His Best Friend

“Jason Webb?” Something was totally screwy here. “Jason is a friend of mine. Why would you think I was Jason?”

“That’s what it said on the card you gave me.”

John stared at her. Then he swore. “I’m an idiot!” He realized he must have mistakenly pulled out the card Jason had given him earlier that day instead of his own. “I gave you the wrong card. Jason was one of the guys I was having lunch with that day, and he had some new business cards he passed out. I must have stuck his in the pocket where I keep some of mine.”

“Ah,” she said. “That explains it.”

“So you talked to Jason?”

She smiled. “Yes.”

“What did he say?”

“Well, he obviously had no idea who I was, and I was too embarrassed to try to explain. See, the thing is, I thought it was you I was talking to…and that you didn’t remember me.”

John wanted to say there was no way he could have ever forgotten her, but he stopped himself just in time. No matter how much he liked this girl, she was Philip’s date. John had no right to undercut him. Nor did he want to.

But he couldn’t help wondering what might have happened if he’d given her the right card. Would she still have come here with Philip? Or would she be John’s date tonight?

Yet what difference did it make now? Even if she encouraged him, there was nothing he could do to change things. She was here with Philip, and he knew Philip was already halfway in love with her. Unless his cousin decided he was no longer interested in her, John could do nothing but sit on the sidelines.

And keep kicking himself.

“Are you having a good time?”

Claudia smiled at Jennifer. “Yes, I am. You have nice friends.”

“Thank you.”

“And the food is great. Did you make it all yourself?”

“Uh-huh. I love to cook and bake. If I wasn’t in the communications field, I would’ve gone to culinary school.” She made a face. “Some days I really wish I had.”

“I was like that all the years I worked in sales. Last year I finally decided I had to make some changes in my life or go nuts. So I picked up the last few graduate hours I needed and started applying for jobs, and now…here I am.”

Jennifer studied her gravely. “I have a feeling you’re braver than I am.”

“Oh, I doubt that. You probably just haven’t reached the point where you’re ready to make a change. Maybe you never will. I mean, I’m sure people in all professions get frustrated at times.”

Jennifer nodded. “Yes, you’re probably right. I know my dad complains about his work a lot, and so has John. In fact, he just changed companies.”

“He did mention that.”

“Yeah, the company he worked for in Austin wasn’t getting the kinds of projects he hoped to work on. So he started looking around a month or so ago and ended up landing a job with a really successful film company here. He’s thrilled.” She smiled. “So am I. I missed him when he lived in Austin. Now all my family is right here in Houston, and that’s the way I like it.”

“Philip was telling me about your family on the way over. How you and he are double cousins.”

“Yes, it’s kind of neat. Our parents are really close. Thank goodness. It would be awful if they didn’t get along. I feel so sorry for people whose families are constantly fighting.”

“Me, too,” Claudia said fervently.

“Philip told me you have a couple of sisters and a brother?”

“Yes.”

Jennifer seemed to hesitate, then said, “Phil really likes you.”

Claudia didn’t know what to say. Involuntarily, her gaze moved past Jennifer to John, who stood nearby talking to a cute redhead. When he laughed and touched the redhead’s arm, Claudia jerked her gaze away. “Philip is very nice.”

Jennifer studied her thoughtfully. “Yes, he is. Have you two been dating long?”

Claudia shook her head. “This is only the second time I’ve been out with him.”

“Really? I thought—” Jennifer broke off. “Obviously, I misunderstood.”

Claudia would have liked to pursue this statement, but just then, Philip walked up to them. “I hope you’re telling Claudia what a great guy I am,” he said to Jennifer.

She laughed. “Oh, you men. You’re impossible. You think the entire world revolves around you, don’t you?”

“You mean it doesn’t?” This came from John, who had also walked up behind them. He put his arm companionably around Philip’s shoulders.

Jennifer rolled her eyes.

Claudia laughed.

“Now where were we?” Jennifer said to Claudia.

“You were telling her what a great guy I am,” Philip said, grinning.

“On that note, I think I’d better check on the food,” Jennifer said. “Last time I looked, the potato casserole was fast disappearing.” She was laughing as she walked away.

“I guess that’s my cue to leave, too,” John said. But he didn’t look as if he wanted to go.

For a moment, no one spoke. Because of the silence between them, Claudia became aware of the music playing. It was an old rock tune, one of her favorites. “Now’s your chance to impress me, Philip. I’d love to dance.”

“Me?” He gave her a look of mock horror. “I have two left feet. But John’s a good dancer.” He turned to John. “Can I trust you with her?”

Claudia’s heart did a little skip as John’s gaze met hers. “Of course you can, said the big bad wolf,” John answered in a deep voice.

All three laughed and John took her arm, leading her out to the small area that had been cleared for dancing.

Claudia soon discovered John was a great dancer. He had a loose body with a natural rhythm that couldn’t be taught. Claudia loved to dance, so when “Proud Mary” wound up and the next song was a slow ballad, she allowed herself to be drawn into his arms for that one, too.

“Having a good time?” he asked.

He was wearing some kind of woodsy scent—aftershave or cologne—she couldn’t tell which. Whatever it was, she liked it. “Yes, I am.”

He pulled her just a fraction closer. “Me, too.”

Claudia closed her eyes. She had a feeling it might be a mistake to indulge in any fantasies about John, but she couldn’t seem to help herself.

Why didn’t you give me the right business card?

She was acutely aware of their bodies touching. No wonder some religions banned the activity. Dancing had to be one of the sexiest things two people could do.

She forced herself to smile brightly when the song ended. “Thanks. I enjoyed that.”

Philip was waiting right where they’d left him. He reached for her hand. “That’s enough. I want her now.”

“I don’t blame you,” John said lightly. He bowed to Claudia. “Thank you, ma’am.” Then, with a little salute, he headed off in the direction of the kitchen.

For the remainder of the evening, Claudia didn’t see much of him. He was either outside or in another room, and she decided that was for the best. Whatever might have been if they’d been able to connect seemed to be a closed chapter.

It was probably best to put him out of her mind for good.

On the way home, Philip was in a talkative mood. “So what did you think of John and Jen?”

“I liked them both a lot.”

“And they liked you.” He smiled. “Jennifer said she thought you were terrific.”

“I think she and I could be friends.” And John…was it foolish to think they could be something more than friends?

“She’s a really nice person. I wish something good would happen for her the way it has for me.” He reached over and squeezed her hand for a moment.

Claudia knew he was referring to meeting her, and that made her uncomfortable. Yet she couldn’t think of anything to say without making too big a deal out of his comment. “Why? Did something bad happen to her?”

He didn’t answer for a moment. When he did, his voice had sobered. “Two years ago her fiancé was killed. He was an Air Force pilot whose helicopter was shot down in Iraq only days before he was supposed to be sent home.”

“Oh, God, how terrible.”

“Yeah, it was. She had a really rough time. She’s still not over it.”

“That’s just awful. Is she dating at all?”

“Not that I know of.”

She waited a few moments before saying, “What about…John? I take it he’s not involved with anyone, either.”

“Nope, not now. He was seeing somebody pretty steady. In fact, they were living together. Everyone thought he was finally ready to make a commitment, but they broke up in August.”

“Oh?” August was when Claudia met John. “What happened?”

“All he said was that something made him realize he wasn’t in love with Allison. So he broke it off.”

Claudia told herself she was indulging in a romantic fantasy to even consider that John might have been referring to meeting her when he said something had happened to cause him to break off his relationship.

You sure have a high opinion of yourself, don’t you? Men like John do not break off long-term relationships because they exchange a couple of words with you! Then again, she had no idea what John was really like, now did she?

“Jen and her mother were both glad when they broke up,” Philip continued.

“Why’s that? Didn’t they like Allison?”

“They both thought Allison was too negative and moody.” He laughed. “But I think those two feel no one is good enough for John.”

Claudia wanted to keep asking him questions about John, but they had just pulled up in front of Claudia’s condominium complex, so her window of opportunity was over.

“Thanks for inviting me to the party,” Claudia said when they reached her door. “I had a really nice time.” Opening her purse, she withdrew her keys.

“I’m glad,” he said. “I did, too.”

She unlocked the door. “Well, good night, Philip.”

“Good night, Claudia.” And then, before she could avoid it, he leaned over and kissed her. Unless she wanted to make a huge thing out of it, she couldn’t pull away. So she closed her eyes and pretended it was John kissing her. Even that didn’t help. There were just no fireworks, at least for her. Gently, she broke the kiss before it could go on too long. The last thing she wanted to do was send the wrong message.

“I’d better go in,” she said. “It’s late.” Because she felt she sounded too abrupt, she smiled. “See you Monday.”

If he’d been like some of the guys she’d dated in the past, he would have tried to change her mind, but Philip obviously wasn’t that kind of person, because all he said was, “Sweet dreams,” and then he turned and walked away.

Inside, Claudia leaned against the closed door gratefully. She hated dating. There ought to be some kind of test you could give a person that would tell you if he was someone you’d want to go out with more than once. Some kind of magic word you could say, and if he didn’t give you the right answer back, you’d know he wasn’t for you.

Oh, sure, just like bad things should only happen to bad people….

Laughing at herself, she turned out the hall light and headed for bed.

Philip couldn’t stop thinking about how it had felt to kiss Claudia. He’d wanted to deepen the kiss, but he was afraid to push. She hadn’t seemed ready, and he didn’t want to blow his chances with her just because he was greedy for more than she was willing to give.

She was wonderful.

So different from Emily.

Maybe that was part of the reason he liked Claudia so much, because she was so different. Normally Philip didn’t allow himself to dwell on Emily and the way she’d dumped him, but tonight the memories didn’t hurt. That was Claudia’s doing. Now that he’d met her and knew he could really care for her, he was glad Emily had showed her true colors before they’d gotten married.

He should have seen the breakup coming because Emily had made no bones about her ambition. A financial analyst with one of the big oil companies, she couldn’t understand why he was content to work for a small college. She’d kept pushing him to look for another job, one that paid better and had more prestige.

“There’s nowhere for you to go there, Philip,” she’d said more than once.

He’d tried to explain that he liked the small college venue. That he didn’t want a high-stress job. That there was more to life than making lots of money. He guessed he’d blinded himself to the fact that she’d never agreed with him, so when she’d told him she’d gotten a “stupendous” job offer in London and intended to take it, he’d been stunned.

Philip wasn’t like John. John attracted women like flypaper attracts flies. Philip knew why. John was outgoing and fun and he had a job women found glamorous. Philip was much quieter and cautious, and his job sounded dull to other people.

But Claudia…Claudia was different.

She was a teacher. Obviously, money and glamour were not important to her or she’d be in another profession.

And when John had asked her out, she’d said no. Philip smiled over that one.

That fact alone would have told him he’d met the right woman for him.

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