Two or three times each day, Jenna had stood by her narrow desk, phone in her hand. Getting so far as to code in Noah’s number.
Now here she was, dressed and made up, hair washed and brushed until it shone. Slacks and top straight from the dry cleaner’s bag, last worn so far back she couldn’t even read the tag. Which said a lot about her life between gigs.
Excited.
She had been ready for almost an hour. The apartment had grown cramped, so she came out here. Enjoying a breath of evening coolness, another reason she loved the central coast. Waiting for the man she had vowed never to see again, or speak to, anything. For all the right reasons. Well, no, not exactly. All thelogicalreasons stacked up against her going out on this date.
For reasons she could not explain, going out with Noah opened the door to her years of wrong moves in the male department.
There had been two serious relationships, one her last year at university, the second while working in the hospital’s surgical ward. The second had ended only when her ex had offered her a ring. Which had happened two months before Millie popped into her world. And changed the course of Jenna’s life pretty much for good.
She closed her eyes, willing the past to go back inside her tight little box of bad memories. Instead, she saw the guy who claimed to love her kneel by the table in a fancy Santa Cruz restaurant, the one she had never entered again. And there in his eyes she had finally recognized that it wasn’t him. It wasn’t her either, not really. She simply had not been able to grow beyond the wounds and bitter rage that governed her mother’s life. Not to mention the emotional distance that had protected her all those years.
Since then, she had been careful not to allow things to deepen to the point where she might have to confess how little she felt about any man.
Of course, that was why she had agreed to go out on a date with Noah Hearst. Because he was the perfect wrong guy. Recently divorced. Jobless. Living in a patched-up farmhouse. Working on a boat that would never float again.
And here he came.
Even so, she could not deny the tight flutter of excitement as he pulled through the front gates. Or how she smiled and waved a welcome. Or how the evening already sparkled. At least for her.
* * *
Noah had already slid from the driver’s seat when Jenna slipped inside. “So much for rushing around and opening your door.”
“I can step back, let you play the gentleman.”
“No, it’s just . . .” His smile was as nervous as his gaze. “You look very nice.”
“Is it okay for tonight? I’m a little out of practice.”
“Good.” He shut his door. Sat there, shaking his head to the wheel. “That sounded totally awful.”
“Noah.”
“Why does everything sound lame even before it comes out of my mouth?”
“Do something for me.” It was a practice she often used with new patients. When they were frightened and nervous and hating how this stranger was about to be put in charge of their life. Which was a terrible way to start her first date since entering into Dino’s care. Nineteen months. Longer. But it was all that came to mind. “Forget being nervous. Just for a moment. Take a deep breath. Good. One more. For me.” She watched him relax a trifle, then said, “So tell me the absolute worst thing that can happen tonight.”
“You mean, other than you having a terrible time?”
Hearing those words, how his first concern was for her, brought a smile. “Okay, the second worst.”
“We’ll show up at Ryan’s place and there will be this other woman there.”
This was a new one. “Other, as in, a blind date?”
He nodded. Still staring out the front windshield. “Amara has a friend, she and Ryan have been dying to set me up.”
“Amara?”
“Ryan is a cop. Miramar’s only detective. She’s in a relationship with Ethan Lange, my closest friend in Miramar. Other than Amos, of course . . .”
“You’re doing fine. Go on. Ryan and Ethan are a couple. And Amara . . .”
“Amara is a neighbor and close friend. She looks after Liam when Ryan is on duty.”
“Liam is . . .”
