Chapter Fourteen
The next night, Jake hurried home from Dark Matter Metal & Leather to get ready for his date with Beryl. On his way down the street from work, he saw a patrol car and waved at the guy, knowing he was there to keep an eye out so that no one would snatch Jake off the streets.
Seeing that patrol car did make him feel better.
Jake set the speed record for getting ready to leave the house and stopped by a convenience store to pick up some flowers, because the only other place he knew to get a bouquet was at the Supernova Supermarket and she would recognize those flowers.
No. Jake wanted to bring a bouquet she had never seen before.
It cost more than he thought it would, but he felt like it was worth it. And the flowers included a nice vase. To his eye, they looked very pretty.
He found Beryl’s house easily enough, using the navigation panel in his vehicle to enter the address she’d texted, which was very handy for someone with no memory.
She lived at the opposite side of town from his house, though it looked much like his own quiet street.
The houses on each lot that he passed were similar in style but, as in his own neighborhood, each home had different colors on display and everyone had their own decorating style with regard to their yards. It was small-town living at its best.
Beryl had an oversized one-car garage. Jake pulled into the driveway all the way to the garage door, assuming her car was parked inside, and got out balancing the flowers he’d brought in one arm.
He took the stone-lined path to the porch, noting the flowerpots with bright blooms lining either side of the walkway and several larger pots on her porch.
The lights were on inside and he could hear music from within, making him smile and look forward to the evening even more.
He was about ten minutes early but hoped that was okay as he screwed up his courage to knock on the door. He tapped on the screen door’s frame and took a step back.
In no time at all, Beryl answered, opening it with a big smile in place.
“Come in, Jake. Good to see you.” Beryl opened the door wide and pushed the screen door open so he could enter the living room.
Jake inhaled deeply. “Wow. Something smells great.”
“I decided to make something tried-and-true that was also easy, which means you get spaghetti with meat sauce, bagged salad and garlic bread from the Supernova Supermarket. I do have three different salad dressings to offer you, though, so I have that going for me.”
He grinned. “Sounds good to me.” Jake handed her the bouquet of flowers.
“Thank you, Jake. These are beautiful.”
A buzzer went off in the kitchen, pulling her attention. She carried the flowers toward the kitchen, motioning for him to follow.
“I love your house,” Jake said, noting the dining room on the other side of the kitchen.
He saw that she had set the large dining room table— it would likely seat eight people if she wanted to have a dinner party—for two at one end, so they could sit close.
“Is there anything I can do to help you or should I just stay out of your way?”
She handed him back the flowers and said, “Pease put these over on the dining room table and I’ll get everything else ready.”
“On it,” he said. “Oh, by the way—Sheriff Campbell stopped by my shop today to tell me about what happened with those two banditos, as he calls them.”
Beryl looked up from stirring a pot on her stove. “I was going to text him today, but I wasn’t sure what to say, since that guy didn’t really grab you before he got hit by that car, then jumped in and they drove off.”
Jake nodded. “Yeah. I told him I wasn’t going to press charges because the guy didn’t actually nab me. Because you saved me.”
“I’m very happy to have saved you, if I did.”
“Wyatt said they did some damage to some other vehicles as they raced away and ran out of gas right before they got to the Big Bang Truck Stop. The deputy chasing them took them into custody without incident. The sheriff said they confessed pretty fast to what they were about to do, which was to grab me and take me somewhere.”
Beryl turned toward him and frowned. “We were right? They were going to grab you? And I was the redhead they were talking about?”
Jake nodded. “It would seem so.”
“Did they say why?”
Jake shrugged. “They said someone hired them, but insisted they have no idea who.”
Before he could say anything else, there was a sharp knock at Beryl’s front door, startling them both. “Now who could that be?” Beryl asked.
There was another sharp knock at the door. Beryl had started toward it when the handle turned, the door opened wide and someone strode in.
At first, Jake thought it was the guy who’d come by his shop looking for medieval chainmail.
Ian? But as the man took a few long strides toward the brightly lit kitchen, Jake got a better look at his face and saw it was definitely somebody different.
The two men shared a resemblance and were similar in height and body type, though. Maybe Ian was a cousin?
“Hey, Beryl,” the tall newcomer said as he kept coming. “I hope you have dinner ready, because I’m starving.” He came to a stop in the kitchen and eyed Jake. “Who are you? Wait! Are you the new boyfriend? I can’t believe she invited you here tonight.”
Surprised that the man would just walk right into Beryl’s house and demand to be fed, Jake had the fleeting thought that he might be a boyfriend or husband arriving home from work and ready for dinner.
He shook that thought right out of his head.
Beryl wasn’t taken, he was sure of it. Her next words confirmed it.
“Jett, what are you doing here? And since when do you simply barge into my house like you own the place? You don’t, little brother.” Beryl sounded miffed. She gestured in Jake’s direction and said, “Clearly, I have plans tonight. Go away.”
“What are you talking about? Come on, Beryl, where’s your head at these days? It’s family dinner night and you know it! No wiggling out of it because you have a date. You can’t use the excuse that you don’t remember. From what I hear, only your boyfriend can pull that one off.” Jett winked at Jake.
Evidently, Beryl’s brother knew at least a little something about Jake’s story.
Beryl shook her head and pointed to a calendar hanging on the wall next to the kitchen. “No. Wrong. It is not tonight! Family dinner is tomorrow night.”
“Nope. It’s tonight, chickie-baby. And I’m not leaving until you feed me.”
“I am not your chickie-baby. I wish you’d never heard that term.
” Beryl marched over to the calendar and jabbed a finger at one of the squares on it.
She then leaned in closer and a gasp broke from her lips.
She promptly threw her hands in the air.
“Oh, my gosh! I cannot believe you’re right, Jett.
I totally forgot tonight was family dinner night.
I do not know where my head is, possibly damaged by banditos and a case of strawberries misdelivered at the grocery store. ”
Jett narrowed his eyes at the term banditos, but when she mentioned the strawberries, he seemed to relax. “That’s okay,” he said with a smirk. “We’ll just horn in on your date night with your new boyfriend here. It’ll be fun.”
“I don’t know about that.” Beryl turned her back on her brother and went to the stove, muttering to herself.
Jett offered Jake his hand. “I’m Jett Ashcraft.”
Reassured that this was no romantic rival, Jake accepted the handshake. “Hi, Jett. I’m Jake Jones. I own Dark Matter Metal & Leather downtown.”
“Pleased to meet you,” he said. He went to peer over his sister’s shoulder and let out a sound of disappointment. “Spaghetti? Again? We had that last time.”
She jabbed her elbow into his belly to get him to step back. “I like spaghetti. It’s one of the things I cook well. You don’t have to stay, you know.” Her brows went up in seeming challenge.
“Good try, but I’m not leaving.” Jett eyed the pot of sauce. “At least it looks like you made enough for everyone and not just dinner for two. So maybe you didn’t forget it’s family dinner night. What’s up with that?”
She pushed out a long-suffering sigh. “I was cooking for tonight and tomorrow night, if you must know.”
“You mean you were going to serve us leftovers? I don’t know how I feel about that.”
Beryl rolled her eyes. “It’s a free meal, Jett. I’m sure you’d be able to adjust and make your feelings happy ones or go hungry. The choice is yours to make.”
“I will say that I find spaghetti sauce tastes better the second day, as far as leftovers go,” he countered. “But I’m eating some tonight. You’re just lucky I’m starving.”
“Yeah. I sure feel lucky right now,” Beryl said sarcastically.
Jake enjoyed watching the siblings verbally spar and he was supremely grateful that Beryl didn’t have a boyfriend. He especially liked that her brother already thought they were a couple, even though they had not established that nomenclature between the two of them.
There was another knock at the door, barely preceded by it popping open and three more people walking into Beryl’s house.
The family resemblance was so strong, it was no surprise to find out they were Beryl and Jett’s siblings.
Beryl introduced them as Mica, Jade and Jasper.
And it turned out that Jett, Jasper and Jade were triplets. Fascinating.
“So, you’re the new guy in our sister’s life. Cool,” Jade said. Her hair was red like her sister’s, but a darker shade and much longer, trailing down her back.
Beryl gave Jake a beseeching look, mouthing, “I’m so sorry.”
Jake grinned and shrugged. He didn’t mind. He was happy to meet her family. He wanted to get in good with them. Since he didn’t even know if he had siblings, it was nice to watch a big family who clearly loved each other and got along.
Without being asked, Jade started rummaging through the kitchen cabinets to collect more plates, glasses and silverware to expand the place settings on the dining room table from two to six.
Despite Jett’s grumbling, no one seemed to have a problem clearing their plates of heaping helpings of spaghetti.
As they ate, Jake learned quite a lot about the Ashcraft siblings in general and about Beryl in particular.
Everyone pitched in to clear the table and clean the kitchen with the speed of practice.
He especially liked Jade, who herded the three brothers out earlier than they’d clearly planned, saying they owed it to their big sister to give the couple some alone time.
As Jett walked out the door, he slapped Jake firmly on the back a couple of times. All he said, though, was, “Great to meet you, Jake.” There was no hint of a stay-away-from-my-sister vibe, for which Jake was grateful.
Once the door was closed behind her siblings, Beryl heaved a sigh, her green eyes big with apology. “Again, I’m so sorry you had to endure my family unexpectedly this evening.”
“Don’t be sorry, I enjoyed it. I feel sort of like I got a crash course about you in a single sitting. I hope I can remember everything,” he said with a smile.
Beryl stepped closer, her gaze never leaving his. She leaned into him, her mouth brushing his lips in a tender, sweet kiss before retreating, as if worried about how he might react to the kiss.
Jake did not take too much time to think before he leaned close and kissed her back. He was not tender and, after two seconds, neither was she.
They clung together for several long, wonderful moments before Jake released her and backed away, hoping he hadn’t just ruined everything by being too aggressive.
“That was amazing,” Beryl said.
“I agree. Amazing.” Jake had no interest in being cool about this. “When can I see you again?”
“How about tomorrow night? Turns out it’s not family dinner night at my house and I’m free,” she said with a little laugh.
“Maybe you can come over to my house. I don’t know how to cook anything, but I do order takeout really well.”
“Perfect.”
Jake pulled his phone from his pocket and texted Beryl his address before he opened the front door. She followed him outside and onto the porch—where they noticed that all her siblings stood in a tight circle behind Jake’s car as if gossiping like old ladies.
Beryl put her hands on her hips. “Hey! Why are you all still here?”
The four looked at them, their expressions entirely unrepentant.
“We were gossiping about you, of course,” Jett said. “We thought you’d be in there longer.”
“Well, you thought wrong. Go home. All of you.” Beryl turned to Jake and rolled her eyes. Then, ignoring her siblings, she put her palms on either side of his face and kissed him goodnight. Again. It was awesome.
There were hoots and hollers from their audience of Ashcrafts, but Jake didn’t care.
Apparently, neither did Beryl.