“If I’d been a true knight, I would have saved you before you got bit.” He glanced down at her legs.
“I’m not arguing at all, but you did save me from being scarred forever, so it could have been worse,” she told him. “What about you, Jackson? If you were in the running to keep that hope chest, would you get married just to get it?”
“Probably not, but”—he gave her a slow, sexy wink—“since it is one of the first ones that Uncle D. J. ever made, I might think about it.”
“I always thought that my grandfather loved Nanny Lucy a lot to have that made for her on their first anniversary, but now that I know more, I figure it was to make up for his guilty conscience,” Nessa said.
“What would you have done if you’d found out your husband was cheating on you back in those days?” he asked. “Remember that times were different sixty years ago. Society didn’t accept divorce as well as it does today.”
“Yesterday, today, tomorrow,” Nessa said with total conviction. “I would have either divorced him and thumbed my nose at society, or I would have shot him and buried the body under that fire-ant bed by the old tree.”
“I believe you,” Jackson chuckled. “If we have a fourth date, I’ll be sure to remember to never cheat on you.”
“Wise decision.” She frowned. “Fourth date? We’ve only been on two.”
“You don’t think today counts as one? I mean, after all, you’re wearing my shirt and a smile and nothing more. I saved you from near death. If that’s not a third date, then I’m not sure what is,” he teased.
“We have had some pretty unusual dates,” she agreed.
“Have you had supper? Want to share a sandwich with me?” he asked.
“That sounds great, but only if you’ll let me help make them. I’m a gourmet at spreading mayo on bread,” she told him.
“I’d never turn down gourmet help.” He got to his feet and held out a hand to help her up. When she was upright, he pulled her into his arms and grazed her cheek with the back of his hand. Their eyes met, and she barely had time to moisten her lips before his mouth closed on hers. By the time the make-out session ended, they were both panting.
This is the third date, she thought, trying to rationalize what she wanted to happen next and yet not wanting to instigate it. Could Jackson be what she was looking for? Had fate led her to Blossom so that she would meet him and be ready to commit to a long-term, maybe even forever, relationship?
He scooped her up into his arms for the second time and carried her back to a bedroom across the hall from where she’d been before. “Are you going to say no?” he whispered as he kicked the door shut with his bare foot.
“For tonight, I’m going to live for the moment, and no is not a part of the moment,” she whispered.
Chapter Nineteen
April went to the refrigerator for milk on Friday evening, but there was none. “Hey, we need to make a run to the grocery store for milk, and we’re down to only three or four slices of bread.”
“I was supposed to buy the groceries for this whole week, so I’ll go,” Nessa said. “I agree with Nanny Lucy, though. We need to buy a cow.”
“You going to milk it when we do?” Flynn teased.
“If I put out my money to buy it, then you should have to milk it, and April has to feed it,” Nessa shot back at him. “Let’s have supper, and then I’ll make a run up to Paris. There are some other things I need from Walmart, so I can kill two birds with one stone.”
“I’ll go with you,” April said. “While we’re there, we might as well buy the groceries for next week. That way we don’t have to go back on Tuesday evening.”
“You got a hot date on that night?” Flynn pushed himself up off the sofa and took his place at the kitchen table.
“I did, but I’m standing him up next Tuesday,” April said. “His name is Wally Mart, but like most of the guys I’ve known in the past, he’s just there to take my money, and if I don’t have any, he tosses me out on my butt.”
Nessa set a basket of hot biscuits on the table and then sat down. “Looks to me like all three of us have had some bad luck when it comes to dating.”
“Please don’t marry Jackson and leave us.” April picked up the bowl of mashed potatoes, scooped a big spoonful onto her plate, and then passed them across the table to Flynn.
“What . . . I don’t . . . Why . . . What did you say?” Nessa sputtered.
“I still had one eye open last night when you came home,” April told her. “That was not the shirt you had on when you left for a walk. You were barefoot, and you weren’t wearing shorts. I don’t want you to marry him and leave us. I can cook, but not as good as you, and Flynn only knows how to make soup and sandwiches. We’ll starve if you leave.”
“Did you and Jackson . . .” Flynn froze with a spoonful of mashed potatoes in the air. The potatoes fell off the spoon, missed his plate, and landed on the plastic place mat.
“I told you this morning that I sat down in a pile of fire ants, and that Jackson rescued me. I was wearing his shirt because my shirt and shorts as well as my flip-flops are still out there in the woods by an old log. After being nearly devoured by those miserable ants, I’m donating my shirt and shorts and flip-flops to them. I don’t ever intend to take a walk down that path again. As for the rest, I’m pleading the Fifth-and-a-Half Amendment that says that a lady don’t kiss and tell,” Nessa said.
“Jackson is the most decent guy I’ve ever met.” Flynn jumped up, jerked the place mat out from under his plate and tossed it in the sink, and then returned to the table. “And shame on you if you’re just using him.”
“Using him for what?” Nessa asked.
“For a good time. Because he’s close by. Because you haven’t been with a man in a while. Take your pick,” Flynn said.
“Hey, that’s downright mean.” April accentuated each word with a stab of her fork toward him. How dare he judge Nessa when he’d done the same thing to women? To many women? “Are you judging Nessa by your own half bushel?”
“I’m sorry,” Flynn answered. “And yes, I was.”
“Apology accepted, but I’m not that kind of person.” Nessa shot a dirty look across the table. “We’ve been here three weeks now, Flynn. Is this the longest you’ve gone without putting on your running shoes to chase a woman?”
April’s eyes shifted from one cousin to the other and back again. She would have been willing to bet dollars to doughnuts that Nessa had slept with Jackson. There had been a glow about her as well as a smile she couldn’t wipe off her face when she’d come in after midnight.
Flynn took a deep breath. “Yes, three weeks is the longest I’ve ever been without sex, but I don’t want to be that guy anymore. I’m working hard to overcome the man I was, and I think I’m making progress.”
“Explain, please,” April said. “Did a woman do the same thing to you that you usually do to them?”
Flynn took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “That’s exactly what happened, and now that I know how painful it is, I’m changing my ways. I never thought twice about having a one-night stand or a weekend fling. Last time around, I wanted more when Monday morning came, but she didn’t.”