She stared at him in livid amazement.
She lunged forward until her face was so close to his she could count his stubble and get a bit of grip on his T-shirt collar.
“You listen to me, Jasper Townes. I know you think you’re being cute and clever and flippant is your schtick now and you get away with that crap. But we are not athing, you and I. We happened exactly once. I don’t like the macho posturing, and I don’t like you to joke about anyonerubbingme. And I really, truly don’t care if you don’t like me for being a hard-ass about it. But if you want to think you’re worthy of spending one particle of time in the company ofmydaughter, if you want me to think you’re a grown-up? Go apologize right now to Mr. Caldera. Tell him you were out of line and give him an appropriate excuse that in no way mentions me. Make it believable. I’ll wait right here.”
She released him and sat back in her chair hard.
He stared at her in openmouthed, unadulterated amazement for at least half a verse of John Mayer.
“You’re fucking with me,” he concluded.
She rolled her eyes so hard she nearly sprained them. “Believe me, I am in no way...” She dropped her voice to a mocking, raspy baritone. “...‘fucking with you.’” She air-quoted that.
He stared, apparently had no idea what to do with an angry redheaded mom who was clearly immune to his charm.
“He was a dick to me, too,” he offered finally.
Those words were just a hairbreadth away from a whine. He smoothed his leather necklace back into place.
She closed her eyes.
Why the hell didanyonehave anything to do with men? She suddenly yearned for a can of Ego-Off to spray all over the room. Testosterone-B-Gone.
“Yep. He was. And I bet you get some kind of apology from him, too, because he’s a fucking adult, not a petulant child.”
Jasper’s eyes flared at once to the size of beer coasters. Then narrowed into little glittery outraged slits. His impressive jaw clenched and jutted stubbornly.
It was actually a good look for him. He ought to use it in his next publicity photos.
“Aw, did I piss you off, Jasper?” she crooned. “I don’t care.Youneed to prove yourself tome. So suck it up. Make it good, make it graceful, make it sound sincere. I’ve seen you in interviews. I know you can do it. And believe me, whatever you say will get back to me, because this is a really small town. I don’t care whether youfeelsorry or not. You can either apologize to him now or walk out of here for good. That way I’ll know how serious you are about all of this. About Annelise. About forging some kind of civil, respectful relationship with me. Because Annelise and I are a package, and our life is here in Hellcat Canyon, and Gabe Caldera is the principal of her school. He’s someone she admires and respects, an important part of her life and the community here.”
And then, perversely, all at once, she was grateful for all of Gabe’s metaphorical chest-thumping. Because if Jasper passed this test, she’d know he was serious about getting to know Annelise. Posturing was one thing.
Voluntarily groveling to a guy who had two inches on him in height and who had arguably bested him in an ego-off over a woman was another thing altogether, and she was pretty sure it was not something Jasper Townes had ever had to do.
He held that outraged expression for a few moments longer.
And then Jasper pushed his chair back so abruptly the legs squealed on the tile.
He stared down at her, lips pressed hard together.
She stared right back up at him. And arched an eyebrow.
He turned his back on her and moved at a leisurely swagger across the checkerboard floor. Which may or may not be how he actually walked and not something cultivated for show; one never knew.
She watched his progress. What a teeny, tiny butt he had. Annelise didn’t have a prayer of having hips, unless some wayward gene conferred her grandmother’s figure upon her.
Keep walking, a guilty, dark corner of her heart urged. Walk. Walk past Gabe right on out that door, out of our lives.
It would be a relief, right?
And then, some years down the road, she could say to Annelise with a certain conviction:I knew your dad was as stable as a leaf floating on the breeze, and I didn’t want him to break your heart when your heart was still so innocent. I couldn’t have borne that. I was responsible for your happiness and for making you feel safe in the world, for giving you that foundation of courage and faith in life that comes from being loved, so that you feel clear and brave enough to discover whether my truths are also yours. And that’s why he wasn’t in our lives when you were a child.
And she could tell Gabe about Jasper. And this anger and sense of overwhelm, this chafing sense of injustice—shouldn’t he justtrusther?—a niggling fear that they were on the precipice of disaster would fade.
And years from now she could tell Annelisethisvery story—of that time her father appeared out of the blue, and then walked out at the slightest whiff of challenge.
A story Annelise would be able to receive, hopefully, with a certain amount of pragmatism, when she was an adult.