Stern

Taking JoJo at her word, Wanda stood and paced in front of JoJo’s desk. Wanda was a beautiful woman who had gone through two marriages. The first had ended in death and the other in divorce. Wanda would tell anyone that the second marriage had been a mistake because she’d tried to find a man who could replace a husband who was irreplaceable.

Wanda had fallen in love with a cop at the age of twenty-one, and he’d left her a widow with a newborn baby at twenty-eight. She had remarried at thirty-four and divorced at thirty-seven. She and her ex were both still single and remained friends. It wasn’t unusual for him to drop by the shop every so often to take Wanda to lunch or dinner.

Tension now throbbed at JoJo’s temples. She had a ton of paperwork to do, and like she’d told Stern, she needed to go home to unpack and do laundry. She’d become impatient with the pacing when Wanda finally stopped, snagged her gaze and said, “You’ve fallen in love with Stern.”

JoJo was glad her backside was firmly planted in the chair or she would have fallen out of it. She was totally positive she hadn’t given her feelings away so how had Wanda figured things out? JoJo didn’t want to believe what her father had always jokingly said about Wanda: that she had a sixth sense about stuff that wasn’t any of her business.

When JoJo didn’t say anything, but just sat there and stared, Wanda said, “Admit it.”

JoJo quickly snapped out of her moment of stunned silence. She reached across her desk and picked up the pen she’d tossed aside earlier and pretended to jot something down on one of the documents she picked up. “I won’t admit anything. Don’t be silly.”

“Not silly, just observant. And you should know by now that I don’t miss a thing.”

JoJo replaced her pen on the desk and tilted her head. “And just what do you think you haven’t been missing?”

Wanda smiled. “The way you’ve started looking at Stern when you think he won’t notice. The way you smile whenever you see him. How excited you were to go on that hunting trip with him. You acted like it was your first time when you do it two or three times a year.”

JoJo waved off her words. “All circumstantial evidence.”

“Yes, but then you decide to check out a guy who could be Stern’s clone. To me that’s an obvious sign.”

JoJo nibbled on her bottom lip before allowing a frown to settle on her face. “You make me sound pathetic.”

Wanda shook her head. “Not pathetic. Just confused.”

Now it was JoJo who needed to stand. Instead of pacing, she moved to the window. It was a beautiful September day, but all she had to do was look up at the high mountains to know Denver would get an early winter. And a pretty cold one, too.

She turned around and, not surprisingly, she found Wanda leaning her hips on JoJo’s desk. “Let’s just say your theory is true. Mind you, I’m not saying that it is,” JoJo said. “But let’s say, for the sake of argument, that it is. What’s wrong with me moving toward a sure thing instead of getting hung up on a lost cause?”

“Why would you think Stern is a lost cause?”

JoJo thought long and hard about Wanda’s question before answering. “He’s only a lost cause when it pertains to me. I know him. He’s my best friend, and he knows that’s all he’ll ever be to me. There’s no need for me to waste my time wanting more. Knowing that, I’d go to a plan that might work.”

“Walter Carmichael?”

“Yes. He’s just what I need to move ahead in another direction.” Away from Stern.

“And what if that doesn’t work?”

JoJo smiled. “It will. I intend to learn from the best.”

Wanda stared at her for a minute. “Please tell me you’re not doing what I think you’re doing.”

JoJo shrugged as she went back to her desk and sat down. “Okay, I won’t tell you.”

Wanda shook her head. “It’s not going to work, JoJo. When one man has your heart you can’t replace him with another. I learned that the hard way.”

JoJo watched as Wanda squared her shoulders and walked out of the office. One day, JoJo decided, she would have a long talk with Wanda and get the facts about what had happened with her second marriage. Why had it been so difficult to move on and fall in love again with a good man?

JoJo was certain it wouldn’t be that hard for her to shift her affections from Stern to Walter. She’d never been married to Stern, after all. Falling for another man shouldn’t be difficult.

In a way, she was looking forward to showing up at the Punch Bowl on Saturday night. From the information Wanda had just provided her with, it seemed that’s where Walter hung out on the weekends. She’d heard it had live entertainment and was a nice place to dance, a place where women went to meet men.

She drew in a deep breath knowing this weekend she would be in that number.

* * *

“This must be serious.” Zane Westmoreland opened the door to his cousin.

Stern walked past him and into the living room. “What makes you think that?”

Zane shrugged as he followed. “You’re here. I can’t recall the last time you came visiting.”

“You’ve had a house guest and I didn’t want to intrude. I heard she’s gone for now.” Stern was talking about the woman Zane would be marrying over the holidays. Stern was still somewhat in shock about that. If anyone had told him that his cousin Zane, the one man who not only knew women like the back of his hand but who also enjoyed them tremendously, would settle down and marry, Stern would not have believed them.

“Channing had to go back to Atlanta for work. She’ll be moving here from Atlanta permanently next month.”

“Think you can last until then?”

Zane smiled. “Not sure. She’ll be back in a few weeks for Riley’s wedding. We’ll spend Thanksgiving with her folks and then we marry on Christmas Day.”

“Sounds like you have it all planned out,” Stern said, sitting on the couch and stretching his long legs in front of him.

“I do.” There was a pause. “So what brings you by on a Monday night, Stern?”

Stern would think the reason he’d stopped by was obvious. Zane, who was six years older, had a reputation for knowing women. Not just a little about them but practically everything. Before he’d become engaged to Channing, Zane had been the family expert on the subject, and Stern figured the kind of knowledge Zane possessed didn’t dissipate with an engagement.

“It’s JoJo.”

Zane’s brow lifted. “What about JoJo?”

Stern released a slow breath. JoJo had been his best friend for years so everyone in the family knew her. “She asked me for a favor.”

“What kind of favor?”

“She wanted me to tell her how to make a man want her. There’s this guy she’s been checking out. Only thing is, he doesn’t seem to reciprocate the interest, so she wants me to tell her what she needs to do to stimulate that interest.”

Zane nodded. “Oh, I see.”

Stern frowned. “Well, I sure as hell don’t.”

“You wouldn’t.”

Stern’s frown deepened. “What is that supposed to mean?”

A slight smile touched Zane’s lips. “It means that since JoJo’s your best friend, you’re too close to the situation. If you were another woman it wouldn’t be a big deal, but because you’re a man, to you it is a big deal.”

“Of course it’s a big deal. Why should she worry about making a man want her? If the guy doesn’t have the sense to want her on his own, why should she worry about it?”