Juice dripped on the floor from Regan squeezing her cucumber slice so hard. Oh no, Anna had it bad for Casey. It was worse than she had ever imagined.
“What’s his wife look like,” Lacey asked. “Is she a dog?”
“Unfortunately, she’s very pretty. And her hair is to die for. I thought about changing my hair color to auburn like hers.”
“I can see why you’re attracted to a fireman,” Lacey said. “I saw some good-looking ones when our apartment building caught on fire. I was disappointed I didn’t need to be carried out by one of them.”
Anna sighed. “If you saw Casey, you’d want more than to be carried out by him. You’d go wild.”
“Maybe you could get him to your place away from the firehouse.”
“I even tried that,” Anna said. “I bought furniture I didn’t need at a warehouse so I could ask him to move it to my apartment. Here he asks the guys to help him move the furniture. I never got to be alone with him.”
“This is terrible but maybe you could get him drunk and take advantage of him. And of course, get pregnant.”
Anna said, “Casey’s not going to drink when we’re at the fire station. His father’s the fire chief and Casey wants to be chief when his dad retires.”
“Why did you become a firefighter anyhow?” Lacey asked. “It’s so dangerous.”
“To be around a lot of testosterone.” Anna laughed. “No, I just always wanted to fight fires but a lot of the times, we get called for other things. Like people actually do call us to get their dumb cats out of trees. It’s so unnecessary because cats will eventually come down without any assistance.”
“I hope you find another guy who excites you like Casey.”
“There is one and he’s available,” Anna said.
Regan raised her eyebrows while she looked at Shannon and Whitney. Whitney shook her head, wondering what other guy Anna was interested in. Shannon shrugged her shoulders.
“Who is he?” Lacey asked.
“That’s the problem. He was married to my cousin. She wanted the divorce, but I don’t know how she’d feel if I dated her ex.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it. He’s single now.”
“We both met him the same time. I thought he’d ask me out but instead he asked my cousin, Meredith.” Anna sneezed. “Excuse me.”
“Bless you.”
“Thank you. I was pretty young at the time. And get this, now he’s interested in Casey’s sister-in-law.”
Whitney’s jaw sagged as Regan mouthed, “Ben.”
Lacey said in a firm voice, “Don’t let that stop you. Is this sister-in-law even interested in him?”
“I trashed him quite a bit to Casey,” Anna said, “so I’m hoping he’ll tell her Ben’s not the greatest guy for her. I might have come on too strong with the negative stuff. If Ben finds out, he’ll be mad at me.”
“At least, you’ll get Ben’s attention and can apologize.”
“I did have a major crush on him. He’s good-looking. He has a little boy and he’s going to be a heartbreaker someday, just like his dad.”
“Anna, your time’s up. Good luck with the guy situation. I’d forget about Casey. You’re wasting your time on a married guy. I learned that the hard way.”
On the other side of the wall, Regan winked at Whitney and Shannon. She whispered, “Hey, I want Lacey for my massage therapist. She’s pretty terrific at giving advice.”
* * *
When the fireworks went off to celebrate a Reds homerun above the Ohio River, the crowd roared and clapped. Whitney let herself be caught up in the enthusiasm, jumping up from her seat to clap and whoop, cupping her palms around her mouth. She sat down, laughing, enjoying herself more than she had in a long time. When Jack had invited her to go to a baseball game on Wednesday, she’d hesitated even though she loved going to the stadium. They’d just gone out Saturday night. She wanted to take things slow and easy. But, in the end, she’d said yes.
And she was so glad she had.
Who was she kidding? She wanted to wrap her arms around him and kiss him until neither one of them could breathe. But she couldn’t smother his lips with hers during a baseball game. She took a quick glance at Jack. Regan was right — he did look a lot like Chris Pine. She wondered if Pine also loved baseball.
Jack tugged on her visor of her Reds baseball cap. “You look pretty cute in this cap.”
She took a bite of her nachos and cheese. “I like the eating part a lot at games.”
Jack glanced at the boy sitting a couple rows in front of them munching on popcorn. The delicious aroma of popcorn and butter drifted up to them. “I might have to buy popcorn too.”
“Please help me eat the nachos first.”
He dipped a chip in the cheese, popping it in his mouth. He licked off the melted cheese and salt from his fingertips. “I wish you hadn’t paid for the beer.”
“You bought the tickets. I wanted to pay for something.” She licked warm cheese off her finger. “So did you rescue any cliff climbers today?”
“Nope. I only rescue beautiful women on Mondays.”
“I’ll have to remember that. Since the pool’s open now and if it’s not too cold, we can go swimming after the game.” Why did she blurt that invitation out to him? Could she handle him if he got too intimate? She hated taking a step forward, then a step back again, but she was just confused about what she wanted from Jack.
“I’ll have to go home to get my trunks first.”
“I have several suits in different sizes.”
Jack smiled at her. “Do you collect trunks from your guests?”
She laughed. “No. Unless my mom did. People used to drop in a lot, and she’d invite them to go swimming with us. They didn’t have their suits. Mom bought a few girls’ suits and women’s and men’s in different sizes.”
“Bases are loaded. Bring them home.” Jack patted her knee. “Isn’t this fun? I love the Reds.”
“You’re right. This is fun. I’m glad you—”
“Hey, the kissing cam’s on us.” Jack wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close, covering her mouth with his.
She’d forgotten how they had a kissing camera to zero in on couples and when it happened, the pair usually waved or kissed each other.
She enjoyed kissing Jack back and hated it when he stopped. “You didn’t need to stop because the camera’s no longer on us.”
“I don’t want to spoil you.”
It occurred to her why he wanted her to switch T-shirts before the game. “You gave me a Reds’ T-shirt to wear to increase our chances of getting on the kissing cam.”
He shrugged. “Ben already got you on TV when you fell. I had to get you on TV again. I didn’t want you to think I’m a slacker here. And I managed it without you falling out of your seat.”
“We can’t have you being a slacker.” She glanced down at her red shirt. “Do I get to keep this shirt?”
“Only if you get me a baseball cap like yours?”
“It was my dad’s but it’s a deal.”
“So what’s happening with the TV show?” he asked. “I guess the camera on us reminded me how I might be seeing you on TV.”
“We haven’t talked to Cora or her husband, Jerry but Ben thinks they will like our proposal. He’s confident Cora’s ready to consider reducing her air time.” She watched a Red’s baseman run to home plate. “Hey, our team’s up a run.”
“That’s great news,” he said, “but I hope you’ll still have time to see me. Your show’s going to take a lot of work.”
“But I won’t be doing it by myself. I’ll have a lot of help from Shannon and Regan.”
“I’ll be happy to help you with anything,” Jack said. “I know having this show is important to you.”
Her eyes met his and locked. Jack Hensley was her type of guy, but could he take Rob’s place in her heart?
Chapter Fifteen
They never went swimming because the baseball game lasted
too long, and Jack had to get up early for work. Since he had time for several minutes of kissing before going home, Whitney decided a dip in the pool wasn’t missed.
The next morning Jack was on her mind when she drank her morning coffee. A part of her wished she hadn’t gone out with Ben. She’d given him the impression she liked being with him. She’d enjoyed his company and kissing him by the waterfall hadn’t been too shabby. Okay, he was a great kisser. But, Ben’s kisses didn’t do the same thing to her that Jack’s did.
Then Jack had entered her life. If she hadn’t been injured, she might never have met him in person. Well, Casey probably would’ve made sure the phone conversations developed into more between his friend and sister-in-law. Or she would’ve eventually got the courage to meet Jack in person. Right from the beginning, she’d enjoyed talking with him.
When the phone rang, she thought how cool it’d be if Jack was the caller. She was disappointed for a moment after she heard Ben say, “Hi, neighbor.”
“Hi, Ben.”
“I have some good news for you. I talked to Jerry after Cora’s open heart surgery—”
“Did the operation go okay?”
“It did. She has a new valve. I asked Jerry if he’d thought about trying a new talk show while Cora recovers…”
She heard the hesitation in Ben’s voice. Oh no, Jerry must not be interested in them doing a show in Cora’s place. “I can take it. What did he say?”
“He’ll talk to you and your sisters this Friday morning. He wants you to give him a call tomorrow. Do you have a paper handy so you can write his number down?”
She grabbed a pad off the counter. “Go ahead. I’m ready.”
After he gave her Jerry’s number, he said, “I’ll have to cancel our date for Friday night. Can I have a rain check?”
“I don’t know. It depends if you have a good excuse for breaking a date with the future producer of The Chick Gabfest Show.”
“Get this,” Ben said. “Anna called me and wants me to fly her to see Meredith this weekend. Believe me, I wasn’t going to break our date to take her, especially after she trashed me to Casey. But then Meredith asked if Adam could come visit her, so I decided I might as well fly Anna too.”
“I was kidding you. I completely understand. I’m sure Meredith wants to see Adam on Mother’s Day. That’s sweet of you not to hold a grudge and to take Anna.”
“Meredith didn’t realize it was Mother’s Day until I told her, but Adam’s excited she asked for him to come. He doesn’t see his mother enough. I’m always worried about him not having a mother on a regular basis.”
“Adam’s a well-adjusted child because you’re such a great father and…” She just remembered she’d never told Ben what they’d overheard Anna say about him at the spa. Should she tell him now?
“Keep going. I like receiving compliments from you.”
“Something just occurred to me about Anna. She might be using Meredith as an excuse to spend time with you. I took Shannon and Regan to the spa on Saturday, and Anna was in the room next to us. We overheard her talking to the massage therapist about you. Apparently she had a major crush on you before you married Meredith.”
“I don’t remember her showing any interest in me back then.”
“She was pretty young and you were obviously only interested in Meredith.”
“Thanks for telling me,” Ben said. “I wonder what she’s up to.”
She’d told Ben enough what Anna had said. Let Anna explain her actions to him on their flight together. She knew Regan would be happy to hear Anna wanted Ben to fly her to Seattle. It might mean that Anna realized it was time to forget about Casey and lavish her lust onto Ben.
“I better let you get back to work. Ben, thank you for talking to Jerry. I’ll let you know how it goes.”
“He seemed pretty interested.” Ben sighed. “He already knows who you are. He’s another person in Cornett who saw the tape of you falling. I didn’t realize how many people watch the news until that guy caught us on his camera. People are still mentioning it to me.”
She laughed. “I hope Jerry doesn’t want me to do any stunts.”
“He was impressed you were a producer for The Bold News in New York.”
“I owe you. I appreciate everything you’ve done to get us on the air.”
“It was no trouble. I enjoy helping you. I wish you were flying with me. Adam and I both agree you’re an awesome neighbor.”
“Well, it’s nice to be wanted. I hope all of you have a safe trip, and Adam has a good visit with Meredith.”
“Thanks for understanding. I need to get back to work. Have a good weekend. I’ll call you on Sunday evening.”
She had to call Regan first about the latest Anna news and about meeting with Jerry. Before she called him, she wanted to make sure Regan could go in the morning. Shannon shouldn’t have any problem since she didn’t have classes on Friday morning. Unless Tim scheduled her as a substitute teacher. Now that was a possibility.
But first, she needed another cup of coffee. With her caffeine in one hand, she carried the cordless phone in her other hand. Regan had a tendency to talk for a long time, so Whitney settled on the couch, getting good and comfortable for what could be a lengthy phone call. Eventually, Regan’s ability to gab would be a benefit because Regan could carry the TV show without her and Shannon ever speaking. She laughed. Now that would be one hell of a show with her news junkie sister rattling off all kinds of unrelated things. Or jumping up to do a stand-up comedy routine.
After Whitney took a sip of coffee, she speed dialed Regan’s number.
“Hi, Whit,” Regan answered after several rings.
“Are you busy?”
“Darn. Why don’t you ever call when I’m doing something exciting? I was just putting laundry in the dryer. I hate it when people call and ask what I’m doing and it’s something boring.”
Whitney laughed. “I didn’t ask what you were doing, but if you were busy.”
“Geez, Whit. Don’t get word semantic on me. It’s the same thing.”
“By the way, you’re never boring. Far from it. I have good news. Ben called and Jerry wants to meet with us this Friday morning. I didn’t call him yet to set the time because I wanted to make sure you’ll be free. If he should want us to come in the first thing, would you be able to get someone else to drive Lily to school?”
“My hot firefighter is off Friday so he can take Lily to school.”
“Did you ever talk to Casey about what we heard at the spa?” She knew that Regan had planned on telling Casey what Anna had said to Lacey. With going to the Reds game, she hadn’t talked to Regan.
“I did. He was angry about Anna’s trashy talk about him. He said how much loves me and Lily. He’s going to make sure Anna understands that he’s not interested in her and never will be. I’m the only woman for him, he said.” Regan laughed. “He was surprised that I didn’t attack Anna at the spa.”
“I was glad you didn’t punch her.”
“I gave you credit for keeping me rational,” Regan said. “And, of course, I told him how later I had second thoughts about attacking her when she said that I was pretty and had great hair.”
“That was cool when she complimented you, and I think Anna might be giving up on Casey. Hopefully, she’s going after Ben. She’s asked him to fly her this weekend to Seattle to see Meredith.”
“Maybe she really wants to see her cousin.” Regan giggled. “Or give Meredith a candle and jewelry in person.”
“I think she’s using seeing Meredith for an excuse to spend time with Ben.”
“He’s so into you. Anna’s wasting her time.”
“If you’re trying to make me feel relief, you’re not succeeding.” She exhaled a deep breath. “I don’t care if Anna and Ben should get together. But I don’t think Anna’s good enough for him. I just want to be friends with Ben. Nothing more.”
“I know you’re crazy about Jack, but don’t be too quick to blow B
en off. You might change your mind later and decide you like him better than Jack. Ben’s a super guy with a great kid.”
“Okay, big sis, I’ll keep seeing Ben which won’t be hard since I see him all the time in his backyard.” Actually she’d been seeing a lot of Ben’s bare chest. He’d been going shirtless which made her a bit suspicious. Was he flaunting his body, hoping she’d get excited? When Regan made no comment, she continued, “I’ll keep my options open.”
* * *
It was Mother’s Day, and tears pricked Whitney’s eyes. She was afraid to look at Shannon and Regan, so she stared ahead at their parents’ grave marker. She missed her mom with her whole heart. Since she stood between Regan and Shannon, Whitney grabbed their hands on either side of her. “I’m glad we came together.”
“Me too,” Regan said. “Our sister pact is helping me to get through my grief.”
Shannon sniffed. “I can’t imagine not having you two to share this with.”
“Mom and Dad would be thrilled about our TV show,” Whitney said.
After Jerry had watched their pilot and talked to them a few times, he’d offered them a contract for three months. If it went well, a new contract would be drawn up for a year with benefits and hopefully, more money. Although Whitney had laughed when Regan had said to Jerry, “I can’t believe I’m going to get paid to talk.”
During their meeting, they learned Jerry liked it that Shannon taught high school and college students. He’d said she was used to being in front of a roomful of people. He also liked that Regan was a paralegal. He thought having a show with three sisters would convey a strong sense of family. He explained to them how he was big on family oriented programs. He wanted them to go for a homelike atmosphere on the set.
Shannon turned to her. “I’m glad we’re doing this instead of the online magazine. Dad would love we’re getting paid and not losing money. I hated telling him my tutoring business failed.”
“I hope people watch us so we don’t get canceled.” Cora had a safety net because of her husband, but now that their Chick Gabfest talk show was becoming a reality instead of a dream, Whitney felt nervous energy—just like she did when she had produced The Bold News.
Whitney in Charge Page 14
