Jeanette found herself enjoying his discomfort. She actually wanted to meet the two people who could throw this self-confident man into such a dither. And it might be nice to see another dysfunctional family in action. It might be reassuring, somehow, to have proof that she wasn’t the only one on the planet who had parental issues. And it wasn’t as if they were dating and meeting his parents was a major moment. As he’d said, she’d be merely a buffer. No big deal.
“There’s just one thing,” she said. “How would you explain me?”
“As a friend,” he said at once. “That’s the truth, isn’t it? We’re friends, or at least getting there.”
“Casual acquaintance is more apt, but I get why you’d need to call me a friend if you’re including me in this lunch.” She hesitated, then nodded. “Okay, then, as long as there are no hints...” She gave him a stern look. “None, whatsoever, that we are anything more than friends, understood? I don’t want to hear even the tiniest suggestion that we might be friends with benefits.”
“Of course not,” he said solemnly. “Then you’ll do it?”
“I’ll do it.”
He snagged her hand again. “Good, we’re meeting them at the town hall—” he glanced at his watch “—in less than ten minutes. The one thing you don’t ever want to do is keep them waiting. It’s important to make a good first impression.”
Something in his voice alerted her that he hadn’t been entirely honest with her. “Why do you care what kind of impression I make? I’m a buffer, that’s it. It might be even better if they hate my guts on sight.”
“Possibly,” he conceded. “But there’s no point in either of us enduring a ten-minute lecture on the lack of respect implied by tardiness.”
“Agreed,” she said, amused.
Her oddly upbeat mood lasted until she spotted Mr. and Mrs. McDonald—surely it had to be them—emerging from a shiny black car almost the length of a city block. They’d parked across the square from the town hall, which put them some distance away, but she knew in her gut she wasn’t mistaken about who they were. Her horrified gaze barely skimmed over the man, but the woman...she would recognize her anywhere. An image of that artfully colored blond hair, pale complexion and the arrogant lift to her surgically perfected chin was burned into her memory.
“Those are your parents?” she asked. “Over there, getting out of that limo?”
Tom shot a quizzical look at her. “Yes. Why do you look like that? You’re pale as a ghost.”
“I can’t meet your parents,” she whispered, frantically trying to get him to release her hand so she could bolt. Why hadn’t she made the connection before now? It wasn’t as if she’d never heard his last name or didn’t know he was from Charleston. She just didn’t believe in coincidences, that was all. Or she hadn’t wanted to believe in this one. It had been too awful to contemplate.
Tom was still staring at her as if she’d lost her mind. “Why can’t you meet my parents? Jeanette, what’s wrong? Is it the car? They have money. So what?”
“It’s not the car,” she said in an oddly choked voice. “Believe me, that car is the least of it.”
“Then, what? Tell me quick, because they’ve seen us, so it’s too late for you to run.”
“It’s your mother, Tom,” she said, still struggling to break free. “I know her. And you do not want us face-to-face. You need to trust me about that.”
He stared at her blankly. “You know my mother? How?”
“Do you really want to waste time chitchatting about the details? I need to go before they get over here. I can explain later.”
“Tell me now,” he said tightly.
“I know her from Chez Bella’s in Charleston. I gave her a facial once.”
He still looked blank. “Are you embarrassed about that for some reason? You shouldn’t be.”
“It’s not about being embarrassed,” she said indignantly. “She sued Bella. Claimed I almost destroyed her skin. That suit could have cost me my job, my reputation. The only reason it didn’t was because Bella had heard that she’d done the same thing at another spa in town. She’s allergic to some ingredient. Her dermatologist has explained it to her, but for some reason she refuses to accept that she can’t have the same treatments that all her friends have, so she just moves from spa to spa, raising a ruckus along the way. She freaks because her skin breaks out in hives. Now, will you let me go before she and I have this out right here?”
Tom was staring at her incredulously. “My mother sued you?”
“Not me, the spa. She probably doesn’t even remember me, but I remember her. Now, let me go.”
This time when she jerked away, he released her. Jeanette didn’t wait around to see whether his mother recognized her or not. All she cared about was getting away before she yanked the woman’s perfectly coifed, bleached blond hair out by its roots.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“Who was that young woman and why did she run off?” Tom’s mother asked the instant they reached him. “She looked vaguely familiar.”
Tom wasn’t about to bring up the Chez Bella incident, not until he’d heard the whole story from Jeanette. It would be just like his mother to make a federal case out of something like a skin rash, even if she’d been responsible for causing it by not disclosing her allergies. She’d had a habit of denying anything that didn’t suit her. It didn’t surprise him that she might ill-advisedly ignore her dermatologist’s warnings just to have the facial her friends were raving about.
But if it had been such a big deal, why hadn’t Jeanette mentioned it before now? Surely she
