Chapter 7
JAKE
It’s been two days, and I can’t stop thinking about her. God, Dani looked good. She’d always been athletic. I wonder if she still rode horses or dirt bikes near the old mine because she was even more fit than before.
I barely reacted when she tackled me, but it was impossible to miss how perfectly she felt in my arms. I was taller and broader than before I left, and she was just a little thing, but it was somehow perfect.
When she leaned in to me, and her soft breasts pressed into my chest, I had to think about Sparrow’s aggressively flirtatious friends to avoid springing a boner.
Her scent filled my senses as she hugged me. Then a light wind blew a few strands of her long, soft hair in my face, and all my years of moving on disappeared. I wanted to wrap that long hair around my fist–
Nope, can’t go there.
It was impossible, but I still wished she was beside me right now.
“Yeah, right. Because even in the midst of disaster, she’s not sleeping on the floor, dumbass.”
She was a mess, no doubt about it, and it was crushing her. She’d always been more alive and vibrant than anyone I ever met. That was part of why she was impossible to get over and why I’d never be good enough.
After all I’ve been through, I’m nothing but a shell of person. I know it, and she knows it. She may have been happy to see me, but that’s nostalgia. It’ll wear off. There’s nothing special about me to hold her attention for long.
If she hadn’t said anything, I’d have known she was going through some shit. She wore it in the stoop of her shoulders and the lack of animation in her features.
I wanted to fix it, whatever put that desolate, broken look in her eyes. I wasn’t good for much, but the army taught me more than how to turn wrenches. If she needed protection from whoever gave her those haunted eyes, that I could do.
“Fucking hell,” I said.
I needed a dog so I’d have someone to talk to, someone to love. Five minutes in her presence, and I was losing my mind and ready to throw away my peaceful future and dreams of a family of my own.
That wasn’t fair. My dreams of home and family were ripped away long Dani flung herself in my life. I couldn’t blame her for Blair’s infidelity and lies.
It didn’t matter anyway. I was on hiatus from dating, and Dani would never be interested in me. Just as well.
Relationships never worked out for me, and I didn’t crave them. I’d be fine with the occasional out-of-town hookup if my hand got tiresome. For now, y books and my hand were enough.
Last night, I pulled up a corner of the carpet to see what was underneath, and I was relieved to find hard wood. My first major task would be to remove all the carpet to determine if I’d need to replace the flooring, or if I could refinish it.
After a few hours, I tossed my floor scraper, pliers, respirator, and gloves onto the kitchen counter. My back was killing me, and I was eager for a hot shower before my dinner with Daniel and Patricia.
Twenty minutes later, with fresh clothes and damp hair, I knocked on their door. Patricia led me to the screened-in back porch where they often ate.
“What did you get done today?” Daniel asked.
“There’s good hardwood under that ugly carpet, so I removed a bunch. The floors might be too much for me to handle on my own, but it’ll keep me busy.”
“You’ll be great,” Patricia said with a pat to my shoulder. “You have ambitious plans, but you follow through. Some people have grandiose ideas but never get past the planning stage. You’re already doing the work.”
“Speaking of bloviating fools, you should hear some of Patty’s stories from when she volunteered with the chapel’s rummage sale,” Dan grumbled. “Some of those women had big plans, but did they do any work to make it happen? No, they did not.”
I interrupted what I suspected could be a long-winded rant.
“Speaking of the rummage sale. I don’t suppose there’s one coming up any time soon, is there?” I asked hopefully.
“There’s one later this month to raise money for the Arts Fest. What do you need, hon? We might have extras.”
I chuckled self-consciously. It was one thing to sleep on the floor and eat off paper plates; it was another thing to admit it, especially to them.
“Nothing urgent.”
“Jacob.”
Patricia’s unflinching gaze and stern voice melted my resolve.
“Everything,” I mumbled.
“What do you mean everything?”
“Pots and pans. Dishes. Coffee maker. Silverware. Table and chairs. A bed. Everything.”
Patricia gasped.
“Don’t tell me all you have is what was in your truck. I thought the rest was being delivered soon.”
Ashamed, I hung my head.
“Don’t harass the boy,” Dan said. “Men don’t collect doohickeys and doilies the way you women folk do.”
“Silverware and a bed aren’t doohickeys, Dan,” she smarted off at him.
She turned back to me with a smile.
“Sweetheart, how did you go so long without having anything but your clothes?”
I shrugged, feeling like a child who’d been called to the carpet.
“I’ve lived in the barracks since I left, and they’re furnished with a bed, a desk, microwave, and some dishes. Most of the time, I ate at the mess hall, so I didn’t need my own pots and pans. And there was always plenty of coffee everywhere. It was terrible but plentiful.”
“See,” Dan crowed. “He didn’t need them, Patty. You made the boy feel like he wasn’t living up to your expectations when he had no need for any of that stuff.”
Patricia gasped again, but this time she engulfed me in a firm hug.
“Dear boy, I never want you to feel bad about the choices you made. I’m the one who was in the wrong here, not you. It never occurred to me, and it should have.”
My head spun at her words. Never once had either of my parents apologized to me for a mistake or misunderstanding.
“I have the best idea.” Patricia clapped her hands in a way that reminded me so much of Dani it hurt. “I’ll take you shopping. We can go to the city and get what you need. As much as I love Sierra Rose Ridge, it has its limits.”
“I don’t know,” I said.
“Patty, don’t push him. You said he was fine the way he was.”
“He is,” she retorted, “but he’s also working hard, and it’s nice to have a bed to sleep on when you’ve worked hard. Isn’t it?”
“Yeah, but I don’t want to be any trouble.”
“Jacob Brown, you stop that right now. You aren’t any trouble. Ever. I adore spending time with you. If you don’t want me to go shopping with you, that’s fine; you can tell me.”
“No, it’s not that.”
“If you’re financially strapped because you bought a house,” she continued, “we can go thrifting or check out some estate sales. That’s probably where we should start anyway since it’s more fun, and you’re a blank slate.”
“Patty, you’re pushing again,” Daniel warned.
“I’m not pushing,” she huffed. “Am I pushing?”
I laughed, but this time it was free and easy.
“Maybe a little.”
“Okay, maybe a little.” Her eyes twinkled.
Love surged for these people who had no connection to me except the one we created from thin air.
“I’d love to go shopping with you,” I said.
“Now you’ve done it,” Dan joked. “You’re doomed. Doomed, I say.”
“You hush. Now, the rummage sale will have some home goods, of course, but it won’t have any furniture because there’s no room for it at the chapel. Somewhere I’ve got a list of the best used stores in the city because of that time Lizzie needed to outfit her rental house. This’ll be so much fun.”