Autumn laughed at Spring’s flat statement. “I should have known that’s what you’d say.”
“I’m not kidding. He sounds perfect!”
“Not perfect, but damn close.” Autumn ran her fingers through her hair and winced. “And that’s what scares the hell out of me. I think he deserves a whole lot more than what I can give him.”
“You are in love!” Spring exclaimed. “You’re worried about whether you’re good enough for him! Believe me, Autumn, you are. He’d be lucky to have you.”
“And you’re just a bit prejudiced,” Autumn answered fondly. “You’re family.”
“True. And I love you. “I’ll bet Jeff does, too. I can’t wait to meet him.”
“Could we talk about something else for a while?” Autumn asked weakly. “This conversation is making me nervous.”
Spring chuckled. “Come into my room, Sis. I’ve got something to give you.”
Curious, Autumn followed her sister from the room, still uncertain about her feelings for Jeff but somehow comforted by having shared her concerns with Spring.
“STOP LOOKING AT ME like that, Babs. I told you I missed you. Believe me, you wouldn’t have enjoyed Arkansas this time. You’d have frozen your fuzzy little tail off.” Autumn kept up a running conversation with the dog tagging at her heels as she unpacked, neatly putting away her clothing and Christmas presents. “Besides, Emily told me that you had a great time visiting her and Ryan. I’ll bet you’re spoiled rotten now.”
Closing the last drawer of her bedroom chest, she stretched and looked contentedly around the room. It was good to be home. She chuckled as she glanced at the pillows of her bed, where a large, ragged stuffed bear reclined regally, appearing quite pleased with himself, although his orange fur was a bit mangy-looking and he was missing one ear. Winnie the Pooh had been the “something” that Spring had given Autumn the day before after their conversation about Jeff. The bear had belonged to Spring as a child, then had been passed down to Summer and Autumn in turn. Autumn had been quite attached to the bear, dragging him around for years by the now-missing ear. On a whim, she’d given the stuffed toy to Summer when Summer had moved to San Francisco. Summer had declared her intention of moving to a city where she knew absolutely no one as a means of recovering her self-sufficiency after her accident, and Autumn sent Pooh along to keep her sister company.
Spring had received the bear at the end of her twelve-day visit to California in March. Knowing that Spring was leaving with a broken heart after a quarrel with Clay, Summer had impulsively sent Pooh home with her older sister. And now Spring had completed the cycle again, returning
the old toy to the youngest Reed sister.
“I think he brings good luck,” Spring had said gravely, though her violet eyes had sparkled with amusement at the whimsical ceremony. “And he makes a great confidant.”
The gesture had appealed to Autumn’s sense of humor, and she’d obligingly brought the bear home with her. Besides, she thought, patting the worn fuzzy head, she’d missed old Pooh. Babs tended to get restless if squeezed too tightly, though she was definitely the better conversationalist.
Smiling to herself, Autumn realized that her visit home had been good for her. She had her sense of humor back, she was well rested and she had finally come to a decision about Jeff. She was going to make the move that he was waiting for her to make. She’d never be comfortable leaving the situation between them unresolved. Keeping some distance between them for a few weeks had put her attraction for him back in perspective, she thought confidently. He was handsome, entertaining, amusing. There was no reason at all for her to avoid him when both of them wanted to be together—for now.
She glanced at the telephone, then quickly decided to wait a few hours before calling him. “Coward,” she accused herself under her breath as she wandered into her kitchen to see if there was anything in the cabinets that she could have for dinner.
She had just closed the door to her discouragingly empty refrigerator—she’d cleaned it out before leaving—when her doorbell chimed.
“Jeff I” She really hadn’t expected to find him on her doorstep. The last she’d heard, it had been her move. And suddenly she wasn’t sure she was ready to make it. Oh, God, he looked wonderful, she thought on a silent wail. All her brave resolutions about keeping her attraction to him in perspective shattered into mental fragments, leaving her defenseless against him. All she could do was look at him, so tall and tanned and strong in the porch light, and fight the urge to throw herself into his arms and beg him to make love with her.
“Hi.” Jeff turned one of his heart-stopping smiles on her, his eyes just a bit wary as they watched her so intently. His hands were in the pockets of the denim jacket he wore with a white Oxford shirt and jeans, his feet spread apart as if he were prepared for anything. She wondered if he were that uncertain of his reception. “I know I should have called first, but when I drove by and saw your lights on, I couldn’t resist stopping.”
“Come in, Jeff,” Autumn invited him, moving back to give him room to pass her. She glanced down quickly at her own green sweater and gray slacks, relieved to see that they had traveled well. She resisted the impulse to lift a hand to her hair, knowing that her French braid was still quite neat. “You, uh, you just happened to be passing by?” she asked skeptically, leaning back against the door.
His mouth twisted into a self-mocking smile. “Every day for the past week,” he answered quietly. “I wasn’t sure when you’d be back.” He paused for a moment, then added, “I missed you, Autumn.”
“I, uh…” She swallowed. “Sit down, Jeff. Can I get you anything? I haven’t been to the grocery store yet, but I can make coffee.”
“No, thanks.” Still watching her closely, he took a step toward her and then another, until he stood only inches away from her. “Did you have a nice vacation?”
“Yes.” Her voice was little more than a whisper as her body reacted to his proximity by jumping into overdrive, heart pounding, breath quickening, palms dampening. She tried to keep the conversation polite and unthreatening, though she felt as if she were fighting a losing battle. “Did you enjoy the holidays?”
Jeff lifted a hand to her face, fingertips tracing the line of her jaw from ear to chin. “As much as possible without having you with me,” he replied softly, so close now that she could almost feel his breath on her flushed skin. “I thought of you constantly. I wanted you with me at Christmas, singing carols and opening presents. And I wanted to kiss you at midnight to welcome in the New Year. Did you think of me while you were gone, Autumn?”
She was unable to answer with less than complete honesty. “I thought of you. A lot.”
He raised his other hand so that her face was cupped tenderly within his palms. “And?” he prompted.
“And I missed you.” She sighed, her gaze locked with his. “I didn’t come to any great decision about us, Jeff. I’m still not ready to make promises or commitments, but I know that I don’t want to stop seeing you. Not yet.”
A flicker of emotion in his eyes told her that he wasn’t quite satisfied with her answer, but he suppressed it almost immediately. He touched his lips to her forehead. “I guess that’ll have to do for now. It’s enough—almost—that you did miss me during these past few weeks. They’ve been the longest weeks of my life, Autumn. I told you I’d let you make the next move, but I couldn’t stay away any longer.”