* * *
Jenny opened her apartment door Sunday afternoon to find her friend Stevie standing on the other side, a bottle of wine in one hand, a familiar bakery box in the other. Her artificially blond hair brushed into a riot of curls, Stevie made a striking picture with her long-lashed, sapphire-blue eyes and generous, full-lipped mouth. She was the type of woman who turned heads wherever she went, a reaction she found more amusing than disconcerting. She was gregarious, energetic, generous to a fault and fiercely loyal. Jenny had several good friends, but Stevie was as close as she’d ever had to a sister.
“Moscato. Fruit tarts.” Stevie held up each in turn. “I provide the treats, you spill the beans. I want to know everything about the night you just spent with Gavin Locke.”
Though she rolled her eyes, Jenny motioned her friend into her living room. “I didn’t spend the night with Gavin. Well, I did, but not... You know what I mean.”
Stevie laughed musically and set the goodies on the kitchen bar. “I nearly dropped my phone when I saw your text saying Gavin was there at the cabin.”
They’d talked briefly by phone earlier, so Stevie knew the basic details about how the mix-up had occurred, but she’d said she wanted the play-by-play in person. Truth be told, Jenny wasn’t unhappy that her friend had come by. Sure, she could be tackling some of the paperwork she’d planned to complete that weekend, but it could wait. She reached into the cabinet for wineglasses. “You know where the plates are.”
As at home in Jenny’s place as she was in her own, Stevie was already serving the little tarts topped with glistening fruit. They carried the plates and glasses into the living room, where they kicked off their shoes and settled onto the couch.
“Have you told your mom and grandmother yet? About Gavin, I mean,” Stevie asked, diving right into the conversation.
Jenny popped a glazed blueberry into her mouth, chewed and swallowed before she admitted, “No. They had a luncheon with their Sunday school class today. I didn’t want to mention Gavin on the phone, so I just told them I came home early. I figured I’d tell them the whole story when I see them.” Usually she had dinner with them on Sunday nights, but since they weren’t expecting her to be in town this evening, they’d made plans with friends. She was seeing them tomorrow.
“Your grandmother’s going to totally lose it when she hears Gavin’s name,” Stevie predicted with some relish. “Especially when she hears you spent a night with him.”
“Stop saying that. We spent a night in the same cabin. We didn’t spend the night together.”
Stevie waved a hand. “Figure of speech.”
“But an important distinction nonetheless.” She certainly wasn’t going to mention that she’d literally fallen into bed with Gavin when she’d arrived at the cabin.
“Maybe it would be easier if you don’t tell them he was there.”
Jenny shrugged in resignation. “Mom’s going to ask about my weekend. She worried about me being there alone, and I know she’ll ask how I weathered the storm. You know how she likes to hear all about my life. I don’t want to lie to her. Even though they’ll probably fuss, it just seems easier to tell them what happened. It wasn’t my fault or Gavin’s, so I’ll just make it a funny-thing-happened story.” At least, she would try to keep it that light and breezy, hoping to make it sound like no big deal that she’d run into him again.
“What was it like you when first saw him again? Did he look different? Does he look a lot older? Did he get, like, fat and bald?”
“He looks pretty much like he did, just a little older. More mature. Not fat. And he still has all his hair.”
“He was always hot, in a sort of rough-cut way.”
“You’d probably say the same about him now.”
“Nice. So, he was surprised to see you, I guess?”
“Yes, he was. And he was embarrassed by his leasing company’s error.” She could so clearly picture him all tousled and grumpy and sleepy when she’d barged in on him. The image made her throat close. She set the plate aside and reached hastily for her wineglass.
“And you really had no idea he owns the place now?”
Stevie already knew the answer to that question, but Jenny shook her head and replied, anyway. “Of course not. I thought it was still just a vacation cabin, maybe owned now by the leasing company I contacted. I wasn’t even entirely certain it was the one I’d visited before, though the photos and directions on the internet looked familiar.”
“So Gavin didn’t even cross your mind when you rented the place.”
“Only in passing. I remembered what a good time I had with his family there. Maybe I wondered where he was these days, how he was doing—but I certainly never expected to get stuck in the cabin with him.”
Stevie scrutinized a strawberry half. “So he’s still single.”
“Well, he’s not married.”
“Has he ever been?”
Jenny ran a fingertip around the rim of her glass. “I don’t know. It didn’t come up.”
“So I guess you told him about Thad?”