by Laura Drewry
Chapter 6
“I’m hopeless and awkward and desperate for love.”
Chandler Bing, Friends, “The One with the Metaphorical Tunnel”
“Stop it!” Gripping both sides of the bathroom sink, Maya stared back at her reflection as she took a couple of long, deep breaths.
Her life was complicated enough these days without…this. Ever since she’d left Jack’s hotel room the other night, she’d been trying to rationalize it, and when she was able to look at it objectively, it sort of made sense.
She and Jack had always been friends; that was no secret. Sure, they’d had a two-year hiccup, but the second she saw him at the pub last week, none of that mattered. He was still Jack; sweet, funny, cute, and the most soft-hearted man she knew, so of course she’d be happy to see him and of course she’d want to spend more time with him.
That’s what friends did, nothing wrong with it. It made perfect sense, right? What didn’t make sense was the way his big lopsided grin—the same one she’d seen so many times before—now suddenly turned her insides to mush, or the way her fingers tingled when she’d wrapped her hand around his arm the other day.
That’s right, they’d tingled, and it didn’t matter how many different ways she tried to describe it, she always ended up right back there.
The first time she’d tried to pull her hand away, it was like her damn muscles flat-out refused to do what she wanted them to. She’d loosed her grip a little, but it had taken her another couple seconds to actually let him go, and when she finally did, all she could think about was touching him again to see if the tingling was just a one-shot thing.
Truth was, she didn’t need to touch him again to figure that out. Every time he kissed her cheek…ohhh, boy. He’d always done it, but she didn’t remember it ever feeling like it did now. Had it always been so gentle? So tender? And had he always smelled so good?
“Oh, for God’s sake, get a grip,” she muttered. “It’s just Jack.”
That’s right. It was just Jack. In fact, it was entirely possible that it might not be Jack, specifically, who was getting her worked up; it could very well be the simple fact that she hadn’t been worked up at all in such a long time. Like over-two-years kind of long time. Another couple months and she could probably make a claim to have her virginity reinstated.
If that was the case, though, and she was just feeling this way because she hadn’t had sex in so long, then the thought of making a baby with Griffin should be way more appealing to her than it was.
Shit.
With a final steadying breath, she tucked the salad bowl in the crook of her arm, grabbed her purse and the bottle of red she’d bought, and headed down to her car. She’d be fine by the time she got to the hotel.
And she was, right up until Jack opened the back passenger door and waved Pete in.
“Hey, Snip. You look great.” His cheeks pinked a little when he said it, which only…no, it didn’t…yes, it did…made him that much cuter and made her smile self-consciously as all sorts of things started fluttering inside her.
“Thanks. You, uh, don’t look half bad yourself.”
Jeans and a blue button-down; nothing fancy, and yet at the same time…yeah. Before she got caught staring, she twisted around and smiled at Pete.
“And you,” she said, giving him a long chin rub. “You’re the most handsome guy in the whole world, aren’t you?”
That earned her an extra-hard tail flap and a couple slurpy licks across her hand.
“Does this thing go back any farther?” Almost folded in half, Jack continued to play with the seat controls long after he must have figured out the answer to his own question.
“You could switch with Pete,” she said, laughing quietly. “Maybe sit sideways.”
“Nice, thanks,” he snorted. “If this airbag goes off, it’s going to shove my knees right into my face.”
“Jayne’s place is right up the road, and I’m not planning on crashing between here and there, but we can take your Jeep if you want.”
“No, this is great. I always wondered what it’d feel like to be a pretzel.”
Maya threw the car into gear and glanced at Pete in her rearview mirror. “He’s getting kind of whiny in his old age, isn’t he?”
She’d have sworn the dog smiled back.
“How was it after I left the other night?” She turned right out of the parking lot and headed for Jayne’s.
“Fine.”
“Don’t B.S. me, Jack. He wasn’t very happy when I left.”
“A couple beers and half my dinner and he was fine.” His warm grin almost made her believe him. “Don’t worry about it.”
“I don’t,” she said. “Well, I mean I don’t worry about him but I worry about you and how all this affects you.”
“It doesn’t.” With his face turned, looking out the side window, she couldn’t tell if he was still smiling or not. It sure didn’t sound like it. “I’m good.”
He tried to shift in his seat but there wasn’t room so he settled back to his original position and sighed.
“There’s something you should probably know,” he said. “And you should know before we get to Jayne’s in case you want to turn around and pry me out of your sardine can.”
Maya’s foot instinctually lifted off the gas pedal a little as she turned to look at him.
“What?”
Jack rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “I’m going to be his best man again.”
A couple seconds ticked by as she waited for him to say something else.
“Is that it?” she asked.
“I don’t think I ever believed they’d actually get married, and after the last couple of years…Well, shit, I never would’ve thought I’d be the one up there with him again.”
“Of course it’d be you.” Maya laughed lightly as she eased the car around a small curve in the road. “Genie would have a stroke if he asked anyone else.”
“That’s pretty much what Will said, too.”
She pulled the car up in front of Jayne’s, shut it off, and then turned to face him. “Why were you worried about telling me that? Did you think I’d freak out or something?”
It took him a second to look at her, and when he did, it seemed to take some effort. “I don’t know. It’s all a little weird and I’m still trying to figure out how it all works.”
“You mean how Will wants it to work.”
She shoved her car door open and stepped out, her unexpected anger lightening a little as she watched Jack fight to unfold himself on the other side. By the time he’d tripped and twisted himself upright, she had to clamp her lips between her teeth to stop from laughing.
“Jeezus,” he muttered. “You couldn’t find a smaller car?”
“I’m sorry,” she snickered. “I wasn’t really thinking I’d be driving Gulliver around much when I bought it.”
He was still shaking his head until he looked over at her and saw her laughing; that made him grin again.
“Anyway.” She chuckled. “I get that Dickhead makes it difficult for you, but that’s because he’s a dickhead. I never once expected you to turn your back on him; he’s part of your life and that’s great, really it is. And if you want to be his best man and stand up there with him and his stupid skank, that’s your business, I have no opinion either way.”
The more she said, the wider he grinned, which sent her reaching back inside the car for the salad. It was right there between the front seats, but she took a couple extra seconds to try and shake past the gooeyness his grin caused inside her. Stepping back, she tucked her hair back behind her ear and pointed toward his side of the car.
“Can you grab the wine?”
He was still grinning a second later when his head popped back out of the car. “I forgot how much you like to pretend you’re tough.”
“What are you talking about, pretend? I am tough.”
He let Pete out and they followed her toward the front door.
; “Tough girls don’t cry at Tim Hortons commercials,” he said, then tipped his head toward Carter’s motorcycle parked on the driveway. “Nick’s?”
“Carter’s, and I don’t do that!” Maya straightened her shoulders, lifted her chin a little, and grinned as she knocked. “Not at all of them.”
“All of what?” Jayne asked, stepping back to let them in, then immediately stooping to give Pete some love.
“Jack thinks I cry at all the Timmy’s commercials.”
“You do.” Jayne looked straight past her to where Jack stood and nodded. “She does.”
“I know.” His laugh, low and quiet, settled over Maya’s shoulders like a blanket. “Should I put Pete out back?”
“Duke’s in the living room, let’s give them time to figure each other out first.”
“Their basset,” Maya explained. “He’s a day older than dirt, that one, but so, so cute.”
“Everyone’s in the kitchen,” Jayne said. “Go on in, I just have to switch the music over—I’ve had enough of this hillbilly crap Nick likes.”
“This from the woman who took him to his first Garth Brooks concert.”
“Garth is the exception.”
“Uh-huh.” Maya led Jack through to the kitchen, where Nick greeted them with a frosty beer for Jack and a big glass of red wine for her.
“Jayne’s changing the music, isn’t she?” he asked, grinning slowly. “I think I’m wearing her down; she made it through a whole Toby Keith album the other day.”
No sooner did he say it than the country song coming through the overhead speakers cut out and was immediately replaced by Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
“It’s no George Strait,” Nick said, “but it’ll do. Good to see you again, Jack. Do you know everyone?”
“I think—” Jack started to nod, then stopped when his gaze landed on Carter, whose arm was draped around Regan’s shoulders. With a quick grin at Maya, Jack reached his hand toward Carter and nodded. “You must be Carter. Jack Rhodes.”
“Hey.” The second they’d finished shaking hands, Carter’s arm went straight back around Regan. “Red here tells me you work on the Apollo games.”
“Yeah.” Jack nodded. “I do some of the script-writing for them.”
“That’s awesome.” Nudging Maya with his elbow, Carter wagged his eyebrow at her. “About time you brought someone decent into the group.”
Laughing, she nudged him back. “I do what I can for you, Carter.”
“There’s appies”—two words out of Jayne’s mouth had the guys bolting for the back door—“out on the deck.”
“Wow.” Jack stood at the deck rail and stared out at the backyard, his eyes wide.
“Not bad, eh?” Maya laughed. “If you were Contractor Extraordinaire Nicholas Edward Scott, who knew everyone in town, you too could have all this.”
Covering close to an acre, the fenced yard backed onto the berm of trees leading to the sixteenth hole of the golf course, which you could still see, because Nick had lowered the fence. On the north side of the yard, about three quarters of the way down, stood a huge old maple tree, its long crooked branches perfect for climbing—that’s what Jayne had said—but other than that, the only other things in the yard were a wooden toolshed and a few potted plants Jayne kept on the patio.
“I’ve been trying to convince Jayne to put in a vegetable garden,” Maya said. “God knows she has the space.”
“Not a gardener?” Jack murmured, still staring at the huge space.
“Not even a little bit.” Maya laughed. “In fact, I think she has black thumbs, but if you ever need to know which gardening book is the best for this area, she’s your girl.”
Carter stepped up and pressed a football against Jack’s chest. “Tell me you play.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Good.” He lifted his hand and pointed at Jack’s head. “Dibs on Jack. Who d’you got, Brett?”
Brett didn’t miss a beat. “Ell.”
“Excellent choice, Ponch.” In perfect sync, Ellie and Brett knocked their fists together and grinned, making Carter moan.
“Oh come on,” he whined. “Pick someone else. Anyone else.”
“Wait.” Jack frowned. “What’s wrong with Ellie playing?”
“Nothing, if you don’t mind getting your ass handed to you by a chick.”
“Aw, poor Carter,” Ellie cooed, patting Carter’s cheek and blinking innocently at him. “Once a loser, always a loser.”
“Oooh, sweetheart, you’re so lucky your man packs a gun or I’d…” Carter’s dark eyes crinkled deeper as he smiled. “Come on, Jack. You and me. Let’s do this.”
“You got it.” Jack set his beer down and hustled after Carter. “What are the rules?”
A collective snort sounded from everyone around him.
“The only rule you need to know,” Carter said. “Is that when you play with Ellie, there are no rules. Hit fast and hit hard.”
“Hold up.” Jack stopped near the center of their makeshift field and frowned. “You don’t really expect me to tackle her.”
“Damn right I do!” Carter laughed. “And don’t let the fact that Brett keeps a nine-mil and a Taser in his work locker slow you down one bit.”
Maya knew there was no way Jack would tackle Ellie, but that didn’t stop everyone from hanging over the railing and calling out instructions to him. Brett hiked the ball to Ellie then took off for Carter and Jack’s goal line. Carter charged toward Brett, but all Jack did was stand there staring at Ellie, his hands raised in a dumbfounded “seriously?!” kind of gesture, while she ran right past him and spiked the ball at the line.
By the time Carter untangled himself from Brett, Ellie was already doing her touchdown dance, which looked a lot like the Fat Monica dance from Friends.
“Jack, buddy,” Carter cried. “What the hell was that? Why didn’t you tackle her?”
“I’m not tackling a girl!”
“But she’s not a girl.” Carter laughed. “She’s the devil in lipstick and she must be stopped.”
“You suck!” Ellie taunted as she jogged back across the yard. “Maya and Jayne could put up a better defense than you two.”
“Hey!” Maya laughed, turning to Jayne for support, but all Jayne did was shrug and grin. “Yeah, okay, whatever.”
With his hand on Jack’s back, Carter leaned in and whispered something no one else could hear, but it made Jack laugh as they set up for their run.
“Hike!” Carter nailed the ball at Jack then headed straight toward Brett, who was putting up one hell of a fight to get past.
Meanwhile, Ellie ran straight at Jack, who again just stood there, until she got within reach, then he lifted the ball straight above his head, wrapped his free arm around her waist, and ran both her and the ball to the goal line, with Ellie squealing and flailing the whole way.
“That’s cheating!” she cried when he finally set her down—gently. “You can’t do that.”
“Aw, poor Ellie,” Carter teased, ducking as she faked a throw at his head. “Finally met someone who cheats as well as she does.”
“Okay, losers.” She laughed. “If that’s how you want to play it, then it’s game on. Let’s go.”
And so they did. Back and forth the game went, and so long as Carter could manage Brett, Jack could keep the ball out of Ellie’s reach simply by virtue of his height. Never one to be put off easily, though, she tried all sorts of things to get the ball away from him, including jumping on his back and trying to climb him like a tree.
“This could go on all night,” Jayne muttered. “Come on, let’s get dinner started.”
Leaving Nick to man the barbecue, Maya and Regan followed her into the kitchen, where they went to work wrapping the corn in foil and tossing salads.
“I gotta say it,” Regan said. “I really like Jack.”
“Metoo.” Jayne nodded. “He’s great.”
“Yeah.” Maya set the stack of napkins down then picked them up again an
d rearranged them. “He is.”
A second, maybe two, is how long it took her to realize the two of them were staring at her. Not just staring, either, but staring.
“Maya.” Regan took a step closer and lowered her voice a notch. “He’s Dickhead’s best friend.”
“I know.” She didn’t even try to pretend she didn’t get Regan’s meaning. “I know.”
“Then what’s with that look?”
“What look?” She knew damn well what look. “I’m not stupid, Regan, it’s just, he’s a good-looking guy, he’s fun, he’s…shit, I don’t know, hormones I guess.”
“Yeah, we figured that,” Regan said, making Jayne snicker behind her hand.
“It’s been so long, Charles Manson would probably look good to me right now.”
“What about Tim?” Jayne asked. “How’d that go the other night?”
“Best date yet.” Maya laughed as she pulled cutlery out of the drawer. “He stood me up.”
“He did not!”
“Ask him yourself. He texted me yesterday to apologize, but neither one of us suggested we reschedule, so that says something right there.”
“Just as well,” Regan said. “You’ve got enough going on with one guy out in the yard and another wanting to have a baby with you.”
Maya shoved the handful of forks at Regan. “Louder, please. There’s a dead guy in New York who didn’t quite hear you.”
“What? Everyone here knows—” Regan stopped, and her eyes widened as she pointed outside. “You haven’t told Jack?”
“No!”
“Yeah, I guess that’d be kind of weird, wouldn’t it?”
“More than just kind of, and besides, I knew you three would all turn around and tell your Stooges.” Neither Regan nor Jayne made any attempt to deny it. “So I’m sure between the six of you, I’ll have more than enough opinions and input on what I should or shouldn’t do.”
“So you haven’t decided yet?”
“No.” Arms crossed, Maya slumped back against the counter. “I really want to have a baby.”
“Then do it.” Regan said it so matter-of-factly you’d think they were talking about what kind of cheese Maya should put on her burger.
