A Better Reason to Fall in Love (26 page)
Read A Better Reason to Fall in Love Online
Authors: Marcia Lynn McClure
Tags: #Romance, #General, #Contemporary, #Fiction
Jagger nodded and smiled. His Maw Maw was right. He’d seen too many people wait—wait and wait for some miraculous sign confirming that the person they loved was the one they should commit to.
“The sister that was telling you not to marry Paw Paw,” Jagger asked as memory and realization struck him. “Isn’t she the one…isn’t it Great Aunt Bernadette, the one who never married?”
Maw Maw nodded. “Yes. She never did accept a man,” she told him. “Every time a man would ask for her hand—and there were several—she always said she needed a better reason…a better reason to fall in love.”
“She’s still in New Orleans?” he asked.
Maw Maw nodded. “Yes, she is. In a home for the elderly.”
“That’s pretty sad,” Jagger mumbled.
“Tell me why you love this girl, honey.”
Jagger smiled. “She’s funny,” he began. “And beautiful. She’s kind. And she has an affinity for the things that are important—family, the past…people. She makes me laugh. Furthermore, I can hardly keep my hands off her.”
Maw Maw chuckled. She sighed and then asked, “And what do you see when you look in her eyes, darlin’?”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you see greed, conceit…a shallow nature?”
Jagger grinned as understanding rinsed over him. “I see the past, the present…and I see the future.”
“You see babies,” Maw Maw offered with a smile.
“I see all the things I ever wanted,” he chuckled. “Including babies.”
“Then that’s it,” Maw Maw said, slapping the table. “You let your Uncle Leon and this Lang fellow record your songs…and you get busy making me my great-grandbabies!”
Jagger chuckled, pushed his chair back from the table, and stood up.
“Well, all right then, Maw Maw,” he said. He leaned across the table, kissing his grandmother on the cheek. “I guess I better get over to the Acapulco and start the ball rolling, huh?”
Maw Maw laughed and kissed his cheek. Wagging a finger at him, however, she warned, “You just make sure that ball is rollin’ in the right order of things, baby.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Jagger said, winking at her.
He was out the door then, as fast as he could get out. His Maw Maw was right—she was always right. Jagger shook his head, wondering why younger generations always waited so long to listen to the wisdom of those that had trod the water before them. It didn’t matter what anybody else thought—only what he and Tabby thought. Of course, doubt and fear leapt to his throat as soon as he began planning a way to ask her—to ask her to come with him to his gig next weekend. What if she said no? But he wouldn’t worry about her answer now. He’d just get to the Acapulco, get to Tabby, and worry about where the chips fell later.
❦
“Where have you been?” Armando asked as Jagger secured the drawstring of his swim trunks at his waist.
“I had to finish up some things with Maw Maw,” Jagger mumbled.
“Well, the natives are restless out there,” Anthony said.
Jagger smiled. “Well, then…let’s give them a show they’ll never forget!”
Armando pumped fists with Jagger. Slapping Professor Anthony Lowery on the back, he said, “Are you ready, Professor?”
“I think I am,” Anthony said.
“Then let’s go have some fun,” Armando chuckled. “Do you think I built this place just for the customers?”
Jagger smiled and followed Armando as he climbed the ladder to the high-dive cliff.
“You go first, Anthony,” Armando called down as Anthony began ascending the ladder to the lower cliff.
“Fabulous,” Anthony mumbled.
“He’ll be fine,” Armando told Jagger as they stepped onto the upper cliff. “Any man that can get a smile out of that Naomi…he can do anything!”
“Absolutely,” Jagger chuckled.
As Anthony stepped out onto the lower cliff, Jocelyn cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, “Finally!”
Tabby smiled, although she thought Naomi’s professor looked a little anxious.
“Who knew a college professor would be so ripped underneath all that education?” Emmy whispered to Tabby.
“Yeah,” Chloe added. “No wonder Naomi’s all wowed out over him.”
Tabby smiled, amused by the conversation. However, her attention was entirely rapt on something else—the chiseled physique of the man standing next to Armando on the highest cliff.
“Boom chicka wow wow!” Emmy whispered in Tabby’s ear. “Behold…the Derrière inator…in swim trunks.”
“He looks good!” Chloe whispered.
“You’re first, Anthony,” Armando called down to the professor.
Tabby glanced to Professor Lowery as he prepared to dive. She looked to Naomi, smiling as she saw the pride and delight—the love—blatant on her face.
The professor dived and broke the water’s surface with a perfect line, and everyone clapped.
“That’s the way, baby!” Naomi called.
Jocelyn and Tabby exchanged amused glances. It was so strange to see Naomi acting like the rest of them normally did. It was wonderful!
Anthony swam the short distance across the jungle pool to Naomi. Lifting himself out of the water, he kissed Naomi, brushed the water from his eyes, looked up, and said, “That was fun! And maybe I’m not as rusty as I thought.”
He kissed Naomi again, jumped back into the pool, and swam across to climb out and disappear into the fake rocks of the cliff.
Armando dived next, beginning with an inward dive, performing two pike somersaults, and breaking the water with a small splash.
The girls all squealed and applauded, for it was a beautiful dive.
“Okay, man,” Armando called up to Jagger once he’d swam to the edge of the pool.
Tabby bit her lip, delighted as she watched Jagger easily lift himself into an armstand position.
“Ooo!” Armando chuckled. “Jagger…he isn’t about to let me win easy.”
Tabby held her breath, suddenly frightened by the incredible height from which Jagger was diving. Yet once he’d left the platform, performed two backward somersaults, and appeared above the water again, she exhaled. He was okay, and it had been a beautiful dive! Not as perfectly executed as Armando’s had been, but glorious all the same.
Swimming over to Armando, Jagger spit water out of his mouth and shook his wet hair from his face.
As Armando high-fived him, Jagger said, “Man, I’m totally out of practice!”
“It was awesome, Jagger!” Tabby said.
Jagger smiled at her. Lifting himself out of the pool, Tabby giggled as he swaggered toward her, tugging at the waist of his swim trunks to keep them at his hips.
“How awesome?” he mumbled as he—without hesitation—pulled her against his wet body and swim trunks.
“Way awesome,” she breathed. Her heart hammered like a wild beast’s as he kissed her, his mouth warm and moist, the perfect complement to his cool, moist body.
“You’re getting her all wet, Jagger,” Jocelyn giggled.
“Who cares,” Chloe sighed.
“Way awesome?” he whispered, his mouth hovering a breath from her own.
“Way,” Tabby managed.
“Awesome enough for you to agree to go with me to my gig next weekend?” he asked, kissing her again.
“Of course,” she answered.
“Even if you have to fly to New Orleans to do it?” he asked.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Tabby was still stunned. Even now, sitting there right next to Jagger on the plane, she was stunned—stunned that he’d ask her to go to New Orleans with him, stunned that she’d said she would.
She thought back to the night almost a week before when he’d asked her. They’d all started out the night eating frog legs at Sweet Genevieve’s—it seemed innocent enough. However, by six o’clock the next morning, Naomi and Professor Lowery had eloped to Vegas, and Tabby had agreed to go to New Orleans with Jagger.
Chloe thought Tabby had lost her mind when Tabby told her. Emmy, on the other hand, had nearly started doing cartwheels. Jocelyn had joined the cheering section too, but it was Chloe’s concern that still echoed through Tabby’s mind.
“I don’t know, Tabs,” Chloe had said. “It’s just that…it’s like I went out of town for a month, and everything happened! Jocelyn’s all googy-eyed over her cliff-diver guy, Luke will be home in, like, only two more months, and you’ve decided you’re in love enough with Jagger—that you trust him enough to just fly off to New Orleans!” Chloe shook her head. “Not to mention the fact that the most level-headed chick I know just eloped with some college professor. How freaky is all that, Tabs?”
Tabby had shrugged. “Anything can happen, Chloe…and it does seem like stuff often happens in waves.” She shook her head. “I don’t know what to say. Jagger has a thing he’s playing at in New Orleans—which is where he’s from—and his cousin owns this bed and breakfast that he says is just beautiful!” She smiled as she thought about it. “We’re just going to do the whole tourist thing when he’s not playing…and, you know, just be together.”
“You’re together all the time, Tabby,” Chloe reminded her. “At work, after work, every weekend.”
Understanding had washed over Tabby then. She looked to Chloe, suddenly recognizing the true reasons for Chloe’s concerns. It wasn’t that Chloe didn’t like Jagger. It wasn’t even that she thought something might happen between Jagger and Tabby that could be deemed inappropriate. She was just scared—for herself. Chloe was scared of losing Tabby.
“Chloe,” Tabby began, “is it because we haven’t had as much time together?”
“What if he’s the one, Tabby?” Chloe asked. Tears were brimming in her eyes. “I mean…if he is, no one will be happier for you than me. Honest! But at the same time, it scares me. What will I do without you?”
“Chloe,” Tabby began.
“And besides,” Chloe interrupted, “I’m right to be worried…aren’t I? I mean, he just seems too flawless, Tabby. First of all, he’s gorgeous…and second of all, he’s good at everything. His job. He’s a blues musician, for crying out loud! No guy is that flawless.”
“I’m sure he’s not flawless, Chloe,” Tabby said.
“Well, he sure fits your bill to a tee,” Chloe said.
“But that’s the point,” Tabby said. A sort of strange and sudden comprehension was overtaking her. “It’s like…Armando. He’s handsome—sort of this smoldering Latin lover guy…who wouldn’t interest me in the least. But it’s like he was made for Jocelyn. And look at Naomi! Holy cow! Who would’ve ever thought some dashing, poetry-reciting university professor would just drop out of the sky like that?”
“He was ripped too,” Chloe added, smiling. She was settling down, and Tabby was encouraged.
“Even Emmy. Especially Emmy,” Tabby continued. “Emmy’s so…so wild, you know? Yet Luke…Luke can own her through something as simple as a letter. Her passions run really deep, and Luke…he knows it.”
“Your point here is…” Chloe urged.
“That whoever you fall in love with…they may seem perfect to you…but they’re really just perfect
for
you.”
Chloe’s eyebrows arched, and she shook her head. “I don’t know if I buy that.”
“Why not?” Tabby asked.
“Because I think Jagger Brodie is way too hot for his own good,” she said. “And I think he’s zipping you down to New Orleans to…you know…seduce you.”
“No. He wouldn’t do that,” Tabby said.
“How can you be so sure? You’ve only been dating him, what…like a month?”
“I just…I just don’t think he would do that…even if he really felt that way about me.”
“You don’t, huh?” Chloe asked. “So the fact that you guys bust into making out the first time you’re ever alone together—after talking about
Gilligan’s Island
, for Pete’s sake—that doesn’t tell you he feels ‘that way’ about you?”
“He—” Tabby began.
“Not to mention the whole Kevin Bacon drive-in movie
Footloose
thing,” Chloe continued. “And now, he wants to take you to New Orleans? Do you know what goes on in that city?”
“Chloe!” Tabby had exclaimed, taking her sister by the shoulders. She studied Chloe for a moment—the way she was twisting a strand of her strawberry blonde hair, the worry evident in her blue eyes. “I love him. I want to be with him every second of every day! And in the end…I trust him.”
Yet as the memory of her discussion with Chloe replayed in her mind for the eight hundred eighty-seventh time, Tabby wondered if she really had lost her senses. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Jagger to keep his hands to himself. After all, if he’d wanted to press her to further intimacy, he could’ve done that anywhere; he didn’t have to fly her to New Orleans to do it. What really scared Tabby in that moment was the fact that she really was in love with Jagger Brodie—wholly, entirely, irrevocably, desperately, almost insanely in love with him. Thus, what really scared her was to think that maybe Chloe was right—maybe Jagger
was
too flawless, too good to be true.
She tried to think of Emmy and Luke, Jocelyn and Armando, and especially Naomi and Professor Lowery. Why should she doubt her own mantra—that anything was possible? Why should she think that the old six degrees of separation theory would work for every one of her friends and then fail her?
