Ten Acres and Twins (6 page)

Zuzu was slightly offbeat, but her unpredictable way of looking at things was amusing. And he'd never once seen her mad. Despite a colorful head of hair whose base tone, he suspected, was red, she was peaceable, often prophetic. He called to invite her out for coffee. Luckily, she was free.

An hour later, he sat in a trendy diner handing Zuzu fresh napkins. “I knew you were going to run off to the country and fall in love,” she sobbed.

The sequins on her pink-and-orange blouse glimmered with each shuddering breath, making it hard for Jack to take her seriously.

“Zuzu, I'm not in love,” he said. “Abby and I are just moving in together for convenience. We have never even kissed—”

He clamped his jaw shut when he remembered how much he'd wanted to do just that in the farm kitchen a few days ago, and he tried not to let the thought echo in his brain.

There was no need to bring something like that up now.

“W-well, if you haven't yet, you w-will. I just know it.”

“I doubt that,” he soothed, moving his chair closer to hers so he could rub her back. Maybe there was still hope for snatching a little romance out of an otherwise wasted evening.

In a singsong voice, Zuzu asked, “Is she pretty?”

He removed his hand. She'd sounded far too childlike to be touching her seductively right now. Sighing deeply, he said, “In a way, I suppose. She seems to have the basic material, but she doesn't try very hard to enhance it.”

“But that's worse!”

“Why?”

“Because that means she's a natural beauty.”

“I suppose you'd say she's all right in the looks department,” Jack said, wondering if Abby would be considered attractive by another woman.

Her eyes were gorgeous—no one else had eyes that bright and clear. But her hair was usually just parted in the middle and tied back. Even at Paige and Brian's wedding, she'd simply wound a braid around each side of her head. He'd never seen her hair loose around her shoulders, and her clothes were usually unassuming.

A woman would think she was plain, he supposed. Only a male would home in on that sexy little body.

“Is she sexy?” Zuzu asked.

He shrugged. He prided himself on being truthful with his dates, but with Zuzu he tried to be extra careful.

In case she
knew.

Sounding confident now, she said, “See what I mean? You'll be married in less than a year.”

“Zuzu, we've talked about this before. I'm never going to get married. There are too many women out there.”

“Every man says that,” she said. “Every woman knows it only takes the right one.”

Jack frowned. He always spent time at the beginning of each relationship establishing a single rule: he'd date whom he wanted, when he wanted.

No commitments, and no cat fights.

“And what makes you think Abby's my Miss Right?”

“Intuition,” Zuzu said with a knowing smile.

“Baloney,” he responded, with a confidence of his own.

And with that, the otherworldly Zuzu drifted out of the diner, and the astounded Jack returned to his town home alone for the first time in a number of weekends.

Always before, a barren weekend had been his choice—not theirs. He'd had no idea how spoiled he'd been. He walked around among his boxed possessions, wishing he hadn't packed. Wishing the movers would come so he could get to the farmhouse and begin to put the next year behind him.

At least there the baby-care duties should keep him from being bored. It had been nice of Abby to offer to take care of the twins all weekend. He wondered if Wyatt had gone to sleep without a struggle tonight, and if Rosie had babbled nonstop all day.

After an hour of quiet, he called Abby to find out.

“Hullo?”

Her voice was low and throaty. She sounded tired. He checked the time and realized it was eleven o'clock. She'd probably been asleep. He could picture her lounging in bed with a pristine white sheet slipping down the front of her—
Whoa!

An evening's assorted discussions about the caliber of her assets must have gotten to him.

“Hullo? Is anyone there?”

“Abby, it's Jack. How's it going?”

“Fine. The babies have been asleep for two hours,” she said. “They wake up early, so I came on up to bed.”

Bed. There it was again.

No matter how hard he fought it, that image of her naked body kept popping into his brain. The only explanation he could think of was that his woman-filled weekend had been a complete washout.

“I'm sorry if I woke you. I just wanted to check on things there,” he said with his eyes closed, as if he could block the unwanted mental pictures.

“You mean you're alone? Jack, are you slowing down at the ripe old age of…what, thirty-one?” As she grew more alert, she seemed to extend her talons again.

“There's no need to start a fight now,” he said, opening his eyes again.

He should thank her, really. As soon as her tone changed from soft to sarcastic, her image transformed, and he saw her standing with her hands on her hips and her lips pinched together. Wearing
plenty
of clothes.

“I wasn't starting a fight. I was expressing surprise that you didn't have company.”

“It wasn't by choice.”

That got her for a moment. Then she said, “Poor baby, did your girlfriend get upset by your news?”

“Yes. And I wouldn't scoff too much, since it's your fault,” he sniped back.

“My fault? How is that?”

“Obviously, they're upset that I'm shacking up with you.”

He heard her sharp intake of breath. “They? As in more than one? But you've only been gone
one day.
”

“Um…yes. I managed to squeeze in a few—just to let them know I was moving, of course.”

“Holy cow,” she breathed. “Well, did you tell them we can hardly tolerate one another?”

“Not in so many words.”

“Well, you should. It would probably help.”

“What's the point?” he asked. “I'm coming to live there in the boonies for a year, remember?”

“How could I forget? But if you want to keep them as girlfriends, tell them I'm not feminine enough for you. Maybe you could persuade them to come for an occasional therapeutic visit. One at a time, of course.”

“You would put up with that?”

“I'm not so naive that I don't realize you have…needs,” she said, whispering that last word in a way that had him closing his eyes again in defense.

“You know, for a country girl, you sound enlightened.”

“I'm not backward, Jack.”

Brian had always said that Abby didn't get out much. “And why are you alone on a Friday night?” he asked.

“I have two infants here. I don't have time for dating.”

“Before the babies, did you date much?”

“I was married before, remember?” she said. “I'd just gotten divorced when Paige and Brian got married.”

Of course he remembered.

He'd been the best man to Abby's maid of honor. They'd had plenty of time to talk at the reception. Biting his cheek to keep from chuckling, he said, “We danced a few slow dances, and I almost kissed you.”

The silence stretched out until it became uncomfortable. She was probably remembering how well they had fit together before things had broken them apart.

Jack figured that every cell of his brain must have withered away from lack of sex. They were moving in together at the end of this weekend, and he had just reminded her that he'd once been somewhat smitten.

“Abby Rose,” he said, borrowing her lecturing tone. “I'm trying to say that you're reasonably appealing. Why haven't you gotten involved again by now?”

“Well, for one thing,” she said, “most men don't seem to be attracted to me.”

Jack had no idea how to reply. He'd just spent an entire
evening explaining to several other women that Abby wasn't his type. However, when you combined that sexy little body with bright eyes and a keen intelligence, she was pretty compelling.

In truth, he couldn't say that he wasn't attracted. He was, and he always had been. It was hard to believe other men weren't just as interested.

“Where would you get that idea?” he finally asked.

She made a sweet, low-pitched sound that must have been a sigh. “My ex-husband told me I was too unyielding to make sacrifices for another person. He said I wasn't womanly.”

“He sounds like an idiot, Abby. You are an attractive woman, and you sacrifice plenty for Wyatt and Rosie.”

She was quiet again, this time for long enough that he glanced at the battery light on his cellphone. But finally, she sighed again and murmured a thank-you.

And Jack knew he'd discovered still another tender spot in Abby.

 

A
BBY SPENT ALL DAY
S
UNDAY
hauling her unwanted belongings to a donation center and cleaning her old apartment. By the time she finished, she was tired and grungy and wanted nothing more than a long, hot bath and an evening of peace.

She knew that was probably out of the question, because Jack was returning today. She'd felt it in her gut all day long, and as she drove through the gates to the farmhouse and passed a moving van on its way out, she knew he had arrived. It was time for her performance to begin.

She pulled down her visor and checked her image in the mirror. A day's work had put a bloom on her cheeks, but her hair was acceptably messy and she'd worn a tattered white T-shirt and jeans that were two sizes too big. A streak of crusty brown grease from cleaning out the apartment oven was smudged across one side of her chest, adding that perfect last touch. She was ready.

But she did wish she'd brought the babies home with her.

They would have provided an extra protection, of sorts. They might be too young to serve as chaperons, but they could keep her too busy to think unthinkable thoughts.

Jack's car wasn't in the drive, but when she opened the garage door, she found it parked inside. He'd already made himself at home. She squeezed her full-size truck in next to his sleek little car and came in through the back.

When she walked into the kitchen, she stopped just inside the doorway and stared. Smack-dab in the middle of the room sat two high chairs, with a lopsided bow tied around each.

She went over to examine them. They were beautiful, state-of-the-art high chairs. Exactly what she would have chosen, if she could have afforded them.

Jack came in from the hallway with a huge smile on his face. “I thought I heard your truck,” he said. “What do you think?”

“They're incredible! Where did they come from?”

“Believe it or not, I had free time this weekend,” he said. “I went shopping. If they won't work, we can return them and you can choose something else.”

His thoughtful surprise had foiled the impression she was hoping to give. Now she just felt gratitude. She shook her head, straightening the blue satin bow on one of the chairs. “They're great,” she said. “And there are two.”

“Guess that's one benefit to these monstrous old houses. This kitchen is huge. I figured we had room.”

“Yes, we do,” Abby said, swallowing hard to moisten the dryness in her throat. “Um. Well. Thank you.”

Repressing the inclination to give him a peck on the cheek, she stood stiffly in front of him. Awkward and embarrassed, she pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear and started fiddling with the pink bow, adjusting it so it was round and even.

And cursed herself for wondering what he was thinking as his eyes focused on her. She couldn't meet his gaze, and she couldn't hug him. She'd learned that the hard way.

“No problem,” he insisted. “And they're for me, too. I can't imagine how I would handle it if I was feeding Wyatt, and Rosie was hungry, too. We needed two.”

“Thanks again,” she said, finally allowing her eyes to meet his.

Big mistake.

He stretched an arm out on either side of her, pulling her into a hug as he whispered against her hair, “Just trying to make things work.”

She kept both arms crossed in front of her, as if she could ward off her own feelings. But he held on, and his gesture had been so unselfish that she couldn't resist sliding her arms around his shoulders for just a second.

Make that a minute. Maybe longer. Just long enough to warm her insides and set her toes to tingling.

Eventually, he backed off. After frowning at her grease stain for a couple of seconds, he said, “Something's missing.”

“What?”

“The twins?”

“Oh! They're down at the neighbors',” she explained. “I needed to clean today, and when I went by to get them they were napping. Sharon said she'd bring them over after they woke up.”

“Phenomenal,” he said with a smile. “It's our first night of sharing baby duties, and we have free time.”

Abby inched backward, toward the door.

She definitely needed time to regroup, and she knew she could find plenty to do outside. “Not really,” she said. “I need to head out to the orchards now.”

“Really? I'll come with you.”

She wanted to refuse. Taking a Sunday evening walk with Jack sounded foolish. No, more than foolish. It was out-and-out dangerous. He'd managed to throw her completely off balance with the high chairs and the hug. Who knew what he'd do next?

Who knew what
she'd
do?

But she couldn't think of a single rational excuse for denying him, so she said, “Of course, it's your land.”

“Maybe, but you know I'll let you buy it in a year at a fair price.”

There, in a sentence, was most of the reason why she should never allow herself to take walks with Jack Kimball.

Even if he proved to be the perfect roommate. Even if he was polite, gentlemanly and generous. He was leaving. In one year. And he intended to take Wyatt with him.