Chapter Fourteen #2
Harris studied the papers. “I thought he’d have at least two hours between the practice and the afternoon session. If practice
runs late, we’ll be scrambling.”
“Agreed, but he’s excited about the cartoon class and it’s only a week.”
“So we’ll be grabbing burgers every day.”
“I was going to pack a lunch for him to eat on the way.”
Harris slumped. “Okay. I thought summer would mean a break from having to make lunches, but I guess he shouldn’t eat fast
food every day.”
She smiled. “Fast food a couple of times that week won’t hurt him.”
“Yeah?” He perked up. “Okay. That helps.”
They went through the rest of the summer sessions and worked out the details.
“About the road trip,” she said. “How are you dealing with the logistics of the hotel? Gentry and Xander can’t be in a room
by themselves. They’re not old enough.”
As she spoke, she told herself to stay calm. There had to be a solution to the problem, and together she and Harris would find it.
He frowned. “Why would they be in a separate room? They stay with me. We get two beds and a rollaway.”
“But that won’t work with Shawna staying with you. Everyone will be uncomfortable.”
Harris’s eyes widened. “She’s not going with us. The trip is for me and the kids.”
Now it was Jax’s turn to be startled. “But you’re engaged and you’re leaving for a week.” She thought about adding the whole
engagement had come about because he wasn’t willing to go seven whole days without sex, but knew it wouldn’t make the conversation
go more smoothly.
He looked away. “The trip is a special time for me and the kids. Shawna gets it.”
“So it’ll just be the three of you,” she confirmed. “Like always.”
“Yes.”
Surprising but okay. “Great. Then the last thing I have to discuss is your future mother-in-law.”
“Lindsey? What does she have to do with anything?”
“She came to the store to speak to me about our wedding.”
His expression turned completely blank. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Our wedding? As in . . .”
“Yes, that day you and I got married.” Jax felt herself getting annoyed all over again and took a deep breath to calm down.
“Apparently she’s very concerned about Shawna’s big day not being special enough. She doesn’t want anything to be the same.”
“The same as what?”
For once she found his denseness comforting.
“Honest to God, I have no idea. The woman’s a menace.
She keeps bringing up the fact that no one in their family has ever gotten a divorce.
That comment is frequently followed by a pointed stare.
But that’s not the worst of it. She keeps grilling me about our marriage.
At lunch it was intrusive questions about why we got a divorce.
This past week, she was all about the details of our wedding. She even asked to see our photo album.”
His expression changed from confused to horrified. “You didn’t show it to her, did you?”
“I didn’t keep the album. I have a few pictures for the kids if they want them when they’re older and that’s all. She shouldn’t
be my problem, Harris. I’m not the one getting married. I keep telling her to talk to you but she claims men aren’t into the
details, which is true, but so what. I don’t want to have to deal with Lindsey. Talk to her and tell her to back off.”
Her ex visibly flinched. “I can’t say that to her.”
Jax did her best not to roll her eyes. “Because you’re scared of her?”
“A little. You’ve met her. The woman is intense.”
“If she weren’t bugging me, I’d find your fear amusing.”
His mouth twisted. “Thanks for the support.”
Jax grinned. “Hey, except when it comes to the kids, supporting you isn’t my job anymore.” She let her humor fade. “You’ve
got to do something. I don’t want to be involved in your wedding. I barely know Shawna, so it’s not like she’s a friend. Yes,
there’s the whole stepmother thing, but I want to put off dealing with that as long as possible.”
Harris leaned forward and grabbed her forearm. “I can’t do it, Jax. You have to help me. I’m in too deep and it’s getting
out of control and I don’t know what to do.”
Uh-oh. Despite finding Shawna and her mother two of the most annoying people on the planet, Jax felt a flicker of concern
for them both.
“What are you saying?” she asked quietly.
Harris looked around as if confirming it was still just the two of them, then said quietly, “They’re taking it all too seriously.
With the planning and stuff.”
“You proposed, she said yes. A wedding is the next logical step.”
“We were supposed to wait. That’s what we agreed to. No wedding talk for a few months. Now they’re looking at venues and talking dates.”
“She’s twenty-six, Harris. She wants to get married. It’s a thing. And for the record, she’s not talking dates. She’s already
picked one out.”
He went pale. “She didn’t. No. She would have said something.”
“Maybe she did and you weren’t listening. It’s the Saturday after the Fourth of July next summer. You might want to get this
on your calendar.”
“It’s not funny,” he snapped.
“I’m not laughing.”
“You’re not being very sympathetic.”
“To what? You created this situation by proposing to Shawna and practically admitted it was so you could have regular sex.”
She gave him a pointed stare of her own. “Tell me the truth. Are you in love with her at all?”
His hand dropped, as did his gaze. He shifted in his seat. “Shawna’s great.”
She suddenly felt sick to her stomach. “Not even a little?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know what to do. I thought she got it, you know.”
“That you were fake-engaged? No, she didn’t get it. You did the thing and she believed you. Harris, this is really bad. You’re
playing with her heart and her life. How do you think she’s going to feel when she finds out it wasn’t real? That it’s all
just a really sick game.”
“I’m not playing,” he protested.
“What would you call it?”
“I don’t know.” He looked at her. “I need your help, Jax. I don’t know what to do.”
“Tell her the truth.”
“But then she’ll get mad and be hurt and cry. I don’t want that.”
“This isn’t about you,” she pointed out.
“Come on. She deserves to know that you don’t plan on marrying her.
The longer it goes on, the worse it’s going to be.
She’s telling her friends and her family, she’s reserving a venue.
I bet she’s already dress shopping. This is a runaway train and you have to make it stop. ”
“I can’t tell her. You do it.”
“What?” Her yelp was involuntary. She cleared her throat and repeated, “What? I’m not going to tell your fiancée that you
don’t want to be engaged to her anymore.”
“But you fix things. You always know what to do and then you do it. You take control. Whenever we had a problem, you decided
what would happen next and that was what we did. It was always a you solution not an us solution.”
“That’s not true. We worked our problems out together.”
“Yeah, right.”
She frowned. “Is that really what you think happened in our marriage?”
“Mostly.” He shrugged. “I get that I was gone a lot and you and the kids were tight. When I was around, everything was different
and you didn’t like that. You were used to being the one in charge. Mostly it was easier to just go along than to fight all
the time.”
“I’m sorry,” she told him. “That isn’t what I wanted you to feel.”
“Maybe, but that’s how you wanted things to be. Sometimes it felt like you were happier when I was gone.”
She wanted to tell him he was wrong, but she wasn’t sure he was.
“I shouldn’t have made you feel like that,” she told him.
“It’s done, although if you’re really feeling guilty you can break up with Shawna for me to make yourself feel better.”
“Yeah, I’m not feeling that guilty. Sorry.” She looked at him. “But I do regret how I acted in our marriage. You needed to
be a part of things.”
“Thanks. I appreciate you saying that.” He sighed. “So what happens now?”
“About Shawna? You tell her the truth.”
“I can’t.”
“It’s either that or marry her. I mean it, Harris. She deserves to know how you feel. Ignoring the heartbreak, she’s going
to be humiliated. The more you let her plan, the more she’s going to hate you in the end.”
He hung his head, but didn’t speak. She wondered if he would listen or if he would continue to string along Shawna. For a
second she thought about doing what he wanted—breaking up with her for him. But as the thought formed, she pushed it away.
Not only wasn’t it her job, it wasn’t good for either of them. Harris had to deal with the consequences of what he’d done
and his fiancée deserved to hear the news directly from him.