The Parent Trap

Kristy was silent for a long moment. “Would it be so bad if you two liked each other?” she asked, her voice very small.

Oh, man, he hated having to disappoint Kristy. But he had no other choice. She had to understand that a relationship between him and Jill was impossible for way too many reasons. Reasons that now went far beyond his desire to protect his heart.

“Not bad, honey, just not in the cards.”

“Why?”

She’d asked a good question, one he’d asked himself many times before, especially in the deep of the night when he felt so alone, so isolated, so empty that he would die for the feel of a woman in his arms once more. The answer was always the same; he simply couldn’t put himself in a position to care about a woman again. The risk was just too great, for both him and Kristy.

But he couldn’t explain that to her in a way she would understand. She was too young, too stuffed full of girlish romantic dreams to fully grasp what he meant. So he simply said, “Because I don’t want to date Jill. She seems like a wonderful woman, but I’m not interested.” He knew that sounded kind of harsh, but it was necessary here. The matchmaking had to stop.

Kristy didn’t say anything, and Brandon let her keep her silence. She was stewing, which was her way of sorting things out in her own mind. He remained silent, too, hoping she’d eventually understand what he’d said enough to forget about him and Jill getting together. Maybe they’d face each other again in the business arena, but not in any kind of personal way.

As he pulled into his driveway, he had to admit that as they’d been sitting in the dining room sharing a delicious meal, spending some personal time with Jill had appealed to him. Stupid idea, not somewhere he wanted to go, even though she was the sexiest thing he’d seen in a long time.

Thankfully, the discovery of their roles as business competitors had brought him to his senses, and had certainly lit a fire under Jill. Once she’d found out that he was the owner of The Steak Place, she hadn’t been able to get rid of him fast enough. Headache, my foot.

Even though the red-blooded male in him regretted he wouldn’t be getting to know her on some kind of personal level, keeping his distance was best.

Even if that disappointed Kristy.

“Zoe,” Jill yelled over the music coming from Zoe’s room. “We have to talk.”

While Jill waited for Zoe to answer the door, she reiterated in her mind how important this conversation was. She had to make Zoe understand that any kind of relationship between Jill and Brandon was impossible.

Zoe turned down the music and answered the door, her mouth pulled into a pouty frown. She crossed her arms over her chest and remained silent, her eyes boring holes in Jill.

Regret burned through her. It wasn’t easy shooting down her daughter’s dreams of a complete family, no matter how unrealistic they were.

She reached out and smoothed the lines between Zoe’s eyebrows. “Oh, come on, honey. It’s not that bad.”

Zoe stomped away and flung herself on her twin bed. “You practically threw them out.”

Jill cringed inside, regretting the tactless way she’d hustled the Clarks out the door. “Well…yes, I guess I did hurry them out before I really needed to. But I did it because it was pretty obvious why you and Kristy arranged the dinner. It isn’t going to happen.”

“Why not?” Zoe asked, her voice full of hope. “Don’t you like him?”

The hope in Zoe’s voice reminded Jill how much Zoe wanted a whole family. A familiar arrow of guilt tinged with more regret shot through Jill, poking a wounded spot on her heart that had never really healed. Zoe had been deeply affected emotionally by her parents’ divorce, something Jill agonized about on a daily basis. Oh, how she wished she could somehow magically obliterate Zoe’s pain.

But after a lot of soul-searching over the years, Jill had come to terms with the fact that as long as she was the best mom she could be, Zoe would be just fine, even without a live-in dad. She would provide unlimited, unconditional love and support to her daughter, no matter what.

But she wasn’t a magician, and one thing she couldn’t do was wave a wand and provide an instant family for Zoe. That was an impossible dream that was not going to come true, and it would save Zoe a lot of heartache and fallen hopes if she understood that now.

“He’s very…charming,” Jill said, telling the truth even as she needed to make sure Zoe understood that her thinking a man was charming didn’t mean love and happily ever after were just around the corner. “But…well, Zoe, I’m not interested in a romantic relationship.”

She hoped Zoe would accept that fact and move on. At nine, Zoe certainly wouldn’t understand Jill’s deep-seated need to protect herself from being dumped again. Especially since Jill really didn’t want to trash Doug to Zoe. While Zoe didn’t see her dad very often, they spent enough time together that Jill would never risk ruining their fragile bond by criticizing Doug.

“Don’t you want to fall in love again?” Zoe asked with all the innocence and hope of a naive, stars-in-her-eyes young girl who, of course, had never had her heart ripped out by someone who was supposed to love and cherish her for all time.

Jill hesitated, formulating an answer that would appease Zoe’s curiosity without Jill having to try to explain how down on love she was—and why. She’d never shared those feelings with anyone. “Love isn’t something I crave like I used to,” she said, basically speaking the truth, although there were times when she missed the companionship and closeness inherent in a romantic relationship. “I’d rather focus on my business than on trying to find a boyfriend.” At least her business would stick by her instead of deserting her, leaving her heartbroken and aching.

Zoe looked at her, her blue eyes full of doubt. “Oh, come on, Mom. You can’t tell me that the restaurant is going to take the place of love.” She rolled her eyes. “That’s just dumb.”

Dumb, maybe, but safe. “The point, honey, is that I’m just not interested in Brandon, especially since he owns The Steak Place, and I need you to stop trying to get us together. I’ll have a talk with your grandpa and tell him, too.”

“Does it really matter that much that Mr. Clark has a restaurant, too?”

“Yes, it does,” Jill replied, fully believing her own words. “You know how hard I’ve worked to make The Grill successful.” She’d leave it at that, deliberately vague. The last thing she wanted to do was share the gory details of her financial worries with her daughter. No child should have to worry about something like that.

Zoe looked at her for a long moment, chewing on her lip, a sure sign the wheels were spinning in her brain. Then she let out a long sigh and picked up a Harry Potter book. “Whatever you say,” she said in a manufactured tone that told Jill that Zoe was going to ignore every single thing Jill had told her. “I’ve got reading to do.”

“So you understand that the matchmaking has to stop, right?” Jill asked, needing Zoe to speak the words to convince Jill she’d back off.

“Sure, Mom,” Zoe said, smiling brightly. Too brightly. “I get it, okay?”

Jill stared at her daughter, her eyes narrowed. Zoe seemed to be taking all of this really well, and that raised a huge red flag. She knew her daughter well enough to know when Zoe was placating her so she could ambush her down the line. Zoe was nothing if not stubborn.

Weary of the whole thing, Jill decided not to push the issue anymore tonight. She would have plenty of time to get her point across to Zoe tomorrow. And the next day. And the day after that.

“Okay.” She stepped back and gently pulled the door closed behind her, feeling a real headache coming on.