Jack & Jilted (24 page)

“No,” Chloe said automatically. “I don’t rebound, you know that. Normally I go into periods of hibernation when I break up with someone.”

“So this guy was different,” her father said. “What made you give him a chance?”

Chloe thought back to how kind he was to her during her honeymoon cruise. The way he was open to her suggestions in ways Gerald never had been. The way he was strong and tough but still very giving and gentle. He meant well, she knew it.

“Because he seemed to genuinely see me,” Chloe said. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt that with anybody before.”

“And did you see him?” her mother pressed.

Chloe replied. “I thought I did.”

“You understood why he was the way he was?”

“You mean commitment-phobic?” Chloe sighed, her mind starting to put together the pattern. “Yes.”

“And you pushed him anyway,” her mother continued. “You knew he had problems with giving up freedom, but you figured if he loved you enough, he’d be able to move beyond all that.”

“Shouldn’t he?” Chloe asked.

Her father let out a low, rumbling breath. Then he leaned over and took her mom’s hand in a romantic gesture. Her mom smiled back at him.

“Men aren’t perfect,” he said. “We need time to work things out. I screwed up things plenty when I was still dating your mother.”

“And I wasn’t perfect, either,” her mother added. “I used to worry him over every little detail—”

“And I used to tell her exactly how I wanted things,” her father said, chuckling. “We had plenty of disagreements.”

“Loud ones,” her mother agreed, squeezing his hand.

“It’s about compromise,” her father finished. “I don’t want you with someone who’s going to use you. Of course not. But if you love someone, you have to give them the chance to meet you halfway. And you have to meet them there, as well.”

Chloe went quiet, processing these thoughts. “Compromise,” she said, rolling the thought over in her mind. “You guys have always compromised, then?”

Her mother’s smile was wide and loving. “I don’t want you on a ship for a living,” she said.

“And I don’t want you running off and falling in love with a man you barely know,” her father added. “But we both love you and we want you to be happy. So we’ll compromise, we’ll tell you our thoughts and see where you go from there.”

Chloe felt her throat choke with emotion. “Thank you,” she said. “I love you guys.”

“We love you, too,” her mother said, rubbing at her own eyes with her fingertips. “Now go get a pad of paper. We’re working this out.”

“WHAT’S UP, BOSS?” JOSE asked, puzzled.

Jack cleared his throat. “I’m glad you two could meet with me today,” he said, feeling like a complete doofus.

Ace and Jose exchanged glances, sitting in the two new chairs Jack had gotten for his “office” thinking it would be even worse if he asked Ace and Jose to sit on the bed. Still, their topic was too formal for him to sit out on deck and talk about. Besides, he had all of his notes at his desk. Man, did he have a lot of notes.

“Jose, you’ve been working with me for three years,” he said. “Ace, you’ve been here over a year and a half. You’ve both busted your butts for me, and I appreciate it.”

“Thanks,” Ace mumbled, clearly confused and uncomfortable.

“Are we getting a raise or something?” Jose asked.

“Or something,” Jack said, rubbing the back of his neck. “We’re getting a lot of business. More business than I thought I’d see all year, actually.”

“Yeah,” Ace said. “I’m starting to get a little crispy, actually. I never thought I’d work this hard on this ship!”

Ace laughed after he said this, but Jack was thoughtful. He’d thought that initially, too, when he’d bought the Rascal—that it would be chartering a few drunk fisherman around and then spending the rest of the time kicking back, drinking beer, romancing the occasional lady. He’d learned quickly that it took a lot of time, effort and hard work to keep both boat and business afloat.

He was starting to learn that about relationships, too. And not just romantic ones.

“We’ve come close to going under a couple of times now,” Jack said, “and you have stuck it out with me. That means a lot.” He took a deep breath, frowning, trying to figure out how to attack the conversation. “I’m starting to notice that I may have been trying too hard to do things by myself.”

“Hallelujah,” Jose said half under his breath.

“So you’re bringing Chloe back?” Ace asked eagerly.

“Huh? No. Well, yes,” Jack said, “if she’ll go for it. But that’s the next part of the conversation. This is between me and you guys.”

Now Ace seemed confused again, although Jose was looking keenly alert.

“I love the Rascal. She’s been a good home for me for the past five years,” he said with a feeling of pride. “But she’s not enough to really make a good living on. Not to support a full crew, anyway, not the way she’s built.”

Jose nodded.

“If we really want to make a success out of this, we’ll need a bigger boat,” Jack said. “If we get enough business, we might want to expand.”

“Expand?” Ace asked.

“Into a fleet,” Jose said with a small smile. “A couple of boats, with more berths, more passengers. Maybe different kinds of charters.”

Jack smiled, not surprised at all that Jose understood the concept. “I couldn’t captain more than one boat,” he said. “And that sort of thing takes a lot of investment in time and money and planning. I didn’t think I could handle all of that. And I can’t…alone.”

“Okay, what are you saying?” Ace finally asked, sounding bewildered.

“He’s saying he wants to turn this from McCullough Charters into something a bigger,” Jose said. “Isn’t that right, Jack?”

Jack nodded gratefully. “I was wondering if you two wanted in on a partnership.”

Ace blinked. “You mean, like, be an owner?” The thought obviously dazzled him.

Jose, on the other hand, grinned broadly. “About time,” he said.

“Well, you could’ve brought it up,” Jack said, grinning back at him.

“I know you,” Jose said, shaking his head. “It takes a load of dynamite to get you going. I’ve been saving up for my own ship for years—and on your salaries, I gotta say it hasn’t been easy.”

“But you’ve been loyal,” Jack said feeling even more grateful.

“It would’ve made leaving tough,” Jose said, with a slow nod. “But you’re my best friend, and I figured we’d just worry about that when I actually got enough money to buy my own boat.”

“I don’t have any money,” Ace said. “Hell, I don’t even have an apartment. I just have a storage unit and I crash at my brother’s place or my parents’ or some chick’s. I don’t want to be part owner in a business.” He looked a little wild-eyed. “Can I still work here?”

“Yeah, you can,” Jack said. “Of course you can. We’ll probably hire some help, too, to give you more of a break.”

“Man, that’d be nice.”

Jack smiled. He’d made the offer. He was opening up. He was giving this whole thing a chance.

It was scary as all hell. At the same time, now that it had been, it felt pretty damned good.

“So is that it?” Ace asked, glancing at his watch. “I’ve got a hot date.”

“Yeah, that was it,” Jack said, smirking at him. “Go ahead.”

He watched as Ace fled, thinking of how he’d been like that when he was younger. Jose seemed to read his mind.

“Kids,” he said, shaking his head. “No concept of the future.”

“Not like us old guys, huh?” Jack said, getting up and grabbing two beers from his fridge. He handed Jose one, and they clinked bottle necks. “Cheers.”

“Back atcha,” Jose said, taking a long pull from the bottle. “We’re not old, man. We’re wise.”

Jack snorted.

“And you were just as bad as Ace was,” Jose added, “until you met Chloe.”

Jack didn’t say anything. He took a long sip of beer before he nodded in concession.

“So you said if she was up for it, you’d get her back,” Jose said. “She was the one you were thinking of going in with in the first place. That bugged me a bit, by the way,” Jose said, “although I love the girl like a sister. So what’s the deal?”

“I sort of screwed things up with her,” Jack said, ignoring Jose’s no-kidding expression. “I didn’t want her to be partners.”

“And she wasn’t okay with that?”

“Well, I also said I wasn’t into marriage,” Jack said. “In my defense, we’ve only known each other for a couple of months now—”

“I can see how that might upset her,” Jose offered. “So you told her you didn’t want her working with you and you were leery about marriage, therefore she decided to stop seeing you. And now?”

Jack frowned. “I didn’t say I didn’t want her working with me.”

“You didn’t?”

“No, of course not,” Jack said. “She did more for our business in a few months than I was able to do in a few years. So, yeah, of course I wanted her to stay.”

Jose’s eyes rounded. “So you said don’t get any ideas about moving ahead, and I won’t want to marry you…oh, but keep making me money?”

“I don’t think I said that,” Jack replied, feeling like an idiot.

“You weren’t kidding,” Jose said with a low whistle. “You screwed up huge. And I guess you still wanted to keep having sex with her, but she shouldn’t think about marriage.”

“I know I didn’t say that,” Jack said.

“You probably didn’t have to.” Jose leaned back, drinking more beer. “And you think she’s going to come back why again?”

Jack sighed. “Hopefully, because I love her,” he said. “And because I now know I was an jerk. And because she’s got a big heart and she’s good at fixing things.”

“You’ve got a good point there,” Jose agreed. “So you’re giving her a chance to become a partner, too?”

“Yeah,” Jack said. “If you’re okay with working with her.”

“Are you kidding?” Jose’s grin almost split his face. “She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to you. And with this whole opportunity opening up, she’s probably the best thing that’s happened to me.”

“Funny,” Jack said. “Now I just need to get her to talk to me. If you’ve got any ideas on that, wise guy, I could use the help.”

“Huh. Let’s see…” Jose frowned. “I imagine groveling of some sort should be involved.”

“I kind of figured that.” Jack grimaced. “Anything else?”

“You could tell her she left something behind,” Jose proposed. “And tell her to pick it up.”

“No, no. Too juvenile,” Jack said. “Besides, she’d just tell me to mail it.”

“You could say you miss her, you screwed up, please come back,” Jose said in an isn’t-this-obvious? tone of voice.

“I don’t want to do it over the phone,” Jack said.

“You’re a pain in the ass,” Jose responded. “Okay. Then why don’t you tell her you’ve got a gun to my head and if she isn’t over here in an hour you’re going to shoot me?”

“Do you really think that would work?”

Jose scowled. “She likes me, I think. And she’s a soft touch.”

Jack was about to make a sarcastic comment when his cell phone rang. “McCullough Charters,” he said.

“Jack.”

He sat up straight, almost falling out of his chair. “Chloe?”

“Listen, can I stop by the boat in an hour?” she said, her words almost tumbling over each other in her haste.

His mind went momentarily blank. “Uh…sure. Yes.”

“Great.” Without another word, she hung up.

Jack stared at his cell phone, hearing the dial tone before he snapped it shut.

“That was Chloe?” Jose said.

Jack nodded.

“So…what happened?”

“She’s coming by,” Jack said. “In an hour.”

Jose laughed. “You have the devil’s own luck, man,” he said. “You do what you need to, but get her back. And this time, don’t be a jerk, okay?”

“I’ll try,” Jack said. “Now get out of here. We’ll talk more tomorrow.”

He had an hour. And God willing, this time he’d be able to do things right.

CHLOE COULDN’T REMEMBER the last time she was this nervous. It had only been a few weeks since she’d been on the Rascal, but it seemed as though she’d been away from it forever. She felt a pang of nostalgia as she stepped on board. Jack was waiting there on the deck, just as he had been that first time she’d arrived, right after the disaster of her canceled wedding—the blessing in disguise in more ways than one. He looked good enough to eat, as usual, his hair slick-wet from a shower, wearing a T-shirt and a faded pair of jeans.

She paused, feeling awkward.

“Hey, you,” she finally said.

He smiled back at her, and it felt as if she were basking in the sun. “Hey, yourself.”

She wanted to run to him—to just burrow into his arms, say she’d been foolish, say she just wanted to feel happy again and beg him to take her back. But she wasn’t going to do that.

Not right off the bat, anyway.

He had set out two of the deck chairs they usually used when serving dinner on deck. He also had a pitcher of lemonade. “Want to sit down?” he asked, pouring her a glass.

So. They were going to be civil. If anything, that made her more nervous. She sat down and accepted the beverage, taking a sip. “This is good,” she said more for lack of anything to say.

“Yeah. I had to fire our last cook, but he did make some decent lemonade.” Jack sat next to her with his own glass.

They were silent for a long moment.

This was your idea, Chloe chastised herself. Say something!

“So I guess you’re wondering why I’m here,” she finally said, then winced. Okay, next time say something that isn’t lame!

“I am, a little,” Jack said. “But I’m more glad that you’re here at all.”

She took a deep breath. “I shouldn’t have left the way I did. And the things I said—”

“Were right,” he finished, his voice low and comforting. “I was being selfish. I didn’t mean to be. I just didn’t want things to change.”

“I know that,” she said. “With your background…your parents…and we really haven’t known each other that long…”

“Sometimes you don’t need to,” he said. “And don’t make excuses for me.”

“I’m not,” she replied quickly. “I still want…what I want. A relationship that means something. A chance to work someplace and not just be an assistant or a gopher. But at the same time, I don’t want to be out of your life completely.”

“I know that,” he said. “I want you in my life, too, believe me.”

“So I drew up a list of options,” she said, reaching into her purse.

She stopped when he burst into laughter.

“What?” she asked.

He leaned over and kissed her, and for a second her plan, her nerves, everything disappeared in the taste of that sweetness. She melted into him, putting her drink down on the deck and reaching for him. He pulled her into his lap, making the kiss more intent. Finally, after a long moment, he shifted the kiss to her neck, pressing against the pulse beating there.

“You aren’t going to believe this, but I wrote up a list, too,” he said.

She pulled back, floored. “You did? About what?”

“About how we can make this work,” he said. “Come on.”

He carried her, purse and all, down to his cabin in the way that always thrilled her. His cabin had the little glow lights on again, she noted with a smile. He placed her gently on the bed, then went to his desk—which, to her shock, was still neat—and grabbed a sheet of paper.

“I came up with these,” he said, and he sounded a little embarrassed—something that charmed her utterly. “I don’t want to take advantage of you, so if you’d rather work, I would just see you between cruises. If you still wanted me to,” he added, his voice tentative.