“No, it’s just I wanted to kiss you for months. And I can’t feel bad about that.”
“Well, then.” She wasn’t used to this sort of full-court press courting.Is it courting?
“And it was a great kiss. Best one I’ve ever been a part of.”
“Now you’re making me blush.” She was grateful for the fading evening light. J.J. Tucker was not supposed to be shy!
“Look, I’m not sorry. But I am also not a cad. If you want to take over the salon, and I’ve now made it uncomfortable, I will step aside. Immediately. I realized that could be why you’ve said no to officially taking the reins. I’m too much, or you’re weirded out.”
“Thank you. That’s generous.” Somewhere between The Do’s opening night and navigating the mess at Tucker Construction, J.J. Tucker knew what she wanted. She knew exactly what she wanted.
“Whatever you want to do, you’re the boss.”
“Ha, so, I am—or want to be—but not at the salon. I’ve been in salons for nearly thirty years. What I want now is to make sure Tucker Construction survives. Thrives, actually.”
“Well, well, well, all this time, I thought you were a budding Estee Lauder, but you’re really a construction magnate!”
“Don’t get me wrong, if you mess up that salon, I’ll be back so fast it will blow your toupee off.”
“I thought we went over this.”
“Kidding. I’ll help you interview managers if you’d like. But I’m trading the blow dryer for a backhoe or something like that.”
“That actually is no surprise. There doesn’t seem to be anything you can’t do.”
She put out her hand, and he took it in his. “So, one thing I’m not good at yet is this. I felt like I was cheating on my husband. I mean, I liked the kiss, but I thought I was going to be smote from above all the way home.”
“You’re dumping me?”
“No, I’m putting the brakes on for a little bit. I want us to stay friends.”
“Ouch.”
“No…you know.”
“I do know,” Stone said earnestly. “And J.J. Tucker. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Good, it will be easier to spy on you that way.”
“What?”
“You know that was my job, spy on your activities for Libby?”
“She’s always working, that one.”
“But you turned me into a double agent.”
“HA!”
They sat for a while, in the gazebo, hand in hand.
Thanks to them, the town would have a month’s worth of juicy gossip.
* * *
Back at Treach’s cottage that night, J.J. put on Dean’s old buffalo plaid flannel. And she talked to him like he was there with her.
She confessed she might start dating. And she explained the situation with their sons.
