Wanted: A Real Family Read online

  Now it was time for a fresh start again. After more than a dozen years on the West Coast, she had no regrets about leaving. But she wasn’t entirely sure she wouldn’t regret coming home.

  The plane pulled up at the gate, and the knots multiplied.

  Okay, she was more than a little nervous, but she reminded herself that she was doing this for Ava. This decision, like every other decision she’d made since she’d learned that she was pregnant, had been focused on what was best for her daughter. Even if Ava didn’t agree.

  And the words she spoke, as they made their way off the plane, confirmed that she didn’t. “I can’t believe you made me leave Seattle to come here,” Ava grumbled.

  Kelly hadn’t expected that her daughter would be overjoyed by her decision, but she had hoped that she would have accepted it by now. “You know, if you weren’t so determined to hate it, you might actually like it here,” she told her.

  “I doubt it.”

  She didn’t argue. The choice had been made and their new life was about to begin, so all she said was “Grab your suitcase.”

  They’d packed only what they needed for a few days, with the rest of their clothes and household items being shipped.

  Ava hauled the bag off of the conveyor belt. “How are we getting to Pinecone?”

  “Pinehurst,” she corrected automatically. “And Uncle Luke said he would pick us up and take us to our new place.”

  “When are we getting a car?”

  “Before August fifteenth,” Kelly assured her, because that was the date she was scheduled to start her new job as an in-house accountant at Richmond Pharmaceuticals.

  Ava rolled her eyes. With the purple streaks she’d added to her hair during her last sleepover at Rachel’s house and the gloomy expression on her face, she looked too much like a typical sullen teenager—and she was still only twelve. As much as Kelly desperately hoped this move would help turn things around with Ava, she knew that any change would take time.

  “I’ll probably start looking tomorrow,” she said, hoping to appease her daughter. “I just wasn’t keen on picking up a rental and then driving to Pinehurst after spending all day on airplanes.”

  “How far is Pinetree?”

  “About an hour from here,” she said, not bothering to correct her on the name of the town again. Instead, she grabbed the handle of her own suitcase. “Let’s go find Uncle Luke.”

  Kelly headed out of the baggage claim area, then stopped so abruptly Ava plowed right into the back of her.

  “Geez, Mom,” her daughter grumbled.

  Kelly didn’t—couldn’t—respond.

  Because standing at the car rental counter, where Lukas said he would be waiting, was his brother, Jackson, instead.

  “Mom?” Ava prompted, sounding genuinely concerned. “What’s wrong?”

  Kelly had to remind herself to breathe, and she exhaled slowly. “Nothing’s wrong,” she lied, not wanting to alarm her daughter. “I just lost my train of thought for a moment.”

  “Well, put brake lights on next time,” Ava suggested. Then, after looking around, “I don’t see Uncle Luke anywhere.”

  “Apparently there’s been a change of plans,” Kelly noted, trying to keep her tone light while she inwardly cursed Lukas Garrett all the way to hell and back.

  “Does that mean we’re going to rent a car?” Ava asked.

  “No, it means you’re going to meet Uncle Luke’s brother.”

  A lot sooner than I had planned.

  She stood for another minute, still rooted to the spot, and just looked at Jackson. She hadn’t seen him in thirteen years, but she’d recognized him immediately. But it was more than the dark brown hair that was always immaculately trimmed, more than the exquisitely shaped mouth that had inspired so many of her teenage fantasies, and more than the green eyes that were as dark and clear as emeralds. It was even more than the fact that he was six feet of solidly built male, with broad shoulders and strong arms that ensured any woman would feel secure and protected in his embrace. It was, more than anything else, the way Kelly felt when she looked at him—all hot and tingly and tongue-tied.

  Sternly reminding herself that she wasn’t still sixteen years old—or even twenty-one—she took a step toward him.

  He glanced up from the book he was reading—a legal journal of some kind—as if he sensed her approach. She’d noticed that the book was in his left hand, and that the third finger was bare. But the fact that he’d been divorced for quite a few years now didn’t make him any less off-limits.

  As he closed the cover of the journal, his gaze skimmed over her, from the top of her head to her toes in a quick, cursory perusal that nevertheless caused heat to flare low in her belly and spread through her veins. She hadn’t counted on this, and that was a definite miscalculation on her part.

  But how could she have known that, after so many years, he would still have this effect on her? Because even from a distance, even after so much time, she couldn’t deny her body’s instinctive response to him. Or the ache in her heart.

  She pushed her bangs away from her face and silently reprimanded herself for even noticing that her hair was as flat and tired as the rest of her. She’d dressed comfortably for travel in a pair of faded jeans and an ancient University of Chicago sweatshirt and had put on the barest touch of makeup before heading out to the airport more than ten hours earlier. As a result, she felt not just unprepared but ill-equipped to come face-to-face with Jackson now.

  When she’d decided to return to Pinehurst, she’d known it was inevitable that she would see him. But she hadn’t planned on seeing him when she was looking like this. She knew it shouldn’t matter, but when a woman was facing an ex-lover, she wanted to look her best. Unfortunately, she wasn’t even close.

  Those green eyes lifted to her face again. “Hello, Kelly.”

  Two simple words, but after so many years of silence, the achingly familiar voice was like a warm caress.

  Her heart was pounding inside of her chest, but she inclined her head and responded in a similarly casual tone. “Jackson.”

  His lips curved, just a little, and she suddenly remembered that no one else, aside from his mother, had ever called him “Jackson.” At least not more than once. But he’d never been Jack to Kelly—that name was too common, and Jackson was anything but. She had, occasionally, shortened his name to Jacks, but that seemed too familiar now.

  He shifted his attention to her daughter again. “You must be Ava.”

  The girl nodded, her gaze darting from her mother to Jackson and back again, as if she sensed the strange undercurrents between them.

  Kelly held her breath, waiting for any sign of recognition. But there wasn’t any. And why would there be? Unless Lukas had shared the occasional photos that she’d sent to him, Jackson had never seen her daughter before. But she’d thought he might see some of the familial resemblance that Kelly saw whenever she looked at her little girl.

  “I’m Jack Garrett, Luke’s brother.” He offered his hand.

  Kelly fought an almost irresistible urge to cry as she watched them shake hands. It broke her heart to see the distance between them, but what had she expected? It was her fault that neither of them knew the truth of their connection.

  Thirteen years ago, Jackson had been focused on his career above all else. He’d been clear that he had no interest in having a family, at least not any time in the near future. That was one of the reasons why Kelly had honestly believed she’d made the right decision. But she didn’t know what was right for any of them now.

  She wanted Ava to know her father, but only if Jackson was prepared to be a father. And she was afraid to finally reveal the secret she’d kept for so long because she knew that when she did, it was quite possible he would hate her—either for keeping his child from him for so many years
...or for bringing her into his life now.

  “You seem surprised to see me,” Jackson said, speaking to Kelly again as they made their way toward the exit.

  Surprised was barely the tip of her emotional iceberg, so she only said, “I was expecting Lukas.”

  “He said he’d let you know that I’d be meeting you instead.”

  “Maybe he tried,” she admitted, taking her cell out of her purse. “I turned off my phone when we boarded the plane.”

  She powered it up now and heard the familiar chime that indicated a text message. But since it was written in Luke’s unique form of shorthand and without any punctuation, she had to read it twice before she figured out what it said.

  Srry kel ER at clinic cant meet u sending j instead will stop by ur plc if not 2 late

  Gee, thanks for the warning, Lukas.

  “I’m guessing that’s his message,” Jackson said, his voice tinged with humor as he popped the trunk of his car to load their suitcases.

  Of course he would find this amusing. He wasn’t the one who’d been blindsided by the change of plans.

  “You guessed right,” she agreed lightly, then slid into the soft leather passenger seat of his luxury sedan.

  Ava was already in the backseat with her mp3 player plugged in, leaving her mother to make conversation with Jackson. But Kelly didn’t know what to say. She’d known that she would see him again—but she hadn’t expected that he would be the first person she saw at the airport, and she mentally cursed Lukas again.

  Of course, he couldn’t know what he’d done. After all, he didn’t know that his brother was the only man she’d ever really loved.

  * * *

  Well, this is more than a little awkward, Jack thought, as he pulled out onto the highway heading toward Pinehurst. He’d suspected that it would be, considering that the last time he’d seen Kelly, they’d both been naked. Which was definitely not something he should be thinking about right now—not under any circumstances and certainly not with her daughter in the backseat.

  He tightened his grip on the steering wheel, but the smooth, warm leather beneath his palms made him itch to feel the much softer, warmer texture of Kelly’s skin. Not that he really knew what her skin felt like—it was ridiculous to think that he could recall those kind of details after so much time had passed. So why was he convinced that her skin was softer than silk? Why did he remember that her body had responded not just willingly but eagerly to his touch? And why couldn’t he forget that, throughout that one weekend they’d spent together, he’d wished it would never end?

  Of course it had ended, and they’d gone their separate ways. Since then, they’d both married and divorced other people. The main difference being that Kelly had come out of her marriage with a child. He frowned, trying to remember the age of her daughter. For some reason, he couldn’t recall Luke ever mentioning that she was pregnant or that she’d had a baby. He’d just one day mentioned Kelly’s daughter as if the little girl had always existed.

  He glanced in his rearview mirror, confirming that Ava was tuned in to her music and tuned out to everything else.

  “She’s tall for her age, isn’t she?”

  Kelly seemed surprised by the comment—and a little wary. “How old do you think she is?”

  “Well, considering that you got married just over eleven years ago, I figured she couldn’t be more than ten.”

  “That’s a reasonable guess,” Kelly agreed, without actually confirming the accuracy of it. But before he could question her further, she spoke again. “Lukas said that the house I’m renting is next door to Matthew’s new place.”

  Jack nodded. “In fact, the house is owned by his mother-in-law, Charlotte Something-Something Branston.”

  “Something-Something?”

  “There might be a few more ‘somethings,’” he told her. “She’s been married a few times.”

  “Where does she live?”

  “Montana.”

  He smiled in response to her quizzical look. “Long story.”

  “It’s a long drive,” she reminded him.

  She was right, and since talking about Matt and Georgia was easier than trying to manufacture another topic of conversation, he filled her in on some of the details.

  “Georgia had three-year-old twins and was pregnant with her third child when her husband died, so Charlotte suggested that she leave Manhattan and move to Pinehurst to live with her. A few months after Pippa was born, Charlotte headed off to Vegas for a couple of weeks with some friends, fell in love with a cowboy from Montana, and married him. So Georgia was in an unfamiliar town and on her own now with three kids, and then Matt moved in next door.”

  “And the young mother suddenly had a white knight riding to her rescue,” Kelly guessed.

  “Actually, he’s an orthopedic surgeon,” Jack reminded her teasingly.

  “But no one does the white-knight routine better than your big brother.”

  “True,” he agreed. “But in this case, I think it might actually have been Georgia and her kids who saved him. Matt had a really hard time after the divorce.”

  Kelly’s nod confirmed that she was aware of those details. “Sounds like Matt and Georgia were lucky to find one another, that each was exactly what the other was looking for, even if neither of them realized it.”

  “They do seem perfect for one another, and Matt absolutely dotes on her kids.” Of course, Jack’s oldest brother had always wanted a family of his own.

  “He would,” she agreed. “Although a lot of men wouldn’t want to take on the responsibility of someone else’s child.”

  He didn’t miss that she’d said child and not children, and he suspected that she wasn’t thinking of Matt and Georgia now but of another situation—possibly even her own. And he wondered if she spoke from experience, if she’d been alone since her divorce, reluctant to get involved again for fear that another man wouldn’t accept her daughter.

  But he didn’t ask, because it was none of his business. They’d had a brief fling that was ancient history—he had no right to pry into her personal life now.

  Except that the history between them continued to haunt his dreams, even after thirteen years. And even more so since he’d learned of her intention to return to Pinehurst.

  He still didn’t know what had precipitated the move, or what Kelly’s daughter thought about her decision. He couldn’t imagine that it was easy for a kid to be uprooted from everything that was familiar and moved clear across the country.

  He glanced in the rearview mirror again. Kelly’s daughter was a beautiful girl, with long, dark hair just like her mother—aside from the purple streaks, of course. Her eyes were a similar shape, too, and fringed with long, sooty lashes. But the color of her eyes was different. Kelly’s eyes were the warm, golden color of aged whiskey; Ava’s were a clear, emerald green.

  He stole another glance, trying to figure out what it was about the child that made him uneasy.

  “I guess Ava will be attending Parkdale,” he said now.

  “That’s the plan,” Kelly agreed. “I just hope she’s lucky enough to make the kind of friends that I made at school there.”

  “It must have been difficult for her, leaving Seattle.”

  “It would have been more difficult if we’d stayed.”

  It was a surprising revelation from a woman who had previously volunteered no information about her reason for the move across the country. But she didn’t say anything else, and though he was curious, he didn’t press for any details.

  Instead, as they passed the elementary school, he said, “You’ll be happy to know that Mrs. Vanderheide finally retired a couple years ago.”

  She smiled. “That is good news—at least for Ava.”

  “And for all future generations of seventh graders,�
� he agreed. “Which was proven by the fact that almost all of Pinehurst turned out for her retirement party at the school. She thought they were all there to celebrate her forty years of teaching, but I think everyone just wanted to make sure that she really was retiring.”

  The sensuous sound of her soft chuckle heated his blood.

  Ancient history, he reminded himself again.

  He tightened his grip on the steering wheel and turned onto Larkspur Drive, grateful the journey was almost at its end.

  “This is it,” he said, pulling into a wide asphalt driveway beside the two-story saltbox-style house. He noticed that there were lights on at both the front and back doors—no doubt Matt’s wife wanted the place to look warm and welcoming, and it did.

  “Georgia said she would leave a key in the mailbox,” he told Kelly now. “She also wanted you to know that they had a cleaning company come in yesterday to give the whole house a thorough once-over and that she was in today to inspect and put clean sheets on the beds.”

  “I’ll have to remember to thank her for that,” she said. “Because right now, I’m tired enough to fall face down on any horizontal surface.”

  He shifted into park and glanced in the rearview mirror again. “Apparently your daughter doesn’t need to be horizontal.”

  Kelly turned to look at Ava, who had fallen asleep with her head against the window. Since the days when she could carry her slumbering child were likely long gone, he wasn’t surprised when she reached back to tap the girl’s shoulder. “Wake up, Ava. We’re home.”

  He was surprised by her use of the word home, and he frowned as it echoed in his head. It seemed strange to him that, after being gone for more than fifteen years, Kelly would still refer to Pinehurst as home. He hadn’t known if this was a temporary relocation or a permanent move, and he refused to admit that it mattered. He could have asked Luke, of course. No doubt his brother was privy to all of the details of her plans. But asking Luke anything about Kelly when he’d been so careful not to mention her name for so long would undoubtedly trigger more questions that Jack wasn’t prepared to answer.