Chapter 6 #3
Meeting Kendrick had been one of the best things for me at the time.
Although we were divorced, I didn’t hate my ex-husband.
He helped me heal from the pain and despair I went through after Jordy and I broke up.
Kendrick loved me. If he had never betrayed me the way he did and lost my respect, as well as my trust, I would still be married to him.
The loyalty I felt toward Jordy made me want to forgive him. My heart wanted to give him another chance, but my mind was stubborn. It never wanted to experience the pain he put us through again.
For the next twenty minutes, I was content sitting in the background watching the students build their robots with Jordy and the science teacher’s help. Cameron jumped up from his seat and darted to the back of the class.
“Mom, come see what I did!”
I was all too eager to get up and see what my son had to show me.
I loved that he was having fun doing something scientific.
Over the years, I bought him so many educational toys and sets for his age group that he literally tossed to the side after a few minutes.
I smiled as I followed my son to his station.
He stopped when he made it to his destination and leaned over a partially finished something.
“Look!” Cameron raved.
“I know, right!” I said, hoping to sound as enthusiastic as he deserved for me to be. I was enthused, but I had no idea what I was looking at.
“Doctor JoJo calls these brush bots. It’s easy to make; you just have to follow the steps, right Doctor JoJo?” Cameron asked, looking up as Jordy approached.
I didn’t miss how he cozied up right next to me when he made it to Cameron and his little friend’s station. When his hand brushed against mine, I felt it in my spine. I snatched my hand away like I had touched something hot.
“Can you not?”
“I’m sorry. I can’t help myself,” he muttered.
“Mom, can we have cheese pizza tonight?” Cam asked, interrupting our mumbled exchange.
“Uh, sure. I’ll order one from Pizza King when we get home.”
“Sounds good. Cheese pizza is my favorite too,” Jordy noted before turning his full attention to Cam and the other student to explain what they needed to do next.
I stepped aside and let Cam finish doing his thing while Jordy continued on to another group of students to offer his expertise.
The rest of the class went by without incident, and before long, we were taking the awkward but quick ride back to my grandmother’s house.
Pulling up to the house after the ten-minute drive didn’t bring me the comfort that I thought it would since there was a strange car parked out front. I did not want company right now.
“Hmph,” Jordy grunted, inadvertently drawing my attention away from the car.
“What?” I quizzed, allowing my brows to bunch together as I turned to him.
“Nothing. See you Thursday, buddy,” JoJo told Cam as he hopped out of the car. When I reached for the door handle, Jordy grabbed my hand. “Harper.”
“What?”
Jordy didn’t immediately respond but he kept his hand on mine so that I understood he wasn’t ready for me to move. The quiet intensity of the moment had my stomach in a knot. I didn’t need him reading too much into things. I was doing this for my son.
“Thank you for coming.”
“I only came for Cam.”
“I know, but I’ll take whatever I can get of you for now.”
I sighed. “Jordy, please.”
“You know I want you back, baby, but this isn’t just about that. Let him come back Thursday, Harper. You see how much fun he had learning about circuits and all that boring stuff. I’ll keep an eye on him.”
“Don’t let anything happen to my baby, JoJo.”
“I got him, Harper. I love how eager he is to learn. He said I was a nerd just like his mom but the cool kind.”
We shared a laugh at my expense, and that somehow relieved the tension around us. “He calls me a nerd because I’m always trying to get him interested in learning. He loves it when I’m not doing too much.”
“Well, I think this is a way to win him over.”
“It feels like it.”
“Let me earn your trust back, Harper,” JoJo requested before kissing the back of my hand.
I cursed in my head as my breathing shallowed. His lips lingered as he turned my hand over and pressed a kiss to the palm of my hand. I pushed away the urge to squeeze my thighs together as another kiss landed on the inside of my wrist. Damn him!
“Let me go order this pizza,” I said, attempting to change the subject.
“Harper,” Jordy called, then waited for me to respond.
“What is it, JoJo?”
My heart thudded in my ears as he leaned closer. I averted my eyes, but I knew how he was about eye contact. Just to test him, I didn’t immediately look at him. As suspected, he waited until my eyes settled on him before he spoke.
“I’m not going away this time, and I’m damn sure not letting you get away from me again.”
I tore my eyes away before responding. I knew I couldn’t look at him without breaking. I needed to put some distance between us. I pushed the door open because I needed some air.
“Good night, JoJo.”
“Good night, Harper.”
“I’ll have to coordinate with my mom about picking Cameron up if I get a job, but for now, I’ll let him come.”
“Let me know if I can help.”
“OK, let me go in here and order this boy his pizza,” I said, finally getting out of Jordy’s car and walking up the driveway without looking back. I knew looking back would be dangerous.
The first thing I heard when I made it in the house was buzzing. I had no idea where that buzzing was coming from.
“Cam, go ahead get your stuff out for bedtime. I’m going to step out back for a second.”
“Do I have to go to bed already? It’s still daytime,” Cameron whined.
“No, I just need a little more help from you since Kenny isn’t here with us anymore. I want you to start getting used to getting your pajamas on your own. Also, go ahead and pick out what you want to wear to school tomorrow. I will come look at it and give you some tips if necessary.”
“Mom, I’m not a little kid. I can dress myself.”
“I’m going to hold you to that when you can’t find any socks in the morning. I’m trying to teach you the value of being prepared early so you’re not rushing when it’s time to go.”
“OK.”
As the buzzing sounded again, I left my son to his own devices and proceeded to the back door.
I didn’t know what made me bold enough to step out to the sounds of Jason Voorhees’ chainsaw in my backyard, but I needed to know what was going on out there.
As soon as I stepped out of the house, the buzzing stopped.
Two things hit me at once: the evening breeze, and the sight of a towering figure with broad shoulders and locs just a little longer than the ones I’d just seen on his brother.
Jase St. John, of all people, was on a freaking ladder in my backyard, using a chainsaw to cut a dead limb out of a tree.
He didn’t seem to notice me as the blade sawed through the limb, making sawdust float through the sky like confetti.
“Jase!” I yelled, cupping my hands around my mouth to combat the sounds of the chainsaw. “Jase!”
The noise didn’t stop until the limb was crashing to the ground.
That was when Jase finally seemed to notice me.
I could see that stupid grin of his from a mile away as he moved down the ladder with the chainsaw in hand.
I folded my arms across my chest as I waited for him to reach the ground.
Once he was down, he removed the safety goggles and placed the chainsaw on the ground.
I stood quietly as he walked over to the porch where I stood.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing? You can’t just go around to people’s houses cutting down limbs.”
The corner of his mouth lifted into that lazy, crooked smile that I was apparently still not equipped to resist. “Afternoon to you too, Harp.”
“Answer my question, Jase. What the hell are you doing?”
“There was a dead limb. I’ve seen it a couple of times in passing, but I figured someone would take care of it. Now that you’re here, it’s my job to do that.”
“How the hell does me being here make that your job?” I quizzed, never lowering my arms. This was crazy. I was not about to let Jase and Jordy bombard their way back into my life.
“Looking out for you is my job.”
My head flew back. “The hell if it is.”
I couldn’t take this right now. I had just narrowly escaped the emotional storm that always swirled around Jordy, and now here was Jase with his own form of psychological warfare.
“That limb was just one strong wind away from crash landing into your living room, so thank you. No matter what you may choose to tell yourself, taking care of you is my job.”
“I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”
“You know you don’t have to act tough with me, Harp.”
“I’m not acting, and I’m pretty sure a surgeon has no business playing around with heavy machinery.”
He laughed at that. “A chainsaw is not heavy machinery.”
“Well, Doctor St. John, I would hate for you to lose a thumb out here messing around with dead limbs. I could have called a guy.”
“So could I, but I had a chainsaw and a little time. I rather be hands on when it comes to the things I care about.”
“Y’all cannot do this, Jase. I came here to start over. You and your brother can’t just impose on my life like this. What we had, the mistakes we made, that’s all over.”
His eyes softened and he took a step closer as he removed the gloves he wore and touched my face. “Nothing we did was a mistake. Don’t ever say that, Harp.”
“So, you don’t have any regrets at all? Because I sure do.”
“My biggest regret is not coming to you the moment I knew where you were. Bro was just in such a dark space for so long. By the time I found you, I didn’t know if him knowing where you were was a good or bad thing.”
“Jase, please. I need peace in my life right now. I didn’t come back to cause a disturbance in either of your lives. If I knew you were so close now, I would have reconsidered coming here.”
“Don’t say that, Harp.”