Actually Love - Jessie & Zach (The Crossroads Series)

by Melanie Shawn

  “Just FYI.” Katie threw it back at her.

  Jessie had to admit that, as freaked out as she had been this morning when half of Harper’s Crossing had shown up in her kitchen, she was actually glad that they had come. Here it was it only one p.m. and almost all of her unpacking was done, and they’d been there to talk her off the ledge when she’d found out that her landlord, who thought she and Zach were a couple, lived upstairs.

  Although giving in to dramatics was not really Jessie’s style, she had come dangerously close to a nervous breakdown. If she thought about it too much, then she still felt like she couldn’t breathe, but she was just trying to focus on the fact that she no longer had a commute. That was worth ten fake boyfriends in her book.

  “Thanks for being here today,” Jessie said to the room in general.

  “Does that mean you don’t want to kill me anymore for spilling the beans to Eddie?” Haley asked hopefully, raising her hands to show that her fingers were crossed.

  “No, it’s fine,” she said, and to her surprise, she meant it. Seeing Zach around her family had not been as horrifying as she had feared.

  Jessie actually couldn’t believe how well Zach fit in with the guys. He seemed more comfortable around her family than she did. All of her cousins and her soon-to-be brother-in-law had not simply picked up on the fact that Mabel and Margie thought they were a couple, they’d even played along with it.

  After she’d been rendered speechless by Mabel’s big reveal, her cousin Jason had gotten a huge grin on his face and asked when Zach was going to make an honest woman out of her. Then Alex had said that the family had a pool of how long it was going to take for the two of them to get engaged. Eddie had said that he was going to give Zach pointers on the perfect proposal. Eddie’s proposal had been pretty spectacular, especially since had it included a hot air balloon ride.

  Alex, of course, had joked that his proposal would go down in Sloan-family history as the best proposal ever. To which Jamie had smiled up at him sweetly and asked, “Which one? The one when you were drugged in the hospital or the one when we were in the kitchen during Joey’s birthday party?”

  Alex had grinned from ear to ear and told her, “Both.”

  The only one who had been quiet was Riley. Even though Jessie generally didn’t care what anyone thought, her family was different. Sure, she might act as if their opinions didn’t matter to her. Mainly, it was because, no matter what they thought, she was going to live her own life. But deep down, what her family thought did matter.

  During breakfast, which Mabel and Margie had invited themselves to, Jessie had kept slicing looks over to Riley to try and read his unreadable expression. His jaw was set. He wasn’t making small talk or laughing at anyone’s stories. She did get a little worried when she noticed his nostrils starting to flare, but luckily, his wife was like the Riley-whisperer. Chelle had leaned over and spoke softly, saying something in his ear that had miraculously done the trick. Riley immediately relaxed and joined in the conversation.

  Jessie had no idea what Chelle had said to cause the one-eighty in Riley’s attitude, but she was so glad she had.

  Once breakfast was over, the moving van arrived and it was a flurry of activity for a couple of hours. Jessie had forgotten just how much stuff she had in her storage unit. Having the extra manpower had come in very handy. Between Riley, Jason, Alex, Eddie, and Zach, the truck was unloaded in an eighth of the time that it would have taken the movers.

  After everything was inside, the boys got busy assembling all the furniture and the girls went through the boxes. Less than four hours later, her kitchen table, dressers, bed, shelving units, and chairs were all ready to go. Jessie loved marking things off her to-do list and considered today a great success.

  “Well…” Krista plopped down on the bed and crossed her legs crisscross applesauce. “Since you’re in a forgiving mood, I think there is something I need to tell you.”

  Oh no. Jessie’s blood always ran cold whenever any of her sisters started a conversation like that. She had always equated it to how a guy must feel when a girl says, ‘We need to talk.’

  “What did you do?” Jessie asked, her voice deadly serious.

  “Okay, before you get mad… It wasn’t my fault.” Krista raised her hands defensively and scooted closer to Haley.

  This was getting worse with every word that came out of her sister’s mouth. And the booty-scoot towards their older sister certainly wasn’t a good sign.

  “Krista. What did you do?” Jessie said calmly. She never allowed herself to get upset until she had all of the information. Which she didn’t.

  “Well, Chase called while Mabel and I were doing the dishes. I answered on FaceTime and she started screaming. Like seriously flipping out.” Krista was telling the entire bedroom of women, who were all glued to her every word. None more so than Jessie. “It was actually really cute. She was so excited to get to talk to him, and she told him that she hadn’t loved anyone as much as she’d loved Elvis until the first time she’d seen him perfor—”

  “Krista.” Jessie interrupted her. She knew that going down Krista’s rambling rabbit trail was pointless.

  “Right.” Krista took in a deep breath and shook her head, her red hair fanning out as she did. Then her sister bit the side of her mouth, which was what she always did when she was stalling because she didn’t know how to say something.

  “Spit it out!” Jessie exclaimed.

  “Margie and Mabel are coming for Thanksgiving,” Krista said quickly. Really quickly. Like, in under half a second.

  “What?” Jessie had no idea what she’d thought was going to come out of her sister’s mouth, but that certainly hadn’t been it.

  “I don’t know how it happened.” Krista’s eyes widened and her hands flew up in the air. “I hung up with Chase, who says ‘hi’ to everyone, by the way. He really wishes he could be here. I told him about the “arrangement” last night and he thinks this whole situation is hilarious—”

  “Krista.” Jessie really wished her sister could stay on subject. But ever since Chase had come back into the picture, she’d turned into a lovesick teen. Which Jessie guessed made sense considering Chase and Krista had been together when they were teens, then apart for ten years, and now together again.

  “Sorry.” Krista shook her head. “Anyway, I got off the phone and Mabel started asking me if it was hard with Chase being on the road, yada-yada-yada, and somehow the subject came up about when I was going to see him next. I said Thanksgiving. She asked if we had any special plans. I said that Alex and Jamie were hosting this year. And then before I knew it, bam, she had invited herself and Margie. I didn’t know what to say.”

  Jessie slowly sat down on her favorite brown leather chair. The one that had been in storage for six months. The one she wanted to crawl inside of and hide.

  What was she going to do? It wasn’t that she cared that the two ladies were coming to her family holiday. Well, she didn’t love the idea, but it was fine, she guessed. The issue was that they would expect Zach to be there.

  First, she’d found out the M sisters live upstairs. Now they were coming to Thanksgiving dinner! This was getting out of control. If there was one thing Jessie absolutely did not allow in her life, it was situations that she couldn’t control. She had to put a stop to this.

  “I have to tell them the truth.” Jessie stared down at her hands, which were placed flat on her thighs. She honestly saw no other way to rectify the runaway train o’ lies that had now jumped the tracks of sanity.

  There were several audible hisses from the women who were all seated around the room on the bed and the floor. Jessie looked up, and if she weren’t teetering on the edge of completely losing it, she would have laughed. It was a comical sight. All five women stared back at her with different degrees of that-is-a-colossally-bad-idea expressions on their faces as they shook their heads back and forth.

  Facts. She needed to base this decision on facts. Not emotions. />
  Luckily, she knew just the person to ask. The lawyer, of course.

  Turning her attention to Katie, Jessie asked, “Legally, where do I stand if I tell them the truth? I mean, they can’t evict me over that, right?”

  Katie’s face immediately switched from friend-slash-cousin to attorney. It was so funny to see that transformation in her.

  Sitting up a little straighter on the bed, Katie answered, “No. I don’t believe that they have grounds to evict you over that.”

  Whew. That’s a relief. Letting out a little sigh that she might be able to put the brakes on the whole thing, Jessie leaned back against the soft cotton cushion behind her.

  “But…”

  Of course there’s a ‘but.’

  “If you were my client, I would advise against rocking the boat for at least a few months. Once a landlord decides they want you out of their property, they can make life pretty miserable for a tenant. I’m not saying that would be what Margie or Mabel would do. Still, why upset the apple cart if you don’t have to? Especially when the apples live right upstairs from your cart.”

  “Okay, let’s take a vote,” Haley announced grandly. “Show of hands. Who thinks Jessie should come clean and tell Margie and Mabel the truth?”

  “You can’t vote on my life,” Jessie objected.

  “Of course we can.” Haley’s face displayed a ‘what are you talking about?’ expression.

  Jessie looked around the room and saw that not one single hand was up. Before she could stop herself, her own arm shot up in the air. It was her life, after all.

  Haley pointed at her. “Okay. One for the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Now, show of hands. Who thinks Jessie should play this out for a while, keep living in this gorgeous brownstone, and keep her well-meaning landlords in the dark?”

  Every hand in the room shot up.

  “Seriously?!” Jessie said with frustration brimming in her voice, her eyes darting between Jamie and Chelle. “Aren’t you two always saying that honesty is the best policy, the truth shall set you free, blah, blah, blah?!”

  Both of the brunette beauties shrugged their shoulders but kept their hands raised.

  “Okay. You can put your hands down. I get it,” Jessie snapped. She did not need to see the visual reminder of what everyone’s opinion on the path she should take for her own life was.

  The ladies lowered their hands, and for a moment, there was an awkward silence. Then Krista said, “Okay, show of hands. Who thinks Jessie needs to take advantage of this living situation and get her freak on with Hottie McTottie Zach Courtland?”

  Jessie couldn’t help but laugh. Every hand in the room flew up, except Jessie’s of course. But…they were itching to.

  Chapter Nine

  “Hi, sweetie!” Anna’s entire face lit up as Zach walked into the room. “How did the move go?”

  “Good, Mom,” Zach assured her as he leaned down and kissed her cheek.

  “Hey, Zachy boy, you gonna knock the piss out of Reynolds?” Mr. Alvarez yelled from the couch across the room that sat opposite a large flat-screen television.

  Zach lifted his hand in acknowledgement. “That’s the plan.”

  “He’s got no stamina. He’s all show. You’re the real deal, kid. Just watch out for his left hook,” Mr. Alvarez advised.

  “Will do, sir.”

  If Zach had a dollar for every ‘friendly piece of advice’ he received from people, he wouldn’t have to worry about making the payments for his mom to be here or for the medical bills that were piling up, that’s for sure.

  “So…” Anna’s thin hand covered his. The difference between the two of them was so dramatic now that she’d lost so much weight. “Tell me everything. How was your first day with a fake girlfriend?”

  Zach’s mom leaned forward and whispered the word ‘fake’, her hazel eyes sparkling brighter than he’d seen them shine in a long time as she looked around to make sure that none of the other residents were eavesdropping.

  Zach felt a great sense of relief that he’d found this place. It wasn’t like the other care homes he’d visited. This place reminded him of a resort. Seriously, Sandals had nothing on it.

  They were seated in the great room, which was basically just a place for the residents to hang out when they weren’t in their rooms or participating in one of the many activities that were scheduled daily, and it was decorated to rival the five-star hotels he’d stayed in. Some of the residents were elderly people, but some, like his mom, had health conditions that required round-the-clock supervision.

  It had been hard for Zach to finally agree with everyone that it would be better for his mom to move into this place. He had fought it like he’d been in the ring going twelve rounds. The idea of her being in an institution had made him want to throw up and punch a hole in the wall at the same time. But he had to admit that she was thriving here. And she seemed happier than he’d seen her since her diagnosis.

  Zach loved hearing about her art classes, pottery classes, movie nights, and all the other activities she loved. Then there was also the added bonus of hearing his mom, who he had always maintained should be nominated for sainthood, get wrapped up in all the gossip and scandals that this place seemed to be overflowing with.

  “It went good. Her entire family… Well a lot of her family showed up, which she wasn’t too happy about.”

  “She doesn’t get along with her family?” his mom asked with concern lacing her voice.

  “No, she does.” Zach had watched her interact with them all day and he could see how close the Sloans were. “I think that she is a fairly private person. Also I think she’s a control freak, and usually people like that don’t appreciate surprises.”

  “Ohhhh.” His mom nodded in understanding.

  “She wanted me to leave when they got there, but I stayed.”

  “I bet she didn’t like that.” Anna’s large eyes widened even further.

  Zach understood why his mom might think that, considering what he’d just told her. But that hadn’t been the case at all. Zach shrugged. “Actually, she seemed fine with it.”

  “Ohhh.” This ‘oh’ had a much different meaning than her first ‘oh.’ This one was filled with I-know-exactly-what’s-going-on-here.

  “Mom, nothing’s going on.” The last thing he wanted was his mom to get the wrong idea. She’d taken the whole we-lied-to-get-the-place thing better than he’d expected. But that was all it was.

  For the last couple of years, she’d been dropping hints about wanting him to settle down. Saying things about wanting grandchildren. Talking about how she’d never had a daughter and she would love whoever he ended up with like her own.

  Subtlety was not Anna Courtland’s strong suit.

  As she lifted her hands, an innocent smile spread across her face. “I didn’t say anything.”

  “Yes. You did.”

  Shrugging one shoulder, she lowered her hands, her smile still set firmly in place. “So what did you think of her family?”

  “They were great,” Zach replied immediately.

  At first, when he’d opened the door, he’d been a little concerned. Of course, Zach knew he could hold his own one on one, two on one, maybe even three on one. But he’d been seriously outnumbered. He hated to admit this, but Jessie’s cousins and Eddie were a little intimidating, especially as a group.

  “Was it her brothers and sisters or her parents or…?” His mom leaned forward again, clearly wanting all the details.

  Zach was used to being in the gym. Guys didn’t want details. Unless you were talking about random hook-ups, where details were imperative, most guys he knew were like Joe Friday. “Just the facts, ma’am.” But his mom liked to know everything. When he’d told her about his new living situation, she wanted to know every detail about his new roommate.

  “Two of her three sisters were there, Krista and Haley, and also Haley’s fiancé Eddie. She doesn’t have any brothers, but she has five cousins who she gre
w up with. Three of them were there with their wives. Riley and his wife Chelle, Jason and his wife Katie, and Alex and his wife Jamie and their son Joey, who had me cracking up all day. That kid is hysterical.”

  His mom was staring at him for a moment, not saying anything, her face blank. His chest tightened in fear that she might be about to have a seizure. Sometimes she got a faraway look in her eye before one hit.

  “Mom?” Zach reached out and covered her hand.

  Anna shook her head and smiled. “Sorry. That’s just…wow. When you said her family showed up, I was thinking three, maybe four people tops. That’s…a lot.”

  Zach smiled from relief that his mom was not about to have an episode and also because, even though she hadn’t been there today, he was still able to share it with her. “Yeah, and one of her sisters is in California. She is pre-med at Stanford. Her other two cousins and their wives couldn’t make it because they had things to do they couldn’t get out of. And her sister Krista’s fiancé is on tour.”

  He threw that last part about Chase in to see if his mom would pick up on it. This was the part he’d been dying to tell his mom about since he’d found out earlier today. Not only was his mom a huge Midnight Rush fan, but their biggest hit, “Saving Me,” was her favorite song. He remembered that it had come out right after she was diagnosed and she’d played it on repeat for six months. That song had saved her. And Zach now knew that it had been written about Jessie’s sister Krista.

  “On tour. That sounds exciting. Is he a musician, a comedian?”

  “A musician.” Zach knew he was dragging this out, but he couldn’t help himself. Seeing his mom happy was what he lived for, and he knew that the buildup would make her reaction that much sweeter.

  “Have I heard of him?” she asked.

  “I think so,” Zach said nonchalantly.

  “Well?” She splayed her hands out in question. “Who is he?”

  “He used to be in a band called Midnight Rush, but now he’s solo. Chase Malone.”

  Zach had known that his mom’s reaction was going to be one for the record, but he hadn’t expected her to scream like a teenager at a One Direction show. Every eye in the place was now on them, and his mom’s hands flew to her mouth. Her eyes were wider than saucers as she shook her head in disbelief.