Ted and Lucie start talking about their own future, since Eve is so insistent hers is boring. They have lunch and Ted and Lucie start frolicking in the swimming pool. Eve didn't bring a suit, since someone didn't give her much time to pack, so she watches them until she realizes this is boring. She gets up and goes to the garden. Eve finds the serenity she lost when Lucie came tumbling out of the house and she wanders around the garden for awhile until Jack walks up and starts talking to her.
Eve says gardens are magic places. Jack replies with, “Yes, and I don't know what could be more appropriate than finding Eve in the garden.” I have been waiting 71 pages for that. They yammer on some more and Jack asks if it had occurred to Eve that he might want to be alone in life. Eve replies that she can't think of anyone preferring to be alone, just making the best of it. Hermits are so hyped up; they don't really leave society and live all alone. Jack gets bored of this conversation, or something, so he changes the subject to the gardens. There's this totally sweet knot garden that Eve hasn't seen yet. Jack takes her to look at it and starts talking about his family.
You see, his grandma liked planting gardens. At first, the knot garden didn't look nearly as pretty as the rose bushes that had been there before. Little Jack complained about this to his grandma, and she told him to be patient. Gardens teach you patience, you know. Eve remarks that the gardens “must have given her such pleasure...” Yes, it had to be phrased like that. Jack replies that the gardens were the only thing that made his grandma happy. She lived separate from her husband and she was probably lonely. The gardens were the only thing that made her happy! Sob
Then Jack keeps going with the family backstory. His grandma said his momma needed a garden to make her happy and make all those distractions unnecessary. Yes, “those distractions” are men other than her husband. I keep finding new favorite lines, but this one is up there, “I'm the last in a long line of misogynists.” Thanks, Jack. We know you're a jerk. I'm not convinced he's a misogynist, though. Anyway, his grandparents' marriage left its ruins all around Stonegate but at least they made a sweet collection of gardens. Jack's momma, after she had Jack, decided to have affairs. Jack's dad didn't care as long as she was discreet. Jack thinks Lucie could be a bastard, but he might love her more because of that possibility. Huh? Whateves. Anyway, Jack's mom just wanted love, but she kept choosing guys who wouldn't give that to her. Jack's almost-wife “saw the writing on the wall” and took off. Apparently, she's been married happily and is much better off than if she'd married Jack. Because, you know, he's a violent and rude man. Why doesn't Eve find someone else?
Anyway, Jack admits that he doesn't understand love. Just as Eve guessed, he is a hard man. Oh, here's another great line: “I'm third generation hard.” Hah! This book... Anyway, Eve would do well to remember that Jack doesn't know what love is. So, wait, what he's saying is: “I wanna know what love is! I want you to show me. I wanna feel what love is! I know you can show me.” Right? After making this clear, or not, Jack spins on his heel and stalks back into the house.
At dinner, Jack is brooding and staring at Eve. Wow! That's exactly what she wants, right? I mean, she's a romantic. Anyway, Eve agrees to be the maid of honor because she didn't want to admit she was pondering the mystery that is Jackson Sinclair. When she learns what she agreed to, Eve asks if they really want her to be maid of honor and Lucie says of course they do! If it weren't for Eve, this wouldn't have happened as nicely as it did. Jack supports this view, saying, “She has amazing powers of persuasion.” Really? After all that talk about how he changed his own damn mind. Really, Jack?
After dinner, Lucie and Ted go out somewhere and Jack says he has some calls to make. Eve goes to her room and reads, but she's just so restless. So, she goes out to the garden for a walk. Then she stares into a pond for awhile. Seriously, she's meditating in the garden. Can we just be up front about that? She looks up at the windows of the house and sees a shadow at one of the windows. That's totally Jack working at his desk, not watching her. Yup. Then Eve tells herself that she's a fool. It's just physical attraction and the mystique of Jackson Sinclair. Well, then run with it. If you're both okay with it... Except she wants a man that understands real love. Wow, there are so many song references I can make with this book.
After she's done meditating, Eve walks back to the house and stands in the shadows to look at the garden. Guess who else is standing in the shadows? If you guessed a kidnapper, a murderer or a salesman who's had one too many rejections, you're making this far too exciting. It's Jack. He mentions how Lucie wants to get married in the ruins of their grandparents' marriage. Well, maybe they're Lucie's grandparents. Whateves. But Eve can totally understand that because she's a romantic. Jack asks, discreetly, if Eve has a boyfriend. By that, I mean he says, “Don't you have many opportunities to put your romantic impulses to work? No men madly in love with you?” Eve says there aren't because they only want what they can get out of a relationship or, Jack finishes for her, they're not interested in her at all. It seems more and more likely that Tony is gay. Oh, also, she said nothing about wanting love, so Jack fits her criteria of “a good relationship”. That's a little scary.
Then Jack pressures her into joining him for a drink. He takes her to his office for the drink. You know, his private place. D'aw, he's so into her...and too commanding to make a real partnership. Anyway, Jack asserts that he feels ancient, he's nine years older than Eve after all. Then he tells her to turn around. No, seriously, that's how that bit of dialogue goes. Eve, bewildered, turns around and lets Jack pull the hairpins out and drop them haphazardly on the floor. He runs his fingers through her hair and turns her back around. He tells her she shouldn't wear her hair up. It should be loose, free to tumble and fall everywhere. “There's no use being Eve in the garden if you don't look the part. But you tempted me all the same. You still do.” Aw ye-ah. If you couldn't tell where this was going when he took out her hair pins, I'm sure you get it now. Although, his kiss has “nothing to do with how he felt about her and everything to do with how he wanted her to feel.” She says please, but he makes her say that he tempts her before he kisses her passionately. He says he totally wants her, then he takes off her dress and they start exploring each other. They both want more, they want everything! So, you know, they want sex. They get on a couch and start...the writing is vague so they could be having sex or they could still be doing foreplay. Whichever makes you happier, I suppose.
Then Eve hears Ted and Lucie start walking down the hall. She says no and tries to free herself from him because the happy couple will see them. Jack says they're totally fine because no one comes in there unless they're told to. He kisses her until they leave and seems to think that was the end of it. Psh! Why would what a woman says have only one layer of meaning? Eve says, “We can't do this!” Jack, the charmer, replies, “Of course we can...We're doing it, Eve.”
Then she flat out says no and twists away. She says it doesn't mean anything to him. Jack gets all pissy and protective of his money and replies, “It doesn't mean marriage if that's what you're talking about...” Psh! Marriage! She's not every girl, and she don't need no man to take care of her. Sure you got a job, sure you got a car, sure you can pay your own rent. Don't wanna dance if it is not in her heart. That song's lyrics are in first person if you want to find it. Anyway, Eve wants love from him before she'll have sex with him. They both ask each other not to ask more than they can give and Eve puts her dress back on. Eve says she thought there was more and Jack snaps back that there isn't. Then he pours himself a drink and says he's been as honest with her as he knows how to be. Oh, another great line: “All I ask is love, and if that's more than you can give, find some other woman to tempt you and be good with you! My price is higher than that.” Hah. Eve just called herself a whore for love. As she leaves the room, Jack kills the pain with another swig of booze.
So, Jack, you don't know what love is. I'm pretty sure you're feeling it. I mean, it's possible you're just in lust with this girl, but it sure seems to be more than that. How about you go have a nice meditation in the garden and think about this? Yes, you can have an ice cream sundae first.
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