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“No, it’s okay,” Jana said quickly. The last thing she wanted was a sweaty twenty bucks from Knox. It would only make her feel indebted to him. She leaned back into the house to check the clock. The pickup should be coming soon.
“Uh, if you can just hang here for a few minutes,” she began. “I need to be here for the delivery truck. Then I can take you back to your truck.”
“No problem,” Knox said, looking about the porch. He moved toward the wooden rocking chair that was somehow still all in one piece.
“You can come inside,” Jana said, hiding a sigh. Was she really inviting him in? “You look like you could use some ice water, and a stint of staying out of the sun.”
His gaze cut to hers, appreciative yet wary.
She stepped aside, holding open the door. “Come on. I won’t bite.”
“I’m filthy.”
Both of them looked at his jeans.
“You’re fine,” she said. “Just keep to the kitchen.”
The edge of his mouth lifted. “All right, then. Thank you, ma’am.”
“You don’t need to call me ma’am,” Jana said as he stepped past her and walked into the house.
Having Knox in the small ranch house made him seem larger than life. Well, technically, he was to her—or had been to her. No longer. Even when they were on their short dating stint, she didn’t remember him ever coming inside her parents’ home.
She saw him eye the open laptop.
“Working two jobs?” he asked.
Why did he have to be so observant? And why did he have to ask questions she didn’t want to answer?
“Something like that.” She moved to the couch and closed the laptop.
Knox walked into the sunny kitchen and stopped near the table. Whistling low, he said, “You weren’t kidding when you said you were making jam.”
Jana skirted around him so that she was on the opposite side of the table from him. Which was a good thing in her book. “Yeah. Like I said, it’s my parents’ business. We send jam to stores all over the county.”
Knox picked up a jar of the scarlet red jam. He turned it over, read the label, then looked at her. “Harris Farms Preserves. I like it.”
Jana shouldn’t have felt pleased at his compliment, but she did. It wasn’t like she’d chosen the name or anything. Still… She looked away from his penetrating green gaze, because she was suddenly feeling self-conscious. Yeah, she might have changed into a blouse and put on a bit of makeup, knowing that he’d be coming back.
Where was that delivery truck? Jana glanced at the clock on the kitchen wall. Five minutes. She could do this. Get him a drink, that will take some time. She turned to the fridge and pulled out a pitcher she kept water in so it would always be cold. Then she opened the freezer and took out the ice-cube tray. Yeah, they didn’t have one of those fridges with ice makers, but she didn’t mind.
Knox moved about the kitchen, checking out the makings of jam that she had yet to clean up from this morning. She filled a yellow glass with ice, then added the cold water.
“So, does your sister help out with the business, too?” Knox asked, taking the glass from her, then leaning against the sink. “Natalie, right?”
“Right.” Jana poured her own glass of cold water, but forewent the ice. “She left right after high school for college, then went on to law school.”
Knox’s brows raised. “Wow. That’s impressive.”
“Yeah.” Jana took a long swallow of her water. Knox was watching her, and she didn’t know what to make of it. “Our conversations are mostly about business since she’s part of the company—at least the legal side. Well, she and my dad put together the operations, and my mom and I just do what we’re told. My dad started the jam business as a pet project to keep my mom busy, and it ended up being successful. But now, with their semi-retirement, the production side is up to me.”
“You’ve done an impressive job, too,” Knox said.
“What? Making jam? A ten-year-old can do this.” Jana hadn’t meant to sound bitter, but really, no one could compare a law degree to making jam.
Knox didn’t seem to mind her retort. He set his glass down, now empty save for the ice, and moved to the table again. Picking up a jar, he said, “I know a lot of ten-year-olds, and none of them could have done this.”
He peeked at her, and she was pretty sure he was about to laugh, although his expression was skillfully schooled.
