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“That was your way of making nice?” Callie asked, feeling incredulous after all these years. “Kinda lame.”
“Hey!” Jax protested. “I’ve improved my game since then. Back then I didn’t know how to flirt. I loved frogs, so I thought putting a frog in your backpack might impress you. Safe to say that when I heard the screams from the corridor I realized I’d made a huge mistake.”
Callie couldn’t help but laugh out loud. She remembered screaming bloody murder until their teacher, Miss Forsythe, had come running to her cubby. Several students had ratted Jax out as the culprit. Under cross examination, Jax had admitted the whole thing. As a punishment he had been forced to write her a letter of apology. It had been a sweet, heartwarming letter that had smoothed things over between them. Even though she had considered Jax a bit of a pain, from that point forward he’d been a friend. Sort of. He’d eased up on her after that and no more frogs had appeared in her belongings.
“That letter you wrote was pretty nice,” Callie admitted. “I seem to recall you saying you were sorry in several different languages.”
“I figured if I added a little flair to the letter I might have a better shot at you forgiving me.” Jax flashed her a stunning smile. It caused her pulse to skitter like crazy. She pinched the insides of her wrist, reminding herself that these sudden feelings for Jax weren’t bound to go anywhere. They were like night and day. Yin and yang. Jax never took anything seriously, while she tended to treat everything as if it was of dire importance. Furthermore, they were childhood friends. They had been in each other’s pockets for most of their lives. Any romance between them would be weird.
“Oh to be young again,” Miss Hattie drawled.
“Sweet memories,” Pearl said in a sing-song voice. “Where would we be without all the moments that shaped our lives?”
Miss Hattie looked back and forth between the two of them. A sudden twinkle glinted in her eyes. “So, Jax…Callie…when are the two of you doing to go out on a date?”
**
As Jax headed back to Savannah his mind wandered over what had transpired during the last few minutes of the tea party. Miss Hattie—as bold and brash as ever—had thrown down the gauntlet about him taking Callie out on a date. The look on Callie’s face had been priceless. If the red shade of her cheeks were any indication, she was mortified. He should have left it alone. He really should have. But the devil on his shoulder had provoked him. Jax was tired of pining away for the woman he desired. It was high time he kicked it up a notch. And so, he had capitalized on Miss Hattie’s question about a possible date for him and Callie. Right there in front of Miss Hattie and Pearl he had put Callie on the spot.
“So Callie…when are we going to go out on a date? I’m pretty much free this entire week.” He tossed the invitation out casually. It belied the nerves grating on his insides.
Callie’s eyes had bulged and she’d stared at him blankly as if waiting for the punchline. “D-date? Us? Together?” He frowned. Was it so out of the question that they go out on a date? The last time he’d checked he was pretty decent looking. He had a great career. Friends. His own place—a nice condo in downtown Savannah. Most ladies seemed to love him. Why didn’t Callie? He had felt something painful lodge in chest.
“Yes, together. Unless of course you don’t want to go out on a date with me?”
Both Miss Hattie and Pearl began making clucking noises.
“Callie, put him out of his misery. Say yes to a date. It won’t kill you,” Pearl chastised.
“You might be pleasantly surprised,” Hattie said with a knowing look. She lowered her voice to a loud whispered and leaned in toward Callie. “He’s the best looking man in Savannah. You could do a whole lot worse.”
Jax winked at Miss Hattie, grateful for the compliment.
“I-I…where would we go?” Callie stammered, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. “I mean were you thinking of anything in particular?”
“Let me surprise you,” he said smoothly. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow night at seven and we’ll make a night of it.”
Callie continued to look at him with a skeptical expression. “Umm…okay. I suppose that
would be fine,” she said, dragging out the words.
Everything else had been a big huge blur. He had said his goodbyes and left in a haze of triumph. All he had known upon leaving Savannah House was that his wish had come true. After all these years, he had finally wangled a date with the woman of his dreams. He wasn’t delusional. He knew he had a long way to go in courting Callie, but his every instinct was telling him that she felt something for him. Something she had yet to acknowledge or realize. The tension that simmered between them whenever they were in each other’s orbit wasn’t a product of his imagination. It was as real as the sun rising in the morning. It pulsed and hummed between them like an electrical wire.
And now—thanks in large part to Miss Hattie—he was finally getting the chance to show Callie that they could really have something special together. She just needed to take a little leap of faith…and believe. Perhaps he needed to give her a little push in the right direction. Jax grinned as he thought about tomorrow night. Callie Duvall was about to be blown away!
**
Once Callie had walked back to the guesthouse she was finally able to process the events of the last hour. She was going out on a date with Jax. For some reason Pearl and Miss Hattie had played the role of matchmaker and encouraged Jax to ask her out. She couldn’t pretend as if she hadn’t ever wondered what it would be like to go out with him, but she’d always rejected the idea as unlikely. They had nothing in common after all except for a shared past and growing up together in Savannah. That didn’t exactly indicate they were date worthy.
A date? With Jax? She still needed to wrap her head around it. His face had lit up like sunshine when she had said yes. Why was he so happy about it? Her head started to throb.
Things were shifting so rapidly in her world that she could barely keep up. Jax was interested in her. She was harboring feelings for him. She was on the outs with her family. Her best friends in the world were all at odds with one another. But—on the bright side—Mac was back in her world. And he was never going to be pulled away from her—not ever.
The more she thought about the afternoon tea with Miss Hattie, the more she began to suspect that the whole thing had been orchestrated. Had Jax been in on it from the get-go?
Callie let out a soft groan. Miss
Hattie had stroked Jax’s ego by complimenting him on his looks. As if Jax Holden needed any further reasons to be conceited about his attributes. For as long as Callie could remember, his face and sky blue eyes had earned him accolades. Back in school a few of the teachers had even given him special treatment because he was such an adorable child. And he had played his role to the hilt, even bringing in shiny apples to present to the teachers. They had all eaten it up with a spoon.
