Chapter Thirty-Two
Jason
Winter had officially dropped its weight on this little town, and the cold, crisp air had turned almost frigid. Lucy wasn’t wanting to go outside as much, which meant I was having to volley more of her energy on the weekends, and that meant many of our dates together were spent indoors. We went on the occasional lunch trip, and she’d come over to have dinner with Jenna and me, but I’d decided it was a good idea to stay away from restaurants for a while.
And Lucy agreed on the idea, too.
I was working on my last car in the garage when a familiar voice traveled through the corridors. I whipped my head up and saw Megan standing at the main kiosk, but when the man behind the counter pointed to me, I knew it couldn't be good.
“Oh, shit. That bitch still on your case?” Mike asked.
“Shut up, Mike,” I said.
“Hey, live up life since ya don’t have cancer, dude,” Mike said.
Holy fuck, this town had some big mouths in it.
“Hey, Jason.” Megan waved.
“Hey there, Megan. How’s it going?”
“Oh, it’s all right. I was passing by and figured I’d stop in and tell you how wonderful it is that you’ve patched things up with Lucy.”
“Yeah. It’s really nice having her back. Now, if I can just stop from being an idiot,” I said.
“Oh, you weren’t an idiot. You did what you thought was right for her. No one can fault a man for that,” she said, smiling.
I was going to find who the hell in this town couldn’t keep their mouths shut, and I was going to stitch it shut for them.
“Anyway, I didn’t get to tell you a few nights ago, but I’m glad I’m getting to spend time with Jenna again. We didn’t get to talk much about how the babysitting was going the last time I was there, so I wanted to let you know things were going really well.”
“Well, I appreciate that. Jenna being a good girl?” I asked.
“The best,” she said, smiling. She had her hands in her back pockets, which forced her chest out for everyone to see, but all I did was keep my eyes locked on her face.
The last thing I needed was someone trying to wiggle their way between Lucy and me again because of some dumbass rumor Mike would probably start.
“The two of you seem like a wonderful couple. The entire town’s talking about it.”
“So I’ve heard,” I said, casting Mike a side-glance.
“Have you thought about what you might do to apologize?” she asked.
“What?” I asked.
“To apologize. You pulled was a pretty dick move,” she said.
“Well, I-I’m not really—”
“Jason, oh my gosh. Okay, here’s what you do. Take her on a surprise getaway. Get a hotel, or take her to the beach, or fly her across the country and go see a monument or something. It’s so romantic, Jason, and Lucy would love it. Not all women like to admit it, but being in love is a wonderful thing. This entire town sees how she looks at you. That woman is head over heels for Maximum.”
She was being incredibly cheery about this entire thing for a woman who practically threw herself at me before things kicked up with me and Lucy. But everyone around here does call her a bit kooky, so maybe this is what they were talking about. It was weird but not necessarily threatening. Just a bit intrusive.
But in an endearing way.
“Lucy doesn’t get out much, so that would doubly hit her the right way. And I could watch Jenna for the weekend. You could drop her off or I’ll come house-sit, and I won’t charge you a thing. Oh, I just love romantic getaways. I could make a pie for you guys to enjoy when you get back, too.”
“Yeah, Jase. She could make you a pie,” Mike said, smirking.
“See?” she said, pointing to Mike. “It’s the perfect idea, especially if you haven’t really apologized yet. It’ll be some wonderful adult time before Christmas. Maybe you could go somewhere where it romantically snows, not like the buckets and buckets we get here.”
“Yeah, romantic snow,” Mike said, snickering.
“See? At least some men around here get it,” she said. “And it’ll kick off your newly-sealed relationship nicely.”
I mean, she had some good ideas, but I wasn’t into that sort of thing. Hunting season had come and gone, and I figured Lucy would be more of an ice-fishing-for-the-weekend kind of girl. I could rent us a little hut and get her a new jacket, and we could really stay huddled up for a weekend out there on the ice. We could come back with a cooler full of fish that I could fry up for us to eat.
Now, that sounded like a weekend for Lucy and me.
Or, I could just take her camping. I had a massive tent as well as a gas heater, and we could have a weekend by a lake where we stared at the stars and ate beans and weenies out of cans over a fire. There wouldn’t be any mosquitoes to eat us to pieces, and I’d get to hold her through the nights and keep her warm.
I could also think of a few other ways we could stay warm.
“That isn’t actually a bad idea,” I said.
“What?” Mike asked.
“Oh, Lucy’s gonna love it,” Megan said, clapping.
“Lucy and I aren’t fancy individuals, but going camping for a couple of days with a heater, a fire, and some canned goods while we slept at the lake sounds kind of nice,” I said. “And you sure you're okay to watch Jenna?”
“Just let me know if you’re dropping her off or if I’m house-sitting,” she said, smiling.
“Thank you, Megan. For the idea and for watching Jenna. That really means a lot,” I said.
“Not a problem. But, you gotta tell me all about it when you get back,” she said.
“I can do that.”
“Well, you know where to find me. Let me know when I can expect some one-on-one time with that beautiful daughter of yours,” she said.
“I’ll let you know, definitely.”
I waved her off, and she looked back one last time at me before she got into her car. I could see Mike shaking his head out of the corner of my eye, and I chucked my grease rag at him before I spun on my heels.
“The fuck was all that, man?” I asked. “I didn’t ask for a hype man during that conversation.”
“She wants your dick, dude.”
“Not even kind of,” I said. “She’s just really good with Jenna. And Jenna adores her. That’s it. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t even have these moments with Lucy like I do right now.”
“She’s gonna climb through your window at night and hop on that morning wood before you can even figure out what the fuck’s goin’ on,” Mike said, smirking.
“She’s just a bit weird, Mike. She’s not stalkerish,” I said.
“Uh huh. All right. I’ll be here when you gotta dig yourself outta that hole,” he said.
“Jason!” my boss called out. “Get back to work, please. That car won’t fix itself.”
“Then quit sendin’ busty babes back here to distract him,” Mike called out.
“Just send ’em my way next time,” my boss said.
I got back to work on the car, but the only thing on my mind was the camping weekend. I had some things I needed to plan and get in order before I could schedule the weekend, but I wanted it to be soon.
Sometime before Christmas.
And I smiled through the rest of my workday as I started thinking about all the things we could do together that weekend.
The weekend just for us.