“Fine,” he said to George. “If I’m going to make a new offer, you’ll have it by five o’clock today. Will you accept a verbal?”
“Yes,” he said simply. “By five.”
He hung up just as Summer came in again, not as breathless this time. “He paid with cash, so I didn’t get his name on a credit card. But I’m sure that—”
“He left?” He stood up, blinking at her. “He can’t leave. I have to talk to him. In person, and now.”
“He’s gone, but he asked me where the library is, so I think he’s going there.”
“Why would he want to go to the library?”
“He told Karyn he needed Wi-Fi or an internet hotspot to download a large file, and she suggested the library. You could follow him there. Run into him by accident? If you’re sure that’s what you want to do, John. He seemed really happy. Major compliments on everything on the way out. Huge tip, too.”
“That’s all good, but it’s not a guarantee. I need to know what his decision is.”
She looked a little dubious, then shrugged. “Okay. I’ll ask Karyn to cover the front for me.”
“You don’t have to…” Then he realized what he was saying. How would he recognize the guy without her? “All right. Let’s go. Fast. I have to talk to him as soon as possible. I literally have hours to make a huge decision.”
“Why?” she asked, her blue eyes scanning his face with concern.
He blew out a breath. “Because George Shipley just might royally screw me out of this deal.”
She paled a little at the name, then closed her eyes. “Let me talk to Karyn. I’ll meet you at the back door. That’s a shorter walk to the library.”
* * *
On the way across Bushrod Square, John explained everything and why he had to know what Tom Barnard’s decision on financing would be. Summer listened with few questions, a burn in her gut when she thought about her connection to George Shipley.
When she’d told John she’d rather wait to figure things out with Travis, she’d been telling the absolute truth. Yes, she wouldn’t mind setting the record straight and apologizing for disappearing. And she would, someday.
But the truth was, once she met John, the confusion that Raven had stirred up about what she wanted with Travis had disappeared.
“I still don’t think you should pounce,” Summer said as they walked.
“I don’t want to pounce, but I have to know, and I have to know today.”
She bit her lip and lifted her hair, her neck hot in the blazing sun. “He really didn’t want to have a conversation with you.”
“Well, he’s about to.”
“What if there’s another way to find out? Something a little more natural or organic?”
“If you can think of an idea, I’d be open.”
“Maybe I could—” She let out a soft gasp as she looked across the grass at a man sitting on a park bench near the playground. “John.” She grabbed his arm. “That’s him. Right there.”
He followed her gaze and squinted at the man tapping away on an open laptop. “It could be him,” he said.
“Well, it’s definitely the guy who just ordered three meals, gushed about the service, and left a mongo tip.”
John studied the man a good hundred and fifty feet away, quiet while he thought. “If he backs out, I can’t raise that offer to Shipley,” he finally said. “Then I could lose my restaurant and have to start over with a new property. A bad decision could set me back a year. More.”
She heard the frustration in his voice and wanted to help more than anything. “Okay. I have an idea.” She stared at the man, mentally working out the logistics.
“Talk to me, Goose,” John whispered, making her smile.
“If I went around that playground, all the way to the back, and came up behind him, not too obvious, I might be able to see what he’s writing.”
He laughed softly. “Nice try, but not only is that rude, it’s probably illegal. And what are you going to find out, even if you could read the screen?”
“What do you have to lose?” she insisted. “If I can’t get anything, you can pounce away and make him tell you his plans and have at him. But he’s wide open, and if I could just walk past him and glance, maybe I’ll find out what he’s planning to do.”
He searched her face for a long moment, a smile pulling his lips up. “You’re really something else, you know that?”
“You just haven’t figured out what yet,” she replied.
“That’s for damn sure.” His gaze drifted over her face, a mix of admiration and amusement and maybe just a little lust in his brown eyes. “Not for lack of trying, though.”
The comment gave her a thrill and amped up her desire to impress, and help, him. She reached out and put her hand on his forearm, loving the feel of muscle under warm skin and the soft dusting of hair. So much for no more random touches. “Stay here,” she said. “Way over here. And give me ten minutes.”
“What if he turns around and sees you?”
She flipped open her bag, pulled out a hair tie, and made a quick ponytail. Then she slipped on a pair of sunglasses. “He’ll never notice me.”
“If he doesn’t, he’s not human or male.”
She grinned and gave him a poke in the shoulder, because she absolutely adored that shoulder and it deserved to be poked. “Just a walk in the park, Kazansky.”
He laughed out loud at her Top Gun reference as she took off toward the playground, which was as noisy and crowded as it’d been the day Summer and Destiny had first stepped foot in Bitter Bark. At least twenty kids, from ages two to twelve, ran around, along with the usual number of dogs and distractions.
As she took the long way so there was no chance of Secret Shopper seeing her, Summer turned a few times to check for John’s tall figure, where he still waited in the shade, still grinning from her Top Gun joke. Just as she disappeared into the noise and chaos of the playground, she gave him a thumbs-up, and he returned it, which, for reasons she’d never understand, made her stomach flip.
As she came around the other side of the playground, she shifted all her attention to Secret Shopper. Now that she was closer, she could see he was pounding the keyboard noisily, sitting in the shade enough so that if she were directly in line and the sun cooperated and he had a glare-resistant screen…she could likely see what he was writing when she walked behind him.
She slowed her step and planned a natural route to pass behind him. She stayed well out of his sight and prayed he didn’t suddenly turn around because a kid screamed.
When she was within two feet, she could see letters on a screen. A Word document, and the top of it was bold and big. Yes! She might be able to read it. She got a little closer and stole a look across the square at John, who stared intently. Was his heart pounding like hers?
Probably. And that made her feel connected to him and determined to go slow, close, and read the big letters across the top of the page.
I WOULD NEVER MISS THIS DEAL!
She had to bite her lip to keep from gasping. He would never miss this deal? That had to be good. Pretending to stop to tie her sneaker, she crouched down and squinted hard to read the next line just to be sure he wasn’t reading some marketing email.
Santorini’s has everything I wanted…
The rest was in the sun’s glare, but it didn’t matter. That was good news. Great news. The best news.
She shot up and kept going, heading along the walkway toward John, picking up her pace with each step until she broke into a run.
Ten feet away, he held out his arms as if to catch her, and she jogged right into his embrace and jumped up, throwing her legs around his waist, boosted by her success and the raw excitement of sharing it with him.
“It’s a yes!” she squealed, throwing her head back with the adrenaline that shot through her.
“Oh wow!” a woman nearby called.
“She said yes!” another woman in the same group yelled out.
> John froze. Summer gasped. And very, very slowly, he let her back to the ground as they both turned toward the young moms setting up a picnic for their kids.
“No, no,” Summer said, waving her hands as a blush exploded on her face. “It was…a different kind of yes. Not a…no, sorry.”
A chorus of disappointed groans followed them as they took a few steps away, both laughing a little nervously. Then she grabbed his arm and squeezed.
“Want to know what it said?”
“You actually read his screen?”
“I did. And it said…” She cleared her throat and swiped her hand as if announcing a headline. “‘I WOULD NEVER MISS THIS DEAL!’ In all capital letters, John!”
“What?” He choked softly. “Are you sure?”
“Positive. Heck, if I thought I could get away with it, I’d have taken a picture.”
He looked a little horrified at the thought, then put both hands on her shoulders, pulling her close to him. “Did you get anything else?”
“Yes.” She beamed up at him. “You’re going to love this.”
“I already do,” he admitted softly.
“The very next line was: ‘Santorini’s is everything I wanted…’”
When she paused, he added some pressure on her shoulders. “And…”
“That’s all I got. I couldn’t read with the glare. But, John, that’s so good.”
“Good? It’s amazing.” He hugged her again, pulling her hard into his whole body and squeezing tight like he didn’t give a damn about air and space and having any between them. “I don’t even know what to say to you. You spied for me!”
She giggled, inching back to look at him. “It was fun.” Of course, the best part was jumping into his arms and doing the whole Bachelor-contestant leg wrap. “I had my shot and had to take it, Mav.”
He laughed heartily, then cupped his hands on her cheeks. “You, Summer Jackson, are a brilliant, beautiful, fearless woman. And I am blown away.”
She got up on her tiptoes and kissed him lightly, completely caught up in the moment and the man.
He kissed her back, a little longer, then suddenly backed away.
“Are you sure it’s not a yes?” one of the women called playfully, making them laugh.
“I, uh, better go run some numbers for my new offer,” John said.
“And I better…” Against her side, her purse vibrated with a call on her cell. “Answer this.”
As she pulled the phone out, John draped an arm around her shoulders and started walking down the path. But she froze as she stared at the phone, and all the high dropped like she fell down a roller coaster. “It’s from Waterford Farm.”
With a vague but familiar sense of “mother worry,” she smashed her finger on the green button to answer.
“Hello, is this Summer Jackson?” The man’s voice was just low and serious enough to kick that worry up a notch.
“Yes, it is.”
“First of all, everything’s fine. Destiny is fine.” She barely heard the words, turning back to John to hold his arm for the support she thought she might need, tapping the speaker button so he could hear.
“What happened?” she asked.
“She’s been hit with a softball. Nothing serious, but I think you better come and get her.”
“Let’s go,” John said, taking her hand and pulling her. “We can be there in fifteen minutes.”
Chapter Fifteen
“He said she was hit in the shoulder.” Summer pressed her hand to her own shoulder like she could somehow telepathically send comfort to her daughter, while John broke several speed limits rushing toward Waterford Farm. “I guess it could have been worse.”
“I’m sure they’re not using a standard six- or seven-ounce softball with those kids,” he said, hoping to reassure her. “So it depends on who threw it, how close they were, how hard the toss.” He reached over and put his hand over hers. “Shane said it wasn’t serious. If it were, we’d be driving to the hospital.”
She let out a nearly inaudible whimper at the thought. But he heard it, and it only made him hit the accelerator harder.
“But we’re not,” he reminded her. “I’m sure she’s just bruised. And…scared.” That poor kid. She’d really enjoyed playing and wanted so much to conquer her fears. “I know how she feels.”
“She’ll never want to play again,” Summer said softly. “And she was having so much fun.”
“She has a decent arm, too. And a great head on her shoulders.”
“Her bruised shoulders.”
“Better than a bruised head,” he said, giving her hand a squeeze. “And she has a fantastic voice. Any chance we can talk her into switching playtime from softball to singing?”
She sighed noisily as a fresh set of unshed tears dampened her eyes. “John,” she whispered.
“I know, I know,” he said quickly. “I understand the stutter makes it hard. I was just thinking—”
“No, that’s not it.” She brought his hand to her lips and laid an unexpected kiss on his knuckles. “You’re so sweet to care about her.”
“Sweet again, huh?” He gave an easy smile and fought the urge to pull their joined hands to his mouth and kiss her hand right back. Instead, he settled for holding her hand on her lap. “She’s the best kid in the world, you know?”
“Oh, I know.”
“And when she struggles to say something…” He shook his head.
“Rips your heart out.”
“And stomps on it,” he added.
“I told you that’s why she whispers and sings,” Summer said. “That way, she won’t stutter.”
“Well, then I’m confused,” he admitted. “If she can sing without a stutter, why is she staying out of the choral stuff? That would seem to be her happy place.”
“Only when she sings solo,” she told him. “She was in a group at school and couldn’t come in on the right note or at the right time. So a chorus situation also scares her.”
“I hate for her to be scared of anything,” he said.
“You helped her so much with softball, John.”
He winced. “Hello, square one, we’re back.” He leaned a little closer and squeezed her hand. “We’ll think of something to help her.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, looking at him with so much affection he damn near missed the turnoff to Waterford.
He’d barely had the 4Runner halfway down the long drive when he caught sight of his mother, Daniel, and Liam hustling toward them. Then John noticed another person in the welcoming committee. Little Christian held his father’s hand, looking up at Liam with eyes red-rimmed from tears.
Summer noticed, too. “Oh no. It must be really bad if he’s that upset.”
“His favorite girl? Maybe he’s just worried about her.”
They both got out of the car the second he turned the ignition off, and Summer rushed closer.
“Where is she?”
“She’s in the vet’s office,” John’s mother said, immediately putting her arm around Summer. “She’s fine. I promise you, she’s fine. We only called you for protocol.”
“I’m so glad you did. Can I—” Before she could finish, Christian grabbed Summer’s hand and demanded her attention.
“I’m sorry,” he said in ragged voice. “It’s my fault. I threw the ball.”
“It’s okay, son.” Liam put a hand on his shoulder. “You didn’t mean to hit her.”
“But I did hit her,” he said, tears welling up. “I threw it too hard. The coaches said grounders only, but I… I wanted to show her how good my arm is.”
Summer immediately dropped down to his level. “You didn’t try to hit her, Christian.” To her credit, it was a statement, made without doubt, and not even close to a question.
“No!” His eyes popped. “She’s my friend!”
“I know,” Summer said gently, her demeanor so comfortable it was easy to see why she was a fantastic third-grade teacher. “The minute she gets in the
car after camp, I hear all about how much fun she has with you and Jag.”
His lower lip quivered as if this news was just too much for him.
“Will you come with me to see her?” Summer asked him.
He shook his head. “She’s mad at me. I just wanted you to know what happened.” He looked up at Liam. “Daddy thought I should tell you myself.”
“Oh dear.” She rose and smiled at Liam. “Thank you. Promise him she doesn’t hold a grudge. I won’t let her.”
“Let’s go see her.” John put his hand on Summer’s back and walked with his mother and Daniel toward the small building that housed all the vet offices.
“It’s a bruise,” Daniel said. “Nothing is broken. I know I’m a vet, not a doctor, but I raised six kids. This is a tender bruise on the front of her shoulder. She’s in some discomfort, and we’re icing it, of course. But I didn’t give her anything or take an X-ray. I thought you’d want to make that call.”
“Thanks. How is she otherwise? Upset?” She glanced over her shoulder at the little boy they’d left behind. “Is she really mad at Christian? She seems so crazy about him.”
“She’s mad at the world,” Katie said. “But Ella happened to be here today, and she’s stayed with her ever since it happened about forty-five minutes ago. And of course, Maverick will not leave her side.”
Summer and John shared a quick look over that, then they passed the pens where the campers were lining up for lunch and trainers were taking the dogs to the kennels for water and a break.
“I hope she doesn’t quit this,” Summer said, taking it all in. “She’s never been to camp before, and this experience has been amazing.”
“She doesn’t have to go home,” Daniel assured her. “But I don’t think she’ll want to do much activity this afternoon. And it’s up to her whether she wants to come back on Monday, but we’d sure love to have her.”
She smiled up at him as he pulled open the door for her. “Thanks. We’ll see how she feels about it.”
Hush, Puppy Page 16
