The Last Single Maverick. Christine Rimmer

her voice calm and even. “I saw him with Kimberly. There was no misunderstanding what I saw.”

      “Kimberly is terribly upset, too. She’s hurt you would think such horrible, cruel things about her.”

      “Oh, please. Don’t get me started on Kimberly. I don’t want to talk about this anymore, Mom. I really don’t.”

      “Kenny came to see me this evening.”

      Joss gasped. “He what?” She must have said it kind of loud because Jace glanced back at her, those sexy dark eyes full of concern. She shook her head at him. He turned to face the window again and she told her mother, “He has no right to bother you. None. Ever again.”

      “Honey, he’s not bothering me. He loves you. He wants to work things out with you. He’s crushed that you left him at the altar the way you did. You’ve humiliated him, but still, he forgives you and only wants to work things out so you two can be together as you were meant to be.”

      There was a crystal bowl full of expensive chocolates on the coffee table. Joss resisted the blinding urge to grab it and fling it at the far wall. “Mom, listen. Listen carefully. I am not going to get back together with Kenny. Ever. He and I are done. Finished. As over as it gets.”

      “If only your father hadn’t left us. You wouldn’t be so mistrustful of men. You wouldn’t ruin the best chance you’re ever going to get with a good man who will give you the kind of life you deserve.”

      She replied through clenched teeth. “There are so many ways I don’t know how to respond to that.”

      “Just come home, honey. Come home right away.”

      “Mom, I’m hanging up now. I love you very much and I’ll be home in a week.”

      “Jocelyn. Jocelyn, wait…”

      But Joss didn’t wait. She hung up the phone. And then she stared at it hard, daring it to ring again.

      But apparently, her mother had come to her senses at least minimally and decided to leave awful enough alone.

      For tonight anyway.

      At the window, Jace turned. “Bad?”

      She covered her face with her hands. “Yeah, beyond bad.”

      He left the window and came to her, walking softly in those fancy boots of his. She only heard his approach because she was listening for it. “Want to talk about it?”

      “Ugh.”

      “Come on.”

      She lowered her hands and met his waiting eyes. He was standing across the coffee table from her, his hands in his pockets, accepting of whatever she might say, willing to listen. Ready to understand. She tipped her head at the cushion beside her. He took her invitation, crossing around the low table, dropping down next to her, stretching his arm out along the back of the couch in an invitation of his own.

      An invitation she couldn’t pass up at that moment. With a sad little sigh, she leaned her head on his shoulder. He smoothed her hair, but only lightly, and then draped his big arm around her.

      It was a nice moment. Comforting. He was so large and warm and solid. And he smelled so clean and manly. And she really needed a strong shoulder to lean on. Just for a minute or two.

      She said, “That was my mom.”

      “Yeah, I got that much.”

      “I told you she raised me on her own, didn’t I?”

      “You mentioned that, yeah.”

      “My dad disappeared when I was two. My mom says he just told her he was through one day and walked out. We never heard from him again.”

      “That’s rough, Joss. Really rough.” He squeezed her shoulder, a touch that comforted, that seemed to acknowledge how hard it had been for her. “It can really mess with your mind, to lose your dad when you’re only a kid. It can leave you feeling like you’re on the outside looking in—at all your friends and their happy, whole families. You grow up knowing what normal is. It’s what all the other kids have.”

      She realized he was speaking from personal experience. “How old were you when your dad died?”

      “Jackson and I were six.”

      “So at least you knew him, your dad.”

      “Kind of. He was always working, making his mark on the world, you could say. But yeah, we all looked up to him with stars in our eyes. We felt safe, just knowing he was our dad. He was one of those guys who really fills up a room. Rose always claims it was worse for her than for us boys. She never knew him—well, at least she doesn’t remember him. She was two when he was killed.”

      “Same age I was when my dad left. And I don’t remember him either. All I have is the… absence of him.” She pulled away enough to meet Jace’s eyes. “You really don’t need to hear this. You’re sweet to be so understanding, but it’s old news and it’s got nothing to do with you.”

      He reached for her, pulled her back down to him. She started to resist, but then, well, why not, if he was willing to listen? She gave in and sagged against him, settling her head against his shoulder again—and yeah, she’d promised herself she would never cuddle up with him. But this wasn’t cuddling. This was only leaning. And there was nothing wrong with a little leaning when a girl needed comfort from a friend.

      “Keep talkin’,” he said. “What’s your mom’s name?”

      “RaeEllen. Her maiden name was Louvacek, but she kept my father’s name, never changed it back. She always said she only wanted a good guy to stand by her. But I don’t think she went looking after my dad left. It was like she… gave up when it came to men. She never dated when I was growing up, not that I can remember. She worked at Safeway, eventually moving up to managing her own store, which she still does to this day. And she took care of me. She was a good mom, a strict mom. And she always wanted the best for me. To her, Kenny seemed like a dream come true.”

      “So for some reason, she decided she could trust the cheater?”

      “He was always good to her—kissing up to her really, it seems to me, in hindsight. When she would have us over for dinner, he would bring her flowers every time and fall all over her praising her cooking. And she knew how well he was doing at work, getting promotions, one after the other. She just… bought Kenny’s act, hook, line and sinker. She refuses to believe that the thing with Kimberly even happened. Kenny’s convinced her that I’ve blown an ‘innocent encounter’ all out of proportion.”

      “Convinced her? You’re saying she’s speaking to him, after what he did to you?”

      “Because she doesn’t believe he did anything bad, I guess she figures she’s got no reason not to speak to him.”

      “She’s your mom and I won’t speak ill of her. But I will say she ought to get her loyalties straight.”

      “Hah, I wish. When it comes to Kenny, she’s got on her rose-colored glasses and I’ve yet to convince her she really needs to take them off. I try to see it from her point of view. She finally decided to give another man a break, to trust Kenny—for my sake. And now she just can’t bear to admit she got it wrong again.”

      “I guess it’s understandable,” Jace said. “But still. You’re her daughter. She should be backing you up.”

      “Yeah, I wish. You know how I told you I had doubts about Kenny before I caught him with Kimberly?”

      “I remember.”

      “Well, I went to my mom and confided in her. I told her that Kenny wasn’t the guy I loved anymore, that sometimes I felt like I didn’t even know him, he was so different from who he used to be. She was the one who convinced me my fears were groundless, that I only had a very normal case of pre-wedding jitters, that Kenny was a wonderful