by Jen Doyle
Deke was staring at something over her shoulder. A smile came to his face, and she whirled around as she heard...
“Jesus. Here it is, not even three whole weeks later, and I find her in another man’s arms.”
“Jack.” She gripped the edge of the bar, not wanting to read anything into him being here, especially as there was something in his eyes she’d never seen before. She forced herself to stay still.
“Can I talk to you for a minute?” he asked.
Her chest felt far too tight. “Okay.” She turned to head down the hallway to the office, but he grabbed her hand and pulled her the other way.
“Outside,” he said, his eyes smiling.
Too suspicious to smile back, she said, “Let me get my coat.”
Two minutes later she was zipping up her jacket and following him out the front door of the bar. “Um, hi, Mrs. Lansing,” Lola said, a little surprised to see the older woman waiting for them.
With a dog. A gorgeous black lab, but still.
Was he kidding?
Ignoring her, Jack took hold of the leash. “Thanks, Mrs. Lansing, I can take it from here.”
“Please do not tell me you got us another dog.” Hurting him wasn’t enough. This time she might actually kill him.
Undeterred, Jack said, “I didn’t get you another dog—I got me one. Four and I wanted the extra company.”
Lola was unable to keep her eyes from narrowing.
“Lola, meet Raven,” he said, adding, “She’s a she, just in case that isn’t clear. I know you don’t need more boys around.”
“I also don’t need any more dogs,” she said, even though just yesterday she’d stopped by the pound to see what they might have. “And anyway, I thought you said she wasn’t mine.”
Still ignoring her, Jack continued, “She’s three years old and is entirely house-trained. She failed Seeing Eye dog training, but is otherwise perfect. She loves kids and has a mean growl if anyone comes close to them who isn’t supposed to. Which, if you insist on keeping your doors unlocked, is a very good thing.”
Lola refused to smile, even as Raven cocked her head and looked up at her.
Well, okay, fine. She held out her hand so that Raven could sniff it. Still... “She’s a dog.”
“Yes. Well...” Jack took in a deep breath as he looked down at her, before turning to the dog. “Raven, stay.” He seemed a little nervous as he put the leash down, but relaxed as Raven obeyed. “I was afraid that wouldn’t work,” he admitted.
Really? She was about to say something to that effect when he suddenly laid his hands on her cheeks and drew her up to him. His mouth covered hers and it was like she could breathe again for the first time in a month. She let her eyes close as his tongue broached her lips, and his hand grasped the back of her neck more tightly. She wanted to cry and laugh at the same time.
Then he pulled back and let go. Taking a few steps away, he said, “Sam offered me a contract.”
Digging her nails into her hand, she said, “I know.” She couldn’t get her hopes up. She wouldn’t compromise. “Five years, they said on the TV.” Too long to keep her heart on hold.
He looked at her in surprise. Then he smiled. “Keeping tabs, huh?”
She frowned. “You know I am.”
He came to her again, right up close, and she fought the instinct to step back.
“I’ll give you the inside scoop.” He put his hand in her hair. “I said no.”
Her mouth fell open. What? Had she truly just heard him say that? “Your dad is going to be thrilled to hear that.”
He twisted a strand of her hair around his finger. “Oh, I already told him,” Jack said, smiling. “I called him from the plane. Wanted to be the one to tell him so that he got the full story, straight from the source.”
Now Lola’s heart was pounding. “And that story is...?”
Jack didn’t so much as move a muscle, and yet she could feel the way his soul opened up and drew her in. “There’s this woman, you see. And I love her too much to make her wait that long. I can’t wait that long.” He bent down and brushed her lips. “It turns out I am built to love like that. Who knew?”
She knew. Her heart threatened to burst out of her chest. But it seemed too good to be true.
Maybe it was too good to be true. And she had too much to lose if this was just some momentary lapse. She did believe in Jack; wholeheartedly. But she needed a little more before she’d willingly let him into her house again—into her boys’ hearts.
“Tell me what that means, Jack,” she said. “Spell it out to me.”
Rather than deter him, though, his smile broadened. “There’s my Mama Bear. Goddamn, does that turn me on.”
“Jack...” she warned.
“It means,” he said, laying a kiss first on one cheek and then the other, “that I’m going to tell Sam I’ll consider one year, with maybe an option for another two, but only after I talk it through with you.”
She closed her eyes. Dave had re-upped once upon a time without talking to her—she’d left him the next day, driving all the way back to Inspiration. He’d had to take two days’ leave to follow her, and only barely escaped without her skinning him alive. She’d lived in Inspiration from that moment on. “It’s a start.”
“And I’ve talked to Nate about signing on with the Academy once I’m done.”
“You have?” Now that surprised her. It was baseball, yes, but not the way she’d expected him to continue.
He nodded, and his smile disappeared as he took a step back. “I know that it might be too much to ask to be with the boys again, so I was thinking maybe I can rent the room at Mrs. Lansing’s until you’re ready. Or maybe Nate’s old apartment.” Then he took both of her hands in his, and brought them to his lips. “I know I need to prove myself. To earn my way back—”
“You don’t,” she said, her voice suddenly rough. “Need to prove yourself, that is. Or earn your way back.” Her chest was tight again, but this time in a good way. “There’s just one condition.”
The air went out of his lungs. She could see the relief in his eyes and it humbled her.
“Name it,” he said. “Anything.”
“The dogs are yours to deal with.” She had enough on her hands with the boys.
His smile was huge. “Mrs. Lansing has already agreed to take care of Raven for me until I come back.” His smile dimmed. “Except on Bingo nights.”
Raven’s ears perked up at the sound of her name.
Lola sighed. If it was just Bingo nights... “I think maybe we could work something out.”
He cupped the back of her neck and pulled her to him. “Anything else?”
She maybe hummed a little when he nipped at her bottom lip. “Laundry. You will be solely responsible for the laundry.”
With a deep rumble of a laugh, he said, “Every—” He gave another nip. “Single—” Then a bit of a lick. “Day.” One more kiss and he consumed her entirely; she finally gave in. Couldn’t wait to give him every single part of her, upstairs in their private little nook, with the moonlight streaming over the fields below.
He pulled back. “I’m sorry it took me so long,” he whispered, tugging a little at her hair so that she was looking up into his eyes. “But I love that house. I love your boys.”
“And the dogs,” she added.
“Yes,” he said, laughingly. “And the dogs.” Then he leaned in and rested his forehead against hers. “But mostly, Lola McIntire, I love you.”
Epilogue
Six months later
Lola sat on the porch of her new house, looking out over the fields as the sun set. It was late August, humid and hot, the ice-cold beer in her hand perfect. The sounds of her boys and their dogs running around in the backyard made her cry a little bi
t, but in a good way. The high-pitched chatter of the triplets being interrupted by happy yips from the dogs and an occasional shout from Silas warmed her heart, especially as there—always there—came the deeper rumble of Jack’s voice as they all played.
Since peace never lasted for long around here, it was only another few minutes before the entire brood came barreling around the side of the house, yelling and laughing as they chased a whole bunch of balls around the grass, one for each dog and each boy, Jack included. He’d convinced her to fence in the yard so that she could do this very thing, sit on the porch and not worry about one of the boys running into the road after a stray ball.
Or, as he’d put it, “To sit with you all wrapped up in my arms, while we watch the boys playing all around us. Plus I like the idea of you and a white picket fence.”
Not that she’d sit there wrapped up in his arms while the boys were anywhere within sight. She’d only just begun to let him kiss her in front of them. On the cheek. One time she’d let him hold her hand. She’d debated with herself for weeks about letting him move in with them, especially since they weren’t even engaged yet—not that she was hinting, because she wasn’t. She’d trusted him to come to tell her when he was ready to love her, and she trusted him enough to know he’d give her a ring.
It had been such an intense season for him and Nate, though, and, with both of them retiring at the end of it, this last run up to the playoffs was too important for her to even bring up the subject. And, yes, although her moral code had clearly not been up to her neighbors’ scrutiny, she was out here in the country now, with only Nate and Dorie close enough to even be considered neighbors. They were living in sin, too. It was just that Lola had the boys, and at least being able to say she and Jack were getting married meant something to her. She wanted it to mean something to them, too.
“Mom!” one of the triplets said, and she was suddenly caught up in a vortex of boys, dogs and man.
She couldn’t tell if the smile on Jack’s face was due to spending the last few hours with the boys—he had to go back tomorrow, so he’d gone full-out after picking them up from school—or the full knowledge of what she’d do to him tonight in this very chair after the boys went to sleep and before he headed back into town.
She smiled, too. “What have you all been up to?”
When James started to answer, Jack said, “Uh-uh. Remember, buddy?”
“It’s a surprise,” the others all said in unison.
“A surprise, huh?” she asked, allowing them to take her hand and pull her to her feet while Jack stayed down at the bottom of the steps.
Looking quite happy with himself, he nodded. “It’s a good one, too.”
With a glance over her shoulder, she let them lead her to the barn doors, younger boys and dogs practically dancing around her as Jack and Silas each took hold of a door.
“Close your eyes, Mom,” Silas said, his eyes sparking with as much delight as Jack’s.
Giving Jack a piercing glare, she grumbled, “If there are ponies on the other side of this door, I will seriously have to hurt you.”
For the first time ever, he leaned over and kissed her on the lips right there in front of her sons. Just a quick peck and a murmured, “No ponies, but I am entirely happy to talk about you playing cowgirl anytime.”
“Jack!”
He grinned as he took his place back by the door, ignoring the boys now chattering about ponies. “Ready, Si?” Then he started counting down from ten, the boys all joining in on the last few numbers as the doors opened.
“Oh, my God,” she gasped, at the hundreds—no, thousands—of flowers, and strings of lights throughout the rafters. “Do I want to know how you got those lights up there?”
“All you need to know is that no boys were on any ladders at any time,” Jack said, laughter in his voice as the boys whispered feverishly behind her. “Close your eyes,” he said into her ear.
What she really wanted to do was see what the boys were doing behind her, but she supposed she would soon enough. So, with a frown, she did as Jack asked.
“Okay,” he said after another minute of more whispers back and forth. “Turn around, and then on my count of three, you can open your eyes.” He turned her around gently and then the heat of him was gone. “Three, two, one.”
She opened her eyes to see... “Oh.”
All of them were lined up in front of her, the boys and Jack, all on one knee.
“Mama Bear,” Jack said, clearing his throat. “I wanted to make some whole big speech about coming across the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met on the side of the road one day and how falling in love was something I never thought I could do. But it kind of turns out I think I was already gone the second you told me you’d change your own damn tire.”
Lola came out of her teary fog enough to say, “I didn’t swear in front of my kids!” She even hoped that was actually true.
He continued, “And it’s not just that I am built to love like that.” He smiled as she cocked her head in question. “It’s that I was built to love you.”
“And me!” James said, jumping up and handing her a flower.
“Me, too,” Emmet said, doing the same.
“Me, three,” Luke said, and now the three of them were standing around her.
“Si?” Jack said, and Silas stood up, pulling his hand out from behind his back and opening up his baseball glove to reveal a small back box. “Thanks,” Jack said, taking the box and wrapping his arm around Silas’s shoulders before releasing him.
Si came around to Lola’s side, and nudged her left arm. “It’s time for you to put your hand out, Mom,” he said.
“You should probably stop crying,” Luke said.
“I can’t,” she whispered.
Si rolled his eyes. “They never do.”
With maybe a tear or two in his eyes as well, Jack laughed. “So what do you say, Lola? You think you might be willing to marry me?”
Her hand was shaking as he slid the ring on her finger.
“We helped pick it out,” James said.
“We’re on there, too,” Silas said, pointing to the smaller stones on either side of the square cut diamond in the center. The very large square cut diamond. “See?”
“I do,” she said. “You did a really great job,” she told them. Then she turned to Jack and smiled through the tears now streaming down her face. “You, too.”
“Does that earn me a kiss for real?” he asked, smiling and pulling her down to sit on his leg as the boys all made gagging sounds.
Yes, it did. “Boys, I think it’s time for you to take the dogs inside. We’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Just a few?” Jack said, his hand going to her waist as they all took off.
“You better hope I left the door unlocked or it will be even less,” she said, smiling as his hand moved under her shirt.
“How do you feel about a Vegas wedding? We can head up and back in no time and then save the big party for later.” He nuzzled her neck. “Just hop in the car and drive out to the airstrip—”
“Right now?” she asked sharply, pulling away.
But he just tightened his hold around her and continued, “So when we come back I can just stay here with you.”
Stay here. As her husband. Tonight.
“The boys can come, too?”
Jack’s eyes sparkled as he broke into a slow smile. “Of course they can come. Where else would they be?”
She threw her arms around his neck as a laugh bubbled through her. “I feel really good about that,” she said, curling into him. “You are so very good with the quickies, after all.”
He pulled back and smiled. “Not just with the quickies.”
No, she thought, drawing his head down to hers. The long haul, too.
&n
bsp; * * * * *
Acknowledgments
This book was written at a very difficult time in my life and I am so grateful to everyone who has been a part of making it happen. Any mistakes are, of course, my own.
Thank you to Theresa (aka my mom), Jessica, Camilla, Jenny, Bobbi, Heather, Stephanie, Christine and Billy for reading earlier drafts and providing so much great feedback. A belated thank-you also to Camilla and Adam for providing a much-loved phrase in an earlier book.
Thank you to Kelley, for keeping everything running at home, and to Lucy, Will and James for being the best kids ever (most of the time; I can’t deny some of the scenes in this book may have been inspired by personal events).
Speaking of inspiration, I must apologize to Tim one more time for killing him off. But, Sheryl, I hope you didn’t mind the results.
And a huge thank-you to my agent, Sarah E. Younger, who has been an amazing support during this time, and to my editor, Alissa Davis, whose advice, as always, has been incredible.
I have been so blessed by having so many wonderful people with me on this journey, none more special than my parents, who have set the example for me of what true love is. We love you, Dad.
Also available from Jen Doyle
and Carina Press
Calling It
And stay tuned for No Regrets, coming Fall 2017
Also available from Jen Doyle
Called Up
Called Out
About the Author
Award-winning author Jen Doyle is a big believer in happily-ever-afters—so she decided it was high time she started creating some. Jen holds an MS in library and information science from Simmons College GSLIS and, in addition to her work as a librarian, has worked as a conference and events planner as well as a communications and enrollment administrator in both preschool and higher-education environments. (Some might say that there is very little difference between the two; Jen has no comment regarding whether she is one of the “some.”) She currently lives in the Boston area with her husband, three children and three sometimes problematic cats. Visit her at jendoyleink.com, Facebook.com/jendoyleink, Twitter.com/jendoyleink and Pinterest.com/jendoyleink.
