Page 10 of Lawson & Jill

“I’m hanging up now, big brother.”

* * *

Jill looked at her phone for the eighty-third time, willing it to ring. How pathetic. Even more pathetic was the batch of chocolate chip cookies she’d made. You only made cookies if you were really into a guy. The last time she’d made them was when she had dated Carl, who ended up being a total loser. A total loser.

The timer dinged and she looked in the oven. Golden brown, as they should be. She pulled them out and placed them on the stovetop.

“You have two choices. You eat five thousand calories’ worth of cookies or call the hottest, nicest guy you’ve met in forever and see if he can be wooed by cookies.”

Jill threw off the oven mitts and picked up a cookie that was far too hot and took a bite.

“Hot. Hot. Hot.” She waved her hand in front of her mouth to cool it down but continued to chew on the molten chocolatey goodness. She looked at her phone resting on the kitchen island. Still no message or missed call. She was going to have to pull up her big-girl panties and call him.

She finished the rest of the cookie and considered her game plan. It was Sunday. What time was football? Did he watch football? Would she be interrupting something? Maybe he was working.

“Darn it, quit with the doubts. You’re just making a phone call!” She pushed back the loose hair from her forehead and felt something sticky. Oh, for goodness sake. She looked at her fingers. Yep, chocolate was in her hair.

“Good going, Keiler.”

After a half-hour, she was freshly showered and her hair was clean and shiny, no chocolate in sight. And, she didn’t look half-bad in her skinny jeans and flowered tank top. A little bit of mascara and lip gloss and she was ready. She went to the kitchen and piled the cookies onto a plate, stacked the extras in a Tupperware container, and made a grab for her phone. She saw the screen, then promptly dropped it in the sink. It barely missed the mixing bowl filled with water to soak.

Thank God!

She grinned. Lawson had called. She pressed play on her voicemail.

Jill, this is Law Thorne, I wanted to see if you would be available to go out to dinner anytime this coming week, either weekday or weekend, my schedule is pretty free. I know this goes against the macho code, letting it all hang out this way, but I really would like to see you again.

Jill gripped the phone tightly so she didn’t drop it again. She would, too, she was so darned excited. It hadn’t been her imagination; his voice was sexy.

“I’m going to be giving chocolate chip cookies to Law!” She pumped her fist in the air.

She pressed redial and felt her fingertips tingle when she heard the smile in his deep voice as he answered. She pictured a dimple.

“Jill. This is promising.”

“I was surprised when you mentioned the macho code. I thought you were a Marine,” she teased.

“A Marine wouldn’t let it all hang out like that. He would’ve arranged for a date back at the diner. I made a rookie mistake.”

She felt a huge grin spread across her face. “I’ll let you in on a secret. I just baked two-dozen chocolate chip cookies with you in mind, so I think it’s safe to say we’re on the same wavelength.”

He paused.

“My front porch is covered, and it has a couple of chairs out front, if you would like to come on over,” he offered. “And if the milk is expired, I’ll go pick some up fresh before you show up.”

“Expired?”

“Apparently, I haven’t been going to the store as often as I should.”

“You’re near Pendleton, right? Give me your address and I’ll be over in about forty-five minutes.”

He gave it to her and hung up.

Not until she was packing up the cookies did she realize he was arranging it so she would feel comfortable by sitting outside. He had a point; normally, she’d go on two or three dates before she’d invite a man over to her house or go to his, or she would meet his friends first. Maybe it was because she met Law at the grief counseling group, but she felt like she could trust him, and this just further proved it.

Her phone rang again. This time, she saw it was Lesley. That was really odd. The woman had only called to check in with her when she’d first started the group session.

She would listen to the message later. She had cookies to deliver!