Alive

by Victoria Johns

  MudJoes was much like most of the cosmopolitan cafés around my college. The main difference was that most people knew each other here and you could feel that. The ones back home were packed with students buried in text books, desperate for a dose of caffeine to keep them in the game. Lacey was late, which meant I had to order and take a seat by myself, and as the new stranger in town, I seemed to be attracting a lot of attention.

  “Hi, I’m Jo, the owner,” said the bubbly older woman who delivered my drink. “Are you visiting our pretty town?”

  “No, she’s moving here,” I heard from behind me. When I looked over my shoulder, Lacey was hustling her way through the other tables. “Jo, this is Rebecca. She’s Jake’s.”

  I saw Jo raise her eyebrows in surprise. My guy had pretty much confirmed he was a well-known player in these parts and she was probably trying to figure out whether he was shipping in women now, or if I was, in fact, someone he was serious about.

  “It’s lovely to meet you, Rebecca. I guess we’ll be seeing more of you in here.”

  I smiled and nodded nervously as she left us to it.

  “Thanks for coming,” Lacey told me. “I wanted to apologize for what happened at our house.”

  My relief was immediate. I was expecting old school bitchiness but I was pleased to be mistaken. She’d met me halfway, so I had to do the same. “I get you’re shocked and I love how you care about Jake. I’m hoping we can forget about it and move forward.”

  “I’d really like that.” Jo delivered her drink, and as she was stirring in some cream, she finally got down to business. “Don’t think I’m being nosy, but I’ve never known Jake keep someone around, let alone encourage them to move to town for him. What are your plans?”

  I was torn between speaking out of turn or remaining discreet, but I knew I had to start building my own relationship with Lacey, and now was as good a time as any to start. “I’m going to finish college and hopefully open a dance school. Jake has decided to join the police. He’s waiting for confirmation on his place at the academy.”

  Her mouth fell open in amazement and I got the impression she wasn’t expecting something so put together. “And the wedding?”

  “Yeah, we’ll get married as soon as we can sort out a date. I don’t need anything fancy, just something simple where at the end of it I become Mrs. Griggs.”

  “Wow, never thought I’d see the day. Hold on, did you say you’re going to open a dance school?”

  “I am. Not to speak out of turn or anything, but I went to—”

  “Oh God, Miss Bales. That woman should be working as a warden on death row and as far as possible from impressionable young minds. Let’s face it, the only thing holding her up is that stick she’s got rodded up her ass.”

  I burst out laughing. She was completely right. “It was hard to watch those kiddies with such enthusiasm being held back. I wanted to lock her in the store cupboard and take over.”

  “This is really exciting. I work at the local kids home. We’ve all been trained to use dance as a way to get the kids to talk or open up and that’s not possible with Bitch Bale, but it might be with you.”

  I agreed with her. This was exciting, really exciting. Someone else was seeing potential in my future plans. “I’d love to help out wherever possible. I’d be willing to do some classes for the kids, maybe at the home if you have the space?”

  “Deal.” Lacey smiled and held her coffee cup up for me to toast to it as a way of sealing the deal. “Oh, look over there.” She nodded. “Those boys have been stalking these streets looking as hot as sin for years. With one of them off the market, hearts will be dying for miles around.”

  I followed her eye line and saw Jake and Jack across the road. They were both handsome, but now I’d seen them both together, it was crystal clear which one was mine. It was as if my eyes only saw the one I had claimed as mine. My heart just didn’t beat the same when I looked at Jack. Jake was hot as hell and the possibility of being able to crawl all over that guy’s body for the rest of my days was the most satisfying thought ever.

  As we were watching, a good-looking girl approached them and neither of them looked pleased to see her. Jake looked angry and Jack stood steady, but folded his arms in a dismissive manner. “Uh oh,” Lacey said.

  “Is that the girl?” I asked, not really wanting the answer.

  “He told you? Wow, he is a different person. Yes, that’s Meesha. Not a nice person as you can imagine. I don’t want to say this but she was always more Jake’s type than Jack’s. Jack was always looking for a relationship, whereas Jake never did. Meesha has a way about her that is definitely less relationship and more hook up and fuck them dry.”

  I watched as she reached forward and went to touch Jake. He looked horrified that she was trying this in front of the brother she had actually been dating. Jack was looking at the floor, taking a back seat, and even though I could tell Jake was brushing her off, I knew she wasn’t getting the hint.

  “Excuse me,” I told Lacey and got up. I wasn’t going to sit by in a ring-side seat and watch some bitch maul my man.

  “Uh oh,” I heard Lacey mumble again as she followed behind me.

  When I got to the open door, they were directly opposite me. I couldn’t hear what they were saying but she seemed to be ignoring everything she heard. “You okay, baby?” I shouted across the road, inserting my presence into the conversation.

  Jake smiled at me. “Sure, sweetheart, just trying to get rid of this irritant.”

  Meesha looked bemused by his words and I knew she was trying to figure out where I fit in. I was a stranger in her town and she still believed she had some skin in this game. “Honey,” I shouted in a condescending tone. “Leave my guy alone or you’ll be finishing that conversation with me.”

  Jake’s smile was beaming now and I noticed that Jack had a similar grin on his face. Meesha was squinting at me like she couldn’t believe I was daring to speak to her. “Who the fuck are you?” she shouted back.

  “Someone who won’t be happy if you’re still pestering these boys by the time I’ve finished my coffee.”

  I left the doorway at that point and wandered back into the coffee shop. Lacey was chuckling beside me and by the time we made it back to our table, the door didn’t get chance to close fully. Predictably, she’d followed.

  “Just who do you think you’re talking to?” she said, placing her hands on the table and leaning down in my space.

  “Don’t know and don’t care. Stay away from them. You’ve caused enough trouble.” Jake had never seen me deal with people like this before, and wisely, both brothers had followed her into MudJoes. I’d decommissioned my fair share of bitches in the past. It had been part of my life from the first time I’d made it onto a cheer squad, but I figured punching one in the middle of the town’s most popular coffee shop wasn’t the best way to introduce myself as a new resident.

  “Listen, I don’t know who the fuck you think you are, but Jake and I have unfinished business.” Meesha made to go and hunt him down again, seemingly surprised when she realized the twins had followed her in. Jake had a look of amusement on his face and shrugged his shoulders at her. Meesha was not impressed that he was claiming not to know what that was.

  “Do you have unfinished business with her, Jake?” I exhaled in annoyance.

  “Nope.”

  Meesha’s patience expired then. She’d had enough of being played by us, and as cruel as it was, I found it amusing. Even Jack and Lacey seemed to find it funny. “Did he tell you how he fucked me hard and enjoyed it,” she sneered.

  “Oh, that’s funny. The way I heard it, he was drunk and needed some available friction and you were only too happy to take advantage.” Finally, I rose from my chair and met her eyes. At this point, the whole place took notice and the brothers got a little closer just in case they had to separate us. I was done with her towering over me.

  “I thought we were going to try to make things work, Jake. We started so
mething. I know we did. I felt it.”

  Jake began to laugh uncontrollably. “Meesha, you wouldn’t know feelings if they crawled up your skirt and built a fucking house. There was no confusion. I tapped out the minute I left your bed and didn’t look back.”

  I was over this being played out in public. “You don’t know me,” I said through gritted teeth, “so take a hint and walk away. I do not appreciate people hitting on what’s mine. I will kick your ass the next time you even look at him and I’ve fought bigger than you.” Meesha seemed to be considering my words, but didn’t seem convinced, so I carried on. “Hear me now. Look at him again and I will hurt you.”

  She heard that and so did everyone else in the coffee shop.

  Unbelievably, sense still hadn’t kicked in for her as she then turned back to the boys. “Jack, honey—”

  That was when Lacey stepped in. “Leave now for the love of God. Just leave. The secret of a great relationship is when you both hate the same people. They fucking hate you, so you tick that box.” Lacey waited a few seconds. “Why can I still see you?” she barked. Finally seeing sense, the crazy bitch hitched her tote onto her shoulder and click-clacked out of the coffee shop on her nasty heels.

  “Hey, baby.” I smiled at Jake, picking up my coffee, nonchalantly acting like the past five minutes hadn’t just occurred. And like I was the funniest thing in the world, they both bent double and roared with laughter.

  “Now there’s the boys I know and love.” Lacey laughed.

  Jake couldn’t hold off any longer, and made his way to our table to give me a kiss. Still laughing, he said, “You’re amazing, do you know that?”

  “I actually do. How was your morning? Did you get your errands done?”

  Jake let his chuckling die down and looked all serious as he moved some hair out of my face. “I did. We get married in two days.”

  Now I stopped moving. This meant he was serious about our life together, none of it had been bullshit and false promises. They were all real words.

  I was going to become Mrs. Jake Griggs and he really wanted to keep me around.

  I started to sniff and knew I was going to cry. “Shit, brother, she’s crying and you haven’t even given it to her yet.”

  Lacey was grabbing napkins out of the dispenser on the table and stuffing them between me and Jake.

  Jack handed his brother a small box. I’d seen boxes like that before; every girl had. They featured in all the fairy tales and dreams we’d ever had that involved a Prince Charming. Jake pushed me away roughly and got down on one knee. Lacey snatched back the napkins she’d just given me and started wiping at her own eyes. I desperately wanted to wipe mine, but I was too afraid that if I closed them for even a second then none of this would be real.

  With a squeak, he opened the box and I could see the simplest of rings peeking out. Gently, he took it between his big fingers so I could see how delicate it was. “Rebecca Monroe, you’re under my skin and in my heart. I can’t imagine not waking up and seeing your beautiful face in the mornings. I know what we’re doing is crazy, but we’re only here once and I want us to make the most of every single moment. Will you marry me?”

  I was openly crying now, in front of strangers as well as his best friend and twin brother. “Yes.”

  Jake finally stood up and reached for my hand. “I have no idea whether this will fit and it wasn’t expensive. Fuck, it may even turn your finger green and make it drop off. I promise in the future I’ll buy you something more suitable.”

  He slid it onto my finger and it fit perfectly. “I love it, thank you.” I launched myself at him, and after a few seconds of delicious kissing, the coffee shop erupted into applause.

  “Enough of that,” Lacey commanded. “You’ve just agreed to get married in forty-eight hours and unless you’re doing it in dance pants and a sports bra, we’ve got work to do.”

  Jake

  I was at the weirdest bachelor party in the world, and it was even more hilarious because it was my own.

  When the town hall said they could do something for us in a couple of days, I snapped their hands off. Jack was trying to get me to calm down, but I knew that running headlong into this at full steam was the only way I was prepared to go. After all, doing that so far had worked out well for us. The clerk looked at us like we’d gone mad, but she knew my family, and nothing was impossible where we were concerned.

  After, we stopped off to buy a simple ring. It was tempting to go mad and throw my credit card at the purchase, but I wasn’t sure about starting our life with a bucket load of debt on something shiny. I knew Rebecca had money. She’d got a stash of cash, a healthy bank balance and an eye for making investments, and I guess that was where her upbringing gave her the edge. She knew that money could be there one minute and gone the next unless you looked after it, but still I wanted to buy her that first ring.

  I’d had years of relying on my parents who I knew would never let me become destitute. Still, it was important to me to get this right. I wanted her money to be used to start her dream business not paying off recently acquired marital debt.

  Rebecca’s dance school was her dream and I knew it was the one thing she’d measure her success by. It would be the real marker and sign that she was living her life, and I intended to do everything possible to make sure she could have that.

  She was stunned and overwhelmed that I’d got us a sooner rather than later wedding date, and after the Meesha drama I was pleased that Lacey was with us. I would have been happy to wander down to the Town Hall and get married in regular clothes, but Lacey was having none of that. She kidnapped my bride to be and called in Dolly and the other girls to gather a few things together. In hindsight, it was the right thing to do. It might be a quick wedding but there was no reason why we shouldn’t try to make a bit of something out of it.

  Rebecca and I spent our last night together at the cabin and Jack was sorting out his stuff in the apartment so it would ready for us to move straight into. The day before our wedding seemed to be crammed with everyone we knew, doing stuff to make it a success. Although, I was sure if anyone had asked me, I’d have had no idea what it was that they were doing. It was probably the smallest and quickest planned wedding in history, so what the hell they were all running around for was anyone’s guess. Lacey managed to convince Rebecca to get beauty stuff done and visit florists, while I got more and more frustrated. I just wanted to relax a bit with her before rolling up, getting married and carrying her off into the sunset.

  Before I knew what was happening, I was whisked off to attend my bachelor party with my dad and brothers at my parents’ house. Just rolling up and getting married was never going to happen but I drew the line at going out and getting drunk in Purps. That felt too much like old times and I didn’t want to start my new life doing something I was glad to leave behind.

  Mom left as soon as we got there, and dad was engrossed in some ‘Shed of the Year,’ show on cable that was imported from Britain. His concentration was extreme; those fuckers take their sheds very seriously. If mom knew the ideas it was planting in his head, she’d have cut the power to the TV and then put a match to all his sheds, just to be sure.

  I sat around looking at the ornaments on the shelves and pictures on the walls and knew that the man I was going to become would be one my family would be proud of. I’d told Jack about attending the police academy, but had yet to break the news to Mom and Dad. Rebecca and I were excited and that was really all I cared about. My loose morals around women in the past had led me to believe that any bachelor party I would have would be filled with strippers and my buddies doing crazy things, but not now. Knowing the trauma that type of lifestyle had caused Rebecca made it seem tacky and disrespectful. So yeah… I sat there with my dad and Jack, and looked forward to a calm evening, until Jonas and his friends, including Tommy, arrived.

  “Son,” my dad said as the new arrivals were opening beers. “This wedding is going to be kind of one-sided.”

/>   “How so?” I didn’t understand where he was going with this.

  “Well, traditionally you sit the groom’s family on one side and the bride’s on the other. It’s going to be a little heavy for you and fairly lonely for her.”

  “Shit.” My old man was right. That wasn’t the best sight in the world to greet her when she arrived. I was all for tradition but Rebecca and I were different. We weren’t conventional and I wanted her to remember the day with happiness, not be smacked round the face with sadness and realization. “I’m thinking we do things differently, have some traditions of our own. Tommy, do you think you could get one of your boys from the office to nip in and rearrange the chairs in the town hall? No family separation, just place them in a semi-circle and everyone can sit together.”

  “Sure, but how’s she going to walk down the aisle if there isn’t one?” he asked and that led to my next problem. She was going to have to face walking down the aisle on her own.

  “Dad…”

  “Jake, my boy, I thought you were never going to ask. Of course I’ll walk your bride down the aisle.” He coughed, clearing his throat of emotion, and I wasn’t sure whether it was over the fact that I was getting married or that I was finally growing up and putting someone else’s happiness ahead of mine.

  There was going to be no wedding dinner as such, more like a late lunch at Jonas’s house and my mom had already volunteered herself for that duty. I’d given my brother Jack the honorary title of best man, but asked him not to do any speeches. After he finished laughing, he told me that there was no way he was missing this opportunity. Apparently, the things I’d done in life had made his speech practically write itself. Jonas then stepped in and said if Jack didn’t do the speech, he would. Honestly, I had no idea who was the lesser of the two evils, especially when neither of them would take it seriously.

  The shed program continued and I began to despair. Even though I didn’t want some wild party, I was sitting here watching fools who covered their shed roofs with grass in an effort to make them aesthetically pleasing. A shed is a goddamn shed. It’s made of wood and you store useless shit in it, end of story.