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"Well, I couldn't hear everything, but the gist is Clint told Jake to stay away from you."
"Stay away from me?"
Jenny nodded eager as a golden retriever with a tennis ball in its mouth. ''Yeah, and he was terrible to Jake. Said you were too good for him and that Jake would only hurt you. Said Jake should be unselfish for once in his life and stay away from you. Can you believe?"
Eva swallowed hard and nearly choked on a crumb of cookie. She went into a coughing fit, and Jenny thumped her a little too hard on the back. "Wait, wait, I'm okay."
Patty sat a glass of water down in front of Eva and she gulped it, coughed once more, and said, ''Are you kidding me, Jenny?"
“Nope, but I have to say Clint sorta looked sexy being all protective like that. I've never seen him be so commanding. So is he into you or something?"
Eva ignored that question. Hope and anger simultaneously grew inside her. She knew something had to have happened. Knew it.
But why would Jake chuck all they'd had because of Clint? Was Jake playing at martyr?
No. He was a moron.
The man had let Clint apply the trademark tool of guilt to hammer the lid on anything Jake felt for Eva. That dumb-ass thought he was saving her from himself.
And Clint?
How dare he presume to know what she deserved or didn't?
So damn presumptuous of him to meddle in her love life. Of course she'd never told Jake his friend had suggested something more with her. Jake wouldn't have known that Clint's words were motivated by jealousy as much as his supposed concern. Like always, Clint had manipulated Jake.
"I gotta go, Jenny," Eva said, pushing back from the table.
"But what about your coffee? You didn't drink it."
Eva stilled, pressing her hands onto the table. “Okay, so tell me about Jake afterward.”
"Oh, well, he didn't stay. Matt sat down for a few minutes and chatted with him and then Jake, looking like he lost a puppy, got up and left.”
Eva shook her head. She’d lay down a twenty dollar bill that Jake’s older, misaligned brother had landed the knockout punch.
Jenny narrowed her eyes at Eva. “Is there something going on between you and Jake? Like romantic?"
Eva bit her lip. "Well, to be honest, I had hoped. We'd been flirting with the possibility we were made for each other, but then Saturday night he didn't show up for the dinner we'd planned. He blew me off."
Jenny smiled. "Yeah, I can see you two being right for one another. Jake's that kind of guy, you know. He's looking for something. Oh, sure, he's stomped around this town, hooking up with women, talking a big game, but all that happened to him after that accident has just eaten away at him. People don't see it, but I do. I guess sometimes the same kind of people recognize in others what they know lies in themselves. Jake's been hurting for a long time, but maybe he's been waiting on that door to crack so he could slip inside to you.”
Eva felt gobsmacked by Jenny's observation. But as soon as her friend had uttered those thoughts, Eva was certain Jenny had nailed Jake... not in that way... but in his psyche. Jake had been masking his guilt and pain by donning a mask of sunny indifference.
And Clint had erased it as if it was a chalkboard. One swipe of guilt had taken away Jake's chance for happiness.
Eva's chance for happiness.
Eva grabbed Jenny's hand. "Thank you for telling me what happened. I needed to know."
Jenny squeezed her hand. "I didn't know you felt that way about Jake. But with that in mind, I think you have some work to do, friend."
"And that's why I don't have time for coffee. I'll see you later, and until I figure this out, don't say anything to anyone, okay?"
Jenny pretended to zip her lips and then she picked up Eva's remaining cookie. "Go get your happy, girl. I'm gonna finish this cookie before I go rock Dr. French's world again. Making a man mewl like a kitten is powerful stuff."
For the first time since yesterday, Eva laughed. Jenny had just given her hope. First, she was going to Clint's to kick his ass seven ways to Sunday. Then, well, she'd have to pick up Charlie. But come Monday when she and Jake reported for their shift, Mr. Beauchamp was going to find out that letting every one dictate who he is and how he feels is as stupid as jumping off a cliff with no parachute. No matter what, a person shouldn't be defined by what others expect him or her to be. Jake expected to be unreliable because everyone told him he was.
God, men were stupid. But maybe she was, too.
