him. “I’d forgotten what it was like to play against you. I don’t think I like it.”
He flashed her a smile. “What can I say? I’m a lucky guy.”
She made a huffing sound and rolled a seven. “How did the cleanup go yesterday?” she asked Renee.
“We are back to normal. The water is gone, everything is dried out and there’s not really any serious damage.” She glanced at Jasper. “We had a little accident at the firefighter wedding on Saturday night. Someone bumped the hose fountain and nearly flooded the place.”
“What’s a firefighter wedding?”
She took the dice from Mathias and rolled. “Weddings Out of the Box does theme weddings. In this case, the theme was firefighters. The wedding colors were red, yellow and orange. The flower girl carried flowers in a fireman’s helmet. That sort of thing.”
“People do that?”
Renee grinned. “Jasper, you’ve driven by Weddings Out of the Box. One side of the building looks like a Tuscan villa and another looks like a castle. What did you think was happening there?”
“I thought Pallas was quirky.”
“Theme weddings are big business,” she told him. “There are the usual ones. Princess, pirate, weddings based on books or movies. This fall we’re having a Halloween wedding, a football wedding and an apple wedding.”
“What’s an apple wedding?” he asked.
“They’re apple lovers.” She laughed. “It’s kind of hard to explain.”
An apple wedding? Was that really a thing? He felt as if there was a whole world out there, about which he knew nothing. First women and now weddings. He needed to work on his life skills education.
Mathias rolled the dice and then moved his token. “I’m going to make a quick call to our nanny,” he said, then shrugged sheepishly. “Like we said before, it’s the first time we’ve left Devon at night, so...”
“You should absolutely check in,” Renee told him. “You’ll feel better.”
Carol watched him go. “It’s funny. All the things I worried about before we had Devon haven’t been a problem. Instead there are so many other things to worry about. Like leaving her alone.”
Renee patted her arm. “It will get better. You’re a terrific mom. She’s lucky to have you.”
“Thanks.”
Jasper looked at Renee. “Do you have kids?”
“Me? No. I’m not married.” She flushed slightly. “Not that you need to be married to have children. I wasn’t saying that. Or judging. I just mean...” She cleared her throat, lowered her gaze, then looked at him. “Um, no. You?”
He shook his head.
Okay, there was something going on with her. He was sure of it. Fairly sure. Reasonably sure, at least. He really had to get out more. He hadn’t felt the need before, but being around people again made him aware of his solitary state. Not to mention the lack of sex in his life.
He looked at Renee. She was small, but everything was in the right place. She had a sense of humor and he liked her smile. What were the odds she was looking for a brief but satisfying fling that would go absolutely nowhere?
Mathias returned and took his seat. “Everything is fine,” he told Carol. “Devon’s asleep and nothing is wrong.”
Their eyes locked. “I want to go home,” Carol said softly.
“Thank God. Me, too.” Mathias sprang to his feet. “Sorry about this, but it’s a baby thing.”
Renee waved her hand toward the door. “Go be with your beautiful baby. Great progress was made tonight. Next time you’ll stay the whole first hour.”
Carol laughed. “Thanks for understanding. See you at lunch tomorrow.”
“You will,” Renee told her.
Seconds later, they were gone. Jasper looked at Renee. “I guess the odds of one of us heading to the finals just went up.”
“They did.”
She held his gaze a second past what he would consider normal, friendly interaction, shifting them into the maybe I’m interested category. Or was that just wishful thinking on his part? He really had to get this whole man/woman thing figured out. At sixteen, being socially awkward could be considered a little charming. At his age, it was pathetic.
“Monopoly is less fun with just two players,” he said. “Could I buy you a drink instead?”
* * *
RENEE TOLD HERSELF there was absolutely no pressure. Jasper had invited her for a drink and she had said yes. Big whoop. Men and women met for drinks hundreds of times a day and it was all completely normal. Boring even. Only sitting across from Jasper wasn’t anything she would describe as normal, and it could never be boring.
For one thing, the guy was hot. He was