What She Wants

“I’m sure you work very hard watching over your kingdom of Kahlua,” she sneered.

“It’s not a bad kingdom. By the way, Kahlua and chocolate go well together. Bring me some more of yours and I’ll prove it.”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

Jonathan had been standing in line behind Cecily, but somehow Todd managed to cut in front of him. He watched with a mixture of irritation and envy as Todd leaned in close to her and said, “One of these days you’re going to watch some sappy movie where the couple is dancing real slow and you’re going to remember my offer to give you a tango lesson.”

She shook her head and moved away a step. He closed the distance.

Oh, this was a master in action. Jonathan eavesdropped shamelessly.

“Or you’re going to get an urge to come check out the action on my pinball machine. You said you were good but so far you haven’t proved it.”

“I don’t have to prove anything to you.” She turned to look at him and they almost brushed lips.

“You’re invading my space,” she said, frowning.

“I bet that’s not all I’m invading. How you sleeping these days, Cecily? Do you get hot? Throw off the covers?”

Her cheeks went pink. “I sleep fine, thanks.” She took two giant steps away and placed her order, leaving Todd with a confident smirk on his face.

Jenni, the barista, whipped up Cecily’s coconut mocha latte and set it on the counter, but Cecily chose that moment to send a text on her cell phone. Todd’s drink order came up and she put away her phone and picked up her to-go cup. They stood trading words that, Jonathan suspected, had secret messages attached, then, with her cheeks even pinker, she left the coffee shop. Todd watched her go, smiling like a man who’d just landed a fish and was now contemplating how he’d cook it.

Speaking of cooking, there’d been enough current zipping back and forth between those two to light the giant fir tree in the town square at Christmas and the rest of the town, too. How did guys like Todd manage to stir up a woman’s hormones with nothing more than a few well-chosen words? Jonathan wished he knew.

The only way to find out was to ask.

Todd was about to saunter out the door. Jonathan grabbed his drink and hurried after him. “Uh, Todd. Can I ask you something?”

Todd turned, an easy smile on his face, his brows raised. “Sure. What?”

“How do you do that?”

The brows knit. “Do what?”

Okay, maybe he didn’t want to have this conversation in the middle of Bavarian Brews. He opened the door and motioned that they should go out on the street. Once outside he wasn’t sure how to frame his question.

“What’s on your mind, computer man?” Todd prompted him.

“I was watching you with Cecily. You’re smooth.”

Todd shrugged and took a drink of coffee.

“How do you do it? How do you know what to say?”

“I just say what comes into my head.” Todd watched Cecily running across the street toward Sweet Dreams. “She likes being chased. But you know what? She’s about ready to let me catch her, and she’s going to like getting caught even more.” The smile on his face oozed confidence.

Well, Jonathan would have confidence, too, if he looked like Johnny Depp’s kid brother. He realized he was frowning. He probably looked like a pitiful loser.

“Woman troubles?” Todd guessed.

“Always.”

“Yeah, well, women and trouble go together.” He clapped Jonathan on the back. “But you’ve got to hang in there. Never give up. That’s what Winston Churchill said, and he saved England in World War II.”

Jonathan nodded and trudged off down the street. Winston Churchill only had to save England. Jonathan wanted to win Lissa Castle. And he didn’t look like Todd Black.

He was halfway to the bookstore when he saw Tina Swift coming down the sidewalk from the other direction. Tina was recently divorced and had half the men in town sniffing after her. Hardly surprising, considering how cute she was.

Cute and stuck-up. She’d been in his class, a cheerleader and a member of the top social tier at Icicle Falls High. She’d never paid any attention to Jonathan then or in the twelve years after graduation. It was only once she’d opened a shop that sold imported lace and china three years ago and needed someone to design a website that she’d remembered his existence.

Now she’d spotted him and was smiling as if they were buds, which meant she wanted something. And it sure wasn’t a date.

Jonathan pretended not to see and crossed the street.

Undeterred, she called his name and ran after him.

Okay, he gave up. He stopped.

She hardly allowed him time to say a self-conscious hello before asking, “Did you get your reunion invitation?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“I hope you put the date on the calendar.”

“Well,” he began.

She didn’t let him finish. “It’s going to be even better than the ten-year. We’ve already heard from a ton of people. Cam Gordon...”

Football fathead and snob. There’s someone I want to see.

“Feron Prince...”

The Prince of Darkness. He stuffed me in a locker when we were freshmen.

“Kyle Long. He was a friend of yours, wasn’t he?”

“Still is.” And Jonathan didn’t need to go to the reunion to see him.

“I think Rand is coming.”

Which meant Jonathan wouldn’t be, for sure.

“Did you know he got married?”

Married? Jonathan smiled. “No.” So Rand was out of circulation. Well, well.

“Oh, and we just heard from Lissa Castle, our very own celebrity. She’s definitely coming.”

Rand was out of circulation and Lissa was coming. Was he imagining it or were the stars aligning? (Whatever that meant.) If he went to the reunion, he’d have a whole weekend of close proximity to Lissa. Maybe he could separate her from her adoring fans long enough to talk with her, impress her, maybe even dance with her. Except he couldn’t dance.

“Jonathan?”

Tina was looking at him, eyebrows raised.

He pulled himself back into the present. “What?”

“Like I just said, I was hoping you could help me out with a couple of things. We want a website for the reunion, and I thought maybe you wouldn’t mind making one. You do such good work. And you did a wonderful job designing the webpage for the chocolate festival.”

But that had been something he wanted to do. This, not so much.

“We could put a bunch of pictures from the yearbook up there, along with any current ones we get. Have a place for people to post. You know, that sort of thing.”

“You could just do that on Facebook,” he said, hoping to dodge this assignment.

“Oh, great idea! Could you do that, too?”

Wait a minute. He hadn’t said yes and already she’d doubled his work, and none of it was anything he would get paid for.

But how to say no to a pretty woman? Jonathan didn’t have a clue.

“Oh, please say yes. I need a tech wizard.”

“I guess I could.” What the heck. She was going to wear him down, anyway, and they both knew it.

He sighed inwardly. Now he could hear all about how successful his former classmates had been, see pictures of their wives and kids. Yuck.

Meanwhile, here was Tina, gushing away. “Fabulous! Thank you, Jonathan. You are just...”

A sucker.

“...the best.”

The best geek. Nothing wrong with being a geek, he reminded himself. It had worked fine for Bill Gates.

“I should get going,” Tina said. “I’m late for the committee meeting. But I’m so glad I ran into you.”

Yeah, him, too. Before he could say anything, sarcastic or otherwise, she was hurrying off down the sidewalk.

Jonathan continued on toward the bookstore, deep in thought. Lissa would be back for the reunion in August. Now that Rand was married, maybe he stood a chance of at least getting her attention for a few minutes.

Realistically, that was about all he’d get. She’d been way too popular, and practically everyone else would want to hang with her. Still, he and Lissa had known each other for years. Surely she’d want to visit with him, too.

But simply visiting wasn’t going to cut it. He had to figure out a way to shake things up, make an impression.

Hmm. Following that line of thought to its logical conclusion... If he wanted to make an impression, he had to come up with a plan.

His earlier conversation with Todd Black returned for a visit. You’ve got to hang in there.

He pulled his smartphone out of his jeans pocket and looked up Winston Churchill’s famous quote. “Never, never, never, never give up.” What chance did he have of winning Lissa’s love? About one in a million. If he didn’t even try? None.

He squared his shoulders. He was not going to give up. Somehow he was going to find a way to transform himself from zero to hero, find a way to make her see that her truest childhood friend could also be her truest love.

But how?

He needed a love coach.

Chapter Three

Adam was missing from the next Friday-night poker game. “He decided to stay up in Alaska for the weekend and fish after finishing his sales calls,” Jonathan explained to his fellow gamblers.

“Should be good salmon fishing on the Copper River about now,” said Vance. “Especially next week. I may have to take a run up there myself.”

“Going up to Alaska for a little fishing when the spirit moves you? Business must be great at the bookstore,” Kyle observed, his voice tinged with jealousy.

Vance shrugged. “It’s okay.”

With Vance’s lifestyle, it had to be doing more than okay. Vance didn’t talk about his business much. For that matter, he didn’t talk much about his life at all. Jonathan knew he’d been married and had a daughter, and that was about it. Maybe Vance had a rich uncle who died and left him a fortune. Maybe he was a Microsoft millionaire. Jonathan had no idea. When it came to sharing his personal life, Vance preferred to stick to topics such as his fishing adventures (especially the one that got away), how much he’d won or lost at the casino or his latest wine discovery.

“Okay,” Vance said, and started dealing the cards, “let’s get down to business. Five-card draw, jacks or better, to open.”

As they picked up their cards, Bernardo mused, “I don’t know how that boy can go off fishing on the weekend all the time. If I did that, my Anna would not be happy.”

“He’s already up there, anyway, since that’s part of his sales territory,” Kyle said, “so he may as well stay. I would.”

“You’re not married, amigo,” Bernardo reminded him.

That made Kyle frown. “Thanks for the update.”

“If a man wants to keep his woman happy he has to be around,” Bernardo continued.

Jonathan supposed Bernardo would know. He’d been married for fifteen years.

“Yeah, they like attention,” Vance agreed. “Lots of it. Another reason to stay single.”

“If I was with Jillian, I’d give her plenty of attention,” Kyle said.

Vance pointed a fat finger at him. “Don’t go there.”

Kyle frowned again and shoved two cards across the table. “I’ll take two.”

When Vance gave him two new ones, he was still frowning, but that probably had more to do with thoughts of Jillian than the cards he’d received.

Jonathan kept his thoughts about women in general and one woman in particular to himself. The last thing he wanted was Bernardo’s pity or Vance’s scorn. Let Kyle take that hit. Jonathan preferred to suffer in silence.

* * *

Saturday morning Jonathan attempted to ease his suffering by going with his sister, Juliet, to the library for the Friends of the Library monthly book sale.

A stranger seeing them enter the musty room in the library basement would never have taken them for siblings. Other than their hair color, they didn’t look at all alike. Juliet Gerard had big, brown eyes and perfect eyesight, where his gray eyes hid behind glasses. He had a long face, while she’d been blessed with a perfect oval like their mother’s. He was skinny and barely five foot eight; she was long-legged and stacked. She’d definitely gotten the looks in the family while he’d gotten the brains. Not that Juliet was stupid, but it quickly became apparent who the family genius was. In the world of kids, that wasn’t necessarily a blessing. When they were younger he’d often wished it was the other way around, but then he’d realized how unfair that would have been. Life was easier for a man who wasn’t all that attractive than it was for a woman. Theoretically.

Their lives were as different as their looks. Juliet was married and trying to get pregnant, a project that was taking much longer than expected. When she wasn’t working at that, she logged in part-time hours at Mountain Escape Books or met with her book club or hosted parties where all her friends had to buy candles or face goop. She was an awful cook, a good dancer and an avid romance reader. And her social calendar was always full.

Jonathan’s, on the other hand, had a lot of open space, and he was stuck in nonswinging single limbo. He couldn’t dance, but he could fix leaky pipes and install dimmer switches, something both his sis and his brother-in-law appreciated. Unlike Juliet, he read real fiction like action adventure or sci-fi/fantasy, and the monthly fund-raiser book sales gave him an opportunity to try out new authors.

He’d just scored big, finding a first edition of The Kingdom of Zoon, when Juliet, prowling the romance section a couple of bookshelves over, let out a squeal.

Hildy Johnson, who owned Johnson’s Drugs along with her husband, Nils, was standing next to her and already had several books in her basket, but she eyed Juliet’s find with envy. “Oh, Vanessa Valentine. I haven’t read that one.”

The woman was married and in her fifties. Why was she reading romance novels?

“I’ll lend it to you when I’m done,” Juliet promised.

Rita Reyes, who’d worked in the bar at Zelda’s restaurant, entered the room. She said a quick hi to Jonathan, then moved to join Juliet and Hildy in their treasure hunt. “I hope you haven’t taken all the good books.”

“We saved you a few,” Juliet assured her. “When’s Zelda’s going to open again?”

“Charley says by June.”

“I hope so,” Juliet said. “I miss those huckleberry martinis.”

“And I miss working there.” Rita sighed. “I’ll be so glad when we’re up and running again.”

A fire in December had forced the restaurant to close; it was now in the process of being rebuilt. Zelda’s was a popular place in town for both families and singles wanting to mix and match. Jonathan hadn’t gone there much.

Rita pointed to the book in Juliet’s hand. “I love that one. James Noble is the perfect man.”

The perfect man, huh? A character made up by a woman? Oh, brother.

“Look! Here’s Surrender,” Rita said, pulling a paperback off a shelf. “I love this book.”

A war novel in the romance section? Jonathan edged closer and sneaked a peek. He saw no scene of carnage on the cover, no white flag being raised—only a woman in a low-cut dress and some muscle-bound guy in tights and a shirt he forgot to button doing a back bend over the kind of fancy bed no man would want to sleep in. Looking at the way the guy was holding her made Jonathan’s back hurt.

“Oh, my gosh, me, too,” agreed Juliet. “There’s a hero to die for. I love the scene where he throws himself in front of her and gets stabbed.”

“And how often does that happen in real life?” Jonathan scoffed under his breath.

The women stared at him as if he’d uttered blasphemy.

Juliet raised a delicate eyebrow. “Probably as often as a giant bubble floats to earth and gives magical powers to the first fool who touches it.”

Rita snickered and Jonathan, properly chastised and feeling like he’d stuck his face in a firepit, moved to a safer corner of the room and perused the home improvement section.

Turning his back on Juliet and her fellow romance junkies didn’t shield his ears from their conversation.

“Men,” Rita said disgustedly. “Maybe if they read a few romance novels they’d learn something.”

“Nils could stand to learn a few things,” Hildy said. “Especially in the bedroom,” she added in a conspiratorial whisper that carried across the small, now quiet—since everyone was eavesdropping—room.

Balding, scrawny Nils and Brunhilda Hildy in the bedroom together. That was T.M.I. to the max.

“Oh, they all think they’re such good lovers.” Rita rolled her eyes. Rita was divorced. Obviously, her man hadn’t measured up. “If I found a man who could make love like the heroes in those books, I’d take him to bed in a heartbeat.”

“If a man really wanted to be a good lover, he should read these books,” Hildy continued in her stage whisper.

Rita nodded. “That would guarantee he’d get lucky.”

The women finished making their selections. As they went to pay for their books, two gray-haired men and a teenage boy stampeded to the romance section.

Jonathan paid for his book and then left the room with Juliet, who was now wearing a superior smirk.

“Pathetic,” Jonathan muttered.

“You shouldn’t knock romance novels if you haven’t read them,” she said as they walked out of the library and turned toward Bavarian Brews for their ritual post-shopping coffee.

“I guess,” he said. “But they all seem so, I don’t know, unrealistic.” He held up a hand before Juliet could give him another verbal smackdown. “Yes, neither are my sci-fi/fantasy books. But I know they’re improbable. And at least sci-fi has real science at its roots.”

“And my romance novels have real life at their roots,” Juliet argued. “They’re all about men and women falling in love and working out their problems. People do that every day. And you know what I like best about them? They all have happy endings.” Juliet’s smile vanished. “Sometimes a woman needs a break from real life and a little encouragement.”

His sister was always upbeat. To see her expression suddenly cloudy was disturbing. “Everything okay with you and Neil?” He hated to ask, not because he didn’t care, but because female emotions were scary. He’d tried his best to comfort her when their dad died but had felt hopelessly inadequate.

Right now she was looking at him with teary eyes that made him uneasy. He’d rather face the dragon of Zoon than a woman’s tears.

“I’m never going to get pregnant,” she said.

“You should stop taking those pregnancy tests, Jules.” He got that she wanted a baby, but agonizing over the fact that she wasn’t pregnant probably wasn’t helping.

As if he knew what would or wouldn’t help. She should be talking to Mom, not him. How’d they gotten on this conversational track, anyway? Oh, yeah. Romance novels.

“Well, thanks. That was comforting,” she snapped.

He slung an arm around her. “Hey, sorry. But seriously, stop stressing. It’ll happen.” Dr. Jonathan Templar, fertility expert. Oh, brother.

“Maybe it won’t,” she said in a small voice.

Now he really didn’t know what to say. Don’t give up? Yeah, that’d make her feel better. You’ve got someone who loves you? True but not what she wanted to hear. The only thing she wanted to hear was, “You’re pregnant.”

He shook his head. “Life sucks sometimes.”

Amazingly, that had been the thing to say. She managed a smile and said, “Yeah, you’re right. But not all the time.” She held up her grocery bag full of paperbacks. “At least I scored big today. I’ve got a whole bag full of happiness.”

A whole bag full of happiness, huh? “I guess.”

“These books are full of love and adventure.”

“And perfect men,” Jonathan added, remembering the conversation in the library.

“A woman’s idea of perfect, anyway,” Juliet said.

They got their coffee, then sat at one of the café tables outside to enjoy the sunshine and watch their fellow Icicle Falls residents go about their business. They were almost finished when a woman with a baby in a stroller approached. Jonathan opened the door for her and returned to his seat to see his sister’s eyes looking ready to spill tears.

“Hey, it’ll be okay,” he promised, and hoped he was right. “You’re only thirty. You’ve got plenty of time to have a kid.” They’d been trying for a year or so. Did it bring the odds down the longer you tried?

She nodded, but no smile this time. “I should get going. See you at my place for dinner tomorrow?”

It was Mother’s Day. If he didn’t show up, he’d be toast. “Sure.” He made a mental note to bring some antacids.

She gave him a hug, then hurried off down the street.

Jonathan drank the last of his coffee and went to throw the cup in a nearby garbage can. He passed a table with a woman sitting alone, nursing a drink and reading a paperback. He glanced down and saw a couple on the cover, this pair dressed in contemporary Western attire. Another romance novel. The woman smiled and turned a page.

What was it about these books that had women so hooked? He reviewed the conversation he’d heard in the library. There’s a hero to die for.... James Noble is the perfect man...perfect man.

Women wrote those novels and they wrote about perfect men. So if a guy wanted to learn what a woman wanted in a man... Who was that author Juliet and Hildy had been talking about? Vanessa Valentine. Someone with a name like that had to know her stuff when it came to love.

Jonathan tossed his cup, then retraced his steps to the library, hoping the women hadn’t cleared every romance novel off the shelves.

Most of the library patrons were gone by the time he slipped back into the musty room on the lower level, either back to their homes to wash cars or mow lawns, or off to go hiking the mountain trails. A few late arrivals browsed the health and finance sections, and one woman was leafing through a cookbook.

Just his luck, the only other section that was occupied was the romance section, where two teenage girls stood, perusing the books. They were cute and skinny, probably cheerleaders. Darn. He’d hoped not to have an audience.

He hovered over by the magazines and CDs, wishing they’d leave. They didn’t. In fact, it looked like they were going to camp out over there all day, reading and filling their paper grocery bags, emptying the shelves.

What do you care if they see you looking through a romance? They’re only high school kids, he reminded himself. Kids who’d go home and tell their moms about the dork who’d come in looking for love between the covers of a book.

“Oh, my gosh, here’s a Vanessa Valentine,” said one.

No, don’t take that.

She handed it to her friend.

“I haven’t read this,” the other girl said, and dropped it in her bag.

So much for that book. So much for all the books if he didn’t make his move soon. He sauntered casually over. A forty-something woman he’d seen around town had joined them now, and he was aware of both her and the girls staring at him like he was some kind of freak as he studied the titles. He could feel himself beginning to sweat. Just take a book and get out of here.

He snagged a book about a vampire and another with a cowboy on the cover and was about to leave when, suddenly, he saw it. What was this? Two shelves down in the corner, a few inches past the woman’s thighs... Yes! One last Vanessa Valentine.

He bent and made a grab for it just as she leaned over. Oh, no! Boob graze.

“Excuse me,” she said in a tone of voice that told him he was done here.

“Uh, sorry,” he mumbled, and snatched back his hand.

She took advantage of his consternation and plucked the Vanessa Valentine off the shelf. Then she scooped another half dozen novels into her shopping bag.

That left two and one of the teens got them. The woman was right. He was done here. Face still flaming, he walked to the card table where the library volunteer was taking money.

She was somewhere in her twenties and dressed in black. Her fingernails were black, too. She had piercings all over her face, a collection of earrings running up her ears and wore enough eye makeup to give her a head start on Halloween. Not that Jonathan was an expert on eye makeup, but hers seemed like overkill to him. He preferred a more natural look, like what Lissa wore. Liss, always the gold standard.