Page 39 of Just Ten Seconds

I look up into his blue eyes. “She’s amazing. It was a pleasure.”

He opens his mouth to say something and then seems to change his mind. His jaw is steady as he nods with a small, closed-mouth smile. “Take care of yourself, Mara. Maybe we’ll see you again.”

With a curt nod, I nod my head. “Good night, Dean.”

I open my car door, and he closes it behind me as I buckle in. And as I make my way down his drive, I see his figure standing on the gravel, watching me leave.

“I know; I know. I’m late,” Jackie says as she walks up to me at the farmers market, wearing an oversize cable sweater, leggings, and sunglasses the size of her head.

I glance at my phone. “Actually, you’re right on time. When you told me to meet you at four, I figured you’d be half an hour late.” I smile smugly, which makes her stick her tongue out at me like a child. “Late and mature. Remind me who’s turning thirty in a few days?”

“Hardy-har-har.” She dances as she walks with me up toward the outdoor market of our favorite apple farm. “Your birthday’s not far behind mine, so quit the old-age jokes.”

“Never. One of the reasons I can age so gracefully is because you’ll always be older than me.”

We walk up to a flower bed of mums that are blossoming in orange and yellows. I lean down to take a sniff.

The orchard is one of my favorite places in all of Orange County. From September through November, I could spend every weekend here, picking apples, cutting a pumpkin off the vine in the black dirt, feeding farm animals, and exploring the cornfields.

Last fall, this orchard secured a deal with Nick and Jackie to sell their products in the café. Four times a year, she and I meet here to place our orders for the season. Today, it’s pies and apple cider donuts. I won’t lie and say I don’t walk away with a bag or two of each when I leave here.

She looks at the tag on the mums and grimaces at the price. They’re not the cheapest, but they are big and beautiful.

“So, how was teaching the hot, single dad’s daughter?” she asks.

My mind wanders for a second as a certain moment pops into my brain. One where we were cooking in his kitchen, doing something so ordinary and yet just thinking about it feels extraordinary.

“It was good.”

“You hesitated,” she accuses with a slack jaw.

“Did not!”

“Something happened.”

I drop my shoulders with a serious head tilt. “Yes, Jackie, I went there to work with his daughter and quickly found myself thrown into the passions of lovemaking on his kitchen floor.”

She turns toward me with a dubious smile. “So, it has crossed your mind.”

I hit her in the arm. “Nothing happened, and nothing will. He’s a man moving on with his life, and I’m”—I sigh—“me.”

“Fine.” Her eyes dart toward me and back as if she’s looking for a clue or a sign of some sort. “I’m glad you’re at least flirting.”

“Who said I was flirting?”

“It’s impossible not to with that guy. Even I started batting my lashes a few times.”

She flutters her lashes like a cartoon character. I playfully push my hand in her face, and she swipes it away with a laugh. Her glee turns into a sigh as she rounds a sculpture of a witch and comes around to the other side of the table of mums.

“Anyway, I was late because I was caught on the phone. Your mother called.”

I pop up with my hand on my heart, as it feels like it’s stopped. If my mother is calling Jackie, then something terrible must have happened.

“Is she okay?”

Jackie’s eyes narrow in question, and then her brows pop up as she waves off my concern. “Oh, yeah. Nothing like that. She was just calling me, asking about you.”

And now, she’s got my attention for another reason.