A Reunion and a Ring. GINA WILKINS

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СКАЧАТЬ responded to that understatement with a grunt.

      Maybe that subject was a bit too touchy still. She changed it quickly. “How’s Holly?”

      “Married to an air force pilot. They’ve got two boys, Noah and Henry, six and four. They’re living in Illinois at the moment. Scott Air Force Base.”

      An only child herself, Jenny had always been somewhat envious of the warm relationship Gavin had with his older sister. They’d gotten along amazingly well for siblings. During the time Jenny had spent with them, there had always been friends of Gavin’s and Holly’s around, usually engaged in good-natured but fierce competitions—basketball or softball or flag football, or spirited board games indoors. The memory of all that fun and laughter made her throat tighten as she studied the unsmiling, hard-looking man across the table. It had taken a lot worse than a college breakup to leave those dark shadows within his navy eyes.

      “How do you like being an uncle?”

      She was pleased to see a shadow of his old grin flit across his firm lips. “The boys tend to think of me as an automatic treat dispenser. Tug at my jeans and candy magically emerges from my pocket. Holly says it’s a good thing I don’t see them often or she’d have to put a stop to it. As it is, she turns a blind eye. She knows I won’t overdo it. And I always get them to work up a sweat to burn off the extra sugar.”

      An image of him roughhousing with two cute little boys distracted her for several moments. As prickly as he could sometimes be with adults, Gavin had always liked kids, and the feeling had been mutual. She would bet he was the kind of uncle who would roll in the dirt with his nephews, let them climb all over him, sticky fingers and all.

      Thad would be more likely to teach his nephews, if he had any, to play chess. Which would also be quite cute, she assured herself quickly, feeling a vague, totally unjustified ripple of guilt course through her, as if she’d been disloyal.

      Gavin changed the subject. “What are you doing these days?”

      “I own a fashion and accessories boutique in Little Rock.”

      “What’s it called?”

      “Complements.”

      He nodded. “I’ve heard of the place. Someone I dated briefly shopped there a lot.”

      “That’s good to hear. That she liked my store, I mean.”

      He chuckled drily. “She complained about the high prices, but she still shopped there enough to max out her credit cards.”

      “We carry high-end merchandise,” Jenny replied without apology. “Designer items that can’t be found in the local department stores.”

      “Yes, well, it’s been a year or so since I’ve seen her, but I’m sure she’s still a loyal customer.”

      Judging from his dispassionate tone, she doubted he’d been particularly invested in the relationship. If the woman was a regular patron at Complements, it was entirely possible Jenny knew her, but she had no intention of asking him. It was none of her business who Gavin had dated since she’d last seen him. Nor if he was dating anyone seriously now. Just as she saw no reason to discuss Thad with him.

      He pushed away his empty bowl and picked up his coffee cup. “So you accomplished your lifelong goal. You own your own successful business. I assume you obtained an MBA, as well? That was always the plan, wasn’t it?”

      She felt her chin rise in instinctive irritation, and she lowered it deliberately, keeping her expression composed. “Yes. I’m planning to open a second store in the next few months. I love my work.”

      Which was absolutely true—and another reason she was having trouble deciding whether to accept Thad’s proposal, she thought somberly. Marrying Thad would change her life significantly. Though he’d always expressed his respect and admiration for her business achievements, he’d been quite candid about what he was looking for in a life partner. Supporting his political aspirations was high on his list of attributes in a mate. To keep up with the demands of that undertaking, she’d either have to sell her business eventually or at the very least turn over most of the daily operations to employees. After spending so much time tenaciously building her clientele and reputation, it was hard to contemplate putting Complements in the hands of anyone else.

      None of which she was going to discuss with Gavin, of course. She sipped her rapidly cooling coffee, then set the cup on the table. “So, you did what you wanted, as well. You became a police officer.”

      She hadn’t forgotten that he’d once wanted that career more than he’d wanted her. She wouldn’t lie to herself that there wasn’t still a little sting to the memories, but she hoped she’d hidden any remaining bitterness.

      He nodded. “Went back and earned a degree in criminal justice, too. I took night classes and online courses when I was off-duty. Made my dad somewhat happier, anyway.”

      Both Gavin’s parents had been educators. Neither had been pleased when he’d decided at an early age that he wanted to be a police officer. Their objection hadn’t been the social status or modest pay scale of police—which had been the bluntly stated basis of her grandmother’s disdain for the job—but rather the danger and unsavory situations in which their son would spend many of his working hours. They’d made no secret that they’d hoped he would change his mind while he obtained his college degree.

      Jenny had met him in a sophomore sociology class. The attraction had been immediate and powerful. After they’d started dating, she’d added her arguments to his parents’, trying to convince him to channel his interest in criminal justice into a less dangerous profession. At first, he’d seemed to concur and begun to study for the law school entrance exam, to put away bad guys as a prosecutor rather than an officer. Truthfully, she’d been aware of his underlying lack of enthusiasm for that career path, but in her youthful optimism, she’d been sure he would learn to like it.

      On the very rare occasions when she had looked back at their eighteen-month-long relationship through the viewpoint of a more mature adult, she’d realized it was probably his feelings of being pressured into a career he didn’t want that had made him turn sullen and difficult. He must have felt as if his own desires were always being disparaged and discouraged. He’d quarreled more and more often with his parents, and with her. He’d accused her of being so obsessed with her own ambitions, of trying so hard to please her grandmother, that she was willing to sacrifice their relationship to achieve her aims.

      Maybe her lofty goals didn’t include being married to an ordinary cop, he’d snarled. Maybe the reason she kept urging him to go to law school had been more for her own ambitions than for his. During the ensuing years, she’d wondered uncomfortably if there had been some grain of truth in his allegations. She’d always assured herself that, like his parents, she had worried more about the risk and uncertainty of a police officer’s work rather than any lack of social status. She had witnessed her own mother’s grief after being widowed at a young age by a charming, daredevil firefighter, who’d been as reckless off-duty as on the job and had died in a drag-racing accident. Having struggled with that gaping loss herself, Jenny hadn’t been able to deal with the thought of losing the man she loved in the line of dangerous duty. The image still made her blood chill.

      She’d been unable to convince Gavin exactly how upsetting that possibility had been to her. They’d had one last, fierce quarrel in which they’d both said very hurtful things, and that had been the end of their romance. The emotions had been too raw, the anger too hot, to allow them an amicable СКАЧАТЬ