Chapter Twenty-One

Jensen

“Where are you?” Crystal asks me. I’m pulling up to the office when I answer my phone.

“Just got to the office,” I answer, suddenly confused as to why she is calling me. “What’s the matter?” My body goes tight, and my blood goes cold.

“I have no idea, but Blake just called me and asked me to give you a call. I don’t have the details,” she says as I start my car and make my way over to Hailey’s. “But she’s on the beach.” I toss my phone on the seat as I turn on her street and park in the driveway. Her brother’s sitting on the front porch swing.

“What happened?” I ask him as I stand in front of the house.

“She’s on the beach,” is all he says or all I hear because I’m running to the beach, running to her.

I see her sitting in the middle of the beach, all alone, the wind blowing her hair as the water looks like its crashing on her. I walk down the steps to her. Instead of sitting beside her, I sit behind her. Resting my legs on the outside of hers, I lean my body over her, almost protecting her from the wind that howls around us. My hands go to my knees. I expect her to have her shield up and be stiff, but instead, she leans into me. “Hey there,” I say into her neck as I lean down and kiss her. Her sniffling indicates she’s been crying.

“Why?” she whispers as she looks at the water, never turning to me. “Why can’t he let me be happy?”

My hands form fists as I think about how it might not go over well to beat the shit out of her brother. “Hailey.”

“No,” she shouts. “Trust me, these are not sad tears, these are angry tears. I finally fucking feeling like myself again.” She wipes her eyes and pushes her hair aside. “No, that is wrong. I feel better than I ever felt, and he somehow comes up with a way to kick me down,” she says as she wipes away another tear. “He was married, fucking married to someone else.” I wrap my hands around her, bringing her closer to me; her heart pounding so fast under my hand I think it’s going to come out of her chest.

“Hailey, breathe,” I tell her. “Just breathe.” I kiss her neck as she slowly starts to settle.

“He left a fucking letter,” she says finally after her breathing evens out, and her heart rate returns to normal. “A white envelope and get this,” she says. “His wife, his real wife, not the other wife he kept on the side, the real true wife brought it to me.”

I let her vent, hating Eric more than is humanly possible. More than even Julia, and I hated her right down to the pit of my stomach. “I didn’t read it.”

“Do you want to read it?” I ask her as she turns in my arms to look at me. “No,” she says. “Not one piece of me needs those words in my life.”

“Then don’t.” I kiss her lips, and then her tear stained cheeks. “You get to do this on your own time, when you want to. Not when he wants.”

“Yes.” She leans into my shoulder, laying her head against it. “I’m going to do it on my time.”

I nod my head. “When you want to.” I smile at her as she closes her eyes, and I hold her, thinking about that white envelope and wondering if things will still be the same between us when she opens it. I sit out there holding her while she processes whatever it is she needs to process.

“Do you want to get pizza tonight?” she asks me. “We could grab Mila and eat it there.” She looks at me.

“Yeah, you want to bring Blake?” I ask, knowing he won’t be visiting for long. No matter what she is going through, she still needs to spend time with him.

“Yeah,” she answers as she gets on her knees, facing me. “I’m happy.” Her declaration makes me smile.

“I’m happy too.” I grab her face and kiss her. She lets go to stand up and holds her hand out for me to take as she tries to pull me up. I laugh at her while she grunts. I finally stand up, linking our fingers together, and we walk back to her house. “I will see you soon.” I kiss her nose. “Call you when I get Mila.”

“I’ll meet you there,” she tells me as she turns and walks up the stairs to the house.

I pick up the phone and see I have about fifteen missed calls from Crystal, so I press her number. “What the fuck is wrong with you two? Why can’t you carry phones?”

“Because they don’t want you to disturb them,” I hear Gabe in the background while Crystal hisses at him.

“Mrs. Henderson is waiting for you to treat her hang nail. I’m assuming you can do that without a nurse,” she hisses. “What happened to Hailey?” she asks me.

“I think it’s best for her to tell you.” I’m not going to break the trust I have with her. “I’m going to get Mila and then we are meeting for dinner at D’Amore.”

“Oh, I want pizza. I’m coming too. What time?” she asks.

“I have no idea. Probably around six.”

“Perfect. I’m off by then, so save me a place.”

“Me too,” Gabe yells from the background.

“You aren’t invited.”

“My cousin is going, so I can go to the restaurant if I want, Crys. It’s a public place.”

“Whatever, but you aren’t sitting with us. Maybe you can meet another date?”

“Oh my god, I dated her in fucking high school,” he counters.

“Okay, are you guys done?” I ask the bickering duo.

“I’m not talking to him. I’ll be there. See you at six,” she finally says then disconnects. I shake my head, thinking of the dysfunction that must be going on at that clinic.

I pull up to the house, and when I walk in, I hear Mila giggle. “I’m home,” I yell, so she turns and runs to me.

“Poppa.” She kisses my cheek. “We make cookies.”

“Did you?” I ask her, smiling at Jessica.

“We did, and I ate some cookie dough,” she whispers. “It’s a secret, so don’t say anything.” I laugh, setting her down to run back and finish the cookie she was eating before I walked in.

“We are going to grab some pizza tonight,” I tell her as I grab the mail on the table. “Would you like that?”

“Hmm.” She moans out between her bites of cookie.

Jessica leaves right before six, at the same time as Mila and I make our way to D’Amore. I texted Hailey, telling her I would see her at six. She responded with a kiss emoji.

As we finally walk into D’Amore, my eyes are scanning everyone when I see Hailey wave her hand at me. “Look, Hailey is here,” Mila says when we walk toward her.

“Hey there, Princess Mila.” She smiles at her, and I nod to her brother, Blake, who is sitting in front of her. “Mila, this is my brother, Blake. Blake, this is the coolest four-year-old, Princess Mila.”

Blake smiles at Mila. “Nice to meet you, your highness.” He bows his head as Mila laughs and asks for crayons.

“I’m not driving you home. I hope you know.” I hear Crystal’s voice when she walks in. Looking around, she spots us.

“You have to drive me home,” Gabe says while he follows her.

“Hey there,” Crystal says, sitting down next to Mila and kissing her cheek. “Hello, Princess. Blake.”

“What happened to you?” I ask Gabe when he pulls out the chair next to me and sits.

“Someone sliced my brand-new tires again,” he says while he raises his hand to flag down the waitress. “Can I have two beers please?” he asks, then looks around the table. “Anyone else want anything?” Shrugging, he says, “That’s it.”

“You ordered two beers?” I ask him, laughing.

He puts his hands up. “I have two hands, and after the day I’ve had, I should have doubled that order.”

Crystal picks up a menu and mumbles, “Maybe if you weren’t such an a-hole, people wouldn’t slice your tires.” Gabe doesn’t say anything; he just glares at her. I look at them and then turn my head to listen to Blake and Mila’s conversation. She’s asking him about fifty different questions about being a firefighter.

“Do you run into the fire and save people?” she asks, wide-eyed.

“Yup. Sometimes we have no choice,” he tells her. “Once I had to climb a tree to save a kitten.”

Mila gasps. “Did you find the mommy?”

Blake nods. “Yup and his brothers and sisters.”

“I want a brother,” Mila says. I look over at Hailey to see how she is doing and find her eyes already looking at me. I smile at her and nod my head to the side.

“I’m going to the bathroom,” I say, pushing my chair back.

“I need to go also,” Hailey says, getting up.

“Well, isn’t that convenient,” Gabe says as he downs one beer.

I shove at his shoulder as I walk to the back where the bathrooms are. I look behind us and in front of us, then grab her hand and sneak us into the maintenance closet next to the bathroom. Her giggles fill the room while she squeezes into me.

“Hello.” I pull her to me, kissing her lips. Her body molds to me.

“Hello.” She kisses me lightly, then snakes her hands around me to pull me closer to her, my mouth taking hers.

“It kills me to walk into a room and not be able to kiss you hello,” I tell her, kissing her cheek and then trailing kisses down her neck as she laughs at me.

“We’d better get back out there,” she whispers.

“Are you okay?” I ask her, looking into her eyes for the answer.

“I’m good.” She smiles, and I see that she actually is fine. I grab her hand, then open the door, looking out to make sure no one is there when we walk out.

“Oh, good,” Gabe says as we both sit down. “We ordered for you guys since you were in the ‘bathroom’.” He makes air quotes with his fingers, causing Blake to laugh. I smile at him and nod my head.

“Did you see the house that just went on the market?” Gabe looks at me. My head nods, remembering the For Sale sign on Norma’s lawn. “Guess she got the point, right?”

The meal runs smoothly till the bill comes and everyone fights for it, well, everyone but Gabe. He sits there glaring at Crystal, who returns the glare with a big smile.

“Too late,” Gabe says. “I already paid the bill.” He gets up, looking at Crystal. “Let’s go.”

This doesn’t bode well for her as she folds her hands over her chest. “I’m not driving you home.”

Gabe shakes his head. “Let’s go.” Then he hisses out, “Please.”

“Fine.” She throws her napkin on the table. “This is the last time.” She grabs her purse, saying bye to us as they walk out.

“This was fun,” Blake says as his phone rings. When he looks down and sees the number, he excuses himself. “Hello.” We hear him answer and then he walks out.

“Let’s go, Mila,” I tell her while she puts her crayons away, then jumps off her chair, coming over to my side to hold my hand.

We walk out looking around for Blake who raises his hand still talking on the phone. “Do you want me to wait with you?” I ask her. She shakes her head, seeing Mila yawn.

“No, go ahead,” she tells me. I lean in and kiss her cheek, waving goodbye to Blake as I pick Mila up and walk to my truck.

Bedtime is fast since Mila is so tired. I’m in my room pulling my shirt off when I hear a faint knock on the back door. Walking to the door, I see it’s Hailey. “Hey there.” She comes in.

“Hi, yourself.” I close the door, turning to look at her. “You snuck out?”

She eyes me up and down. I’m not one to boast, but I work hard to make sure the dad bod is never a reality. She has never seen me without my shirt. “Blake crashed as soon as we walked in.” She walks closer to me, putting her hands on my stomach, making my body tremble from her cold hands. “I forgot to get a kiss good night,” she whispers, the heat in her eyes. I lick my lips as her face inches closer to me. “Kiss me,” she asks or maybe she demands—I don’t know because my hands fly to her hair. I grab it in my fist and tilt her head back, claiming her mouth with mine. As we groan into each other’s mouth, standing at the back door, I know that sooner rather than later I’m going to take her to bed.

When the alarm sounds softly, I groan and reach out for it. But my hand is pressed into my bed. I roll over, taking Hailey with me, her groan of frustration filling the room. My chest tickles from her hair. After attacking each other at the door, she refused to let me put on a shirt, so we made out on my bed most of the night. Until we fell asleep. “It’s five thirty,” I tell her, kissing her neck, and she mumbles something. It takes me ten more minutes to get her up, and when I kiss her goodbye, the sun is up, and it hurts to watch her walk away.

I pick up my phone, texting my mother.

Can you watch Mila this weekend?

I put my phone down and pour a cup of coffee. My phone rings. I grab it when I realize it’s my mother.

“Hello, Mother,” I say. Looking at the time, I see it’s almost six. “You’re up early.”

“I could say the same to you. Busy day ahead?” she asks.

“Yeah, somewhat. I have a couple of jobs to check out. Nothing more than usual.” I take a gulp of coffee.

“So how about I take Mila on Friday and bring her back Monday? It would give you a good break. You could grab the boys and go fishing.”

Except the boys are the furthest thing from my mind. The only thing I’ll be doing is learning every single part of Hailey. “Sounds great,” I tell her, and we make plans for her to pick Mila up tomorrow. I make Mila breakfast as soon as she wakes, and my day goes by at a snail’s pace. I get a text that night from Hailey asking about my day as soon as I put Mila down.

I don’t bother texting her. “My day was long as fuck. How was yours?” I say when she answers.

“It was good, long also. I’m just climbing into bed. I have a killer headache.”

“Do you, why?” I ask, going to my own room.

“No clue, maybe the computer.” I hear rustling, knowing she is getting under the covers.

“So do you have plans for dinner tomorrow?” I ask her as I hear her laugh.

“Crystal and I are bringing Blake to check out the local band at the pub.”

“Oh, you’ll like that,” I tell her.

“Do you want to meet me there?” she asks.

I smile. “I would love to meet you there.”

We talk for about an hour. I hear her voice getting lower and lower and then ever so soft, so I tell her sweet dreams. She whispers them back to me, and I stay on the line after she hangs up. She is on my mind the whole night, and I dream of her and her laugh. The next day, I rush through what has to get done. I’m just getting home when she texts me to meet her at seven.

I shower and change the sheets, hoping she’ll come home with me tonight. I pull out my black jeans and brown long-sleeve shirt. Pulling the sleeves up, I grab my watch and run my fingers through my hair. I pull up to the pub five minutes after seven.

I walk in, not sure where she will be sitting, but my eyes don’t move far because she is standing near the bar. My heart stops in my chest as she looks over her shoulder. “Holy fuck,” I say to myself as I take her in. She is wearing the tightest pair of blue jeans ever invented. Her white shirt hangs off both shoulders, and her sleeves go all the way to her wrists. Her hair is in curls and pulled over one bare shoulder. I look down to see she is wearing tan strappy fucking heels. When she smiles at me, I see a gold choker on her thin neck. My cock spring into action as my jeans tighten so hard I thank god the lights are dim and hopefully no one can see me saluting.

As I make my way to her, she turns to talk to the bartender, ordering something. “Hey,” I say, my hand coming out to hold her hip, and she leans over to kiss my cheek.

“I’m all by myself,” she tells me. “Blake left early, something about having a situation that required his help.” The bartender returns with a glass of wine for her and a bottle of beer. “I ordered you a beer.”

“You look beautiful,” I tell her, my tongue dry from looking at her. She looks down, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.

“Thank you,” she whispers in my ear, leaning over to make sure I hear. “You look hot yourself.” She smiles, taking a sip of wine. I look into her eyes and see a twinkle, and I’m wondering if she’s thinking the same thing I’m thinking.

“Hey, you two,” Crystal says, breaking our trance. I take a pull of my drink, turning to look at her cousin, and I almost spit out my beer. Holy fuck, Gabe is going to lose his shit. She’s standing in front me wearing tight black jeans, and I mean tight,

but that’s not the problem. It’s the sheer black halter she’s wearing without a bra. She throws her blond hair over her shoulder, putting her hand out to catch the bartender’s eyes, and does she ever. “We need three shots of tequila,” she says as she smiles at Pat, grabbing her credit card.

“That’s okay. Pat, put everything on my tab,” I say from beside her, and she smiles at me.

“Aren’t you the sweetest.” She looks at Hailey. “That shirt is the bomb.” They trade stories of the day, my hand never leaving Hailey’s hip. I look at the door, seeing Brody and Darla come in.

Darla spots us, waving her hand. “Holy fuck,” she spits out when she gets closer and takes in Hailey and then Crystal. “Oh my god, I’m so happy I came tonight.” She looks at Crystal. “That outfit is to die for. I need to borrow that top.”

“Over my dead body,” Brody says from beside her. “Not even just for me. Besides, I don’t think it’ll last the night,” he says, looking away as two beers appear on the counter with the shots of tequila.

“Shots,” Darla yells out, throwing her hand up, while Brody and I both throw our heads back and groan. The girls toss back the shots and order another round.

“One more and that’s it,” Hailey says from beside me.

“What?” Crystal and Darla both look at her, but Darla speaks. “You are no fun.” As they take another shot of tequila. “Country Girl” begins to play, causing Darla to yell, “We need to dance.”

Hailey finishes off her wine, then leans in and kisses me on the lips in front of everyone. “Be back.”

I lean on the bar as I watch the three of them in the middle of the pub. Every man watches and some women join them while others just glare at them. “How much are we betting that Gabe is going to lose his shit,” Brody says, grabbing his beer and draining it.

“I’m almost afraid to be here if he shows up.” I groan when “Save a Horse” comes on.

“Oh, she’s here.” Brody points at Crystal. “So he’s going to show up. Plus, I may have texted him and told him we are here.” He laughs as Darla yells she’s riding a cowboy tonight.

They stay on the dance floor till they are out of breath, then come back to the bar to order more shots. “Okay, fine,” Hailey says. “One more.” She then looks at me and winks.

“You having fun?” I ask her when she leans into me.

“I am.” She smiles, picking up her shot, and eyes me while she licks her hand and puts salt on it. My cock springs to action, my eyes watching her every single move. She licks the salt, downs the shot, winces, and sucks on the lime. “That is gross.”

I look at Darla and Crystal, who take another shot and chase it with a glass of water. The band takes the stage, causing the music to get louder. Hailey picks up the glass of white wine I ordered for her while she danced.

I’m about to lean in and say something to her when I hear, “What the fuck are you wearing?” hissed next to me, and Brody just laughs. Crystal turns around, putting a hand on her hip.

“An outfit.” She glares at him.

“Is that right?” He puts his hands in his back pockets, his dress shirt buttons almost snapping off.

“I think I need another shot,” she says when she takes in his look.

Darla sees the look Gabe is giving and claps her hands. “I’m so happy I didn’t miss tonight,” she says as they take another shot.

“I’m going to go to the bathroom,” Hailey says, grabbing Crystal, and Darla follows them. Brody pushes a bottle of beer in Gabe’s hand while his eyes never leave Crystal’s back.

I’m about to take a sip of my beer when I see Kimberley. “Incoming,” Brody says, when she spots me and raises her hand.

“Hey,” she says breathlessly. “I didn’t know I would see you here tonight.” Coming to my side, she leans against the bar. “You look good.”

“Um.” I look at my hand and then back up, seeing her smile as she tucks her hair behind her ear.

“Is someone sitting here?” She points at the bar stool no one is actually sitting on.

“Actually, there is.” I nod at her, but don’t say anything else because Hailey’s walking back from the bathroom. She stands next to me, my hand going out and automatically gripping her.

“Oh,” Kimberley says, her eyes blinking a million times. “I didn’t know you two …”

“Hi.” Hailey smiles at her. “We met, right?” She tilts her head, and I know my girl is not playing right now.

“Yeah, when you moved into town. I work for Walker,” Kimberley tells her.

“That’s right. You work for Jensen and Brody.” She grabs her glass of wine.

“I see some friends,” Kimberley says, walking away. Darla snickers. The band tells us they’re going to slow things down and the guitar riff starts.

“Come on, cowboy,” Darla says, “you owe me a dance.” He follows her to the crowded dance floor.

“You want to dance?” I ask Hailey. She grabs my hand and pulls me to the dance floor. I take her in my arms, and even with her heels on, I’m still just a bit taller. Her hand goes around my neck, and one of my hands wrapping around her waist. I look over at Gabe, who is following Crystal outside. He makes sure I see him, waving at us.

“There goes my ride.” Hailey smiles at me.

“Come home with me.” Four words. Four words that hang in the air. Four words that mean so much while she looks down and then up.

“Okay.” She leans in and whispers in my ear, “Only if I get to sleep over.”