Page 52 of Long Road Home

What universe had I woken up in?

I found Jordan and Toby in the lobby, walking out of one of the restaurants I’d noticed on the way in. My heart stuttered and grew impossibly large with every breath. Jordan was breathtakingly handsome. It had nothing to do with his body that showed years of working out and taking care of it. Nor the white dress shirt that curved over his chest, slim at the waist and tucked into gray suit pants, perfectly creased down the front. I took all that in, my hand going to my chest to ease the delicious ache as he walked toward me, arm slung over Toby’s shoulder, holding him tight. They kept looking at each other, mirror images, same damn eyes and similar smiles on their faces that made all my mistakes hit me with the force of a wrecking ball.

Father and son. Enjoying each other. Affectionate and happy.

So much so that by the time they reached me, tears were spilling down my cheeks and Jordan was frowning. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

“Mom?”

“Nothing.” I swiped my tears away and sniffed, smiled so wide my cheeks hurt. “Everything’s good.” It was perfect. I could fix this. I had to. I’d work every damn day until my dying breath to fix the wrongs I’d done. “I promise.” I blinked my eyes harshly one more time and grinned down at Toby. “Rebecca said you can come. And if you want, she said you can spend the night. No pressure…but she thought you’d have fun helping Cooper on the ranch and maybe getting on a horse.”

“Seriously?” His brows arched. His sweet voice went high-pitched reminding me of when he was younger. “That’d be so cool! Yeah. I’ll do it. Definitely.”

“Good.” My eyes slid to Jordan. “Wonderful.”

His eyes warmed with the heat of a thousand suns, and all of those thoughts I’d slammed and locked away earlier popped free with his look, the drift of his eyes down my body and back up. “Yeah. Wonderful.”

“Wow,Jane. Or Destiny. Whoever you are now. I’m impressed. You move fast.”

I laughed at Allison. I hadn’t talked to her much in the last week except for explaining about Paul showing up, and then leaving quickly thereafter. It was difficult to tell her everything else. I was falling for Jordan all over again and it was scarier this time. I had Toby to consider this time and I’d made enough colossal mistakes. I didn’t have a strike left if I screwed up.

But what else does a girl do when she’s freaking out about a date with the father of her child who she hasn’t been alone with in a decade except call her best friend?

“It’s not fast, Allison. It’s just…” I didn’t know what it was. That was the problem.

“It’s right, and that’s all that matters.”

“It feels right.”

“Which is probably why you sound like a scared, cornered animal. What are you doing now?”

I was pacing the living room and kitchen, pretending I wasn’t wearing a hole in Tillie’s carpet while I surreptitiously peeked through the curtains to see if Jordan had pulled up yet. “Waiting for him.”

“Mm-hmmm.”

She knew me too well.

“I know. I’m a wreck. What about the job?” I’d taken a huge plunge with her earlier. Having your best friend as your boss made it harder to ask for a favor. I never wanted people to think Allison let me get away with anything because of our friendship. Allowing me to work remotely for a few weeks was the biggest favor she’d ever done for me and that was her idea.

She sighed heavily. “Honestly, I don’t know. I’m not saying no, honey, but I do have to think about it. We have a ton of huge projects and there are times I need you here for meetings with clients, but maybe we could work out a schedule. You travel back every quarter. Once a month for a few days. Give me time to talk to some of the managers?”

“Yeah.” It was better than anything I could have pictured. “Absolutely. Take your time.” Bright lights swung into the driveway, almost blinding me through the curtains. “Oh shit. He’s here. This is good, right? I’m not an idiot?”

She was already laughing. Friends who laughed at your misery were awesome. “No. You’re not an idiot. Have fun and don’t forget to call me tomorrow. I wantallthe details.”

She hung up, still laughing before I could repeat that dinner wasn’t going to be like that. Good grief. Between her and Rebecca, it was now all I was thinking about, so while I hurried to the door, opening it before he could ring the doorbell, I thought I had my libido under control.

Good Lord in Heaven was I wrong.

“Hi,” I said, my word stretching out. My tongue fell to the floor along with the rest of my words.

I saw him hours ago. How was it possible he was more attractive?

“Hey.” He flipped his keys in his hand and his gaze didn’t once drop to mine. He was focused on something over my shoulder. “Ready?”

It wasn’t exactly the warmest greeting I’d ever had. Not the worst, either.

Still, disappointment pinged in my chest and I grabbed my purse from the couch. Jordan didn’t enter at all, and by the time I reached him, he was already looking out to the street, door held open like he couldn’t wait to get this dinner over with.

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