Full Moon by Mari Carr Page A

touched by the time and effort he’d put into making the dinner special.
    She’d lied to herself, insisting this wasn’t a date. But as he carried two salads from the kitchen, there was no denying that was exactly what this was.
    Jake claimed the seat next to hers and picked up his fork. “Dig in.”
    They ate in silence for a few moments as Josie savored the salad. “This is good. Did you make it yourself?”
    “Yeah. When you’ve been a bachelor as long as I have, you either give in to the lure of non-stop take-out or you learn to cook. There are just so many pizzas and buckets of chicken one man can eat.”
    She understood the lure of taking the easy way out in terms of cooking. It had taken her a little while to get used to cooking for just her and Tommy after Tony left. Her finicky son ate like a bird and there had been more than a few months following the divorce when it had been simpler to pick up McDonald’s chicken nuggets for him on the way home from work or to open a can of soup and throw together a couple of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. She’d had to force herself to stop sacrificing a healthy diet in favor of sheer laziness. “It’s hard cooking for one.”
    She hadn’t told Jake about her son. She didn’t want to. As soon as they started sharing personal details about their lives, this whole thing stopped being a fantasy.
    “I made the dressing myself. My mom sent me the recipe when I was bitching about not being able to find a French dressing as good as hers. Makes a big batch and doesn’t go bad. I’m a big salad eater, so it’s worth the extra effort.”
    “It’s delicious.”
    Jake obviously took care of his body, eating right and exercising. While she’d started cooking healthier meals for her and Tommy, she still hadn’t managed to squeeze time into her schedule for working out. She was on her feet all day at the department store. By the time she got Tommy from school, made dinner, tidied the house, helped him with homework, gave him a bath and got him to bed, she was too exhausted to do much more than fall onto the couch and watch an hour or so of TV before crawling into her own bed.
    Jake put his fork down and poured them both a glass of white wine. “So what do you do for a living?”
    She hesitated a second too long.
    “I don’t intend to start stalking you, Josie.”
    She rolled her eyes. “I know that. I’m the assistant manager at one of the department stores at the mall. How’s that for a boring job?”
    He shrugged. “Doesn’t sound that bad to me. Do you enjoy it?”
    She considered his question seriously. “Yes and no. I’ve worked there long enough that I have pretty good, consistent hours. Except over the holidays, which suck. I only have to work one Saturday and one Sunday a month, so that’s cool. But no, it’s not exactly a dream job.”
    “What is?”
    She took a sip of the wine. “Honestly, I have no idea.” She’d gotten married too young, her after-school job becoming a full-time one. There’d been no money for college and Josie hadn’t been the world’s greatest student anyway. She worked because she needed money to pay the bills, not because it brought her any sort of fulfillment or happiness. “Actually, I have an interview for a new job next week. They’re hiring a secretary at my—” She cleared her throat, catching herself just before she said son . “At a local elementary school. I’d love that job.”
    She’d been thrilled when the principal had called her. If she got the job, her hours would be very close to her son’s and there was before and after care right at the school. They could ride together every day. She’d have the same holidays as Tommy, and the pay and benefits were a little better than what she was currently making. So, she supposed, that was her dream job. “Did you know you always wanted to own a bar?”
    Jake leaned back. “I wanted my own business. I started at Blue Moon as a bartender right out of high