“Are you glad to be back in Bismarck?” I asked, moving away from the subject of August.
He sat back, and looked resigned to move on in the conversation. “Yeah, sure.”
“Where did you go?”
He studied me. “I joined the Navy and trained to be a SEAL.”
My eyes widened. “A SEAL? They’re like the best of the best, right?”
His lips twitched upward and I got the feeling he liked my reaction. “We like to think so.”
It certainly explained how broad and firm his body appeared. It also explained the fierceness I sometimes saw in his eyes.
“What about you, April. Husband?”
I flinched and looked down. “No.”
“August still shooing them away?” he said bitterly.
He wasn’t wrong, so I didn’t respond. Instead I looked down into my nearly empty wine glass.
“Hey, April.”
I looked up.
He was leaning forward, picking up the bottle and pouring me more wine. “Remember when I kicked Daniel Kipson’s ass for you?”
I smiled. “Yes.”
“God that felt good,” he said, refilling his glass. “I always hated that guy. And the way he looked at you…” Jude shook his head.
All the warm feelings that had been growing a few minutes before we got off on negative topics returned.
“So, you did that for you, not for me?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Maybe. Both.” He decided. “I was feeling protective of you, and he was just the type of asswipe to spread untrue rumors to get back at you. I wasn’t going to let that happen. Not to you, April.”
“For time I’d wished you’d done it because you were jealous, not because I was a little sister you were protecting.”
Jude’s eyes flashed with emotion. “I was jealous. Well, not of him because I knew you’d never give him the time of day. But you went out with other guys. Did you ever notice that August and I were often at the same place you were on your dates?”
I gawked. “I thought my parents had sent him to look after me.”
Jude shook his head. “Nope. That was my idea. I told August it was his job to look after you so I was able to convince him to go. But it was all me. Lucky for those boys they never got too handsy.” He made a fist.
My girlie parts flared hot, which was annoying because it was silly to get excited that Jude was jealous and wanted to beat other boys up. I suppose it was the teenage girl in me coming to the surface. Or maybe it was the wine.
We a
te dinner, enjoying light conversation and safe memories. When we finished, he paid the bill, and when I stood to leave, I realized I’d had quite a bit of wine. “Woo…that wine has gone to my head.”
“How about a walk?” Jude said, slipping his hand under my forearm and escorting me out. Somehow this had gone from being a job interview, to a stroll down memory lane, and now possibly a date. Warning bells went off in my head, but I quickly toned them out. Things might have gone badly between me and Jude, but that was then. This was now. We were older. Wiser. More mature.
Of course, the issue of Maya lingered in my mind. Why wasn’t he asking about the baby I told him I was having? Had he put it out of his mind at the time, and so now he had no memory of the letter I sent? What would I do if he did ask me about it? I tuned all that out as well. It had been a long time since I enjoyed a meal, good wine, and the company of a sexy man.
“I wouldn’t mind a walk to clear my head,” I answered him.
We stepped outside, and the air was cool, making me shiver. He took his coat off and put it around my shoulders.