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Jamie smiled at the memory and said, “The feeling was definitely mutual, Cora.”
There was a moment of awkward silence before he continued, “Anyway. So he got promoted at the same time I did. There was a fairly big airline campaign that we both wanted. We were in competition for it. He made a bet and, in a moment of stupidity, I accepted it. He won.”
Cora winced and said, “That must have sucked.”
“Not too badly,” Jamie answered, laughing a little bit. “I ended up with a stupid tattoo and my first big national campaign out of it. The airline campaign was the runner up prize. Remember the fragrance Pure Pleasure? I ended up spearheading the team that launched that.”
“Impressive,” Cora said. “So you ended up with a pink hummingbird on your ass and a huge opportunity.”
“He was always really competitive with me, which was odd. I didn’t realize how much so,” Jamie said. After a brief pause, he added, “It’s just one of many reasons that I’m glad to be home. The politics got to be too much. When they offered me a VP position, I figured I either needed to drink the Kool-Aid, so to speak...or get out.”
The words seemed to fall out of her mouth before she could stop herself.
“I’m glad you’re back. I really missed you.”
Jamie reached across the table and gave her hand a squeeze. His eyes soft, he said, “I’ve missed you too, Cora. Too much.”
Cora’s heart raced as their eyes locked. She could feel the familiar buzzing tension between them.
Then, as if he realized that he was overstepping the agreed upon boundaries, Jamie withdrew his hand and simply said, “It’s great to be home.”
Cora nodded, then picked her fork back up and continued to eat.
Things were definitely heading in a direction that was nowhere near just friendly. Was she ready for that? She wondered if they were capable of taking things slowly, given their history. Maybe, she decided, it was time to find out.
Chapter Six
Jamie stood next to Cora at her kitchen sink and said, “You need a dishwasher.”
She nudged him in the ribs with her elbow as she rinsed and then stacked a plate in the dish drainer. A grin on her face, she said, “I’ve got a dishwasher right here.”
He narrowed his eyes and twisted the faucet toward her, then angled it up so she was hit with a light spray of water, then quickly righted it.
When he heard her outraged gasp, he hazarded a look at her, trying to ascertain just how pissed she was...and took a spray of water right to the face. When he heard her giggle, he realized he had a fight on his hands.
Moving a hand over his face, he mopped away the water and then wrestled with Cora for control of the pull-out sprayer. Finally, he managed to pull the sprayer from her hand, give her a quick spray to the face, and then pin her back against the counter.
They were both panting from the exertion, but laughing. When their eyes locked, the smile slowly slid from Cora’s face. He moved a hand up to push a few strands of wet hair out of her face. His eyes dropped to her mouth for a moment. Regretfully, when the hands that had been pressing against his chest dropped, he backed away.
He watched as she pushed herself away from the counter and moved toward a room off to the side of the kitchen. A moment later, she appeared carrying two towels. She wiped her face off with one and passed him the other.
As he dried his hair, he said, “This is harder than I thought it would be.”
She nodded, a pained look on her face, and said, “I know. I’m sorry.”
“There’s nothing to be sorry about. I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to do, Cora,” he said, running a hand through his hair.
Satisfied that his hair was dry enough, he asked, “What should I do with this?”
Silently, she reached out and took it from him and disappeared briefly into the laundry room again.
When she came out she asked, “Can I explain?”
Even though he knew what was coming, he nodded slowly and said, “Okay.”
She took his hand and led him to the couch. As he settled into same seat he’d been in before, she settled next to him and turned to face him partially.
After taking a deep breath, she told him the whole story. It was what he’d read online, which was awful, but worse. She’d talked about having to go and get tested, the press on her lawn. Having to talk to her father about all of it.
