Chapter 2 – Jace
“Who’s your mom talking to, June Bug?” I asked as I walked into the living room of Colt and Ellie’s house.
They’d been living in the guesthouse on my family ranch since Ellie came back and they had June.
The guesthouse was the perfect size for two lovebirds and one rowdy four-year-old with platinum blonde hair and big blue eyes I couldn’t seem to resist. Every time I watched her, she conned me into either buying a new toy or forking over twenty bucks of cold hard cash.
At this point, her piggy bank must have been full enough to buy all the Barbies off the shelf at the grocery store.
“Auntie Cassie,” she replied, brushing her Barbie doll’s hair. She had six others, sitting on the floor in front of her, patiently waiting their turn in June’s imaginary salon chair. “Daddy says her standards are too high. What are standards, Uncle J?”
June had the cutest little voice I ever heard, but when she brought up Cassie, even in her sweetest voice, it still stung a little.
“Well… standards are what you want out of someone or something. Auntie Cassie went out with a boy, and she didn’t like him. He didn’t meet her standards.”
“Daddy says boys have cooties and they stink.”
“He’s not wrong, kid. Best to stay away from them.”
“Maybe that’s what Auntie Cassie should do—stay away from boys,” June said, shrugging her shoulders as if she couldn’t understand why Cassie didn’t solve all her problems by staying single for the rest of her life. In June’s eyes, the solution seemed pretty obvious.
“You’re right, kid. She should stay away from boys forever. All they do is cause problems.”
“I heard Mommy say you really like Auntie Cassie, but she won’t go on a date with you. How come you don’t meet her standards, Uncle J?”
Shit. I was about to be humbled by a four-year-old.
“I don’t know, kiddo. Maybe you could put in a good word for me to your Auntie Cassie.”
“I don’t think you stink, and you’re nice.”
“Be sure to tell Aunt Cassie that next time you see her. Okay, June Bug?” I asked, laughing.
“You got it.”
“Alright, kiddo. Bedtime,” Colt said as he walked back into the living room, turning off the TV.
She gave him the best ocean-blue puppy-dog eyes she could make, but he wasn’t buying it.
“Sorry June, your momma already has your bath drawn and pj’s picked out. No getting out of this one, kiddo,” Colt said as he motioned toward the hallway.
“Uncle J, will you take me to get cupcakes from Aunt Molly’s bakery again like you did last week?” June asked, her eyes lighting up in excitement as she looked in my direction.
“Of course, June Bug. I’ll take you next week after I get back from my trip down to Wyoming,” I said, then kissed the top of her head goodnight.
“Yay!” June cheered as she ran down the hallway, all seven Barbies in her arms.
Before June was born, kids terrified me.
They are loud, unpredictable, and sticky for absolutely no reason. I used to watch other people interact with kids and wonder what manual they’d all apparently been given that I somehow missed.
Then my brother handed me this tiny, wrinkly, impossibly fragile human and said, “Meet your niece.”
I swear something rewired in me right then.
June curled her fingers around mine—barely big enough to wrap around the tip—and suddenly the world didn’t feel so empty.
Being an uncle flipped a switch I didn’t know I had. It made me see the world more clearly.
Growing up, I was a rowdy kid. I would try anything once.
For example, when I was a teenager, I almost burned down the barn trying to smoke cigarettes for the first time.
I blamed it on old fireworks. At the time, I thought my dad had really bought my story.
Now that I was older, I wondered if he actually did.
Better not ask him and rat myself out all these years later. Let sleeping dogs lie if you will.
I was pretty much the same way with women. If a girl gave me sex eyes at the bar, I’d take her back to my place, have sex, then ghost her. Now that I was older, I knew that probably wasn’t the way I’d find someone to settle down with, but young, na?ve Jace didn’t care.
Grabbing my flannel jacket, I made my way to the front door. Colt followed me close behind.
It was October in Silver Creek, which meant the days were starting to get cold and the nights even colder. Despite the cool weather, Montana had some of the most breathtaking foliage in the fall. Everything from the trees to the grass were shades of red, orange, and gold.
“Thanks for inviting me over for dinner,” I said, turning toward Colt as we stood next to my truck in his driveway.
“You know June loves any excuse to see you. Plus, I don’t want you to get too lonely out there in your new cozy cabin.”
Colt was talking about the cabin I had spent the last year building next to the lake on the backside of our family ranch. It was just a few minutes’ walk from Colt and Ellie’s place.
The cabin was open concept with large windows that looked out over the expansive lake that sat in front of it.
The large stone fireplace in the center of the living area was my favorite part.
Once the snow moved in, I would finally get a chance to use it.
The cabin was my own little sanctuary. It was strong yet simple—like me.
“I heard you talking to June about Cassie,” Colt said, eyeing me cautiously. “If you want a date with her, why don’t you just tell her the truth about that night in the apartment above her coffee shop. I’d go on a date with you if you told me you saved my life once,” he said jokingly.
“You know why I can’t tell her the truth. She sees me as just Jace right now. Not Jace with all the fucking trauma. Besides, I don’t want her to give me a chance because she feels obligated to. I want her to go on a date with me because she wants to.”
“I can’t believe she doesn’t remember anything from that night,” Colt said, a puzzled look on his face.
“Maybe it’s best that way,” I said, trying to reason with myself.
“Well, I hate to tell you this, but it’s been almost six years since she moved here. Maybe it’s time to move on. Some doors are just better left closed, ya know?”
I looked down at the grass. “Maybe so.”
“I heard Sally Anne down at the barber shop has her eyes set on you. Maybe you should give up on Cassie and go out with someone who actually seems interested in you.”
“Sally Anne hosts Sunday brunches for fun and wears pearls every day. Something tells me we wouldn’t work out,” I said sarcastically.
“How long has it been since you went out on a date anyways?” Colt asked.
“I think I’m going on a year; I don’t know exactly. Any girl I go out with just doesn’t do it for me,” I said, looking down. “I don’t even bring them back to my place anymore. The last two girls I went out with, we just had dinner and I called it a night after that.”
“Damn. High school Jace would have never been this down bad for one girl.” Colt laughed as he shook his head.
“Shut up, I don’t need you to rub salt in the wound any more than you already have. You know how much she means to me,” I said, hopping into my truck.
I pulled away, leaving Colt to judge me in silence.
As I drove back to my cabin, I blared some sappy rock music over my truck speakers.
Pity party over. For now.