Chapter 27
RACHEL
“Can we please get ice cream?” Emma pleads from the back seat as we pull out of my dad’s driveway.
Fortunately, no one hurt themselves during the porch repairs, and Dad had a package of hot dogs in the fridge, so we were all fed.
“I’ve got some money.” Mason digs into his pocket and pulls out a small wad of cash.
Laughing, I shove his hand away. “Put that away. You worked hard for that, and you worked hard with Grandpa today, too. I’ll cover the ice cream.”
He and Emma give simultaneous whoops, and I hit my blinker as we approach the ice cream shop.
Ten minutes later, we’ve claimed a table outside and are digging into our sundaes.
“So…” I start, spooning up a bite of hot fudge and vanilla ice cream. “Are you excited for school to start?”
Emma practically bounces in her seat. “So excited. Tessa says we have a new kid. It’s a boy.”
Mason rolls his eyes. “What happened to Drake?”
Her cheeks go pink, and she kicks him under the table. “Mind your business, Mason.”
I hold a hand to my mouth to keep from laughing. “What about you, honey?” I ask Mason.
He shrugs. “I can’t wait to get sixth grade over with.”
“Why is that?”
“In seventh grade, I can play middle school football.” He shoves a spoonful of his treat into his mouth and gives me a duh look.
Okay, then.
“Hey, I think that’s Jinx.” Mason hops to his feet and waves a little wildly.
Sure enough, a familiar white truck pulls up to the stop sign across the road and honks. Then, instead of turning left to head home, he turns right and cranks the truck into the ice cream shop parking lot.
Emma wiggles her way to one side of her bench to make room. “He can sit by me.”
Mason scoffs and gives his sister a stereotypical condescending big-brother look. “You don’t even know him.”
“Yes, I do,” she argues and then snaps a bracelet on her wrist. “We’re friends.”
They are? That’s news to me.
Justin hops out from behind the wheel and tucks his hands into the pockets of his jeans, inadvertently showing off a friendship bracelet, as he strolls over.
“Hey, y’all.” He flashes a megawatt grin, all white teeth amidst that brown-sugar stubble. His hair is curling around the bottom of his baseball cap, and damn, it affects me far more than it should. “You save me any ice cream?”
“I saved you a seat.” Emma pats the space next to her.
He tips his head toward the counter. “Let me go grab something. I’ll be right back.”
In no time at all, he’s back, already licking a chocolate ice cream cone. With a wink at me, he sits sideways beside my little girl, who beams up at him. For a second, I worry that she might be crushing on my man, especially when she leans over and whispers in his ear.
My concerns are assuaged when she straightens, and Justin responds.
“Oh man,” he drawls, his brows jumping to his hairline. “What about Blake?”
“It’s Drake,” she corrects him with a dramatic eye roll. “And he didn’t even say hi to me when I saw him at the lake the other day.”
When the heck have these two been talking? Or did all of this transpire during their run-in at the Kaminskis’?
Justin presses his lips together and gives her a sympathetic look. “Dudes are weird like that, Em. Was he with his friends?”
She nods.
“See, that’s how we are. We don’t like to let on that we’re into a girl until we’re sure she’s into us. Wait until school starts and see how it goes.”
I clear my throat and glare at him. “She’s eight.”
“I’m almost nine, Mom.”
Justin chuckles and gives his cone a long, slow lick, effectively turning my brain to mush.
When he winks over the top of the melting chocolate, my insides liquify, too.
Why must he be so sweet and so sexy? And the friendship bracelet… I could kiss him for humoring her like that.
“You got any work for me this weekend?” Mason pipes up. “I can help in the evenings now, too, since football is done.”
Justin nods and wipes his mouth with a napkin. “Yep. Gotta cut the cemetery this weekend. But I’ll be working late all week at the Carlisles’, so evenings probably won’t work.”
Mason sighs, his shoulders sagging a fraction. “All right.”
“Hey…” I bump my shoulder into his. “Grandpa has plenty for you to do, remember?”
“I know,” he says, his eyes downcast. “But I like hanging out with Jinx.”
Me, too, kiddo. Me, too.
Justin and I share a secret smile, and then I force myself to look away. They know about my date on Friday night, and I don’t want to confuse them by getting caught making heart eyes at Justin, too.
“Could we go to some high school football games this year, Mom?” Mason asks around a bite of his sundae.
“Oh. Um, maybe. I guess we’ll have to see what the schedule looks like.” And how deep I’ve buried myself in homework and life.
“Jack is playing this year,” he adds.
“Jack?”
“Jack Stroud.” Justin wipes a bit of chocolate from his lip. “He works with me. Or he did until practice started.”
“Ah. That Jack.”
“I can take you, Mase. I plan on going to at least a couple of the games.” He flicks his gaze to me. “Assuming it’s okay with your mom.”
“And your dad. You’ll be with him every other Friday.”
“What about me?” Emma pouts, dropping her elbows to the table. “I want to go.”
Justin chuckles and bumps her gently with his elbow. “I’ve got plenty of room in my truck. Your mom could even come if she wanted to.”
The image of the four of us pulling up to a Friday night football game with nearly all of Cole Creek in attendance comes to mind, and my stomach whirls in immediate anticipation. Anticipation that I promptly tamp down.
Yes, I would love to someday do those kinds of things with him and the kids, but we’re not there yet. And he’s encouraging me to date other people first. I’d do well to not get ahead of myself.
“We’ll see.” I smile and take a bite of my ice cream.
Another big truck rumbles past, then makes a quick turn into the parking lot. This one is also familiar, with an Enders Excavating logo in the back window.
Justin lifts a brow as Jesse gets out of the truck and starts our way. The man looks downright pissed off.
“Ah, crap.” He takes another lick of his cone and rises from the table with a sigh. “I better deal with this.”
“Okay.” I give him a small smile as trepidation runs through me. From the look on Jesse’s face, whatever’s on his mind isn’t good. “Thanks for hanging out with us.”
He gives me a lopsided grin, and his gaze drops to my lips just long enough to make me squirm.
He may be in trouble, but phew.
He’s not the only one.
JINX
“Areyou out of your fucking mind?” Jesse stabs a finger toward the table where Rachel and the kids still sit, finishing their ice cream. We’re wedged between his truck and mine, thankfully out of view.
“This is what you’ve been doing?”
I turn away and trek to a trash can to toss my cone. “You talked to Craig, huh?”
“Answer the fucking question, Jinx. Is this what you’ve been doing?”
I pull in a breath and harness all the patience I possess. “Have I been hanging out with Rachel and the kids? No.”
He drops his chin to his chest, seething. “Don’t play games with me. You know what I goddamn mean.”
I do, but what I don’t understand is why it’s any of his business.
“I’d rather not do this here.”
Him pulling in and storming over like he did is too reminiscent of my old man coming to chew me a new one when I was a kid. I don’t need him making a bigger scene when he learns the truth.
“Too fucking bad,” he growls. “Craig already told me all I need to know, so I don’t need to hear you say it.”
“Say what?” I retort, my own temper piquing. I knew he wouldn’t be thrilled about me seeing Rachel because it would make things awkward for him at work with Craig. I get that. But he has no right to give me shit about something that’s otherwise none of his concern. “That I’ve been spending time with Rachel? Maybe you do need to hear it from me, because I can guaran-damn-tee that my version is different from Craig’s.”
Jesse’s hands tighten into fists. “She’s not even divorced yet. And those kids… fucking hell, Jinx. Those kids have been through enough.”
“I know that.” Annoyance courses through me, mixing with hurt. How the hell can he think I haven’t thought about that? That I don’t care? “We’re just friends.”
“Right.” He laughs bitterly. “Friends with fucking benefits.” He shakes his head. “I thought you were smarter than this shit. I thought you’d grown up.”
Teeth gritted, I blow out a long breath, working to keep my fury in check. “You couldn’t be more off base right now if you tried, man. I think you should take a step back and—”
“No.” He closes the distance between us and stabs a finger into my chest. “You sat in my office today and tried to sell yourself as responsible and ready to become a partner. And I believed you, Jinx. I fucking believed you. Then I not only hear about how untrue that is, but I see it with my own eyes.”
I turn my head for breathing room and tamp down every instinct to react. But I swear to god, if we weren’t in public and Rachel and the kids weren’t only a few yards away…
This is the shit he’s done all my life. Jumping to conclusions without giving me a chance to explain. Blaming me for shit without knowing the full story. Throwing his fucking weight around because he can.
“I think it’s time you stop listening to selfish motherfuckers like Craig Perry.” I shove him away. Not hard but enough to tell him I’m not letting him win this one. “And maybe you should get your eyes checked too while you’re at it, because what you saw over there?” I point toward the table. “You don’t know the first thing about it.”
“Then tell me,” he snaps.
“Too fucking late.” He doesn’t get to come screaming in and throwing accusations around, then expect me to explain myself. “You want to talk man to man? Fine. But we’re not doing it like this.”
For a second, I consider getting in my truck and leaving. But I won’t let him get to me.
I walk back to Rachel and the kids and hope he takes it for what it is.
Fuck you, Jesse.