hardly call what you’ve been doing work,” Jack said, making everyone laugh, including Sam. Then they ordered three sodas, along with burgers and fries.
“We need a birthday burger,” Jack told Ruby.
Emma let her face fall into her open palm. “Remind me to avoid you for all my birthdays for the rest of my life,” she muttered, sweeping her gaze sideward to meet Jack’s. Her heart stalled like an old car engine. Remind herself not to look over at him anymore tonight too.
“A birthday burger for the birthday girl, it is.” Ruby tucked her pen back into her hair, like a knitting needle in a ball of thick yarn. “And how many candles should this burger have?”
“Thirty,” Jack said, making Emma drop her face into her palm again.
“Aww, you’re still a baby.” Ruby patted a hand on Emma’s back. “Thirty is just when things start getting good in life, darlin’.”
Emma swallowed thickly. Her mom had missed that part of her own life. Thirty was when things had come to a sudden halt.
“Thanks, Ruby,” Jack said before Ruby Jean walked away.
“Is she actually going to put thirty candles on my burger?” Emma asked Jack.
He chuckled softly, the sound a low rumble like thunder beyond the mountains. “I doubt Bear wants to light this place on fire tonight.”
Emma drove her elbow into Jack’s side, making him groan and chuckle harder. The touch made her body ache for more. What was wrong with her? Did thirty also come with soaring, out-of-control hormones?
“So you’re a skateboarder, huh?” Emma asked Sam as they waited, needing to redirect her attention.
Sam had long hair that fell into his eyes. He seemed to hide behind it when he was nervous. She didn’t think he’d be nervous now, but he peered across the table at her behind his overgrown bangs, a wide awkward smile sweeping across his cheeks. “When there’s nothing else to do, I guess?”
“What do you do when you’re home?” Emma asked.
“Video games mostly.” Sam looked at Jack. “But Uncle Jack doesn’t have any game systems.”
Jack huffed. “When I was your age, I was outdoors anytime the weather was nice. Even when it wasn’t nice, I was outside.”
Emma nodded. “I can vouch for that.”
“They probably didn’t even make video games back then,” Sam said.
Jack’s mouth fell open. “Hey!” he said in a teasing tone.
Sam looked at Emma again. “I also hang out with my friends, who aren’t here obviously.”
“What about a girlfriend?” Emma asked as Ruby Jean set their sodas in front of them.
“Be back with the burgers in just a sec,” she said, stepping away again.
Sam shook his head. “Not really.”
Emma reached for her Dr Pepper and took a sip. “Your uncle Jack always had a new girlfriend every time I turned around.”
Jack was the one who bumped her this time. “I wasn’t that bad.” His voice dropped to a note that resonated through her body.
“Oh, you were.” She met his gaze, forgetting that she’d promised herself to stop doing that. He was close enough that she could see the variations of blue in his irises. Close enough to lean in and press her lips to his. Close enough to know better.
She looked away, searching the diner for Ruby Jean. Where are those burgers and fries? Emma sat up a little straighter as she noticed a couple push through the restaurant’s doors.
“What’s wrong?” Jack followed her gaze. From Emma’s peripheral, she saw him straighten a little as well.
Here came her father and Angel, heading straight toward them. Her father had never hidden his disapproval for Jack since her last year of high school. Judging by the grim line on his mouth as he approached their table, his feelings hadn’t changed. How was Emma going to explain sitting here with Jack and Sam for dinner?
* * *
Jack’s knee-jerk reaction was to tell Edward St. James, “This isn’t what it looks like.” His next reaction was to look down at his hands and hope to disappear.
Edward didn’t like him very much, and that was putting it mildly.
“Dad.” Emma stood and wrapped her arms around her father’s neck as he reached their table. “Hi, Angel,” she said to her stepmom next, her enthusiasm dropping a noticeable notch. Jack didn’t think that was intentional, but he knew that Emma was a little bitter over the way Angel and Edward had met. Emma’s mom had still been alive, which made for an awkward situation.
“Dad and Angel, you know Jack.” Emma gestured at Jack sitting in the booth.