“Your mother’s waiting for you in the living room,” he said. “And I think I’ll make myself scarce. I’ve got to figure out what I’m going to wear for your wedding. Assuming it’s still on?” There was a faint question in his voice.
“It’s still on,” she said grimly, wondering if she was out of her mind. “I can’t imagine why you’d want to come.”
“You’ve said that before. I’m ignoring you. I promised Louisa I’d come, and I keep my promises.”
“I thought I told you the last time I saw you that I didn’t want you coming to the wedding?”
“Funny you should mention the last time you saw me. I don’t remember that we did much talking.”
She could still taste him. His mouth against hers, slow, deliberate, a kiss that could destroy a lifetime of well-laid plans.
“Really?” she said in a light voice. “I’d forgotten.”
He didn’t say a word, his expression of disbelief was enough. “Don’t waste your time, kid. Go talk to your mother. She wants to see for certain you’re all right.”
“Is she alone?”
“Yup. She sent Alex away when I told her you were up. You gonna give her a hard time?”
Susan took a deep breath. Four days ago the answer would have been an unequivocal yes. Now life was no longer the certainty she’d counted on. Mary Abbott had been her best friend, her confidante, her savior. Both in this life and in the past. “That’s my business, don’t you think?”
He shrugged. “You’ve got some wedding presents from your godmother to catch up on. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She didn’t want him to leave. Standing in the kitchen, barefoot defiant she didn’t want him to leave her. She wasn’t ready to face her mother. She wasn’t ready to face her life. Instead she wanted to throw everything away and run off with him. Crazy, because she’d worked so hard to get what she wanted, and Jake was just the kind of man she’d always avoided.
“Sure,” she said carelessly. “I’ll be the one in white.”
“Will I get to kiss the bride?” It seemed like a smart-ass, casual question, and maybe Susan only imagined the thread of tension beneath the light tone.
“You already did,” she said.
“I could do it again.”
She looked up at him, startled. She wanted him to. Desperately. She moved, almost imperceptibly, and he reached out his hand, almost touching her, when Mary appeared in the kitchen doorway.
“Susan?” she said in her soft voice. “I’ve been so worried about you, sweetie.” She swept her into a deliciously scented embrace, smelling of her classic Chanel. The last time she’d hugged Mary she’d smelled of chocolate.
“I’m fine, Mother,” she said, pulling away just a little to look down into her mother’s eyes. The same warm brown ones, but far wiser than they had been at age nine. “I was just very tired.”
“I’d say that was an understatement,” Jake drawled, back in his corner of the kitchen.
Mary was looking up at her with an odd expression on her face. “Go away,. Jake,” Susan said. “I need to talk with my mother privately. After all, I am getting married tomorrow.”
“Honey, if you don’t know the facts of life yet I’ll be more than happy to save your mother the trouble of explaining them to you.”
“You’re annoying, you know that?” Susan said severely.
“I try to be.”
“You succeed beyond your wildest dreams.”
“Susan!” Her mother admonished her. “Why in the world are you treating Jake like that? He’s been absolutely wonderful, running errands, calming my fears, sitting by your bed for hours on end. I don’t know what I would have done without him. I can’t even begin to tell Louisa how grateful I am, and you should be grateful, as well.”
Jake grinned, pushing away from the kitchen counter. He didn’t touch her as he passed her. He didn’t need to. For some reason his very presence, the heat from his body, was palpable. “I don’t know how grateful your daughter is.”
She wanted to kick him, but she didn’t have the right shoes on. And she’d already done it.
No, that was Tallulah. Lou had kicked Jack McGowan, a perfectly reasonable move since she was madly in love with him. Whereas Susan had no logical reason to kick Jake Wyczynski. Apart from the fact that he was terminally infuriating.
