By Proxy(14)

Tess turned her entire body to face Sam and gave him her thousand-megawatt smile. “I got what-ev-er you want, sugar.” She straightened up, throwing her shoulders back, which pushed her breasts out toward his face like twin torpedoes seeking a close-range target. Sam looked down at the table in embarrassment and Jenny tilted her head to the side, rolling her eyes and giving Tess a disapproving look. What nerve! She doesn’t see me sitting here? Sam and I could be together, for goodness sake!

“Hei-ei-einey-kin…Bu-u-u-sch…,” she drawled flirtatiously, drawing out each word as suggestively as possible, while she batted her eyelashes and snapped her gum subtly between offerings.

“Heineken. Great. Hei-Heineken is great. Thanks.” Sam finished quickly, seemingly as anxious as Jenny for Tess to move on.

“Heiny-kin. Mmmm-hmmmmm,” she groaned. “Coming up in a jiff.” She winked at him and lingered for a moment smiling until Jenny cleared her throat loudly. Tess narrowed her eyes at Jenny and hmphed once before she sauntered away.

***

Sam grinned at Jenny’s expression. Her pursed lips made her feelings clear as she watched the eager waitress head over to the bar. The age-old battle between the “good” girl and the “bad” girl, he thought, rubbing his lips absentmindedly with his index finger as he studied Jenny.

Sam had no interest in Tess’s come-ons and obvious availability. He’d seen it all before. What he hadn’t seen in a long time was someone like Jenny: a nice girl, in the traditional sense, like his mother or sisters. He found Jenny’s exasperation completely adorable.

“I’m sorry about that, Sam.” She had caught him staring at her and seemed to assume he was offended by a little silly flirting. “She is just—”

“It’s fine, Jen,” he answered, the nickname sliding off his tongue with ease, as he smiled at her, his gaze briefly dropping to her lips as they relaxed.

“No, it’s disgraceful. She always— I mean, she has just always been like that. When we were in seventh, she came to Wednesday Night Fellowship with me, but I couldn’t find her at the end. Well, when I finally did, she was doing things in the coat closet with two boys from Big Sky. She just…I don’t know. Some girls are just like that, I guess.”

“I guess. Unless boys from Big Sky are especially racy?”

She looked at him, he supposed, to see if he was teasing her, but he kept his face carefully neutral. No way I’m getting busted for teasing.

“Not especially,” she answered, thinking it over. “Just those two, I think. Mostly I know some very nice people from Big Sky. Anyway, none of them ever came back to Wednesday Night Fellowship.”

He glanced down at the table grinning and swallowed back all of the teasing comments he wanted to make, most of which included the observation that they may not have come to Wednesday Night Fellowship, but Sam was fairly certain they came somewhere else. He had promised not to tease her, after all. He didn’t realize how tough it was going to be.

When he looked back up she gestured to his iPad, probably anxious to change the subject.

“Maybe we could write those e-mails while we wait?” she asked.

Tess returned with their drinks and although Jenny’s icy expression didn’t invite further conversation, she winked boldly at Sam before sauntering away. He just nodded curtly in thanks. No point in ruffling Jenny’s feathers.

“Sure. What should we say?”

She sipped her Coke and considered, drawing concentric circles with her finger on the table. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a low ponytail and his eyes followed it across her shoulder to where it ended right above her right breast. His eyes lingered there, distracted, until her voice jolted him back to their conversation.

“We don’t have to tell them it was your fault. We could maybe tell a little white lie”—her face colored—“and say Judge Hanlon left early for the park. Sun sets early now, so he’d have to leave mid-afternoon to have a few good hours. And I wouldn’t want them to be mad at you.”

He looked up at her pretty face, those big blue eyes wide with a mixture of chagrin and compassion. There you go surprising me, Jenny Lindstrom. She certainly didn’t owe him anything. His late arrival at the courthouse had upset her and inconvenienced her life. Heck, if he hadn’t been late, it would have been lighter on the drive home, and she wouldn’t have hit the black ice patch. Her kindness touched him. She looked down, no doubt uncomfortable under his scrutiny, and he watched her draw circles on the table with the pad of her finger before impulsively locking his index finger around hers, forming a link. He rubbed his thumb lightly over it.