Loving Jake

by Madeline Baker

  When they reached the stairs that led to the second floor, Ginny stopped.

  “Deb, tell mom and dad that Jake and I decided to go out for dinner.”

  “Ginny…”

  “I’ll talk to you later. Come on, Jake, let’s go.”

  “You’ll get no argument from me,” he muttered. Opening the front door for her, he followed her out of the house.

  Neither of them spoke until Jake pulled out of the driveway.

  “You didn’t tell them we were getting married,” Jake said, turning left at the corner.

  “The timing didn’t seem right.”

  He pulled up at a traffic light and turned in his seat to face her. “Are you ashamed of me?”

  “No, of course not.”

  “Ashamed of what I do?”

  “Jake…”

  “The fact that I’m Indian?”

  “Jake, stop it!”

  “You’re gonna have to choose, you know, between them and me.”

  “I know.”

  “Where do you want to go for dinner?” Jake asked as the light changed.

  “We could drive to Buckhead and go to Emeril’s, or drive to Atlanta and go to the Sun Dial.”

  “This is your town,” Jake said, “you decide.”

  “I’m partial to the Sun Dial.” Overlooking the city, the restaurant revolved 360 degrees every hour. “If it was later in the week, we could hear some good jazz.”

  “Have you ever been there with Carter?”

  “No. Just with my folks.”

  “The Sun Dial it is, then,” Jake said.

  Ginny gave him directions, then settled back in her seat. She had known her parents would be distressed by the news that she had broken it off with Carter. She had known they wouldn’t be thrilled to learn she was dating a mechanic, but she hadn’t expected them to be so snobbish about Jake. She didn’t know what upset them more, the fact that he was an Indian or the fact that he was a blue collar worker. She shook her head in exasperation. Carter’s parents were much like her own. She wondered if they would be as rude to Lori Beth when they met.

  “Ginny?”

  “What?”

  “Tell me about your family.”

  “What do you want to know?’

  “Start with your folks.”

  “My mother’s a law professor. She teaches at Emory University. It’s rated one of the top twenty universities in the country. My father is a retired judge. He still has his law license and takes on small cases now and then, just to keep busy. Most of my sisters stay home with their kids, except for Bess. She’s a congresswoman. My brothers-in-law are doctors and lawyers, and…”

  “I’ll bet there are no Indian chiefs,” Jake said dryly.

  “No.”

  “I can see why your parents don’t like me. I don’t fit in at all.”

  “Well, I like you,” Ginny said, “so that will have to do.”

  Jake smiled at her, dispelling the tension between them.

  And then Ginny frowned. “What about your mother? What will she think about your marrying a white girl?”

  “She’ll be about as thrilled as your folks,” Jake admitted with a wry grin.

  “But…she married a white man.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Ah,” Ginny said, remembering that Jake’s father had abandoned him and his mother shortly after he was born.

  “Not to worry,” Jake said, grinning at her. “I like you.”

  Ginny laughed. Everything would be all right, she thought, as long as they could laugh about their problems.

  They arrived at the restaurant a short time later. Located on Peachtree Street at the top of the Westin Peachtree Plaza, the Sun Dial was an amazing place, and notable for being the site of the movie, “Sharkey’s Machine”, starring Burt Reynolds. They took a glass elevator up seventy-three stories to the restaurant. Since it was still early, there wasn’t much of a crowd and they were seated almost immediately.

  Ginny was studying the menu when she heard a familiar voice. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Carter and Lori Beth at the next table.

  Carter looked up just then and saw her. There was an awkward moment of silence, and then Ginny said, “Hey.”

  Carter nodded. Apparently curious to see who Carter was looking at, Lori Beth glanced over her shoulder. She smiled when she saw Ginny.

  “Well, it’s a small world after all,” Lori Beth said.

  “Isn’t it?” Ginny replied.

  “Why don’t you join us?” Lori Beth suggested.

  Ginny glanced at Carter to see his reaction to Lori Beth’s invitation.

  “It’s all right with me,” Carter said, “if it’s all right with Jake.”

  Jake shrugged in response to Ginny’s questioning gaze and they took their drinks over to Carter’s table and sat down.

  “Well, this is cozy,” Carter remarked.

  Ginny nodded.

  “This is a lovely restaurant,” Lori Beth said. “I can’t get over the view.”

  “Yes, it is nice,” Ginny agreed. Looking out the window gave one a breathtaking bird’s eye view of the city. She remembered reading somewhere that, according to experts, it would take 2,892 stacked peaches to reach from the ground level of the Westin building to the top of the restaurant.

  There was a moment of silence, and then Lori Beth said, “I can’t believe I’m really in Atlanta. I found an old ‘Gone With the Wind’ program from the 1939 production at a yard sale once. Didn’t Scarlett’s aunt live on Peachtree Street?”

  “I imagine there was only one Peachtree Street back then,” Carter remarked. “At last count, there was something like fifty-five Peachtree Streets in the state.”

  “Really?” Lori Beth’s eyes sparkled with interest.

  Carter nodded. “Atlanta is unique in other ways, too, sugar. For instance, it’s the only city in the country that was destroyed by fire as an act of war.”

  “I didn’t know that,” Lori Beth said. She glanced out the window and sighed. “This is so nice, all of us here together.” Her gaze moved around the table, settling on Ginny. “I realize we’re not really friends, but I don’t know anyone here and I was wondering if, well, if you wouldn’t mind being my maid of honor.”

  “Me?” Ginny asked.

  “I’ll understand if you don’t want to. I mean, maybe it’s too awkward.”

  “Not at all,” Ginny said. “I’ll be happy to stand up with you.”

  “Thank you.”

  “And we want you to be there, too, Jake, don’t we, Carter?”

  “Of course.”

  Ginny couldn’t help it, she laughed. “The four of us being here together is like something out of a bad soap opera.”

  “No kidding,” Lori Beth said.

  “So, have you set the date for the wedding?” Ginny asked.

  “On the twenty-ninth.” Lori Beth looked at Jake. “You’ll be there, won’t you?”

  “Wouldn’t miss it,” Jake said.

  “Did you…have you…oh, never mind,” Lori Beth said, her cheeks flushed.

  Jake slid his arm around Ginny’s shoulders. “Yes, nosey, I asked her to marry me and she said yes.”

  “Oh, Jake, that’s wonderful!” Lori Beth exclaimed. She reached across the table and squeezed Ginny’s hand. “I’m so happy for you both.”

  “I’m pretty happy myself,” Ginny said.

  “When’s the big day?” Carter asked.

  “I don’t know,” Ginny said. “We haven’t got that far yet.”

  Carter grunted softly. “What did your folks say?”

  “We haven’t told them,” Jake said, “but I’d bet my horse and truck they won’t be happy about it.”

  “Well, my folks aren’t too thrilled, either, but hell, they’ll adjust, and if they don’t…” He shrugged.

  The waitress came to take their order. When she left, Ginny and Lori Beth put their heads together to talk about Lori Beth’s upcoming wedding. Carter and Jake made small talk. J
ake couldn’t help wondering if Carter felt as uncomfortable as he did. But then Carter mentioned baseball and in no time at all, the two of them were discussing stats and players and arguing which team had the best pitcher and generally carrying on like long lost friends.

  Ginny was sorry to see the evening end. She and Lori Beth agreed to meet the following night to look at dresses for the wedding. Carter and Jake decided they’d stay at Carter’s house and watch the ball game, and then they’d all go out to dinner or order pizza when the girls got home.

  “That was fun,” Ginny said as Jake started the car and pulled out of the parking lot.

  “Yeah. I thought maybe you’d be uncomfortable.”

  “Well, I guess I was a little, at first.” She laughed softly. “It gave me a perfect opportunity to see you and Carter side by side.”

  “Yeah?” Jake said, his voice a growl.

  Ginny nodded. “Yep. Made me realize I’d made the right choice.”

  “Your folks won’t think so.”

  “Are we back to that again?”

  “If you think they were upset at meeting me, wait until you tell them we’re getting married, and that you’re going to be Lori Beth’s maid of honor. I’ll bet they choke on that one.”

  Ginny blew out a breath. She wasn’t looking forward to telling her mom and dad she was marrying Jake. She knew they wouldn’t approve, but at least Aunt Genevieve was on her side. She hugged the thought close, knowing that whatever happened, she could count on her aunt’s support.

  Chapter 17

  Jake pulled up in front of Ginny’s house and cut the engine, then turned to face her, one arm draped over the steering wheel. “So,” he said, “do I get invited in, or is too late?”

  “I don’t know.” She pretended to think about it a moment. “Of course, I’m inviting you in, silly.”

  “Good,” he said with a wink. “I’d hate to think I came all this way for dinner and a kiss on the front porch.”

  Exiting the car, he opened the door for her, then followed her up the steps, one hand sliding up and down her back while she looked for her key and unlocked the door.

  As soon as they were inside, he took her into his arms and kissed her, hard and quick. “I’ve been wanting to do that all night.”

  “And I’ve been wanting to do this.” Drawing his head down, she pressed her lips to his.

  Jake drew her up against him, so close there was no telling when he ended and she began, so tight she could scarcely breathe. His tongue teased and tasted hers, his hands slid restlessly up and down her back. She leaned into him, closer, closer. There was no doubt of her effect on him. She could feel the heat of his desire.

  They had to stop, she thought, now, before it was too late, before passion overcame discretion and lust overruled good sense. Jake had asked her to marry him and as much as she wanted him, she hadn’t held on to her virginity this long to surrender it now. She owed a good part of her decision to wait to her Aunt Genevieve, who had told Ginny time and again that her innocence could only be given once and to make sure she gave it to the right man, at the right time - when she had his ring on her finger.

  With a sigh, Ginny broke the kiss and took a step backward. “How about a glass of iced tea?”

  “You trying to cool me off?” Jake asked with a wry grin.

  “What do you think?”

  “I don’t think a glass of iced tea will do it. Twenty minutes in an ice cold shower, maybe.” He followed her into the kitchen, sat at the table while she pulled two glasses from the cupboard, then went to the refrigerator. “We didn’t set a date for the wedding,” he said, “but I think Carter and Lori Beth have the right idea. How does next week sound to you?”

  “Next week!” Ginny exclaimed. “I can’t possibly be ready by next week. I mean, I don’t have a dress and…” She turned to face him, a pitcher of iced tea in one hand. “I’ve never even met your mother. She will come to the wedding, won’t she?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Ginny filled his glass and then her own, and sat down across from him. “Maybe we should just elope.”

  “Okay by me if that’s what you want.”

  “It isn’t. I’ve always dreamed of a big wedding. You know, with my sisters standing up with me and my father walking me down the aisle, but now…”

  A muscle twitched in Jake’s jaw. “Now, because of me, you might not get all that.”

  “I didn’t mean that! If my parents won’t accept us, then it’s their loss.”

  “There’s a lot of things we haven’t talked about,” Jake said, “and we need to discuss them before I go back to California.”

  “How soon do you have to go?”

  “I’ve got a ticket for Friday morning. I’ve been away too long already.”

  “You’re right,” Ginny said. “But a week really isn’t enough time to plan a nice wedding, even a small one.” She smiled at him. “A girl only gets married once, if she’s lucky. I want it to be special.”

  “All right, pretty lady,” Jake said. “You make the arrangements.”

  “I wish you didn’t have to go.”

  “I know, but I’ll call you every day, and I’ll be back for Lori Beth’s wedding on the twenty-ninth. There’s another thing we need to decide,” Jake said, “like where we’re going to live after we’re married.”

  “I hadn’t thought about it,” Ginny admitted, but it was something she needed to think about. One of them was going to have to give up their job and their home. The question was, which one?

  “It’s something we need to decide,” Jake said.

  “I don’t suppose you want to move to Georgia?”

  “Not particularly. I worked hard to build up my business…” He held up his hand. “I know, you did, too. And your family is here.”

  “How are we going to decide?”

  “Flip a coin?” he asked with a teasing grin.

  “Be serious!”

  “You got a better idea?”

  “Not really.” Jake owned his house, she only rented hers. She wanted to have children and when she did, she wanted to be a stay-at-home mom. She didn’t want to have a babysitter raising her children, didn’t want to have her teenage kids coming home from school to an empty house. She wanted to be there to fix them snacks and hear about their day. She wanted to drive them to Little League and soccer practice, to be there so they could invite their friends over after school. She wanted them to come home to a mother’s welcoming hug and the scent of freshly baked cookies. “Do you want to have kids, Jake?”

  “Sure, lots of them. Pretty little girls with their mother’s eyes and sweet smile.”

  “I don’t want to work once we have kids.”

  “Fine by me. I’m just chauvinistic enough to think that women should stay home.”

  “A chauvinist, eh? Women in their place, and all that?”

  “Hey, don’t be putting words in my mouth. I think women should work if they want to, and they should get equal pay for equal work. But I have to tell you, I don’t want my wife to work.”

  “Well, then, I’ll see if Anita wants to buy my shop.”

  Jake stared at her. “Just like that?”

  “Just like that. I can always open another shop. I could even work from home if I’ve a mind to. But I can’t find another man like you.”

  “I’d better not catch you looking,” he warned with mock severity. Picking up his glass, he finished his iced tea, then pushed away from the table. “Since you’re still a working woman, I’d better let you get some sleep.”

  Ginny followed him to the front door, lifted her face for his kiss. “I’ll meet you at Carter’s tomorrow night, then.”

  “Don’t be too late, okay?”

  “Okay. Night, Jake.”

  “Night, pretty lady.”

  She stood in the doorway, smiling as she watched him drive away.

  * * * *

  Jake called her at work five times before noon, just to say hello. At two o’clo
ck, a dozen long-stemmed red roses arrived. The card said, “Counting the hours until I see you again.”

  At three, a messenger delivered a two pound box of chocolates. The card read, “I hate to be cliché, but, sweets for the sweet”.

  At four, another messenger delivered a small stuffed horse and a single red rose.

  On the card, Jake had written, “Just because I love you”.

  At five, a music box arrived. When she opened it, it played the love song from “Phantom of the Opera”.

  “I had no idea Jake was such a romantic,” Ginny murmured as she re-wound the music box.

  “No doubt about it,” Anita remarked. “The man’s crazy about you. Does he have a brother?”

  “No.”

  “I don’t guess you’d let me have him, then?”

  “Not a chance, girlfriend. I’ve got to call and thank him. And then I need to talk to you.”

  “Is something wrong?”

  “No. Be right back.” Going into her office, she closed the door and called Jake.

  “Hello?”

  “Jake, I love all the things you sent! The flowers, the candy, the music box.”

  “I was hoping you would,” Jake said. “Shopping for them gave me something to do.”

  “Didn’t you spend the day with Lori Beth?”

  “No, she was off with Carter’s mother, planning for the wedding and buying baby things.”

  “Anita wants to know if you’ve got a brother.”

  Jake laughed. “No, but I’ve got a cousin she might like.”

  “I’ll tell her.”

  “We’re still on for later, right?”

  “Yes, I’m counting the hours.”

  “Me, too.”

  “Y’all behave yourself now, hear?”

  “Okay, Scarlett, honey.”

  “Bye, love.”

  She stood there a moment, smiling and holding the phone and thinking how happy she was. Looking up, she saw Anita outside the door, looking troubled. Better go put her mind at ease, Ginny thought, and hanging up the phone, she opened the door and gestured for Anita to come in.

  “Sit down for a minute,” Ginny said, indicating the chair in front of her desk. “I have an offer to make you.”

  “What kind of offer?”

  “Well, first, Jake says he has a cousin you might like, and second, I was wondering how you would feel about buying me out?”