Page 43 of A Heart Worth Finding
Her mom shook her head. “I regret ever getting you a library card.”
“No you don’t,” Bethani said, then returned to the page she’d been reading.
Her mom gave Bethani a small smile, and Jack could see the pride in it. “No, I don’t.”
“Just be careful in the water?” a blonde woman, who could only be Jessica’s mother, said.
Though shorter in stature than Jessica, when the woman pushed her sunglasses atop her head and squinted at Jack, it was painfully obvious she’d given birth to the girl standing next to him. The same blue eyes, same nose, high cheeks, soft mouth.
“Sure, Mom,” Jessica said. “By the way, this is Jack. Jack, this is my mom, Michelle.”
Michelle extended her hand, and Jack stepped next to her lounge chair, clasping it in his own.
“Nice to meet you, Michelle.”
“You as well,” Michelle said, giving him a speculative once over before sliding her glasses back over her eyes. “Take good care of my girl.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Jessica grabbed his arm, and Jack prepared to follow her, but Michelle stopped him.
“Are you boys here by yourselves?” she asked him.
“No, ma’am,” Jack said, then turned and pointed across the pool and two women lounging in the shade, one clearly passed out beneath the brim of her oversized sun hat, the other with her nose buried in a hardcover book. “My and Tyler’s moms.”
“Oh, good!” Michelle clapped her hands excitedly. “C’mon, Lisa! Let’s go introduce ourselves.”
Lisa—Bethani’s mom—blinked open her eyes and leveled Michelle with a glare. “Do we have to?”
“Yes,” Michelle said, leaving no room for argument, and Jack laughed.
“My mom is the one on the left,” he said. “Her name is Rebecca. Tyler’s mom is Kristi.”
“Good to know. Thank you.”
Then Michelle and Lisa were on their feet and walking across the pool deck.
“Should we be worried?” Jessica asked.
“Nah,” Jack said, reaching down to lace his fingers with hers. “My mom gets along with everyone.”
“So does mine,” Jessica said. “And she likes you. I can tell.”
Jack gestured to his body, where errant droplets of water clung to the ridges of his abs and collarbones, where three straight days in the sun had turned his pasty Pennsylvanian skin to a beautiful golden shade. “What’s not to like?”
Jessica shoved him. “First my sister, now my mom. Tell me, Jack, do you actually like me or are you just using me to get to the older women in my family?”
Jack tipped his head back and let out a laugh, the sound forcing Bethani to emerge from her book and scowl at them. He grabbed Jessica’s hand again and, after swiping a couple towels from a nearby stand, towed her away, in the direction of the stairs to the ocean.
Once their feet hit the warm sand, Jack hauled Jessica down the beach. Chairs were sporadically placed and randomly grouped, but about fifty yards down, two chairs sat unoccupied. Jack dropped the towels onto one and pulled Jessica to him, though she had crossed her arms over her chest, bottom lip stuck out petulantly.
“Listen to me very carefully, sunshine,” Jack said, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear. “The only girl I’ve had my eyes on the entire time I’ve been here is you. And that’s not going to change.”
Her lower lip relaxed its pout. “You promise?”
He leaned in, pressing a kiss to her mouth. “Promise.”
“Good,” she said brightly. “I feel the same. Now let’s go cool off.”
