“I was hoping her headache was minor,” Brent said, “but it’s apparently not.” He worried about the misunderstanding they’d had, thinking he might have caused it.
He took a bite of his food, distracted momentarily by its savory flavors. The rosemary-sage rub his dad had used had been made with fresh herbs from the garden. “This lamb’s delicious, Dad. Thanks for cooking.” Which Parker was prone to do occasionally, flexing his culinary muscle.
Grandmother Margaret scrunched up her face, digging into her own dinner. “I would think not eating would make her headache worse.”
Elsa nodded. “I’ll make up a plate for Jackie. Brent can take it to her after dinner.”
“What was the holdup with the mother again?” Grandpa Chad asked, eying the empty seat beside him.
“She’s had a car emergency,” Brent explained. “Something about a faulty starter. She expects to have her car back tomorrow.”
“They have car rental places in Bangor, I hear,” Margaret said.
“Perhaps she prefers not to rent, Mother,” Parker cut in. “And anyway”—he shrugged—“it’s only one more day. She’ll get here with the others.”
“We look forward to meeting Jackie’s sister,” Grandpa Chad said.
“When she gets here, of course,” Elsa added. “We hope she’s feeling better soon, too.”
Grandmother Margaret picked up her wine. “Are they normally sickly? The Webb girls?”
“Margaret,” Chad reprimanded in low tones, and Brent’s neck steamed. What was it with his grandmother? Her finding fault with Jackie had begun in Boston and hadn’t let up since.
She turned to her husband, wearing a smug look. “It’s a relevant question. We Albrights are all of sturdy stock. There will likely be babies in the mix one day.”
Now she was carrying things too far, mentioning kids when that was a sore point between him and Jackie. Not that his grandmother knew anything about that. Though sometimes it was like she had a weird sixth sense.
Brent set his napkin on the table and scraped back his chair.
“You know what?” he said, standing. “I’m suddenly not very hungry.” He headed for the kitchen, leaving the others looking stunned. While Brent was all for respecting his elders, he didn’t need to let one of them drag his fiancée through the mud. “If you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll take Jackie her food now, while it’s still hot. I’ll save mine for later.”
His mom started to stand to help him.
“Keep your seat, Mom. I’ll get it.”
“You’re sure?” she asked.
“Yeah, thanks.”
As Brent left the dining room carrying his still-full dinner plate, he heard low whispers behind him. A few of them sounded cranky, and he guessed his dad and grandpa were scolding Grandmother Margaret for her behavior.
Brent wasn’t sure why Margaret had such an intense dislike for Jackie, but she certainly wasn’t making this wedding week any easier. And it had scarcely begun.
…
Brent cut across the back lawn, carrying the eco-friendly food-storage container holding Jackie’s dinner. He still felt terrible about their talk this afternoon and how it ended. He’d thought that he and Jackie had a mutual agreement and that both of them had decided this marriage would be great for their careers. Not exactly terrible for them personally, either.
Now, he found himself questioning the basics of the arrangement they’d made. He’d told himself he wasn’t being selfish—more like equitable. It wasn’t only his career that would benefit from this union; he could help her advance hers, too. But he’d obviously missed something very important. He’d failed to see the cards laid right out in front of him.
It had taken Jackie coming to Blue Hill for him to see her softer side, the vulnerable part of her personality that was obviously crushed by this marriage of convenience. Just because things had started out that way didn’t mean they had to end there. It might be last minute, but it wasn’t really too late to make a change. To really try to do this right and work on them forming a real—and loving—relationship.
Then Brent could prove to his family, once and for all, that Grandmother Margaret’s speculations were wrong. He could also prove something critical to himself—that he was capable of opening up his heart again. After Amanda, he’d had only casual relationships and, despite his good education, fleeting forms of employment.
He’d always been afraid to take chances, which was one reason he’d had such difficulty cementing a career. When you decided to pick one thing and stick to it, you were making a commitment. Up until now, Brent hadn’t totally been a commitment kind of guy.
But he was ready to change all that now.
He was making a bold move in taking over Albright Enterprises.
He also wanted to make an honest effort with Jackie. Because the cold truth was, if Brent couldn’t give his heart to the woman he intended to marry, then he shouldn’t be marrying at all.
Dusk closed in, and a dark purple curtain hugged the water as night creatures chirped and hummed. Soon the stars would come out with moonlight glistening against the bay.
He found himself wishing he could share all that with Jackie. That it could be just the two of them with a couple of glasses of wine on the deck of the cozy carriage house, which had a pretty outdoor gazebo accessible from the deck and on the far side of the hot tub.
That gazebo was also a great place for watching sunrises. While he’d never considered it before, sharing sunrises with Jackie suddenly sounded like such a perfect plan. Which was obscenely mushy and so not like him.
He didn’t have a mushy bone in his body. He was rock-solid through and through—tough enough not to need anyone that badly. He’d learned his lessons about “needing” from Amanda. But, suddenly, Amanda seemed so long ago, and he found himself wanting to move forward.
He knocked at the carriage house door, wondering if he should come back later, but then the door cracked open the tiniest bit.
He could see just a sliver of her face, including one big brown eye.
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” he said hoarsely. “I hope you weren’t sleeping.”
“No. Just resting my eyes.”
“I brought you something to eat. This lamb dish of my dad’s is the best.”
She slowly pulled back the door, accepting his offering.
Brent saw she’d changed into athletic shorts and an oversized T-shirt that said “Dancing Queen” in bright pink letters with a small pink tiara above the script. It was undeniably offbeat and cute, and he’d never seen it before.