Page 10 of Love Unbound
Jodi poured herself a cup of coffee, lightening it with some French vanilla creamer. She could sense Shaun’s giddiness as she stirred the coffee, intentionally making her sister wait.
“Well!” Shaun insisted, her impatience taking over. She set her coffee down on the counter beside her, leaning forward excitedly.
Jodi turned and leaned her hips back against the counter where she stood directly across from where Shaun was sitting. Jodi smiled and shrugged coyly. “He may or may not havestopped by here last night.”
Shaun’s blue eyes that were so similar to her own widened. “No way! He already came to see you?”
Jodi nodded and she could feel a grin splitting her face.
The younger woman’s mouth fell open. “And you failed to tell me this? What kind of sister are you? Spill, woman!”
Jodi laughed and raised her hands in the air helplessly. “It just happened last night. He came over and we talked. That was it.”
The look Shaun sent Jodi was withering. “Puh-lease. The last time you guys ‘just talked’ you ended up kissing and he left for reasons unknown.”
“Not so unknown anymore,” Jodi whispered and shrugged awkwardly. “He said he left because he couldn’t be near me.”
“How rude!” Shaun sputtered, outraged.
Jodi rolled her eyes again. “Shaun, he said he couldn’t be near me because he wanted to kiss me again.”
Shaun’s mouth opened in a silent,O. “Well… That certainly changes things a bit.”
“Tell me about it,” Jodi muttered and fiddled with the handle of her coffee cup before setting it down. “He actually asked me to go get ice cream with him tonight.”
“Ice cream?” Shaun asked, her eyebrows shooting up. “So, like a date?”
Jodi lifted and dropped her shoulders in a quick shrug. “I don’t know. Maybe? Is an ice cream date even a thing after the age of thirteen?”
Shaun chuckled softly, rolling her eyes. “I think any time spent between people who are crushing on each other counts as a date.”
“I didn’t say he is crushing on me,” Jodi interjected quickly, picking up a dish towel sitting on the counter beside her. Shaun rolled her eyes again, but didn’t say anything. Jodi knotted her fingers in the dishtowel nervously, whispering, “I feel like I’mseventeen again, all jittery and awkward. I haven’t felt like this in a long time.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?” Shaun asked quietly.
Jodi took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “I don’t know. I’m finally getting back to myself. What is the point of doing all this inner work, healing all this hurt, if I’m going to just throw it all away on a guyI knowwould break my heart if I gave him even the slightest chance? I don’t want to do this again. I can’t.”
Shaun pursed her lips and then slid off the counter and landed on her feet. Lost in thought, Jodi watched her sister. She was voluptuous and unintentionally sexy, had one hell of a temper, and a mouth like a sailor. Now, she paced to the sliding patio door and looked out, then back to where she’d been sitting. Perhaps that coffee had been a bad idea. Jodi observed her in silence for several minutes before Shaun spoke again.
“So…what are you going to do?” her sister asked.
“I don’t know that either,” Jodi said honestly. “I told myself I was swearing off men entirely after the divorce was final.”
Shaun stopped pacing and looked at her sister. “And that includes a specific cowboy? Even now?”
Jodi shrugged. She honestly didn’t know how to answer that question. “I would never in a million years have guessed that I would ever see Freeman again. And this is just a ridiculous crush that I’ve had on him since I was a kid. He’s only home long enough for Shane’s wedding, and then he’ll leave again. I…” she sighed heavily, shaking her head sadly. “I’m elated that he’s home, of course. I’m glad he’s here for Shane, as he should be. I’m not the only one that missed him. We all did. He was always special to this family. Hewasfamily.”
She crossed her arms over her middle and uncrossed them again, fidgeting mindlessly. She heaved a heavy sigh, “I won’t lie and say that there isn’t this teeny tiny part of me that would love for something to happen with him, just to see if it’s real or if I’vebeen holding on to a pipe dream for years. But… I don’t think I’m ready for anything new, and I know my heart couldn’t handle some temporary fling. Not with Free. To me, it would mean too much, and my heart would break all over again when he leaves in three weeks.”
“So… why did you say yes to going out with him tonight?” Shaun asked, her eyebrows knitting together.
Jodi laughed self-deprecatingly. “Because I’m a glutton for punishment, I suppose.” She shook her head and chuckled again. “I mean, have you seen him since he got home? How the hell was I supposed to say no when he looks so damn good. And I am not going out with him— it’s just ice cream.”
“Yeah, okay,” Shaun snorted scathingly. “But yeah, I did see. Pretty sure Fallon had to pick my jaw up off the floor when he walked in with Dad.”
Jodi laughed gustily, nodding in agreement. “I think mine hit the floor when I saw him standing in my doorway last night. I felt like one of those old cartoons with the heart eyes that boggle out of their eye sockets.”
Apparently the word picture she painted was hilarious to Shaun, who cackled heartily, which made Jodi laugh all the harder. The two sisters fell into a laughing fit that lasted minutes. By the time their mirth had subsided, Jodi was wiping tears from her face and Shaun was clutching the stitch in her side.
