The Chesapeake Diaries Series (149 page)

“You’re right.” With his free hand, he took a sip of his wine. “At least, I hope you are.”

He played with her fingers for a few moments, then said, “The first time I came to St. Dennis to meet him, he tried to scare me away.”

“I’m confused. When did you meet him the first time? And why would he try to scare you away?”

“My dad was his oldest son. The one, apparently, he’d planned to turn over the firm to one day.”

“Why didn’t he?”

“Because my dad was … is … a screwup. He was asked to leave two colleges and only got into law school because my great-grandfather had given the school a lot of money. He’s gone through three wives and he’s going on his fourth. He has kids he rarely
thinks about because he’s too busy thinking about himself. He lost his license to practice law because he was accused of having embezzled funds from a client. There’s more, but I think I made my point.”

Brooke sat back against the chair, too shocked to form a quick response. Finally, she simply said, “Wow.”

Jesse nodded grimly. “My grandparents were very fond of Dad’s first wife. Delia Enright, you ever hear of her?”

“The mystery writer? Sure. Wait … she was married to your father?”

“Had three kids with him, but he walked out on them when they were really little. After that, she shut out my grandparents with no explanation, and they weren’t allowed to see the kids again, which apparently hurt them both very much. So when my dad remarried and had my sister and me, they were very tentative about getting too close to us. When my dad left my mother, and my mom wasn’t feeling particularly friendly to the Enrights, and my grandmother died, my grandfather just sort of wrote off Sophie and me.”

“These other siblings of yours … have they ever reconciled with your grandfather?”

“No, but that could change very soon. Depending on how they respond to their invitations.”

“You invited them?”

“Violet at first wasn’t sure, but then, after she thought it over, said it was the right thing to do. I figure invite them and they come or they don’t, it’s up to them. If they decide to come, whatever happens is between them and my grandfather.”

“But you’ve never met them.”

He shook his head. “I just recently learned their names. I have a half brother named Nick who’s a marine biologist, and two half sisters, Zoey and Georgia.”

“Zoey Enright,” Brooke murmured. “Why do I know that name?”

“She works for one of those televised shopping channels.”

Brooke snapped her fingers. “That’s it. The Home MarketPlace. I saw her on TV. She’s gorgeous and funny … and she’s your
sister
?”

“My
half
sister.”

“Oh, wow. It never occurred to me to connect the last name. I wonder what she’s like in person. She’s adorable on TV.”

“Well, I guess we’ll find out soon enough.” Jesse leaned back to allow the server to place their entrées on the table. “Or not.”

“Will you be upset if they decline?”

“Not as upset as I’d be if they totally ignored the invitation. I think that would bother me.”

“Why?” She picked up her fork and stabbed at one of the plump oysters on her plate.

“Because the invitation was from me, and theirs was a very personal invitation that I wrote specifically to them, telling them who I was and asking them to come.”

After a moment she said, “So if they don’t respond and they don’t come, you’ll feel it’s a rejection of you as well as of him.”

“Now who’s the smarty pants?” He tried to make a
joke, but she could tell by the look in his eyes that he wasn’t taking the situation lightly.

“You do understand that if they choose not to come, it will be their loss, not yours?”

His eyes met hers across the table, and he put down his fork. He got up from his chair and slid into the one next to her, took her hand, and kissed the inside of her wrist.

“How did I ever get so lucky,” he said softly, “to have you in my life?”

“Right place, right time?”

Jesse shook his head. “It’s more than that, like having been drawn to St. Dennis was as much about finding you as it was about finding myself.”

“For the record, I’m very glad you’re here.” She spoke the words slowly, words she never thought she’d say to anyone. “I don’t really know where this is going to lead, but I’m in for the journey.”

“It’s bound to be a long one,” he cautioned her. “You still on board?”

Brooke nodded. “Still on board.”

He kissed the palm of her hand. “Come home with me. Stay with me tonight.”

She covered her face in her hands and groaned. “I can’t. Logan is home and I have to make tomorrow’s cupcakes because I didn’t make them after school like I planned.”

“What did you do instead?”

“I went to Bling and bought this dress.”

“It may have been worth it.”

“You’re not the one who has eight dozen cupcakes to bake when you get home.”

“I’ll come home with you and help,” he said. “It’s
not the same as you coming home with me and staying over, but I’m not ready to say good night. I want to be with you, whether it’s in my bed—which would be my first choice—or in your kitchen. I’ll take whatever time I can get.”

“Jesse, that’s really sweet, but watching me bake will not be very interesting,” she told him. “It’s just measuring and mixing.”

“I don’t mind.”

“All right.” She gave his hand a squeeze. “I
am
sorry. About not being able to stay … I probably should have told you that when you asked me out.”

“I didn’t ask you out tonight so that you’d sleep with me,” he said, and she wasn’t sure there wasn’t just a hint of rebuke in his tone. “I asked you out because I want to be with you, spend some time with you. I’d have been real happy if we’d ended up at my place tonight—I’m not going to lie—but I didn’t ask you to dinner figuring that was a given. I missed seeing you this week, missed talking to you.”

“I missed seeing you, too,” she told him.

“Come on, let’s go back to the farm and bake.”

Brooke had turned on the oven to heat up to the temperature she needed, gotten out her mixing bowls and spoons, her flour and sugar and butter, and placed everything on the big kitchen table that had presided over the Madison kitchen for more years than anyone could remember, even Hannah, who claimed it was there when she moved in as a bride.

Jesse had taken off his sport jacket and hung it over the back of a chair.

“Here.” Brooke handed him a measuring cup. “Measure three cups of flour into this bowl. I’m going to run upstairs and see Logan and change into something else.”

“Do you have to? That dress really is something.”

“It will be something very messy if I don’t get out of it now. And I’ll need a few minutes to tuck in Logan.”

“No need to, dear.” Hannah came into the kitchen through the back door. “I just dropped him off at Cody’s. It seems some big producer friend of Dallas’s sent them a preview video of some upcoming movie that all the kids are talking about. Cody called right after you left and wanted Logan to come over to watch it with him and stay over. Dallas said she’ll get the boys to soccer in the morning, so he took his uniform with him.” She paused in the doorway leading to the hall. “I didn’t think you’d mind.”

“Mind? No, of course I don’t mind.” Brooke smiled. “Thanks, Mom.”

“I’m turning in early myself,” Hannah continued. “I spent all day moving furniture around in my new house. I’m exhausted. Oh, and Clay and Jason went down to Captain Walt’s. God only knows when they’ll be back.”

Hannah blew Brooke a kiss, then headed for the stairs.

Brooke turned and looked at Jesse.

“We could probably bake just as well at my house as we could here, don’t you think?” he asked.

“We’d have to pack up a lot of stuff.” She looked around the kitchen at everything she’d already pulled out.

“It would be worth it.” He came up behind her and kissed her neck.

“What happened to ‘Brooke, it’s all right if you can’t stay tonight. I’m happy just to be with you’?”

“Oh, that. I was rationalizing.” He hastened to add, “Not that I wouldn’t be happy to just stay here and bake. That would be fine, too. Really. It’s up to you. Whatever you decide is all right with me. It’s sort of either-or as far as I’m concerned.”

“You are
so
not a good liar.” Brooke laughed.

“Look, you have to do the baking, it’s your job, right?”

“Right.” She sighed. She had commitments to fill, some of which had to be dropped off before seven the next morning.

“So we’ll do the baking here. We’ll pack up the cupcakes and whatever you need for the frostings and we’ll take it to my place. At which time we’ll take a little break, maybe, oh, nap a little or something, and then we’ll do the frosting thing.” Jesse put his arms around her. “What do you say? Sound like a plan?”

“Sounds like win-win. I like it.” She nodded. “I’m going to go upstairs and change and then we’ll get to work.”

She ran halfway up the steps, then stopped and turned back. “Thanks, Jesse. I do need to get this baking finished. There’s no way tomorrow could come and I’d not be able to deliver what I promised to my customers.”

Jesse walked to the bottom of the steps. “There’s no way I’d want you to jeopardize what you’re working
so hard to build. It’s all good, Brooke. Go on and change.”

“Thanks, Jess.” She started back up the steps.

“Bring clothes for tomorrow,” he called up after her. “And tell Hannah not to wait up …”

Chapter 19

Jesse had liked the apple-maple-walnut cupcakes they’d made on Friday night so much that he requested that Brooke add those to the list of cupcakes she was making for his grandfather’s birthday party.

“And maybe something pumpkin-y,” he’d said. “I know he likes pumpkin. And pecans. Do you have a recipe for something with pecans and pumpkin?”

“I have recipes for just about every flavor you can think of and some you haven’t,” she’d told him.

“Great. Pop likes variety.”

“Pop likes variety,” Brooke muttered to herself as she looked over the final list on Thursday morning. Jesse’s final count for the party was over one hundred guests. He still hadn’t heard from his half siblings, but she didn’t see any sign that he was any more worried about that than he had been the week before.

“If they come, they come,” he’d told her when he called to give her what he thought might be the final head count. “And maybe if not this time, maybe some other time they’ll want to get in touch. This time isn’t about me. It’s about our grandfather, and they’ll either show up to honor him or they won’t.”

Brooke figured a guest list that size was good for two cupcakes per person, but she was throwing in an extra few dozen just in case. She would hate for the desserts to run out, although there would be ice cream, she reminded herself. In addition to the cupcakes, she planned to make her usual chocolate-covered strawberries and truffles. Some of the cupcakes would be on tall cake stands, some on wire cupcake displays, some on shorter cake plates, others on round or rectangular silver trays. Besides the strawberries and handmade truffles, she’d add some sugared fruit to decorate the trays. She worked all day Thursday and all day Friday and both nights as well, and took off only for Logan’s Saturday-morning soccer game.

“How’s it look?” Jesse asked her after the game.

“It’s all coming together.” She nodded.

“Want me to come over and help you transport the cupcakes?”

“My mom’s going to be driving her own car, and Clay will probably bring his, too, so they can take some of the boxes. I think we’ll be okay. Let me worry about the cupcakes. You have other things to do,” she reminded him. “Olivia promised to have the flowers there by five. And don’t forget about the balloons. They’ll be ready for you to pick up anytime after two on Saturday afternoon.”

“Remind me again what I’m doing with the balloons?”

“You’re going to be tying them to the sandbags that will be in the room when you get there. When I placed the order, I told them to make sure that the strings attached to the balloons were really long. You want
them to sort of float above the crowd. And you’re going to save a bunch of them to tie onto the back of your grandfather’s chair.”

“Okay. Right. Float above the crowd. Tie to the back of a chair. Got it.” He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and took off for the parking lot.

Brooke couldn’t help but smile. She knew that Jesse was so into this party because he wanted everything to be just right for his grandfather. Especially since Violet had mentioned that Curtis hadn’t really celebrated a birthday since his wife died. Rose had always made a big fuss over every family milestone, Violet had noted, but after she passed away, no one had stepped forward to pick up that torch.

“Nice of your boyfriend to invite me to his party.” Jason sauntered over from the bench where he’d been helping Logan unknot the laces of his soccer shoes.

“Yeah, well, he’s a pretty nice guy,” Brooke replied.

“Everyone seems to think so.”

“Everyone is right.” Brooke picked up her bag where she’d tossed it onto the ground when Logan had made a run toward the goal.

“I’m sorry,” she heard Jason say.

“Excuse me?” She turned around.

“I said, I’m sorry. For being such a jerk where”—Jason nodded in Jesse’s direction—“he’s concerned. I know I said it before, but it bears repeating. I was out of line.”

“Thanks, Jason. I appreciate that.”

“Besides, it’s none of my business what you do with your life.” He cleared his throat. “That is, you do have a life. You ought to be living it. With someone.” He took a deep breath. “Maybe even him.”

“I very much appreciate that. Let me tell you this about Jesse so you can maybe understand one of the reasons I think he’s so special.” She swung the bag over her shoulder and lowered her sunglasses onto her face. “He’s the only guy I’ve gone out with since Eric died who seemed to understand that I’ll always carry something of Eric inside me—and he doesn’t feel threatened by it.”

Jason nodded. “Like I said, I heard he was a nice guy.”

“Hey, Uncle Jason!” Logan called. “We’re going to Scoop! Come on!”