Chapter 7

Jeremy

It had been a long two days since seeing Bailey in Blackhouse Grille. The shock of coming face to face with Rhys's little sister and finding her everything I wanted tucked beneath me in a set of cold sheets was sobering. Maybe my love life wasn't over.

"No," I growled and got up from the porch swing on my mother's big plantation-looking mansion. It was an odd style of home to have in the northeast, but she was a southern girl at one time. I started for the door only to stop short. Nina walked out wrapped in a shawl.

"How can you stand it out here? It's mid-Nov. It's fucking freezing."

"You kiss your momma with that mouth?" I turned and headed back to the porch swing. My sister was my best friend outside of Rhys, and I usually took every advantage to spend quality time with her.

"Hell no. You know Mom doesn't show affection." She chuckled, and I joined her.

"Mom's an odd duck, but she's ours." I dropped down on the swing and wrapped my arm around my sister's narrow shoulders as she sat down next to me.

"This is true." She glanced over at me, and I couldn't help but notice the worry in her eyes. "Did you talk to her yet, Jer?"

"About?" I feigned ignorance. It was my go-to when I wanted to avoid a conversation, but Nina knew what I was up to.

"About you dating and how it's none of her damn business who you go out with." Her expression tightened.

"Nope. And I'm not going to." I shrugged and pulled my arm away from her. "She's my momma. If she wants to set me up with a million sluts and gold diggers, then so be it."

"And crazy witches, and infantile looking women and-"

"The list goes on." I smirked and pressed my forearms to my thighs. "I'm the one on the dates. Believe me, the list goes on and on. Some of them are pretty funny stories." I let my head drop as a smile lifted my lips. The last two years of my dating life had been something of a reality TV show, and yet... I was still alone.

Nina rubbed the top of my back and let out a sigh. "I just wish she would leave you be. Maybe it's not time for you to find someone. You know?"

I wanted like hell to agree, but I couldn't. "Mom knows what she's doing, Nina. If she didn't push me, I'd become a bachelor and never date another woman."

"Why?" She moved up so we could see eye to eye. "You don't want to love again?"

"Hell no." I sat up and lifted my arms to stretch. "I don't want to do anything again."

"Hurts too much?" My sister leaned back and pulled her legs up. She wrapped her arms around her bent legs and pressed her cheek to her knee. "You still think about Laila all the time?"

"I dream about her every night." I glanced up toward the ceiling. "I see her in crowded areas and if I close my eyes and listen closely," I paused as tears burned my eyes, "I can almost hear her whispering my name."

"Oh, baby. I'm so sorry." Nina dropped her legs, moving closer and wrapped me in a side hug. "I didn't mean to upset you. Forgive me."

"It's all good." I forced my emotions back into the tight little box in the center of my chest where they belonged. Losing my everything left me shattered in a way that I couldn't contemplate coming out of. Not ever. No matter how many dates I went on.

"New subject. How's Rhys? Have you talked to him lately?"

"Yes." I reached up and pressed my fingers to my eyes as Nina moved back. "He's coming up here for Thanksgiving in a few weeks."

"Oh yeah?" I could hear the playfulness return to her voice. "Is he dating anyone?"

"No, you cougar." I glanced over my shoulder and gave her a warm smile. "His little sister Bailey is here. I ran into her the other night."

"Oh Lord." She stood and pulled her shawl around her shoulders as she turned toward the yard. "That girl has been in love with you her whole life."

"She was a kid, Nina. I was her brother's best friend. Of course, she was in love with me." I crossed my arms over my chest and kept to myself that I hadn't dreamt of Laila since seeing Bailey two nights before. It was terrifying to even think about replacing my wife in my dreams, and yet I had. Bailey at the park with me, spread out on a blanket, laughing, smiling, loving me.

"And you were a really good looking kid." She glanced over and wagged her eyebrows at me.

"Oh, great. So I was good looking. Thanks a lot. Just kick me in the nuts when you're done tearing me down, yeah?"

"So dramatic." She rolled her eyes and walked toward the house. "You need to talk to Mom, Jer. Set her straight."

"You do it this one time for me, and I'll do it the next time."

She laughed before disappearing back inside the house. "Not a chance in hell."

"Exactly," I mumbled and let my thoughts fade back to my dreams the night before. As lusty as I wanted them to be, they weren't at all. They were sweet, soft, loving.