Hometown Love (Love on the North Shore #2)(31)

“We kissed nothing else.” Jessie’s lips tingled with the memory. “Then he invited me—well actually, he said his daughter and he wanted me to come over again tonight.” Jessie reviewed his exact words in her head. Yes, he’d said that Grace wanted her to come back when he returned from tucking her in. Then he’d continued by saying he wanted her there, too.

“You look confused or worried. I’m not sure which.” Charlie broke into her thoughts.

Even though they’d reconnected and their friendship was much like it had been, Jessie had never told Charlie about her last relationship. Rather than share anything now, she shook her head. “Neither. I’m just not going to assume anything. One or two kisses don’t always mean something.” It was true. During her first semester at college, she’d met a guy at a freshman get-together. They’d kissed a few times that night and then gone on two dates. After that, she never spoke with him again.

“But sometimes it does.”

Charlie hadn’t dated a lot in high school, either. Jessie had a feeling that had been because most guys hadn’t wanted to get on Sean’s bad side. Even before Charlie’s dad walked out on them, Sean had been protective of her. Once their dad left, though, he’d taken over the roles of both protective brother and father. She assumed Charlie had dated a lot in college as well as in the Navy, which meant she had a lot more experience with men.

“I guess.”

Once again, Charlie moved to the edge of her seat. “I have to go, but are you around tomorrow or Monday? Jake and I are here until Tuesday morning.”

“I’m off Monday, but I have to work tomorrow morning.”

Charlie stood. “Perfect. Do you want to plan on meeting Monday around noon? I can come to your place if you want.”

“Sounds good.”

“Have fun tonight.” Charlie picked up the keys she’d placed on Jessie’s desk. “See you on Monday.”

Jessie watched her friend walk back into the store, again wishing she were a little more like Charlie. People had often wondered about their friendship. On so many levels they were complete opposites. Charlie was tall and one of the prettiest girls in their class, confident, driven, and she never backed down. All the things Jessie wasn’t. Somehow though, their similarities had over-shadowed their differences. Right now, however, Jessie wished for just a touch of her friend’s confidence. Heck, she’d like to have a bit Charlie’s height as well.

With Charlie gone, Jessie picked up the brochure she’d been reading and checked the wall clock. Another hour until she called it a day. Mack had said to come over after work, but she planned to stop home first. When she’d left this morning, she’d dressed for a day at work, nothing else. Regardless of whether Mack kissed her or not tonight, she wanted to look nice. She didn’t want to show up in the Quinn’s hardware golf shirt she’d thrown on or the jeans she managed to get paint on while mixing a can for Ray Larson.

At the last minute, Jessie made a small detour on her way to Mack’s. While he told her not to bring anything, her upbringing told her something else. Since she didn’t have time to make anything, cupcakes from Peggy Sue’s would have to do.


“I’ll take three chocolate and three vanilla cupcakes,” Jess said and watched the high school student behind the counter fill a box.

“Anything else?”

Jessie accepted the box and handed over a ten-dollar bill. “That’s it.”

“Jessica?” an unfamiliar voice said from behind her.

Accepting her change she turned and found Sharon Pelletier behind her. She’d tried calling the other woman twice now and had even left a voice mail, but Sharon had never called back. Now here she stood and the words she’d prepared vanished from her head. “Hi Sharon.” I can do this. “How are you?”

“Busy. The wedding is in a week and there are a million things left to do.”

Jessie leaned against the counter for support. “You’re getting married?”

Sharon shook her head. “No, Keira,” she said, referring to her older sister. “Edward and I only got engaged last month.”

Edward. She’d said Edward. Not Jeremy. Then she wasn’t dating the monster.

“Sorry I didn’t call you back. I meant to. When you said you needed to talk, you made me curious.”

Now that Jessie no longer had to share her secret, she struggled for an answer. “I saw you with someone I thought I knew the other day at The Coffee Press. I wasn’t sure if it was him or not.” As far as on-the-spot excuses went, it wasn’t bad.

“You must have seen me with Jeremy. We stopped in on our way back to the office.”

She almost hugged Sharon. “You work with him?”

“For a little longer anyway. He’s transferring to the Worcester office. Would you like me to tell him you said hi?”

“No!” Jessie shouted and a few customers looked in her direction. “I was just curious. I thought he moved after we graduated.” She couldn’t recall the last time she’d improvised like this. “We weren’t close friends or anything.”

“I’m not surprised. He’s a bit of a jerk.”

You don’t know the half of it. “I’ll take your word for it. It was nice seeing you.” Jessie took a step backward. “Congratulations on the engagement.”