Page 20 of Suddenly Single
“Well, whatever you want to call it, we keep ending up together—”
“Wedonna end up together.You keep appearing,” he said, gesturing in the direction of the terrace.
“Yes, andyoukeep calling me lass.Not that I’m opposed to that,” she said.“I actually like the way it sounds.Lass.I get a shivery feeling when you say it.It’s kind of a turn-on.”
Edan raised his brows. What the hell was she talking about now?
“Hey,” she said, gesturing with her knife, “don’t you think it’s interesting, all the little things that are a turn-on to people? Like your accent, or the way you call me lass.Hands are a turn-on, too,” she said, and held up her hand.
Edan looked at his.
“See?” she said, wiggling her fingers at him. “Hands.”
“Whoareyou?”
“I told you.Jenny.Don’t forget it.” She winked.
“I think there is verra little chance I shall ever forget it,” he said in all sincerity.
Jenny laughed, and her eyes had a mischievous little shine to them. He put the trout down.“All right, then.What sort of wine would you like,Jenny?” he asked, articulating her name.
Her lips curved into a pert grin.“White, please,Edan.Is it all right if I call you Edan? I know I have and I didn’t ask you before, but you said most people call you Mr. Mackenzie, which, let’s be honest, does not feel right, especially since, you know, we have this thing going.” She gestured between them with a knife. “We’re like, two peas in a pod.”
“We’re no’,” he countered.
“But we are! We both embarked on a new adventure at the age of twenty-nine.We’re both at Lake Haven.We’re both sort of drifting.”
“Drifting?”
“And there is no way you’re an Ed.” She popped a bit of cucumber into her mouth. “So I’ll just call you Edan,” she said, and resumed her chopping.
Edan had been boxed into speechlessness. She was so wildly illogical that it was oddly and inexplicably charming.He didn’t care what she called him, really, and if he were honest, he’d admit to himself that he liked the way she said his name.It sounded flat and smooth and a wee bit off the mark when she said it.
What is happening?Since when had he given so much thought to what people called him? Or how his name sounded?
Edan retreated to the wine cellar, his thoughts swirling around what she’d said.She was right—he hadn’t said her name. Up until this point, it hadn’t seemed necessary.But he’d had ample opportunity to say it—for example,Jenny, go home.Frankly, what floated unappealingly in his belly was that in saying her name he felt absurdly disloyal to Audra.
Well, that was sheer lunacy for you. There was no reason he should feel remotely disloyal to a woman who had announced she didn’t love him and had left him.But he did a wee bit, because he thought he and Audra could work things out, and in some dusty corner of his soul, saying Jenny’s name was different somehow. It was a new whisper in his heart.
Whatever ridiculous thoughts were rumbling about in him, Edan couldn’t sort it out now, especially not with the prospect of dinner before him.
He selected a bottle and returned to the kitchen.
Jenny had finished tossing the lettuce and cucumber salad, which she announced with a cheerful, “Ta-da!Do you have any olive oil?”
Edan fetched her the oil, poured the wine, then grabbed plates, silverware, and napkins.They sat at the old farm table across from each other. Generally, Wilbur and Boz were at his feet, but tonight, of course, they were at hers.
Jenny made a swooning noise as she tasted the fish.“I’m in heaven.It’sdelicious.What did you do to it?”
“Caught it.”
She giggled. “I swear, I never had trout this good in California.” She sipped her wine.“Actually, I may have never had trout in California.Have you ever been to Catalina? I had thebestfish there.You would never guess what kind—guess.”
“I donna know.”
“Guess!”
“Shark.”
