by Odette Stone
“You can just set that on the table.” Lauren’s voice wasn’t exactly friendly.
Silence followed me as I walked across the room and put the chips on the corner of the table.
I put my best smile on my face and turned back to the group that stood there staring at me.
Lauren stepped forward and introduced me quickly. Misty. Terra. Olivia. Brenda. Angela. Charlotte. Poppy. Yes, that was her actual name. Poppy.
“Pleased to meet you,” I said with a smile that felt pressed on.
Their smiles felt as forced as my own.
Charlotte, a tall woman with curly dark hair, spoke, “So, you’re from New York?”
“I am. Where are you from?”
She ignored my question. “So, how did you meet Jackson?”
I hadn't mentally prepared myself for this line of questioning. I didn’t think stating that I was initially engaged to his brother would go over well. “Well…um…I met him through a mutual acquaintance.”
They stared at me.
I felt compelled to continue. “And my car broke down, and he fixed it.”
“And all that led to marriage in three short months,” she stated, looking around at the group. “That's remarkable.”
Everyone laughed.
She looked me up and down. “How old are you?”
“24.”
“You look a lot younger than that.”
I switched gears, looking over at Lauren who was counting paper plates. “Lauren, can I help you with anything?”
“No thanks.” Lauren didn’t even look at me.
Brenda spoke to me. “So have you ever dated anyone in the military before?”
“No.”
“It’s not easy being married to a soldier.”
My lips parted, but I had no idea how to respond to that.
“Jackson is a SEAL. How do you think you will deal with him being gone for months at a time, knowing that his life is at risk every single minute that he is gone?”
I felt the blood drain out of my face. They were voicing my greatest fears. “I don’t know.”
“My guy, at least, is on a boat. I have no idea how you sleep at night.”
I was entirely unprepared for this conversation. “Jackson said they train for every situation.”
Brenda half smiled at me. “Well, I’m just glad that it isn’t my man doing a HALO jump out of the back of a plane in the middle of the night and landing in the middle of enemy territory before engaging in a gunfight with maniac terrorists.”
“What’s a HALO jump?” my heart pounded at the vision of Jackson parachuting into enemy territory.
“It might be better if you don’t know.”
Lauren looked over her shoulder. “Misty, can you toss the salad? Poppy, do you want to help me mix up this dressing?”
“I can help with something,” I said, desperate to extract myself out of this conversation.
Lauren shook her head. “No thank you. Brenda, can you wash that bowl over there?”
I knew when I was being excluded. “May I please use your washroom?”
“Head straight upstairs. First door on the right.”
I stood looking in the bathroom mirror, dreading going back downstairs. How was I going to get through the rest of the night?
I crept down the stairs, and I could hear the conversation in full force.
“Did you see what she wore to the baseball game?”
“Oh, we saw. Pretty high and mighty.”
“I’m pretty sure her bag was Prada.”
“As if a 24-year-old is walking around with a Prada bag. If it was, it was a fake.”
“Maybe she’s rich, and that is why Jackson married her.”
“Nope. I bet she is just money hungry and thinks that marrying a Navy SEAL is her ticket to a rich life. She has no idea how hard it is to be a military wife.”
“Well, what about their PDA at the ballgame? When he grabbed her and kissed her, I swear the group of us almost swooned.”
“Oh my God, that was hot.”
More laughter.
I recognized Lauren’s voice. “Harper told me that she and Jackson are still running together.”
I froze at that comment.
“Shut the front door.”
“Holy shit.”
Yes, my sentiments exactly. My heart pounded.
“Harper is heartbroken. They were talking marriage. And he came back married…to that child.”
“If I were Harper, I would lose my mind over this.”
“Harper doesn’t think this marriage will last.”
“What do you mean?”
“She said her and Jackson have talked and that this marriage is pretty much doomed.”
“So, she is just biding her time then.”
“Wouldn’t you?”
“It baffles me. How do you break up the perfect relationship and after three months, come back married to a stranger?”
Silence.
“Maybe he knocked her up?”
“Do you think?”
“No way. Remember when June dated him? She said he was religious about birth control. She was on the pill, and he always used a condom.”
“Harper told me the same thing. She said he was beyond fanatical about birth control.”
“Well regardless, he made a huge mistake. She is a total wannabe trying to act like she is better than everyone else. I’m definitely on Team Harper.”
“Jackson is so hot. Emily is cute, but he is way out of her league. This is never going to last.”
“Sounds like he's already regretting this. According to Harper.”
So much emotion coursed through me, I could barely see. Private school 101. Never let the haters see your pain. I walked around the corner. I looked around the room at all eight women. Charlotte and Brenda openly stared back. The rest had the grace to avoid my gaze.
It was apparent I stood in the middle of an enemy camp. I knew from experience that it's better to retreat than anything else. I'd never get a fair trial in this crowd. I had no defense. No way to retaliate because almost everything they had said was the truth. All I wanted to do was run.
I lifted my chin and walked to the door. My head held up high.
I don’t know what possessed me, but I paused, and I looked over my shoulder. “Who thought my bag was Prada?”
They stared, slack-jawed, at me. I had hung around enough rich snobs to know how to take a shot back. It wasn’t my style, but I couldn’t bear to walk out of yet another room with my tail between my legs.
“My bag is an Hermès Birkin.” I paused thoughtfully. “I don’t really like Prada bags. They sometimes come across as a bit kitsch, don’t you think?”
I somehow managed a smile, hiding the fact that my insides were melting and I was about a heartbeat from breaking down. “Looks like you don’t need my help. See you out there.”
My eyes scanned the backyard for Jackson. I wanted to leave the BBQ now. I spotted him standing drinking a beer and talking to two men. My mind was reeling from the conversation I had just heard. Jackson went running with Harper? I had a vision of them alone on some isolated running path, both of them moving with grace and athletic beauty.
Were they planning on getting back together? What was their end game? Why had he asked me to trust him when he was still seeing her? I stood there in the middle of the lawn unsure what to do. Did I ask him about it? Maybe those women were just unkind? Perhaps there was some rational explanation?
“Hey, Emily. You look lost.”
I felt dazed. I looked around to see Forbes and Guinness smiling at me. Unsure of my next moves in the next five seconds, much less the rest of my life, I turned to them.
“Hey.”
“Where's your drink?” Forbes looked at my empty hand.
“I’m good right now.”
“We were just talking about your husband’s river monster experience.”
My mind recalled a fishing show about deadly fish. “River
monster?”
“This is a crazy story.”
“Totally crazy,” Forbes added.
“What happened?” I asked, wanting to buy some time just to calm my nerves. I felt so anxious that I vibrated.
They shared a glance. Guinness hesitated.
“You can tell me,” I said with a bright, fake smile. “I’m totally up for a story about Jackson.”
Especially one that didn’t involve a certain ex-girlfriend.
He grinned at me. “Well, we were on a mission, and we needed to make an approach via water. So we were eyeballs deep in this huge nasty black river. I’m telling you, it was all kinds of awful. It wasn’t quite night, but definitely on the dark side. Suddenly, MacDog signals for us to stop moving.”
Guinness had my full attention.
“It was highly unconventional for MacDog to direct us to halt the mission. So we all stopped, and MacDog just slowly sinks under the water. We can’t see him. There are some ripples but nothing else. He's gone for over a minute. The rest of us are just looking at each other wondering what the fuck he's doing. He comes back to the surface and pushes this huge rope away from him.” Guinness’ big arms demonstrated the motion. He paused. “Except that wasn’t a rope. It was a 14-foot dead anaconda. The biggest snake I have ever seen.”
“Fucking huge,” Forbes added.
My hand covered my mouth. I had no words.
Guinness laughed. “Apparently this snake had wrapped itself through his legs and was making its way around his waist, so he went underneath the water so he could quietly kill it. Not a single splash. MacDog is such a beast.”
“I fucking hate snakes,” Forbes said. “I probably would have screamed like a little kid.”
I stared at them in horrified fascination. “What was he doing in the river where there were snakes?”
They looked at each other. “Well, that was just part of the mission.”
My mind played the image of Jackson, his face painted like a warrior, coming out of the water, silent and deadly so that he could approach some enemy camp and engage in a deadly fight. It scared me so much that it took my breath away. Blame it on my hormones or my fear of Jackson dying, or the fact that I was so over my head at this BBQ but my eyes filled with tears. I looked at the sky and blinked, mortified that I was crying in front of Jackson’s buddies.
“Oh shit,” Forbes said.
I gave a half laugh. “Sorry. Just ignore me. I cry all the time.”
Forbes punched Guinness in the arm. “Brilliant dude.”
Guinness looked horrified. “Please don’t tell Jackson we told you the snake story. If he knows I made you cry he’ll kill me.”
I gave a watery laugh. “It’s fine. I won’t tell him.”
Guinness and Forbes just stared at me.
I felt like an idiot. “I think I'm just going to grab some food.”
They both looked like I had taken them off death row. “Sure. Great idea.”
Chapter 23
It pained me to be at this BBQ. I desperately wanted to tell Jackson that I wanted to leave, but between getting ostracized by the wives and then crying in front of his buddies, dragging him away before the food had been served would kill all hope of me ever being accepted by this group.
With resignation, I moved to get in line at the buffet table. I was too stressed to eat, but I dutifully put a few carrot sticks on my plate and a couple of potato chips, but I avoided the burgers and salads. There was no way I could choke that down. I already felt incredibly uptight.
I stood in the middle of the yard looking for Jackson.
“Don’t tell me you’re on a diet,” a voice said from beside me. “Because you’re tiny.”
I turned and looked up. The owner of the voice was average height and built, with a blond crew cut. He had a broad smile with great teeth.
“Not really hungry.”
He leaned forward and said quietly, “I get it.”
“Get what?”
He shrugged and took a bite of his burger. “My little sister is shy too. She can’t eat in crowds.”
I peered up at him. “You think I’m shy.”
He winked. “I know it.”
I picked up one of the potato chips and started to nibble on the edge. “How?”
“You’re wandering around, trying not to look like you don’t know anyone. If you weren’t shy, you would be three feet thick in all the women talking, but you seem to be avoiding them, so you either don’t know them or you don’t like them.”
Our eyes met.
“Or both,” he said with a cheeky smile. He looked at my plate. “And you have about 45 calories on your plate, probably most of which you won’t eat.”
I let out a big sigh. “Okay. I’m shy.”
He laughed. “I know.”
I looked up, and my heart stopped when I saw Harper walking across the lawn. I had forgotten how tall she was. Her long, lean legs were clad in white jeans, and her navy silk shirt showed off the perfect amount of cleavage. Her long blonde hair artfully styled. I was completely caught off guard that she would come to the BBQ. She stopped to say something to someone. She acted like she didn’t have a care in the world. Complete confidence.
It was like watching a train wreck except the wreck was my own life. Jackson was talking to two guys, and he didn’t see her coming, but he must have sensed her because he turned and glanced at her. She still hadn’t acknowledged him. Jackson looked back to his guy friends and then while saying something to the guys in front of him, he gave her a second longer sideways glance. Holy fuck. It was like watching the hottest foreplay in the world.
The guy beside me spoke. “I see you’re noticing Jackson and Harper. They’re hard not to miss.”
“You know them?”
He took another bite of his burger. “Not personally. That dude has a reputation though.”
“What kind of reputation?”
“Tough as nails. Revered in the field as one of the best. Super intense. He’s in his own league. I’ve heard stories about him that would blow your mind.”
“Like what?”
“Just stuff that no one else even thinks of doing because it seems impossible, but he does it with ease.”
I watched as Jackson turned and studied Harper as she walked over to him. Jesus, they looked good together. They looked like they were made for each other. So perfect and beautiful in their own way. The chemistry sizzled between them. Jackson said something to her, and she threw her head back and laughed. He smiled down at her. His buddies slowly drifted away, leaving the two of them alone. She replied, and he smiled again. They never broke eye contact.
“What about her?” I asked through numb lips.
“They dated for years. I heard they broke up, but obviously, they’re back together.”
“Obviously?”
“Look at them. Smoking hot between them.”
I watched as Harper tilted her beautiful face up to his as she spoke and one elegant hand went to rest on his arm. Jackson didn’t move to shake it off. He didn’t step back. He just stood there smiling down at her. I can’t describe the look on his face. His eyes traced over her face in a way that made me feel bad.
Jackson leaned in closer and said something to her, and she gave him this knowing look that made my heart pound in my throat.
“She’s beautiful, too,” I added, as a cold sweat broke over my entire body. I deliberately turned away. I didn’t want to watch nor did I want anyone catching me watching.
The tall blond guy shrugged. “I’m going through BUDs training. I’m going to be a SEAL one day.”
I worked to focus on him. “I think that’s a hazardous job. You might want to rethink that.”
“You sound exactly like my sister.”
“She sounds awesome.”
“Want a bite of my burger?”
I looked up at him. And then shrugged. “Okay.”
I thought he would hand it to me, but instead, he held the burger up to my l
ips. I leaned forward and took a bite. Juicy goodness flooded my taste buds. I moaned.
“That’s good,” I said, talking with my mouth full.
He was staring at me, in half fascination. He touched the side of his lip. “You’ve got some ketchup.”
I wiped my face. “Good?”
He shook his head and stepped a bit closer. He reached forward to wipe it off, a smile on his face. “It’s right here.”
A huge hand grabbed his wrist.
“Kindly keep your fucking hands off my wife,” Jackson growled.
My new friend froze as he looked up at Jackson. “Wife?”
“Beat it,” Jackson snarled. Blond dude backed up, almost tripping over a lawn chair before making a hasty escape.
I opened my mouth to give him a piece of my mind. Of course, he had to come by and manhandle the one person willing to talk to me.
He grabbed me by the arm and started steering me through the crowd.
“What are you doing?” I hissed, as my two carrots bounced off my plate.
He ignored me and directed more than suggested me around the side of the house. On the front lawn, I shook off his grip.
“What are you doing?” I looked at him, thoroughly pissed.
“I turn my back for a second and some skinny kid is busting a move in front of all of our friends?”
“Your friends,” I spat. “And for your information, he was the only one willing to talk to me.”
“He was hand feeding you,” he loomed over me. Inordinately pissed. “I look up, and some dude is hand feeding my wife in front of everyone to see.”
“He offered me a bite of his burger.”
“There are fifty fucking burgers on that grill. Why eat his?”
“He knew. He knew the moment he saw my plate what was going on.”
His eyes narrowed in incredulous disbelief. “Excuse me?”
I wiped a tear from my cheek. “I’m shocked that you had time to pull yourself away from Harper to even fucking notice.”
His head reared back like I had slapped him. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
I backed away from him, holding up my hands. “I need a time out.”
He shook his head. “No. No fucking way.”