Chapter 9
CHAPTER 9
That evening, Haleigh stood in Jack’s kitchen, stomach grumbling.
Thanks to Scooter, she hadn’t had anything to eat but half a bagel at brunch, and the pungent scents of onion, garlic, and chili peppers were making her mouth water as she stirred ground beef around a skillet.
Taco Tuesday had been a staple of her friendship with Jack since she was sixteen and her mom had started teaching a late class on Tuesdays, leaving Haleigh to figure out dinner. They’d been developing their own seasoning mix for almost a decade now, and Haleigh wondered if Jack would notice that she’d added an extra dash of garlic powder this time.
She also wondered where he was. Taco Tuesday began promptly at seven every week, followed by two episodes of Grey’s Anatomy before Jack sent Haleigh home with leftovers so he could go to bed. They had good ones cued up for this week too, including the ambulance crash from season four. One of the show’s greatest disasters.
But it was a quarter till eight, and he was still nowhere to be seen. Good thing Haleigh had a key to let herself into the house so she could get cooking. Otherwise it would have been Tuesday sans tacos.
Twinkie paced beneath the counter, waiting for something delicious to fall into his domain.
“Where’s your dad?” she asked him. Jack was late for things about as often as it snowed in San Diego.
The dog snuffled his big nose against her thigh in response.
Grabbing the block of cheddar, Haleigh shredded it with a little more gusto than strictly necessary, her nerves beginning to chafe. She was dying to see Jack so she could recount every avian-laden detail of her date with Pete, but now she was also getting worried.
She reached for her phone to check in just as his text came through.
Jackson Brooks: Almost there
Her heart settled a little, but she continued to stare at her phone until Twinkie’s bark alerted her to the sound of a key in the door.
Tossing the taco shells onto a cookie sheet, she shoved them in the preheated oven and got to work slicing tomatoes, lettuce, onion, and jalape?o.
“Oh good,” he called out from the other room. “You started cooking. I’m starving. Next week I’ll make extra-fancy tacos to—”
Haleigh turned around in time to see Jack’s face as he took in the kitchen.
She grinned guiltily at him. She’d dated a sous chef for a few months in college who’d taught her things like knife skills and how to tell the temperature of meat without a thermometer, but she’d never really caught on to the “clean as you cook” bit. Her mise en place was typically a mess en place.
“This place is a disaster,” Jack mumbled.
“It’s not that bad.” Sure, there was vegetable debris and dustings of spices all over the counter, and the sink was full of the various bowls and spoons she’d used to prep. But she’d clean it up later.
He marched toward the counter, snatching up the garbage can as he went. Pushing the cutting board aside, he used paper towels to swipe the mess into the trash.
Haleigh clasped the other side of the can, stopping him. “Hey, slow down. I’ll deal with it after we eat.”
“You’re supposed to keep your area neat when you cook. To avoid contamination.” Haleigh’s shoulders snapped tight at the slice of frustration in his voice.
Turning her back to him, she pulled the pan of ground beef off the burner. This was why they had their friendship rules. And why dating was off the table. She was too chaotic. He was too rigid. They were too different in ways that could break them, that already almost had in Hawaii.
Thankfully, they’d both gotten good at learning how to defuse those situations.
Facing him again, she crossed her arms over her chest. “What’s up?” she asked softly.
His shoulders slumped. “Sorry. It was a long day at work.” He closed his eyes and blew out a breath. “Thank you for doing this.”
“Why don’t you go get changed, and I’ll finish in here.” It would give her a chance to shake off the rest of the tension still prickling her back.
He nodded, pausing to give her arm a soft squeeze as he left the room, Twinkie trotting at his heels.
By the time Jack returned, the kitchen was spotless and she was perched on a stool, waiting for him to dig in.
“So what happened?”
Jack’s eyes darted from her face. He rarely talked about work. Medical insurance codes weren’t exactly his passion. His job was a means of paying his bills and supporting the things he did love, like sports and video games and tinkering in his workshop in the backyard.
“Things are hectic right now, that’s all. We’ve bought out another company and most of their staff was let go, so now my team has to bear the brunt of it. And it involves a ton of new codes and forms.”
Haleigh spooned some meat into her taco shell. “You got that promotion to team lead like three weeks ago. They can’t expect you to know everything already.”
“My boss says if this transition goes smoothly, there’s a manager position and a big raise that could be mine.” His jaw tightened with each word. Suddenly arranging the three tacos on his plate was more important than anything else.
“And that’s awesome, ” Haleigh said slowly. “All I’m saying is maybe it would have been good if you had a little more time to settle into the new job before gaining more responsibility.”
Jack was one of those people who needed to be the best at everything he did. Good wasn’t enough. Neither was great. If he wasn’t the best, in his mind, he was the worst. And sometimes that perfectionism and Jack’s mental health stuff collided. Haleigh worried that was happening now. Dark smudges lined his eyes from lack of sleep, and his fingers were tapping in a steady rhythm against his knee that told Haleigh he was counting, not fidgeting.
His mouth was a taut line. “I can handle it.” He picked up his phone and sent off a text.
The name on the screen read Dylan . Haleigh had no idea who that was.
She fought back a sigh. Sometimes arguing with this man was like trying to drive through a brick wall. “Of course you can. But working so much would get to anyone. Have you thought any more about—”
“I don’t need meds, Haleigh. My therapist and I have this under control.”
Everything about his tone, the rigid pull of his shoulders, the flare of panic in his eyes was so familiar. Not just because they’d had this conversation a million times, but because Haleigh knew that feeling intimately. The right medication had changed everything for her. Maybe it could help Jack too.
But she knew he wasn’t there yet.
She licked her lips and softened the worry out of her voice. “Just make sure you’re taking care of yourself.”
Jack waved a taco in her face. “What do you think I’m doing now?”
“True. Hanging out with me is the best self-care.”
He snorted. “I meant the tacos.”
Haleigh punched him playfully in the arm.
Jack folded the rest of the shell in his mouth. Then his eyes widened. “Oh shit,” he said around the bite. “Your date. That was this morning, right?”
“Oh my god, Jack.” Haleigh took a long slug of water and shimmied in her seat, getting comfortable. “It involved birds. Well, one bird.”
His brows pinned together. “At brunch?”
His facial expressions were every bit as good as Haleigh had hoped as she narrated her date for him. Jack was the best audience. It was why she loved watching TV and movies with him, and sharing books, and telling him about her day. He got so into it, making random comments and reacting at all the right places. She felt like Shakespeare when she told him a story.
“Scooter did not take your bagel.”
“That tiny dinosaur absolutely did. Cream cheese and all. It probably weighed more than he did.”
“What did Pete do?”
Haleigh shook her head. “The poor guy was a mess. He mostly yelled for the bird until it finally flew back to him. Then we were escorted out.” She stood to clear their plates but Jack waved her off. “Scooter clearly wasn’t into me, so I don’t think Pete was either.”
“Well, I’m sorry it didn’t work out.” Jack emptied their scraps in the trash and neatly filed the plates and silverware into the dishwasher. When he looked up at her, he was frowning. “I can’t believe you didn’t text me when he showed up with a bird.”
“You were working.” Besides, the cockatoo had been mostly harmless (to everyone but her bagel, at least). And it had been nice, for once, to end a date without worrying she was the problem.
Jack’s frown deepened. “You know I would have taken a break to rescue you.” He sounded almost disappointed. Like he’d wanted to be her hero.
She tipped up her chin. “Maybe I don’t always need rescuing.”
From the exhaustion that laced every movement of his body as he sat back down beside her, Haleigh was pretty sure what Jack needed right now was to take care of himself, not her.