Cross My Heart (A Contemporary Romance Novel)

he’s a good man. Women are always after him down at the hospital, but I’ve never seen him look at anyone the way he was looking at you. He’s also a grownup, unlike any of the other men you’ve ever dated. Explain to me what the problem is here.”
    Jenna frowned, annoyed by Allison’s little summation. “Not everyone wants to date a grownup. Not everyone wants to be a grownup. And I’m only here for the summer, so even if I wanted to start something with Michael, I wouldn’t. Why go there?”
    Allison leaned back against the counter, folding her arms. “You know, ever since you came back, you’ve been telling me and Mom and Dad all the reasons you’re not staying. Have you ever thought that maybe a part of you wants to stay?”
    Jenna headed for the stairs and Allison followed her.
    “No, I haven’t thought that.” She went into her bedroom and over to the closet. “I haven’t thought it because it isn’t true. I don’t want to stay. I don’t want to live in Iowa and be near my family, much as I love you all. And I definitely don’t want to marry a doctor and have kids and a yard and something hot in the oven.”
    She pulled a low cut, fire engine red dress out of her closet. “What I want is to live in an apartment in the city, where I never have to cut the grass. I want to teach kids, but not have to put them to bed at night. I want to eat takeout every day. And I want to date men with commitment issues who will never ask me to settle down.”
    Allison was sitting on the edge of her bed, completely unfazed by her outburst. “Wow. Michael’s really gotten under your skin, hasn’t he?”
    Jenna stripped down to her underwear and bra and pulled the dress over her head. “You didn’t hear a word I just said, did you?”
    “I listened to the subtext,” Allison said with a grin.
    Jenna glared at her as she slipped on a pair of strappy red sandals. “Listen to the damn text the next time. I’m not interested in Michael, and I don’t want to stay in Iowa. Got it?”
    “You bet,” Allison agreed cheerfully. “No Michael, no Iowa. Got it.”
    Jenna went to the mirror to check her makeup. “It’s not that I don’t like him,” she said, wondering if she’d been a little too vehement. “I do like him. I like his daughter, too. She’s fourteen and she lives in Florida, and they don’t see each other very much. She’s here for a visit, and it’s obvious that their relationship isn’t the greatest. And it hurts him. I can see how much he loves her, and how much he wishes things were different.”
    “So you feel sorry for him?”
    “Well…yes. I guess I do. But it’s not just that. I mean, I’m interested in him as a person. In a neighbor-and-potential-friend kind of way,” she clarified.
    “And it’s completely escaped your notice that the man is gorgeous?”
    There was no time to tame her hair, so Jenna held it back from her face with a red velvet headband. “I wouldn’t say it’s escaped my notice,” she admitted. “But like I said, I don’t want to start something I already know is going to end. And even if I did want to, Michael doesn’t seem like the type to go for a casual affair.”
    She paused, and then asked, “What was the deal with…what did you say her name was? Denise.”
    “What do you want to know?” Allison asked, getting up from the bed to stand beside her sister.
    Jenna looked at the two of them in the mirror, admiring the way Allison’s blue chiffon cocktail dress brought out the color in her eyes. Until recently, Allison would never have worn a dress like that. She never liked to draw attention to herself physically. But since Rick Hunter had come into her life, she’d grown comfortable with her own beauty in a way Jenna had never seen before.
    “You look amazing,” she said now, putting an arm around her sister’s waist.
    Allison smiled at Jenna’s reflection. “Thanks. So do you. But what do you want to know about Denise?”
    What did she want to know?
    “Why did they break up?” she asked as they went back downstairs. She grabbed her purse from the hall table and followed Allison out the front door.
    “Well…you have to remember that I’m a lot closer to Denise than Michael. So this is all her side of the story. She said he’s a wonderful man but kind of…cold.”
    Jenna frowned. “That’s not true,” she said as she went around to the passenger side of her sister’s truck. She slammed the door shut a little harder than