Free The Long Journey to Jake Palmer by James L. Rubart Page B

deep, deep, there’s an answer there, I promise you.” She paused and poked him lightly in the arm with a forefinger whose nail was bright yellow. “And I want to hear it.”
    Jake stared at the woman’s expectant eyes and tried not to laugh. She nodded and he realized she wouldn’t stop till he gave her an answer.
    “Sunflowers?”
    “Oooooooooo! Are you serious? You can’t be serious, but I know you are! Sunflowers are mine too!” Maggie bounced in her seat and glanced back and forth between Jake and Peter. “Yes, yes, yes! Can you believe that? Can you? Can you?”
    “No, I can’t.”
    She turned to Peter and punched him in the arm. “Stick me with a pin if you don’t think that’s the most wonderful dollop of sugar you’ve ever tasted!” She laughed again. “But not too hard with that pin. Ha!”
    Jake endured another ten minutes before he excused himself, leaving the woman with a look on her face that seemed to say, “Aren’t you going to ask for my hand in blessed matrimony first?”
    “Peter, I’ll call you tonight.”
    When he reached Peter that evening, Jake muttered, “I’m going to kill you.”
    “She gets nervous meeting men.”
    “I’m going to maim you first.”
    “She’s not usually like that. Really. That was weird. I’ve never seen her like that. If you give her a chance—”
    “You let her sell for you? You let her represent your company?”
    “Probably not for long. I didn’t hire her. But—”
    “Please tell me that was a joke, setting me up with her. You really thought I’d like her?”
    “Like I said, she got nervous. I didn’t expect that and it was over the top, but—”
    “She was a wacko. Like all the rest.”
    “Not the one that you met last month. She was cool. You guys truly connected, didn’t you? Tell me I was wrong with her. And what about the one four months back? Are you telling me you didn’t like her either?”
    It was true. Both of those women were interesting and Jake had liked them. But it didn’t matter what he thought of them, or even what they thought of him.
    “It makes not the slightest difference if any of them are great, not great, weird, not weird, or somewhere in between, I’m not going to date ever again. You know this. You know why.”
    “You gotta get over that.”
    “Until you’ve lived it, don’t judge it. You can’t imagine.”
    “I’m just trying to help. Get you to have some fun. Get back on the dating circuit.”
    “Not going to happen.”
    “Ever?”
    “ Ding! I think he’s got it, folks. Ever. Next time you’re tempted to go Jake stalking with a woman in tow, repeat this phrase: ‘Jake is never going to date again. King Arthur will return to Britain before Jake gets into a relationship, so I’m not going to try to set him up ever again.’ Got it?”
    “Got it.”
    “You promise you’ll never do this to me again, right?”
    “I swear.”
    Deep down, Jake appreciated Peter’s persistence. God said it wasn’t good for man to be alone. Didn’t Jake know it. But unless God had a major renovation plan for his body, he’d be alone for the rest of his life.
    A few weeks later Jake went to Peter’s office to pick him up for a Mariners game. While sitting in the lobby waiting, Jake spied a kayaking magazine, picked it up, and quickly became engrossed in an article about two men and one woman who had shot the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River in less than twelve hours. An incredible accomplishment.
    “Excuse me.”
    The voice sliced through his study of the article, and Jake dropped the magazine to find a striking dark-haired woman in a dark blue and gray skirt gazing down on him, trying not to laugh.
    “Yes?” Jake blinked and caught the look in her eyes. “That’s not the first time you tried to get my attention, is it?”
    “No.” She smiled. Playful green eyes. In an earlier life he would have allowed himself to be attracted to her.
    “I think it was my third attempt to get your attention. Maybe