Jess shook her head. “I’m not sure that’s a strategy many employers could get away with, but I’m grateful.”
“Okay, so tell me why you’re tied up in knots and looking mad enough to chew nails,” Gail said. “And split that panini with me. It smells fabulous and I’m starved.”
“Need I point out that you’re a chef with an entire pantry and a freezer at your disposal?” Jess said even as she put half of the sandwich on a plate, added a few of the French-fried sweet potatoes and handed it over.
“I’m much too busy to cook for myself,” Gail claimed. “My boss—that’s you, by the way—insisted on very labor-intensive hors d’oeuvres to welcome the guests on Friday nights. I had Ronnie helping out, but you sent him on his way, so I’m on my own. Now tell me what happened. I’m pretty sure you intended to eat lunch at the restaurant.”
Jess told Gail what she’d found when she arrived. “I don’t know what they were thinking,” she said of her brother and Heather.
“That you need to wake up and smell the roses before it’s too late,” Gail suggested.
Jess scowled at her. “Why does everyone keep saying that?”
“Because you’re the only one who hasn’t seemed to notice that Will is perfect for you.”
Jess still wasn’t buying it. “The most obnoxious, infuriating, patronizing man in Chesapeake Shores is perfect for me? What does that say about me?”
“At the moment, it says that you’re blind and stubborn,” Gail said cheerfully. She slid a knife in Jess’s direction. “Now chop those mushrooms or send Ronnie back in here. I have work to do.”
Jess started chopping, then glanced sideways at Gail. “I need to remember that when it comes to sympathy, you are definitely not my go-to girl.”
Gail laughed. “Not in my job description, that’s for sure. Now, chop.”
At least the effort to avoid cutting off her own fingers kept Jess from spending too much time thinking about Will and the pretty blonde who’d been hanging on his every word. She’d have plenty of time to relive that sight when she was lying all alone in her bed tonight.
4
Megan looked up from the canvas she was framing in preparation for an upcoming show at the gallery to see Mick heading her way, a scowl on his face.
“What’s wrong with you?” she asked her husband when he’d settled on a nearby stool in the workroom behind the gallery.
“I just spotted our daughter—”
“Which one?” Megan interrupted to ask.
“Jess. She was storming off from that sandwich shop up the street looking as if she was itching for a fight. She didn’t even turn around when I called out to her.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t follow her,” Megan said dryly.
“Did you not hear me?” Mick asked impatiently. “I said she looked like she wanted a fight. Even I know better than to try to deal with her before she’s calmed down.”
Megan smiled. “So, you have learned a few new tricks since we remarried,” she teased.
Mick scowled. “Will you stop worrying about me and my tricks? We need to focus on our youngest daughter. Something’s up with her, Meggie. She’s not happy. I tried to get some information out of Connor and Heather, but they clammed up on me.”
Megan regarded him with confusion. “What do Connor and Heather have to do with this?”
“That’s who Jess couldn’t get away from fast enough, at least that’s how it looked to me.” He frowned. “Or maybe it had something to do with Will.”
Now he had Megan’s full attention. “Will? He was there?”
“At the next table, with some woman I’ve never seen before. A pretty little thing.” His expression turned thoughtful. “Jess wouldn’t be upset by that, would she?”
Megan didn’t know how to respond. She’d thought for some time now that Will and Jess had unacknowledged feelings for each other, but she’d kept her suspicions from Mick. He wasn’t the kind of man who could sit back and let things happen at their own pace. He’d been fretting about Jess’s lack of a social life for some time now. He’d be meddling the instant he saw any reason for it.
“I have no idea,” she said eventually, which was true enough. Jess had never once mentioned to her that she felt any attraction to Will.
Mick studied her skeptically. “Why do I get the feeling that was an evasive answer? Did you leave some kind of loophole in there?”
“Why would I do that?” she asked, hoping her tone sounded innocent enough to fool him.
“Because you don’t want me interfering,” he said at once. “You think I lack tact.”
She chuckled despite herself. “I know you lack tact.”
“So you are deliberately hiding something from me,” he concluded. “Are those two involved? Will and Jess, I mean.”
“Not that I know of,” Megan insisted with total honesty.
Mick’s gaze narrowed suspiciously. “But you suspect something, don’t you?”
She regarded him with impatience. “Mick, have you learned nothing from our other children? Meddling only makes things worse.”
“Which means there’s something going on you don’t want me meddling in,” he said triumphantly. “I knew it! Jess ran off because Will was there with another woman. Seeing him there upset her.”
His momentary delight in having figured that out faded almost instantly. “If that man hurt Jess, he’ll answer to me, by God!”
He started to rise, but Megan put her hand on his arm and locked her gaze with his. “Unless Jess comes to you and asks for your help, you will stay out of this, Mick O’Brien. Neither of us has any idea what’s going on with those two, if anything. If you go after Will, you could be making matters worse. You might even be humiliating your daughter.”
Mick sat back down, though he didn’t look happy about it. “Then maybe I should stop by the inn and have a talk with Jess,” he said. “Find out
