10
Even as he was driving B.J. over to Castle’s as promised, Boone was already having misgivings. Every minute he spent with Emily grew more complicated. Back at the restaurant he’d been within seconds of tossing caution to the wind and kissing her. While he might be oblivious to a lot of the ramifications of some of his actions, he knew with absolute certainty that one kiss would doom him. Whatever willpower or restraint he’d mustered to keep her at arm’s length would have dissolved like sugar in hot tea.
B.J. was clutching his little plastic soccer award as if it were a Super Bowl trophy. “This is so cool,” he said. “Huh, Dad?”
“It is very cool,” Boone confirmed.
“Maybe Ms. Cora Jane will want to put it on display,” he said hopefully.
“Hey, what about me?” Boone protested. “Maybe I want it to be on display in my restaurant.”
B.J. regarded him incredulously. “Really?”
“Why not? You’re my son and it’s your first sports award. It should be where people can see it and know how proud of you I am.” He glanced over at B.J. “What do you think? The first award in a trophy case at Boone’s Harbor?”
“Awesome!” B.J. said enthusiastically. “You can have it, but only after I show Emily and Ms. Cora Jane.”
“Of course.”
“Did Emily really say she wanted my help with picking out stuff for Castle’s?”
Boone smiled at his excitement. “Well, I might have planted the idea in her head, but she was eager to get your input.”
“How come you told her to ask me?”
“Because I happen to know how persuasive you can be and how much Ms. Cora Jane likes you,” Boone admitted. “I think both of those things will help Emily make her case for redecorating. It means a lot to her.”
“Yeah, and Ms. Cora Jane is really, really against it,” B.J. said direly, then admitted, “I kinda get why she feels that way. Castle’s is really nice the way it is.”
Boone gave him a curious look. “You planning to tell Emily that?”
B.J. grinned. “Heck, no. Then she won’t need my help.”
“I thought what she liked best about your advice was your candor.”
B.J. regarded him blankly. “Huh?”
“You tell her what you really think,” Boone explained. “She counts on that.”
“Yeah, I guess,” B.J. said. “But I don’t want to hurt her feelings.”
Boone laughed. “And you have just learned man’s eternal dilemma.”
“Huh?” B.J. said again, looking even more bewildered.
“You’ll understand when you’re older. Men are always trying to find the right balance between the truth, diplomacy and what a woman really wants to hear. We get tripped up on that a lot.”
B.J. shook his head. “Sounds way too complicated. I’m thinking girls might not be worth it.”
“Believe me, it is complicated,” Boone said. It had gotten him in trouble more times than he could count. He smiled. “But it’s definitely worth the trouble. You’ll see.”
* * *
Cora Jane was in the kitchen going over tomorrow’s specials with Jerry when B.J. came bounding in, followed at a more sedate pace by Boone. She saw the plastic prize in B.J.’s hand and beamed at him.
“What do you have there, young man?” she asked as if Emily hadn’t already filled her in on B.J.’s big day on the soccer field.
“I scored the winning goal today,” B.J. told her excitedly. “And they gave me a prize, and Dad’s going to put it on display in his restaurant, because it’s my first sports trophy.”
Cora Jane chuckled. “Well, of course he is. He must be very proud.”
“No question about it,” Boone confirmed.
“Where’s Emily?” B.J. asked, practically bouncing up and down with excitement. “She had to leave before I got my award. I want to show her.”
“She’s sitting in the dining room with Gabi,” Cora Jane told him. “Go right on in there. I’m sure she’s anxious to see it.”
“And then you come back here,” Jerry told him. “I want to hear all about how you scored that winning goal.”
“Okay,” B.J. said. “It was awesome, huh, Dad?”
“Awesome,” Boone confirmed.
“You’re not going in there with him?” Cora Jane asked, studying Boone intently. He was staring after his son, his expression filled with worry.
“Nope. He and Emily have things to discuss. Mind if I pour a cup of coffee and hang out with you?”
“Sounds to me like you’re avoiding her. Any particular reason? I thought the two of you made peace earlier.”
“We did.”
Cora Jane grinned. “She’s getting under your skin, isn’t she? Reminding you of what the two of you used to have?”
Boone gave her an impatient look. “It’s not as if I’ve ever forgotten what we had. She’s the one who threw it away.”
“And you’re scared she’ll do it again, and now B.J.’s feelings are involved,” she guessed, feeling sorry for the mess her granddaughter had left behind all those years ago.
“Something like that,” Boone conceded. “Could we not dissect this, please? It is what it is.”
“Doesn’t have to be,” Cora Jane said. “You could do what I know you’re itching to do and just give the woman another chance.”
“Cora Jane, has she done one single thing to indicate that she wants a second chance? I sure haven’t seen it.”
“Leave it be,” Jerry warned her, stepping in for the first time. “Let them work it out for themselves or you’ll find yourself caught in the middle.”
“I am in the middle,” Cora Jane retorted. “I love both of them. I know they were happier together than either one of them has been apart, whether they want to admit the truth or not.” She met Boone’s gaze. “No disrespect to Jenny intended. She was a wonderful girl and a wonderful wife to you. Heaven knows, she was an incredible mother for B.J.”
“She was,” Boone said. “And I don’t ever want to forget that.”
Cora Jane studied this young man who’d survived Emily’s abandonment, married too impulsively and in far too many ways lived to regret it. She thought she understood what was at the heart of his reluctance to move forward, at
