When she’d gotten home from her yoga class, she’d spent an hour disinfecting every surface of the kitchen and living room. And she’d washed the bedding, just in case. After doing a deep cleaning, she’d actually been in a better headspace. Although she wouldn’t have thought that was possible, it was true. She’d felt more ready to face the situation.
So she’d sat down and imagined every possible scenario of how things might go down tonight and she’d landed on a plan. She would take the direct approach. She’d tell Corbin what she’d seen and ask him how long it had been going on.
Then, depending on how that went, she might ask a few of the other questions that she had. One being how many women he was sleeping with besides her and Jessica. Another was if he’d had unprotected sex with any of them. And finally, why he’d asked her to marry him when he clearly wasn’t ready for any sort of a commitment.
And she’d do it all calmly. Because it wasn’t just herself she had to worry about. She had a life growing inside of her.
Which brought her to the last matter she needed to discuss. After she broke up with him, she’d explain that she was pregnant, tell him that she was keeping the baby, and let him decide if he wanted to be a part of their child’s life.
He’d always said that he wanted kids…but, hell. He’d said a lot of things she was beginning to question now. Either way, she’d be fine. She could do this with or without him. It wouldn’t be ideal to raise a child without a father, but she’d handle it.
Jasmine had always been practical. In her early years, her practicality had been born out of necessity. She never would’ve survived all the different foster and group homes if she’d been dramatic.
By the time she turned twelve and moved in with the woman that would later go on to adopt her, the trait had already been drilled into her.
Nanette, affectionately known as Nan to everyone that knew and loved her, was a grandmother figure who fostered older kids who got lost in the system. She was strict, but fair, and she tolerated zero drama, backtalk, or feeling sorry for yourself.
She instilled an ethic of taking full responsibility for whatever situation you found yourself in, and making the best of it. And if something was out of your control, then you problem-solved until you figured a way out of it. And always, always, you appreciated what you had.
That was the foundation Jasmine had built her life on, and even the 8.0 earthquake on the cheating Richter scale that Corbin had caused wasn’t about to make her crumble.
So, as she waited for her soon-to-be-former fiancé to come home, she continued to put her situation in perspective. Yes, her relationship with Corbin was over, but she wasn’t starving. She had a place to live (or she soon would), she had friends, and multiple jobs. She could support herself and her baby.
Jasmine rested her hand on her stomach. Even though she knew that telling Corbin the news was the right thing to do, she couldn’t help but have mixed feelings about it. She was already feeling protective over the little person that she was housing, and she didn’t want to taint the story of how his or her father reacted when he found out that he or she existed. She didn’t want to have to say, “I told your father I was pregnant when I was breaking up with him and he flipped out.”
So, yeah. Maybe that information could wait…
The only person that she’d told about the pregnancy was Leo, and for some reason she liked that. It didn’t make a lick of sense, but she couldn’t help how she felt.
She was trying not to read too much into her response to him. Today had been an emotional day, and he’d been there for her in a moment when she’d needed someone. He’d been kind, and reassuring. And sexy…
No. She shook her head. That was not what she needed to be focusing on. He was not who she needed to be focusing on. So why did her mind keep wandering back to him?
Confusion swam in her head about so many things, but one thing was for sure, she was going to confront Corbin about what she’d seen this afternoon and break up with him. She’d known some people that were in relationships that had survived infidelity, but she knew herself well enough to know that she didn’t have it in her to be one of those people.
Trust was too important to her. If she stayed with Corbin, every single time he was late, she’d think he was with someone. She knew she’d start checking his phone, his email, his social media looking for clues, desperate to see if he was doing something he shouldn’t be. That was no way to be in a relationship. That was no way to raise a child with someone. Hell, that was just no way to live, period.
Just like she’d practiced how she would tell Corbin she was pregnant, she started practicing how she would tell him it was over.
Her mind was going through her options when headlights shone in through the window and she heard the engine of his car as it revved up the driveway.
She watched through the window as he sat in the driver’s seat of the Porsche Roadster he’d bought when he turned twenty-five. He loved that car more than anything else in the world. He’d leave to go on drives at all hours.
Or, duh. Maybe, he hadn’t been driving at all. Maybe it was actually the poon-tang he loved more than anything in the world, and not the car he jokingly referred to as “the poon-tang-mobile.”
She sighed. Everything she thought she knew about the man she’d spent twelve years with was in question now. Their entire relationship may have been built on a lie, and she needed to wrap her head around that as quickly as she could, or each new small revelation like this one was going to keep stabbing her in the heart, she knew. That, also, was no way to live.
Jasmine watched as Corbin sat in the car. His head was tilted down and she could see the light from the screen on his phone illuminating his face as he typed.
Was he messaging Jessica?
Was he telling her that he was home?
Was he telling her that he missed her?
Was he making plans for their next rendezvous?
Jasmine wondered yet again how long the affair had been going on.
After what was probably a minute but felt like an hour, he got out and shut the car door behind him. As he walked up the back steps his phone dinged and a smile appeared on his face.
Maybe she was reading too much into it, or being paranoid, but to her it looked like a private smile. One that was shared with someone you had an intimate relationship with.
The sick feeling she’d had in her stomach all day sank even deeper.
He opened the door and didn’t notice that she was sitting in the room. It wasn’t until he flipped on the light that he saw her.
“What the fuck!” he screamed, jumping back in shock. “You scared the shit out of me.”
“Why did we get engaged on Friday?” It wasn’t what she’d planned on asking first, but that’s what came out.
“What?!” His face scrunched. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“I’m asking you why? Why did you give me a ring Friday?”
“Jaz, I’ve had a long day. I’m not in the mood for a relationship talk. You got the ring, you got what you wanted.”
Corbin started to walk out of the room.
“Was it because Doc and Kitty’s grandson was going to be working at the clinic?”
Something about the way Krista had brought up the subject had made her question his timing. Corbin had always been a schemer, or what he liked to call a strategist. He considered life a chess game and liked to brag that he never made a move without knowing what his opponent’s next move was going to be. He said that it was what made him a good salesman.
The only drawback to that philosophy, she now realized, was that he wasn’t actually that good of a salesman.
Fuck! How many red flags have been snapping right in my face all this time as I blithely went about my life, oblivious to a sea of waving crimson fabric that would’ve made a bull have an aneurism?
That was a question for another time. Right now, she needed to stay focused on the topic at hand. Which was w
hat had motivated him to put a ring on it. She’d love to believe that he’d done it without an ulterior motive, but she couldn’t.
“What? What do you mean? Why would you say that?”
Obviously Jasmine wasn’t adept at always knowing when Corbin was lying, but she did know when he answered her with questions, he was absolutely lying.
He may never admit it, but Leo coming to town was at least part of why they’d gotten engaged. He’d heard Kitty and Doc talking about their grandson for years, and Jasmine’d always had a feeling that Corbin was jealous of Leo.
Not that it mattered now. She wasn’t going to be with Corbin, so he didn’t need to worry who she was working with, and she didn’t need to worry about who he was sleeping with.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m tired. I’m going to bed.” He started to walk past her.
“I stopped by the house after my doctor’s appointment and saw you and Jessica on the kitchen table.” There. That was direct. It may not’ve been quite as calm as she’d planned, but it was direct.
“What?” Corbin turned toward her. She could see his mind spinning to come up with what he was going to say to get out of this. “What are you talking about? What do you mean? I wasn’t at the house today.”
“Yes, you were. Just like you are every Monday according to Fraya. How long has it been going on?”
“I don’t know what you think you saw, but nothing is going on.” He turned back around. A small smirk appeared on his face and Jasmine recognized the expression. He thought he’d just landed on the right argument, the perfect thing to say that would worm him out of the situation. “Jessica’s not even my type. I know you’ve always been jealous of her but—”
“Corbin, don’t.” Jasmine held up her hand. “Don’t try to deny it, it just makes you look more pathetic. Be a man. You cheated, own up to it.”
“Be a man?”
Jasmine knew that she was pushing his buttons. Corbin hated to have anyone question his precious manhood. She used to feel sorry for him, always feeling like he had something to prove, like his entire life was a pissing contest, which she’d attributed to his overbearing father.
Now she just thought it was pathetic that he was so insecure that he had to prove how “male” he was in every situation.
“This is bullshit!” he yelled. “This isn’t about me! You hooked up with him, didn’t you?! And now you’re trying to turn this around on me to make yourself feel better!”
“What are you talking about? Hooked up with who?”
“That pretty boy that you’re working with now. I knew he was your type,” he accused, pointing in Jasmine’s direction. “When all the bitches at work kept going on and on about him coming back, creaming themselves over his fucking shirtless pictures on Instagram, I knew you would too.”
“Wow.” Jasmine stared at the man that she’d loved, the man that she’d agreed to marry, the man whose child she was carrying, and felt like she was really seeing him for the first time.
She’d never liked that he used the term bitches to describe women, but this was the first time he’d done it when talking about women he knew. Not that using it about strangers made it any better, she guessed. “I can’t believe you are actually trying to turn this around on me. This isn’t about me, or Leo, or even Jessica. This is about you, Corbin. I know what I saw. We’re over.”
“Fuck this! I’m out of here! I don’t have to stand here and listen to your delusions. I’ve put up with this shit long enough. You’ve always been fucked in the head. You’re crazy, just like your junkie mom. You need help.” He grabbed his keys and stomped across the kitchen and slammed the door behind him.
Just like she’d pushed Corbin’s buttons when she’d questioned his manhood, Corbin knew exactly how to push her buttons, too. She’d always worried that she would end up with mental health issues like her mom had had. For as long as she could remember, she’d made herself sick whenever she thought about it.
But things were different now. She wasn’t going to let her emotions go to that place. She needed to stay healthy, emotionally and physically, because it wasn’t just her anymore. She had another life depending on her. As scary as that notion was, it was also oddly comforting.
She almost felt like she had a superpower that made everything crystal clear to her. If she’d caught Corbin cheating before she’d found out she was pregnant, there was a very good possibility that she would’ve tortured herself over what the right thing to do was.
Could he and his gaslighting even have convinced her that maybe she was blowing what she’d seen out of proportion—or that she hadn’t even actually seen what she knew she had? Maybe. He had a way of wearing her down, twisting reality to his version, that was freaking insidious. And she’d never noticed it before because she’d just been too damn tired.
Yeah. Odds were she would’ve given him a second chance. But there was such a clarity of knowing that it wasn’t about her. Her decisions affected a tiny life. And no matter what, she was going to do what was best for her son or daughter. It didn’t matter what it cost her.
Chapter 7
“Are you sure you don’t want to go home and change?”
“I can if you want me to, Grandma.” It was the same answer that Leo had given Kitty the two other times she’d asked him that question since he’d picked her up.
“No, no, that’s fine. If you’re sure you wouldn’t be more comfortable in something else.”
“Scrubs are pretty comfortable.”
Leo was only half listening as he drove his grandma to the community center. His mind was somewhere else, or more accurately, on someone else. He hadn’t heard from Jasmine today, and he was worried about her.
It was Tuesday, so she hadn’t been scheduled to work at the clinic. He’d spent more time than he cared to admit fabricating reasons to call and ask her something, just as an excuse to hear her voice and know that she was okay. Common sense had won out and he hadn’t actually picked up the phone. But that hadn’t stopped a string of questions from playing in his mind on a continuous loop.
Had she confronted her fiancé about what she’d walked in on?
Was the stress of the situation affecting her pregnancy?
Did she have the support that someone in her situation needed?
“Oh, I almost forgot.” Kitty placed her hand on Leo’s forearm. “If Margie or Mabel ask you to dance, you tell them that your dance card is full.”
“Who are Margie and Mabel?”
“They’re sisters from Chicago. They moved here for the social scene.”
“The social scene?”
“Harper’s Crossing has a lively senior community.”
It did? Leo learned something new every day.
“They like to call themselves the M&M sisters.”
That was sorta cute, not that Leo would tell his grandma that. She didn’t seem at all impressed by the nickname.
Kitty’s finger pointed in his direction. “But don’t let the name fool you, they might look like Rose and Sophia but they’re Blanches all the way.”
“Who are Rose and Sophia?” He hadn’t lived in town for close to two decades. He didn’t remember any Rose or Sophia. He knew Sophie Hunter, now Sophie Sloan, but he doubted that was who Kitty was talking about.
“You know Rose and Sophia,” she repeated as if saying it a second time would jog his memory. When it didn’t her hands flew up in frustration. “The Golden Girls.”
“I’ve never seen it.”
“You’ve never seen The Golden Girls?” She clutched her hands to her chest and out of the corner of his eye he could see the horrified expression on her face.
“Nope.”
“Rose is played by Betty White,” she offered, as if that helped. It didn’t. When she realized he was still clueless she waved her hand. “It doesn’t matter, Margie and Mabel are what you young people like to refer to as cougars.”
“Cougars?” Leo had heard the term but he’d
thought that it was applied to women like Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate, not Betty White.
“Look, just tell them that your dance card is full.”
“I don’t think it will come to that.” Leo never wanted to disobey his grandma, but he couldn’t imagine a world where he would turn down senior women who asked him to dance.
She brushed her palms together, gesturing that she was washing her hands of the situation. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“I think I can handle myself,” he said, and couldn’t help but grin. He’d lived in places with real dangers. Not only the ones people naturally associated with large predators, but also microscopic killers, like viruses and bacteria. Not to mention deadly plants and insects.
He’d managed to survive years of living in remote jungle, desert, and mountain villages. He felt pretty good about being able to make it through a senior ballroom dance class.
Kitty’s tongue clicked at the top of her mouth and she shook her head slowly. Leo knew what was coming next. She recited the same sentiment she expressed to Doc whenever she thought he was getting a little too, quote, impressed by his own shadow, end quote.
She sighed, “Pride always comes before a fall.”
Her ominous warning came just as they pulled into the community center parking lot.
“I told you we should have left earlier.” She sat up straighter.
“I’m sorry. There was an emergency and I had to get the keys to my house—”
“Pshh, you sound just like your grandfather,” she dismissed.
Leo wondered how many nights his grandpa had been late or, worse, completely missed an occasion.
He remembered quite a few growing up, and he’d only been his grandson. Most of the time he hadn’t cared, but when his grandpa’d missed the homecoming football game where he threw the winning touchdown and was named king…yeah, that one had stung. Doc and Gran had raised him along with their daughter, who was a single mom. He’d never known his father. So, really, they were like second parents to him.
Just One Touch - Leo & Jasmine (Crossroads Book 16) Page 6