“Where’s all this coming from?”
Those big beautiful eyes looked up at him and it made him want to move heaven and earth to wipe all the sadness and doubts away.
Then – finally – she told him about her conversation with Zeke. Jake guided them back to the sofa and they sat down as she spoke. Nothing about the conversation surprised him – old Zeke was normally pretty straightforward when he had something on his mind – but how much it upset Mallory bothered him.
When she finished her story, he felt like she’d left something out.
Something important.
But before he could ask, she told him.
“He asked if I was in love with you and I told him I was.”
For a moment, it felt like he couldn’t breathe. He was sure if he tried that he wouldn’t be able to. There had been women – girls – who’d said “I love you” to him before, but none of them affected him like hearing Mallory’s quiet admission. From the moment she’d come back to Magnolia Sound this summer, she’d been open and honest about her feelings so he shouldn’t be surprised she was telling him this.
And yet he was.
Nothing about their relationship was casual and everything about it was new to him – the way it made him think, feel, and act.
And it scared the shit out of him.
“I don’t expect you to say it back to me,” she added quietly. “Not unless you mean it. But…you wanted to know what was bothering me and…well…there it is.”
“Does it bother you – the fact that you…you love me?”
She looked at him quizzically before shaking her head. “No. It doesn’t bother me. I just didn’t like feeling like Pops – or anyone for that matter – was…pitying me because of it.”
“I don’t think anyone would feel that way,” he countered softly.
“Maybe. Maybe it’s my own insecurities.”
Twisting toward her, he cupped her cheek again. “Mal, you have nothing to be insecure about. What we have…it’s new. At least for me it is. I’m not going to apologize or try to tell you that you’re wrong about how you feel, but you also have to give me a little time to catch up.” He paused to collect his thoughts. “As for what happens in August? I don’t know. Neither of us can know until it’s here and we’re dealing with it. Even if I wasn’t going away to school, you are and I’d never ask you not to go back.”
“But what if…”
He placed a finger over her lips. “Don’t go there. It will only make you crazy. Hell, you don’t think I’ve got my own list of ‘what ifs’ going on in my head?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Do you?”
With a nod, he leaned forward, resting his forehead against hers. “Mallory, you’re this amazing and beautiful and sexy woman. Do you have any idea how much it bothers me to think about you going back to school and knowing all the guys on campus will get to see you every day and I won’t?”
Her soft gasp was her only response.
“When I think about you leaving…of not being able to be with you every night…it bothers me more than I thought it would. More than I thought it could,” he emphasized. “And that’s because you mean so much to me.” Pausing again, he let out a long breath. “I’m not going away to school to party and I’m not going to be living in a dorm on campus or anything – I’m going to be living with relatives – and my main goal is to get my education. You don’t have to worry about me, Mal, because it’s you that I want – that I need.”
“I hate this.” Her voice was no more than a whisper. “I hate that there’s a clock ticking on our time together. Like we can see the end before we even began.”
He smiled then and placed a soft kiss on her lips. “It can’t be helped and we both knew that going in. But…we can make the most of the time we have.” And when he kissed her again, it was filled with need and desire and he poured everything he had into it until Mallory melted against him.
Soon he was helping her take her dress back off and peeling her panties down her legs as he sprawled out on top of her.
“Hurry,” she panted, writhing against him. “I need you.”
He silenced her words with another kiss because he knew any minute, he would admit that he was in love with her as well and he wasn’t ready for that. Not yet. It was too soon and there were too many other things he needed to focus on.
But as she wrapped her legs around him and begged him to make love to her – there wasn’t another thought in his head except claiming her and keeping her.
Forever.
Don’t go there…
But he did go there in his mind. Time and time again. And as he loved her well into the morning, he found it was getting harder and harder to keep those thoughts to himself.
* * *
The sun was just starting to come up when Jake walked back into his own home and found his father sitting at the kitchen table. He was too old to feel any sense of shame or panic coming home at this hour, but he was curious as to why anyone else was awake this early.
“Hey,” he said, walking across the room and going directly for the refrigerator to grab some orange juice. The plan had been to grab an hour or two of sleep before heading over to Zeke’s to finish work on the pier.
Jonah Summerford looked up at his son with a sad smile. “I remember being able to stay out all night and then go to work for the day like it was no problem.” He laughed softly. “Now, if I get anything less than seven hours of sleep I’m almost useless.” He picked up his coffee mug and saluted his son. “Enjoy it while it lasts.”
Laughing himself, Jake poured some juice and sat down at the table. “What has you up so early?”
“Waited up for you last night, but…”
Raking a hand through his hair, Jake felt a little bad about his hours now. “Sorry. What’s going on?”
Without a word, his father slid an envelope across the table toward him.
He recognized the logo on the envelope immediately. Curiously, he looked at his father and then to envelope. “What’s this?”
“Just…read it.”
There was a sinking feeling in his stomach and a sense of dread had him by the throat. He pulled the single sheet of paper from the envelope and read.
And read it again.
And read it a third time until his head started to spin.
“I…I don’t understand…”
With a weary sigh, Jonah took a sip of his coffee and placed the mug back down again. “The scholarship you were awarded was…well…it wasn’t legit.”
“I can read that part, Dad!” he snapped and immediately apologized. “But how can something like this happen? The only way I was going to be able to do this – to go away to school – was because of that scholarship!” He looked at the letter again. “It says here how sorry they are but they don’t offer one damn option to help me out!”
“Your mother and I have been researching for days and…”
“Days?” Jake cried. “You’ve known about this for days and didn’t bother to say anything to me? Why?”
Straightening in his chair, his father looked at him. “Jake, you have worked so hard for this and it kills me that your mother and I can’t do this for you. If we had been smarter with our money or if we started saving sooner…”
“We’ve been over this a hundred times, Dad. I didn’t want you to do this for me. I wanted to do this on my own! It’s important to me!”
“There’s nothing wrong with asking for help, son.”
“Bullshit! If that were the case you would have asked for money when we were struggling all those years!” he argued. “Where do you think I got this from?”
“Okay, okay, okay,” Jonah said, but there was no heat behind his words. “Look, you may not want to hear this, but that’s too damn bad. The fact is that there is no scholarship. You can keep looking around for financial aid and maybe you’ll get lucky but you’re short on time, Jake. Now, we’re willing to help with that end of it – we’ll con
tinue to make calls and reach out to all those college foundations who help with this sort of thing. Your aunt and uncle are willing to let you live with them rent-free for your first semester…”
“You already told them about this? Before talking to me?” This was unbelievable. Standing, he kicked the chair out from beneath him and paced the kitchen. “What the hell am I supposed to do?”
They were both silent for a moment before Jonah cleared his throat. “You could…you could talk to Zeke. You know he offered to…”
“No. Absolutely not,” he replied firmly. “There’s no way – especially not now – that I would ask him for that.”
Jonah’s shoulders sagged. “Jake, I don’t know what else to tell you. I’m sorry! I’m so damn sorry! This is all my fault and…”
Yeah, they’d been over this enough times and Jake didn’t care to go there again. It wouldn’t matter. The bottom line was that he was screwed. There wasn’t money for him to go away to school and it was just his rotten luck that he got scammed like this with the scholarship. His parents couldn’t co-sign for any student loans and if he wanted to try this on his own, he’d have to wait another year to take them out of consideration. Another year wasn’t the end of the world, but he knew if he waited, he’d lose the motivation and simply quit.
Then he wouldn’t have to worry about things with Mallory. There would be no move to Colorado for him to worry about. He’d be able to go up to New York and see her whenever he wanted to and nothing would have to change.
His heart beat hard in his chest as he thought about it. It would solve so many problems and the best part was he would be able to wipe the sadness from her eyes that he’d seen earlier.
He’d be the one to put a smile on her face.
And at the end of the day, it was really all he wanted.
Even if it meant missing out on the one thing he’d been working his whole life for.
11
“You came!” Mallory cried, running across the yard to hug her brother. Sam quickly swept her up in his arms and spun her around.
“Surprise!”
Pulling back, she asked, “Why didn’t you mention this to me? I thought you said you had plans.”
He placed her back on her feet and took a step back. “Yeah, well…Mom really wanted to be here for the parade and picnic and all that crap and…you know…she didn’t want to drive alone, so…”
She took pity on him even as she laughed softly. “So you were a good son and offered to take the ride with her.”
Sam looked mildly embarrassed and started looking around the yard. “Is it just me or does this look like the entire town is coming over?”
Nodding, she glanced around. “I believe we sent out invites to around a hundred people so…a good portion of the town will be here for sure.”
Cursing under his breath and raking a hand through his hair, he started to walk away when Mallory stopped him. It was obvious that something was bothering him and as much as she didn’t want to push, she figured talking about it might help.
“Oh, man…you didn’t invite the pastor of Pop’s church did you?”
“That’s kind of an odd question…”
He sighed loudly. “Look, did you or didn’t you?”
Mallory frowned at him. “Um…I believe we did but I can’t say for sure if he’s coming. Why?” Then it hit her. “Oh, no…what did you do?”
Another sigh. “It’s nothing. Just a misunderstanding, trust me. I just don’t want any trouble here at the party.”
“I hardly think a pastor is going to cause any trouble, Sam.”
He glared at her. “Right. But I will?”
She leveled him with a hard glare.
“Just…it’s nothing,” he said with a hint of frustration. “It’s fine. I’m fine. And I’m sure everything today will be…”
“Fine?” she finished for him.
His lopsided grin was a refreshing change from his scowl, but Mallory wasn’t completely fooled. And judging by his rather haggard and tired appearance, she’d say he wasn’t fine at all.
“What’s going on with you? When was the last time you had a decent night’s sleep?” she asked.
“It’s summer vacation. I’m not going to sleep it away.”
Before she could comment, Jake walked over with a big smile for her and she noticed the slight falter in his steps when he spotted Sam. He recovered quickly and held out his hand to her brother when he was close enough.
“Sam! I didn’t hear you were coming in for the celebrations!” The two shook hands and Mallory noticed her brother seemed way more relaxed than he did a minute ago.
“Yeah, I was just telling Mal I decided to take the ride down with Mom. We’re only gonna be here for a couple of days, but…” He shrugged. “Hey, you up for going out tonight? Maybe get a few drinks?”
“Uh…” Jake said, hesitating. He glanced at Mallory and for the life of her, she had no idea what to say.
Unfortunately, her brother did.
“What the hell?” His voice was low and fierce and before she could stop him, Sam was lunging at Jake. “My sister? Seriously? What the hell is the matter with you?”
Mallory tried to get between them and calm Sam down, but when her brother shoved Jake, Jake shoved right back.
“Yeah, me and your sister,” Jake snapped. “And everyone around here is cool with it, so back off!”
They hurled insults at each other for several minutes – including Mallory – until Pops came ambling over. “That’s enough!”
All three of them instantly froze before stepping apart to face Pops.
“We have guests arriving and I’d rather the three of you not be the entertainment,” he said firmly. Looking at Sam, he said, “Now I’m sure you’re more than a little shocked about the turn of events here, but starting a brawl is not the answer. Seems to me you have some pent-up aggression over something else and this was a convenient target.” Sam made to answer, but Pops shut him down. “Get yourself under control before I have to bring your cousin Mason over to show you how a young man is supposed to behave.”
He winked at Mallory before he walked away and she had to suppress a smile.
When it was back to the three of them, she reached over and grasped Jake’s hand before facing her brother. “Are you okay?”
Sam looked at their hands before looking up at their faces and Mallory could still see a hint of rage there. “I should have stayed the hell home,” he murmured before walking away. When she went to go after him, Jake held her back.
“I need to talk to him,” she stated, but Jake didn’t release her hand.
“He needs some time to cool off,” he replied soothingly, pulling her into his embrace. Placing a kiss on her forehead, he hugged her close. “Can I ask you something?”
“Anything.”
“Why didn’t you tell Sam we were dating?”
Good question.
She let out a quiet sigh. “I don’t know. He sort of…he’s known all along how I felt about you and the night of Pops’ party, he even suspected I had done this whole makeover thing for you.” Her face was buried against his chest and she was slightly mortified that she was admitting this to him.
Tucking a finger under her chin, he gently forced her to look up at him. “Did you?”
Shrugging, she said, “I don’t know. Maybe.” She paused. “Honestly, it was probably more for me. For so long I just felt…invisible. There was nothing remarkable about me and…I guess…” She let out a long breath. “It was just time to do something – to stop complaining about my life and actually do something to try to make it better.”
For a long moment he simply studied her – his eyes scanning her face. “There was never anything wrong with you.”
She wanted to laugh at the absurdity of his statement. After all, he never noticed her before. He never saw her as anything other than Zeke’s great-granddaughter who came to visit once a year.
But right now wasn’t the time to
remind him of it or to pull at that thread.
“Bottom line,” she forced herself to say, “it was for me and I didn’t want to tell Sam about us because – even though we normally tell each other everything – I knew he’d get all big-brotherish and come down here and do exactly what he just did.”
“Big brotherish?” Jake repeated with a laugh. “You’re twins.”
“He’s two minutes older and makes it seem like that gives him the advantage.”
He kissed her again. “Yeah, well…it’s a good thing that he looks out for you. You shouldn’t get upset about it.”
“It’s annoying.” And yes, she was pouting.
“If I had a younger sister – and she was only two minutes younger than me – I’d want to kick every guy’s ass who even tried to touch her.”
Now she did laugh. “You would not.”
Pulling back, he looked down at her. “Yes. Yes, I would. And as much as I don’t want to fight with Sam, I understand why he’s upset so…let him cool down and later on I’ll talk to him.”
“We’ll talk to him,” she corrected.
Luckily, he didn’t argue.
The yard was starting to fill with guests and together they began walking around talking to people. For Mallory, this was the best family get-together ever. And it was all because of the man holding her hand and walking beside her. They did get several curious glances, but for the most part, everyone was just their normal selves and it was awesome. When they needed extra hands to man the numerous grills, Jake offered to go help which was fine with her. Parker and Peyton were heading her way with knowing grins on their faces.
“Look at the two of you!” Parker said, practically giddy. “You’re adorable!”
Fortunately, Jake was out of earshot for that comment. She wasn’t sure he would appreciate being referred to as “adorable.”
“I have to admit, when we saw Sam was here, we thought there was gonna be a fight,” Peyton added. “He looked really pissed when he stormed by us in the house.”
Mallory told them about the near-brawl he and Jake almost had. “Luckily Pops shut that down.”
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