With the sunrise came the pale rays of winter dawn sifting through the window, bathing the room with a cool light. Shelley once again opened her eyes and this time she felt more alert. The pain in her head had dulled to a muted ache and although her throat still hurt when she swallowed, she felt better.
Unable to stand her sweaty clammy body any longer she crawled out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom. She sat down on the toilet to relieve herself and took a moment to glance around. She’d been in Jackson’s apartment dozens of times, helping out with his beautiful son Miller or quite often when Stu had been away on business she’d stayed just to have dinner or watch a movie.
She’d lived for those moments. No feeling on edge, like she should be constantly doing something, or being criticized because she wasn’t. There wasn’t a day when Stu wouldn’t make some little comment. If she was sitting down watching TV or reading a book, he’d remind her in that mild helpful tone of his, that the dishes or the laundry still needed doing.
God, she closed her eyes in distress. Sitting there, a sweaty shivering mess, taking a pee in a bathroom that didn’t belong to her, she was forced to admit to herself that she should’ve left a long time ago.
Shaking the morose thoughts from her head, she flushed the toilet and stripped off the damp boxers and t-shirt of Jacksons that she was still wearing from that first night and shoved them in the hamper. Setting the shower to the right temperature she stepped under the water and let it wash over her. Closing her eyes, she let the spray beat down on her face.
Glancing across at the small glass shelf which held Jackson’s soap and shampoo, she realized there was also a brand-new bottle of her favorite shampoo and conditioner. There was also a bottle of the body wash she usually used. How the hell did he know what she liked? She smiled to herself as she washed and conditioned her hair. Feeling her legs starting to get a little shaky she washed her body quickly and stepped out of the shower. Grabbing a clean towel, she noticed her own robe hanging on the back of the door.
Her gaze tracked across to the sink and she noticed her wash bag and toothbrush set up neatly. That man, she shook her head with another small smile, he thought of everything.
Wrapping her clean body in her robe she brushed her teeth and headed back into the bedroom. The bed was a mess and the room smelled musty. After opening the window a fraction to allow some fresh air into the room she began to strip the bed, dumping the dirty bedclothes on the floor. By the time she’d finished her body was once again trembling and her head spinning. Dropping down heavily on the bed she closed her eyes and took slow breaths until the buzzing in her ears began to subside.
‘What on earth are you about?’
Shelley opened her eyes and smiled at Jackson as he stood in the doorway, his gaze first taking in the stripped bed, the pile of dirty linen and then the open window.
‘Are you after giving yourself pneumonia?’ he crossed the room quickly and closed the window.
‘I was just trying to get some fresh air,’ she croaked, her voice sounding strange and foreign to her ears as her nose wrinkled, ‘it smelled pretty bad in here.’ She glanced down at the bed, ‘I was just going to change the bedding.’
‘I’ll do that,’ he replied briskly as he moved toward the closet and began to pull out fresh linen.
She watched him quietly, noting the stiff set of his back and the tension in his shoulders.
‘You’re mad.’
It was a statement not a question.
‘I’m not mad,’ Jackson headed back toward the bed.
‘You forget I can read you like a book,’ she sighed, as she slowly and painfully climbed off the bed and sat on a nearby chair. ‘You’re upset.’
Jackson’s jaw clenched as he snapped the sheet a little more forcefully than he intended before smoothing it over the mattress and picking up a pillow.
‘Jackson,’ she called to him, her voice almost a whisper.
He stopped trying to forcefully wrestle the pillow into a clean cover and his hands dropped, the anger seeming to drain out of him as he closed his eyes.
‘You could’ve died Shelley,’ he whispered miserably. ‘You could’ve died out there in the snow, sick and alone, and I wouldn’t have known.’
She slowly and quietly pulled her aching body from the chair and wrapped her arms around him, pressing her face into his back.
‘But I didn’t,’ she murmured.
He turned, wrapping her up in his arms and holding onto her so tightly it felt as if he were knitting the broken pieces of her back together.
‘Shelley,’ he pressed his face into her wet hair, breathing her in.
Although she didn’t want to leave the comfort he was offering, her head was once again beginning to spin.
Jackson felt her sway against him and gently lowered her back into the chair.
‘Just hold on there, love.’
He quickly and efficiently finished putting the clean bedding on.
‘I’m sorry to put you to so much trouble Jackson,’ she sighed, ‘you shouldn’t have to take care of me. I’m just going to get dressed and then I’ll get a cab over to the Black Cat.’
Jackson paused and looked up at her, his blue gaze holding hers.
‘Not used to someone looking after you, are you?’ he replied after a moment.
‘I don’t want to be a bother,’ she frowned.
‘You’re not staying in a motel.’
‘Jackson I can’t stay here indefinitely,’ she replied, ‘and I can’t go home.’
‘Are you going to tell me what happened?’
She shook her head miserably.
‘Not yet,’ she breathed heavily, ‘and it’s not because I don’t trust you. I just don’t have the energy to deal with it yet.’
‘You also don’t have the energy to take care of yourself yet either.’
‘I’ll be fine,’ she argued.
‘Shelley.’
She looked up at him tiredly.
‘Get in the bed.’
Too weary to do anything else she climbed back into the bed and sank down into the clean fragrant sheets. Even though they hadn’t been slept in yet, they still smelled like Jackson and it was so comforting she had to fight the urge to bury her face in them.
‘I’m going to go downstairs to the pub and fetch some of Owen’s broth he’s making especially for you,’ he told her. ‘I don’t want you moving from that bed, okay?’
She nodded silently as her heart gave a helpless little knock, the way it always did when he looked at her that way. Okay, so she may have had a helpless little crush on him since the day she met him, but she’d always known he was way out of her league. Even if she hadn’t been involved with someone else, he didn’t see her that way. She was his best friend, his confidant and Miller’s godmother.
She watched as he left the room, clicking the door slowly behind him. She rolled onto her back, but her hair was still wet and matted, not only making it uncomfortable but she knew if she didn’t deal with it now, she’d never be able to comb the snarls out.
Once again, she slowly pulled herself to her feet and sat at the edge of the bed. She reached for her hairbrush, which someone had obviously put in reach, realizing she’d need it sooner or later, and began to tug at her knotted hair. By the time Jackson returned she was still trying to brush out the knots, her shoulders aching from the effort of holding her arms up.
‘Good God, do you ever do what you’re told?’ he shook his head in exasperation.
‘No,’ her mouth curved, as she dropped her arms with a sigh.
‘Here,’ he set the tray on a nearby dresser. Reaching up he tugged the band from his own hair which had been pulled messily back into a knot at the back of his head.
Her heart gave another traitorous bump as she watched his jet-black hair fall forward around his face, curling slightly at the ends. Okay, so she was also prepared to admit that despite being involved with someone el
se, she’d not only nursed a small crush on the man, but she may have also entertained a harmless fantasy or two in her head. After all it was only in her head, it hadn’t harmed anyone, and Stu hadn’t pushed any of her buttons intentionally or otherwise in a long time.
Only now it didn’t seem so harmless.
Jackson leaned forward and ran his fingers through her damp hair. She almost purred like a cat being petted. The soft pads of his fingers stroked her scalp as he gathered up her hair. Winding it into a neat knot on top of her head he wrapped the band from his hair around it, to secure it in place.
‘There,’ he smiled at her not realizing how close he was until she blinked up at him, her dark eyes confused.
He pulled back and cleared his throat as she climbed back into bed, propping the pillows up behind her and covering her robe with the covers. Damn it, she should have put some pajamas on.
Jackson settled the tray on her lap and handed her a spoon.
‘Eat up,’ he nodded, ‘you need to regain your strength.’
She did as she was told, watching as he disappeared into the other room and reappeared a few moments later holding a DVD box-set.
‘What’s that?’ she asked.
‘I thought we could watch a movie seeing as you’ve slept away the last couple of days.’
‘Days?’ she frowned, ‘what day is it?’
‘Thursday.’
‘Thursday?’ she repeated, ‘God Jackson I’m so sorry. Have you been sleeping on the couch all this time?’
‘It’s a comfy couch,’ he shrugged.
‘Where’s Miller?’
‘He’s been at Tommy and Louisa’s the last couple of days, so he doesn’t catch what you have.’
‘Jackson,’ she lowered the spoon to the tray slowly.
‘Stop it,’ he told her, ‘Miller is fine. He’ll be back home tomorrow morning and I don’t mind giving up my bed; you needed it. Now do you want to watch a movie or not?’
‘Aren’t you supposed to be working?’
‘Jo and Nancy are back, we’re more or less fully staffed again. They know to come and find me if there’s a problem.’
She stared at him contemplatively.
‘What movie?’ she asked after a moment.
‘Your favorite,’ he smiled as he held up the box for her to see.
‘Harry Potter?’ her face brightened.
He was right, it was her favorite. Stu hadn’t cared much what she liked. He’d always insisted they watch fancy art-house films or ones with subtitles. She’d hated every second of it; if she’d wanted to read she would have downloaded a book, not missed half the movie because she was too busy trying to read the screen. The hell of it was, she didn’t think he got them any more than she did, he only watched them so that he would be able to drop it casually into conversation with his clients, making him seem more intellectual.
‘Harry Potter sounds great,’ her gaze softened.
He crossed the room and slid the disk into the DVD player before climbing comfortably onto the bed next to her.
‘Eat,’ he nudged her as he picked up the remote.
‘Can I ask you a random question?’
‘Sure,’ he turned his gaze back on her.
‘Did you buy the shampoo and conditioner in the bathroom for me?’
He nodded.
‘I figured when you finally woke up the first thing you’d want to do was take a shower. You hate being sweaty and you did have a pretty bad fever.’
She blinked at him.
‘How did you know what my favorite brand was?’
He smiled sheepishly.
‘I guessed.’
‘Lucky guess’
‘It smelled like you.’
‘What?’
‘It smelled like you,’ he admitted in embarrassment. ‘Sometimes when you came over to watch a movie and end up curled up on the couch with me, more often than not you’d doze off before the end of the movie and lean on me.’ He shrugged, ‘I picked the one that smelled like your hair.’
‘That’s…’
‘Creepy?’ he replied, ‘slightly stalkerish?’
‘No,’ she laughed, ‘kind of sweet actually, that you went to so much trouble.’
He shrugged again, his cheeks slightly pink.
‘Are you blushing?’ she laughed in delight. ‘Have I actually made the cool collected Jackson Murphy blush?’
‘Shut up,’ he nudged her playfully as he turned back to the TV and hit play.
Shelley finished eating and they sat comfortably watching the movie. It was so easy being around Jackson she thought absently as she curled into his side. He was her best friend, the one person she couldn’t be without and even though her life was falling to pieces before her eyes, she was so grateful to have both him and Miller. With her eyes fixed on the screen she didn’t even think anything of it when he wrapped his arm around her and she snuggled closer into him. Just like she didn’t think anything of it when she started to cough, and he absently rubbed soothing circles on her back.
When the movie finally finished he glanced down at her as she stifled a yawn.
‘You really should get some more rest.’
‘I’ve done nothing but sleep for days,’ she sighed.
‘A little more won’t hurt then will it?’ he replied.
‘I know I don’t look great right now, but I really do feel better.’
‘We’ll see what Louisa has to say about that.’
‘Really Jackson,’ she shook her head, ‘the worst of it has passed. My fever’s gone and I’m just left with a bit of a cold. You can’t keep calling Louisa out to check on me. She’s technically still on maternity leave. It’s too much to call her out in the middle of the night.’
‘Well it’s not the middle of the night and the other day I didn’t really have a choice,’ he replied. ‘When I found you passed out on the ground in the freezing cold, it was call Louisa or call an ambulance.’
‘I don’t mean the other night,’ Shelley shook her head, ‘I mean last night.’
‘Last night?’ Jackson frowned in confusion, ‘Louisa wasn’t here last night.’
‘She must’ve been,’ Shelley answered, her expression equally confused. ‘I woke at around 3am this morning because my fever had broken, and I was drenched. I was just drifting back to sleep when I felt a woman sit on the bed next to me. She pressed her hand to my forehead and stroked my hair. I could’ve sworn it was Louisa.’
Jackson stared at her.
‘What?’
‘Nothing,’ he murmured, ‘it was probably just a dream love,’ he told her as she snuggled back down into his side. He once again wrapped his arm protectively around her, his eyes filled with worry, his voice soft… ‘just a dream…’
4.
Jackson growled and hung up the phone in frustration. Fiona, the crazy old medium, still wasn’t picking up. He slipped his phone back into the pocket of his jeans and grabbed a cloth, resuming his task of wiping down the bar.
‘If you scrub that any harder you’ll wear a hole in it.’
Jackson glanced up and his face broke into a wide, genuine smile, his bad mood slipping away.
‘Well hello stranger,’ he laughed in delight, ‘and who’ve you brought to meet me?’
Olivia moved toward him, pushing a double stroller, Theo by her side. Watching with a smile Jackson came out from behind the bar and gave her a hug.
‘Theo,’ Jackson greeted his friend with a smile as they shook hands, ‘congratulations!’
‘Thanks,’ he smiled proudly.
‘And who do we have here?’ Jackson leaned down to peer at the two tiny babies, one of whom was starting to fuss.
Olivia picked up her daughter and rocked her gently.
‘This is Theia,’ she introduced her softly, her voice still filled with all the wonder of a new mother.
‘Ah what a bonny name,’ he reached out with gentle fi
ngers and moved the pale pink blanket to get a better look. ‘She’s a beauty, like her ma.’
Olivia laughed, her cheeks flushing with pleasure.
‘And this is Logan,’ Theo lifted his son into his arms.
‘A handsome boy, there’s no doubting that. May I hold him?’
‘Sure,’ Theo passed the sleeping babe to Jackson and watched as he rocked Logan gently while gazing down at him. ‘Miller will be thrilled to have two more friends to play with once they get a little bigger.’
‘It’s a shame Shelley can’t see them yet,’ Olivia turned her gaze on Jackson. ‘How’s she doing? I heard what happened.’
‘Did you now?’
‘Yeah,’ she smiled. ‘Louisa obviously told Tommy, and he of course told Theo. Honestly, they gossip like old women.’
‘I don’t gossip,’ Theo replied mildly. ‘Tommy gossips; I just listen.’
‘Oh aye,’ Jackson smiled. ‘Well Shelley is on the mend, thank you for asking.’
‘And she’s staying here?’ Olivia asked casually.
‘Subtle,’ Theo murmured.
‘What?’
Jackson let out a low amused chuckle.
‘Aye, she’s staying here for the time being.’
Theia let out a sudden, startled wail and started crying loudly.
‘Is she okay?’ Theo frowned. ‘She shouldn’t be hungry; she’s not long been fed.’
‘No, I don’t think it’s that,’ Olivia’s frown matched her husbands. ‘I’ve never heard her cry like this, she’s usually so placid.’
Olivia rocked her, humming soothingly and slowly she began to quieten.
‘Olivia darlin’,’ Jackson spoke softly so as to not startle the baby, ‘I don’t suppose you know how I can get hold of Fiona, do you? I’ve been trying to call for days and she’s not picking up.’
‘No, she won’t,’ Olivia shook her head. ‘She’s out of town visiting some friends back in England. She won’t be back for another week.’
A Little Town Called Mercy Page 8
