so he took the next new-girl-in-town? She tried to clear that thought out of her mind. “Kim,” Jecca said, “Tris knows I’m leaving at the end of the summer. We’re just . . . friends.” She didn’t add that they were “kissing friends.”
“Okay,” Kim said. “I know you’re smart enough to do what’s right, but Tristan is very seductive.”
Jecca hesitated. “I guess what you’re saying means he always invites people to go with him and his niece to Rowan’s cabin.”
“Rowan?” Kim asked. “You mean our cousin Roan?”
“Right. That’s the name.”
“You’re going with Nell?”
“Yes. Kim, you’re making me nervous. Is there something wrong with this invitation? Should I turn it down?”
“No,” Kim said. “It’s just that I’ve never heard of Tristan letting any woman near his precious niece. He keeps his dating life separate from his family.”
“That’s because his family—” Jecca broke off. “Do you think it’s good or bad for me to go?” She valued her friend’s opinion very much.
“I don’t know,” Kim said. “Tris has been different since his arm was broken. Sometimes I think he changed when Gemma came to town.”
“Gemma?” Jecca asked.
“She came to Edilean to do some research, and she ended up marrying Colin Frazier, but she spent a lot of time with Tris. Poor Colin was so jealous everybody in town thought he and Tris were going to fight—whic sht&em">“h wouldn’t have been good, since Colin is about a hundred pounds heavier than Tris.”
Jecca was afraid to say anything for fear she’d give away what Tris had told her in confidence. She heard someone yell Kim’s name.
“I have to go or I’ll miss my plane. Jecca, whatever you decide to do, I’m with you. You know that, don’t you?”
“Always,” Jecca said. “And I also know that we’ve been through too much together not to give our opinions.”
“You haven’t been taken in by the look of Tristan, have you?” Kim asked.
Jecca couldn’t help the laugh she gave. “I haven’t seen him. I’ve kissed him and we’ve held hands so much that I could draw his, but I’ve never seen his face.”
“That is such an enticing statement that I’m tempted to stay here just to hear the story.” Again someone called her name. “Damn! My secretary and my assistant are going to tie me up and drag me away. I’ll call you tonight and you can tell me everything.”
“No,” Jecca said. “This is a story that has to be told in person. I’ll see you at Reede’s party, won’t I?”
“Of course. I wish—” Her voice lowered. “They’re getting angry now. I’ll call you the second I get back. Bye.”
Jecca said good-bye and hung up. After the call, she spent some time thinking about what Kim had told her about Tristan. She hadn’t said anything bad. Actually, she’d said the opposite. It seemed that Tristan was a truly nice guy. It was just that no one could tell what his true feelings were.
She reminded herself that deep emotion wasn’t what was between them. They were only going to have a good time, and that was it.
Jecca got out her drawings of the playhouse and was thinking about where she should get them copied. Asking Lucy to use her copier was the easiest. She could make up a lie about having seen the playhouse in the woods and being intrigued by it, but Jecca had never been a person to prevaricate.
It was a bother to drive somewhere to find a copy machine, but that was what she was going to have to do. She was about to leave her bedroom when her cell rang. It was Tristan.
Jecca sat down to answer the call. “I saw your house,” she said as a greeting.
“Like it?”
She decided to tell the truth. “It’s a contractor’s dream.”
Tris laughed. “Why do you think my parents sold it to me and moved to a beach house in Florida? My mom thought the place should be bulldozed.”
“Only the interior,” Jecca said. “The outside and that lake . . . sheer heaven.”
“That’s the way I feel too,” Tris said. “What color bikini do you want? I saw some pretty ones today.”