by Anna Cove
Meredith frowned, my speech evidently confusing her. In her moment of confusion, I shut the door in her face. She knocked again, but I wouldn't answer. I was done. Finished. The knocking ceased, and I went to my room to work on my website.
It couldn't have been a minute later before there was a knocking on the door again. Ignoring it, I tried to focus on my work. As soon as my computer booted up, I put some Tegan & Sara on full blast and sang my heart out. It drowned out the sound and made me realize how strong I'd grown. How, months earlier, I had begged for Meredith to come over and she hadn't. How I would never beg someone again.
A shadow crossed my window.
I shrieked and jumped backward, but the shadow took form into someone I recognized. "Jimmy!"
I turned down the volume on my computer and ran to the door, opening it wide and hugging Jimmy, who stood outside. "What the heck are you doing here?"
"I wanted to tell you my lawyer got the charges dropped and to thank you for your help. I did what you told me to do every time I was scared, and it calmed me down. That shit is gold."
"Stop swearing." I swatted at him, tears blurring my eyes. I opened the door wider. "Come in, come in."
"Actually, I was wondering if you would come out. I see your father's not here. You have no excuse."
"I already have yoga clothes on. I'm done for the night." I looked back into the house, through to my tiny bedroom.
"Please. We've got to celebrate tonight. We're both free!"
"Okay, okay," I said, laughing. "One drink for me and a Pepsi for you."
"Deal." He flashed me a smile that would charm all the ladies in a few years—that probably already did charm all the ladies. He held his shoulders back, and his hair was still slicked back, too, just like it had been in the court room.
He shrugged, his hands in the pockets of his coat. "Why are you still looking at me? We're wasting time. Go change!"
I hugged him, and he hugged me back, then he pushed me away.
Jimmy waited outside while I changed into my floral dress and boots. He whistled when I came outside and seemed nervous as we slipped into my car.
He gave me directions as we went, up the mountain and around to Lucille's. He told me to park. The lot was full tonight, but we found a spot at the front. When we stopped, I turned to him.
"Why here? Why not the diner?"
He ran his hand over his chin, and I noticed a little stubble growing there. "I think I deserve a fancy meal my first night of freedom. Don't worry, I have a gift certificate from my girlfriend's parents."
"Girlfriend?"
"Yeah, I didn't tell you? Jenny said yes."
"And how does she feel about you going out with me tonight instead of her?"
"She understands." He winked and stepped out of the car. I took in a breath, wondering how I kept ending up at these places that reminded me of Jada. Had we really spent so much time together? Or was my life operating on some weird loop I would have to break free from?
Jimmy offered me his arm and I took it. We walked up the steps to the restaurant. Outside on the pavilion, people hovered around fancy space heaters. "When did they get those?"
"I don't know. Must be a new thing," Jimmy said.
"I like it." My gaze moved inside next, to the dim interior. I decided then to make the best of the night. To relax with Jimmy and enjoy his company.
Jimmy swung the door open, holding it wide. "Ready?"
I smiled and entered. My eyes adjusted to see Dad sitting at the table closest to the door. "Dad. Bob. What are you doing here? Did you already play pool?"
Dad shook his head. "I'm sorry I lied to you, baby, but it's worth it, trust me."
I narrowed my eyes at Dad and Bob, then looked back at Jimmy, but when I did, I caught Rick's eye. He came right over to me, extending his hand. "Erika, I'm so happy to see you. I wanted you to know both the family and I would love to see you join the Catskill Mountain House team full-time."
"Huh?"
A hand touched the small of my back. Jimmy beamed at me. I broke away to check out the other people in the room. There was Dr. McNabb and Colleen Hannigan, surrounded by a group of people that looked like therapists and must have been the committee for the award I had lost. Dr. McNabb wiggled his fingers like we were acquaintances seeing one another in a bar.
But he lived in the city. And I couldn't understand why or how he was up here.
The police were even there, wearing plain clothes. The chief shrugged a little as a greeting.
There were also a few people I didn't recognize. The place was packed—half the town must have been there.
I turned to Jimmy. "What's going on?"
Jimmy's finger rose from his side and pointed to the opposite end of the room. At the bar where we had first met, Jada sat on a stool, her back straight. She wore jeans and a turtleneck and her hair was loose and straight around her shoulders. The sight of her stunned me, bolting me in place. We made eye contact and she slid off her stool and walked toward me and I couldn't have moved if I had wanted to.
She had done this. She had brought all these people here. But why?
I turned to Jimmy. "I need you to take me out of here right now."
"You should listen to what she has to say."
"You do know what she did to you? She was the reason for your arrest. It was her fault—"
Jimmy raised his hand and shook his head. "She told me everything."
"Damn it, Jimmy. You shouldn't have tricked me into coming here. I would have had a better night at home alone."
My heart was racing, and I couldn't tell if it was fear or driving need or a little of both as Jada approached. Sure, I'd pushed off Meredith, but that was nothing. I hadn't ever cared for her like I'd cared for Jada. When I glanced back in Jimmy's direction he had slipped into the empty seat at Dad's table.
It was just me and Jada.
"You're so... I'm so glad to see you," she said.
I folded my arms and looked away. Every single one of them knew she would be here. Every single one, and no one had told me.
She stepped closer, close enough I could smell the jasmine in her hair. "You have every right to be angry with me. I deserve it."
"What is this?" I said. "Why are all these people here?"
"Because I have something to say, and I want everyone to hear it."
"I need to get out of here." I felt like I was going to lose my lunch if I stayed much longer.
Jada placed a hand on my arm. "I want you to meet my sister Rosa and her girlfriend, Kenzie. They're getting married next month, and they really, really want to meet you."
"Why?"
"Because you're amazing. All these people think so."
"They think I'm a criminal. No thanks to you."
"I deserve that." Jada swallowed. With her hand still on my arm, Jada whistled. "Chief, could you come over here please?"
The police officer in question made his way through the crowd and joined us.
Jada jumped right in. "Do you think Erika is a criminal?"
"Absolutely not," he said with a straight face. "You, on the other hand." He elbowed Jada in the side like they were best friends.
"Yeah, I know, I'm a total delinquent. Now, go, drink one on me."
This whole thing was so ridiculous it felt like I was dreaming it up. "Did you pay all these people to come?"
"No. Well, except for buying them drinks, no."
"I know it's hard for you, but I need you to tell me the truth."
Jada raised her eyebrows, nodding her head. "I deserve that, too. In fact, that's why I called you here, to tell everyone the truth. All of it. Every single piece."
I let out a long breath.
Jada stepped back, clasping her hands. "All I want you to do is listen, okay? Will you give me that?"
I shrugged. My skin tingled with the knowledge that all these people were watching us.
Jada took a microphone from a girl who looked a bit like her and stood on a chair. "My
name is Luisa Jada Garcia, and I'm here to set the record straight on Erika Jones. You may have heard a lot about her lately, may have seen her name on Twitter, but most of what you read wasn't true. This is the truth."
Everyone was looking at me. Everyone. It felt as if someone had dumped ice over my head. My hands began to shake, and I stepped backward. Behind Jada, the woman who'd handed her the microphone stood behind a tripod and tapped the screen of a smartphone. Was she recording this?
"Erika Jones is exactly what you see when you meet her—gracious, funny, sweet, the most kindhearted person I've ever met. I met her because we were up for the same award. I thought no one could be as sweet as her... but she truly, truly is."
Jada detailed how she'd formed the plan to sabotage me. How she thought I was too trusting in her and the world. How she had decided she would destroy me and ruin my chances of winning the award I never cared about winning, anyway. It hurt to hear this side of her. Then the story twisted as she detailed how she fell in love with me. She told everyone—in clear tones just like her letter, without jokes or sarcasm—how she came to know me. She explained how, by the time she figured all this out, it was too late.
She told our entire story in front of everyone, but she was really telling me, too. She never broke eye contact. She never made excuses even though I knew some of it had come from her father based on what she told me before.
"I offer you my apology," she said after all that. "I don't expect it to fix everything. I don't even expect it to make you feel better, though I hope it does. My only wish is all these people here and on the internet where we're broadcasting live, understand how good you are. How decent and kind. How—"
I turned and pushed through the crowd, bursting through the door into the open air.
...
JADA
"Well, I guess that's her answer." A few people laughed nervously though I hadn't meant my comment as a joke.
I slipped from the chair, placed the microphone on the table and ran after her. Was she okay? She hadn't looked all that well toward the end. Had this been a stupid idea after all? Another one of my self-centered harebrained ideas?
I found her sitting on a chair in the pavilion next to one of the new heaters, staring out at the trees. The sky beyond the mountains glowed like a nightlight, the pine trees black against its purplish hues. "This seat taken?" I asked.
Erika shook her head and stared straight.
I settled in the chair next to her. "Too over the top?"
"It certainly was a lot to take in."
"I'm sorry if I embarrassed you."
"No—it's okay. I... I kind of liked it." Erika blinked and glanced at me for the first time.
And for the first time in a long time I felt a seed of hope sprout in my stomach. "Then why did you leave?"
"Too many people staring at me as I tried to process my feelings."
"Ah..." I looked around at the empty pavilion with its fire heaters and thought there couldn't be a more romantic place than right here, right now. I resisted the urge to drag Erika to me. This was part of the new Jada. Waiting it out. "Anything yet?"
"Still processing. No one's ever done anything like that for me."
"You're worth that and much more if you'll..." I stopped, touching my lips with my fingers. I'd almost asked her to be mine, even after I'd promised myself I would let her take the first step.
"Where's your sister and her girlfriend?" Erika fingered the hem of her dress. "You said they wanted to meet me."
"I just said that to keep you here."
Erika rolled her eyes and shook her head.
Ugh. More lying. I had to stop that. "They do want to meet you. They're just making sure all of what I just said spreads as far as possible. You'll meet them later tonight."
Erika turned to me, the light of the heater catching a dangling gold earring. "Won't what you said hurt your career?"
"It'll destroy what's left of it."
"I'm so sorry about that and about your father, too." Erika's eyes filled with tears. "You didn't have to do this for me."
"Yes, I did. I had to show you what I was willing to give up. I had to show you I was sorry."
Erika shook her head. Did she not believe me? After all that? "Wasn't that what got you into this situation in the first place?"
I blinked. "What?"
"Trying to please someone else. Giving up pieces of yourself for someone else."
Her words felt like a punch to the gut. I'd never framed it like that, but it was true. I'd hurt her for my father. Without him, I wouldn't have even gone after the Calver. Without him, I might not even be in the psychology field at all. "This is different. I don't even... I've never said this out loud... but I don't even enjoy my career. It's not hard to give it up for you. Now I get to start over, to remake myself. That's terrifying, and I can't imagine what that will look like... except I want you in it."
She turned to me, shaking her head. Our eyes met and held, and we stared at one another. Just as I felt like I would burst with the need to touch her, she flung her arms around my shoulders and buried her face in my neck. Her tears warmed my skin as I leaned my cheek against hers.
"Tonight, before I knew about this, I swore I would never lose myself in someone again," she murmured into my neck.
"Really?" I ran my hands down her silky hair. Oh, how I missed her. Everything about her. I drank her in, just in case these were my last moments with her.
"Meredith stopped by for a visit."
I froze.
Erika chuckled through a sob. "Don't worry, I sent her away. But I saw then how I would bend for her and explain away her nastiness. I always used to do that."
I pressed my lips together to stop from saying anything, but I sensed this wasn't heading in a direction I liked. She was about to leave me. She was about to give me a good earful and leave and I would deserve it.
Erika pulled away and wiped her tears, and I waited for her to speak. Patience was so damn hard.
"Let's make a promise to each other," she said.
"Okay." This was good. Promises included two people.
"No more lies."
"Deal," I said, before she had even finished the sentence.
"And..."
"And?"
Erika touched her chin with her pointer finger. "No more police stations."
"Easy enough. And?"
"And... if we ever get to the point where we're unhappy with one another more than we're happy, we have to leave."
"There are a lot of rules here."
"Just three."
"That's it?"
"For now."
I tucked her wavy hair behind her ear and drew her toward me for a sweet kiss. I pulled away, my chest full to bursting with emotion. "Does this mean you forgive me?"
"Of course I forgive you." Her eyes twinkled like stars as she cast them up to the vast sky.
I wiped the tears on her cheeks with my thumbs and I saw what I needed to see. I saw she spoke the truth. She had seen the worst of me and still loved me. She had done what I had never been able to do. She had forgiven me. Totally and completely.
For that, I would be forever hers.
THE END.
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Author's Note
Thanks for reading Just Jada. I hope you enjoyed it!
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**Preorder the next book in the series: Lucky Love.**
Other Books by Anna
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Narrow Escape: A Lesbian Romance Novella (Free)
Sweet Surrender: A Lesbian Romance
**Preorder the next book in the series: Lucky Love.**
