Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

Jackson

“You okay?” I murmured under my breath when Allison rejoined our group. All these years later, I could still read her like a book. The phone call had upset her, and it wasn’t a big mystery as to why. Mike needed to leave her alone.

“I’m fine,” she said, sighing in a way that let me know she really wasn’t. “I don’t know why he’s still trying.”

I toyed with a loose thread on the pocket of my jeans. “Trying. You mean trying to get you back?” It bothered me more than it should. I told myself it was because I was the kind of guy who stood up for women and got pissed off when someone was harassing one. I’d feel the same if it were Daphne or Willa.

But it wasn’t Daphne or Willa, and the truth was, my feelings for Allison were completely different than what I felt for them. Even if I had to deny it to my dying day.

She nodded. “Yeah. He wants to get back together. My mom’s even on his side, which she let me know when she told me to take him back.”

“Ouch. I’m sorry.”

She shook her head, her lips in a flat line. Then she sighed in defeat. “Am I being stupid? He says this is how the world works. But when I look at everyone here tonight, I can’t help but think he’s wrong. This is how it should work. Can you even imagine Emerson or Cole being disappointed that Daphne or Willa refused to sleep with a man to get a job?”

I snorted, unable to help it. “If someone backed either one of those women into a corner like that, I’m pretty sure I’d have to arrest Emerson and Cole both. The man would be lucky to make it out alive.”

“Exactly. Is it ridiculous that I want that?”

“Ridiculous that you want your man to protect you? No, I don’t think so.” I toyed with the loose thread again, knowing I was veering into dangerous territory.

“Does it make me less of a feminist?” she asked, suddenly looking at me with worry in her eyes. “I mean, I’ve always believed men and women are equal. I went to medical school, for goodness’ sake. I did that on my own. But now I want my partner to go all caveman on me? What’s that about?”

This time, I couldn’t help it. I laughed out loud, not caring if anyone looked our way. “First of all, we’re talking about a situation where a man tried to force you to sleep with him in order to get a job you should have been hired for based on professional merit. I don’t think you have to turn in your feminist card for wanting your partner to be outraged over that. Second of all.” I turned my head and raised my voice. “Hey, Daphne?”

“Yeah?” she asked, looking up from where she was dishing up a piece of cake for Eileen.

“What would you do if Emerson went to a job interview and the chief was a woman who demanded that he perform, um,”—I looked at Eileen and stammered as the girl’s innocent eyes caught mine—“non-job-related duties in order to get the position?”

“Hmmm…” Daphne pondered that as she placed Eileen in a high chair and gave her the cake, inviting her to go to town. “Before or after I marched up there and punched her in the face?” She glanced at Greg and Janet and saw the disapproval on her mom’s face and the exasperation of a sheriff who knew she wasn’t joking. “Sorry,” she said, laughing.

“See?” I said, turning back to Allison. “Sometimes it goes both ways.”

“Maybe you’re right,” she said, smiling for the first time since the phone call had swept her happiness away.

“For what it’s worth, I want to punch this doctor in the face myself, and I’m not even your boyfriend,” I said.

Her eyes twinkled. “I guess I wouldn’t mind getting a slap in myself, now that I think about it. Thanks, Jackson.”

“Anytime.”

When the night wound down and I drove Allison back to town, she asked that I drop her off at her house instead of the clinic where her car was.

“You sure?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she said, yawning. “It’s been a long day and I don’t like to drive at night when I’m tired. Besides, it’s only a couple of miles from my house to the clinic and I could use some exercise in the morning. I’ll get up early, jog to get my car, then go back home and get ready for my day.”

“I don’t mind picking you up in the morning,” I said. “I’ll be going into town for work anyway, and your place isn’t out of the way.”

She looked over at me and smiled. “Thanks. But this will force me to get the exercise I’ve been neglecting ever since I moved here.”

“The offer stands tomorrow if you wake up and decide you don’t feel like it.”

“I appreciate it. And you.” She turned her head to gaze out the window. Soft moonlight cast a glow around her golden hair. She was stunning, almost fairy-like as she seemed to get lost in her own thoughts, looking out at the night sky.

“What are you thinking about over there?” I had to know.

She turned back toward me with a sad little smile. “I was thinking about Mama,” she said.

“What about her?”

“How sad it is that she’s never had anything like what I saw tonight. She’s been married four times since she left Dad. Never for love. Each marriage has been to someone a little more successful than the last, someone who can offer her a little more. She’s bought herself security, but never happiness. Not like what those couples tonight have, I’ll tell you that,” Allison said, shaking her head. “That’s something different altogether.”

“They’re an exception,” I agreed. “Lucky devils.”

She laughed out loud. “That’s the truth.” Then she got quiet again. “You ever wonder if people like us might find something like that someday?”

I swallowed hard. “No. I try not to wonder about that at all.”

She glanced over at me like she wanted to say something, but she didn’t. Then she turned her head back to the window, sitting quietly as we drove to her house.

I had a hard time not getting lost in my own thoughts. Truth was, I’d found myself wondering about that same thing tonight, though I’d never admit it to Allison. Having her there had made it the most fun dinner party I’d experienced. She’d fit in with our group so well, and it had felt nice to be part of a couple—even if we weren’t. I’d enjoyed taking care of her the way the other men took care of their partners, and it had been too easy to imagine what it might be like if she was mine.

I’d never ask, but I was dying to know if any part of her had imagined having that with me .

When I pulled into Allison’s driveway, the first thing I noticed was that the front window was open. I frowned, not wanting to lecture but needing to say something. “Allison, it’s not a good idea to leave your windows open. Even if it’s not Memphis.”

But Allison was frowning too. “I didn’t,” she said. “I’ve never opened that window.”

“Stay here,” I said, instantly going into cop mode. I slid my service weapon out of its holster. “I’m going to check it out. Give me your keys.”

Her face was pale as she pulled the keys from her purse. She handed them to me as I swung out of the truck. I stuffed them into my pocket and headed toward the front, weapon in hand.