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Lydia sighed. “I need to buy a coffee pot, and Ally says the mall’s the best place.” The barista brought her drink over and handed it across the counter. “Thanks.” She smiled at him.
The barista blushed. “Enjoy.” He stood and stared at Lydia for a moment. “I don’t suppose I can get your number?”
“Um, no you can’t, Ben,” Ally said, frowning. “Stop hitting on our customers.”
From the corner of her eye, Lydia noticed the smile slip from Jackson’s lips. Had she done something to annoy him again?
“You can drive to the mall,” Jackson suggested. “Take Griff’s truck. I’m guessing he’s out on the boat and doesn’t need it.”
Lydia pulled the corner of her lip between her teeth. “I… um… can’t drive.”
Everybody went silent. Lydia looked at Ally, Nate, and Jackson. They were all staring back at her with wide eyes.
“What?” Jackson was the first to talk. “But you’re twenty something years old.”
Top points for not saying her age. Lydia stored that little snippet away in her brain.
“And you’ve traveled all over the world,” Jackson continued. “How can’t you drive?”
“I never learned.” She shrugged. “I grew up in Manhattan. Nobody drives there.” She laughed. “Well everybody drives, but nobody sane, if you know what I mean. I used cabs or public transport. And wherever I travel there’s either great connections or I hire people to take me places. I’ve just never needed to drive myself.”
They were still staring at her. She shifted her feet. “Um, say something?”
“Okayyyy.” Jackson ran a thumb along his jaw. “Like what?”
“Like you’ll take her to the mall,” Ally suggested helpfully. “You have your car here, don’t you?”
His eyes shifted to Lydia. “Yeah, I have my car. I also have a dog and a mountain of work to do. I only came out to get some fresh air.”
“It’s fine,” Lydia said quickly. She really didn’t want to annoy him anymore. “I’ll find a way there.”
“How?” Jackson pressed his lips together.
“I’ll take you,” Ben, the barista, called out over the counter. “I get off in an hour and I’ve just gotten my license. My mom lets me borrow her car.”
Lydia looked at his hopeful face. He was such a cutie. She hated to turn him down. But still, there was no way she was getting in a car with him. “That’s so sweet—”
She didn’t have a chance to say her ‘but’ before Jackson interjected. “I’ll take you,” he said, shooting a dark look at Ben. “Let me get a coffee, and I’ll call my dad to ask if he can keep an eye on Eddie for a couple of hours.”
“If he can’t help, I know Riley would love to take care of your dog,” Ally said, referring to her step-daughter. “She’s at home, I can call her.”
Lydia beamed at Jackson, then at Ally and Nate. “You’re all so kind, thank you.” She smiled over at Ben, because she hated leaving anybody out. “You, too.”
Ben nodded and ambled back to the espresso machine, accepting defeat.
A minute later, Nate passed over Jackson’s order. “It’s on the house,” he told Jackson. “Because I think you’re going to need it.”
Jackson’s expression reminded her of her dad’s, the day she told him she didn’t need to go to college because she was planning on traveling the world. It was stoical. Almost long-suffering. Had she inadvertently steamrolled him again?
From the way he shifted his feet, she thought she had.
Jackson took the paper cup and tugged at Eddie’s leash, before blowing out a mouthful of air. “Come on,” he said to Lydia. “Let’s go and get you to the mall before I change my mind.”
Well this was going to be interesting.
He’d officially lost his mind. That was the only explanation. All those long days at the office, followed by late nights in front of a glowing screen had led to this. A complete breakdown.
Jackson had worked almost through the night, and had only taken a break to stretch his – and Eddie’s – legs. But then he’d seen Lydia standing there, wearing denim cut offs and a sweater that clung to every delicious curve she had, and all thoughts of coding and clients and sitting in front of a computer had flown out of his mind.
