No, something much worse. Sex appeal.
Margie climbed out of the car and shot a sideways look at her daughter over the Camry’s roof. “I hope you and Alex aren’t doing anything weird like trying to set us up.”
“
Ewww
.” Emma wrinkled her nose. “Now I really wanna puke. Why would I want you to date my boyfriend’s father? Besides,”— she shrugged—” don’t you still love Daddy?”
Margie slid her arm around her daughter as they crossed the parking lot. “I’ll always love your dad, Em. He gave me you.”
Now was not the time to mention, as soon as Emma moved out to transfer to a four-year school, Margie had every intention of pursuing a social life that included men. She had no desire to spend the rest of her life alone or to share her sexual peak with some battery-operated lover.
And, hoo-boy, had she been
peaking
since losing Dan. Every night her empty bed mocked her.
She clenched her fists to stop the trembling in her hands. Why was she so nervous? Jake was just a man. What happened between them had been nearly two decades ago.
Except nineteen years hadn’t seemed to diminish her visceral reaction to the big jerk. Every time she spoke to him on the phone, his deep velvety voice and sexy laugh never failed to make her stomach quiver, and she ended up blathering like an idiot.
Maybe she was simply afraid that, when she faced him and gazed into those magnetic silver eyes, she would have trouble remembering the word
no
.
~*~
Jake heaved a disgusted sigh as his son continued watching Brandy out of the corner of his eye, wearing a puzzling expression that leaned more toward loathing than lust. It seemed odd, seeing as the pretty cheerleader had been at the core of his tight circle of friends for the past three years. It was impossible to guess what his kid was thinking.
Shaking his head, Jake muttered under his breath, “The idiot sold out his whole damn future for a quick tumble.”
Alex’s gaze snapped to Jake’s, his face suffused with color. “It wasn’t like that, Dad. I
love
Em.”
Damn. Had that actually come out of his mouth? “Alex.” Jake lifted his hands in apology. “I’m really sorry. I never should’ve said something like that.”
At least not out loud
. “It helps a lot if you love each other.”
“Well, we do.” His son waved his hand over his head, and a moment later, the tiny girl he’d been dating appeared next to their table.
Emma’s long, dark hair and gray eyes made her look very much like what he’d imagined Maggie’s and his daughter might have. Jake had never stopped wondering what sex their baby had been. In fact, he’d been so bitter and devastated over the loss of his child, he’d convinced Roxanne to skip the birth control on their honeymoon.
Alex stood and bent to hug Emma, then stepped back to let her slide into the booth before he sank next to her and slung his arm around her.
She glanced between them, wearing a tremulous smile. “Did you tell him?”
Squeezing her to his side, Alex gently pressed his lips to her forehead and murmured, “I told you I would, didn’t I? Everything’s gonna be okay, Angel. Where’s your mom?”
“She stopped off at the ladies’ room on the way in.” Emma turned to Jake. “I guess you’re really disappointed in us, huh, Mr. M?” she asked, uncertainty quivering in her voice.
Reaching across the table, Jake patted her delicate hand and smiled. “Disappointed is a good word, Emma.”
His nervous jack-in-the-box son sprang out of his seat with a constipated clown’s grin pasted on his face.
Jake rose and turned to greet the petite blonde gliding toward their booth. She was even hotter than the picture her sultry voice had painted in his imagination. The woman couldn’t be much past her early thirties. Way too young to be Emma’s mom.
As Mrs. Bradford approached the table, he stared down into a pair of familiar sky blue eyes. His smile dropped.
This had to be just another one of his dreams.
Nausea churned in his stomach like the ocean’s surf right before a storm as he breathed out almost soundlessly, “Maggie.”
~*~
Margie gawked up at the doused-with-ice-water expression on Jake’s face and grabbed the back of the booth to stop the room from spinning. The grainy pictures in local newspapers hadn’t done him justice. The silver sprinkled through his hair simply intensified his metallic gaze.
If only she’d had time to put a curling iron to her hair. And lose fifteen pounds. She really needed to get some new outfits that didn’t fit as if they’d shrunk in the laundry.
Alex held his hand out toward her. “Mrs. B, I’d like you to meet my father, Jake. Dad, Emma’s mom, Margie Bradford.”
Jake glowered at her, his eyes blazing with....
contempt
?
How could he possibly be angry when he was the one who’d rejected her? If anything, he should be grateful for what she’d done for him. She glared right back and stiffened at the confusion on the kids’ faces.
The last thing she wanted to do was explain how Jake and she were acquainted. With any luck, he wouldn’t want them to know about their past any more than she did. Maybe he was just ticked off she hadn’t told him who she was before this.
Margie swallowed back her anxiety and pasted on a superficial smile. She’d be damned if she’d let him see he’d rattled her. “How do you do, Mr. Manion. It’s nice to finally meet.”
His mouth tightened as he shook her extended hand, murmuring under his breath, “So you want to play this like strangers, huh, Rosebud?”
Jake’s gaze ping-ponged between Emma and Alex and the color instantly drained from his face. “Please, God, no.” He grabbed Margie’s arm. “I think we’d better check out the dessert case.”
“Dad, would you sit down?”
Ignoring his son, Jake dragged Margie to the front of the diner and snapped, “Maggie, please tell me she isn’t mine.”
His use of the nickname he’d given her when they’d first met chilled her like a frigid shower. Back then it had made her feel special and cherished. Now the name served as a painful reminder of the stupid girl she used to be, Jake's heartless betrayal, and of the baby she would never hold. Not in this life anyway.
“What’re you talking about?” She frowned and rubbed the sore spot where his fingers had dug into her arm. The revulsion on his face made him look as if he might heave on her at any moment, cuing her in to the horrific thing he was suggesting. “
Ugh
— no! How could you even think—”
“Thank God.” His shoulders slumped, and a breath of relief rushed out of him. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me who you were when we spoke on the phone. You must’ve been laughing your ass off all these months.”
“Hardly. Believe me, I nearly choked when I found out you were Emma’s teacher.” Literally. “And when your son asked her out….”
He closed his eyes, shaking his head. “This is too strange to be real.”
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, it’s no mere coincidence. My conniving cousin set me up by convincing me to take the job here.”
“It figures Barbara would be involved. We can discuss tarring and feathering her later.”
“What I can’t believe is our kids fell for each other.” She glanced back at them seated in the booth, wearing matching wrinkles in their foreheads. “What were the odds of that?”
“Actually, pretty good if you think about it. Emma reminds me a lot of you, and Alex is so much a chip off the old block it’s scary. Why wouldn’t the chemistry between them be just as dynamic?”
“I suppose.”
He prodded her back toward the table. “Let’s go. The kids probably think I’ve misplaced a few of my marbles.”
“They’re not the only ones.”
“You think this is weird?” He snorted. “Stick around for the second act.”
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A Little Bit if Déjà Vu
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