Sam caught her by the arm. "It will be all right."
"I just hate leaving Megan alone. It reminds me of me—waiting."
"Do you want to bring her with us?"
Alli hesitated, then shook her head. "No, it's cold and wet, and she'll be all right with Judy. Just promise me we'll come back really fast."
He kissed her on the cheek. "I'll take care of you, Alli."
It sounded like a promise. She wished he meant it for more than just the drive down to the pier.
* * *
Chapter 17
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"Here you go." Jimmy handed Tessa a martini with one green olive floating on the top. "The Jimmy Duggan Special."
She eyed it skeptically. "I'm not much of a hard drinker."
"One drink doesn't make you hard. And eat that olive. You could use a few pounds."
She made a face at him, then took a sip. "Ooh, it's not bad."
"Of course it's not bad," he said, walking over to the fireplace, where Tessa had made little progress with the fire she'd been attempting to start. "Let me guess, you were never a Girl Scout."
"I thought the uniform was very unattractive."
He laughed as he squatted down in front of the fire. He stuffed some newspaper under the logs and lit another match, watching the paper burn away to the wood. A spark caught, then another. "That's better."
"You're good at so many things, Jimmy," Tessa said from her position on the floor, her back against the couch. Actually, she was more impressed by the solidness of his body as he worked the fire. In fact, he had a very nice looking ass. She giggled at the thought and he sent her a sharp look.
"What's so funny?"
"I think I'm feeling tipsy."
"On two sips?"
He came and sat down next to her. "This is nice, the rain outside, the fire inside, a good drink to warm our bones." He picked up his own martini glass from the coffee table and raised it to his lips. "Cheers."#p#分页标题#e#
"Cheers," she muttered, taking another sip. The alcohol did send a pleasant warmth through her body. If only she could forget how many calories she was drinking…
"I could do this for a while," Jimmy said, staring at the now growing flames of the fire.
"You? Sit in one spot for a period of time? Sorry, I don't see it."
"I can relax."
"Since when? You're like a jackrabbit, always on the move, always popping up where I least expect it."
"Gotta keep you on your toes." He set his glass down on the table and reached for his bag. "By the way, while you were visiting your grandmother this evening, I got some photos developed. Do you want to see them?"
She had a feeling she didn't. "Do I?"
"Relax, they're not of you."
That didn't relax her at all. But she couldn't stop him from placing a stack of photographs in her hand. The one on top was the front of Alli's shop. The next one was of Alli and two elderly customers. So far, nothing too horrible.
"Go on," Jimmy encouraged when she hesitated. "They won't bite."
"Promise?"
The next one was of Alli up to her elbows in fish. The expression on her face was of pure disgust, and it brought a smile to Tessa's lips. "Serves her right."
"Why?"
"Because Alli was always one to make a mess of things."
"This wasn't Alli's mess, it was Sam's. She bailed him out. Don't you wonder why? Since she's divorcing the guy?"
Tessa shrugged. She didn't want to think too long or too hard about Alli's motives. Instead, she flipped to the next picture and caught her breath as she saw a close-up of Sam's face. He was looking at someone or something with desire in his eyes, stark, raging desire. "When did you take this?"
"I can't remember," Jimmy said.
"Who is Sam looking at?"
"I don't know."
She looked over at Jimmy, catching a note in his voice that she didn't like. "You're lying."
"I was studying him through my camera. I wasn't paying attention to what he was looking at."
"Was it me?"
"I told you, Tessa, I don't know."
"Was it me, Jimmy?"
"Do you want it to be you?" he asked, the laughter completely gone from his eyes. "Do you want him to look at you like that?"
Did she? There was a fierceness in Sam's eyes that disturbed her, a wildness that she couldn't place as belonging to him. She set the photograph aside. "You like to stir the pot, don't you?"
"It's amazing what you can see when you're not distracted by what you want to see."
Tessa took another sip of her drink. "Is that some kind of pop photographer psychology?"