She laughed at that. “Well, I appreciate the thought and that you were trying to be sensitive to my situation.”
Now it was his turn to laugh. “Trust me, I never involve myself in other peoples’ ‘situations’ so you can take it as a compliment, if you wish. But I’m also warning you that I’m no good at it, so don’t go planning to hide behind me. This town, and everyone in it, is transparent to some degree. There is no place to hide.”
“Good to know. And don’t worry. I’m not much of a hider.”
He smiled, liking her more by the second. Wishing he didn’t, as it was going to complicate things, but he was afraid it was too late for that. “We still on for Sunday?”
“I hope so. I’ll know better after this evening. I’ll let you know tomorrow, if that’s okay. Can I call you here?”
You can call me anywhere, anytime. “Sure. I’ll be here. You might not be high maintenance, but Miss Betty Sue over there is very demanding. I’m beginning to think she’d never let me out of her sight if she had her way.”
“Betty Sue?”
He nodded toward the Mustang.
“Oh,” she said, looking immeasurably more excited now. “Is that what we’re going to fly in?”
He laughed. “No, she’s not in service at the moment. I’m getting her ready for the race next month.”
“Right. That—she’s—the Mustang.” Her gaze stayed on the plane. “She’s really something. I had no idea. World War Two you said.”
“Yes,” he said, feeling a ridiculous sense of pride, which was silly considering she had no real idea what she was looking at. But he didn’t mind that she liked what she saw. Or that, when she turned her gaze back to his, the look in her eyes didn’t change. “I can bore you with about a million details covering her entire life history whenever you have a few years. But, in deference to keeping you interested in me for more than five minutes, I’ll spare you.”
“Actually, I’d like to know more. You said you didn’t fly in the exhibitions like your grandfather did. Does someone else fly her then? Or is she only flown for the race? She’s really pretty stunning to look at. Hard to believe she was used as a fighter.”
“No one has flown her since my grandfather did, except me—” He broke off, then shook his head. “—and he would shoot me if I scared off a beautiful woman talking about the only other woman in my life.”
She laughed. “No need for the false flattery. Once a man has seen you with raccoon eyes, she’s never going to believe any compliments—”
“You should. You have beautiful eyes.”
She clearly wasn’t buying. “I wear serious looking glasses, and—”
“And I can see right through them.” He was beginning to see through a lot of things, in fact. He was beginning to wonder just how “sleekly pulled back, every hair in place and freckle covered” she’d be if left to her own desires. His smile grew when he realized he’d made her stutter to a stop. “Although if it makes me sound more sincere, I’ll add that while I find the frames kind of sexy, in a ‘I want to slide them off’ kind of way, I do prefer the eyes behind them, without all the black streaks.”
She both laughed and swallowed, hard, if the way her throat worked was any indication. And the tension between them both ebbed—of the awkward variety—and flowed…of the more intimate kind.
“I really would like to hear more,” she said finally. “About the plane, I mean.”
“Trust me, I’m doing you the favor. You really don’t want to get me started.”
He realized he was grinning. And she was smiling back. And suddenly he was thinking maybe he owed his baby sister a big fat thank-you. Although only under penalty of death would he actually admit that.
“It seems a shame that no one else flies her. I mean, all that work, she should get a chance to strut her stuff more often.”
Jake started to reply, then stopped. He hadn’t really ever thought about it like that. He’d always just been happy to keep her flight-worthy and race-worthy. “Possibly. I’ll just be happy if I can get her ready by race week.” And for that, he needed Roger to commit, once and for all, and do it soon. And…he really didn’t want to think about it, not at the moment, anyway. For the first time in a very long time, he had other things on his mind…far more pleasurable things, as it turned out.
“So, about the inquisition tonight,” he said, changing the subject. “I take it you’re meeting with your mother and the mayor later?” He lifted a hand. “Not my business, I know, so don’t feel you have to—”
“No, no, it’s okay.” She cocked her head a little then, and a different look came into those eyes he was growing so quickly fond of looking into. Too quickly, most likely. But he didn’t look away.
“You know, it’s funny,” she said, “and I don’t know why, but—don’t let this make you run screaming, okay?”
He frowned at that, confused. “Okay.”
“Maybe, subconsciously, I came out here because I thought you—” She stopped, shook her head, laughed. “It sounds even more ridiculous when I put it into words. So, ignore that. Yes, I am meeting them tonight, and no, I’m not looking forward to it. It’s a long story that might rival your ability to talk about Betty Sue, only for completely opposite reasons, so I’ll spare you the gory details.”
“I won’t pry. But I’m sorry things aren’t smooth.”
“I appreciate that. I also appreciate you telling me that my mother was looking forward to my arrival. It was…good to know. I guess I owed you more thank-yous than I realized.”
“For?”
“That, and not telling Melissa every last thing about me when she called you. For keeping my job status a secret.”
“How do you know I—”
“You haven’t said anything, have you?” she countered, seeming pretty sure of him.
He shook his head. “Nobody’s business but yours.”
“So…thank you. It’s been a difficult enough thing, coming out here, needing to set things right with my mother. We’ve always been really close, but her quickie wedding—” She stopped and held up her hand. “Sorry. I’m very sure you don’t want to hear about any of that and I don’t want to put you any further in the middle of anything.”
“What makes you think you have?”
“You belong here, you know these people, live with them, work with them. I don’t want you in any position to be defending me or choosing sides, if, God forbid, it comes to that.”
“What makes you think I’d have to do anything like that?”
“Let’s just say that my arrival hasn’t exactly been under the radar. I had no idea my presence here was going to be such a…a…”
“Newsworthy event?”
“Might be an overstatement, but that’s what Melissa made it sound like. And Debbie at the motel. Even the bike rental guy knew who I was before I filled out the rental form.”
“And your being that visible casts the family reunion in an even more stressful light, I take it.”
“Exactly. Sorry.”
“For?”
“Dumping.”
“You’re not dumping.”
“I could. You make it…you’re easy to talk to.”
“Thank