I lifted one shoulder in a cheeky manner, and was about to ask him for an answer, but I wasn’t fast enough. He reached over and pulled me to his chest, still laughing. Gripping the back of my head, he tilted it, and then plunged his mouth to mine.
It was a kiss filled with passion, desperation, and relief. A few seconds later, I became distantly aware of Mimi clearing her throat. With great reluctance, I stepped out of Jacob’s embrace.
“Way to go, Mom!”
I looked out into the audience and saw Brody on his feet, clapping and whistling. I slapped a palm to my face in embarrassment, but Jacob pulled it down.
“We have nothing to be embarrassed about,” he whispered.
Kieran was still giving me a thumbs up sign, and I vaguely recognized familiar faces in the crowd, each of them smiling and clapping. Mom wrapped her arms around me and pulled me to her.
“I’m so proud of you,” she whispered in my ear. “You deserve every bit of happiness you and Jacob will have from here on out.”
Chapter 22
“I’m telling you,” Mom insisted, “it’s a great idea!”
I placed a bottle of wine on the patio table then handed each of the ladies an empty glass. Jacob bounded out of his cottage and strolled over to where we were, picked up the wine bottle, and poured each woman a glass.
“You realize not only are you putting Lance’s friendship with Chase in jeopardy,” I argued, “but he’s also going to be pretty mad at his grandpa when it finally comes out.”
Mimi waved her hand in the air. “Oh, pish!”
Jacob sat down in a chair next to me and grinned. “Maybe they’re right. I mean, look what they did for us?”
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t encourage them.”
He leaned over and kissed me on the nose. “I’m just saying.”
When Mom and the girls finally came clean to Jacob that they’d been instrumental in setting him up from the start, he took it much better than I did. In fact, he couldn’t stop thanking Mom and the girls. Which was how they came to be sitting outside in my backyard trying to play matchmaker yet again.
“All Lance is going to do,” Gilda said, “is give Chase the name of someone he knows who needs a place to stay. Chase just finished remodeling that huge apartment of his and is looking for someone to rent it. Lance will just supply the name of someone he knows.”
“Under false pretenses!” I argued.
“I’ve met Alex,” Mimi said. “She and Katherine met at Alex’s arraignment hearing and became instant friends. She’s a girl with a heart of gold. Once Chase gets past the multiple arrests and convictions, he’ll totally fall for her.”
I snorted. “Doubtful. Chase is a straight-laced cop. No way he’s going to fall for a woman with a rap sheet a mile long.”
“They’re all bogus arrests,” Gilda insisted.
“Yeah,” Ingrid agreed, “it’s not like she gutted a man in a back alley.”
I surreptitiously looked at Jacob…who grinned and clinked his glass with Ingrid.
“I say we let Chase decide,” Gilda said.
Ingrid lifted her glass in the air. “I agree.”
“And Judge and Sheriff know all about this?” I asked.
“Yes,” Mimi said. “Judge is the one who convinced Lance to go along with the plan.”
“It didn’t take much arm twisting,” Gilda said. “Lance was immediately in when we told him what we were up to.”
“I think Lance has a soft spot for Alex,” Mom agreed. “Just not in a spark kind of way.”
“And a spark is good,” Jacob said. “Which reminds me.” He rose and walked over to the side of the cottage. A few seconds later he came back carrying aFor Rentsign. Grinning, he stuck it in the ground then stepped back to admire his work. “There. That’s better.”
