by BJ Harvey
“My mother? She thinks you’re a modern, forward-thinking woman who had a need and dealt with it herself.” His lips twitch. “She doesn’t know it was her son who made sure any needs you had were well and truly met and satisfied… so…” His gaze drops to my mouth and his head moves toward mine.
Two can play at this game. “What if talking isn’t what I want to do?” I whisper.
He shakes his head. “It’s safe to say there is unfinished business to discuss,” he says, his lips curving up into a knowing smirk. I lean in, his breath fanning across my skin, everything about him drawing me closer.
It’s then I catch the curious gaze on April’s face as she slowly walks towards us. Saved by the bell—or by my best friend.
“Hey, babe. Did Ax tell you I was coming over?” I ask her.
“He did…” she says, switching her eyes from me to Jax. “And Jax arrived just before you did. Isn’t that interesting?”
Jax looks down at me, his back to April, his smile turning wicked as he winks at me. “To be continued, little menace.” He turns to face his future sister-in-law. ”Hey, gorgeous. I’ve come to steal you away from my brother,” he says as he picks her up and twirls her around.
“Stop it,” she shrieks, giving him a playful smack on the arm. “He’s not even here to rile up.”
Jax lowers her back down to the ground. ”Well, then. I can stop pawing at you and go raid your kitchen. It’s no fun unless he’s here.”
“I’ll try not to be offended by that. Besides, Ronnie and I have some things to discuss.”
“If it’s about her being my student and not telling me, we’ve totally cleared all of that up,” Jax calls out, walking away from us. April’s eyes bug out at me.
“I’ve just got to show her something,” April says, pulling me up the stairs and—unfortunately for me—right into the same damn guest room I christened on Saturday.
“What?” I gasp. “What’s so important?”
“So how was it?” Oh fuck, here we go.
I bite my lip, not wanting to meet her eyes. I’m not embarrassed… just unsure of how much of it I should share, or exactly what ‘it’ she’s referring to. ”Um… how was what?” I ask, choosing to hedge my bets.
“Class. Jax being your teacher. Was it awkward? Easy? Normal? Weird?”
I let out the breath I was holding, releasing a quiet—and hopefully not that obvious—sigh of relief. “It was fine. The first class is always an information dump. Next week we’ve got to bring our cameras so it’ll get more interesting from there on in.”
“Good. I was just worried it might be weird, with Jax and all.”
“It’s fine,” I say, smiling over at her.
“Okay then. So why was my future mother-in-law acting weirder than normal on Saturday after she came outside?”
My head jerks back. “What do you mean?”
Her eyes narrow on mine. “Mmm-hmm, and then ten minutes later, Jax came storming down the stairs, tugging on his shirt and looking a mixture of frustrated and confused before waving goodbye to his brothers and pulling a disappearing act, despite having told us earlier that he was going to sleep in the guest room.”
Oh, shit. If ever there was a time when I wished the universe would intervene and stop a conversation, now would be it.
Seriously, any time now.
“Jamie!” Axel shouts, heavy footsteps running the length of the house.
“Hey, buddy. Where’s your mom?” Jamie’s deep voice rumbles. Thank God for that.
April turns her head toward the open door and downstairs before looking back at me. “There’s a story here that you’re not telling me, right?”
I nod, comfortable in the fact we don’t have time to delve into exactly how my plans for Saturday night went from me being well-laid to everything else being waylaid.
“Right. Then the first chance we get, you’re gonna tell me because if anyone has your back, it’s me. It’ll also help me smooth the road if there are any obstacles standing in your way…” She quirks a brow at me, her eyes soft and meaningful. “Okay?”
I lean forward and kiss her cheek. “Yep. But you might not want to know the dirty details about how I’ve already christened this room for you. Jamie might not like that.”
April’s head drops forward, her shoulders shaking as a giggle escapes her lips. “Deal. Now let’s go downstairs and see what trouble the boys are getting into.”
“Right. Can I ask one favor?”
“Always,” she says.
“Don’t leave me alone with Jax. Send Axel in or something; bribe him with money. Just let me have tonight without Jax cornering me and making me want to jump him.”
“Oh honey,” she says, hooking an arm around my waist and leading me out of the room and toward the stairs. “That seems to be a Cook man’s M.O. Jamie does that, and I completely lose my head.”
I snort and shoot her a questioning look. “Just your head?”
“Nope. That’s the problem.”
“Doesn’t sound like a problem in my book,” I mutter.
“You don’t have an almost eight-year-old thinking his new house must be haunted because he heard moaning last night.”
“Oh my God, he doesn’t.”
She nods, and I bite my lip to stop myself, but it doesn’t work. I burst out laughing, bending over at the bottom of the stairs to try and recover.
“Hello, lovely.” Jamie’s voice fills the entryway. Then there are kissing sounds behind my back that I’m totally glad I can’t see.
“What’s wrong with her?” he asks.
“Moaning walls,” is all April says, and soon all three of us are laughing.
“And on that note,” I say, straightening and moving toward the living room, “I’ll go check on the kids.”
“I can hear you,” Jax calls out. “And us kids are fine.”
“Yeah, we’re good boys,” Axel adds, earning a new round of laughs.
Kids. Can’t live with them, can’t live without them. Big kids, like Jax, I can’t damn well resist, and after almost a year of watching and waiting, I don’t want to resist anymore, and I definitely don’t want him to hold back either.
I just need to tell him that.
Jax
I’m starting to think Ronnie is a woman who avoids conversation—in particular, talking to me—because as soon as we’ve finished dinner at April and Jamie’s house, she rushes out the door.
April must know something about what’s gone down because she shoots me a knowing look when Jamie and Axel take the empty dishes into the kitchen.
“Your best friend has a habit of disappearing,” I say nonchalantly, leaning back in my chair and lifting my wine glass to my lips.
“She has a lot of habits. That’s just one of them.”
“Is it some deep-seated love of avoidance?”
“Something like that,” she says, her lips twitching. “But if anyone can nail her down, I’m thinking it’ll be you.” She smirks and takes a drink. “Anyway, how was your day?”
“Interesting.”
“She didn’t know until last Friday… in case you were wondering.”
“I was, but I was hoping to find that out from her myself.”
April lifts her fingers to her lips and pretends to lock them shut. “Message received.”
“It’s not that I won’t be drilling you for information. But in the same situation, would you have wanted me to tell you that Jamie is a grumpy, tunnel-visioned son of a bit—”
“Swear jar!” Axel and Jamie say in unison, walking into the room. I lift my butt and pull out my wallet, thumbing two twenties and handing them to Axel. “Put me in credit.”
April’s gaze drifts up to Jamie. “Yes. It’s always helpful putting the jar in credit.”
“I’ll prove the reasons why later,” my brother says, bending down and kissing her head. I make fake gagging sounds while Axel sighs.
“Why won’t they ever stop kissing?” Axel asks me, sounding
exasperated. “I mean, Justine Cage kissed me at recess, and it was gross. I don’t know why adults do it so much.”
We all laugh and I reach out, putting a hand on his little shoulder. “In a few years, I’ll remind you of this conversation.”
“Why?” he asks, tilting his head to the side. “I don’t want to stick my tongue in anyone’s mouth.”
“Axel!” April gasps. “Where did you see that?”
He shrugs. “On TV.”
“That’s it. No more television for you.”
“What? That’s mean, Mommy.”
Jamie chuckles and squats down to Axel’s level. “How about, no unsupervised TV so we can make sure no one is going to kiss.”
“Okay. That’s good. Because it’s sooo gross.” He shakes his head and takes another load of plates out, Jamie following him.
“So, exactly how long have you liked my best friend?”
“How long has it been since you introduced her to us again?”
Her mouth drops open. “Oh.”
“Yeah. Oh.”
“And how long has she liked me?”
April looks around the room, an avoidance tactic if ever I saw one.
“April…”
“Since the same day, okay? Jeez. What is it with you Cook men interrogating me?”
My lips quirk up. “Let’s just say my dad taught us a trick or two about dealing with difficult women.”
“I’m not difficult,” she shrieks.
We both turn our heads at the sound of his chuckle. He’s leaning against the doorframe, watching us. “How much of that did you hear?”
His brows bunch together. “Just my fiancée screeching like a banshee. What did you do?”
“He called me a difficult woman, the same as your mom. Apparently, your father taught you all some coping mechanisms.” She sits back and crosses her arms over her chest. Jamie’s eyes scan her pose before he laughs again, stalking toward her. “And so far,” he says, grabbing her chair and leaning down so his face is an inch away from hers, “They’re working quite well.”
“What?” she gasps.
“Spunk. . .” he says, kissing her cheek. “Sass.” He kisses the corner of her mouth. “Feisty.” He takes her lips hard and fast before standing up and stepping back, grinning down at her.
“And you,” she says, pointing Jamie’s way, “will be sleeping on the couch.”
“The day I sleep on the couch will be the day we have the house to ourselves, and you’re lying there with me…”he leans in. “And you definitely won’t be sleeping,” he whispers loudly, before he grabs more dishes and heads back toward the kitchen, laughing when April huffs her displeasure.
I love their back and forth. They’ve always been like this. Sniping at each other in a good-natured way. I’ve never heard them fight for real but knowing Jamie, if they did, he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from shutting her up in other ways. It’s exactly how Dad told us it works with Mom—gross but true. It seems to work every time.
Given my longest relationship has only been a year, I haven’t exactly had a lot of practice in that department, but watching Jamie in action with April, I’ve realized just how good my father is at handling a woman we’d all call a ‘handful.’ Mom is one, April is another, and Ronnie is already proving she’s trouble—but the good, intriguing, make-a-man-want-more kind.
“I can hear your brain ticking over from here. I’ll answer one question to help you get in there with her.”
“I’ve already—”
“And I’m already rethinking my offer,” she says, her eyes narrowing to slits.
“Okay, okay. No smartass jokes about—”
“Jax, you don’t have long before Jamie and/or Axel come back in here, and then you’ll lose your chance. So hit me with what you really want to know and if I can answer, I will.”
Shit. Only one question. I need to make it count. What do I really want or need to know about Ronnie Nelson to help me understand her better? What’s something I need to know if I’m going to get closer to her?
“There is something I’m dying to know the answer to.”
April leans forward in her seat, resting her arms on the table, her hands cradling her wine glass, her eyes locked on mine. “Okay. Hit me with it.”
I lean back in my chair, lifting my foot to rest on my leg. “Alright. On Saturday, she mentioned leaving behind a six-figure salary for school. Now I have an idea of what she’s doing at school—or part of it…”
April’s lips curve up at that. “You want to know why she’s doing it?”
“If I can get away with it, I wanna know what job she left and why she left it.”
April pushes her chair back and stands, taking her wine with her as she goes. “This is a conversation I need to get comfortable for.”
“That bad?” I ask, following her to the living room and sitting down on the opposite end of the couch.
“No. But I’m going to give you need-to-know information rather than the full story because that’s Ronnie’s place to tell you.”
“You’re scaring me a bit,” I say, earning a giggle and a shake of her head.
“Not on purpose. It’s just that the fun part of dating is getting to know someone in their own words. I’ll tell you the essentials, but anything else is up to you to extract from her.” She grins, hooking her feet underneath her and taking a sip from her glass.
“Okay. So the job she left?” I nod. “A little background. I’ve known Ronnie for as long as I can remember. She’s been my constant from pre-teen to now, and that whole time, she has never—not once—done anything for herself unless she consulted with her parents. It’s ingrained in her; you don’t do anything against the family, you don’t want to make them look bad etc.”
“Um… okay. That’s a bit hardcore… maybe borderline abusive.”
She shrugs. “Not exactly. Strict, yes. Constricting, absolutely. Suffocating? At first no. But years of it led to what she calls a thirty-year-old life crisis.”
“Surprised she lasted that long,” I murmur, not correlating the beaten-down Ronnie with the vivacious, sometimes devious, absolutely exhilarating woman I’ve seen for the past twelve months.
“So am I. She came close to breaking free—so to speak—five years ago. That’s when her dad tried to marry her off to an up-and-coming politician. Thankfully, a week before the wedding, the man was caught up in a prostitution sting and was found strapped to a spanking bench wearing a French maid’s outfit and an Eiffel Tower butt plug up his—”
I wave my hand in the air. “Gotcha. So, no wedding and her parents gave her some freedom?”
“Well, she was still working for the family law firm, so they eased off on arranging her future for a while. But finally, a little over a year ago, she finally decided to grab the wheel and jump ship, much to her parents’ disapproval.”
“Right, so she actually was a lawyer,” I say to myself, chuckling under my breath.
April’s brows bunch together. “Why is that funny? Or do I not want to know?”
I roll my eyes. “I don’t know how being a lawyer could be funny. It’s more that she made a comment earlier about being a lawyer ‘or something,’ and I didn’t figure she literally meant that she was one.”
“Yep. Harvard Law and everything.”
“Sheesh. Law school. Family firm. Partnership?”
April smiles. “Her sister Gilly is headed for the partnership. Ronnie is the youngest, so after her parents tried—and failed—to marry her off, she was next in line for the family legacy of a partnership at the firm. She just jumped ship before they pulled the pin.”
“So, six-figure job, secure future, more money than she could ever need, gone. Then what?”
April’s expression turns soft. “Then I got my best friend back. She slept on my couch for a week, then bought a plane ticket to Destination Anywhere, did a few pilgrimage walks, and had some adventures to find herself again. She came back bright-eyed, refreshed, and r
eady to take on whatever life had to throw at her.”
“And now she’s taking my photography course?”
“In her words, that was an added bonus.”
My brows lift up, almost touching my hairline. ”She’s not a photography major though.”
“No. She’s doing graphic design with a side of marketing and photography for depth.”
“Wow.” That’s a ‘holy shit, she’s ambitious’ wow.
“What’s wow?” Axel says, walking into the room and taking a running jump, hoisting himself over the back of the couch and slamming me in the stomach with his elbow.
“Shi—sheesh, Ax,” I wheeze. “Give a guy some warning next time,” I say with a labored laugh.
“Axel,” April says, trying to keep a straight face to admonish her son—and failing. ”Fudge, that’s funny.”
“You’re fire-trucking telling me.” I grin, albeit half-heartedly. Where possible, most of us adults have taken to substituting curse words to save ourselves from having to pay into Axel’s now large swear-jar fund.
“Are you staying for dessert, Uncle Jax? Gran made apple pie before she left, and Jamie said we could have some if I helped with the dishes.
“Sounds good, dude.”
“Then we’ve gotta talk about the house,” Jamie’s deep voice says, joining the conversation.
I look over my shoulder. “Yep. I suppose I should really know the plan before we start wrecking things.”
He shoots me a wry smile. “Yeah. It generally helps.” He turns to Axel. “Buddy, how about you and your mom go serve up the pie, and you can sweet talk her into adding a scoop of ice cream with it.”
That’s all the little legend needs to hear. His puppy-dog eyes turn towards his mom, who laughs at him, but the way her gaze softens, I know he’s got her wrapped around his little finger.
She sighs, leaning forward to ruffle her son’s hair. “Okay, baby, let’s go get some dessert while Jamie and Jax talk shop.”
“What’s talking shop? Are they going shopping?” he says, holding April’s hand as she leads him from the room. We all chuckle at that question, not hearing April’s answer but from past experience, I know she’ll have to get creative if she’s going to assuage his curiosity.
