Page 58 of Just for Tonight

“Feels like it, doesn’t it?”

“Cameron isn’t looking for forever, you know.”

“And I’m not looking for anything right now. I have just too much to do.”

That’s fair, but I’m still curious.

“Is she too direct?”

Jake considers that for a minute. “No. I like women who know what they want and aren’t afraid to ask for it.”

“But you’re seeing someone?”

He almost laughs. “No.” He casts a glance at me that’s almost playful. “But just because something is offered, doesn’t mean you have to accept.”

“Yes, but I’m wondering why.”

“I don’t know exactly. It was an instinctive response, and I’ve learned to trust my instincts.” He nods. “It wouldn’t work with Cameron, not even for one date. I don’t know why or how I know that, but I do.”

“And you trust that impression.”

“Of course. Don’t you trust your instincts, Abbie?”

“Sometimes. Often I second-guess them or review them.”

Jake shakes his head. “Better to just choose and move on.”

“And if you’re wrong?”

“Well, you were wrong. No one can be right all the time. Just choose and move forward. Maybe you’ll get a chance to choose again. Maybe not. Regrets and second guesses don’t solve anything.”

His view makes sense, though it’s more hard-line than I tend to be. “You must have some regrets sometimes,” I say finally and he snorts.

“All the time, Abbie. I just don’t dwell on them.”

“Because it serves nothing.”

“Exactly. The best you can do is try to learn from those mistakes and not repeat them.” He smiles. “Refine your gut instincts for the future.”

I nod, then realize something. “Did you eat at Merrie’s place in Toronto?”

“What place?”

“She had a restaurant there before coming to Empire. You said she was a good chef, so...”

“Oh, I ate at The Carpe Diem Café this week. Wednesday night. It was great.”

“And that’s where you met Cameron,” I say, because it was the girls’ night to get together.

“Yes.”

Maybe she was even more forward then.

He glances at me. “But if you were in town, shouldn’t you have been there, too?”

“I was upset about Dad and didn’t want to be social. I stayed at Daphne’s place with Luke.” It had been a quiet evening, exactly what I’d needed. “Can you believe he’d never seen Sense & Sensibility?”

Jake grins. “Yes, I can actually. The version with Emma Thompson?”