It was all Jack could do not to haul her into his arms and kiss her again, just to show her he meant it. And she had, too. Jack clamped a hand on her shoulder and guided her all the way upright. “First of all, I don’t consider you part of the hired help. You’re a professional, just like me. We’re completely equal in that regard. And furthermore, you know it. Second, I agree my timing could be a lot better.”
“It still can’t happen again,” she stipulated, just as firmly.
Given the fact that he had acted impulsively twice around her, and she had surrendered to the free-flowing desire between them just as easily, Jack wasn’t going to make any guarantees about not putting the moves on her again. And he didn’t think she should, either.
He dropped his hand to his side. “I don’t make pledges I know I can’t keep.”
“OH, MY WORD! Is that what Bounder cut her foot on?” Patrice gasped, half an hour and a great deal of searching later.
Jack held up the three-inch chunk of cedar with the razor-sharp edge to show his mother and Dutch. “It was buried halfway down in the layer of mulch. It must have been there all along. Probably just didn’t get chopped up to begin with.”
“I’ll call the landscape company first thing, let them know what happened, and have it all removed.”
“We didn’t see anything else,” Jack said. And once they located the problem, he and Caroline had both used heavy-duty gardening gloves and small rakes to conduct the search. “But it’s a good idea, just to be sure. Meantime, I’m going to talk to Grady. I know he recently had some sort of soft-surface material put beneath the swing set in his yard. Maybe that’s the way to go. Temporarily, we can have some sod put in around the play equipment.”
Patrice nodded in agreement, then looked at Caroline. “Good news. I was able to get the stains out of your clothes. But you’ll probably want to have it dry-cleaned. And I would be happy to do that for you…”
“No, that’s fine,” Caroline interrupted with a smile. “I’ll just change and be on my way.”
“Also, your cell phone went off several times.”
Caroline retrieved her purse and cell phone. All business, she scrolled through the messages. “It was Jericho. He wants to reschedule for seven-thirty tomorrow morning, here at the house.” She looked Jack square in the eye.
Clearly, she was still a little ticked off at him for refusing to promise not to kiss her again. Not that there would have been any point in that. They both knew, given the heat of the sparks between them, it was bound to happen again. And again…
“Can you handle eating cake that early?” she asked.
In truth? Jack could handle anything that involved spending time with Caroline. “Sure,” he vowed.
Caroline turned to Patrice and Dutch. “Jericho understands you can’t have a lot of rich food, but he’d really like you to taste the final selection before the order is made. So if you wouldn’t mind being here, too…?”
“No problem,” Dutch and Patrice said in unison.
And just that suddenly, Jack noted, the event turned into a family affair.
“DADDY, I CAN’T GO to school when Bounder is wearing her E-collar,” Maddie told Jack at the conclusion of the cake tasting and ordering the next morning.
Caroline paused in the act of helping Jericho clean up the last of the doily-covered paper plates. Jack’s daughter was wearing a rainbow-colored, polka-dotted shorts-and-top set, suitable for the warm spring weather, athletic socks and high-top sneakers. Her cheeks were pink with agitation, her eyes shimmering with emotion. Her dark hair had been brushed into a smooth, shiny cap that swung forward to curve against her chin. She was a seven-year-old hell-bent on protecting her beloved pet, and she looked adorable.
Maddie fingered the dog’s E-collar. The cushioned black fabric had been decorated with colorful stickers that kept falling off.
Caroline could see Maddie’s frustration over that, too.
Maddie glanced at Jack and pouted. “Bounder looks so sad, Daddy! Like she needs me to be here with her!”
Jack barely looked up from the screen of his BlackBerry as he scrolled through the messages that had come in during the cake testing. Finally, he looked up, appearing the picture of the distracted, somewhat harried-working single dad. A look that Caroline also found adorable.
Jack put his phone aside and knelt down to talk to Maddie on her level. “Honey, I am sure Bounder will be fine. She’ll probably fall asleep the moment you walk out the door, the way she does every day after you leave for school.” The matter apparently closed, as far as he was concerned, Jack stood.
Unconvinced, Maddie got down on her tummy and lay so she was face-to-face with her beloved pet. The two of them went nose to nose, with Bounder staring with a mixture of mournfulness and love into Maddie’s big eyes. “See, Daddy, she is begging me to stay because she doesn’t want to be alone!” Maddie complained.
Jack looked at his mother for help.
“Honey, normally I would stick to Bounder like glue, but Dutch and I are going to Houston this morning.”
Jack did a double take.
Apparently, Caroline noted, this was the first time Jack was hearing about that. He wasn’t particularly pleased.
“For the weekend?” he asked.
Today was Friday.
Patrice shook her head—a definitive no. Dutch said nothing. “We’ll be back this evening,” she promised.
Maddie tugged on Patrice’s blouse. “Can’t you go another time, Gram?”
“Maybe over the weekend or early next week?” Jack suggested.
Patrice didn’t even look at Dutch, she simply shook her head. “No, darling, we can’t. I’m sorry. We have to go.”
Jack continued to look at his mother with that same inscrutable look.
“We’re meeting someone this afternoon,” Patrice said in a clipped voice that, although pleasant, indicated annoyance at Jack’s third degree. “So we really have to go if we’re going to catch our flight.”
Finally, Caroline noted, Jack spoke up. “Business?” he inquired almost too casually.
“It’s personal,” Patrice said, averting her glance as if suddenly unable to meet her son’s eyes.
“I have someone I have to see,” Dutch said vaguely. And left it at that.
Goodbyes were said. Patrice and Dutch rushed out the door, with only her handbag and his car keys and wallet in tow.
“Well, I better get a move on, too.” Jericho gathered up his order notebook and portfolio of designs, leaving a few of the cake samples he’d brought with him on the table. “Thanks for the business,” he told Jack.
Jack nodded. “Thanks for accommodating us after last night’s crisis.”
Jericho nodded. The door closed behind him.
Tears trembled on Maddie’s lashes and she began to cry in earnest.
Jack knelt down.
“Someone has to stay with Bounder!” Maddie wailed. “We can’t leave her all alone after she got hurt!”
Caroline looked at the golden retriever’s sad face. Her heart went out to the ailing pet, too. That piece of wood Bounder had stepped on had been terribly sharp, going right up between her toes, slicing between two of the pads of her feet. The vet had prescribed antibiotics and pain meds to be taken temporarily in addition to bandaging the paw, but it still had to hurt. Worse, there was no way to really explain to the dog that it would get better in a day or so, although the vet had said complete healing would take a good fourteen days. Until then, the golden needed a lot of tender loving care, which would be in short supply, at least for the next seven or eight hours.
Caroline knew what she had to do. “I can stay with Bounder,” she volunteered.
It was hard to tell at that moment who looked more relieved. Jack or Maddie. “You sure?” Jack asked, gratitude in his voice.
Caroline nodded. “Most of what I have to get done today for your mother can be done either by phone or on my laptop. It’s no problem for me to keep an eye on Bounde
r while I work.” Caroline bent down to simultaneously comfort Maddie and gently pet her dog’s fluffy golden mane. “I promise you, I’ll take very good care of your puppy dog while you are at school.”
Maddie thrust herself into Caroline’s arms and hugged her fiercely. “Thank you so much!” she whispered, trembling.
“You’re welcome,” Caroline said, hugging Maddie back.
Finally the little girl let go. Caroline stood. Found herself looking into Jack’s eyes. Something unexpectedly warm and intimate passed between them. An answering thrill swept through her.
“Maddie’s not the only one who is grateful,” he said.
Caroline waved off his thanks self-consciously. “It’s no big deal.”
“Yes, it is,” Jack differed softly. He reached over to briefly squeeze her hand. “And I promise, I’ll find a way to make this up to you.”
ANXIOUS TO SEE how things were going on the home front, Jack let himself in at lunchtime. He found Caroline seated cross-legged on the living room floor, heels off. A throw pillow served as a desk on her lap. She had a yellow pad full of notes balanced on one thigh, her laptop computer centered on the pillow. Cuddled up next to her, spine pressed against Caroline’s thigh, was Bounder. Caroline was staring at the computer screen while absentmindedly petting the golden retriever.
Bounder looked at Jack. Thought about getting up and coming over, but then decided to stay where she was.
Jack couldn’t blame the dog. It looked like a warm and cozy place to be.
Looking as gorgeous as ever in a crystal-blue pantsuit that matched her eyes, Caroline made a teasing face and narrowed her glance at him. “Come to relieve me? Because you didn’t have to.” She bragged, content, “Bounder and I have already gotten a lot done this morning.”
Trying not to think how perfectly Caroline fit into his personal life, Jack set his BlackBerry and keys on the foyer table next to the stairs. Coming home to her like this was nice. He quirked his brow. And gave her his full attention. “Such as?”
She tucked a strand of copper hair behind her ear. “We ordered the wedding invitations your mom wanted and sent the guest list and the product to the calligrapher who will be addressing them. Your mom and Dutch have yet to decide on whether they want a DJ or a band, and have asked me to get sample performances of both to look at, which I think is wise.”
Figuring he couldn’t go wrong where Caroline was concerned by talking business, Jack edged close enough to see the faint imprint of freckles on her cheeks. “Which do you prefer?” he asked.
A smile spread across her face. “Both have advantages. A live band is always exciting and makes the event feel special. With a DJ, we can control the sound quality a little better, and provide a good mix of tunes—oldies but goodies for your mom’s set, alternative for the younger, and country for just about everyone, since it’s illegal to live in Texas and not like country music.” Caroline paused, meeting Jack’s eyes. “It’s really up to the individuals involved.”
Jack grinned. “You like your job,” he observed.
“Some days, yeah. It can be fun making people’s dreams come true.”
“And other days…?”
“Occasionally, I have a client who is a pain.”
Like me, Jack thought.
She looked at the take-out sack in his hands. “What do you have there?”
Trying not to think about fulfilling his most recent wish and kissing her again, Jack set the bag down next to her. He had promised her he would pay her back for her generosity this morning, and he was. “The rumor is you are wild about Southwestern chicken salad for lunch.”
Caroline peeked playfully at the plastic-topped containers. The two salads looked generous and wonderful. They were also identical. She grinned. “Does it have guacamole-ranch dressing and tortilla strips?”
Jack offered her a hand up. “You betcha.”
Caroline tightened her fingers in his as she rose graciously to her feet. A tingle of awareness swept through him as soon as they were eye to eye. “That’s really sweet.” She flashed a grateful smile. “You didn’t have to do this, though.”
JACK, HOWEVER, seemed to think he did.
Jack picked up his bag and led her through the kitchen toward the deck. “Were you going to leave Bounder to go get lunch?”
“No.” Ignoring the flush of awareness she felt at seeing him again, Caroline stepped outside. She knew this was a way to repay her kindness to his family. But to her, it had that “first date” feel…. Which was ridiculous, really, since she had declared they weren’t going down that road, at least not right now. Not until the wedding was over…
“Raid our fridge?” Jack persisted.
“Uh, no.” Caroline appreciated the beautiful, temperate spring day, the fact that Jack was standing right beside her.
“Then you were stuck,” Jack said, opening the umbrella.
Caroline wrinkled her nose, not willing to concede the point, or allow herself to be vulnerable to him in any way. “Unless I ordered something delivered,” she said back, maintaining a casual tone.
Jack held out her chair, paused. “Did you?”
Trying not to think how handsome Jack looked, with his dark hair gleaming in the April sunshine, Caroline took the seat offered. “I hadn’t gotten around to it yet,” she admitted, glad the open umbrella offered respite from the bright midday sun.
“Good.” The spring breeze ruffled Jack’s hair as he laid out the packets of napkin-wrapped silverware next to their plates. “Because I should have told you earlier I’d bring lunch. Would have,” he amended with his innate protectiveness, “if I’d thought of it at the time.”
Caroline shrugged, unwilling to admit how glad she was he had shown up to liven up her day. “You had your hands full just getting Maddie out the door.”
Jack conceded ruefully, “She can be a pistol.”
Caroline lifted the salads and two bottles of water out of the bag, and then set it aside. She pressed her index finger against her chin in a parody of thoughtfulness. “Hmm. I wonder who Maddie takes after,” Caroline teased.
He clapped a hand to his chest, pretending to be wounded. “Surely you’re not insinuating…?” He mugged comically.
Caroline grinned back. Still holding his eyes, she allowed facetiously, “Your mom may have told a couple stories.”
Jack settled in the chair opposite her. Their knees brushed accidentally as he attempted to get comfortable, sending another wave of heat soaring through her. “Such as?”
Caroline spread her napkin on her lap. “Your quest to keep your dad working at his job as long as possible after he got sick.”
Jack looked momentarily taken aback she knew that. He shrugged, as if it were no big deal. “The school district wanted to force my dad into an involuntary sick leave slash early retirement as soon as he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease. They thought he wouldn’t be able to teach senior high science anymore with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. So I rallied the student body and started petitions, and made enough of a ruckus that parents and the local press got involved. Eventually, the school board and the attorney representing the district reconsidered their initial decision, and let my dad stay in a classroom, where he continued to teach for several more years. Some of it in a wheelchair, but he loved his work.”
Caroline’s admiration for Jack grew. She reached across the table and gently touched Jack’s arm. “And you and your mom, apparently.”
Jack nodded slowly. “He was a good man who suffered more than he deserved at the end.”
Caroline understood enough about the debilitating disease—which was hallmarked by a slow-moving paralysis that eventually affected speech, swallowing and breathing—to know it was devastating, not just to the patient but to everyone around them. She sent Jack a compassionate glance. “How long was he sick?”
Jack worked the top off his salad. “Eleven years.”
Caroline added guacamole-ranch dressing to hers. “And you were h
ow old when he was diagnosed?”
Jack sprinkled on the thinly sliced tortilla strips. “Fifteen. Twenty-six when he died.”
Bounder came to the glass door. Jack got up and let her out so she could join them on the deck. “It must have been hard for you.”
Jack’s expression turned brooding. He sat back down. “It was a lot harder for my dad. My mom endured a lot, too. She really loved him and it was hard for her, seeing him suffer.”
Caroline imagined that was so. “She said that was when she started her perfume business in a big way.”
Jack nodded. “She had always mixed up fragrances for herself and for friends on a part-time basis, but with Dad no longer working and medical costs mounting, she had to do something that would bring in money and still allow her to be home and near him. So she started drumming up business by advertising and writing articles for newspapers and magazines.”
Caroline recited what Patrice had told her. “Which in turn is how you got into electronics.”
Jack chuckled, embarrassed by what he obviously sensed had been a glowing recitation, and ran a hand through his hair. “Mom really has been talking.”
“What can I say?” Caroline teased. “She’s proud of you and your success.”
Jack chuckled. “Dad wanted to set up a laboratory for Mom in the walk-out basement of the home I grew up in, which was unfinished at the time. We didn’t have the money to have it done professionally, and he couldn’t help, so he talked me through the layout and instructed me on all the wiring and lighting. We added an intercom system so he could communicate with her, even when she was downstairs working.”
Caroline took a bite of spicy chicken. “Sounds fascinating.”
“For a kid still in college?” Jack laughed as the memories took a positive turn. “It was incredibly exciting and satisfying. Anyway, from there we moved on to installing satellite, upgrading the interior wiring, putting together computer networks, linking our home computer and my mom’s business, and trying to set up a home security system, which had a ton of bugs but was eventually successful.”
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