just want to be with my mom,” Jazmine said, sounding small and sad. “I wouldn’t care where it was.”
“Are you getting along with your aunt?”
Jazmine hesitated. “She tries, and I appreciate everything she does, I really do, but she doesn’t know that much about kids.” As if she felt bad about criticizing her aunt, the girl added, “It’s not as bad as it was on Monday, but…”
Adam wanted to continue asking questions about Shana, but he preferred not to be obvious about it. “She seems nice.”
“She is, but she’s got issues, you know.”
It was difficult for Adam not to laugh outright at Jazmine’s solemn tone. “What kind of issues?” he asked gravely.
Jazmine snickered. “Where would you like me to start? She has this old boyfriend that she dumped or he dumped her—I don’t know which—but she won’t even say his name. I heard her talking to Mom, and every time she got close to mentioning his name, she called him that-man-I-used-to-date. Is that ridiculous or what?”
Adam murmured a noncommittal reply.
“That’s not all. Shana used to have a regular job, a really good one for a drug company. Mom said she made fabulous money, but she quit after she broke up with this guy. Then she bought the ice-cream parlor. She doesn’t know a thing about ice cream or pizza or anything else.”
Still, Adam had to admire her entrepreneurial spirit. “She seems to be doing all right.”
“That’s only because she phones the former owners ten times a day, and I’m not exaggerating. She finally figured out she can’t do everything on her own and she hired a lady to come in during the afternoons to help her. I’m only nine-going-on-ten, and I figured that out before she did.” Jazmine stopped abruptly, as if something had just occurred to her. “You’re not attracted to her or anything, are you?”
Adam relaxed in his chair and crossed his ankles. “Well…I think she’s kinda cute.”
“No, no, no!” Jazmine said, more loudly this time. “I was afraid this would happen. This is terrible!”
Adam loved the theatrics. “What is?”
“Shana,” Jazmine cried as if it should all be perfectly logical. “What about Mom? If you’re going to fall in love with anyone, make it my mom. She needs you, and you’d be a great stepdad.”
“Jazmine,” he said, the amusement suddenly gone. “I think the world of your mother. She’s a wonderful woman, and I love her dearly, but—”
He had no idea how to put this without upsetting her. “Your mother and I, well…”
“You love her like a sister,” Jazmine finished for him. She sounded resigned and not particularly surprised.
Adam almost wished he could fall in love with Ali. Perhaps if he’d met her before Peter did, things would’ve been different. But he hadn’t, and now it was impossible to think of Ali in any other way.
“That’s pretty astute of you,” he said.
“What’s astute?”
“Smart.”
Jazmine sighed heavily. “Not really. I said something about you to Mom, and what she said is she loves you like a brother.”
So it was a mutual feeling, which was a relief. “Did your mother tell you she was ready for another relationship?” he asked.
“I think she is,” Jazmine replied after a thoughtful moment. “But I don’t know if she knows it.” She hesitated, and he could almost see her frown of concentration. “Mom’s been different the last few months.” She seemed to be analyzing the situation as she spoke. “She’s less sad,” Jazmine went on. “We talk about Dad a lot, and Mom laughs now and she’s willing to do things and go places again. I guess someone mentioned that to the Navy, because they decided to give her sea duty.”
“I’m grateful your mother’s feeling better about life. When the time’s right, she’ll meet someone special enough to be your stepdad.”
“But it won’t be you.”
Adam heard the sadness in her voice and regretted it. “It won’t be me,” he said quietly.
“You are attracted to Shana though, right?”
“Maybe.” That was all he’d admit. He found himself wondering about the man Shana had recently dumped or been dumped by.
“So this guy she used to go out with—”
“They were engaged, I think, but she won’t talk about it.” There was a pause. “She didn’t get a ring, though.”
Engaged? Even an unofficial engagement suggested this had been a serious and probably long-term relationship. Which could explain why Shana had seemed so skittish.
“Are you gonna ask her out, Uncle Adam?”
Adam wasn’t prepared to make that much of a commitment, not yet, anyway. “Uh, we’ll see.”
“I think she’d say yes,” Jazmine said brightly. “Don’t you?”
“I don’t know. Some women seem to need a man in their lives, but…” His voice trailed off; he wasn’t sure how to complete that thought.
Jazmine muttered a comment he couldn’t hear.
“Pardon?” he said.
“Just remember, she’s got issues—lots and lots of issues.”
Adam managed to stifle a chuckle. “I’ll do my best to keep that in mind. Listen, Jazz, do you feel okay now?”
“Yeah…I guess I should come out before Shana finds me in here. Oh!”
That small cry was followed by some muffled words, but he caught the drift of what was happening. Shana had just discovered where Jazmine had taken the phone.
Chapter Six
“You don’t like him, do you?” Jazmine asked the next day as they drove home from the restaurant. She sat next to Shana with her arms defiantly crossed.
Shana knew better than to pretend she didn’t understand that her niece was referring to Lieutenant Commander Adam Kennedy. “I think your uncle Adam is…nice.” The word was lame and the hesitation was long, which gave Jazmine cause to look at Shana intently. But really, what else could she say? Her unexpected attraction to this man had completely overwhelmed her. She could only hope it passed quickly. How could she be devastated by her breakup with Brad and at the same time, experience all the symptoms of extreme attraction toward another man? A man she’d met for about five minutes and been determined to dislike on sight.
“He’s really cute, too.” Jazmine seemed to feel obliged to remind her of this.
As
