Page 92 of Second Act
Chapter 21
I got the job!!!!Aidan’s jubilation came through the text message with its attached GIF of wildly dancing monkeys that pinged into Jessica’s phone right after lunchtime.
“Yes!” Jessica pumped her fist. She propped her hip on the edge of the temporarily vacant examining table and texted back:Huge congrats! Champagne and steak to celebrate tonight!She’d pick up provisions on her way home and hope Hugh would cook them. The thought of Hugh dancing around her kitchen made her grin.
“You look like you won the lottery,” Carla said, bustling in with a couple of patient files.
“Aidan got a job, a really good one.”
“Thank the Lord! The boy is now gainfully employed and can stop sponging off you.”
“Hey, he’s doing a great job of fixing up my living room walls. I don’t want him to leave too soon.”
Carla snorted. “From what you say, that hunky boyfriend of yours could do a better job.”
“Yes, but he has a full-time career of his own.”
When Jessica got home at six with her load of festive food and drink, Aidan was lounging on the couch, which he’d cleared of drop cloths, drinking a beer and watching a video on his tablet. He must have done some work on the walls after the interview, because the acridsmell of stripping solution was strong. The old Aidan would have taken the afternoon off after he got the job offer. She was liking the new one.
He jumped up to take the bags, and she gave him a hug. “Congratulations, little bro! When do you start?”
“Friday I go in to fill out the HR forms so Monday I can hit the ground running. They’ve got a project they desperately need me on right away.” He practically waltzed into the kitchen, his tousled curls bouncing along with his steps. She couldn’t help wondering how much Pete had to do with his speedy hiring.
“The living room is really coming along,” Jessica said, pulling the steak out of the butcher’s bag. “You got a lot done today.”
“Since I’m going to start work soon, I want to finish the project,” he said, then gave her a rueful grin. “It was also a good way to keep myself from worrying about getting the job.” He stowed the champagne in the fridge. “Is Hugh coming for dinner?”
Jessica glanced at the brass-rimmed wall clock. “He should be here any minute. Frankly, I’m counting on him to cook.”
She’d been thrilled when Hugh had moved his things from Gavin Miller’s to her bedroom. Seeing his T-shirts and jeans in her closet took her back to the early days of their relationship—before things got complicated. Of course, now things were ten times more complicated, but they could handle them better. She hoped.
She heard the front door open and called, “We’re in the kitchen,” walking out to meet him halfway. As he strode toward her through the ladders and buckets strewn around the living room, his long legs moved with the power of a big cat, his dark hair caught glints of golden lamplight, and the striking planes of his face were painted with light and shadow. But what made her breath catch was the look of joy that lit his intensely blue eyes when he saw her.
“Incoming!” she warned and hurled herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, knowing he wouldcatch her. Laughing, he spun them both around before he lowered his mouth to take hers in a deep, possessive kiss.
“If that’s the greeting I get every time I walk in, I’ll keep working until I’m ninety,” he said, lowering her feet to the floor and giving her bottom a squeeze.
“I won’t be able to jump that high at ninety, but I’ll give it my all,” Jessica said. She hugged him again. “I just love seeing you in my house, even in this disaster of a living room.”
She thought a shadow crossed his face, but when he slung his arm around her shoulders and steered them toward the kitchen, she forgot about it.
“Congratulations on the new job, Aidan,” Hugh said, shaking her brother’s hand.
“How did you know?” Jessica asked.
“I texted him, too,” Aidan said, “since he knew about the interview.”
Jessica hadn’t thought she could be any happier, but seeing the growing friendship between the two most important men in her life lifted her joy to a whole new level. She was afraid she might explode into rainbows and sparkles at any moment.
“Jess is counting on you to cook the steaks she bought to celebrate,” Aidan added.
“Hey, I was going to be more subtle than that,” Jessica said. She turned to Hugh. “You’ll do such a wonderful job of making those steaks taste perfect.”
Hugh laughed. “Steak is my specialty.” He turned to Jessica and put a hot note in his voice. “Not to mention that you will owe me for this, and I intend to collect later tonight.”
“I’m willing to sacrifice my sister if it gets me a good steak,” Aidan said. “But keep it down tonight, would you?”
A blush climbed Jessica’s cheeks even as she said, “Your room is too far away to hear anything.”
