“You’re welcome.” Her gaze returned to her face. “I love your hair like that. It’s cute.”

Jordan smiled and relaxed. “Thank you.”

“Who did it?”

“Over at Quick Clips,” she said. “I think her name was Laura.”

Annie nodded as she went back to cutting the potatoes. “That’s where I go too. Jasmine cuts mine.”

Jordan shrugged. “It wasn’t exactly planned. I made a run to the liquor store for wine.”

Annie laughed. “It’s right next door. What? Was it calling your name?”

“Something like that, yeah.” Jordan walked closer, looking over her shoulder. “Need some help?”

“I’m about done. I just have to mix it all together. It has to bake for forty-five minutes.”

“Okay. Then we’ve got lots of time before the chops need to go on.”

“Take your wine out to the deck. I’ll be there in a minute,” Annie said. “Oh, and I bought me a bottle of sparkling apple cider, so you don’t have to drink alone.”

“I’ll get it for you,” she offered, finding it in the fridge.

She added a few ice cubes to a wineglass and filled it with the cider, then took both of them out to the deck. She turned the ceiling fan on and Annie joined her a few minutes later. She brought the wine bottle with her and she topped off Jordan’s glass.

“It’s so nice out here,” Annie said, sitting down next to her near the railing. “Hard to believe it’s mid-June already.”

“There’s always a breeze, it seems.”

“I’ve noticed that you don’t like to be inside much,” Annie said. “Were you always like that?”

Jordan stared out over the bay. It hadn’t really occurred to her, but yes, she’d spent very little time inside since she’d been back.

“I think it’s because I was in the city so long,” she said. “I live in a high-rise condo, I work in a high-rise office building. I’m surrounded by steel and concrete, it seems.” She turned her gaze to Annie. “I was thinking earlier how free I feel here, how relaxed I am. Everything has slowed down to a pace I can actually live with.”

Annie nodded. “I can’t imagine living in a big city. Not anymore, anyway. When I was in high school, I used to fantasize about living in New York or Los Angeles,” she said. “Even when I was married and…well, hating it, I used to think about running away to a city somewhere.”

“But now?”

“I’m content,” Annie said. “I love the slow pace. What I used to think was so boring, now is…well, it’s familiar. It’s home.”

Jordan nodded but didn’t comment. She felt Annie watching her and she turned, meeting her gaze.

“Why did you leave and not come back?”

“That’s easy,” Jordan said. “Because I was gay and I was terrified of my family finding out. I massed together a bunch of scholarships and headed to California for college. Berkley. I had a great time,” she said with a smile. But that smile left her face. “Until my parents and Matt came over for a surprise visit.”

“Oh, no.”

Jordan smiled again. “Oh, yeah. Let’s just say they were a lot more surprised than I was.”

“So they found out, huh?”

“Yeah. And my mother’s tears convinced me that they hated me. So I withdrew from them even more. Got a job in Chicago. Worked my ass off, seventy hours a week. Made a lot of money, moved up in the company…” She shrugged but said no more.

“And?”

“And nothing. That’s it.”

“But your family…Matt…”

“Oh, I learned that they really did love me,” she said. “But I was entrenched in my job there, my…my life. I didn’t make it back here very often.”

Annie stared at her. “You feel guilty?” she asked gently.

Jordan nodded. “Yes. It’s been years since I’ve been here, years since I saw Matt. I missed out on so much. I hadn’t even talked to him on the phone in months,” she said. She turned, looking back over the shimmering water of the bay, the approaching sunset casting an orange glow. “I miss him.”

Jordan was surprised when she felt a soft hand touch her forearm. She turned, feeling Annie’s fingers slide along her arm, ending with their fingers entwined. It felt…nice. Jordan met her gaze, those blue-green eyes shadowed.

“What is it?” she nearly whispered.

Annie visibly swallowed. “I…I have to tell you something.”

Jordan nodded. “Okay.”

“Matt,” Annie said quietly. “Matt…is the father.”

Their eyes were locked together, Jordan shocked by her words. Her brother was the father of Annie’s baby? That, she had never considered.

“I’m sorry,” Annie said. “I didn’t know how to tell you.”

“But…you said you and Matt…that you weren’t—”

“I know. And we weren’t,” Annie said. She squeezed Jordan’s fingers, then released them. “I’m…I’m not even sure how it happened.” She rolled her eyes. “Well, obviously, I know how it happened, but the circumstances…God, it’s just all so crazy,” she said.

“You weren’t dating?”

Annie shook her head. “No. And don’t get me wrong, Matt was a super nice guy. I’d known him all through school,” she said. “And he flirted with me, like he always did. I just wasn’t attracted to him.”

Jordan frowned. “Then why?”

“Why?” Annie looked away, her turn to stare out over the bay. “It was a rainy, stormy night and I was lonely. I thought I had…issues,” she said. “And I didn’t want to have issues.”

“Issues?”

Annie glanced back at her but shook her head. “Nothing. I just…I hadn’t been with anyone since I divorced Derrick. I had no interest, really. I went out with a few guys, but…there was nothing there. And Matt…he flirted with me, teased me.” She drank the last of her cider. “That night, I thought…what the hell? We closed the store together. It was just the two of us.” She covered her face with her hands. “I should have stopped it. Matt was only a friend.” She uncovered her face and looked at Jordan. “When I didn’t feel anything, I should have stopped it.”

“But you slept with him anyway.”

Annie nodded. “On the sofa in his office.”

“Eww,” Jordan said. “The same sofa?”

“Yes.”

Jordan shook her head. “The first thing I’m doing is getting rid of that sofa.”

Annie smiled. “Thank you. I’d like it if you did.”

Jordan leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “So? You slept together. Then what?”

Annie let out her breath. “It was…it was awful. I started crying and he started apologizing, and it was very, very awkward.” She again reached out and took Jordan’s hand. “We left the store, and he said he was going to Port Aransas. It was storming. He shouldn’t have been out.”

Jordan squeezed her fingers. “Oh, my God. That was the night he died.”

“Yes. And I kept thinking, did he go to Port A because of me? Because of what happened? I mean—”

“You can’t blame yourself, Annie. That’s crazy.”

“Is it?” Annie wiped a tear from her cheek. “What if I hadn’t freaked out? What if I hadn’t slept with him in the first place? Would he still be alive?”

“Stop it. There’s no blame here, Annie.”

Jordan refilled her wineglass with a shaking hand. Annie was pregnant with Matt’s baby. Wow. She didn’t see that coming.

“I should have told you earlier,” Annie said.

Jordan glanced back at her. “It’s okay.”

“Is it?”

Jordan gave her a smile. “Yeah. It’s…okay.”

Annie looked away from her. “Your parents are going to hate me.”

Jordan laughed. “Quite the opposite, I’d think.”

Annie turned to her again. “Really?”

“They’ll love that a part of Matt is still with us. They’ll love that, Annie.”

Jordan was surprised that her words brought tears to Annie’s eyes. She would have hoped they would have brought relief instead. She stood quickly, drawing Annie to her feet. She pulled her into a tight hug, feeling Annie’s arms slip around her waist as she clung to her.

“It’ll all be okay,” she said as she lightly rubbed Annie’s back.

“I’m so sorry,” Annie murmured against her chest.

“It’s okay.”

Annie pulled back a little, meeting her eyes. “Will you be with me when I tell your parents?”

Jordan nodded. “Of course.”



Chapter Sixteen

Annie mindlessly folded another T-shirt and placed it in the proper bin. It was a chore she no longer had to do since having been promoted to office manager, but she found she missed it. The monotony of it allowed her mind to wander aimlessly, and this morning she was focused on her upcoming meeting with Jordan’s parents. She still had three more days. Jordan had invited them over for dinner on Sunday. Annie had told her she would be too nervous to cook anything so Jordan was going the simple route—steak and baked potatoes.

“Do you want me to finish that?”

Annie looked up to find Molly watching her. The T-shirt she’d been folding was still clutched in her hand. Apparently, she couldn’t let her mind wander and still work after all.

“Yes, thanks,” Annie said, handing her the shirt. “I should get started on the inventory before Jordan gets here.”

Molly had the shirt folded before Annie could even turn away. Molly was a good hire. She was sharp as a tack and willing to do anything. After only three weeks, she was already running circles around Jessica. She was also the complete opposite of Jessica. Matt hired based on looks. Everyone knew that. Jordan, however, was more interested in brains. The two high school students she’d hired—Molly and Steven—were both in the top part of their class. Molly lacked Jessica’s long blond hair and good looks, but she was a quick learner and needed no supervision. And Steven, while looking every bit the nerd that he was, had already helped Jordan set up a new inventory system that could link directly to QuickBooks and their accounts.

And to think both of them had only been there three weeks. She glanced over to where Jessica was. She was bobbing her head to the music as she restocked the coffee mugs. Annie could tell from here that she already had them out of order. Oh well. Molly would straighten them out later.