“When we made love,” he finished the sentence for her.

“Yes.” She was going to say “had sex,” but she liked his phrase better. “That next day you were with a tall brunette woman at Walmart, and she kissed you on the cheek. Then you drove off with her in your truck.”

Jackson drew his dark brows down and cocked his head to the side. After a minute, his face relaxed and he smiled. “Oh, that was Brenda. She’s the wife of a lawyer friend of mine in Paris. She was practicing for a new play over at the Paris Community Theatre. She got a flat tire between the theater and Walmart, so I gave her a ride to the store. Her husband was at work, and her dad and brother were going to be a little while getting a tire and taking care of her car, so I took her home.”

“Did you ever do theater work?” Nessa asked.

“No, musicals aren’t my thing.” He grinned. “So, jealous fishwife, huh?”

“Are you just a knight in shining armor, coming to a stranded damsel’s rescue like that?” She avoided the question.

Jackson’s grin got bigger. “Yep, I guess I am, but I know the family. Her husband tried to recruit me into his firm when I first came here. His name is Grady. He and Brenda bought a hope chest from me for their daughter’s sixteenth birthday, and every now and then, Grady still calls to see if I’m ready to go back to the law business.”

“That woman has a sixteen-year-old daughter?” Nessa gasped.

“Yes, and four kids younger than that one. The sixteen-year-old helps out in her dance studio over in Paris, but they live on a ranch out north of Sun Valley,” he answered. “Is that why you were so distant the past few days?”

Nessa nodded. “I judged you by another man’s half bushel.”

“Uncle D. J. used that expression pretty often. I’d never heard it before I moved to Blossom. He told me it meant judging one person’s actions by someone else that you know. So who did you judge me by?” Jackson asked.

“Uncle Matthew and my father all rolled into one. My uncle because he’s a womanizer, and my dad because he preaches love and Jesus, but he’s got a lot of anger in him,” she answered honestly.

“I’m not either of those guys,” Jackson said. “If I’m in a relationship, then I’m faithful. And honey, after I have sex with a woman, I don’t dump her and never call. I’m thirty-two years old, and my mama would still come after me with a switch if I ever showed that kind of disrespect to a lady. So tell me, are we in a relationship or not?”

Nessa nodded. “I’d like that, but we’ve only known each other a month.”