Page 25 of Fake-Off with Fate (Love in Maple Falls #1)

ASHLYN

Having dinner with Jamie feels like the most natural thing in the world.

His presence is comforting and highly disconcerting at the same time.

I’ve obviously felt attraction for the men I’ve dated in the past, but I’ve never felt as drawn to them as I am to Jamie.

Note to self, Ashlyn: You are not dating Jamie Hayes. He is your friend.

“So, tell me about this mysterious call,” I say.

Opening his food container, Jamie transfers his fish and chips to the plate in front of him. “I just got off the phone with Allegra.”

My fork stops halfway to my mouth. “Really? Did you call her, or did she call you?”

“She called me.”

“Why?”

He tips his head from side to side before answering. “She said she’s taking a break from the guy she left me for. She wants to see me.”

Even though I think Allegra was an idiot to leave Jamie, I can fully understand how she could want him back. However, I’m not thrilled about it. “Wow. What are you going to do? ”

“I’m obviously not going to see her,” he says. “Why? Do you think I should?”

“I … um … well …” I absolutely don’t think he should see her, but I’m also beginning to wonder if Jamie might be starting to have romantic feelings for me. Just like I’m having for him. Which is not good and the only reason I tell him, “I don’t see how it could hurt anything.”

He looks up at me with shock in his big blue eyes. “Why would I bother? I’m not a big enough idiot to consider taking her back. You don’t think I should take her back, do you?”

I put my first bite of fish into my mouth and chew it slowly before swallowing. Then I take a sip of water. “You told me yourself there’s a part of you that will always love Allegra.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I can forgive her.” He looks appalled at the very notion.

“Love is weird,” I tell him. “Take my parents. My mom felt like my dad never made her a priority and because of that she was going to leave him. Even though Allegra left you for a billionaire, you even admitted that you didn’t make enough time for your relationship with her.

If that’s true, it’s easy to see that she didn’t feel like a priority …

” I let the rest of the thought dangle in the air.

“I did say that, but I still have a shred of self-respect left. And unlike your parents, Allegra and I were never married.”

I’m actually happy he doesn’t want to see her, but that doesn’t mean we can let anything more develop between us. Even though my stay here has been extended, I am still going to leave Maple Falls. “I should introduce you to my neighbor, Clara,” I tell him.

He looks confused. “Why?”

“She’s a lovely single mother of two.” After a beat, I add, “She’s doing the social media for the Ice Breakers.”

“I thought I made it clear that I wasn’t looking.” He sounds mad.

“But if you’re truly not interested in getting back together with Allegra, then why not date a nice woman who lives right in the same town that you do?”

He cocks an eyebrow and his gaze turns intense. “I’m dating you . At least according to the press. How would it look if I started two-timing you with someone else?”

I hadn’t thought about that. “I could introduce you now, and then after I go home, you could ask Clara out.” Even as I say this, I feel raw jealousy explode in my gut. I don’t want Jamie to date Clara. I don’t want him to date anyone.

Jamie pushes back from the table. His forearms flex as he crosses his arms across his hockey shirt. “I’ve already met Clara.”

“Really?”

“As you mentioned, she’s doing social media for the Ice Breakers, and I’m the captain of that team.”

“Oh, yeah.” I giggle nervously. “That makes sense.” Then I ask, “She’s nice, right?”

He shrugs. “I guess. But she certainly isn’t giving off single vibes. I think she might already have someone.”

“Oh.” We still haven’t gotten together so I don’t know her story.

“As far as the world is concerned,” he reminds me, “I’m dating you. And now that you’re going to be staying in Maple Falls for a longer time, I would like to ask you to please be my plus one at the Ice Breakers Inaugural Ball.”

The thought of going to a ball with Jamie makes my skin tingle with possibility. “When is it?”

“Next week, on the fourteenth.”

While I’m hoping my parents will be home by then, that doesn’t seem realistic now that they’re about to be caught in the middle of a hurricane. Even so, I say, “What if I’m back in LA by then?”

“I suppose I could hire you to come home for the night and go to the ball with me.”

“Hire me? That makes it sound like I’m some kind of escort.” I’m trying to sound offended but even so, I can’t help but wonder what it would be like to dance in Jamie’s arms.

“It’s nothing seedy like that,” he says. “Merely an offer to pay you for your time and travel. I would do the same for my sister if I asked her to be my plus-one.”

I suddenly feel less flattered by the invitation. “You have a sister?” I ask. As much time as Jamie and I have spent together, I’m realizing I still don’t know much about his personal life.

“I do. Her name is Jasmine.”

Still smarting at the comparison with his sibling, I ask, “Then why don’t you invite her?” I dig into my coleslaw while he thinks about it.

“Because I’m supposed to be dating you. And now that Allegra is single again, I don’t want the press speculating about whether we’ll get back together.”

“Huh.” I finish the bite in my mouth before telling him, “ If I’m still here, I’ll go with you.”

“And if you’ve gone back to LA?”

“Then I’ll be working and won’t be able to take any more time off.” The real reason is that if I’ve left Maple Falls, I don’t see the wisdom in letting myself fall more for Jamie than I already have.

He reaches his hand across the table and gently takes my hand in his. He gives it a light shake. “You have yourself a deal.”

After we finish eating, Jamie and I head into the family room. I turn the TV on and sit down on the opposite side of the couch from him.

The news broadcast starts out like they all do, predicting doom and gloom and terrible outcomes. I do my best to remember that hurricanes change course all the time. Yet even though I try to keep positive, the newscast gets more and more discouraging by the minute.

After an hour of this, the announcer says, “Hurricane Bartholomew has reached over four hundred miles across with wind speeds topping two hundred miles per hour. Folks, we have not seen a storm this size in over a decade. The last one that was even close was Hurricane Patricia in 2015. The only reason that one didn’t cause more damage is because it hit an isolated part of Mexico.

Conversely, Bartholomew is on a collision course for Barbados. The outcome could be catastrophic.”

The anchor pauses as though trying to collect himself before adding, “If you’re a person of faith, I think it would be fair to suggest you take a moment to offer a prayer for those poor people who are about to get the walloping of a lifetime.”

My body collapses in on itself like I’m melting into the sofa. Jamie immediately scoots over until we’re sitting with our sides pressed against each other. Then he puts his arm around me and holds me close. “They’re going to be okay,” he soothes.

For the briefest of moments, I don’t think. I just snuggle into him and feel the heat emanate from his body. The sensation is pure heaven, so I let myself relish in his strength. Unfortunately, panic returns quickly.

“You don’t know they’re going to be okay,” I tell him. “They might be hurt. But even if they make it through the storm, they have to survive for God knows how long and in what kind of conditions until help arrives.”

“I don’t think your parents’ fate is to die in a hurricane. Especially when the whole reason they went away was to save their marriage.”

I turn toward him so quickly, I nearly head butt him. “You believe in fate?”

“I don’t not believe in it.” He explains, “It’s hard to think that everything happens by random chance.”

“Do you think you coming to Maple Falls was your fate?”

He looks pensive before answering, “I don’t know. All I know is that I would have never moved here had Allegra not left me. Not only that, but the hockey player I’ve loathed most in my career is on my team, and I learned that the reason I’ve disliked him was based on an inaccuracy.”

“So, you think you were meant to come here?”

“I met you, didn’t I? Making a new friend seems like something that might have been written in the stars.” The twinkle in his eyes causes goosebumps to pop up all over my body.

As terrified as I am for my parents, Jamie is making me feel better. “I suppose that’s possible,” I tell him.

“Why would fate put me through a break-up, and reunite me with someone I’ve vowed to avoid only to harm my new friend’s parents?”

“You make fate sound like it’s an intelligent force.”

He thinks for a moment before explaining, “We all have different beliefs, but I think that we get to choose the people who come into our lives before we come here. I don’t think every action and outcome is known, but I think we give ourselves the opportunity to achieve the best result for ourselves. ”

Our conversation is taking a philosophical turn.

I like knowing Jamie is a deep thinker, even though it surprises me at the same time.

Not because I don’t think he’s smart, I just never think of professional athletes as ponderers of life.

For clarification, I ask, “You think when we were still in heaven, you and I sat down and decided to be friends in this life?”

“Why not?” he asks.

“And you think our friendship is worth losing Allegra for?”

He exhales loudly before answering, “I think that maybe Allegra has chosen something different for herself.”

“Maybe she’s changing her mind,” I offer. “If you thought enough of her to stay with her for three years, maybe she’s worth fighting for.” I probably shouldn’t have said that out loud, because the more time I spend with Jamie, the more I find myself composing scenarios where we can be together.

“I guess it’s possible.” He doesn’t sound like he believes it though.

“It’s in line with your belief system,” I tell him. “You think we bring people into our worlds by design but what happens between us when we get here is up in the air.”

“I think,” he says as he pulls me closer, “that we still have freedom of choice, but within the confines of some basic parameters. It’s kind of like fate but without being cut and dry.”

If that’s so, then it’s possible for something more to happen between me and Jamie. But it’s also possible he’ll get back with Allegra. Either way, I decide, “Maybe whatever happens to my parents is their fate and has nothing to do with me.”

“Exactly,” he says. “We’re all our own people and we all have our own agendas. They just overlap throughout our journeys.”

Resting my head against his shoulder, I tell him, “I sure hope my parents have a happy ending to their journey. This hurricane may not be my fault, but I don’t think I could live with myself if something bad happened to them.”

“Then let’s decide nothing bad will happen to them. Let’s send them all the positive energy we can.”

“You mean pray?”

“Prayer, energy, call it whatever you want. No matter the name, it’s all positive.”

With my head still leaning on my new friend, I silently ask God to protect my parents and all the other people on the island.

I ask Him to help Maple Falls stay the lovely town it’s always been.

As a final boon, I ask that He help guide me in my life so that I might find my own happy ending.

If that ending includes Jamie Hayes, all the better.