Romance By the Book by Sarah Ready
Will
Turnsout Gavin broke his coccyx, aka his tailbone. I spent twelve hours in the hospital with him and brought him back to the house with a doughnut pillow for him to sit on, and a load of prescriptions for pain. I slept for a few hours then woke at five to get some work done. There was a pile of emails from the lawyers concerning the merger with Duporte to review and the weekly numbers from my VPs to go over.
There was also a phone call from Alan Duporte concerning his and his wife’s plans for the party this weekend. They’ll be staying in Romeo and want to get together before the party. I notified my PA to book something. When I finished with everything it was already noon and I realized I hadn’t eaten yet.
I walk down the back stairs to the kitchen. I can make a couple sandwiches, bring one to Gavin. See if he’s awake yet. Then maybe I’ll go find Jessie. I dreamed about her last night. She was in the oak tree and the branches were too high for me to reach her. I woke up frustrated and wanting her. It took twice as long to get the day’s work done because I had to keep pulling my mind back from thinking about her.
I put four roast beef sandwiches together, grab a few dill pickles, two bottles of water, and put it all on a tray. My dad would have a fit if he saw me—the way I make my own meals, or wash my own dishes. He believed, firmly, that time is money, and any time spent doing menial tasks was robbing our family’s bottom line. That thirty minutes you just spent in the kitchen cost us $30,000, he’d say. He’s not wrong. In New York City, I have a chef, maid service, laundry service, a driver, a PA to take care of booking appointments and making reservations.
But here in Romeo, I like to leave all that behind.
I carry the tray down the hall toward Gavin’s bedroom. He’s in the east wing. It has darker wood trim, tall wainscoting and heavy curtains. I don’t like this part of the house as much, maybe because it doesn’t have as good a view of the meadow as the fourth floor. I make it to Gavin’s room. His door is ajar. I pause at the entry.
The scene hits me in the gut and I exhale in surprise. Although I shouldn’t be surprised.
Jessie sits on the edge of the bed. She has an open book next to her, and I swallow when I see that it’s The Horse and His Boy. Soft light from the window falls on her and illuminates her like she’s some sort of angel. I narrow my eyes. She’s anything but.
She’s wearing a white dress that stretches tight over her breasts and flares out around her hips. There are plates on the bed filled with half-eaten scones, berries, and cream. Two coffees with whipped cream and chocolate shavings in to-go cups from the bakery are on the nightstand.
“You don’t read for fun? Not at all?” Jessie asks in surprise.
Neither of them has noticed me.
Gavin shakes his head. He looks a little wobbly, even reclining on a pile of pillows.
“Not at all.” He beams at Jessie. I realize with shock that my brother is a little tipsy from the pain meds. “Although, if I’d had a librarian like you rather than old Mrs. Axham, maybe I would’ve learned to love reading.”
Jessie smiles at him and I consider clearing my throat. Gavin’s room is one of the smaller in the house. There’s only space for a four-poster bed, a nightstand, a wardrobe, and a small desk that has a globe, a baseball, and a glove on top, all from childhood. He never liked Romeo and didn’t bother to make this room his own. But the small size, the big bed and the soft light from the window make the setting intimate.
Gavin takes a strawberry and pops it in his mouth. “Will was the reader.”
“Really?” Jessie asks.
Is that curiosity? I abort my plan to interrupt and step back from the doorway.
“He always had his nose in a book. When we were kids I’d catch him at midnight with a flashlight and a book. Had to warn him a few times our blasted father was coming.”
“Why?” Jessie asks.
“Oh, he’d chuck Will’s books in the trash.”
I think I hear an angry choking noise from Jessie.
“Yeah,” Gavin says. “The librarian, Mrs. Axham, hated Will. She thought he lost the books on purpose. Finally she got him banned from checking out books. So then, I checked them out for him and kept them in my room. I never read them though. I’m more the adventure type.”
Jessie says something, but I can’t hear it. Gavin laughs and I step toward the doorway.
“Why didn’t we spend more time together?” Gavin asks. “You were here all these years. You’re so nice. So fun. So friendly.”
Alright, that’s enough.
I step through the door and clear my throat. “I brought lunch.”
Jessie looks up quickly and then pink blossoms in her cheeks.
“Gavin, you feeling better?”
Gavin smiles, “I feel great.”
I step into the room and set the tray next to the coffee on the nightstand.
“Jessie came by to make sure I was okay. She’s been keeping me company.” Gavin gives her a dopey smile.
A tic starts in my forehead.
“You okay?” Gavin asks.
“Fine.”
He tilts his head and studies me.
Jessie bunches the skirt of her dress in her hands and refuses to look at me.
Gavin lets out a long yawn and glances at Jessie. “I’m pretty tired. Maybe you’ll read to me some more? I like it when you read to me.”
I see red. If he weren’t my brother and laid up with a broken tailbone, I’d put him in a headlock. I want to snatch up the book and take it back. I can’t believe she’s using the book I gave her to woo my brother.
“Scoot over,” I say.
I land on the bed next to Gavin. The dishes rattle and he groans in pain at the jarring movement. Obviously he’s not feeling that great. I grab a sandwich off the tray and take a bite. I chew and watch Jessie. She’s staring at me like I might bite her. Her eyes narrow and her mouth purses.
“Of course I'll read more to you,” she says sweetly, her voice dripping honey. That’s when I know she’s remembered that she’s not backing down from her insane mission to win my brother’s heart.
She opens the book and starts the chapter where Shasta meets Aravis. It’s one of my favorite parts. The two of them shoot sparks off each other from the start. As Jessie reads, I finish off two sandwiches. I lean back against the headboard and start to relax. After the first page, Gavin falls asleep. Jessie doesn’t notice, she keeps reading, her voice filled with warmth and enthusiasm. She even has different voices for each character.
I take the time to study her. She wore her hair down today, it falls around her face and almost softens the sharpness of her cheekbones and her eyes. Almost, but not quite. Which is good, because the sharpness of her chin and her cheeks and her arched eyebrows remind you of how stubborn she is. That stubbornness is her best and her worst feature. It’s what helped her survive a childhood without love—the stubborn clinging to hope and the promise of the future full of love. But that stubbornness also makes her incapable of seeing what’s right in front of her. Not just me wanting her. But that she has a whole community that loves her and considers her a member of their family.
Gavin lets out a long snore. Jessie looks up from her book.
“He’s asleep,” I say.
She frowns and sets her book down. “I’ll go.”
She reaches for the plates of scones and berries. She puts everything in a to-go basket from the bakery.
“I’ll walk you out.”
She bites her lip and then nods. I walk next to her down the dark hall to the front door. And I decide I don’t want to walk her out, I want to keep walking with her—anywhere.
We reach the door. "What are you doing this afternoon?”
“Why?” Her brow furrows.
“Just wondering what you’ll do with yourself since your merry nursemaid scheme was foiled.”
She smirks at me. “Or was it?”
I have the urge to back her against the door and remind her of what we were doing yesterday. Her breath catches at my expression. She’s going to run, I can tell. I have to think fast if I want her to stay.
“I need your help,” I improvise.
“What?” She shakes her head.
“You were right. I need to learn more about this soul mate thing. Take me around town, introduce me to some couples. Help me understand.”
She studies me, clearly skeptical. “You want me to help you understand soul mates?”
I nod.
“On one condition.” She holds up a finger.
“Okay.”
“If I convince you, you stop interfering in my love life.”
She watches me and waits for my response. Finally, I hold out my hand. “Deal.”
There’s no way she’ll ever convince me that this soul mate scheme is real and that she’s meant for Gavin. No way on earth.
We shake on it.
