Friends--And Then Some: A Novel by Debbie Macomber

Author:Debbie Macomber
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance, Contemporary, Women, Sagas
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2013-12-17T05:24:19+00:00

Chapter Seven

Jake’s heart sped up at the sound of Lily’s voice. He got up slowly, unsure what he should do. He’d avoided her all week and with good cause. After what had happened at their “victory celebration,” they needed to stay away from each other.

Besides, he reasoned, Lily didn’t need him anymore; she had Rick. Jake had seen Rick’s car at the Wheaton nearly every evening. He still couldn’t reconcile himself to Lily’s dating the guy. But he had no one else to blame. He couldn’t protest at this point. He was snared in a trap of his own making. The best thing for him to do was make himself scarce.

“Jake, I know you’re in there,” Lily called again.

Jake’s fist clenched at his side and an irritated noise slipped from deep inside his throat. If he didn’t react it would be just like that stubborn woman to hop on board the Lucky Lady and search him out. Then he’d look like even more of a fool than he did already. Reluctantly he climbed on deck.

“Hello, Jake,” Lily began.

He tucked in his shirttails, giving the impression that he’d been preoccupied.

“Lily.”

“Did I catch you at a bad time? You weren’t asleep, were you? Gram thought you might be sick.”

His gaze just managed to avoid hers. “This is a bit of a bad moment. I’m busy.”

“Oh.” She dropped her gaze. “I brought a pizza. We … the other night we forgot about it.”

“We didn’t exactly forget it,” he corrected her. “We just didn’t get around to ordering it.” His eyes delved into hers. Already it was happening. He couldn’t help noticing how beautiful she was, standing there with those huge brown eyes, looking betrayed and hurt.

“Anyway, I thought I could bring a pizza now.”

Jake shifted his gaze to the flat box in her arms.

“But if you’re busy, I’ll understand.” She didn’t, not really. He must realize that coming here had cost her a lot of pride. The least he could do was make it easier on her.

Something in her voice reminded Jake that this wasn’t any less difficult for Lily. It was wrong of him to protect his ego at her expense. “It was thoughtful of you to come.”

The tension eased from Lily’s shoulders as Jake stretched out his hand to help her aboard. The boat rocked gently as she shifted her weight from the narrow dock to the Lucky Lady.

“There are anchovies on your half.” She smiled up at him and Jake knew instantly that he was in trouble.

Lily drew in a long breath as though she didn’t know what to say or do now that she was aboard the boat.

“It looks like rain, doesn’t it?” she suggested, casting a discerning eye toward the thick gray clouds. “Maybe we should take this below.”

Jake’s chest tightened. Being alone with Lily was bad enough, but the thought of being next to her in the close confines of the cabin was almost more than he could bear.

“Jake?”

“Yeah, sure.” He led the way and Lily handed the pizza down to him before expertly maneuvering the few steps that led below.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.