14. Chapter 14
Chapter fourteen
What the hell was that about? Jackie knew by now that I stopped in for coffee every morning. I showered, dressed, and headed out, trying to deny the anticipation the entire way. He didn’t need to do things for me, but the thrill of his special attention did stupid things to me.
I parked in the town lot and headed over to Books Beans and Buns. Jackie sat at the front desk, pecking away at his keyboard when I walked in. “Hey.”
“Hey, back. How’re you this morning?”
“I haven’t had coffee yet.”
“Oh, right. Come on. I have something for you.” He rounded the counter and headed toward the coffee bar in the back.
I followed, mumbling, “So you said.”
He grabbed something off the counter and turned, extending an oversized cupcake with Welcome to Foggy Basin in tiny scrolly letters out to me.
“Uh…kind of late, isn’t it?” I took it—because cupcake! “Well, thanks?”
“Sure. That was nothing really. I—”
Brock and Eddy came in the back door. Greetings went around, and I realized that Eddy had become kind of a noisy dude. But he was laughing, and that was something he hadn’t done enough of in the past, so I didn’t hate it. “So I heard about your giant hole, Jackie.”
My eyes nearly popped out of my head. What the hell did he say? Was Jackie a bottom? And why was Eddy talking about it? Jackie glared at Eddy and mouthed shut up . Brock busted out laughing and ducked into the other room, apparently wanting to avoid whatever the hell this was.
“What?” Eddy asked. Innocently. Which made it even funnier.
And I needed to give him hell. “Tell me about this, uh, hole, Jackie?”
Eddy gasped. “You don’t know. Oh. Shit. Sorry, Jackie.” So something was going on and not with his ass.
He glared at Eddy again. “It’s supposed to be a surprise.”
Eddy wiped over his face as if he were exasperated. “Jackie. There is no way you’re keeping that a secret.” He turned to me. “It’s a giant hole—”
“Shut up. Damn.” Jackie stormed to the front of the store.
I patted Eddy’s shoulder to let him know I wasn’t upset, but I had to follow Jackie and find out what the fuck this was all about.
He sat on his stool, obviously pouting with his arms crossed over his chest and bottom lip poking out. Damn, that man was adorable.
“What’s going on, Jack?” I licked the edge of my cupcake. So sweet and yummy!
With a loud exhale, he threw his arms to the side. “Fine. I didn’t want to tell you until the concrete started going in this weekend. But…”
“Concrete?”
“I’m building a pool in my backyard.”
“What?”
“You gave me the idea.” Then he started rambling fast, trying to justify his actions.
“It’ll be forever before you get one and summer will be here before you know it.
Hell, it’s only weeks away. The river is okay, but I think you need someplace nice, so since you weren’t able do it right away, I figured I would. So, I started building a pool.”
“So what? You dug a huge hole in your backyard?”
“Uh, yeah. Sort of.”
“My Lord. Jackie. You never cease to amaze me.”
He smiled brightly, but I wasn’t sure it was a positive compliment, and I was the one who gave it.
I rolled my eyes and went back to grab my coffee.
“Thanks for the cupcake!” I called on my way out the door.
I wasn’t humoring him on this. Digging a pool.
It sounded ridiculous. Logically, that was how pools started, but you kind of needed professional guidance on something like that.
Where to dig, how deep, securing the walls.
You didn’t just dig it. Unless it was more like a pond, and I wouldn’t be able to swim in that.
Part of me wanted to be mad about it. As if he were taking something from me by doing this. But underneath it, something else was blooming. As I sat in my car and ate my cupcake, a warm and slightly smug feeling came over me. No one had ever tried to build a pool for me.