Chapter Eighteen
Amariah
I’d taken up residence on cloud nine and had no plans of coming down anytime soon.
The source of my newfound joy? Jacob Gold.
My JuJu. It had been three days since that kiss at the ice rink, and somehow, we’d fallen into this unspoken rhythm.
Something that felt like being an unofficial couple.
We spent our days stealing glances and sneaking kisses between customers and paperwork at the store, and our nights either at his house watching movies or at mine, spending time with my dad.
The sweetest gesture I had to admit I was becoming accustomed to was that every day he found a way to make our time special or give me a sentimental trinket or a favorite snack.
Yesterday, it had been the crunch balls we used to buy every time we went to the movies.
There hadn’t been any talk about where we stood, but strangely, that was okay with both of us. We were having fun just…being.
It was Friday night, and I had looked forward to another night with Jacob, but he had to go out of town for business concerning his helmet deal, so I was spending the night with my mom.
Again, made possible by Jacob. When I told him I wanted to treat my mom to a spa day, he arranged for his mother to cook and watch over Daddy, so we didn’t have to rush back or worry about his well-being.
He seriously thought of everything and showed it in ways that I never even would’ve imagined.
Speaking of my mom, she was excited to have mother-daughter time with me.
With everything going on, we’d been like ships passing in the night.
But she deserved a little pampering for all that she’d been through, so I was happy when she agreed to allow me to take her shopping and to have a spa night together.
After we’d shopped until we almost dropped, I was happy to ease my aching body into Skye Springs Spa and Massage for some much-needed attention.
I’d ordered us the facial mask with a full-body massage and the foot spa.
It was a three-hour service that came with unlimited wine and a plated dinner.
We’d had our one-hour full-body massages, and now, we were sitting in the lounge seats getting our facial masks completed while they gave us hand massages, and our feet were soaked in the foot spas.
“Daughter, you have outdone yourself,” Mom cooed. “I didn’t realize how much I needed this until now.”
“I can tell by the way you were snoring on the massage table,” I ribbed. She rolled her eyes at me. “But seriously, I’m just glad you allowed me to pamper you. These work wonders for me back in D.C. I usually get a massage every two weeks.”
“Speaking of D.C., how are you and Jacob going to work out the distance?”
A coughing spell overcame me. I sat up, patting my chest and taking a sip of wine to clear my throat.
My mother sat up and patted my back, while the masseuse offered me water and checked on me.
Once I was over the cough, I relaxed back into the seat, hoping my mother had forgotten what she had asked.
“I didn’t know my question was going to almost send you to glory.”
“Well, thank goodness I’m still amongst the living,” I teased, taking another sip of wine.
“Yes, and since you are, are you going to answer?” my mother pried, continuing her relentless pursuit into my personal life.
I shrugged. “Jacob and I are friends, Mama.”
She peeled the cucumber slices from her eyes, which the masseuse had just placed there, and stared at me. “So are your father and I, but we’re still an in-love married couple,” Mama said smartly. “Friendship isn’t a substitute for a relationship; it’s a condition of one.”
I bit back a smile. Leave it to my mother to turn a sentence into a sermon. “Well, we haven’t discussed anything more than friendship.”
“The heart doesn’t need a discussion.” She turned to the side, planting a serious expression on me. “You know how you feel, and you know what you want.”
“That’s the thing. It’s not just about him or me. It’s about what we both want.”
“And what is that?”
I sighed, growing frustrated with this inquisition. “I don’t know, Mama. We haven’t discussed it. I know what you’re saying, but you’re asking about plans, and plans take preparation, and preparation takes conversation.”
My mother sat back. After a few moments, she pressed forward. “Plans, preparation, and conversations aside, how do you feel about Jacob?” Her voice was soft now, but her eyes still pressed for truth.
It was at this point that I knew I really should’ve made something up, because now, she was deep in her bag of questions, and I didn’t have nearly enough answers. Truth be told, we’d been coasting, and that was fine for me because it didn’t force me to face the reality of our situation.
“Uhh, Mama,” I whined, “you know I like Jacob, and before you ask, I believe he likes me, but right now, we’re just enjoying each other. No strings. No promises. No expectations. Is that so difficult to accept?”
My mom lifted her hands and smirked. “It is not…for me. I have my husband, but you two have been pussyfooting around your feelings since you were teenagers, and you’re going to no strings, no promises, and no expectations yourselves right into the arms of other people.”
“Oh, Mama—”
“Oh, Mama nothing,” she cut me off. “I’m not trying to force your hand.
You’re a grown woman. I’m just telling you that this coasting that you’re doing is a slippery slope, and if you don’t get serious about expressing your feelings for Jacob, there are plenty of women in Skye Ridge who will.
” She tossed her hands up. “But what do I know? I’ve only been married for forty years. ”
The thought of another woman pushing up on Jacob nearly made me physically ill with a side streak of jealousy I wasn’t proud of.
I knew that a conversation needed to take place, but I couldn’t pretend that I was scared of the outcome.
Jacob’s feelings for me had no bearing on whether or not he was up for a long-distance relationship.
That rejection was a hurt that I wasn’t ready to subject myself to.
In the meantime, I had to tell my mother something to ease her mind, and, well, to ease my own as well.
I reached over and took her hand into mine. “I know you mean well, and you’re right, but I’m sure we’ll be fine. We figured out how to bounce back from not communicating for eighteen years. We’ll figure this out, too.”
My mother smiled at me and lifted her hand to my cheek. “I don’t mean to pry. I just want to see you happy. Jacob makes you happy.”
I smiled at her. “You know what would make me happy right now?”
She furrowed her brow. “What’s that?”
“Food. Let’s go ahead and ask them for the dinner portion.”
She agreed as we shared a laugh. As they prepared to bring us the meal, my mother reminisced about stories of her and my father.
I listened, mesmerized by the glow on her face as she recalled their young love.
They’d built a lifetime on love that had weathered everything.
And I couldn’t deny that I wanted that kind of love, too.