Chapter Two
“All alone again?” Jaxson asked.
Tillie lifted her head up from her book, and at first she frowned, but then she saw it was him, and he watched her smile. “Jaxson, hi, and you should know by now, I am never alone.”
He looked down to see Belle under the table, on her lap.
“Does she not like to sit on the floor?” he asked.
“Not particularly, I have a feeling I’ve got a dog that doesn’t like to get dirty.”
He chuckled. “What’s your poison today?” he asked, pointing to her coffee cup.
“Oh, you don’t have to get me a coffee.”
“I insist, besides, it’s hot as fuck to sit indoors, and I’d love the company.”
“Then I’ll have a caramel mocha please, with cream.”
He winked at her and made his way inside the coffee shop. He stood in line. This was always a busy and popular spot for coffee, had even won a couple of awards over the years, so the line went quick. Once he was able to, he ordered himself a sandwich as well as a cinnamon roll, and their coffee.
The waitress gave him a flirty look and offered to bring it to him. Callie did that thing where she bit her lip, which told him she was hoping for a lunch quicky, and that was not happening. He was not currently fucking any of the town women.
Rather than respond to that lip bite, which he had done in the past, he made his way outside and took a seat opposite Tillie.
Last night it had killed him to see her so upset.
He had no idea it had been her parents’ anniversary, and all he wanted to do was make her happy. She didn’t deserve to be crying.
“Are you having a good day?” Tillie asked, looking at his clothes.
He had stains, oil, grease, and some other dirt as well. “Let’s just say it has been productive.”
She laughed.
“How about you?” he asked.
She lifted up a book, and he saw it was a pattern book, and not that he was about to tell her, but it was one of the books she had been requested to review.
“Is it titillating?”
“If you love reading about the construction of patterns, it’s a great read, and of course, you’re doing the patterns in a review.” She gave that one-shoulder shrug. “Which I am.”
“Have you done any yet?” he asked.
“Not yet. This morning I was deciding on my size, tracing the patterns.”
“Tracing?”
“Yeah, I am not going to go out and repurchase this book every single time I want to make something out of it, so I have to trace the patterns. Also, if something doesn’t fit me and is either too big or too small, then I can go back in and trace a different size—” And just like that she stopped with her lips in a beautiful pout.
“And you don’t need me to tell you all this, because this is boring. ”
He chuckled. “I don’t even know if it is boring or not.”
“Sewing is not for everyone.”
“I don’t mind you talking about it. So, if you’ve done all the tracing, why are you here and not in your studio making it?
” he asked. He had loved her video on Friday night, it was all about her June sewing plans, and she had a lot, including trying out the five patterns that came with her book.
He didn’t know anything about the book, other than her excitement when she was able to get it.
“I wanted to take Belle for a walk, and I figured I would treat myself to a coffee, then head back and get some sewing done.” She tilted her head. “And right now, I am basking in that sun.”
He chuckled, and Callie brought out their drinks and his food. He thanked her, but he also wasn’t too polite about it. Callie wasn’t exactly a nice woman.
“Thank you,” Tillie said, offering Callie a smile, but the other woman just glared at her, and it pissed him off.
Callie stormed off.
“Oh, dear,” Tillie said, as she let out a wince. “I don’t think she’s very happy.”
“Ignore her.”
She laughed. “Didn’t you and she...”
He raised his brows. “What?” he asked.
“Date?”
“I don’t date.”
“Oh, right, you just sleep with women and leave them,” Tillie said.
He looked at her and took a bite of his sandwich. “And you have a problem with that, do you?”
“Me, no, why would I?” she asked.
“Because you mentioned it.”
“Jaxson, whatever you do in your spare time is totally up to you. Trust me, I’ve heard all about you, that you’re the town playboy, the rebel and all that.
” Tillie smiled at him and he saw there was no judgment, but he fucking hated his reputation.
His father had warned him there would come a point when he would regret the decisions he’d made as a young man.
He always figured his dad was just talking shit, but right now, he felt it.
“I’ve been with a lot of women, and yes, Callie was one of them, but that’s over and in the past.”
Tillie held her hands up. “Don’t worry about it. I’m not judging you, but with the way she was looking, I hope she didn’t spit in your sandwich.” She lifted her dink and took a look inside.
Jaxson laughed. “We both know a lot of people would go out of business if they took shit like this personally.”
Tillie completely agreed.
“So, what will you be working on first?” he asked, trying to change the subject.
“I’m thinking potentially the hardest one, which is the pants pattern. I always find pants hard to make, because I have very large hips and thighs, and the waistband tends to gape.”
He had watched the multiple videos she had done where she had gone through many different layers of fittings. It was quite fascinating, but he also watched it to catch glimpses of her flesh. Jaxson knew he was addicted. No matter where he went, he was always looking to catch a glimpse of her.
“And there I go again, with my verbal diarrhea.” She wrinkled her nose.
“I get it, pants are not the easiest garments to fit, and that is because your waist-to-hip ratio is quite a significant difference.”
“You don’t want to make a comment about my coffee?” Tillie asked.
“Why would I do that?”
“Trust me, I have a lot of comments implying if I stopped eating bad stuff—”
“Tell them to fuck off,” Jaxson said. “They don’t know what they’re fucking talking about. Ignore that shit.”
Her mouth had opened just a little. “Wow,” Tillie said.
“You’re fine the way you are, and you don’t need to go changing anything for anyone. Some people have nothing nice to say, they should keep it to their fucking selves and not say shit. Pisses me off.”
He saw the smile on her lips.
“Thank you, Jaxson, that actually is lovely to hear,” she said.
To him, Tillie was absolutely perfect.
****
She wanted to make a double-chocolate fudge cake, but she also needed to get some groceries. In her cart, she had gotten plenty of chicken and pork, as it was on sale, and the moment she went home, she would marinate it, bag it, and freeze it.
Her mother had gotten her into the habit of shopping on a budget and making her money last, especially when it came to groceries.
It was why she also maintained a garden patch of vegetables.
So far, she’d grown a couple of zucchinis, but even though she loved it, eating only zucchini was not exactly joyous.
It figured the one vegetable she could grow in abundance was the one she was a little “meh” about.
She also had some tomatoes ripening and a few green onions. It was really coming along, and of course, she did remember what her father would grow and how he would do it. She was simply carrying on the tradition, and also helping to cut her food bill in half.
Rounding the corner, she let out a little cry and was taken aback, as it was a Sunday morning and the shop was getting busier, but she had crashed into Jaxson. Three days, one after the other, she and Jaxson seemed to end up in some kind of conversation.
“Jaxson,” she said. “I’m so sorry, and hi, good morning.” She let out a little laugh.
“Good morning,” he said. “Sorry for bumping into you.”
“No, it’s fine. I don’t know where I was going, and I wasn’t really paying attention. I should let you get back to shopping before all the good stuff goes.”
“Thanks, I don’t like shopping at the best of times.”
“You don’t?” she asked.
“You do?” He didn’t actually answer her.
She laughed. “As it happens, yes, I do actually love to shop. Especially for food.”
He wrinkled his nose. “I don’t share the same excitement.” He looked into her cart. “Are you having a party?”
“What? No, no, absolutely not. I tend to buy in bulk, and I actually prepare meals in advance.”
“In advance?”
“It makes life really easy, especially during heat waves, when I don’t want to do a lot of cooking. I can just pull out a prepared meal, put it in the oven, or take it out onto the grill, and I’m done.”
“Do you want to show me?” he asked.
She was a little taken aback, but she didn’t see why not. “Of course, I can show you this afternoon if you would like.”
“If I fill my cart with the right ingredients, I could come over?” he asked.
“Yeah, of course. I would love that. It was what my mother taught me, and I’d be happy to help you save money and get a home-cooked meal out of it.” She wanted to tell herself to shut up, because she was starting to sound like an advertisement. She just couldn’t seem to stop herself with Jaxson.
He made her all tongue-tied, and she didn’t seem to have any control. She had never been this way around anyone.
They made their way to the meat and poultry section, and he filled his cart with the same deals.
At home, she had her herbs and spices, and she was happy to work with him, to feed himself for a couple of weeks, if not a few months.
They made their way around the aisles, and when she got to the baking one, she grabbed some chocolate chips, but advised he didn’t need to, as she was making herself a cake.
She was not going to eat it all in one go either, she was going to make one, cut it up, and freeze it for when she craved some chocolate cake.
This was how she didn’t throw things away.
She didn’t have to do the math to make a tiny cake.
She could make the giant cake and either share with her neighbors, who were always thankful, or freeze it.
Once they were done, they were heading out into the sunshine, and the moment she looked across the parking lot, she saw a man near her car, and Belle barking.
She had left both windows down, and in Higher Ridge, she didn’t have to worry about people hurting Belle, but she didn’t like how close he was to her car.
Panic set in, and she pushed her cart across the parking lot and got to her car, only to see it was Mitch, the doctor she had once worked for.
“Doctor Anderson,” she said, as she caught her breath.
“Hi, Tillie. I don’t think your dog likes me too much.”
He was close to the car, not quite touching it, but Belle wouldn’t stop barking. “Yeah, she’s not always a people person.”
At that moment, Jaxson joined them. “What’s going on?” he asked.
“I was ... uh, I was worried because I didn’t know who it was next to my car, and I know Belle is not exactly a people person, and it was just Doctor Anderson.”
“It’s Mitch, Tillie,” he said. “We’re out of the office.”
“I thought a doctor was never off duty,” Jaxson said.
“We’re not, but Tillie doesn’t have to be quite so formal.”
Tillie looked between Jaxson and Mitch, and they did not seem to have any real love between them. She didn’t know exactly what to say to either of them. Instead, she opened the trunk of her car and started to load her groceries inside.
It was then she noticed Jaxson had parked on her other side.
“Well, it was good to see you, Tillie. It would be great to catch up with you sometime,” Mitch said.
“Yes, lovely to see you too, but I better hurry and get this loaded in. Belle’s making such a fuss.”
She didn’t like how Belle acted around Mitch, and she knew her dog’s bark had a tendency to irritate some people, although she found Belle’s bark absolutely adorable.
The truth was, she loved everything about her dog.
Even when they had to go for long walks in the snow, in fact, she especially loved her then.
Mitch nodded at both of them and walked away.
She was already loading up the car.
“I don’t like that guy,” Jaxson said, doing the same with the back of his truck.
“He’s a good doctor, but he fired me.” She shrugged.
She was not going to tell Jaxson that Mitch had a way of making her feel uncomfortable.
There were a few times she was sure he was flirting with her, but could never tell.
There was always something about him that made her a little uneasy.
She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but it was always there, lurking, and it did creep her out a lot.
The further away he got, the better she started to feel. “Would you like to follow me home, and I’ll spend the day showing you how to save money?”