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“I’m fine. Contrary to what you probably believe, I’m not always crying. You just always seem to catch me at…well, at emotional times.”

“I’m sorry. I guess I have bad timing.”

Kate shrugged her shoulders.

“You saw me crying the other day, so I guess we’re somewhat even?”

She felt her guard slowly coming down as she remembered the pain in Jacob’s eyes as he shared his tragic story with her in the kitchen that day. Although the kiss had caught her totally by surprise, and although she was completely in love with Ben, she somehow didn’t feel threatened by Jacob. There was something about his demeanor that made her know that his character was, at the very core, trustworthy and good.

“Well I think you’ve seen me cry twice now, so by my calculations you owe me some tears.”

His worried expression changed to one of comfort. “I’ll work on that,” he said. He held out a covered dish towards Kate. “Here, it’s a lasagna. It’s one of the four meals I know how to make.”

Kate chuckled. “Four, wow. You really are a bachelor, aren’t you?” Suddenly realizing her comment might have come across as insensitive, she said, “Oh…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…”

“You’re trying to make me cry, aren’t you?”

“No! Oh my gosh, I am such an idiot sometimes. I…“

“Kate,” said Jacob with a grin. “It’s fine. I’m just giving you a hard time.

She took a step back and gave Jacob a sideways glance. “Nicely done. I didn’t know you had a snarky streak. But I definitely approve.” She went to put the lasagna in the refrigerator. “Do you want to come in?”

“No, I should really go. I’ve got some work to do today.” Glancing down the hall, he saw Olivia sitting on the couch. “Hi, Mrs. Henry!” he yelled towards the living room. “Feeling all right today?”

“What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger!” she yelled back. “Or in my case, it gives me an excuse to be lazy and work on my needlepoint.”

“Well, you call me if you need anything, okay?”

“You can count on it. Now you be nice to Kate!”

“I’m trying!” he said with a laugh.

Kate shook her head. “Thanks, Mom.” She walked back over towards the doorway where Jacob stood. “It was really nice of you to bring over a meal. I appreciate it, and I know my mom does too.”

“It’s the least I could do.” Pausing, he shuffled his feet.

“Is there…something else?” Kate asked.

Jacob took a deep breath. “I really am sorry for kissing you. That was out of line. And I know you’re seeing someone, so please don’t take this the wrong way. I just don’t want you to leave California without telling you that I think you are a truly incredible person.”

Kate opened her mouth to speak, but she had no words.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to say anything. I just wanted you to know that. I hope you have a safe trip back, and I hope…I hope you find everything you’re looking for.” He turned and walked away from the house. Glancing back, he yelled, “And cool it with the crying already. You’re going to dehydrate yourself.”

Kate couldn’t see his satisfied grin as he walked towards his truck, nor could he feel that her heart was beating faster in her chest.

Within a few days, Kate was back in Rocky Mount. Life continued surprisingly normally. She spoke on the phone with her mother every day, who was still at home recuperating. She made her mom promise that she was getting lots of rest so that she could recuperate. Kate volunteered to stay longer, but Olivia Henry was a stubborn woman. She insisted that she would be fine, so she sent her daughter home.

“I’ve got plenty of friends who can drive me to my appointments,” Olivia said, “and I’ll get all the rest I need by sitting on the porch looking at my garden.”

Because she had been so preoccupied with her mother and with that unsettling kiss from Jacob, Kate didn’t have much time to dwell on the fact that she hadn’t talked to Ben since before she left for Carmel. She had left him another voicemail when she returned home, but she hadn’t heard back from him. Since their last conversation hadn’t really given her any solid answers about where his head was at, Kate was starting to get anxious.

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” said Darren over a quick lunch one day. “He gets so wrapped up in his work. I’m sure he’ll call you as soon as he gets a chance and everything will be fine. I’ve actually been trying to get ahold of him, too.”

Kate put down her tuna sandwich and took a sip of water. “I don’t know, Darren. I kind of get the feeling that something is up.”

“Oh don’t be ridiculous. Women are so silly!” Kate threw an olive at him. “Well, you are! You analyze every little thing and blow things out of proportion. Just because you haven’t talked to him in a few days doesn’t mean something is up. It means he’s busy at work.”

“But you didn’t hear the conversation we had. I think he has doubts, Darren. I thought it was all going to be so easy and once we came back from the beach we would be together. I honestly didn’t even consider that he would need more time to figure things out.”

“Kate, I saw the two of you together. He’s an idiot if he doesn’t want to be with you. But can you please stop worrying? I’m sure if he told you he needs time to figure things out, he meant it. If he didn’t want to be with you, he wouldn’t have been spending this much time on the phone with you since the beach. He wouldn’t even engage himself in a conversation where you ask him the tough questions.”

“I didn’t tell you this, but I went up to DC to visit him. The weekend after we got back from the beach.”

“What? How could you keep something like that from me?”

“It wasn’t on purpose. Well…not really. It was all very spontaneous, actually. I drove up there on my day off and drove back that night. And then all the stuff with my mom happened, so I’ve been a little preoccupied.”

“Fine, you can play the mom card. Just this once,” said Darren with a wink. “So…are you going to give me any details? But not gross mushy ones, please. He is my brother after all.”

“We had a great time. And he asked me to be his girlfriend.”

“For crying out loud, then what are you freaking out about, woman?”

“Okay, okay. I’ll stop worrying,” said Kate, even though she knew that wasn’t possible until she talked to Ben again. “You’re coming over to Meredith’s tonight, right?”

“Have I ever missed Friday Movie Night at Meredith’s?”

“Point taken.” She chewed on a piece of cantaloupe. “Oh! The craziest thing happened when I was in California. I swear to you, I have the most bizarre life.”

“Fitting, seeing as you are the most bizarre girl.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment. Okay, so my mom hired this gardener. His name is Jacob, and I met him at Christmas. We actually built this really cool stream together in the backyard. Anyway, he was the one who called me to tell me about my mom’s stroke, and he was in the hospital with her until I came.”

“Is your mom romancing her gardener? This sounds like a made for TV movie.”

“Um, no. He’s like 30. Gross. No, but you know my mom. She can make friends with anyone. And he’s over there a lot working on her garden, so it makes sense that they would be friends.”

“I still want to see the movie. What would they name it?
Digging His Way Towards Love? Cultivating Romance?
”

“
A Thorny Seduction
,” said Kate, joining in.

“Yes! I love it. Okay, who would play your mom in the movie?”

“Can I please finish my story?”

“Fine. But we have a blockbuster on our hands.”

“I’m sure. Anyway, Jacob was super helpful and nice to me, and he ended up giving me a ride back to the house from the hospital. We were sitting around chatting, and he totally started opening up to me and telling me all about his life. Which was weird, because he seems like a fairly quiet guy.”

“What is the word ‘quiet’ that you speak of?”

“Something you will never be. Especially when I’m trying to tell a story. So Jacob tells me this tragic story about how he proposed to his girlfriend and then she died that very same day.”

“Are you serious?”

“YES. They were snorkeling and she
drowned
. Can you believe it?”

“That’s horrible.”

“I know! This happened like ten years ago, but he still seems so tortured. So I was trying to say things to make him feel better, and the most random thing happened.”

“What?”

“He fully leans over the kitchen table and
kisses
me!”

“He
what
?”

“I know! I was completely shocked. Afterwards he apologized, and I could tell he was totally embarrassed. I think he just got caught up in the moment, and it sounds like he’s really lonely.”

“So what did you do?”

“Well I stopped it immediately, of course. For one, I barely know the guy. And even more importantly, I have a boyfriend.”

“That’s right. A boyfriend who could totally beat up this Jacob guy.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Kate pictured Jacob in her mind, and could see his muscular tan arms and his sincere eyes. She would never admit to Darren, nor could she really admit to herself, that she felt a tiny rush of excitement when he gave her that unexpected kiss.

“You need to stop kissing guys,” said Darren, his face scrunched into fake concern. “You’re going to get a disease or something. Geez, it seems like you’ll kiss just about anyone!”

“I kissed you, didn’t I?”

“My point exactly,” said Darren with a chuckle.

Kate shook her head and wiped her hands on her napkin. “Okay, I really need to get back to the store. See ya tonight?”

“You bet.”

“And Darren? Please don’t tell anyone about Jacob.”

~~~~~

“Okay, does everyone have popcorn? Anyone need a drink? A blanket? A tissue?”

“Oh please, Meredith. Like I’m going to cry,” said Darren as he settled into a recliner with a bowl of buttery popcorn.

“Okay, but you’re not allowed to get offended when we make fun of you once you’re wiping your eyes on your sleeve,” said Meredith. For the past couple of years, Meredith had been hosting the friends over at her house every month or so to watch a classic movie.

“They don’t make ‘em like they used to,” she always said. Meredith always picked the movie and popped the popcorn, and Rick, Amy, Darren, Brooke, and Kate became the audience and escaped reality for a couple of hours. She loved having young people in her house, especially since her husband passed away. Meredith and Mark rarely missed a Friday classic movie night in their home when Mark was still alive, and Meredith wanted to keep the tradition alive with her granddaughter and friends.

“In honor of our dear Kate and the beginnings of her epic love story, tonight I have chosen
Sabrina
for your viewing pleasure. Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn – such a wonderful movie.”

“Oh for crying out loud, Meredith!” said Kate, obviously embarrassed. Her friends all chuckled at her pale skin, which had turned bright pink.