Free Wrecked (Stories of Serendipity #8): #8 by Anne Conley

quality. It was odd. The Jessie Renae had always known had been sort of a bad ass, love ‘em and leave ‘em kind of girl before she’d met Connor. Now she was experimenting with her softer side.
    Renae smiled absently. “You’re lucky to have him around.” She didn’t want to point out the obvious contrasts to her own life, as it was something Jessie had actually been around for. Renae had gone to school with Jessie, albeit several grades ahead of her. In fact, Renae had babysat Jessie a time or two, and they’d been friends until Renae had gotten married and eschewed friendships for the married life she thought would be perfect. Then, when Cody had been killed in the car accident, some of her friends had come out of the woodwork to support her in her time of need, but she’d been so distracted by raising Kelly that she hadn’t really done much to let them.
    Her life had ended up so different from her friends’ lives. She found she couldn’t relate to anyone anymore. And seeing them fulfill her own dreams of college and satisfying careers had been too difficult to stomach when she was younger. Jessie was one of the few who’d tried to understand her motivations behind her reclusiveness and stuck by her anyway.
    Jessie had set the timer for the curds to form and laid out the rest of the supplies to finish the cheese. “I’ve got a man bringing his elderly dad out for a tour of the farm this afternoon. He’s trying to find things to interest the old guy. You probably know them. Mr. O’Niel? He runs the mailbox place downtown? I was hoping we’d be finished by the time they got here, but they’ll be here any minute.”
    “That’s okay. I think I know what to do after this. I cut the curd with that knife and pull it out with that strainer thing then put it in the cheesecloth?”
    “Yeah, pretty much.” Jessie cocked her head sideways. “I think that’s them.” She wiped her hands on her apron. “Let it set about five more minutes and it should be ready to cut.” As she went outside to greet the car that had driven up, Renae peeked out the kitchen window to see the son Mr. O’Niel had told her about so many times.
    A gasp escaped her throat as she saw a familiar brown head emerge from the driver’s side of the Buick sedan. She could see Mr. O’Niel sitting in the passenger seat, a vacant smile on his face, but what completely stole her attention was Jason in a pair of jeans and his worn out motorcycle boots climbing out to shake Jessie’s hand.
    Her memory hadn’t been playing tricks on her. He was still as good-looking as she’d imagined. Reminding her of the way he looked when she’d hit his motorcycle, his hair was messy, as if he’d recently showered and just ran his hands through it. His piercing blue eyes surveyed the farmhouse as he ambled around the car to the trunk to get out a wheel chair and rolled it around to help his dad out.
    He was wearing a brown t-shirt stretched taut over muscles Renae had traced with her fingertips on that fateful night, watching them ripple as she tickled them. Now, her fingers clenched with the desire to repeat the process. Jason started pushing the wheelchair behind Jessie as they made their way to the house, and Renae was suddenly filled with panic.
    He wasn’t supposed to be here. He had gone back to Houston. Renae wasn’t supposed to ever see him again. She had to tell him she was pregnant, but she still hadn’t figured out how.
    Heart thudding in her chest, Renae quietly let herself out the back door as Jessie led them in the front. She looked around for a hiding place, realizing immediately the childishness of it all. She should just face him, but in all the ways she had imagined telling him, in front of his dad and her friend weren’t a possibility. And with the inevitability at the forefront of her mind, not telling him wasn’t possible. It would probably be the first words out of her mouth.
    Renae ducked past the windows lining the porch and