Page 34 of She Doesn't Have a Clue
“It’s not what it looks like,” Kate blurted, which wasn’t really true, only because she had no idea what it looked like. She certainly couldn’t tell what it looked like based on the blank expression on Jake’s face as he took in the scene. Kate jerked back from Spencer’s grasp, the necklace chain snagging on his cuff button and ripping out of Kate’s hand to drop to the floorboard. The chain slipped through the crack, the pendant snaking through the boards after it and disappearing.
“I see I’ve interrupted something,” Jake said, his tone flat. “I’ll leave.”
“Jake, wait!” Kate called out, costing herself precious seconds as she scrambled into a pair of leggings. She lurched for the attic opening, practically shoving Spencer out of the way.
“Kate!” Spencer called, following after her. “I think we should talk—”
“No more talking!” Kate said, chasing Jake and his stupid long strides down the hallway. “Talking is overrated! Talking is probably what killed the dinosaurs, all that CO2in the air. Jake! Please!”
She caught him at the head of the stairs, snagging his lovely soft sweater. He paused, that expressionless expression so frightening on his normally smiling face. She was going to have to admit that he might beright, that Spencer might really be a murderer. Or at least an attempted one. And that he might have planted Kennedy’s necklace in her suitcase to frame her for the job, which was just a real kick in the teeth after everything he’d already put her through.
“What was that about moving on?” Jake asked, his voice low and angry.
“Listen, I think you might have had a potentially valid point. If you’d let me explain—”
“What’s there to explain? You’re an adult, aren’t you? Even if you don’t always act like it. And Spencer, well, I don’t think any of us should be surprised he’s a cheater, right?”
Kate sucked in a breath. “Howdareyou.”
Jake rubbed at his face. “You’re going to get yourself hurt, Kate.”
“I can handle Spencer,” Kate said.
“It’s not just that.” Jake hesitated, glancing behind her, where Spencer was clumsily navigating the rickety stairs out of the attic. Jake lowered his voice. “Someone sabotaged the generator.”
“What?” Kate gasped, far too loud.
“Kate?” Spencer called. “Are you all right?”
“Yep! Just give us a minute!” she called back in a falsely cheerful tone. She stepped closer to Jake, trying to ignore how he always smelled faintly of salt and coconut, like he’d just come out of the ocean. “What do you mean, someone sabotaged the generator?”
“I mean, the fuel line was cut. And not very well, either. It was like someone took a handsaw to it.”
“Why would someone do that?” Kate wondered.
Jake looked at her pointedly. “Oh, I don’t know, because maybe they didn’t want the wedding ceremony to happen?”
Kate frowned, chewing at one corner of her lip. She had to admit it looked awfully suspicious. Spencer goes missing overnight, during the same time frame the generator was sabotaged. And he’d been cagey with her earlier when she’d asked where he’d been last night. Still, that didn’t mean he was guilty, or that he’d poisoned Kennedy. Loretta would warn her not to jump to conclusions before she had all the facts.
“If someone really did sabotage the generator to stop the wedding ceremony, that means Kennedy is still in danger,” Kate reasoned. “Which means I can’t stop now.”
Jake gave a frustrated sigh. “You need to be more careful, Kate. You go around poking a hornet’s nest, you’re likely to get stung.”
“What would you have me do?” Kate asked hotly. “Sit around and wait for them to come find me? Let them finish the job they started on Kennedy last night? I’m going to find out who’s behind this, with or without you.”
“Oh sure, what do you need Jake of All Trades for?” Jake said, his tone taking on a bitter edge. He turned away, heading down the stairs. “When you’ve got Spencer up in your room playing tonsil hockey with you?”
“Excuse me?”Kate gasped, nearly falling down the stairs in her rush to follow him. “I wasn’t playing anything. I was trying to find out where he was last night! Andyoumade it perfectly clear last night that you want nothing to do with me. Again. So, what do you care what I do with my time or my tongue?”
Jake paused on the stairs, gripping the railing hard before pivoting and surging up to the step just below her. The height difference put them at eye level, which meant she was staring directly into the storm of his gaze when he spoke.
“For the record, the only reason I didn’t kiss you last night was because you were clearly drunk, clearly upset, and clearly still hung up on your ex. Who you were just embracing in the dark, I’d like to point out again.”
“Well, joke’s on you, because you already kissed me,” Kate said, crossing her arms. “At the rehearsal dinner.”
“I didn’t kiss you,” Jake said. He’d dropped his voice low, the vibration of it changing her heartbeat. “Youkissedme. And you were doing it forhim. When I kiss you, it will be for you and me. Nobody else. And you’ll be stone-cold sober.”
Kate rocked back on her heels, stunned into silence. What did he mean,whenI kiss you? He’d made it perfectly clear a kiss between themwould come the day after a global apocalypse. But Jake was done with the conversation—done with her—and already halfway down the stairs. She wanted to chase after him, to remind him she was in fact stone-cold sober right now. But Spencer was hovering, reminding her she had more pressing concerns than Jake Hawkins at the moment. Even if the rest of her body was in riotous disagreement with her.