A Better Reason to Fall in Love Read online

  “Flanders. Tabitha Flanders,” Tabby told him.

  “We call him Professor Lowery,” David teasingly corrected.

  “Oh, yes. I’m sorry,” Tabby said, smiling at the professor. “It’s nice to meet you, Professor Lowery.”

  “‘Mr.’ is just fine, Miss Flanders,” Professor Lowery chuckled as he sat back down.

  “And you know Jagger, right?” David asked.

  “Mm hmm,” Tabby managed, forcing herself to make eye contact with the purpose of her visit to the gift shop.

  “Hi,” Jagger greeted. His dazzling smile caused Tabby’s heart to leap and to hammer inside her chest. Still, she attempted to appear unaffected. Yet he was so gorgeous—so affecting to every physical and emotional sense she owned—Tabby couldn’t begin to calm her sudden breathlessness.

  “So…you know the guy who works here diving off the cliffs?” David asked. “That one that was just at your table?”

  “Mm hmm,” Tabby answered, disappointed that it had been David who had addressed her. Everyone in the office knew that once David Lowery started talking, nobody else could get a word in.

  “Well, it turns out our Jagger here knows him too,” David announced. “Right, man?”

  “Yeah,” Jagger said. Tabby’s stomach began to quiver as she glanced back to Jagger Brodie to see he was still looking at her.

  “Really?” Tabby managed. She wanted to run, to escape, to flee, to fly, to jump over the railing into the pool at the bottom of the cliffs—anything to pull herself from the uncomfortable situation. She was going to kill Emmy! Jocelyn and Naomi too!

  “I used to work with him,” Jagger answered.

  “Ask him where he used to work with the guy, Tabby,” David prodded. He chuckled. Josh Woodburn chuckled too.

  Shaking his head, Jagger didn’t wait for Tabby to pose the question. He simply explained, “I worked with him in Phoenix over the summers while I was in college.”

  “Really?” was the only response Tabby could manage. She knew she sounded like an idiot, and she knew Emmy, Jocelyn, and Naomi were watching with pure delight.

  “Dude!” David said to Tabby then. “Jagger worked with him all right…at a gig just like this…as a naked cliff diver in the same kind of restaurant!”

  Tabby knew the smile on her face was far broader than it should be—that the pure, delicious delight she felt inside was too obvious in her expression. Jagger Brodie, a cliff diver? The thought and the images it provoked were absolutely fantastic!

  “Really?” she asked a third time, feeling her smile broaden even further. She thought for a moment that Jagger Brodie would think she didn’t know any word other than really.

  “Yeah,” Jagger said, turning his attention back to his menu. “His uncle owned a place just like this, and he gave us summer jobs. I worked days as lifeguard at the local pool and nights as a cliff diver at the restaurant.”

  “That’s how the guy here got this place going,” David said. “His uncle’s restaurant in Phoenix did so well, the dude opened this one.”

  “You mean Armando owns the restaurant?” Tabby interjected. She was astonished. Jocelyn’s cliff diver was actually the Acapulco’s owner?

  Jagger shrugged broad shoulders as he looked back to her. “Yeah. It’s crazy, huh?”

  “Dude! Are you gonna work summers here now, instead of VIP-ing at the office?” David teased.

  Jagger smiled, shaking his head. “Nope.”

  “What?” Josh asked. “Are you saying your beefcake cliff diver days are over, Jagger?”

  “Obviously,” Jagger chuckled.

  “Man, I bet you had your choice of chicks, huh?” Josh asked. “Did you guys get tips?”

  “I don’t remember, dude,” Jagger said. It was obvious Jagger was uncomfortable—that he didn’t want to talk about his days as a cliff diver. Tabby had the momentary thought that perhaps it was because she was standing there—that maybe he didn’t want to reveal the scandalous details of having worked as a restaurant cliff diver in front of her. She liked to think it was because he was polite—not because there was plenty to brag about, stuff that shouldn’t be discussed in front of other women.

  “Well, it was nice to meet you, Miss Flanders,” Professor Lowery said.

  Tabby smiled. Professor Lowery was a man of discreet mannerism. No doubt he sensed Tabby’s discomfort—though she hoped he couldn’t guess as to the true reason—and was offering a pathway of escape.

  “You too,” Tabby said to him. She looked to David and then to Josh. “You boys have a nice lunch.”

  “Bye, Tabby,” David said.

  Summoning every ounce of courage she could, she glanced to Jagger Brodie. He was indeed looking at her. A rather expectant grin was on his handsome face, as if he doubted she would acknowledge him as well. Forcing a nervous smile, she nodded to him before hurrying toward the gift shop.

  She was trembling—perspiring! Just the brief conversation—just the short period of time spent in Jagger’s presence—had entirely rattled her. She couldn’t wait to get back to the table to tell the girls what she’d learned. Jagger Brodie—a cliff diver? Armando—owner of the Acapulco? Tabby giggled as she stepped into the gift shop and saw a spin-rack packed with postcards of the Acapulco cliff divers.

  “I guess I know what I came here to purchase,” she muttered to herself as she picked out three postcards boasting images of Armando either diving or preparing to dive—all three displaying his admirable physique. “Just a little something for Jocelyn.”

  “We call them the Foxy Four,” David was telling his brother. “See the one with the dark hair? That’s Naomi. She’s a little severe—too smart to be a whole lot of fun all the time—but she looks good.”

  “I see,” Professor Lowery said.

  “That cute little blonde? She’s taken,” David continued. “She’s got some soldier over in Iraq. Nobody’s willing to try to compete with a national hero type, so she’s off the market. But the little brunette, Jocelyn—she’s still available. Her and Tabby.”

  “Tabby? The little redhead that paused to speak with us?” the Professor asked.

  “Yeah,” David confirmed. “Now she’s the one I’d like to sink my teeth into!” he mumbled. “But I’m not sure what her deal is. I don’t think she has a man, but she’s kind of private about her personal life…or so I hear.”

  “Jocelyn’s the one I’d like to ask out,” Josh said. “She’s hot, man!”

  “What about you, Jagger?” David asked then. Jagger had been hoping David would keep his mouth shut for once. He didn’t really want to reveal his own thoughts on the office Foxy Four to David or Josh—and doing so would’ve been easier to avoid if the guy had just kept his mouth shut.

  “I’ll just keep my fantasies to myself,” he said, grateful to see their waitress approaching.

  David laughed, however. “Come on, man. Don’t be all superior like that! Which one would you pick…if you had your choice?”

  “Are you gentlemen ready to order?” the waitress asked.

  “Yeah…we are,” Jagger answered.

  “Oh, come on, man!” Josh whined. “You gotta tell us.”

  “I’ll have the beef enchiladas,” Jagger told the waitress.

  “Red or green chili?”

  Jagger looked to David, then Josh. “Red…obviously.”

  Professor Lowery and Josh laughed, as David said, “Obviously!”

  “Here,” Tabby said, handing the small brown paper bag to Jocelyn. “I got you something at the gift shop. And you will not believe what I found out about Armando…not to mention the Derrière-inator, Mr. Jagger Brodie!”

  Instantly, Naomi, Jocelyn, and Emmy leaned forward, eyes wide as they held their breath in delicious anticipation.

  “Tell me about Armando first, Tabs!” Jocelyn whispered.

  “You won’t believe this, Joss,” Tabby began, “but your Latin lover owns the Acapulco!”

  “What?” Naomi and Emmy gasped.

  Jocelyn b
it her lip, obviously delighted. “Tell me more,” she begged.

  “Well, it seems Armando’s uncle owns a similar restaurant down in Phoenix,” Tabby began, pausing as a waiter walked past them.

  “Yeah?” Emmy urged.

  “Apparently, Armando’s uncle’s restaurant does so well down there, Armando decided to open this one here,” Tabby continued. “But here’s the clincher. Jagger Brodie used to work summers at Armando’s uncle’s place, with Armando…as a cliff diver!”

  “No way!” Naomi breathed as Jocelyn and Emmy rippled into giggles.

  “Yes way!” Tabby assured them. “I guess Jagger worked as a lifeguard at a pool and moonlighted as a cliff diver. Can you believe it?”

  Emmy clapped her hands together and reeled with laughter.

  “Awesome! How awesome is that?” she giggled. “How awesome is it that your Latin lover knows the Derrière-inator, Joss?”

  “Totally awesome!” Jocelyn whispered. Her smile was so widespread that Tabby wondered if her cheeks hurt.

  “Who’s the other guy?” Naomi asked then. “The older guy. He’s not from the office.”

  “Oh, that’s David Lowery’s brother,” Tabby answered.

  “He’s really handsome,” Naomi muttered.

  Tabby grinned as she saw Emmy’s eyebrows arch in astonishment—as Jocelyn’s expression changed to that of surprise.

  “He’s, like, forty!” Emmy said.

  Naomi shrugged, however. “So? He’s really handsome.”

  “You’d probably like him too,” Tabby whispered. “He’s some big-shot professor from somewhere. He’s in town to do a lecture at the university on poetry or something.”

  “Professor Anthony Lowery?” Naomi exclaimed.

  “Shh! He’ll hear you!” Tabby scolded. “But yes…his name is Anthony.”

  Tabby was intrigued as she saw Naomi smile and bite her lower lip. Her eyes were fairly twinkling.

  “He’s speaking on the poetry of the Victorians tonight! I’ve got a ticket in my purse,” Naomi explained. She sighed, and Tabby was awed by the rather lovesick expression on her friend’s face. “Oh, he’s a wonderful poet in his own right too. I hope he’ll present one or two recitations of his work.”

  “Do you want me to go ask for his autograph, Naomi?” Emmy teased.

  “Would you?” Naomi asked, entirely missing the point of Emmy’s sarcasm.

  Emmy giggled, “I guess so…if you really want me to.”

  Naomi straightened her posture, however, shook her head, and said, “No. No…I’ll just see if his new book will be for sale at the lecture. If it is, maybe he’ll sign one for me.” Naomi sighed, shook her head, and breathed, “Who would have ever thought that an idiot like David Lowery could be related to Professor Anthony Lowery?”

  Tabby exchanged glances with Emmy and Jocelyn, knowing they were each as flabbergasted by Naomi’s crushing on the stranger. Naomi never crushed on anyone!

  “Okay, now I’m freaked out!” Emmy said. Tabby looked to Emmy, who sat shaking her head in wonderment.

  “Why?” Naomi asked.

  “Because!” Emmy exclaimed. “I mean, seriously. What are the odds that Jocelyn’s Latin lover would be someone from Tabby’s super-crush’s past, who’s sitting there eating lunch with a guy you have a ticket in your purse to see lecture tonight? I swear, all we need now is to find out if Luke has some connection to one of them!”

  “It is pretty freaky when you put it like that,” Jocelyn agreed as she reached into her purse and began rummaging for her debit card.

  Naomi’s eyes widened. “Emmy,” she began, “where did you say Luke went to college before he joined the military?”

  “Boston University. Why?” Emmy asked.

  “Anthony Lowery is a professor of literature at Boston University!” Naomi whispered.

  As Jocelyn began humming the theme to The Twilight Zone, Tabby breathed, “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon nothing! How about six degrees to Armando the Cliff Diver?”

  “I know, huh?” Emmy exclaimed.

  “Really, Tabby,” Naomi sighed. “When are you going to accept that six degrees of separation is the theory…not Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon?”

  “You play the game your way, Naomi…but you know how I play it,” Tabby said. “It’s Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon to me.”

  Naomi sighed and shook her head. “The whole Kevin Bacon thing with you is so bizarre, Tabby.”

  Tabby shrugged. Sometimes Naomi’s brains got in the way of her ability to be lighthearted—to simply have fun. Sure, Tabby understood the theory of six degrees of separation—the concept by a Hungarian writer that any two human beings could be linked in six steps. She understood it perfectly. However, where Naomi’s consideration of the human web theory was so severe and literal, Tabby liked to operate the six degrees theory on the more entertaining level of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon—a verbal banter her mother and father had enjoyed while enduring long driving trips when Tabby was a child. The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon concept had been birthed by three college students back in the mid-1990s. The theory that any actor could be linked to actor Kevin Bacon in six steps or fewer had intrigued Tabby’s parents so completely, they began to spend hours challenging one another to linking other actors to Kevin Bacon—especially on family road trips. Tabby, who was uncommonly interested in trivia herself, found her parents’ playful banter and knowledge of Kevin Bacon movies nothing less than purely mesmerizing. Thus, she had quietly adopted the game—silently challenging her own brain every so often, even long after her parents had lost interest in trying to trip up each other. Still, Naomi didn’t get it—didn’t see the fun in linking everyone on the face of the earth to Kevin Bacon. Yet Tabby did, and that was what was important to her.

  “So,” Jocelyn began, pulling Tabby’s attention back to the conversation at hand, “Armando worked with Jagger—the Derrière-inator, as I guess we’re calling him now—who works with the brother of Professor Anthony Lowery, who’s a professor at the same college Luke attended before he enlisted,” Jocelyn said. She looked to Naomi and asked, “I mean, besides the people involved, there are, like, three or four states involved…not to mention us! So what are the odds of that, Naomi? And I mean, literally, what are the odds?”’

  Naomi shook her head, however, admitting, “I have no idea, but it’s astounding in the least.” Naomi smiled at Tabby and teased, “But can Tabby link Armando to Kevin Bacon?”

  “Give me time,” Tabby giggled.

  As Naomi reached for Tabby’s check, Tabby shook her head. “You don’t really have to pay for mine, Naomi,” she said.

  “Are you kidding?” Naomi giggled as she pulled a couple of twenties from her purse. “All the Kevin Bacon nonsense aside, the fact remains that you met Anthony Lowery! It’s way worth it.”

  Tabby shook her head, still unable to truly fathom the incredible coincidences of association among her friends and the men they were each in love with or crushing on. It had to be a joke—seriously!

  “Just do me a favor, girls…okay?” she whispered. “Can we just go out the other door? I don’t think I could take another episode of trying to appear cool, calm, and collected in front of Jagger Brodie right now. I get totally freaked out whenever he looks at me…and I can hardly speak if he says anything directed at me.”

  Emmy giggled as Naomi and Jocelyn smiled with understanding. “I suppose we’ve put you through enough for one lunch hour.”

  “Thanks,” Tabby sighed.

  “What’s in here?” Jocelyn asked.

  “Postcards of your Latin cliff-diving lover,” Tabby giggled as she pushed her chair back and stood up.

  “Well, there they go,” David said.

  Jagger turned in his chair to glance back at the table where the Foxy Four had been sitting.

  “Indeed they do,” Josh added.

  “I envy you men for being able to work with women like that,” Anthony said.

  Jagger watched as the four girls from the office left b
y way of the back of the restaurant. He wondered for a moment what the sexy redhead did for fun when she wasn’t at work—wondered if she’d give him the time of day if he tried to get her to. She seemed a bit unapproachable—or maybe it was just his own insecurities that made him think she was. He thought of her name as it appeared on her desk plate: Tabitha. It reminded him of the little girl on the old ’60s sitcom Bewitched, and he thought, Oh, yeah, baby! I bet you could bewitch me without even trying, Tabitha Flanders.

  Shaking his head, Jagger silently scolded himself and vowed not to let his own kids, when he had them, watch too much syndicated satellite TV. He had way too much nostalgic trivia in his head.

  “Envy us?” David exclaimed, drawing Jagger’s attention back to his lunch companions. “Anthony…you’re the one who gets to drool over hot college girls all day long, every day!”

  The professor shook his head, smiling. “It’s not the same.”

  “You bet it’s not!” David mumbled. David nodded to Jagger and said, “Can you believe this guy?”

  Jagger just shrugged, distracted by a line of inspiration suddenly running through his mind.

  Jagger pulled a pen from the pocket of his suit coat. Discreetly, he began to scribble on a napkin. He’d forget what he was thinking if he didn’t write it down.

  “Did you forget something for the big meeting this afternoon, man?” Josh asked.