She sighed and a little of the spunk seemed to drain out of her. “I was afraid you were going to say that. Maybe I really am no good at this.”
Chance was startled by the abrupt turnaround. “You’re not giving up, are you?”
“A good teacher would know how to cope with one troubled nine-year-old boy,” she said, her expression bleak.
“Petey’s not troubled,” Chance insisted.
“Of course he is. He’s suffered two devastating losses in the last couple of years. Obviously they’ve taken a toll. He’s lashing out at me. I understand that, I really do, but I have no idea what to do about it.”
Chance sighed. “He’s not lashing out at you because of anything you’re doing or not doing,” he said. “He’s lashing out because of who you are.”
She absorbed his statement, then slowly nodded. “An Adams,” she concluded. “Of course.”
“Exactly. I’ve told him he was not to let this dispute I have to settle with your father spill over into the classroom, but he’s a kid and he’s very loyal to his grandfather. He worshiped the old coot and he took to heart all the animosity my father had for Harlan Adams. Now, rightly or wrongly, that hatred extends to you.”
“And you’ve encouraged that, too, I’m sure.”
“Just by coming here I suppose I have, but believe me, I did not intend for you to suffer any fallout. I have a lot of respect for teachers. I never meant to make your job more difficult. My problem’s with your father, not you.”
Jenny sighed again and sank onto the stump he’d been using the week before as a chopping block. When she gazed up at him with those huge, despairing eyes, his stomach turned flip-flops.
“What are we going to do about this mess?” she asked. “There’s nothing I can do about being Harlan Adams’s daughter. I wouldn’t even if I could. I’m very proud of it.”
Chance found he liked this softer more vulnerable side to her almost as much as he enjoyed the sass and vinegar. “You mean to tell me you don’t have all the answers?”
“Not half of them,” she conceded.
Chance was struck by an inspiration. Of course, it was just the teensiest bit self-serving, but so what? The point was to get Petey to behave in school. His son needed to stop thinking of Jenny Adams as the enemy, right?
“Go out with me,” he suggested impulsively. At her stunned expression, he promptly amended the idea. “I meant with us. To dinner. Petey’s been dying to try that Italian restaurant in town. We could all go. He’s basically a friendly, loving kid. If he sees I’m not treating you like a bad guy, maybe he’ll get the message. I’ve told him, of course, but actions speak louder than words.”
“Has it also occurred to you that this could backfire? Maybe he’ll conclude that means I’ll give him good grades just because you and I are friends.”
Chance grinned. “Yeah, but you’re tougher than that, so it’s not a problem. A couple of F’s and he should get the message.”
Jenny regarded him skeptically. “We’re talking one dinner here, right? Just a pleasant evening so Petey can get to know me informally and conclude I’m an okay person, maybe separate me from the feud with my father.”
“Exactly.”
“There’s a flaw in here somewhere, but for the life of me I can’t figure out what it is. Besides, I’m a desperate woman. I’ll try anything.”
Chance wasn’t exactly crazy about the implication that only a desperate woman would be willing to have dinner with him, but he was too relieved by the acceptance to bother questioning the reasoning behind it. As for his own logic in asking, that didn’t bear any scrutiny at all. Not ten minutes earlier he’d been warning himself to stay the hell away from her.
“Do you want to go now or do you need to go home first?” he asked.
“Now is fine. Except for Petey, it was actually one of the better days at school. No one threw food or paint, so I’m still looking halfway respectable.”
Chance took a lazy, deliberate survey from head to toe and nodded. “More than halfway,” he said approvingly. “I’ll get Petey.”
To his annoyance, Petey was less than enthusiastic about the plan, despite the promise of pizza.
“I’m not going,” he declared, folding his arms across his little chest and glaring up at Chance.
“Excuse me?”
“I’m not,” Petey repeated.
“Oh, but you are,” Chance countered. “You have exactly five seconds to get those shoes on and that shirt tucked in.” He studied his son more carefully. “And another sixty seconds to get in the bathroom and wash your face.”
Petey wasted a good many of those seconds glaring back at his father. Chance returned the gaze evenly and slowly started counting. Finally Petey jammed his feet into his sneakers without bothering to untie them and stomped off to the bathroom. Chance considered it a small victory.
When Petey returned, his face was scrubbed clean and even his hair was combed more neatly. He looked up into Chance’s eyes. “I just don’t get it, Dad. Why are you being so nice to her? What do you care if she hates our guts now or after we take back White Pines?”
“Because none of this is her fault,” Chance said. “Harlan Adams adopted her when she was only a little older than you are now. Why blame her for something he did years and years before that?”
Petey stared at Chance incredulously. “You sound like you even like her a little bit. You don’t, do you, Dad? I mean not like a guy likes a girl or something.”
“No, of course not,” Chance said a little too quickly. Anyone with the least bit of understanding of the battle of the sexes would have seen straight through the sharp denial. Fortunately, as bright as he was, Petey wasn’t savvy enough to guess the truth—that Chance was growing more intrigued with Jenny Adams by the minute.
Before all was said and done, he had a feeling one of them was going to be hurt. Given his avowed mission in Los Piños, it was clear to him which one of them it was going to be.
Before he could suffer too many pangs of regret over that, Petey’s expression brightened.
“Hey, I get it,” he said. “You’re, like, sneaking into the enemy camp. You’re gonna use Ms. Adams to find out what’s going on with her dad, huh?”
Chance didn’t want to acknowledge that the very same reprehensible idea had occurred to him. It sounded so low-down and sleazy when Petey said it that he found himself denying the possibility.
“Son, we’re going to dinner, nothing more. You’ve been wanting to try the Italian place to see what their pizza’s like. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to have some feminine company so we don’t forget our table manners.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“That’s all,” Chance insisted.
Petey shot him a look of pure disgust, either because he didn’t like the idea of Ms. Adams telling him which fork to use or because he’d concluded that Chance was a very bad liar. Either way it appeared they were in for an interesting dinner.
* * *
Jenny should have known better than to accept Chance’s invitation. Oh, sure, his intentions were probably honorable enough. They both wanted to improve her relationship with Petey so they could survive the school year.
But agreeing to go to the Italian restaurant in town was as much as begging for trouble. Half her relatives showed up there for meals at least once a week. With as many relatives as she had, she and Chance were pretty much destined to run into somebody from the family.
Thankfully it was Dani and Duke tonight, she thought as she hurriedly surveyed the crowded tables from the doorway. Those two were still so besotted with each other maybe neither of them would notice her. The twins weren’t with them, either, so they were busy gazing into each other’s eyes. Maybe they wouldn’t waste this rare night out alone by sticking their noses into Jenny’s business.
“That booth in the corner is open
,” Jenny said, practically bolting for it before Chance could choose another table. She slid in so that her back was toward Dani and Duke. When she was settled snugly into a corner, she glanced up into Chance’s amused eyes.
“Hiding from someone you know?”
She couldn’t think of a good reason not to tell him the truth. In a town the size of Los Piños, sooner or later he would get to know the whole family whether he made good on his threat to go after White Pines or not.
“My niece, actually. My stepbrother Jordan’s adopted daughter. She’s the town vet. She just married Duke Jenkins. He works for her father’s oil company.”
“How cozy,” Chance said with a surprising touch of sarcasm. “Any particular reason you’re trying to avoid them?”
Jenny swallowed hard and admitted, “I’m not exactly sure how I’d explain this.”
“You mean being here with Petey and me?”
She nodded.
“How about the truth? I asked. You said yes.”
“It’s more complicated than that and you know it.”
Petey sat patiently enough through most of their conversation, but judging from his expression, he’d finally tired of it. “Are we ever gonna eat?” he asked.
Jenny smiled at him. “Right now in fact. I’m starved,” she confided. “And this place has the very best pizza I’ve ever tasted.”
“Not as good as we used to get back in Montana, I’ll bet,” Petey declared.
“Better even than what I used to get in New York City,” she countered. “What do you like on yours?”
He directed a belligerent look at her and said, “Anchovies.”
Jenny managed not to gag. Instead, she beamed back at him. “Me, too.”
Chance chuckled. “Okay, son, now what?”
Jenny regarded Petey innocently. “You mean you don’t really like anchovies?”
Petey sighed heavily. “Not really.” He eyed her warily. “Do you? Are we gonna have to get ’em?”
“No, I can live without anchovies this once. How about pepperoni, instead?”
“And sausage,” Petey added.
She glanced over at Chance. “Okay with you?”
“Hey, I’m at your mercy. Whatever you two decide.”
Jenny grinned. “Then pepperoni and sausage it is.”
The harried waitress, Maria, finally rushed over to take their order. “I don’t know what’s going on in here tonight. It’s the middle of the week and every table’s taken. Doesn’t anybody cook at home anymore?”
“I’m the wrong person to ask,” Jenny said. “From the moment I left New York years ago, I’ve been suffering withdrawal symptoms from the lack of takeout. Until I came here at fourteen I thought that was how dinner was served in most homes. Chinese takeout was my favorite and I had at least a half-dozen restaurants in the neighborhood to choose from.”
“Don’t tell Maritza that,” Maria said. “She’ll go on strike out at White Pines if she thinks you’d rather have Chinese takeout than her home cooking.”
Jenny held up her hands. “No, no, don’t misunderstand. Maritza was my salvation. If it had been up to my mom, we’d have lived on burned toast and tuna salad with an occasional boiled egg tossed in. And before Mom married Harlan, I’d have starved if it hadn’t been for this place.” She glanced at Petey and explained, “My mother is a truly terrible cook. Maritza, the housekeeper at White Pines, cringes whenever Mom comes near the kitchen. She shoos her right back out again.”
“Hey, that sounds like Dad,” Petey said.
“Watch it, kid,” Chance warned.
“Your dad’s not a very good cook?” Jenny asked, amused by this bit of information. Chance Adams had struck her as the kind of man who’d be very very good at whatever he put his mind to.
“If it doesn’t come frozen, we don’t eat it,” Petey said.
“That’s not true,” Chance said indignantly. “I can open cans, too.”
The waitress grinned. “Well, you’re in for a treat tonight, then. The food here’s the best in town. I highly recommend the pizza and the lasagna. The lasagna’s my mom’s old family recipe from Italy.” She looked at Jenny. “Hey, did you see Dani and Duke on your way in? Want me to tell ’em you’re here?”
“No, that’s okay. They think they’re still on their honeymoon. Let ’em pretend a while longer.”
When the waitress had left, Chance regarded her quizzically. “Honeymoon? When were they married?”
“Right after Valentine’s Day.”
“That’s more than six months ago.”
“But they only get about fifteen minutes a week alone. Duke has twin boys and a high-pressure job that takes him out of town from time to time. Dani’s a vet. She gets calls at all hours of the night.”
“Ah, I see. Exactly how many people are we talking about in your family?”
“It depends on whether you count all of us who’ve been adopted in or married in.”
“Let’s say I do.”
“Okay, there would be Harlan and my mother, me and my half sister, Lizzy. Lizzy’s the baby. Then there are my three older stepbrothers and their wives, Dani and Duke, Sharon Lynn and her fiancé, Justin and Harlan Patrick, Angela and Clint, plus Duke’s boys and Angie and Clint’s baby. You do the math.”
She shot him a belligerent look. “And no matter where we actually live, we all consider White Pines home.”
Chance chuckled. “Is that supposed to be a warning, darlin’?”
“They do say there’s strength in numbers, but you take it any way you like.”
“I think I’ll just consider it a challenge, then.” He glanced past her shoulder. “And don’t look now, but we’re about to have company. Get ready to do some explaining.”
Jenny bit back a sigh and turned to watch Dani and Duke approach.
“We’re just on our way out,” Dani said, leaning down to give Jenny a kiss on the cheek. “We stopped by to say hi.” She regarded Chance curiously. “Hi. We haven’t met.”
“Dani and Duke, this is Chance Adams,” Jenny said with reluctance. “And his son, Petey.”
Dani’s extended hand halted in midair and her expression froze. “Mr. Adams,” she said with a curt nod.
The chilliness in her voice startled Jenny. She’d never known Dani to be impolite to anyone.
“Mrs. Jenkins,” Chance said quietly, ignoring the snub. He shook Duke’s hand as if he hadn’t even noticed that Dani’s had been withdrawn. “A pleasure to meet you both.”
“Same here,” Duke said, his tone neutral.
Dani turned a speculative gaze on Jenny. “We’ll talk tomorrow. How about Dolan’s at four-thirty?”
There was no question it was a command performance for Dani and Sharon Lynn, who ran the place. Jenny could have wriggled off the hook, but it would only have been delaying the inevitable. If she didn’t show up, Dani and Sharon Lynn would probably invade her classroom at midday and demand answers.
“I’ll do my best to make it,” she said.
Dani did grin ever so slightly at that. “Yes, I imagine you will.”
“Good night,” Duke said, giving Jenny’s shoulder a supportive squeeze. He leaned down to whisper, “Give ’em hell, kiddo.”
Jenny wasn’t exactly sure whether he’d misinterpreted her presence here with Chance as an infiltration of the enemy camp or whether he was referring to her upcoming meeting with his wife and Sharon Lynn. She managed a halfhearted smile in response.
After they’d gone Chance regarded her intently. “I gather you’re not looking forward to this little get-together tomorrow.”
“Hardly. If I was an evil person, I’d insist you go in my place,” she said in a dire tone. “You’re the one with the answers they really want.”
“I could join you,” he offered readily. “It might be interestin
g.”
Jenny tried to imagine her nieces’ reaction to that and concluded she was better off facing them alone. “Never mind,” she said wearily. “I know enough of their secrets to keep them in line.”
“Oh, really?” Chance said, obviously fascinated. “Care to share?”
“Not on your life. If you intend to blackmail this family, you’ll have to find your own means to do it.”
“There’ll be no blackmail, darlin’. Sooner or later I’ll just claim what’s rightfully mine.”
“Yeah,” Petey chimed in. “Nobody’s going to stop us.”
Jenny admired their confidence if not their intentions. “Simple as that, huh?”
“Simple as that,” Chance concurred.
Jenny shook her head and thought of the formidable lineup of foes he faced. “You poor deluded man.”
Rather than taking offense, he smiled. “We’ll see.”
Something in his tone raised the hairs on her arms. For the briefest of instants she wondered if she hadn’t been a little too quick to dismiss him. Chance Adams suddenly struck her as an astonishingly formidable force himself.
5
As things turned out, Chance was glad he’d persuaded Jenny to leave her car at his place when they came into town for dinner. If he hadn’t, he was very much afraid she would have bolted from the dinner table after the encounter with Duke and Dani Jenkins.
Whether Jenny cared to admit it or not, she had been deeply shaken by her niece’s reaction to finding the two of them together. Even though she had clearly expected it, had even tried to prevent their being seen, Dani’s shocked response to the introduction to Harlan’s avowed enemy had taken Jenny by surprise.
He could understand her worry, could even sympathize with it on an objective level. No doubt she had felt like a traitor. Chance wondered if her father would consider her one, as well, when he learned of the dinner they’d shared.
“How’s Harlan going to react when he finds out we were out together?” he asked, drawing a startled look.
Jenny had been concentrating very hard on the slice of pizza she’d been toying with for the past few minutes. She hadn’t swallowed more than a couple of bites. Petey, oblivious to the tension and the undercurrents, had been gobbling up more than his share.
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