Page 57 of Flirting with Forever

“Why would it surprise you that he wanted to be a public defender?” Mary asked. To her, it made perfect sense that he’d land in that arena of the law.

“It wouldn’t surprise menowthat he wanted to do that,” Jack told her, swirling his coffee in his cup. “But back then, I’d thought he might want to follow a little more closely in my footsteps. There were quite a lot of open doors he turned his back on.”

“Jack,” John muttered exasperatedly.

“John doesn’t like open doors,” Jack informed Mary cattily. “He gets pleasure from slamming them closed.”

Mary looked back and forth between them, cataloging everything about Jack that she’d known prior to this brunch and everything she was learning at an alarmingly fast pace. She tilted her head to one side and took a sip of coffee, measuring Jack. What he was really saying hit her like a bolt of electricity.

“Hold on, you think John became a public defender just to spite you?” Mary asked incredulously, her amazement winning out over her propriety. Perhaps she’d only known John for half a summer, but she already knew just how ridiculously off base that assessment was.

Jack’s eyebrows flipped upward at her tone. His mouth twitched with a slight smile that Mary wasn’t sure was altogether good-natured. He said nothing.

“There’s no way that’s true,” she insisted. She felt John shift beside her and she glanced at him but couldn’t interpret his expression. She’d expected his eyes to be on his father, but instead they were fairly well glued to her. Mary studied him for a second, attempting to gauge if she was making things better or worse. She couldn’t tell. John looked just as mixed-up as she felt.

“Why doyouthink he became a public defender?” Jack asked with all the trap-laying of a seasoned lawyer. She couldn’t begin to guess what he thought of her, but Mary knew that in the last few minutes, she’d sealed the coffin on her first impression with Jack. There was nothing she could say now that would change his opinion of her. She also knew that with just the asking of that question he was implying to her that she didn’t actually know the answer. That he knew better than she.

She straightened her back and set her coffee down, her eyes on John’s for a long beat before she turned back to Jack and answered his question.

“Well, I don’t know John well enough to really answer that question in full. Decisions like that are generally layered. But come on, what the heckelsewas he supposed to do with that huge, bleeding heart of his?”

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Mary understood the full truth of what she’d said. Jack’s eyes widened just a touch, and she felt her heart mirror his surprise. Because she was realizing—almost in real time—that John, who’d once seemed so cruel and hard-hearted to her, actually had the biggest heart of anyone she knew.

She thought of the cuddles he gave Ruth, the patient game he’d played with Jewel. The man was a reluctant vegan because animal cruelty trumped bacon in his playbook. He worked endless hours defending the lives of people who couldn’t afford fancy lawyers. He truly believed in the system. He believed in the innocence of his clients. He saw the good in people. He’d dashed across town to hug her in her kitchen; he’d slept on his neighbor’s couch for her. He’d held her hand on the train and called his friend to fix her door. She wasn’t sure how she hadn’t seen it before. But frowny, scowly, grumpy, foot-in-mouth John was actually dangerouslysweet.

She turned to look at him and wasn’t surprised to see his eyebrows in a downward V as he looked back at her, the tips of his ears a rosy pink. He opened his mouth and closed it.

Jack started laughing and drew Mary’s attention back to him. “I do believe you’ve struck John dumb. Not sure I’ve ever seen that happen before.”

Mary cleared her throat, a little unsure of what to say next, off-kilter from her own realizations.

Jack smiled that smarmy smile as their waitress finally brought their food. He waited until she’d left to toss out his next topic of conversation.

“My son insists that the two of you are not involved,” Jack said quasi-casually. “So, tell me, Mary. Why are you single?”

John groaned, but Mary just laughed. “Too young to be tied down,” she answered playfully, although a splinter of regret wiggled its way between each word. Actually, she was single because the opposite was true. Too old for anyone to want to tie her down. For one anyone in particular. She smiled at Jack, hoping he couldn’t see the rawness her own words had caused her. “Just a lone wolf, I guess.”

John took the opportunity to jump in and change the subject. The rest of the breakfast, though by no means comfortable, flowed a bit easier, mostly thanks to John’s constant corralling of his father into legal subjects and away from personal ones.

Still, by the time the two of them finally exited the restaurant, Mary couldn’t help but dramatically sag against the side of the building.

“I warned you,” John said with a shake of his head, a little twinkle in his eye. He reached out and plucked the duffel from her shoulder.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

THEINSTALLATIONOFMary’s new door went smoothly. Despite his familiar tone with John on the phone the night before, Christo was extremely professional with Mary. And after he installed the door, he even went around to all of her other doors and windows, making sure that she would be safe to sleep there that night.

He talked her through a quality security system to purchase and even agreed to come back and install it tomorrow if she wanted.

With a wave and smile, he was on his way back to his wife and kids, and then it was just John and Mary there alone again.

Though she’d slept well the night before, and it was only five o’clock, Mary felt fatigue starting to descend. The detective had called her that afternoon and told her that she could start cleaning up her shop Monday morning. She was both antsy to get started and preemptively exhausted at the thought of all the work there was to do.

“You all right?” John asked as he stood in the doorway between Mary’s kitchen and living room, his hands in his pockets, his sleeves rolled to his elbows, concern in every line of his face.

“I’m fine. Just...overwhelmed.”

She poured two glasses of lemonade and put one in John’s hand as she walked past him to go sit on her couch. John followed her and set himself down in the armchair. He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. “Do you, ah, feel safe enough to sleep here tonight? I mean, without the security system installed yet?”

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