Bachelor's Special by Christine Warner

Author:Christine Warner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, romance general, contemporary romance, Bachelor's Special, Christine Warner
Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC (Indulgence)
Published: 2013-05-07T04:00:00+00:00

“The schedule is lightening up. Most of the dinner parties are done. At this point I don’t see what difference it’ll make?” Jill thrust her hands on her hips to stop them from shaking and to give herself the look of outward confidence she didn’t feel.

Chet pushed his barely touched breakfast plate away, rose from the counter, then stalked to the cabinet that held his car keys.

Although almost two weeks had passed since the dinner party with Gina, Jill hadn’t been able to broach the subject of moving out and driving in each day until now. She hadn’t expected anger to be Chet’s reaction.

Jill planned to finish their deal, but she had her own life, and the longer she stayed here, the more distant her reality became. Chet helping her out was one thing, but she didn’t need to get too comfortable. She also didn’t want to witness Gina trying to lay her claim on Chet, even though she’d come to grips with her doubt and didn’t believe Chet would encourage her. Friends or not, the show would be too painful to watch either way.

“Is this because of what happened in the pool?” Chet bit out his words, closing the cabinet door with a resounding thud.

“No. No, this has nothing to do with…with that—”

“Then no. A deal is a deal.”

“Wait…”

Chet stormed into the garage, slamming the door closed behind him.

Sudden deafening silence.

If it had been about the pool, would he have agreed? He made no sense. Jill sank against the counter, her heart thudding into her ribs. She’d never liked raised voices and heated words. They reminded her of her parents’ vicious fights before her father left and moved out of state, never to be seen again.

“You all right, cookie?”

Startled, Jill pasted a smile on her face, then turned toward the kind voice of Gretchen. Tuesday. The older woman’s day to clean.

“Yes. I’m sorry, Gretchen. I forgot you were here.”

“No worries.” Gretchen’s heavy German accent forced her to pronounce each syllable with exactness if she wanted to be understood. She ambled into the room, her slight limp a reminder of her recent knee surgery. “You fight with my Chet?”

Jill nodded. Afraid to speak as tears still clung to her throat.

“Don’t be hard on him. He is very good man.”

“I think you’re slightly biased.” Jill grinned. Already the soft spot in her heart for the round, gray-haired woman had grown.

“I tell you story.”

“Maybe some other time, Gretchen.” She wasn’t in the mood to hear more of Gretchen’s childhood in Germany.

“No, cookie. This is story about my Chet.”

Her interest rose and, with a sigh, Jill perched on the edge of a barstool to listen. “Okay.”

“Do you know how I come to work here?”

Jill shook her head. She’d laughed at herself for her earlier comment suggesting Chet made moves on his housekeeper. After she’d met Gretchen it became obvious Chet favored her as a grandmother, as any person would. She smelled of freshly baked cookies and lemon-scented furniture polish. Her arthritic fingers and awkward gait made her movements slow, but it didn’t seem to curb her determination.

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