Page 50 of Suddenly Single
“No! It was outstanding.”
“Then why so sad?” Vanessa asked, looking befuddled.
“I really like him,” Jenny said. “Ireallydo. He’s quiet, and he’s sort of a loner, and there is something about him that really speaks to me.Unfortunately, he’s not over his ex.”
“Why?” Brooke asked. “Did it just happen?”
“A few months ago, I think.”
Brooke leaned back, frowning.
“The sex was freakingawesome,” Jenny said. “All the bells and whistles went off.I evencongratulatedmyself on facilitating his entry back into living after a bad breakup.”
Vanessa laughed.
“Sadly, I’m not kidding,” Jenny said somberly.“But this morning, it was clear he was having second thoughts.” She threw up her hands.“Story of my life.”
“That is sonotthe story of your life,” Brooke scoffed.
“It is.When I find a man I’m really interested in, it always turns out that they are not so interested in me. They want someone thinner and prettier and blonder.They wantyou.”
“No they don’t,” Brooke scoffed, and flipped the ends of her platinum-blonde hair over her shoulder.
“I’m used to it, but this felt a lot different to me.It almost felt like…like…” Her gut was twisting.
“Like what?” Vanessa pressed her. “Love?”
The word startled Jenny.“Sort of. Like he needs me. There, I said it. It felt so different because I think he really needed me.Needsme.But I don’t think he knows it.”
“If this guy doesn’t see you for the wonderful, beautiful person you are, then it’s his loss,” Vanessa said.
“The thing is, I thought maybe he did see something more to me.Not at first, because I know it takes a bit to warm up to me.Remember in college how awful Professor Trewillier was to me for the first few weeks? But once he got to know me, he liked me, remember? It was kind of like that.I thought Edan was really starting to like me, and maybe he does, but he obviously likes this chick in Scotland more. He told me this week he loved her.”
Brooke and Vanessa exchanged a look. “Who knows, Jen,” Brooke said.“It’s hard to know anyone in the space of a few days.Maybe your timing is all wrong. Maybe he just needed more time to get over it.And you always say, if it’s meant to be, it will be.” She shrugged, picked up her drink, and sipped.“You must be rubbing off on me because I actually believe that,” she said, and clinked her glass against Jenny’s.
“Forget him,” Vanessa said cheerfully. “Let’s go look at this inn.”
* * *
For Edan, the day had flown by in a whirl of emotion and work.The morning stayed with him, shadowing his every move like a dog.He didn’t think he’d ever forget standing at the kitchen window, watching Jenny walk across his terrace, her dress swinging around her knees in a carefree manner, while he’d been reeling.Had it truly been such a casual thing to her? Another day, another shag?
He’d turned away from the window, full of tender feelings for Jenny Turner. So tender that he was thinking of drastic things.
Edan considered himself to be a generally measured, thoughtful man. He planned things.He thought things through, considered all sides.He did not make decisions on a whim.He didnotmake decisions on the basis of how good the sex had been.
But he was about to.
It wasn’t just the sex, really—it was the way his thoughts were warring with his emotions. His common sense was trying to convince him that he was experiencing euphoria from sex after a long absence from it, while the devil was whispered into his heart—wasstillwhispering, goddammit—that Jenny was someone entirely different from any woman he’d ever known.Based on nothing other than a feeling.But that feeling went straight to the core of him.
He’d decided things in the light of dawn when he’d glanced down, seen her caramel hair covering her face, sprawled across his bed and taking up every inch of spare space with her limbs bent and splayed across it.He’d been aroused and he’d wanted her again, but he’d also needed to think about what the hell he was doing, so he’d eased himself out of bed.
He’d showered, dressed, made tea.He’d thought all sorts of things, millions of things in that time—mostly big-picture things, like how he was entitled to live his life. That he had nothing left to prove. That he’d actually bought into her ideas for the inn, because he’d had similar thoughts through the years.
That he very much liked it here at Lake Haven and always had. The inn was a challenge and always would be.And he meant it when he said it wasn’t the sort of place you wanted to end up alone, especially in winter.What he needed was a partner.Call him crazy, but he thought that partner could be Jenny.
Aye, then, crazy.You’ve known her for the space of a few days and between the sheets, and now you’re thinking of how bonny it would be to run an inn with her?
That’s what he’d been thinking when she’d bounded out of his room this morning, all cheerful and flushed.Edan had to work not to panic, because the craziness was particularly strong when he looked at her. But then she’d rushed off as if she’d finished her laundry and needed to get to the next task.
