Page 28 of Call It Serendipity

“You have good timing, stay for dinner,” Claire tells him, already reaching for a fourth bowl.

“No, I didn’t mean to intrude,” Jake counters.

“You didn’t. Tell him, Lucy.”

I hug my once lost Walkman to my chest and murmur, “You’re not intruding.”

Jake dips his head towards me and raises his brows. Without him saying a word, I somehow know what he’s asking me with this look.

“Stay,” I tell him quietly. “I want you to.”

The corner of his lip hitches up. “In that case, I’d love to,” he whispers back.

I step back to find Claire watching us intently. “What’s the verdict?”

“He’s staying.”

“Good, he can weigh in,” Levi says as if this is the most common occurrence in the world. It’s comforting to have his easy acceptance—no questions about how we met, who Jake is, or why I was in his truck last night.

“Weigh in on what?”

Jake shrugs out of his jacket and throws it over the back of the couch. He’s wearing a short-sleeve shirt, and I realize it’s the first time I’ve ever seen his arms. His solid arms with their perfect lines of taut muscle.

Arms that have been wrapped around me, and upon my noticing them, are creating within me the distinct urge to want that once more.

“You ever watch Seinfeld?” Levi asks, picking up the tray Claire’s loaded with full bowls of chili, cornbread, and containers of cheese and sour cream.

“Yeah, sure.”

“You watch the finale?”

“Yeah.” Jake chuckles, understanding where this is going.

We all take a seat at the dining table, selecting a bowl and spooning out toppings. Levi dumps a heaping pile of cheese on his chili and points his spoon across the way to Jake. “What are your thoughts? Did they nail the ending or was it a total flop?”

“Nailed it,” Jake answers without hesitation.

“All three of you are wrong,” Claire snaps. “We deserved an ending to the cliffhanger on the plane.”

I steal a glance at Jake to find him watching me with an amused spark in his eyes. My mouth pulls into a smile on its own accord.

“That’s three to one, my love,” Levi reminds her. “It’s decided.”

For a moment, everyone forgets conversing to start in on our dinner. But as the daylight fades and the sound of spoons scraping bowls slows, Levi turns his attention to Jake once more.

“Are you from around here? I haven’t seen you before the public forum.”

“You remember him being there?” Claire asks curiously.

“I remember you and Lucy spending half the meeting staring and talking about him.”

I swear my face turns as red as the remaining chili in my bowl, and I feel the strongest urge to fling it at Levi. So much for his easy acceptance of this situation.

“Talking about me, huh?” Jake murmurs, bumping his knee against mine under the table.

“He doesn’t remember it correctly.”

“What about the staring?”