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She went to the door.
“Demon Child!” she called out. Andrew watched as Rev raised his head, sniffed the air and then came racing toward the door at top speed, where he overshot the entrance.
The poor dog tried to skid to a stop but ended up plowing into the cabinets on the other side of the kitchen. Apparently unaffected by the crash, Rev stood, shook his head and pranced daintily back to his mom. He plopped his butt down into a prim and proper looking sit as if he hadn’t just flown ass over teakettle through the doorway.
Laughing, Jill delivered the treat and Rev took it over to his bed to eat while she turned her attention to the waiting cups of coffee. Andrew had already doctored both coffees, fixing hers the way she liked it.
“Jill, your dog answers to Demon Child,” he commented wryly.
“I know.” She grinned. “Isn’t he great?”
Shaking his head and laughing, Andrew hooked an arm around her waist and pulled her in for a morning kiss. The feel of her soft and warm from bed had an immediate effect on him.
The kiss turned hot and breathless and needy in a flash and the urge to take her back upstairs quickly overtook Andrew. With a great deal of effort, he broke the kiss before he lost all choice in the matter.
“I have to be at a meeting in half an hour,” he said as he watched Jill try to catch her breath. He was relieved to see she was as affected by their kiss as he had been.
“Dinner tonight? Pick you up at seven?”
“Okay,” she said.
He knew he was headed for trouble when he felt a huge sense of relief, knowing he’d see her that evening. He kissed her goodbye and walked to the back door, but turned with his hand on the doorknob.
“Hey Jill? Can you wear the dress and boots you wore to Jack’s the other day?” he asked.
She gave him a puzzled look. “Sure.”
He smiled and walked out the door, sure that he was sinking further and faster into a relationship that he should be running from, but utterly unable to stop.
Chapter Seventeen
Jill decided to spend the morning in her grandparents’ yard taking advantage of nature shots she could get right at home. Jake’s lack of support for her career had meant that she learned to take advantage of things she could find close by. She often took trips to the shore or hiked at spots she could reach in a few hours.
Her grandparents’ estate actually had some great resources on it. She had some stunning shots of the deer at dusk when they came out to the salt licks she hung on the trees.
This morning she took advantage of the birdbath and feeders she had been keeping full in the front of the house. She succeeded in luring several goldfinches to the feeder by providing the right food and now caught shots of them in the bright morning sun. She was sure the finch shots would make great cards or printed notepads.
Now that she was free of the constraints of her marriage, she really needed to do some traveling. She wanted to capture something bigger than the tiny birds in her front yard. Birds were great for the kind of novelty items that would be sold on her website, but she longed to get back to true art. For that she needed bigger landscapes than her own yard.
When she thought of traveling, she automatically pictured Andrew with her and struggled to push the idea aside. This was not a relationship. If she allowed herself to lose sight of that, she’d be in trouble.
“Jillie Walsh, is that you, dear?” Jill winced a bit when she heard her childhood nickname, but recognized the voice immediately. She turned to see Lydia’s welcoming face.
“Hi Lydia! Yes, it’s me. Just catching some shots of the finches at the feeders. How is Nora doing? Andrew told me about her hip,” she said. She had lowered her camera and walked to the break in the fence between Nora’s property and her grandparents’ yard.
“She’s doing much better. On the mend and ready to get back to her normal routine.” Lydia lowered her voice and tilted her head toward Jill. “In fact, she’s getting a bit cranky now that she’s feeling so much better. The confinement’s difficult for her.”
Jill nodded. “I imagine that must be hard.”
“Will you join us for a cup of tea? Nora saw you out the window over here and wanted to see if you’d like to come for a visit,” Lydia said and wrapped her jacket more tightly around her body.
“I’d love to. Let me just put my cameras away and let my dog out for a quick break. Ten minutes?”
“Wonderful. We’ll see you then,” Lydia said and turned back to Nora’s house.
Jill was surprised to feel nervous as she crossed to her front door and went in her house. She walked inside and then out to the backyard to give Rev a potty break.
She’d known Lydia and Nora for years and had been by the house for tea in the past, but when she visited before she hadn’t been sleeping with Nora’s grandson.
