“Thank you. I’ve lived across the street from your parents for over twenty-five years, and they’ve never been anything but kind. It’s my fault we never became better friends.”
“No, it was your husband’s fault.” Lynn expected Donna to argue the point, which she would have if her husband was still alive, but she just nodded.
“Yes, it was. But he’s gone, and I really don’t want to think about him anymore. I wasted so much time protecting him.” Donna looked across the room at Jessie and Amber and smiled. “I’m so glad Jessica had the sense to get out of her marriage when she did. I hate to think she could have ended up like I did—so used to the abuse that I never thought twice about it.” She placed a hand on Lynn’s forearm. “I never thanked you for standing up to him, did I?”
“No, ma’am. I don’t think he would have been happy about it if you had.”
“You scared the heck out of him, you know.” At Lynn’s look of disbelief, Donna laughed. “I don’t think he ever expected anyone to defy him, much less a woman.”
“Much less a sixteen-year-old girl.”
Donna nodded as she saluted Lynn with the drink she held. “He left Jessie alone after that.” Her voice dropped a level or two, and Lynn had to move closer to hear what she was saying. “He thought you were just unstable enough to follow through on your threat. I knew you only did it to protect Jessica, though. This is coming years too late, but thank you, Lynn. Thank you for caring enough about my little girl to do what you did.”
Lynn smiled but didn’t know what to say. Luckily her father arrived at that moment and spared her the awkward silence.
“Donna, did you bring those delicious cookies you promised Rose you were going to make?” he asked.
“Oh, shoot. I left them sitting on the kitchen table. I’ll run across the street and get them.” Donna headed for the hall closet to grab her coat, but Lynn stopped her.
“I can do it,” she offered, reaching around Donna for her own jacket. She had it on before Donna could think of protesting. She handed Lynn her keys and thanked her three times before Lynn finally made it out the door.
Lynn stood on the front porch for a moment, her breath coming out in puffs of winter mist as she remembered all the fun times that she, Jessie, Charlie, and Karen had while growing up. The old birch tree they used to climb was still there next to the house, the one Charlie fell out of and broke his arm. He’d told their father Lynn had pushed him, but Robert hadn’t believed him. Lynn smiled at the memory and shook her head. Charlie had always been trying to get her into trouble.
She walked down the driveway but stopped when a car pulled into Donna’s driveway. She hung back and thought her heart might stop when Wayne got out of the car. She crouched next to her grandmother’s Chevy and kept an eye on him. When he knocked on the front door, Lynn closed her eyes and clenched her fists, trying to keep her nerves from fraying.
He pounded on the door for a few minutes and kept looking over his shoulder at Lynn’s house, making her worry that he’d come there looking for Donna. Thank God they’d brought Lynn’s car and left Jessie’s car at her house. If he’d seen her car, he’d have definitely come looking for her.
Finally, he went back to his car and got in, but he didn’t leave. Lynn was plotting how to get back up the driveway without him noticing her when he jumped out of the car again. He stuck a scrap of paper between the storm door and the front door, then slammed back into his car and screeched away from the house.
Lynn sat on the ground and rested her head back against the car until she began to breathe again. The driveway was cold on her rear end, but she barely noticed. Should she tell Jessie? Should she tell anyone? Should she pretend she never saw him?
She remembered the cookies she was on her way to get. She’d never be able to not read the note he’d left, and once she did, she wouldn’t be able to keep it to herself. She stood, brushed off her butt, and walked across the street.
*
“What took you so long?” Rose asked when Lynn finally walked into the kitchen carrying a huge tray of cookies.
“I got lost.” Lynn forced a smile. She glanced around at the people in the kitchen before gazing back at her mother. “Where’s Jessie?”
“Your grandmother cornered her and is showing her all your embarrassing baby pictures. I told her Jessie’s probably already seen them all, but she insisted and said Amber had never seen them. Amber, however, is playing in the spare bedroom with her cousins.”
Lynn was barely listening, and when Karen walked into the room, Lynn grabbed her arm and dragged her into the garage.
“What are you doing?” Karen asked when they were alone.
“Wayne’s here.”
“Here? As in at this party?”
“No.” Lynn raked her fingers through her hair. “I went across the street to get your mother’s cookies, and he was in the driveway.”
“Are you sure it was him?”
Rather than frustrate herself further, Lynn pulled the note out of her pocket and thrust it toward Karen. As Karen read it she couldn’t help but think of Wayne’s words, since she’d read it a hundred times already.
Donna,
Please tell Jessie I need to speak to her. I’m so terribly sorry I hurt her. You have to know I never meant to do that. I know we could work things out if she would just agree to talk to me. I’ll be in town for a couple of days, but then I have to go back to Nevada. Please have her call me.
Wayne
“Fuck,” Karen said, and that single word summed it all up. Karen crumpled the paper but then smoothed it out and read it again. “Fuck.”
Lynn walked to her father’s work bench and sat down, putting her head in her hands.
“We can’t tell her,” Karen said.
“Are you crazy? We have to.” Lynn shook her head and placed both hands on her knees. “I’d do anything to protect Jessie, especially from a scumbag like Wayne, but not telling her he’s in town would be a huge mistake.”
“He’ll only be here for a few days. We can keep her away from the house for that long. He won’t know where to find her.”
“Really? He’s been to your mother’s, and you’d have to be dense to think he hasn’t been to your house already. I’m surprised he didn’t come over here.” Lynn stood and began pacing, but Karen placed a hand on her forearm, stopping her.
“What are you two doing out here?” Jessie asked. Lynn and Karen exchanged glances, but neither of them said anything. Jessie’s eyes settled on Karen’s hand on Lynn’s arm, and Lynn pulled away from her. “Lynn? What’s going on?”
“Nothing going on,” Karen said. She stuffed the note in Lynn’s jacket pocket. “Where’s Sarah?”
Lynn cursed under her breath when Karen walked into the house, leaving her to decide whether to tell Jessie. She met Jessie’s eyes and motioned for her to have a seat on the workbench. Lynn sat next to her, struggling with how to begin.
“Lynn, talk to me. Tell me what’s happening.”
“I went to get something from your mother’s house, and…” She wasn’t sure she could actually say the words. She took the note from her pocket and placed it on her leg, smoothing it out with both palms. Having something to occupy her hands helped loosen her tongue. “Wayne was there. He left this for your mother.”
Jessie took the note with shaking hands that had nothing to do with how cold it was in the garage. Lynn waited patiently for Jessie to read it, but was surprised when Jessie folded it up and put it in her back pocket as she stood.
“We’re missing the party.”
“Jess, that’s all you have to say?”
“What do you want me to say? I’m not going to call him, and he’ll be back in Nevada soon. I have a restraining order against him, so if he comes near me, I can have him arrested.” Jessie’s smile was forced. Lynn wanted nothing more than to hold her in her arms and make all the ugliness in her life go away. “Let me guess—Karen didn’t want you to tell me about this.”
“And what about you?”
“I want to protect you too.” Lynn put a hand on Jessie’s cheek, rubbing her thumb over the scar beneath Jessie’s eye. She quelled the anger that threatened to rise again at the thought of anyone hurting Jessie. “But I don’t think shielding you from the truth is the way to go about it. It’s better that you know he’s here, because if he does manage to get in touch with you, he won’t catch you off guard.”
“Thank you.” Jessie relaxed into Lynn’s touch briefly before threading her fingers through Lynn’s hair to pull her close for a kiss. “I decided to get involved with you in spite of his threats. I can’t let him run my life any longer, Lynn. I wish he wasn’t a part of my life, but—he’s Amber’s father.”
For a moment, Lynn panicked, thinking perhaps Jessie would contact him, but Jessie shook her head as if reading her mind.
“I don’t want to talk to him, Lynn. I want him to go back to Nevada and leave me the hell alone.”
“Leave us the hell alone.” Lynn pulled her close and held her for a few moments. No matter how much she wanted to protect Jessie, she didn’t have a clue how to. And that realization terrified her.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Jessie tried to make the next few days as normal as possible for Amber—at least as normal as it could be when they didn’t spend Christmas in their own house. Amber was a smart kid, and Jessie hated lying, but she didn’t see any other choice. Wayne knew that Lynn’s family lived across the street from Jessie’s mother, but he had no reason to think Jessie would be there, since she’d never spent time there in the past. That was Rose and Robert’s take on the situation anyway, and why they’d offered to let Jessie and Amber stay with them. If he did show up there, Charlie had offered his place as a refuge. Jessie didn’t know what she would do without the Patrick family in her corner.
“Mommy?” Amber said from her chair at the desk in the corner of Lynn’s old room. Jessie diverted her gaze to her feet and touched her hand.
“What is it, baby?”
“How come we aren’t home? When can we go home?”
“Don’t you like it here?” Jessie sighed. Amber had been asking these same questions every day since Christmas, and tomorrow was New Year’s Eve. Jessie still didn’t have a good reason to give her, other than the truth, and Amber was far too young to have to deal with adult problems.
“Yes, but…” Amber looked out the window. “How will I get to school?”
“Is that what you’re worried about?”
Amber nodded. “I missed some to go to Florida, but I can go back, right? I want to see my friends.”
“Hopefully we’ll be home before you have to go to school, baby. You’ve still got a few days.” Jessie motioned for her to come and sit with her on the bed, and Amber got onto her lap rather than beside her. A tear rolled down Jessie’s cheek when Amber put her arms around her neck and rested her head on Jessie’s shoulder. She gently stroked Amber’s hair as she rocked slightly.
“I love you, Mommy.” Amber’s arms tightened, and Jessie couldn’t stop the sob that escaped her. Amber leaned back and looked into her face. “Why are you crying? You only cry when Daddy gets mad at you.”
“I’m just happy that you love me.” Jessie smiled and brushed away her tears. “And I love you too.”
“Why cry when you’re happy?” Amber crinkled her nose and got off Jessie’s lap. “You should laugh when you’re happy, not cry.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” Lynn’s voice coming from the doorway startled Jessie, but the softness of Lynn’s tone warmed her.
“Then what would you suggest we do about that?” Jessie asked.
“Well, I was thinking maybe dinner at the Spaghetti Factory and a movie.” Lynn smiled when Amber looked up with an expression of pure joy.
“Can we, Mommy?” she asked with a pleading look. “Please?”
Jessie held her hand out to Lynn, who sat next to her on the bed. She loved that Lynn was trying to help Amber forget they were living in a strange house. She also loved that Amber was so enamored with Lynn.
“That sounds like a wonderful idea.” Jessie held onto Lynn’s hand as she turned her attention to Amber. “Why don’t you get cleaned up so we can go?”
Lynn squeezed Jessie’s hand while Amber ran out of the room and down the hall to the bathroom. Jessie kissed Lynn on the cheek.
“What was that for?”
“For distracting her.” Jessie placed a hand on Lynn’s cheek. “You’re so good with her, and she loves you.”
“I love her too. She’s a great kid.” Lynn kissed Jessie’s palm. “And I love her mother too.”
“Have I told you how amazing you are?”
“Not today, no.” Lynn grinned, and the glint in her eye caused Jessie to blush because she had indeed told her that the night before. Lynn took mercy on her, though, by changing the subject. “Karen called a few minutes ago.”
“Has something happened?” Jessie turned serious, all thoughts of the previous evening’s activities gone. Normally Karen would have called Jessie’s cell phone, but Jessie had turned it off the day after Christmas because Wayne was trying to contact her on it ten times a day. Karen and Sarah had been staying at Jessie’s house, waiting to see if Wayne would show up there, but so far he hadn’t.
“No, and Karen’s beginning to think he’s probably gone back to Vegas.”
“What do you think?”
“If he was still here, he’d have tried to see you.”
Jessie chewed on her bottom lip, trying to think like Wayne. He’d gone to Vegas to do some work for a friend, and that project wasn’t supposed to be completed until mid-January. He’d already lost one job because of his brush with the law, and she really didn’t think he’d be willing to risk losing another one.
“You’re probably right.” Jessie relaxed a little for the first time since Lynn told her she’d seen him. “Let’s go out and enjoy ourselves for the evening, and forget about him.”
“That sounds good to me.” Lynn stood, holding a hand out to Jessie.
Jessie hoped that they were right. It would be nice to move back into her own home.
*
“Amber’s sound asleep.” Lynn redirected her gaze to Jessie in the passenger seat next to her. “I enjoyed tonight.”
“So did I. Amber loves the Spaghetti Factory. Thank you for suggesting it.” Jessie appeared as though she wanted to say more, but instead looked down at her hands in her lap.
“What is it?” Lynn prodded gently. She placed two fingers under Jessie’s chin, turning her head until their eyes met. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m a little worried about what’ll happen when Wayne comes back from Nevada for good.”
Lynn wanted to address her concerns, but really didn’t think sitting in the car, in her parents’ driveway, was the place to have the conversation. She kissed Jessie quickly on the lips, then motioned to the backseat.
“How about we get her inside and into bed, then sit down and talk about that?” Jessie nodded, and Lynn jumped out so she could get Amber out of the back. She carried her up to the bedroom, then left Jessie to tuck her in while Lynn went downstairs to the kitchen, where her mother was waiting for her.
“You two are going out tomorrow night, right?” Rose asked.
“No, we decided to stay in. I thought I told you that.”
“You did, but I spoke with Donna while you were at the movie. Karen’s convinced that Wayne is gone.”
“So are we,” Jessie said as she came in and sat next to Lynn. She looked back and forth between them. “Why are we talking about Wayne?”
“I was trying to tell Lynn that you two should go out and have fun tomorrow night. It’s New Year’s Eve, and you should celebrate.” Rose stood, indicating that it was decided. “I won’t take no for an answer.”
“We’d never find a babysitter on such short notice.”
“You have a
problem with Robert and me?” Rose winked. “I have a pizza and movie party planned for the three of us. I’ll even let Amber try to stay up until midnight.”
Lynn laughed, and when Jessie looked at her, she held up her hands defensively. “Mother has spoken. It would not be wise to defy her, trust me.”
“I did raise you well, didn’t I?” Rose kissed Lynn on the cheek before heading upstairs to bed.
“I guess that’s settled.” Jessie chuckled.
“It most definitely is.” Lynn studied Jessie’s profile. It still amazed her that she was so close to living her dream of being with Jessie forever. If only they didn’t have to deal with Wayne Paulson and everything that went along with the unstable asshole. Lynn took a deep breath. “I’m going back to San Francisco the day after New Year’s. I have to pack my things and arrange for my loft to be sold, which shouldn’t be too hard, because my friend Bri has been begging me to sell it to her for months. I should only be gone a few days, and I’ll definitely be back before Wayne’s supposed to return. But I want you to come with me.”
“I can’t, Lynn. Amber missed two weeks of school before their winter break, and I can’t let her be absent any more. I’d love to go with you, but I can’t.”
“I worry about you here alone.”
“I know. Your mom’s already said we could stay here while you’re gone.”
“She did?” Her mother hadn’t mentioned it to her. She was happy her parents were looking out for Jessie and Amber.
“We’ll be okay until you get back.” Jessie pulled Lynn’s hand into her lap and slowly ran her thumb along the back of it, causing a ripple of pleasure to run through her. “You’re coming to live with us, right?”
“If that’s what you want.” Lynn was hesitant, because they hadn’t discussed it. She hadn’t wanted to assume anything, but had decided to move back to the area so she could see where their relationship was going.
True Confessions Page 14
