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She straightened and looked at him. “I’m okay,” she told him.
Em had never been much of a liar and this wasn’t any exception. He tucked her hair behind her ears and smiled.
“You know what? I think maybe it would be okay for you to see your mom for a weekend this summer. I know she’d like that a lot. ”
“For real?” his daughter asked.
“Sure. As long as you promise to come back. ”
She grinned. “Daddy, you’re the one who got lost, not me. I can find my way back just fine. ”
Words to live by, he thought.
“Then I’ll trust you completely,” he said. “Are you getting hungry? Ready for dinner?”
“Uh-huh. ” She slid off his knee and stood. “What are we having?”
“Funny you should ask. I have a couple of surprises for you. ”
“We’re having ice cream?”
He ruffled her hair. “Did I say they were good surprises?”
“Oh. So what’s for dinner?”
“Meat loaf. ” He took her hand and led her toward the kitchen.
“You didn’t make that,” Emily said. “Bev and I made the meat loaf this morning. ”
“I know, but she gave me a special gravy. It’s purple. ”
His daughter looked doubtful. “Does it taste funny?”
“You’re going to have to let me know. I’m not eating it. ”
She started to laugh. “Why not?”
“Purple gravy. Yuck. What’s next? Orange bacon?”
She giggled some more.
He led her to the refrigerator. “I want to show you this. ” He opened the door and pulled out a bowl of Jell-O.
She stood on tiptoe and stared at the bowl for a long time. Finally she looked at him. “What is it?” she asked in a whisper.
“It’s Jell-O. Purple Jell-O. I made it this morning when I saw what you were wearing. ”
Her expression remained doubtful. “What’s inside?”
He leaned close and whispered, “Broccoli. ”
Emily jumped as if he’d bitten her. Her eyes widened. “You can’t put vegetables in Jell-O. ”
“Sure you can. I just did it. See. ” He shook the bowl and the contents wiggled. He had to admit the combination of grape Jell-O and broccoli turned his stomach, but he wasn’t the one with the color rule.
“I’m sure it’s yummy,” he said cheerfully. “We can put the gravy on it. ”
She put out her hands. “I don’t want any. ”
“What? No purple broccoli? No purple gravy?” He put the bowl on the counter and began to tickle her.
Em laughed and began to squirm, but he noticed she pushed to get closer, not to get away.
“What are you saying?” he demanded loudly? “You won’t eat purple food?”
“No!” she said with a shriek and grabbed his hands. “No purple food. ” She grinned. “Just regular food, okay?”
He touched the tip of her nose and knew they were going to be fine. “Okay. ”
JILL WALKED UP from the beach nearly three hours after she’d left the house. She felt windblown and was sure her hair looked like a perm experiment gone bad. That was just on the outside. On the inside…she wasn’t sure what she felt. Confused mostly. About her life, her career, Mac. Especially Mac.
Telling herself he shouldn’t matter was one thing, but believing it? Not gonna happen. She’d had a crush on him forever and, in the past month or so, they’d become friends. More than friends. They’d slept together. She didn’t do that with just anyone.
Jill was pretty confident she wasn’t in love with Mac, but she felt something. And when he’d turned on her like a rabid dog for no good reason…
She still didn’t want to think about it.
A quick glance at her watch told her there was still plenty of time for a chick movie fest and a Ben & Jerry’s marathon. As she’d skipped dinner, only half the calories would count. If she remembered correctly there was Cookie Dough and Cherry Garcia in the freezer and what could be better than that?
As she crossed the street toward Bev’s place, she didn’t even look toward Mac’s house. Whatever he was up to, she didn’t care. If he wanted to—
“Jill?”
She froze in the middle of the street, torn between walking toward him and running away. Unfortunately, her long walk had left her legs sore, so running wasn’t really an option—not unless she wanted to risk permanent injury.
She sauntered toward the sidewalk, trying to look both unconcerned and uninterested.
“Hey,” she said, then shoved her hands into her back pockets.
“How’s it going?” he asked as he stepped off the porch.
She started to answer, then realized she couldn’t speak. Not rationally, at least. The man was barefoot. Was that fair? Mac was sexy at the best of times, but with a worn T-shirt and shorts and barefoot, he was practically illegally attractive.
She stared down at the grass. “I took a walk on the beach,” she said.
“Dealing with some things?”
“A few. ”
“Was I on the list?”
She raised her head and glared at him. “You didn’t deserve to be. ”
“You’re right. ” He moved toward her. “I was a complete jerk and totally out of line. ”
She made a show of looking behind her before tapping her chest. “Was that directed at me?”
“Yeah. ”
He stopped a few feet in front of her. Not within touching distance, but close enough to get her hormones singing a happy jingle.
“It’s all the pressure,” he said, his blue eyes locked intently on her face. “Dealing with Emily, my job, the town. Then Rudy shows up and everything goes to hell. ” He held up a hand before she could speak. “I’m not saying he’s done anything. Maybe you’re right. Maybe he’s not here to make trouble. ”
“You don’t believe that. ”
He smiled. “I’m trying to apologize. Maybe you could wait until I’m done to argue with me. ”
“Oh. Good point. Okay, go on. ”
“That was pretty much it. I’m sorry. When I heard you’d talked to him, I overreacted. ”
“You think?” She tilted her head and shrugged. “I didn’t confide in Rudy. I didn’t think I’d betrayed a confidence. And just for the record, he’s not currently my client. At the rate things are going, he may never be again. ”
“I thought you had a lot of interviews. ”
“I do, including one tomorrow. But I’m beginning to think I’m cursed or something. The senior partner at that L. A. firm had a giant fish on the wall. Who knows what I’ll see tomorrow. ”
Mac grinned. “Antlers?”
“Maybe. ” She shuddered. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I do know I want us to stay friends. ”
“Me, too. ” He held out his arms. “Am I forgiven?”
She nodded and stepped into his embrace. He was warm and strong and everything about touching him felt right. Jill gave herself over to the feeling of safety and home. Her eyes slid closed and she—
Home? Where had that thought come from?
She quickly stepped back and tried to smile. “So, how are things otherwise?” she asked, aware she was talking too quickly. “Not to get you mad at me again, but the whole world is weird at my place. ” She lowered her voice. “Bev and Rudy are having a sleepover. ”
Mac winced. “I could have gone all night without knowing about that. ”
“You only had to hear about it. I practically walked in on them. Bev is like my mother. I mean, ick. ” She held up both hands. “Don’t worry. She’s already promised to make sure Emily and Rudy aren’t in the house together. You don’t have to panic. ”
“I can’t help it where that guy’s concerned. ”
“I know. We’ll have to agree to disagree. You think you can wait
until he screws up before you get mad at him?”
“Maybe. ” He put his arm around her. “Want to come in and have some wine or something?”
To be honest, the “or something” was pretty tempting.
“Hi, Jill. ”
She looked up and saw Emily standing at the screen door.
“Hey, girlfriend,” Jill called. “How are things?”
“Good. I like your hair. ”
Jill fingered the curly frizz. “I walked on the beach for a while. This always happens. ”
“It’s pretty. ”
“Thanks. ”
Emily looked at her father. “Can we go get ice cream, Daddy?”
“Sure, kiddo. Put your shoes on. ”
Jill grinned as Emily raced away. “So you two are getting along. ”
“Very well. We talked about some things today. She ate broccoli. ”
Jill was pleased. “So the food-matching thing seems to be over. ”
“Thank God. I was running out of ideas. ” He put his arm around her. “Want to come with us for ice cream?”
Be with Mac and his daughter or spend the evening alone? Not much of a choice. “Sure thing. ”
“Good. I have an idea that will make you very happy. ”
“Oh?” She scooted a little closer. “What might that be?”
He groaned. “Unfortunately, it’s not that. ” He gave her a swift kiss on the mouth. “You’ve got to know being close to you kills me, right?”
She felt the heat and the need ricocheting between them. “I have a fair idea. ”
Emily burst out of the house before she could say anything else.
“What’s your idea?” Jill asked.
“That we take your car over to the high school parking lot. ”
“How is that exciting?”
He grinned. “They start a new class of driver’s training tomorrow. You could park right in the way. ”
Jill bent over and hugged Emily. “Your daddy is a very smart man. ”
“I know,” the little girl said, and took her hand. “What kind of ice cream do you want?”
Emily grabbed ahold of her father with her other hand and started walking. Jill kept step with her and did her best not to look at Mac. This was all too weird, she told herself. They weren’t a family.
Did she want them to be?
“Jill,” Emily said as she tugged on her fingers. “What do you want?”
“Maybe one of everything. ”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“YOU’RE DOING WELL,” Carly said quietly as Emily raced out of the room to grab Elvis.
“We’ve had our ups and down,” Mac admitted. “In the past few days it seems we’ve come to an understanding. ”
“More than that. She’s wearing multiple colors. If you knew how many times I tried to get her to eat normally. ”
“She held out for a long time,” he admitted.
Carly sat on a kitchen chair. Her perfectly neat, perfectly straight hair suited her attractive features. In her tailored shorts and polo shirt, she looked like what she was—a successful executive on vacation. She was, in theory, everything he could possibly want. So why couldn’t he stop thinking about a curly-haired, impulsive, mouthy attorney who could make a man want to sell his soul for just one kiss?
“Em can be stubborn,” Carly said with a smile. “I know she gets that from you. ”
“I’m not the only one,” he told her. “You can get your back up about things. ”
“Maybe sometimes. ” She leaned toward him and grabbed his hand. “How’s life?”
“Good. ”
“Mommy, can I bring a book?” Emily called from upstairs.