Falling For You - January Cove Book 3 (9 page)

"Look, man, she just wants to marry you. For whatever reason, the woman is in love with you. I don't think the engagement moment will matter nearly as much as you think it will."

"See? This is why you don't have a woman. The engagement is hugely important to women. That right there shows you just don't understand how women work. I've got to get this thing just right so she has this wonderful memory for the rest of her life. I read it in all of the magazines." Kyle looked down at his paper and Jackson started snickering to himself.

"You've been reading women's magazines? What is wrong with you?" he asked shoving his brother's shoulder across the table in retaliation.

"When you fall in love, for real, you'll understand. I would do anything for Jenna even if it means having to buy women's magazines two counties over," Kyle said starting to laugh himself. "I know I'm going overboard, but I just want to make it special for her."

"Then stop thinking with your head, brother. Think with your heart. You know her better than anyone else on earth. I think you can come up with something that would mean the world to her."

Kyle nodded and closed up his notebook. "So what's going on with you? Anything new on the love front?"

"Of course not. I'm here visiting you losers. I have to go back to Atlanta to find women," Jackson said with a smile.

"You can't fool me. You might be my older brother, but you've got a terrible poker face. I think you have a little bit of interest in someone right here in January Cove," Kyle said finally taking a bite of his sandwich.

"Oh really? And who would that be?"

"You know who it is. Rebecca Evans. I saw the way you chased her down after her son said that yesterday. I think you've got the hots for her," Kyle said taking a sip of his sweet tea.

"I do not have the hots for Rebecca Evans. I was simply being nice and trying to help her with a terrible situation. Do you know about her past?" Kyle shook his head.

"I know she moved down here from up north, but that's about it."

"Well, she's a September 11th widow and she's raised Leo by herself. Now he's going through the terrible teens, and he's basically acting out because he didn't have a father figure."

"And you're going to become the father figure?"

"Of course not. I don't even live here. I was just trying to help a woman who was obviously in dire straits yesterday. Any one of us would've done the same, but I run faster." Kyle started laughing.

"Just be careful. Don't get in over your head."

"Okay, Dove Boy. You're giving me advice? I raised four siblings with Mom. I think I can help a woman out with a fourteen-year-old snotty nosed kid."

"I've never seen you quite like this. You normally don't take responsibility for anyone else but yourself. I don't blame you because you spent most of your life raising us, but why this woman?"

"As I said, Kyle, there is nothing going on between me and Rebecca. Strictly a friendship, and a short one at that. I'll be going home soon, and I really won't see her again until Christmas. It's no big deal, so don't go starting rumors."

Kyle could tell Jackson was getting a little bit defensive and uncomfortable, and he knew his brother well enough to know that he should back off.

"So how's business going?" Jackson finally asked after a long, uncomfortable silence.

"Pretty good. I usually buy at least one or two houses every three months. Keeps the bills paid up and allows us to have fun as a family."

"Yeah, my business is booming right now too, but it's a little bit more than I can handle some days."

"Have you ever thought about bringing on a partner?" Kyle asked.

"Not really. At least not seriously."

"Let me ask you something, Jackson. What do you want? I mean what do you see in your future? Family? Being eternally single?"

Jackson sat there for a moment seriously considering his brother's question before answering. "I'd like to have a family someday." In a way, he surprised himself. He almost looked around the room to make sure he was the one speaking.

"You've got to set your life up for it now. You've got to start making some tough decisions about your business because no one is going to want to marry a man who's married to his business. You've got to give up some of that control. You built the company, it's a strong company and you need to start trusting other people to help you run it. You need time off. You used to be this really fun loving guy and now you're nothing but a workaholic. There's no room in your life for a woman, and I think that's why you haven't found one."

"Wow. That was deep, Kyle. Maybe you should get your psychology degree."

"Don't get defensive. You know I'm right. Just think about it." Jackson nodded and the brothers continued eating their lunch before parting ways at the front door.

***

Rebecca stood behind the counter of her coffee shop, staring out the plate glass window at the very few people walking down the street in January Cove. She enjoyed the small town life a lot more than she thought she would when she left New York. There were just too many memories there, too many milestones that had been passed. While being around people who knew her and the places that she and her husband had been should've been a comfort, it was too painful. Even twelve years later, seeing their favorite pizza place or walking past the park bench where he proposed was too much for her.

Still, sometimes in the dead of night when she woke up with nightmares, she wondered if she'd made the right decision for her and her son. She pondered over whether leaving home was the best course of action.

Of course, now it was a little too late to worry about that. She'd set up her life here in the small coastal Georgia town. Jolt was doing well enough, and she was starting to develop a following especially on Friday nights when she had live music in the caf
é
. She knew that a new start was what they needed, but it didn't make it any easier to leave everything that she knew behind.

It was getting close to closing time, and she had lots of things to do inside of the coffee shop that evening. For one thing, she wanted to get a head start on the painting. The color in the caf
é
was a drab beige color that the previous owner had done. But she wanted the place to be a lot more funky and fun, a lot more beachy. So, her plan was to paint it a pale shade of blue and add all kinds of ocean accents around the room. She had been looking at local thrift stores and garage sales for weeks, finding everything from a big wooden fish to hang on the wall to some old netting used on a fishing boat that she would tack up across the ceiling. She wanted the place to feel like the coolest little beach coffee shop anyone had ever seen.

As she walked across the room and closed the front door, she looked up and down the street at all the little businesses. Many of them had closed and reopened even since she'd been there, and it often worried her whether or not her coffee shop would make it in the long run.

She locked the door and turned the sign to closed before heading around the back of the counter. Once she had counted up the money for the evening and balanced out the cash drawer, she lowered the lights and went upstairs to change her clothes.

She threw on the cruddiest clothes she could find and asked Leo if he might want to help her with the painting but he said no, of course. He was busy watching some reality show that was coming on TV that night while he was simultaneously playing some game on his iPhone.

She wished that he wouldn't shut her out like he was doing, but she knew not to push it. Obviously losing his father had been a bigger impact in his life than she even realized. Maybe he was just being a bratty fourteen-year-old boy full of hormones. Either way, she was trying to tread lightly right now.

She walked back downstairs and started popping open the paint can. She decided that she needed some music in the too quiet coffee shop or else she might just go crazy. The sound of silence was not her friend, and it allowed her to think too many things from her past.

The only problem was that her thoughts right now weren't about her past. Instead, they revolved around Jackson Parker, and she really didn't want to admit that at all. He was a nice guy, as it turned out, but she wasn't looking for love. As much as she was lonely and would love someone to be there to comfort her, she knew her focus had to be on her son right now. And the truth was that no man in his right mind would want to take on a teenage boy who was acting the way Leo was. She was destined to be alone until he was grown, she thought herself.

She turned on the 80s music channel and started bopping around the coffee shop. Something about dancing to Madonna and Michael Jackson made her happy. Even though she knew the glass windows would allow people to see her dancing, she didn't really care. After all, she was off duty and didn't have anything to prove to anyone. Besides, the lights were turned down low enough that hopefully no one would notice her horrific dance moves. The downtown area was a virtual ghost town the day after Thanksgiving anyway, so she decided to let loose and have fun.

She dragged the ladder from the back storage room and set it up against the far wall. She couldn't help but dance as she heard some of her favorite songs including Thriller. She was dancing around on the ladder and swooshing the paint up against the wall having a good time when she felt someone looking at her through the window.

Oh crap, she thought to herself.

She turned around to find Jackson Parker was standing in the window with a sly smile on his face waving at her. She smiled back and went to step down off the ladder but slipped and fell right on her butt in the open paint container at the foot of the ladder. Jackson looked horrified in the window, especially since he couldn't open the door and help her because it was locked.

She waved her hand at him and said she was okay before she ambled up to her feet, paint dripping down her jeans. This was not the way that she wanted to impress a man. And this is exactly why she didn't date. She was obviously out of practice. Her dance moves might actually have been better than her dating skills, and that thought scared her.

She walked carefully over to the door, dripping paint behind her onto the nice hardwood floors. It made her sick to think of what she was going to have to do with those floors just to make them look nice again.

She opened the door and Jackson immediately stepped in and grabbed onto her so that she didn't fall down.

"Are you okay? I'm so sorry that I made you fall!" he said pushing the door closed behind them and locking it.

She looked down at the floor with blue paint splattered all over it. "It's not your fault. I had music going and I wasn't paying attention
…
"

"Come on, let me help you get this cleaned up before it damages the floor."

"I think it's too late. Hardwood floors and paint. I don't think those mix very well," she said shrugging her shoulders and covering her face with her hands. Still, Jackson ran behind the counter and got some wet paper towels and immediately got down on his hands and knees and started wiping up the paint. Luckily, it was coming up fairly easily because it was still so wet. She watched him for a moment, thinking how nice it was that there was a man in her life right now who was willing to help her. Even if he had caused her to divert her attention and fall off the ladder.

"You don't have to do that. I can
…
" she said trying to reach down and take the paper towels from his hand. He looked up at her, his eyes dark with seriousness, and shook his head.

"Rebecca, you have to let people help you sometimes. Go change your clothes, and I will get this all cleaned up. Okay?" he said. She knew that he wasn't asking a question, but giving her a demand. As she was okay with that.
“
Oh, and you have a little paint right here...
”
he said softly as he stood up and reached out, touching her right cheek. She froze in place, her breath seemingly caught in her throat.