Chapter Eighteen
“I think we should go out on a date,” announced Jake, clanging in through the front door of the bakery.
“You wha—” Emma lost her footing on the stepladder she was standing on and went windmilling backward into an oh-so-graceful ass-first dismount.
Luckily Jake shot forward to catch her so she could stick the landing. He shook his head. “I swear—I can’t leave you alone here for a second, can I?”
No. No, you can’t. From now on, no more leaving me alone.
Huh, her inner Jezebel Cricket had certainly gotten needier since he’d finished up the last of the bakery repairs the other day and started his contract over at the library.
For once she and Emma were on the exact same page. They both missed having their resident sexy lumberjack in the shop every day.
Instead of telling him that, however, she went with the more Emma-esque response: “Did you hit your head at the job site again?”
He chuckled. “Nope. My noggin is just fine today.”
Yeah, she wasn’t so sure. “Yet here you are asking me out on a date.”
“No, here I am telling you that we should. Go out on a date.” Said it with a persuasive-as-hell double-brow-raise execution and everything. The triple-dog dare of facial expressions.
The man wasn’t messing around today.
“But—”
“Now before you say no, I checked the bylaws of our Jake and Emma 2.0 agreement and found no restrictions on us dating.”
Okay, so she hadn’t put in a clause about that—
“And if you really think about it,” he pushed on, “we’ve pretty much been going out on unofficial dates for the past few weeks. Successfully, I might add.”
Well, sure, if you squinted your eyes just so and looked at their lunch and dinner and art show and barbecue and kids’ party outings with a convoluted magnifying glass—
“So you agree.”
Crap, had she been nodding her head this whole time? Quit it. She stopped doing her impressive imitation of a bobblehead figurine. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”
Uh-oh. He didn’t look fazed one bit by that.
“Okay.” He shrugged.
That’s it? “Wait. You’re dropping it, just like that?”
He gave her an are-you-nuts look. “Of course not. I’ll be back here again same time tomorrow. And the next. And if you’re feeling exceptionally stubborn, the day after that.”
Good lord, the man was charm personified. Don’t you dare smile, Stevens.
She didn’t. Just barely. “So you’re saying that if I don’t agree to your crazy idea, you’re going to keep coming back in to revisit the topic?”
“For as long as it takes,” he confirmed.
Funny, in all her wildest fantasies from her teen years to, yes, even now, she’d imagined him asking her out a million times, and never once did she picture him wearing a neon-bright, high-contrast commercial construction job site T-shirt while he did it.
That alpha, we’re-going-out-and-that’s-all-there-is-to-it gleam in his eyes, on the other hand? Oh yeah, that was consistent with her imagination.
“But you’re not actually asking me out. Yet. You’re just here to warn me that you’re going to ask me out?”
“Warn? You make it sound like some sort of Doppler radar alert.”
Yep. That’s exactly what this was, a siren-blazing weather warning for an incoming hurricane. Category five at least.
As if he could hear her thoughts, he gave her a toothy grin.
The sound of a child’s panicked screech and a subsequent collision outside put a swift end to their banter.
Jake ran to the front door with Emma right on his heels.
It was four-year-old Carly, the Jorgensons’ youngest, and her best friend, Miley, in a two-trike pileup on the sidewalk.
Jake knelt down and picked both girls up, one on each hip. “Well, hello again, Miss Carly. I see you have a schnazzy new ride.”
Giant eyes filling with imminent tears grew wider and wider before Carly tipped her head back and sobbed, “I crashed it.”
Since this sort of thing was often quite contagious, it was no surprise when Miley joined in a second later, until the two were crying uncontrollably in stereo.
“Hey, hey. None of that. We can fix these bikes up good as new.”
Both girls sniffled and stared up at Jake like the dragon slayer he was. “You can fix it? Honest?” asked Carly, wiping her nose with her jacket sleeve.
“I’ll do you one better,” countered Jake. “I’ll teach you two how to fix it and even add a few aftermarket upgrades—something along the lines of rainbow streamers and a bigger basket for your toys? What do you girls think of that?”
Twin pint-size cries of delight brought a ripple of approving smiles from the small crowd that had gathered.
Jake walked back over to Emma, with both girls still perched at his sides. “Rain check on what we were talking about?”
No rain check needed. Tell him. Just tell the man “Hell, yes” to his crazy idea so you can move on to the dating portion.
Never one to be impulsive, she swam out halfway. “Same time, same place?”
His lips curved up in surprise.
Then he went and wobbled her knees even more.
“Did you hear that?” he asked the girls in a stage whisper. “I might just be getting a date soon with the prettiest girl in town—well, next to you two beauties, of course. If she says yes, will you two help me pick some wildflowers so I can impress her on our date?”
The twin squeals of excitement from the girls sounded markedly similar to the one echoing in her head from a very tickled-pink cricket.
As the trio went over to his truck to grab his tools to fix their trikes, Emma heard a sage voice caution, “Don’t play hard to get too long with that one, dear.”
Emma turned to find Mrs. Taylor in her new motorized scooter pointing over at Jake. “A man like that won’t stay single forever.”
“Oh.” Emma shook her head. “Jake and I are just friends.” No need to have the reigning monarch of the Old Biddy Brigade thinking otherwise.
“Oh pish posh, you can’t fool me. I’ve seen the way you two look at each other.” She gave Jake a longing look. “He reminds me of my Carl. So dashing, so kind.” With a firm finger wag, she scolded lightly. “Now I know it’s normal for you kids to ‘play the field’ nowadays, but trust me when I tell you that you don’t want to waste your time if that boy is the one for you. You’re going to want every possible minute you can have with him.”
Emma wasn’t sure what to say to that.
“He’s one of the good ones, you know.”
That one was easier. “That he is.”
“Did you hear how he built a pottery shed for Sharon and Steve the other week? It was a beaut. And the only payment he took for all his hard work was a handmade quilt and some fresh deer jerky. Can you believe it?”
Yep, she could at that.
Stories of Jake’s side jobs had been circulating around town for weeks. Each story sweeter than the last. The most recent she’d heard about was a job he did for the steep price of twenty finger-painting masterpieces courtesy of the toddler day-care center over by the lake.
Seriously, how many other carpenters would spend their entire day off building an awesome new playground obstacle course for the cost of supplies and twenty toddler paintings?
“Jake’s a keeper, Emma. The only reason us old biddies in town haven’t tried to marry him off to one of our daughters and nieces yet is because that boy is head over heels for you. But if you don’t do right by him soon, I promise you we can find a dozen women who would jump at that chance.”
She felt the threat of that like a bullet to her heart.
Mrs. Taylor gave her a knowing grin. “Mmm-hmm. Think that hurts? Wait too long and you’ll feel a lot more pain than that. Trust me—I know. Carl and I had let society norms and other silly things get in the way of our relationship when we were young enough and stupid enough to ignore our hearts. Thank the lord we found each other again after his Maggie and my Stanley both passed, God rest them both.”
She patted Emma’s hand gently. “Just some friendly advice from an old lady, dear. That saying about taking chances isn’t just talking about the risk involved if you do it. There’s also a risk if you don’t. Second chances don’t always come around. I know far too many friends who found that out the hard way.”
Mrs. Taylor honked her good-bye and zipped off after dropping that nuclear bomb of sage wisdom. The fact that this right here was Jake and Emma’s second chance—something Mrs. Taylor couldn’t possibly have known—made that risk factor involved so much higher. On so many levels.
So now the only question was, which risk was she more afraid of?
Losing her heart?
Or losing Jake?
The next day Jake showed up for his “same time, same place” appointment at Emma’s bakery. Pushing through the clanging front door of the bakery, he went straight to the back, knowing he’d find Emma busy in the kitchen, now that the town building inspection of all the repairs was approved and filed.
When he found her, he took a few seconds to just lean against the wall and watch with a doting smile as Emma whistled and pranced around the kitchen like a culinary nymph, sprinkling flour like fairy dust all over a ball of dough bigger than her head on the new and improved butcher-block island he’d built for her.
“Jake, hi! I thought you were Megan.”
“You know, I get that all the time. I think it’s the beard.”
She giggled and waved her floured rolling pin like a wand at the bakery display cases that were now no longer empty. “Did you hear? We breezed through the inspections yesterday afternoon, and we’re officially cleared for business again.”
“I heard. Congratulations.” He nodded over at the twenty or so pie and tart pans she had stacked up beside her. “Is that all for tomorrow’s reopening?”
“Yep. My version of flowing champagne for all my returning customers. And don’t worry—I’m making an extra bourbon pecan pie.”
His favorite. “You spoil me.”
“Well, you deserve it. You did such an amazing job in here, Jake, really. I can’t thank you enough.”
“It was my pleasure, sweetheart.”
Reaching over to brush some flour off her cheek, he crowded her space slowly, purposefully. “So . . .” He tipped her chin up and snagged her shy gaze completely to make sure he had her full and undivided attention. “Now that the inspections are done, I believe our working contract is now officially completed. Agreed?”
Wide blue eyes locked on his as he slowly backed them up against the commercial fridge. At least it would cool one of them down.
Belatedly, she nodded in response to his question.
And the temperature in the room spiked another ten degrees.
“You and me. First official date. What do you say?”
“A-are you asking this time? Or is this just another Hurricane Jake watch?”
The woman was forever entertaining him with her crazy thoughts. “I’m asking.”
Though she tried so hard to hide it, he saw the flash of fear in her eyes. That she was fighting to temper it brought them one step closer. “We can still keep being Jake and Emma 2.0, baby—I promise.” To be honest, he didn’t know if he could survive seeing her deal with the collision of her past and present again. “Us dating doesn’t have to open up floodgates to everything in our pasts.”
Just a tiny bit more hope brightened her blue eyes. “Are you sure we can?”
Was he? No. And he told her as much. “I can’t guarantee that we won’t take a few hits along the way. You know how the universe likes to get paid when it comes to that sort of thing with us. But do you trust me when I say that if that does happen, I’ll be right here beside you doing my damnedest to eclipse the bad with the good? Because there is so much good in our history, too, Emma. I know it’s hard to remember it sometimes, but it’s there. And the more time we spend together, the easier it’s been for me to find those good memories.”
She took in a few deep breaths.
Meanwhile he couldn’t remember the last time he’d exhaled.
At the myriad of expressions racing across her face, he tried a different tactic to ease her fears. “We’ll keep it totally casual. I won’t even feed you if that whole first-date-at-a-restaurant thing is what’s freaking you out,” he cajoled. “You won’t even have to change after work. In fact, I kind of hope you don’t because those frilly little aprons of yours are all kinds of sexy.”
Damn, he loved making her freckles pink up like that. “You will need comfortable shoes, though. Probably not the same ones you wear in the bakery.”
She blinked in surprise. “Sounds like you have it all planned.”
“Honey, I started thinking about our first date fourteen years ago. Safe to say I have a few ideas. Laid-back ones, but plans nonetheless.” Suddenly doubt crept up his spine, and he backtracked, called himself a fool a dozen different ways. The plans he was thinking of were probably more catered to the Emma from Riverside. A grown-ass woman probably wanted to be wined and dined. Crap, way to screw this one up already, Jake. “But we don’t have to do laid-back. We can definitely do something fancier. There are a ton of great restaurants in the city—”
She quickly shook her head. “Laid-back sounds perfect.”
Whew. So he didn’t get that detail wrong. “So is that a yes? No rush on scheduling it, of course. I know you’re busy with the reopening. We could wait until after you get back into the groove of things here. Maybe in a few weeks?”
After a brief pause, she replied with a firm “No.”
He felt his heart drop like a stone to the pit of his stomach.
Her flour-covered hands flew up and clouded the air in a frantic puff of white dust. “No, no! Jake, I meant, no on the waiting until after things settle down here.” She chewed on her lip shyly. “I . . . don’t want to wait that long.”
“Oh.” And his heart was back in his chest again, beating overtime. “Hell. So that’s a yes then?” He really needed to hear her say the words.
She nodded, and then said the fourteen-years-in-the-making response aloud seemingly as much for her own ears as for his. “That’s a yes. Yes to the first date.” She gazed at him unwaveringly. “Yes to us.”
“So you’re not going to give me even a tiny clue where we’re going on this date?”
Jake smiled at Emma’s cute little pout as she buckled into the passenger seat of his truck. While normally that totally would’ve worked on him, his wanting to keep this first date as a true surprise managed to win out. “Nope.”
She sighed and then redirected her curious focus elsewhere. Namely, to snooping around for clues. “Aha!” She reached for the brown paper bag tucked under her seat.
But he snatched it away before she could get a peek. “Just be patient, woman. You’ll find out what we’re doing on this date in less than an hour, so just relax. Enjoy the sunset.”
She sat in silence for a good ten seconds before breaking. “Are you going to start the engine anytime soon?”
Laughing softly over her having lasted even that long, seeing as they’d been sitting outside her shop for a good few minutes, he turned on his engine to at least get some music going, but he kept the truck in park. When he still didn’t drive out of his parking spot, she looked over at him quizzically. But then her eyes popped wide-open in delight when he rolled down his window to wave over the delivery man carrying the box of pizza he’d ordered for them.
He wasn’t sure if they’d let him request a delivery for “the truck outside Emma’s bakery,” but the restaurant folks didn’t even hesitate. Man, he really loved this town.
Her eyes rounded at the logo on the box. “Moretti’s pizza? Wow, Megan’s been giving you some good intel.”
“I told you—I’ve been thinking about this date for a while. So of course I deployed all the spies I could.” He handed her a napkin and served her a piping-hot slice before putting the car into gear. “Eat up. We’re going to stop at your favorite malt shake place next.”
As he rolled his truck into gear and headed for the freeway, he was surprised to find the first slice of pizza from the box hovering in front of his mouth.
“You first,” she prodded. “You always manage to make food taste ten times better with all your sex noises.”
That was his gift. Might as well share it. He took a big bite and then directed the slice back over to her. It wasn’t until he heard her take a bite, as well, that the flavors in his mouth truly hit him.
Jaysus. That was one mean slice of pizza.
And this time he wasn’t the only one making sex noises in between chewing.
The next twenty minutes for them thus consisted of a comfortable silence, punctuated with the occasional blissful pizza moan as they took turns taking bites, then sharing a malt shake as they chased the setting sun over to the surprise he had in store.
Her startled, delighted laugh when he turned into a long dirt driveway just as dusk was settling in across the colorful sky told him he’d chosen well.
“You brought me to a farm.”
“I brought you to a baby animal farm.”
Her gaze shot up to meet his. “Really?”
His eyes ran over her face, watching the surprised pleasure light up her features. “I remembered once when we’d been talking over the fence between our yards, you mentioned wanting to live on a farm of just baby animals.”
“Like those county fair petting zoos,” they said in unison.
She laughed and shook her head. “You probably thought I was nuts.”
“Hardly. If memory serves, I’m pretty sure I spent that night on the computer researching which baby animals could be kept on farms in the Midwest.”
Quickly turning her head to hide her smile, Emma looked over at the little farmhouse with the sweet elderly couple sitting on the porch swing waving at them. “So you actually managed to find one? A farm of just baby animals?”
“They have a few mama and papa animals, as well,” he disclosed with an indulgent grin. “But, yes, they continually raise baby farm animals and run a petting zoo for kids all year-round.”
When he turned back to look at her, he saw her tongue swipe at her lower lip to wet it unconsciously. “Well, what are we waiting for?”
What indeed? He cleared his suddenly dry throat, and averted his eyes from what could be the most kissable mouth he’d ever seen. Hopping out of his truck, he managed to get his focus back on the date at hand when Emma quickly scrambled out of her side in sheer excitement before he could open her door for her.
Waving at the couple on the porch, Jake explained. “Normally, the petting zoo is during the day, but I asked them to make an exception for a woman who’s waited a long time for this.”
Her gaze caught and held his. “You’re right,” she said softly. “I’ve been waiting for this for quite some time. Not just this mythical farm but this date, too.”
Jake reached back into the truck to grab the brown paper bag filled with fresh carrots, celery, and lettuce, then slipped her hand in his.
“I have, too, sweetheart.”