21. Twenty-One
Twenty-One
Jake
“ H ow long has it been since we’ve all been to the river?” Megan asks while we lounge on our blankets, sharing snacks and watching the kids splash around in the water with Carter and Anna.
“Not sure, but I think my face was still riddled with acne and my voice broke on every third word,” Jude replies before downing half of the ice-cold beer he’s just cracked.
I smile, closing my eyes and enjoying the soothing way Tessa’s fingers run through my hair while my head rests in her lap.
It’s been a long time since I’ve felt so at peace.
There’s no hint of the burning anger rolling through my veins that used to be so familiar to me during my younger years.
Gone is the empty feeling in my chest that was there when I had to learn how to live without the other half of my heart after Tessa skipped town—just a warm contentment I haven’t felt since my mom was alive.
“So, Jude. Let’s hear it. How’s college life? None of us got to experience it. Well, except Tessa, who probably never went out past midnight and always got to her classes five minutes before her professors did.”
“Hey,” Tessa protests. “I partied, and I was late at least a couple of times.”
“Oooh, you rebel, you,” Megan teases, popping a couple of green grapes into her mouth before shifting her attention back to my brother.
“Spill the beans, Mr. Scholarship. What’s it like to be the star of the football team, have the face of a cover model, and a body chiseled from marble?
Do you have to fend the girls off with a stick, or do you have a sign-up list you’re working through? ”
“Jesus, Megan,” I mumble, scrunching up my nose. As glad as I am that Jude’s living the high life, this is my little brother we’re talking about. I don’t need to hear about his sexual escapades.
“What’s the matter, Big J? Upset that your little bro is seeing more action than you?” Jude taunts, and I crack an eye open to hit him with a you-wish expression. “Then again, I’m not the one who got caught with his balls swaying in the breeze.”
“Oooh, now here’s a story worth hearing,” Megan coos, leaning forward like a crack addict itching for her next fix .
“Not much of a story,” Tessa supplies in an attempt to stop the gossip train from leaving the station. “Jake and I thought we were alone—seeing as Anna was staying at a friend’s—and got a little carried away in the kitchen when Jude arrived.”
“Unannounced,” I hasten to add.
“Tessa was dressed as a sexy librarian,” Jude goes on, and I’m about to hit him in the back of the head, when something wet and heavy drops onto my stomach and knocks the breath out of me.
“Come on, Uncle Jake,” Josie shouts, dripping water all over my chest. “You promised you’d swim with me, and you’ve been napping ever since we got here.
” She follows up her accusation with the most adorable pout and places her ice-cold palms on my cheeks, giving me a pretty good idea about the frigid water temperature.
“I haven’t been napping. I was resting my eyes.”
“Potato, potahto,” Josie shoots back, making me chuckle.
“Alright, little mermaid. It’s time to cool off, anyway.
” Josie jumps to her feet with a delighted squeal and skips off with a spring in her step.
I reach up, pulling Tessa down for a lingering kiss before I reluctantly haul myself up with a groan.
Then I curl a finger at Jude, beckoning him to follow.
“Why don’t you join us, so we can test how long you can hold your breath underwater? ”
My brother looks completely unimpressed as he casually leans back on his elbows and says, “Nah, I’m good. I’ma stay here and hang out with these lovely ladies. Since I haven’t finished my story yet.”
Little shit.
Josie comes running back and begins pulling on my hand, surprisingly strong for such a tiny little thing. “Come on, come on, come on. We don’t have all day. Anna’s getting cold, and I need a new partner to help me splash Daddy and Nathan.”
I give Jude a warning glare and follow Josie toward the river’s edge, passing a shivering Anna on the way.
“It’s about time you got off your behind,” Carter yells from the middle of the river, where he’s lounging on a brightly colored unicorn floaty.
I dip my toes in the water and immediately withdraw, gritting my teeth at the shock.
Considering it’s been hot as Hades over the past week, the water really has no business being this cold.
Then again, I’ve been baking in the sun for close to an hour, so getting past the waist is going to suck either way.
Carter looks at my twisted face and gives an amused chuckle.
“Come on, princess,” he taunts. “My family jewels might be the size of marbles, but once you can’t feel them anymore, it’s really not that bad. ”
The way he talks around his kids, keeping his language PG, never fails to annoy me.
I mean, I get it but I don’t have to like it.
“Right. Says the guy safely floating on his magical pony. Do I have to go in? I could cheer you on from right here,” I suggest, but Josie isn’t having it and drags me along as she wades into the icy depths without a moment’s hesitation. Kids, man. They’re a different breed.
“Stop being a baby and get your behind in here, Uncle Jake,” she barks over her shoulder when she notices me dragging my feet.
Her stern expression makes me pity the fool stupid enough to deny that girl anything.
That future husband better make damn sure he meets her every demand or be prepared to suffer her wrath.
“You heard the boss,” Carter says, splashing water at me and grinning from ear to ear when I release a high-pitched yelp.
Nathan’s muttered, “Uh oh,” reaches me a split-second before what feels like a freight train collides with my back and catapults me forward, completely submerging me.
I break through the surface feeling disoriented, gasping, and sputtering, while my brother laughs so hard he barely manages to keep his head above water.
His eyes pop wide when I lunge at him, and he hauls ass back to shore, where he leaps out of the water like a damn gazelle.
“I swear to God, I’m going to kill that kid,” I mutter as I watch him shake his drenched hair all over the group of girls while they slap at his legs .
“I don’t know. I think he’s hilarious, and you love having him around, so stop acting like a crabby crab. We all know you’re all bark and no bite, you big ol’ teddy bear.”
“Daddy, we’re hungry. We’re going to get some snacks,” Josie informs us, already waiting for Nathan at the water’s edge.
“Wait a gosh darn minute,” I say, rolling my eyes at Carter and showing him exactly what I think about his clean language rule.
“Didn’t you just drag me off my blanket—where I was enjoying a very nice scalp massage, by the way—and beg me to come swim with you?
And now I’m in here, freezing my a-…behind off,” I say, catching myself just in time.
“And you abandon me, leaving me here with your old man? That doesn’t seem fair. ”
Josie looks sheepishly at me but clearly doesn’t feel guilty enough to call off her quest for food.
“I’m sorry Uncle. I’ll save you some gummies,” she shouts, already on her way as she blows me a kiss over her shoulder. Carter gives a low chuckle, and I swim over to him, pulling my upper body onto his floaty and hanging on Jack Dawson style.
“So, now that we’re alone for the first time in forever,” he sings the last part in a girlish voice, and I recognize the lyrics from the four thousand times I’ve been forced to sit through the movie Frozen.
“You and Tessa seem to be hitting it off, and you look happier than I’ve seen you since—well… since Tessa. ”
“We’re just having fun,” I reply, well aware he won’t let me get away with a generic answer but giving it a shot, anyway.
His expression screams bullshit, and I huff out a breath, giving him what he wants.
“I’m trying not to rush into anything. There’s a lot of baggage between us, but we’ve talked a lot, and I realized we’re both equally to blame for the time we’ve lost. I’m trying hard to let it goooooo,” I sing, and Carter gives a nod of approval, obviously impressed with my Elsa impersonation.
“It feels right with her, you know? Like we were always meant to be. But…”
“But?” he prods when I stare over at Tessa. “Sometimes I look at her, and I get this intense feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. Like all of this is too good to be true, and I can’t help but think. What if I lose her again? What if she decides I’m not worth staying for?”
“I don’t think that’ll happen.”
“It’s happened before. There’s no guarantee she won’t go back to LA once her mom’s better. She never saw herself living in Jenkins Creek permanently. Not even when we were kids.”
Carter regards me with a somber expression, seeming to mull his answer over before he speaks.
“Nothing in life is guaranteed. You, of all people, know that better than anyone. Megan could step out of the house tomorrow and get hit by a truck. Your mom didn’t get in her car that night thinking she’d never return.
We have no control over anything. We just like to think we do.
Tessa loves you. She’s always loved you.
I think she grew up and realized that her priorities changed, and I believe she’s not stupid enough to let what you have slip through her fingers a second time.
Talk to her, man. Tell her how you feel and what you hope to get out of this thing.
Just treat her right, and the rest will fall into place. ”