Chapter 4 – Scott
I’d expected her to be mad, so when she tried to walk away, I couldn’t say that I was really all that surprised about it. What I was a little shocked about, though, was how much my heart clenched with the idea of her walking away. I didn’t like it when she said that she wasn’t mine anymore. She was always going to be mine. I just had to get her to agree to it. At first I’d underestimated how upset she was, but I wasn’t going to make the same mistake again.
“Just hear me out, Jesse. I know that there are a lot of questions that you have, and I owe you an explanation, I know that.”
“Don’t worry about it, Scott. I get it, really I do.”
“You don’t get it at all, or you wouldn’t be looking at me like you wanted to scratch my eyes out right now.”
Jesse just shrugged and pulled her arm away. “Well, if you’re going to be here, I’m going to need some coffee. I still have a lot of packing to get done before I have to vacate your father’s property.”
“That’s one of the reasons that I’m here. I didn’t know about that, Jesse. I didn’t know about it until you told me about it on the phone the other night.”
Her face turned red and she looked down, no longer able to meet my gaze. It made me wonder what had her looking like that. I knew that she had every right to be mad at me for what my father had done, but it didn’t mean that it was my fault or that I’d had anything to do with it. That was the first thing that had to be clarified between us before we could move forward. I knew that.
“I find that rather hard to believe. Your signature was on it, remember?”
I tried to tell her that it wasn’t true. Someone had apparently forged my name, and although that was illegal, there wasn’t much I could do unless I wanted to get my father in trouble. That was not a battle that I was ready to have yet; in fact, it was one of the very last things that I wanted to focus on right now.
“Yes, it was, but I wasn’t aware of it. I don’t think that I signed it, Jesse, but if I did, you have to understand that I sign hundreds of contracts for various things every week and I don’t read them all. I would have never signed it if I’d known what it was. You have to know that, Jesse. Why would I cosign on that loan, just to do that a month later?”
She shrugged, and I could tell that although she wasn’t completely on board yet, her wall was starting to crumble a little bit. I was getting through to her.
“Well, I don’t know why you did that, Scott. Maybe you knew that this was going to happen and just wanted a date. I never could figure out what you saw in me, and I guess I don’t care.”
“I saw a woman who was full of fire and not afraid to tell me when I was being an ass. You were the first person in a long time who talked to me like that.”
“So yelling at you is what sealed the deal? Like that was a good thing?”
I chuckled and nodded my head. “I spend most of my day around people who want something from me, so they say whatever they think I want to hear. While it’s good for my ego, it gets old. You were like a breath of fresh air, Jesse.”
Her eyes were still looking at the ground, so I raised her chin up so that she was looking right at me. “I see a beautiful woman that I don’t want to be without for another moment. That is what I see when I look at you, Jesse, and so help me, I don’t know why I said what I said before.”
“It’s okay, Scott. I told you that it’s fine. You don’t have to explain anything.”
“I do, because you still just don’t seem to get it. I love you, Jesse, and there is nothing more I can say than that. I love you more than I ever thought was possible. I didn’t think I was capable. You’ve met my father. I thought I was cursed to be like him, that I could never feel the way I was supposed to. But I don’t want that. Nothing is more important to me than you, Jesse. You have to see that.”
Jesse was looking at me like she was trying to decide if I was telling the truth or not. I’d forgotten for a moment that I had more to offer than just words. I went to the inside pocket of my jacket and pulled out the deed that had cost me so dearly to get my hands on.
“I want you to have this, Jesse. No one will ever take this shop away from you. I know how much it means to you, and as soon as I found out what my father had done, I fixed it.”
She looked at the paperwork that I handed her and gasped. “Are you serious, Scott? Don’t mess with me about this. I don’t think that I can take any more crushed hopes, Scott.”
I told her that it was the deed and that the shop was hers again. Not just that, but I had paid off all of her debts, as well as the remainder that she owed on the building herself. She was in better shape than she’d ever been, but I didn’t mention that part. I didn’t want her to let that dictate what she told me next, when I asked her the question I was there to ask.
“I have something else to talk to you about, Jesse.”
“Well, if it’s anything like this, I think I want to hear it.” She was holding up the papers for the deed, and I could tell that I’d made her week. The smile on her face had made mine.
“I want you to marry me, Jesse.”
Her eyes moved to mine, and I could see the shock. It reminded me that I had the ring in my pocket, the one I’d picked out that very day. It was perfect, and I already knew deep down that she was going to say yes. She had to. We were destined to be together.
“Are you serious, Scott?”
When she saw the ring, she knew that I was. She covered her mouth. I could see the wisp of tears in her eyes, and I knew that it had done what I’d wanted it to do. It made her speechless, and even though I didn’t get the yes that I was dying to hear, the nod of her head was good enough for me.
Moving to pull her back into my arms, I kissed her. I’d missed the taste of her so much that before long I was pulling her tighter to me. “I’m never going to let you go again, Jesse. My heart can’t take it.”
“Good, because that was the longest and most miserable month of my life. Now that I know what your love can be, I never want to go without it either. I love you, Scott.”
To be continued in Part 9…