Chapter Five
The post-game analysis took place two days later as the four women walked together at Fiscalini Ranch, a nature preserve with paths that meandered along the bluffs above the rugged, crashing surf. Golden, wild grasses swished in the wind amid wildflowers of yellow and purple. Below them, sea lions reclined on rocks, barking and occasionally scuffling with one another. Some tourists wandered the paths here and there, their cameras on straps around their necks, but mostly this area was for the locals. The early morning sky was clear and dazzling, and a light breeze touched their faces as they walked.
None of their shops opened before ten, except Jitters. But Lacy had the late shift today, so after a flurry of phone calls back and forth, the scheduling for their walk was worked out with relative ease.
“So, really no question that he’s hung up on his ex, huh?” Gen asked as they climbed a hilly path, squirrels scurrying out of their way.
“Oh, that’s been established.” Kate arranged her wide-brimmed hat to shield her face from the sun. “The whole last half of the date was him pining over her. Really, I felt bad for the guy. I mean, breakups are hard. I know that as well as anybody. He’s trying to get out there and move on, but … he’s not ready. Even he knows he’s not ready.”
“Well, that sucks.” Lacy, in yoga pants, a tank top, and a baseball cap, looked at Kate in sympathy.
“It’s fine. From my end, anyway, it’s fine,” Kate assured her. “This was just practice, remember? It was never going to work. He wasn’t right for me.”
“Yeah.”
“At least you got a good meal at Neptune, though, right?” Rose tried to inject some optimism into the discussion.
“I did.”
“What did you have?”
“Sea bass.”
“Mmm.” Rose made appreciative noises that one usually heard only during sex. “That’s one of my favorites.” After a moment, she added, “Jackson says he saw you there.”
Rose and Jackson were friends, partly because he ordered wines for the restaurant from De-Vine, so the two consulted regularly. Over time, Rose had grown fond of the prickly chef, finding that his frequent fits of pique came mostly from a desire for excellence. She could admire that.
Kate giggled, remembering the evening. “Oh, he saw us, all right. I’m sure he mentioned the white zinfandel.”
“Ugh, white zinfandel?” Gen wrinkled her pale, freckled nose. “Even I know that’s a no-go, especially to him.”
“Zach ordered it. Jackson saw the wine and I could see that he wanted to throw a fit. It was all he could do to contain himself. I might have poked at him a little bit.”
“He said you poked.” Rose shook her head with a wry smile. “Brave woman.”
“But that wasn’t the funny part,” Kate said. “Well, yes, it was the funny part, in terms of amusing funny. But it wasn’t the strange part.”
“What was the strange part?” Lacy asked. Kate assumed Lacy was looking at her with interest, though it was hard to tell with Lacy’s enormous sunglasses.
“Here, let’s take a break,” Kate suggested. They stopped at a bench crafted from driftwood that was positioned above a breathtaking view of the surf. They sat, and she continued. “The strange part was that Jackson pulled me aside when I was on my way to the bathroom, and he seemed really worked up. Even for Jackson.”
“About the wine?” Rose asked.
“No. About Zach. He went all alpha male on me. ‘What are you doing with that guy?’ ‘That guy’s a stiff.’ ‘Why are you dating him?’ I mean, it’s not like it’s any of his business. Yes, it’s true that Zach did try to sell him real estate. But still.”
Rose looked thoughtful. “Hmm.”
“ ‘Hmm’ what?” Kate demanded.
“Just hmm.”
“I think what Rose is trying to say,” Lacy broke in, “is, have you thought about Jackson?”
“What do you mean, have I thought about Jackson? Of course I’ve thought about him. I’m thinking about him right now. We’re talking about him.”
Rose raised one eyebrow. “No. I mean, have you thought about him?”
“Huh.” Gen appeared to be in deep thought. “Now, that could be interesting.”
“What are you two talking about?” Kate demanded.
Lacy said, “You have to admit, Kate, it sounds like he’s interested in you. Why else would he have cared that you were dating a guy who looks like … well, like Zach? When guys ask, ‘Why are you with him?’ what they really mean is, ‘Why aren’t you with me?’ ”
“Yeah.” Gen nodded. “They do.”
Kate felt a little jolt in the center of her chest at the idea that Jackson Graham might possibly be attracted to her. She shrugged in a way that was supposed to be casual. “Oh, come on. He’s never been anything but … irritable when he’s around me. That’s the word,” she decided. “Irritable. Last time I talked to him before Neptune, he called me an idiot.”
Rose shook her head. “No, that’s not how I remember it at all.”
“What do you mean?” Kate said.
“The way I remember it, he accidentally called you an idiot, and then when he realized what he’d done, he looked like he’d swallowed his tongue.”
“Oh, that’s interesting,” Lacy interjected.
“No,” Kate said. “It’s not interesting. I mean, yes, he’s somewhat attractive, if you like broad shoulders and thick, wavy hair, and … and raw male magnetism. But he’s slept with pretty much everybody in Cambria. I mean, the man has a reputation. I don’t know if I want to deal with that.”
“At least he hasn’t slept with any of us,” Lacy said.
Rose looked uncomfortable. “Well …”
“Oh, no,” Kate said. “You had sex with Jackson?”
“No,” Rose said. “No, no. But there was some making out. And there might have been some groping. Okay, a lot of groping.”
“Well, then I definitely can’t go there,” Kate said.
“Sure you can,” Rose reassured her. “Look, it was nothing. We fooled around a little, then we decided we were better as friends. I don’t have any lingering feelings, or resentment, or anything like that. We’re good.”
“Really?” Kate realized that she’d felt an ugly surge of jealousy at the thought that Jackson had been with her friend. Rose’s explanation made her feel a bit better.
“Really,” Rose said.
“You and Jackson,” Gen mused. “Wow. I hadn’t thought of that, but … yeah. Wow.”
Kate waved her hands around in front of her. “There is no ‘me and Jackson.’ There is no ‘wow.’ ”
“Well.” Rose sounded thoughtful. “There could be a wow.”
Jackson and Daniel were playing basketball at Shamel Park, an expanse of lawn, playground equipment, a few sports fields, and a public pool adjacent to the beach. They’d called two friends to make it more interesting than one-on-one: Ryan Delaney, whose cattle ranch provided grass-fed beef for Neptune, was on Jackson’s team, and Will Bachman, caretaker for a mansion just up the coast, was on Daniel’s.
Jackson and Ryan had lost the coin toss for who’d keep their shirts on, so now their bare torsos glistened with sweat as they played. This displayed Ryan to a certain advantage, since his tanned, fit physique was drawing appreciative glances from women at the park. Jackson, on the other hand, wished he could just put his damned T-shirt back on. With his fair coloring and the fact that he was at the restaurant almost every waking hour, his skin was so pale it practically glowed. He’d had to slather himself with 50 SPF before even thinking about starting the game. To add to the hilarity, the other guys had taken to calling him “Casper.” At least he hadn’t let himself go like a lot of chefs did, being around food all the time. He usually made it to the gym, and he constantly reminded himself—with some success—that his job was to cook it, not to eat it. So he’d have looked pretty good if he hadn’t been so goddamned white.
Like he could give a shit what the girls a
t the park thought of him, anyway. He wished he did. But despite all his best efforts, the only woman whose opinion he cared about was dating a Realtor-slash-supermodel. The thought of that made him want to bash somebody’s head in. Preferably, the Realtor supermodel’s. But since he couldn’t do that, he played with unusual ferocity instead. This didn’t escape the notice of Daniel and Will, who’d been shoved, elbowed, and generally abused during the course of the game and were starting to feel a little put out about it.
“Hey, Casper, take it easy. This isn’t the NBA,” Will said after taking a forearm to the face.
Jackson, breathing heavily, wiped the sweat from his face. “Sorry.” And he was. He wasn’t roughing people up on purpose. He was just … getting in there a little bit more than usual. And, hell, it was working. At the end of the game, they were up six points, mostly because of Ryan, who’d played varsity basketball in high school.
“What’s got you all worked up?” Daniel asked after the game ended and they were toweling off and drinking deeply from bottles of water. The four of them walked toward some nearby benches, still breathing heavily.
“Nothing,” Jackson insisted.
“Bullshit,” Ryan said. “After that last foul, I thought we were gonna have to call 911 for Daniel.”
Jackson threw his towel onto the bench. “Ah, shit.”
“So, what is it?”
He peered at the others, hesitated, and then decided he had to talk to someone. “She came into Neptune a couple nights ago with a guy. This …” He gestured vaguely. “This guy who sells real estate and orders crap wine and looks like this goddamned Adonis. I guess it’s been bothering me.”
“We’re talking about Kate,” Daniel said.
Jackson was annoyed. “Of course we’re goddamned talking about Kate. I’ll tell you what. I’ve got to get past this … this thing I have for her. I oughta find somebody new to go out with. Have some fun. Get my mind off her.”
Ryan shook his head. “You asshole.”
Jackson blinked at him, surprised. “What? Why am I an asshole?”
“Because it’s never once occurred to you that one way to deal with the feelings you have for her is to go out with her.”
“Ah, that’s just … ”
“True,” Daniel interjected. “That’s what it is.”
Jackson ran a hand irritably through his hair. “Yeah. I guess it is.”
“Look. I get it,” Daniel went on. “At least, I think I do. Your last few relationships haven’t worked out … ”
“That’s an understatement.”
“ … So you’ve stopped trying. Especially when it’s someone who matters to you.”
They sat on a bench drinking water and cooling down, watching some moms pushing their toddlers on the swings.
“If it’s just somebody to date—some pretty face—then it doesn’t matter if she gets tired of your bad moods and your diatribes and moves on sooner rather than later. But when it’s Kate … ” Daniel left the thought dangling in the air.
“Thank you, Dr. Freud,” Jackson said wryly.
“Just ask her out,” Will insisted. “Stop being a wuss.”
They were silent for a moment while Jackson pulled his shirt back on. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, avoiding Daniel’s gaze.
“Let’s say I want to,” he said finally.
“Okay, let’s say that,” Daniel said.
“Why the hell would she ever say yes? Every time she sees me I’m yelling at her or calling her an idiot.”
“Yeah, you might want to stop doing that,” Ryan said.
Some kids with a big, red rubber ball accidentally kicked it toward the bench. Daniel scooped it up and tossed it back to the kids, who ran off to resume their game.
“You know what you need?” Daniel said after a while.
“Yes,” Jackson answered. “But no one’s invented personality transplants yet.”
“Very funny. Seriously. You need an icebreaker.”
Jackson looked at Daniel. “An icebreaker?”
“Yeah. He’s right,” Ryan said. “You need to be around her in some sort of casual setting, without yelling at her or calling her an idiot. Act like a guy with manners for a change. Let her see the other side of you.”
Jackson scoffed. “I don’t know if I have another side. And anyway, what makes you guys experts? Last time I checked, Ryan, you hadn’t done even one thing to get closer to Lacy. Besides making moony eyes at her, and that doesn’t count.”
Lacy, who’d lived in Cambria her entire life with her parents and her extended family right there in town, was tall, blond, blue-eyed, and gorgeous. The fact that she was more comfortable in a pair of frayed, faded jeans and a T-shirt than she was in a little black dress made her all the more attractive to Ryan, who was used to life on a cattle ranch, where expensive clothes just seemed frivolous and stupid. He was crazy about her.
The muscles in Ryan’s jaw bunched up. “Let’s not talk about Lacy.”
“Why not?”
“Because we’re talking about you.”
The conversation was getting entirely too touchy-feely for Jackson, but on the other hand, his friends were right—he had to do something if he was ever going to get anywhere with Kate. It wasn’t going to happen on its own.
“So, this ‘icebreaker’ idea.”
“Yeah?” Daniel said.
“How would it work? What would I do? What’s the plan, geniuses?”
Daniel grinned and nudged Jackson with his shoulder. “Give me a day or two to think about it.”