by Amy Starling
“Yeah, and his unit is already infested with fleas.” I had the nasty red welts on my ankles to prove it.
We'd been holding steady these past few weeks, but there was still so long to go. And it wasn't easy to think about work with all these other problems rolling around in my head.
Mom was still gleefully planning her wedding with David. It was to be a fancy affair, with lots of guests and a reception where food cost fifty bucks a plate.
David had the money, and mom knew it. Given the chance, she'd bleed him dry.
Maybe they really were right for each other.
Then there was Jayce. After the strip club incident, he tried to apologize. His words felt false to me, as if he wasn't really sorry. He still thought he'd done nothing wrong.
He might have been sorry for hurting me. But he didn't understand why I was so hurt. Neither did I. Like he said, we weren't a couple. He didn't cheat or break a vow to me.
Yet it hurt all the same.
“It doesn't matter about the occupancy anymore. Jayce doesn't get married; this place is done.”
Heather clucked her tongue. “I cannot believe you guys were planning to get hitched.”
My stomach suddenly churned with the contents of our morning breakfast. It had been happening a lot lately this past week. Nausea, vomiting... Was I coming down with the flu? Didn't feel otherwise sick.
“It was a horrible idea.”
“Actually...” She grinned. “I thought it was pretty smart of you.”
I clutched my belly. “You did?”
“You both knew damn well he'd never really settle down with some girl. It was a good solution: get yourself a marriage license, fulfill Debbie's will, we win. Game over for David.”
It was still our only solution, far as I knew. The trouble was, I didn't think I could handle a fake marriage to him. When I got hitched, I wanted it to be about love.
And we all knew Jayce wasn't ready to love anyone yet. Maybe he never would be.
“Can't believe I'm saying this, but I think you guys should go ahead with it.”
“Are you serious?”
“What else can we do? The deadline's fast approaching. If it's not you he marries, then who?” She laughed. “I'd feel sorry for the poor, hapless girl who gets suckered into that disaster. At least you know him. You understand the whole thing's just a ploy to save the property.”
She could be right. It didn't matter if Jayce and I hated each other, as long as we had that piece of paper pronouncing us husband and wife.
I'd have to put my feelings aside. Could I do that? My first marriage, a complete lie, all for the sake of saving Shady Acres. If I refused, the property and my business would be gone.
“I'm gonna puke.”
I pushed past a startled Heather and into the tiny office bathroom just in time. Ugh. Those waffles didn't taste as good coming up as they did going down.
What was wrong with me? Nausea struck me at random times everyday with no real pattern. The other day, someone was chewing candy in front of me in line at the bank. The smell of it, that nasty fake cherry stuff, made me want to throw up.
When I'd washed up and returned from the bathroom, Heather was waiting for me with a strange look on her face.
“You okay? This isn't the first time you've tossed your cookies this past week.”
I rubbed my stomach. “I don't know. The flu, maybe?”
“Sure doesn't seem like the flu.” She put her hand on my forehead. “Uh, just throwing this out there, but... Could you be pregnant?”
I laughed and pushed her away. “Get real.”
“What? You and Jayce, well... You know.” She cringed. “I have no idea what you saw in him.”
Oh, there were plenty of good things about him. Even now, thinking of his hands working their magic on my body, turned me on like crazy. Impressive, given how pissed I was at him.
But it was also stupid to think that way. He was skilled in the sack, yeah, but I wouldn't sleep with a guy who plainly had no respect for me.
“I'm definitely not pregnant.”
“How can you be sure? Did you take a test?”
I shook my head. What was the point? We'd used protection... Kind of. The pill was supposed to be highly effective.
But not infallible. There was still that point-zero-zero-something chance of error.
“We only slept together once,” I reasoned.
“Once is all it takes.”
How unlucky could a girl be? And it was my first time, too. No way. I refused to let myself believe I might be knocked up with Jayce's baby.
“Have you missed your period?”
I had to think hard. “I dunno. I think so? I'm on the pill to regulate my hormones so I don't get sick. Most months, I don't have a period anyway. And if I do, it's barely noticeable.”
A tenant walked off the elevator holding a mug of coffee. The intense smell invaded the office immediately. My tummy protested; I covered my nose and mouth until he was gone.
Heather put her hand on my back. “You really need to take a test.”
I struggled to think back. Jayce and I had sex a little over a month ago now. I'd felt totally fine up until this past week. Then the nausea started. At the same time, I'd also been craving the strangest foods.
“What if I am pregnant? What do I do?” I flopped over on the desk. “I always wanted to have a family. Kids. But not like this.”
“And Jayce isn't exactly good with this stuff. Not what you'd call father material, that's for sure.”
Right. He'd sworn to me up and down that marriage and children were like prison to him. He would have been happy slacking off, partying, and having fun the whole rest of his life if he could.
“If he did knock me up, we couldn't go through with the marriage.”
“Why not?”
“Because.” I almost burst into tears – another thing that had been happening a lot lately. “Jayce and I agreed to divorce once all the mess was over with the will. If I keep the child, I couldn't subject it to that. I want my kid to have a happy, stable family. A real family, not a fake one.”
“You don't have to keep it, you know.” She said the words carefully and slowly. I knew what they meant.
I shook my head. “I couldn't get rid of it.”
“Even if keeping it could ruin everything? You know what kind of person Jayce is. I can't even imagine him manning up and taking care of a child. That's just not who he is.”
Speak of the devil. Jayce's truck pulled into its designated spot, and he strode toward the front door. There was something different about him today, wasn't there? Dark circles under his eyes. Less spring in his step. And no cocky grin plastered on his handsome face.
I missed that smile so much.
Jayce was a guy who should've been easy to hate. And I tried, believe me. But right now, with the threat of pregnancy looming over my head, I wanted to tell him everything. Wanted him to hold me and tell me it'd be okay. That we would work it out together.
Boy, I really was in trouble.
He came into the office with a heavy sigh. I touched my belly as I looked at him.
Was I staring at the father of my child?
“What's the matter with you?” Heather glared at him. “Up all night again?”
“You know me; always the party animal.” He came to the desk and took my hand. “We really need to talk.”
“Not this again.”
He pulled me away. When we were alone in the hall, he took a deep breath and squeezed my hand.
“If we're gonna do this marriage thing, we need to do it now.”
My stomach flipped again at the mention of it.
“There's no real hurry, is there? We have a few months until the term is up.”
He shook his head. “Dad's marrying your mom in two weeks, assuming the whole thing doesn't fall apart at the seams first. That'll make us step-siblings.”
“It isn't illegal to marry your step-sibling.”
&nbs
p; “I know it's not, but it doesn't exactly look good. My family will think I'm a freak and have nothing to do with me. They've always sided with dad and seen me as the black sheep, y'know? People will talk.”
I guess it was kind of strange in the eyes of society. Personally, I didn't care what anyone thought. Although we'd pretty much grown up together, I'd never thought of Jayce as a brother, and never would.
I could only see him as a lover – and a seriously good one, at that. If he put the moves on me right now, I wouldn't put up much of a fight.
The real problem was this possible pregnancy. If we married and then out popped a baby, Jayce would feel obligated to stick around and take care of it. Heather didn't believe he would do it, and a couple months ago, I would have agreed.
Now, I wasn't so sure. There was something changed about him.
I wanted to believe he'd be a good man so badly.
“It still seems like a joke to me. How the heck could your dad and my mom fall in love so quickly?”
“I don't know. I'm wondering if love has anything to do with it, or if your mom's just using him for his bank account.”
I opened my mouth to snap at him – then realized he might well be right. Mom's tastes were expensive, but her salary couldn't buy her the things she desired. After dad bailed, she had a string of relationships, all of them with well-to-do men.
By marrying David, she probably felt like she'd hit the jackpot.
“Do you really think your dad loves her?”
“Could be. Maybe he doesn't care she's trying to take advantage of him. I'm not so sure about that, though. He's a clever man. If you ask me, there's something in this deal for him, too.”
“Of course there is. He thinks by turning us into step-siblings, he'll scare us away from getting married.”
“He was planning this wedding before he knew about you and I. Unless... Someone tipped him off beforehand.”
“But who? I never told anyone. Heather only found out because of...” I cringed, remembering those girls on his lap without meaning to. “Anyway, nobody else knows.”
“I kept my mouth shut, too.” Finally, he offered a smile and wink. “I never kiss and tell. It's just not polite.”
I groaned. “Jokes about your sexual conquests aren't what I want to hear right now.”
“Sorry, Pink.” He slung an arm around me. “I'll try to do better. I've just been a jackass for so long, it's hard to change my stripes.”
Hard, or impossible? I mulled it over as we walked outside to the pool area. Leaves floated on the water's surface; it hadn't been properly cleaned in months. Of course, there was nobody out here for a swim.
“I've been thinking of what we can do to gain new tenants – or to keep ours from bailing to dad's fancy-pants Hidden Cove.”
“You've been thinking?”
We sat side by side on one of the old, falling-apart benches. A big wood splinter nearly stabbed me in the butt.
“Aside from the obvious – repairing stuff, updating crappy outdated appliances, new paint jobs – we need to make Shady Acres a place people want to come home to.”
Had Jayce seriously been giving this actual thought?
He pulled a folded, tattered piece of paper from his pocket. On it, he'd written a numbered list in his sloppy handwriting.
“Here's some of the ideas I came up with. We can have weekly pool parties in the summer, complete with a cookout for the residents. We'll supply hot dogs and drinks. Maybe a little music. It'll be a great way to get the community together while giving the kids something to do.”
I stared at the pool. It was always empty, and nobody used the grill either. Now I imagined the water full of laughing children while their parents got to know one another over hot dogs and beer.
Would it work? It had to. People loved free food, didn't they?
“We've got that little rec room on the first floor, too,” he continued. “We could get a projector and play movies. Pop some popcorn. Wouldn't be too expensive, and it'd score us some serious goodwill.”
I perused the rest of his list. Add a sand pit with volleyball net. Put a few treadmills and a TV in one of our empty rooms. Hold community yard sales in the bazaar area for residents to sell their old things. Have food and clothing drives for the less fortunate residents of Shady Acres.
Tears came to my eyes as I read. Jayce inched closer. Cradled me in the nook of his arm.
“Did I do something wrong?”
“Not this time.” I nuzzled his shoulder. “You came up with these ideas all by yourself.”
“Yeah. Well, I had a little input from the guys at the station, but that's pretty much all me. I've been staying up half the night thinking on it.”
No wonder he looked so tired. He wasn't up and out partying; he was taking responsibility for once in his life.
“But why? Your father?”
“It's not only that. This place is mine now. I just can't let it fail, you know?” He gazed at me. “And then there's you. I can't let you down, either.”
Jayce's words were usually honeyed, sweet things he said to get a girl's pants off in the heat of the moment. Not this time. I saw it in his eyes.
“This means a lot to me.”
He squeezed me tighter. “Does it mean enough for you to forgive me?”
“I might forgive you, but I can't forget what I saw that night.” I bit my lip. “And I can't forget the things you said to me. That we weren't a couple, so I shouldn't be upset.”
He kissed my forehead. There was that warm, familiar melting feeling I had missed so much. It felt so right, too, to be back in his arms again. Almost as if that's where I belonged.
“What I said was very stupid. Maybe we weren't a couple, but you had every right to be mad.” He picked me up and dropped me into his lap. “When I said there was only one woman I wanted – you – I meant it.”
“But there were girls all over you.”
“I was doing shots. Not thinking clearly, but I know that's not an excuse. I should have pushed them away.”
“I know I've got no claim to you, but... If I hadn't shown up at the club, I think you would have slept with them. I'm sorry, but thinking about you screwing other people makes me sick.”
His jaw set. “I haven't slept with anyone but you since our first time together.”
The confession sounded unbelievable. Jayce Reinhard, the man who couldn't go without sex longer than a few days, had been keeping it in his pants this whole time?
“Why?”
“It wasn't for lack of opportunity. I could have – but I just didn't want to.” He shrugged. “I'd look at some other woman and feel so bored. None of them compared to you.”
I longed to believe him. Wanted to know that I was the only woman in his bed. The only one on his mind. I wanted him to be mine, and nobody else's.
“This isn't exactly how I planned it. I wanted it to be more romantic. For you, I mean. You love stuff like that.”
He sank his hand into his shirt pocket and pulled something out. Somehow, I knew what he was holding before he even showed me.
His fingers opened, and in his palm sat the most beautiful ring I had ever seen: copper and turquoise, encrusted with diamonds on the outer band. I looked from it to him, waiting for an explanation.
“I didn't know what kind of ring you wanted, and they were all thousands of bucks at the store, and you know we firefighters don't get paid that well.” He held it up to the light. “So I hope this is okay. I chose this one 'cause I thought you'd like the colors.”
The sun reflected off the diamonds, sending a prism of rainbow light across my lap. Jayce picked this out just for me. He actually thought of somebody besides himself for once. He listened to me.
“So how about it, Pink?” He gently took my hand. “Wanna go get married?”
“When?”
“Now. No more putting it off. No more delaying it. This has to be done, and we both know it.”
I shivered as he stroked my pa
lm. “Is that the only reason?”
“No, it's not.”
He didn't say more. Didn't have to.
I wanted to say yes so much, but if there was a baby inside me, it changed everything.
Yet I couldn't turn him down.
“All right. Let's do it.”
He slid the ring on my finger, and it fit perfectly.
I reached out to kiss him, but our sweet moment was interrupted. Somebody cut through the pool area with a bag of stinky takeout food in hand. Onions, spices, odors my poor tummy couldn't take for long.
I bolted out of Jayce's grasp and hurled in the trashcan. Yeah, how romantic! He just asked me to marry him and here I was, dry-heaving in front of him. Real sexy.
“Hey, you okay?” He put his hand on my back. “You feel so warm.”
I finished puking and went to the bathroom to clean up. When I got out, Jayce handed me a towel for my face.
“I'm fine. Just something I ate.”
He raised an eyebrow. “This isn't the first time you puked in the past week. A couple nights ago, you were so loud, I could hear you through the wall.”
“You were listening to me vomit?”
“C'mon, Pink. The walls are so thin you can hear somebody sneeze. Point is, I hope you're not getting sick. You know I can't take care of business alone.”
If he suspected pregnancy, he didn't show it. What would he do if he found out the truth? Call off the wedding? I wouldn't blame him.
But if we were going to get married today, he wouldn't be able to back out that easily. Oh, I so wasn't ready for this.
“If I were getting sick, would you take care of me?” I tried to make a joke of it. “I require someone to tuck me in, make chicken soup, bring me tissues and ginger ale...”
“Anything you want. After all, that's what a good friend does.” He brushed the gross hair out of my eyes. “And a good spouse, too.”
“Thought you said this was all to save the property. That you'd be a 'fake husband,' nothing more.”
He shuffled the dead leaves with his shoe. “Nothing wrong with getting practice for the real deal.”
“Didn't know you were planning on marrying for real, either.”