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Nine
Jenna felt like she was floating as she followed the waiter through the bustling restaurant. She’d lived in this town five years and she’d never yet managed to get a table at Piepoli’s. But around Drew, all kinds of impossible things became possible.
Effortless, even. He knew Lars Feehan? Seriously?
The day’s emotional intensity had left Jenna feeling dangerously unshielded, but for some reason, she’d still jumped on the chance to have dinner with Drew. She didn’t care if his sister had maneuvered him into it, or if he was doing it for his own selfish ends. Who cared? Tonight, she just wanted to sit across a candlelit table from Drew Maddox and drink him in. This was her chance to look her fill. Listen to his beautiful, resonant voice.
He’d been so sweet with Michael. She was beyond charmed. She’d melted into sniffling, laughing-through-her-tears goo.
And it was a bad time to lower her guard. She was putting herself in temptation’s way. Throwing fuel on the fire. She was a smart woman, and she knew better, but tonight, she just...didn’t...care.
The waiter seated them at a table by the window that overlooked the boardwalk outside.
“Don’t look now,” Drew said. “Our friends are already outside, snapping pictures.”
“I guess you must be used to this by now, right?”
“More like indifferent. I barely notice them, unless they’re bothering you. Here.” He seized her hand. “I’ll give them a dose of what they like best.”
She gasped and laughed at him as he kissed her knuckles, then turned it over and kissed her palm. Intense awareness of him raced through every part of her body.
“I’m impressed that you can be so relaxed about it.” She struggled to keep her voice even.
“There are worse things,” he said.
Drew’s tone was light, but she knew enough from Ava about what he’d been through in the military to guess what he was thinking. “You mean Iraq?”
He nodded. “I saw things there I won’t ever forget. A few times, I thought it was the end of me. Once you’ve taken enemy fire or had your convoy blown up, people snapping pictures of you no longer registers on your radar as an actual problem.”
“Ava told me you’d been wounded,” she said. “I overheard you talking to Roddy about it today.”
“Yeah. A bullet fractured one of my lumbar vertebrae and lodged next to my spine. That was the end of my time in the Marine Corps. I’m lucky that I can walk, and that I’m alive. I think about that every day.”
“I can imagine,” Jenna said. “A bullet to the spine? It must have been so painful.”
“It was. Three surgeries. Months of recovery. It puts everything else into perspective.”
“I bet it does,” she murmured.
“I got into video games during my recovery, after I got home,” he told her. “My convalescence was long and boring, and it hurt. Video games take your mind off things.”
“Did you play that game that Michael showed us during your recovery?”
“Oh, no. Angel Ascending is much more recent. Lars sent me that last year after the movie opened, just for laughs. He’s a really good guy. I’ll introduce you sometime.”
She laughed. “Wow, lucky me. Lifestyles of the rich and famous.”
“I suppose. We’re all the same when it comes to the important stuff. Getting shot in the back teaches you that. No matter how privileged you might be, you’re never exempt from pain, or death. Keeps you honest.” He paused. “Sorry,” he said, self-consciously. “Didn’t mean to get all heavy and self-involved on you.”
“I don’t see it that way at all,” she said. “I’ve worked with veterans.”
“I bet you have,” he said.
She squeezed his hand, which she was still holding. “You were wonderful with Michael today. Roddy and Cherise, too. Michael was so excited.”
“He’s a great kid,” Drew said. “Entirely apart from how he’s overcoming the challenges he faces.”
“That he is,” she agreed. “I just love him. So funny. He has a great attitude.”
