by Kris Jett
Ugh. What a freak, Jessie thought. “Well, what exactly is he doing?”
“At first he was fine. We went out a few times but then he started getting really clingy. With Melody, too.”
“You let him meet Melody?” Jessie said, shocked. She knew she sounded judge-y and she didn’t mean to but why would Wynn let her baby around a guy she just started dating?
Wynn nodded. “Not the best decision I ever made. But when things started feeling weird I called it off. Told him I didn’t want to see him anymore. That only spurred him on. Made him try harder. Nonstop texts, voicemails, and gifts arriving to the house. I ignored it all hoping he’d get a clue.”
Jessie shook her head.
“But he didn’t. He won’t leave me alone.” Wynn continued. “He calls constantly. I’ve changed my number twice and he still hunts it down somehow. He e-mails daily. He used to sit outside my work for hours every day, just waiting to talk to me as I walked quickly from the building to my car. He comments on my Facebook all the time, like we’re together. He’s always talking about ‘our future’ and the stuff we’re going to do. Or like, what he wants to buy me or Melody for our birthdays. He even posted some recipe one night and said something like, ‘gotta make this for my girls.’ Like we’re together all the time and he cooks for us. It’s creepy. I’ve blocked him repeatedly but he creates new profiles and contacts me again. He just won’t stop. He said we’re destined to be together and I won’t be happy with anyone else.”
“That’s so disturbing,” Jessie said. “Did you get a restraining order?”
Wynn nodded. “Of course. It didn’t even slow him down. He even rented a different car to try and trick me or something. A little silver Honda civic. But I saw him in it. And it was parked on the road across the street from my house every evening for the past week before we came here.”
“Whoa. You should have called the police then.”
“I did but they didn’t do anything. He wasn’t in the car the one time they came. And he has to actively bother me for them to do anything, anyway.”
“That’s terrible, Wynn, I’m so sorry. You’re home now so things should be okay, right?”
“That was the hope,” Wynn said. “I thought for sure I’d shaken him but he’s tracked me down here. I don’t know how he did it. But look at this.” Wynn scrolled through her phone and then turned it around so Jessie could read.
You’re working at your Mom’s pub now, huh? Well, be careful. Don’t let any drunk men hit on you. I hope you’re keeping Melody safe and away from there. A pub is no place for our baby. I love you, Wynn, and I’ll see you soon.
XO, Billy
“What? No way! Oh my God, Wynn, that is so f-ing creepy the hairs on my arms are sticking up.” Jessie rubbed her forearms.
Wynn’s eyes turned glassy and tears threatened to spill over. “I know,” she whispered. “I’m completely freaked out. I don’t know how he figured out where I was. I didn’t tell anyone. Except Melody’s dad of course.”
“Would he have told him?”
“No, of course not,” Wynn replied. “I’d told him what was going on. I thought I was going to be safe here.” Wynn’s chin shook.
“You will be. We’ll figure it out. Try not to panic,” Jessie said, slipping a comforting arm around Wynn’s shoulders.
“How do I keep Melody safe?” she said quietly, one tear running loose down her cheek.
“Oh, nobody is laying a hand on my niece. This dude is dead if he comes within twenty feet of her,” Jessie said.
A tiny smile spread on Wynn’s face. “You always were the toughest of us.”
Chapter Nineteen
“Late on the second day?” Cooper teased his younger brother. He wiped at the grease on his hands with a shop rag but it wasn’t effective.
He’d have to try some Goo Gone when he got a chance, Cade thought. Cooper had arrived to work extra early that morning and had already tuned up a sled.
Cash grumbled as he walked across the shop slowly, sunglasses on and hoodie pulled low over his head. “Rough night,” he croaked as he passed Cooper.
Cade set the stack of invoices he was working on at his desk and grinned. “Are you hungry bro? Here, have a bite of my breakfast burrito.” He waved the gooey cheese and egg mixture in front of his brother’s nose.
“God, no.” Cash swatted the burrito away from him and clutched his stomach. “You’re going to make me hurl.”
“Aw, come on. The eggs are only a little undercooked. It’s really not half bad.” Cade shoved the rest of the burrito into his mouth and then grinned so Cash could see the egg and sausage bits on his teeth.
Cash held the back of his wrist up to his mouth and raced toward the back office and presumably the bathroom. Cade looked at Cooper and they both cracked up.
“You’re terrible,” Cooper said, shaking his head. He tucked the rag in his back pocket, abandoning his efforts of getting his hands clean for the moment.
“Yeah, sometimes.”
Cooper gazed toward the direction Cash just went. “He’s never going to change, is he?”
“Doubtful.”
“Well, we’d better get back to work. You got things up front okay? I’m going to head back to the garage and start on the Jameson job.”
“Yeah, I’m good. Make sure to use all the loudest tools. We want Cash to be fully alert.”
Cooper chuckled as he walked out.
Cade looked around the shop. The walls were a crisp white. The signs on the wall were shiny and new. The stock displays hadn’t been up long enough to gather dust yet. The picture hanging by the door of the three brothers with their arms thrown around each other was still pen mustache free. He couldn’t believe they’d really pulled it off. The Stone brothers were legitimate businessmen.
He wished his mother was alive to see this; what her boys ended up doing with their lives. She’d always told him he could be anything he wanted to be: an astronaut, doctor, or lawyer. And he believed that before she’d died. After she died he never thought much about his future. Just about how to get through the next day.
Cade was only twelve when his mom passed. One moment she was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer and only weeks later she was gone. It was a tragic shock to them all to say the least. Cade was the baby of the family so he felt like maybe he took it the hardest. Cooper got serious and tried to boss them around a lot. Cash was a troublemaker and always in the principal’s office for one thing or another. Cade remembered just being sad and crying a lot. To which he got no comfort from his dad. His dad threw himself into his work even more, leaving the boys to their own devices. Which is probably why he doesn’t talk to him much now. His dad wasn’t there for him back then. He only had his brothers. And things hadn’t changed much. He still only had his brothers.
None of the Stone boys were ever keen on therapists or talking about their feelings. They just moved through that terrible time as best they could. But Cade imagined it had a permanent damaging effect on the brothers. It could explain why none of them have ever had a successful relationship with a woman. Cooper’s divorced. Cash used women like tissues. And Cade called it quits any time a woman looked like she was getting serious with him.
The way Cade felt when he was in the same room with Jessie and how the thought of not getting to be with her about drove him mad, made him think maybe things would be different with her. At least, there was the hope that they could be different. This thought excited him, energized him at times, and he felt almost desperate to make it a reality. But other times the doubt of his past crept back into mind. And a voice telling him he’d always be alone and it was fairytale bullshit to expect to have a real relationship with another person. A person who electrified his body and challenged his mind. Someone who loved him no matter what, who could be counted on to just be there. Always. That wasn’t life. That was the Nicholas Sparks kind of crap you see in movies.
Cade launched Microsoft Excel and tried to distract himself in spre
adsheets. It worked for a while. When he looked up from his laptop and saw that it was after noon he realized he was suddenly very hungry and craving a burger from Starlight Pub.
“Hey, Cash,” he called to his brother, a few feet away from him working on his own laptop.
“Hmm?” Cash said without looking up. He was studying something on his laptop and he looked ten times better than when he came in this morning. The green tint to his skin was gone and he had a sort of half smile on his lips.
“I’m going to run out for lunch. Be back in half an hour or so.” Cade stood and eased into his jacket, feeling for his keys.
Cash stretched his arms skyward and yawned. “Yeah. Okay. Bring me something back would ya? I’m starting to get hungry.”
“No problem. Tell Coop I’ll grab him something too.” Cade zipped his coat and headed out into the cold and toward Starlight.
Chapter Twenty
Jessie made it to work ten minutes earlier than usual. Last night was the best night’s sleep she’d gotten in a while. She was feeling good, like she could face anything today. Even if she walked into the pub and found that Luci had replaced all the chairs with ergonomic bean bags she wasn’t going to let it bother her. Nope, today was going to be a good day.
Jessie pushed through the door of Starlight and felt her cheeks sting. “Man its cold out there. I bet we fill up with customers wanting peppermint patties,” she said to Anne.
“Where’s your hat and scarf?” Anne asked. She was walking around the empty pub, straightening up the menus and making sure salt and pepper shakers were full. Anne was their oldest employee. Her dad personally hired Anne twenty years ago and she knows this place almost as well as Jessie or her mother.
“I know, I know. I ran out without it today. I didn’t want to be late for work. Is my mom in back?”
“Yep. Your sister Luci is here too. Cutting up some certified organic limes back in the kitchen from what I hear.”
Jessie could hear the sarcasm in Anne’s voice but didn’t say anything. She wasn’t letting Luci get to her today.
She pushed open her mom’s office door and walked in. “Hey, Mom.”
Her mom returned with a weary smile. “Hey, sweetie. Sleep good?”
Jessie tilted her head and examined her mom. “Yeah, I did. What about you? You feeling okay, Mom? You look exhausted. And with so much help now too,” she added sarcastically. “Seriously, what gives? Getting the flu?”
“Oh, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me. How are things with you and your sisters?”
Jessie took a seat on the chair across from her mom. “Wynn came over with Melody last night. We talked. A lot. Things are…okay.” She nodded when she said this and propped her arms up on her mom’s desk.
“Honey, I’m so glad to hear that. And what about Luci?”
Jessie smirked. “Luci’s a nut. She’s got kale for brains. We’re never going to see eye to eye.”
“Well, you don’t have to see eye to eye…” her mom began.
“I don’t have to like her either,” Jessie finished.
“Jessie, you’re sisters.”
Jessie rolled her eyes. “Right. And my ‘sister’ betrayed me.”
“You were so young…”
“So? She slept with my boyfriend,” Jessie countered.
Her mom looked frustrated. “Were you going to marry him? Was Jason the one? Would your life had turned out better if you’d never broken up and you were with him right now?”
Jessie thought about this. About Jason and what their lives would have been like together. Finally, she said, “Well, no. Jason’s a bit of a cocky dick these days. I don’t think I’d like him very much at all, to tell you the truth.”
“There you go,” her mom said, not bothering to hide her smugness. “It might have been a blessing in disguise then.”
Jessie put a hand up and frowned. “I don’t know if I’d go that far. I was in a lot of pain in case you forgot.”
Her mom looked exasperated and tired like they’d had this conversation a million times before. She sighed. “Maybe Luci was too. You don’t know.”
“I suppose I don’t.”
“Honey, I want you to do something for me and you can’t say no,” her mom said.
Jessie laughed. “Well, alrighty then.”
“I’m serious. Tomorrow night I’m cooking dinner for the family. You, me, Wynn, Melody, and Luci. It’s going to be really nice.”
Jessie examined her mother’s face. She looked like she wanted to say something else but didn’t. “I’ll think about it.”
“No, that’s not good enough. You have to be there, Jessie. We’re family. I need you there,” her mom insisted.
Jessie paused, trying to think of a way out of this. But she knew her mom wouldn’t relent. “Fine. I’m sure it’ll be fine. I’ll be there.”
“Great honey. It’ll be lovely.” Her mom smiled but it didn’t seem to quite reach her eyes.
Jessie cleared her throat. “Well, I better get out there. You don’t have to stick around work today, Mom. Why don’t you go on home and grab a nap? You look exhausted. We’ve got it.”
Her Mom gave her a small nod. “Maybe I’ll do that.”
Before Jessie could take two steps out of her Mom’s office, Luci grabbed her arm.
“Jason’s out there,” she said in a hurried voice. “You know, your boyfriend from high school?”
“Okay,” Jessie replied, her tone flat.
Luci’s eyes widened and her mouth hung open slightly. “What? You’re not freaking out?”
“We’ve already run into each other a few times.” Not completely the truth and actually, a bit of an understatement after waking up in his bed. “He’s in town visiting family.”
“Oh,” Luci said slowly.
“Thanks for letting me know, though.” Jessie felt almost touched that Luci raced in back to warn her. “I do want to speak to him. I’ll just go do that now.”
Jessie left the office and made a beeline for Jason who was tapping his fingers on a small table near the windows.
“Hey, Babe,” he said when he saw her, his face lit up.
Jessie silently groaned at the word, ‘Babe.’ “Hi, Jason,” she replied as she slid into the seat opposite him. She let her eyes roam up and down his form, taking him in. He’d definitely improved with age. No one in the pub would look at him and deny he was anything but gorgeous. And she noted he put in a lot of effort with his look today. A new pressed shirt, open at the collar. Freshly shaved face and hair that was gelled into perfection. Not that she’d ever been one particularly for a man who over did it with the hair products. She’d always liked more natural hair on men; like Cade’s dark waves. Her fingers almost ached to touch his hair. But Cade wasn’t here right now and Jason was. And he was looking at her expectantly, which made her slightly uneasy. She folded her hands nervously on the table and took a deep breath. God, Jason even smelled delicious. Different. Not that Old Spice smell she’d detected the first day he came back into the pub. He seemed primped and put together, like he was set to go on a date.
Jessie smiled and glanced around the room before returning to Jason’s face. “So…” she begun.
“Do you have a long shift today?” Jason said quickly before Jessie could say another word. “I was thinking we could catch a movie or dinner or something.”
She was right. He thinks they’re going to have a date. She knew after their long sorted history she shouldn’t care one bit about hurting his feelings but yet she somehow did. She searched for the right words, an easy way to let him down without humiliating him too much.
“Um, yeah. Listen. I’m sorry if I mislead you in some way…I’m still not even sure what happened that night I ended up at your house. But just to be clear, nothing will ever ever happen between you and I. We’re not going to hang out or get coffee or anything. I’m just… not interested in moving backward, you know?” Jessie sat back in her chair. That sounded harsher out loud than it had i
n her head. She’d hoped he wasn’t too crushed.
Jason sat and studied Jessie’s face. “No movie then you’re saying? Want to try bowling? I’ll even let you beat me. Like the old days.” He grinned widely at her.
Jessie looked at him, stunned. He wasn’t getting it. “Jason, listen to me. No anything. Seriously. Have a great visit with your family and have a great life. But I’m not in it. At all. Understand? I’m sorry if I sound rude but I want to be completely clear.” She blinked at him, waiting for some sort of acknowledgement of her words to show on his face.
Jason finally nodded. “Ok, got it. Can’t say I didn’t try.”
Jessie let out a sigh of relief and stood up. She smoothed the apron around her waist with her hands and tried to give Jason a friendly, off you go now, kind of smile. “Take care.”
Just before she turned Jason stopped her with his hand.
Jessie briefly closed her eyes. Not again. “Yes?” she said, trying to keep her patience.
Jason licked his lips. “Do you mind if I ask out Luci? She’s even hotter than I remember.”
Jessie stared at Jason, stunned. Wow. He really was such a dick. What did she ever see in this guy? And then she laughed. “No, not at all. I don’t mind a bit. Have at it Jason.”
She walked away, shaking her head. Good riddance, she thought.
The lunch crowd slowly dribbled in and Anne and Luci worked their tables. Jessie was covering the bar. For your average person, it was early to start drinking but vacationers weren’t on any sort of clock.
Jessie had half a dozen empty bowls lined up on the bar and was pouring peanuts from a bulk bag into them. Luci popped up over her shoulder.
“Whatcha doing?” she asked.
“Peanut refills,” Jessie replied in a flat voice. She briefly wondered if Jason did corner and ask Luci out when she wasn’t watching. Then she decided she didn’t care at all. If Luci was desperate to get with a man she could have him. Jessie couldn’t be any more done with Jason Kirkland.
