“Have a good day,” he calls after me as I walk to the front door.
“You too!”
There is no way I’m agreeing to be Brent’s date to his ex-wife’s wedding, no matter how much he begs. No doubt Kayla will be unhappy. His ex-wife most likely won’t be happy either. Me going has disaster written all over it. If he actually does beg, I’ll have to find a way to distract him until he accepts a no answer.
For now, I have classes to attend. Yay me. The day I finish college, I’m going to run for the hills and never look back. College is even worse than high school. I’ve had terrible roommates who have no sense of personal space. The girl I have this semester keeps stealing my clothes. She swears she only borrows them, but that’s not the point. And if you borrow my bra, I don’t want it back.
There are some professors who drone on and on. All I want to do in those classes is sleep or skip it. Then there are the few smaller classes where the professors like to call on people whether they raised their hand or not. I really hate those classes. Can’t I just have a mixture of those two classes and take a chance on failing the exams? I don’t test well, especially with my test anxiety. So, I really love those classes that make you write papers outside of classes and your grades are based solely on that work.
My sister excelled in school. Me? I struggled every step of the way, even when I was younger. My mom loves to bring up the fact that I almost got held back in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade, but I just did make it through each time. Won’t that make a kid feel stupid and discouraged. She first told me in the third grade when I had to deal with those big tests at the end of the year and had my first huge experience with test anxiety.
When I didn’t pass those tests and had to retake them, I began to hate school. I’ve been feeding that hatred ever since and I can’t wait for the day I no longer have to worry about school.
I walk out of the class I share with Kayla, thankful it’s over and wanting nothing more than a nap. That’s usually how I feel after class.
“Hey, Jamie! Wait up!”
I stop and turn at the sound of Dax’s voice. “Hey. What’s up?” I ask as he comes to stand in front of me. Dax is a pretty cute, good guy from what I gather in our brief chats before and after class. Anyone who helps me out when I’m in a pinch always gets my approval, too.
“Would you want to go out some time?” He smiles and somehow, he packs all his charm into that smile.
“Oh.” He’s surprised me. I thought he’d ask me something about class. “I’m sorry, Dax. I’m actually seeing someone right now.”
His smile slackens slightly. “Okay. Cool. Well, I better get to my next class. See ya later.” He walks away as quickly as he appeared.
I turn around and spot Kayla nearby, eyeing me as if she’s disappointed I didn’t accept his offer to go on a date. That would suit her well. Too bad for her that the only man I have eyes for is Brent.
“Dad!”
I get out of the current vehicle I’m working on and walk around front to the engine and Kayla storms over, looking a hell of a lot like her mother in this moment. “Hey.” I kiss the top of her head. “How’s my little girl?”
She leans her hip against the car and folds her arms over her chest. “Mom is marrying Glenn.”
“I know. She called me this morning.”
Kayla huffs. “What is wrong with you two? Glenn is boring and Jamie is—”
“Watch it,” I warn. “And what’s wrong with him being boring? You aren’t marrying him.”
“It’s just...it seems kind of fast, don’t you think? I don’t want Mom to end up getting hurt.”
“She’s been dating him for almost a year, I think. She’s not rushing anything except the wedding and she can do that if she wants.”
Kayla’s eyes widen. “For almost a year?”
I nod. “She told me when she started dating him, but she wasn’t ready for y’all to meet him. She wanted to be sure. Sounds like she’s pretty sure of things. If you’re really concerned, though, you need to talk to her. Not me.”
“That’s why I’m talking to you. I’m trying to figure out if I should talk to her. Logan told me to stay out of it because he doubts Mom would say yes if she didn’t want to marry him and Mom might not want me butting in.”
“You know, you should start taking Logan’s advice,” I tell her. “Trust his advice.”
“I do,” she says with too much defense in her tone. “I just like to get second opinions too much and he knows that. But now that I’ve talked to you and I know a little more about her relationship than I did before, I can follow Logan’s advice and stay out of it.”
“Good.” I don’t mind if Kayla expresses her concern, but the problem is she doesn’t always do that in the best way. I would prefer if she proceeded calmly with caution instead of going in hotheaded and overly emotional.
“I saw Jamie today. A guy asked her out. Want to know what she said?”
“It doesn’t matter what she said,” I reply, sticking my head under the hood. “We haven’t actually said we’re dating only each other. Jamie can go on a date with another guy if she wants to until it’s clearly understood that I’m her boyfriend and she’s my girlfriend.” Not that I want Jamie to go on a date with someone else, but I can’t stop her at this point either.
“You really don’t care, Dad?” I can hear the disappointment and I know if I were to look at her, I’d see it on her face. Did Jamie agree to go on the date?
It doesn’t matter.
“Nope,” I answer.
“Okay. Well, thanks for helping me with the Mom issue. And so you’re not left wondering, she turned him down and told him she’s seeing someone. She didn’t even know I was standing nearby.” Kayla rolls her eyes when I lift my head, a grin already on my face.
“Admit that you’re secretly cheering for us.” She wouldn’t have told me that if she didn’t care somewhat.
“I’m cheering for you, Daddy. I’m still undecided about Jamie.”
“That’s good enough for now.”
She finally gives me a smile and comes over to kiss my cheek. “I gotta go. There’s a house calling my name and asking me to clean it.”
I tell her I love her and to have a good day and then she’s on her way. Before, I was fairly concerned she wouldn’t come around to the fact that I’m dating someone only slightly older than her. Now, I think as long as she sees I’m happy and Jamie works her charm, Kayla will come to realize that Jamie’s a great person. She’ll be able to accept this and get over the awkwardness.
With Kayla gone, I return my focus to work with one eye on the clock. I’m actually eager to leave work. The sooner I leave, the sooner I’ll see Jamie. When I start packing up my things at a quarter til five, both of my brothers appear in the doorway with suspicious eyes.
“Is there a fire somewhere?” Ronnie asks with a laugh.
“I don’t think we’ve ever seen you leave early,” Peter says.
“Shut up and go away.”
“There’s a woman, isn’t there?” Ronnie perks an eyebrow.
“There’s a need to go home at a decent time. Isn’t that what everyone wants from me?”
“Hmm. He’s being grouchy about it. Definitely a woman,” Peter says with a smirk.
I grab my keys and push through both of them. “Lock up.”
“When do we get to meet her?” Ronnie calls out behind me. I ignore him and Peter’s laugh. Maybe if Jamie drops by soon, they’ll go ahead and get off my back. I don’t think they’ll have an issue with her age like Kayla does. That’s what I’m hoping, at least.
I text Jamie before I pull out of the lot so she knows she can come over whenever she’s ready. By the time I get home, there’s a text waiting for me that says she’ll be here soon. Knowing that, I start on dinner after a quick shower. We’re having steaks and fries. Simple, but delicious. I’m done cooking and Jamie still isn’t here. I check my phone, but no messages. Where is she? If she was goi
ng to be leaving soon, she should definitely be here by now. Worry builds as I walk through my house and peer through my windows.
Well, that’s odd. Jamie’s car sits in my driveway. I walk outside and over to her car, but she’s not inside. My worry triples, especially when I see her bag is in the backseat still. Where the hell is she?
“Oh, hey, Brent.”
I turn on my heels at the sound of her voice. She jogs toward me in her running gear. “You went running?”
“Yeah, sorry. I figured I had time and I really needed it.”
“Without me?” I tease. When I hear the car doors unlock, I open the back door to grab her bag for her.
“It’s one of those days. Plus, you like running in the morning, right?” She glances over at me as we walk toward the house.
“As long as I can get up, but I would’ve gone with you. I do run in the evenings, too, sometimes.”
“It’s okay. I needed to go by myself.” She inhales deeply when we step inside. “Dinner’s ready?” she asks.
“Yeah. Is everything okay, Jamie?” I ask as I drop her bag on the couch and we head into the kitchen to eat. Jamie runs for a few reasons, but one of them is to burn run off emotional steam. Considering we ran this morning, I’m guessing that might be why she needed to run again this afternoon.
“I told you telling my mother about us backfired. Turns out, it’s now worse. I talked to my sister today, personally congratulated her on her pregnancy, talked about school, and then she told me my mother plans on calling me in about week or so and will insist that my new boyfriend and I come home for dinner so they can meet you. She was calling to give me a heads-up. This is all your fault, Brent.” She glares at me, and it’s a serious glare too.
“I’m not afraid of your parents, hon. If she wants us to go, let’s go.”
Jamie groans. “But we shouldn’t have to endure the hell that will surely be given to us.” She narrows her eyes at me. “And you are way too eager to meet my parents.”
She has me there. What I wouldn’t give to put those people in their place for Jamie. From what she’s told me about them, I’ve concluded she deserves better and if I get the chance to tell them how they can treat her better, I’m taking that opportunity. I think it’s my obligation as someone who knows Jamie and as her boyfriend. I won’t go looking for the fight, obviously, but if things seem to get out of hand with how they treat her, I’ll have no choice but to step in.
“She’ll bug you until we go, right?” Jamie nods. “Then when she asks, surprise her and accept. You don’t need to worry. I have your back. We’ll be fine.”
“I sure hope so. If your plan doesn’t work out for me again, I’m firing you.” She points her fork at me and looks serious.
I laugh. “You’re the one choosing to listen to me. Fire yourself from taking my advice.”
Finally, I get a smile from her. “It’s more fun to blame it on you.”
We finish eating dinner and then Jamie heads upstairs to take a shower. I lie down on the couch and watch TV while I wait for her. My eyes may drift closed, but they pop open when Jamie carefully lies on top of me. I rest my hands on her lower back and immediately struggle to keep them there.
“Sleeping already?” she teases.
“I was bored waiting on you.”
She rolls her eyes. “I have schoolwork to do.” She sighs.
“Then you should probably do that.”
Jamie shrugs. “It’s no fun and I just want to be here with you.”
“Why do you hate school so much? I think it’s time you finally tell me.” She tenses slightly in my arms, so I know it’s not something she’ll enjoy. “Let me in a little more, Jamie.”
She looks at me for a long, long moment. “I’m not the brightest bulb in the box, Brent. Just ask my mother to tell you when we have dinner with her. She’ll be happy to tell you all about how I almost flunked kindergarten, first grade, and second grade. She told me in the third grade, which is when I discovered how bad my test anxiety is. I freeze up and forget almost everything. Make stupid mistakes. School is torture, Brent. I’m telling you, if I could quit right now and work at the store for the rest of my life, I’d be happy. But I can’t do that because my parents would shit a brick if both of their kids didn’t graduate from college, including the dumb one.”
I really, really hate her parents. “You aren’t dumb, Jamie.” I almost want to tell her that finishing her degree would be a good thing. She’s almost finished and if she completes it, then at least she’ll have it if she does ever want to use it. But I don’t think I should be another voice telling her what to do, even if it’s only a suggestion.
“Do you know how many times I’ve had to retake tests over the years? My parents constantly worried I would get behind. I had a tutor for every subject, even though I knew the material. I just forgot it all when I’d take the test and I’d get lazy about completing my schoolwork the older I got.”
“See? You just agreed with me.”
Jamie lifts her head to look at me. “I know I’m not dumb, but I’m not exactly super smart either. I’m average and my parents can’t stand it. Let’s forget about this, okay? You’ll experience all of this firsthand when you’re forced to meet them.”
“Just one thing.”
“What?”
“I thought you said your parents only became jackasses after they won the money. It sounds like they’ve been jackasses your entire life.”
“They weren’t that bad before.” It blows my mind that she can say such a thing based on what she’s told me. “They just don’t think before they speak and they don’t understand I need them to love me differently than they do. But they are my parents and I know if I called them and said I needed to be bailed out of jail or something equally drastic, they’d be there for me. They aren’t always the best, but they’d be there when I’d need them. I’m sure of it.”
“How?” I can’t help but ask how she’s so sure. I can hear the certainty in her voice and I don’t understand it.
“Because when I found out about how I wouldn’t be able to have kids, my parents were fantastic and really supportive. I couldn’t believe how good they were. It wasn’t until way later that my mother started in about how I could always adopt or use a surrogate. I really needed them to be that way and they were. That’s how I know.” She rests her head against my chest again. “I know you don’t understand, and hell, half the time, I don’t either, but I still believe they try to do what’s best for me. As a parent yourself, I’m sure you can see that, too. Now, I’m deeming this conversation over.”
The thing is, I can’t see it. Because I wouldn’t force my kid to go to college. Would I want them to? Of course. But if they had such diversions as Jamie, I wouldn’t make a big stink about it. At some point, our kids have to make their own decisions, and mistakes, based on what they want. It doesn’t sound like Jamie gets that chance.
She doesn’t want to talk about it anymore, so we won’t. Instead, I bring up something else.
“Want to casually meet my brothers?”
Jamie lifts her head with a grin. “The younger, possibly hotter, or just as hot, brothers?”
I laugh. “They’re both married, hon. Sorry to dash your hopes.”
She frowns. “Then why make me think I could trade you in? That’s just rude, Brent.” She laughs a little at herself and then asks, “Why do you want me to meet them?”
“They noticed me hauling ass out of work today and suspect there’s a woman behind the reason why. It’ll be easier if you meet them and I get that over with so they’ll leave me alone. All you’d have to do is drop by the shop for lunch one day. Say hello.”
“Are they going to be happy or will I get disapproving looks?”
“I can always tell them beforehand and find out before you show up if you want, but I’m pretty sure they’ll be happy. My brothers care, but not to that extent, if that makes sense. They won’t give input unless they think I’m making a colo
ssal mistake and they won’t think that after meeting you.”
“Are you sure?” Jamie seems hesitant and I can’t say I blame her after what happened with Kayla. “If you’re sure, then I’ll drop by tomorrow. Does everyone like pepperoni pizza? I can’t show up for lunch and not feed them too.”
She’s too sweet and I tell her so. “You don’t have to do that,” I tell her, but she nods in disagreement. “Pizza will be fine then.”
She leans forward to kiss me. “I’ll be there.” Jamie grins. “Want to make out? That’s the only reason I came, you know.”
I laugh. We kiss and kiss, and grope a little here and there. Every touch and brush of her body against mine slowly drives me insane. Being with Jamie is like all the messy pieces of life coming together into something beautiful and making perfect sense. We move in sync, removing clothes, touching one another, and even our breathing matches. This right here is easily the best thing in the world.
Later, I grab the blanket off the back of the couch to cover us up. Jamie’s fingertips trail up and down my side while her head rests on my chest.
“I don’t understand,” she mumbles.
“Understand what?”
“How it is so good and gets better than the last every time. You blow my mind, Brent.”
I chuckle. “Not as much as you blow mine.”
“Now that just sounds dirty,” she says with a laugh. “We should get dressed. If we keep lying here naked, we’re going to have sex again.” She already wiggles her hips against me every few seconds.
“What’s so bad about that?”
“I don’t want to tire my old man out. Emphasis on old.” She’s able to hold in her laugh for about two seconds.
I grin and let her get away with her teasing. “Speaking of your old man, just so you know, I plan on introducing you as my girlfriend tomorrow. Any problems with that?”
She lifts her head with wide eyes and a big smile. “Really?” When I nod, she leans forward and kisses me with such excitement and so deeply that my hands reach for her thighs to make her straddle me. She was right that we’d probably have sex again.
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