“No, I’m sorry. I’m looking for a friend who works here.”

“Who are you looking for?”

“His name is Jack Moore.”

The hostess had the oddest expression on her face that Monica had ever seen. “Can you wait here?”

“Sure.”

Maybe Jack had told the friends he worked with about Jessie and they were watching out for him. Monica thought of what her fellow students might do to help if she were in Jack’s shoes.

Monica didn’t have to think about it long before an older woman walked up to her, smiling. “Hi, can I help you?”

“Yeah, I’m looking for Jack. It’s kind of important or I wouldn’t be bothering him at work.” Monica realized that her showing up at his place of employment might look bad for him, so she started to explain herself. “He doesn’t know I’m coming.”

“It’s OK. We’re not as stuffy as we look. What’s your name?”

“Monica. He’ll know me as Jessie’s sister.”

The lady wrote down her name. “Jack isn’t working today, I’m afraid. Why don’t you give me your number and I’ll get him the message.”

“Really? I mean, that’s nice of you.”

“You did say it was important.”

“Right. It is. Very important.” Monica gave her cell number. “Will Jack be in tomorrow?”

The lady seemed puzzled by the question. “I’m not sure. We allow our employees to switch schedules a lot during the holidays. Honestly, I’m really not supposed to reveal personal schedules.”

“Of course. I understand.” Monica held her hand out to shake the other woman’s. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure, Monica. Have a merry Christmas.”

“You too.”

As Monica left the hotel, she was sure a set of eyes watched her leave. For the second time that day, she thought the Christmas spirit had flown over the people of Ontario and they were all just a little too eager to help.

Chapter Fourteen

Jack pushed his horse into a fast run, enjoying the cool air hitting his face. His head cleared for the first time in days. With that clarity, reason and regret wiggled in.

He’d messed up bad with Jessie. He should have kept his trap shut about marriage and given the girl more time for him to grow on her.

Now he needed to figure out a way to climb back into her life without her running away. More than ever, he needed to know if she loved him. Katie seemed to think she did, and Katie hadn’t even met Jessie yet.

“What did she say that made you leave her apartment?” Katie had asked in the plane on the way home to Texas.

“She said it was just sex.” Jack had opened up to his sister.

“And you believed her?”

“What was I to think? She turned me down and told me to leave. To find my dreams with someone else. Someone who didn’t have a kid that would strap me down.”

Katie shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Oh, Jack, you’re a fool. Don’t you see what she did?”

“I saw it clear enough. She said no.”

His kid sister sat forward across the aisle of the Lear and leveled her eyes to his. “When you’re riding Dancer, you think long and hard about what you just told me. Long and hard.”

Sitting on the back of his horse on his father’s Texas ranch gave him plenty of time and silence to think.

Jessie was hurting when she’d told him to leave. Her eyes had glossed over with fear and then her jaw had gone firm with determination. The strong mom gene in her kicked in and she drew her line in the sand. Told him he had pushed too far…too fast.

Yet when she’d given him her reasons for saying no, none of them had to do with the persona he’d presented to her. She didn’t say no because he was a transient waiter in a go-nowhere job. No, she’d told him that he would regret asking her one day. So once again, Jessie had to be the adult and say no.

Only she didn’t need to say no. And she wasn’t the only adult in the relationship.

Jack pushed Dancer to the westernmost part of his father’s property and watched the sun move low on the horizon.

He pictured Jessie wearing a sundress and a smile, laughing in the field…a cowboy hat atop her head.

He and Danny could fish on the riverbank. Did Danny like to fish? Chances were the kid hadn’t had a chance to do that yet.

Jack’s throat started to fill with regret.

He needed to fix this. To make the picture he’d painted in his head come true.

“Is this Monica?” Katie asked when a woman picked up the phone.

“This is. Who’s this?”

“Monica, this is Jack’s sister, Katelyn. I hope you don’t mind, but I hijacked your number and thought I’d give you a call.”

Monica hesitated on the line. “I didn’t know Jack had a sister.”

“A meddling one that he would flip out over if he found out I was calling you.”

Monica laughed; the sound was warm and genuine. “Looks like you and I are both in the prying profession. I went to find Jack yesterday, but the people at his work said he wasn’t there.”

“He needed to clear his head…you know, after.”

“After my fool of a sister turned him down.”

Katie smiled. “It doesn’t sound like my brother was very smooth in his proposal.”

“I wasn’t there. According to Jessie, it was abrupt. Don’t get me wrong, they’ve been flirting around each other for weeks. It’s cute, really. My sister is trying like hell to ignore him, and he’s practically flapping his arms to get her to notice.”