But upon reaching his house and going straight to bed as he’d planned, he soon discovered that sleep was the farthest thing lurking in the corners of his mind.
Beth had really laid one on him this time. Never in a million years would he have ever suspected her of coming up with the idea of him being the father of her child.
But because he was her friend, because she meant so much to him, he knew that he was going to do whatever he could to see to it that she got what she wanted.
With that thought in mind, Jack rolled over in bed and tried once again to fall asleep. But when the sun rose in the east early the next day, he was still wide-awake to see its first peek on the dewy horizon.
Beth rose the next morning, her spirit renewed, her thoughts focused on the details of her upcoming marriage to Jack. She had to find a Justice of the Peace. Someone who would be willing to marry them on such short notice. And they needed to get a marriage license, too. And she would need some kind of a dress for the occasion. Suddenly there were so many details to take care of.
Eventually Beth got around to calling her secretary at the small real estate firm she owned and told her assistant that she was going to be late coming in that day. Caught up with the details of her wedding and then the impending sale of a house whose owners had just signed with her agency, Beth’s entire morning whizzed by before she knew it. Her afternoon went by just as quickly and soon it was time to get ready for Karen’s party.
At precisely six o‘clock that evening, Jack drove up in front of her house in his ’57 red-and-whibe Chevy convertible. Several years ago he had bought the car from an elderly man who wanted to get rid of it, and since then he and a friend had restored the vehicle to mint condition. He drove it occasionally, but only when the weather was spectacular and he could put the top down. Otherwise, he drove a four wheel-drive sports wagon. But for summertime parties like the one they were going to tonight, Beth liked when he drove the vintage automobile.
She watched as Jack hopped out on the driver’s side and strolled up her sidewalk, wearing jeans and a hunter green crew neck pullover shirt. His only naw—and it wasn’t even a flaw at all—was that when he appeared preoccupied with his thoughts, his eyebrows pulled down into a frown.
“Rough day at the office?” she asked as she joined him. They reached his car and she climbed in.
Jack snorted as he closed her door, then went around to his side. “You could say that. The president of the company has decided that we need to reorganize our sales campaign overseas.”
“That sounds major,” Beth replied.
Keeping his hands on the steering wheel, Jack tossed Beth a quick glance. “Let’s just say this new ad campaign isn’t something I’m looking forward to,” he said. “Today, for instance, I was supposed to run an errand at noon, but I ended up being tied up in a meeting.”
“Jack, you should’ve called me,” Beth exclaimed. “I could’ve done the errand for you.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said. “But I already depend on you too much as it is.”
He had never before minded depending on her to run his errands for him. Why now all of a sudden? she wondered. Unless...
Suddenly all the negative feelings she’d had concerning what she was asking him to do for her rose up, shaking her confidence. She could think of only one reason for the abrupt change in him. He was having second thoughts. Plain and simple. She had asked too much of him last night, and now he was trying to find a way to tell her.
Her and her big dreams of becoming a mother. What if she had ruined everything between them? What if she’d pushed him so far that he said he didn’t want to be her friend any more? What was she going to do if that happened?
Hot, burning tears sprang to her eyes. Not wanting Jack to see them, she stared straight ahead and prayed the wind whipping across her face would blow them away. She should have known that asking him to be the father of her child was going too far. Any sane person would have realized that. But not her. Oh, no. She had to push things between them until they were way over the limit.
Shame on her, for ruining the best thing in her life.
They sat in silence the remainder of the trip.
When finally they reached their destination, Jack pulled his car into a parking spot at the curb in front of Karen’s house, then killed the engine. “Hey,” he said, placing his arm on the back of the seat and playfully squeezing her neck, “are you upset with me about something?” Grinning, he leaned forward and waited for her answer.
Without bothering to look his way, Beth glanced off in the distance. “Jack, why didn’t you call me to run that errand for you today?”
“What?” he said quizzically, as though he didn’t have the slightest notion what she was talking about. But he seemed to quickly recover. “Well, like I said, I knew you were going to be busy. You’d said so yourself last night.”
“I wasn’t that busy,” she countered.
He shrugged. “How was I to know that?”
“You would’ve known if you had called and asked me about it.”
“Beth, what’s with you?” he asked, giving her a fiown. “Are you upset with me because I didn’t call you today? Is that it? Is that what this is all about?”
Beth folded her arms at her waist. “Of course not. Besides, I’m not upset with you. I just think you should have called me to run that errand for you. Frankly I think you had a reason for not doing so.”
Jack pulled his eyebrows back into a frown. “You know what I think?’ he began. ”I think this whole discussion isn’t really about me at all. I think it’s about you. I think you’re having second thoughts about using me to father your baby, and you just don’t know how to tell me.”
Beth’s mouth dropped open. “That’s absurd,” she said, her eyes growing round in disbelief. “Besides, I’ve already tried thinking of other possible candi-dates—believe me, I have—but I can’t think of anyone else. Can you?”
Stunned, Jack was unprepared for answering a question like that. In fact, he was unprepared for any of this. He was just shooting his mouth off because Beth was acting so weird. But since she bad seen fit to ask him such a question, he quickly decided that it might not be such a bad idea for him to try to find an answer to it and get them both off the hook. He wanted to be off the hook, didn’t he?
Of course, he did. He hadn’t asked for this job.
“Uh...how about that new guy?” he said offhandedly. But a moment later, he found his heart was pounding wildly as he waited anxiously for her reply. What if she thought someone he suggested could be a possible candidate? Then what?
Beth frowned. “What new guy?”
“You know, the one you just hired for your agency?”
“Allen Smith?” she asked, giving Jack an incredulous look.
“Yeah,” Jack replied. “Him.”
“Why would you think of him?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess ’cause he’s new in town.”
“He’s also married, Jack, with two kids,” Beth said dryly.
“Oh, I didn’t know. Well then, how about James?”
“James? James, who?”
“You know, the guy that just moved onto your street. He isn’t married, is he?”
“I don’t even know his last name.”
“You could always find out,” Jack replied.
Beth gave him a withering glare.
“Okay,” he said noncommittally, “so you don’t like any of my suggestions so far. Then how about George Stills? He seems like a nice enough fellow. And you’ve known him for years.”
“He snores.”
Immediately Jack came up straight in his seat and widened his eyes. “And just how do you know that?” Beth smiled blandly. “I sold his girlfriend the Le-Blanc house on Oak Street last month and she just happened to mention that he snored.”
Jack released a deep breath. Much to his astonishment, he found himself thoroughly relieved by that bit of information. Actually, he never tho
ught he’d be so damned happy to hear that George Stills had himself a girlfriend—and that it wasn’t Beth. “Okay, I give up,” he said. “I guess you’re right. You’re stuck with me.” But in that moment, he found himself damn happy that she was stuck with him. He just didn’t see the importance of telling her how he felt. Knowing Beth as he did, she’d probably think that he was stepping over that line of hers—which, of course, he wasn’t—and she’d put a stop to the whole thing.
Well, if anyone was going to be the father of her baby, it was going to be him. Because there was one thing he could always be sure of: She and her baby would be safe with him.
Just then a couple of their friends pulled up behind them at the curb and immediately approached his car. “Hey, are you two planning to sit in Jack’s Chevy all night long?” one of them asked jokingly.
“We’re coming,” Jack answered. A moment later he opened Beth’s car door and the two of them followed their friends toward the party already in progress.
Jack knew he didn’t have a right to feel the way he did. But he couldn’t help himself. He felt that Beth had been entrusted to his care a long time ago—since they were kids, in fact—and even today, it was a responsibility he took very seriously. Not that he actually ever said as much to anyone. It was just something inside of him. Something private. Something he took pride in.
“Guess what?” he said to her in a cocky manner just as they reached the gate leading into Karen’s backyard.
“What?” Beth asked, looking up at him.
“You’re in luck. I don’t happen to snore.”
“I know,” she replied with a sassy little grin of her own.
Jack’s gut knotted.
This obligation he felt toward Beth might not be turning out half bad after all. He hadn’t even begun to let himself think much about the sex part of it yet.
But when he finally did, heaven help them both.
Chapter Four
After joining the party in Karen’s backyard, Beth began searching the crowd for her friend. At some point, Jack stopped and joined in on a conversation with a couple of his buddies. Finally Beth spotted Karen’s latest beau flipping burgers at the barbecue pit and hurried over to him. “Hi, Al. Where’s Karen?” Beth asked.
“Beats me,” he said over the sound of charring burgers as smoke bellowed up from the open pit. “Last time I saw her she was getting more ice for the drinks.”
Beth smiled. “Okay. I’ll find her.” A moment later she spotted Karen at the food table, filling an empty bowl with potato chips.
“Hi, Karen,” she said, walking up to her.
Karen whirled around. “Oh great, Beth, you’re finally here. I’ve been waiting for you to show. What happened last night? How did things go with Jack?”
Beth beamed. “He’s going to do it.”
“So you talked him into it,” Karen said. “I knew you would. Well, congratulations—not that I ever doubted for a moment how things would turn out,” she replied laughingly.
“I still can’t believe it’s true,” Beth answered, clapping her hands together. “Sometimes I think I need to pinch myself just to make sure that I’m not dreaming. I guess I’m paranoid, thinking he’ll change his mind.”
“He won’t,” Karen said flatly. “Not Jack. He knows that if he doesn’t help you, some other guy will, and he isn’t about to let that happen. Not if he can help it.”
Beth chose to sidestep her friend’s remark and said, “Since you were already having this party tonight, Jack and I decided it would be a good time to tell everyone what we have planned.”
Karen shrugged. “Well...that isn’t going to be necessary,” she said.
“Why not?” Beth asked.
Karen didn’t bother to look up from her task. “’Cause they already know.”
“What do you mean?” Beth asked in astonishment. “How could they already know? I haven’t told anyone yet—other than you.”
“Look, they know, all right?”
“B-but how?”
“I told them.”
Beth’s mouth dropped opened. “You did what?” she exclaimed.
“Look, you and Jack were running late for the party and all that information was just sitting there on the end of my tongue. I blew it, okay. And I’m sorry. I should’ve kept your secret to myself until you got here, but I didn’t. I told Melba and she spread the word around in nothing flat.”
“Karen, how could you do such a thing?”
Karen shrugged. “Hey, look, I probably did you a favor. Now you don’t have to stand there in front of everyone and try to explain yourself to them.” She turned and walked around to the other side of the food table.
Beth followed right on her heels. “But what if Jack had said no to me.”
Karen shrugged again. “I never thought of that. Besides, I knew he wouldn’t. Look, I really am sorry. I know I should have kept my mouth shut and let you tell everyone. I wish I could take it all back, but I can’t.”
“I can’t believe this,” Beth said as she sank onto a nearby wooden stool and tried to get her thoughts together.
Karen came over to where she sat. “I know you’re upset with me right now, and I really can’t blame you for that. But do you want to know what most of our friends thought about your idea?”
That perked up Beth’s attention. “Well...yes...of course, I do.”
“Well...” Karen began, growing all seriouslike, “at first, everyone was somewhat stunned by the idea that you were going to marry Jack and then use him as some sort of a sperm donor for your baby. But then, the more I explained—and the more they thought about it—they began to remember how much you’ve always wanted a baby of your own. After a while, several of them were even saying that it seemed only natural for Jack to be the father.” She shrugged. “Frankly I was impressed with their reactions. But then, everyone knows how close the two of you are.”
Suddenly, at that precise moment, a major spill of some kind happened in the kitchen and Karen was called away to supervise the cleanup. Taking into consideration what her hastily departing friend had just told her, Beth rose from the stool in somewhat of a daze and went in search of Jack.
Making a sharp corner into Karen’s house, she ran smack dab into a hard, solid frame. Instinctively she knew it was him. For whatever reason, he seemed to be in as big a hurry as she was.
“I’ve been looking for you,” she said breathlessly.
“I’ve been looking for you, too,” Jack said, his hands grabbing hold of her waist in an effort to steady them both. For a brief moment their eyes met and a surge of electricity passed between them.
Obviously stunned by it, Jack immediately dropped his hands from her waist and stepped back.
“Beth, everyone here at the party knows that we’re planning to get married,” he said.
“I know,” Beth replied, gazing up at him.
“How did this happen?” he asked in amazement.
“It’s my fault. I told Karen what I was planning to ask you when she came by my house yesterday afternoon. She decided to tell Melba, and Melba told everyone else—according to Karen anyway.”
Jack smirked. “Do you know that someone I don’t even know walked up to me a while ago and asked if it was true that I was going to be your sperm donor? And then she had the nerve to ask how you had come to choose me?”
Beth felt the blood drain from her face. “Oh, my goodness,” she said, “it’s gotten completely out of hand.”
“Look,” Jack said, “why don’t we do ourselves a favor? Let’s get out of here in one piece while we still can. We can always call our friends tomorrow and tell them what we want them to know.”
As far as Beth was concerned, that was the best idea she’d heard all night. “I’m game. What do you have in mind?”
He glanced up at the nighttime sky. “Well, since it’s such a nice evening, how about a drive in the country?” he asked.
“Oh, Jack,” Beth said, her face flushing with excit
ement, “that sounds like a wonderful idea.”
He grinned. “I thought you might like it.”
“I’ll get my purse.”
“And I’ll wait for you by the side gate. We’ll make our escape from there,” he answered.
“I have to find Karen first,” Beth said, “and explain that we’re leaving.”
“Leave that to me. Just get your purse so we can get out of here.”
She smiled knowingly. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
Beth hurried off to get her purse from inside the house. A minute later she met up with Jack at the side gate. “Did you find Karen?”
“Yeah.”
“Was she upset about our leaving the party?”
“She didn’t seem to be. I think she understood.”
“Jack...since we’re planning to drive out to the country anyway, could we please go by Wilibee’s pond? I haven’t been out there in years.”
Wilibee’s pond, Jack thought with a sudden, unexpected jolt to his system. It had been years, it seemed, since he had last thought about that place. It had been even more years since he and Beth had been out there together.
Wilibee’s pond. One of his most memorable occasions at the small, sandy-bottomed, fresh water pond had been when old man Wilibee caught him and Beth skinny-dipping together. How old had they been anyway? Ten? Eleven? He couldn’t remember anymore. All he could recall was that they had ridden their bikes out there one hot July afternoon and the idea of swimming naked had just evolved from their wanting to get cooled off from the heat. Beth, of course, hadn’t wanted to ruin her clothes because she knew her mother was strict about such things. They were just kids at the time and getting naked hadn’t seemed like such a big deal to them anyway. So they had simply removed all their clothes and dove into the cool water. It wasn’t long after when old man Wilibee had shown up in a tirade, saying that he’d just called their parents to tattle on what they were up to.
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