At Least Twice

The next morning, I opened the door to Maude’s House of Beauty and only had one foot inside when I heard Alyssa command, “Get over here, get those fancy-assed pumps off and sink your feet in the drink, babelicious, ‘cause I…got…news.”

I looked into her excited eyes, then moved my gaze and saw she had the pedicure chair ready and even had a glass bowl filled with foamy water sitting on the ledge by the arm of the chair.

She was ready.

With a look back at her face, I wasn’t sure I was.

But I nevertheless hurried to the chair, took off my jacket, plopped it and my bag in the chair beside it and pulled myself up.

I barely got my bare feet into the warm sudsy water before Alyssa reached out a hand, grabbed my wrist, plonked my fingers in the bowl and announced, “Got bitch dirt, and by that I mean Donna Spear and Terry Baginski bitch dirt.”

I felt my back go straight and my eyes go wide as I asked, “Really?”

“Really. Big dirt. A freakin’ avalanche of full-on mud.”

Oh dear.

“Is it good?” I queried.

“Uh…sister,” she started, yanking one of my feet out of the tub, setting it on the pad, dabbing it with a towel then reaching straight to her cart of implements to grab some cotton wool, doing all of this talking. “Would I be nearly creaming my pants to tell you if this shit was bad?”

“Um…no,” I replied.

“Right, no. Now, listen up,” she ordered and sucked in a huge breath.

I braced, furtively looking around and seeing two of her hairdressing chairs were taken, stylists working on clients, but they were all the way across the salon so we had a least a little privacy.

My gaze went back to Alyssa when she launched in.

“Soooo, Donna’s got a best friend, they been tight for freakin’ yonks. Her name is Rita. She’s a good gal. Really like her. She’s been a client for a long time, got a couple kids who are the same ages as a couple of my kids. We did the carpool thing back in the day and—”

“Not to be rude, sweetheart,” I cut in gently. “But do I need this Rita history prior to you telling me about Jake’s ex and the woman who seems to have it out for me?”

“Right,” Alyssa mumbled and switched my feet, doing this talking. “Just to say, she’s cool. And the way she’s cool is that, first, she stood by her girl for a long time and a lotta that time was hard time. And second, you know this ‘cause you two are scary open in a way that gives me the heebie-jeebies”—her eyes came to me—“but you told me that Jake laid Donna out this weekend.”

I grinned at her “heebie-jeebies” comment, especially when it was caused by honesty between partners, and confirmed, “Yes, I know it.”

She nodded and looked back to my feet. “Okay, so Donna was cut up about this, like, in a big way. Called her girl over to moan about Jake and do it inhaling rum. Now, Rita’s been listenin’ to this sad song for a long fuckin’ time and that night, she got over it. Way over it.”

“Oh my,” I whispered.

“Yup,” Alyssa agreed then carried on with my pedicure right along with her story. “So Rita decided to perform a one-woman intervention right there, though with bad timing seein’ as Donna was drunk off her ass. But that didn’t stop her from laying it out for Donna, telling her everyone in town knew Jake was a no-go for her and was never gonna be a go for her again. She also shared that most people in town thought it was sad, and by that she meant pathetic, that Donna fell into her cougar ways. Not done, she told Donna that everyone in town also thought she was a shit mom. Thought mega-less about her because of it. Thought Jake was the bomb ‘cause he stepped up so huge in takin’ care of his kids without her help. And new talk in town was that everyone was super excited that Jake found you ‘cause folks have always wanted him to get himself a good woman, and he did. But more, they wanted his kids to have a good woman in their lives and they got that too.”

This felt very nice, that I had the townspeople of Magdalene’s seal of approval as Jake’s woman, but I was still concerned about this Rita woman laying it out for Donna.

“And how did Donna take this?” I asked.

“Not real great ‘cause Donna is not about honesty. Donna’s about denial. Gettin’ it straight from Jake and her best friend all in the same night?” She shook her head. “Had a piss fit. A big one. Kicked Rita out then called around to the rest of her crew to start moaning about Rita. Problem with that was, she did this, they all agreed with Rita and walked right through the door Rita opened to tell her that shit.”

“Oh goodness,” I murmured.

“Mm-hmm,” Alyssa replied, grabbing some cuticle clippers. “So, I’m sure it won’t surprise you that Donna didn’t nurse her hangover thinkin’ things through and deciding to get her shit together. Nooo. Instead, she nursed her hangover, walked into work yesterday morning and gave notice. Word is, she’s moving to Boston.”

I felt my entire body get tight.

“Pardon?” I breathed.

Alyssa looked at me. “She’s chucking it in. Another client of mine said that a friend of hers said that she talked with Donna in the grocery store and Donna told her she can’t live in the same town with a Jake Spear who has another woman, so she’s gone. That woman didn’t ask Donna but she did ask my client how Donna managed to miss the fact that Jake had two other wives and a few others besides but apparently her dream world was a fortress until Jake blew it to smithereens and she missed this shit.”

I was barely listening.

I had only one thing on my mind.

“She isn’t thinking of trying to take Conner and Amber with her, is she?” I asked urgently and Alyssa stopped working on my toes, wrapped a hand around my foot and squeezed reassuringly as she looked up at me.

“Honey, no,” she said gently. “Has that woman ever considered her children when she’s made a decision?”

I had only known her a very short time but what I knew of her, the answer to this was no.

But I answered, “I don’t think so.”

“No. She hasn’t. Donna thinks of one thing: Donna. Strike that. She thinks of three things: Donna and Jake or gettin’ laid by someone who looks like him.”

I bit my lip.

Alyssa studied me before she noted, “You don’t look happy.”

“Boston is two and a half hours away,” I reminded her.

“Yeah, and Junior’s got no exes that had his ring on their finger but if he did, I’d be a lot happier they were two and a half hours away.”

“I would be happy, if that didn’t mean she wasn’t also two and a half hours away from her children.”

Her face got soft and she muttered, “See your point.”

“Do you think she’ll follow through with this?” I asked.

“No clue. She could have had a wild hair and now think better of it. Or she could be gone. She’s got a good position as a manager at Anderson’s dealership. Be stupid of her to give that up.”

“I need to tell Jake this,” I pointed out the obvious.

“Well, hang tight, babelicious, because I’m not done.”

Marvelous.

I “hung tight,” Alyssa refocused on my toes and kept talking.

“This is the big shit and I saved the best for last.”

I hoped so.

She kept her eyes to my toes as she said, “Okay, well, I got a client, she’s a paralegal at Weaver, Schuller and Associates. She came in right before you and she told me this on the hush-hush so I’m gonna work on your feet and act like I’m just gabbin’. Think she doesn’t know I’m tight with you but she lets shit spill all the time. I don’t say crap but seein’ as all that’s goin’ down with you is goin’ down, you gotta know. But she’s a good gal so you just let this play out and don’t get her in trouble, ‘kay?”

“Okay,” I said quietly.

I had, of course, told Alyssa all that was happening since we talked daily. Something she started and something I kept up because she was funny, kind and becoming a very good friend.

“So, the thing is,” she carried on. “Boston Stone and Stone Incorporated are clients of Weaver, Schuller and Associates.”

“Oh no,” I whispered.

“Hang on, babe,” she replied. “Now, see, Terry Baginski is an associate part of that ‘associates,’ not a partner. And Davis Malone’s got nothin’ to do with Stone Incorporated. So, when he ‘approached’—and I can’t use my hands to put that in air quotes, honey, but you get me—no matter he did it through Stone, she shoulda told him that it was a conflict of interest seein’ as Mrs. Malone, and by extension you, were long time clients. Instead, she made the decision to make Stone happy by takin’ on that case. Or at least that’s what she told Schuller when Schuller got wind of it. She advised they take on your uncle and leave you hanging out to dry. Problem is, she didn’t have the authority to do this seein’ as she’s an associate. Only a partner can make the decision on which client they want to represent.”

I took in a deep anticipatory breath.

Alyssa kept talking.

“Thing is, that firm actually drew up your granny’s will so they can’t exactly not defend it when it gets contested. And Arnold Weaver may be on a leave of absence due to the sad fact that his wife just passed but he didn’t die with her and Schuller and him have been partners a long time. They’re best buds. And they don’t do shit without there bein’ a consensus between them so when Schuller took this to Weaver, apparently, Weaver lost his ever-lovin’ mind.”

Suddenly, I felt better.

Alyssa continued.

“Weaver went into the offices and he and Schuller dragged Terry in and told her to pack up her desk, she was out. Flies came outta the woodwork then, assistants and paralegals tellin’ the partners that Baginski did to other clients what she did with you, that bein’ pushing a variety of Stone Incorporated crap on them including advising sales of properties and investment of assets and this was because she’d invested and heavily. Now, don’t have any legal knowledge but this didn’t make Weaver or Schuller all that happy so I’m thinkin’ this isn’t a good thing.”

I didn’t have any legal knowledge either so I couldn’t confirm or negate.

“Anyway,” she went on. “Stone got wind of this and walked into the office without an appointment, demanded to see the partners, told them they had to reinstate Terry and take on your uncle’s business or they’d lose his. They asked him where he’d like his files sent.”

“Good God,” I breathed.

“I know,” she agreed. “But, way my client tells it, Stone might be loaded but Weaver and Schuller have pretty much cornered the market on legal counsel in this county. There are a couple ambulance chasers here and there but if you want someone who knows their shit, you go to them.”

I started smiling.

She looked up at me.

I finished smiling and did it big.

“So they called his bluff,” I noted. “What did he do?”

“Blustered, sayin’ he’d inform them who he was goin’ with and took off. He’s only got one real choice. Terry.” The light in her eyes dimmed when she concluded, “And now she needs the work and he’s a big client even if he’s only one so I don’t think this is over for you.”

“But hopefully it means my attorney will phone me,” I replied.

She grinned before looking back to my toes, saying, “Hopefully.”

“Thank you for telling me this, honey,” I said. “And I’ll be discreet about what you shared from your client.”

“Wouldn’t have told you if I didn’t believe that to be true.”

“I’d give you a hug if I wasn’t pretty certain that I’d fall out of the pedicure tub trying to do it.”

She looked up at me and grinned.

I looked into her warm brown eyes and swallowed.

Then I told her, “The best decision I ever made in my life was to give up the life I had and stay in Magdalene.”

Those warm brown eyes got bright and she ordered, her voice husky, “Now, sister, don’t go makin’ me cry. Cuttin’ cuticles and swiping polish may look easy. But it isn’t.”

“Okay, I won’t make you cry.”

“Instead, let me know which outfit of yours I get to borrow for when we go out with you and Dee-Amond to The Eaves tonight.”

These were our plans for the evening. Jake, me and the kids, Alyssa, Junior and their kids and Dee-Amond and his posse at The Eaves. His manager had sorted it. They were setting up a function room for us.

I couldn’t wait.

I smiled and invited, “Come over whenever you can and you can have your pick.”

“I just decided to cancel my last client.”

My smile got bigger. She returned it and then turned her attention to my toes.

I took in a deep breath and let it go.

An hour and a half later, I gave my friend a big tip.

She tried to refuse.

But I refused to let her.

And after that, I finally got to give her my hug.

* * * * *

I tripped on my fabulous Christian Louboutin pump the instant I walked into Jake’s gym.

This was because Jake was in the middle ring wearing loose gray workout pants, boxing shoes, boxing gloves, one of those padded things on his head and nothing else.

And he was slick with wet and sparring with a gentleman I didn’t even look at.

I didn’t look at his sparring partner because I felt a spasm in a nice place and had to concentrate on walking as I moved further into the gym, noting distractedly that it was quite full.

This was something I found a minor marvel, as it was quite full frequently, even now, mid-day, when most people should be working.

It was fuller today because Amond’s entire crew was working punching bags or weights. All except Amond, who had on a very flattering tracksuit but was standing close to the corner of Jake’s ring.

Jake being focused, it was Amond who turned to me and called, “Hey, beautiful.”

I got looks and greetings from the men I knew as I made my way across the gym but I was still concentrating on Jake even as I called, “Hello, Amond.”

I heard Jake grunt a garbled, “Hold,” this being garbled because he had a mouth guard in his mouth.

His partner moved away and Jake turned my way, lifting a glove and spitting the guard into it, his eyes on me, his lips lifting in a smile.

“Yo, Slick,” he called.

“Hello, darling,” I replied.

He met me at the ropes.

Then he did something lovely, bending his big body over the ropes so he could get his face close to mine.

I took his invitation, tipped my head back and lifted a hand to cup the padding of his headgear at his jaw. He touched his mouth to mine and moved back an inch.

It was then I said quietly, “I have news.”

His eyes roamed my face before they locked on mine and he asked, “Yeah?” right when my phone in my purse rang.

“Hang on, honey,” I murmured. “I’m hoping for a call.”

I looked to Amond and gave him a smile before I dug my phone out of my purse, saw a number displayed on it I didn’t know but took the call anyway because that number was local.

“This is Josephine Malone,” I said in greeting.

“Josephine, my dear, this is Arnie.”

I looked to Jake, my lips still curved. “Hello, Arnie.”

Jake’s brows shot up.

“Listen,” Arnie started. “I’d like to begin by apologizing that we haven’t responded to your calls until now. We’ve had some internal issues that needed my attention. But we’ve sorted those out and I just wanted to inform you that I’m aware that Lydia’s will is being contested and I’ll be dealing with this issue personally.”

“Arnie,” I said softly, shifting my eyes to Jake’s chest, deciding that was too distracting a view so I moved them to his feet. “That’s not necessary. In this time—”

“It is, Josephine,” he interrupted me to say. “I drafted that will. It’s sound. I’ve known Lydia for thirty years and know her mind was sound. This is a nuisance lawsuit and I’ll be handling it as a priority.”

I lifted my eyes to Jake’s when I replied, “That gives me much relief, Arnie.”

“If I should need you, my dear, I’ll call. But first allow me to see what I can do when Mr. Malone has found new counsel.”

Faking confusion and hoping I pulled it off, I asked, “New counsel?”

“He was erroneously taken on at Weaver and Schuller. We’ve dealt with that matter and it’s been explained to him he needs to find alternate representation. I’ll let you know when he has and how things will proceed.”

“I’d appreciate that,” I told him.

“And don’t worry, Josephine,” he assured me, his voice low but firm. “As I said, this is a nuisance suit, it’s my top priority and everything will be just as it should be in the end. That being you having what Lydia wished for you to have, Lavender House, her monies and her possessions.”

“Thank you, Arnie,” I said softly.

“My pleasure,” he replied.

“Until we speak again,” I said as my farewell.

“Until then, my dear. Take care.”

“You too.”

He rang off and I looked up at Jake, smiling big and declaring, “As I mentioned, darling. I have news.”

He grinned at me, straightened and turned to the man in the ring. “We’re done, Troy. But meet my woman,” he invited and the man moved our way. “Troy, Josie. Josie, Troy,” Jake finished.

“Lovely to meet you, Troy,” I said.

“Same,” he replied in a garbled way on a black grin since he hadn’t taken out his mouth guard. He spit it into his glove and looked to Jake. “You’re dropping your left.”

“Noticed that,” Jake replied.

“Bring it up,” Troy returned, jerked up his chin, punched Jake affably in the shoulder and then moved to the ropes and through them.

I took a step back so Jake could do the same and Amond was at my side when Jake jumped down.

“Gear, gloves, babe,” Jake ordered between his teeth seeing as he had the laces of one of his gloves between them.

He tugged.

I watched and felt another spasm.

He tugged at his other one.

I again watched and felt a spasm.

Then he shoved his hands my way.

That must have been what he meant by “gear, gloves, babe” so I pulled his gloves off.

Amond demanded to know, “What’s the news?”

I looked to him to see him looking intently at me.

I looked back to Jake to see him yanking off his headgear as he explained, “Filled him in at the club last night, Slick.”

My eyes went back to Amond. “It’s really not a big deal.”

“What’s the news?” Amond repeated.

I sighed and looked to Jake.

Jake held my eyes but reached behind him, grabbing a sweatshirt from the side of the ring and saying, “Let’s go into the office.”

We moved there and once there, Jake dumped the headgear on his couch, took his gloves from me, they joined the headgear and then he yanked on his sweatshirt.

Once he had it down his stomach, I started, “I—”

“Didn’t want to bother your friend with your shit,” Jake finished for me. “I get that you want to have a good visit, babe. But you gotta get that you got a problem, you throw every resource you got at solving it.”

Now I was confused.

“Pardon?”

“Don’t matter,” Amond entered the conversation. “What’s the news?”

I looked to him then to Jake and said, “Obviously, I now have counsel.”

“Give us more,” Jake immediately replied.

I sighed and told them everything Alyssa had told me including asking them to keep it on the hush-hush. Although Amond would have no one to tell, Jake could.

“Good. That bitch got canned,” was Jake’s reply.

Once he said this, he looked to Amond and so did I.

Amond was looking at Jake. He lifted his brows.

I looked to Jake and saw Jake shake his head.

I looked back to Amond who had his mouth tight and he looked to his feet.

This was when I announced, “I am aware that I have a uterus but I’ve not known that ever to interfere with a woman’s ability to speak English or deal with a variety of situations, including stressful ones.”

At that, I got two highly attractive grins.

However, I got no words.

“Well?” I prompted.

Jake’s grin died and he said, “Stone and your uncle still need to be taken out.”

“Indeed,” I agreed.

“So we’re not out of the woods yet,” Jake went on.

“I haven’t opened a bottle of champagne, Jake,” I pointed out and got another grin.

I also got, “Keep bein’ a smartass, Slick, and your man here is gonna get an eyeful of just how much I like your mouth, even when you’re usin’ it to be a smartass.”

At that, I closed my mouth.

Jake’s grin got bigger.

“Thinkin’ I need to give you two the room,” Amond noted and I looked to him.

“Sorry, Amond. But actually you do. I have other news for Jake that’s private.”

“Not a problem, beautiful. Came here to get my sweat on and been jackin’ around. I’m gonna go do that.”

On those words he left with a low wave and closed the door behind him.

“What’s the private news?” Jake asked the minute the door clicked.

I turned to him then I got closer to him and when I did, I shared what I learned about Donna.

This news was clearly not welcome and I knew it when Jake’s eyes heated with anger and the room heated right along with them.

“The bitch is gonna take off?”

“We don’t know that for certain, darling. This is beauty salon news. We probably shouldn’t jump to conclusions.”

It was like he didn’t hear me.

“My boy Ethan’s bitch of a mom took off. Calls him whenever somethin’ reminds her to feel guilty she left his ass, which isn’t often. Sends birthday cards with a shitload of money in them, expensive presents for Christmas, neither replacing him not havin’ a fuckin’ mom. Makes plans she doesn’t intend to keep for me to send him down there in the summer and on spring break and then breaks them. Now my other kids’ bitch of a mom is gonna hightail her ass outta town?”

I said nothing.

“I don’t believe this shit,” he clipped.

It was on that I went to him and put both hands on his chest. “Jake, we don’t know she’s leaving for certain.”

“She’ll leave. She’s finally clued into the fact that everyone in town thinks she’s a joke, she’ll clue in she’s dug a hole she’s gonna find it hard to dig out of. And unfortunately, she’s not the kind of woman who understands that it’s worth scratchin’ and clawin’ your way out of the pits of hell if it means takin’ care of your kids.”

I pressed my lips together even if I liked very much that that was how he felt about his children.

“She’s a bitch,” he bit out.

I pressed in at his chest and moved closer. “Would you like me to contact her?”

“No,” he clipped. “I’ll get a hold of her ass.”

“Uh…just to note, darling, that the last time you got a hold of her ass led to this reaction. Perhaps I can be more diplomatic.”

He clenched his jaw.

“Let’s think on this,” I suggested gently. “Give it some time and see what she does. There’s no reason to react, spending that emotion and maybe creating more bad blood if she eventually changes her mind.”

Jake moved his hands to curl his fingers around my hips as he agreed curtly, “Right, Slick. We’ll do that.”

I slid my hands up to curl them around the sides of his neck, pressing closer as I said, “I’m sorry that I upset you.”

“You didn’t pick her, I did,” he replied. “Fuck,” he ground out. “Thank fuck I finally fuckin’ picked right the last time.”

My stomach dipped, my body melted into his and my hands clenched into the muscles at his neck.

When the latter two happened, he focused on me.

“I’m glad you think that,” I said softly.

“Don’t think it. Know it,” he said firmly and that got another stomach dip, bigger than the last and much better.

However, even feeling it, I advised, “Please stop being hard on yourself. You were in love, and the man I know, I trust there were reasons for that. What these women are doing is their choice, their responsibility and in the end, Jake, they’re missing out on great beauty and that’s their consequence. You’re not. You sacrificed for your children and you give them everything you can. They’re going to understand that one day and feel deep gratitude for it, if they don’t already.”

“Love your words, baby, but hard not to kick myself in the ass for the choices I made.”

“Well…” I rolled up on my toes and finished firmly on a squeeze of his neck, “Try.”

He looked into my eyes for some time and finally his lips quirked as his hands moved so he could wrap his arms around me.

“Smartass and bossy, what got into you today?” he asked.

“I’m just handling my man,” I answered.

His lip quirk turned into a full-blown laugh as his arms convulsed around me and he roared with his amusement.

I watched, nestling in and enjoying it.

I enjoyed it more when he noticed me doing it, dipped his head and kept doing it but with his mouth on mine.

Oh yes.

I enjoyed that more.

A great deal more.

And I showed him how much by sliding my arms around his neck.

At that, Jake got serious and I let him.

I enjoyed that even more.

So in the end, not only Amond but his crew and several of the members of Jake’s club got a good view through Jake’s office windows of just how much he liked my mouth.

And I didn’t care.

Not one bit.

* * * * *

“Okay, beautiful, this is what I see and what I see I’m gonna tell you and you gotta work some freakin’ magic or I’d say in about a week, a month or, from the way of Jake’s boy, a day, you’re gonna face Armageddon.”

This was whispered to me from Amond who’d leaned into me from his place at my side at the big rectangular table we were all sitting around in the function room at The Eaves.

I looked to him and raised my brows. “Pardon?”

“Right, you got a lot goin’ on so I’ll break this down. See your girl’s girl, she shows at your place, all tricked out and I mean tricked out, lookin’ good like she wants someone’s attention. But your man’s boy treats her probably like he’s treated her since they were kids seein’ as he’s probably grown up with her.”

My eyes drifted around the table, slightly confused at his words, until I put it together that “my girl’s girl” was Sofie and “my man’s boy” was Conner.

Then my eyes darted to Conner.

“Now, sweet Sofie, she didn’t like that seein’ as she tricked herself out for Conner,” Amond continued. “And after he was all friendly but nothin’ else, when he wasn’t lookin’, her face looked like the world was about to end.”

Oh dear.

“Then,” Amond went on, “we get to the restaurant and we’re walkin’ through and he just happens to be walkin’ behind her. He also just happens to see that there was not one but a fuckin’ slew of males, old and young, who got off on watchin’ the eye candy parade walk by. You. Your girl. Your man’s girl. And your girl’s girl.”

I looked from Conner, who was cutting his steak, to Sofie who let out a giggle at something her father said at her side. Then I swiftly looked back to Conner who was now very much looking at Sofie.

“Oh dear,” I said out loud this time.

“Yeah,” Amond agreed. “Your boy caught that girl gettin’ attention and suddenly the blindfold was yanked off. And she ain’t stupid. She’s noticed it. She just doesn’t know what to do with it. But what she does know is how to be goofy, cute and sweet and your boy Con is clearly all about that because he went from mildly interested to all over that shit in about ten minutes.”

“Damn,” I whispered.

“Now, I got three kids and all three of them are girls and I’ll tell you this, your boy even looked at them, I’d lose my mind. That Junior guy loves his wife. He loves his family. He’s all good. But he’ll stop bein’ all good when he cottons on to this shit. And the ones who talk soft are the ones to look out for ‘cause you don’t know what’s hit you when he explodes.”

I looked to Amond and declared, “Conner is a fine young man.”

To which Amond smiled a big white smile and replied, “You can say that, not bein’ a sixteen year old girl whose ass he wants to tap.”

I felt my eyes get wide, leaned in, and hissed, “I’ll have you know, Conner has abstained from sexual intercourse with at least two of his girlfriends.”

His brows shot up and his grin turned wicked when he asked, “A whole two?”

I harrumphed and settled my behind more firmly in my seat as I turned deeper to him and stated, “And one of them was quite shy and very lovely, just like Sofie.”

His head cocked to the side. “Jesus, you that tight with him?”

I took in a breath and shared, “Circumstances were such with one of his ex-girlfriends that this news came to light.”

“I bet,” he muttered, still smiling.

“He’s quite protective and thoughtful with his girlfriends,” I informed him.

“I bet,” he repeated, still smiling.

I started to get a niggle of anxiety and murmured, “Though he’s completely unattached now.”

“Won’t be for long,” Amond murmured in return.

I took in another breath and looked to Conner. Alas, when I did this I saw him smile. It was directed at Sofie so my eyes moved to her. I knew she caught it because her cheeks were becomingly pink and she was staring at her lap even as she reached for her water glass. This was a doomed endeavor, I knew too well, and I was right. She knocked it over and thus shot out of her chair, her father doing the same, both of them tossing their napkins to the spill.

My gaze went back to Conner to see him grinning rather knowingly and somewhat alarmingly handsomely at his plate.

Blast.

Amond chuckled.

I turned to glare at him.

At that point, I felt Jake lean into me on my other side and, lips to my ear, he said, “We’re fucked. Con’s on the prowl. Target: Sofie. Junior gets wind of that, he’s gonna lose his mind.”

I turned my head to him, lifted my brows with fake innocence, and murmured, “Hmm?”

Jake took in my expression, shook his head and declared, “You are so full of shit.”

“All right, so I noticed,” I admitted. “But only because Amond just pointed it out.”

“Yeah,” Jake said. “Noticed that’s been his entertainment all night but he doesn’t have to deal with a kid he wants to have everything he wants and a friend who wants to rip his kid’s head off.”

Although the situation was possibly dire, Jake’s words made me stifle a giggle and I repeated my advice of much earlier that day, “Why don’t we see how things play out?”

“I know how they’re gonna play out, Slick,” he returned. “See, I got klutzy and cute sleepin’ beside me at night so I know it’s sweet. And I got a boy who’s just like me. So I know what he’s gonna go for and now I gotta make certain he doesn’t go for it in the backseat of his car. I like my son. I want him on this earth awhile. And I like Junior. I don’t want to have to beat him to death in an alley for takin’ my son out.”

“You’re being very dramatic, Jake,” I pointed out. “I think should something happen, they’ll be quite sweet together.”

“You got the mind of a once sixteen year old girl. I got the mind of a once seventeen year old boy. And newsflash, Slick, so does Junior.”

I bit my lip.

Jake watched me do it then his eyes came back to mine and he said, “Right.”

I turned my attention back to the halibut on my plate but felt something strange and looked across the table.

Alyssa was sitting there between Amond’s bodyguard and his “other manager” and her eyes on me were huge as was the smile on her face. I watched as they darted comically and quickly to her side then she jutted her chin out and they darted across the table and back. She repeated this four times before she lifted a hand in a thumb’s up gesture then curled it in a fist and pumped it up and down three times before she turned her attention back to her plate.

I stared at her, nonplussed, until Jake again put his lips to his ear.

“Well, we got that goin’ for us. Alyssa’s fired up about her girl landing the high school big man. My son makes his move, you play that angle. I’ll keep an eye on Junior.”

Ah.

So that was what that was all about with Alyssa.

I turned to Jake. “Deal.”

He grinned at me, leaned in and touched his mouth to mine.

“Gross!” Ethan shouted and both Jake and I looked at him in time to watch him announce to the whole table. “They do that all the time.”

“Just you wait until you get your turn, little man,” Amond advised.

“I’m not kissin’ Josie,” Ethan returned, looking a little sick.

“No, boy,” Amond replied. “When you get a woman of your own.”

“She’s gonna cook like Josie. She’s gonna dress like Josie. She’s gonna talk like Josie. But we’re just holding hands,” Ethan informed Amond superiorly and my heart jumped as my belly melted.

“At least you got good taste, even though I’m makin’ a pact with you that I’m callin’ you in fifteen years and we’ll see about that holdin’ hands business,” Amond replied.

Ethan grinned, likely only hearing that Amond was calling him in fifteen years, and agreed, “You’re on.”

Amond threw him a smile.

I reached out for my glass of champagne.

Jake reached for his beer and as he did so, slid an arm around the back of my chair, leaned behind me and said something to Amond.

But I wasn’t listening.

I was looking.

And I was feeling.

A table of friends from two different worlds, talking, eating, laughing and making a beautiful memory with me smack in the middle, able to drink it all in even as I felt my man close, his arm on my chair, claiming me.

And it was then I knew.

It wasn’t Jake Gran wanted me to have.

It wasn’t Jake and his kids.

It was this.

It was a good life. A happy life. Safe with people I cared about and trusted.

And in giving me Jake, this was what she gave me.

I felt my eyes sting, put my champagne back and focused again on my halibut.

After I took a bite, chewed and swallowed, I took up my champagne again and looked to the ceiling that was painted an attractive wine color that had a lovely wash to it that made it look like undulating satin.

I didn’t see the lovely paint job.

I wasn’t seeing.

I was speaking.

Silently.

Thank you, Gran, I said, lifted my glass minutely then took a sip.

I put it back to the table and turned my attention to the halibut.

* * * * *

The next afternoon, I watched Amond and his posse hand out hugs and handshakes around the Escalades making note that when Jake and Amond clasped each other’s forearms, they kept hold and leaned into each other, talking in ears.

I decided to ignore this. They were bonding and it wasn’t lost on me they were bonding over my troubles with my uncle and Boston Stone. But they were bonding, that was what was important.

I gave out my own hugs to Amond’s crew and he was the last for me.

He pulled me in his arms; he did this close, his arms going tight.

And he shocked me, honored me and wounded me when he whispered in my ear, “This is precisely what I wanted to give you, beautiful.”

I said nothing, just held on.

“Even not givin’ it to you, sure as fuck am glad you got it.”

I closed my eyes and held on tighter.

“Love you, Josephine,” he finished.

I opened my eyes and turned my head so my lips were right at his ear.

“And I love you, too, honey.”

He gave me a squeeze, pulled back an inch, looked deep in my eyes and smiled.

I took in a breath through my nose and smiled back.

He let me go and got in the back seat of one of the Escalades. As he was doing this, Jake got close and claimed me with an arm around my shoulders. The kids then claimed me just by huddling close.

Thus Jake, Conner, Amber, Ethan and I stood and waved Amond and his crew away.

And when we lost sight of them, we all walked together back into Lavender House.

* * * * *

The next morning, I followed Jake and Ethan out of the kitchen, pad of paper and pen in hand, scribbling.

“Babe, just give it to me and text me if you forget anything,” Jake ordered impatiently.

“Just a second,” I murmured, hurrying after them and still scribbling.

“It’s a grocery list, not the Magna Carta, Slick,” Jake noted. “Just give it to me. I gotta get my boy to school and then I got a session at the gym.”

I looked up and narrowed my eyes, reminding him, “I don’t understand why you’re going to the grocery store when I’ve got nearly all day to do it.”

He stopped at the door. “’Cause I’m gonna be in Blakely to meet my liquor distributors and no reason for you to go over there when I’m already over there. And anyway, you got a boatload of laundry the kids dumped on you last night.”

“I can do laundry, grocery shop and, FYI, also drop Ethan.”

“I’m already out on the road to get to the gym. No reason for you to be too.”

“Okay then, I—”

He cut me off to ask, “Babe, you ever done five people’s laundry?”

“No,” I gave him the answer he already knew.

“I haven’t either. But I’ve done four. Trust me. It seems the machines do all the work but that shit sucks your time. You got dishes in the sink and Pearl to take to Alyssa’s and it isn’t me who fired your cleaning service because they missed polishing the fuckin’ door.”

Ethan giggled.

I glared at Jake and I did this mostly because I hated it that he was right.

“That wood is over one hundred years old, Jake. It needs constant care,” I informed him haughtily.

Jake sighed before he replied, “Are you gonna give me the list or what?”

I tugged off the sheet on top of the pad and jerked it his way.

He took it, shoved it in his back pocket then asked, “Now you gonna give me a kiss or what?”

“I’m going out to the truck,” Ethan announced at this point.

But I was considering my options of kissing Jake or what.

Ethan went out the door.

“Baby, get your ass over here,” Jake ordered.

“I’m supposed to be helping,” I told him.

“Tonight, I get home, you get the fifty loads of laundry you’re facin’ done, I sit my ass down with my kids and eat the dinner you cooked, we’ll talk about how you aren’t helping.”

Hmm.

Well, the way he said that seemed helpful.

“Babe. Kiss,” he growled impatiently.

I moved to him. He swept his arms around me, dropped his mouth to mine and I didn’t give him a kiss, he took one.

And it was a lovely one.

When he was done, he ran his nose alongside mine and whispered, “Later, Slick.”

“Later, darling.”

I watched his eyes grin then I watched him go.

When the door closed behind him, I turned and tripped, nearly going down on my hands and knees. I caught myself just in time and looked at the floor to see what caught at my foot.

It was a tennis shoe.

I also saw its mate to the side and another pair of shoes. High-heeled boots.

Not mine. Amber’s.

I looked up and on the sturdy, handsome coat tree by the door I saw jackets and scarves thrown over it, only two of them mine.

I turned and wandered down the hall and took in an iPad, Ethan’s, sitting on the table in the hall, plugged in to charge under it.

I kept wandering and hit the family room. A laptop on the couch, Amber’s. Some discarded papers on the table by the armchair. I didn’t know what they were but I knew they were put there by Conner who did his homework there last night.

I moved to the kitchen and stopped, taking in the skillet on the Aga, the dishes in the sink, the juice glasses and coffee mugs beside it.

I wandered to the kitchen table and looked out the window at the gray blustery day, taking in a stormy sea, the fenced garden put to rest for the winter, the wisteria around the arbor cut back and ready to grow in and bloom come spring.

Next year, I’d plant pumpkins in that garden for Ethan and tomatoes in hopes I could get Conner to eat them.

I knew this.

I loved this.

This was the life I’d wanted since I could remember, the dream I thought had died that night my boyfriend sent me crashing down the stairs. The beautiful bubble of that dream had popped the instant I heard my shoulder crack and the pain radiated out, obliterating the dream to the point I didn’t even remember I had it.

But I remembered it right then.

That was why I stood looking out a window I’d looked out hundreds of times in my life. Perhaps thousands.

But this was the first time I did it at the same time I started laughing.

Which was the same time I began to cry.

* * * * *

Just after noon the next day, I stood in the pharmacy by the Redbox, jabbing my finger on the screen to make my selection. Or, more accurately, Ethan’s selection since his friends Bryant and Joshua were coming over that night for a sleepover and a video orgy (Jake’s words) was on the agenda.

I managed to get one DVD to spit out just as my phone rang.

I dug it out of my purse, saw the name on the display and took the call.

“Young Taylor, how are you?” I greeted boy Taylor.

“Update, Josie,” was his greeting to me.

I had learned since he got my number that boy Taylor was a bit of a gossip. A fair bit of one.

This was not unwelcome. In fact, it was always interesting and quite often amusing.

“Fill me in,” I ordered, jabbing the screen on the Redbox to make my next selection.

“Con’s having a time of it,” he shared readily. “Sofie is not shy. The girl is uber freaking shy. Every day this week he tried to execute an approach at lunch but she sees this and takes off running, even leaving her lunch tray on the table to do it.”

“Oh dear,” I murmured as the box spit out my second DVD.

I kept jabbing the screen as boy Taylor kept speaking.

“Today it was worse.”

“Oh dear,” I repeated.

“Yeah. She tripped when she took off. Took a header right in the cafeteria. Splat!”

I winced.

Poor Sofie.

Boy Taylor went on.

“Then, swear to God, it was like a teenaged Nicolas Sparks movie. Con moved in, picked her up, asked her if she was okay and she burst into tears right on the spot and took off. The whole school is yammering about it.”

This might not be good news.

“Good talk or bad talk?” I queried.

“Uh…Josie, Con’s hot, he got screwed over by Mia and Ellie so everyone’s thinkin’ he’s the misunderstood hero with a wounded heart. And Sofie’s pretty, sweet and far’s I know, never been kissed. Every girl who keeps a diary is going to be chronicling this story in pink ink with loads of hearts drawn around it.”

“I’ll take that as good,” I stated as the last DVD regurgitated itself from the tall red box.

“Yeah,” he replied and I could hear his laughter. Then he went on, “Oh, and Amber’s waving and yapping at me. She wants you to tell Mr. Spear she’s gonna be late tonight. She and Alexi are going to a movie after school then he’s taking her out to dinner.”

This was a smooth maneuver a la Amber, giving me this information to give her father who was resigned to his daughter dating but that didn’t mean he liked it.

“Tell her I’ll handle that,” I said.

“Cool,” he replied.

“Now, you have a good afternoon, young Taylor. Stay alert in class.”

“Will do. You have a good afternoon too, Josie,” he replied.

“I will. Take care and say hello to Amber and girl Taylor for me.”

“Consider it done. Later,” he bid his farewell.

“Good-bye, Taylor,” I bid mine, added the last DVD to my pile, turned and stopped dead.

Then I took a step back and ran into the Redbox.

“Stupid little bitch,” Uncle Davis hissed, leaning into me threateningly.

I stared at him, my body frozen, but my heart was slamming in my chest.

I’d taken him in that night he’d made his surprise and unwelcome visit but that night was dark.

Now, it was a shock to see what the years had done to him.

When I was young, he seemed so powerful, so threatening, so fearsome. He terrified me, even more than my father. I knew my father had violence in him, I’d witnessed it and experienced it from the moment I had memories.

But Uncle Davis somehow was worse.

Now he was a shell of his former self. A fragile, chipped one that appeared easily crushed should you trod on it.

I had these thoughts in a blink of an eye.

And in that same blink, Uncle Davis got close.

“Asshole who found me and told me about the wad Ma laid on you had that attorney’s firm on retainer. Now, seein’ as he has to pay for that shit outta pocket, he don’t feel like ponying up. Especially when that stupid bitch who told him she had it all covered and…fuckin’…didn’t then told him it wasn’t gonna go easy. She also laid that shit on my door when the first judge she was tryin’ to get to fast track me to my rightful inheritance refused the case since he said me and Chess played some fuckin’ prank on him a half a fuckin’ century ago and he’s not over it so he can’t be impartial.”

I blinked as all this information, and there was a good deal of it, processed through me.

Uncle Davis seemed not to know, or possibly care, how much he was giving because he kept giving it.

“Now, that asshole Stone says it’s up to me. I got me a lawyer who’d take the case for a percentage of what he gets me and then your”—he jabbed a finger at me so close to my face, I made a futile attempt to press further into the Redbox—“lawyer buried him under so much shit, now he’s sayin’ he needs a retainer from me to stay on the case.”

I swallowed.

Uncle Davis’s eyes narrowed and he got closer, his mouth opening to say more but he didn’t get it out.

This was because someone close ordered, “Step away from Ms. Malone.”

I looked to my left to see Magdalene’s tall, handsome sheriff there, wearing a sheriff-style shirt but with jeans and although tall and handsome (something I noticed when I met him several days ago, seeing as he was that tall and that handsome, it was hard to miss—something I noticed even more now for that sheriff shirt was quite something on a man like him). However, tall and handsome he was, he was not happy.

“What’s goin’ on here?” I heard at that point and looked to my right to see Mickey bearing down on us.

But, alas, Uncle Davis was focused.

On me.

Thus I had no choice but to focus on him.

“I’m not payin’ for this shit, shit I shoulda got straight from Ma,” he announced.

“Sir, I asked…step away from Ms. Malone,” the sheriff repeated.

Uncle Davis again ignored him.

“That house and that money are mine, bitch, and the half I was willin’ to give you outta the goodness of my heart is really Chess’s and since I didn’t fuck Chess over like you did, I figure that’s mine too.”

The sheriff and Mickey were much closer when the sheriff reiterated, “Sir, I will not ask again. Step away from Ms. Malone.”

He didn’t get the opportunity to comply. Mickey wrapped his hand around my bicep and slid me out from in front of Uncle Davis then he pressed me behind him as he stepped between me and my uncle.

Uncle Davis glared at Mickey. “I wasn’t done talkin’ to my niece.”

“Oh yeah you were,” Mickey replied quietly.

Uncle Davis’s brows shot up. “You takin’ on an old man?”

“Just tellin’ you whatever else you gotta say to Josephine, you’re not gonna say it,” Mickey returned then shifted slightly my way and ordered, “Get to your car, honey.”

“Don’t you move a fuckin’ muscle,” Uncle Davis commanded, again lifting a hand and jabbing a finger my way.

Mickey stepped to the side, between me and my uncle’s finger, at the same time shielding me from view.

“Sir, calm down and move away from Mr. Donovan and Ms. Malone,” the sheriff demanded.

Uncle Davis leaned to the side to catch my eyes. “This is not done, bitch. I’m gonna get what’s mine, however I gotta do it.”

“Now I gotta ask you to stop threatening Ms. Malone and remind you that not only are you doin’ that in front of witnesses but an officer of the law.”

Uncle Davis turned to the sheriff. “You think I give a shit?”

“I think you aren’t very smart if you don’t,” the sheriff returned.

Uncle Davis opened his mouth to speak but I did it before him.

“Bring it on.”

I felt all attention come to me and stepped from behind Mickey so Uncle Davis could see me clearly. Mickey wrapped his fingers around my wrist but that was all he did before I started talking again.

“Do you honestly think I’m still frightened of you?” I asked.

“I think you never learned that lesson from your father like you should,” he answered.

Highly inappropriate.

So Uncle Davis.

“Yes, I did, Uncle Davis,” I told him. “I absolutely did that last time when he put me in the hospital.”

I felt Mickey and the sheriff go alert but I wasn’t done.

“But I’m older now. Wiser. And you’re older too. Weak. And not very smart. And all this is just what you do. Making people’s lives miserable because you’re a sociopath and you enjoy it. I think it’s only fair to warn you that you can put a good deal of effort into trying to make me miserable but you won’t succeed. It will end being quite frustrating so I’d advise you to cut your losses now.”

“I got a hankerin’ to put a fair amount of effort into it, Josephine,” Uncle Davis replied and I shrugged when he did.

“My invitation still stands. Have at it. It’ll be your time and money that you lose.”

His eyes narrowed on me, something shifting in them before they did, and he offered, “Make things easier for you. You give me a check, I’ll get outta town.”

And I knew precisely what that meant. I remembered the way I grew up. I remembered the way he and my father were. How they lived. How my father living that way meant I lived. Even as I kid, I knew it because, especially as a kid, you couldn’t miss it.

“What you’re saying is, Boston Stone paid for your trip here and now he’s washed his hands of you, you don’t have the money to get wherever home is.”

He glared at me but shifted on his feet.

This meant I was correct.

“You won’t get a penny from me,” I told him.

“Then I’ll get it all from you by takin’ that house and Ma’s money,” he fired back.

“If you honestly think you can win that fight, bring that on too,” I retorted. “It’s not me who’s seventy-two years old and out of money in a place without a friend.”

“We’ll see,” he returned.

“We most certainly will,” I agreed. Then I dismissed him and looked to the sheriff. “Lovely to see you again, sheriff.”

“Coert,” he corrected, grinning at me.

Another unusual name. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it but it was better than Boston.

“Coert.” I smiled at him then looked up at Mickey. “Thank you, Mickey.”

“No problem, babe,” he replied.

“Maybe you’ll come to dinner soon?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he answered.

“Good,” I murmured then looked between the two men, ignoring my uncle, and decided to get on with my day. “Later, gentleman,” I said as I started toward the door.

“Later, Josie,” Coert called.

“Later, darlin’,” Mickey said.

I lifted a hand in a wave and walked out the door.

I was halfway back to Lavender House when my phone rang. I took the chance to glance at the screen as it was sitting face up on my passenger seat. When I saw who was calling, I broke a rule I normally always kept, grabbed my mobile and put it to my ear.

“Hello, darling,” I greeted.

“Seriously?” Jake replied.

Again, I thought this word was overused, and further, particularly in this instance, I didn’t understand it.

So I asked, “Seriously what?”

“Just got off the phone with Mick.”

“Oh,” I said.

“Oh?” he asked. “That asshole pins you against a Redbox, you don’t call me? Then I call you and all you say is ‘oh?’”

“Jake, darling,” I started soothingly. “He’s quite elderly. Boston Stone has withdrawn his assistance. I’m relatively certain he’s destitute. Although that encounter was unpleasant, he’s hardly a threat and anyway, Mickey and Sheriff Coert were there.”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t and that shit happened to my woman. And I gotta know when shit like that goes down.”

“You can hardly beam yourself to me on a whim should you get a sense I’m in danger,” I pointed out.

He said nothing so I went on.

“And furthermore, it’s over. I’m fine. And he did impart on me a good deal of news that was not good for him but is very good for me, that being that Boston Stone has washed his hands of Uncle Davis and Arnie is on the case so he’s finding it difficult to hire alternate representation.”

“Babe,” he said low and not soothingly. “Hear me. Shit goes down with you that’s unpleasant, I don’t care how unimportant you think that unpleasant is, you tell me.”

“I dislike speaking on the phone while driving,” I shared. “But just so you know, I did plan on sharing this with you over dinner.”

“Dinner is five hours away.”

I said nothing for there was nothing to say. This was true.

Jake, however, said something.

“Remember what I said about you even feelin’ funny about a look you get in the grocery store?”

Oh dear.

I did remember that.

“Yes,” I answered quietly.

“So, next time something unpleasant happens to you, what are you gonna do?”

Apparently, I was going to share this with Jake without delay.

“Contact you,” I replied.

“Good answer, Slick.”

I gave it a moment, kept driving and when he said nothing more, I shared, “I was able to acquire all Ethan’s viewing selections for him and his friends this evening.”

His voice was a strange combination of exasperated and amused when he replied, “Excellent news.”

“I was worried at least one would be checked out but that’s not the case,” I informed him.

“I’ll bring the champagne.”

I grinned at his quip.

Since he was quipping, I decided to share news he would like much less than me getting all the videos his son wanted for that evening.

“Amber has a date with Alexi that starts after school. She’ll be home late.”

“Great,” he muttered unhappily.

“And reportedly Conner behaved like the hero from a romance film when Sofie dashed away from him, took a tumble and he picked her up off the floor.”

There was a moment of silence before, “Jesus, boy Taylor’s got a big mouth.”

“He keeps me informed.”

“He fuckin’ does,” Jake agreed before querying, “Con get in there with Sofie?”

“Alas, she burst into tears and ran away.”

“Good for him to have a challenge,” Jake murmured as if to himself. “Don’t appreciate it unless they make you work for it. You win it, you know what you got, you know to take care of it.”

This was when I was silent but I was this way with my belly feeling very warm.

Jake broke into my silence to say, “Right, see you later.”

“Okay, darling. See you later.”

“Bye, Slick.”

“Good-bye, Jake.”

He rang off.

I tossed my phone to the passenger seat when he did and finished driving home.

* * * * *

The mattress moved and I felt a blast of cold as I lost Jake’s body because he was exiting the bed.

I turned and called out sleepily, “Jake?”

“Do not turn on the lights. Get your phone. Listen. You call 911, you hear something you don’t like.”

My heart shot to my throat so I had to push through it, “Pardon?”

“Motion sensor light, baby. Back door. Phone. Now,” he said into the dark then he was gone.

I lay on the bed frozen for a moment before my body became a flurry of movement. I threw back the covers, grabbed my robe from the end of the bed and tugged it on. After that, I reached out and grabbed the phone and, fumbling but succeeding, I tied the belt on my robe once I got the phone in my hand.

My eyes went to the alarm clock, which told me it was 4:12 in the morning then they moved to the window. I could see dim illumination coming up from the light at the back door and I stared out the window wondering how on earth Jake sensed that when he had to be dead asleep.

That was when I heard the faraway crash of a window breaking.

My heart seized but my thumb flew over the keypad of the phone which fortunately lit up the instant I pressed a button.

I hit the three numbers as I dashed to the table by the window where I knew an antique bank made of iron and shaped like the Empire State Building sat. I grabbed it and ran to the door as the 911 operator answered.

I hit the hall and said, “This is Josephine Malone at Lavender House in Magdalene. Ten Lavender Lane.” I stopped dead in the hall, tucked the phone between my ear and shoulder and lifted a hand sharply when I saw the shadow of Conner coming out of his room and kept talking. “We’re experiencing a break in and my boyfriend is downstairs.”

Conner heard me, moved swiftly my way, which meant toward the stairs, and the 911 operator spoke to me but I hissed to Conner.

“Con, no!”

He ignored me but grabbed the iron bank out of my hand before he moved past me and disappeared down the stairs.

I followed him and interrupted the operator to say, “Now Jake’s seventeen year old son is going down there.”

“I’ve dispatched a unit. Please get to a safe place and lock yourself in if you can.”

I hesitated at the top of the stairs and looked down the hall.

“We have three eight year old boys in this house and a sixteen year old girl,” I told her.

“Assemble them and lock yourself someplace safe. A unit is on the way.”

I dashed down the hall to Amber’s door, asking, “What about Jake and Conner?”

“Ma’am, take care of the children.”

Blast!

Of course!

I threw open Amber’s door, raced to the bed and put a hand to her, shaking.

She turned, murmuring, “Wha?”

“Up, honey, hurry. We need to get to Ethan.” She didn’t move for a moment so I ordered urgently, “Up, Amber.”

She threw the covers off and had her feet on the floor when we both shrieked as the lights went on.

Conner in a pair of sweats with a bare chest stood in the door.

Vaguely I noted I was correct upon seeing him some time ago at Gran’s funeral. He’d inherited much from his father, including his physique.

“Josie, Dad’s got your uncle in the kitchen. He says to call 911 and get Coert out here to take him away,” Conner announced.

“Ma’am, what’s happening?” the operator asked in my ear.

But I wasn’t listening.

I was fuming.

And thus I stomped to Conner and handed him the phone, ordering, “The 911 operator is on the line. Inform her of this news.”

I then stomped around him, down the hall, the stairs and into the fully lit kitchen.

There I saw Jake in pajama bottoms and nothing else towering over my uncle who was sitting at the kitchen table.

I watched as my uncle tried to stand and Jake put a hand on him and shoved him back in the chair.

“Sit. Stay. Do not try to get up again, old man. I don’t give a fuck I could break you in half. Give me a reason to do it and I’ll take it,” Jake growled.

“Jake,” I called, advancing into the room.

Jake sliced angry eyes to me and asked immediately, “You call 911?”

“Yes. Conner’s on with them now,” I answered, my eyes going to my uncle who was glaring up at Jake.

My words were proved true when Conner came in behind me still on the phone. “Yeah. It’s okay. The guy who tried to break in is about seven hundred years old. He’s not a threat. He’s sitting at the kitchen table. Okay. Thanks.” He beeped off the phone and looked to his father. “Police are on their way.”

“God damn it,” Uncle Davis muttered.

And that was when it happened. That was when it came right out of me. I couldn’t stop it.

And I totally understood it.

I looked to my uncle, brows raised, hands lifted up at my sides, and I asked, “Seriously?”

“Josie—” Jake started but I cut him off.

Still addressing my uncle, I asked, “Are you whacked?”

“Girl—” he began but I cut him off too.

“What did you think you were going to accomplish?”

He didn’t answer my question.

He groused, “Stupid motion sensor lights. Dark day they were invented.”

“Uncle Davis!” I snapped loudly. “What did you think you were going to accomplish?”

He glared at me but said not a word.

“God, you’re an idiot,” I shared.

“Respect your uncle, girl,” he bit out.

“I would, if you’d ever given me one, single, itty, bitty, miniscule reason to do so,” I fired back, then huffed, “Yeesh.”

He glared at me again.

I rolled my eyes and looked to Jake. “Are you all right?”

“I am but the window to the greenhouse door isn’t,” he answered.

I cut my eyes to my uncle. “You’re going to pay for that.”

“How?” he asked back. “Givin’ blood? Girl, I broke in so I could get some shit to pawn ‘cause I can’t even afford the gas money to get home.”

“Well, a better solution to your problem was to give blood to get your gas money because you’re not getting a thing from this house or a dime from me,” I told him then kept at him, “The good news is, at least you have a free place to sleep tonight because I’m so totally pressing charges.”

He glared at me again.

I decided I was finished with him so I moved to the coffeepot and announced, “I’m making coffee. Jake? Coffee?”

“Yeah, babe,” he replied but his voice was trembling with something I knew very well.

Humor.

I hit the button to start the brewing process and looked to him.

“Are you amused?” I asked.

Even through his very large grin, he lied, “No.”

I narrowed my eyes on him. “That’s the right answer even if it’s a false one.”

His voice was still filled with his amusement when he replied, “It’s still the answer I’m givin’ when you’re this pissed and this cute.”

“Angry is not cute, Jake,” I educated him.

“It is the way you do it, Slick,” he returned.

I shot him a look but rearranged my face when I looked to Conner. “I woke your sister and possibly frightened her. Perhaps you could tell her all is well and she can go back to sleep.”

“You got it, Josie,” Conner murmured, grinned at his dad and took off.

“And put on a sweatshirt!” I yelled at his back. “You’ll catch a chill!”

That was when Jake burst out laughing.

I again cut my eyes to him and asked an exasperated, “What’s amusing now?”

He didn’t answer me.

Instead he declared, “If it wasn’t sick, I’d totally make out with you right now in front of your shit for brains uncle.”

Alas, that was sick and perhaps one of only a handful of times I could conjure in my head where making out with Jake would be unwelcome.

“We’ll make out later,” I told him.

“You bet your ass we will,” he muttered.

“Someone get me a bucket,” Uncle Davis begged.

“That’s enough out of you,” I snapped.

Jake burst out laughing again.

I rolled my eyes and went to the cupboard to get mugs for I needed to prepare. I had a feeling it was going to be a long morning

* * * * *

The cruiser with Uncle Davis in the backseat had pulled away and I was standing in the foyer with Jake, Conner and Sheriff Coert.

“Thank you, Sheriff Coert,” I said, extending my hand.

He took it, gave it a light squeeze and replied, “Just Coert.”

“All right. Just Coert.” I grinned, and gave him a squeeze back.

He let my hand go and looked to Jake.

“Bring Josie to the department in a couple of hours. The old coot can get used to his bunk and Josie can press charges at a decent hour.”

“Got it,” Jake said.

The sheriff looked back to me. “Sorry this happened, Josie.”

“I’m not. I sincerely doubt if he should possibly be able to talk anyone into representing him in contesting Gran’s will that a judge would smile upon him breaking and entering. I would say he hammered the final nail in his coffin so I’m quite all right with it.”

“Good to look on the bright side,” Coert noted.

“Indeed,” I agreed.

“Love to shoot the shit for the rest of the morning, man, but need to get my woman and son to bed,” Jake said at this point, sliding his arm around my shoulders.

“Right,” Coert murmured then looked to Conner. “Con.”

“Later, Coert,” Con said.

Coert looked to me. “Josie. Next time I see you, let’s make it for a good reason.”

“I’ll look forward to that.”

He jerked up his chin, clapped Jake on the shoulder and Jake let me go to follow him to the door.

Jake closed and locked the door behind him then turned to Conner and me.

“Go on up,” he said to Conner and his eyes came to me. “I’ll be up in a bit.”

A bit? Why in a bit?

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Got a window to board up,” he answered.

Of course.

Jake was going to board the window to the greenhouse in the wee hours of the morning.

My man was so wonderful.

“I’ll help, Dad,” Conner offered.

And Conner was such a lovely young man.

“I got it, Con. Hit the sack. It’s barely five. You gotta work today and you need your sleep,” Jake said to his son.

“I’ll help, Dad,” Conner repeated and didn’t wait for his father again to refuse.

He turned to the steps and took them two at a time, likely going up so he could put some shoes on in order to help his father.

I looked up at Jake. “Your son is lovely.”

Jake’s eyes got warm and he agreed, “Yeah, babe.” Then his warm eyes moved to the stairs in a way that made mine move to the stairs and I saw Amber halfway down them looking like she was sleepwalking.

“Eath’s barfing, Dad,” she announced.

Oh dear.

I looked up at Jake and said, “I’ll get Eath. You get the window.”

“Right, babe,” he answered, bent into me and touched his mouth to mine.

Jake headed toward the kitchen and I headed to the steps and up them, following an Amber who was meandering so much, I lifted my hands to her hips and guided her back to her bed where she collapsed.

I threw the covers over her, quickly tucked her in then I went to the bathroom where Ethan was indeed barfing.

Five minutes into this unpleasant experience, Bryant wandered in and then he and Ethan took turns barfing.

It was then I made a mental note that perhaps next time I would not purchase so much snack food and allow them to consume it at will while staying up to all hours and watching DVDs.

* * * * *

Some time later, I felt the bed move as Jake joined me in it.

I turned to him, cuddling closer, murmuring, “Is all well with the window?”

“Yeah, babe. Eath good?”

“Yes, darling.”

“Good,” he muttered, pulling me closer.

“Jake?” I called.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“How did you know the light had gone on outside? You had to be dead asleep.”

“Sixth sense,” he replied. “Man’s any man at all, Slick, he’s got his family under a roof, he’s attuned to what happens around that roof, especially if it might be a threat.”

My drowsy eyes fully opened and I stared at the planes of his chest in the weak light of dawn.

“Sleep, babe,” Jake ordered preposterously.

“Okay,” I lied, still staring at his chest, feeling the power of his body stretched out, mine resting against it, the covers over us creating a warm cocoon.

But the warmth I felt had nothing to do with covers.

It had to do with feeling safe and being part of a family.

I liked that feeling so much, I allowed myself to bask in it. Thus Jake fell asleep before me.

A little after he did, I joined him.

* * * * *

“Hey, Josie.”

“Hello, Deon,” I replied on a smile as he opened the door to The Circus for me and I sauntered in.

I walked through the club, waving at Paulette (whose hair looked fabulous after her keratin treatment) and Shoshana (who had reported to me that her tips were mostly the same but her boyfriend adored her as a brunette now that she dyed it from the red) as well as nodding to Adam behind the bar.

I hit the door to Jake’s office and punched the code into the keypad thinking that pressing charges was a rather lengthy process. Luckily, Ethan, Bryant and Joshua, who were with us until three that day, thought a trip to the police station to press charges against a “lame old loser” (Ethan’s words) was the bomb.

Fortunately, Junior and Alyssa felt the same way.

Joshua’s parents were rather alarmed his sleepover included a trip to the sheriff’s department but Jake had a word and they got over it.

Nevertheless, all the activity meant a delay in Jake and my make out session, especially when girl Taylor showed at the front door about an hour after the boys went home, jumping up and down, squealing.

I was concerned she drove in that excited state but I understood it when I learned that Kieran Wentworth was yet again up from college for the weekend. It would seem he was thus simply to “run into” girl Taylor who had mentioned when she met him at church several weeks before that her younger brother was to participate in some martial arts event that day.

It would seem she was correct about her hopeful deduction that he was up just for her, for Kieran Wentworth had no younger brother in this event. Although he participated in the same martial arts practice and had a black belt so he at least had a slim cover story.

He sat with her throughout the whole event.

She was beside herself with glee.

The evening degenerated when Conner returned from attempting somewhat the same maneuver and therefore after work had gone to some choral performance the school was putting on. A performance in which Sofie had a solo.

Conner approached her after the performance was over to compliment her on her singing. Strides were made when she stood with him long enough to listen to this. More strides were made when she expressed her gratitude for the compliment. Gains were lost when Conner asked for her number. It was reported through Conner from Jake to me that she then told him that he was the cutest and sweetest guy in school and “deserved someone worthy of him, like Ellie and not like me.”

At this point, she teared up and made her escape.

Conner spent the rest of evening phoning around to get her number. He succeeded in this endeavor and disappeared into his room. He had not been heard of since and I hoped he at least got Sofie to converse with him over the phone.

I didn’t want him to give up. There was a challenge and then there was beating your head against the wall. But I suspected Sofie would be worth it. I just hoped Conner would understand that, keep at it and break through whatever was creating that wall.

It was at this point that Jake needed to go to the club so he left.

Thus all day and no promised make out session.

Therefore, I made certain the kids were taken care of, Ethan in bed and asked Amber to keep an eye on things and make sure all was well at Lavender House while I went to the club. She agreed. I then took myself off to my room to prepare.

Little clingy black dress.

Very high heels.

Evening make up.

Hair down.

I put on a stylish coat that concealed this outfit and it was tied shut as I made my way up the stairs to Jake’s office.

He was sitting behind his desk and his eyes were on me as I walked up the stairs.

“Surprised, babe. Didn’t know you were coming,” he said on a smile.

“I’m here,” I replied just as my phone in my purse rang. “Hang on a second, darling,” I said, keeping my eyes to him.

I took my phone out of my purse and saw it was Alyssa calling.

I dumped my purse in one of the chairs in front of Jake’s desk as I took the call and put it to my ear.

“Hey, honey,” I greeted, tugging on the belt to my coat.

“Ohmigod!” she cried in my ear. “You…would not…believe,” she stated.

She was quite excited but then again I had a feeling I knew what she was talking about since Conner had secured her daughter’s number.

“What wouldn’t I believe?” I asked, eyes on Jake as I shrugged my coat off one shoulder.

“Is it too late?” she asked back.

“No,” I answered, shrugging my coat off the other shoulder and watching Jake’s eyes drop to my rather clingy dress.

“Get this,” she started. “I just got a call from one of my girls who told me that Pearl Milshorn pulled her money out of the new development that was supposed to be breaking ground in two weeks up by Mills jetty.”

I tossed my coat over the back of the chair, eyes to Jake, assessing his reaction and uncertain why this information so excited my friend, thus murmuring, “Hmm?”

“Pearl is pulling her money out of that development, Josie,” she mostly repeated as Jake’s eyes came back to mine and I held them but his dropped again when I shimmied up my tight skirt. “The one out by Mills jetty. The fancy one with all the shops and stuff they’re putting in. Pearl’s the biggest investor. She was doing it for her kids. She knew inheritance taxes would eat some of it up so if she did that and turned over the shares before she died, she’d be able to give a gift that keeps on giving without Uncle Sam taking a chunk.”

Hand under my skirt, I hooked my fingers in my panties and slid them down my legs until they fell freely to the floor.

I stepped free of them.

Jake’s eyes darted back up to my face and a quiver glided along my inner thighs at the look in them.

As this happened, I said to Alyssa, “That’s quite interesting.”

“Josie,” she sounded impatient. “Pearl was investing in that development. And I mean big time. The woman is drowning in money. She’s the biggest investor in the project, except for Boston Stone. But her pulling her money means that huge project is dead in the water.”

At the mention of Boston Stone, I blinked and looked to the floor.

“Pardon?”

“She heard what Stone was doing to you and she yanked her funding. That’s massive Josie. She told the other investors the only way she’d go forward is if they found someone to replace Stone. She’s squeezing him out and they’re breaking ground in two weeks. We’re talking jobs, material, a lot of people are depending on this and everyone is looking to Stone who screwed the pooch because Pearl made it known she wouldn’t do business with a man who behaved the way Stone behaved with you. This project is gonna cost millions but word is it’s gonna rake in millions more to the investors. Stone backs out, he’s taking a huge hit. Those investors are not gonna let this deal die. They’re going to find someone else and he’s the mastermind behind that. He’ll lose all his time and effort and he won’t make a penny.”

“Oh my goodness,” I breathed just as Jake’s body came into my eyesight which was a fraction of a second before my skirt was yanked all the way up to my hips and I started moving backward because Jake was pushing me that way.

I lifted my eyes to him, caught the look on his face and my mouth got dry as I experienced a full body spasm.

“Isn’t that awesome?” Alyssa fairly shrieked in my ear.

“It is, sweetheart. Very awesome. But I have to go. I’ll call you back tomorrow,” I told her.

“Everything okay?” she asked when the backs of my legs hit couch and Jake’s hands found my behind.

“Yes,” I said breathily. “Thanks for calling me and telling me that. I have a feeling it’s very good news.”

“No probs and I have a feeling it is too,” she replied. “Talk to you tomorrow.”

“Goodnight, honey.”

“’Night, babelicious.”

I barely heard her finish her farewell before Jake had my phone out of my hand. He tossed it without looking in the general direction of the chair in front of his desk. I heard the plonk, however, and knew it hit the floor.

I put my hands to his biceps and told him, “I have some news about Boston Stone.”

“Right now I do not give one fuck about Boston Stone,” he replied.

“Okay,” I whispered.

“You got something else you wanna play out here, baby, or is it my turn?” he asked.

I actually had an entire scenario I wished to play out but although I thought Alyssa’s call was only making that scenario better, it distracted me.

Now I wanted Jake to have his turn.

“Your turn,” I answered.

“Do you know what it does to a man to have a beautiful, classy woman who is looking more than her normal fine—when her normal fine is off-the-fuckin’-charts—walk into his office, show him her fantastic body in a fuckin’ amazing dress then take her panties off right in front of him?”

“Um…” I mumbled.

It must be said I knew what I’d hoped it would do to him.

But by the look in his eyes and the sound of his voice, it was clear I’d succeeded well beyond my wildest imaginings.

He didn’t share this wisdom overtly but he still did.

And he did this by stating, “You got one choice, you either suck me or I eat you. After that, I take over.”

This was hard. His mouth between my legs was heaven.

But I very much enjoyed how it felt when I had him in my mouth, the way he tasted, how big and hard he got, the noises I could make him make, the satisfaction it gave me that I could excite him in that way.

“Josie—” he started.

“Um…” I mumbled.

“I eat you,” he decided for me. “I want you spread on my couch in that dress and you can’t do that blowin’ me.”

“Uh…all right, darling.”

He dipped his head and his mouth came to mine but he didn’t kiss me.

He ordered on a whisper I felt everywhere. “Down, baby, and spread.”

Then he brushed his lips against mine.

After that, I lay down on the couch and spread.

Jake’s eyes raked over me before his hands moved to the backs of my knees, shoved them up which slid me up the couch so I was nearly hanging over the arm and then he joined me, well down from me, his mouth closing over me between my legs.

My legs tensed in his grip and my head fell back.

Jake ate me.

And not that he hadn’t already taken over, after he made me come with his mouth between my legs, he made me come three more times “taking over.”

It was better than making out.

Much better.

In a big way.

* * * * *

The next afternoon, with my uncle incarcerated and unable to come up with bail money, even for a minor breaking and entering (although, since he had a record, minor had turned into somewhat major), we were back at Jake’s.

And it was me who had a bag in his bedroom.

I was heading to the living room from the kitchen with a bowl of Ro-Tel dip I’d nuked and another of chips when the doorbell rang.

“Got it!” I called and moved to the door.

However I saw who it was through the windows and stopped dead.

He saw me too. I knew this when his already hard face got harder. But when I didn’t move the doorbell rang again.

“Babe? You got it?” Jake yelled from the family room.

I stared at Boston Stone through the window and yelled back, “Darling, I think you need to come here.”

I had not moved an inch before I felt Jake’s presence and then I heard him growl, “Oh no. This shit is not happening.”

He then stalked around me, threw open the door and ordered, “You get off my property in five seconds or you get to have another conversation with Coert and slapped with a restraining order.”

“It’s necessary I speak with Josephine.” I heard Boston say but I only heard it. Jake was barring the door and I couldn’t see him.

“The fuck it is. Five seconds, Stone,” Jake returned.

“I came to apologize,” Boston announced.

What on earth?

“Write her a letter,” Jake clipped.

“If I apologize, this is done,” Boston told him.

“One,” Jake started counting and it was then I moved.

I got close to him, put the bowls on the table by the door and my hand to Jake’s back.

Through this, Jake didn’t move a muscle except the ones around his mouth in order to say, “Two.”

“Jake,” I said softly.

“Three,” Jake said to Boston.

“Jake.” I pressed my hand into his back. “Please. If we can get this done, let’s do that.”

“Listen to her, Spear.”

Jake stopped counting but still didn’t move.

I pressed my hand deeper into his back.

Finally, he shifted to the side.

But barely.

Nevertheless, I had a view to Boston and he looked directly to me.

“Right, Josephine,” he bit out. “I apologize. Now call off your dog.”

I felt my brows draw together.

My dog?

Was he referring to Jake? For he couldn’t be referring to Pearl.

Could he?

“I’m uncertain what you mean, Boston, but if you’re referring to Jake or Mrs. Milshorn, that’s quite offensive.”

Boston straightened his shoulders even as he continued scowling at me. “You know what I’m talking about, Josephine. Now tell your dog I apologized and this is done.”

I straightened my shoulders as well and informed him, “I can’t control Pearl. And Jake’s right here so if it’s him you’re attempting to appease, I would suggest you do it in a less insulting manner.”

“I’m not talking about Pearl or Spear,” he ground out. “I’m talking about your other dog. The black one.”

I shook my head in confusion but this confusion was cleared when Jake murmured, “Amond, babe.”

I looked up at him to see he was struggling to keep his composure and that was to say he looked like he wanted badly to smile but was fighting it.

“Amo…?” I started then the light dawned and I stared at Jake.

Then I looked to Boston Stone.

“Are you speaking of my friend, Dee-Amond?” I queried.

“What I’m speaking of is that I was told if I apologized directly to you and made you the promise that I would no longer involve myself in your life in any capacity, some difficulties I’ve suddenly found myself facing would disappear. So I’m apologizing directly to you. I will no longer involve myself in your life in any capacity. Now, I request that you phone your friend and share this with him.”

Suddenly, it was me having difficulty fighting back my smile.

Through this struggle, however, I told him, “There is one small matter that needs addressing.”

A muscle jerked in his cheek before he asked, “And that would be?”

“My uncle has no way home and I’d like him to go home and stay there. I’ll drop the charges against him if you would see to that issue and that would be, getting him home and giving him plenty of incentive to stay there.”

Boston said nothing, just scowled at me.

So I continued.

“And that would be plenty of incentive, Boston. Alas, he’s a greedy man and he’s also an unpleasant one. Unless you’re certain to neutralize him, since he knows where to find me and what I have, it is likely he’ll continue to bother me until the day he dies.”

“Which could be any day, Josephine. He’s not exactly young,” Boston pointed out.

“He also shouldn’t be my problem,” I said softly. “And wouldn’t be if you had left well enough alone. That’s your mess, Boston. Clean it up or I make no calls.”

He drew in a deep breath, his neck going red before he said, “I’ll deal with your uncle.”

“Then I’ll be certain to call my friend when I have time,” I assured him.

“At your earliest convenience, if you wouldn’t mind,” he clipped.

“Of course. However, the Ravens are playing and I rather like their uniforms so it’ll have to be after the game.”

Jake made a strangled noise and Boston’s jaw clenched.

Then he forced out, “My gratitude.”

“Have a lovely Sunday, Boston,” I bid him.

He scowled at me, didn’t even look at Jake, turned and stormed down to his Mercedes.

Jake gently shoved me back with a hand in my belly, shut the door and locked it.

I looked up at him and burst into laughter. In the midst of doing this, his arms closed around me so I got to finish it with my arms around his neck and my face in his chest.

It felt so nice laughing in Jake’s arms I made a mental note to do it more often.

Perhaps once a day.

When my laughter was dying I looked up into his smiling face.

“Perhaps I should call Amond,” I suggested.

“It’s only first quarter. You got most of the game to appreciate the Ravens’ uniforms,” he replied.

“Yo!” Ethan shouted from the living room at this point. “What’s taking so long with the dip? I’m starved!”

And that made me burst out laughing again so I shoved my face in Jake’s chest and held on tight doing it.

Therefore it was then I amended my mental note do to this more often.

I wouldn’t aim for once a day.

I’d aim for at least twice.

“I’ll go nuke the dip again,” I told Jake.

“I’ll take in the chips,” he told me.

“All right,” I agreed but he didn’t let me go.

I would know why when he asked, “You good?”

The look in his eyes and expression on his face changed the instant I answered, “Of course. I have you.”

I loved the look in his eyes and expression on his face. I loved it so much, I wanted to give it to him again.

Regularly.

But I wouldn’t aim for once a day.

I’d aim for at least twice.