jealous of his teenage girlfriend yet listening to Jack describe her, hearing the admiration in his voice, green filled her veins.
“She sounds beautiful.” And Taylor’s voice sounded envious.
“She was.”
Was. Heaviness fell on Taylor’s chest. Was. Did that mean...?
�
�I fell in love with her before I even knew her name.” Jack sounded far away. “When she told me her name was Courtney, I knew she had to be lying because I’d have guessed Star or Rain or Cloud or Petal or something equally earthy, you know?”
She didn’t, of course, but he wouldn’t have heard her answer either way because he wasn’t with her. Memories of a woman he’d loved had hold of him, and he was far away.
“When I finally found my voice I told her as much. She laughed and told me I could call her anything I wanted. I told her my name, and with that carefree laugh she had she said, ‘Okay, Jack.’ I was sixteen at the time and she was eighteen. Age didn’t matter. Just being with her.”
His eyes closed and he paused a moment, seeming lost in his memories.
“She’d run away from home years before and had been working music festivals for cash ever since. Sometimes parking cars during the daytime, sometimes working food booths, sometimes doing Lord only knows what to make ends meet.” A short spurt of air came from his pursed lips. “I grew up around drugs and free-living, and was no saint, but Courtney got mixed up with some things better left alone. She hid it from me at first, but soon enough I saw the highs, the lows when she needed a fix. I hated it but was so in love with her I’d have done anything for her.”
Taylor wasn’t sure she wanted to hear more yet waited with bated breath for him to continue.
“We had been at a music fest in California for a couple of days and had another night to go. I was seventeen, almost eighteen by then. She was living hard. I don’t know where she got the drugs, how she afforded them or what she did to get them. Like I said, I didn’t want to know,” he admitted. “One minute we were dancing and living what I thought was the greatest life ever and the next she fell at my feet and never woke up again.”
“Oh, Jack. I’m sorry.” She was. Sorry for the pain she heard in his voice.
“We had argued about how much she was using on occasion, but she wouldn’t quit. Don’t get me wrong, I was using stuff better left alone myself, but even so I could see the dangerous tightrope she was walking. I should have made her get help. Instead, I was as addicted to her as she was to her next high, so I turned a blind eye. In the long run, it cost me her.” With tortured eyes, his gaze met hers. “I should have saved her, but I didn’t.”
