Page 90 of Pick Me
“Eh.” He slid the coffee over to me. “Occupational hazard. Anyway, thanks again for coming out here. I apologize for dragging you away from your day. I told Webb I’d be fine to wait and see, but—”
“But Webb would worry himself to death, so you just agreed?” I gave him a lopsided smile. “That’s Webb. Always trying to look out for everyone else.”
Jack’s brow puckered, even as he smiled back. “Funny. He says that about you.”
“Me?” I shook my head. “I mean, I love them all, obviously, but I lived in Boston until a month ago.” I thought about it. “I mean… five months ago.” Damn, that had gone by fast.
Jack made a noise of disagreement. “The way I heard it, you moved to Boston all those years ago partlybecauseyou wanted to take care of them. The way Webb tells the story, you told your dad to leave Webb the orchard.”
I shook my head harder. “No. I mean,yes, it’s true about the inheritance thing. But I wasn’t meant to live here. I was always more interested in hard numbers than apple varietals. If I’d stayed, the orchard would have suffered.”
“Whereas Webb was interested in the apples and not the numbers.” Jack said this easily, casually. But I wasn’t fooled.
“His heart was here,” I said firmly.
“And where was yours?”
I opened my mouth, then shut it again. “Boston. Naturally. I was focused on my career.” I lifted an eyebrow. “And I’ve done fairly well at it.”
“Oh, no doubt.” Jack sipped his coffee and leaned back against his refrigerator. “And then you sent money home so Reed and all the younger kids could go to school. And you bought your way back into the business when you came home. Am I missing anything?”
For some reason—probably because I’d been hanging around with Gage so much—I wanted to argue with Jack. Lecture him. His facts were correct, but I felt like he was drawing a conclusion that wasn’t true.
“Seems about right,” I said lightly. “You know how it goes. Family is family.” I took a big sip of coffee and set my mug down with a clack. “I should really be getting back.”
“Sure. But seriously, thanks again for coming.”
“Anytime.” I smiled ruefully as I stood. “Don’t tell Webb I said that, though, or he’ll have me out here twice a day.”
“No shit. Hawk and I were talking about that just yesterday. Webb’s my best friend, and he means well, but he’s oblivious.” Jack shook his head with a grin and trailed me toward the back door.
Privately, I thought Webb was not the only oblivious one. Jack seemed to feel sort of big-brotherly toward Hawk, but I wasn’t sure Hawk’s feelings were quite so platonic.
“In particular,” Jack went on, “Hawk thinks it’s hilarious that Webb doesn’t seem to have noticed that you and Gage are in love, and I can’t decide if it’s my duty as his friend to fill him in or just let him keep bumbling along.” He grinned.
Meanwhile, I stopped short in the doorway with one foot in midair.
“You… Wait, what?”
“Oh, no, I was kidding! I’m not gonna say shit. It’s your business. Yours and Gage’s. I’ll let you be the ones to tell him,” Jack assured me, misunderstanding the reason for my shock. “I just think it’s kinda weird that Webb hasn’t sensed it. Like maybe all the shit with Amanda has, I dunno, made it harder for him to spot romantic love, even when it’s happening right in front of him?” He wrinkled his nose. “I worry about him sometimes, you know? I hope he finds a woman who’ll love him.”
I couldn’t think about Webb at that precise moment. I set my foot down—insidethe door. “You think I’m in love with Gage.”
Jack blinked. “Uh. Yes. Are you not?”
“No, I—” I hesitated, my heart beating hard. “I am.” I couldn’t deny it. “I just didn’t know it was so… obvious.”
Did Gage know, too? Had he sensed it?
I felt like I was thirty-nine going on twelve.Did he like me? Did he know I liked him?
And why was I even surprised anymore? I hadn’t been able to control my emotional response to the man since the day he’d arrived and literally hurtled himself into my arms. He made everything seem so simple. So possible.
So terrifying.
“Ah. Well, I mean, it’s notthatobvious—” Jack paused for a second. “Actually, I’m lying. It’s super obvious to anyone who has eyes and a brain… assuming they haven’t also been fucked up by their ex-wife leaving them, and their mom dying when they were a kid, and their former stepmom leaving their dad, and therefore conditioned to believe that being happy and in love is a precursor to doom because love isn’t permanent. In other words, to anyone but Webb.” He shrugged. “But, hey, congratulations anyway, man. I haven’t gotten to know him that well, but Gage seems pretty awesome. And he clearly cares about you a lot.” One side of his mouth quirked up in a half-smile.
I couldn’t return it.
