“No, Jeff. Drop it.”
Zane turned back to his sister, and reminded her, saying, “You can’t let him corner you, Hannah.”
“I didn’t even know he was in here.”
“Did he say anything else?”
“Yeah. He’s delusional,” she shivered again. “He said he could tell I wanted him. I think he’s mistaking nausea for attraction.”
“Do your best to stay away from him. And you’re going to start carrying mace with you.”
“Zane, is that necessary?”
“Yes. And let me know every single time he corners you. Call me on the spot. If you can’t get a hold of me, call Jeff.”
“Give me your phone,” Jeff said with a really grumpy look on his face.
Hannah was so surprised, she just handed her phone over without question.
Once Jeff handed her, her phone back, she just shook her head and walked off toward the rest of the group. She was going to have to catch Jeff sometime when Zane wasn’t around and have him tell her what was going on. Her brother could be a little too over protective sometimes. She could tell Jeff felt it was important that she understand what the thing with Jeremy was.
By the time she reached everybody else, she realized she could hear raised voices. Apparently, Mike Collins was going to try to confront Mark away from work, and Jenny was doing her best to keep it from turning into a fist fight. Or a beat down, which is what it would probably be. Mike was obviously drunk, and no match for Mark, drunk or sober.
“Mike, you really need to have your friends drive you home before you get the cops called,” Jenny said from behind Mark. He wasn’t letting her around him, and she was having to lean around his arm to look at Mike.
“What? You’re going to let her speak for you?”
“She doesn’t speak for me, but she does speak for herself.”
“Yeah right,” the drunken idiot snarled. “I’m sure there are parts she’s not telling because you won’t let her.”
“Mike, go home,” Jenny said, just sounding exasperated.
“Do you seriously want to be married to this giant?” he asked, pointing at Mark.
“How dare you talk about him like that, you little runt,” Jenny said, her eyes snapping with fury. “You need to leave before I rip your head off.”
Now Mark was having trouble not laughing. Jenny had been showing a very protective side of herself lately. And Mike had really raised her hackles.
“Mike, you really need to leave. Have Greg take you home before my sister really does try to rip your head off. You just committed a cardinal sin. You insulted Mark. Something you need to understand about we Townsends,” Zane said, stepping between Mike and Mark and his sister. “We don’t stand for people messing with the ones we love. And you’re messing with Mark.”
“Come on, Mike. I think we need to go,” Greg said, trying to push Mike toward the front door.
“Whatever,” Mike said, turning at last, Greg trailing behind him. Hopefully with the keys in his pocket, instead of his drunk friend’s.
“Well, that was fun,” Mark grumbled.
“It could have been a lot worse,” Jeff said, trying for a positive attitude.
“Yeah,” Zane agreed. “And just so you know, Jeff, if Tyler and Lucy had been with us, you just might have lost that bet. Especially after that gutter ball at the end.”
“Hey, I was worried about Hannah,” he shrugged. “That’s when I noticed Jeremy Hart bothering her.”
Chapter 16
Saturday, August 10
Jenny stretched and rolled over in time to see Mark coming through the door with a tray in his hands. “What are you up to now?” she asked, sitting up.
“Happy birthday, Angel,” he said, sitting the tray down on the bed beside her. I’m sorry. I would have tried to cook you pancakes, but I was afraid I’d mess it up. I don’t think I’m up to doing those on my own yet.”
“Breakfast in bed,” she said with a grin. “Scrambled eggs and toast sounds great.”
“Well, I know pancakes are your favorite. But I was afraid I’d burn them,” he said, flushing scarlet. “And I would have had to call either your mom or mine just to get them mixed up right.”
She gave him a bright reassuring smile, patting the bed beside her. “I’ll teach you how to make pancakes. Then you can bring me pancakes next year.”
He sat down beside her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. “I like the sound of that.”
“I know what I like the sound of,” she said, trying to pull him over to her.
“No, no,” he said, trying to jump out of bed. “Breakfast first.”
Jenny huffed sticking her bottom lip out. “It is my birthday. Shouldn’t I get what I want?”
“Oh,” he grinned. “You can have what you want. After you eat your breakfast.”
“Fine,” she sighed. “Scrambled eggs first. Then you.”
Mark just laughed, shaking his head, then finally jumped back up out of bed. “I have something else for you.”
“What?” she asked, giving him a questioning smile.
“Eat. I’ll get it. Then you can open it.”
He turned and darted out the door with a grin on his face, returning in under a minute with a small box in his hand that was obviously a jeweler’s box.
“Mark, what is that?” she grumbled.
“It’s your birthday present.”
“You don’t have to buy me expensive jewelry.”
He blushed and stood shuffling his feet like a toddler. “Well, this wasn’t that expensive.”
“Right,” she said, giving him a look that told him she wasn’t buying it.
His head snapped up and he looked her square in the eyes. “What is all that money I have for, if not to buy you things? And this really isn’t that expensive. I remembered something you said one time when we were still in high school.”
“You remembered what?”
“Just open it.”
“Fine. Give me the box.”
When she finally took the lid off the box and looked down at it, she gasped. It was probably more expensive than he wanted to admit, because he would have had to have both the charms on it specially made. There was no way he could have found graduation cap charms for both the years she graduated high school and college now. They wouldn’t be making them anymore. The bracelet itself was most likely ten to fourteen caret gold, rather than gold plated.
“You remembered I wanted a charm bracelet?” she asked, doing her best to hold back the tears. “How did you remember that?”
He just shrugged his shoulders, unsure how to respond. “Well, I guess I must have been in love with you for a lot longer than I realized.”
“I can eat these eggs later,” she said, moving the tray to the nightstand. “Come here.”
This time when she tried to pull him back in bed with her, he let her.
******
They had been working on the Jones house all day, and once again, they were all back over at Carl and Jamie’s preparing to have a barbecue. It was just late enough in the day the sun was starting to go down but there was still plenty of light outside for all the kids to be outside playing in the water. Even some of the older kids had decided to have a little fun. Hannah and Teresa were even joining in and were taking turns spraying the other kids with the water hose.
Jenny sat there watching them, wondering about the children she and Mark might have. She had been deep enough in thought, when he walked over with two plates in his hands and sat down beside her, he actually startled her.
She gave him a confused smile. “Two plates? Are you that hungry?”
He shook his head and leaned over to kiss her on the forehead. “No, this one is yours,” he said shoving one over in front of her. “It’s still your birthday.”
“Mark, you spoil me all the time. You didn’t have to do that.”
He gave her a concerned look. “Why? Are you not hungry?”
“Yes, I’m hungry. I
just know you don’t have to have an excuse to do something for me.”
“I love you. That’s why I do stuff for you.”
She just grinned and shook her head. She still wasn’t ready to tell him she loved him despite how true it was. At first, she had been worried about him pressuring her, but he never had, which just made her love him more and she was getting closer to telling him every day.
“What were you thinking about when I walked over here? You were really far out in space,” he added, giving her a grin.
She gave him a mischievous grin before answering. “Having kids.”
He just chuckled. “Well, what’s brought this on? Watching your crazy family play in the water?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, how many do you want? The one other time I asked you, all you said was, as many as you could talk me into.”
“That answer still holds true.”
“Oh boy,” Mark said grinning at her. “After some of the stories I’ve heard lately, I don’t know if that’s wise.”
“Well, how many are you willing to have?” she asked with a grin.
He just shook his head, grinning at her. “Five or six maybe. I love your family and all, but I don’t think I got it in me to raise sixteen.”
“You might be surprised. You never truly know what you can do, until you try.”
“That may be so, but I still don’t think I want more than six.”
“Well honestly, I don’t think I want to be pregnant that many times. My mom is a super woman in disguise. I think six would be great.”
“Hmmm,” he replied in thought, holding back a grin. “Maybe I should have said three or four.”
“Too late. You already said five or six. I’m going to hold you to it,” she said, giving him a big grin back. “I wonder if any of them will be taller than you.”
“I don’t know. That’s kind of a scary thought. You don’t have any idea how much trouble my parents had keeping me in clothes while I was growing up. It got hard to keep up with my growth spurts. I think it’s been almost as bad with Abby.”
“Well, I do understand the difficulty where Abby is concerned. We’re almost the same height. She might get a little taller, but I doubt it.” At the mention of his sister’s name, Jenny had looked across the yard were Abby and Alex were playing with the younger kids. “I’m betting Alex and Abby will end up together, one of these days.”
“Angel, I’m not betting against you on that one. You’re going to have to find some other poor sucker.”
“I don’t figure I could. It’s way too obvious.”
Chapter 17
Thursday, August 22
Mike Collins had just gone to the store to get something to eat. He was heading for the coolers to get lunch meat to make sandwiches. He wasn’t much of a cook and usually stuck with the easy stuff. He could have gone over to eat with his mom. She really didn’t mind. She was always asking him to come over for dinner, but when he went she would always end up playing twenty questions. She wanted to know why he hadn’t found someone and settled down yet. He didn’t know how many times he had told her he just wasn’t ready yet. He didn’t plan on ever getting married. It was way too much work to put up with one woman all the time when there was so many of them out there to sample.
The reason he was so pissed off at Mark for marrying Jenny was he hadn’t had a chance to try Jenny out before they got married. She had been playing hard to get. He didn’t figure it would have taken more than one or two more dates and he would have had his chance. He really didn’t believe she was getting ready to break it off with him, no matter what she said.
He was halfway to the coolers and still deep in thought when Greg’s sister walked up beside him. “Hey, Mike, are you in there?”
He jerked his head around and looked Rene in the eyes. “What do you want?” he snapped in irritation. He wished she would just leave him alone. He had already had a go at her and he didn’t need another round. He really didn’t want to take a chance of Greg catching on to what had happened. He really didn’t think her brother would care. He really didn’t get along with her much anyway. She always acted like she was better than him. Of course, she actually had held down the same job since graduating from community college and she lived on her own, like most adults. And unlike Greg. That didn’t change the fact, on the off chance her brother would get upset at him for screwing his sister, he didn’t want him to know.
She snorted and shook her head. “Calm down. I just want to talk.”
“About what?” he asked, not really feeling much interested.
“Jenny Townsend... Sorry. Harris,” she corrected with a smirk.
“You know, her father-in-law owns this place. This might not be the best place for this conversation,” he snarled, steering her back toward the door. That’s all he needed, was for Joe to overhear them talking about Jenny and tell Mark. “Let’s go get something to eat. We can go to the Sapphire Café. What do you say?” He really didn’t want to go anywhere with her, but if she really had any useable information, he could live through taking another roll in the sheets with her.
Rene waited till they got outside, then turned back to look at him, barely hiding her sneer. “There’s no need for that. It won’t take that long. I just over heard through the proverbial grape vine that she was drunk when they got married. I just thought you would like to know.”
He shrugged his shoulders, trying to appear as disinterested as he had been just a few seconds ago. “Okay, but why are you telling me this?”
“You do want Jenny, don’t you? I mean, as a notch on your belt. It’s obvious you hadn’t had your chance yet,” she smirked. He didn’t need to know the only reason she was really telling him, was because she was seeking a little revenge for what he had done to her when he slept with her, then dumped her the next day. She had known better when it happened, and she was still trying to figure out what she had been thinking. She had never really been that attracted to him to begin with. Not to mention, the experience had been bad enough, she wasn’t sure she was ever going to want to try again, even with someone else. She kept telling herself she needed to remember he probably didn’t work much on his technique because he never planned to sleep with anyone a second time.
Irritation washed over his face, causing him to bite out, “What’s your point? What’s in it for you?”
Like I’d really tell you the truth about that? “I’m just sick of the Townsend siblings. I think someone needs to take one of them down, for a change,” she said, fluttering her hand as she took a step toward her car, feeling the need to escape from his presence. “They think they are so perfect. It’s annoying.”
“Okay,” he nodded slowly. “I can see your point.”
“You know, they all eat dinner together at their mom and dad’s every Thursday night. Jenny and Mark would be sure to be there. It’s about dinner time now, don’t you think?” she added with a grin, knowing she had him hooked, despite how hard he was trying to hide his interest.
Mike just shook his head and headed toward his car. He had taken the hint and had decided that was where he was going to go. He figured her mom and dad didn’t know Mark had gotten her drunk to get her to marry him. That ought to change how they viewed their new son-in-law.
Rene Becket watched him pull out of the grocery store parking lot with a smug grin on her face. Now, if you’re as big as an idiot as I think you are, you’ll make a complete fool of yourself, and probably get the crap beat out of you, besides. Jenny might have been drunk, but Mark wouldn’t have asked her to marry him while she was. I’m sure there’s more to the story than that.
******
Everybody had already sat down at the dinner table. They were just waiting for Carl to say grace over the meal when the doorbell rang. “Well, I wonder who that is. Tonya, will you go answer the door, please,” Carl said, looking toward the living room with a confused expression. Phillip was the only one expected, not there yet. And he wouldn’t have r
ang the doorbell, even if it had been locked. He still had a key to the door.
Tonya jumped up and ran through the door to the living room. Seconds later she came back through with an amused look on her face. She didn’t bother to tell them who it was, because Mike Collins was right behind her. She went back over and took her seat between her dad and Zane. Jenny heard her say under her breath from across the table, “This is probably going to be interesting.”
Jenny looked up at her husband wondering what he was thinking. It seemed to take him a few minutes for him to react, almost like he was too stunned at first. Finally, Carl turned to Mike and asked, “What can we do for you?”
Mike shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. “I was just wondering if Jenny was here, and if I could speak to her.”
Carl turned and looked back at his daughter with a concerned look. “Well, that’s up to her.”
“Sure,” Jenny decided to play nice. But not too nice. “Say whatever you have to say. Just get it over with, so we can get on with dinner.”
He swallowed hard, finally realizing the situation he was putting himself in. “I’d like to speak to you in private, please.”
“No,” Jenny and Mark answered in unison. Zane snorted, eyeing Mike like the guy had lost his mind.
Jenny looked at Mark, begging with her eyes for him to let her take care of this. “Whatever you have to say, you can say it in front of them,” she said using her hand to indicate her family sitting around the table. “I undoubtedly will tell them anyway. I always do.”
That seemed to make him uncomfortable, but he decided he was not leaving until he accomplished what he had come to do. “I heard a rumor you were drunk when you got married. Is that true?” he asked, looking around the table, noticing he wasn’t getting the reaction he thought he would get with that little piece of information. Maybe she really does tell them everything.
“Yes, but what does it have to do with you?” she asked, giving him a dirty look.
“Is he making you stay with him?” he asked, swallowing hard again.
Married in Vegas (The Townsends Book 3) Page 17