Jaxon

Jaxon drove until he was calm enough to speak. He pulled off an exit and found a gas station, parking at the convenient store attached. He shut the truck off and looked over at Lucy who was still silently crying in the passenger seat.

He reached over and tucked a curtain of auburn hair away from her face so he could see her. She looked at him, sorrow filling her eyes.

“I’m gonna go get you some Band-Aids and give you fifteen minutes to pull yourself together.”

Lucy stared at him in shock. It probably seemed like he was being hard on her and maybe he was, but he didn’t know any other way to be. All he knew was that he couldn’t stand to see her hurting this way. Especially over that shit bag, Alex.

She sucked in her bottom lip in an attempt to stop crying and Jaxon had a sudden urge to put his fist through something. Even though he knew it wouldn’t fix things, he wanted someone to hurt as bad as Lucy did. He took a deep breath. In all honesty, Jaxon probably needed the fifteen-minute time out more than Lucy did.

Jaxon felt Lucy’s eyes on him as he struggled with his inner demons. He collected himself and looked back at her with conviction. “He does not get to make you feel like this.”

Lucy

Lucy swallowed hard as she took in the blazing fury burning in Jaxon’s eyes. The way he was looking at her was more powerful than anything she’d ever experienced. There was truth and pain in his words, and all she could do was nod.

“Don’t give anyone that kind of power over you.”

She nodded again.

“Do you understand?”

“Yes,” she whispered. And she did. He meant that she was in control of how she felt. Yes, Alex had hurt her, but she’d let him. Only she could guard her heart, and it was time she start doing a better job.

“Good. Tissues are in the glove box. I’ll be back in fifteen minutes. And I expect dry eyes when I return.”

Jaxon

Jaxon walked around the gas station convenient store like he’d never been shopping before. He was lost. He didn’t know what the hell to get to make things better for Lucy. He’d grabbed the obvious first aid items like Band-Aids, alcohol wipes and Neosporin, but his heart kept pushing him up and down the aisles looking for something more.

Something to put a smile back on her face.

Something to erase the pain in her heart.

He stopped in front of the ice cream case, his eyes landing on the Ben & Jerry’s selection. Ironically, the wine section started right next to the ice cream case. And that’s how Jaxon found himself at the checkout counter with a pint of ice cream and a four-pack of mini wine bottles. He was pulling his brother’s ID out of his wallet in case he got carded when a bucket of fresh flowers at the counter caught his eyes.

Nostalgia caused him to add a bouquet to his order.

The checkout girl smiled at him. “Lucky lady,” she remarked, not even bothering to ask for ID when she slid the wine across the scanner.

Jaxon only nodded. He felt silly buying flowers at a gas station. But it was one of the things Jaxon remembered vividly about his parents. When things were good, his father always brought home fresh flowers for his mother and they always made her smile.

The bouquet Jaxon grabbed was an assortment of purple, white and pink flowers, with a big sunflower in the middle. The cheerful yellow flower seemed to radiate joy and Jaxon found himself hoping it would make Lucy smile as much as he knew it would’ve made his mother smile.

Lucy

Lucy tore Alex’s heart locket off her neck and tossed it out the open truck window. Seeing Alex at the game with Trista was the final straw for Lucy. She knew in that moment it was time to move on. Her heart couldn’t take anymore.

For years Lucy had been letting herself think she didn’t deserve happiness and she’d become a self-fulfilling prophecy—a product of her own making. She had no one to be mad at but herself.

She didn’t have parents she could count on, and yes that sucked, but it didn’t mean she should expect everyone in her life to let her down. Expecting disappointment had led to accepting it, and that was leading down a depressing path that Lucy was no longer willing to travel.

Brooke had been telling her for years that Alex wasn’t right for her, but Lucy had been terrified to believe it—even if deep down she knew it was true. Admitting it was true meant Lucy was truly alone in the world.

She laughed bitterly at that foolish notion. She couldn’t believe her fear had made her hold on to something so wrong for so long. Was being alone really such a bad thing? At the moment it sounded better than her current situation.

Lucy felt like she’d been kicked in the heart. It wasn’t even that Alex chose Trista McAllister to take her place. Lucy knew there was something going on between them since the summer, she’d just been denying it.

Lucy had always known it was only a matter of time before Alex caved and wanted a shiny new toy. Trista just happened to be this week’s toy. She probably wasn’t the first and wouldn’t be the last. Guys like Alex would always have women throwing themselves at them and Lucy had never really been okay with that part of dating Alex.

She didn’t want the limelight and drama that came with dating a professional athlete or celebrity. All she’d ever wanted was a quiet stable life with someone she could depend on. And that wasn’t Alex’s path.

Even though Lucy felt like she had a hollow spot in her chest where her heart once was, she tried to count herself as lucky to have figured out where she and Alex stood before they went any further down this path.

The sound of Jaxon’s truck door opening pulled Lucy from her thoughts. She looked in his direction, watching him deposit two shopping bags between them. Then he got in, holding something behind his back.

Her curiosity was peaked when he gave her an uncertain look, like he was debating what to say next. She watched him take in her face, which she was sure was blotchy and puffy from crying, but she’d made sure her tears were gone.

Seeming to find whatever his vivid blue eyes were searching for, Jaxon sighed and produced a bouquet of flowers from behind his back. “These are for you,” he said quietly.

An immediate and unstoppable smile spread across Lucy’s face as she stared at the flowers. A large sunflower was front and center, surrounded by an assortment of small colorful flowers. Lucy gasped and leaned over the bouquet, inhaling deeply. The fragrant scent of the flowers filled her lungs and made her smile more.

She pulled the bouquet to her chest and grinned up at Jaxon. “They’re beautiful,” she whispered. “Thank you.”

Jaxon

“You’re welcome,” Jaxon said through the lump forming in his throat. So this was why his father always brought his mother flowers. If Jaxon knew such a simple act could guarantee he’d see that smile on Lucy’s face, he’d buy her flowers every day for eternity.

“What else did you get?” Lucy asked hugging the flowers to her chest as she looked at the bags on the seat between them.

“Only the essentials.” he said pulling out a pint of Ben & Jerry’s and the four-pack of red wine.

Lucy squealed with delight. “You are a genius!”

“And if you let me bandage your hands and that elbow, you can have as much as you want.”

Lucy grinned. “Deal!”

* * *

Jaxon caved and let Lucy eat the ice cream the entire time he was cleaning and bandaging her cuts. The Ben & Jerry’s and the painkiller she’d taken seemed to keep her content. Jaxon did, however, insist Lucy wait a few hours before enjoying the wine. He should’ve thought of it before buying the wine. He’d been so preoccupied with finding something to put a smile on her face that he’d forgotten she couldn’t mix alcohol with her medication.

Once Lucy was bandaged and comfortable, Jaxon cleaned up his makeshift first aid kit and threw away the trash. He returned to the truck and grabbed a water bottle from the six-pack he’d bought.

“So, where to?” he asked.

Lucy sighed and leaned back against the headrest. “Home.”

“You sure? I mean we are in San Diego. Seems like a shame to let the trip go to waste.”

Lucy looked at him, catching his impish smirk.

Jaxon cocked an eyebrow. “Up for one more Would You Rather question?”

She nodded.

“Okay,” he scratched his chin, deviously. “If you just got stood up at a soccer game in San Diego would you rather drive home or do something fun?”

“Fun,” Lucy said.

“And what’s something fun we could do in San Diego?”

“The zoo!” Lucy exclaimed without missing a beat.

Jaxon smiled triumphantly. “The zoo it is.”

He reached over and buckled Lucy’s seatbelt before doing his own and starting the truck. A new sort of satisfaction settled over him as he looked over at Lucy who was still sniffing her flowers between spoonfuls of ice cream. A smile replaced her tears from earlier. He did that. It was an addicting feeling and he couldn’t help wondering what else he could do that would produce the same results.

He knew it was dangerous territory, but suddenly he didn’t really care. He wanted to do anything and everything to keep Lucy smiling. She deserved nothing less.