Meant for Love

by Christine Kingsley

  Lissa knew better than to open herself up like this. She wanted to maintain their friendship, not ruin it and make things awkward. Things had been bad enough after that first kiss.

  She stood up and tried to focus on the mountains of work ahead of them now that they were both in this Save-the-Store campaign together.

  “Yes, I'm Mr. Kincade,” she heard Jesse say.

  Unable to help herself, Lissa walked quietly to the doorway of the office, tilting her head so that she could hear the conversation. She briefly thought better of eavesdropping but shoved the thought aside when she heard the other person speaking. It was the same woman who came in last night!

  "Oh! But I'm sure they said that he owns the supply shop." Lissa wondered why she needed to speak to Jesse's father so badly and who “they” were.

  “That’s right, this is my store.”

  "I'm sorry, I'm confused. Mr. Kincade should be someone in his fifties or sixties. Is there another supply shop in town?”

  Jesse laughed. "Sorry, this is it. You must be thinking of my father, Gerald. I'm Jesse."

  There was an uncomfortable silence that stretched on for several moments and Lissa couldn't restrain herself any longer. She popped her head around the corner to see what was going on. The woman had a look of bewilderment on her face coupled with what looked to be…shock?

  "I had no idea," she stammered. "I mean, I just assumed…" Her eyes darted nervously around the room, and she appeared to be at a loss for words. It was all very strange, just as odd as it had been last night, and Lissa couldn’t begin to imagine what the deal was with this woman. Why was she so upset over the fact that Jesse was the one at Kincade instead of his dad?

  Just then the woman's eyes settled on Lissa and she realized she had been caught eavesdropping. Trying to play it off as if she were just coming out of the office, she strolled casually up to the counter and leaned on one arm. "I don't think I caught your name last night." She offered her a friendly smile but the woman only seemed to clam up more.

  "That's because I didn't offer it." Taken aback, Lissa shifted her wide-eyed gaze to Jesse in shock. What on earth? Jesse appeared just as surprised as she was and didn't seem to have a clue who this was any more than she did.

  He offered her a stiff smile. "Is there something that I can help you with? My father has pretty much retired and I’m in charge now. Anything you need here, I'm sure I can handle."

  The woman frowned and shook her head, immediately withdrawing into herself again. "Thanks, but no. I'm pretty sure that your father is the only one who can give me what I'm looking for." With that, she turned and hastened towards the door.

  When she was gone, Jesse looked at Lissa quizzically. "You've seen her before?"

  "Yes, she came in here last night. She was asking for Mr. Kincade, and I assumed she meant you. Though, what she was looking for, I have no idea. The whole encounter was just as bizarre as this one just now."

  Jesse shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I don't have time to worry about it right now. I need to go check on some things outside to get ready for the next delivery. When I’m done you can continue briefing me on all of your ideas.”

  He gave her a smile, tilting her off balance once again, but she shook it off, needing to remain focused. He seemed to have moved on from what happened—or rather, what hadn’t happened—in the office so she needed to as well. Or perhaps it had all been her imagination in the first place. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d confused fantasy for reality where Jesse was concerned.

  For the next several hours, Lissa ignored all of her regular duties and focused entirely on her plans for the clothing shop. She couldn't believe that no one had thought of this before. It was a great idea and just want Willow Valley needed. The town was so small that they only had a couple of mega-chain discount stores and several locally owned shops, but they didn't have a dedicated boutique just for women. So many women shopped online or made trips to the larger city an hour away that she knew everyone would love having their very own place to shop right in town.

  A little later that afternoon, Jesse poked his head in the office. “Want to grab some lunch?"

  Lissa had been so wrapped up in her planning that the last few hours had passed by in a blur. Now she realized she was, in fact, ravenous. "Yeah, that sounds great."

  "Well, come on then. Let's lock up and go grab something."

  "But there's no one here to run the store." Jesse was never one to leave the store unattended.

  He shrugged his shoulders. "It'll be fine. Now come on."

  Well, that was new, but if he wanted to take her to lunch, who was she to object? Grabbing her jacket, as the air was still a bit chilly out, she followed him out to his truck. She settled herself in the passenger seat and buckled up.

  "Where to?" She figured she’d let him decide since it was his idea.

  "How about we stop in at the diner? I could use some greasy food today." Lissa laughed. The man could put away food like there was no tomorrow, yet he still stayed just as muscular and fit as he had been years before. It just wasn’t fair! Lissa wasn’t one to deny herself a good greasy meal, but she had to put in some extra time on her walks around town when she did.

  They sat down at the restaurant and ordered, discussing business ideas the whole time. Jesse really seemed to be on board with the new plan. She knew that he hadn't really wanted to sell the business, and the fact that she’d found a way salvage his legacy filled her with pride.

  They discussed their plans all through the meal then got milkshakes to go. When they pulled back up at the store, Jesse turned to her, his eyes suddenly guarded. "Lissa, about earlier—"

  She cut him off. "Please don't go there. Let's forget it." So it hadn't just been her imagination that he’d seemed like he was about to kiss her. But right now she couldn't handle hearing the same old story yet again. She didn't want to hear one more word from his lips about how they could never be together.

  She hopped out of the truck before he could say anything else and unlocked the store. It didn't appear as if they had missed any business. Hopefully that was something that would be changing very shortly. At least she had this new venture to take her mind off her hopelessly unrequited love for Jesse Kincade.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Late in the afternoon, Jesse told Lissa to go ahead and go home for the day. She tried to hide her exhaustion, but she looked absolutely worn out, no doubt due to her staying up the previous night working on this idea. For him.

  Well, he rationalized, not just for him. But a small part of him liked to think so, even if her real motivation was simply that the store had become such an important part of her life that she didn’t want to lose it.

  He watched her leave, a smile creeping across his face at the way she walked, always with a bounce in her step, even when she was dog tired. She was so full of life, and he realized how glad he was that they would still be together on a daily basis. It may have been selfish, but he wanted to keep her around, even though he knew that he was no good for her.

  Just after six, he closed up shop and headed over to his parents’ house. As of last night, his father and mother thought he was selling the store, or at least that he wanted to, and he couldn’t wait to tell them the good news. Pulling up to his childhood home in one of the elegant historic neighborhoods of town, he sat in his truck for a moment staring at the old Victorian-style house. It gave off a deceptively calm and welcoming appearance. He never knew what he was going to walk into in there.

  Sometimes when he was growing up, he hadn’t even wanted to go home, for fear of what may be waiting for him. Would tonight be like one of those old familiar nights when his father drank too much and yelled at his mother until she was in tears? Or would it be the opposite, like one of those nights when they were so angry at each other that there was nothing but stony silence, so oppressive that Jesse had stayed locked in his room trying to ignore the reality of his family life?

  Sighing and trying to keep his m
ind firmly in the present, he pushed the truck door open and strode up to the front porch and knocked on the front door. Some people might find it odd that he felt the need to knock on his own parents’ door before entering. Nothing at all like what it must be for Lissa, he mused. He could barely fathom what it must be like to have a family like hers. He was all stiff formality waiting for someone to let him in, and it seemed to Jesse that was indicative of his relationship with his father. As he was growing up his father had never shown him affection, and hardly any encouragement either. He often wondered if Charles Kincaid had only left the supply store to him because he was the one and only heir.

  Just then the door swung open and his mother greeted him with a warm smile, pulling him inside and wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. Denise Kincaid was always happy to see him, and while he loved her, even to this day he harbored some negative feelings towards her because she had never stood up for him growing up. When his father had laid into him, she had merely stood back, afraid that if she intervened he would turn his wrath on her. Though he had never hit his wife or children, Jesse had often wondered if it would come to that.

  In spite of it all, and always trying to be the good son, he patted his mother on the back and kissed the top of her head.

  “I can’t believe you’re here two days in a row,” Mrs. Kincaid declared. I usually have to wait weeks to see you, yet here you are two days in a row.” She beamed up at him. By her demeanor, he guessed she and his father had not had much interaction during the day. He wondered how they were getting along now that he was retired and they were forced together more. Now that he thought about it, the last few times he had been over his mother seemed to be in decent spirits. Perhaps his father was mellowing out in his old age.

  “Where’s Dad?”

  His mother looked at him warily. “He’s in his office. Now, Jesse, I hope you aren’t here to talk more about closing the business. You really upset him yesterday.”

  Jesse couldn’t stop the wave of irritation that washed over him, and he spoke without thinking. “Well, if he had run his business properly there at the end, then we wouldn’t be in this predicament in the first place, would we?” He regretted the words almost immediately as he watched his mother’s shoulders slump. “But no, don’t worry, I’m actually here with some good news. Why don’t you come in with me and hear for yourself?”

  He gave her a reassuring smile at the bewildered look on her face. Then he turned and headed down the long hallway toward his father’s study and lifted his hand to rap on the solid wood door.

  “Come in,” his father said formally through the closed door.

  Jesse pushed open the door and stepped into the study, his mother tiptoeing in behind him hesitantly, almost as if she were afraid to come in. She hadn’t always been that way, surely. If only his mother had been able to stand up for herself during her long marriage to his father, he was certain that she wouldn’t be so meek and fearful now. But that was the woman she had become.

  “I have some great news, Dad.”

  “What, you came to your senses and decided not to sell the store?”

  Jesse forced a smile as he nodded. “Yes, in fact, that’s—”

  His father barged ahead. “Well, it’s a damn good thing. I worked too damn hard all my life, giving everything I had to that business, for you to go and throw it away. It’s about time you understood what it takes to be responsible enough to run a business.”

  Jesse closed his eyes briefly and clenched his jaw, willing himself not to say something that would make this even worse than it already was. It was all too easy to fall into the trap of engaging him in a futile fight. Why did his father always have to make everything into an argument? Couldn’t they have a normal conversation for once?

  “I came by to tell you that Lissa came up with an amazing idea that will help us pull the store out of the red and help us get back on our feet.”

  His father gave a derisive laugh. “You don’t need to do anything but keep on doing what we’ve always done. And you sure as hell don’t need a woman’s help. Kincaid Supply will do just fine on its own.”

  “No,” Jesse said, increasingly annoyed despite his resolve to keep calm, “it won’t, Dad. I don’t think you realize just how bad things have gotten. When I told you last night that I needed to sell, I was dead serious. If not for this new idea of Lissa’s—” he was sure to emphasize that point, as he didn’t share his father’s outrageously dated opinion that women’s only place was in the kitchen, “—and there’s still no guarantee that it will be one hundred percent successful, we’d have no choice but to sell.”

  His father leaned back in his chair and regarded him through lidded eyes. Jesse could tell that he was gearing up for a full-on battle. “Lissa stayed up half the night talking with her sister and they came up with a fine solution.” Too late, he realized his mistake. Not only was he presenting a woman’s idea to his chauvinist father, but he’d carelessly admitted that she was aware of the trouble the store was in.

  “You mean to tell me that now the Winters women have gotten wind of these so-called financial struggles that our store is having?” He slammed his hands down on his oak desk and pushed to his feet, anger blazing in his eyes. “You know those women couldn’t keep their mouths shut if their lives depended on it.”

  Jesse felt the hot fire of fury rising him, obscuring all of his common sense, and with it the last of his ability to rationalize with Charles. “Don’t you dare start in on Lissa! She’s been in charge of running everything behind the scenes for how long? Yet you probably expect that she only knows how to answer the phone and make coffee. In case you haven’t noticed, she does a hell of a lot more than that, and we wouldn’t be able to do it without her. She’s devoted her entire life to the store, and now she’s come up with the only way that I can see to save it. So I don’t want to hear you speak badly of her again, are we clear?”

  His father narrowed his eyes at him in speculation, then tilted his head and arched a brow in mock-expectation. “Go on, then. What’s this grand idea?”

  Jesse wanted to lash out more and let his father know just what he thought of him, but what was the point? It wouldn’t change a thing. And the business was, in fact, his now. His father couldn’t change his mind about what he and Lissa were doing even if he wanted to. He didn’t even have to tell his father, but he’d chosen to out of respect, and out of the mistaken belief that his father would be happy that he’d found such a way to save the store.

  Ready to be done and get out of that house before he suffocated, Jesse gave the briefest summary he could of Lissa’s idea, wanting to keep it to a minimum. Better to not give his father any more ammunition to unload on him.

  “Well, isn’t this just great?” He sat down in his chair and regarded Jesse with a look of contempt. “After all my hard work and all the years I poured myself into this business, you’re going to turn it into some ridiculous women’s shop?”

  Jesse squared his shoulders and stared his father down. “I should’ve known you would have this reaction. You should just be grateful that I’m trying my best to salvage the mess that you’ve made out of this business. But you know what? It’s mine now, and I’ll do whatever I damn well please with it.” So much for trying to get out gracefully. He’d been pushed too far at this point, and he was hanging on to his temper by a very frayed thread. “If I want to sell it, I will. If I want to take a great idea and run with it, then that’s my choice as well. I just thought you might like to know.” With that, he started to turn and walk out of the room but was suddenly stopped in his tracks by the memory of the mystery woman that had come by earlier. He turned back and faced his father, studying him carefully. “By the way, there was a woman in the shop today asking for you.”

  Behind him, he heard a sharp intake of breath and felt his mother stiffen. He’d forgotten she was standing there, and he felt bad for the way he’d phrased it. Her reaction was to be expected, as now that Jesse was older, h
is father’s philandering throughout the years was no longer a secret. He gave his mom a sympathetic look and shook his head slightly.

  “She was young,” he clarified. “I would say in her mid-twenties. Anyway, I didn’t know if you were expecting someone. She came into the shop asking for you, and she’s obviously from out of town. I didn’t get her name, but if she comes back in, do you want me to give her your phone number?”

  His father stared at him blankly. “I guess so. I don’t see why not. Though I have no idea what some out-of-towner may need with me.” For once, he actually believed his dad’s story.

  His business there done, Jesse turned back and headed out of the room and toward the front door.

  His mother rushed after him. Just before he got to the door, she grabbed his arm. “Jesse, I need to talk to you.”

  Jesse turned to his mother, concerned by the urgency in her voice. “Sure, Mom. What is it?”

  She stared up into his eyes, hers full of worry. “Now, please don’t take this the wrong way. The last thing I want to do is try to tell you how to run your life or the business. Your father does that enough for the both of us. But I’m sorry, I just have to get this off my chest.”

  He gave her a gentle smile. He hated that his mother felt that she couldn’t speak freely with him. That it was out of line to offer her opinion. “Mom, you can say anything you like to me. You know that.”

  Denise took a deep breath and appeared to relax, but only slightly. “Like I said, please don’t take this the wrong way. But I just can’t help but wonder, do you not think it might be better to go ahead and sell the business?”