This time Gail didn’t laugh or even smile. “I have to ask this,” she said solemnly. “Are you really that worried about what people, or more specifically your family, will think? Or is this just what you do? You start to get involved, get scared when the emotions are too much, and then dream up any excuse you can to run? Or to invite the other person to dump you?”
Jess hated the characterization, but she had to admit that Gail might be exactly right. Was that what she’d done this morning? Had she intentionally avoided Sally’s, knowing it would hurt Will’s feelings and, therefore, practically dare him to give up on her?
She moaned and buried her face in her arms. “I am such a mess when it comes to this kind of thing,” she muttered. “You’d think I was fifteen, not thirty. It’s pathetic.”
“It kind of is,” Gail agreed, though her tone was gentle. “Maybe it’s time you started thinking seriously about making a change.”
“Ironically, the person best qualified to tell me how to do that is Will,” Jess said. “Wouldn’t that be the icing on the cake? Um, hey, Will, could you help me find a way to stop screwing up my life?”
Gail didn’t laugh. “I know you’re joking, but maybe that’s not such a terrible idea.”
Jess frowned. “I am not going to Will for counseling. Wouldn’t that make it unethical for him to date me? It would sort of defeat the purpose, don’t you think?”
“Interesting that losing Will as a date is the first thing that occurred to you,” Gail noted. “But you need to do something before you keep making the same mistake over and over.”
“I know you’re right,” Jess conceded miserably. “I really do.”
Just then Ronnie stuck his head into the kitchen. “Is the girl talk over? There are people in the dining room wanting breakfast.”
Gail looked at Jess. “You going to be okay?”
“Of course,” she said, injecting a cheery note into her voice. “I’m going to be just fine.”
Apparently relieved by their responses, Ronnie stepped inside. “This came a few minutes ago. Maybe it will cheer you up,” he said, pulling a sand pail with a mountain of penny candy in it from behind his back. He handed it to Jess.
She started smiling even before she looked at the card. Only one person could have found such a perfect gift for her.
“Will?” Gail guessed.
Jess nodded, then laughed when she read the card.
“Seems like you didn’t blow it so badly this morning after all,” Gail commented. “Second chances don’t come along every day, sweet pea. Make the most of this one.”
Jess intended to do just that, even if she had to scramble out of her comfort zone to pull it off.
Thomas had managed to get through an entire twenty-four hours without speaking to Connie, but he had to admit he hadn’t liked it. He’d turned it into some kind of test for himself, to see if maybe his feelings for her would cool down with even a tiny bit of distance between them. It had been an exercise in futility. She’d stayed front and center in his thoughts anyway.
He couldn’t pinpoint why she got to him the way she did. She was nothing like either of his wives. She was a strong, independent single mom, who was far from the sophisticated kind of women he’d been involved with in the past.
Even though he’d never had kids of his own, he’d been a close observer of the families of both of his brothers. Jeff seemed to have the whole parenting thing down to a calm, easygoing science. Mick’s children had been put through the wringer, but thanks in some measure to their grandmother, they’d grown into fine young people.
Bottom line, Thomas knew the kind of work it took to be a rock-solid parent, even if he’d never experienced it himself. He admired Connie’s dedication to raising her daughter on her own. Of course, she’d had Jake around to pitch in, but no question, she was the one responsible for the fine young woman Jenny had become.
Connie was a nurturer. Her home was a testament to that. It was the house in which she’d been raised, filled with the warm touches that made it a home. She’d probably never ordered takeout in her life, at least not beyond pizza. He even wondered about that since it had taken her a while the other day to come up with the phone number for the pizza shop in Chesapeake Shores. Thomas had the closest one to his place on speed dial.
“I hate to interrupt the daydreaming,” his secretary said when she stepped into his office. “Your brother’s here. Should I send him in? You have a half hour before your next appointment.”
“Mick’s here?” he asked, surprised.
“He said he had something important to discuss with you.”
“Then send him in,” Thomas said, leaning back in his chair. Mick had only paid one other visit to his office, when he’d been looking for advice about Megan. That had been startling enough. Thomas could hardly wait to hear what had brought him by today.
Mick came in with a scowl etched into the deep lines on his face. Thomas sat up straighter.
“Is there a problem?” he asked at once. “Is anything wrong with Ma?”
Mick waved off the question. “Ma’s fine, though I think she’s intent on driving me to drink. She keeps making comments about looking for gentlemen callers.”
Thomas blinked. “Ma wants to start dating?”
“So she says,” Mick reported. “Frankly, I think she does it just to make my blood pressure rise.”
“It would probably be good for her,” Thomas said thoughtfully, once
