Chapter 30 Julia
THIRTY
JULIA
Last night at the Squeaky Wheel felt like a turning point for Jake and me. When he sang to me, I felt like the only person in the room. Even Caitlin and Amy seemed surprised, but then again, maybe they hadn’t known that he would drive out to Beaumont for karaoke.
Jake Thorne was a passionate man and when he turned all of his focus on me, my pulse raced and goose bumps broke out on my arms. I was surprised he hadn’t asked to stay the night, but after our disagreement at the baby shower, our truce was tenuous and I could understand the urge to be cautious.
Baby steps were needed. We still had so much to figure out before we could make any decisions on the direction of our relationship.
In the meantime, thanks to Sofia’s help getting all that stuff out of the guest room, I was able to paint the walls. I dragged one of my dad’s radios out and plugged it in, twisting the dial until I found a country western station.
The paint I chose had zero-VOCs, but I still wore a mask as I poured it into the tray and set the roller into it. The paint went on smooth and I had to admit, there was something deeply therapeutic watching the sunshiny yellow roll onto the walls. I couldn’t wait to see it finished.
The color called me back to warm summer days filled with bright flowers and cute woodland animals. Once I finished, I decided I would look for wall wraps with baby animals on them. That seemed fitting for the child of a rancher and a veterinarian.
In no time, I had three of the walls painted. One of my favorite songs came on, and I turned up the radio and started dancing around the room, alternating using the paint roller as my dance partner and as a microphone.
“What the hell are you doing?”
I shrieked and whirled around, the roller slipping from my hands and landing on the tarp I placed on the floor in a wet squelch.
“Jake! You scared me. Why didn’t you knock?” And why does he look so angry?
He strode over to the radio and turned it off with a snap, the sudden silence deafening. “I did knock. Shouted your name, in fact. Not that you could hear me with all this … noise.”
Noise? Since when did he think music was noise? I frowned at that and was about to pick up the paint roller and wipe up the mess when he did it for me.
I pulled my mask down below my chin. “As you can see, I’m painting the nursery. Do you like the color? I thought we could do something similar in one of the rooms at the ranch. Or if you think the yellow is too bright, we could add some white to it and—"
“Why are you painting the room at all?” he demanded.
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I took a deep breath and let it out.
“Because I want the nursery in my house to be painted yellow.” It was obvious to me and I couldn’t understand why he seemed so put out.
Was it because of the physical activity?
“Dr. Somers said it was fine for me to continue my normal activities at this stage, and painting is easier than some of my livestock calls and—”
Before I could finish my sentence, Jake slapped the roller into the paint tray, splashing paint over the sides and began aggressively adding another coat to the walls I’d just finished painting.
“Jake, what are you doing?” I was trying to remain calm but he was making an absolute mess and I wasn’t sure if that was intentional.
“Helping,” he said through gritted teeth. He was pushing the roller too hard and it was leaving thick, ugly swipes of paint on the walls.
I finally had enough and put my hand on his arm to stop him. I took the roller away and set it down. “No, you’re messing it up.”
He threw his arms up in the air. “Fine, you tell me what you want me to do.”
I took another deep breath and let it out. “What I want is to finish painting the nursery on my own and for you to go home and have a beer or do whatever you need to do so you’re not snarling at me.”
“I’m not snarling!”
With that, I abruptly decided that I’d had enough. “Choose a different adjective then, but do it somewhere else.”
I turned the radio back on—just not as loud—and tightened the mask on my face.
Grabbing a handful of paper towels, I wiped off the excess paint he’d slapped on as best as I could and cleaned up the paint spills.
I didn’t hear Jake leave the room, but I heard my backdoor slam, then his truck door, followed by the sound of the wheels spinning when he drove off.
I sagged against the unpainted wall. “Well, that could’ve gone better,” I said to the empty room.
“So much for finding some sort of equilibrium.” I picked up the roller.
My heart wasn’t in it anymore, but I was determined to finish it anyway.
When a Kenny Chesney song came on, I switched to a different station.
The upbeat music had me tapping my toes soon enough and I was able to finish the final wall.
Looking around, I decided I was happy with the results.
I’d see how it looked in the morning, but I suspected I’d need to do a second coat. Still, it was a good day’s work.
After cleaning up, I checked on all the animals one last time and then showered and got ready for bed.
Jake was on my mind the entire time. I kept replaying our interactions trying to figure out how we could’ve avoided it all, but even after replaying it a dozen times, I still wasn’t sure.
The way things currently stood, I didn’t see a way forward for us.
Not if everything I did went against his grand plan that he’d yet to discuss with me.
What I could do was keep moving forward. Whatever relationship Jake and I ended up having, this baby was still coming and I was determined that at the very least, he or she would have a beautiful nursery to sleep in.