Chapter 44
Jake
It’s about halfway through the movie when I hear the most adorable light snores I’ve ever heard.
Scarlett ended up curling herself up beside me, her head laying in my lap.
When I hear the sounds confirming she is asleep I stretch to grab the throw blanket on the edge of the couch and cover her up.
Her breathing is calm and even and there’s something so peaceful about having someone fall asleep on you.
Just knowing that you are a source of comfort for someone, feels amazing.
Even though I really wish I had some water nearby, I sink further down into the couch and figure I’ll wait until the movie is over to wake her up.
I’m startled by the sound of a car door slamming shut.
I lift my head off the back of the couch and smack my lips together, desperate for some form of moisture for my incredibly dry mouth.
Scarlett lifts her head off of my lap at the same time that Cami comes busting through the front door.
“Hi Uncle… whoa.” She stops dead in her tracks just long enough to take in the scene before she lifts her hands up over her eyes and says, “Bye!” and finishes her normal route out the back door.
“Oh no,” I whisper as I pray to whatever deity is out there watching out for me that this is one of those situations where Amelia will just drop her off and head to work. And not come inside. Please, dear sweet baby Jesus don’t come inside.
“Cami, how many times do I have to tell you to close the damn…door.” Her sharp reprimand loses all steam when she steps inside and sees Scarlett removing herself from my lap.
Her hair is sticking up in places, making it obvious that it was, until recently, glued to my lap.
My lap which is now uncovered and showing an uncomfortably large morning wood bulge in my jeans.
This is perfect. Amelia’s eyes go back and forth between me and Scarlett, just as Scarlett’s go back and forth between me and Amelia.
“Scarlett,” my voice is almost nonexistent from the lack of moisture in my mouth but I clear my throat and try to push through, “this is my sister Amelia, you already know Cami.” I motion to my sister and then out the door where Cami has vanished. That’s going to be a fun conversation.
“Hi,” Scarlett says, standing up and wrapping up in the blanket I laid on her last night. I, however, remain seated and put my hands in my lap. Scarlett walks a few steps over to my sister and puts out her hand. “I’m Scarlett,” she says, an awkward smile on her face.
“I’ve heard a lot about you,” Amelia says while shaking her hand, “but not that you’d be here this morning, I’m sorry if we’re intruding.” Her expression is tight and aimed towards me.
“That is entirely my fault,” Scarlett begins, “I had an early morning yesterday and we had dinner and wine always makes me sleepy. Then we watched a movie and I guess at some point I just passed out asleep. I wasn’t supposed to be here this morning and I will just see you later Jake.
” With the blanket still wrapped around her and no shoes on her feet Scarlett scurries out the door to escape my sister. I wish I could join her.
When Scarlett makes it all the way out of the house and out of view I bring my eyes back to Amelia.
Her eyebrows have shot up, hiding somewhere underneath her bangs.
“What the fuck was that?” She asks in that high pitched voice she gets when she’s about to lecture me.
Just because she’s the younger sister, doesn’t mean she doesn’t lecture me.
She once told me that having a kid made her older than me.
I call bullshit but sometimes there’s no stopping her.
“Exactly what she just told you,” the words struggle to come out and I can’t deny my need for water anymore. I stand up awkwardly to walk to the kitchen. With an adjustment I think is not noticeable. I’m wrong.
“Oh my God, is that a boner?” She whisper-yells the word boner. This might actually be the worst day of my life.
“You know, as a nurse, I think you’d understand the male anatomy enough to know that those things do happen, usually in the morning.” I take a gulp of water to start my journey to feeling human again.
“Right, sorry. So you guys had dinner last night?”
Sighing, there’s no use in lying or trying to get out of giving Amelia details.
Her seeing Scarlett in my lap will create a whole story that could be worse than the truth if I let her think it up.
“Yes. You got all up in my head a few weeks ago. She came over two days ago and helped me with stubborn Henrietta, who by the way I think just hates men, so I asked her to have dinner with me.”
“Here?” She looks appalled and I’m hoping Scarlett didn’t feel that way about it.
“Yes, here, where would I take her? The diner?”
“The sushi place in Buehlah. The one where you take all your dates?”
I pull my head back as if I’ve been slapped. “I do not take all of my dates there… besides, Scarlett hates fish.”
Amelia walks over to the still open doorway and points to the porch floor. “And what the fuck is that?”
“That is a dessert with coconut that Scarlett brought over. When I said I was allergic, she put it on the porch to keep me safe I guess?”
“That’s actually kind of sweet. Not like that one girl you dated. What was her name again? God, I hated her.”
“Tammy. Wait, what? You never told me you hated her,” I say, this conversation getting weirder the longer it goes on.
“Yeah well, too late for all that to matter now. I will say that I like Scarlett though.”
“You just met her. Barely.”
“I know, but there’s something about her vibe that I like for you. Plus Cami likes her. And if Cami likes her, then she’s got to be a good one.”
“Fuck, Cami saw us,” I say with a grimace.
“Yep, and I’m going to be late for work so have fun dealing with that,” Amelia practically runs out the door, closing it behind her.
I fill up my glass with water again, downing half of it before I gather up the courage to go talk to Cami. When I walk out the door the cool breeze smacks me in the face giving me even more life. It’s the type of cool breeze that you know will end up being a hot one later.
Cami is giving Henrietta scratches behind the ear when I walk up to the fence and open the gate. She looks up at me and then back down to Henrietta. The silence builds between us while I go and get the bag of oats and fill Henriettta’s bribe bucket so that I can milk her.
“So about what you saw inside,” I say as I lead both her and Henrietta the short distance to the stanchion. “We fell asleep while watching a movie, that’s it.”
Cami nods her head and I feel relieved as it seems like she accepts my simple but true answer. “Is she your girlfriend?” Relief leaves my system as I debate how to answer that question.
“Well, I don’t know if I’d call her that just yet but I think I’d like her to be.”
“I want her to be your girlfriend too,” Cami says, which doesn’t surprise me. “I think she’d be good for you,” she says, which does surprise me.
“Oh yeah?” I ask, wondering if she’ll give me more details as to why she thinks that.
“She makes you happy,” Cami says with a shrug. “And I haven’t seen you happy in a really, really long time.” She emphasizes the second really and I am taken aback. Cami, though, disappears into the chicken coop and leaves me stranded in my feelings while I finish milking Henrietta.
Has it really been that long since I was happy?
I mean I know that Scarlett called me Grumpy for a while.
But I just assumed that was because we didn’t meet on the best of terms. I guess I can sometimes come off as gruff or stern but I didn’t think it had been that long since I was happy.
And I damn sure didn’t think it was to the point that my fifteen year old niece noticed.
I crane my neck in order to look over at the little white cottage next door and feel my heart skip a little beat as I wish I could get a do over of this morning.
I would have appreciated waking up with Scarlett’s body next to mine a little more.
Hell, I would have liked to have said good morning to her.
After I kissed her we didn’t see each other for two weeks, what will happen after this mess? I hope I didn’t fuck this up already.