Hometown Love (Love on the North Shore #2)(23)

Don’t do it. Just because she offered didn’t mean she meant it. Then again, the Jessie Quinn he’d grown up with and tutored in high school always meant what she said and was known to go out of her way to help others.

Even knowing all that, something bothered him, but he couldn’t put his finger on what. Still, he needed a babysitter and he didn’t have many options.

“Jessie, I understand if you can’t, but is there anyway you could watch Grace after school on Friday?” Mack ignored whatever bothered him. “Erin has a doctor’s appointment and my parents have meetings.”

“Please, Jessie.” Grace clasped her hands together.

Jessie bit down on her lip as she considered his request. “Sure. Do I need to pick her up at school?”

He hadn’t considered that part. “No, I can have the bus drop her off at my house if you want to meet her there.” Since she was doing him this favor, he didn’t want to make it difficult for her. “I’ll put a key in the front pocket of Grace’s backpack so you can just let yourself in.” As he spoke, Maryann arrived and settled in at the table.

“Sounds like a plan. What time does the bus get there?”

Another thing he hadn’t considered. “No idea. School gets out at three o’clock, that’s all I know.”

“The bus drops my neighbor’s kids off at quarter past three.” Maryann lived on the same street as Mack and Grace. “Grace must ride the same bus and she’d get dropped off before my neighbors.”

“Then I’ll plan to get to your house for three and just wait.” Jessie looked back at him.

Although she’d agreed with little hesitation, his conscience bothered him for once again asking for her help. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“Don’t worry about it. We’ll have fun.”

His mother’s words from the week before popped up. He didn’t want to take advantage of her generous nature. “If you change your mind, let me know. I’ll understand.”

“I’ll see you on Friday, Grace,” Jessie said, ignoring his comment as the waitress appeared.

“Come on, Grace. Let’s sit and let them enjoy their dinner.” With a final goodbye to both Jessie and Maryann, Grace let him lead her away.

From his table, he kept looking back over at Jessie as they waited for their dinner and Grace told him all about her first day of school. Every time he did look, Jessie had a smile on her face as she and Maryann talked. Even before tonight, he noticed what an attractive woman she’d become, but when she smiled her face transformed from pretty to beautiful. Perhaps not Hollywood beautiful, but she had a girl-next-door beauty which he found himself attracted to more so now than ever before.

“My cubby at school is purple and it’s next to Brianna’s, but I have to share it,” Grace rattled on. “I share with Sydney. She has a princess backpack just like mine.”

“And do you like her?” Mack’s gaze wandered over to Jessie again, and this time their eyes met for a moment. As soon as they did, Jessie looked back at her own dinner.

“She’s okay. I like Maggie more. She shares a cubby with Brianna.”

Mack nodded since his daughter’s statement didn’t require a response. In return Grace launched into a description of morning circle time while the waitress set their food out. Then without pausing to breathe, she continued telling him about class centers, which happened right before lunch.

As she spoke, Mack spooned food onto her plate, careful to make sure none of her food touched. Heaven help him if her fried rice mixed in with the chicken chow mien.

“You can tell me everything else later. Right now eat.” It wasn’t uncommon for his daughter to talk her way through dinner.



She hadn’t meant to look in their direction again. She’d already reminded herself how rude it was to stare. Even still, she glanced over at Mack and his daughter. She’d often done the same thing when he’d tutored her high school. Then, he’d been none the wiser—much like tonight. Rather, all his attention stayed focused on Grace. Or, at least, it had seemed that way. When she’d shot that last look at him and met his eyes, she’d wanted to crawl under the table. While he’d most likely assume she’d just been looking around the room, she hated that he caught her.

“Can you pass me the soy sauce?” Maryann asked.

Without looking up from her plate, Jessie grabbed the bottle and handed it over.

“You and Mack seemed friendly earlier.”

Jessie ignored the curiosity in her friend’s voice. “You know this town. Everyone is friendly with each other.”

“I guess.” Maryann’s tone let Jessie know there was a but in there. “My mom said she saw you two together at Masterson’s.”

Maryann’s mom worked at Masterson’s in the kitchen, but Jessie didn’t remember seeing her that night. For the first time in a long while, Jessie wished she’d moved away from North Salem after college like her friend, Charlie Sherbrooke.

“I helped him paint Saturday afternoon, and afterwards, we grabbed an early dinner. No big deal.”

Maryann shot a quick glance over at Mack and his daughter, then at Jessie. “Didn’t you have a thing for him in high school?”

Jessie adored her friends, but they never forgot a thing. “Me and half the girls in our class. Even you had a crush on him for a while freshman year.”