Free The Mighty Quinns: Jack by Kate Hoffmann

But her body stiffened suddenly and he drew back. “Was the joke that bad?”
    “My dad and your mom,” she whispered.
    Jack quickly dropped his hands to his sides and watched as Ben and Elyse approached. It wasn’t clear from their expressions whether they’d seen what had just happened or not.
    “You decided to come, after all,” Elyse said. “We’re so glad.”
    “The farmer’s market sounded like such a good idea,” Mia explained. “And you know how much I love these tarts. I can’t get enough of them.”
    “Sausage rolls,” Jack murmured. “She likes the sausage rolls, too.”
    “I just thought I’d pick up some things and make us all dinner tonight,” Mia continued, “since it’s your last night here.”
    Ben glanced at Elyse, then slipped his arm around her waist. “Not exactly true, sweetheart. I’ve asked Elyse to stay for the rest of the week. There’s still so much that we want to see and do together. A weekend is barely enough time to get reacquainted. We can do dinner tomorrow night. Tonight, we’re going out for a night on the town.”
    Elyse’s eyes were bright with excitement.
    “What about Jack?” Mia blurted out. She glanced over at him, as if she’d surprised even herself. Clearing her throat, she forced a smile. “Of course, you’re welcome to stay, too,” she said to him. “Isn’t he, Daddy?”
    Elyse shook her head. “Oh, I’m sure Jack has to get back to Chicago for work. But thank you for the invitation, Mia.”
    Ben looked at him. “Of course, you’re welcome to stay if you’d like, Jack. I can’t say there’ll be much for you to do unless you want to tag along with us. But the guest cottage is yours for the week if you’d like to relax a little longer.”
    “Really, I’m sure he has work,” Elyse insisted, sending Jack a warning look. It was obvious she didn’t want him to stay. But this invitation from Ben was troublesome. Something was changing between Mia’s father and his mother and Jack wasn’t sure he liked the look of it.
    Jack shrugged. “No, I can take some time. I think I would like to stay a little longer. I have some business in L.A. that I can take care of while I’m here.” He turned to Mia. “And I don’t want to miss this dinner you’re going to cook for all of us.”
    “Great,” Ben said. “So, I guess we’ll leave the two of you to your shopping and we’ll get on with our winery tour.” He grabbed Elyse’s hand and drew her along with him. “You two have a pleasant day. Enjoy yourselves.”
    They vanished almost as fast as they appeared, leaving Jack and Mia standing in the middle of a crowd. “Do you get the sense that they really didn’t want us tagging along with them?” Jack asked.
    “Yeah,” Mia said. “I think they wanted to be alone.”
    “What do you think that means?”
    Mia glanced over at him. “I don’t know. But I can’t imagine it will be good for either one of us.”

4
    M IA SAT ON THE EDGE OF the pool and watched as Jack swam from one end to the other. When he popped up in front of her, he grabbed her bare foot and gave it a kiss.
    “Don’t tease me,” she said.
    “You like it.”
    They’d left the farmer’s market and drove directly back to the house, Mia no longer interested in shopping for the dinner she’d planned. Her father’s invitation to Elyse had changed everything. She could certainly rationalize a weekend get-together between two friends, but this was different. It was clear her father had more than friendship in mind.
    And what about Jack? Exactly what were his intentions? Though she’d been the one to actually offer the invitation to him, she’d never thought he’d accept. She’d hoped. And when he had, Mia was forced to wonder why. Was he staying to keep an eye on his mother? Or was he staying to spend more time with her?
    “Are we going to talk about this?” Mia asked.
    “What?” he asked. “My growing obsession with your beautiful feet? Or my need to undress you