5. Melissa
5
MELISSA
“ M orning.” I rubbed my eyes and blinked twice. “What’s that smell?”
Jason chuckled under his breath. “That would be the smell of food that isn’t ninety-percent sugar.”
I grabbed my box of Captain Crunch off the countertop and cradled it in my arms. “Shh, baby. Don’t worry. He didn’t mean it.”
He plucked the box out of my arms and set it on top of the refrigerator, well out of my reach. “I absolutely meant it.”
I craned my head up to see if I could grab it. My vertical wasn’t that good. “Seriously? Why don’t you just hold it over my head and make me jump for it?”
“Because then I’d burn your breakfast. Now sit.” Jason tilted the skillet and shimmied an omelet out onto a plate.
Instead of sitting, I peered around his arm. “When did I get eggs? And that green stuff?”
He grabbed a piece of whole-grain bread out of the toaster and dropped it beside the omelet. “You didn’t get them. I did.” Jase flipped off the burner and set the plate in front of me. “Egg white omelet with spinach, sprouted whole-grain toast, and turkey bacon.”
“It looks… Healthy.”
Jason smirked. “You see, there are these magical places called grocery stores where you can buy real food for people older than five.”
“You’d better not let Hannah Jane hear you disrespect cereal like that.”
He chuckled. “Consider your full fridge as my thank you for letting me crash on your couch. Besides, I was a little alarmed when I saw that the only things in your entire kitchen were Captain Crunch, Mountain Dew, moldy lasagna, and two bottles of hard cider.”
I pointed my fork at him. “I’m on a first-name basis with the pizza delivery guy, though. He even brings me free garlic knots sometimes.”
Jason finished cooking a second omelet and sat down at the table with me.
I looked at the clock as I took a bite. “You’ve been busy this morning.”
He shrugged as he tore his toast in half. “Went for a run, hit the grocery store, and texted Bee to see if she wanted to hang out later.”
The eggs threatened to make a reappearance, but I choked them back down.
“Oh yeah?” I tried to keep my voice as calm as possible. “What, um… What did she say?”
“She’s working a double today, but said she’d call when she got off. I might swing by for lunch.”
Maybe he didn’t hear her show up at the crack of evil this morning. Although, I hoped he did.
I forced myself to stop staring at my plate .
Bridget would never forgive me if I told Jason how Kyle treated her. How dangerous he was. The only thing I could do was pray she had the courage to leave before it was too late.
“What?” I asked when I realized Jason was staring at me.
Jason bit back a laugh and shook his head. “Nothing.”
“What!” I laughed. “You can’t just stare at people!”
He pursed his lips and patted the top of his head.
“Huh?”
Jason wiped his mouth with a paper napkin and smiled sheepishly. “You look cute.”
I busted out laughing and pulled off my satin sleep bonnet. “I’m not used to having overnight guests.”
“Ah.” Jason reclined in his seat and ran his hands through his sandy hair. Something mischievous danced in his eyes. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.
“You’re looking rather Top Gun today over there with the sunglasses,” I said, taking note of the Aviators hanging from the neck of his t-shirt. “Still harboring that man-crush on Tom Cruise?”
Jason laughed as he sat back and took a pull from his coffee mug. “Gotta bring back that loving feeling.”
“Alright, Maverick.” I snickered.
Jason peered at me over the rim of the mug. There was a wide grin stretched across his face. “If I’m Maverick, you’re my Goose.”
I snorted, choking on a bite of toast. Jason handed me his mug, and I took a swig. “I hate that so much,” I laughed between gasps for air.
He fought a smile and crossed his arms over his chest. “I think it suits you, Goosey.”
“Goose dies in the movie!”
Jason waved it off dismissively. “Details, details.” He finished the last bite of the eggs on his plate and drained his mug. “So, what are you up to today, Goose?”
I groaned. “Oh, Lord... Don’t make that a thing.”
“It’s going to be a thing. Our thing.”
“I’ve known you since I had braces and no boobs, and you’ve never called me anything but Mel or Melissa. Let’s not mess with a good thing.”
“I think Goose is a good thing,” he argued. “It fits you.”
I cut my eyes at him, but Jason wasn’t fazed. He just sat at the table, grinning like a loon. “And why, pray tell, does Goose fit me?”
“Well,” he began, leaning forward until his forearms rested on his knees. “Geese are, uh—shall we say—not the tallest creatures around?”
I glared at him, but it only egged him on.
“And they’re cute as hell.”
I laughed as I took my dishes to the sink. “Geese are mean as hell . They’re demon velociraptors in pretty packaging.”
Jason raised his eyebrows. “It fits. What was that you said a minute ago?” He stroked his chin dramatically before giving me his best epiphany face. “We’ve known each other a long time.” His eyes flicked to my chest. “Pre-boob Melissa was just as feisty as...” His voice trailed off. I watched his Adam’s apple bob up and down as he licked his lips and swallowed.
“You gonna finish your thought, Jase?” I crossed my arms over my chest, pushing my boobs up just a little. If he was going to tease me, then turnabout was fair play.
Jason got up from his seat and sauntered toward me. There was a strange heat to his gaze. In all the years I had known Jason, he had never looked at me like that. Not once.
It was unnerving.
His socked feet hit the tip of my slippers as his hands gripped the edge of the sink behind me, caging me in. “Trust me, Goose. You don’t want me to finish my thought.”
I rolled my eyes. “You don’t have to pretend to flirt with me like you do with everyone else.”
There was an unmistakable flex in his jaw, but Jase didn’t say anything else. He reached over and grabbed his plate, rinsing it off in the sink before loading it in the dishwasher. “Nice slippers, by the way.”
I looked down at the fuzzy slippers on my feet and then back at him. I had to crane my neck to look him in the eye. “You can make fun of my bonnet all you want, but don’t come for my slippers. I will take them off only to beat you with them.”
“I said they were nice!” He smirked and added, “See? You can’t tell me you’re not a feisty one, Goose.”
I had half a mind to make good on my promise and smack him upside the head, but my feet were too comfortable.
“How was the couch?” I asked as I dipped into the bathroom to scrunch a little product into my hair and run a toothbrush over my teeth. He had left the blankets neatly folded and tucked under the pillow.
“Pretty comfortable, actually,” he called back. “Definitely better than some of the beds I’ve had on deployment.”
“Oh, please.” I stuck my head out of the bathroom to look at him. “I’ve heard officer housing isn’t that bad. I bet they put you up in hotels.”
Jason’s green eyes flashed with amusement. “That’d be the Air Force. The Navy’s not as nice, but it’s still better than being a Crayon-eater.”
I giggled as I went back into the bathroom. “I’ll tell my dad you said that the next time I talk to him.”
“So, what’s on the agenda today?” Jason asked as he sat down on the couch and scrolled through his phone. “You’re off, right? ”
“Yeah, I was just gonna do some laundry and grocery shopping, but apparently, you beat me to it.” I gave him a soft smile. “Thank you for that. You definitely didn’t have to stock my cabinets.”
“Wanna hit up the bar with me?”
“Day drinking already? Is retirement not as exciting as you thought it would be?”
He shrugged. “Might as well go bother Bee. That’s why I came back.”
Right. For Bridget. I didn’t know why I was holding on to a hope that maybe he had found a different reason to stay.
“Hey, you!” Bridget beamed at Jason the moment we walked through the door at Jokers.
Jason shivered and looked around. The windows had fogged as the outside heat clashed with the frigid inside. “Damn! It’s like an igloo in here. Why is it so cold?”
Bridget cut her eyes at me and then looked back at Jason. She shrugged innocently. “The AC has been acting weird. I’ve gotta call the HVAC guy to come out and take a look.” She adjusted the sleeves of her hoodie. “Y’all grab a seat. I’ll be right back,” she said as she grabbed a plate out of the pass-through window and carried it over to— oh no.
“Hey,” Steve said as he left his spot at a high-top table in the corner and meandered over to Jason and me.
“‘Sup, man,” Jason said, shaking Steve’s hand. “Sorry I didn’t get a chance to catch up with you when we were here last night.”
Steve waved the comment off. “No worries. Erica and I had to get home pretty quick. Little ones, you know?”
“Y’all got two kids, right? ”
He nodded. “Yeah, Aly’s almost two, and Eli is six months old.” Steve’s gaze flicked to me. “How’ve you been, Mel?”
I forced a polite smile—the same one I did every time I saw Steve. “Good. Just busy, you know?”
Steve let out a wry laugh. “Tell me about it. Erica mentioned having you over for dinner sometime. Just shoot one of us a text whenever you’re free.” Before he could get another word out, his phone went off. Steve looked at the number and groaned. “Shit.” He looked at Bee and said, “Mind bringing me a bag so I can take it to-go?”
Bridget scurried off to wrap up Steve’s untouched meal.
“Sorry,” he said as he read something on his phone. “I’m on duty.” Steve pocketed his phone and grabbed the doggie bag Bridget brought over. “Let’s grab a beer sometime.” His attention turned to me, and he offered a friendly smile. “You too, Mel.”
Jason and I found seats at the bar and waited as Bridget tended to the other barflies hanging around. “Wanna fill me in on whatever happened between you and Steve?” he said as he tore the edge of a cocktail napkin.
I didn’t particularly want to relive that humiliating chapter of my life, so I played dumb. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Steve and I are friends.”
Jason snorted. “Yeah, okay. Then tell me why you looked like you wanted to crawl in a hole and die when he walked over.”
I sighed. “I made a mistake. That’s all.”
“You?” He gasped sarcastically. “No way. Perfect Melissa Jacobsen doesn’t make mistakes.”
“I’m far from perfect, Jase.” I knew what he was getting at, but I didn’t want to acknowledge it. Back in the day, I had been a straight-A student. National Honor Society. Class president. I played sports and joined every club that even remotely interested me .
Military brats coped with change differently. Some people chose not to assimilate to their new surroundings at all and stayed in their bubble. I, on the other hand, went all in.
Part of me hated moving so often, but a bigger part of me liked reinventing myself every time my dad got new orders.
Beaufort was the place where I realized I didn’t want to move again. Even though we did, Beaufort had always been home in my mind.
“Things still awkward with Steve?” Bridget asked when she came back around from the other side of the U-shaped bar.
Jase gave me a look that said, I told you so.
“Things are fine,” I said nonchalantly before pinning her with a sharp look. “How are you ?” I asked, even though I knew damn well how she was.
She showed up at my apartment at five in the morning with dark contusions around her wrist and a handprint-shaped bruise on her cheek. Foundation, concealer, and powder covered what couldn’t be hidden by a wrist brace, hoodie, and web of lies. Her stubborn nature was going to be her own undoing.
I didn’t know why I thought that backing her into a metaphorical corner would be effective. It wasn’t like she was going to up and spill her guts to Jason on the spot.
But Bridget, the professional evader, flipped on me. “You’re the only one holding on to the weirdness between you and Steve and Erica. Your little crush on Steve doesn’t bother either of them.”
My cheeks flushed with heat. The casual comment and sharp look in her eye was a warning shot. It was Bridget’s way of telling me to back the hell off and keep my mouth shut.
I gritted my teeth, and Jason’s brow furrowed, but Bridget was the picture of innocence.
“I’m just saying. It’s not a big deal that you told him how you felt.” The phone rang, and Bridget hustled to pick it up .
“Go ahead,” I groaned, folding over to rest my forehead on the viscid bar. “Say what you’re gonna say.”
“I think I have more questions than answers,” he said. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” He paused. “But I think you’d probably rather I get the gossip from you rather than my sister.”
I sat up straight and sighed. “Before Steve and Erica got together, I kind of told him that I had feelings for him. Steve was in a really dark place after Heather died. We spent a lot of time together and got really close. Well... at least I thought we did.”
Jason nodded knowingly. “So, you told him how you felt and?—”
“And he lost his shit on me.” I took the cocktail napkin from him and picked at the torn edge. “I kind of deserved it, I guess. I’d been a little pushy, and he didn’t need that back then. I was just trying to be there for him, and I ended up falling. Hard. ” I forced a smile. Jason didn’t need me dumping my most embarrassing moment on him. “All’s well that ends well, I guess. Erica’s perfect for him. And she’s awesome. I love hanging out with her.”
“I’m sorry about what Bee said,” he mumbled. “I don’t know what’s going on with her, but that was a cheap shot.”
“It’s fine.”
Jason spun on his barstool to face me. The light blue t-shirt he wore stretched across his chest and biceps. His hips were narrow, but his gym shorts molded around his muscular thighs. “Talk to me, Goose.”
“How do your sutures feel today?” I asked, changing the subject.
He threw a discarded straw wrapper at me. “Not about me.”
Jason looked around, but Bridget was artfully avoiding him. She would probably avoid him and the rest of the poker club for a few days .
It’s what she always did.
“What do you want to talk about, then?” I asked, turning and mimicking his posture.
Jason shrugged. “So, uh… Your date this Saturday.” His mouth widened into a playful grin, and he leaned closer. “Do I get to meet the guy at the door and scare the shit out of him?”
I punched Jase in the arm. “Hell no. I don’t need the big brother act, thank you very much. I already have the worst luck when it comes to dates. I don’t need anyone else scaring the eligible men off, thank you very much.”