Make Your Move - By Samantha Hunter Page 0,25

hands off each other. She’d almost been late for work again this morning, and Dan for a meeting, as well.

“So, you and Dan are an item now, huh?” Ginger inquired casually, though with a sparkle in her eye. “I always thought you two had some chemistry between you. And it’s nice that you’re friends. Friendship is a great thing to build a future on,” she added, wiping down the counter as Jodie finished boxing up an order for delivery.

“Future? Don’t go there, my friend. Dan and I have agreed we’re just friends, and that’s all we’ll ever be. Friends with benefits maybe, but that’s all. So you can keep that romantic imagination of yours in check.”

“Really, Jodie? I thought you were the expert on men. Don’t you see how he looks at you?” Ginger stopped working, obviously surprised. “The man is besotted. And for what it’s worth, you look at him exactly the same way.”

Jodie pushed down irritation, or was it another emotion altogether? Fear? Apprehension?

“You have it wrong, Ginger. Believe me, Dan and I do care about each other. We have for years, and so we already have a relationship. We’re giving in to this fantasy, this chemistry, but it will wear off. Trust me, it always does.”

“Sure, after you’ve been married for years. And then it turns into something better.”

“There’s no need to get nasty and start using the M word,” Jodie said with a frown.

The conversation was abbreviated when the bell over the door rang. The laughter and goofing around stopped when Jodie saw the man walk in and Ginger’s color fading.

“Ginger, are you okay?” Jodie asked quietly as the man hovered by the door for a moment, then advanced.

“Hi, Scott. What are you doing here?” she said, both in response to Jodie’s question, and to the man who now stood uncomfortably before the counter. Jodie went to her side, straightening her spine and set her hands on her hips, eying Ginger’s ex.

So this was Scott. Tall, lanky, raven-haired with a pale complexion and poetic features that were too soft for Jodie’s liking. His little girl looked just like him. What a difficult reminder for Ginger, Jodie realized.

How did she do it? Jodie had completely repressed that she had her own father’s eyes, his coloring. She couldn’t look in the mirror every day if she thought that.

Jodie’s impulse to protect her friend was fierce, coming from some unknown emotional well, certainly from her past with her father.

“I need to talk to you, Ginger, and since you haven’t answered my calls the last few days, I had no choice but to try to catch you here,” he said.

“I’ve been busy,” Ginger said tightly.

“If you’re not here as a customer, you should probably leave,” Jodie said. She eyed the man coolly but felt Ginger’s hand on her arm.

“I can deal with it, Jodie. Do you mind if I take ten minutes?”

“Take as long as you need,” Jodie said, nodding. “I’ll be right out back.”

“I won’t be long, but thanks,” Ginger said with a tense smile.

Jodie made herself scarce, but barely, hovering by the corner of the kitchen since there were no customers out front to give her an excuse to be at the counter, where it was easier to eavesdrop.

As it was, she couldn’t hear anything and her thoughts wandered back over their conversation about Dan. Were they getting into something too deep? Was she fooling herself?

She and Dan, for as long as they’d been friends, moved in completely different circles. If it hadn’t been for college, their paths never would have crossed.

Jodie wondered how well their lifestyles would mesh now and an idea formed in the back of her mind, but she was distracted by the ring of the bell again as Scott left.

Ginger stood planted in place, looking shell-shocked, her hand at her lips. Jodie couldn’t stand it and walked out.

“What did he want? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay, I guess,” she said vaguely, walking back to where Jodie was, picking up a white towel, but just standing still and looking out the door where her ex had just left.

“Ginger, what is it?”

“He…he wants to get back together. To try again.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“That’s what I said. I figure he’s just going through another one of his stages. Maybe he has nothing better to do, so he figured he’d try the family thing again. But he said he got a job, and he wants to be back with me and Anna, permanently. He wants us to give