Page 55 of Family Bonds- Jarrett & Andi

She had a point.

“You’re different now. Lighter. Friendlier. Funnier. All those things are different than when I first met you. I’m trying to figure out if you’re just more comfortable around me and it’s coming out.”

“Or if I’m not who I say I am,” she said. “Rest assured, the person before you right now is the same person that was like this ten years ago with friends. With strangers not so much. I’d think that is natural for most people.”

“That is what I was hoping for.”

“It’s the truth,” she said. “It’s easier to let go than to hold back. I’ve learned to hold back for a while and it’s tiring. Maybe I’m just sick of being tired.”

Which said everything he needed to know. And maybe more than he wanted to hear.

18

HIS HEART RACED

“How come you’re here alone?” Alex asked Jarrett three weeks later. They were at The Bond Retreat for their cousin Carson Mills’s wedding to Laine Connors.

“Who would I be with?” he asked.

Alex nodded his head for Jarrett to move a few feet over where there were fewer people. Jennie had walked off to talk to someone else while she grabbed their name cards from the table. Jarrett had his in his hand and knew he’d be the lone single one at his table with the rest of his family.

“Come on now,” Alex said. “I know you’re dating someone.”

“And how do you know that?” he asked.

He hadn’t been in to see Andi at the salon. She’d even given him a haircut at her house because she knew it was bothering him. He offered to go in and she’d told him no while she laughed and said that if Amanda was there she’d know right awaythere was something goingon with the two of them. It was easy for people to see.

He wasn’t sure about that since he hadn’t been in a relationship with someone in a while.

But the fact that his heart raced every time he saw her or they spent the night together was enough for him to know that maybe he did have it pretty bad.

“Do you think anything is a secret on this island?” Alex asked. “First off, one of the guys on my shift saw you out to dinner two weeks ago with a woman.”

“So?” he said. “Going on a date doesn’t mean I’m bringing her to a family wedding.”

“Very true,” Alex admitted. “But Mac asked me to go over to the house he’s buying to walk through with the inspector also. I was looking at code things.”

He laughed. “Did you go in uniform?”

“No,” Alex said. “I wouldn’t do that. But they knew who I was. I recommended Colin. That’s why Mac asked me to go too.”

“What’s your point?” he asked.

“I drove by your house in the morning before we met there. I was going to get your ass out of bed, but I noticed a car in your driveway.”

He’d have to be careful now with Mac not living that far away soon.

But he’d planned on telling his family about Andi. He just had to break it to her. The last thing he wanted to do was have her be alone for the holiday. They were planning on Christmas Eve together and then he’d wake with her and go to his parents and return to her place. It was only a few days away.

“So?” he said.

“Come on,” Alex said. “Who is it?”

Since he was going to be talking about it soon, there was no reason to hide this. “Her name is Andi Benson.”

“The girl you saved that day?” Alex asked, laughing. “Dude, I never thought you’d use that.”

“Hey,” he said, lowering his voice. “Be quiet. I didn’t use anything. I saw her again when I went to get my hair cut. Sheworks at Amanda’s salon. She ended up cutting my hair and she askedmeto dinner.”

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