“Okay,” he answered. He picked up another screw. This one was easier now that the first screw held the bracket in place. The drill whined through the silence.
“You’re mad at me,” she said, and he looked up. Sure enough, her eyes were asking for forgiveness. He should give it. He knew that. But because Jess made him feel weak, he held back.
“I’m busy here, Jess. You want your job done or not?”
She turned on her heel and disappeared again.
When she was gone Rick dropped his head and let out a breath. This wasn’t good. His feelings for Jess weren’t exactly friendly. They were more, much more, and she was convinced that he was nothing more than a disappointment.
The old Rick would have shaken that off, put on the charm, and proved her wrong. The problem was, he wasn’t convinced she was wrong. And until he was, he had no business messing around with the likes of Jess Collins.
CHAPTER 5
Jess had just rolled the quilt and was now immersed in making tiny, even stitches. She loved the feel of the needle and thimble, the slight popping sound as the needle poked through the taut fabric, the bubbled texture of the previously quilted spots under her fingertips. Summer Arnold, one of the regulars from Jess’s craft classes, sat beside her looking like the last person to be spending an afternoon with a needle and thread.
Summer’s hair had a pink streak down one side, a silver nose ring looped through one nostril, and her jeans had tears at the knees and thighs. Her youthful face had a healthy glow, though, and she seemed to blend an edgy rebel look with a natural, earthy vibe.
It was a relief for Jess to spend time with Summer, one of the few friends she had who was unmarried. It seemed lately that every time she turned around she was faced with her family and friends and their perfect husbands, perfect families, perfect lives. Sometimes it put Jess’s life in stark relief. It seemed like everyone was married or in love these days. And Jess was alone.
Which was her choice. She’d rather be alone than settle just because she was lonely, but sometimes—not that she’d admit it to another soul—that choice sucked.
She focused on the pieced blocks that made up waves and a sailboat. Summer tied off her thread and grabbed the spool for more. “Hey Jess, I heard you and Rick took some donations to the shelter. How’s he doing?”
Jess started at the mention of Rick’s name. The last few days she’d had to endure his presence in her workroom, and he barely said two words to her. He was still angry at her accusations that first morning. But she’d taken one look at his bloodshot eyes and tousled hair and had known. She wished she had better control over her reactions. It didn’t seem to matter what she knew intellectually—certain things still triggered an automatic response, like a muscle memory to a threat. One of those things was the way a man looked after a binge. In her experience they were irritable at best, and a hair trigger at worst.
Once she’d had time to process things, she’d calmed down. And felt a little foolish for being so snappish.
“Oh, you know,” she said as lightly as she could manage. “Okay, considering.”
“I saw him the other night. He was with Bryce.”
Great. Rick plus the police chief. “What trouble did he get himself into this time?”
“Trouble?” Summer’s brows pulled together in confusion. “No trouble. He was having some dinner at Breezes and I was on shift that night. He’s moved back into his mom’s house, you know.”
Jess hadn’t known. She’d tried to keep her nose firmly out of Rick’s business. It was too complicated and all they usually ended up doing was arguing anyway. “That’s good,” she said, concentrating on a line of stitches. “It’s got to be better than where he was.”
“Sure, but I bet it’s hard, too. Bryce said Rick really seems to be making an effort to get his act together. Shame he’s laid off. It would probably be easier if he were working.”
Keeping busy was always a good idea, Jess knew firsthand. It was a rare thing for her to sit idle. It gave her too much time to think. Like think about how Rick’s mouth had quirked up when he was teasing her in the car, or how the muscles had rippled his shirt when he lifted boxes. Now she felt smaller than ever, because Rick had really needed this job and she hadn’t made it easy for him.
“Anything else new?” she asked, wanting to change the subject.
Summer shrugged. “Remember Karen Greer? I heard she and her husband just moved back to Jewell Cove. Apparently, she has cancer and isn’t doing so well, so Brian moved them back to town. Says she wants to be by the ocean.” Summer paused to shake her head sadly. “Word is, Brian called the kids and asked them to come home. I guess they don’t want to wait until Christmas. It might be too late by then.” Her words were quiet, in deference to the sad subject.
Jess’s body went suddenly cold and her hand stopped midstitch.
“Didn’t I hear that you went out with Mike Greer back in the day?” Summer’s voice perked up as she knotted a new thread. “I think Bryce mentioned that.”
Summer had continued on as if the mentioning of Mike Greer’s name was simple gossipy conversation. Her stitches were smooth and even; she was utterly unaware of how Jess had frozen in her chair.
Mike Greer. Just the name was enough to make her tremble. Josh had made him promise to never come back to Jewell Cove and to her knowledge he never had. Of course, Josh had also promised Mike that if he did return, he’d never walk again. And he’d meant it. The quilt in Jess’s hands faded as she struggled to breathe, trapped in her memories. Josh had been the one to tend her cuts and bruises. He’d been staying at their mom’s place, home on leave, when he’d stopped by the little house she and Mike had rented from his parents. She had been so young back then, so determined to have her own way by moving out, unwilling to admit that her boyfriend would never change. But when she saw Josh’s reaction to her injuries, she’d known enough was enough.
Jess’s fingers tightened on the scrap of cloth in front of her. That night she’d left Mike, but no matter what Josh said, Jess had felt so stupid. She’d refused to let anyone else see just what her life had become. Instead, Josh drove her to the shelter and held her hand as she’d called their mother and explained that she and Mike had
broken up and she was visiting friends for a while to clear her head. He’d made sure that Mike was really gone, and once the visual evidence of that night was gone from her face, she’d returned home. Started getting on with her life.
Sort of.