JC snickered. “Did they...”
“No! Hell no, honey. Reed never gave her the time of day. Even if they had dated, Susie would’ve chewed him up, spit him out and moved on to greener pastures with deeper pockets.” Jenny scoffed with an irritated eye roll. “She’s just naturally horizontal, that one.”
JC sat on the edge of the loveseat, concealing her laughter in the palm of her hand so not to wake the babies. Her chuckles fell flat and her eyes fell to the floor with a scowl. Do they think I’m just naturally horizontal?
As if sensing her thoughts Jenny interjected somberly, “He seems awfully smitten with you, though.”
Heat rose to her cheeks. “He’s…umm….Reed’s wonderful.”
“That man’s as charming as the day is long.” Jenny sank back into the rocking chair with a sigh of relief that only an exhausted mother could make. “We grew up in the same neighborhood. He was like the big brother I never had. He set Sam and I up on a blind date when we were in college and I guess you already know Annie and I were best friends.”
Her chest tightened around her insecurities. It was one thing to stick up for Annie, but admitting she was the love of Reed’s life left her drowning in uncertainty. She cleared her throat in hopes of being able to answer, but only manage to bob her head.
“I only caught the tail end of your conversation.” Jenny gave a slight nod of gratitude. “It was awfully nice of you to stick up for Annie that way.”
Their eyes caught briefly before JC’s stare drifting aimlessly to the window blinds. Her heart pounded in painful beats. All of the answers to every question JC needed to know about Reed sat right in front of her. If I don’t ask, I’ll never know.
JC sank back into to worn denim material, lowering her defenses. “She must have been an amazing woman,”—she chewed nervously on the inside of her cheek, unsure of how much to say—“if she was lucky enough to marry Reed.”
JC’s comment seemed to take Jenny by surprise. She slowly rocked back in the chair. “They were both pretty lucky. Reed’s one hell of a man.”
“He doesn’t talk much about her, but his eyes always light up when he does. So I assume she must have been one hell of a woman.” JC repeated Jenny’s words with a hint of Texas swag. “The love of his life?” The compliment slipped from her lips more like a question than fact.
“Yeah,” Jenny agreed cautiously as she rocked back and forth, staring at JC for a full thirty seconds. “He was the love of her life. I know that much for certain.”
JC remained quiet. The air gathered in lungs escaped slowly in defeat.
“But he seems different with you.”
Her heart rate flew in anticipation from zero to sixty like Reed’s Camaro. “Different?” she questioned casually. A glimpse of optimism heated her cheeks, dusting a hue of blush over her neck and chest.
“Different in a good way.” Grinning at JC’s reaction, Jenny confessed, “I was all prepared not to like you. I poked around on the Internet and Lord knows you’re in a few magazines laying around the house, but seeing the effect you have on Reed, it’s hard not to.”
“The effect I have on him? I thought it was the effect he has on me.” She scoffed candidly.
“Honey, that man hasn’t laughed in three years. Not like today. You could fit the whole state of Texas in his smile.”
Sentiments bit at her nose with a stinging sensation. JC’s shoulders lifted with a shrug, damn near jumping with excitement to her feet. Sam appeared in the doorway with a glass of wine in his hand. Without making a sound, he entered the room, leaning over the railing of the crib to check Annie’s forehead with the palm of his hand for fever. Turning his attention to Jenny, he offered a tender smile, helping her to her feet, relieving her of the baby monitor and replacing it with a glass of red wine. “Everybody’s already left, sweetheart. Let’s go out back and visit.”
The three of them crept out the door. She found Reed waiting under the patio on the rattan sofa. They spent the next hour chatting over a glass of wine. Feeling completely at ease, she snuggled into his masculine frame while his fingers chased up and down her arm.
On her third yawn, Reed suggested they had better take off and let Jenny get some sleep. After passing out hugs and promising to return soon, they moseyed to the truck. Reed opened the driver’s door and she scooted into the middle of the bench seat.
They’d been driving for twenty minutes in almost complete silence other than the country music on the radio. The day replayed through her thoughts. JC attended hundreds of parties over the last few years and hardly, if ever, did she feel this comfortable. The smell of BBQ, the couples she’d met, the expansive backyard filled with kids of every age. A casual get together. A party. A huge picnic filled with the sounds of music, laughter, kids crying, parents laughing and hollering at their kids. The sounds of JC’s childhood.