Never Try To Explain

by Donna McDonald

  Never Try To Explain

  Another Romantic Comedy With Attitude

  Donna McDonald

  THE PERFECT DATE, Book 6

  Copyright © 2018 by Donna McDonald

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is coincidental.

  Cover by MYST Partners

  Edited by MYST Partners and Madison Kamer

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Book Description

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Next Book In The Series!

  Excerpt: The Wrong Todd

  Book Description

  Chapter 1

  Other Books By This Author

  About the Author

  Acknowledgments

  Thanks to my niece, Madison, for her love and support of my work.

  Dedication

  This story is for all the woo-woo women in the world.

  Book Description

  All she wants is a friend. What’s wrong with that?

  Jellica feels a smidge guilty for the money Greg Skyler is spending on their date, but what did a man who wears sweater vests expect from a woman who wears crystals, burns sage, and teaches yoga? The two of them are never going to be the romance of the century. In fact, they have absolutely nothing in common. So why is Greg so surprised and hurt to hear she wants only to be friends?

  When Jellica finds out Greg’s hiding granite muscles under his buttoned up clothes, she realizes Mr. Accountant might have a little more game than she’d originally thought. Plus he’s kind to the boys and doesn’t chastise her for… well, for anything really. He just listens and cares and keeps trying to kiss her.

  Just when things start to look promising, her bullying ex-husband shows up out of blue and threatens a custody battle. To say she’s stunned by his accusations about Greg is an understatement. What kind of man has she been kissing? Is Greg a good guy or a bad guy in disguise?

  Before her mind can sort it out, Greg’s sister is stalking her, his mother becomes her lawyer, and Greg starts bossing her around in the nicest way possible. Plus he’s still trying to kiss her. And he’s a really good kisser. Talk about confusing…

  It’s obviously time for Jellica to pull up her big girl panties and take responsibility for how she feels. Of course it would be helpful to figure that out first. Greg really is a nice guy. And Jellica is a really nice girl, but is she willing to trust her heart to a man again?

  Sometimes nice guys—and girls—do finish first. And being friends and lovers is as perfect as you can get.

  Chapter One

  Jellica stared hard at the pictures on her refrigerator door. Except for the two varying colors, the model, make, and year of the two Subaru Foresters were identical. Unfortunately, even well used and with high mileage, she still couldn’t afford them. Sometimes being a poor single parent sucked and this was definitely one of those times.

  “Don’t look at it like that, Mom. Think of our pictures like your vision board. This is our version,” Eric said.

  Her son walked into the kitchen in time to catch the sad expression on his mother’s face that Jellica hadn’t been able to hide fast enough. She nodded at her eldest by two minutes, her heart not really into being a cheerleader for him this morning, but doing it anyway came with the mother job. “There’s never any harm in creating a positive focus. Putting it where we can see it every day is a great idea, Eric.”

  “It’s great because it was my idea,” Noah said loudly, barreling into the room with the force of a hurricane. “My ideas are the best.”

  Unlike Eric’s controlled lawyer-like demeanor learned from his brief years with his father, his younger twin brother’s energy more closely resembled a one-person demolition crew. God only knew where Noah had gotten it. His overabundance of energy was why, even without being able to properly afford it, Jellica had no choice but to let her whirlwind child play soccer… and football… and lacrosse with the rich kids at the private school halfway across town that hit her wallet hard.

  Whatever the sport, Noah never got to the out of town competitions without them recruiting a benefactor, but her determined son got up every morning and did a newspaper route before school to pay for what he could of the costs. Eric, her budding entrepreneur, worked three part-time jobs and she suspected he contributed the money from at least one of them to Noah’s sports fund. She’d often heard Eric spouting numbers to his brother and referring to the long-term interest that would be paid back when Noah hit the “big-time”—whatever that was in their young minds.

  Jellica hung her head and sighed. “You two are the best sons a woman could ask for and I’d do nearly anything to get each of you the car you wanted. But… you need new clothes again… and shoes… and…”

  Noah opened his mouth and stuffed in the last bite of toast from the breakfast he’d inhaled, picked her up, and hugged her hard until all the breath nearly left her body. He laughed as he swallowed while she wiggled trying to escape his hold. Both her sons were going to be large, strong men. They’d outgrown her in middle school, but it was only in the last year that she’d realized they really were going to one day be adults with lives of their own.

  Noah smiled into her eyes until they softened at his adoration of her. She knew he did that on purpose. What Noah didn’t know, and God—she would never tell him—was how much he looked like his father when he did it. Noah’s unabashed affection was one of the rare things capable of making her miss her betraying ex-husband.

  “It’s okay, Mom. We’re just doing what you told us to do. We’re putting our desires out there so the universe clearly knows what we want. The how will take care of itself, right?”

  Noah wasn’t really asking, she knew. He was just trying to make her feel better. They often tossed her own sentiments back to her—sentiments she sometimes actually managed to believe—at least on good days.

  Jellica snorted as she hugged her ever-optimistic son back. Noah was unstoppable. Thank God. And Eric was resourceful and smart. Given the fact their father was too busy with his new family to care about his old one… well, their positivity was all she could hope for in a home environment where she was the only role model they had.

  A horn honked and she was dropped abruptly. “Damn it, Noah…” Both boys chuckled at her rare swearing as she stumbled back against the refrigerator door. Noah grabbed his backpack and was out of the kitchen in a flash.

  “That’s Joe. Gotta run, Mom. We don’t want to be late for school. Last time we were late you lectured the principal about the irrelevance of time and we got busted on by our friends for a month even though we didn’t get detention. We can’t go through that again and keep our man cards,” Eric declared, pulling her away from the refrigerator and kissing her cheek before he left.

  Snickering over their negative motivation for being on time for their cla
sses, Jellica watched them both go with a surprisingly heavy heart. Her boys were her one constant source of true and unconditional joy. She knew she should be counting her blessings for their excellent grades and attitudes, but some days… well, some days being grateful was just too damn hard.

  She put her hand on the pictures of their dream cars and sniffled back tears because she knew she wasn’t going to find a way to pull off buying them. Her meager income didn’t allow for multiple cars, much less car insurance for two male teenagers. She couldn’t even see herself coming up with enough money to get one car they could share.

  God knew her own car needed repairs that she kept putting off to pay for other things. Since the divorce, saving money had been incredibly hard. Her one bright financial spot was the paid-for house her lawyer ex-husband had reluctantly provided for the three of them. In exchange, she’d promised to never ask for more money. Their good grades would have to net the boys scholarships for college if they planned on going because child support was non-existent. Their father gave them money for birthdays and holidays, but that was all. The rest of their upbringing had been up to her. Her metamorphosis from trophy wife to struggling single mother had been difficult one, but she’d survived. They were sixteen now and nearly ready to leave home. She mentally patted herself on the back daily for managing all these years to put food on the table.

  One thing was certain. Life had turned out differently than she’d thought it would back when she discovered she was carrying twins. She’d been happy then—or at least she’d had the illusion of a happy life. Then a decade later she’d been shockingly replaced. Her husband had walked away from her and the boys and never glanced back over his shoulder to see how they’d survived his abandonment.

  Sometimes Jellica thought the shock of her ex’s defection fuelled everything she did in her life, including her sporadic dating sprees that always led nowhere.

  And today was supposed to be the day she began fixing her lack of a genuine love life. Fat chance of that happening. Jellica suspected Dr. Della Livingston was already prepping to record The Perfect Date bio that was required for Mariah’s dating database. To her, the recording seemed like making a ten-minute long infomercial about herself.

  Maybe she should just capitalize on the opportunity and seduce some stuffy, geeky, and obviously date-deprived rich businessman. Maybe her grateful rich guy would shower her with money and gifts and… yeah, that would be great, wouldn’t it? She could finally hire a plumber to fix Eric and Noah’s bathroom so the boys didn’t have to shower in hers. Being a damsel in distress wasn’t her thing, but hey… wouldn’t it be nice to have some help for once?

  “Sure it would. Then we could all live unhappily ever after in the rich guy’s big expensive house where my kids probably wouldn’t be allowed to sit on the furniture or get dirt on the floors. What are you thinking, Angelica Quartz? That would be as bad as remarrying their jerk of a father,” Jellica mused aloud.

  She closed her eyes and groaned at the awful idea, willing her mind to chase it far, far away.

  When she opened her eyes again, Jellica looked at the refrigerator once more, huffed over the idea that she couldn’t find a way to get her sons a car, and immediately rejected the idea of taking advantage of some unsuspecting rich guy.

  There were no real Prince Charmings in the world—she well knew that at her age. And even if there were still a few out there, she would never be able to keep someone like that happy. Her horrendous divorce and what she’d given up financially to have full and complete custody of her children had taught her that wealthy men lived life by their own rules.

  No. She was better off with her financially poor and sexless life.

  Chapter Two

  Her nervousness embarrassed her. Without thinking about it, Jellica bit her freshly glossed bottom lip and instantly regretted doing so. God only knew what kind of chemical crap was in the slick, shiny stuff they’d layered onto her mouth at the salon.

  “I’ve done a lot of crazy things in my life, but this is a new level for me.”

  Della tilted her head to study the beautiful woman putting her dating fate into her hands. “Are you nervous about making the recorded bio?”

  Jellica felt her shoulders lift and fall. “Sure, I’m worried about that… and the whole computerized dating thing. Choosing a date this way just seems so…”

  Della laughed. “Lame?” she suggested.

  “I was going to say unnatural… but lame works,” Jellica admitted, drawing a wide, wicked grin from the very savvy looking Dr. Livingston.

  “I thought arranged dating was lame too until a month ago. Now I’m engaged to the guy Mariah picked for me—well, technically picked. Her matches work out more often than they fail,” Della reported.

  “Right,” Jellica said, not really believing any match could ever work out for someone like her. She ducked her head to ponder Della and Elliston’s relationship. She preferred something spontaneous and romantic… not something so… calculated. Della had said they’d traded favors or something and fallen in love along the way. Love lightning had never struck her and she didn’t expect it to ever do so, but if it did, she hoped for something a lot better than a business deal.

  “Okay. Let’s start with the basics. Say your name and anything you want your perfect date to know about you.”

  Jellica drew in a cleansing breath and let it out slowly. When she saw the recording light flashing, her throat tightened so she repeated the calming action. When it didn’t alleviate her choppy breathing, she silently cursed Georgia Bates under her breath. Unfortunately, that didn’t help either.

  During her dear friend Georgia’s stupid potluck dinner, signing up with Mariah’s online dating service seemed like it would be a fun way to start getting out in the dating scene more. Five pounds of makeup and what had to be a whole bottle of hairspray later, she was completely disgusted with herself for participating.

  After her divorce, she had vowed to never, ever use such artifice again for a man. Her ex had expected her to put her makeup on first thing in the morning and keep it on all day. If she had a nickel for every time her former husband had asked if she intended to put on some makeup, she’d be a wealthy woman well able to buy cars for both her sons.

  What in the world was she doing here? This was a monumental waste of time and she had zero time to waste in her life. New shoes for her sons weren’t going to drop from the sky. New clothes would be needed soon too to cover the long legs both her boys seemed to have inherited from their maternal grandfather. She needed to be looking for a way to pay for those necessities instead of trying to impress a bunch of rich guys who would all run screaming from her chaotic, crazy, and all-too-real life.

  “Jellica?” Della prompted, snapping her fingers. “Where did you go?”

  “Same place as always and yet nowhere important,” Jellica admitted with a dry laugh.

  She sighed and pulled herself into a more upright and balanced position in the seat. Posture did a lot for a person’s confidence. Didn’t she teach that in all her yoga classes? She took one final deep breath—finally done with her own personal pity party.

  She’d agree to do this. So, she’d do it.

  “Sorry. I’m ready now.”

  “Okay. Start when you want,” Della ordered.

  Jellica smiled at the flashing light. “Hi. My name is Angelica Quartz. Friends call me Jellica. I’ve always thought the shortened version suited my energy better.” She wiggled a bit in her seat, caught herself squirming, and forced her body to stillness once more. “Among the many things I do for a living, I teach yoga which is a lifelong passion for me.”

  “I love yoga. I’ll have to sign up for some of your classes. What else do you do?” Della asked.

  Jellica shook her head, laughed, and waved away the question. “The list is too long for this bio. Yoga is the one constant occupation for me. As for the rest… well, let’s just say I’m a free spirit when it comes to making a living.”

&
nbsp; “Okay,” Della said with a smile. “What kind of perfect date does a free spirit need to find?”

  Jellica giggled over Della’s teasing. “I don’t think I have a lot of preconceived notions. I’m certainly not looking for someone to mirror all my personal traits back to me. An opposite personality would be just fine as long as he had an open mind and adored me enough to be flexible.”

  “Can you clarify what you mean by ‘flexible’?” Della asked.

  Jellica rolled her eyes a bit at Della’s attempt to draw her out, but answered anyway. “If a guy wants to fold his socks and line them up in his dresser drawer, that’s his business. I toss all mine in a basket, which I keep on my closet shelf. I prefer the natural chaos of all the socks mingling with each other. Most days I enjoy the challenge of finding a matching set. On the days I don’t, I wear two different socks. My perfect guy needs to be immune to my eccentricities.”

  “You’ve always looked nicely put together to me… and you obviously have a great body you enjoy showing off.”

  “Thank you,” Jellica said. “My one clothing OCD is that I like matching lingerie.”

  “Red lace or black lace?” Della laughed.

  “I have all colors,” Jellica said, then her eyes widened over what she’d just confessed on video. She laughed uncomfortably. “Can you strike that last comment when you edit?”