Can't Stop the Feeling (Whispering Bay Romance 6)

“You could always take my place,” Mimi offered.

“I would if I could, but Bunco’s at my house tonight, remember? I have to leave work early to go set up.” She turned to Jenna. “How are you at giving speeches?”

“Me?”

Mimi’s eyes turned pleading. “Oh, yes, you’d be great. Will you? There’s really no speech to give. All you have to do is look official, thank everyone and talk up the city. Please.”

Jenna closed her laptop. “If it means I don’t have to look at another spreadsheet this afternoon, then yes, I’ll be thrilled to go to the preschool celebration.”

“You’re the best!” Mimi said.

“I thought I was the best,” Pilar shot back.

“Not today you’re not.”

Jenna smiled as she listened to the two women continue their banter on their way out the office. It was exactly the same kind of back and forth she and Kate shared. She’d been avoiding Kate’s instant messages ever since her drinks date with Ben, but she was going to have to give in and ring up her best friend before Kate sent a posse (or worse, Jenna’s mother) up to Whispering Bay to investigate.

She tidied up her desk, told Darlene, the receptionist, that she’d be out for the rest of the day and drove her car toward the center of town. The parking lot to the preschool was packed, so she had to circle around to Main Street and park in front of Heidi’s bakery. It was almost four and time for the ceremony to begin.

The Sunny Days Preschool had been around for a couple of decades and was a big hit with the community. They had a Mother’s Day Out program and a well-respected curriculum for three-and four-year-olds. The campus consisted of a moderately sized one-story building painted in cheery apricot with bright blue trim. Hibiscus bushes hedged the manicured lawn, and there was even a little white picket fence surrounding the backyard play area. Brightly colored balloons and streamers floated in the warm, late September air.

Jenna plastered on her best city employee smile and went to greet the preschool’s director, a middle-aged woman with salt-and-pepper hair who introduced herself as Mrs. Hodges.

“We’re glad someone from the city could be here for our new playground grand opening,” she said, shaking Jenna’s outstretched hand.

“Glad to be here.” She leaned in for a conspiratorial whisper. “Plus, I was promised cake.”

Mrs. Hodges laughed. “Cupcakes to be exact from Heidi’s bakery and muffins from The Bistro.”

Jenna nodded in approval. She might be a relative newcomer, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out that it wasn’t any kind of celebration in Whispering Bay without Lucy’s famous muffins.

“I was just showing this lovely family around the school.” Mrs. Hodges turned to indicate the small group coming up behind her.

Jenna’s smile froze on her face.

Rats. It was Ben. And Rachel and the insufferable Greta.

There was another woman too. She was tall and slim with dark hair and kind brown eyes. If Jenna was a betting woman, she’d say this was Ben’s mother.

Chapter Eleven

“Uncle Ben!” Rachel pointed to Jenna. “It’s the nice lady who knew my daddy!”

Mom look startled. “You knew my son Jake?”

“Hello,” Jenna said, smiling nervously at Mom. “No, that is… I’m sorry there’s been some confusion. Totally all my fault, too.”

For five days he’d respected her wishes. He hadn’t made any attempt to see her. It had gone against his every instinct, but he’d done it. The last place he thought he’d run into her was a preschool playground celebration.

“I was just telling Ms. Pantini that there’s cupcakes and punch inside.” Mrs. Hodges glanced at her watch. “Another fifteen minutes and we’ll begin?” Before Jenna could respond, she waved to another family. “Excuse me, that’s the Grossmans. They have triplets!” The preschool director took off, leaving them to stare awkwardly at one another.

Jenna was the first to react. She bent down and looked Rachel in the eye. “Honey, when I said I knew your daddy, what I meant to say was that I used to be friends with your uncle Ben. We knew each other at school a long time ago.”

“Oh.” Rachel looked crestfallen. “So, you didn’t know my daddy?”

“No, I’m sorry. I didn’t.”

Mom shook herself into action. “I’m Pat Harrison, Ben’s mother.”