The Best Gift by Hannon Irene

Author:Hannon, Irene [Hannon, Irene]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Contemporary, Adult
Amazon: B004R1QARK
Goodreads: 11744750
Publisher: Harlequin Enterprises
Published: 2005-03-01T08:00:00+00:00

“Hey, Jacko, what’s with all the phone calls to the little woman?” Dave teased.

Jack grinned at Dave. “Don’t ever let her hear you call her that. She’ll deck you.”

Dave chuckled. “Yeah, yeah. I know. Bonnie would do the same to me. But hey, on our annual guys’ weekend, anything goes, doesn’t it? What we say here stays with just the three of us. Right, Blake?”

Blake unceremoniously dumped his ski boots in the hall and grabbed a soft drink from the fridge before joining his two college buddies. “Absolutely.”

Jack propped his feet on the coffee table, gazed at the crackling fire and gave a contented sigh. “Ah, this is the life.”

“Yeah. But only for one long weekend a year,” Dave groused good-naturedly. “Then it’s back to bills and stopped-up toilets and diapers and the nine-to-five routine.”

“You guys wouldn’t change a thing,” Blake said, dropping into one of the condo’s easy chairs.

“That’s true,” Jack admitted, taking a long swallow of soda. “So when are you going to get with the program? I thought you’d be the first one married.”

“Yeah,” Dave concurred. “You were the one who wanted to settle down with the Leave-It-To-Beaver wife, raise two-point-five children and have a house with a white picket fence. What happened?”

“I’ve got the house,” Blake said.

“So where are the two-point-five kids?”

“I think I need the wife first.”

“Not these days, you don’t.”

“Mr. Conventional would,” Jack declared with a grin.

“I didn’t see either of you guys deviate from the norm,” Blake pointed out.

“Guilty,” Jack admitted. “So when are you going to take the plunge? Met anyone interesting lately?”

An image of A.J. flashed through his mind. In fact, she’d been on his mind a lot during the trip. As he’d maneuvered tricky moguls with expert skill, he’d thought again about her unexplained limp. And he kept picturing her when she’d been sick, looking so uncharacteristically fragile and helpless.

As the silence lengthened, Dave glanced at Jack and leaned forward with sudden interest. “I think he’s been holding out on us.”

Jack nodded. “Yeah. Okay, Blake, spill it. Who is she?”

Blake frowned. “Who?”

“The woman you’re thinking about right now.”

“What makes you think I’m thinking about a woman?”

Dave chuckled. “Because we’ve been there. We know the look.”

“What look?”

“The I-don’t-know-how-this-happened-but-I-think-I’m-falling-in-love look.”

Blake’s frown deepened. “You’re nuts.”

“Yeah? Are you going to tell me you weren’t thinking about a woman just now?”

“No. I was. My partner.”

Jack’s eyebrows rose, and he looked at Dave. “His partner,” he repeated knowingly.

Dave nodded sagely. “Sounds logical to me. My wife’s my partner. How about you, Jack?”

“Yeah. Makes perfect sense.”

“Come on, you guys, cut it out. I’m serious. She’s my partner at the bookshop. I thought of her when you asked if I’d met any interesting women. She certainly falls into that category. But she’s not my type.”

Jack took a long swallow of his soft drink. “Right.”

“How old is she?” Dave asked.

“I don’t know. Thirtyish, I guess.”

“Is she married?”

“No.”

“What’s her name?”

“A.J.”

“Different name. What does it stand for?”

“I don’t know.”

“Hmm. Is she pretty?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you think about her all the time?”

“No.” Which was true.

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