Page 7 of Just Curious

The jumbled thinking started in the middle of her conference call the next morning. She was distracted by the sight of Jackson running on the beach and bounding up the steps and into his house. He wore earbuds that seemed to be making him smile at something, and he was a sweaty mess with his shirt sticking to his beautifully toned body and his hair plastered to his forehead. Sighing like a lovesick nutcase, she had this sudden urge to brush that lock of hair back when she heard someone on the conference call try to get her attention.

“Earth to Willa! Where did you go? What do you think?” someone asked.

“Oh, sorry. Um… yes, of course,” she spluttered, hoping it was an appropriate response.

It wasn’t. The call ended up taking longer than she expected, given her lack of focus.

Often, she caught herself daydreaming about Jackson rather than concentrating on her book characters and what she planned to do with them. What was a girl to do with a neighbor like that? Handsome, smart, chivalrous, and a great kisser. She had a terrible time reining in her imagination about what could happen next…

Chapter 5

Wednesday seemed to take three weeks to arrive. Jackson had more productive dreams about what he wanted to do with Willa than he did dreaming up his next great invention, but he didn’t want to crowd Willa by imposing himself on her while she was working. He itched to make the short walk over to her place and kiss the daylights out of her… as a starter.

They had to make do with some flirty text messages back and forth and a couple of phone calls.

Wednesday finally arrived. It was a sunny winter day that was freakishly warm for February due to the Santa Ana wind that blew sometimes coastward off the inland desert.

They both felt silly grabbing gloves and jackets to wear inside the arena, considering how hot it was outside. But they knew the rink would be chilly.

Over burgers and beers at a local hot spot, they got to know more about each other. Finally, Willa asked, “So who’s throwing the party you mentioned, and what’s the occasion?”

Jackson swallowed his beer and answered with a smile, “It’s Casey. I’m anxious for you to meet each other actually.” When Willa gave him a questioning look, he elaborated, “I think the two of you will hit it off.” Then he explained, “The party is to celebrate the success of his business. He’s had it now for five years, and he’s pretty proud of where he’s taken it. I guess it’s sort of an anniversary party for himself.”

“Cool. I’m looking forward to meeting him too then. Do you think, if I ask nicely, he’ll tell me any dirt about when you were a rebellious youth? Stories about old girlfriends, that kind of stuff?” Her eyes twinkled with mischief as she explained, “As an author, I like to probe and hear the good stuff, you understand.”

Jackson just threw his head back and laughed. “My life is an open book to you, Willa. No need to ask Casey. You can ask me anything.”

“Hmm, okay.” She pondered her question before asking, “What was your longest relationship and why did it end?”

Jackson laughed again, “Going straight for the good stuff, aren’t you?” She gave him an unapologetic grin, so he went on. “Okay. My longest relationship with a woman was just under two years. We broke up because I wanted to move out of Silicon Valley and she didn’t.”

“Huh.” Willa looked less than impressed. “That’s it? Surely there is more to it than that. Did you ask her to move with you?”

“No.”

“I see. Did you move to get away from her?”

Looking away for a second, Jackson thought and then answered, “That’s possible, though I never consciously thought about it like that.”

“So, what was wrong? You spent a long time together. Did you live together?”

“No, we didn’t. I don’t think anything really went wrong. It was just that nothing was particularly right about us either. I think we just lost interest in each other. I said I was moving, and she said have a nice life.” He paused. “I guess the relationship just ran its course and it was time to move on. Maybe I spent too much time running my company, and she got bored. And maybe she didn’t want to be with someone who was suddenly unemployed when I sold the business. Honestly, I didn’t get into it with her enough to ask. I just moved on.”

“Pardon my saying so, but it doesn’t sound like much of a relationship. Do you ever expect or want to have a more serious one with anyone?” Willa asked a little nervously.

“Yes, I do.” He looked at her pointedly, causing her to blush. “We’ll see how this goes.” Reaching for her hand, he gave her a squeeze. “I don’t want to perpetuate a stereotype about Silicon Valley, but there are a lot of people living there with less-than-stellar social skills, and, as a programmer, she fit right into that mold. She was attractive and convenient, and admitting that probably makes me sound horrible. But I think living here at the beach will broaden my horizons in many ways.”

Taking his credit card out of the restaurant folder he asked, “Ready to go?”

The hockey game was loud and entertaining—in many ways.

“Did you know,” Jackson asked, leaning close and talking in her ear, “anytime someone scores a goal, it’s a tradition to kiss your date?”

“I didn’t know that,” Willa answered with a laugh.

“Oh, yes. And the same thing goes for when someone is sent to the penalty box.”

“You’re making this all up, aren’t you?”

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