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Andrew helped Nora back into her bed and raised the safety rails on the side. She scowled and he knew she would make Lydia lower them after he left.
“Maybe I’ll run over in the morning.”
Andrew tried to sound casual even as his body tensed at the thought of seeing Jill again. It was stupid, but he had thought of Jill on occasion over the years and sometimes, when he saw a blond woman in a crowd, he would even crane his neck to see if she was Jill.
None of them had been Jill, so the thought that she was once again just next door caused fantasies to race through his mind.
Chapter Three
It was no surprise that an hour later Andrew found himself standing at the upstairs window of the carriage house. He looked out onto the Walsh’s property, thinking about the girl next door.
He didn’t actually expect to see her, but when he thought about what he was doing, he kicked himself for acting like an adolescent jerk. He was just about to turn away when a light spilled out onto the backyard.
The back door opened and a large brown dog ran out into the yard, barking and leaping in the snow. Jill followed, wrapped in a blanket. Andrew stepped back a few inches to avoid being seen, but he couldn’t help watching when Jill looked up at the stars.
The grown up version of Jill Walsh was more sexy than ever. If she was even half as sweet and kind-hearted as he remembered, he couldn’t imagine how her husband let her get away. Her ex must be a first-class idiot.
Andrew groaned as Jill tilted her head back and caught snowflakes on her tongue. Jealous of a snowflake. He’d sunk to new levels.
Shaking his head at himself, he walked into his bathroom, turned on the shower, stripped down, and doused himself with cold water. He had a feeling it wouldn’t work, but he had to try to wash away the sight of snowflakes melting on Jill Walsh’s tongue.
Jill was content to be back in her grandparents’ home. Since the morning ten months ago when Jake announced he loved someone else and wanted a divorce, she’d felt lost and anchorless.
But this home was filled with happy memories for her. Jill didn’t have many friends in the area since she only visited her grandparents during the summers and hadn’t been here in years, but she figured she’d get out and meet people. She’d make friends eventually and feel more settled.
Girlfriends. Only girlfriends. Jill didn’t need any men in her life at this point. She’d been completely blindsided when Jake said he wasn’t happy.
She had believed in their love, their marriage, and their commitment to one another. She thought they were happy. At this point, she couldn’t imagine letting herself trust that way again. After all, even if she thought she was in love, how could she trust in another person’s feelings, in the strength of their commitment to one another after the colossal mess of her marriage?
She couldn’t. It was that simple. Jill couldn’t trust like that ever again. What she was feeling right now hurt too much to risk going through with another man.
She frowned, knowing it would be sad to live without love in her life, but she just didn’t see any way to let herself take that kind of chance.
Okay, so maybe she’d have to let up on the girlfriends-only thing. She’d just keep anything that did happen with a guy completely casual. Yeah. A good no-strings-attached fling every once in a while wouldn’t hurt. But that would be it.
She opened the back door and stepped out into the yard, watching Rev, her chocolate Labradoodle race off to chase snowflakes. That dog was always happy, no matter what he was doing, and his uncontained pleasure with everything managed to bring a smile to Jill’s face.
She looked up at the night sky. She was probably ready for a good fling to help erase the sting of her husband’s betrayal. It was odd, really, the way she felt after the divorce.
Jill was still confident in so many ways. She knew she was smart, and for the most part, still felt attractive. She knew she was a good friend, had a good sense of humor and that she was a talented photographer. She knew and believed all those things.
But even knowing all that, there was still a nagging sense of…inadequacy. The feeling of being not enough somehow. Like she should have been able to keep her husband from straying.
Jill’s parents had been together for fifty-two years and were still happily married. They’d built a strong and loving marriage that lasted. Why couldn’t she? She asked herself a million times since that morning what was wrong with her that her marriage didn’t last.
She even wondered if her inexperience in the bedroom before she married Jake had left her ill-equipped to please him and keep him satisfied. Her head told her that was foolish. Jake was the one at fault for his behavior.
In her head, she knew that. Her heart just had trouble believing it.
She sat down on the rocker on the back porch and watched the snow fall. Her mind surprisingly wandered to the boy who used to visit his grandmother next door. Where had Andrew Weston ended up? Though Andrew had been three years younger than her the last summer she’d spent here, his attention had been hard to miss.
It had been flattering, but his fifteen years to her eighteen stopped the adulation from going any further. Despite that, even then, Jill knew Andrew would grow up to be more than just good looking someday.
Jill felt a shiver of excitement rush through her as she tried to imagine a grown-up Andrew Weston paying that kind of attention to her. What had only been flattering in a cute, kid-next-door kind of way back then might be downright exciting now.
She would bet anything he’d filled out nicely. She could imagine broad shoulders and muscles on his once-skinny frame. A lot of muscles. He’d been a runner back then. Did he still run now?
With a shiver that had nothing to do with the cold, Jill called Rev, smiling as she watched her dog race back to her. She’d give anything to be as happy as that big, dumb dog.
