Not Quite Dating (9 page)

“He’s five, right?”

“How much, Jack?” she asked, trying one last time.

“Not gonna happen, Jessie,” he fired back with a grin.

The man was impossible. She shoved her checkbook back in her purse. “This isn’t over.”

“Does your son have your color hair?”

Again, changing the subject and blowing off her words. Brat. He and Monica would get along great.

Swiveling in her seat, Jessie pointed out her son. “See the boys playing follow the leader?”

“Yeah.”

“He’s the one in front, with the striped sweatshirt.”

Jack’s face lit up. “He looks like you.”

“I think so, too.”

Danny’s head popped up to look over at her, then glanced beyond her to Jack. He said something to his friends before running her way.

“Hey, Mommy.” Jessie wiped his hair out of his eyes. He needed it cut.

“Hey, buddy.”

“Who’s that?” he asked, pointing at Jack.

“This is a friend of mine. His name is Jack. Jack, this is Danny.” It was strange watching the play of emotions stream over her son’s face. He went from curious to a little scared in a few seconds.

“Howdy, Danny.” Jack tilted his hat toward her son.

Danny’s eyes grew wide. “Are you a real cowboy? Do you ride a horse and everything?”

“I’m from Texas and have been known
to ride a horse on occasion,” Jack told him with a tad more Texas in his voice.

Jessie sent him a
Don’t encourage him
look, or at least she hoped he understood her body language.

“I want to ride a horse, but Mom says it’s dangerous.”

“People fall off horses and get hurt all the time,” Jessie told him.

“I fell from my scooter; it didn’t hurt very bad.”

“Horses are a lot farther off the ground,” Jack told him.

Good, Jessie thought, he was watching his words.

“But riding is easy to do and not dangerous at all with the right horse.”

Jessie beamed Jack an angry look. “We don’t know anyone with any kind of horse, so there’s no need to get excited about something that isn’t going to happen.”

Jack met her gaze. “Actually, my dad lives on a ranch in Texas. He has lots of horses, young and old.”

Jessie pressed her lips together. “We aren’t in Texas.”

“Could we go sometime, to your dad’s ranch?” Danny asked.

“I think that’s a great idea.” Jack kept looking at Danny and ignored Jessie’s facial expressions. “Maybe someday we can do that.”

Danny tugged on Jessie’s sweater until she lowered her eyes to his. “Wouldn’t that be fun?”

“Texas is a long way away, Danny. You’ll have to settle for the pony rides at the fair for now.”

Disappointed, Danny turned toward his friends on the playground. “Hey, I wanna play,” he called to the kids and then ran over to them.

“Why did you do that?” Jessie asked Jack the minute Danny was out of hearing range.

“Do what?”

“Encourage him to visit your dad’s ranch? You know I can’t afford a trip to Texas.”

Jack actually started to look
guilty. Which was good, considering the position he’d put her in. Disappointing Danny happened on a daily basis, from the toys she couldn’t afford to the backyard he didn’t have to play in. Promising pony rides in Texas was just mean.

“He seemed so excited.”

“He’s five. He gets excited about bubbles.”

“Texas is a three-day drive from here,” he told her.

Jessie crossed her arms over her chest. “Stop. OK. You know I can’t go. Between taking time off work, the cost of driving…Maybe in the five-year plan that would be doable, but it isn’t right now. I’ll be lucky if I can scrape enough together to give Danny any Christmas at all. A trip to Texas isn’t something I can make happen.” Jessie hated to admit it, but things were too tight for words. She’d even considered taking on a part-time job, but that would mess up the schedule she and Monica had worked out. All the fun things in life would just have to wait.

Jack looked as if he wanted to say something, something profound, but instead he lowered his gaze and offered an apology. “I’m sorry.”

The words sounded as if they were new to him, so Jessie didn’t push it. “It’s OK. I know you didn’t mean any harm.”

“No, it’s not OK. I should have kept my mouth shut.”

Jessie eased the tension with a smile. “Your dad really has a ranch?”

“Texas is a big state; lots of people have land there.”

“Seems like no one in California has land, outside of the farmers midstate. Heck, I’d settle for a yard and a fence.” She couldn’t even get a dog for Danny if she wanted to.

“I have a feeling one day you’ll get everything you want.”

Jack. The ever-optimistic dreamer. Cute, great kisser, selfless, giving, ambitious, and, she needed to add again, dreamer. Dreamers fluttered to a different flower when the need hit.

“Listen, Jack, about last night…” Jessie looked away from his gray eyes to study a couple of ants
that had found a crumb on the table to attack. “That shouldn’t have happened.”

“What, the ride in the limousine? I brought it back, no one even missed it.”

Jessie’s shoulders slumped. Darn the man, he wasn’t going to make this easy. “Not the limo. You know that’s not what I’m talking about.”

“Oh,” he said, acting surprised. “You mean that amazing kiss.”

She shushed him and took in the people around them to see if anyone was listening to their conversation. “It was a mistake.”

“It didn’t feel like a mistake to me.”

Although she knew she probably should tell him it felt wrong, Jessie knew he’d see right through her, call her out on a blatant lie. His kiss had been amazing. She-couldn’t-fall-asleep-for-hours-after-going-to-bed amazing. “It can’t happen again.”

Jessie met his eyes long enough to see the smirk on his face. “This isn’t funny, Jack. I told you before I can’t date you.”

“Right, and why is that again?”

“You know perfectly well why. You’re a dreamer, Jack. You have great plans for a bright future, and something tells me you’ll make all those lofty goals a reality…someday. But right now, you’re still dreaming. Maybe if it was just me, if Danny…” She shot a glance over her shoulder to make certain Danny didn’t hear her. He played on the other end of the playground, oblivious to her and Jack. “If I didn’t have to consider my son, then maybe you and I could have dated, seen if we were good for each other. When you’re a parent, and all your decisions affect another human being, you have to be smart about who you date.”

The smirk faded from Jack’s face. His brows pitched together briefly. “What is it you’re afraid of, Jessie?” he asked softly.

“My mom said once, don’t date anyone you don’t see yourself falling in
love with. I didn’t listen to her advice when I was a teenager, and Danny is the result. I love him more than anything on this earth, wouldn’t change him in my life for the world. But I can’t do it again. It wouldn’t be fair to him, or me. You’re a great guy, Jack, but we need to just be friends. Friends who don’t kiss. I’m sorry, but that’s the way it has to be.” So why did saying the words hurt already?

Jack leaned his elbows on the table and placed his head in his palms. “Nothing I can say will change your mind?”

“No. Please understand. I’d like to still be friends.”

Rubbing his jaw, Jack let himself smile again. “I can’t say I like it, but I understand.”

She sighed. “So we’re good?”

A hint of mischief sparkled in his eyes when he said, “Darlin’, we’re better than good. I’ve got to go, but I’ll be in touch.”

“I should have the dress ready to go back by Tuesday. I can drop it off at the hotel.”

He waved a hand and said, “That isn’t necessary. I’ll stop by the diner. You said you worked on Tuesday, right?”

“Right.”

He unfolded from the bench. “I’ll come by. If something comes up, I’ll call you.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Jack looked as if he wanted to say something else, but decided against it. “Have a nice day off, Jessie.”

“Thanks, you too.”

Then he was gone. Jessie watched his cute, denim-clad ass walking in the opposite direction. No argument, no counterpoints for trying to talk her into dating him. Nothing.

She should have been happy with how quickly he agreed to a platonic relationship, but somehow she wasn’t. Maybe the kiss had affected only
her in a profound
You’ll never find another guy to kiss you like that
way.

Maybe Jack wasn’t all that into her.

Jessie forced her gaze to fall on her son and to stop staring at the retreating man. Before she could turn in her seat, Jack glanced over his shoulder and caught her staring at him.

Without a doubt, there would be a smirk, hidden in the shadow cast by his hat, all over his face.

Jack sat in meetings
most of Monday and half of Tuesday. Eric Richardson, his marketing manager of the Southern California region, ran with the suggestion of renaming Jack’s new chain of hotels.

When Jack asked Eric why he didn’t speak up earlier about his reservations, Eric told him he didn’t want to step on Jack’s ego since the new hotels had his name in the title.

“Step on it next time,” Jack told him. “We pay you to know how to market what we come up with. If the name will keep people from coming, then these hotels will never get off the ground.”

Eric sat opposite Jack in one of the conference rooms on the main floor. Eric was much younger than Jack and was probably worried about his job if he became too disagreeable. Jack had had to deal with those emotions from employees for years. It usually took some time and effort to help them relax and feel safe enough in their jobs to offer what they really felt.

“I’ll remind you about this conversation next time,” Eric promised.

“As you should. Have you considered a different name?”

Eric shrugged. “I haven’t given it much thought. I’ll put picking a new name for the hotel at the top of my list.”

Jack thought of Jessie and her ideas. “What about the Morrison East?”

Eric wrinkled his nose. “Well, that might be confusing
to our guests here out west.”

“Jack’s Place.”

“Almost too casual, but I like that direction more. Oh.” Eric shot up in his chair. “How about the Morrison Family Inn?”

Jack smoothed his suit jacket against his chest as he considered the title. “I like that. Gives people the Morrison name, a name associated with quality and leaders in the hotel business across the nation, but puts in the family twist. I think that will work.”

“Shall I pencil that in?”

“Do it, but let’s run a few market tests to determine if the public will see this the way we do.”

Eric nodded. “I’ll have my assistant get on this when I get back to my office.”

“Get back to me next week on the results.”

Eric stood and folded his papers before shoving them into his briefcase. “If there isn’t anything else you need, I’ll go ahead and return to San Francisco and meet with you before Christmas for the board meeting.”

Jack stood and shook the other man’s hand. “We’ll see you then. Thanks for coming all the way down here.”

“My pleasure.”

“And Eric?”

He turned toward Jack.

“In the future, speak up. I’m not going to can you if your ideas differ from mine.”

Eric nodded. “With the economy the way it’s been, everyone fears for their jobs.”

Jack understood his concerns. The hotels had gone through a couple of rounds of layoffs since the recession. The budget-minded hotel idea had bloomed because of the bad economy.

“The Morrison hotels are riding the storm.
I don’t foresee any more layoffs.” It was the best Jack could do. He couldn’t promise the man he’d always have a job, but he wanted him at ease enough to offer insightful ideas on something as important as the name of a hotel.

“Thank you, Mr. Morrison.”

“Safe flight home.”

As Eric left the room, Jack stacked his market analysis papers together and placed them in his briefcase. His cell phone in his pocket rang as he headed out of the room.

Recognizing the number, Jack answered with a greeting. “Hey, Mike.”

“Good, you’re answering.” His friend’s frazzled voice turned Jack’s smile to a frown.

“What’s up?”

“It’s Dean. Has he called you?”

“Haven’t spoken to him since Vegas. The construction end of the new hotels is a ways off, so I didn’t think I’d hear from him for a while. Why?” Jack set his briefcase back down. Dean owned and operated a major western United States construction company that Jack planned to use to build the family inns. Dean was going to take on the oversight of the project personally.

“Damn. I thought he’d have called one of us.”

“What’s going on? Is he OK?” Jack rubbed a hand over his face and sat forward in his chair.

“Probably not. Maggie called off the wedding.”

Of all the things he expected to come out of Mike’s mouth, Maggie and Dean’s engagement ending wasn’t one of them. “Oh man. Dean must be devastated.” For better or for worse, Dean had adored Maggie.

“He’s disappeared.”

“Do you know what happened? Why did
she call it off?” Jack stood and paced the room. Dean was his best friend, and he had no idea what was happening with him. Damn, what kind of friend was that?

“No idea.”

“Never mind, that isn’t my business. Where do you think Dean went?” Jack could think of a few places to check out. Places they would escape to during Dean’s early years in Southern California.

“He could be anywhere. He left on his motorcycle, according to Maggie.”

Being pissed on a motorcycle never ended well. Dammit! “I thought he sold the motorcycle.”

“Apparently not. Anyway, I don’t think he went far. Maybe up to Arrowhead or possibly Mammoth.”

“It’s December. Mammoth is covered in snow.” Dean could be wild, but he wasn’t reckless. “I’ll pick you up in the hour. We’ll head out and find him.”

“You read my mind, bro.”

Jack hung up the phone, thinking about his friend. Dean would be distraught. Probably didn’t want company, but if left alone, he might find himself drinking too much and having an accident. Jack and Mike could keep him safe while he wallowed for a few days.

Up in his suite, Jack tossed his case aside and stepped into his bedroom to change his clothes. Once he’d dressed down into jeans and a button-up plaid shirt, he plopped his hat on his head and started for the door.

“Damn,” he said, thinking of Jessie. He picked up his phone and dialed her number.

She answered on the second ring. “Hello?”

Her voice was honey to his ears. “Hey, Jessie, it’s Jack.”

“Hi.”

“Listen, I’m not going to be by the restaurant tonight.
Something came up.”

“Oh.” Was that disappointment in her voice?

Jack smiled.

“I hope everything’s OK.”

“I’m not sure. Remember my friend Dean, the one who was getting married?”

“The blond guy?”

“Right. Well, his fiancée called off the wedding, and Dean’s disappeared.”

“Oh God, Jack, that’s awful. He seemed all goo-goo-eyed over her—what I saw of him, anyway.” The kindhearted sincerity of her words made him smile.

“He couldn’t have taken it well. Anyway, Mike and I are headed out to see if we can catch up with him…keep him out of trouble.”

“That sounds like a great idea. Is your work cooperating?”

His work? Oh, yeah, his “waiter” job. “They’re great here. You know, though, they aren’t great about personal phone calls. Let me give you my cell number so if you need to get hold of me, you can.” The last thing he wanted was for Jessie to call the hotel asking to talk to Jack Moore and learn the truth. It was probably best to keep her from the hotel as much as possible. Jack told her his number, made her promise to put it in her cell. “How is the car running?”

“It’s great. Thanks again.”

“You’re welcome. I’ve got to go.”

“Go. Good luck.”

“Thanks, I’ll get in touch once I’m back.”

“I hope you find your friend, and that he’s all right.”

She did sound as if she cared. “Bye, Jessie.”

“Bye, Jack.”

Boy, he thought, one relationship ending, while his and
Jessie’s was just warming up. There really weren’t any guarantees when it came to love and life.

Two days later, Jessie couldn’t handle the not knowing. She shouldn’t let Jack’s problems bother her, but for some reason they did. He hadn’t called, hadn’t shown up at the diner. Now it was her day off and she sat on the same park bench, watching her son play after school. Maybe the bench reminded her of him. Then again, she hadn’t stopped thinking about Jack since they’d met. Twice she’d picked up the phone to call him; twice she’d chickened out.

How was his friend doing? Did they find him? If there was one thing she knew about Jack it was his loyalty to people he called friend. Look at her. They hardly knew each other and yet he’d put his job on the line for her…fixed her car when he didn’t need to.

Sure, he might not have a kid to take care of or much in the way of responsibility, but he’d spent his money paying to have her car fixed. She hadn’t bought into his saying he owed a friend a favor. Chances were he’d paid something to have her car fixed.

The oil light didn’t even blink at her anymore.

Where was Jack now? Could she return the friendship favor and help him out? She had to do something other than sit here in the park and worry.

Friends call friends to see how they’re doing.

Jack was a friend…right?

Jessie had a sudden feeling of déjà vu. She was in high school again, contemplating whether or not she should call a boy.

“Grow up,” she chided herself.

She dialed Jack’s number and held her breath until he answered. When he did, he sounded like he was still in bed.

“Jack, it’s Jessie. Did I wake you?”

“Jessie? Yeah, hold on.”

Muffled sounds permeated the line until Jack
returned. “Hey.”

“You’re in bed?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s four o’clock.”

Jack released a long sigh. “We couldn’t get Dean off his binge until sunrise. Then the alcohol haunted him until noon. He was a mess, Jessie. One sorry son of a bitch.”

Jessie sighed. “So you found him.”

“We did. I might have to spike his cereal with whiskey to keep his head from exploding, but we did find him, drunk as any sailor on shore leave.”

“Where are you?”

“Up in Arrowhead.”

“Dean is taking the breakup hard, then?”

Jack’s voice sounded more alert with every sentence. “He is. No man ever wants to believe the woman he pledged his life to isn’t committed. But between you and me, I think it’s for the best. Maggie was nice and all, but not for Dean. Better they figure that out now than get married and figure it out after.”

“You didn’t tell him that, did you?”

“I’m not an idiot, Jessie.” He laughed. “I’ve seen Dean throw a punch, and I don’t want to be on the receiving end of one.”

“Good. Why did his fiancée break it off?”

Jack sounded as if he was moving around on a bed. “I don’t think he knows. She just told him she couldn’t do it. They were too different. Shouldn’t she have figured that out before she said yes?”

“I’ve never been engaged, but I think that’s what an engagement is all about. You have to spend time with each other, figure out if you work together outside of the physical.”

“Dean said the physical was amazing.”

“He’s a guy. Of course it was. Did
he know about the things that count? Did they mesh outside of the bedroom? Could they talk to each other about any and everything?”

“Damn…no. I don’t think so. But I already told you I didn’t think they worked. Dean thought they did, and for that I’m bummed for him.”

Jessie watched her son on the playground and leaned on her forearms. “You’re a good friend, Jack. You were ready to accept her regardless, and you’re there for him when it fell apart.”

“I’ve known Dean since we were kids.”

“Did you grow up together?”

“Yeah. He’s like a brother to me.”

Jessie smiled. “You take care of the people you care about, Jack, and it shows. Dean’s lucky to have you on his side.”

“Ah, now, Miss Jessie, you keep talkin’ like that and I’m going to have to get down to you and show you how much I appreciate your astute attention to my divine disposition.” Jack’s accent sang like a soprano in church.

“I’m paying you a compliment, not inviting you into anything divine.”

Jack laughed.

She laughed with him. “OK, well, I’ll let you go. Just wanted to check up.”

“You just wanted to hear my sexy cowboy voice,” he teased.

“I was concerned for your friend.” The sexy voice was a nice bonus.

Jack laughed. “What are you doing today?”

“I’m at the park with Danny. We’re going to the outlet center tomorrow, get some Christmas shopping done. How long are you going to be in Arrowhead?”

“We’re going to try and get Dean off the hill later tonight. He’ll stay with Mike for a while.”