Being Emma (5 page)

“I think that Bud wants us all to learn, so
anyone can do it.” It was a good digital camera and not difficult
to operate. She checked the settings and then looked over at Ethan.
“Stand over by the backdrop and let me get some practice shots.” He
walked over to the white board background and stood
self-consciously for a few minutes while she practiced. He turned
toward the door as Diane walked in.

“Hi Diane… Nice to see you… Um… I’m just
practicing with the passport camera. Could you stand there with
Ethan while I take a few double shots?” Ethan looked puzzled but
Janie flashed him a broad smile.

“Double shots?”

“I’m just getting the feel for the
camera.”

“Okay…” Diane hesitantly stood next to Ethan
who smiled at her.

“A little closer, please,” Janie instructed.
She moved closer. Ethan was actually flattered that Janie wanted to
take a picture of him. She took several shots and then snapped off
the camera.

“I think I’ve got it now.” Ethan walked up to
her.

“Let me see some of the shots when they’re
uploaded, okay?”

“Sure…” He left the room and Janie beamed at
Diane. She was nervous and shy.

“Did you hear how he wanted to see the
pictures of you two? Sounds promising…” Diane blushed.

“You really think so?”

“You bet.” Janie glanced around. “Follow me
out.”

When they had gotten outside, Janie told
Diane her plan.

“It occurred to me how you and Ethan could
meet up again. You remember the birthday party this weekend for my
nephews, right?”

“Right…” Janie leaned in to whisper in
Diane’s ear.

“I invited Ethan to come. We had just made a
great collar on a suspect and it seemed like a good time. We talked
a bit and he said he wasn’t seeing anyone… So… he’ll be there and
you’ll be there and…”

Diane laughed. “We’ll see how the ‘and’ goes,
Janie. You do get an A for effort.” Janie smiled.

“It’ll be fun.” Diane thought about that for
a minute.

“I hope so…”

* * *

Sandy and his brother, Bill, were sitting in
Craig’s office in downtown Naples. As the accountant for the
Johnson Family Trust, Craig helped them every year get ready for
their trip to Las Vegas. Sandy and Bill went annually to meet with
their lawyers involved in the cattle business. Going to Vegas
wasn’t desired, but necessary with the scope of the Johnson
ranching business. Sometimes, Craig went with them. They were going
over various figures and accounts that would be needed for the
trip.

In the middle of their discussions, Sandy
took a good look at Craig. He had known him all his life, but he
looked different for some unknown reason. Tilting his head, Sandy
saw the good-looking man with curly hair in a new light – And he
wasn’t sure why.

Craig glanced up and noticed Sandy’s
look.

“Sandy?”

“There’s something different about you,
Craig. What is it? New suit? New haircut? Something…” Craig
shrugged.

“Ah… nothing I can think of.” Bill
laughed.

“At least he’s not wearing his kilt
today…”

“Ha ha, guys. That’s only in Scotland when I
visit my grandparents.”

“And shoot with the Royal Archers…”

“Well, yeah…”

“Your Scottish heritage is interesting,
Craig. Would you ever want to live there someday?” Craig paused and
thought about that.

“I think I would… But not alone… If I didn’t
bring someone with me, my grandmother would be pissed.”

Bill laughed. “Yeah, it’s not good to piss
off your grandmother.”

Sandy had never heard Craig talk about
settling down before and it gave him pause… Even though Craig had
been best friends with Colt since they were little guys and now
Colt was married with three children. Still Craig had never even
been engaged. Maybe that was it… he was maturing and considering
his future. But then he shook off whatever was distracting him.

“Are you coming to the party for the
grandkids on Saturday? Meg and Carter are coming down.” He laughed.
“I think Lily’s invited half the town. And of course, Jeanne and
Sam will be there. They’ve been asking about you.”

“It’ll be great to see them again. I couldn’t
get free for the grape harvest this year, so I haven’t seen them in
a while.”

“So you’re coming…”

“Sure… How could I miss it?” He smiled.
“Lily’d kill me…”

“That she would, son.” Sandy nodded. “That
she would…”

CHAPTER SIX

The party at the ranch was in full swing by
12:30. It seemed to Janie that most of the town was in the back
yard, mingling and laughing. There were people everywhere… Her
nieces and nephews were running around with several more children
that their family and friends had brought. The gift part hadn’t
happened yet as her dad and brothers were taking turns giving the
children pony rides. She listened to happy little voices as she
made her way back into the house to replenish some of the
snacks.

Pulling out different foods from the pantry
and refrigerator, she poured various good smelling dips into bowls
and loaded others with chips and cut vegetables. Lost in thought,
she remembered something that had happened last night. She had
tossed and turned in bed a lot of the night just thinking about
it…

Janie had arrived home yesterday to visit
with sister Meg and her family who had just driven down from San
Francisco. She loved Meg, found her husband Carter to be a nearly
perfect male and their little daughter, Sofia, to be as cute as she
could be. Yes, she knew Carter probably had a few warts here and
there, but nothing to alert the media about…

The thing that kept her tossing and turning
had occurred right after Meg had put Sofia to bed for the night.
Janie just happened to be standing within view as Carter walked
down the darkened hallway to see if Sofia was asleep. She really
hadn’t planned on staring, but she couldn’t drag her eyes away from
what happened next. Meg came out of the bedroom, closing the door
softly behind her. Carter walked right up to her and she went into
his arms. They stood like that for a minute, then he pulled back a
little, lifted her chin and gazed into her eyes. When he finally
kissed her, Janie could almost feel it too. The first kiss was
tender, but the second was such a deep, steamy one that Janie felt
singed by the heat, even from fifteen feet away. She gasped… Carter
backed Meg up against the door to kiss her deeply again. She
wrapped her arms around Carter’s neck. Then Janie sighed as he
planted little kisses all over Meg’s smiling face before going back
to her lips to give her another one of those incredibly sexy
kisses.

Janie had
then backed up against a wall out of their sight… She had actually
broken out in a sweat. Who was she kidding? – Even if they had seen
her, they wouldn’t have
seen
her.
Was that was it was all about?
What her brothers and sister, mother and father,
and probably grandparents too had all maneuvered through those
treacherous relationship waters for — The Promised Land called
Love? She had taken a deep breath and then a few more. Her
breathing finally quieted… Carter and Meg walked by her then,
gazing happily at one another with arms around each other’s waists.
They still didn’t see her. She knew that from the look of
tenderness on Carter’s face towards her sister that lovemaking
would definitely be happening in their room tonight. She half
envied them… She wondered about that look of love on Carter’s face.
Did she want some man to look at her like that? Hmmm… the Carter
face….

Dragging her thoughts back to the present,
Janie finished replacing the snacks and started taking them
outside. Had a man ever looked at her that way?

Not counting her brothers, father and
grandfather, of course, there was a guy she dated once or twice in
high school. Nope, all he had given her were dopey looks and she
had dropped him. Placing the bowls around on tables outside, she
thought of James at work. No, he gave her only professional looks,
which was fine with her. Then there was Ethan… Huh… He gave her
mysterious looks sometimes. She wasn’t sure what he was thinking
and didn’t really want to find out.

She glanced up and saw Craig talking with
Jesse and Audrey. Music was playing somewhere… Her mind was muddled
with all the different kinds of looks he gave her… Scolding looks…
smiling looks… disappointed looks… sulky looks… resigned looks…
confused looks… other looks she couldn’t identify. She had known
him all her life and yet stood there wondering what he really
thought of her. And why did she care?

Craig saw her looking at him and came over.
She watched the tall, handsome man with curly brown hair and
sparkling eyes walk up to her.

“
Are you
all right? You looked kinda… funny… even for you.” He laughed.
Craig had a nice laugh.
Had she really ever seen him before?
No, but a big No Trespassing
sign immediately appeared above his head. He was too good a friend
to risk losing. She gulped and gathered her wits around
her.

“Yes… fine, thanks. Just hungry.” She smiled
at him. He took her by the hand.

“Come on then.” He smiled at her. “Let’s get
you something to eat.”

And he steered her over to the table where
she had just been working. It was laden with food and he handed her
a plate. “Fill ‘er up.” She laughed…

Across
the patio, Jeanne and Sam were talking with Sheriff Moody and his
wife. Being an observant grandmother, Jeanne was always one of the
first to notice subtle changes in her grandchildren. She noticed
one now… She had watched as Janie came back outside reloading the
table with food. And then she watched as she stood distractedly
looking around, obviously deep in thought… When Janie honed in on
Craig and he had looked back at her, Jeanne’s antenna went
up.
Oh
my
, she thought.
Something was, indeed, afoot. As Craig and Janie sat down to eat,
Jeanne dragged herself back into the conversation Sam was having
with Bud about his latest winemaking efforts. She would definitely
have to keep her ears and eyes open…

* * *

Jeanne
wasn’t the only one watching Janie… Ethan too had had his eye on
her most of the afternoon. He had spoken to her briefly here and
there, but had never really had a conversation with her. Once she
tried to get him to talk to Diane.
Diane?
Why would he want to talk to her? Not his cup of
tea…

He was hoping to catch her alone sometime.
Diane sat down by Janie and Craig for a while and then Craig got up
to help Colt with the pony rides. He watched Janie and Diane walk
into the house together. Ethan guessed that Diane was leaving…

Walking into the house, he caught Janie
alone. She had just closed the door after saying goodbye to Diane.
Ethan gathered his courage and walked up to her.

“Could I talk to you for a minute?” She was
startled to see him there. His eyes looked too bright.

“Sure. What’s up?” He stepped closer to
her.

“I know why you invited me here today.”

“…Okay… Why?”

“Because I think you like me. You must know
that I like you…” She took a step back. Closing her eyes, the
conversation with Craig at the archery range came back to her with
a vengeance. Crap… she hadn’t see this coming…

“Wait a minute, Ethan.” He stepped closer to
her. She put up her hands to block his advances. “You’ve got the
wrong idea here.”

“I don’t think so. We work so well together
and you wanted to take my picture that day at the station. Now this
invitation… I think you’ve finally noticed that I have feelings for
you.”

She nearly choked. “Ethan… Boy, are there
some mixed signals here.”

He stepped in again and this time she blocked
him more emphatically with her hands.

“I don’t think so…”

“Well, I know so. I wanted you to notice
Diane… To take Diane out.”

He blinked at her in complete surprise. “Why
in the world would I want to do that?”

“Why not?”

“Because she’s not my type. I haven’t given
her a moment’s thought. You’re my type, Janie. And I think I’m
yours.” He started moving again.

“If you come any closer, I swear I’ll flip
you on the floor.” That stopped him – He knew she could do it.

“Are you saying you’re not interested in
me?”

“Not romantically. I’m sorry you got that
impression… I was just hoping you and Diane would go out.”

Ethan coughed and sputtered. “… So not going
to happen.” He looked into her face. “But not you and me
either?”

“No… not at all…”

He walked to the front door and opened
it.

“Ethan?” He turned around.

“I hope this doesn’t affect our working
relationship. Honestly, I never meant to lead you on…” He laughed
and angrily walked out the door. Janie stood there alternately
wringing her hands and being pissed. Lily came in the back door
then and saw her.

“Sweetie, you okay?” Janie shook her head and
shakily sat down in one of the family room chairs. All the air
seemed to whoosh out of her lungs. “Janie?”

“Oh, Mom… It’s even obvious to me now how
little I know about some things.” Lily laughed and sat down by her.
She took one of her hands to keep her from twisting them into a
pretzel.

“Tell me…”

And Janie told her the whole story from Diane
to Ethan… from Meg and Carter to Craig… And then back to Ethan. It
took a while and Lily thought she might even cry in a few parts.
She certainly seemed contrite.

Lily blew
out a breath. “
Whew
… I always
guessed that Meg and Carter’s relationship was passionate – Glad to
hear I was right.” She looked at her youngest daughter. She had
lovely eyes and full lips, and probably never had been concerned
about how pretty she really was. Nor had it registered when men
noticed her.