Chapter 12

 

By the time Jordan and I kissed goodbye, and I walked into my house, the upstairs lights were already on. I wasn’t sure what time it was, but if I had to guess, I’d say after five at least if Mom was up and moving.

“Abbey? Is that you?” she yelled from the top of the stairs. Her heels clicked on the hardwood floor as she rushed out of her bedroom, looking at me over the landing. It might have been early, but she was already dressed in a crisp black suit with her long hair twisted in a fashionable little knot.

“Yeah, Mom. Back and exhausted,” I muttered.

Mom started down the stairs, her hand grazing the railing. “So coffee and breakfast or straight to bed?”

I raised an eyebrow as she stood in front of me at the bottom of the stairs. “Depends on what you’re offering me for breakfast.”

Mom smiled. “For you, I can make waffles.”

“I can stay up for some waffles,” I said, nodding as I followed Mom down the short hallway to the kitchen.

“Now, tell me what on earth happened to Jordan,” Mom asked as she got out the mixing bowl and flour.

“An allergic reaction. They don’t know what to exactly, but they sent him home with some Benadryl after giving him some shots. They thought I might have it too, so they gave me a shot as well,” I said, thinking of the best excuse as I could as to why Mom would probably see an emergency room bill. It was mostly the truth.

“Oh, no! Honey, are you okay? You should be lying down too. I’m sorry. I can save waffles for another time.” Mom shook her head, the butter already in her hand and halfway out of the fridge.

“No, I’m totally fine, Mom. Fine enough for some of your homemade waffles at least.” I sat down on the stool at the breakfast bar. After the Benadryl and time, my lady bits didn’t feel like they were on fire anymore, but I did think I could sleep forever if need be.

“If you’re sure, honey,” Mom said, setting the butter on the counter.

“Positive.”

“Since you’re positive about that and I have you sitting, are we going to discuss New York?” Mom asked over the mixing bowl.

I groaned. “Maybe I do want to go to bed.”

Mom rolled her eyes, pouring the flour and butter into the mixing bowl. “Don’t be such a drama queen, Abbey. You know we’re going to have to discuss this sooner or later.”

I blew out a breath, the exhaustion of the day hitting me emotionally and physically. “Jordan wants me to drive with him to New York so he can have a vehicle there. And he wants me to stay for longer than just the ride there. Like I think he wants me to stay forever.”

“And do you want to stay in New York?” Mom asked, pouring the batter in the waffle iron.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s not as if I’ve ever been to the place. We weren’t exactly the vacationing family, and the most exotic place I think I’ve been is when we visited Grandma Dillinger in Arizona.”

Mom leaned her elbows on the breakfast bar across from me, putting her chin in her hands. “So what you’re telling me is that you’re afraid to be somewhere new?”

I sighed. “Not just that.”

“Then what?”

I let out a breath. Maybe it was a lack of sleep or all the medicine, but my mouth decided to go faster than my brain. “At first, I’ll admit it was because I was scared. When I was in high school, I knew I didn’t have the grades to get into some fancy school or art school but also feared that if I left, I could fail and then I’d have to come back to Friendship, Texas, a failure.”

“And do you still have that same fear now?” Mom asked, raising her eyebrows.

“Yes and no. I mean, yes, I could still seriously fail if I tried photography in New York, but going there with a guy? What if my relationship with Jordan fails? What if he decides I’m not enough or just annoying him in New York? What then? Then I’ll have nothing and have to come back here to losers like Joey Bianchi,” I grumbled.

Mom smirked. “There are other guys around than Joey Bianchi, and I know you better than to get back with that loser, which I’m still stumped as to why you were with him in the first place.”

“My track record shows I tend to get back with the guys who hurt me,” I muttered.

“Well, the way I see it, you have two choices, Abbey. You can go to New York with Jordan. Take the chance and do some research these next few weeks to see if you can use some of your savings for an apartment or find a photography school or an internship. Or you can stay here in Friendship, Texas, forever, wondering about the one that got away.”

“Mom ...” I started.

“Don’t ‘Mom’ me. You know I’m right. I may have stayed here because my family and your dad’s family were here and because I married your father young before even going to law school. It may be a huge leap of faith, but I’m telling you, honey; sometimes, you have to jump in with both feet. I’m not saying not to think about it and do your research, but I think you should take the chance.”

Mom raised an eyebrow. “Why are you giving me the stink face right now?”

I laughed. “It’s pronounced stank face, and it’s because, even though that was a great closing argument, I’m pretty sure you burned our waffles,” I said, pointing at the smoking waffle maker behind her.

“Shit,” Mom muttered, grabbing some oven mitts and opening the waffle maker to the blackened glob of dough.

“Well, I can either make another batch, or I can pour you a nice bowl of cereal and make a K-Cup of coffee,” Mom said, pouring the black goo in the trash bin and staring at the clock.

“It’s cool, Mom. I’ll just get something after a nap. I think I need sleep more than I realized,” I said, standing.

“Are you sure?”

I looked at the clock over her shoulder. It was six o’clock, and she usually left between six and six fifteen to get into the office by seven. If she stayed any longer, she’d hit rush hour traffic, and she didn’t need to do that for my benefit. Though I did appreciate it. I leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Thanks, Mom.”

“For what? Burning your waffles?”

I smiled. “For everything.”

 

***

 

I slept a few hours before my shift at the bakery. Afternoon shifts weren’t ever as crazy as the morning shifts, but I was still dragging ass and consuming copious amounts of espresso to get through the day.

By the time I got home, I was ready to go to bed. Jordan had been texting me all day, though, so I was pretty sure I’d only get a short nap in before he’d be at my door. For Mom’s dinner, and you know … as long as I promised not to spray perfume and if his mouth was fully healed.

It wasn’t a surprise to see a red truck in the driveway, figuring it was Jordan’s grandparents’ truck since it had a WWII license plate holder. But the other truck in the driveway with the confederate flag bumper sticker and custom plates that read ‘J-Track’ was the one that had me stopping dead in my tracks.

“What the hell is Joey Bianchi doing here?” I muttered to myself.

I walked into the house, expecting to see the two boys in some sort of a pissing match, but the house was silent.

I dropped my purse on the stairs and walked to the back of the house. The back door was open, so I stepped outside, seeing my mom and Dave on the back porch swing with a glass of sweet tea. But that wasn’t the weird part. They were watching Jordan and Joey, both on their hands and knees, fixing the white picket fence surrounding Mom’s garden.

“What the hell?” I said, glancing back and forth between the boys who were about fifty feet away and my mom and Dave.

Mom smiled, looking up at me. “Come sit with us and watch the show.”

“What’s going on?” I asked, quirking a brow.

“Hey, Abbey!” Jordan waved, lifting up his shirt and wiping the sweat from his brow, giving a nice view of his tanned stomach.

“Hey, Abs!” Joey waved as well and did the same move as Jordan, wiping his brow, but he fumbled, making him look more like a cartoon character.

“Did you ask them to come here?” I whispered, staring at Mom.

Dave laughed. “They both showed up, looking for you, so your mom decided if two boys were going to fight over her daughter, we’d put them to work. Johnny’s out of town at some swimming training thing, and I have a bad back, so why not get some free labor?”

“This is one of the most fucked-up things I’ve ever come home to,” I whispered, shaking my head.

As if the guys knew I was talking about them, both came bounding up the steps to the back porch in a stampede, breathing hard as they stood in front of me.

“Did you get the fence fixed?” Mom asked, sipping her tea.

“Yes, ma’am. Should be all good, so those armadillos don’t get in and dig,” Jordan said with a big breathless smile. His white t-shirt clung to his muscles, and his hair pushed to the side, showing his tanned face. He looked like a sweaty model, and I had the urge to either get my camera and do a mini photo shoot or rip off his clothes. Neither were going to happen with my parents or Joey standing right there.

“The pickets may need a new coat of paint and an extra till in the mud, so I can come by this week if you need it, Mrs. D,” Joey said, lifting up his Texas Rangers ball cap and wiping his wet hair.

“I can come and do that too, ma’am. I only need to fix up and clean a few more things at my grandparents’,” Jordan offered, and Joey’s eyes narrowed.

Mom just smiled at them. “Well, thank you both for your generosity. Can I offer you some sweet tea?” She held up the pitcher.

Jordan nodded, but Joey reached in his back pocket for his phone with a groan. I was surprised it wasn’t already permanently attached to his hand, and he actually did manual labor. He might have worked for his parents’ landscaping company, but this was the first time I’d actually seen the guy do any work. And that included in the bedroom.

“Damn, Joe, can’t go two seconds without your phone? That thing’s been going off all day,” Jordan said with a laugh as he took a glass of sweet tea from Mom.

“Hey, some of us have lives and real jobs. We all can’t be artists,” Joey grumbled. Shoving his phone in his back pocket, he looked at my mom with a big cheesy grin on his face. “I’d love to stay and chat, Mrs. D, but I gotta go. Landscaping stuff. But call me if you need anything this week,” Joey said, handing Mom a business card like some sort of weird professional. Like Mom hadn’t known him her entire life.

“Thanks, Joey,” Mom said with a hesitant smile.

“See you later, Abs,” Joey said, leaning in and kissing my cheek. Giving me a half-hug, he was too sweaty, and I had to hold my breath from the stench of BO.

“Bye, Joey,” I said, still trying to determine what the hell was going on.

I watched Joey hop off the porch and pull his phone out of his pocket, staring at the screen and typing frantically as he walked toward the front of the house. It wasn’t until he was out of sight that I turned toward Jordan, raising an eyebrow. “What the hell is this pissing match all about?”

Jordan laughed with a shrug. “I don’t know. I guess the guy thinks somehow he can win you back?”

“You have to admit; it’s the nicest Joey’s ever been,” Mom mused.

I groaned. All I wanted to do was sleep, but now, I had a headache to match my exhaustion. Jordan sensed my frustration and put his arm around my shoulders. “Wanna see what I did with the pond?”

“Yeah. Sure.”

Jordan started down the path, and Mom called after us. “Don’t be too long. I have a gluten-free dinner in the oven! Hopefully, Jordan isn’t allergic to this one!”

I smiled. “That doesn’t sound appetizing at all,” I whispered.

“Hey, she asked if my allergy was to gluten, so I didn’t deny it, exactly,” Jordan said, shrugging as much as he could with his arm around me as we walked down the crepe myrtle-lined path to the pond.

The overgrown brush and grass were now trimmed down, and I gasped once the clearing and pond came into view. Instead of the falling apart dock, a new platform at least six feet longer replaced the old one, complete with a small pergola and some Adirondack chairs, just waiting for someone to sit a spell and enjoy the still sounds of the night while watching the sunset over the TL Ranch.

“Jordan! Did you and Joey seriously do all this?” I asked, staring open-mouthed from the dock to Jordan.

Jordan smiled, walking toward the dock as we stood on the wooden boards that didn’t creak underneath us like the old ones had. “Well, not Joey.”

I took a seat in one of the Adirondack chairs, running my hands over the smooth, sanded wood, and Jordan sat in the other. “You did all this?” I whispered, staring at him wide-eyed.

“My grandparents had these chairs and the pergola in the back of the house that they weren’t using as well as some old boards I needed to clear out of the barn. I thought it would be perfect out here and figured I owed you for breaking the old ones, so I brought these by today. I didn’t expect Joey to be here or for your mom and Dave to put us to work,” Jordan said with a laugh.

“This is seriously amazing, Jordan. I can’t believe you did all this.”

Jordan scooted his chair closer to mine. “Believe it. Well, take it as asshole tax for me leaving for so long.”

“I probably owe you something for what happened last night …” My voice trailed.

Jordan smiled, shaking his head. “Nah, I’m feeling better now, but I’m still a little sore, so none of that making up tonight. Why don’t we just sit here? Catch up on the past four years.”

He took my hand and intertwined our fingers.

“You want to talk?” I asked, raising my eyebrows and realizing we hadn’t done as much talking as we had either arguing or making out since he’d been back.

“Talk or sleep. Since you look like you’re about to pass out on me.” Jordan laughed.

“Do I look that bad?”

“You never look bad, Abbey.”

I squeezed his hand. “Flattery may be your strong suit, but I know you’re lying. You couldn’t have gotten much sleep either.”

“Yeah. I couldn’t sleep, so I did some work at my grandparents’ and loaded the truck with that stuff. I knew you were working the late shift, so I thought I’d get this done this afternoon and surprise you.”

“And then you were surprised by Joey?” I asked.

He laughed again. “Yeah. He showed up after I got this done and said he wanted to talk to you, so your mom suggested since I was already sweaty and he was in work clothes that we help out with the garden. And two hours later, here we are.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You two worked on that for two hours?”

“Yeah. Joey’s not much for manual labor. I could have probably finished it a lot sooner by myself.”

“I don’t know how that guy does anything with his parents’ company. If he were my son, I’d probably fire him,” I said with a laugh.

“Yeah. That and his phone was going off like crazy.”

“He does love his phone,” I grumbled.

“Still can’t believe you two were actually a thing. Or that he wants you back.”

I shrugged. “I guess he figured since I took you back, he’ll have a chance once you leave.”

Jordan squeezed my hand. “But that’s not going to happen since you’re coming with me.”

I let out a deep breath. I did some research today on my phone when it wasn’t as busy at work. Rent in Brooklyn was a hell of a lot more expensive than around here, but I did have a lot of money in my savings since I didn’t go to school and had been living at Mom’s forever. I could easily pay rent on an apartment for a year or more without needing to work a full-time job. There were also a lot of photographers in the area I could intern with and some cool little hipster coffee shops and bakeries that would be great to work in part time. The thought of all of it excited and terrified me at the same time.

“Yeah. If you get your grandma’s house done.”

Jordan smiled. “Actually, it’s getting a lot closer. Almost everything is cleared out now, and I figure it should be cleaned up and ready to sell by the end of August. I’m going to take a few things back in the truck with me to New York and get a topper on the back, so nothing blows out. I can definitely pay a month’s rent fixing up and selling some of the stuff I found in the barn.”

“That soon?” I asked, the hair on my arms standing on end even though it was probably still ninety degrees out.

“Yeah. Is that a problem?”

I swallowed hard. “No. I’ll just need to figure out something with work. I need to tell Carla I’ll be leaving and the studio. I’d have to move some senior portraits up, but I’m sure the parents wouldn’t mind.”

Jordan jumped out of his seat, grinning. “You’re serious? You’re not backing out?”

“Um. That’s what I said?”

I squealed as Jordan grabbed me by the waist and pulled me out of the chair, spinning me around.

“Jordan! Put me down! You’re gonna break your new dock!” I yelled.

Jordan set me down, the grin still on his face as he held my waist and pressed his forehead to mine. “This is all I’ve been dreaming about for the past four years. You. Me. New York. Now, it’s finally coming true,” he whispered against my lips.

“I didn’t know I was your dream,” I murmured.

“You always have been and always will be. And now, we both get to make our dreams a reality.”