Jake had invented it way back in elementary school. Gosh, it was so long ago—back when the song had just hit the airwaves—she couldn’t even remember what she’d been upset about that had compelled him to make a fool of himself to jolt her out of it. But it stuck and stayed with them over the years and now, even though they were both in their thirties, it was still their ritual. The SID was as much a part of them as all those New Year’s Eves their families had rung in together or all those Fourths of July at the lake they’d shared. Back in the day, the mere gesture was always enough to push the recipient out of his or her funk. Or, on the rare occasion that it didn’t, the SID was the kickoff of the pity party and the guest of honor was officially put on notice that he or she had exactly twenty-four hours to get over whatever was bringing him or her down. Because whatever it was, it wasn’t worth the wasted emotion.
Nowadays, it was usually performed at the end of a love affair, as was the case today and the time that Jake had basically saved her life when her marriage had ended—metaphorically speaking, of course. But then again, he was a doctor. Saving lives was second nature to him.
Love was no longer second nature to Anna.
Sure, once upon a time, she’d believed in true love.
She’d believed in the big white dress and the happily-ever-after. She’d believed in spending Saturday nights snuggling on the couch, watching a movie with her husband. She’d believed in her wedding vows, especially the part where they’d said ’til death do us part and forsaking all others. From that day forward, the promises she and Hal had made were etched on her soul.
Then it all exploded right in front of her face.
After nearly four years of marriage, she discovered Hal, who had also looked her in the eyes and made the same vows on their wedding day, had been sleeping with his office manager.
That was when Anna had stopped believing in just about everything. Well, everything except for the one person in the world who had ever been true to her: Jake Lennox.
Jake had been her first friend, her first kiss, and the first guy to stick around after they realized they were much better friends than anything more.
He’d never stopped believing in her.
After finding out about Hal’s infidelity, the only thing Anna had wanted to do was to numb the pain with pints of Ben and Jerry’s and curl up into the fetal position in between feedings. Jake, however, was having none of that. He’d arrived on her doorstep in San Antonio and pulled her out of her emotional sinkhole and set her back on her feet. Then one month ago, after the divorce was final, he’d come back to San Antonio, single-handedly packed Anna’s belongings and moved her to Celebration. He’d even helped her find a house and had gotten her a nursing job at Celebration Memorial Hospital.
But before he’d done any of this, he’d done the SID.
There he stood: a tall, handsome thirty-four-year-old man doing the most ridiculous dance you could ever imagine to “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”
Was it any wonder that Anna felt duty-bound to be there for him on a day like today?
It was her turn to perform the SID. As humiliating as it was—well, that was the point. Anna was fully prepared to make a colossal fool of herself.
The gardenia bushes were in full bloom. Their heady scent mixed with the earthy smell of the lake perfuming the humid evening air. She swatted away a mosquito who had decided she was dinner.
Instinct told her she’d find Jake on the dock, most likely sitting on the ground with his feet in the water and a beer in his hand. Her intuition didn’t let her down.
There he sat, with his back to her, exactly as she had imagined. His lanky body was silhouetted by the setting sun. She could just make out his too-long brown hair that looked a little mussed, as if he’d recently raked his fingers through it. He was clad in blue jeans and a mint-green polo shirt. A symphony of cicadas supplied the sound track to the sunset, which had painted the western sky into an Impressionistic masterpiece in shades of orange, pink and blue.
A gentle wind stirred, rippling the lake water and providing welcome relief to the oppressive heat.
Obviously, Jake hadn’t heard her coming.
Good. The element of surprise always helped with the SID.
She took advantage of the moment to ready herself, drawing in a couple of deep breaths and doing some shoulder rolls. With one last check of the volume on her MP3 player, she pushed Play and Bobby McFerrin’s whistling reggae strains preempted the cicadas’ night song.
Jake’s head whipped around the minute he heard the music. Then he turned the rest of his body toward her, giving her his full attention.
Anna sprang into action attempting to do something she hoped resembled the moonwalk. Thank goodness she didn’t have to watch herself and the shameless lengths she was going to tonight.
Once she’d maneuvered off the grass and was dancing next to him on the dock, she broke into alternate moves that were part robot and part Charleston and part something...er...original.
As she danced, trying her best to coax a full-on smile from him, she tried to ignore the sinking feeling that maybe he’d been more serious about Dorenda than the others. That his most current ex had sent him into a Texas-sized bad humor.
She reminded herself that was exactly why she was here today. For some quality time with her best bud. To bring him out of his post-breakup funk. She knew she looked ridiculous in her pink nurse’s scrubs that were slightly too big and clunky white lace-up shoes, but Jake’s initial scowl was beginning to morph into a lopsided smile, despite himself. She could actually see him trying to fight it.
Oh, yeah, he was fighting it, but he couldn’t fool her. She knew him much too well.
In fact, it only made her unleash the most ridiculous of her dance moves: the sprinkler, the cotton-swab, and the Running Man. Dignity drew the line at dropping down onto her stomach and doing the worm. Although that move hadn’t been below Jake a month ago when he’d been there after she’d signed her divorce papers.
That intervention had been a doozy and a true testament to the depth of their friendship.
But he wouldn’t have to perform another intervention for her anytime soon.
After losing herself and getting burned so badly, Anna wasn’t in any hurry to get involved again.
For now, she was happy to serve as Jake’s intervener.
Sprinkler-two-three-four, cotton-swab-two-three-four, Running Man-two-three... She was just getting into a groove, ready to transition from the Running Man back to the robot when, in the middle of possibly the best sequence yet, her foot hit an uneven plank on the dock, causing her to lose her balance.
She saw the fall coming in slow motion and she would have face-planted if not for Jake’s quick reflexes. Instead of kissing the dock, she found herself safe in the strength of his strong arms, looking up into his gorgeous blue eyes.
* * *
Anna smelled good.
The kind of natural good that made him want to pull her closer, bury his face in her neck and breathe in deeply.
But this was Anna, for God’s sake.
He couldn’t do that.
He respected her too much and owed her so much more than that.
Especially after she’d gone to such crazy lengths to cheer him up. Did he dare tell her that he really didn’t need cheering up? Not in the way she thought he did. Sure, Dorenda had ended things, but the breakup had come as more of a relief than anything.
Before