She bit her lip. “I’m sorry, Adam. I’m just so sorry. I know what it’s like to lose someone you love.” Grief rolled through her in a big, sloppy wave. “I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to Aunt Gertie.”
“It isn’t quite the same,” he said. “Nana hasn’t been herself for years. We’ve been in the end stages of Alzheimer’s for a while now. My sister Beth—she and I have been saying our goodbyes to her for five years. In some ways, this is a formality.”
“Still, I’m sorry you didn’t get a better goodbye. Maybe if Belmont hadn’t kept you working so hard, you would have been able to get up to Seattle sooner?—”
“Shhh,” he said, nudging the trunk shut and turning to press his lips against hers. It was probably more about halting the flow of nervous words than a passionate gesture, but it still felt good.
He drew back and smoothed her hair back from her face. “Let’s not make this about what-ifs. I want you with me this weekend, Jenna. I need you with me. I need some light and laughter and joy in a situation that might be pretty grim. Can you do that for me?”
She nodded, then handed him her keys. “Yes. Would you mind driving? Seattle traffic makes me nervous.”
“You’re sure you don’t want to take my rental car?”
“I’m sure. I told Mia and Gertie I’m going to Seattle to spend the three-day weekend with some old friends. They’d think it was weird if I didn’t take my car.”
“And I think it’s weird you’re calling me an old friend when we’ve been acquainted a few weeks.” He smiled and moved around to the driver’s side. “It’s okay. We’ve got a three-hour drive to get acquainted better.”
Jenna turned and opened the passenger door, trying not to feel giddy at the prospect of six whole round-trip hours in a car alone with Adam. Truth be told, that was the part of the journey Jenna looked forward to the most. She was nervous about meeting Adam’s family, about tagging along for something that should be a solemn occasion.
But there was something about joining him for a trip like this that made things between them seem more real.
“I want my sister to meet you,” he said, sliding into the driver’s seat as Jenna buckled herself in beside him. “After I got divorced, Beth got protective. Swore she never liked Mia anyway, which is never very useful to know after the fact. From the moment I started dating again, Beth’s been suspicious of any woman I went out with more than once.”
Jenna regarded him warily from the passenger seat. “So the fact that your sister hates my best friend and judges all the women you date is supposed to make me feel better how?”
He grinned. “She’s going to love you. You’re the first woman since before I got married who’s meeting my sister in person, so that’s significant. When I told her you were coming, she knew right away what it meant.”
“Which is what?”
“That we’re more than just a fling. That things feel more serious than that.”
Jenna bit her lip and tried not to grin like some goofy idiot. “Is she going to sit me down for a stern discussion of my intentions with you?”
Adam laughed. “Beth doesn’t do stern. She does wedgies and dirty jokes, often within ten minutes of meeting someone. You can relax.”
“Well, still. If she hated Mia?—”
“You’re nothing like Mia,” he said. “Beth will notice that right off the bat and adore you.”
Jenna kicked off her clogs and tucked one foot beneath her on the seat, not sure whether to feel defensive or pleased about that. She settled for saying nothing, nestling back into the passenger seat as Adam steered the car onto the I5 on-ramp headed north toward Seattle. It was just after five thirty on Friday evening, less than an hour after the bargaining team had broken from a long negotiation session to grudgingly wish each other a good Labor Day weekend.
Three whole days. That’s what she had alone with Adam, after telling everyone she was going away to visit a group of old college roommates for the weekend. Mia had seemed delighted.
“I’ll stay at your place to watch after Gertie,” Mia had insisted. “She needs someone to drive her to that meeting with the TV people, and I need a break from being home with Mark.”
“Things still aren’t going well?”
Mia had shrugged and trailed a finger over one of the roses in a vase at the center of her dining room table. “We’re both trying. He brought me flowers last night. I made his favorite bourbon pecan chicken for dinner. We tried the Compassionate Communication thing again last night, and it wasn’t so bad.”
“Sounds like progress.”
“I hope so. Maybe we’ve just had too much drama in the last couple years. Between moving to Portland and planning a wedding and the pregnancy and everything—” She’d shrugged. “Maybe we just need a little break.”
“For the weekend, you mean?”
“Just the weekend,” Mia had said, kissing her on the cheek. “Have a good trip, sweetie.”
Jenna had nodded and smiled and tried not to feel too guilty about the whole thing. Was it wrong to let her best friend babysit her aging aunt while Jenna flitted off to Seattle to make nice with Mia’s ex-husband’s family? The whole thing sounded like a soap opera.
