Love After All (12 page)

“That's Malibu. It's a unique location. It has canyons, mesas and beaches, with both ocean and mountains surrounding the entire area.”

“Wow,” she whispered, entranced by the sight. She inched closer for a better view.

“Careful,” Jackson warned, taking her hand gently and holding her firm. “We're right on the edge.”

“Don't worry, I've been on the edge all my life,” she said offhandedly, then instantly thought better of the remark.

Jackson didn't reply, but she knew that she'd only piqued his curiosity even more.

They stood side by side looking out at the bustle of traffic directly below and the peaceful serenity of the view from the distance. Like two different worlds, the contrast was remarkable. One side was chaotic and the other was calm, a battle of two worlds not unlike her own inner struggle.

“Come on,” he said. “Let's get something to eat.”

She nodded her agreement, but still reluctantly turned to follow him. Walking away from something so wonderful was hard. She wondered how hard it would be to walk away from Jackson when the time came.

A
s soon as they entered the small inn, Jackson was welcomed personally by the owner, Mr. Perry, a sixties actor in black exportation films who'd parlayed his meager salary into beachfront real estate and become an instant success. Jackson was treated like royalty, as Mr. Perry escorted them through the main dining hall and directly to their table.

Privately seated on the outside terrace, they enjoyed the spectacular view as they ate. Without waiting for them to order, Mr. Perry offered a full breakfast consisting of hot tea, lattes, fresh fruit, cheese and sliced bread with scrambled eggs, bacon, wheat toast, powdered waffles and croissants with homemade preserves.

The meal was delicious and they chatted easily about Malibu and California.

Samantha looked around as she sipped the last of her tea.

“This certainly wasn't what I expected my day to be like when I got on the plane last night.”

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” he asked.

She smiled. “A very good thing. Thank you for a wonderful morning and afternoon.”

“Whoa, the day isn't over yet, I hope, unless of course you already have plans for the rest of the afternoon.”

“No, no plans.”

“Good,” he said happily, relieved.

“What do you have in mind?” she asked.

“I thought maybe we'd stop at a few of the small vineyards up the coast.”

“Vineyards?” she questioned. He nodded. “Sounds perfect, I've never seen a real vineyard before.”

“Then you're in for a treat.”

Their waiter came and removed the dishes. Moments later, Mr. Perry arrived with two champagne mimosas. He stayed a few minutes to offer polite conversation, then just as quickly exited. “He seems really nice,” she said. Jackson nodded. “I still can't believe he owns all this. Do you come here often?”

“Often enough, I suppose,” Jackson said cryptically.

“So, Jackson, Jackson Daley, is this your hot spot?”

“My what?”

“You know, your hot spot. The place where guys go when they think they might get lucky.”

Jackson burst out laughing. “Where in the world did you hear that?”

“My brother told me about hot spots years ago. He warned me never to trust a man who takes you to his hot spot the first time out together. He said that the guy only wants one thing.”

“I've never heard that term before.” She nodded. “And your brother told you this?” She nodded again. “Let me guess, you worshipped him and everything he said was the absolute truth.”

It was her time to laugh. “Yeah, something like that.”

“You're close with your family, then?” he asked, expecting her to say yes. Instead, the easy laughter that had slipped out just seconds earlier quickly ceased and the bright smile that followed tightened as she looked away.

“No, not anymore.”

“I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up uncomfortable memories.”

“Memories,” she nearly whispered. “They're always with us, can't run away from them no matter how hard we try.”

“Like family,” he confirmed.

“Yeah,” she agreed. “Like family.”

Jackson held his glass up. “To good memories to come.”

“I'll drink to that. Cheers,” she said, clinking her glass to his. They sipped the mimosas as Jackson began chuckling again. “What?” she asked.

“Hot spots, huh?” Jackson said. She nodded. “I think I'd better look into that,” he added looking into her sparkling eyes. The warm citrus-scented breeze enveloped them as they sipped their drinks, letting the conversation lapse, leaving them simply sitting and smiling.

“What?” she asked, seeing him staring at her.

“Not to get too personal, but you're not from Chicago, either, are you?”

“Am I not? What makes you say that?” she asked.

“A hunch. Call me highly intuitive. As a matter of fact, I'd say that you were more probably from New York or New England.”

“You think so, huh?” she asked. He nodded. “Sounds like you've really been thinking about this.”

“I have.”

“Maybe you should consider getting a hobby.”

He chuckled. “You kind of made an impression on me. Not something easily achieved—very few women can do that.”

“Given the limited time,” she offered.

“Given any amount of time,” he replied.

“I'm flattered,” she said awkwardly, then took a deep breath and changed the subject. “So, a disc jockey?”

“Excuse me?” he asked.

“In college, you said that you were an on-air personality, a disc jockey, right? I'm curious, how exactly does that work?”

“Nope, not this time. It's been all about me for the past hour and a half, not to mention nearly four hours on the plane. Tell me something about you,” he said.

“And ruin the fantasy?” she said.

“Fantasy?” he asked.

“Of course. Isn't that what this is?” she said.

“And everybody needs a fantasy, right?” he surmised, recalling his show topic a few nights ago.

“Except for me. My life is complicated enough, believe me. I don't have time for fantasies,” Samantha said.

“Maybe you just haven't found the right one.”

“Maybe…”

“Interested?” he asked.

“So exactly where does this fantasy lead?”

“I guess that would depend on…” he prompted.

“On how far we want the fantasy to go,” she said.

“Exactly,” he confirmed.

“Exactly,” she added.

“Okay, fair enough.”

She nodded.

He continued, “So as part of the fantasy, answer the question, tell me about yourself.”

“There's not much to tell.”

“There's no getting around your guard, is there? I ask questions and you maneuver around them, quite skillfully, I'd say.”

“I'm not that evasive, am I?” she asked already knowing the answer. Then she paused and decided to open up a little. After all, she had no intention of seeing him after today. “Okay, what do you want to know?”

“Tell me something about your family.”

She frowned and looked away again. “I don't talk about my family anymore.”

“The word
anymore
implies that you did at least once talk about them. What happened?”

“I opened up to someone once and it didn't work out,” she said, easing away the uncomfortable feeling and taking a deep breath. “What's left of my family and I went our separate ways a long time ago. We didn't agree on career paths. My mom died and my father and I never—” She stopped and looked at him briefly, then back to the view.

“Thank you,” he said softly.

“For what?”

“For trusting me just a little bit, I know that was difficult for you.”

Samantha smiled, feeling an opening in her heart expand. She watched as Mr. Perry returned to offer more beverages. He and Jackson talked and joked briefly while she looked on.

Jackson had a comfortable way about him that had put her at ease the moment they met. His voice was gentle and caring and she could easily imagine people telling him all kinds of secrets. She nearly did. He was right, she did trust him, at least enough to even consider discussing her fractured family.

As soon as Mr. Perry left, Jackson reached across the table and took her hand. “Now tell me about you.”

“I don't want to bore you.”

“I don't bore easily, try me.”

“I don't want to scare you.”

“I don't scare easily, try me.”

“Okay, let's see…about me,” she said, then paused to consider the truth. “My life is complicated at the moment.”

“Your life or you?”

“Both. I grew up kind of nomadic, all over the place. My parents separated when I was young. I lived with my father, then my mother. I got into computers and other things.”

“Such as?”

“Trouble,” she said hesitantly. He nodded. “I stuck with computers. They were the one stable thing I could easily control. And that's pretty much everything,” she said, giving him just enough while keeping the details as vague as possible.

“What company do you work for now?”

“I consult with a small computer company by logging in from wherever I am, whenever I'm needed. I write programs and detail systems, although I primarily specialize in high-end servers to correct glitches in internal systems before they corrupt the mainframe system.”

“You're a computer systems troubleshooter?” he asked.

“Put simply, yes.”

“Impressive. So you're smart, beautiful, complicated, and you know computers.”

“I'm not just a pretty face,” she joked.

“So why not work in a single company? I'm sure your services are well in demand. I know when our computers need work, the systems specialist charges a near fortune.”

“Been there, done that. I don't have the disposition for the corporate world anymore.”

“Hence, you consult.”

“Yeah, my terms, my time.”

“While still making you nomadic, moving from company to company, coming and going as you please. Interesting.”

“Yeah, I guess so. I never thought of it that way.”

“Are you happy?”

“At the moment I'm ecstatic.”

“No, I meant working as a consultant, are you happy?”

“For the most part, yes, I enjoy the challenge. There are good days and bad days and even exceptional days, like most jobs.” He nodded his understanding. “So what else do you want to know about me?”

“Your business out here, is it going to take a while?”

“I assume your question is for obvious reasons,” she asked, prompting his intentions.

He nodded, smiling shyly. “Yes.”

“Actually, I don't know. I have a meeting soon, I don't know when exactly. Hopefully I'll find who I'm looking for then.”

“You misplaced someone.”

“I'm looking for someone, yes.”

“That's interesting, I was back East looking for someone.”

“Did you find her?”

“You assume that it's a woman.”

“Bad assumption. Did you find him?”

“No, and I have no idea if it's a man or a woman.”

“Sounds mysterious.”

Jackson shook his head. He wasn't about to get into details. “Let's just say that this person has something I'm interested in buying.”

“You're a collector?”

“In this instance, yes. And who is this mysterious person you came looking for? A man, no doubt.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Call it an educated guess. Who is he, family, friend?”

“An old friend.”

“And I suppose that would make me…”

“A new friend,” she answered before he did.

“I see. Well,” he picked up his glass of water, “here's to us both finding what we're looking for.”

Samantha picked up her glass and gently touched it to his. “Cheers.”

The moment went silent as she looked down over the cliff to the horizon across the way. The sun was dutifully suspended above them, and a haze covered the crystal-clear blue sky. “It's really beautiful here.”

“Yes, it is,” he said staring at her and wondering.

“Tell me something,” she said after a brief pause. “If you could do everything all over again, I mean, from the beginning, clean slate, would you?”

“What do you mean, this, us, together right now?”

“No, I mean everything, your whole life. If you could go back and follow your dreams, your real dreams, would you?”

“You mean live the life I want?”

“Yeah, totally change everything.”

He thought a second, then answered. “Probably not.”

“Really, why not?” she asked curiously.

“Consequences.”

She looked questioning. “Okay, but what about the bad times, the heartbreak, the tragedy and the pain? You'd never have to experience any of that.”

He continued, “Our experiences are what make us who we are, the good, the bad and the ugly. Love and joy would be meaningless without heartbreak and pain.”

“So what exactly are we doing, Jackson?” she asked.

“We're getting to know one another.”