The Promise of Rainbows Read Free Page A

hoped he would ask her out, but he hadn’t. And he’d reached for her hand again after asking her to be his decorator.
    Obviously, there was some sort of connection between them—one he wanted to fight, for whatever reason. He lowered his hand slowly, and her throat squeezed down to the size of a pea. The laugh he uttered was as strained as a preacher confessing his sins to his congregation.
    “The whole ‘hold your hand thing’ between us is weird, right?” he asked and then coughed, looking away from her.
    “Jake—”
    “Ignore what I just did—and said.” He turned on the heel of his caramel-colored cowboy boots and took off in the direction of the house. “Let me show you around.”
    Suddenly it was difficult to breathe, but she slung her purse and the strap of her thin leather briefcase over her shoulder and followed him, schooling her features and praying her heart rate would calm down. She took her time, walking in slow, easy steps, trying to mirror her breathing.
    He was waiting for her by the side of the house, and from behind, she could see how tense his back muscles were through his shirt. Since it clearly wasn’t an option to talk about what had just happened, she gave him a simple smile when he glanced at her.
    “Tell me what you have in mind for the house,” she said in her best professional tone. “I’ll share my thoughts later, and we can forge a joint vision.”
    “You sound like your brother when we write songs together,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.
    It was undoubtedly easier for her brother, a lawyer and songwriter, to collaborate with Jake—he didn’t have to balance his professional duties with this … tension . “J.P. knows how to collaborate. I’d like to think it’s because he grew up as the only boy in a family with four women.”
    They started walking down a flagstone path lined with copper garden lights. Tammy had created curved beds that hugged the path before opening up in the backyard. A stone fountain dominated the open space, surrounded by a ring of stones flanked by dormant rose bushes.
    “Your daddy wasn’t around growing up, as I recall,” Jake said when they reached the fountain.
    “No,” she replied, wishing he wouldn’t breach this topic. It was too personal, particularly given this strange tension between them. “He left when I was four. I didn’t expect you to have a fountain.”
    Jake shrugged. “I really like water. I think it’s from all the time I spent in the desert.”
    He didn’t need to tell her what desert he meant. She wouldn’t press; if he wanted to talk about it, he would.
    “I’m surprised to see the fountains working in January,” she commented.
    “I turn them on when the weather heats up, like it has lately. So long as it’s not freezing at night, I can’t bust the pipes. And we don’t often hit freezing temps anyway.”
    That was certainly true. Ice storms or snow showers were as rare as a blue moon here in Tennessee. “Would you like a water feature inside the house? We could incorporate something if you’d like.”
    Looking back in the direction of the house, he narrowed his eyes in thought. “I hadn’t thought about that. I’d love to hear what you have in mind.”
    “Consider it done.” She added that item to her mental list.
    More beds lined the sides of his property to break up the expanse of lawn. Even though she didn’t know all the names, she identified some Cypress trees and Japanese maples. Adirondack chairs and wooden benches rested in strategic locations to allow enjoyment of the marvelous views. Unlike her brother’s property, the expanse of Dare River was visible from Jake’s house.
    “You’re lucky to have such an amazing view of the water,” she said as they continued walking across the cushiony lawn.
    “I mentioned that I like water,” he joked. It was still there, though, that thread of tension in his voice.
    She almost reached out to rub his back, but she knew it would be the