Forever Wishes (Montana Brides Book 4) (9 page)

But somewhere between his garage and the taxi ride home, she’d started to think of him in terms of more than a one night stand. But if he didn’t want children, then he wouldn’t be figuring as anything long-term in her life.
 

Jake leaned across the grass. The sad look in his eyes matched the heaviness in her chest. He kissed the top of her head. “Goodbye, Erin.”

Watching him walk slowly back to the parking lot was heartbreaking. She wished she could jump up and chase after him, tell him it didn’t matter, that she could live without children. But she couldn’t.
 

Tears filled her eyes and her nose started to run. Drat the man. She’d gone from the giddy heights of lust to the pit of despair in sixty minutes flat, and there wasn’t a thing she could do about it.
 

She blew her nose, flicked grass off her skirt, and braced herself for the afternoon ahead. She’d just have to get on with her life. Jake wouldn’t want anything more to do with her knowing she had babies on her brain. And there was no way she’d give up her dream.
 

With one last look at the river, she picked up her cup and followed his heavy footsteps back to the library.
 

Superman had left the city.

Jake wasn’t in the mood to negotiate a settlement on a personal grievance case. Especially between two hardheaded building contractors who didn’t want to listen to anything he had to say.
 

By the time he got back to the office both men were locked in a battle of wills trying their hardest to intimidate each other. If they wanted to play it rough and dirty, then he was in the perfect frame of mind to deal with their issues.
 

After an hour of brutal negotiations he’d used what little patience he had left. Finally alone in his office, his brain refused to think about anything except the look on Erin’s face when he’d told her he wasn’t in the baby making market.
 

She’d looked as if her whole world had come crashing down and he was the one that had started the earthquake. Saturday night had been incredible, and he’d enjoyed spending time with her since then. Even though none of that time had involved getting naked.
 

Now that was a sobering thought.
 

Footloose and fancy free weren’t going to work with Erin. And they hadn’t worked for him for a long time either. He had some serious thinking to do and he wouldn’t be able to do that at work.
 

He dropped his pen and grabbed his jacket. He needed to get out of the office and find some decent coffee before he tackled the rest of the work in front of him.
 

One of the best things about working at Osborne and Sons, a law firm in downtown Bozeman, was the café across the road. He closed his door and headed down the corridor, stopping at Adam Jefferies’ office. “I’m off to buy coffee. Do you want one?”

Adam looked up from behind a stack of files. “Double strength latte, with two sugars.”

“Hard day?”

“Hard night,” Adam sighed. “Nathan and Trent wanted a night away from their wives, so we hit Joe’s Bar. A late night isn’t a great idea when you’ve got two messy divorce cases to finalize, a prenup that’s going nowhere, and old man McGarvey’s estate to untangle.”

“Sounds like we both need help. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Tess was serving behind the counter of Angel Wings Café. Her wide smile left him feeling even more miserable.
 

“Bad day at the office?”

He nodded his head. “You’ve got no idea.”

The coffee didn’t do much good. In fact the rest of the afternoon turned into a total write-off. All he could think about was Erin. At four o’clock, the phone rang for the umpteenth time. In a gruff voice he said, “Jake Williams.”
 

“Oh my, big brother. Don’t you sound like the big bad wolf today? Having a rough time at the office?”

His sister’s voice echoed down the phone, all sugar and smiles, making him feel even more grumpier. “What do you want, Lucy? I’m up to my eyeballs in work and the damn phone hasn’t stopped ringing.”

“Where’s your secretary?”

“She left early. She’s doing girly things at the day spa.”

“Sounds like you could do with a massage as well. Anyway, I have a better idea. How about you come over tonight for dinner? I’m cooking Ethan’s favorite, mac and cheese.”

A night of family fun and games didn’t leave him jumping for joy. But what the hell. Lucy’s mac and cheese tasted better than whatever meal he had in his freezer. He didn’t have anything else planned and if he stayed at home he’d probably do something crazy. Like call Erin. He’d be better off keeping himself busy.
 

With a voice only marginally more enthusiastic than five minutes ago, he asked, “What time do you want me?”
 

“Come straight after work.”
 

“I’ll be there at about five-thirty with dessert.” Disconnecting the phone, he sat back, stretching his arms above his head.
 

He looked across his office, staring out the window at the pale blue sky. For the first time in ages he wondered where the emotionally detached, love ’em and leave ’em male had gone. He knew where.
 

He’d been shot down in flames by a raven haired library witch with a quick mind and a sexy body, that’s where.

CHAPTER FOUR

Jake avoided Lucy’s stare as she put dinner on the table. She’d corner him sooner or later to find out what had turned him into the biggest grump in the northern hemisphere. He just preferred it to be later.
 

Between huge mouthfuls of mac and cheese, Ethan chattered happily about his day at school and his friend Oliver’s pet spider. Jake made all the right noises, ignoring the questioning looks his sister shot his way.

After Ethan ran out of steam, Lucy asked, “How are the plans for the camp going?”
 

For the last few months he’d been helping to organize the first summer camp of the season. In two weeks, Lucy would give him a hand to supervise the kids, and Ethan would come along as Jake’s shadow.

“Pretty good. We’ve got everything booked and supervisors organized for all of the activities.”
 

Lucy nodded. “What time do you want to pick us up?”

“I’ll meet you here at half past three. Does that give you enough time to get Ethan home from school?”

“As long as I get him off the playground fast, we’ll make it.”

“Uncle Jake,” Ethan looked expectantly between his mother and Uncle. “Mom said I can go kayaking and horse riding with you. That’ll be cool.”
 

Jake gave him a smile, “And there’s an enormous zip line at Camp Discovery too.”

“Wow.” Ethan was practically jumping up and down on his seat. “How many more sleeps?”

Jake gazed at his excited face, wondering when he’d started making life so complicated for himself. He felt like an old cynic. “Fifteen more sleeps, little man.”

Ethan’s face fell. “That’s a big number.”
 

“It is. But it’ll be here soon enough.” Ethan didn’t seem entirely convinced that the time would go quickly. But as soon as Mad Max moved under the table looking for scraps, the two week timeframe disappeared from his mind.

The rest of the evening passed in a happy buzz of conversation and a marathon card session of Go Fish. After putting Ethan to bed, Lucy came out of the kitchen dangling a dish-towel under his nose. “Guess what we’re going to do now, big brother?”

He snatched the cloth out of her hand. “When are you going to let me buy you a dishwasher? You must have the only home in Bozeman without one.”

“Jake Williams, we’ve had some of our most important discussions over soap suds and soggy dish-towels. Why would you want to give that up?”

He looked dubiously at his little sister. “Does this mean I’m in for one of those ‘important little discussion’ times?”

Lucy smiled, heading toward the kitchen. “Come on, handsome. Tell your little sister your troubles. Just spit it out and you’ll feel better.”

“Yeah right.” He followed her into the kitchen. Lucy’s advice had always been about as subtle as a jackhammer on concrete.
 

Stopping in the doorway, he nearly ran in the opposite direction. Dirty dishes covered every square inch of counter space. “What have you been doing in here? Cooking for an army?” He remembered another kitchen that hadn’t looked much better.
 

Lucy laughed at his shocked expression. “We’ll need extra food for camp, so I cooked a few batches of cookies before dinner. I’ll put them in the freezer when they’ve cooled down. Come on, the sooner we start the sooner we’ll be finished.”

“Now I know why you invited me over. The mac and cheese was just a cover. What you really wanted was a slave to help you clean up this mess.”
 

“No,” she smiled, “The apple pie I knew you’d bring for dessert was the deciding factor.”
 

Over soap suds and hot water he told her about meeting Erin, and the bombshell she’d dropped that afternoon. Lucy listened to what he had to say, and for once she didn’t add her opinion every two seconds.
 

“So, how do you feel about her?”

“Feel?” He had to think about that. He’d never had more than passing feelings for any of the women that had passed through his life. And those feelings were generally hormone based rather than heart based. But with Erin it was different, way different. His hormones skyrocketed every time he saw her and his heart gave more than a nervous tweak too.

“Well, apart from some, umm, physical attractions,” and he thought about those physical attractions all the time, “I miss her when she’s not around.” That was all she’d pry from him tonight.

“I can understand her wanting to have children,” Lucy said. “Ethan’s such a great kid. I don’t know how I would have gotten through the last few years without him. Have another talk with her. It might help sort things out.”

He slid a clean baking tray back into the oven. Friendship was a lot easier said than done, especially given Erin’s need to have children in the near future. But Lucy could be right. Maybe if he sat down with her and talked things through, they might be able to find some common ground.
 

Lucy handed him a wet saucepan. “Talking about sorting things out, I called mom the other day. She’s still totally oblivious to the havoc she’s causing Scott. I tried calling him but he wasn’t answering. What do you think we should do next?”

“Keep trying to reach Scott and we’ll see how he’s going.” He opened a cupboard and stacked the clean saucepan on top of another one. “Last week I asked him if he wanted to come and live with me, but he wants a place of his own.”
 

“I asked him the same thing,” Lucy sighed.

Jake dried the last cookie tray and looked around the kitchen. “You were right. Cleaning up does have its benefits. Just try not to bake so much next time you invite me over.”

Lucy threw a ball of soap suds in his direction. “Serves you right for liking my cooking so much.”
 

Jake smiled as another wet dish came his way. He’d needed something mundane to take his mind off the dismal day he’d had. He wasn’t altogether comfortable with Lucy’s heart-to-heart discussions. But he did feel better after talking about his non-existent relationship with Erin.
 

Maybe he’d take Lucy’s advice and give Erin a call tomorrow. And then he’d ring his brother.

Erin threw another load of dirty clothes in the washing machine. She hadn’t slept much the night before and she felt exhausted. Worse than exhausted. She was short tempered, grouchy, and had developed a serious addiction to chocolate.
 

Nicky would be arriving soon to go for a walk and some much needed girl-talk. Something had to lighten the dark mood sitting on her shoulders, and she hoped some female bonding time would do the trick.

The night after her disastrous discussion with Jake she’d come to some rather startling conclusions. Yes, she really liked him. Yes, she wanted to be his friend. Yes, she wanted to have mind blowing sex with the man again, and quadruple yes, she really wanted him to be the father of her children.