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The waiter showed up with Seth’s beverage, which he took gratefully. He sipped, appreciating his best friend’s expensive taste in excellent wine.
Seth was grinning at Garrett. “So…you were both late for the dinner reservations, too?”
Garrett rolled his eyes, but he also didn’t deny it. “Well, I at least had the good manners to call ahead and let them know. They held the table for us.”
Seth laughed, took another sip of excellent merlot, and added, “Good. Now I don’t feel so bad. Also, I’m delighted that Duke is on the case to find your car. “
She nodded. “One of the many disasters currently staining my life that is out of my hands, at least for the moment.”
Seth wanted to talk to her about another disaster in her life. One he was reluctant to bring up, but it needed to be discussed.
“One other thing,” he said cautiously, “Are you making plans to go back to Chicago to deal with your storage break-in? I wanted to reiterate that I’ll gladly delay your employment start date. Say the word and I’ll talk to Gray.”
She pushed out a long sigh. “I don’t want to deal with that yet. My understanding from the storage place was that they shoved the loose articles back into my space and closed the door. The storage place owner put a lock on it free of charge, because I complained about him taking so long to call me, but eventually I’ll need to go back and sort through it all.”
Seth hated to see her leave Montana for any reason. Fearful that if they let her out of their sight, she might stay in Chicago instead of returning to them.
The forceful attraction he had for Jessica was another alien feeling circling his mind. His tardiness bothered him, but the willingness to pursue another woman—after Gina had so thoroughly fucked them over all those years ago—was another unfamiliar sensation.
And yet, the thought of Jessica out of their lives, or even worse, her finding someone else to love, made his blood run icy. Was it foolish to be falling in love with a woman he’d known such a short time? Hadn’t he always secretly made fun of men who admitted they fell in love at first sight with their women?
“Is there anyone you could call to go take a look for you? Someone you trust, like a family member or friend,” Seth asked. His hidden agenda was to keep her close. Because he was love sick over the hint of losing her.
Jessica shook her head. “I don’t have family in the area at all. My parents live in a retirement community in Florida. My older brother lives overseas with his wife and kids.”
She dropped her gaze to the table, then tilted her head as if she’d thought of something. “Maybe Isabelle would take a look for me.”
“Isabelle?”
“She and I worked together at the Barrington House headquarters. We were pretty good friends. In fact, I didn’t get a chance to say a proper good-bye to her, except a hurried, last minute phone call the night before I left.
“Last I knew she was still head of the Eastern division at the Barrington House headquarters. She was the only one who was less happy about Chucky being the new boss than me. I could call her…” Her voice trailed off, suddenly lost in thought.
“So you’ll be employing the phone-a-friend strategy? Excellent idea,” Garrett said with a grin. “I like it.”
“I second that. She could at least take a look at the damage and send some pictures to my phone.”
“I’m surprised the storage place didn’t do that.”
Her eyebrows rose. “I asked, they didn’t want to take the time or trouble to do it. And yet another reason to put them on my shit list.”
“Or maybe it’s not as bad as reported and you can put off a trip for the time being,” Seth said.
Jessica nodded. “Maybe it would be best. It’s not like I have a vehicle to go back anyway. I’m sort of trapped here.”
“Good,” both Seth and Garrett said at the same time.
Her head snapped up. “Why good?”
Garrett glanced at Seth briefly then said, “Because we like you being trapped with us. We don’t want you to leave us at this tender stage of our relationship.”
Jessica turned to him. “You don’t want me to go either?”
