Sweet Deal

He’d loved her. Once. Man, in his dreams he’d been pretty quick to take her back, but now he hesitated. When he’d seen her at that picnic he’d been rattled, but probably more because of the unexpectedness of the encounter. Did he really still have feelings for her?

He tried to sort out the tangled knot of emotions inside him and gave it up.

“I don’t know, Gia

“Sort of.”

Huh. Not much of an answer. He pinched the bridge of his nose, eyes squeezed shut.

Another soft, sad-sounding sigh. “Would you think about it? About maybe just getting together some time for a drink? You still have my cell phone number, right?”

Pathetic fool that he was, yeah, it was still programmed into his own cell phone. “Yeah.”

“Think about it and call me,” she invited in that breathy voice. He pictured her, all dark hair and eyes and sexy mouth. And kind of felt sorry for her.

He hung up the phone and sat there for a long time, replaying the conversation in his mind, trying to make sense of it all. But there was no sense to it. He could imagine a hundred different scenarios. What if Gia

Did he want to forgive her and take her back?

He felt like his head was going to explode.

This was a freakin’ nightmare.

“Do you think your parents might get the wrong idea about us?”

Jake had picked Shelby up and they were on their way to visit her parents. He had no idea how this had come about. After Gia

Or was it? Because only moments before Gia

So when he’d picked up the phone to call Shelby, he wasn’t even a hundred percent sure why he was calling her. He wanted to see her. He felt guilty about talking to Gia

First he’d said no. No, as in hell no, no freakin’ way he wanted to meet her parents, like he was her real boyfriend or something. He never did the whole meet-the-parents thing—his hookups never got that far and that was fine with him. Meeting parents was way too serious for his casual life.

But somehow, there they were, sitting in his car on their way to see her parents.

She snorted at his question. “Don’t worry about that. They’ll barely notice we’re there.”

He laughed. She’d told him about her parents getting back together yet again and how her mom hadn’t even remembered she was coming the last time she’d gone over. She had another container of cookies on her lap, though.

“What’s with the cookies?” he asked as he drove. “Taylor says you’re always making cookies for people. I thought you didn’t like to cook.”

“Cookies are about the extent of my culinary skills,” she said. “I don’t know why I do that. Okay, yes I do.” She sighed. “When I was a kid, one time my parents were having this huge blow up, in their bedroom yelling and throwing things at each other. I went into the kitchen, and to distract myself I made cookies. I had to focus on all the measurements and it…helped. I guess. And then my parents came out of their bedroom and they smelled the cookies and they stopped fighting. And they…” She looked out the side window of the car, pausing in her story. “They ate the cookies and they said what a good job I’d done. They were actually paying attention to me and they stopped fighting.” She shot him a wry smile. “For a while. I guess I have this weird feeling that if I make cookies, everything will be okay. Even though I know it won’t.”

He reached for her hand and squeezed it, kept it within his as he drove. “You’ve never made cookies for me.”

She gri

“Sure.” Yeah, right. As if he wasn’t confused enough about his career, that phone call from Gia

Following her directions, he pulled into the driveway, and they walked into the house.

“Hey, Mom and Dad! I’m here.”

A woman sat on the couch in the living room, alone, a small woman like Shelby, a little plumper, her blonde hair cut short. “Oh, Shelby. Hi.”

He caught Shelby’s eye roll even though her mother apparently didn’t. “Don’t tell me you forgot I was coming again.”

“I’m just a little distracted,” her mother said, rising and coming toward her for a hug. “And who’s this?”

Shelby introduced Jake to her mother. “What are you distracted about, Mom?”

Mrs. Leighton sighed and sank back down onto the couch. “Your father’s not home yet.”

“Oh.”

“And he hasn’t called.”

“Uh-huh.” Shelby shot a glance at Jake who lifted his eyebrows. “Well, I brought you some cookies.”

“Oh thank you, honey.” Mrs. Leighton waved a hand. “Just put them in the kitchen. Would you two like a drink?”

“Um…” Again she looked at Jake.

“I’d like a cookie,” he said softly with a faint smile.

A slow smile tugged at Shelby’s pretty lips. “Oh. Okay. Let’s go into the kitchen.”

She led the way, found a plate and arranged some cookies on them. “A glass of milk would go good with these,” she said. “Want one?”

“Sure.”

She poured them each a glass of milk then carried the plate of cookies into the living room and set it on the coffee table. She and Jake each took a seat and Jake reached for one of the cookies and took a big bite, savoring the buttery richness, the sweetness of brown sugar.

“Awesome,” he pronounced. “You do make good cookies.”

“Thanks.” She looked into her glass of milk, licked her lips, then took a cookie for herself. “So, what’s new, Mom?”

Her mother sighed. “I think your father is having an affair.”

Jake’s jaw dropped and his head whipped around to look at Shelby.

“I doubt it, Mom.” She seemed unconcerned by this accusation. “You and Dad have had a lot of ups and downs in your relationship, but I’m pretty sure he’s never actually cheated on you.”

Jake blinked.

“In fact, I’m pretty sure neither of you has even dated anyone else, even during the times you were separated, have you?”

Mrs. Leighton frowned.

“Did you try calling him?”

“No. I’m not going to be a nagging wife who keeps tabs on him all the time.”

Shelby bit her lip. “Well. That’s good.” Then she muttered under her breath, “For a change.”

Mrs. Leighton stared out the front window, oblivious to the fact that Shelby had brought a guest, not even trying to make small talk. Jake almost gri