Something Sparked-nook (2 page)

“Goodbye, Nettie.” Billy turned to leave.

Jeannette gritted her teeth. She fucking hated that nickname. Her sister, Gia, had started calling her that when she was learning to talk, “Jeannette” clearly too big a mouthful for a little kid. It had been a sweet thing she’d shared with just her baby sister. Until she’d started dating Billy and he had picked it up as well, calling her Nettie at school. The name had stuck until everyone—her entire family included—began using the cursed moniker.

“I’ll walk out with you, Billy,” Uncle TJ said. “Need to check on my wife.”

Macie laughed and called out, “You need to check on Mom, or on those oatmeal raisin cookies she was baking earlier?”

TJ gave her a guilty grin. “Can’t I do both?”

Macie’s mom, Louise, and Aunt Beverly worked next door at Sparks Bakery. They made most of the desserts they served in the restaurant as well as the rolls for the sandwiches.

Macie didn’t appear to notice Jeannette’s unease when she walked behind the bar and set down the bin of dirty dishes.

“How about that?” Macie exclaimed. “Billy Mathers. Back in Maris.”

Diego glanced at Jeannette—and she realized that while
Macie
had been oblivious to the undercurrents flowing between her and Billy, Luc and Diego had not.

“Seems like a decent enough guy,” Diego said, fishing.

Macie grinned. “He’s a great guy. Nettie’s only boyfriend.”

Jeannette wanted to crawl under the counter as Diego and Luc digested that information. Unlike most everyone else in town, Diego and Luc were relative newcomers. They’d only been in Maris a few years, so they weren’t in possession of her long, sad life history. It set them apart because they didn’t know better than not to joke with Nervous Nettie. Rather than treating her like the leper every other guy in town gave a wide berth, Luc and Diego acted like she was a normal person.

If she really thought about it, she’d have to admit she liked that.

So she didn’t think about it.

Macie kept talking. “She was devastated when his family moved away.”

Jeannette was tempted to defend the
devastated
comment, but realized she couldn’t. No doubt her actions back then had resembled those of a heartbroken teenaged girl. If she objected, she’d have no way to explain her behavior, so she remained quiet.

“Roy Mathers is his uncle?” Diego asked.

Macie nodded.

Luc toyed with the label on his beer bottle. “Didn’t know Roy had any family. Seems too mean to have any real life ties. Sort of had him pegged as Satan, vacationing in Maris, tormenting people as recreation until he returned to Hell.”

Jeannette snorted, the sound escaping before she could stop it.

Luc gave her a pleased grin and winked. She quickly recovered as she narrowed her eyes in annoyance and looked away, her typical response to any and all of his attempts at charming her.

Diego and Luc were regulars in Sparks Barbeque. Hell, sometimes she thought they were there as much as she was. Neither man cooked, so it wasn’t unusual for them to eat a couple of their daily meals at the counter.

They were there often enough that the title of acquaintances had given way to that of friends. Not that they were close or anything. In fact, the only people she really considered friends were her relatives.

However, Diego and Luc were in the restaurant enough that Jeannette felt as if she had come to understand their moods. She could tell when one of them was in a foul temper, which was rare, or when they were exhausted due to a middle-of-the-night call. And she could identify those smug expressions that told her they’d had a particularly fun evening with someone of the opposite sex.

“Roy has a sister and she had Billy and Scott. They only lived here a couple of years,” Macie explained before she walked to the cash register to ring out a couple of patrons who’d risen to leave.

Jeannette tossed the dirty napkins into the trashcan, aware that Luc and Diego were looking at her a little too closely for her liking.

“Old boyfriend, huh?” Luc asked.

“It was high school. Ancient history.” She wished everyone would let the subject die.

“You know,” Macie said, once the customers had paid, “now that Billy is back—”

“No.” Jeannette raised her hand to stop anything else Macie might say. She knew exactly what her cousin was thinking and she was determined to put the brakes on before the key even hit the ignition. “I’m not interested in Billy. Period. End of sentence. Don’t even think about trying to fix us up.”

Macie opened her mouth to persist, but Jeannette shook her head vehemently. “I mean it, Macie. Absolutely not. Under no circumstances.”

Her cousin’s shoulders fell. “It’s not normal for a woman to never date.”

Jeannette grimaced, sick of this continual argument. “Why can’t you just believe me when I say I’m happy with my life as it is?”

Macie frowned. “You’re thirty-one, but you’d think you were
eighty-one
, the way you carry on. Don’t you think you’re a bit young to accept such a lonely life?”

Diego and Luc were listening, but neither man sought to interrupt them or interject their own opinions into the conversation. Jeannette was grateful for that. She was also slightly mortified.

“I’m not lonely, Mace. God, how could I be lonely in Maris? I can’t spit without hitting a relative, and I have Penny.”

Macie closed her eyes, a sure sign she was frustrated and perilously close to losing it. “Penny hardly counts as a life partner. It’s a damn cat!”

“She’s not an
it
. And I love that cat.”

Diego chucked. “How is dear Penny? Climb any trees lately?”

He was throwing her a life preserver, changing the subject to something safe.

Jeannette grabbed it. “I’d always thought that cat-stuck-in-a-tree thing was just a running joke in cartoons and old sitcoms.”

Luc rubbed the top of his hand. “Yeah, well, I got a scar from your wildcat that proves it’s not a very funny one.”

Jeannette felt compelled to defend her cat. “She was only a tiny thing. How badly could she have hurt you?”

Luc lifted his hand and, sure enough, there was a thin white line cutting across it.

“You move too fast, Luc. It’s always the same.” Diego turned his gaze to Jeannette, a wicked gleam in his eyes. “I’m forever telling him he needs to go slow, to stroke the pussy nice and easy until it’s purring.”

Macie laughed loudly at Diego’s off-color joke, but there was something in Diego’s expression and the tone of his voice that sent a different type of reaction through Jeannette. She frowned as she considered her unusual, somewhat aroused physical response. Sex wasn’t something she ever thought about or wanted. Just another way she was completely abnormal.

She’d always rejected Diego and Luc’s invitations for a date then gone about her merry way without a regret. After all, they
both
wanted to date her. Both of them. She couldn’t manage to successfully spend time alone with one guy, let alone two. But for a moment, she let herself consider what that might be like.

She dismissed the thought the second she imagined being alone with Diego and Luc, because her stomach tightened and a cold sweat broke out on the back of her neck.

Yep. This was why she lived alone with a cat.

Macie called her uptight and constantly begged Jeannette to lighten up and relax, but that wasn’t something that came naturally to her. According to her grandmother, Jeannette had come out of the womb fretting and worrying and she hadn’t stopped since. Jeannette didn’t necessarily like that about herself, but she’d long ago accepted this was who she was and it didn’t seem likely to change. No matter how much she wanted it to.

“Hey, Nettie,” Rebecca called out from the corner booth. “Can I get a top up on this coffee?”

She nodded, grabbing the pot and walking over to pour. Then she returned to the bar, prepared for more of Macie’s attempted persuasion.

Four more regulars walked in, followed by Billy’s older brother, Scott. The bell over the door jingled to announce their arrival.

Wow. This day just kept getting better and better.

They were all guys Jeannette had gone to school with and, with the exception of Scott, were currently working for Sydney’s boyfriend Chas’ construction company. Something told her they were employing the five-o’clock-somewhere work ethic today, and Sparks wasn’t their first stop. She could smell beer on their breath as soon as they grabbed chairs at a table.

“Uh-oh,” Jeremiah Rogers said. “Nettie’s here, fellas. Keep all movements slow and easy. Don’t want to spook the poor little thing.”

She frowned. “Very funny, Jeremiah.”

The man was harmless, but he’d been teasing her since middle school about her shyness and tendency to jump at her own shadow. He certainly didn’t help matters, considering it was his habit to sneak up behind her and yell, “What are you doing?” loudly in her ear.

He gave her an affable grin. “You got anything good on the menu today? Boss gave us a half-day since we finished the last job on time. Thought we’d do some celebrating.”

Colby Markum leaned his elbows on the table in an attempt to steady his swaying. “Shoulda had lunch first,” he slurred.

All she’d had was one more freaking hour of work. Any other day, the lunch crowd in the restaurant would have thinned out and she could have coasted to quitting time. Today, sans energy, she was faced with two flirting firefighters, an ex-boyfriend and a bunch of drunken construction workers.

Macie offered them all coffee, but they opted for beer instead. Her cousin studied their faces, then decided they were likely more tipsy than drunk. She gave them the beer. Colby was the exception. He got the coffee. Of course, the added alcohol meant the men would only continue to get louder and more obnoxious.

She glanced at the clock. Thirty minutes left. Unfortunately, Adele wasn’t there yet, and who knew when TJ would saunter back in. Jeannette didn’t want to leave Sydney, Paige and Macie here alone to deal with the guys. It looked like she would have to clock some overtime.

So much for her nap on the couch.

She took the men’s orders, and then went back to the kitchen to warn Sydney they had their hands full.

Sydney shrugged lightly. “Those guys are all bluster and hot air. I’ll put the food together and if they start to get out of line, I’ll call Chas to come over.”

Jeannette hadn’t considered that. It was a good plan. “Oh, okay. Cool.”

Sydney studied her more closely, her eyes reflecting her concern. “Why don’t you take off, Nettie? Macie, Paige and I can handle things here. TJ’s just next door if we need him.”

The suggestion was inviting. However, despite her exhaustion, the thought of going home was suddenly no more appealing than staying here. The quiet of her house was almost as miserable as the noise in the restaurant.

Jesus, she was fucked-up. She wanted to cry, scream, sleep and punch someone all at the same time. Maybe it wasn’t Tyson she needed to see. Given her current state, she might be better off checking herself into a rubber room.

Loud laughter drifted from the dining room. Normal people having normal conversations. Having fun. Jeannette understood the concept even though the ability to have any of that herself seemed impossible. She tried to remember the last time she’d laughed. Really let go and gave in to a belly laugh, one that made her stomach hurt and tears flow.

She couldn’t recall, but she knew it had been years. She needed to get out of here.

“I think I’ll take you up on the offer.” Jeannette grabbed her purse, and then headed back to the dining room. Her car was parked out front on the street. She stepped behind the counter quickly to say goodbye to Macie.

“I’m going to sneak out a few minutes early. You okay here?”

Macie nodded. “Oh yeah. Sure. But will you at least consider going out with Billy? You really liked him back in school.”

Jeremiah perked up at Macie’s comment. “You and Mathers hooking up again? Damn, Nettie. I thought you’d given up on all men. You mean I might’ve had a shot all these years if I’d asked?”

She shook her head, fighting back tears. The man meant no harm, so her reaction was overblown, ridiculous. Even so, she turned away from them and simply threw out a haughty, “Not in a million years, Jeremiah.”

The rest of the guys laughed and she was forgotten before she’d taken two steps away from them. Or at least, she was forgotten by most.

Before she could make her escape, Scott rose from his chair and blocked her way. “Well, if it isn’t little Nettie, all grown up.”

She ignored the sneer in his voice, anxious to make her escape. “Hi, Scott.”

His gaze traveled over her in a way that made her skin crawl. “You haven’t changed much.”

He didn’t mean his words as a compliment. He’d never been particularly kind to her, teasing her when they were younger about her glasses and braces. She was used to guys ignoring her, but Scott was looking at her too closely and not bothering to hide his disdain.

“Neither have you,” she said, hating the thin, weak sound.

Macie stepped from behind the bar, clearly intent on rescuing her, but Diego and Luc beat her there.

“This guy bothering you?” Diego asked.

She shook her head, wishing Scott would just go back to his beer and leave her alone. Their little scene had caught the attention of everyone in the place, the conversations around them dying.

Scott wasn’t easily intimidated, even though he was clearly outmatched. “Just catching up with my brother’s old girlfriend.”

Belatedly, Jeannette realized Scott wasn’t merely tipsy like the other guys. He
was
drunk. Wasted. And it didn’t improve his personality.

“Never did understand what he s-saw in you,” Scott slurred. “Scared little mouse. All I can figure is you must’ve been one hell of a lay.”

Macie flew by her, but Jeannette had anticipated the response. She grabbed her cousin’s arm, holding her back before Macie could slap the asshole.

However, it wasn’t her cousin who needed restraint.

Diego and Luc were on the guy like white on rice. Luc twisted Scott’s arm behind his back, while Diego leaned forward, his face furious. “Apologize to her.”