AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I guess you didn’t meet her at Charlie’s beach party. She’s my best friend. Although…” She hesitated. “It might be best not to walk into any dark rooms with her.”
“An interesting comment to make about a friend. Care to explain?”
“You’ll find out soon enough.” They shot past a woman walking a pair of Chihuahuas. “Pick up the pace. One of us has to work today.”
They ran for a while without talking. Finally Jake looked over at her. “My publicist sent me some press clippings I just got around to reading. You and I were a pretty hot item in the New York gossip columns at the end of the summer.”
“Really?” Those columns had appeared more than two months ago. She’d wondered when he’d get around to mentioning them.
“You’re not a good enough actress to pull off the innocent act.”
“Sure I am.”
He reached out and caught her arm, pulling her to a stop. “You planted those stories.”
“I needed the publicity.”
His chest rose and fell under his T-shirt as he steadied his breathing. “You know how I feel about my privacy.”
“Technically I didn’t violate your privacy since none of the stories were true.”
He didn’t crack a smile. “I don’t like cheap tricks.”
“That’s funny. I thought you invented them.”
His mouth tightened in an unfriendly line. “Keep my name out of the newspapers, Fleur. Consider this your only warning.” He turned away and took off across the street.
“I’m not your publicist, remember?” she called out after him. “All I represent is your pathetic literary career.”
He picked up his pace and didn’t look back.
Chapter 23
To Fleur’s surprise, Jake was the first to arrive for her Saturday night dinner party, knocking on the door at precisely eight o’clock. Although she’d taken the precaution of tucking a few bottles of Mexican beer in the refrigerator, she hadn’t really expected him to show up. He wore semirespectable dark gray slacks and a lighter gray long-sleeved dress shirt that made his eyes seem bluer. He thrust a gift-wrapped package into her hands as he took in her ivory wool trousers and copper silk blouse. “Don’t you ever look bad?”
She frowned at the package. “Should I call the bomb squad?”
“Stop being a wise-ass and open it.”
She pulled off the gift wrap to reveal a fresh new copy of The Joy of Cooking. “Just what I’ve always not wanted.”
“I knew you’d love it.”
He followed her into the kitchen, and she put the cookbook on the counter. Considering her limited personal resources, she loved how welcoming everything looked. She’d waxed the old harvest table until the dark wood shone. At a secondhand store, she’d found a chipped bean pot that she’d filled with chrysanthemums to use as a centerpiece. The store had also yielded up a charming set of faded tan and olive checked tea towels for placemats. She smelled Jake’s clean shirt and toothpaste as he came up behind her. She started as his hands lifted the back of her hair and touched her neck just beneath the collar of her blouse.
“Jeez, you’re jumpy.” Something small and cool settled between her breasts. She looked down and saw a trumpet-shaped blue and green enamel flower hanging on a thin gold chain. Tiny diamonds sparkled on the blossoms like dew. As she turned to him, she glimpsed something soft and unguarded in his expression. The present slipped away, and for a moment it seemed as if they’d returned to the time when things were easy between them. “It’s beautiful,” she said. “You didn’t have to—”
“No big deal. It’s a morning glory. I’ve noticed that’s not your best time of day.” He turned away, ending the moment.
The morning glory charm slipped from her fingers. Just for a moment, she’d let down her guard. She wouldn’t let it happen again.
“How’s come I don’t smell food?” he said. “Should I be worried?”
“The cook hasn’t arrived yet,” she replied lightly.
Right on cue, the front buzzer rang, and she hurried to open it.
“I’ve brought my own knives,” Michel said. Tonight he wore khakis and a long-sleeved blue T-shirt with a narrow piece of what had once been a man’s striped necktie sewn diagonally across the chest. He headed for the kitchen. “I found these wonderful grapes at this little hole-in-the-wall off Canal Street. Did you go to the fish market I told you about for the halibut?”
