Not Quite Dating

by Catherine Bybee

  Strange how this date had a third person at the table the entire time. Jack may not have been there in person, but he certainly was in spirit. “No.”

  The waiter arrived, and Jessie wanted to kiss him for his timing.

  “Have you decided?” Their waiter was a man around forty-five, maybe older. His waistline looked as if he enjoyed the food at Antonio’s, and his Italian accent kept her guessing if he was any relation to Antonio himself.

  “I think so,” Jessie said.

  He smiled at her and poised his pen over his order slip.

  “The lady would like the lasagna,” Brad said before Jessie could open her mouth. “With the antipasto salad, and I’ll have the same.”

  Jessie had the strong urge to glance at her watch, but squelched it.

  Jack looked at his watch for the third time in fifteen minutes. Jessie was out with that lawyer. Brad Leland, to be exact. Jack had checked out the guest list of the benefit party and found only one Brad in the invites. A quick online search resulted in a name, the name of his practice, and a few hits on cases he’d tried recently. Jack had hoped to find a little dirt on the guy, but he didn’t see any. Not married, his romantic entanglements were private at the current time. Jack did find an old girlfriend, one whom Brad had been engaged to. There was a write-up in an archived paper about the engagement, but it had been nearly two years ago. All the current information on Brad pointed toward a single status. As a corporate lawyer, Brad had a full plate of clients, and from the look of the pictures of his office, he wasn’t hurting for cash.

  There was even a picture of the guy on the website for the law firm he worked with.

  Dull and boring. Jack couldn’t imagine Jessie finding him remotely attractive.

  Still, Brad the Boring was out on a date with Jessie, and Jack was in the penthouse, stewing. He would have to wait until Tuesday, the next time Jessie worked, to find out how the date went. Unless Jack wanted to come off as a jealous, jilted lover.

  No matter how many sexy dreams Jack had experienced since meeting Jessie, he couldn’t call himself her lover.

  Not yet anyway.

  Jack had turned toward the bar in the suite, intending to pour himself something big and strong, when his cell phone rang. His phone sat in the pocket of the suit hanging on the back of a chair.

  Jessie’s home phone number popped up on his caller ID. Maybe she had skipped out on the date after all. His lips slid into a grin.

  “Hello?” he answered, trying to sound bored.

  “Jack? Is this you?”

  Not Jessie.

  “This is. Who’s this?”

  “It’s Monica, Jessie’s sister.” The alarm in her voice made Jack drop his bored demeanor. “I hope it’s OK I called you.”

  “Is Jessie OK? Danny?”

  “They’re fine. Sorry to worry you. Jessie is out with that guy, the one from the party.”

  As if Jack needed to be reminded.

  “And Danny is right here. It’s…ahh…Danny suggested I call you.” Monica was bothered about something.

  “What’s going on, Monica?”

  “I’m at the apartment, with a friend, studying. Anyway, Lynn got a call a few minutes ago…her mom was in a car accident. Lynn’s shook up, shouldn’t be driving. I need to get her to Pomona Valley, but I’m babysitting Danny. I’d take him with me, but the emergency room is full of all kinds of people, illness.”

  “Did you call Jessie, tell her to come home?”

  “She accidentally left her phone in her other purse. I called it and it rang in her bedroom.”

  Jack walked into his bedroom and pulled a suit jacket off a hanger. “You want me to come over, stay with Danny so you can drive your friend?”

  “God, would you, Jack? I know it’s sudden, but Jessie doesn’t use many sitters. Only Mrs. Hoyt, but she’s visiting her family. I didn’t know who else to call. I know she trusts you, Danny knows you.”

  “I’ll be there in ten minutes.” Jack hung up his phone and shoved into his jacket as he walked out the door.

  The ride to Jessie’s apartment was short, and Jack didn’t take it slow.

  Monica met him at the door. “Danny goes to bed at nine, falls asleep on the couch most nights before then.”

  Danny jumped up from the couch, ran over to Jack, and pulled him into a fierce hug. “I knew you’d come. I told Auntie Monica to call you.”

  “You can always call me, Danny.” Jack ruffled Danny’s hair and glanced at Monica’s friend whom he’d never seen before. “I hope your mom’s OK.”

  The girl held back tears. “Thanks.”

  “Thanks again, Jack. I owe you.” Then they were gone.

  “Monica’s friend was really sad. They said her mom was hurt in a car crash.”

  Jack walked with Danny over to the couch, where they both sat. The television was on and a cartoon played on the screen. “She’s probably just fine, partner. Nothing for you to worry about.”

  “My mom drove our car tonight,” Danny offered, catching Jack off guard.

  Good, he thought. She met her date instead of giving him her address.

  Danny’s eyes narrowed. Jack realized that Danny’s concern for his mother’s well-being prompted the comment. “I’m sure your mom is a safe driver,” Jack said, trying to assure the boy.

  “Our car is always breaking something.”

  Yeah, Jack knew that already. The thought of Jessie out there without her cell phone bugged the crap out of him, too. What if she broke down on one of the back roads? After ten, Ontario had plenty of stretched-out, deserted, dark roads. It was only eight fifteen.

  “What time did your mom leave tonight?”

  “An hour ago. I think.”

  Great, Jack had to depend on Danny’s memory. Still, odds were Jessie was eating dinner.

  With him. Brad! Probably short for Bradley. What a wussy name that was.

  “What are we watching here?”

  “SpongeBob. He’s funny. That’s Patrick and Sandy…” Danny pointed out the key characters and Jack listened. He’d heard of the show, but couldn’t say he’d ever sat and watched an episode. He found himself laughing at the jokes and some of the adult humor laced into the cartoon.

  At eight thirty, Jack suggested Danny jump into his PJs and brush his teeth so he wouldn’t forget before going to bed.

  Danny bounced off the sofa and to his room.

  Jack went into the kitchen and noticed Monica and her friend’s books spread out all over the kitchen table. Among them were plates filled with half-eaten pizza and snacks. Jack rolled up his sleeves and realized he was wearing a suit, minus his tie. Maybe Monica would return before Jessie. Or Jessie would be so frazzled to see him there she wouldn’t notice his clothes. Can’t change now.

  Jack straightened up some of the clutter and rinsed off the dishes before placing them in the dishwasher.

  Danny bounced into the room, all smiles and giggles. “All done.”

  “OK, sport, now what do you want to do?”

  “Do you play cards?” he asked.

  “I know a few games.” But Jack doubted they were the ones Danny knew.

  “Cool,” he said as he flew down the hall again and returned in seconds with a deck in his hand. “We can play Go Fish or War. Do you know how to play War?”

  Not a clue.

  “I’ll bet you can teach me.”

  Back in the living room, Danny sat on his knees on the floor and dealt out the cards. He explained the rules, which Jack seemed to remember vaguely, and the two of them proceeded to play.

  It was five past nine when Jack realized the time. “Dude, it’s past your bedtime,” Jack said.

  Danny pushed his lower lip out. “But I usually fall asleep on the couch.”

  Right, Monica said that. Jack guessed it wouldn’t be the end of the world if he let the kid stay up a little later than he normally did.

  “OK, but we need to put the cards away and settle down.”

  Danny tossed
the cards on the coffee table and curled back on the couch next to Jack.

  “I like having you babysit,” Danny informed him. “Maybe you can come over again.”

  The insides of Jack’s chest swelled with warmth. “I like you too, partner.”

  Jack didn’t even flinch when Danny leaned his head against his shoulder. Twenty minutes into another crazy animated show, Danny was snoring little logs and practically lying in Jack’s lap. Jack smiled to himself and stroked the back of Danny’s head.

  With the remote, Jack switched on the evening news and set the volume to low.

  To the side of the TV was the Mann Christmas tree. A few more gifts were scattered under it. Two Jack easily realized were from Danny to his mom and his aunt. The homemade wrapping paper, which was really a paper bag painted green and red, adorned gifts proudly piled in front. Danny’s stocking was tacked to a wall.

  The tree in his childhood home had been set up and taken down by his father’s staff. The gifts wrapped by the department stores before they even made it home. When he stopped and thought about it, Jack wondered if his father had ever gone out and shopped for him and Katie, or had he sent his secretary to do the job? Probably the latter. Yet that had changed in the last few years, which was a good thing. Gaylord had never been cruel, just clueless about his children.

  Jessica had created a home and holiday with love. The apartment might be small, but it screamed Christmas and family. Sitting on the worn sofa felt as comfortable as any leather variety he’d ever had the pleasure of planting his butt on.

  The news announced the time as ten o’clock and Jack couldn’t help but shift his thoughts to where Jessie was and what she was doing. A cloud of worry stretched over his earlier happy thoughts. She might not be out with Braaad if Jack had revealed certain truths about himself.

  Part of him wanted to tell her the truth, and the other part reminded him that if she suddenly decided he was worthy enough to date, spend time with, make love to, that he’d never truly know if it was his money or him she wanted.

  The guilt in her eyes when she’d said she was going on a date with that loser had said so much. Jessie worried about what Jack thought. He smiled at the thought. Without a doubt, there was heat in Jessie’s gaze when she looked at him. He felt it every damn time he was around her. Someone upstairs really should offer him sainthood or some such thing for the restraints he’d placed on himself where Jessie was concerned.

  Danny sighed in his sleep; a little drool fell from the boy’s mouth and onto Jack’s pants.

  Jack was about to pick the boy up and put him to bed when he heard a key turning in the lock of the door.

  Jessie walked in with her eyes to the floor. She held her shoes in one hand and the keys and her purse in the other. She turned toward the door and secured the dead bolt and the chain lock without even realizing Jack was there.

  She rested her head against the door and dropped her shoes to the floor. “God, Monica, you won’t believe this date.”

  Jack was proud to say that Jessie’s tone didn’t sound happy or dreamy.

  Slowly Jessie turned around and lifted her gaze. She let out a quick squeal and stifled it before it became a full-on scream. Her hand flew to her mouth, her eyes to her son who lay in Jack’s lap.

  Lifting a finger to his lips, Jack said, “Shh, Danny’s worn out.”

  “What are you doing here?” she asked in a curt, hushed tone.

  Chapter Ten

  “Let me put him to bed,” Jack whispered before he lifted Danny into his strong arms, cradled him against his chest, and walked to Danny’s room.

  Jessie’s heart was thumping faster than a jackrabbit’s. What was Jack doing in her apartment, and where in the world was Monica?

  Two hours earlier, Jessie had realized she’d left her phone at home and nearly asked to use the restaurant phone to call in. Instead, she kept on with the disaster of a date until she couldn’t handle it any longer.

  Standing in the doorway, Jessie watched Jack tuck Danny in bed as if he’d done so a hundred times.

  Danny rolled over in his sleep, dragging Tex, the snake, with him.

  Jack silently tiptoed away and squeezed between Jessie and the door before standing in the hall. She closed the door and motioned for Jack to follow her.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked again.

  “Monica called me. Her friend, the girl who was here tonight…”

  “Lynn?”

  “Right. Lynn’s mother was in an accident and Monica needed to drive her to the hospital. Your sister didn’t think it would be a good place for Danny, and you didn’t have your phone, so she called me.”

  “Why you?” Who else, Jessie thought. Their mother was too far away and didn’t take to watching Danny all that often. But she would have in an emergency.

  “I was close and available. It was Danny’s idea.”

  The explanation was reasonable, but Jessie wasn’t happy to see the man who’d unknowingly wiggled into her date before it had even gotten started. Jack shot her a smile. His dimples peeked through. Dammit.

  She’d thought of that smile for the past half hour. The past thirty minutes, as she’d walked from where her car had broken down, the crappy thing. “Could this night get any worse?” she said as she turned away from Jack’s easy smile and sparkling gray eyes.

  “What was that?” Jack asked.

  “Nothing, nothing.” Jessie picked up her shoes from where she’d dropped them and unlocked the dead bolt and chain so Monica wouldn’t be locked out.

  “Are you OK?” he asked. His voice had dropped the laughing tone, and suddenly Jessie was on the verge of tears. No, she was absolutely not OK.

  But, darn it, she didn’t need her bleeding heart, and probably feet, crying to Jack about it. Seemed like she was continually indebted to Jack already, and she’d hardly known the man for a month. “Fine!” she nearly barked out at him.

  “You don’t seem fine, Jessie.”

  “And how would you know whether I’m fine or not? I’ve known you for, what, a month?” She verbalized her frustration and her feelings. “A month, and already my family calls you when there’s a crisis.”

  “I’d like to think we’re friends,” Jack said as he inched closer.

  What a crock of horseshit. Jessie didn’t fantasize about her friends. All night she’d compared Jack to Brad.

  Jack had dimples and smiling, genuine eyes. Brad’s were dull and less than convincing.

  Jack would have been on time. Brad was late.

  Jack considered what she wanted and wouldn’t have ordered for her the way Brad had.

  Jack asked her about her life, got to know her through long talks and not a continual drilling of questions that made her feel as if she was on the stand in a court of law.

  More than any of that, Jack would never have said or pulled what Brad had tried once they’d finished their meal.

  Jack was too much of a gentleman, too nice a guy. He respected her wishes even if he didn’t believe in them.

  The man of the hour stepped closer to her, took his finger, and lifted her chin so they looked at each other. “We are friends, Jessie.”

  “Really, Jack. That’s what we are…friends?”

  “Of course.”

  “Just friends. Are you saying that if I took my clothes off right now and offered myself to you, you wouldn’t take me up on it?”

  The words first widened Jack’s eyes. A hot current of need flashed on his face; the effect shot molten heat straight to her core. Then those sparkling gray eyes narrowed. “I’m not a saint, Jessie, and you know how I feel about you.” His husky voiced confirmed what his expression had already said.

  “Friends don’t sleep with friends.” Her words were weak.

  “Say the word, and I’ll turn this friendship into a relationship faster than a rattlesnake can strike his prey.” He would, she knew he would. The fire in his gaze said more than any of his words could.

  “To what end, J
ack?” Jessie pulled away from him, felt tears sting her eyes. “What is wrong with me? There has to be more out there than dreaming fantasies in cowboy boots and lawyers who peg me as a quick roll because I wait tables and have a kid.”

  Jack grasped her arm and swung her around to face him. His face grew stone cold. All fire and heat forgotten.

  “What did you say?”

  “Nothing.” She tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t let her go.

  “Did he hurt you, Jessie? By God, he’d better not—”

  “No. My pride. My ego. But not me physically.” Why couldn’t she find a combination of man that had it together financially like Brad but had all the qualities of Jack?

  A sob escaped her throat and Jessie dropped her forehead on Jack’s chest. The comfort of him, his heat, helped a few tears run down her cheeks.

  Jack brought his other hand around her and pulled her closer.

  She wanted to cry, a big sob session with tissues and blotchy eyes. Brad had dominated their meal, talked about his work, his worth, then asked her if she wanted to go home with him for a few hours and “finish up their date.”

  She was stunned by the proposition, didn’t quite know how to act afterward. Jessie told him she didn’t work that way. Brad appeared offended. His mountain-sized ego had escaped her until that moment. He couldn’t believe she was blowing him off. There wasn’t even interest to go on a second date with the guy, let alone sleep with him.

  With as much dignity as she could muster, Jessie estimated the cost of her meal, tossed a few bills on the table, and walked out of the restaurant. When her car died halfway home, she screamed and pitched a hissy fit, dash-hitting and all. Truth was the walk home, in heels, probably helped burn off some of her anger.

  Then to find Jack sitting on her couch, Danny curled in his lap, brought a whole new wave of emotions over her.

  Jack was so…Jack.

  Here she was, sobbing in his arms. Arms she had no business enjoying.

  Jessie lifted her head from his white shirt and saw the mascara stain on his shoulder. “I’m a mess. Look what I did to your shirt.”