Praise for the novels of New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Sherryl Woods

“Sherryl Woods writes emotionally satisfying novels about family, friendship and home. Truly feel-great reads!”

—#1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber

“Sherryl Woods gives her characters depth, intensity and the right amount of humor.”

—RT Book Reviews

“A sweet read perfect to enjoy again and again.”

—RT Book Reviews on A Chesapeake Shores Christmas

“Infused with the warmth and magic of the season, Woods’s fourth addition to her popular, small-town series once again unites the unruly, outspoken, enduring O’Brien clan in a touching, triumphant tale of forgiveness and love reclaimed.”

—Library Journal on A Chesapeake Shores Christmas

“Timely in terms of plot and deeply emotional, the third Chesapeake Shores book is quite absorbing. The characters are handled well and have real chemistry—as well as a way with one-liners.”

—RT Book Reviews on Harbor Lights

“Sparks fly in a lively tale that is overflowing with family conflict and warmth and the possibility of rekindled love.”

—Library Journal on Flowers on Main

“Launching the Chesapeake Shores series, Woods creates an engrossing…family drama.”

—Publishers Weekly on The Inn at Eagle Point

Moonlight Cove
Sherryl Woods

www.mirabooks.co.uk

Dear Friends,

Ever since Jess O’Brien first appeared in The Inn at Eagle Point, you’ve been asking me to tell the story of this complicated woman. Here it is at last in Moonlight Cove.

As a woman who has struggled since early childhood against the feelings of abandonment caused when her mother, Megan, walked out on the family, as well as with her long-undiagnosed attention deficit disorder, Jess has had a tough time getting her life together. Now, at long last, she has a career she loves as the owner of the Inn at Eagle Point, but so far love has eluded her.

No longer. Will Lincoln has been in love with Jess most of their lives. As a psychologist, he understands her flaws better than most and loves her unconditionally despite them. But it’s the fact that he understands her so well that scares Jess. She fears he views her only as some sort of psychological case study.

It’s going to take a lot for Will to convince Jess that he’s the man of her dreams, and on a romantic night at Moonlight Cove, he finally does just that. I hope the moment will make you sigh, just as it took Jess’s breath away.

And next month, I hope you’ll be eagerly awaiting Susie and Mack’s story in Beach Lane. This romance has been a very long time coming, but I think this touching story of the healing power of love is well worth the wait. I hope you’ll agree.

All the best,

Sherryl

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Discussion Guide

1

“We have an idea,” Laila Riley announced when she and Connie Collins turned up in Jess O’Brien’s office at The Inn at Eagle Point on a Saturday night.

There was a twinkle in her eye that immediately made Jess nervous about what her friends had in mind. “Is it going to get us arrested?” she inquired suspiciously. Not that she was unwilling to take the risk, but she would like to know about the possibility in advance, calculate the odds and have a backup plan.

Laila grinned. “If there were anyone interesting working for the sheriff’s department, we’d consider it, but no. This is just doing something outside the box, something none of us would ever consider unless we all decided to do it together.”

“Do I dare ask?” Jess wondered.

“Online dating,” Connie revealed. The lack of enthusiasm in her voice suggested that this had been Laila’s idea and that Connie had only agreed because of the same boredom that had been affecting Jess’s mood recently.

Jess, however, wasn’t quite that desperate. “You can’t be serious.”

“Oh, but we are,” Laila confirmed.

Jess studied the two women who’d invaded her office on a night of the week when most attractive, intelligent women should have been out on dates. Connie and Laila were related to her indirectly by the marriages of their siblings to hers. They were friends by choice despite the differences in their ages.

Connie was the forty-one-year-old single mother of a teen who’d recently left for college. Her younger brother, Jake, was married to Jess’s sister, Bree. Laila was the thirty-six-year-old manager of the local bank and younger sister of Trace, who was married to Abby, Jess’s oldest sister. Jess, at thirty, was the youngest. At times it seemed as if everyone in Chesapeake Shores was related to an O’Brien one way or another.

“Okay, now, let’s think about this,” Laila said, making herself at home by pouring a glass of tea from the ever-present pitcher on Jess’s desk. “What are you doing tonight? I mean, seriously, here you are in your office when you should be out on the town, right?”

Jess glanced at the ever-present mound of paperwork on her desk. It was the worst part of her job. She was beginning to see Laila’s point.

“And does that make one bit of sense to you?” Laila pressed. “What is wrong with the men in this town that the three of us are alone on a Saturday night? We obviously need to broaden our horizons. Put ourselves out there. Stir things up.”

“And find some geographically unsuitable men who’ll never be around?” Jess replied. “Seems counterproductive to me.”

“I thought the same thing at first,” Connie said, beckoning for her own glass of tea. Laila poured it and handed it to her. “But the sad truth is that boredom has made me more open-minded. For the longest time I couldn’t wait until my daughter was grown and off to college, but now that Jenny’s actually gone, the house feels so empty I can hardly stand it.”

“And I’ve been mind-numbingly bored ever since Dave and I broke up three years ago, which is saying something, since dating him was about as stimulating as watching grass grow,” Laila said. She sat up straighter. “Online dating is the perfect way to change the status quo. It’s trendy. It’ll be fun.”

Jess remained unconvinced. She turned to Connie, who was known for being sensible. “Are you really in favor of this?”

Connie shrugged. “I can see some advantages.”

“Geographically undesirable,” Jess repeated with emphasis.

“Not a problem,” Laila insisted. “It’s a new local service. These men are all right around here.”

Jess couldn’t quite wrap her mind around either the idea or the fact that Connie was willing, if not eager, to try online dating. Looking her in the eye, Jess began, “But I thought…” Her voice trailed off. She wasn’t supposed to know that sparks had been flying between Connie and Jess’s uncle, Thomas O’Brien. Her brothers Connor and Kevin both had sworn her to secrecy. She sighed. “Never mind.”

Connie studied her with suspicion, but since it was a kettle of fish she clearly didn’t want to dive into, she remained silent.

Laila, seemingly unaware of the undercurrents, jumped back in. “It’s perfect, don’t you think?” she asked excitedly.

“Are there any single men around here we don’t already know?” Jess asked, still skeptical. “Isn’t that precisely why we’re sitting here on a weekend without dates?”

“The region does extend beyond the town limits,” Connie conceded.

“It includes Annapolis,” Laila explained, pulling a brochure from her pocket and handing it to Jess. “See, Lunch by the Bay. Doesn’t that sound lovely? And that’s all we’d be committing to, an occasional lunch with someone new. It has to beat waiting around to be noticed in the bar at Brady’s. If I spend any more time in there, Dillon’s threatened to name a barstool after me.”

“At least you’d have a lasting legacy of your life in Chesapeake Shores,” Jess teased. “Much better than having your picture on the wall of that stodgy old bank your family owns and that you’re so attached to.”

“Make fun of me all you want, but I really think we should do this,” Laila insisted. “We’re intelligent, attractive women. We deserve to spend time with exciting, successful men who aren’t related to us.”

“And I for one am tired of the Saturday night pity dinners at Jake and Bree’s,” Connie added with a shudder. “Ever since Jenny left, they expect me to come there and coo over the new baby. She’s a cutie, but that is not how I see myself spending Saturday nights for the next who-knows-how-many years.”

“I’ve had my share of those dinners,” Jess agreed, “but at least I get passed off from Bree to Abby to Kevin and now even Connor.”

“I don’t even get the pity dinners,” Laila said. “Trace and Abby just count on me to babysit the twins. If I’m not married soon, they’ll probably move me in and make me a full-time nanny.”

“You have a career,” Jess reminded her. “I’m pretty sure you can maintain an independent lifestyle.”

“Independence sucks,” Laila declared.

“Amen,” Connie added. “Not that I want some man controlling what I do with my life,” she said emphatically, “but it would be nice to cuddle with someone in front of the fire at night.”

“Say what you really mean,” Jess said. “You want sex.”

Connie sighed. “Don’t we all?”

“So, are we going to do this?” Laila asked, tapping the brochure.

Though she was hardly known for her caution, Jess couldn’t seem to keep herself from asking, “But what do we know about this company?”

“Only what it says in the brochure,” Laila replied, glancing at the back page. “It promises discreet matches, handled by a psychologist who’s been working with single clients for years. He’s developed criteria for making sure that people have the same goals and values.” She set down the brochure and regarded them earnestly. “Come on, you guys. What do we have to lose? If the dates are awful, we can laugh about them later over drinks at Brady’s.”

“I’m in,” Connie said at once. “Jess?”

Jess glanced at the paperwork on her desk. It wasn’t going anywhere. “What the heck! I’m in.”

She turned and flipped on her computer, checked the link to the company’s website and found it. “Nice design,” she said approvingly.

“See, it looks perfectly respectable,” Connie noted.

“And I love the picture,” Laila said. “I’m pretty sure it was taken right on Shore Road. See, there’s the town fishing pier off to the left.”

“Aren’t you worried that we could wind up being paired off with someone we already know, even someone we used to date?” Jess asked. “That could be humiliating.”

“Or it could make us take another look at him,” Connie responded, her expression thoughtful. “After all, if an expert thought we’d be a match, maybe we were selling the other person short.”

“Or maybe the expert isn’t all that smart,” Jess countered.

Still, when the form for signing up appeared on the screen, she was the first one to fill it out. She considered the temptation to fake her replies just to see what might happen, but Connie and Laila forestalled her.

“You have to take this seriously,” Connie scolded.

“We’re expecting a computer and some so-called expert to do what we haven’t been able to do on our own,” Jess replied. “And you want me to take it seriously?”

“I do,” Connie said. “Because this could be my last chance.”

“It is not going to be your last chance,” Laila said fiercely. “If you’re going to look at it like that, Connie, then maybe you shouldn’t do it. Desperation is never smart when it comes to meeting men. We’re doing this for laughs and a few free lunches, that’s it. We need to keep our expectations low and just concentrate on having fun.”

Jess nodded. Connie didn’t look entirely convinced, but when Jess’s form was complete, Connie immediately nudged her aside and took her place in front of the computer. Laila followed.

When the last form had been sent in, they exchanged a look.

“I need a drink,” Jess said.

“I’m in,” Laila said.

Connie nodded agreement. “I think I’d better make mine a double.”

One of the few things that hadn’t changed since Jake had married Bree was that he, Mack Franklin and Will Lincoln continued to have lunch every day at Sally’s. The lunches had started when Jake needed support after he and Bree had split up a few years ago. Now that they were together again and happily married, the lunch tradition had become an occasion for the three men to keep their friendship grounded. Will counted on these two men more than either of them probably realized.

As a psychologist, Will spent his days listening to other people’s problems, but he didn’t really have anyone other than Jake and Mack to listen to his. Even though the three of them knew just about everything concerning each other’s lives, there was one thing Will had been keeping from them for a while now: his new business, Lunch by the Bay.

The dating service had been born out of frustration. He spent way too much of his time counseling singles on the relationships in their lives and way too little of his time nurturing any kind of relationship of his own. The name of the company, which had come to him in the middle of a lonely night, was meant to be ironic, if only to him. As much as he loved getting together with his buddies, he thought it was past time to start having lunch with people who wore dresses and perfume. Jake might occasionally smell like roses, but it was only after he’d spent a morning planting rose bushes for one of his many landscaping clients. It was hardly the same.

It was also, Will thought, way past time to stop carrying the torch for Jess O’Brien, youngest sister of his friends Kevin and Connor O’Brien. Over the years Jess had had ample opportunities to indicate even a whiff of interest in Will, but she mostly treated him like an especially annoying big brother.

Worse, since he’d become a psychologist, she regularly accused him of analyzing her because she had ADD. She didn’t trust his slightest bit of attention, fully expecting him to turn her into some professional case study. None of his denials had gotten her off that ridiculous tangent. Since they were thrown together a lot, her suspicion made most of their encounters awkward and testy.

Which meant it was time to move on once and for all, no easy task in a town with a population under five thousand except when tourists and weekenders filled it during the spring and summer. Lunch by the Bay had been created not only to fill a gap in the Chesapeake Shores social scene, but also to save him from growing old alone.

He explained all of this to Jake and Mack, who stared at him as if he’d suddenly sprouted antlers.

“You’re starting a dating website?” Mack repeated, as if checking the accuracy of his hearing.

“Exactly,” Will said. “If you weren’t so busy not dating Susie, I’d encourage you to sign up. You’re one of the town’s most eligible bachelors.”

“You intend to use this site yourself?” Jake said, looking puzzled. “I thought you were seeing some psychologist who bought a summer house here.”

“I was,” Will said. “Two years ago. It didn’t work out, which you would know if you ever paid attention to a thing I tell you.”

“But you’ve been dating,” Jake persisted. “I’m not imagining that. You’ve blown us off to go on dates.”

“What can I say?” Will said with a shrug. “None of them have amounted to anything.”

“I suppose it makes sense,” Mack said eventually. “Susie is always grumbling about the dearth of available men in town.”

Jake barely managed to swallow a chuckle.

Mack scowled at him. “What?”

“I thought she had you,” Jake responded.

“We’re not dating,” Mack repeated for the umpteenth unbelievable time.

“And yet neither of you seems to be looking for anyone else,” Will pointed out. “If I’m wrong and you are open to other possibilities, I can sign you right up on the new website. You’re an ex-jock and a semi-famous sports columnist. I’ll have you matched up with someone new by the end of the week.”

Jake regarded him incredulously. “You already have clients?”

“About thirty so far,” Will confirmed.

“Anyone we know?” Mack asked, then frowned. “Susie, for instance?” There was a discernible hitch in his voice when he asked, proving that there was more to that relationship than he wanted to acknowledge.

“I’m not at liberty to say,” Will told him.

“When did you start this company?” Jake asked.

“Three weeks ago officially, though I’d been working out the criteria for matching people for a while. I finally incorporated, then put out a few brochures around town. I had no idea what to expect, but when the clients started signing up, I figured I ought to tell you all about it before you heard about it from another source. Someone’s bound to figure out I’m the professional psychologist behind it. After all, there aren’t that many of us in the area.”

“So you’re doing this to make money?” Mack said, clearly still trying to grasp his motivation. Before Susie, Mack had had absolutely no difficulty attracting single women, so he didn’t understand Will’s frustration.

“It could be a gold mine, yes, but that wasn’t really my motivation,” Will insisted. “I think of it more as a community service.”

“Nice spin,” Jake commented wryly. “You’ve already admitted that you’re doing this so you can meet women. Couldn’t you just have hung out at Brady’s more often?”

Will shook his head. “That wasn’t really working for me.”

“What about church? I hear a lot of men meet women at church,” Mack said. “Come to think of it, if I’d known you were this desperate, I could have asked Susie to fix you up. She has a bunch of girlfriends.”

“I’m not desperate,” Will said, offended by the characterization. “I’m being proactive.”

Jake and Mack exchanged a glance. It was Jake who dared to ask, “What about Jess?”

Will stilled. “What about her?”

“You’ve always been crazy about her,” Jake said.

“But she’s not crazy about me,” Will said, not denying his feelings since he’d never been all that good at hiding them. “Leave her out of this. She has nothing to do with it.”

Neither of his friends looked convinced, but they backed off.

Mack regarded him with amusement. “So, are you going to hold mixers like they had in college? Have everyone wear cute little nametags? Or what about those sixty-second dating things? You know, the ones like musical chairs? I hear those can be lively.”

Will scowled at his flip tone. “Bite me.” He stood up. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going back to my office to play matchmaker.”

“You and Dolly Levi,” Mack said with an unrepentant grin.

Will stared at him blankly. “Who?”

“Hello, Dolly. It’s a musical. Susie and I saw the revival recently. She’s a matchmaker.”

Jake groaned. “Please do not tell a lot of people that you, once a Chesapeake Shores and college gridiron star, are going to girly musicals these days. It’ll destroy your fine reputation as one of the town’s all-time great bachelors. You’ll no longer be considered a player on the dating scene. In fact, it’s entirely likely you’ll never have another date.”

“He doesn’t need another date,” Will said. “He already has Susie.”

“Who is obviously a very bad influence,” Jake said.

Mack frowned at him. “Do I need to point out that your wife produces plays at her fancy new Chesapeake Shores Theater, including, I might add, the occasional musical? You planning to attend?”

Jake winced. “That’s spousal obligation, not choice. There’s a difference.”

“Will, do you buy that? Is it different?”

“I’m not mediating this one, guys,” Will declared emphatically. “You’re on your own.”

He was going back to his office to see if he could find the woman of his dreams. Maybe she was right around the corner, though if she was, he ought to have stumbled across her long before now.

For the first time since the previous Friday, Will opened his email Monday afternoon to check the new applications for membership in the Lunch by the Bay online dating service. There were a half dozen that had come in over the weekend. He’d input the data from three of them, when he spotted those submitted by Laila, Connie and Jess. His eyes widened. Laila and Connie were one thing, but Jess? What was he supposed to do about her?

Since she’d submitted her credit card payment with her application, professional integrity absolutely required that he put the data into the system and see if his criteria matched her with anyone. The churning in his gut, however, told him to delete the application as if he’d never seen it. He didn’t want to be the man who helped Jess walk off into the sunset with someone else. She might ultimately do that anyway, but he didn’t want to be the one who’d facilitated it.

He wrestled with his conscience for a full ten minutes before he reluctantly fed the data into his system. He deliberately left his own information out of the equation. When the computer came back with no immediate matches, he breathed a sigh of relief.

He told himself to send back her money and tell her to reapply at a later date, but when it came time to push the send key, he couldn’t do it. He knew it was because he was a little too eager to reject her for his own reasons. For anyone else, he’d take a fresh look at the data in a few days. Much as he might not like it, he owed that to Jess, too.

As for Laila and Connie, he had an easier time with their applications. Three potential matches turned up almost immediately for Connie. He sent all of them mutual contact information. There were four possibilities for Laila. Astonishingly, one of the best matches, the man with whom she had the most in common, seemed to be him.

“No way,” he muttered. He’d never once thought of dating Trace’s younger sister…and yet, why not? Maybe this would be the best possible test of the criteria he was using. It was the first match that had come back for him with so many connections.

He’d almost convinced himself to call Laila, when it occurred to him that it was no coincidence that the applications from her, Connie and Jess had come in within minutes of each other on Saturday night. Had they sent them in as some kind of dare? And how would Jess react if he went out with Laila? Would she be offended that her friends had gotten dates and she hadn’t? Would it bother her in the slightest if Laila’s first date was him? And why should he care, anyway, if he was truly moving on as he’d sworn to himself he was doing?

Before he could change his mind, he picked up the phone and called Laila at the bank.

“Hey, Will, what’s up?” she said, her tone friendly.

“You’re probably not going to believe this, but we’ve been matched up by an online dating service,” he told her, not explaining that it was his business. She’d learn that soon enough.

“Lunch by the Bay?” she said. “You’re kidding! I didn’t expect anything to happen this quickly.”

“I’m as surprised as you are, but I thought maybe we should give it a try. Would you like to have lunch tomorrow?”

“Why not?” she said, then hesitated. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?” he asked. “Obviously we’re both looking for new ways to meet people, and if a computer says we’re compatible, I think we should at least check it out.”

“At least we’ll have a few laughs, right?”

“Exactly. What do you say?”

“What time and where?” she asked.

“Panini Bistro at noon? Or is there somewhere else you’d rather go?”

“I thought you always ate with Mack and Jake at noon,” she said, proving that his rut had been widely noted.

“I decided it was past time to shake up my routine,” he told her.

“Then count me in, and Panini Bistro is fine. I’ll see you there. Should I wear a red carnation behind my ear so you can spot me?” she asked with a laugh.

“Unless you’ve changed dramatically since dinner at the O’Briens a couple of Sundays ago, I think I’ll recognize you,” he said. He hesitated, then added, “Maybe we should keep this just between us for now. What do you think?”

“Are you ashamed to be seen in public with me, Will Lincoln?” she asked, a teasing note in her voice.

“If I were, we wouldn’t be going to lunch on Shore Road,” he assured her. “I just thought maybe low-key might be best till we see how this goes. Our friends might have quite a lot to say if they hear about it.”

“You wouldn’t be thinking about one friend in particular, would you?” Laila asked knowingly. “Is it Jess you’d prefer to keep in the dark?”

“Of course not!” Will said emphatically. “Why would she care one way or the other?”

“I’m glad you feel that way, because I’m not all that great at keeping secrets, especially not from friends.”

“Okay, then,” Will said, resigned to the possibility that his lunch with Laila could stir up a commotion. “See you tomorrow.”

“Looking forward to it,” Laila said.

Will wished he could say the same. Instead, a feeling of dread had settled in his stomach. Any shrink worth his salt could have told him it was because he was playing with fire.

2

A few days after signing up for Lunch by the Bay, Jess checked her inbox online. “I don’t get this,” she muttered in frustration to Laila, who’d just dropped by the inn. “You and Connie both had responses almost immediately. I’ve had nothing, not even an acknowledgment that I’m signed up.”

“I’m sure that’s just an oversight,” Laila said, though Jess thought she looked oddly guilty when she said it.

“Do you know something I don’t?” Jess asked, studying her friend with a narrowed gaze.

“Of course not,” Laila responded a little too quickly. “Maybe the interests you wrote down were too narrow. The company promises someone with similar interests. It may be taking a little longer to find the right match. I’m sure not everyone hears right away. The important thing is that the person you’re eventually matched with is the right one.”

Jess shrugged it off. “It doesn’t really matter. I wasn’t counting on this anyway. How about running over to Sally’s and grabbing a bite to eat?”

Laila winced. “Sorry, I can’t. I have my first date.”

Jess stared at her, trying to judge the odd expression on her friend’s face. Laila looked more worried than excited. It wasn’t the reaction Jess had expected.

“Why didn’t you say something when you first walked in here?” she asked. “Who is he? Do you have a name? Where are you meeting him?”

“We’re meeting at Panini Bistro,” Laila said.

Again, Jess studied her intently. “It still feels as if you’re hiding something. Who is this man? Do I know him?”

Laila nodded, her expression sheepish. “Actually, you do. That’s the reason I came by, so I could run it past you in case you had objections.”

“Why on earth would I object to your date?” Jess asked. “There’s no one in this town with whom I’ve ever been serious, unless you count Stuart Charles in third grade. I went to a lot of Little League games to watch that boy play.”

Laila lost her train of thought. “I thought you went to those games to see Connor.”

“Do you think I wanted anyone to know about my crush on an older man?” Jess responded with a grin. “I believe Stuart was twelve. We were doomed from the start.” Her grin faded. “We’ve gotten off track. We were talking about this date of yours, and I was trying to make it clear there was nothing for you to worry about where I’m concerned.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” Laila said. Not quite meeting Jess’s eyes, she admitted, “It’s Will.”

Jess went perfectly still. She could have sworn her heart even took an unexpected lurch. “You’re having lunch with Will?” she asked slowly. “You’re telling me the computer actually matched you with him?”

Laila nodded, then asked worriedly, “You’re not upset, are you? I wanted you to hear this from me in case someone spots the two of us out together. If it bothers you, I can still call it off.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Why would I be upset?” Jess asked, managing to keep a carefree note in her voice, even though the news had been oddly disconcerting. “I’ve never dated Will.” She hesitated. “You don’t suppose…?”

“Suppose what?”

“That brochure said this company was being run by a psychologist. Do you think that could be Will?”

Laila shrugged. “Could be, but I don’t see why it matters.”

“You don’t think it’ll be weird dating a shrink?” Jess had certainly had enough difficulty just being in the same room with him. She’d never been able to stop feeling self-conscious, as if Will was seeing right through her, analyzing every word she uttered. Maybe under other circumstances that attentiveness would have been flattering, but it made her feel exposed. She’d had enough of those feelings when doctors had been trying to determine whether she had attention deficit disorder years ago. All that psychological probing and testing had made her feel like a lab specimen.

“Why would it be weird?” Laila asked with a shrug. “Hopefully, he’ll be more insightful than most of the men I’ve run across. It’s funny, but somehow I never even thought about dating Will before. We’re actually the same age, but we never hung around with the same crowd in school.”

“Because you were with the in crowd and he was a nerd.”

“Will was most definitely not a nerd,” Laila said, jumping to his defense in a way that took Jess aback. “Jake and Mack are his two best friends, and they were both jocks. He was always hanging out at your house with Kevin and Connor, too. If I remember correctly, Will even played varsity basketball.” Her expression brightened. “That’s another good thing. He’s taller than I am. I’m tired of having to wear flats when I go out so I don’t intimidate some guy who’s barely five-eight.”

Jess couldn’t explain why the idea of Laila going out with Will bothered her so much. Was it because she was more interested in him than she’d ever admitted to herself? Or was it because that stupid computer had confirmed what she’d always said, that they’d be a terrible match? Because she didn’t want her friend worrying about any of that, she forced a smile.

“I hope you have a great time,” she told Laila. “It really would be something if this whole matchmaking thing turns out to work.”

Laila grinned, clearly relieved to have Jess’s blessing, lukewarm though it might have been. “Fingers crossed. I’ll call later and let you know how it went.”

The minute she’d gone, Jess grabbed her keys and headed for Sally’s. She knew she’d find Jake and Mack there. Maybe they could fill her in on whether Will was behind Lunch by the Bay. If he was, once she got over the shock, she was never going to let him hear the end of it.

Will stood on the sidewalk in front of Panini Bistro waiting for Laila Riley. He’d felt a little odd matching himself up with someone he’d known for most of his life, but they’d exchanged a few emails since his phone call the day before and discovered several additional things they had in common, aside from all the people they both knew and the interests they’d both mentioned on their applications. At least they’d be able to spend the next hour catching up, with no real pressure on either of them. It made her the ideal Lunch by the Bay first date.

He saw her exit her car just up the road, then walk purposefully toward him with a stride that could easily keep up with his. She smiled when she saw him, started to hold out a hand, then shrugged and hugged him.

“This is weird, huh?” she said.

“I was just thinking how easy it should be,” he countered. “It’s not as if we haven’t known each other forever.”

“But not like this,” she said. “Not as a potential spouse.”

Will gave her a startled look that made her laugh.

“Sorry,” she said at once. “Computer compatibility notwithstanding, I’m not suggesting we call a minister quite yet. I just meant that this isn’t bumping into each other at a party or at Brady’s. It’s a real date, even if it is only lunch.”

Will grinned as the awkward moment passed. “Then I should be pulling out a chair and asking you to have a seat,” he said, doing just that before seating himself at the outside table. “Would you like a glass of wine with lunch?”

She shook her head. “One thing I’ve learned about banking is that I can’t stare at all those numbers without a clear head. You go ahead, if you want to.”

“Not me. My clients expect me to be giving them sober, thoughtful advice.”

They glanced at their menus, placed their orders, then sat back. Will couldn’t think of one single thing to say that hadn’t already been covered in their emails.

“I saw Jess before I came over here,” Laila said eventually.

To his annoyance, Will’s heart skipped a couple of beats. “Oh? How is she?”

“She seemed a little taken aback to hear that I was meeting you,” Laila told him. “I felt like I had to tell her.”

“Why?”

“You know, I’m not sure,” she admitted. “I suppose it’s because I’ve always thought the two of you had some kind of connection of your own. And, of course, she and I are friends. I warned you I was no good at keeping secrets from my friends.”

Will told himself that what she was saying about Jess’s reaction didn’t have to mean anything. It was probably no more of a shock to Jess than hearing, say, that he and Laila had crossed paths at the grocery store.

When he said nothing, Laila added, “Jess wondered if maybe this whole Lunch by the Bay thing isn’t your idea. Is it?”

Will hesitated, but saw no point in an evasive answer. “It is.” He explained his reasons for launching the company, then added, “So far, I’ve actually matched up about ten couples for first dates, though this is the first time I’ve gone out with anyone myself.”

“Really?” she said, looking impressed. “And you chose me? Why?”

“Truthfully?”

“Of course.”

“I wanted to check out my criteria for myself, and you seemed like the least threatening opportunity to do that,” he admitted. “Worst case scenario, if it turned out to be a total bust, I figured we could laugh about it.”

“I’m not sure if there’s a compliment buried in there somewhere or not,” she said.

“Probably pretty deeply,” Will said, chuckling.

“So, how about the other couples? Anything look as if it’s working out?”

“The early feedback has been very positive,” he said. “My criteria seem to be working, at least for strangers. Several people have told me they’re on their third—and, in one case, a fourth—date with the first person they were matched with.”

“So what was the criteria that made you match yourself up with me?” Laila asked, then studied him intently. “Instead of Jess, for instance? She applied the same day I did.”

Will couldn’t deny that he’d considered exactly that. After all, it was the perfect opportunity to nudge Jess into thinking of him in a different way. He just hadn’t been quite ready for the humiliation of having her laugh hysterically at the suggestion that they go on a date.

“Jess and I don’t really click,” he said carefully.

“According to these criteria of yours?” Laila pressed.

Will squirmed. “Not exactly. I left myself out of the mix when I ran her data through the computer.”

Laila looked surprised. “Why?”

“Like I said, I already knew we didn’t click.”

“But we do, according to the computer?” Laila repeated.

He nodded. “You and I had at least a half dozen or more things in common, similar interests, ambitions and so on.”

She gave him an amused look. “Sounds as if we’re a match made in heaven.”

“Who knows? We could be.” He held her gaze, hoping he’d feel something, even a hint of the chemistry he felt when he was in a room with Jess. There was nothing. It didn’t mean his criteria were off. It just meant he had no quantifiable way to measure attraction, and even he knew that was a key ingredient in any relationship.

After an awkward moment, he changed the subject, asking her opinion of a variety of economic and banking issues. Laila, he discovered, could hold her own when it came to such a debate. She was informed, opinionated and direct, all good traits to his way of thinking. They’d finished dessert before he realized that the time was late and he was due back at his office for his next appointment.

“This was fun,” he said, meaning it. “I’d love to have lunch again sometime.”

“So would I,” she said, “but next time it’s on me.”

Will saw the declaration for what it was, an offer of friendship. Since he’d been thinking along the same lines, he was relieved. “It’s a deal.”

“But not a date,” she responded. “Forget your stupid computer, Will. Ask Jess out. You know she’s the one you want. She always has been.”

He frowned at the statement. “We’re not suited.”

Laila waved off the comment. “Says who?”

“Mostly Jess,” he confessed.

“You’ve actually asked her out and she’s blown you off?”

“Well, no, but she’s made it abundantly clear that I make her uncomfortable.”

“That’s exactly what Jess needs, someone who can shake her up,” Laila said. “Stop wasting your time trying to find a replacement who’ll never measure up. Go for the real thing.” She gave him a hug. “That’s my advice to you.” She grinned. “And lucky for you, I don’t charge your hourly rates for it.”

She strode off down the street, leaving Will to stare after her and wonder why she couldn’t have been the one. Candid, no-nonsense Laila Riley was a whole lot less complicated than Jess O’Brien would ever be.

He sighed. That, of course, was the problem. He apparently liked complications. Unfortunately, that was probably going to be his downfall.

Connie’s first official blind date was with an accountant in Annapolis, a single father whose children, like Jenny, were away at college. On paper, he’d sounded great. Their email exchanges had revealed several other things they had in common, including a love of the water. She’d anticipated an enjoyable lunch, maybe some stimulating conversation, even if it didn’t go any further than that.

Since she’d agreed to drive to Annapolis, she’d decided to go early and stop by Thomas O’Brien’s foundation offices to touch base on their fundraising efforts to protect the Chesapeake Bay. Even though it was a Saturday morning, she knew she’d find Jess’s uncle at work. His workaholic reputation was widely recognized. When she tapped on his office door, he glanced up from the papers on his desk and beamed at her.

“Now, if you aren’t exactly what I needed on this dreary morning,” he said, removing his reading glasses and putting aside his pen. “What brings you to Annapolis?”

Connie’s pulse leapt at the enthusiasm in his voice, even though she’d told herself a thousand times that it was his gratitude for her efforts for the foundation and nothing more.

“I have a date,” she admitted, wrinkling her nose. “A blind date, at that.”

He sat back, a look of astonishment on his face. “Now tell me why a lovely woman like you would be going on a blind date?”

“I signed up for an online dating service,” she said sheepishly. “Jess and Laila did, too.”

“All three of you?” He gave a sad shake of his head. “I can’t imagine what the men of Chesapeake Shores are thinking if you’re resorting to an online dating service.” Still, he looked vaguely intrigued. “And is this your first date?”

Connie nodded. “To be honest, I’m a little nervous.”

“In this day and age, that’s perfectly understandable. Maybe you should reconsider.”

“I can’t just not show up,” she protested. “That would be rude.”

“Then I’ll come with you,” he said decisively. “Not on the date, of course, but just to be nearby in case there’s a problem.”

She studied him oddly. “You’d do that?”

“I feel obligated to, as a matter of fact. Someone needs to look out for you, and we’re practically family.”

She laughed at the serious note in his voice. “Do you know how old I am?”

“I have some idea. What’s your point?”

“That I’m old enough to look out for myself.”

“Not if this man turns out to be some kind of smooth-talking predator,” he insisted, his jaw set determinedly.

“Why am I starting to think that stopping by here was a bad idea?” she said, amused despite herself at his overly protective attitude. And maybe a little touched, if she were to be totally honest.

He smiled at her, the smile that always made her toes curl. “Since you obviously aren’t here for my protection, why did you stop by?”

To see that smile, for one thing, she thought but didn’t dare say. Her conflicted feelings for Thomas O’Brien were a constant source of dismay to her. She couldn’t imagine them ever going anywhere. At the same time, she couldn’t seem to stay away. She was drawn to his passion for his work, his caring personality, his wicked sense of humor…to him, for that matter.

“I haven’t seen you since the last of the summer events,” she said. “I wanted to catch up on how fundraising is going and see what I can do to help over the winter.”

“Now I’ve had a few ideas about that,” he said at once. “Why don’t we go a bit early to this lunch of yours and have coffee while we wait for your date to arrive? Once I’ve met him and seen for myself that he means no harm, I’ll fade into the woodwork,” he promised.

Connie could see all sorts of things potentially disastrous about that plan, but she couldn’t seem to tell him to forget it. Coffee with Thomas sounded a whole lot better, frankly, than lunch with a total stranger.

“That would be great,” she said.

They walked to the restaurant her date had suggested, chose a table overlooking the nearby Severn River and ordered coffee. Connie was so engrossed in what Thomas had to say, she barely noticed when another man approached the table and stood looking down at them with an irritated expression on his face.

“You’re Connie Collins?” he asked.

She jumped guiltily. “I am. Steve Lorton?”

He nodded, then scowled at Thomas. “Am I interrupting?”

“Of course not,” Connie said before Thomas could reply. He had an oddly territorial look on his face that she didn’t quite trust. She introduced the two men. “Thomas and I were just discussing the latest progress in his foundation’s efforts to protect the bay. I’ve been doing some volunteer work for him.”

Steve looked somewhat mollified by the explanation, but when Thomas made no move to leave, he was forced to drag a chair over from a nearby table. He sat down next to Connie, as if to claim her for his own. Connie couldn’t recall the last time she’d been caught in a turf war between two men, if ever, but she discovered she didn’t like it nearly as much as she’d always imagined she might.

“Thomas was just leaving,” she announced pointedly, though, to her dismay, he didn’t seem to be budging.

“I’m sure Steve won’t mind if I stick around a little longer,” Thomas said.

His jaw was set in a way Connie recognized. She’d seen it on other O’Brien men often enough.

She was about to push him to leave, anyway, when he added, “There are several more things we need to discuss, Connie.”

Connie stared at him in confusion. “What things?”

“Our plans for next weekend, in fact.”

Now she really was confused. “We have plans?”

“We do,” he said emphatically, staring down Steve as he said it.

Steve stood up so suddenly his chair fell over. “Look, I had no idea you were already involved with someone,” he said to Connie, his gaze accusing. “You should have told me.”

Before she could defend herself, he turned and left without another word.

She stared after him, then whirled on Thomas. “Why would you do that? Why would you deliberately chase him off?”

“I didn’t like him,” he said, without even a hint of remorse.

She stared at him incredulously. “I think the point of going on this date was to find out if I’d like him.”

“You wouldn’t have,” Thomas predicted. “He’s too self-absorbed.”

“You could tell that from the two minutes he was sitting here?”

“I could tell that when there wasn’t the slightest spark of interest in his eyes when you mentioned protecting the bay.”

She couldn’t deny that. Still, she felt compelled to say, “I think you might be a bit biased when it comes to the bay. Not everyone is as passionate about what you do as you are.”

He held her gaze. “You are,” he said quietly. “Can you honestly tell me you’d be seriously interested in a man who doesn’t care about his surroundings?”

“Probably not, but you don’t get to decide that,” she replied.

“I did you a favor,” he said stubbornly.

She sighed. She could tell she wasn’t going to win this argument. To be honest, she wasn’t all that unhappy about what he’d done, not if it gave the two of them more time together. She wasn’t sure she liked what that said about her state of mind, but there it was, the honest-to-God truth.

“Let’s say I accept that you thought you were doing me a favor,” she said. “I drove all this way to have lunch. Does that mean you’re treating me now?”

His expression brightened and his booming laugh drew smiles from those at nearby tables. “I think it’s the least I can do,” he agreed readily.

“And what about those plans we supposedly have for next weekend?” she asked, suddenly feeling daring in a way she hadn’t in a very long time.

“Dinner at Brady’s on Saturday night?” he suggested.

Despite the little zing of anticipation that rushed through her at the suggestion, Connie hesitated. “Brady’s? Are you sure about that?”

“O’Brien turf?” he asked, proving he understood exactly what her concerns were.

“Pretty much.”

“Well, I can’t very well ask you to drive back to Annapolis, can I? We’ll just have to find someplace down there that my family hasn’t discovered. Chesapeake Shores isn’t the only town with restaurants. Leave it to me.”

“Okay,” she said, her hands suddenly shaking so badly she had to set her menu back on the table. Just to be sure she wasn’t misinterpreting what was going on here, she forced herself to meet his gaze.

“Is this a date, Thomas? Or a business meeting? I want to be clear.”

He didn’t answer immediately. In fact, it looked as if he was struggling to decide. “The smart answer would be to call it a business meeting, wouldn’t it?” he said, regret in his voice.

“It would probably be wise,” she agreed, not even trying to disguise her own disappointment. Then she reminded herself that she was over forty, not some shy little teenage wallflower. Thomas O’Brien was the first man in years who’d captured her attention. Why shouldn’t she throw caution to the wind? She looked him directly in the eyes then, and added, “But I’d really hoped it was a date.”

His expression immediately lit up in a thoroughly gratifying way. “Then a date it is!” He hesitated, then said, “But—”

“You don’t have to say it, Thomas. The family doesn’t need to know about any of this.”

“Not that I think there’s anything wrong with the two of us going on a date,” he was quick to say.

Connie laughed. “Believe me, I get it. Once unleashed, the meddling O’Briens are hard to contain.”

“Exactly.” He picked up his menu. “Suddenly I’m starving. I think I’ll have the seafood platter. How about you?”

Connie was pretty sure she wasn’t going to be able to eat a single bite. “A small house salad for me.”

“Nonsense. You need some protein before you have to drive home. At least have the crabcakes. They’re excellent here.”

She gave in because it made no sense to fight him. She knew she’d be regretting that salad halfway home when her stomach started growling. Still, she couldn’t let him have his way about it entirely. It would set a bad precedent with a man as strong-willed as he obviously was.

“A crabcake sandwich, then,” she compromised.

“Excellent!”

She looked into his blue, blue eyes, sparkling with mirth, and thought she hadn’t been captivated by anyone like this as far back as she could remember, not even Jenny’s father. As much as she’d thought she loved Sam, he’d lacked strength, maturity, passion and compassion, all qualities Thomas personified.

She was smitten, all right. If only the situation didn’t have the potential for heartbreak written all over it.

3

Ever since she’d found out that Lunch by the Bay was, indeed, Will’s new enterprise, Jess had been feeling more restless and out of sorts than usual. She’d been avoiding Laila’s calls as well, not sure she wanted to hear about how wonderful the date with Will had been. Jess knew, though, that she couldn’t put her friend off forever. In fact, it was childish that she’d done it this long.

She walked into the inn’s kitchen, where Gail was preparing food for the picnic baskets that several of the guests had requested.

“I’m going to take off for an hour or so,” Jess told her chef. “Call me on my cell phone if you need me.”

“Who’s working out front?”

“Ronnie’s got it.”

Gail regarded her with surprise. “Boy, you must be anxious to get out of here. I thought you didn’t trust Ronnie to handle the desk.”

Ronnie Forrest was in his early twenties, but he had the maturity of a preteen. His father, a friend of Mick’s, had despaired of Ronnie ever getting a responsible job and holding on to it. Jess had been willing to take a chance on him, but so far the only task he handled without bungling was carrying bags for the guests. More often than not, he could be found in the main lounge watching TV, rather than doing any of the other chores assigned to him.

As frustrating as his malingering was, on some level Jess could identify with him. She’d wondered more than once if he didn’t have an undiagnosed case of the same ADD that had plagued her life.

Jess beamed at Gail. “Which is why you’re going to supervise him while I’m gone. You’re much tougher than I am. Maybe you can get him to take this job seriously.”

Gail didn’t deny her toughness. However, with a lifted brow, she inquired, “And just how am I supposed to keep an eye on him from here in the kitchen?”

“Transfer the calls to your line, if you want to, and bring him in here and assign him to peel onions,” Jess suggested. “Maybe he’ll start to figure out that my threats to fire him if he doesn’t shape up aren’t idle ones.”

Gail regarded her with surprise. “You’ve actually told him his job’s on the line?”

Jess nodded. “Last week. I had no choice after three people complained that no one had answered when they called to make reservations and I found him watching reruns of Law and Order.”

“What’s your father going to say?”

“I’ll tell him if he wants to give the guy a break, then he should hire him,” Jess said. “It might be best all around. Dad doesn’t tolerate anyone who doesn’t pull their weight on a job. Maybe he’ll even tell Ronnie’s father to get him tested for ADD, which is what I suspect is going on.”

Gail studied her with surprise. “Seriously?”

Jess nodded.

“And that’s why you keep cutting him slack, despite the tough talk?”

“More than likely,” Jess conceded with a sigh. “Meantime, he’s all yours. I’ll send him in here on my way out.”

Of course, she didn’t find Ronnie in the lobby where he was supposed to be. Nor was he in the lounge. He was on the porch, an Orioles baseball cap pulled low over his eyes, sound asleep. The sight so ticked her off that she grabbed the back of the rocker in which he was seated and came close to upending him right off the porch and onto the lawn.

“What the…!” he muttered as he grabbed a post to keep himself from falling. He scowled at her. “Are you crazy?”

“Not half as crazy as you are, if you think this is an acceptable on-the-job performance,” she said, facing him down and suddenly realizing why Abby spent so much time annoyed with her.

“Did you not understand it when I told you last week that you were getting on my very last nerve?” she asked.

“Chill,” he said. “There’s nothing going on around here.”

“How could you possibly know that when the phone you’re supposed to be answering is inside? I’ve transferred the reservation line into the kitchen. Get in there and help Gail. If I don’t get a rave review from her when I get back, you’re fired. Is that clear enough?” This time, she simply had to stick to her guns. She wasn’t doing him any favors by letting him get away with this kind of lackadaisical behavior on the job.

He finally looked at least moderately shaken. “Come on, Jess.”

“That’s Ms. O’Brien to you,” she snapped.

He grinned as if she’d said something hysterically funny. “Come on, Ms. O’Brien, you know my old man’s going to have a conniption fit if I lose another job.”

“Then don’t lose it,” she said and walked away before she said a few more things about his work ethic that he probably wouldn’t understand anyway. If Devlin Forrest complained to Mick about Ronnie being fired, she’d deal with her father. Insolence and laziness were two traits Mick would never tolerate either. She was confident of that.

Concluding that she needed the fresh air and a long walk to improve her mood, she hiked the mile or so into town, then headed for the bank. At the front desk, she greeted Mariah, then nodded toward the executive offices.

“Is Laila back there? Is she free?”

Mariah nodded. “Go on back. Maybe a friendly face will improve her mood.”

“She’s having a bad day?”

“Days,” Mariah confided, “but don’t you dare tell her I said so.”

“Any idea why?”

“None.”

Jess walked back to the office that had once belonged to Trace before he’d convinced his father that Laila was the one who belonged in it. Trace had done nothing during his brief stint there to make it his own, but Laila had painted the walls a warmer shade of cream, then added bright splashes of modern art to the walls. The paintings had horrified her father, who thought they weren’t nearly sedate enough for a community bank, but Laila had stuck to her guns. It was the most cheerful room in an otherwise dreary old building.

Laila, however, looked anything but cheerful, at least until she looked up and saw Jess standing hesitantly in the doorway.

“I hear the mood is dark back here,” Jess said. “Is it safe to come in?”

Laila smiled wearily. “Come on in. I promise not to bite your head off.”

Jess took a seat and studied her friend. “You look worn out. What’s going on?”

“I’m trying to figure out how to keep some of our oldest customers from losing their homes to foreclosure,” Laila said. “I thought the economy was turning around, but we’ve still got people around here who are struggling. The board doesn’t want to hear their excuses. I’m arguing for compassion and a little ingenuity. I’m afraid I’m going to lose the battle.”

“I’m sorry. Having been on the other side of a foreclosure notice, I know how awful that is. If it hadn’t been for Abby coming down here to fight for me and straighten out the inn’s finances, who knows what would have happened?”

“But it worked out for you,” Laila said. “The bank knew you were good for the loan, just like I know these people will make good on theirs if we can just cut them a little slack. Putting families out on the street should be a last resort.” She waved off the topic. “Let’s talk about something else. Do you have time for lunch? It’s been ages since we’ve talked.”

Jess grinned, relieved that the tension she’d been feeling had evaporated once she was actually in a room with her friend. “I was hoping you’d suggest that. Shall we have Connie meet us?”

“Absolutely,” Laila said, placing the call and getting Connie’s immediate agreement to meet them at a new soup and salad restaurant that had opened a few weeks earlier. When she’d hung up, she said, “I would have suggested Sally’s, but Will’s bound to be there, so I figured you’d rather go someplace else.”

“That’s why you’re my friend,” Jess said. “You know me so well. I do want to hear about your date with him, though.”

Laila regarded her doubtfully. “Really? I thought maybe that was why you weren’t taking my calls.”

Jess winced. She should have known Laila would recognize exactly what she’d been thinking. “It was,” she admitted, “but I was being stupid. I want to know everything.”

“And I want to hear about Connie’s date in Annapolis the other day,” Laila said, as she grabbed her purse and they left for the restaurant. “She mentioned he was an accountant. I could have warned her about that. We’re not that interesting, but I didn’t want to scare her off.”

Jess laughed. “I can’t speak for all accountants, but you are the least boring person I know,” she told her. “Maybe she got lucky.”

A few minutes later, though, when they were all seated at an outdoor table facing the bay, Connie squirmed when Laila brought up her date.

Laila regarded her knowingly. “It was a bust, right?”

“Totally,” Connie said, though her cheeks were bright pink. She hesitated, then said, “I wound up having lunch with Thomas, instead.”

Jess stared at her. “Thomas? My uncle?”

Connie nodded. “It just sort of happened. We got to talking about fundraising and stuff, and ended up having lunch. No big deal.”

But Jess could see it was a big deal. Laila, however, seemed to accept Connie’s explanation at face value. There were a hundred questions on the tip of Jess’s tongue, but she bit them back.

Connie quickly turned to Laila. “And your lunch with Will? How did that go?” She flushed guiltily, faced Jess and asked, “Are you okay with her talking about this?”

“I wish everyone would stop acting as if Will and I shared some big romance,” Jess complained. “We didn’t. We’ve never even been on a date.”

“Only because he thinks you don’t want to go out with him,” Laila said. “That’s what he told me.”

Jess frowned. “The two of you were talking about me on your date? No wonder your social life sucks.”

“We were talking about you, because you were like this huge elephant in the room. We couldn’t ignore the obvious. He has feelings for you, and contrary to all your claims, I think you have feelings for him.”

“I think he’s annoying,” Jess said. “Is that what you mean?”

Laila rolled her eyes and Connie chuckled.

“The denials aren’t working for me,” Laila said, then grinned at Connie. “How about you?”

“Nope,” Connie said.

Jess was within a second of blowing that smug expression off Connie’s face by blabbing what she knew about Connie’s feelings for Uncle Thomas, but when push came to shove, she couldn’t do it. If there was something going on between those two, she didn’t want to be the one to ruin it by getting the whole family in an uproar. Kevin and Connor had obviously felt the same way when they’d sworn her to secrecy.

“Look, you two, think whatever you want,” Jess said. “Will and I would never work as a couple. We barely tolerate each other as friends. And if he were as interested in me as you two seem to think and we were at all suited, wouldn’t that fancy computer program of his have spit us out as a match?”

“He didn’t put his name in when he ran yours through,” Laila revealed.

“See what I mean?” Jess said, seizing on that. “He doesn’t want anything to do with me. That proves it. Let’s just drop this, okay? I don’t want to talk about Will or about the fact that this stupid company of his is a fraud.”

Both of her friends regarded her with dismay. “That’s a little harsh,” Laila said. “Just because Connie’s first date and mine didn’t work doesn’t mean the next ones won’t.”

“You’re going to accept more dates?” Jess asked incredulously.

“Why not?” Laila said. “Nothing’s changed about the reasons we all signed up, right, Connie?”

Connie nodded, though Jess thought her expression looked doubtful.

“I’m game,” Connie said with lackluster enthusiasm.

Laila focused her attention on Jess. “You paid your money. You can’t back out now.”

“Since I haven’t had a single email or phone call, I’m thinking I should demand my money back,” Jess said. “In fact, the next time I see Will, I intend to tell him what I think of this whole ridiculous online dating scheme of his.”

“You have to give it a chance,” Laila insisted. “You don’t want just any old match. It has to be the right one. Give it time.”

“Like you and Will were such a great match,” Jess said sarcastically. “Or Connie and her accountant. Come on, guys, admit this was a mistake. When it comes to this matchmaking stuff, Will is an amateur.”

“I’m not throwing in the towel yet,” Laila replied determinedly. “Neither is Connie, and you promised you were in, too, Jess. Are you going back on your word to us?”

“It’s not as if we’re double-or triple-dating, for goodness’ sakes,” Jess protested. “You two can do whatever you want to do. I’m out.”

“A promise is a promise,” Laila persisted.

Jess sighed and caved. “Okay, fine. I’ll give it a little longer.”

But despite Laila’s optimism and Connie’s reluctant agreement, no one was going to persuade Jess that it wasn’t a big old waste of time and energy.

Will’s client, a single woman who’d despaired of ever finding the right man, arrived for her appointment with a man in tow.

“This is Carl Mason,” Kathy Pierson told Will, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “I hope you don’t mind, but I asked him to sit in on our session today. We met through Lunch by the Bay, and we’re getting married.”

Will saw the blush on her cheeks and the adoration in Carl Mason’s eyes and realized this was exactly what he’d hoped for when he launched the company. Unfortunately, though, he also knew that Kathy had a way of rushing into things without giving them sufficient thought. What if this was one of those occasions? They couldn’t possibly have had more than a handful of dates. He was pretty sure he’d arranged the match less than two weeks ago.

“When something’s right, it’s right,” Carl told him, obviously picking up on Will’s lack of enthusiasm for the news. “I know it must seem fast to you, but the minute I met Kathy, something clicked.”

“I’m happy for you both. I truly am,” Will assured them. “But marriage is a huge step. Shouldn’t you spend a little more time together before you make that kind of commitment?”

Kathy frowned at him. “I’m forty-six years old. I’ve waited my whole life to meet a man like Carl. I’ve already lost my chance to have children, but that doesn’t mean it’s too late for love. You’re the one who’s been telling me that for months now. I’ve finally found it, and I don’t want to wait. We don’t want to wait.”

“You’re both telling me how right this is,” Will said, treading cautiously. “Won’t it be just as right a few weeks from now, or even a few months from now? Then you’ll know for certain.”

“And we’ll have wasted weeks or months of our lives,” Kathy said.

“They won’t be wasted,” Will insisted. “I’m not suggesting you can’t be together during that time, just that you not jump into marriage. You’ll be getting to know each other, making sure that you’re as compatible as you think you are.”

“I don’t understand why you can’t just be happy for us,” Kathy said. “I mean, we’re practically the poster couple for Lunch by the Bay. We’re a success story! You should be gloating about the fact that your computer program made a successful match, not trying to bring us down.”

“I’m not trying to bring you down,” Will assured her. “In fact, if this works out, I’ll be the first to stand up and offer a toast at your wedding. I’m just worried that you’ve put a little too much faith in a computer program and not trusted your own judgment. It takes time to get to know another person. The computer is a tool that can cut that process down somewhat, but it’s not infallible.”

Kathy stood up. “Well, aren’t you Mr. Doom and Gloom all of a sudden. I’d hoped you’d come to the wedding, but I can see that’s a terrible idea. I don’t want any bad vibes ruining the happiest day of my life. Let’s go, Carl.”

Carl followed her to the door. “To be honest, I thought the whole computer thing was a crazy idea, but once I met Kathy, I became a believer. This is going to be okay, Doc. You don’t have to worry about us.”

Will appreciated the effort to reassure him, but he stared after them with a feeling of dread in his stomach. Client confidentiality required that he not tell Carl that Kathy had a long history of lightning-quick enthusiasms that faded all too rapidly. It was one thing to embrace a hobby and drop it practically overnight. It was quite another to do that with a husband.

He was trying to figure out if there was anything else he could do to slow down this impulsive wedding they were planning when his cell phone rang. Relieved by the distraction, he answered on the second ring.

“Is this Will Lincoln?” a woman asked hesitantly.

“It is.”

“Your name turned up as a prospective match from Lunch by the Bay,” she said. “I was wondering if you might be available for lunch one day this week. I probably should have waited for you to call, but I was afraid if I did, I’d lose my nerve altogether. I’ve never done anything like this before.”

Will bit back a sigh. How could he turn her down? He was the one who’d founded the company in part so he could meet people himself. It would pretty much destroy the company’s reputation if its own founder started rejecting the matches it kicked out.

“I’d love to have lunch with you,” he said, trying to inject a note of enthusiasm into his voice. “How about Friday?”

He chatted a little longer, then hung up. Merry Landry had sounded sweet. And from the information he’d managed to pull from the computer, on the surface it seemed they had at least a few interests in common. She was well-educated, had her own business and had the kind of large family he’d always envied. A family like the O’Briens.

Of course, there was only one huge drawback over which Merry obviously had no control. She wasn’t Jess.

On Friday at noon, Jess got a call from Heather, Connor’s wife. Heather owned a quilt shop on Shore Road, right next door to the art gallery Jess’s mother had opened.

“You busy?” Heather asked.

“It’s Friday, so we’re expecting a packed house for the weekend, but most of them won’t be showing up for a couple of hours. Why?”

Jess thought she heard a whispered exchange in the background, but it might have been customers talking.

Eventually Heather said, “I was hoping you could meet me for a quick bite. Connor, too. We’ve missed you.”

Something in her voice sounded off to Jess, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. “Is Connor there now?”

“Nope,” Heather said hurriedly. “He just left to claim a table for us at Panini Bistro. Can you get there?”

“Do you two have news?” Jess asked, wondering if Heather was pregnant. They already had a son who’d been born before they’d married.

Heather laughed. “If you stopped asking questions and drove over here, you’d have your answers in less time.”

Jess sighed. “Fine. Give me ten minutes. Order a ham and cheese panini with lettuce and tomato for me.”

“Will do,” Heather promised.

Jess checked in with Gail, assured herself that Ronnie was at work in the kitchen again with the reservation line forwarded in there, then drove into town. It took several minutes to find a parking spot, then a few more to walk back to the restaurant. She immediately spotted her brother and his wife. Then, at another table way too nearby to be a coincidence, she saw Will and some attractive blonde woman who seemed to be regarding him with an adoring expression.

Though the chair Connor and Heather had left for Jess had a clear view of Will and his date, Jess grabbed the chair and shoved it between the happy newlyweds so her back was to Will.

“Please tell me that is not why you got me down here,” she said under her breath, shrugging a shoulder in Will’s direction.

Connor regarded her innocently. “Are you talking about Will? I think he’s on one of those Lunch by the Bay dates of his. Pretty woman, don’t you think?”

Jess’s temper flared. “I do not give two hoots if she’s more gorgeous than Marilyn Monroe. Why would you do this? Just to make me crazy?”

Heather started to laugh, then covered her mouth, but there was no hiding the merriment in her eyes. “Then seeing Will with another woman does make you crazy?” she inquired. Though she went for an innocent tone, there was too much amusement threading through her voice to pull it off. “Why is that?”

Jess wanted to kill them both. She really did, but she wasn’t going to give Will the satisfaction of witnessing her losing her cool in public. She plastered a smile on her face and caught the attention of the waitress.

“Could you make my order to go, please? I have to get back to work.”

“Jess!” Heather protested, looking dismayed. “Please stay.”

“Running isn’t the answer,” Connor scolded. “Don’t you see how silly it is for the two of you to go on wasting time by denying your feelings?”

“The only feeling I have for Will right this second is contempt, and, frankly, my feelings for you, dear brother, aren’t much better.” She frowned at Heather. “Why would you go along with this? I know it was Connor’s idea.”

Heather flushed. “I thought it was a good one,” she admitted, then added earnestly, “Connor’s right. You should at least give Will a chance.”

Jess decided she needed to point out the obvious. “Will doesn’t seem to want a chance. He’s right here with someone else. I’m not going to turn around and look now, but he seemed happy enough to be with her when I arrived. And not that long ago, he was here with Laila.”

Connor looked startled. “Laila? Will had a date with Trace’s sister?”

“He did,” Jess said. “Obviously he’s enjoying playing the field. Now will you please stay out of my business?” She grabbed her to-go order when the waitress came, then gave her brother a sour look. “Thanks for lunch, by the way. It’s been lovely.”

She stewed all the way back to the inn, stormed into the kitchen and tossed her food onto one of the stainless steel countertops. Gail took one look at her face and turned to Ronnie.

“Transfer the calls back to the front desk,” she ordered. “And stay there to take them.”

“Sure thing,” Ronnie said willingly.

Jess stared after him. “Did you hypnotize that man?”

“It’s amazing what you can accomplish when a guy sees you wielding a carving knife,” Gail said with a laugh. “Haven’t had a bit of trouble with him.”

Jess shook her head. “I’m not sure that’s a strategy many employers could get away with, but I’m grateful.”

“Okay, so tell me why you’re tied up in knots and looking mad enough to chew nails,” Gail said. “And split that panini with me. It smells fabulous and I’m starved.”

“Need I point out that you’re a chef with an entire pantry and a freezer at your disposal?” Jess said even as she put half of the sandwich on a plate, added a few of the French-fried sweet potatoes and handed it over.

“I’m much too busy to cook for myself,” Gail claimed. “My boss—that’s you, by the way—insisted on very labor-intensive hors d’oeuvres to welcome the guests on Friday nights. I had Ronnie helping out, but you sent him on his way, so I’m on my own. Now tell me what happened. I’m pretty sure you intended to eat lunch at the restaurant.”

Jess told Gail what she’d found when she arrived. “I don’t know what they were thinking,” she said of her brother and Heather.

“That you need to wake up and smell the roses before it’s too late,” Gail suggested.

Jess scowled at her. “Why does everyone keep saying that?”

“Because you’re the only one who hasn’t seemed to notice that Will is perfect for you.”

Jess still wasn’t buying it. “The most obnoxious, infuriating, patronizing man in Chesapeake Shores is perfect for me? What does that say about me?”

“At the moment, it says that you’re blind and stubborn,” Gail said cheerfully. She slid a knife in Jess’s direction. “Now chop those mushrooms or send Ronnie back in here. I have work to do.”

Jess started chopping, then glanced sideways at Gail. “I need to remember that when it comes to sympathy, you are definitely not my go-to girl.”

Gail laughed. “Not in my job description, that’s for sure. Now, chop.”

At least the effort to avoid cutting off her own fingers kept Jess from spending too much time thinking about Will and the pretty blonde who’d been hanging on his every word. She’d have plenty of time to relive that sight when she was lying all alone in her bed tonight.

4

Megan looked up from the canvas she was framing in preparation for an upcoming show at the gallery to see Mick heading her way, a scowl on his face.

“What’s wrong with you?” she asked her husband when he’d settled on a nearby stool in the workroom behind the gallery.

“I just spotted our daughter—”

“Which one?” Megan interrupted to ask.

“Jess. She was storming off from that sandwich shop up the street looking as if she was itching for a fight. She didn’t even turn around when I called out to her.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t follow her,” Megan said dryly.

“Did you not hear me?” Mick asked impatiently. “I said she looked like she wanted a fight. Even I know better than to try to deal with her before she’s calmed down.”

Megan smiled. “So, you have learned a few new tricks since we remarried,” she teased.

Mick scowled. “Will you stop worrying about me and my tricks? We need to focus on our youngest daughter. Something’s up with her, Meggie. She’s not happy. I tried to get some information out of Connor and Heather, but they clammed up on me.”

Megan regarded him with confusion. “What do Connor and Heather have to do with this?”

“That’s who Jess couldn’t get away from fast enough, at least that’s how it looked to me.” He frowned. “Or maybe it had something to do with Will.”

Now he had Megan’s full attention. “Will? He was there?”

“At the next table, with some woman I’ve never seen before. A pretty little thing.” His expression turned thoughtful. “Jess wouldn’t be upset by that, would she?”

Megan didn’t know how to respond. She’d thought for some time now that Will and Jess had unacknowledged feelings for each other, but she’d kept her suspicions from Mick. He wasn’t the kind of man who could sit back and let things happen at their own pace. He’d been fretting about Jess’s lack of a social life for some time now. He’d be meddling the instant he saw any reason for it.

“I have no idea,” she said eventually, which was true enough. Jess had never once mentioned to her that she felt any attraction to Will.

Mick studied her skeptically. “Why do I get the feeling that was an evasive answer? Did you leave some kind of loophole in there?”

“Why would I do that?” she asked, hoping her tone sounded innocent enough to fool him.

“Because you don’t want me interfering,” he said at once. “You think I lack tact.”

She chuckled despite herself. “I know you lack tact.”

“So you are deliberately hiding something from me,” he concluded. “Are those two involved? Will and Jess, I mean.”

“Not that I know of,” Megan insisted with total honesty.

Mick’s gaze narrowed suspiciously. “But you suspect something, don’t you?”

She regarded him with impatience. “Mick, have you learned nothing from our other children? Meddling only makes things worse.”

“Which means there’s something going on you don’t want me meddling in,” he said triumphantly. “I knew it! Jess ran off because Will was there with another woman. Seeing him there upset her.”

His momentary delight in having figured that out faded almost instantly. “If that man hurt Jess, he’ll answer to me, by God!”

He started to rise, but Megan put her hand on his arm and locked her gaze with his. “Unless Jess comes to you and asks for your help, you will stay out of this, Mick O’Brien. Neither of us has any idea what’s going on with those two, if anything. If you go after Will, you could be making matters worse. You might even be humiliating your daughter.”

Mick sat back down, though he didn’t look happy about it. “Then maybe I should stop by the inn and have a talk with Jess,” he said. “Find out the score for myself.”

Megan cringed at the thought, but rather than telling him flat-out not to go—a waste of breath, if ever there was one—she settled for warning, “If you want to go and visit with Jess, that’s one thing. If you want to cross-examine her about Will or about what happened today, forget it. It’s a bad idea. Jess is her own woman.”

“She’s our baby,” he corrected. “And she always felt that neither of us paid enough attention to her. It may be late, but she has to know we’re here for her now.”

Megan sighed. “No one is more aware that I abandoned Jess when she was barely seven than I am. I think she’s finally come to understand all the reasons behind our divorce. I even think she’s starting to believe that I never stopped loving her. That doesn’t mean she’s ready for me to jump in and start parenting her at this late date. The same goes for you, Mick. We have to let Jess come to us.”

Mick heaved an unhappy sigh. “I don’t like sitting on the sidelines when one of my kids is miserable.”

“I know that,” she said more sympathetically. “But maybe she’s not miserable. Maybe she and Connor had one of their usual spats. That’s possible.”

“I suppose.”

“Why don’t you just drop in at the inn to see if she needs any help?” Megan suggested. “Fridays are always crazy over there once the weekend guests start pouring in. She’ll appreciate the gesture, and you’ll be there if she decides she wants to open up. How about that?”

Mick’s expression brightened. “I can do that. I’ll get the lay of the land and report to you over dinner. Are we still going to Brady’s tonight?”

“Unless you’d like to invite Jess to join us at the house,” she said.

“And have you cooking at the end of a long day?” Mick chided. “I’ll invite her to join us at Brady’s. I’ll call and let you know what she says.” He walked around the counter and kissed her. “Marrying a sensible woman was the smartest thing I’ve ever done.”

Megan laughed. “Then isn’t it nice that I gave you the chance to do it twice?”

She watched him leave, then shook her head, wondering if sending him over to the inn had been the smart thing to do. She knew all about Mick’s good intentions. They lasted just as long as he wanted them to, then got lost the minute he concluded he knew what was best for everyone.

She could trust him to stick to the plan or she could call and give Jess a heads-up that her father was on his way. Either path had its risks.

In the end, she opted to do nothing. After all, she was the one who’d said her daughter was her own woman now. She had to trust that Jess could handle Mick and his well-meant interference.

Then again, she also knew better than anyone that handling Mick required a delicate balancing act between staunch self-confidence and the quick footwork and blocking skills of an offensive lineman. Otherwise Mick could bulldoze right over you.

Jess had a crowd of new arrivals at the desk trying to check in. Ronnie had vanished twenty minutes ago. She was about two seconds from a nervous breakdown when she glanced up and caught sight of her father.

“What can I do to help?” he asked. “Need me to carry some of these bags for you?”

“Would you?” she asked, not questioning why he’d appeared just when she needed him. She was too grateful to have an extra pair of hands.

“Not a problem,” Mick told her. “Where’s that Forrest kid? I thought this was his job.”

“Don’t get me started,” she muttered, then smiled at the couple who’d just finished registering. “Mr. And Mrs. Longwell, you have a room on the second floor with a view of the bay. Dad, can you help them with their luggage?”

“Of course,” Mick said, grabbing the two small suitcases and heading for the stairs.

He was back by the time she’d finished registering the next guests, two women who’d come from New Jersey. Within an hour, all of the guests had been checked in, and several were already relaxing in the lounge with the inn’s complimentary wine and hors d’oeuvres. Jess had just taken her first deep breath of the afternoon when her father reappeared.

“Everyone’s settled,” he assured her. “Looks like business is good.”

“It should be like this at least through the end of October,” Jess told him. “We’re almost full for Thanksgiving, too.”

“Good for you,” he said, beaming at her. “You should be proud, Jess. This place is every bit the success you thought it could be. Your mother and I are so happy for you. You’ve done a terrific job.”

“Thanks, Dad,” she said, genuinely appreciative of his praise. “What brings you by, anyway? I’m sure you didn’t come over here to carry suitcases for me, though you were certainly a godsend this afternoon.”

“Happy to pitch in,” he said.

“Would you like a glass of wine or some of Gail’s hors d’oeuvres?”

“Not for me. I wanted to see if you’d like to join your mother and me for dinner at Brady’s tonight, if you’re not busy.”

Jess stilled. “Why?”

“Why not?” he countered. “You deserve a night out, don’t you? Unless you already have plans, of course.”

“Dad, you and Mom are practically still in the honeymoon phase. I know these dinners at Brady’s are your official date nights. Why would you suddenly want me along?”

He flushed guiltily. “We haven’t seen much of you lately, that’s all.”

“I was at the house for dinner last Sunday,” she reminded him. “And I stopped by the gallery for coffee with Mom earlier this week.”

He shrugged. “She didn’t mention that.”

Jess studied her father with a narrowed gaze. “This doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that you saw me take off from Panini Bistro earlier, does it?”

Mick frowned. “You heard me calling you?”

“They could have heard you in Ocean City, Dad.”

“Well, why didn’t you stop? You looked upset. I just wanted to make sure everything was all right.”

“I’m sure Connor and Heather filled you in.”

“They didn’t tell me a blasted thing,” he grumbled. “I think I figured out a few things for myself. You want to tell me if I got it right? Did it have anything to do with Will being there with that woman?”

Jess tried not to let it show that his question had thrown her. “Why on earth would you think that?” she asked, hoping to keep a tremor out of her voice.

She had no idea why seeing Will with another woman had shaken her so badly. In fact, she’d told herself initially that her annoyance had been aimed solely at Connor and Heather. Only after she was well away from the restaurant had she conceded to herself that seeing Will on a date, especially one likely arranged by that online dating service of his, had infuriated her.

She forced herself to meet her father’s gaze. “You do know there’s nothing going on between Will and me, right?”

“Is that so?” he said, sounding skeptical. “I’ll admit it was guesswork on my part, but when I ran the theory past your mother, she didn’t deny it was a possibility.”

“So you and Mom have been speculating about this already?” Jess said, having no problem at all making her tone icy. Just the thought of it chilled her. It was a little late in life for the two of them to suddenly start caring about her feelings.

“I’m worried about you,” Mick said unrepentantly. “That’s what fathers do.”

“You didn’t worry all that much when I was seven, did you?” she said accusingly. “Mom had just left, and you were running all over the country on various jobs. Neither of you spent a lot of time taking my feelings into account back then.”

Mick frowned. “Different time,” he said, not even trying to defend the indefensible. “I’m right here now, and I care about what’s going on in your life.”

Jess knew the only way to get him to back off was to tell him some kind of tale that would reassure him. “Look, Connor and I had words earlier, that’s all. It was no big deal. We’ve been fighting since we were toddlers. We always get over it.”

Mick didn’t look entirely convinced. “And that’s all it was, just a spat with your brother? It had nothing to do with Will?”

“Nothing at all,” she insisted. “Everything’s fine with me. I promise I’ll even be speaking to Connor by the time Sunday dinner rolls around.”

“Okay, then,” Mick said, accepting the explanation with obvious reluctance. “And you’re not interested in dinner tonight?”

“I wish I could, but I don’t like to leave here when we’re swamped. One of the guests might need something.”

He pulled her into an embrace, then kissed the top of her head. “Call me if you need anything, okay?”

She let go of her irritation, glad to have the matter settled for now. “I will, Dad. I promise. Thanks for helping out this afternoon.”

“Anytime, kiddo.”

She watched him leave, then breathed a sigh of relief, only to jump when she heard Gail’s chuckle right beside her.

“You fibbed to your daddy,” Gail taunted.

“I did what I had to do to throw him off the scent,” Jess told her. “If he had any idea I was annoyed about Will, neither one of us would be safe from Dad’s meddling.”

“Are you scared he’d meddle, or are you terrified he might be good at it?” Gail asked. “Meaning?”

“The way I hear it, once Mick O’Brien sets his mind to something, things usually work out the way he intended.”

“My father can meddle from now till doomsday, and it wouldn’t make a bit of difference when it comes to Will and me,” Jess retorted.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t half as much conviction behind her declaration as there probably should have been.

When another week passed without even one date being arranged by Lunch by the Bay, Jess became even more infuriated. It was worse now that she knew it was Will’s company. It proved just how little he thought of her.

She could practically hear his recitation of all the reasons why he didn’t want to match her with any of the men paying for his service. He thought she was flighty. He thought her dating history was too erratic. He knew her too darned well—or thought he did—and didn’t want to risk his stupid company’s reputation by pairing her up with some poor sap.

Just thinking about the way he’d dismissed her made her see red. Add in the fact that he’d never even acknowledged her enrollment in the service and that he didn’t have the courage to return her money, and she was ready to tear into him if they ever crossed paths.

Not that she intended to go looking for him, of course. In fact, it might be best if they didn’t cross paths for months, maybe even years.

And then, long before she’d had a chance to work off her full head of steam, she spotted him in the bar at Brady’s on a rare Friday night away from the inn.

“There he is, the worm,” she grumbled to Connie and Laila as she got to her feet. The two glasses of wine she’d consumed on an empty stomach made her a little unsteady.

“Sit back down,” Connie pleaded. “Dillon Brady may adore you, but he will not be happy if you cause a scene in his restaurant. It’s the classiest place in town. He doesn’t condone bar brawls.”

Jess turned her attention to Connie. “Then Will should leave,” she declared. “He’s scum. He’s impossible. He’s annoyingly judgmental. And he’s a coward to boot.”

“Talking about me, I assume,” Will said, pulling out a chair to join them.

Connie gave him a warning look. “This may not be the best time,” she murmured.

“Oh, I’m used to having Jess take potshots at me,” he responded easily. “It’s what she does whenever she thinks I’m getting the best of her in a discussion. Instead of offering rational arguments, she resorts to personal attacks.”

Jess’s temper kicked up another notch at his thoroughly condescending tone. “We don’t argue,” she retorted. “You’re just plain stuffy and pompous. You utter decrees as if they’re the gospel truth and we mere mortals shouldn’t dare to question you.”

Will stared at her incredulously. “When have I ever done that?”

“All the time,” she said.

“Name once,” he challenged.

Jess faltered and took a sip of her wine. Unfortunately, specific instances seemed to be lost in the depths of her faintly inebriated brain. “I don’t have to. You know I’m right,” she said, proud of her evasive maneuver.

Will, blast him, merely smiled in that superior way he had that always set her teeth on edge.

“Oh, go away,” she said irritably.

“Not five minutes ago I thought you had things you wanted to say to me. Now’s your chance. Go for it.”

“I changed my mind. It would be a waste of breath. You never listen to a word I say, or at least you never take anything I say seriously.”

“No, go ahead,” he urged. “Bring it on. I can take it.”

Connie sighed. “I think I’ll go up to the bar and get another drink. Laila, you want anything?”

“Are you kidding?” Laila said, standing up. “I’m coming with you.”

“I’ll have more wine,” Jess said.

“Not a chance,” Connie replied.

Her two friends left her sitting there with Will, who seemed to be waiting patiently for her to say something.

“Well?” he urged. “Does this have anything to do with you seeing me at Panini Bistro with a woman last week? You seemed upset.”

“I was not upset,” she said. “Why would I be upset? You mean nothing to me. Less than nothing.”

He didn’t look as if he bought her denial. “Then what’s going on in that head of yours? You’re obviously ticked off at me about something. More than usual, in fact. Just get it out in the open, so we can deal with it.”

“That’s your solution for everything, isn’t it? Talk it to death.”

“I find communication to be helpful, yes,” he said, fighting a smile. “Try it, why don’t you?”

She wanted really badly to wipe the smug expression from his face. “Okay, fine,” she said. “Why haven’t you matched me up with anyone on that stupid computer system of yours? I have half a mind to charge you with fraud or something.”

He lifted a brow. “Fraud?”

“You promise to find dates for people. I paid my money, and I haven’t had a single date! You haven’t even had the gumption just to tell me you’re never going to match me with anyone.”

“Right now there’s no one in the system who’d be a good match,” he said. “I’m adding new clients every day, though. The perfect guy could come along tomorrow.”

“Nice spin,” she said. “We both know it’s because you don’t think I’m good enough. You think I’m a messed-up scatterbrain, and you’re not willing to put your precious reputation on the line to recommend me to one single client.”

To his credit, Will looked genuinely stunned by the accusation. “That’s what you think?”

“It’s what I know,” she said stubbornly, unable to keep a hurt note out of her voice. “You’re supposed to be my friend, even though you know about the ADD. That doesn’t make me a bad person, Will Lincoln. You, of all people, should get that. It doesn’t mean I can’t have a decent relationship. Maybe I haven’t had one up to now, but if this system of yours were any good, you could find the right man for me.”

Will shook his head as her tirade wound down. “You are without a doubt the most exasperating, infuriating, mixed-up woman I have ever known.”

“See?” she said, seizing on his words. “That’s exactly what I mean. You have a very low opinion of me.”

“Hush,” he said, sliding his chair closer.

“Why?”

“Just hush,” he repeated, reaching out a hand to cup the back of her neck.

Jess was so startled, she simply stared at him. “Will?”

He gave her an exasperated look. “Do you not know how to be quiet for just ten seconds?”

He leaned forward and sealed his mouth over hers. The kiss did what nothing else had done. It silenced her. In fact, it pretty much knocked her senseless. Will’s mouth was firm, persuasive, tender.

When he released her, she blinked. “Will?” This time when she murmured his name, she sounded breathless. She was breathless. Talk about an unexpected turn of events! Who knew the man could kiss like that, with barely leashed passion simmering just below the surface?

Dazed, she asked, “What just happened here?”

“There you go again, talking,” he said, once again covering her mouth.

This kiss went on and on until her heart was pounding and she was just about two seconds from ripping the man’s clothes off right where they were. Will’s clothes! That thought had her breaking free and regarding him with shock.

“You kissed me!” she announced, as if he might not be aware of what he’d done.

“I did,” he said calmly, looking disgustingly unruffled by the encounter.

Her gaze narrowed. “Are you going to do it again?”

He smiled, most likely at the disgustingly wistful note in her voice. “I might.”

“When?”

“That remains to be seen.” He stood up.

She stared at him in shock. “You’re leaving? Now?”

“I think it’s best.”

“Why?”

“I’ll let you figure that out on your own. See you, Jess.”

She stared after him as he walked out of Brady’s, then blinked when Connie and Laila sat back down beside her.

“That was interesting,” Connie said, looking amused.

“That was hot!” Laila declared, fanning herself.

When Jess remained silent, Connie gave her arm a tug. “Hey, are you okay?”

“I’m not sure,” she said, shaking off the stupor she’d been in since the kiss. She couldn’t keep the surprise out of her voice when she told them, “Will kissed me. I mean, he really kissed me.”

Laila laughed. “We noticed. Everyone in here noticed. Kate even ran and dragged Dillon out of the kitchen to watch. I’m surprised there weren’t cheers. It was quite the show. If Chesapeake Shores had a TV station, that kiss would be on the eleven o’clock news.”

Still dazed, Jess said, “He said it might happen again.”

“Well, hallelujah!” Laila responded with enthusiasm.

Jess wasn’t entirely sure what had just happened here tonight, but she was pretty sure a few choruses of hallelujahs were definitely in order.

What she didn’t know was what on earth could possibly happen next. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be any more surprising than that kiss.

5

Kissing Jess had been everything Will had expected it to be and then some. Not even in his very vivid imagination had he expected such an immediate and total sensation of something being right, something finally, at long last, being exactly as it should be. And that scared him to death.

He was smart enough to know that he’d caught Jess completely off guard. Her emotions had been running high. She’d been a little drunk as well, and he’d taken advantage of the situation. It was a simple matter to turn one kind of passion into another. Any psychology textbook could have told him that. It didn’t mean Jess’s opinion of him had suddenly shifted. It certainly didn’t guarantee she’d turn her back on years of dismissing him and suddenly see him as boyfriend material.

But despite his very stern reminders to remain cautious, he couldn’t help thinking that just maybe the dazed look in her eyes had told another story. He hoped it meant she’d suddenly seen him in a new light. Maybe the kiss had been the start of something, after all.

Or not. As he waffled back and forth, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know which way things were truly leaning. Not just yet, anyway.

Stop with the analyzing, he told himself. Right now he wanted to bask in the sensations that kiss had aroused in him. He didn’t want to do what was instinctive to him and analyze it to death, or to risk running into Jess and having her shatter his fragile hope that their relationship might be on a whole new footing.

In a move clearly designed to avoid any chance encounters, he hunkered down in his office during the day and in his condo at night. Despite the obvious reasons for his behavior, he managed to convince himself that he was behind on his case notes, that he needed to catch up on the business of running Lunch by the Bay. Deep in denial, he even made a case for telling himself that he wasn’t hiding out, not from his own emotions and certainly not from Jess.

Still, after several days of not following his usual routine or answering phone calls from his friends, he wasn’t all that surprised to answer his door one night and find Mack on his doorstep.

“You’ve skipped lunch for three days running,” Mack said, looking him up and down. “You haven’t called me or Jake back.”

“You can’t have been too worried, given how long it took you to come and check on me,” Will noted.

Mack merely frowned at the comment. “You don’t look sick, so what’s going on?”

“I got behind on my paperwork,” Will told him.

Mack didn’t look as if he believed him, but he was already wandering around the apartment with a distracted expression that told Will something else entirely had brought him over here tonight.

“Is something on your mind?” Will asked him.

“Not really,” Mack said. “You have any beer in this place?”

“Always,” Will responded, barely concealing his amusement. Since they’d been of legal age and he’d had his own place, he’d always kept beer on hand for Jake and Mack. “Help yourself.”

“You want one?”

Will shook his head. “I’m good.”

Mack returned with his beer, but he still didn’t sit. He continued to pace, pausing only to stare out the window at the sliver of a view Will had of the bay. When he sighed heavily, Will couldn’t stand it any longer.

“How’s Susie?” Will asked, feeling his way.

Mack shrugged. “Okay, I guess.”

“What do you mean, you guess? Haven’t you seen her?”

“Yesterday,” Mack said. “She was fine, then. I haven’t spoken to her today.”

Will knew all about being patient when one of his clients was dancing around a tough issue, but in his personal life he tended to be more direct. He hated watching Mack working so hard not to say whatever was on his mind.

“You know,” he began, “we could play twenty questions for a while and eventually I’d hit on whatever’s bugging you, but it would be easier if you’d just tell me.”

Mack stood across the room, his back to Will, still staring out the window. “Susie asked me something yesterday that I haven’t been able to get out of my head.”

“Something about your relationship?”

“No, we were talking about newspapers, you know, the way they’re struggling, that kind of thing.”

“Okay,” Will said slowly, still not following. “And?”

“She asked me what I’d do if I ever lost my job as a columnist for the paper in Baltimore.”

Will stared at him. “You think your job’s on the line?” he asked, startled. No wonder Mack looked shaken.

Mack’s column was one of the most popular in the paper, as far as Will knew. The guy’s picture was plastered all over bus benches in Baltimore, for heaven’s sake.

Mack had gone from being a celebrated local athlete to writing about sports in a town that loved its teams. He was as much of a celebrity now as he had been on the gridiron during his all-too-brief professional career. It was one of the reasons he was such an eligible bachelor and why Will and Jake both thought it was so astounding that he’d given up all those fawning women in exchange for a relationship with Susie that he refused to define.

“My job’s secure,” Mack said, though he still looked troubled. “At least for now. But I can’t deny that the business is changing.” He turned and faced Will. “What the hell would I do if I lost it?”

“You’d find something else,” Will said confidently. “Remember when you blew out your knee and ended your football career? You were convinced your life was over. Then you wrote a couple of pieces on speculation for the paper, and the next thing you knew, they’d hired you. That’s the way life is. When one door closes, another one opens.”

Mack gave him a disgruntled look. “Could you save the clichés? Besides, it’s not as if there’s another newspaper around I could jump to. They’re all cutting back.”

“There are TV stations,” Will reminded him. “You’re a good-looking guy. You could work on the air. Besides, aren’t you getting way ahead of yourself? There’s nothing to indicate that you’re about to be fired. That is what you said, right?”

Mack nodded but then gave him a bleak look. “But the paper let half a dozen reporters go today. It happened out of the blue. It almost felt as if Susie had been tapped into some sort of ESP gossip mill.”

Will lifted a brow. “Really? You believe that?”

“Well, come on. She’s the one who brought it up yesterday, and then, boom, today things started happening. At the paper we hadn’t even heard any rumors that there was a possibility of cuts. More people were eliminated from the production side, too. They didn’t even offer buyouts. They just fired those with the least seniority. What if this is the start of the belt-tightening?”

“Then you’ll deal with it,” Will assured him. “Baltimore’s not the only city in the country. There are a couple of papers in Washington. That’s not far away.”

“There have been massive buyouts over there, too,” Mack said, still not consoled. “The long-term future for the whole industry is on shaky ground. Everybody’s scrambling to see if they can stem these tides of red ink.”

Will studied him. “What are you really worried about, Mack? Is it your job? You must know you’d have options outside of newspapers or TV. You could come back here and coach, if you really wanted to. I know the high school principal has talked to you about that.”

Mack didn’t look relieved, so Will took another stab at what he thought was really behind his friend’s mood. “Mack, is this really about having to move away at some point and leave Susie behind?”

For a moment, Mack looked startled. Then he grinned, almost looking relieved to have Will cut to the chase. “Damn, you’re good.”

Will laughed. “That’s why they pay me the big bucks. As for Susie, despite your failure to admit that the two of you actually have a relationship, you’re the only ones who don’t seem to know that you do. I’m not saying I want you to lose your job, but maybe it would be the wake-up call you both need to face how much you mean to each other.”

He met Mack’s still-troubled gaze. “Or you could just face it now and get on with having the kind of relationship you both really want. Then if something changes with your career, you’d be facing that together.”

Mack shook his head. “Susie’s made it clear she’d never date a guy like me.”

“A player?” Will assessed.

Mack nodded. “She doesn’t want to get lumped in with all the other women I’ve dated and dumped.”

Will rolled his eyes. “Haven’t either of you noticed that you haven’t been a player for quite a while now? Unless I’ve missed something, you haven’t been on a date with another woman since you and Susie started spending so much time together.”

“I’m pretty sure she thinks it’s a fluke,” Mack said.

“Okay, it’s just you and me right now and I swear I will not repeat this or throw it back in your face later, but for once just say it. Do you love her?”

To Will’s astonishment, Mack looked genuinely startled by the question. “Everybody knows I don’t do love,” he said a little too quickly. “Or commitment.”

“And yet for three years or so, you’ve been not-dating Susie. In my book, that shows an amazing level of commitment, especially since you haven’t even slept together.” His gaze narrowed. “Or have you?”

“How many times do I have to say that we don’t have that kind of relationship?” Mack said in frustration.

“Then if you ask me, it’s all the more remarkable that you haven’t once cheated on her,” Will said. “Not that it would be cheating, if you aren’t actually dating.” He frowned. “Do you know how muddy and ridiculous all of this is, if not for you, then for the rest of us?”

“You’re not my problem,” Mack said testily.

“Okay, here’s how I see it. I know it would be easy enough to look at your past, at all the ways your family was messed up, and figure out exactly why you don’t believe in love and commitment, but the truth is, you’re better at both than you give yourself credit for. I’m not just talking about Susie, either. You’re one of the best friends I have. I think Jake would say the same thing. We count on you. You’ve never once let either of us down.”

Mack looked embarrassed by the praise. “Come on. You guys would do the same for me.”

“Of course, because we both care about you. You’ve got what it takes to be in a relationship for the long haul, Mack. I hope you wake up and accept that before it’s too late. Don’t lose Susie because you’re scared.”

Mack scowled at his choice of words. “I’m not scared,” he insisted.

“Then you’re crazy,” Will said. “When it comes down to it, we’re all a little scared of love and making a lifelong commitment. It’s a big deal.”

Mack leveled a knowing look right back at him. “Is that why you haven’t pushed harder to win Jess?”

Will wasn’t used to having the tables turned on him, certainly not by Mack, who tended to avoid talk about emotional issues. In fact, this whole conversation had been a rarity.

“Maybe,” Will admitted, since Mack had opened the door. “Or maybe I’ve been terrified that if I pushed hard and still lost her, I’d never get over it.”

“Then I should tell you what my grandmama once told me before she took off to dance in Vegas or wherever the hell she went,” Mack said. “Nothing beats a try but a failure. That advice was what kept me on a playing field when I was a kid and everyone said I was too small to play football. I figured if I kept trying, I might fail, but if I gave up, I’d fail for sure.”

Will laughed. “Words to live by,” he confirmed. “We should both take them to heart.”

But he wondered if either one of them was quite ready to try wholeheartedly for the women they wanted in their lives…and risk losing them forever.

Sunday dinners at home had always been an O’Brien family obligation, but they were changing. For one thing, Gram had given up the reins. Oh, Nell O’Brien still contributed the main dish more often than not, but she’d been training the rest of them to cook their favorite side dishes and desserts. Each week her grandchildren were assigned to bring a new dish, made according to Gram’s carefully handwritten recipes.

This week Jess was supposed to be bringing homemade Irish soda bread. She wondered if Gram would figure out that she’d enlisted Gail’s help in making it. Jess, like her mother, was hopeless in the kitchen. Before she’d left them all, Megan had kept them from starving, but no one could claim that her meals were anything more than barely edible.

Jess walked into the kitchen on Sunday, found Gram at the stove and kissed her cheek before setting two perfectly baked loaves of bread on the counter. Her grandmother eyed them suspiciously.

“You baked those yourself?” she asked.

“What’s wrong with them?” Jess asked, bristling. They’d looked perfect to her.

“Usually the first time someone bakes bread, it doesn’t turn out so well,” Gram said, gazing directly into Jess’s eyes.

She waited, and Jess flinched. “Okay, you caught me. Gail baked the bread.”

Gram shook her head. “I thought as much. How do you expect to master my recipes if you don’t do it yourself?”

“I’m counting on everyone else in the family to master them,” Jess told her, grinning as Abby came in and deposited a bowl of rice pudding on the table. She peered under the lid of the plastic bowl. “Looks edible.”

“I should hope so,” Abby said. “It’s my third batch. Trace made me throw out the first two attempts. Even the twins turned their noses up at it, and those two little garbage disposals will eat anything.”

“How on earth can you mess up rice pudding?” Gram asked. “Did I teach you girls nothing?”

“You only had a year after Mom left to influence me,” Abby said. “I seem to recall you throwing me out of the kitchen in disgust on more than one occasion. I was no better at cooking than I was at needlework.”

Nell chuckled. “That’s true enough. Let’s hope Bree has a knack for this, or you’ll all starve after I’m gone.”

“First of all, you’re not going anywhere for a very long time,” Abby said, slipping an arm around Nell’s waist. “And second, for every failure that Bree, Jess and I have, you can count on Kevin to get it right. Our brother inherited the cooking genes in the family. You wait and see. He’ll come in here in a few minutes with something that will have our mouths watering. What was his assignment this week, anyway?”

“He’s making my chicken and dumplings,” Nell told them. “I spoke to him a half hour ago, and he said his dumplings are lighter than air.” She looked doubtful. “We’ll see. It takes years of practice to get dumplings just right.”

“Oh, I think you can count on Kevin,” Abby said, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Gram might not be quite ready to yield her place as the family’s best cook. She seemed almost happier about their failures than about Kevin’s possible success.

Jess stepped in. “Gram, no matter how good Kevin’s dumplings are, they won’t be half as good as yours,” she assured her grandmother.

Nell looked pleased by the compliment. “I know you’re saying that just to spare my feelings, but I do appreciate it.”

Abby flushed guiltily when she realized she’d inadvertently upset Gram, but she wisely didn’t prolong the conversation. Instead, she turned her attention to Jess. “You look tired. Everything okay?”

“It’s been a wild couple of weeks at the inn,” Jess said, not about to reveal that she’d slept hardly a wink since that infamous kiss Will had placed on her at Brady’s. She hadn’t been able to get it out of her head. Always restless, she’d been even more so than usual since that night.

Worse, Will had been making himself scarce. She’d even tried dropping into Sally’s at lunchtime, to no avail. Jake and Mack had been there without him. Since she didn’t want anyone to guess that she was practically chasing after him, she’d stopped going there or anywhere else she might bump into him.

“Then it doesn’t have anything to do with your social life?” Abby said, a wicked sparkle in her eyes.

“I have no social life,” Jess declared. “None.”

“Really?” Abby said. “Then Will didn’t—”

Jess cut her off. “I haven’t seen Will in ages.”

Gram listened to all this without a word, but Jess couldn’t help noticing the smile that was tugging at her lips. She frowned at her grandmother. “What?”

“I was just thinking that it’s a good thing Will’s coming for dinner today,” Nell said innocently. “The two of you will be able to catch up. Maybe get your stories straight.”

“Will is coming for dinner?” Jess repeated. “Who invited him?” If it was her father or Connor, she was going to kill them. “And what do you mean about getting our stories straight? There’s no story.”

“That’s not the way I hear it,” Gram said, then gave her a defiant look. “And I’m the one who invited him.”

“But—” She was about to protest, but Gram cut her off with a chiding look.

“You know he doesn’t have any family left in the area,” Gram said. “He should spend Sundays with people who care about him. Will has always been welcome here. That is not about to change just because it might make you uncomfortable.”

“Who said anything about being uncomfortable?” Jess said. “I guess I’m just surprised that he accepted.” She’d have thought the O’Brien Sunday dinner would be the last place he’d want to be at the moment. Not only would he have to face her, but he’d have to deal with the prying eyes of her entire family.

“Of course he accepted,” Gram said. “Why wouldn’t he?”

“I just thought he might find it awkward,” Jess said before she’d considered the ramifications of such a remark.

“Why would Will feel awkward around us?” Abby asked, seizing on the comment. “Like Gram said, he’s practically family. He’s been hanging around with Kevin and Connor since grade school. I can’t even count the number of holidays he’s spent over here.”

“I just meant…” Jess began, then realized she had no reasonable explanation. “Oh, never mind. I’ll go see if Mom needs help setting the table.”

Before she could leave, though, her grandmother pinned her with a look. “You wouldn’t be trying to avoid talking about Will kissing you at Brady’s recently, would you?”

Jess regarded her with shock. “How do you know about that?”

Gram chuckled. “Word about a thing like that gets around.”

“Indeed, it does,” Abby agreed. Her broad grin proved she’d known about it, too. “Who knew Dillon Brady could be such a gossip?”

“I heard about it from his wife,” Gram added.

“Well, I have nothing to say about it,” Jess said, all but running from the kitchen.

“I imagine Will might be more forthcoming,” Gram called after her. “He’s awfully fond of my chicken and dumplings. I suspect that’ll loosen his tongue.”

Jess bit back a groan and kept going. If she could have, she would have bolted from the house and not looked back, but the commotion that would cause wasn’t worth it. Nope, she just had to stay here and do her best to steer clear of Will so that none of the too-eager observers in her family would get any wild ideas that something had changed between the two of them. If it had. She honestly couldn’t be sure.

When she found the dining room table set and no sign of her mother, she wandered outside. No sooner was she seated in a rocker on the porch than Will himself appeared, carrying a large bouquet of flowers.

She blinked at the lavish arrangement. “Will, that’s a really bad idea. You shouldn’t have brought me flowers. It will stir up a hornet’s nest.”

He laughed. “Then it’s a good thing they’re not for you. I brought them for your grandmother to thank her for including me today.”

Jess sat back, not sure whether she felt more embarrassed or deflated. “Oh, of course. She’ll love them. But you probably ought to know that she’s more interested in information.”

“Oh?” he said, immediately looking troubled.

“She’s heard about the kiss. So has Abby. I imagine everyone else knows about it by now as well. The way I hear it, Dillon and Kate are bigger blabbermouths than the O’Briens.”

He sat down hard in the chair next to hers. “I see.”

“Gram seems to think we should get our stories straight.”

He stared at her blankly. “What stories?”

“The ones where we deny it meant anything or try to convince them that our lips locked by accident,” she said with a shrug. “Anything to keep them from jumping on this and starting some kind of matchmaking frenzy.”

“Why do I think it’s probably too late for that?” he asked bleakly.

“Because you know the O’Briens. We’re nothing if not eager to meddle.”

“So what’s our story?” he asked. “Any thoughts?”

“I’m all for trying out the accidental lip-lock theory,” she said.

Will had the audacity to laugh. “No one who saw us that night is going to buy that. The first kiss, maybe, but there were two.”

Jess shivered. “I remember.” The second had been even more potent than the first. “Maybe they don’t know that.”

“Maybe instead of worrying about them, we should be focusing on what the kisses really meant,” he suggested, looking directly into her eyes in a way that disconcerted her.

Jess shook her head.

“Why not?”

“I’m not ready to start analyzing what happened,” she said.

“You’d rather pretend that nothing did?”

“I’d like to try,” she admitted wistfully. “But I’m pretty sure that’s going to be impossible.”

Will tried to conceal a smile but didn’t quite pull it off.

Jess scowled at him. “Don’t let that go to your head. I’m just saying it’s not so easy to un-ring that bell.”

“I wouldn’t dream of trying,” he said quickly.

She gave him a plaintive look. “Why did you come here today?”

He held her gaze for a long time before he said, “For your grandmother’s chicken and dumplings, of course.”

“You know Kevin cooked, right? It might not be the same as Gram’s.”

He laughed. “It’ll be close enough, I imagine. And it’s bound to be better than anything in my freezer.”

Jess felt guilty at even hinting that he shouldn’t have come. “Sorry. I’m being selfish. I’m just not ready to deal with any of this, I guess. Whatever this is.”

Instead of trying to define it for her, he plucked a white rose from the arrangement of hydrangeas and roses and held it out to her. “I don’t think Nell will miss it.”

She frowned, ignoring the flower. Maybe it was a sweet gesture, but suddenly she wasn’t in the mood for sweet gestures. “Thanks, but even that’s likely to arouse questions, Will. Just take the flowers inside and get them into water.”

He studied her quietly. “Jess, do we need to talk? We could leave and go somewhere else, if you want to.”

“What could we possibly need to discuss?” she said, not entirely sure why she was so annoyed. Nothing about this encounter had gone the way she’d expected it to. Truthfully, she wasn’t even sure what her expectations had been.

Will looked justifiably confused. “I’m not sure exactly what we need to talk about. I just know that you seem angry all of a sudden.”

“I’m not angry,” she said. Hurt, maybe. Confused, for sure. But not angry. Had that blasted kiss meant nothing, after all? Will was all about honesty and being direct, but he hadn’t said a single word to indicate that the kiss had affected him at all. She’d opened herself up—well, a little, anyway—but all he’d done was make light of what had happened.

Though he didn’t look as if he believed her denial about being angry, he simply nodded and stood up. “Then I’ll see you inside.”

After he’d gone, Jess sighed. This was going to be a whole lot harder than she’d anticipated. It was as if the kiss had unleashed all sorts of unexpected emotions, and now she was supposed to stuff them back inside and pretend they didn’t exist, not just in front of her family, but in front of Will, too.

A part of her wanted to march inside and throw caution to the wind, but she knew better, at least in this setting. Because if she did what she wanted to do and kissed Will in front of her entire family just to see if the experience was still magical, there would be no turning back.

And though she might not know much these days, she knew with every fiber of her being that she wasn’t ready for that.

6

Will didn’t have too much time to worry about Jess’s odd mood once dinner was over. They’d barely finished dessert when Susie appeared at his side.

“We need to talk,” she announced, her usually animated expression dejected. “Outside.”

Will glanced across the room, saw that Jess was slipping out through the kitchen and knew that she wasn’t likely to welcome him chasing after her. He forced a smile for Susie. “Sure,” he said. “Want to go for a walk on the beach?”

Though the fall day was surprisingly hot, there was a good breeze off the water. They fell into step and walked along the narrow strip of sand in silence.

He glanced over at her eventually. “You going to tell me why you wanted to talk to me?”

She sighed. “It’s Mack,” she said, then added in frustration, “It’s always Mack. The man is going to drive me insane.”

Will couldn’t keep himself from chuckling. “I think the effect is mutual.”

Susie waved off the comment. “Come on. Mack’s oblivious, and lately it’s been even worse than usual.”

“What do you mean?”

She paused and faced Will. “Can I be honest with you?”

“Of course.”

“And you won’t go running to Mack?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Okay, then,” she said, and drew in a deep breath. “I’m crazy about him. I have been for years.”

“Now there’s a news flash,” Will said before he could stop himself. He met her gaze and smiled. “I’m sorry. You’re not telling me anything I haven’t known before.”

She sighed. “I figured. I guess I knew it wasn’t a secret, but I kind of hoped I could pretend seeing him was no big deal. That way, if he walked away, which he’s eventually bound to do, my pride would still be intact.”

“Why are you so certain he’d leave you?”

“Because that’s what Mack does,” she said pragmatically. “He leaves. He thinks he’s just like his father, the sleaze who left before he was born. He’s spent his whole life proving it to himself by dating one woman after another and dumping every one of them. I think there were even a few along the way that he actually liked, but he didn’t stick around long enough to see if the relationship would work. I watched him do it all through high school and college. Even though I had feelings for him, I vowed it wasn’t going to happen to me.”

“So you decided to be his friend,” Will concluded.

Susie nodded. “Men might leave women, but they usually keep their friends. Just look at you, Jake and Mack. You’re like the three musketeers or something. I wanted that kind of relationship with Mack, one that would last. I figured if it was easy, with no demands or expectations, maybe he’d relax.”

“And finally notice you?” Will suggested gently.

Susie nodded, her expression miserable. “A while back, when Shanna first came to town and got involved with Kevin, she told me she thought Mack was crazy about me. I actually started to get my hopes up. I figured, hey, if an objective observer noticed something, then maybe it was true.” She sighed. “But nothing changed. Now I don’t know if it ever will. It’s like we’re locked in this pattern and we’re both too scared to risk changing it.”

She gave him a hopeful look. “Do you think it’s possible to ever break out of the friend mold? Or have I doomed myself by making such a big deal of the fact that I’d never date Mack?”

Will thought about her question. “In some ways, I do think it’s harder to go from being friends to being something more. If the friendship matters, no one wants to take the risk of changing things.”

“Tell me about it,” she said gloomily.

“But here’s the thing,” Will told her. “If you don’t ask for more or expect more from Mack—if you just stick with the status quo—will you ever be truly happy? Sometimes you have to take the risk of losing it all to get what you really want.”

Susie blinked at the question, then grinned. “That sounds a lot like the pot calling the kettle black,” she said. “Have you ever asked yourself the same thing about Jess?”

Will frowned. He’d asked himself that very thing just days earlier. He wasn’t about to discuss it with Susie, though. “I thought we were talking about you and Mack.”

“We can spend a couple of minutes on you, while we’re at it,” she said. “It’ll make me feel better to focus on someone else’s mixed-up love life.”

“Not necessary,” Will said adamantly. “You’ve told me why you and Mack got stuck in this nonrelationship thing, and I get it. Up until now you’ve been content to leave things alone. What’s changed?”

To his dismay, tears welled up in her eyes. “I don’t know,” she said. “The last couple of weeks, it’s as if he’s been backing away, and I have no idea why.” She met Will’s gaze. “If I lose him as a friend, it’ll be pretty ironic, don’t you think? Especially after all I’ve done to make sure that’s enough for me. I mean, I’ve been lying to myself for years now that being friends is better than nothing. Other guys have asked me out, but I wasn’t interested. Mack was always around, so who had time for someone else, anyway?” She shook her head. “I am such an idiot.”

“You’re not an idiot,” Will soothed. “You made a choice that seemed right at the time.”

“Well, obviously it was a lousy choice.”

Will resisted the urge to smile. “Really? You and Mack have been pretty tight for years now. You’re so close, you practically complete each other’s sentences, just the way a married couple does. Surely that’s worth something.” He met her gaze. “Have you tried to talk to him about this?”

“Not really,” she admitted. “I didn’t want to make too big a deal out of it.”

Will saw the trap she’d created for herself. Friends gave each other space. They didn’t crowd each other or sit down and have deep relationship talks.

“It’s quite a dilemma, isn’t it, trying to maintain the illusion that Mack doesn’t really matter to you?” Will said, regarding her with sympathy.

“It sucks,” she said candidly.

“Maybe it’s time to stop pretending,” Will suggested.

“I don’t know if I can. I don’t want to lose him, Will.”

“But you don’t have him now,” he pointed out.

“He’s my friend now,” she corrected.

“Then you should be able to go to him and ask what’s going on,” Will told her.

“I thought maybe you could just tell me, and then I’d know what he needs from me.”

Will laughed. “If I promised to keep your confidence, what makes you think I’d violate his?”

Her expression brightened. “Then something is going on and you do know what it is,” she said triumphantly.

“Talk to Mack,” he advised.

“You won’t even give me a hint?”

“Not a chance.”

“I guess I knew you wouldn’t tell me,” she said, looking resigned. “Do you want to talk about Jess now?”

“I do not,” he said emphatically.

For the first time since they’d begun their walk, Susie laughed. “I figured as much. We’re quite a pair, aren’t we?”

Will sighed. “We are, indeed.”

Jess had watched Will head off to the beach with Susie, and an unfamiliar feeling had stirred inside her, one she’d never felt before, at least in connection with Will. It was flat-out jealousy. She knew it was ridiculous on a whole lot of levels, especially since everyone knew Susie had eyes only for Mack, but there it was. Jess didn’t like staying behind while Will was off with another woman, especially Susie. She’d had some kind of crazy rivalry going with her too-perfect cousin for years now. That’s probably all it was, not wanting to share Will with the cousin who already had everything Jess had always wanted: respect, academic success, popularity.

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.