by Jean Oram
Only this woman was somehow flatter, lacking the spark and appeal that drew him to Jill. And not just because she didn’t have the curves Burke had come to love.
“You must be Jill’s sister, Jodi,” he said.
“So pleased to meet her new man at long last,” she said, placing a hand on her slim hip and twisting slightly as though showcasing herself. “I can’t believe Jill’s been keeping you hidden away like she thinks I’m going to steal you.” She laughed, hand against her cleavage. “I’m married. Have been for years.” She wiggled a finger laden by a rock that must have sent her husband back a decade or two in his retirement fund contributions.
“I’m married, too,” he found himself saying. “Have been for months.”
He heard Jill let out a snort of amusement.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” Burke asked as they entered the kitchen.
“Oh, I do like you,” Jenilee said with a smile. She placed a hand on his cheek. “Thank you, but we’re ready to eat.” She flashed a glance at Jill, who set her gift basket on the table. “I really wish you could find a way to keep this one.”
“What does that mean?” asked Jodi. Jill’s eyes darted to her mother and Burke thrust the bouquet in between the women, figuring they hadn’t let Jodi in on the secret.
“For the birthday gal.”
Mrs. Armstrong’s expressions softened and she gave him doe eyes. “Oh, Burke, honey. You’re such a keeper.” She sent Jill a pleading look.
“I try, Mrs. Armstrong.”
“Call me Jenilee.”
In the dining room Mr. Armstrong was already at the head of the table, a man Burke assumed to be Jodi’s husband to his left. Two small girls ran to the other side of the table, falling into seats, leaving an empty spot between them.
Burke made a point of shaking Argo’s hand. He went to do the same with Jodi’s husband, but the man was watching something on his phone.
“Hi,” he said in a tone the man couldn’t ignore. “I’m Burke Carver.” Your brother-in-law, for the sake of all appearances and technicalities.
He looked up. “Oh, hey. Gareth.” He offered a loose handshake and went back to his phone.
What a dud. This was the superstar husband everyone was going on about? It made Burke want to try harder just to show him up. A lot.
“Auntie Jill, sit here,” one of the girls said, patting the vacant seat.
“Yeah, sit between us,” chimed her sister.
Jill shooed them into new seats so she could sit beside Burke. “This is Priscilla and Penelope,” she said, making the introductions. “I call them the princess and the pea.”
“I’m the pea because I bug Prissy lots,” the youngest said with a giggle, getting a dark look from her sister.
Before long they were all settled at the table, Burke across from Gareth, Jill to Burke’s right.
“So the two of you used to work together?” Burke asked Jodi in a lull in the conversation. She’d been fairly quiet, sizing up Jill and him through most of the meal.
“She told you about that?” Jodi asked, giving her sister a curious look.
An awkward silence fell over the table.
“They used to run a café together,” Gareth said at long last. “Jill brought in her husband to help manage the finances. He neglected to pay the bills, then stole months’ worth of income from the owners. Then he left.” He gave a slight shrug and went back to shoveling food into his mouth.
Wow.
Jill was staring at her plate, strangely still.
The table was too quiet and Burke felt for her.
“Did you know I was married once, too?” he asked. “My ex took everything. I just about lost my business. It’s a good thing she didn’t or I never would have met Jill.” He squeezed her hand and she glanced at him in surprise. “Maybe that’s why we’ve connected the way we have.” Her chin lifted and her eyes warmed with gratitude. “I’ve learned that sometimes failure takes us where we were truly meant to go and shows us what really matters.” He leaned toward his wife, giving her a gentle kiss.
“Ew, kissing,” Pea said, sliding lower in her seat until she was on the floor. “So gross.”
Burke chuckled and released Jill, only to find that Priscilla had carrot sticks shoved up her nose. He let out a burst of surprised laughter.
Pea crawled out from under the table to see what was going on.
“It’s a rare, horn-nosed flubber buster,” he said.
“No, it’s me!” Prissy pulled the carrots from her nose. “See?”
“Huh. You looked just like one.” Burke took two of his own carrot sticks and shoved them under his upper lip so they hung down like fangs. “Guess what I am.”
The girl scrunched up her face, thinking.
“Sabre-toothed booger nugget, obviously,” Jill said, leaning closer to him.
Pea laughed, as did Burke, losing his carrot sticks. He glanced at Jill. She was smiling despite the rest of the table being completely serious.
Jodi sighed. “That’s enough,” she said to the girls. She turned to her sister. “Jill, you still owe me for the chocolates.”
“Right.” She stood. “I’ll get that now before I forget. How did the fundraiser go?”
“The ballerinas were so precious at the trade show. Did you see them?”
Jill was fishing around inside her purse and frowning. “I must have left my wallet somewhere today. I’ll pay you later.”
Burke fished into his wallet. “I’ve got it.”
“No, it’s okay.” Jill caught Jodi’s curious glance and quickly changed her mind, adding, “Thanks.”
“So? I hear you two got tattoos?” Jodi asked. “I thought you’d get the ring you have on layaway?”
“That’s something Jill will treat herself with soon enough,” Burke said. “We went with unconventional for our unconventional marriage.”
Jill, to his surprise, wasn’t wearing her leather bracelet, and had turned her wrist to display her half of the heart. It was a move that opened a spring of tenderness inside him, and without thinking, he leaned in, tangling his hands in Jill’s long locks as he lowered his lips to hers and put on a show for all to see.
Jill turned to Burke under the porch light outside her apartment. She felt breathless and inexplicably happy. She wanted to throw her arms around him and laugh.
He’d been so wonderful it made her want to kiss him.
Again and again.
“Thank you for being Mr. Perfect.”
“Perfect? Not complicated?”
“Oh, everything to do with you is complicated, and I’m sure my sister will get the whole story of our marriage soon enough. But it was fun pretending I had what she does. I fear that makes me a petty person.”
“Sibling rivalry at its finest.”
“Ever since the café, things have been a bit tense. I think she blames me for losing her job and I don’t blame her one bit. I had blinders on.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself. It sounds like the guy was a piece of work. And as for your sister, I think she’s jealous.”
“Of me?” Jill nearly laughed. That would be the day. Her twin had the perfect life and family. She got to stay home with the girls, make pretty scrapbooks of their lives, help out at school, and had a husband who hadn’t stolen from the town she loved before leaving her high and dry. That looked pretty perfect to Jill.
“Yeah.” Burke put his hands around her waist, holding her close.
“Yeah? Why?”
“You’ve got me, for one.”
Jill laughed.
A window opened in the main house and Jodi hollered, “Quiet! I’m putting the girls to bed!”
Burke smiled. “See? Jealous that you’re out here laughing like a newlywed, while she’s inside with Mr. I Don’t Care.”
Jill quirked her head, then gazed over at the big house with the perfect garden, the shiny minivan in the driveway.
“Think about it,” he said. “Jodi is stuck at
home with the kids and a dud for a husband, and you’re out living life. Career, handsome husband…”
“Who happens to have an oversized ego.”
“Naturally, but I carry it well. Your dad looks out for you. Everyone loves you. You’re the dauntless one out there, accomplishing things. Making a difference, working hard and risking change.” He’d tugged her closer and she snuggled in, ready for another of those wonderful kisses. She’d been a bit embarrassed kissing him in front of her family, but at the same time had been thrilled, caught up in the moment and filled with such gratitude and love it had been difficult to care.
“You were married before?” she asked, her mind flitting back to that surprising news.
“Years ago. It’s difficult, isn’t it?”
She nodded.
“So this guy who stole from you? Do you want to talk about it?” he asked.
“Do you?” She looked up at him in surprise.
He shrugged and reached over to let them into the house. “You go first. Abbreviated version.”
“Okay. I fell in love with what seemed like a great guy. He swept me off my feet. Wasn’t part of the plan,” she added wryly, knowing it would make Burke smile. He didn’t disappoint her, the skin around his expressive eyes crinkling. “My sister and I were running and managing a local coffee place called The Café, and he offered to help. He seemed like a godsend.” She paused, letting the old, familiar pain and humiliation slide over her. “Then things started to go south. He’d miss a vendor’s payment. Someone’s paycheck would bounce. But the place seemed to be doing okay. His excuses all seemed reasonable and he’d fix things right away. I didn’t realize he was stealing until after he’d run off.”
She collected herself before continuing, “He left me, left town. Jodi and I both lost our jobs, and it looked really bad that I’d not only married him, but let him have control over what I should have been managing on my own. The Johnsons—the owners—had said it was fine when they heard his credentials, but I was the one who’d vouched for him.” She crossed her arms.
“My turn?” Burke asked.
Jill let out a soothing breath and nodded, glad for the lack of judgment and follow-up questions about how she’d overlooked every one of the warning signs.
“I, too, had thought I’d found someone trustworthy. I was ready to settle down and have a family. We were in love. We didn’t fight. She left me a Dear John six months into our marriage. I didn’t see it coming. She took everything that wasn’t nailed to the ground, whether or not it was legally mine, and fought tooth and nail for everything else.”
“My story’s better.”
Burke moved to Jill’s side, taking her in a loose embrace once again. “And how’s ours going to end?”
“Hopefully, a lot better than either of those. Then again, neither of us expects some glamorous happily ever after like you see in fairy tales.”
Burke watched her for a moment. “That’s true,” he said at last, making her wonder what he’d been thinking, contemplating.
“I understand your desire to play it light and loose.” She kissed him. It was a long and lingering kiss full of meaning. When she gently broke free, she said, “Sometimes it’s safer to be alone.”
12
“Safer to be alone together.” That’s what Burke had said to Jill last night. Right before he’d taken her to bed, instead of heading home like he should have.
His night with Jill had been unlike anything he’d ever experienced. They’d been slow and patient, showing each other the things they remembered from their wedding night, reminding each other of what had brought them together in the first place.
He’d woken in the predawn light full of hope. Instead of slipping out to drive back to the city, he’d rolled over, pulling Jill close and falling back asleep.
Why not?
Nobody was going to break anyone’s heart here. They knew what they’d signed on for, right?
But now, hours later and in the solitude of his car, driving away from Blueberry Springs, with nothing but the hum of tires on pavement for company, he felt as though he was on the verge of panic. Every blissful second of being with Jill last night was flooding through his mind. The feeling of being connected. The give and take of a true partnership. The trust.
With each new snippet of memory from the night before, one from his wedding night came up, swamping him and his ability to shove it all aside, and tell himself that none of it mattered. It felt as though his chest was going to crack open, and he had trouble catching his breath.
This was supposed to be light and loose.
She was going to leave him.
Leave him.
He’d put too much into it.
Burke pulled over suddenly, sending gravel flying as he slammed on the brakes, yanking on the wheel to park across the roadside turnout for the Blackberry River Trail.
He struggled to hold it together, but fear was hitting him like that pickup had his car: full force. Unrelenting. Leaving him helpless as it plowed into him, knocking him sideways.
He pulled at the neck of his sweater and stretched back in his seat so his lungs had more room to expand. He was having a heart attack. He needed oxygen. He needed 9-1-1.
He opened his car door, sucking in great gulps of the crisp mountain air. He stumbled, landing on his hands and knees on the gravel. The pain of his tearing flesh covering the heels of his hands grounded him. The pain was real. This was real.
He was still himself. He still had a home to go to. Still had a business she couldn’t steal, due to their contract.
It was going to be okay.
He was still Burke Carver.
Slowly, his breathing began to regulate. Now all he needed to do was pull himself together.
An SUV drew up beside him and the driver got out, his movements stiff, giving Burke time to get to his feet, his knees screaming in pain.
“You okay? Oh, hey, Burke. Where are you off to?”
Of course it was someone he knew: Ethan Mattson, his techie. Burke brushed the dirt from his pants and tried to act like everything was cool.
“You lose something?” Ethan was watching him, looking concerned. He’d definitely caught Burke sprawled on the ground like a baby.
“Yeah, probably just my mind. How’s your morning so far?”
“I’m heading a few towns over to pick up some hothouse cucumbers for Lily. Her grand opening for the restaurant cleaned her out yesterday. She’s freaking out, so I’m pretty much game to drive anywhere on the planet just to avoid the craziness.” He chuckled, crossing his arms. “So you and Jill figuring out this long-distance marriage?”
That tightness in Burke’s chest was back. “Trying to,” he wheezed.
“She’s a catch, and strong enough to keep your you-know-what in line.” Ethan climbed into his vehicle with a grin. He put down his window. “By the way, I’m going to open up her test for the full site online tomorrow. Are you ready to hit the roof?”
“Surprise me.”
“I won’t have to.” He sent Burke a grin full of meaning. “Jill will.”
Ethan drove off, and Burke said to the whiskey jack perched in the evergreen towering above him, “I’d say she already has.”
The question was what was he going to do about it?
Jill sniffed the bouquet of flowers that arrived at her All You office first thing Monday morning. Burke was seriously the best accidental husband ever. Her ex had never sent her flowers, nor had Devon. Meanwhile Burke, the husband who wasn’t supposed to be, even recalled that she loved calla lilies.
Although what was it with yet another bouquet with beady-eyed teddy bears? Cute but strange. Though she definitely wasn’t complaining.
And what was with having flowers sent all the way from the city? The deliveryman had said they were from Mr. Carver, as the card was unsigned. But didn’t Burke shop local? Maybe it was because the local florist didn’t deliver until after noon. Then again, she was certain they’d make an except
ion for Burke, as he’d been such a charmer on the weekend. He’d gone home yesterday and she’d missed him, wanting to call and see how his Sunday afternoon was going. But she hadn’t. She’d shown maturity and restraint.
The weekend had been all about shoring up a facade, and yet it had felt so real. She wanted every day to be like that. They’d worked together, played together and more.
She sighed dreamily at the memory of Saturday night. Every moment had seemed full of meaning.
Jill adjusted the flowers on her desk, caught in a world of what-ifs, all of them circling around the possibility that their accidental marriage was actually meant to be.
It would be easy to brush it off as Burke simply playing a role. He was protective of his employees, and of her in turn, because he was protecting his assets, his business, his reputation. Not her personally.
She pulled labels off a sheet fresh from the printer, sticking them to her fingers as she got ready to place them on the orders for bulk cosmetics. She knew it wasn’t him simply playing a role. Somewhere along the line things had shifted.
Her cell phone rang and her caller ID showed Zebadiah from We Win Your Love.
She tapped the green button, then the icon to put him on speaker so she could continue her task. “Hey, Zeb,” she said, knowing the sound wouldn’t carry beyond her office. “I was hoping you’d call.” It was time to cancel her account once and for all.
“You didn’t tell me you’re married,” Zeb said, a sharp edge to his tone.
Jill stopped placing stickers on order sheets.
“Oh. Right. That.” She hadn’t even thought of how it might look with her still having a WWYL account.
“Yeah, that. I didn’t realize you liked cheater-cheater-pumpkin-eaters. You misrepresented yourself.”
“It’s not…” She caught herself before saying it wasn’t real. To the outside world, it was. At least real enough.
Jill put a hand to her forehead, leaving the last sticker from her fingers behind. “I’m sorry, Zeb. Things got away from me.” She peeled off the label, placing it on the order sheet in front of her. Wrong order. She set the papers aside, concentrating on the call.
