Chapter Five #2
That last bit was delivered almost as a single word. Before Jax could respond, she’d turned and bolted out of the store.
“You scared her off,” she told the bird. “You have a way about you, young man.”
He pressed his beak to her cheek. “I am the walrus.”
“I thought you were the Lorax.”
“No man is an island.”
Marcus walked by, a clipboard in his hand. He glanced at her, then paused.
“You okay?”
“I’m fine.”
He waited.
“The woman I was talking to? That’s Shawna, Harris’s girlfriend.”
“The one he wanted for the sleepovers.”
“That’s her. Well, now I know why he wasn’t pissy when I said no to changing the parenting plan. He proposed.”
Marcus stared at her. “You’re kidding. For real?”
“She’s wearing an engagement ring.”
“Do you think he meant it or is he just doing it to—” he glanced at Ramon “—have adult playtime?”
“That would be my guess.”
“He’s an idiot,” Marcus said firmly. “You don’t mess around with a proposal. Marriage is a sacred institution.”
“You surprise me with your emotional depth.”
He chuckled. “Thanks.”
“You getting laid?” Ramon asked loudly.
Marcus grinned at the bird. “No, but I have high hopes that’s going to change soon.”
Jax thought of all the women who came into the store just to watch him work and knew he was probably telling the truth. For
a second she allowed herself to play the what-if game. Marcus seemed to be good with his hands—at least as a contractor. Did
that skill set translate into other areas of his life? It had been a very long time since a man had, well, impressed her in
a naked way. Although thinking about sex seemed to be a little premature considering she wasn’t actually interested in getting
involved with a man. Plus, wasn’t Shawna the bigger issue, and what on earth was she going to do about that?
Ryleigh watched the last of her students walk out of the classroom. While she loved teaching, the last couple of days had
been difficult for her, in part because she wasn’t sleeping well. She still couldn’t reconcile what had happened, or not happened,
with Dustin. And she was carrying around a fairly significant amount of guilt about turning him down and making him feel bad.
Plus almost fighting with her sister. It was more emotional drama than she could handle.
She’d decided she was going to endure all the upset until the weekend, then she would spend some quality time thinking about
what she wanted for her future. She knew that if she had a plan, she would feel better and have something to look forward
to. Because while she apparently didn’t want to marry Dustin and have his children, she still wanted a partnership with someone
and children of her own.
She mentally backtracked on that last statement.
She wasn’t saying no to a single guy with kids.
She was fine with that. While she’d never thought much about being a stepmother, she was sure she could embrace the role.
Not that any divorced men were asking her out, but now that she was in her thirties, the odds of meeting one were greater than they had been.
Assuming she wanted to start dating again.
“I will deal with all this over the weekend,” she said aloud.
“Deal with what?” Shawna asked, walking into the classroom. “Are you talking to yourself, because some people would tell you
that’s not a good sign.”
Shawna giggled as she spoke, as if she were about to tell a very funny joke. Or share a delicious piece of gossip. Ryleigh
was open to either—anything to distract her from her own personal conundrum.
“I was talking to myself,” she said with false cheer. “So what’s going on with you?”
Shawna immediately stuck out her left hand. “Harris proposed.”
“Oh, my God!”
The shocked response spilled out before she could stop it, so she immediately followed with a hearty “That’s fantastic! Congratulations.”
Shawna grinned. “I know. I was so surprised. I mean of course we’re in love but I didn’t know he was that serious about me.
My mom is over the moon. We’ve been texting all day about the wedding. It’s amazing.”
Ryleigh was less sure “amazing” was the way to describe the situation. Harris had proposed? She didn’t have a lot of contact
with her former brother-in-law these days, but she thought she knew him well enough to guess he wasn’t that in love with Shawna.
Marriage was a huge step.
She held in a gasp as she had the horrible thought he’d done it simply to get regular sex with his girlfriend. No, she told
herself. He wouldn’t. He couldn’t!
“Isn’t it beautiful?”
It took Ryleigh a second to realize Shawna meant her engagement ring.
“It’s gorgeous. You look so happy. This is great news.”
“I know. I’m floating.” Shawna studied her diamond. “I love it. Oh, and I went and saw your sister at lunch. That bird of
hers, he’s huge.”
Ryleigh wasn’t sure what Ramon had to do with anything. “He’s a good guy. Very funny and well-behaved.”
Shawna shuddered. “I don’t like birds. They scare me.”
“When our grandparents first got him, I was scared as well. But he grew on me.” She mentally backtracked. “Why would you go
to see Jax?”
But even as she asked the question, she figured out the answer.
“The kids,” she said, making the connection. “Oh, wow. So if you marry Harris, you’ll be their stepmother.”
“When,” Shawna said firmly.
“What?”
“You said if I marry Harris. You meant when I marry him and yes, I will be. Isn’t it great? I never thought I’d fall for someone who was
divorced, but I did, so here we are. I’ve met them both before and they seem great. So sweet. I asked Jax if Gentry could
be a bridesmaid.” She lowered her voice as if about to confess something important. “And I want her to be a real bridesmaid.
None of this junior stuff.”
Okay, sure. “That’s, ah, really nice of you. What did Jax say when you told her?”
Shawna pressed a hand to her chest. “She was so great. Surprised about the engagement but then it’s not as if she and Harris
are still friends. I mean they’re friendly, but it’s not like he would have told her in advance. I wanted to explain that
we’ll be a family and I want to make sure she knows she’ll always be the mom. I won’t take that away from her.”
Ryleigh was pretty sure that wasn’t an option, but tried to see things from Shawna’s point of view. At least Harris’s new fiancée was trying. And basically she was a nice person, so everything could work out fine. In theory.
“We’re going to be sisters!”
“What?” Ryleigh asked.
Shawna beamed at her. “Sisters. Us! Growing up I always wanted sisters. My parents are amazing but it was tough being an only
child. They had fertility problems and I was their miracle, but my mom couldn’t go through all the treatments again so it
was just me. Now I have you and Jax!”
Before Ryleigh could internalize that, Shawna hugged her tight.
“This is so great.”
“It sure is,” Ryleigh murmured.
“Jax seems nice and the bookstore is just so cute, so that’s fun. I’m going to be a stepmom and have sisters.” She picked
up her bag and waved her fingers. “I have to get to my mom’s. We’re putting together a master spreadsheet for the wedding.
You know, just the preliminaries. It’s so exciting. See you tomorrow.”
“You will. And congratulations.”
“Thank you.”
She waited until Shawna’s footsteps had faded before calling her sister. Jax picked up on the first ring.
“You heard?” Jax asked.
“About the engagement. Just now. Shawna told me. He proposed? I didn’t think things were that serious.”
“They’re not.”
“Are you sure?”
“About 90 percent. I’m driving to the high school right now to confront him. I’ll let you know what he says.”
“I’m not sure I want to know,” she admitted. “If he did this for sex . . .”
“Right? Moron. I’m pulling into the parking lot. Talk later.”
“Bye.”
But as Ryleigh hung up, she realized she wasn’t sure she actually wanted to know the truth about the engagement. Because if Harris had done it for anything other than being wildly in love with Shawna, the entire situation was going to end very, very badly.
Jax parked at the high school and walked directly to Harris’s office. He was on the phone but the second he saw her, he muttered,
“I have to go,” and hung up.
“Jax, what are you doing—”
She cut him off with a quick shake of her head. “No,” she said loudly. “Just no. Don’t play me. What the hell are you thinking?
You proposed to your girlfriend so you could have sex with her in the house? Who does that? I can’t believe it. You think
this is all a game, but you couldn’t be more wrong about any of it. This is a terrible idea. You’re playing with her life,
Harris. She’s twenty-six. She thinks you mean it.”
She paused to take a breath and because some foolish part of her hoped he would defend his actions by declaring his love for
Shawna and tell her she was wrong. Because for once, she really wanted to be. But instead of being outraged, he gave her a
faintly guilty look then declared, “It’s your fault. You’re the one who wouldn’t change the parenting plan.”
Holy crap! She sank into a chair and stared at him.
“So I’m right. You’re not in love with her and you didn’t mean it when you proposed. It was all about you getting laid.”
He shifted uncomfortably. “I wouldn’t put it like that. I like Shawna. She’s great. I want to see her more than I can without
us being engaged.”
“You’re not seeing her,” Jax snapped. “You asked her to marry you and she believed you meant it. She said yes. To marriage.
This is a huge deal. You have made some bad choices in your life, but this is about the worst one. Do you know what you’ve
set in motion? She’s planning a wedding.”
“She’s not. We agreed to take it slow. We’re not going to talk about the wedding for a few months.”
She could almost pity him. “Harris, she’s planning a church wedding for two hundred. She told me.”
He went pale. “What are you talking about?”
“She came to the store to talk to me because we’re all going to be a family now. She wanted to reassure me that she already
likes the kids and as their stepmother, she won’t take my place.”
“She came to see you?”
“Yes. To tell me about the engagement. The ring is very nice, by the way. Oh and she wants Gentry to be a bridesmaid.”
He swore loudly. “No. We agreed we weren’t going to deal with the wedding. She wasn’t going to start planning.”
“The man of her dreams proposed. Did you really think life would go on as normal?”
“Yes!”
“Well, you’re wrong. Dammit, Harris, you’re playing with that woman’s life. If you’re not madly in love with her, you’re going
to break her heart and all because you couldn’t wait a week between orgasms. That’s pretty shitty. How do you think she’s
going to feel when she finds out the truth?”
He looked wide-eyed and shaken. “Are you going to tell her?”
“Of course not. That’s your job.”
“I’m not going to say anything.”
“So you’ll just string her along until you get tired of her, then you’ll dump her. The kids will be so proud.” She couldn’t
believe he was being such a jerk.
“Get off of me,” he told her. “This isn’t your business.”
“She came to talk to me about being family. That makes it my business. Besides, the kids are going to find out about the wedding.
They’re going to be intrigued by the idea of a stepmother and then they’ll get attached. What do you think they’ll feel when
you end things?”
“Maybe I won’t. Maybe I will marry her.”
“That’s your answer? You’ll marry someone you don’t love to spite me. That’s very mature.”
“You’re making this more than it is,” he told her. “It’ll all work out.”
“For your sake, I hope you’re right.”
She rose and walked out. Emotions swirled inside of her. Disappointment, frustration and compassion, but only for Shawna.
Harris had screwed up before, but never this badly. If she’d ever had any lingering doubts about their divorce, this would
have silenced them for sure. Shawna was going to be devastated when she found out the truth and while Jax wasn’t going to
tell her, eventually it would come out. Unless Harris suddenly fell madly in love with his fiancée, nothing about this situation
was going to end well.