He was left alone, with his best friend walking one way and Gemma walking the other.
He looked back in to see Cam and Nate beginning to surround her. They would be friends to her. Jesse was wrong about that. She was fitting in just nicely. Maybe even better than Cade had since he’d really held himself apart, allowing Jesse to make connections and befriend people. Cade just followed. Cade had dragged Jesse all over the damn country, and every time Jesse made a home for them and then Cade forced them to take off again.
He was the one who shouldn’t show up tonight. He glanced back in as Gemma waved the men off and sat back down at her desk. Did she even have a lunch with her? He’d sent one with Jesse on the days he’d met her here. He’d fried chicken for today’s lunch, just the way Nancy had taught him. He’d thought about Gemma the whole time he’d done it. Usually he just thought about Nancy and his mother when he cooked, both gone, both because he’d been irresponsible.
He didn’t deserve Gemma. Hell, he didn’t deserve Jesse.
But he still went to the park, helped Jesse pick up, and he quietly marched back to the sheriff’s office. It took fifteen minutes, but when Laura Niles walked in, he handed her the cooler and asked her to make sure Gemma got her lunch.
Then he walked back to the shop and got to work.
Chapter Five
Jesse watched the town crazy walk into Trio. Well, one of the town crazies. Bliss seemed to be full of them, but this particular crazy was more sad than funny. McMahon was dressed in a flannel shirt and light jacket and jeans. It was what he always wore.
He took a long drink of his beer as the former US Marshal strode in and took a seat at the bar. Yep. Jesse intended to keep an eye on Michael McMahon because he knew what a dangerous man looked like. He’d stared at one in the mirror for months. Sometimes he wondered if chasing after Christian Grady for all those years hadn’t changed something fundamental inside him. There was still an ache in the pit of his stomach because he hadn’t been the one to take the fucker down. That had been Hope and Lucy.
How much worse was that ache for Cade? He’d lost two mothers. Did he sit up at night wishing he’d been the one to end the life of the man who killed Nancy Gibbs? And how about the man who killed Cade’s parents and sister? Jesse knew it was all bullshit, but Cade blamed himself for their deaths. How long before Cade forgave the child he’d been?
“Damn it. Lucy just caught sight of him, and I swear to god that girl is drooling.” Cade sat back with a long sigh. “That girl needs a keeper.”
Jesse watched as Trio’s cutest waitress fumbled a little. Lucy wasn’t the most graceful woman in the best of circumstances. Add a little inexplicable sexual attraction to the mix, and she was downright clumsy.
Jesse winced as the tray in her hand wobbled and the single glass began its long dive toward the floor.
Luckily, Zane was damn fast. He caught the glass and managed to only spill a little of what Jesse suspected was the town doc’s whiskey. Doctor Caleb Burke sat at a long table with his girlfriend, Holly, and his partner, Alexei. On the other side of the table sat Holly’s best friend, Laura, and her boyfriends, Rafe and Cam.
Zane turned, and Jesse could hear Michael grumble his order. It was the only way the man talked, in a low mumble that was something between a growl and a moan.
“I don’t get it.” Tyler Davis sighed as he slid into the booth beside Cade. “Look at her. It’s like she could eat him up. What the fuck is wrong with me?”
Jesse shrugged. “Dude, according to most of the female tourists around here, there’s nothing wrong with you. Aren’t you like, rolling in the tips and shit?”
He genuinely enjoyed giving Ty shit.
Ty Davis was one of those sun-kissed blond gods who generally set Jesse on edge, but Ty was brainy with the slightest edge of nerd. It made up for his pretty-boy good looks. “I do not take tips, asshole. I’m a paramedic. I don’t have a tip jar on my med kit. Do you know how pissy people get after they break a leg while skiing? Trust me. They’re thinking lawsuits, not tips.”
Cade smiled, that shit-eating grin that let Jesse know he was about to say something wretchedly sarcastic. “He wasn’t talking about the medical stuff, Ty. How are tips after the sex stuff?”
Ty went a great shade of pink.
“Sex stuff?” Lucy asked, her breath a little huffy. She was wearing the Trio uniform, jeans and a tight white tank top with the bar’s logo, two beer steins with a glass of red wine in the middle. It was a slightly salacious logo that always reminded Jesse that relationships in Bliss tended to consist of two foaming beer drinkers and a single curvy female. Lucy fit the bill. The tank top molded to her plump breasts, but unfortunately, Lucy had been firmly placed in the sister category. And she was kind of a bratty little sister. “If we’re talking about sex stuff, we must be talking about Ty.”
Ty’s blush deepened. “Damn it. Do we have to get so personal? I’m not the only one around here who has sex.”
Lucy cocked her hip and set her tray on the table. “Well, I’m not having any so we’re not talking about me. And these two have been working around the clock, so I think you’re the only one at this table having sex.”
Cade’s head hit the table and a low moan came out of his mouth. “God, I miss sex. I miss sex with hot blondes.”
Jesse missed sex, too. But the fact that Cade was joking about it gave him a little hope. He hadn’t missed the fact that Cade had left the park with the cooler in hand after the lunchtime debacle and then shown up without it at the shop. He’d gone back and made sure Gemma had food for lunch.
Cade was falling into his trap. Jesse knew what Cade was scared of. He just didn’t intend to let it stop him. Gemma would be good for both of them. A soft, sweet little bunny of a woman wouldn’t get Cade off his ass. Gemma would challenge him. Gemma would make him see the light.
If she showed up. He found himself watching that door. He was damn happy that every now and then Cade turned and glanced at it as well.
Ty’s head came up as though he was greatly relieved they were no longer talking about his love life—which resembled a TV sitcom. It came in short bursts and had zero chance of containing a long-term plot. “Are you talking about Gemma? She’s a hot blonde.”
Jesse felt his eyes narrow and his spine straighten like a dog who’d gone on full “protect my fucking turf” alert. Ty was a womanizer. Ty liked to bed just about anything that would let him. He better not be sniffing around Gemma.
“How the hell do you know Gemma?” Jesse asked.
Ty leaned back as though realizing he was walking through a minefield. “She and her mom rented two of the cabins Cole owns. They’re right there in the valley. It’s the two cabins he hasn’t let go of yet. He had me take them spare keys.”
Cole Roberts owned the Elk Creek Lodge, the ski resort that sat just outside Bliss. He was Ty’s boss and one of the wealthiest men in the county. He’d recently taken over for his uncle who was now retired and spent all his time fishing.
Lucy’s sweet face contorted a little. “He has you playing his super now?”
Ty’s eyes rolled. “No one else was around. I get bored. I just took her the extra key. I tried to talk to her a little, you know, get to know her. She took the key and slammed the door in my face.”
Good. The last thing he needed was Ty trying to hit on Gemma. He doubted it would work. He was pretty sure Gemma was interested in what he and Cade had to offer, but he was a very straightlaced man. He believed in tradition and that meant no fourths.
Lucy looked back to the long table and sighed. “Do you need anything? I have to go and make sure the champagne is ready.” Her eyes grew a little wistful. “I’ve been told something really nice is going to happen tonight.”