Part 1
As soon as Jackson closed the door behind him, Jenna turned on her friend. As usual, Trista ignored her while she called Blaine to inform him of their new plans. Jenna resigned herself to the setup and went up stairs to put on a touch more make-up.
In the car, Trista had insisted that she sit in the back and that Jackson drive. Jenna had given him the directions to the restaurant while Trista kept up a steady stream of chatter. No one was better at small talk than Trista.
Jenna did her best to hide her unease when they arrived at the restaurant and found Blaine already seated at a booth instead of a table, clearly on orders from Trista. Relief flooded through her when no one else noticed. The conversation started without hesitation.
“Hello, I’m Blaine Rainier. I heard you moved in the condo above Trista.”
“Jackson Caldwell. It’s good to meet you,” he answered with a nod.
Jenna watched the two men shake hands while they let the women take their seats. It always struck her as odd that Blaine was the man with whom her friend decided to get serious. He had light brown hair, green eyes and didn’t look a day over 35, despite that he was about to turn 40. While she didn’t know exactly how tall he was, Jenna reasoned he couldn’t be much taller than 5’6” since he didn’t seem to be all that much taller than she. Jenna always thought he was nice and it was obvious he truly cared for Trista, but her friend had never been the sort to made the safe bet with her heart. That was always Jenna’s specialty.
After they all placed their drink orders Jackson said, “I appreciate all of you being so nice to me. Besides the people I work for, I only know one other person in the area.”
“That’s my Trista.” Blaine put an affectionate arm around her shoulders.
“So Jackson, what brought you into the area?” Trista asked after the drinks came and everyone ordered their meal.
“I’m a consultant with Innovative Management Consulting. I got transferred in from D.C.”
“That must be a change,” Trista said.
“It’s not too bad. The weather is the main difference, but I can do my job from anywhere with a computer and a modem.”
“Do you work from home, too?” Blaine asked.
“Most of the time in the beginning of a new assignment I do. Who else works from home?”
“Jenna does,” Trista volunteered.
“Really? What do you do, Jenna?” Jackson turned to face her.
Jenna took a sip of her iced tea before she responded. “I write Children’s books.”
“Why Children’s books?” Jackson asked. That he asked the question didn’t surprise her in the slightest. She got it all of the time.
“They’re easier to write than full-fledged novels. The plots are less complex and you only effectively write a fraction of the material of adult fiction. Plus, the demand is there.”
“That sounds interesting.”
“It isn’t.” Jenna was ready to have the attention off of her. Truth be told, Jackson’s attention was making her nervous. “If you want excitement, you should talk to Blaine. He owns a night club not far from here.”
“Really?” Jackson sounded interested.
“My place is called Blaine’s Rain. I know it isn’t very original, what with my last name being Rainier and all, but it seems to be popular with the twenty-something crowd. You should come by and check it out sometime. Lots of single women come out.”
To Jenna, it looked as though that comment made Jackson uncomfortable.
“I think I will come by, but I don’t really enjoy the dating scene.”
“It must bother your girlfriend, huh?”
Jenna could have kicked Trista for her obviousness.
“I suppose it would if I had one.”
Trista’s jaw dropped in feigned surprise before she asked, “How is it no one has snagged a polite guy like you yet?”
“Not interested, I guess,” Jackson replied.
“I can’t imagine that would be the reason. Why don’t you like the dating scene, Jackson?” Trista continued.
Jenna was fuming now.
“I don’t know. There’s something about going out to some bar to pick up women that seems cheap. No offense, Blaine.”
“None taken, but how do you expect to meet anyone if you aren’t putting yourself out there?”
“It’s happened before. I’m sure it can happen again,” Jackson answered as dinner arrived.
© 2009, Sydney Katt. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use of content will result in dragon attacks.
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Good deal, babe. You’ll be glad to know I’ve just scheduled the chapters for the next two weeks and there’s definitely some stuff you’ve never read.
Just wanted to let you know I’m here refreshing my memory