“Drinking here. We have no plan…”
“Too late now,” I said. “Stop planning shit for a second too. I’ll figure the next part out.”
Whitney helped herself to the vodka bottle.
“So the woman called you names,” I said. “And I assume she’s older than you?”
“Yeah. Ten years. Maybe more.”
“So how does that play out?”
“It’s not that, Julia. It’s that he chose her because of her life. Where she is in life. Yet if he took a fucking minute and realized where I was. Who I was. I’m not some immature little twat running around looking for dick.”
“Whoa,” I said. “You know, you care way too much about what people think of you.”
Whitney looked at me. “Yeah? Well, fuck you too then.”
“I’m being serious. Every story you tell me involves someone judging you and you acting out.”
“So?”
“Just be yourself. If you don’t…”
My throat squeezed shut for a second.
“What?” Whitney asked.
“Nothing. Never mind what I said. Who the hell am I to give out advice?”
“Meaning what?” Whitney asked. “Because I will turn this on you right now.”
I grabbed the vodka bottle and took a drink. “Try me… you young bitch.”
“Oh, you’re done,” Whitney said.
I wasn’t sure if we were joking around or being serious.
But I was ready.
Whitney turned and pointed at me. “You want me to be myself? You’re not yourself. How did you go from a guy like Jett to a guy like Kinney? And how did you end up married to Kinney? You went with the motions, I bet. You married him to prove to yourself you could forget Jett. But you didn’t. You let him work you over. Right? I saw the body language when he was here. He thinks he owns you. But Jett never felt that way, right? I bet Jett let you go to give you space and you just kept drifting, not even realizing it.”
I swallowed hard.
I blinked fast.
“Fuck you,” I whispered to Whitney.
She smiled. “I warned you.”
I looked away from her.
She bumped her shoulder into mine. “So who are you, Julia?”
“Depends on the day,” I said.
“Well, aren’t we just a fucking mess,” Whitney said.
“We should have stuck with the food truck,” I said. “Life was easier back then.”
“Back then? That was an hour ago.”
“So?” I asked. “Now I know all your bullshit. And you know mine.”
“Please,” Whitney said. “You wear your bullshit like a brightly colored shirt.”
“You’re one to talk,” I said.
“Are we going to end up fighting or what?”
“I don’t feel like fighting you,” I said.
“Good. I don’t feel like fighting you either.”
“Whitney, you’re smart. You’re beautiful. You’ll figure it all out. If you want to hang here with me, I’m okay with it. You want to get a food truck and kick some ass, then do it. But it needs to be your thing. We can figure it out. Together. Like a partnership or something. You know? But don’t let some dude break your heart. And don’t let some old bitch hurt you either. You don’t need to prove anything to anyone. Ever. Not even to yourself. Just be yourself. Be happy.”
“Ew,” Whitney said.
“What?”
“Did you just Mom talk me?”
“Shut up,” I said.
“For the record, it all is the same for you. You dated Kinney. You fell in love with Jett. Things went bad with Jett and then you ended up with Kinney again. And you married him…”
“I don’t need a history lesson,” I said.
“Maybe you do. Because Kinney is floating around again, messing with you.”
“I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” I said.
“Okay. What do you want to do then?”
It took me three seconds to decide.
I jumped up and needed to take a few steps to get my balance.
I pointed back inside the bakery.
“Let’s bake some cookies,” I said.
“While we’re drunk?” Whitney asked.
“Yeah,” I said and I laughed.
“Let’s do it,” Whitney said with a big smile.
She stood up and put her hands out, nodding, keeping herself steady.
This was going to be a fucking disaster.
I couldn’t wait.
Just as long as we didn’t burn down the building.
* * *
“Are you sure the ovens are off?” I asked Whitney.
“All the way off,” she said. “Are you sure Jett is coming to get us?”
“All the way, yeah,” I said.
We bumped shoulders and laughed.
Jett showed up a couple minutes later.
He got out of his truck and looked at Whitney and me.
“Baked you something, honey buns,” Whitney said.
She held out a tray full of cookies.
“They might be a little burned,” I said and laughed.
“What did you two do?” Jett asked.
“Made you dinner, duh,” I said.
I reached for a cookie and forgot they had clear wrap over them.
I basically punched the entire tray out of Whitney’s hands.
“Oh, shit,” I said.
Whitney laughed, falling into me.
That wasn’t going to work.
I side stepped and started to fall too.
Jett rushed to my side and hugged us both. “You two closed up and got drunk.”
“Oh no, he busted us,” Whitney said in a voice that was supposed to be a whisper but was louder than her normal voice.
“I’m helping you one at a time,” Jett said.
“What about the cookies?” I asked him. I looked into his eyes. “I made you cookies, Jett.”
“I’ll clean up the cookies.”
“You’re so sweet,” I said.
“Yeah. Right.”
Jett made me stand on my own.
He took Whitney by her hands.
Jealousy raged through me.
I’ll cut the bitch…
Jett helped Whitney into the backseat of his truck.
Then he came for me.
I threw my arms around him and made him pick me up.
I brushed my lips to his. “I missed you today.”
“Seems like you’ve had a busy day,” he said to me.
“Whitney was sad about stuff. I closed up early.”
“I can tell,” he said.
“She has to sleep on my couch. I don’t want her alone.”
“I can make that happen.”
“You’re not sleeping on the couch with her,” I said.
“Julia… be quiet.”
He carried me to the truck and put me in the backseat next to Whitney.
Then he went to get the cookies.
When he bent over to clean them up, Whitney nodded. “He’s a hot guy, Julia.”
“I’ll kill you in your sleep,” I whispered to her. “Eyes away, bitch.”
We looked at each other and laughed.
Jett then drove us back to my house.
He repeated the same thing.
He helped Whitney into the house first.
Then me.
He put me into bed.
He went to check on Whitney.
That made me jealous.
But he came back to me.
So, ha…
Jett sat on the edge of the bed. “Need water or something, sweetheart?”
“Just you.”
“Oh yeah?”
“It’s my house. I’ll do what I want.”
“Sleep it off.”
“What? Since when don’t you enjoy…”
Jett touched my face. “You’ve never once closed the bakery early. And you’ve never once gotten drunk at the bak
ery.”
“So? I told you, it was because of Whitney.”
I heard how slurred my words were.
I sounded kind of stupid and pathetic.
“It wasn’t just because of Whitney,” Jett said. “We both know that.”
I tried to sit up but the room started to spin. “Wait a second. Jett.”
“Just close your eyes,” he said.
“This isn’t…”
Jett stood up and started to walk away.
“Jett,” I called out. “What are you doing?”
“Going to get you and Whitney water. And find medicine for the headaches you’re both going to wake up with. I’ll set everything up for coffee too. You’re going to need it tomorrow.”
“Jett, are you leaving then?” I asked.
He didn’t answer.
He just shut the door.
My stomach did a flip and I shut my eyes.
I hated throwing up so much.
I took a deep breath to calm myself.
And I waited for Jett.
By the time I fell asleep… Jett still hadn’t come back.
Chapter 14
NOW
Jett
Julia didn’t even realize I was in bed next to her.
She was passed out cold by the time I went back to her room, which was the best thing for her. And for me. For us.
That word started to really piss me off.
Us.
I felt like I had stepped forward as far as I could to only end up in the past.
She and I drifting apart.
Me trying to keep my feet steady and see what she wanted to do with things.
I told myself I would never hold her so tight she couldn’t breathe. Meaning I never wanted her to wake up with an ounce of regret because of me. Anything she wanted to do, explore, have, take, give, whatever… it was her life.
I was lucky enough to be part of it.
The good and the bad.
What punched me square in the heart was that one name could just throw everything off course so fucking fast. I had no idea what it was about that name. About that guy. I had no idea what went through Julia’s head when she married him. Or what went through her head when they split. How it happened. Whether she wanted it or not.
The questions and made up answers in my mind kept me awake.
I went from the bed to the deck for a cigarette whenever I damn well felt like it.
Until the first sliver of sunlight cracked along the horizon.
That’s when I turned on the coffeemaker and wondered what to do next.
My answer was made for me when Whitney woke up at the first smell of coffee.
She popped up on the couch and looked right at me.
Her eyes went wide.
Her cheeks turned red.
She touched her hair and her face.
“How much like death do I look?”
“Scale of one to ten? Six-and-a-half.”
She shut her eyes. “I’m embarrassed right now.”
“Because of bed head?” I asked. “You don’t even know what you did last night.”
“Ohgod,” Whitney groaned. “What did I do?”
She slowly stood up from the couch.
She looked down at herself.
“I smell like booze and sugar,” she said.
“You made me cookies,” Jett said. “Well, you and Julia.”
Whitney slowly walked to the kitchen. She rubbed her forehead. “I didn’t try to kiss you or anything, did I?”
“Nope.”
“Good.”
“Are you known to kiss guys when you’re drunk?”
Whitney gave me a death stare.
I showed her my hands. “I’m just wondering what I missed out on.”
“Shut up, please,” she said.
She stared at the coffeemaker, looking ready to fall over.
“Longest few minutes of your life, huh?” I asked.
“This is terrible. This is Julia’s fault.”
“Oh yeah?” I asked. “She said she did it for you.”
“For each other,” Whitney said.
Then her cheeks turned red again.
I slowly nodded. “Well, you’re awake and alive. I’m going to head to work. Hope you two can make it to the bakery sooner rather than later.”
“Shit,” Whitney said. “Hey. Wait. Why are you leaving?”
“I just said I have to go to work.”
“This was my fault, Jett,” Whitney said. “We were talking. I told her some things. Personal things going on. She was just helping me.”
“Right,” I said.
I made it two steps and Whitney reached for me. “I don’t know the history…”
“Then don’t ask, tell, or assume.”
“It’s not whatever you’re thinking,” Whitney said. “She’s trying to find herself, Jett. Like me. I’m just trying to find myself. You know?”
“That’s good. For the both of you. I already know who I am. What I want. What it all means to me. I don’t need to second guess. Or change who I am.”
“It’s not like that,” Whitney said.
“You said you don’t know the history,” I said. “Leave it there. Looks like your coffee’s almost done.”
I walked out of the house and licked my lips, missing a good morning kiss from Julia.
I didn’t need anyone or anything to tell me whether I was right or wrong.
I got into my truck and drove away from Julia’s house.
My phone started to ring and I stopped the truck and dug my phone out of my pocket.
There were too many sides to me at the moment.
A lot of those sides wanting the call to be from Julia, wanting her to give me all the damn answers I needed.
It wasn’t Julia.
“Mr. Michael,” I said.
“Mr. Jett.”
“You called me…” I said after a couple second pause.
“You thought this through?”
“All the way, my friend. It’s time.”
“Okay. I’m going to do all the official things on my end.”
“Official,” I said.
He laughed. “I’m going to push this wide. Okay? I have a few calls to make to get attention. I’m just preparing you.”
“No need.”
“I’ve had an out of state client that has been looking for a while. This could work. They’re my first call.”
“Anything you need me to do, just call.”
“Nope. This is my job now. My only advice is to start packing things up.”
“You got it,” I said.
I ended the call and reached under my seat for my secret bottle of whiskey.
My house was up for sale. Officially.
I took a big swig of the whiskey and smacked my lips together.
This time it was simple.
If I was going to lose Julia, I was going to lose everything else in my life too.
* * *
I whistled at the sight of the car.
Walker and Ryker stood with their hands behind their backs.
Sweat dripping down their foreheads.
They probably had never worked so hard in their lives.
“Well, I don’t see a dick,” I said. “Hey, Rhyno, do you see a dick?”
“Just two pecker heads,” he said.
“Nice one,” I said, grinning at Walker and Ryker.
They both fake laughed.
“Are we done here?” Ryker asked.
“He wants to go hang out with Kailey,” Walker said.
“At least I have a girl to hang out with,” Ryker said.
“I’m playing the field, brother.”
“Yeah right,” Ryker said. “You're lost in a fucking corn maze.”
I didn’t laugh.
I wasn’t sure if that was supposed to be funny.
“Henders is on his way,” I said.
They both yelled What?! at me.
“You’re going to show
him the car,” I said. “And then apologize again. And then shake his damn hand. And that’s that. At least I hope so. You two morons could go check in with Dusty if you’re smart. Apologize to him too. A little groveling will go a long way.”
“Like you ever groveled, Jett?” Walker asked.
I pointed at him and curled my lip. “I didn’t draw a purple dick on the side of a car.”
“You probably did worse,” Ryker said.
“Anything I did, I was smart enough to know how to get away with it.”
The words echoed in my head and I shook them away.
I had been gently nipping at the whiskey all morning into the afternoon. I knew how to play it though. Make sure I didn’t get caught.
“You okay, Jett?” Walker asked.
“Here comes Henders,” I said.
“Pucker up, assholes,” Rhyno said.
“That’s what your mother said last night,” Ryker said.
“What the fuck did you just say, boy?” Rhyno growled.
“Let it go,” I said to Rhyno. “Go out back and find something to do. Or eat.”
Rhyno stormed away.
I grinned at Ryker. “That one was pretty good. But he’s right. Pucker up.”
They went to meet Henders as he was dropped off.
I got into his car and drove it from the garage bay to the parking lot.
I climbed out, leaving it running.
“All set,” I said. “I had my guys clean up the inside for you. Gave it an oil change, checked all the fluids, filters, blah, blah, blah. Everything is in great shape.”
“And the male appendage?” Principal Henders asked.
I grinned. “The purple dick is no more.”
Principal Henders slid his hands into his pockets and walked around the car.
He slowly nodded.
“That’s good work,” he said. “Sad that it had to be this way though.”
“I’m not going to say it’s water under the bridge,” I said. “You do whatever you have to do. I kept to my side of the bargain.”
I reached for the door and missed it.
I tripped and hit the car.
“Shit,” I whispered. “Lost my footing.”
Principal Henders stared me down. “You okay?”
“I told these two to offer you a heartfelt apology,” I said. “If what they say isn’t good enough, take it up with Dusty.”
I walked away.
I knew they were all looking at me.
My eyes carefully studied my feet.
HIDDEN CREEK NOW: a hidden creek high novel Page 12
