Blue Twilight (3 page)

Chapter 7

Once they left the noise behind and started walking up the street, Jake realized he didn’t know what to say. He opened his mouth a few times, but the words just never came. Finally, he gave up, and they walked to Lisa’s door in silence.

Turning to face him, Lisa played with her key. “You didn’t have to walk me home, but thank you.”

“No problem.” Why couldn’t he think of anything intelligent to say? He just stood there like a fish out of water, floundering for something,
anything
to say.

“Well, I guess I’d better get inside. Thanks again.” Lisa stepped inside and started to close the door.

Feeling panicked, Jake yelled the first thing he could think of. “Lunch!”

The door swung wide. “What?”

Jesus, what was wrong with him?
“What I meant was, I have a meeting in town tomorrow, and I should be done by the time you get off. Would you like to have lunch with me?”

He could see the hesitation forming on her face. “Jake, I…I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.”

Holding his hands out, he explained. “No strings. Consider it a…congratulations…on your first day…lunch.” He shut his eyes briefly at how pathetic he sounded. Holding his breath, he waited on her answer.

A lifetime seemed to pass before she finally agreed. “Alright. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Awesome. Great.”
Real smooth, Jake.
“Good night, Lisa.” Jake smiled as Lisa gave him a small wave and shut the door. He turned to walk back down the street, whistling the whole way.

***

He was still grinning when he got back to the party. Surveying the backyard, he raised his hand in greeting to a number of people. He had lots of friends, some he even considered family. But there had been something missing the past two years. Maybe, just maybe, Lisa was that something. As soon as the thought hit him, he immediately pushed it down. He couldn’t go there again. His heart simply wasn’t ready. And yet, he couldn’t seem to stay away from her. So, they’d take things slow. After all, he’d said it wasn’t a date, and it wasn’t. It was just two people having lunch.
And he believed that about as much as he believed pigs could fly.

When he saw Debra spot him, he tried to dash inside, but it was too late, so he grabbed a beer instead. Debra was like a big sister to him. Most times he loved that about her, but other times…

“Great party,” she remarked as she walked up and bumped his shoulder.

“Yep.” He took a long pull from the bottle.

“Good food, great weather,
nice company
…”

And there it is
. Jake groaned as he already knew where this was headed. “Deb…”

Holding a finger up, she interrupted him. “Don’t you ‘Deb’ me. Now, you know that I, more than anyone, am thrilled to see you take an interest in the fairer sex again—”

“Deb, don’t—”

Debra shushed him as she continued. “However, you still have a lot of…baggage, shall we say?”

Jake felt his body tense and knew she could see it.

Leaning forward, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Just be careful is all I’m saying, Jake.”

“I know, Deb, I hear you. I’m not even thinking along those lines.”
I’m a rotten liar.
Needing to distract her, he asked, “Will you do me a favor please, and help me start herding people toward the exit? I have some work to do before my meeting tomorrow.”

Debra snorted. “Feeling inspired are we?” At Jake’s murderous glare, she patted his cheek and announced “Everybody out! You ain’t gotta go home, but you can’t stay here!”

Jake chuckled and bid goodbye to his guests. After Debra and Hank helped him clean up, he sat outside on his deck for a long time. He scribbled down notes furiously before finally crawling into bed.
Tomorrow
, he thought,
is going to be a very interesting day
.

Chapter 8

Lisa groaned as her alarm clock went off. “Four a.m. should be outlawed,” she muttered before heading to the shower. After dressing, she pulled her long hair up and meandered to the kitchen for a much needed cup of coffee. Sitting at her table, she flipped mindlessly through her notebook.

After she’d come home last night, she’d written down a few more ideas for
Blue Twilight
. It seemed to be coming together, but it lacked something. When her head hit the table with a thud, she realized that
something
would not be coming to her at 3:45 in the morning.

Closing the book, she stood and rinsed her cup in the sink before grabbing her keys. It only took five minutes to navigate through town at this hour, so she arrived at Deb’s with time to spare. After pulling into a spot, she climbed out of her car to knock on the door.

Within a few seconds, the door swung open, and an entirely too chipper Debra emerged, wiping her hands on her apron. “Good morning! Is it too early for you?”

Yawning, Lisa said, “I think it’s too early to tell.”

Debra laughed. “Well don’t you worry. You’ll get used to it if you decide to stay, and you can have all the coffee you want.”

That alone would cement their friendship in Lisa’s mind. Leading her to the back, Deb showed Lisa where to stash her purse while tossing her an apron. Debra ran her kitchen with the efficiency of a drill sergeant. She showed Lisa how to operate the largest mixer she had ever seen all while explaining to her where the ingredients were stored. There was even a recipe box that was alphabetized and color coded. Debra threw out a lot of information, but surprisingly, Lisa didn’t feel as overwhelmed as she’d feared.

Batters and dough were mixed, kneaded, and formed. Muffins, doughnuts, cookies, and pastries were baked, fried, and displayed faster than Lisa had thought possible. There was a lot to do before the doors opened. When they did open, Lisa had never seen anything like it. It was like the entire town was standing outside waiting. Most of them, she learned, were regulars and came every morning.

Lisa filled bags with muffins, scones, donuts, and bagels. She recognized a lot of people from Jake’s party, and a few stopped to chat with her for a moment before making way for the next person in line. Around ten o’clock the crowd finally died down, and Lisa paused to take a breath.

Debra came up behind her. “So, what’d you think?”

Leaning back on the counter, Lisa considered things. “That was crazy…but fun. It’s really like this every day?”

“Most days, but I think some of them just wanted a peek at my new hire.” With a wink, she asked, “So, you think you want to stick around?”

Lisa smiled. “As long as you’ll have me…and as long as there’s always coffee.”

Laughing loudly, Deb smacked Lisa’s shoulder. “You and I will be great friends, sugar. Now, enough dawdling. Let’s start getting ready for lunch.”

Debra’s bakery, Lisa learned, was not only the place for breakfast, but also served sandwiches, soups, and salads at lunchtime. Debra showed her how to make her “world famous” chicken salad. “Now, don’t you be going and telling anyone,” she’d joked. At least, Lisa thought Debra was joking, but wasn’t willing to chance finding out the hard way. Soup was brought to a simmer, and specials were written on a small chalkboard. By the time they had finished prepping sandwiches, a few of Debra’s other employees had arrived.

Debra quickly introduced Lisa to them and then patted her on the back. “Well, you’re officially off the hook and you passed your first day with flying colors.”

Glancing around her, Lisa fiddled with her apron strings. “Thanks…but are you sure you don’t want me to hang around a bit longer? I could help you clean up.”

“Nah, honey, I’ve got it. You get going. It looks like you’ve got plans anyway,” she said, waving at someone outside.

Lisa turned and saw Jake standing on the sidewalk wearing a big smile and holding a sunflower. Blushing, she busied herself with untying her apron. After asking Deb where to put it, she motioned to Jake that she’d only be a moment and ducked in back to clean up and grab her things.

***

As he waited on Lisa to finish up, Jake saw Debra marching his way.

She pulled him in for a hug. “Hiya, handsome. How’d the meeting go?”

Picking Debra up, he spun her in a little circle before setting her back down. “It was amazing! They loved all of my ideas, and we’re aiming for the first of the year.” He still couldn’t believe how well it had gone. Riding the high afterward, he’d damn near skipped down the street.
Now that would’ve been a sight…

“I just knew they’d love it. How could they not? I’m so proud of you,” Deb said, interrupting his thoughts. She cleared her throat and added, “But you remember what we talked about last night, right?” She eyed the flower he quickly tried to hide behind his back.

“I know, I know,” he sighed. “I was just so happy after the meeting…” Debra gave Jake the
look
. The one that said he wasn’t fooling anyone, especially not her. Rubbing the back of his neck, he promised, “I’ll be careful.”

“You do that. She’s a sweet girl and doesn’t need to be hurt, Jake.”

Any reply that he could have come up with was forgotten as Lisa emerged from the bakery. She’d pulled her hair down, and the afternoon sun glistened off her long, chestnut strands. He was struck dumb by the site of her.

Debra simply shook her head and walked away muttering something that sounded like, “Why do I bother?” Giving Lisa’s arm a passing squeeze, she promised to see her in the morning.

Lisa tucked her hair behind her ear and gave him a small smile. “I’m all set.”

Chapter 9

Lisa secretly checked Jake out while they walked to the nearby restaurant. Dressed in dark jeans and a dress shirt, he managed to look cool despite the humidity. His sleeves were rolled to the elbow and showcased his tan, muscled arms. The cowboy hat sitting low on his head did nothing to draw attention away from his sparkling, green eyes or high cheekbones.
Mercy.
It wasn’t fair one man should look so good. A quick glance down at herself left her feeling less than adequate. Her khakis had small stains scattered about, and her hair was doing a weird wavy thing after being up all morning. Twirling the sunflower in her hand, she nervously wondered what she was doing with someone like him.

“Penny for your thoughts?”

Startled, she glanced up at Jake. “What?”

“You looked like you were thinking about something pretty hard. Is everything okay?”

With a frown, she pulled her gaze from his and studied her shoes. “Yes, I’m fine.”

Jake stopped walking and tucked his finger under her chin. He lifted it until she was looking into his emerald eyes. “Have I said or done something wrong?”

Squinting into the sun, Lisa swallowed hard as she studied Jake’s worried expression. “What? No. Why would you ask that?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I just get the feeling you’re waiting for me to let you down somehow.”

Lisa was dumbfounded. In a lot of ways, he was right. She did not have a good track record with men. They all hurt her in some way or another. As much as she was beginning to like him, maybe it would just be better if she stopped this now. “Jake, listen, I—”

“I won’t hurt you.”

He’d said it so quietly she wasn’t even sure she’d heard it at first. Shutting her eyes, she tried to tell herself it didn’t make a difference. She couldn’t get involved with Jake, or anyone else, for that matter. Touching his hand softly, she said, “I know you want to believe that, and I’m sure you’re a nice guy—”

“Ouch,” he interrupted, putting his hand over his heart. “Let’s just stop right there. I’m just trying to get to know you, Lisa. I’m not asking you to marry me. Can’t we just have lunch?”

Blowing her hair out of her face, she considered it. It’s not like anything was going to happen. She pointedly ignored the way her heartbeat sped up at the mention of marriage. One meal. She could handle that…couldn’t she? Before she could second guess herself any more, she agreed with a huff. “Okay, let’s go.”

***

The hostess sat them at an outside table that overlooked the river. Frowning, Lisa watched as the girl seemed to laugh a little too loud and let her hand linger far too long on Jake’s arm. Not that she cared. She didn’t. When the girl finally disentangled herself from Jake, Lisa watched her walk away with an extra swing in her hips.
Hussy.
Snorting quietly, she glanced out at the water and tried to calm her crazy, jaded thoughts.

Jake placed his hat on the table. Giving her his full attention, he said, “So, tell me about your first day baking.”

Lisa shifted uncomfortably under his gaze and studied the specials to avoid looking at him. “It was interesting. I never knew how much work went into it.” When she finally looked up a minute later, she noticed Jake still studying her intently and quickly looked away. “So, what do you recommend here?”

Sighing, Jake tapped his menu. “The chicken salad is excellent, but don’t tell Deb I said that. If you like seafood, the black bass is caught local and very good. I could go on and on here.”

After studying the menu again, Lisa finally decided and lay her menu down. “I’m going with the cheeseburger.”

Jake smiled and placed a hand on his chest. “A girl after my own heart.”

Lisa grinned as their waitress came to take their orders and brought back two lemonades. A hush fell over their table as she struggled with what to say. As the silence lingered, she began tracing the rim of her glass with her pinky.

Clearing his throat, Jake said, “So, tell me about yourself.”

Surprised, she almost knocked her glass over. “What do you want to know?”

Jake chuckled and gestured with his hand. “Everything. Where’d you go to school? Do you have any siblings? Tell me about your parents.”

Lisa considered his questions as she sipped her lemonade. “I tried community college, but it wasn’t for me. They didn’t really have the program I was interested in. I’m an only child, and my mom still lives in Annapolis with her boyfriend, Richard.”

There was a long pause as he seemed to wait for her to continue. When she didn’t, he asked, “What did you want to study at school?”

Lisa grew uncomfortable. She didn’t want to tell him about her writing skills. It was far too personal. But as he continued to hold her gaze, she knew she couldn’t get out of it without answering. “English, I guess. I couldn’t really figure it out.”

“And what about your father?”

His question was innocent enough. He couldn’t possibly know. Even as Lisa told herself this, she could feel her body tense and her walls slamming down. “I haven’t seen my father since I was twelve.” She could hear how icy her voice had become, but couldn’t seem to help it.

Jake covered her hand with his. “I’m sorry.”

Snatching her hand back, Lisa placed it in her lap. The last thing she needed, or wanted, was his pity. “I’m not.”

After that, their food arrived and Lisa picked at her burger in silence. Amazing, how after all this time, just the mention of her father could still affect her this way. It made it easier for her to remember why she needed to keep guys at a distance. Even ones who seemed as sweet as Jake.

He pushed his plate away after finishing the last few bites of his sandwich. “Listen, I’m sorry if I upset you. I didn’t mean to bring up a sore subject for you.”

Leaning back, she crossed her arms. “It’s fine,” she insisted. “Ancient history.”

Jake sighed and placed his hat back on. Reaching across the table, he grabbed her hand again. “I’m trying to get to know you. But if you won’t give me a chance, let me in- even a little, how do you know this couldn’t be something great?”

Lisa opened her mouth to argue, but was interrupted when the waitress suddenly appeared with the check. She reached for it, but he was faster.

“Just think about it,” he said standing and pushing his chair in. “And let me know if you ever change your mind.” Kissing her hand, he took the bill, and with a tip of his hat, was gone.