Braydon(39)

“Gone? She left?”

“I’m pretty sure that was her plan,” he answered.

Well, crap.

Jessie lowered herself into the booth across from Braydon, placing her cell phone and her keys down in front of her. She was nervous and she had no idea why. As soon as she saw him sitting there, her insides had started breakdancing, and they didn’t seem to be letting up.

Luckily, Rachel chose that moment to come back to the table, placing two glasses of tea in front of them. “What can I get y’all to eat?” she asked, flipping through her notepad briefly before looking up at . . . Braydon.

Jessie wanted to smack the woman. The way she eyed Braydon—as though she were slowly stripping him out of his clothes one piece at a time—made her want to jump in front of him so the waitress couldn’t eye-f*ck him when she was done mentally undressing him.

“Just bring me a burger and fries,” Braydon told her, and Jessie peered over at him to see that he was staring at her. Which meant he’d probably just seen the eye daggers she’d shot at the unsuspecting waitress.

Great.

“I’ll have the same,” she answered, not bothering to look up at Rachel.

Rachel had just hurried off when Jessie’s phone vibrated on the table. She heard a familiar chirp at the exact same moment, and Braydon reached for his own phone on his belt.

Jessie retrieved her phone, then swiped her finger over the screen. A text.

She began to read silently as Braydon read out loud from his own phone:

So sorry. Something came up that I have to take care of. Lunch is on me though so enjoy.

Braydon chuckled and then put his phone back on his belt. “It was bound to happen sooner or later,” he said.

“What?”

“My mother interfering. I wouldn’t be surprised if Brendon shows up in the next few minutes.”

Jessie’s body went rigid. It was bad enough that she was face-to-face with Braydon and had no way to get out of it, but if Brendon showed up, she knew she’d be in a world of hurt. “Let’s hope not.”

“That’ll teach you not to come to Sunday dinner,” he teased, his words reflecting the humor but his eyes not nearly as amused.

For the first time since she arrived, she actually smiled. It wasn’t quite natural, but she was doing her best. Yep, she should’ve known that Lorrie would put two and two together. Since she’d attended every single Sunday dinner since Braydon had left town, his mother must’ve realized that her avoidance had something to do with him.

“She’s getting kinda good at this,” Braydon told her as he reached for his tea.

“What? Setting people up?”

“Yeah. I heard she did the same thing to Beau and Ethan.”

Jessie laughed. She’d heard that, too. Something about getting them to help move furniture that had no business being moved. At least that’s the way Ethan told the story.

“I’m sorry,” she finally told him. “I didn’t mean to ruin your lunch plans with your mom. If I’d known, I would’ve politely declined.”

“I’m not sorry, Jess. And you didn’t ruin anything,” Braydon responded softly.

Jessie squeezed her hands together on the top of the table as she stared at him. God, up until today, she had thought about all the things she wanted to say to him if she ever had the chance, but now that the opportunity had presented itself, she couldn’t think of a single thing. She was scared. No, maybe a better word was “petrified.”

Jessie had feelings for him that she refused to accept because they went against all her good intentions. Her reasons for being with the twins in the first place. Turning her life around, focusing on what was important, and not falling in love . . . Braydon had put a hitch in her plan from the beginning, and she’d been fighting her ill-timed reaction to him ever since.

It wasn’t fair to either one of them.

“But I do need to apologize,” Braydon stated, surprising her.

“For what?”

“For leaving without telling you.”

Jessie considered that for a moment. The overwhelming sadness that had enveloped her the moment she realized he was gone came rushing back. She had to make a conscious effort to push it away. She wasn’t going to do this. Three months had gone by, and some of the ache in her chest had subsided. She knew if she gave him a chance, all the pain would return with a vengeance.

And Jessie had no intention of going through that again.

Ever.

“Why don’t we start over?” she asked, coming up with an idea. “Why don’t we pretend none of this ever happened and just get back to the friendship that we had in the beginning?”

Jessie felt the heat of Braydon’s gaze on her, but she didn’t look him in the eye. She couldn’t.

“I don’t want to start over, Jess.”

“Well, I do. And if we can’t be friends, then I guess there isn’t much more we have to say to one another.”

Braydon reached out and took her hand. His callused fingers scraped sensually against the back of her hand before he covered it with his. “I’ve got plenty to say.”

It took effort, but she forced away the rising emotion that started down deep just from his touch. The stern tone in his voice brought her up short. Jessie had never heard Braydon talk like that. At least not to her.