10. Chapter 9
Chapter 9
Beth
B etween work, Chase’s tee ball, and running errands the week flew by. Doug stopped by Grannie’s a few times during the week, flirting a little each time. Nothing too open or wild, just the occasional wink or brush of the hand.
And a lot of grins and smiles from both of us.
I always felt ten years younger after he left.
We texted a few nights, after Chase was in bed. There was nothing overly flirty or sexual about our conversations, but I went to bed with a head full of romantic fantasies anyway. It’d been a long time since I’d felt the thrill of anticipation before a date, and a long time since I’d had the pleasure of a man in my bed.
On Friday, Doug messaged me mid-afternoon to warn me that everyone at SSI knew about our date. I wasn’t surprised. I’d told Meg, and fully expected her to tell Jack. Mary had told John, who’d already talked to Doug about it. So really, the only people who might not have known were Jamie and AJ, and I doubted they were left in the dark.
SSI was one big family, and Grannie’s was an extension of that family. It was nearly impossible to keep secrets.
I texted back, saying I was surprised it’d taken this long for it to come out and reassured him I didn’t mind. I didn’t ask him or the details, knowing I’d hear all about it from Meg tonight when we got together, along with Emily and her mother Anne, at Mary’s house for Craft and Booze Night.
Mary, Meg, and I had been doing our monthly girl’s nights for a while now, but tonight was the first time Emily and Anne would be joining us.
Our first get together was supposed to be a book club, and we’d all read the book, but as the wine flowed our discussion quickly devolved into which actor we thought should be cast as the love interest.
The second time none of us had finished the book, so we decided it’d be fun to do crafts instead. We’ll see how long it lasts. Usually, Mary and Meg came over after Chase went to bed, but tonight John had volunteered to watch Chase so we could meet at Mary’s and not have to worry about keeping our volume down.
It’d never been a problem before, but there’d be five of us tonight, and I had to admit, it was nice not having to worry about it, and to be meeting earlier than eight.
I was looking forward to getting to know Emily and Anne better. Emily and Jamie had been dating for a couple of months, and it was the happiest I’d seen him since Isabelle died four and a half years ago. Things had started a little rough for them; she’d just left an abusive boyfriend, and her older brother, Chris, Jamie’s best friend, was hesitant to give his blessing. That was all in the past, now Jamie was head-over-heels in love with Emily, and she was just as in love with him
When John knocked on my door, a few minutes before five-thirty, Chase practically tripped himself in his excitement to let him in. As he reached for the door handle, I reminded him to ask, “Who is it?”
Which he did, loud enough for the neighbors to hear. Even through the closed door, John’s laughter was evident as he answered. I unlocked the deadbolt, and let Chase open the door to greet his Uncle John.
“Chase,” I waited for him to look at me, “be good for your Uncle John, okay?”
“Yes, Mommy.” He nodded his head up and down fast enough to make my neck hurt. “Did you tell him I can stay up late tonight?”
“Not yet. Go get in your pajamas while I tell him.”
“Okay.” Chase ran upstairs to his room.
“Thanks for sitting tonight. I appreciate it.”
“Not a problem. Mama Bears need a night away from their cubs, no matter how much they love them.”
“As you heard, I told him he can stay up late, he’ll probably be asleep by seven-thirty but if not, I told him he could stay up until eight if he brushes his teeth by seven. He knows he’s not allowed to have snacks after brushing, but I’ll let you decide if you want to bend the rules when he asks.”
John nodded. Chase called him Uncle John, but given their ages, John fell more into the grandpa role with him. Which makes sense, his kids are all old enough to have kids Chase’s age . Grandpas loved spoiling their grandchildren. Who was I to take that from him?
“He may argue when it’s time for bed,” I looked at John, “or maybe not, given it’s you.” I chuckled when he grinned. Chase respected John as an authority figure and was less likely to argue with him than he was with anyone else, including me.
Especially me.
“Got it. Teeth at seven, no snacks, bedtime at eight. Will he want a bedtime story?”
“He will. He’ll tell you which one he wants to hear, then-”
John cut me off with a laugh and finished for me. “He’ll fall asleep three pages in.” Being a cop meant crazy shift work, so he wasn’t always there to help Mary put their kids to bed, but she’d told me he’d taken advantage of the opportunity any night he was home, so he knew the drill.
“Exactly.”
Chase came running down the stairs in his pajamas, with two handfuls of plastic dinosaurs. “Can we play dinosaurs?”
“Sure, but why don’t you say goodbye to your mom first.” John held out his hands for the toys.
“Bye.” He waved without moving.
“Oh no you don’t! I want a hug and a kiss before I go.”
After saying goodbye, I thanked John again, grabbed my wine and snacks, and told John I wouldn’t be home too late.
He looked up at me from the floor, where he was already making roaring sounds, much to Chase’s delight, and said, “Stay out as long as you’d like.”
Fifteen minutes later I was the first to arrive at Mary’s, which gave us a few minutes to talk. Wanting to avoid talking about my upcoming date with Doug for as long as possible I asked about Madi and Jaden, the two Sheppard children still serving in the military. Madeleine, Jamie’s older twin, was a Navy Corpsman, and Jaden, the youngest Sheppard, was a Marine Raider.
Mary was counting the days until they’d all be home for good. She figured she’d have all her kids in the same state by the end of the next year. Madi would be looking for work as a nurse practitioner in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and Jaden planned on joining SSI.
“They’re both doing great. Jaden is finally starting college classes now that he’s stateside.”
“John must be thrilled.”
“He is, though he’ll be okay if Jaden decides not to become a PI. SSI is growing so fast; they’ll need guys dedicated to the personal protection side of things.”
“Has he said when he’s moving home?” I asked. His enlistment was up at the end of January, but he planned on taking a year off to travel with friends before coming home. At least that was what he told his parents a few months ago.
“No, but he’s taking extended leave and coming home for Christmas. He said it’d be a shame not to use his accrued leave time.” She chuckled.
“Do you think Madi will come home?”
“She’s not sure she can, but wouldn’t it be great? Having all my kids home, at the same time, twice in one year?” I could hear the longing in her voice.
Jack’s wedding was one of the only times Mary had all her kids together in the same place at the same time since Jack joined the Army. She was in seventh heaven for days. They usually celebrated holidays and birthdays over zoom calls, and even then, it wasn’t always on the exact day, and they were rarely all present.
“We’ll have to invite Madi to our craft nights.” I suggested knowing Meg would agree; she loved Madi and couldn’t wait to get to spend more time with her sister-in-law.
“I already have. She said she’s looking forward to it.”
Before long, Meg and Emily arrived. They’d driven together since they were coming from the same place. It was good to see the two of them developing a deep friendship. They were both great women who’d suffered through more than their fair share of trauma. Having a girlfriend to talk to was helping them both on their healing journeys. And they’ll be sisters-in-law soon .
Anne arrived as we were setting up our snack buffet, which included Meg’s now famous mac and cheese, sliced meats and cheeses, veggies, homemade baked treats, and lots of wine.
Mary set the table with beads of different shapes, colors, and sizes, along with fishing wire and elastic, as well as other tools we might need to create necklaces or bracelets. Last month we tried knitting, but decided it was too hard to learn while chatting and drinking. We kept losing our stitch counts and after starting over a couple of times we gave up.
We didn’t care. We’d talked and laughed late into the night and our friendships were stronger because of it.
After we poured our wine and filled our plates, we settled in at the table. Emily and Anne fit right in. The conversation flowed like we were old friends who’d been meeting like this for years.
“When do you expect to move into your house Meg?” Anne asked.
“Early December, if there aren’t any more delays and we can get it furnished.” Meg practically glowed with happiness. She’d had a rough go of it early in life, having been abused and trafficked, but was embracing the new love-filled life she had with Jack and his family. “I can’t wait to host my first craft and booze night!”
“It’ll be weird when you move out of Jamie’s house,” Emily said.
Emily technically lived at her parent’s house, though she was rarely there. When she first moved back to Weatherford, after leaving her abusive boyfriend, it was all she could afford. Her original plan had been to find her own apartment after things settled down, but her mom convinced her it’d be silly to waste her money when she was rarely ever home.
I had a feeling Emily would move in with Jamie after Jack and Meg moved out. Though Meg had made it clear she and Jack had zero objections to her moving in before then.
“I’m sure you two will appreciate the privacy.” Meg looked at Emily and then turned to me. “But enough about us. Are you excited for your date tomorrow?”
I looked down at the bright blue and green beads in front of me as my cheeks turned pink. “I am. Doug’s taking me to The Breakfast Joint for lunch.”
“Oh, I love that place,” Anne said. Her head tilted, her eyes focused on something far away, like she was trying to remember something. “Is this the same Doug who works at SSI?”
Mary, Meg, and I all said it was.
“He’s a tall drink of water,” Anne said.
“Mom!” Emily looked embarrassed.
Anne didn’t. “What? I’m married, not dead.”
We all laughed. I had to agree with her, Doug was a damn fine-looking man. Sexy .
Mary asked if anyone else wanted dessert when she got up to get her own. Most of us said yes, but Meg declined saying she was trying to be good after eating so much junk on her honeymoon. I thought she looked great, even if she had put on a few pounds.
“Meg, what are you talking about, you look amazing,” Emily said.
I had to agree. She looked healthier now. Meg had been too thin when she first moved to Weatherford, a byproduct of her nervous energy.
“I agree,” Mary said as she put the plate of baked goods in the middle of the table, “so enjoy yourself. You can always work it off tomorrow.”
“You can come running with me before we go to the range,” Emily teased her. Everyone knew Meg hated running.
“No thank you. I’ll let you and the boys run for me.”
“Are you shooting for fun tomorrow, or training with the guys?” Anne asked.
“Training. I’m not confident enough to carry every day, so Jamie’s helping me.”
“And I’ll be there for moral support, and to practice,” Meg added.
Anne asked, “Did I tell you Jamie offered to help your Dad and I get better? We both had our License to Carry back in the day, but let them expire.” She shook her head. “I can’t even remember the last time I shot a gun.”
“He told me. Are you going to take him up on it?” Emily’s question sounded more like an order.
Her mom nodded.
All this talk of guns got me thinking, when was the last time I’d shot my gun? Before Phil died. I should probably get some help too.
The conversation ebbed and flowed as time ticked on. The night was filled with lots of laughter, plenty of wine, and a little bit of crafting.
“At least we finished this time,” I said as we showed each other our masterpieces and joked about how long it took us.
Around ten, we started packing up and saying our goodbyes. When Meg hugged me goodbye, she told me she wanted to hear all about my date before the end of the weekend.