by Devney Perry
“Sounds like fun. Let me talk to Jess.”
“Sweet!” She nudged my shoulder as we walked out of the bathroom with Rowen. “So how’s it feel to be the talk of the town?”
“Huh?”
“Uh, you didn’t notice the whole place checking you out?” she said.
“They were? Why?”
“Gigi, you walking into the football stadium on Jess’s arm is news. Big news. He’s never brought anyone here before. People have been speculating about how serious you two are getting. Him bringing you to the game in front of the whole town? Means he’s making a statement. Claiming you and Rowen officially.”
“Ah . . . Maisy, it’s just a football game. I don’t think Jess meant it to be some sort of ‘claiming’ ritual.”
“Let me educate you a bit about Prescott High sports. Everyone comes to see what everyone else is doing. Sure, we all cheer for the kids and hope they win, but that’s just the sideshow. We really come to see what people are up to, what they look like, if they’ve gained weight and who they’re with. It’s the second biggest gossip spot in town behind the Coffee Club.”
“Seriously?” I asked, suddenly feeling very exposed.
“Yeah, seriously.”
“So, ah, what are they saying about me?” I wasn’t sure if I really wanted the answer.
“That you’re perfect for Jess. That he seems happier around you than he’s ever been. Like, ever,” she said.
“That’s not too bad, I guess.” My heart swelled at the compliment.
“No, it’s amazing! They love you. Well . . . almost everyone. Some of the local single girls who have been trying to snag Jess for years are being total bitches.”
“What? Why?”
“They’re just jealous. Talking about how you waltzed into town, took over the farmhouse and that Jess is with you because he’s always wanted to live there. That if it wasn’t for the house, he’d still be with Andrea Merkuso. They were having a long-term fling before you showed up.”
I didn’t know what to say so I just kept walking. All of the joy I had felt a few seconds ago vanished. I’d been happily ignorant of Jess’s previous relationships. But having Maisy put a name to his past made my chest ache. Some of it was jealousy. Some of it was insecurity on my part, especially feeling like I was under a microscope for the whole town.
“Don’t worry, Gigi. It’s really just Andrea talking trash. She’s a skank and has skanky friends too. Who cares what they think? Just because she used to hook up with Jess doesn’t give her the right to be catty, you know? I’ll point her out if I see her tonight.”
“Ah . . . okay,” I muttered.
People were pouring out of the stadium at halftime and we were weaving in and out of the crowd. My hand tightened around Rowen’s to ensure I was pulling her right behind me.
We had almost reached the stairs when a hand clasped my upper arm. I gasped and spun around, about to cuss out the person who had so rudely grabbed me when I looked up into Jess’s face.
“Oh, hi,” I said, relaxing.
“Hey. I was calling you. Didn’t you hear me?”
“No, sorry,” I said, still a little dazed.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, great,” I lied.
“Georgia.”
“Later, Jess, okay?”
He stared at me for a few seconds and then nodded.
Roe had been taking in the wonder of the crowd but when she finally realized we’d met up with Jess, she jumped up into his arms to get a better view.
Jess led me to a group of men huddled next to the bleachers. Silas was there talking to Beau and another man I’d never met.
“Nick. Meet Gigi and her daughter, Rowen,” Jess said.
“Pleasure.” Nick shook my hand.
“Nice to meet you, Nick.”
“Nick runs the fire department, Freckles.”
“Ah. Busy week for you then.”
“You could say that. We haven’t had a fire in town in years. I forgot how much paperwork I have to do. Usually, I just help Beau and the Forest Service with forest fires. They can’t seem to handle them without me,” he teased.
This must have been the hot guy hangout spot because Nick was equally as handsome as Beau and Silas. Jess outshone them all but their circle was entirely good-looking. Which explained the group of girls lurking close, trying to hide their stares and giggling.
Nick appeared to be much more jovial than any of the other men in the group. He had a mischievous smile and a short brown beard that matched the color of his shaggy hair.
The men started talking about the football team and I got lost in thought.
I couldn’t help but look around the moving crowd. I wondered if any of the people looking at us thought I was reaching beyond my league, trying to be with Jess. Had he been with any of the women milling around, staring at us?
When I closed my eyes, I heard Nate Fletcher calling me an ugly whore. I remembered the hateful email he sent me after I’d sent him an ultrasound picture of baby Rowen. He’d accused me of being desperate to trap him because that was the only way I could get a rich, handsome man like him. How many people in the Prescott crowd were wondering what a beautiful man like Jess was doing with me?
Jess’s hand jerked and I snapped out of my head. I followed his glare into the crowd until I saw its target.
Wes.
Striding toward us with a leggy blond on his arm.
All of the men in our huddle had their eyes trained on Wes as he made his approach. Tension clouded the air.
Jess was pissed, his frame strung tight, but Silas was dangerous. Silas looked at Wes like he wanted to commit murder. Now I knew why Maisy thought he was terrifying.
Wes stopped in front of the group and turned his eyes on me, the blond on his arm looking straight at Jess.
Wes’s eyes were glassy again and rimmed with dark circles. The skin on his face was splotchy.
“Gigi. I see you haven’t decided to leave Prescott’s Good Prince yet,” Wes smirked. “And aren’t you cute,” he said to Rowen. “What’s your name, princess?”
Roe burrowed into Jess’s chest without an answer.
“Back off, Wes,” Jess warned.
At this juncture, the blond piped up. “Hey, Brick. I tried calling you a few times. Did you get my messages?” She threw me a fake smile.
Bitch.
It was blatantly obvious I was with Jess, standing here holding his hand and leaning into his side while my daughter rested on his hip.
“Yeah, Andrea, I got them,” Jess said. “Me not calling you back should have been your first clue to leave me alone. This can be your second. Lose. My. Number.”
Andrea. Jess’s ex.
My heart plummeted into my belly.
Of course she was beautiful. A little fake, but very pretty. Her hair was long and straight, shiny under the stadium lights. Her makeup was thick but applied perfectly. And she was thin. I bet she didn’t have an ounce of extra fat on her, certainly not an extra ten pounds.
“Now, Sheriff, is that any way to treat one of your constituents?” Wes asked.
“Not the place, Drummond,” Nick said.
“Ah . . . Nick Slater. Did you find any evidence as to who started that fire? I bet it was someone much, much smarter than you. Someone who knows exactly how to create a burner bottle and leave no trace,” Wes said.
Had Wes just admitted to starting that fire? If it wasn’t him, he knew who had.
“Enough,” Silas growled.
Silas’s face was granite and his hands were clenched at his sides. If he lost his control, Wes didn’t stand a chance.
I studied Wes, hoping he wouldn’t run his mouth and push Silas over the edge. I did not want my daughter witnessing a fight. Luckily, Wes’s confidence faltered and he stopped pushing the men’s buttons. With one last sneer aimed at Jess, he grabbed the blond’s arm and started backing away.
Jess had been wrong about Mustang football. It wasn’t
a sporting event and it wasn’t a social event either.
It was a damn soap opera.
I was lying on my stomach in bed, the sheet covering the lower half of my naked body. My arms were crossed underneath my face and I was turned away from Jess. He was propped on his side, tracing invisible patterns on my bare skin.
My body felt like a limp noodle but my mind was stressed.
We had watched the second half of the game, mostly in silence. Silas never had returned, and even though we’d had an empty space beside us, Rowen had stayed on Jess’s lap. After a Mustang victory, we’d said our good-byes, driven home and gotten Roe into bed.
The second her bedroom door had clicked shut, Jess had picked me up and carried me to bed. The orgasm he’d given me had drained my energy reserves, and rather than go to the bathroom like usual, I’d turned onto my stomach and reverted into my head, attempting to wrap it around everything that had happened.
Wes Drummond was a menace. He was battling with Jess and I was in the middle. I did not like that he had tried to talk to my child. At all. And I had a feeling he had brought Andrea over to us tonight just to rile me and Jess up.
Besides Wes, my mind whirled around Jess and Andrea. Even though I desperately wanted to stop, I kept picturing them together. Each time, my stomach rolled. The mental images were playing on repeat. Him touching her pretty face. Her long, shiny hair draped across his body. Him kissing her. Her skinny body underneath his.
I just kept seeing them together and it was making me crazy.
“What’s going on in your head?” Jess asked.
“Weird night.”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “What happened when you took Roe to the bathroom?”
I thought about dismissing him for a minute, just saying I was tired and it was no big deal. But I didn’t want to lie to Jess.
Besides, he’d sniff out a lie and badger me until I gave in.
“Maisy told me that people around town have been talking about me. About us,” I said.
“Figures. Small town. But it’s nothing to get worked up about. You already know people in this town talk. And it won’t be the last time. Gotta try and let it roll off.”
“I know that,” I whispered. “It isn’t that. I mean, it is, but it isn’t.”
“Then what?”
“She said that woman from tonight. Andrea? That she was saying nasty stuff about me. That you were only with me for the farmhouse. Otherwise, you’d be with her.”
His hand stopped moving on my back. In one swift move, he grabbed me by the hips and twisted me onto my back. His chest pinned me down as his eyes blazed into mine.
“We covered this already and I’m not doing it again. You’ve got nothing to be worried about with this house,” he said.
“I know.” I sighed. “But that doesn’t mean I like to hear it as gossip.”
“I’ll give you that. What else did Maisy say?”
“She told me about you and Andrea. That you were together. And I know . . .” I raised my hands up in surrender. “I know it is just petty jealousy. That you were with her before me. But still, I don’t like it. I don’t like having the image of you and her together in my head. And I can’t seem to get it out. She’s so pretty.”
He stared down at me for a few seconds and then threw his head back, laughing. His chest shook so hard that the bed started to rock.
“Jess!” I slapped my hands to his chest. “It’s not funny. I’m being serious. This is really bothering me.”
“Freckles, you just made my night.”
“What? Me being upset just made your night? That’s twisted, Jess. And not very nice.”
“Baby, I fucking love that you’re jealous.”
“Huh?”
“I’ve been doing my best to keep my mouth shut when we walk around town and other men are checking you out. And I’ve been patient, not asking about Roe’s father. Because the thought of you with someone else? Having a baby with someone else? I don’t like it.”
I didn’t like the idea of him with another woman. Not at all, especially Andrea. But the fact that he was jealous too lessened the sting. Though I’m sure the men around town were not staring at me for the reasons he thought. I’m sure they were just curious.
“It wasn’t much fun learning about her from someone else,” I said. “I’m not saying I need a roster of the women you’ve had in bed, but in the future, if we’re out and about and you know someone you used to sleep with is going to be there, a head’s up would be nice.”
“Can do,” he said. “But, baby, Andrea is about the only one you need to worry about. Don’t really like talking about it but we probably need to.”
“Talking about what?” I asked.
“The past. I’d prefer we just move forward, but this town’s too small for you not to hear rumors. I’d rather it came from me so you know the truth.”
“Okay, you’re starting to freak me out again.”
“Don’t get freaked,” he said. “Just listen. I haven’t dated anyone serious my entire life. Always casual, no commitments. Not once in thirty-four years. Not until you. Andrea and I were just casual. On and off hookups for about a year. Besides her and a girl I hooked up with in high school, I’ve never been with the same woman more than once. Always one-night stands with women passing through town so there was no risk I’d ever see them again.”
I didn’t like hearing it, but at least now I knew.
“Okay.” I sighed. “Hop off me. I need to get cleaned up and dressed for bed. I’m wiped out.”
Jess didn’t budge.
“What?” I asked.
“Not tonight, baby. But soon, I need to know about Roe’s dad.”
I nodded, whispering, “Soon, but not tonight.”
He shifted off me so I could trudge to the bathroom, dreading when “soon” became “now” and I’d have to share about Rowen’s father, a man I had vowed never to lay eyes on again.
A man whose voice told me in the back of my head that I wasn’t good enough for Jess.
“I don’t care what you are seeing on that thing. It’s wrong,” my patient yelled. He was pointing at my iPad and before I could respond, he muttered, “Idiot.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Johnson,” I said. “I wasn’t here when you got your medications but from what your chart says, I can’t give you any more right now. It could be dangerous to your liver if you take too many pain medications in such a short period of time.”
His chart indicated he had already received more than enough oxycodone for his back pain. I didn’t know why it hadn’t kicked in yet but giving him more wasn’t an option until I talked to a doctor.
“Find someone else. You’re too dumb to figure it out. Where’s Ida? Bring her back.”
I inhaled a long breath and tried to keep my cool. I wasn’t a big fan of someone calling me an idiot or dumb.
“Let me check with Dr. Carlson about your medications, okay?”
Mr. Johnson had come into the ER this afternoon complaining of back pain so fierce it was making him nauseous. He’d come in while I was on my lunch break so Ida had admitted him and given him the oxy per Everett’s order.
“Fine. Get your ass outta here and check with the doctor, bitch. I don’t care what you see on that damn thing. Nothing you people have given me is helping.”
I was done. I was going to let the other affronts go, but this last insult was one too many.
“Stop. I’m sorry you’re in pain, Mr. Johnson. But being rude to me isn’t going to help. You will treat me with some respect. Enough name calling and yelling,” I said, using my mom voice.
He huffed but didn’t say anything in response.
“Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go and find Dr. Carlson.”
I stomped immediately to the nurses’ desk, where I closed my eyes and tried to relax my hands, which were balled into tight fists.
“Gigi? Are you okay?”
“Great,” I deadpanned, turning to see Everett. “I was actua
lly coming to find you but I needed a minute.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Yeah.” I let out a loud breath and sagged my shoulders. “Mr. Johnson is in ER room three. He’s spent the last ten minutes yelling at me because he is still in pain and I wouldn’t give him more oxycodone. His chart said he’d gotten the max dose about an hour ago. So I told him I’d come talk to you and see if there was something else we could do.”
“Strange. The dose should be kicking in by now,” he said. “But let me go in and talk with him. See what kind of symptoms he’s having.”
“Sounds good. Let’s go.”
“Oh, I can handle it if you’d like, Gigi. If he’s been rude or inappropriate, you don’t need to deal with him again.”
“That’s nice of you to offer, Everett. But I want to be in there so that if there is a follow-up order, I can take care of it. And I don’t want him to think he can intimidate me. I’ll be fine.”
After another thorough check of Mr. Johnson, Everett decided to give him a small dose of morphine through an IV drip. I stayed at the back of the room, observing, until Everett gave me the order. I thought that morphine combined with the oxy was an awful lot of medication, but I wasn’t a doctor and decided to trust that Everett knew what he was doing.
And it seemed to work.
Fifteen minutes later, Asshole Mr. Johnson turned into Nice Guy Mr. Johnson and he apologized for his behavior.
“Thanks, Everett. He seems much better now,” I said after walking up to the ER counter.
“You don’t have to thank me, Gigi. It’s my job. I’m glad to have helped.”
“Why do you think the oxy didn’t work?” I asked.
“I was actually a bit puzzled by that myself. I checked his chart and the amount Ida gave him should have been more than enough. But I’ve seen some patients who have a high tolerance,” he said.
“Then wouldn’t it have taken longer for the morphine to work? He seemed to instantly feel better once I started the drip.”
“Morphine and oxy are fundamentally different compounds. And it could be that the morphine worked better because we gave it to him intravenously. But I agree, it does seem odd that he reacted to one so quickly and allegedly not the other at all,” he said.
