far removed from this suburbia, even though it was only ninety minutes away.
Looking around at the soccer moms in their huge, unnecessary SUVs and the stressed-out college
students downing espresso shots while pretending to study at sidewalk cafés, he wasn’t terribly surprised to find he didn’t miss it.
He liked his life in Napa, his work as a chef, the respect he received from his colleagues and fellow locals alike. Trust Emma to come back into his life to make him question everything he’d been comfortable with for so long.
It wasn’t that something was missing in his life. Well, that wasn’t exactly true, he acknowledged, as he passed heaps of Emma’s unworn clothes over to the Goodwill volunteer. He’d almost gotten married a couple of times, both women the polar opposites of Emma. Lush brunettes, as free with their bodies and appetites as they were with their emotions. He’d thought they were women he could be happy with, spend the rest of his life with, have kids, the whole nine yards. But both women had called things off not long after the engagement, calling him emotionally unavailable. Saying he didn’t know what he wanted.
Accusing him of always prioritizing his work over them.
They were right about that last complaint. He always had been more comfortable spending long hours in his kitchen rather than going home early for a cozy drink by the fire.
Emma was the only woman he’d ever cut out on work for. Rocco had commented on it this morning,
saying, “Never seen you take two days off in one week, boss. You feeling all right?”
Jason had insisted, “Never been better. Just have some important things to take care of.”
He could practically feel Rocco’s disapproval reverberating through the phone. “You gotta do what you gotta do, boss.”
“Damn right I do,” Jason said, slamming his cell phone shut, wondering exactly where Rocco got off acting so high and mighty about treating women right when Rocco was as big a player as they came.
Granted, he’d never acted out of a premeditated plan for revenge.
Jason was getting back in his car when he heard a familiar voice calling out his name. “Jason! Wait up.”
“Kate,” he said, reaching out to give Emma’s best friend a hug. “How’s it going?”
He’d always liked Kate, never blamed her in any way for what Emma had done. In fact, back in college, he’d wished he could have fallen for a girl like Kate. Someone easy and uncomplicated. A girl without a steel rod up her ass.
“I’m great. The question is, how are you? And what are you doing here in Palo Alto?”
“Doing good, thanks. Just dropping some things off for Emma.”
Her eyebrows furrowed. “Why?”
Giving her one of his most reassuring smiles, the kind he employed on TV to relax everyone and let them know that he was a good guy they could trust, he said, “She’s moving in with me.”
Kate’s mouth fell open. “Are you kidding me?”
He couldn’t resist saying, “Surprised?”
Her open face grew uncharacteristically serious. “Whose idea was this?”
“Mine.”
“Don’t you think it’s a little soon to be moving in together?”
“Not really.”
She stared at him. “You love her that much, huh?”
He swallowed and forced out, “I do.”
“Uh-huh.” He could tell she didn’t believe him, and he was trying to figure out a way out of the conversation when her pager and cell phone both beeped.
“Crap. I’m late for a meeting. Two, actually. Tell Emma I’ll call her tonight.”
As he watched Kate run off in impossibly high heels, Jason began to feel like Emma’s social director.
Steven and Kate could pass their messages on to Emma themselves.
Emma kept busy while Jason was gone, but after an hour had passed she started to worry. What if he’d changed his mind about everything and decided to head back to Napa without her? She hated how
insecure she felt, but she couldn’t help it.
It was only during those moments when she was in Jason’s arms, when he was kissing her and making her feel like the only woman he’d ever want, that she felt truly safe. But all the befores and afters kept her on shaky ground.
Even now. When there was absolutely no reason for her to be worried anymore.
Well, except for the small matter of his not having said “I love you” yet. Looking at things in that light, putting her house up for sale and moving to Napa seemed extremely premature.
If she were brave, if she had any faith in herself at all—or in their relationship, for that matter—she’d say that very thing to him.
She