close to becoming my mother. Jake took my hand and pulled me away.
The teachers who had started tearing the pictures down gave me apologetic looks. Jake walked me out of the school and wrapped his arms around me. “I’m sorry, Sweetness.”
“Don’t worry about it. I just can’t believe she thought any good could come out of that for anybody. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about that.”
“Don’t be. I’m proud of you.”
I looked up at him with confusion on my face. Jake chuckled. “You didn’t retreat. You literally went and tackled the problem head on.”
18
Jake
I leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. She placed a hand on the side of my face. “I think we should skip school today. Drake should too,” Emily stated. I nodded and we left in our respective cars. I picked Drake up and we headed to Emily’s. Drake was so excited about skipping school for the day.
At Emily’s, Drake started talking about his day. Emily was holding my hand. She kept looking over at me and I smiled at her. “Jake! Emily! Pay attention,” Drake whined. I turn my full attention to him as he told me that he had taken a test today and he thought he didn’t do well.
“I’m sure you did fine,” I reassured him.
We sat on the couch and watched TV for the rest of the evening. When Mike got home, she and I headed to her room for some alone time. We slowly made our way to the bed and sat, leaning against the headboard.
“What a day, huh?” Emily commented.
“Yeah.” I took her free hand and lifted it to my lips, placing a kiss on her knuckles. “I’m so happy with how you handled things today, Sweetness.” I looked over at her and she leaned in to kiss me. The kiss was slow and filled with our emotions over what had occurred.
Breaking away from the kiss, Emily rested her head on my shoulder. “Jake,” Emily said quietly.
“Yeah?”
“Thank you. Really. Thanks for bringing me back to me. I don’t know how I could have done it without you, Drake, and my dad.”
“Aw, Sweetness. You did it yourself. You learned to believe in yourself again. We just gave you a little push.”
“More like a shove,” she chuckled. “Either way, thanks. I’m glad we got paired together for the project,” she added.
“Me too, Emily. Me too.” I was just happy to have Emily with me.
Lindsay Paige is the author of the Bold As Love series and Don't Panic. Sweetness is followed by I'm Yours and Whatever It Takes. Both are now available.
Learn more about Paige at her website or her blog:
lindsaypaigebooks.com
authorlindsaypaige.blogspot.com
Sweetness Page 17
