Chapter 9
At first Jesse floated in the welcome darkness, her muscles slowly relaxing and her pulse slowing to a steady pace. It was like being wrapped in a cocoon. Exactly what she needed.
Then the dreams intruded.
She was seventeen years old again, snuggled in her bed. As usual, she’d stayed up too late the night before chatting online with her friends, and she groaned in annoyance when the sound of raised voices intruded into her deep sleep.
It wasn’t the first time she’d been awakened by a fight between her dad and stepmother, but usually it was Victoria’s shrill voice that shattered the peace, while Mac tried to keep his tone low enough to avoid disturbing Jesse and Tegan.
This time it was her father’s voice that was raised in anger.
Throwing back the covers and crawling out of bed, she crossed to the door and pulled it open an inch.
Just far enough to witness the latest family drama.
Her dad was standing in the middle of the hallway wearing a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt with his hair sticking up, as if he’d just jumped out of bed.
Victoria, on the other hand, was fully dressed and wrapped in her expensive Burberry trench coat.
She was holding a suitcase as well as a matching overnight bag.
Tegan was also dressed and wearing a coat, her expression oddly stoic as she watched Mac grab her mother by the arm.
As if this was a scene she’d seen before.
“Victoria, please,” Mac pleaded.
Victoria tried to tug free of his grasp. “Leave me alone.”
“We need to talk.”
Victoria glanced toward her daughter. “Get your bags and wait for me in the car.” With that same stoic expression, Tegan turned and headed down the stairs. Victoria waited for her daughter to disappear before glaring at her husband. “Remove your hand.”
Mac jerked back as if he’d been burned. “Why are you leaving? I don’t understand.”
“Of course you don’t understand, you stupid ass,” Victoria drawled, her voice edged with pure pleasure. As if she’d waited a long time to share the cruel taunt. “You never get it, do you?”
“Did I do something wrong?”
“Everything.”
“It can’t be everything,” Mac protested.
“Really? Do you want a detailed list?”
“You have a list?”
“A long list. Let’s start with the way you talk.”
“The way I talk? Are you serious?”
“You bellow like everyone around you is deaf. I swear, I can’t get away from the noise.
Even when I’m up here and you’re in the bar I can hear you.
And that laugh. God, you sound like a braying donkey.
” Victoria wasn’t done as she ran a slow gaze down Mac’s sturdy body. “And then there’s the way you look.”
Mac glanced down, his round face filled with a heartbreaking confusion. “What’s wrong with the way I look?”
“You have an entire closet stuffed with flannel shirts and old jeans. The only time you bother to put on a decent shirt and shave your face is when you go to church. And only because I insist you clean up.”
Mac shook his head. “That’s why you’re leaving? Because of flannel shirts?”
“Because you’re a slob,” Victoria snapped. “And you snore.” She leaned forward, spitting the words directly into her husband’s face. “And you suck in bed.”
Jesse flinched, her stomach clenching with pity as her father slowly stepped back, his face flushed with shame at the ugly accusation.
“Anything else?” he asked stiffly.
“Yes. You’re cheap.” Victoria waved a hand around the cramped hall with its faded paneling. “We live in a dump, and the pittance you give me barely pays for the bare essentials, let alone the comforts that Tegan and I deserve. I haven’t had a decent manicure in months.”
Mac folded his arms over his chest, as if trying to ward off invisible blows. “I give you what I can.”
“That’s a lie,” Victoria abruptly snarled. “I’ve seen your accounts. I know you’re hiding money. You’re stealing my fair share.”
Jesse clenched her hands into fists, longing to rush out and punch the bitch in the face. How dare she accuse the man who kept a roof over her head and food on the table of stealing? She sat around doing nothing all day, expecting to be treated like a princess. She was lucky she got anything.
Mac’s expression hardened. “You knew I wasn’t rich when you married me.”
“I assumed you would have the decency to sell this place and get a real job.” Victoria pursed her lips as she visibly shuddered.
Like a bad actress in a cheesy melodrama.
“Instead, I’ve been stuck in this hellhole with my young, impressionable daughter, smelling like beer and cigarettes.
Even worse, you keep me trapped in poverty. ”
“Trapped in poverty?” Mac’s sharp laugh echoed down the hallway.
“Were you trapped in poverty when I bought you the new sports car you said you couldn’t live without?
It’s an obscene waste of money in this area.
Or maybe you mean you were trapped when you insisted on ordering brand-new furniture from Chicago because it’s obviously better to get crap that’s pumped out of a factory rather than hand-carved local pieces that have lasted a hundred years?
Or when you made your secret trip to St. Louis for a little snip and tuck to keep your shit from sagging? ”
Victoria’s spine was rigid, genuine hatred flaring over her face. “Mac Hudson,” she spit out. “Always with the joke. I suppose you think you’re funny?”
Mac’s brief amusement faded like dew beneath a scorching sun.
“There’s nothing funny about this situation.
It’s tragic. How did you go from ordering new curtains for the bedroom last week to deciding you can’t stay here another second?
” He reached out a hand. “Something must have happened. Talk to me. Please.”
She ignored his plea. “The only thing that happened was that I realized I can’t pretend anymore. The pathetic crumbs I have to beg for aren’t worth the effort.”
“If this is about money—”
“Would you listen to me?” Victoria interrupted. “I don’t love you. I never loved you. If you want the blunt truth, I don’t even like you.”
Mac jerked. Of all the hateful things that Victoria had thrown at him, that seemed to hurt the most.
“Then why did you marry me?”
“I needed someone to take care of me and Tegan. You were the only one to offer.”
He shook his head in pained bewilderment. “Our entire marriage was a lie?”
She snorted, turning to head toward the stairs. “You have no idea,” she muttered, the words barely loud enough for Jesse to hear them.
“Where are you going?” Mac called out.
“Someplace you’ll never find us.” She glanced over her shoulder. “If you care for me at all, don’t bother looking.”
Mac squared his shoulders. “Why would I look? Good riddance.”
With a toss of her head, Victoria headed down the stairs with her suitcases clutched tightly in her hands. The minutes ticked past—Jesse wasn’t sure how many, but it felt like an eternity—before she at last heard the sound of a door being slammed shut.
Victoria had left the building.
Another minute passed before Mac slowly dropped to his knees, burying his face in his hands.
Yanking the door fully open, Jesse rushed out of her bedroom to kneel beside the broken man.
“Dad.” She wrapped an arm around his slumped shoulders.
Lowering his hands, her dad lifted his head to meet her worried gaze. “Jesse. I suppose it was too much to hope you didn’t have to hear all that?”
“It doesn’t matter. Are you okay?”
He groaned, forcing himself back to his feet. He was clearly uncomfortable at her witnessing him in such a vulnerable position.
“Of course I’m okay. It’s just …” He visibly tried to pull himself together. “Honestly, I don’t know what it is, but everything is going to be fine.”
She grabbed his hand, giving it a squeeze. She was too young to fully understand how devastated her father must be to not only lose his wife, but the stepdaughter that he loved.
“It will be. I promise. We have each other and that’s all that matters.”
He managed a weary smile. “Go back to bed, Jesse. We’ll talk about this later.”
“What about you?” She bit her lip, frowning at her father.
She was worried that he might try to follow Victoria and continue his pleas for her to stay.
It didn’t matter that the bitch had trampled his pride and brutally confirmed Jesse’s suspicion that she’d never loved him.
Mac was stubborn enough to try to work through their problems if he could convince his wife to give him a second chance.
“I’m going downstairs to make sure everything is locked up. I’ll be back up in a few minutes,” he reassured her.
Jesse reluctantly returned to her room, but she didn’t make the mistake of climbing back into bed. It was past five thirty, which meant her alarm would be going off in an hour. What was the point in trying to go back to sleep?
Besides, she was too wound up to relax. The arguments between her dad and Victoria always filled the apartment with a sour atmosphere that lingered for days. And this one was more heated than most.
Of course if she was being honest, the fight wasn’t the only reason her pulse was racing and her nerves on edge.
Victoria had packed her bags and left. Could it be a stunt to force her dad to sell the bar?
Maybe. That seemed in character. And even if the witch had decided to leave, there was no guarantee that she wouldn’t return.
Victoria wasn’t the sort of woman to suffer, even for a day.
If she didn’t have a better option already lined up, then she would soon scurry back.
Like a rat burrowing in the dark corners of Jesse’s existence.
But what if she didn’t come back?
A tentative hope bloomed in the center of Jesse’s heart. Very tentative. More than once, Jesse had dared to anticipate the end of her dad’s stormy marriage only to be disappointed. The only thing different this time was that Victoria had actually walked out. It might mean something, right?