“Shea, honey, what’re you doin’?”
He gulped down his coffee and wiped his mouth on his hand. It was only nine, and if he left now, he could be in Dallas and back before noon and have lunch with Jake and Stacey.
“Finishing my coffee.”
“Don’t be a wise guy. You know what I’m talkin’ ’bout.” Hands on her hips, Patty faced him with a frown, her eyes filled with questions. “Why are you runnin’ to Dallas to pick up a phone for Jake? At breakfast I heard him say he could wait until he got home.”
Unable to meet Patty’s eyes, Shea fished the truck keys from his pocket. “It’s no big deal, and I know he really needs—”
“You’re in love with him, aren’t you?”
His heart stuttered. “Don’t be ridiculous.” His laugh came out a little too loud and hearty, and from Patty’s skeptical expression, she didn’t believe him anyway. She always was too damn perceptive. She stood and waited, and he blinked first, feeling like that teenager again, caught sneaking in after curfew with beer on his breath.
“He’s special to me. I do care about him. And Stacey too. How could you not love her?”
“But I didn’t ask about her. ’Course she’s cute as a button. But I never seen you like this with any other guy. Certainly not with Toby.”
“No. Jake ain’t Toby. But he also isn’t ready for a relationship.”
“Have you discussed it?” Patty opened the stove, took out a tray filled with cookies, then slid another in to bake the brownies.
“Kinda. He mentioned his main focus is getting Stacey help, ’specially now that she’s started talkin’ and told him why she stopped.”
Patty’s eyes widened. “She did?”
Shea relayed what happened during the night, leaving out that he’d been in Jake’s bed when Terry called Jake, but once again Patty didn’t let him squirm away from facing the hard questions.
“So you were with Jake. In the middle of the night.” Her eyes sparkled. “And that ain’t a question either. I already know the answer.”
“Patty, what do you want from me?”
“I don’t want anything, honey, ’cept for you to be happy. And I think you want something from Jake you’re afraid of.”
“He—”
“Don’t tell me about what you think that man wants, because you haven’t seen how he looks at you.”
He waited as long as he could, but Patty was a master.
“How?” Was that hopeful voice his? But damn, he wanted to know.
“Like he’s starvin’ and you’re the only steak on the grill.” She put her hands on his shoulders. “You both have big responsibilities, but don’t allow that to rule your lives. You know what they say: ‘You don’t miss the water until the well runs dry.’ If you make the mistake of letting Jake walk away without lettin’ him know how you feel, you’ll regret it. If you really care for him.”
Those words played and replayed in his head as he drove to Dallas, picked up Jake’s phone, and returned to his truck, where he waited in the parking lot before turning on the engine. Was he in love? How would he even know? Sure he wanted Jake, but was Jake over his ex? Was he ready to commit?
He started the truck and drove home. Shea couldn’t imagine ever getting tired of making love to Jake. After their night together, he knew he needed more. Jake had awakened something inside him he hadn’t known existed. Something more than sexual.
Something like love.
Jake wasn’t like other people he’d met from New York or LA, who bragged about their houses and name-dropped constantly. Jake’s casual disregard for his looks and status made him even more desirable. Maybe it was odd, considering his modeling career, but his father had always cautioned him: the real measure of a man wasn’t how they took care of themselves, but of others. And Jake was a tender and considerate lover, taking him to the brink of ecstasy every time they made love.
He pulled into the driveway and cut the engine but remained seated, forehead pressed to the wheel.
“Daddy, I wish I knew the right thing to do.”
“You follow your heart, son. It ain’t never steered you wrong.”
With Jake’s phone in his hand, Shea went in search of him. He passed by Terry and Patty sitting in the rocking chairs on the back porch, laughing and sipping iced tea in the shade. Shea was thrilled Patty had found a woman friend, and he knew she’d miss Terry something terrible when they left.
