By the time I got it open, Jackson and Dash were by my side and Louise’s friends surrounded us once again.
This meant they were all there to see what I’d unwrapped.
“Is that…?” Violet starte
d.
“Are those real?” Sally asked.
I stared down at the handcuffs dangling from my finger, too surprised to respond. Hannah’s laughter cut through the silence. “That has got to be Declan’s contribution to the present exchange,” she said, joining us. “One of my husbands is a cop and he obviously likes to give themed gifts.”
I returned her smile, swinging them back and forth with a laugh. “What am I supposed to do with these?”
“Honey, if you don’t know, I can’t help you,” Aunt Louise said in a stage whisper that had everyone laughing, including me.
Mrs. Wray moved between me and her son. Wrapping an arm around me, she turned to face Jackson. “Don’t say I never did anything for you.” Before I could ask what she meant by that, the older woman grabbed my hand. She moved so quickly I didn’t have time to react.
I heard the click around my wrist, felt the cool metal and blinked. What the…?
Jackson stared at me over his mother’s head. He looked just as shocked as I felt.
She’d handcuffed me and Jackson together and then, with a loud laugh, grabbed her friends in their hideous sweater glory and walked away.
“Those women are crazy,” Dash muttered, staring at our joined hands with barely concealed laughter.
“Have fun,” Hannah said with a huge grin, patting me on the arm and leaving us, too.
“Dash McPherson, this is not funny,” I said between gritted teeth. I tugged at the handcuff, which only moved Jackson’s arm toward me. These were not play ones. These were the real deal.
I turned to Jackson and saw that he, too, was struggling not to laugh. I found the humor contagious and joined them. “There have to be keys around here somewhere, right?”
When the guys shook their heads, I stopped laughing. No keys? I was handcuffed to Jackson Wray. So much for my escape plan.
7
JACKSON
* * *
There were keys. Of course, there were. My mother had slipped them into my shirt pocket with a little pat after she’d deftly handcuffed me to the love of my life.
Subtlety had never been my mom’s strong suit.
But now, as she looked at me from across the room and winked, I couldn’t bring myself to admit that I had the literal and figurative key to setting Avery free burning a hole in my pocket. Dash must have known—he’d been watching my mom’s mischief and hadn’t done a thing to intervene.
Something told me he’d stayed quiet for the same reason I wasn’t offering up the key right now. Despite her crazy methods, my mother had given us a gift. More time with Avery with no chance for her to run away.
I’d watched her tonight and seen the way she’d warmed up to the nice, if slightly quirky, townspeople. She’d looked like she’d been having fun. But I’d also heard her explanation when she’d told Rory and Cooper that she was leaving town.
More than that, I’d seen the flicker of relief in her eyes, but also the hint of sadness.
She was obviously conflicted, and that was a start. Maybe we’d managed to give her a bit of temptation to stay—or at least come back more often than once or twice a year—but we still had our work cut out for us. Being handcuffed to the woman was certainly a help.
I looked down at our joined hands. This was the perfect opportunity to keep her close for a little while longer. So instead of admitting the truth, I gave her a shrug and tugged on her joined hand so she was snug against my side. “I’m sure there’s a key around here somewhere. In the meantime, is it really so bad being stuck with me?”
Her lips pulled to the side in a funny little smile. “I guess it’s not all that bad.”
“Gee, thanks.”