33. Chapter 33
Chapter 33
Jamison
I was greeted with all the smells and sounds of the salon when I walked in the door of Shear Perfection to pick up Darcie.
“Hi, Daddy,” Darcie greeted me from Diane’s chair.
“Hi Jamison,” echoed Madeline from Kayes. They both wiggled their fingers in the air, their nails pink and glittery.
“Hey, princess.” I kissed Darcie on her cheek. “Your nails look pretty.”
“Thanks, Daddy. Madeline and me have the same color.”
“Yeah, we’re going to start kindergarten as nail twins,” Madeline said.
“Nail twins? Very cool,” I said to Madeline as I gave her a kiss on her head.
“Guess what, Daddy?” Darcie chimed. “It’s Madeline’s birthday soon, and she’s going to have a Moana party.”
“You’re coming, Jamison, aren’t you?” Madeline asked. “It’s going to be at my grandma and grandpa’s house.”
I turned to Kaye, and she smiled. Yeah, I wanted to go more than anything, hopefully with Lilly, but that didn’t look good. “Of course, I’ll be there. Darcie can’t drive herself.”
The girls giggled, and I went to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee.
“I thought I heard you come in.” My mother was at the small table reading a magazine, her hair in foil.
I filled a cup and sat at the table with her. “Don’t you ever work?” I asked her. She worked as a secretary for the mayor of Orlinda Valley but never seemed to actually be at work.
She shrugged. “I took a couple days off to be available for you and Darcie this week in case you needed help with anything. I thought I told you yesterday.”
“Nope, you only said it was Monday, and you don’t work on Monday’s.”
“Well, I don’t work Mondays or any day this week.”
Madeline and Darcie came running into the kitchen. “Gramma said we can grab a snack and watch TV in the back room,” Madeline said.
“Yep. So, we’re going to watch Moana ,“ Darcie said.
“You always watch Moana ,“ I answered them. “Isn’t there another movie you’d like to see?”
Madeline shook her had. “ Moana’ s our favorite.”
They grabbed cookies and ran into the back room, and Kaye got them settled in front of the television. I refilled my coffee and turned. I froze.
Diane, Kaye, Ruth, and my mother were all sitting at the table, and all eyes were on me. I didn’t even know Ruth was here. I stared them all down and fidgeted. This wasn’t a good place to be—all four of the book club with me as their focus. I placed my coffee on the counter and prepared myself for their onslaught.
I raised my brow and crossed my arms over my chest. Play it cool. “When is Bryson getting here? And what do y’all want?”
They all turned their gazes on each other.
“Bryson will be here soon enough.” Diane was the one who finally broke the uncomfortable silence. “We need to talk with you. We talked to Kai this morning.”
I puffed out a breath. They all loved Kai. When he came to Orlinda Valley last year, the book club women took him in when he was adding an addition to Shear Perfection. Since then they all treated him like he could do no wrong, and okay, he was Kai. In the short time we’d all known him, we had to agree. He could do no wrong, and he loved Kora deeply. That, in all of our minds, made him an amazing person. He was now like their adopted son—the poor boy with a bad life found the love of his life and the family he always dreamed of.
With how they were all watching me, I was sure he said something about last night. But how much, and what? “What did Kai have to say?”
I looked from Diane and Ruth to my mother and Kaye.
Kaye had a tear running down her cheek and her hands over her mouth, and my mother had a silly grin on her face. Shit. He told them everything. My eyes studied the ceiling for a bit, and I clenched my teeth together. “So, exactly what did you hear?”
“Jamison,” Ruth started. “Look at me.”
Dammit, Ruth. Out of all the women my mother was friends with, she was the sweetest, most sincere person I knew. Rose was just like her. As sweet as pie and as good natured too. I did as she asked and looked at her.
“We know how you feel about Lilly, and honey, if your heart could open itself up to love again, we want you to know we support you.”
“Yes, one hundred percent,” Diane agreed.
“We also know Lance was being a donkey’s hind end,” Ruth added, then turned to Kaye. “Sorry, but that pretty much sums it up.”
Kaye wiped her face and nodded. “You have such a sweet way with words, Ruth. I appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome, honey.”
“Oh, good Lord.” Diane shook her head and rolled her eyes. “We need to get back to the point. Jamison, we know you’re in love with Lilly.”
My mom stepped forward. “Baby boy, I’m so glad you’re able to love again.”
“Mom,” I stepped away from her oncoming hug, “look, I don’t want this to be made into a big thing. Lilly said she’s not ready to move into another relationship and asked me to give her time. I haven’t talked to her since Saturday night, but if she’s not ready, there’s nothing I can do about this, and I don’t want my feelings to confuse her any more than my actions already have.”
“I agree with you, Jamison,” Kaye said with a sniffle. “Give her time and space if she needs it, but I know she has feelings for you. She always has.”
I narrowed my eyes. “How do you know that?” I asked.
“A mother knows her daughter,” Kaye answered.
“And her best friend tells her mother everything,” Ruth finished.
“She can’t avoid you. Your girls are besties,” Diane said. “So, give her time.”
“And let the book club work their magic,” my mother added.
Kai and Bryson entered the kitchen as the women exited. They both had shit-eating grins on their faces. I really wanted to punch those grins.
“You’re a jackass, Kai,” I told him.
He shrugged. “It’s all good. With the book club gossips on your side, Lilly doesn’t have a chance to ignore her feelings for you.”
“You know, I could figure out things with Lilly on my own.”
“Sure, you could but take my word for it. Those women know what they’re doing when it comes to love. I would know,” Kai said, and yes, he would. He didn’t think he was good enough for Kora, and the book club kept putting them together until they could no longer ignore their feelings. The rest is history.
“Whatever,” I said. “What do you two want, anyway?”
“Well, we never went over Kora’s list, so we’re going to Jerry’s Pub to complete the most important task. Beer tasting for the reception,” Bryson said.
“Yep. I don’t want to face her in a few hours and tell her the few things she put me in charge of aren’t checked off.”
I told Madeline and Darcie goodbye, and left them to watch Moana in the capable hands of their grandmothers. “Fine. Let’s go to the pub. What exactly do we have to do?”
“We’re in charge of the alcohol for the reception, so we need to go and do a tasting of the new craft brews Travis has at the pub,” Kai explained. “One was the IPA Lance tried to share with you last night, and there’s a bit more, so it might take a while.”
Now, that was something I could get behind.
“Lance is meeting us there, and we hope you two will be able to keep from bashing each other’s skulls,” Bryson added.
“No promises,” I said.