Just My Luck (A Shamrock Falls Novel) (Entangled: Bliss) (9 page)

“I do, don’t, I?” Jace’s hand flexed and she realized she was squeezing it.

“Jace and Betsy Macnamara! Get your butts over here and try my chili!” Mae’s voice could be heard over anyone else there. Betsy Macnamara. Wow. She’d never heard the two names put together like that before.

And once their sham of a marriage was over, she never would again. She couldn’t forget that.

“If you’ll excuse us,” Jace told Martha. They waved good-bye before walking over to Mae’s booth. A tie-dyed tablecloth covered the surface where Mae had two Crock Pots steaming. The sign over the booth read,
Mae and Bob Dylan’s Miracle Chili
. Betsy wasn’t so sure it was smart to let her dog in on the name, but that was Mae.

“Look at you two. You seem just as happy as bugs in a rug!” Mae smiled. “Did you do something different to your hair, Betsy?”

“Not really. I’ve just been pinning it back.”

“Hmm… I’m not sure that’s it. You look different…almost like you’re glowing.”

Her eyes went wide, but then Jace said, “No, no. It’s not that.”

“Darn it. I thought we’d be getting two new babies. Oh well.” Then Mae leaned closer to Betsy’s ear. “There’s gotta be something special putting that shine to your skin, hon.” When Mae pulled away, she winked.

Oh. My. God.
Betsy prayed she wasn’t talking about what she thought she was.

She didn’t have much time to contemplate it, though. Not when she heard someone say her name and she knew exactly who it was. Tamara Bridges. Betsy froze.

She never expected to see the woman here. She knew she lived about forty-five minutes from Shamrock Falls.
There’s confidentiality. She can’t say anything. She won’t mention Mom.

“Hi, Tamara. How are you?” Betsy struggled to get the words out.

“I’m good. I heard so much about this cook-off, I figured I would check it out myself.”

At that Mae started talking her ear off, but Betsy blocked it out. All she could think about was the fact that Jace was here—with Tamara. She wasn’t ready for the way he looked at her to change. Wasn’t ready for him to feel sorry for her. People were like that with mental illness, fair or not. She pulled her hand from his.

“B?” Jace questioned, but she only shook her head.

Then Tamara had her attention on them again. The woman smiled at Jace and she knew she needed to introduce them, but wasn’t sure how. It didn’t matter that Tamara would surely never say anything to her mom—it still felt wrong.

“This is Jace Macnamara. I work for him and—”

“I’m her husband.”

Crap. She was ruining this for him. He was supposed to be more than someone she worked for.

“Your boss-slash-husband?” Tamara smiled and Betsy knew she didn’t mean it in a rude way, but the words still rubbed her slightly wrong.

“He was my boss first.” It was important that it didn’t look like she only got the job because they were married…but then, Tamara had to have known that. Betsy didn’t fill out any paperwork for a husband when she gave guarantor information.

“Tamara Bridges,” the woman said, making Betsy realize too late that she should have said that, too.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Jace told her, shaking her hand.

Please don’t ask how we know each other.
That thought was quickly replaced with another one. What if Tamara thought she had been lying about money problems? Here she had been saying she couldn’t afford her mother’s bills and now a husband seemed to pop out of nowhere.

Oh God…
What if she figured it out? The marriage and how Betsy suddenly had the money and— “Hey, are you okay?” Jace asked her. “You look a little pale.”

Tamara studied her and Betsy couldn’t read her expression. Couldn’t tell what it meant, the way she continued to look back and forth between Betsy and Jace. “I’m fine.” Betsy plastered a fake smile on her face.

“I’ll let you two get back to your day. See you soon, Betsy.” Tamara turned and walked away.

Go after her or not, go after her or not?

Jace leaned to her ear, answering her silent question by asking, “Who was that?”

“No one.”

She felt him tense beside her. “She looked like someone. If you don’t want to tell me—”

“She’s just a friend.” Betsy tried to recover. “I just didn’t expect to run into her.”

Jace nodded, but she couldn’t tell if he believed her or not.

Chapter Eight

Jace hadn’t brought up Betsy’s friend once since they met at the cookout. It confirmed there was more going on with Betsy than she wanted him to know about, which to Jace meant she didn’t trust him.

Or that she doesn’t want me.
As much as he’d tried to pretend that wasn’t a part of it, he couldn’t stop wondering. It hurt that she obviously hadn’t wanted her friend to know they were married. Regardless if it was for love or not, he was proud to have Betsy by his side. He wanted everyone to know it.

It was Friday night and they had plans to watch the Portland Trailblazers and Indiana Pacers game. Betsy was a diehard Blazers fan, something he’d learned in the past few weeks. According to her, they were as close as she could get to cheering for a Washington team since the Sonics left. Jace had always been partial to Indiana. An ex–Reggie Miller fan all the way, and even though those days were long gone, he didn’t stop rooting for them.

It would be a good game.

They were in the kitchen, Betsy popping popcorn while Jace grabbed a couple beers out of the fridge. He couldn’t watch the Pacers play without a beer and Betsy would drink one once in a while when they watched games.

“You do know your team’s going down tonight, right?” he teased.

Betsy turned away from the microwave and gave him one of the biggest smiles he’d ever seen from her. It opened her up somehow. Made her look brighter. Her hair was tied back in a low ponytail. It wasn’t a particularly stylish look, nothing like the ones he was used to on a woman, but damned if it wasn’t something on her. It said comfort. Confidence.

“You wish. You know their point guard has a broken finger? I promise you, that’s going to make it difficult on him.”

“Do I know? Of course I know, woman.” Jace laughed. “Look at you, trying to tell me about my team.”

“The
Pacers
?” She pretended to gag. “What’s so special about them?”

The question was simple enough, but it took the smile from Jace’s face. Some of his best memories of his parents were wrapped up in rooting for this team, but he tried to cover up the hurt—it wasn’t a big deal and he shouldn’t treat it like it was one. Especially not now. Not when she was being so playful with him.

“I’m sorry. I was only kidding.”

He wondered for a second how she was able to read him so well, but then decided he didn’t want to know. Jace shrugged. “It’s nothing major. My parents went to college in Indiana. It’s where they met.”

Her face softened like she got it. How did she always understand him so well? “Makes sense, then.” Just that simply, she turned away, opening the microwave, which had dinged a few seconds before.

He knew there were more questions. Probably wondering if his parents liked basketball or why he hadn’t gone to school there, but he knew she wouldn’t ask. Jace was both thankful and disappointed for that.

Tied game, with two and a half minutes to go. Pacers had the ball as they drove up the court.

Please make it, please make it, please make it.
Jace sat on the edge of his seat. Betsy was next to him on the couch, her elbows on her knees, leaning forward. Her left leg was bouncing up and down like crazy, her eyes glued to the screen.

Shit.
What was he doing watching her instead of the game?

Jace turned back to the TV. The popcorn was long gone. They’d been here for a couple hours yelling at the TV together…and it all came down to this.

“Nine seconds on the shot clock.” Betsy’s voice was tight.

“I know.” Jace tried not to show how tense he was. He wanted this shot. He wanted this game.

The point guard dribbled on the top of the three-point line. Five, four, three.

“Shoot!” Jace yelled, right as the point guard got in position and shot the ball at the basket.

It bounced off the front of the rim and right to the Blazers.

“Yes! Oh my God!” Betsy jumped off the seat, her arms in the air. “I told you that finger was going to hurt him.”

Suddenly, he didn’t care about the game anymore. He just wanted to watch her. The pure excitement that lit up her dark eyes. As if she wasn’t embarrassed at all about her outburst, she turned back to the TV. For the first time, Jace looked at her curves. Her backside was right in view. She wore sweats. Not something incredibly sexy, but they weren’t overly large. They showed more of her than she usually let him see.

What the hell am I doing? Why don’t I want to stop?
It had to be because of how much fun he’d had with her at the cookout, before Tamara. And his memory with the laundry and when he’d put his arm around her and…

Her scream brought his eyes back to the TV. And then Jace was on his feet, too. “Damn it! I can’t believe he made that three!” There was still time on the game clock, but he knew Betsy’s team had this one.

And he was actually a little happy about that.

Her hand came up to her mouth, and she chewed her nail as she watched the TV. She didn’t seem to notice him at all. So engrossed that he wondered if she did forget he was there.

It was kind of incredible, seeing this side of her.
She
was incredible.

“Defense, defense, defense,” Betsy muttered to herself. It was his only sign that the game had begun again. Jace tried to watch it, but his eyes kept going back to her. This woman was so different than the Betsy he knew, but somehow…somehow she was the exact same, too.

The Blazers forward stripped the ball from the Pacers. The Pacers tried to foul, but he got away. The clock ran out and the Blazers won.

“Oh my God!” Betsy shrieked before she launched herself at him. Jace was so shocked, he almost didn’t catch her. “I knew we’d win!” she cheered, and then, as if someone hit a switch, she became stiff in his arms.

He should let her go. He
could
let her go, but he didn’t
want
to.

Jace felt the curves he’d been admiring. Felt her heat as she molded against him. His heart rate kicked up over something as simple as holding her. It was different than a hug or when she’d run into him in only his towel—this was intimate and sexy. Jace inhaled, taking in her vanilla scent. He was distinctly aware of every single place that he touched. And it felt amazing.

Jace let his hand slide up her side. Her shirt lifted just a bit and his thumb brushed the bare skin at her waist. So soft. So very soft.

“I’m so sorry!” Betsy said, pushing out of his arms, giving him no choice but to let her go. Hell, he’d needed to let her go—this was Betsy. He couldn’t allow himself to lose his head with her, even if his body suddenly wanted it.

“I was just excited about the game and—”

He didn’t know what made him do it, but Jace dropped his forehead to hers. Betsy froze. “Don’t. Please don’t apologize to me anymore. Especially not about that.”

“Oh…okay.” The words hushed past her lips. He felt her breath against his face. He really, really needed to back up. Needed to get his head straight, because even though he’d seen shadows of these thoughts recently, they had never been as strong as they were right now.

“Promise me you won’t say you’re sorry anymore. Not for hugging me or being happy in front of me or snapping at me if you have a bad day. Enough apologies.”

All she said was, “I promise.” He loved the immediacy of her answer. No questions, no stuttering, no nothing.

Jace pulled away. “Congrats on your win.”

She gave him a small smile and took a step backward herself. “The finger…I told you.”

“You did,” he nodded, unable to keep from smiling himself. Hell, he couldn’t remember when he’d had this much fun…well, except for the times he was with her. He pretty much always enjoyed being with her, he realized. Even the nights he stayed late at work were fun with Betsy there.

“I want you to know,” he said, “that this isn’t over. Next time they play, it’s you and me. My Pacers have to redeem themselves.”

“Okay.” Another quick answer.

“Good. I don’t think I’ve ever had this much fun watching a game. Even if my team did blow it.”

They both laughed and he listened to the sound. How they mingled together and how happy she seemed. A lightness wrapped around him. It was impossible not to feel good when she was so happy.

“I had fun, too.” Her eyes darted down and he wanted to lift her chin. To hold it so she had to look at him.

“I have something for you,” she said, out of the blue. “I didn’t plan to get it. But we were shopping and I just saw it. I remember you saying…and I just bought it.”

He had no idea what she was talking about—too many half sentences. “What is it?”

“I’ll be right back.”

Jace watched as she left the room. She came back downstairs less than a minute later and handed him a rectangular box.

His movie. Like he said, it was something he probably could have gotten online and it wouldn’t have cost much. It shouldn’t be a big deal, but it was.

Somehow it was.

This whole night had been a big deal. As had been the cookout. Even back to the night they’d shared pizza while working late. When he watched her with the laundry, or held her hand, Jace had felt a peace inside him that he wanted more of. She made him want to do the silly things with her that his dad had done with his mom. And all of a sudden, those simple things were a bigger deal than anything else he’d done lately.

“Go out with me,” Jace blurted. He didn’t know where the words came from, but he didn’t regret them.

“What?” Betsy stepped backward.

“Go out with me,” he said again.

Betsy took one, then two steps backward. Her mouth open. A look of…well, of horror on her face. Had he misread her all this time? Did he freak her out enough that he had to worry about her ending the marriage? “Just as friends, I mean. I was thinking we could go to Seattle. It wouldn’t be anything romantic.” Jace wasn’t sure if he was being honest or trying to cover for what he’d asked.

“Oh…okay. We could do that. That would be…”

“Nice?” Jace supplied.

“Yeah, it’ll be nice.”

“Good. It’s a date. A friendly date,” he added, suddenly feeling like he was fourteen years old again, asking a girl to his first dance. Though this felt much more important.

“Where will we go?” Her eyes seemed to brighten slightly. Or maybe it was just him. But she wasn’t backing away anymore and she didn’t look like she would leave. That had to count for something.

“It’s a surprise. I need to make a few phone calls and see what I can figure out. You’ll like it, though.” Because he knew exactly what he wanted to do with her. Knew where he would take her and it would be perfect. Jace pictured her face lighting up and how it felt when she jumped joyfully into his arms. “You’ll love it, B. Trust me.”

“I do.”

Jace exhaled. That was exactly what he needed to hear.