Love Like You've Never Been Hurt (14 page)

By noon they were back at her
house. Jack was sitting on the deck making notes and sketches after
seeing where he would build Pete’s house. Emma was feeling a
little lighter. She really hadn’t wanted him to think she was
the kind of woman who would play mind games, saying just friends one
minute then kissing him the next. Her heart did a happy little
skitter as she looked at him sitting out there, absorbed in his work.
He wore cargo shorts and a T-shirt with no sleeves that showed off
his muscular frame. She watched his biceps bulge as he reached up to
run his fingers through his hair, staring out at the lake a moment
and then returning to the huge pad he’d fetched from the RV.

She still wasn’t sure that this was a good idea. She was
afraid she was already falling for him, but she couldn’t be the
scared little mouse that hid away from life. She’d conquered it
in every other area of her life. She wasn’t afraid to stand her
ground or speak her mind with the powerful men and women in
Hollywood, so why was she so cowardly when it came to her heart? She
knew the answer only too well, she didn’t think she could live
through the pain of loss again. When her parents had been killed,
she’d wanted to die too. She’d believed that was the only
way to make the pain stop. With time, and all the love and patience
her grandparents had surrounded her with, and the friendship of her
three pals, she’d learned not to be so afraid. She’d
struck out in life, gone off to college and then earned her way in
Hollywood and become a respected screen writer very quickly. Then
she’d met Rob. He too was a very good looking man and he had
romanced her. She’d believed that all the pain and sadness were
now behind her, that she’d earned the right to have her own
fairytale, to meet ‘the one’ and live happily ever after.
She’d thought herself so lucky that he wanted her and not the
beautiful actresses and models that were such a part of their world.
She’d been so happy when he proposed. She’d always
dreamed of a big wedding at Gramps’ house by the lake, but he’d
surprised her with a quick afternoon ceremony and glitzy reception in
the city, filled with people she barely knew, but that the media
loved.

She’d believed at first that this really was the fairytale
she’d wanted. She’d ignored the little things – the
missed dinners when she’d sat alone in restaurants waiting for
him to show. The weekends he could never come to the lake with her.
The disaster of the one time he did. She’d tried to convince
herself that Gramps hated him because he was a city-boy. She’d
thought that her three friends were cool towards him because he was
intruding on their little group. She remembered Pete trying his best
to open her eyes to what Rob was really like. Ha! She’d
reassured Pete that he didn’t know him well enough. It turned
out Pete saw right through him, while she herself had been blind.

It had only taken six months to all fall apart. She’d found
him in their bed with an actress when she’d come back early
from the lake one weekend. Instead of apologizing or trying to
explain, he’d told her to grow up. Told her she was pathetic
and she needed to get real. This was how life was and she should get
used to it. Oh, what a fool she’d been. She wondered now if
she’d ever really been in love with him or had she been in love
with the whole idea of living happily ever after with a wonderful
man?

She looked out at Jack again; he certainly didn’t treat her
like Rob had. Even in the beginning, if she was honest, Rob had never
been as caring or considerate as Jack. But, where would this go? She
poured two glasses of the lemonade she’d been making. Like the
man said, talking, or thinking, it to death wouldn’t get her
anywhere. She needed to stick with Pete’s toast, have some fun,
enjoy it for what it was and not worry too much about that what that
might be.

She placed the lemonade on the table and Jack looked up. “Thanks.
Sorry, I just need to get this down, I won’t be long.”

“Take your time, I’ve got plenty to be getting on
with.” She went back into the kitchen and started unloading the
dishwasher. She wondered whether she should invite him for dinner
this evening. She took a deep breath, imagining where that might
lead. Was she ready to have him out here with all the others gone?
The phone rang, startling her. She didn’t even have a land line
in LA. Who might know the number for this place?

“Hello?”

“It’s me,” said Missy, “how’s it
going?”

“Great, what’s up?”

“Would you mind very much if we all invaded you again later?
Scott and Dan are totally involved in writing some program, so much
so that Dan’s decided to stay ‘til tomorrow. They want to
work on the equipment in the RV again later.”

“I don’t mind at all, that’ll be great. I’ll
do dinner for everyone.”

“Thanks, Em, we’ll see you later then.”

Emma smiled to herself. It looked like she wouldn’t get to
find out where dinner alone with Jack might lead, at least not
tonight. She went outside to tell him that Dan was staying another
night. He was gone from the deck and she saw him on the driveway,
talking to Pete who had just arrived. They made a handsome pair,
equal in height, Jack so dark and Pete much fairer, but no less
attractive although in a different way. She imagined the two of them
caused quite a stir with the ladies. She had to stop that. Thinking
of Jack being pursued by other women was not going to help her
resolve to be brave and try to trust. However, thinking of Pete and
the ladies reminded her of her plan. He’d been pushing her and
Jack together, so the least she could do was return the favor. She
must call Holly soon to make sure she was still coming up for Gramps’
birthday.

She smiled as they walked towards the house. Pete grinned. “How
do you feel about feeding your old buddy again tonight?”

Jack pulled a face at her behind Pete’s back. It seemed like
he had thought about dinner alone too. It would keep though, they had
the whole summer ahead.

“The more the merrier. Miss just called and Dan’s
staying another night so they’re all coming up too.”

“Is that so?” Jack looked pleased.

“They’ll be over later. Apparently they still have
more work to do in that thing,” she nodded her head at the huge
RV.

Jack laughed, “You really don’t like it, do you?”

“It’s not that so much as I don’t know what to
make of it, it’s such a big, a big... thing.”

The guys both laughed at her. “I’ll try to make sure
we put it somewhere it won’t disturb you then,” said
Pete.

“How come you’re staying over anyway? I thought you
were back to work tomorrow.”

“I want to. I think I’m getting the Summer Lake bug.
Anyway, the city loses its appeal when all my favorite people are up
here. Besides, I spent more time with Mom and Dad this morning than I
thought I would and Jack and I have still got a lot to figure out
before we can get anything started.” He looked at Jack, “I
guess we’d better walk over there, leave ‘that thing’
here for Scott and Dan to do whatever it is they do.”

“Sure thing.”

“You want to walk over with us, Mouse?”

“No thanks, I think I know every inch of that place by now.
Anyway, I need to get to the store if I’m feeding the five
thousand again.”

“Want me to buy?”

“I’m fine, but you know what, you can do the booze run
later. I don’t know how Miss is fixed at the moment and she
spent a lot yesterday.”

“Tell you what,” said Pete, “we’ll run
down and do that first so she can’t argue later. Any special
requests?”

“The usual. I’ll get stocked up when I get the chance
to settle in properly.”

“We’ll catch you back here later on then.” Pete
climbed back into his truck and Jack took the passenger seat. He gave
her a small wave and a big wink as they drove away.

After dinner they all sat out on the deck. Scott and Dan were back
in the RV.

“It’s a shame Ben was too busy at the resort to come
out tonight,” sighed Missy. “Did he tell you guys about
that developer who’s been sniffing around Joe?”

Emma watched both Jack and Pete prick their ears up at the word
‘developer’.

“No,” Pete shook his head. “He said this morning
there was something he wanted to talk to me about, but his phone kept
ringing all the way into town so we didn’t get to it. Do you
have any idea who it is, Miss?”

“He did say a name, Armstrong, I think it was.”

Jack and Pete exchanged a look.

“By your faces I’d say he’s not one of your
favorite people?” guessed Emma.

“He’s a bastard!” said Pete, and Jack nodded.

“He must be.” Emma was surprised to hear Pete use that
word.

“Tell me Ben’s not thinking of doing business with
him,” said Jack.

“From what he said, Ben doesn’t like him much either,
but Joe’s apparently got it into his head to sell off a big
chunk of his land at Four Mile Creek. Says he wants to leave Ben all
the money and none of the hassle.”

“He’d be setting him up for a whole lot of hassle if
he has Armstrong developing out there,” said Pete.

“He’d ruin the place,” agreed Jack.

The two of them looked horrified. “What do you think, Bro?”
asked Pete. “We go see Ben first thing in the morning?”

“I was about to suggest it.”

Missy nudged Emma. “Looks like our two superheroes are about
to save the day,” she laughed.

Emma nodded. If they were going to see Ben in the morning she
wouldn’t be able to take Jack car shopping. She’d been
looking forward to that. Oh well. It was starting to seem that since
she’d decided to have some fun with him, everything was
conspiring to make sure she didn’t.

Everyone except Emma was headed back to town. Dan was taking Missy
and Scott home, doing something or other with a bunch of equipment
he’d pulled from the RV, and then he’d be going home.
Jack and Pete were off to find Ben. Emma had some cleaning up to do
and then she really wanted to get to work. The characters for her
novel were now stomping around in her mind, eager to have their story
told. She planned to sit out and write, since car shopping was off
the agenda. She hugged Dan before he got into his Jeep.

“It’s been so nice to meet you.”

“You too, Emma. Thanks for everything. I’ll be back up
next weekend.”

Next came Pete. “I won’t see you before I leave, so
give me a hug, Mouse. You be good now and I’ll see you on
Wednesday right?”

“Yes, I’ll be down to switch cars, only for the day
though.”

Jack looked at them, “Switch cars?”

“That old thing,” Pete pointed to the station wagon
Emma drove, “is not our Mouse’s usual transport. She
borrowed it to bring her things up here.”

“Yes,” smiled Emma “and now I want my baby
back.”

Jack raised an eyebrow. “Your baby?”

“I think you should wait and see,” laughed Pete. “I
think you’ll like the Mouse-mobile. You didn’t have her
down as a station wagon kind of girl, did you? You’re in for a
surprise if you did.” He went to get in his truck.

Jack leaned in to hug her. She rested her cheek against his chest
for a moment and he planted a kiss on top of her head. “See you
later, Mouse.”

“Later,” she smiled.

“That looked a bit more hopeful,” said Pete as they
drove away.

“Hopeful, yeah, but this is going to be a long haul.”

“You up for that?”

“More than I’ve ever been up for anything in my life.”

Pete smiled. “So, my hometown is working its magic on you
then?”

“It’s looking that way, old friend. I’ll tell
you something though, I hate the idea of Darren Armstrong building
one of his sleaze holes up here.”

Pete rubbed his chin. “You thinking what I’m
thinking?”

Jack grinned, his eyes crinkling at the corners in the way that
made Emma’s heart skip. “I believe I am, partner. If
Ben’s old man really wants to sell the land and if new
development is really needed up here, then I can’t think of
anyone better than us to do the job. Do you think it would help the
place? I kind of like it the way it is; I’d hate to see it
become commercialized and crowded.”

“It’s something I’ve toyed with over the years.
On the one hand, I’d hate to see it change at all, I want to
keep the sleepy little town where I grew up. On the other hand, given
that change is coming to the whole area, you know it’s going to
happen. And given the choice between having Armstrong build an
eyesore that will draw the cheap crowds up here or stepping in
ourselves to develop something more in keeping with the nature of the
place, I know which one I choose.”

“It’d be a great project.” Jack’s mind was
already crowding with ideas. A Mediterranean style village with a
square down on the lake, red tile roofs dotting the hillsides. “If
we took on something like that we’d both need to spend a lot
more time up here.”

“And I don’t think either of us would have a problem
with that, would we?”

“No, sir.”

“Let’s see what Ben has to say shall we. He might hate
the whole idea, after all whatever we did would kind of be
competition for the resort.”

“Not if we work it right.”

“Uh-oh, I sense the illustrious Mr. Benson is having one of
his brilliant ideas.”

“Maybe, but only if we want to take on a third partner.”

“Go in with Ben, you mean? Not just buy the land from him?”

“What do you think? If we bought the land and built it out
then we’d only sell it on and, you’re right, create
competition for Ben. I’m thinking we could work out a deal
where we retain a stake and he manages the final development as an
extension of what he’s already got going on here.”

“I like it. Sounds like you really want to be a part of this
place.”

Jack nodded, “I really do. Seriously, if I get my way Summer
Lake is going to be central to the rest of my life, so why not invest
in it?”