pulled up at the gate, and the knots multiplied.
Okay, she was more than a little nervous, but she reminded herself that she was doing this for Ava. This decision, like every other decision she’d made since she’d learned that she was pregnant, had been focused on what was best for her daughter. Even if Ava didn’t agree.
And the words she spoke, as they made their way off the plane, confirmed that she didn’t. “I can’t believe you made me leave Seattle to come here,” Ava grumbled.
Kelly hadn’t expected that her daughter would be overjoyed by her decision, but she had hoped that she would have accepted it by now. “You know, if you weren’t so determined to hate it, you might actually like it here,” she told her.
“I doubt it.”
She didn’t argue. The choice had been made and their new life was about to begin, so all she said was “Grab your suitcase.”
They’d packed only what they needed for a few days, with the rest of their clothes and household items being shipped.
Ava hauled the bag off of the conveyor belt. “How are we getting to Pinecone?”
“Pinehurst,” she corrected automatically. “And Uncle Luke said he would pick us up and take us to our new place.”
“When are we getting a car?”
“Before August fifteenth,” Kelly assured her, because that was the date she was scheduled to start her new job as an in-house accountant at Richmond Pharmaceuticals.
Ava rolled her eyes. With the purple streaks she’d added to her hair during her last sleepover at Rachel’s house and the gloomy expression on her face, she looked too much like a typical sullen teenager—and she was still only twelve. As much as Kelly desperately hoped this move would help turn things around with Ava, she knew that any change would take time.
“I’ll probably start looking tomorrow,” she said, hoping to appease her daughter. “I just wasn’t keen on picking up a rental and then driving to Pinehurst after spending all day on airplanes.”
“How far is Pinetree?”
“About an hour from here,” she said, not bothering to correct her on the name of the town again. Instead, she grabbed the handle of her own suitcase. “Let’s go find Uncle Luke.”
Kelly headed out of the baggage claim area, then stopped so abruptly Ava plowed right into the back of her.
“Geez, Mom,” her daughter grumbled.
Kelly didn’t—couldn’t—respond.
Because standing at the car rental counter, where Lukas said he would be waiting, was his brother, Jackson, instead.
“Mom?” Ava prompted, sounding genuinely concerned. “What’s wrong?”
Kelly had to remind herself to breathe, and she exhaled slowly. “Nothing’s wrong,” she lied, not wanting to alarm her daughter. “I just lost my train of thought for a moment.”
“Well, put brake lights on next time,” Ava suggested. Then, after looking around, “I don’t see Uncle Luke anywhere.”
“Apparently there’s been a change of plans,” Kelly noted, trying to keep her tone light while she inwardly cursed Lukas Garrett all the way to hell and back.
“Does that mean we’re going to rent a car?” Ava asked.
“No, it means you’re going to meet Uncle Luke’s brother.”
A lot sooner than I had planned.
She stood for another minute, still rooted to the spot, and just looked at Jackson. She hadn’t seen him in thirteen years, but she’d recognized him immediately. But it was more than the dark brown hair that was always immaculately trimmed, more than the exquisitely shaped mouth that had inspired so many of her teenage fantasies, and more than the green eyes that were as dark and clear as emeralds. It was even more than the fact that he was six feet of solidly built male, with broad shoulders and strong arms that ensured any woman would feel secure and protected in his embrace. It was, more than anything else, the way Kelly felt when she looked at him—all hot and tingly and tongue-tied.
Sternly reminding herself that she wasn’t still sixteen years old—or even twenty-one—she took a step toward him.
He glanced up from the book he was reading—a legal journal of some kind—as if he sensed her approach. She’d noticed that the book was in his left hand, and that the third finger was bare. But the fact that he’d been divorced for quite a few years now didn’t make him any less off-limits.
As he closed the cover of the journal, his gaze skimmed over her, from the top of her head to her toes in a quick, cursory perusal that nevertheless caused heat to flare low in her belly and spread through her veins. She hadn’t counted on this, and that was a definite miscalculation on her part.
But how could she have known that, after so many years, he would still have this effect on her? Because even from a distance, even after so much time, she couldn’t deny her body’s instinctive response to him. Or the ache in her heart.
She pushed her bangs away from her face and silently reprimanded herself for even noticing that her hair was as flat and tired as the rest of her. She’d dressed comfortably for travel in a pair of faded jeans and an ancient University of Chicago sweatshirt and had put on the barest touch of makeup before heading out to the airport more than ten hours earlier. As a result, she felt not just unprepared but ill-equipped to come face-to-face with Jackson now.
When she’d decided to return to Pinehurst, she’d known it was inevitable that she would see him. But she hadn’t planned on seeing him when she was looking like this. She knew it shouldn’t matter, but when a woman was facing an ex-lover, she wanted to look her best. Unfortunately, she wasn’t even close.
Those green eyes lifted to her face again. “Hello, Kelly.”
Two simple words, but after so many years of silence, the achingly familiar voice was like a warm caress.
Her heart was pounding inside of her chest, but she inclined her head and responded in a similarly casual tone. “Jackson.”
His lips curved, just a little, and she suddenly remembered that no one else, aside from his mother, had ever called him “Jackson.” At least not more than once. But he’d never been Jack to Kelly—that name was too common, and Jackson was anything but. She had, occasionally, shortened his name to Jacks, but that seemed too familiar now.
He shifted his attention to her daughter again. “You must be Ava.”
The girl nodded, her gaze darting from her mother to Jackson and back again, as if she sensed the strange undercurrents between them.
Kelly held her breath, waiting for any sign of recognition. But there wasn’t any. And why would there be? Unless Lukas had shared the occasional photos that she’d sent to him, Jackson had never seen her daughter before. But she’d thought he might see some of the familial resemblance that Kelly saw whenever she looked at her little girl.
“I’m Jack Garrett, Luke’s brother.” He offered his hand.
