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She was quiet a few beats, and he began to wonder if she was going to answer or not. Finally, she replied, “About six months ago, I was packing for a trip we were going on, and his phone was laying out. A text came through from a woman telling him she loved him.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
She dropped her hands to her side. “Don’t be. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I was hurt and angry at first, but as the weeks went by, I realized it didn’t hurt as much as it should. I should have been devastated, wrecked, in a ball, crying my eyes out, and it felt more like a papercut.” She groaned. “I’m so sorry. I just blurted all that out.” She gave a nervous chuckle. “How about you make me feel a little less awkward. She glanced at him. “Have any girlfriends I need to watch out for?”
“It’s okay.” Jack shook his head as he laughed. “There was one. We dated for a couple of years. I thought I was in love. I thought she loved me. Turns out, she really loved attention. Once I was injured, she was gone. I was a has-been.”
Pulling him to a stop, Jo caught his gaze. “Your value, your worth is not tied to football. Yes, you were great at it, but you were a good person. You put together food and clothing drives. You didn’t let the other guys on the football team bully other kids. Not only did you help rebuild Mrs. Jennings’s house, but you also did a toy drive for her kids that year because it’d burned down a week before Christmas. You were a good example in high school.”
“How did you know it was me? I never…” And did she just admit she knew about him a whole lot more than he knew about her? He’d known he was popular with the girls, but they usually went on about his looks and football, not the other things.
She chewed her lip. “I may have overhead your mom talking to my grandma one day while they were wrapping the gifts.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that I was cocky and arrogant.”
“Show me a high school quarterback star who isn’t.” She smiled. “You were… are a good guy.”
He’d done those things in high school because they were the right things to do. He’d been a freshman and picked on. He’d hated it and told himself that if he was ever in the position to keep that from happening to someone else, he would. Mrs. Jennings’s house… he’d had an aunt in Washington State lose her home around Christmas. It’d been devastating to her and her family. He’d seen how heartbroken they were. The things he did were basic decency. Nothing to be praised for.
There was also a decade between those two verbs. “How do you know I’m a good guy now?”
“If you were a bad guy you wouldn’t charge my grandma barely more than the materials.” She smiled.
His mouth dropped open. “How do you figure that out?”
“Grandma told me.”
“She knows?”
Jo leveled her eyes at him. “Really? My grandma?”
He chuckled. Yeah, she did have a knack for knowing things. “I guess I should have known that.”
“Yeah, nothing gets past her.”
Her gaze dipped to where her hand remained on his arm, and she yanked it back. Now that she brought attention to it, he realized that’s why his arm was tingling and little streaks of electricity were bouncing around inside his chest. With the way she jerked her hand away, he had to wonder if she was feeling the same charge.
She began walking again.
Jack stood there a moment, a smile stretching on his lips. He jogged to catch up to her. “I guess I’m just surprised you knew all that?”
“You were kind of a big deal. Even before I got to high school, kids were talking about you. Guys wanted to be you. Girls wanted to date you.” She seemed to realize what she’d said and added, “I mean… most girls. The ones who dated. Not that I didn’t date. I mean, I didn’t…” She clamped her lips shut.
Instead of doing what he was dying to do, which was tease her, he glanced at the well as they passed by it. For now, he’d let it go, but tuck the information away for later.
Digging in his jeans pocket, he had little hope of finding any change because he hadn’t grabbed any before he left the apartment. When his fingers wrapped around something, he pulled it out. “I’ve got a dime. Think it’ll work?”
“I dunno. I mean, it demands payment in the form of pennies.” She smiled. “You could unleash a plague or awaken something evil that will plunder the land.”
He laughed. “Wow. That’s imaginative.”
Shrugging, she grinned. “Hey, I am a writer.”
Secretly, he was toying with the idea because a penny was one wish for love, but he was looking at a woman and a situation that seemed hopeless. There were roadblocks aplenty. He stuffed the dime back in his pocket, and they began walking again.
“Not chancing it, huh?” Jo asked through a laugh.
“Nah. Don’t want to anger it. I’d hate to mess it up for anyone who makes a wish.” He glanced at her. “Who knows, I might need it later on.” He grinned as they passed a lamp. Sure enough, her cheeks held a dusting of pink. Why did he enjoy that so much? Maybe it had to do with the fact that he affected her. A talent he wouldn’t mind developing further.
