An Impractical Match (Match #2) Read online

  “You need a ride home today?” asked Devlin.

  “Griffin’s mom will drop me off.”

  “Okay,” said Devlin. “Gym in the morning.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” The young girl sauntered away.

  Devlin took Katie’s spot on the tailgate. “Did you have a nice chat?”

  “It was interesting,” Jillian allowed. “I may not be particularly good with teenagers.”

  Devlin coughed out a chuckle. “Yeah, well, I had a little chat with Riley earlier. I may not be particularly good with teenagers, either.”

  He handed her one of the milkshakes.

  “I remember being one,” said Jillian, taking a sip and discovering it was vanilla.

  He handed her a burger. “Somehow, I doubt you were an ordinary teenager.”

  “I told you I was all about hair, clothes and boys. That’s pretty ordinary.”

  “I stand corrected.” He took a bite of his burger.

  “Katie’s probably more like you than me,” she told him.

  Devlin shook his head. “I don’t think so. I can tell she’s a lot more sensitive than the boys. She’s less bullheaded, more thoughtful. They tease her, and she gives it right back, but you can see that it doesn’t roll off her the way it rolls off them.”

  “Were you insensitive as a teenager?”

  “I’m still insensitive.”

  She wanted to argue the point, but she didn’t want the conversation to get too personal. It was better to keep it light, keep it on neutral topics. If she wasn’t careful, she’d be in danger of revealing her feelings.

  “How was DC?” he asked.

  She felt herself relax a bit. “Good. The Dunbar and Lissack event came off without a hitch. I watered my plants.”

  “Did you hear from your sisters?”

  She nibbled on a French fry. “Mom’s still at the cottage. Jade says Lizbet is prepared to be patient. Dani is trying to turn the whole thing into a crisis. She does love a crisis.”

  He took another bite of his burger, gazing straight ahead as he chewed and swallowed. “What about Edmund?”

  Jillian stilled. “What about him?”

  Devlin gave a shrug. “Anything new on that front? Hear from him? Hear from Owen?”

  She dropped a half-eaten fry back into the container, switching back to her milkshake. “I’m not going to hear from Edmund. He didn’t even have the guts to break it off in person. He’s not going to show up and give me some explanation or apology. Plus, he’s too busy with Marsha anyway. They attended the opening of a new hospital wing and had their picture taken by the media at an art opening. She was wearing Zaphetti. Not my favorite designer. And her shoes were ridiculous.”

  Jillian snapped her jaw shut, wondering what the hell was wrong with her. She had the breakup in perspective, probably more now than ever before, particularly since she’d slept with Devlin. For a moment she wanted to thank him for that. But she knew talking about it would be a bad idea. It might make her sound like she wanted to do it again. Which she couldn’t deny she did. But she couldn’t let him know how she felt. And he probably didn’t want to do it again anyway.

  She took a long draw on her milkshake.

  Devlin took another bite of his burger, but something had changed in the atmosphere between them. It was a relief to see Shari and Luke approach.

  o o o o

  “Do you think I’m getting addicted to junk food?” Jillian asked as she bit into the thick slice of Hawaiian pizza.

  She and Shari were lounging in the sitting area of their hotel suite at the Copper Springs. It was early evening, after another busy day at the Desert Heat track, and she had climbed into a soft T-shirt and a pair of yoga pants.

  “You didn’t even eat the burger,” Shari pointed out. “And that was three days ago.”

  “I drank most of the milkshake,” said Jillian, reaching for her glass of chardonnay.

  “Again, three days ago. That hardly indicates an addiction.”

  “This is so delicious,” Jillian conceded, taking another bite. “If I was going to be addicted to something, it would definitely be pizza. Or possibly ice cream.”

  “What about Devlin Camden?” Shari teased.

  Jillian groaned at the frustration that was never far from the surface. “It’s been nearly a month since I had any of that.”

  “And you’ve been going through withdrawal ever since.”

  “There has to be something wrong with me.”

  “A sex drive only means you’re healthy.”

  “But him, him? He’s messy, he’s risky.”

  “He’s hot.”

  “So hot.”

  “What are you going to do?” asked Shari.

  “Wait for it to go away. Like I do with my cravings for pizza and ice cream.” Jillian hastily tossed the half-eaten piece back into the box, taking a drink of wine instead.

  Shari burst out laughing.

  A chiming from Jillian’s phone gave her a reprieve. She quickly grabbed it and took the call.

  “Hello?”

  “Jillian?” The woman’s voice was unfamiliar.

  “Yes, this is Jillian.” She sat up straighter, assuming it was a business call.

  “Hello...yes...” The woman seemed to hesitate. “This is Lizbet Blythe calling. Your grandmother.”

  Jillian’s stomach clenched around the pizza. “Um, uh, hello.”

  Shari watched her with a puzzled expression.

  “I hope this isn’t a bad time,” said Lizbet.

  “Uh, no.” Though Jillian honestly couldn’t think when would be a good time.

  “I wanted to call and, well...to call and tell you how very sorry I was to hear about your wedding.”

  “Thank you,” Jillian replied searchingly. After more than twenty years, it seemed like a weak reason to make contact.

  Shari’s confusion obviously grew. Who is that? she mouthed.

  Jillian moved the phone from her mouth. My grandmother. Lizbet.

  “Seriously?” Shari said out loud.

  “Shhh.”

  “Jade mentioned she’d been talking to you,” said Lizbet.

  “She was,” Jillian agreed.

  “So, you understand that I called your mother.”

  “I do.”

  There was a silence, and Jillian started to feel guilty. This had to be a difficult call for Lizbet to make, and Jillian wasn’t helping her at all. She thought about Jade’s perspective, and then about Dani’s and her mother’s.

  Lizbet broke the silence. “I was wondering, well, hoping, that you might have time for a short chat.”

  Jillian realized she trusted Jade’s judgment more than anyone’s. “I could do that,” she found herself agreeing.

  “That’s good. That’s great.” There was relief in Lizbet’s voice. “I’m, well, I’m in Phoenix right now.”

  The revelation stunned Jillian to a new silence.

  “Jade told me you were working here.”

  “I am,” Jillian admitted.

  “What about now?” Lizbet asked. “Could you meet me now?”

  Jillian glanced at her watch. It was only eight o’clock, but she’d pretty much shut it down for the night.

  Lizbet gave a nervous laugh. “I confess, I was hoping for an impulsive yes, and now I don’t want to give you a chance to change your mind.”

  Jillian was reminded again of how hard it must have been for Lizbet to make this call.

  “Now’s fine,” she agreed. “Where would you like to meet?”

  “There’s a coffee shop called Sequoia near Copper Square.”

  “That’s not too far from my hotel.”

  “Say, half an hour?” Lizbet suggested.

  “Okay. I’ll be there.” With that, the decision was made. Strangely, Jillian found herself a bit excited.

  “You’re going to see your grandmother?” Shari asked in obvious astonishment as Jillian ended the call.

  “She’s in Phoenix,” said Jillian.


  “That’s big.”

  “It’s huge.”

  “Do you know what she wants?”

  “I’m guessing she sees me as another avenue to get to my mother. Jade must have told her Dani was a dead-end but that I could be persuaded.”

  “Can you be persuaded?”

  “I have no idea. Jade swears I’ll like her, and she’s adamant we should give her a chance.”

  “Why now?” asked Shari.

  “Same question I’ve been asking myself.” Jillian came to her feet, moving to the bedroom to find something to wear. “Dani thinks she’s dying and wants to put us in her will.”

  “That could be it,” Shari mused, following to the bedroom door.

  “I hope not. I mean, I know what she’s done, and I know how it hurt people, but I don’t want her to be sick.”

  Especially, Jillian realized, when they’d only just made contact. Then she caught herself, wondering what that thought meant. Was she already assuming this would be the first of more meetings, maybe a relationship?

  But that was crazy. She was getting way ahead of herself. She opened her closet.

  “Go with black and white,” said Shari. “It’ll give you confidence.”

  Jillian didn’t have time to give it a lot of thought, so she pulled out a crisp, little white dress and short-sleeved black jacket.

  “She’s probably not sick,” Shari reasoned while Jillian stripped off her yoga pants and pulled on some thin black stockings. “If she had some deadly disease, she’d have told your mother up front and used the guilt as leverage.”

  “I suppose,” Jillian conceded.

  “Maybe she’s simply looking back at her past and experiencing regrets.”

  “Like ignoring her children and cheating on her husband?”

  “Those would qualify.”

  Jillian removed her T-shirt and pulled the dress over her head. “I was happy eating pizza,” she noted, thinking her evening had taken quite the left turn.

  “Are you drunk?” asked Shari.

  “A little buzzed maybe. But I’ll be fine.” Jillian made her way into the bathroom. There, she ran a brush through her hair and touched up her makeup.

  She came back out, presenting herself to Shari. “Will I do?”

  “Jacket,” Shari prompted.

  Jillian scooped up the little black jacket and shrugged it over her shoulders.

  “Perfect,” said Shari.

  “Hardly.” Jillian moved to the mirror. “But, you’re right. I do feel confident in black and white.” She slipped her feet into a pair of spike heels. “There. Three extra inches.”

  “Go get ’er,” said Shari.

  Jillian took a ten-minute cab ride from the hotel. She crossed the sidewalk, glancing through the window into the lighted interior of the Sequoia Coffee Shop. She recognized her grandmother right away.

  Lizbet was distinctly familiar. She looked very much like Jillian’s mother, Sandy. But the person Jillian could see the most in Lizbet’s features was her sister Dani. Age Dani by about fifty years, and you’d have Lizbet, from the narrow nose, to the round eyes, to the purse of her mouth. It was uncanny.

  Jillian pushed open the door and was greeted by the muted sounds of dishes clattering and customers’ chatter and the enticing scents of vanilla and sweet cinnamon.

  Lizbet glanced up, obviously recognizing Jillian right away. She let go of her coffee cup and came to her feet.

  “Jillian,” she breathed.

  Jillian’s feet took her forward. She offered her hand. “Hello, Lizbet.”

  “Thank you for coming.”

  Jillian shook Lizbet’s slim hand. Then she took hold of a chair back and tugged it across the tile floor to sit down.

  “I don’t quite know what to say,” Jillian opened.

  Lizbet shared a tentative smile as a waitress headed their way. “Would you like some coffee?”

  “A diet cola,” Jillian told the waitress.

  “If it helps,” said Lizbet as the waitress departed, “I’m not expecting anything tonight, not a tearful reunion, no sudden epiphany, rewriting of history or disregarding it altogether.”

  Jillian wasn’t sure how to respond to such a blunt declaration.

  “I haven’t changed,” said Lizbet. “I won’t pretend that I’ve changed. I’m still the same person who put her career ahead of her children and who cheated on her husband.”

  Jillian couldn’t help but remember Jade saying Lizbet had gotten the short end of the deal.

  “I came here with an open mind,” she told Lizbet.

  Lizbet paused. She took a breath. “Thank you for that.”

  “I do realize we’ve heard one side of the story all these years.”

  Lizbet toyed with her half-full coffee cup. “I wish I could say it was a misunderstanding or that my side was defensible.”

  “What do you want to say?”

  “That I regret hurting your mother and my other children. That karma may have kept me from my grandchildren, but that doesn’t mean I don’t think about you all the time. In my way, I lo...well, care about all of you.” She drew back and seemed to regroup. “You are a lovely young woman, Jillian. Jade told me you graduated from GW with distinction and that you’ve started your own business.”

  “I have a partner,” Jillian offered as she accepted the diet cola from their waitress. “Shari Sharp. We’ve been working together for over four years now.”

  “Successfully, I understand.”

  “We’re slowly building up a clientele.”

  “You’re planning an event here in Phoenix?”

  Jillian tore the paper package from her straw. “A motorsport event. It isn’t a business segment we’ve cultivated in the past. But we can see the potential.”

  “I admire that,” Lizbet said with a nod. “Whatever happens in a woman’s life, she should be able to take care of herself financially.”

  Jillian didn’t disagree. “But you seem to have some regrets.”

  “In a way,” Lizbet agreed. “I don’t regret having a career. Maybe I regret not having balance. And, maybe...”

  Jillian waited, absently stirring the ice in her drink.

  But Lizbet’s shoulders squared, and her voice perked up. “You don’t want to hear about my regrets. Let’s talk about you. How are things going with Devlin Camden?”

  Jillian’s hand stilled, and a warning percolated into her brain. “What?”

  “I understand the two of you have been working together.”

  The warning escalated. “How did you know that?”

  Lizbet’s expression faltered. “Jade mentioned it. Last time we spoke.”

  “It’s going fine,” said Jillian, striving to keep her own expression neutral, even though her brain was whirring a million miles an hour. Jade hadn’t mentioned Devlin to Lizbet. Because Jillian had never mentioned Devlin to Jade. Of that, she was absolutely positive.

  “What do you think of him? Does he seem like a nice man?”

  “He seems quite nice.”

  “Goes to show you there are still a lot of fish in the sea.”

  “Goes to show you,” Jillian agreed, an icy feeling sliding through her stomach.

  “Is he handsome?”

  “He’s very attractive.”

  Lizbet gave a gratified smile.

  Jillian forced her own smile. She didn’t want Lizbet to see she was upset. After all, it wasn’t Lizbet’s fault. She was clearly an innocent bystander when it came to Devlin. Someone else was operating behind the scenes. And while Jillian didn’t have the slightest idea why, she was absolutely certain it was Devlin.

  Chapter Nine

  When Devlin opened his front door at ten o’clock at night, the last person he expected to find was Jillian. But there she was, and she was clearly angry. Without waiting for an invitation, she stomped into his house, whirling on the tile floor of the entry hall.

  “What in the hell?” she demanded of him.

  He glanced reflexive
ly around. “What?”

  “Why? Why? Why on earth would you do it?”

  He was completely baffled. He couldn’t think of a single thing that would provoke this kind of an outburst. “Do what? What did I do?”

  “You talked to Lizbet.”

  “Huh?” He was stupefied by the statement.

  “You contacted my grandmother.”

  “I did not,” he defended.

  “Oh, yes, you did. She just finished asking me about you. She sang your praises. She seemed to have insider knowledge about—”

  “Jillian,” he interrupted, moving toward her, desperate to shut her up.

  “You and me. Nobody knows about you and me, Devlin. Nobody in the world except for you, me and Shari. And neither of us has been—”

  “Jillian, stop talking.”

  “I will not stop—”

  He clasped a hand over her mouth.

  Her eyes got big as saucers, and she jerked against his hold, trying to escape then trying to speak around his palm.

  He yanked her close and hissed in her ear. “Amelia and Morgan are here. They just got back from their honeymoon.”

  Her eyes got bigger still, fear creeping into them.

  She shook her head.

  He nodded his.

  “Devlin?” Amelia appeared around the corner with Morgan close behind her.

  “Not a good time, Amy,” he growled, removing his one hand from Jillian’s mouth but keeping the other parked on her shoulder.

  “We need to talk to you.”

  “Go away.”

  “You need to hear this,” said Morgan.

  Jillian looked like she was in shock, her cheeks pale, mouth ajar, eyes clouded in obvious dismay.

  “It wasn’t Devlin who talked to Lizbet,” said Morgan.

  Devlin turned to gape at his brother-in-law.

  “We should sit down,” Amelia said to Morgan.

  “You should explain,” ordered Devlin.

  Amelia spoke first. “Hannah knows Lizbet. It would have been her.”

  “Or JW,” said Morgan. “It could have been JW.”

  Jillian’s hand came up to grasp Devlin’s wrist. The hold felt desperate.

  “Maybe we should sit down,” he said to her. “And maybe we should have a shot of whisky.”

  She seemed to have gone mute.

  “Jillian?” he prompted. “You with me?”