Page 36 of Snowflakes Over Starr's Fall
Jack lifted his shoulders in a shrug, unrepentant. “Well, now we’re not.”
She held his gaze for a moment and then she let out another sigh as she just shook her head. “This is stupid.”
“It doesn’t feel stupid.”
“Why,” Jenna burst out in exasperation, “are you going all emo on me now, when for the last month you’ve basically ignored me?”
Wait, what?Jack stared at her in shocked surprise while Jenna snapped her mouth shut, shook her head, and then rose from the table.
“Look, this wasn’t a good idea,” she said, doing her best not to look at him. “Let’s just… talk about it later.”
And then, while Jack and what felt like half of Starr’s Fall watched, she stormed out of the diner.
15
Nice way to make a scene, Jenna thought in a mixture of fury, despair, and pure panic as she practically sprinted down the street, slipping on some ice and nearly doing a face plant, which would have really rounded out the evening nicely.Whyhad she had to flounce out of the diner like a teenager throwing a hissy fit? Why did she have to be so stupidlyemotional?
Everyone in Starr’s Fall was going to think she was losing her mind. More to the point,Jackwas. Why on earth had she acted so over-the-top and basically unhinged about something she couldn’t even articulate? And yet she knew she couldn’t go back into the diner. The whole thing had just been way, way too embarrassing. And it brought back way, way too many memories.
“Jenna!”
Jack’s rumbling baritone carried all the way down the street. As tempted as Jenna was to keep running, she knew that was a bad idea. She’d embarrassed herself enough for one night surely, and yet there was almost certainly more to come.
Slowly she turned around to face Jack, who had stopped about ten feet away and was gazing at her in confusion. “Jenna, what’s going on?” he asked.
She gestured to the diner behind them. “Sorry about that?—”
“Seriously,” he cut her off, sounding impatient now. “What’s going on? We’re both adults, and I thought we were friends. Why can’t you tell me why you’ve been acting so touchy?”
Because I’m hurt that you don’t like me the way I like you. No way was she saying those words. No way was she humiliating herself more than she already had.
“It’s just been… kind of a day,” she half-mumbled.
Jack shook his head, looking even more exasperated. “Kind of a day?”
Okay, she really did need to act like a grownup. But not here in the street, with who knew who looking on, making all sorts of assumptions. Or in the diner, where people would practically be handing out the popcorn.
“Can we go somewhere more private?” she asked. “So we can talk sensibly?”
Jack made a sweeping gesture with his hand. “Be my guest.”
And so they ended up walking, mostly in silence, back to Jenna’s house. Jack had never been in her house before, although he’d been in her store plenty of times. She felt self-conscious and slightly embarrassed by how shabby and small it was, compared to his behemoth of a lakeside palace. As he stepped inside, she had to sweep a pile of papers off the table and push a basket of unfolded laundry into the mudroom. At least the clothes were clean.
“Sorry, I wasn’t expecting company,” she muttered. “Coffee?”
“Sure.”
She set about making coffee while Jack stood in the middle of the room, rocking back on his heels and seeming to take up all the air. She snuck a glance at him and saw howassessinghe looked, his gaze moving slowly around the small room with its ancient cabinets, the weathered kitchen table, the piles of papers, the calendar tacked to the wall that was from last year.
How on earth was she supposed to explain herself, Jenna wondered in both panic and misery. Anything honest would be humiliating as well as make her sound seriously desperate. And yet she already suspected Jack would know if she was lying before she even began.
What to do? Whatdidone do, when honesty was definitely not the best policy, at least not for her mental wellbeing or maybe just her pride?
“So,” Jack said, when the coffee had started brewing, the heady aroma of it filling the air.
“So.” Jenna let out a shaky laugh as she focused on getting out coffee cups. “I fully accept that I have acted kind of crazy tonight and seemed like I’m annoyed or even angry with you, when I’m absolutely not.” Well, notreally. Not in a way she could easily explain, at any rate.
“Okay…” Jack cocked his head, clearly waiting for more.
