The Reunion (6)…

You can find earlier excerpts from The Reunion here.

Well, that barely there kiss had caught her by surprise. When did Brian Walsh get to be such a hottie, with moves even?  Obviously he’d gotten over his shyness and reluctance around females! Jen shut her bedroom door gently after surreptitiously peeking out to watch him ascend the stairs.  From the looks of it, he had a pretty great ass under that towel.  He might actually have turned out to be a nice guy.  He’d been flirting, she decided, and kind of hoped it wasn’t just so she’d let him stay.  She smiled as she thought about future possibilities with them sharing a house and sent Pam a text, asking her to meet for breakfast in the morning.

Hey, Pammie, can you do breakfast in the morning?

Is 9:30 okay? 

Sure, perfect.  Where’s a good place to meet?

How about Bluebell’s, that little diner on 3^rd Street?  Do you remember from last time you were out?

Oh, of course.  Seems we have some surprises to talk about!

Ahh, so you saw Brian? 

He scared the shit out of me, Pammie!  You’ve got some ‘splaining to do, girl!

LOL, tomorrow!

Well, tomorrow she would talk it out with Pam and see what was really going on.  Tonight she was dead tired from the drive and now that her heartbeat had slowed down to normal, she hoped she’d fall asleep easily.  Jack had settled down on his little dog bed and curled his fluffy tail under him, the signal that he was out for the count.  And all in all, it felt good knowing she wasn’t alone in the house.

***

The next morning Brian crept down the stairs at 6 a.m. with his blueprints in hand.  He needed to get over to the Inn early, before the others got there, and he didn’t want to risk waking Jen or having her little dog hear him and start barking.  She’d looked pretty beat last night and he wondered how far she’d driven.

It was true that Jen had looked great.  He thought back to all the times their families had gotten together for barbecues and picnics over the years.  He and Jen and Pam had played together as little kids, teased each other in junior high and then had somewhat stilted conversations as teens as their interests changed and they drifted apart.  None of that had prepared him for this new, improved version of Jen Meyer.

She’d been rounder in high school and kind of shy, but she’d always been friendly to him, at least until the whole prom fiasco.  Boy, had his mom been pissed at him about that.  He winced to himself, remembering how furious she’d been when she found out he’d gone into work and called the date off at the last minute.  Of course, she thought it probably reflected badly on her and how she’d raised him, something he hadn’t really considered back then.

He figured he’d ask Jen to dinner and try to explain about what an idiot he’d been back then and apologize once and for all.  He wondered if she was here for the reunion, which wasn’t until next weekend, or some other reason.  Or maybe just to visit, although he thought her sister was her only family still in Brim.

He maneuvered his pickup around her little car, amused at the way she’d parked almost off the driveway, like she’d been in a huge hurry to get out of the car and into the house.  He drove slowly through the neighborhood, figuring he’d grab a cup of coffee and a breakfast sandwich at the BP gas station just a mile or so away, off the main highway.  Hopefully they still had decent enough coffee because he sure could use a big old cup.  Or two.

Seeing Jen in pajamas, all flustered when caught by surprise, had played havoc with his sleep last night.  She’d tried to hide it, but all that jiggling and bouncing as she’d jumped up from her exercise mat had made it clear she wasn’t wearing a bra under her little shirt.  Luckily, she still had those great curves.  Her cheeks had turned pink and her mouth had opened in surprise when he told her he had no intention of leaving.  She looked so adorable that he couldn’t resist leaning in for a taste of that mouth and thankfully she hadn’t slapped his face.  He smiled ruefully and reminded himself that he was 38-year-old man with a daughter of his own and not a teenaged boy with raging hormones.   But, damn, she sure looked good.