Second Look (A New Beginning Book 3) (15 page)

“Perfect. Thank you so much, Katie. You’re seriously the best.”

The girls gave each other a hug, and then Jennifer went up to the front to pay her bill. The bill would hurt her pocketbook, but it was totally worth it.

“Thank you so much Ginger and Lacy! I love my hair and my crazy nails!”

“What a great job remembering your manners, Amber! I’m so proud of you,” Jennifer told her. “Now, are you hungry? It’s way past dinnertime.”

Jennifer held out her hand to Amber and she took it as they walked out the door. She was a confident, new woman and could handle anything that came her way.

*****

Saturday arrived and she wasn’t sure if it took forever or if it was too soon. The butterflies in her stomach went wild.

It helped her confidence when all of her co-workers were gushing over her new hairstyle that week.

Amber was going to be staying over night with her grandma and grandpa. She was thrilled to spend more time at the lake again. Jennifer had made plans to meet up with her parents Saturday morning.

After breakfast, the girls cranked the music and drove to meet Jennifer’s parents halfway between their houses. This was the plan so that neither of them had to drive too far, but as luck would have it (or very clever planning on her part), it just so happened that the halfway point was four miles from the Albertville outlet mall. Yes, it was as awesome as it sounded, because it had absolutely every store she could possibly want to visit, and then some.

After giving Amber several hugs and kisses, as well as her parents, Jennifer was off again, headed back towards the mall they passed to get to the meeting point.

Jennifer thought about asking Mandi and Cassandra to come with her, but she didn’t want to tell them about her date with Adam, at least not quite yet.

Jennifer had fun by herself and spent her time in only a couple stores. Luckily, she was able to find a great deal on an entire new outfit, which was flattering to both her figure and her new hair.

She found a summery green top with lace cutout at the shoulders and it went down into a v, showing off just a peek of her cleavage, enough to see it but hidden enough to remain classy. The green was a shade darker than teal. It made the blonde pieces of her hair stand out even more and flattered her darker complexion. She chose a pair of Guess jeans with bling on the back pockets, which made her butt look perfectly curvy and her legs skinnier than ever.

She also bought a new purse. She found herself daydreaming of hitting it rich when she looked through the Coach store, but until she actually won the Powerball she just couldn’t bring herself to spend that much money on a purse. However, the one she found at Guess was exquisite and it was on sale for less than one she bought at Kohl’s the year before, which was now falling apart at the seams.

The finishing touch was found in a jewelry store nearby, which was a pair of dangly silver and teal earrings, a matching bracelet and a dainty necklace to go with the green shirt. Perfection.

She had to laugh when she added up all the receipts. Her entire outfit, including the purse, cost less than the purse she was drooling over in Coach. She had to be proud of that, even if she did spend more money on herself than she had in a long time.

Jennifer used the dressing room at Guess to change into her new outfit. She cleaned out her purse and transferred everything to her new one. She tossed her old purse in the trash as she walked out the door, a feeling of satisfaction running through her.

It was finally time to head over to the salon to have Katie help her put the finishing touches on her hair and makeup. Even though her date with Adam inspired the new hair and clothes, it was something she should have done a long time ago.

Chapter Eleven

Adam

Back in the saddle again

Although his week seemed to drag on, Adam kept himself as busy as possible.

One day during the week, he went with his mom and Mandi to his dad’s grave. He brought his dad’s favorite beer while his sister brought flowers. The still-fresh dirt mound was just starting to sprout out grass over the top, a reminder that it wasn’t very long ago that they had buried him.

Adam opened the beer and poured it on his dad’s grave. “Cheers to you, dad. I miss you.”

On Thursday night, he cleaned his house from top to bottom, for one, because it needed it and for two, just in case Jennifer came over after their date. He had no expectations, but he wanted to be prepared, just in case.

At least work was a distraction. Adam loved his job.

He was the Director of Application Development at a leading health insurance company in Minneapolis. He got a job right out of college and worked hard to fast track his way to the director position. He was damn good at what he did and they rewarded him for it. He didn’t have a ton of extra money after buying his house, but he had enough to live comfortably. Luckily he was working on a large project that took a lot of his concentration.

The end of the week was finally here and he was thankful he was able to work from home on Fridays. He also started work very early each day, so without any meetings to contend with the work that needed to be done, he shut his laptop by mid-afternoon and called it quits for the weekend.

After a quick lunch, Adam mowed the lawn, making him sweat. He eyed up the water. Jumping in would be a perfect way to cool off. He made his way down to the lake and dove off the end of his dock.

He grinned as his head surfaced.

One of the many perks of living on a lake.

After cooling off in the water, Adam spied an over abundance of weeds on the shoreline and shook his head. He prided himself on having a sandy beach for his friends to swim in but that meant he had to spend time each week to keep the weeds at bay.

He quickly ran inside, grabbed a cold beer and then headed back out to the lake.

As he worked on the weeds in his swim trunks, without a shirt, sipping his beer, Adam kept thinking about Jennifer and Amber. The subject of Amber’s father hadn’t come up yet. He assumed she found out a long time ago, but he still hadn’t heard anything more. Who was it? What kind of relationship did they have with him? Was there anything between him and Jennifer?

How many times had he asked himself these questions over the past few days? He was driving himself insane.

He wasn’t sure how the hell to bring up the subject, but he just had to know what he was up against. He figured she’d get around to telling him, but he had to admit it was driving him crazy.

As he looked around his shoreline, he could picture Amber and Jennifer swimming and laughing and spending time at the lake.

He wanted to make that a reality.

*****

One Friday per month, when his softball league didn’t have a game, Adam’s house was the designated hangout for several of his friends. With his dad’s health failing and then later his death, Adam’s friends hadn’t been over in almost two months.

Friday morning, he called several of his buddies and rounded up the gang for a last-minute barbeque. He supplied the food and they were in charge of the beer.

Every one of the usual suspects was able to come over that night and he was looking forward to catching up.

Tom was the first of his friends to arrive. He carried a case of beer in his hands and he wasted no time putting it in Adam’s fridge.

“Hey bud, how’s it going?” Tom grabbed a bottle and offered it to Adam. “Beer?”

“Thanks.” Adam took the beer and chugged half of it down. “Damn, I guess I was thirsty.”

“So what the hell have you been doing? I need these Friday nights away. Colleen is acting crazy lately.”

“Give her a break, man, she’s pregnant.”

Tom smirked. “Yeah, I know, but we have a long way to go. The next six months are going to be long.”

“Just bring her whatever she craves and you’ll be golden.”

Tom snorted. “Like peanut butter and pickles? Already happening, man.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad. I like both of those things.”

“Yeah, but together?”

Adam shuddered and groaned. “That’s not right.”

Tom laughed. “You’re telling me. You should smell it.”

“All kidding aside, congrats again. I’m happy for you.” Adam held up his beer for a toast. “Cheers.”

“Thanks.” Tom clanked his bottle against Adam’s.

“So really though, where’ve you been?”

“Around.”

Tom raised his eyebrow. “Around?”

“Been busy with my mom and sister. I did hang out with Jennifer and Amber the other day.”

“No shit? I didn’t realize you’d seen her since you ran into her.”

Adam grinned. “Yeah, we’re going out tomorrow, too.”

Tom raised an eyebrow and took a gulp of his beer. Tom was keenly aware of the history so Adam didn’t have to explain further. “Just…take care.”

Adam nodded. “I will.”

He and Tom had been friends since grade school. Their parents were good friends, but Tom lived closer to Elk River so they went to different schools growing up. The ironic part was that Tom was married to Colleen, his ex-fiancé’s best friend, and he was supposed to be Adam’s best man in the wedding that never occurred.

His breakup with Abby put a strain on their relationship for a while. Tom wasn’t happy with Adam for how he handled things with Abby. Hell, he wasn’t happy with himself. He and Tom had always been there for each other, so they eventually made amends, but Tom’s wife still wasn’t his biggest fan.

Tom stuck by him all these years through all of his bad decisions. He’d always be grateful he hadn’t given up on him.

Just as Tom and Adam were grabbing their second beers, their other friends walked in the front door.

“Hey guys! I’m here. Now the party can begin.”

Jeremy, Adam’s co-worker, had a cocky grin on his face while he grabbed a beer out of the case he held.

Noah and Peter came at the same time, also carrying in cases of beer.

He and Noah had been friends for almost as long as he and Tom. Adam went to high school with Noah and later went to the same college and were roommates.

He met Peter in college, although he was in nursing school while Adam had been in technology classes. It was odd to have them take the same mandatory world history class and odder still for them to hit it off. All it took was a couple of Peter’s magic tricks and they’d become fast friends. Peter’s magic had only improved over time.

“How much beer do we need, guys?”

“You said bring beer. We brought beer.” Peter looked around. “Where’s the food?”

“I’ll go downstairs and pull it off the grill. Should be done by now.”

Adam grabbed a platter and tongs. He made ten pounds of chicken wings because his friends could really pack them in.

As he started for the stairs, he heard a text come through. He looked at his phone and saw it was Sarah. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. Just great.

Why can’t she just take the hint?

He hadn’t replied to any of her texts.

Adam was just coming back up stairs with the wings when he heard Jeremy’s voice. “The Twins slammed the White Socks last week! Coming back from being down almost the whole game; it was awesome!”

“I was at that game. It was fun to watch.”

Adam walked into the room and put the wings on the kitchen counter.

All of the guys had a matching look of surprise.

Jeremy’s beer bottle was halfway to his mouth and his eyes were narrowed. “Who’d you go with?”

“Jenn and Amber.”

Jeremy’s mouth curled downwards. “Two girls and you went without me?”

Adam’s eyes narrowed at him. “Dude, Amber’s five.”

“Oh. That’s the girl you’ve been talking about. The one with the kid.” Jeremy shuddered. “I’d stick with that Sarah chick if I were you. No baggage.”

Noah smacked him and said, “Shut up, dude.”

Adam normally would have ignored Jeremy’s remarks, but his comment really bothered him. “Amber isn’t baggage, Jeremy, she’s a little girl.”

Jeremy held up his hands and winced. “Sorry. Didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Jenn and I have a lot of…history.” Adam shrugged. “I don’t know what’ll come of it, but I need to give it a try.”

Noah narrowed his eyes. “So, are you still hooking up with Sarah, too?”

Adam shook his head. “Of course not. Sarah and I are done.” He then said under his breath, “Just wish she’d get the hint.”

Noah visibly relaxed. “Good. I’d have had to kick your ass if you were messing around with her and going out with Jennifer again.”

Tom leaned forward, his eyebrows raised. “Be careful with Sarah. I’ve heard she’s a bit…possessive. Has a jealous streak. At least that’s what her ex-husband tells me.”

“You tell me this now?” Adam shook his head and shrugged. “She was great to hang out with, but she wanted more than I did.

Noah rolled his eyes. “You mean she wanted more than just sex? Gee, what a surprise.”

It was no secret Noah didn’t agree with Adam’s no-strings-attached, sex only policy. Considering Noah had been in love with his best friend, Cassandra, for years and had yet to fess up, Adam didn’t think he was one to give advice.

Adam ignored Noah’s comment. “I’ll just have to be more firm, although I thought I already was.”