“You know, you’ve left her speechless. She normally doesn’t shut up for more than a few seconds at a time. She’s a lot like Zane,” Jamie said, grinning at her youngest child. “I think she’s still trying to decide if she’s afraid of you or not.”
“I don’t want her to be afraid of me,” he said, furrowing his brow in concern.
“She won’t be,” she said, shaking her head. “Your demeanor is way to calm and gentle. She’ll get over it.”
Mark grinned down at the little girl and patted her on the head. All of the sudden she grinned at him and tried to jump into his lap to give him a hug. Her foot smacked against his plate sitting in front of him and knocked it into his lemonade that had been sitting too close to the edge of the table. The glass turned over and dropped in his lap spilling all over him.
Mark jumped up with the little girl in his arms, but it was too late. The front of his jeans was soaked. He just stood there trying hard not to laugh at the look on Jamie’s face. She looked totally mortified.
“I guess she’s decided she likes me.” His calm reaction was all it took for the whole table of Townsends to burst into laughter.
Jamie just looked at him and shook her head. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t dream she would react so strongly when she finally decided she was okay with your enormous size.”
“I’m okay.” He sat Emily back down in her chair. “Well, except for the jeans. They’re a little uncomfortable now.”
“Oh yeah. You’ve got shorts in the laundry room. Jenny can bring them into you. Go ahead and use mine and Carl’s bathroom to clean up a little bit. Do you remember where the wash cloths are at?”
Mark just nodded in answer and headed out the swinging doors leading to the living room.
******
Mark had already got his jeans off and was finishing cleaning up when Jenny walked in the bathroom. When he seen the look on her face, he tried to make a grab for the shorts and missed. “Jenny, don’t look at me that way. They’re going to be expecting us back in there in a few minutes.”
She walked over to where he was sitting and leaned in to kiss him. When she heard him groan, she pulled back and looked him in the eyes. “Please.”
“Please, what?” he asked knowing already what the answer would be.
“You know what I want,” she said, chewing on her bottom lip, causing him to stare at her mouth.
“No, not here. I promise, the second we make it home. No matter what.” This time when he grabbed for the shorts, he managed to snag them out of her hand. She looked like she was going to pout. “You are really hard on my will power.”
“Okay, I guess I have no choice but to wait.” When he heard the disappointment in her voice, he almost gave in. If they had been just about anywhere else, he would have.
He pulled the shorts on and stood up to fasten them. “Come on. Let’s go back in there.”
She huffed out a sigh and turned to walk through the door. He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back to him. “Angel, please, don’t be upset. I don’t want your mom to come looking for us.”
“She wouldn’t,” she shrugged, looking over her shoulder to look up at him with a grin. “We’re married.”
“She might not be thinking that we’re doing anything and send one of your little brothers or sisters. You just don’t know for sure.”
“Okay, you win. We’ll do it your way.”
She still sounded a little sulky to his ears, but he’d take what he could get for now. He gave her a quick kiss before leaning down to snag his jeans off the floor, then took her hand and led her out of the bathroom, and back to the kitchen.
Chapter 10
Tuesday, July 16
Mark and Jenny had been walking around his dad’s grocery store for about fifteen minutes, shopping for their groceries for the week. They were standing in the produce section picking out fruits and vegetables when his younger sister walked up. “If we get strawberries, will you make a strawberry shortcake?” Mark asked, picking up a box of the red fruit.
“Sure, put them in the cart.”
“Hey, Mark, Dad wants to talk to you,” Abby said, bouncing to a stop beside her brother.
He grinned at his sister, shaking his head at her pig-tails. They hung nearly to her shoulders in thick blonde curls. She liked to do silly things with her hair. This hair-do reminded him of when she was little. All she needed to complete the image was a lollipop in her hand. “What about?”
“He didn’t say. He just told me to come and get you and keep Jenny company while you two were talking.”
He gave her a questioning look, then shrugged his muscular shoulders. He gave his wife a quick kiss, then headed down the aisle. “Be back in a little bit.”
“Cute,” Jenny said, reaching up to tug one of her sister-in-law’s pig-tails.
“Thanks,” she grinned back, her cheeks pinkening just a little. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure,” she answered, pushing her cart farther down the aisle, to continue her shopping.
“Oh, I don’t know,” she said, flushing scarlet. “I’m not sure I can.”
She gave her a questioning look, wondering what could make her blush that way. She brought her cart to a stop and turned Abby to face her. “What is it, Sweetheart?”
“I was just wondering if Alex was dating anyone,” she shrugged, trying to make it seem unimportant.
Jenny gave her an understanding smile. “Well, I’m guessing if you don’t know, then he’s probably not.”
“Why would you say that?”
Jenny sighed, giving her sister-in-law a concerned look. “First, tell me why you want to know.”
Abby drew her shoulders up, flushing even more. “Well, he kissed me once.”
Jenny’s eyes grew huge from surprise. “When was this?”
“Last year after the homecoming game. It was before we walked into the Sapphire Café. Apparently, Zane hasn’t told anyone. He’s the only one that saw us.”
Jenny nodded, not really feeling surprised. Zane was ornery but not cruel. With as easily as Abby was embarrassed, she wasn’t surprised he had kept the kiss to himself. “I’m guessing if he told anyone, it would have been Mom.”
“So, why should I know if he was dating anyone?”
“Because it would be you.”
“Oh,” was all Abby could reply, flushing scarlet once again.
******
Mark leaned in, knocking on the open door of his dad’s office. When his dad looked up, he stepped the rest of the way in, sitting down in one of the extra chairs. “Abby said you wanted to talk to me?”
“Yeah, your mom’s wanting to have a seventeenth birthday party for her. She wants it to be a surprise.”
“That explains why you wanted her to keep Jenny company.”
Joe just nodded his head and continued. “Your mom was wondering about having a barbecue at your mother and father-in-law’s. Your sister spends almost as much time with all of them, as she does us. Especially Alex. Do you think Carl and Jamie would be up for it? I’ll supply all the food. Hamburger and hotdogs and all the sides. All they would need to do is help me grill. I’m not quite up to Carl’s level with it.”
“Probably, but you could just have Mom call Jamie and ask.” He chuckled. “Carl will most likely be more than happy to have a good excuse to throw another barbecue.”
“Yeah, I’ll do…” Joe said, coming to an abrupt halt. “What the heck?”
Mark seen what had shocked his dad about the same time and jumped up and was out the door, his father hot on his heels. Joe knew if he didn’t follow him, he could end up having to bail his son out of jail later tonight. He’d told him enough stories to know this was a highly volatile situation.
“Mark, stay calm,” he said, only a few feet behind him.
“He’s stalking her,” he growled, darting down the aisle just one over from where Jenny and Abby had still been talking. He slowed down, coming to a stop right behind the guy. He bent down just a lit
tle bit and snarled, “Mike Collins, what are you doing?”
The other man jumped, nearly coming out of his shoes. He turned around, glaring at Mark. “What business is it of yours?”
Mark just snorted. “Like you don’t know. Why are you stalking my wife?”
“I’m not stalking her,” he mumbled, taking a step back.
“You were standing at the end of the aisle, hidden behind the shelves, so she couldn’t see you for several seconds, watching her and my sister. What do you call it? And keep in mind, I wouldn’t be any happier about you stalking my sixteen-year-old sister,” he growled, taking a menacing step forward.
“Wow,” the other man said in true surprise. “I didn’t realize there was such an age gap between you and your sister.”
“Are you saying you were watching my sister, instead of my wife?” he growled, crunching his knuckles.
By this time, Jenny and Abby had become aware of the presence of the men. Mark wasn’t worrying about keeping his voice down. “If that’s the case, just let Alex know what’s going on,” Jenny chuckled. “He’d be more than happy to teach him a lesson. And I know without a doubt, he could do just that. He’s always been a brawler.”
“I’m not stalking anyone,” Mike snarled, taking a step back from the other four.
“Then what were you doing?” Joe asked, eyeing the younger man hard.
“I don’t have to explain myself to any of you,” he grumbled, taking another step back. “I’m out of here.”
“Well, that was fun,” Jenny grumbled, watching Mike leaving the building before turning back to look at her husband, who still wore a very disgruntled look. “And it’s only going to get better from here,” she added, dripping sarcasm.
Chapter 11
Thursday, July 18
“The weather is really getting nasty out here,” Carl said, making a face. He was standing outside on the front porch with Jamie, where they were watching the rain pouring down, making giant mudpuddles in their driveway. So far, the rain hadn’t done a whole lot to relieve the heat of the day. A little over thirty minutes ago, the sun had still been out, and the temperature had reached a hundred and one. “We really have to get in the habit of leaving the weather channel on, or something. This storm came out of nowhere.”
“Oh, I can tell you where this storm came from,” she quipped, giving him a wide grin. “The same place all the other storms came from.”
“Ah, you’re so funny,” he chuckled. “Now I know for sure where Zane got his issues.”
“Hey,” she said, feigning hurt, smacking him on the arm with the back of her hand. “A good sense of humor is not an issue.”
“Oh, alright,” he smirked, leaning over to kiss her on the forehead. “Love you.”
“Yeah, I love you, too,” she said, playfully smacking him once more.
“I don’t think it’s rained this hard in a long while. We can really use it, but I wish it was a little softer coming down, and that it could last for a few hours.”
“Yeah, maybe it’ll cool off out here a little bit,” she said, with a look of doubt. “Of course, if it ends up being a five-minute storm, it’ll just drive the humidity level up and make it hotter.”
“The way it’s coming down, it’ll probably just make it really humid. I think I hear a vehicle coming. I’m sure it’s Mark and Jenny. They’re the only ones we’re still waiting on,” Carl said, looking up the driveway, then turning to go back in the house.
She started to follow him, but when she saw Mark’s truck coming up the drive, she decided to wait till he and Jenny got there.
The two crawled out of the truck and went streaking across the yard. The second they reached the safety of the porch, there was a crack of lightning that hit the ground in the front yard, not far from where Mark and Jenny had just been two seconds before.
“Okay. That was more than a little close,” Jamie said, her eyes nearly bugging out of her head.
“Yeah, if we had been any slower, we’d be crispy little critters,” Mark said with a shiver that had nothing to do with being wet from the rain.
“Yeah. Let’s just get in the house. This storm is supposed to last for quite a while,” Jenny said, mirroring Mark’s reaction.
“Let’s hope at least the rain continues for a while. As dry as it is, we could really use it,” Jamie said, turning to walk in the house.
Jenny nodded, frowning in concern. “Yeah, but we have a lot of low water bridges. Some of those creeks were already filling up pretty good. We could all end up stuck here for a while.”
“Nothing we can’t all handle,” her mother answered. “At least this way, I know you’re all safe.”
“Does that mean everybody else is here already?” Mark asked, following Jenny and her mom through to the kitchen.
“Yeah, most of them are in the game room. Amanda’s even here. I wasn’t sure after Phillip and Zane’s little ribbing session the other day if she would show up,” Jamie said, grinning. “Come on. Let’s get dinner ready.”
******
“Hey, Mark, you want to help cook dinner tonight?” Jamie asked, patting him on the shoulder on the way past him to the pantry.
“Is she serious,” he asked, turning to his brother-in-law beside him.
Phillip just nodded his head and grinned. “Yep. You know how it works. Everybody has to learn.”
“That’ sounds really great on the surface, but I’m not so sure I haven’t gotten to old to learn,” he said shaking his head. “Jenny’s managed to teach me a few easy things, but it’s been a real struggle.”
“Trust me, if anyone can teach you to cook, it’s Mom,” his brother-in-law chuckled. He had been cutting chicken breasts into smaller, thinner pieces and cutting off the leftover fat and skin that he could, so they would be easier to bread and bake. He sat the pan with the chicken back out of the way and took the time to dispose of the scraps before continuing. “No matter how hopeless you feel, she can teach you to cook.”
“You don’t think Jenny makes as good a teacher?” he asked, grinning.
“I’m sure Jenny is doing a great job, but she’s not Mom. I’m sure you’re a lot more cooperative than Zane was at twelve,” the other man chuckled. “And look how good a job she did with him. He may not like us talking about it, but he can cook anything you can come up with. And do it right the first time.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard more than one of you say, he’s nearly as good as your mom.”
“Him and Hannah are the only ones that come close. Well, and Alex is getting there real fast,” he added with a shrug.
“It’s really hard to believe they could really be that much better than Jenny,” Mark stated with a skeptical look. “If you ask me, she’s a great cook.”
“Honestly, we all are,” he said without a trace of arrogance. “We had a great teacher. But there are things that those two have managed to master that the rest of us have a harder time with. Of course, part of it with Zane may be that he hates doing anything that he doesn’t excel at.”
******
A little while later, Phillip had left Mark’s training to his wife and their mother. Jamie had told him they needed to get the chicken in the oven. Not realizing she had meant they needed to bread it first, he started to put the raw chicken in the baking pan she had sat on the counter, in front of him.
“Hang on, Mark,” Jenny said, stepping up to take the baking pan from him before he started putting the raw chicken in it. Her mom had asked him to help cook dinner and it was taking both her and her mother to keep him out of trouble.
“I thought you said we were going to bake it,” he said, giving her a questioning look.
“We are, but we’re going to bread it first.”
“Oh,” he said with a shrug, his cheeks pinkening. “Sorry.”
“No reason to be sorry. You’re trying to learn, and you can cook chicken without breading,” she said, grinning at him.
“Tonight, we just happen to want ours breaded,” J
amie said, handing her daughter some shallow bowls. “Please, show him how to do the breading.”
“Sure, Mom, but I don’t know if I’ll ever expect him to do something like this on his own. I’ll probably always have him working on the easier stuff.”
She just shrugged. “You never know. He may one day surprise you with a gourmet meal.”
“Oh, let’s not set our hopes too high,” he said, with a grin, willing to laugh at himself. “Right now, I’m just hoping to be able to fry an egg or boil pasta. That kind of stuff.”
“Well, that would save you from going hungry, but breading chicken isn’t that difficult, you just have to be taught.”
Mark watched as Jenny mixed bread crumbs and seasoning together in one of the shallow bowls. When she mixed milk and egg together in another one, he asked, “What’s that for?”
“So, the breading will stick to the chicken better.”
Later, Jamie asked Mark to get the pasta going. When he sat the pan of water on the stove and started to dump the pasta in, Jenny looked up just in time to stop him. “No, Baby. You have to wait till the water starts to boil before you put it in.”
“Oh, sorry,” he mumbled, stepping back from the stove like it was a crime scene.
Jenny swatted him on the backside, drawing a chuckle from her mother. “Stop apologizing. You’re trying to learn. You don’t expect new employees to apologize for every little mistake when they are still learning the job.”
When they finally did dump the pasta in the pan, Mark watched Jenny salt it. “Why did you do that?”
“You need to season pasta while it’s cooking.”
“Oh,” he shrugged. “I’m sorry I’m so useless in the kitchen.”
“It’s okay. You have plenty of other skills that make up for it,” Jenny said, winking at him.
“I’m not sure that’s a fair trade off,” Mark said, grinning back at her.
“Well, I also keep the store running smooth,” she said, intentionally misunderstanding him.
Married in Vegas (The Townsends Book 3) Page 12