by Kris Jett
“Wynn, we need to talk,” he said.
“You need to get the hell out of here is what you need to do,” Jessie spat at him.
“She wants nothing to do with you,” Cade said. “Why don’t you get back in your car and go home.”
Billy looked at Cade and Jessie, both blocking Wynn and Melody. “Wynn!” he said again, sounding angry now. “Come on.”
“What’s wrong with you, man? Are you deaf?” Cade asked.
Billy tried to maneuver around Cade but Cade blocked him with his arm. “I don’t think so,” Cade said.
“Wynn!” Billy yelled again.
Wynn let out a small whimper from behind Cade and Melody started to cry.
Jessie’s eyes darted back and forth between Cade and Billy She didn’t know what to do. Was Cade going to have to fight him? Should she yank out her cell and call 9-1-1?
“I’m calling the police,” Jessie announced, jamming her hand into her back pocket. Before she could pull her hand back out she heard a flick of metal and a long shiny blade was in her face.
“No, you’re not,” Billy said calmly.
Jessie let go of her phone and slowly pulled her hand back in front of her. “Calm down,” she said to Billy. “You don’t actually want to hurt anyone.”
Billy turned his anger toward Jessie. “Oh, I don’t? You had no problem hurting me when you told me Wynn was dead.”
Cade shot a brief curious glance at Jessie but then fixed his gaze back on Billy. Jessie knew even with wielding a knife Cade wouldn’t let Billy actually hurt them. She was sure he could still overpower him if he had to. She just wished he wouldn’t have to. She didn’t want him getting hurt.
“Well…” Jessie begun then stopped. How would she explain her actions to a crazy person? Suddenly she saw Jason Kirkland slipping out of his car and walking slowly toward them. He put up his index finger by his lips indicating he didn’t want anyone to mention seeing him.
Jessie cleared her throat. “Well,” she begun again, fixing her eyes on Billy, “you’re right. That wasn’t kind of me at all. And I felt really bad right after I said it. But Wynn made it clear to you that she didn’t want to talk to you again and you wouldn’t leave her alone and so I just sort of said that hoping it would stop you.”
“That’s evil,” Billy said.
“So is stalking Wynn and following her across state lines,” Jessie countered.
“Shut up!” Billy yelled, sticking the point of his knife toward Jessie.
Cade pushed in front of Jessie. “Back off,” he yelled.
Billy looked at his knife and then Cade like Cade was stupid. “I think I’ll be the one giving directions here,” he said.
Jessie chanced a glance at Jason again. He was almost up behind Billy now and Billy still had no clue he was approaching.
“Wynn, Melody, and I are going to take a little walk and chat and you two can go, well, I don’t care where you go. Just go away,” Billy said.
“You’re nuts if you think my sister and niece are going anywhere with you,” Jessie said.
Billy held his hand with the knife straight up in the air. “What aren’t you getting about me having a knife, woman?”
As soon as the last word left his mouth, Jason leapt at Billy’s arm from behind, yanked it backward and squeezed his wrist making the knife fall into the snow. Cade dove at Billy, tackling him to the ground and Jessie scrambled, grabbing for the knife.
She held it out in one hand and looked at Wynn who was quietly sobbing, still hugging Melody.
Billy squirmed in the snow but both Jason and Cade had him pinned.
“You can call 9-1-1 now,” Cade told Jessie.
Jessie blinked a couple of times. “Right.” She carefully closed the knife and pulled out her phone. She called the police, and then went over to her sister and niece and hugged them.
The police came and arrested Billy and told the group they’d have to all go to the station to make statements too.
Cade put his hand out to Jason and Jason shook it. “Thanks, man,” Cade told him. “You had perfect timing.”
Jason smiled. “When I realized what was going on I knew I had to do something. Besides, I owed Jessie,” he said with a wink at her.
Jessie couldn’t remember ever being so happy to see Jason in her life. “Thank you, Jason,” she said. She then curled into Cade’s arms, suddenly drained from her adrenaline crashing.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
After they finished giving their statements at the police station, Cade dropped a still shaky, but much calmer Wynn and Melody off at home and then took Jessie to Starlight to get her things she had left in the office.
“I’ll only be a minute,” she told Cade as she climbed out of his truck. She was completely exhausted and just wanted to get in and out and back home to crash on the couch with Cade, maybe watch a movie or just sit and stare at the walls for all she cared. She was so tired she felt like she was running on fumes.
Jessie halfway lifted her arm in a wave to Anne and Linda but she didn’t stop to chat. She headed straight back to the office and pushed open the door. Behind the desk sat the backpack she had brought in earlier with her for work. It was only this morning but it felt like a week had already gone by. She slung the backpack over her shoulder and turned to leave just as she heard the office door slam.
Luci was against the inside of the door with her arms out, like she was keeping someone from getting in. Or in this case, Jessie from getting out.
Jessie gave her a quizzical look. “What are you doing?” She shook her head. “You know what? Never mind. I don’t even want to know. Excuse me, Cade’s waiting for me.” Jessie tried to push past Luci but Luci wouldn’t budge.
“No,” she said simply.
“Luci, move. I told you I’ve got to go.” Jessie could feel herself getting more and more pissed off with her sister.
“No,” Luci repeated. “Not until we talk.”
Jessie let out a huge sigh and her shoulders slumped. “God, Luci. Not now. If you only knew what kind of day I’ve had…”
“It has to be now,” Luci insisted. “We can’t go on like this.”
“No, really, we can. Just please move. I really have to go. I told you Cade’s waiting.” Frustrated, Jessie reached out and pushed at Luci’s shoulders hard, trying to remove her from the door. But Luci wasn’t budging. She was freakishly strong from all the yoga Jessie guessed. “Argh! Why are you doing this?”
“I told you. We need to talk. You need to hear me.”
Jessie realized she wasn’t going anywhere for the next few minutes and let her backpack slide off her shoulder and onto the floor. She crossed her arms and leaned back against her desk. “Fine. Go ahead, then. Talk.”
Luci looked towards the ceiling and licked her lips before meeting Jessie’s gaze. “Ok, thanks for letting me say my peace.”
“Like I have a choice,” Jessie mumbled.
“Jessie,” Luci began, “I’m so, so sorry.”
Jessie rolled her eyes.
“Wait, let me finish. I know you’ve heard that from me before and more than once. I seem to keep screwing things up and I don’t know how I keep managing to do it. We were just starting to get along again and I messed it all up.”
Jessie nodded in agreement.
“Sometimes I get an idea in my head and I just charge forward with it without thinking about the consequences. I swear, my intention wasn’t to hurt you. I mean, I know I did, but I didn’t plan on it. I was running options through my head for what might help mom. I wasn’t seeing the big picture or thinking about the future. Just what might be a quick fix and I’m so sorry if it seemed like I was trying to take Starlight from you.”
Jessie just stared at her sister, unsure of what to say in response.
“I mean,” Luci continued, “Starlight is yours. Yours and moms. We all know that. Wynn and I can work here and help out as much as we want but it’s your heart and soul in the place.”
Jes
sie took a deep breath and thought. It was good that her sister finally realized that she couldn’t come back and take something that wasn’t hers to take.
“We need each other, Jess. All three of us. You have to forgive me. I promise I won’t try and sell your pub again,” she added with a half-smile.
Jessie could feel herself relent. Luci was right. Her sisters have come home and they were here to stay for however long they needed. And when they did finally leave she’d be the one still here in Snowy Ridge, running Starlight.
“All right,” Jessie said. “I’ll forgive you. But you have to promise not to barricade me in the office again.”
Luci wrapped her arms around Jessie and squeezed. “Thanks sis! You won’t regret it.”
Jessie returned Luci’s hug and thought to herself I sure hope I don’t.
There was a knock at the door and Cade pushed it open. “Hey, you’ve been gone a long time. Everything all right?”
Jessie reached down for her backpack and took Cade’s hand. “Yep. Sorry about that. Just had to wrap something up.” She threw a glance at her sister and walked out of the office with Cade.
Jessie didn’t say much on the car ride back to her apartment. When Cade pulled in he put the truck in park but left the engine running. He turned toward her. “You okay?”
Jessie took a deep breath. “Yeah. I was just thinking I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to run right now.”
“Run? Why would I run?”
“Because my life is crazy. My mom’s so sick. I’m running the pub alone, well, with my sisters for however long they’re sticking around. Luci’s a disaster on two legs. I never know what new fresh drama she’s going to cause. You shouldn’t have to start a new relationship with someone who has so much baggage.” Jessie’s eyes widened. “You just spent the afternoon fighting off my other sister’s stalker for God’s sake.
“Well, you do make my days off more entertaining, that’s for sure,” Cade said. He smiled and took Jessie’s hand in his. “Seriously, the way I feel about you, I’ve never felt like that about anyone. And a crazy sister or a psycho stalker aren’t going to scare me off that easily.”
Jessie smirked. “Well, when you put it like that…”
Cade takes Jessie’s face in both of his gloved hands and pulled her toward him, looking deep into her eyes. “You’re stuck with me Jessie Foster, for however long you’ll have me.”
“Deal,” she whispered and they sealed their agreement with a long, sweet, kiss.
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Kris Jett is a romance writer from Chicago who loves love! When she’s not working on her small-town contemporary romance series, she can be found at the theater with her main man, doing a mean Peacock Pose in her favorite yoga studio, or walking her adorable cavapoo, Sammy.
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Each time Wynn Foster thinks she has a handle on her hectic life, things spiral even further out of control. Add to the mix one sexy college professor, Bryce Alexander, and prepare for a wild fun ride. Read on for a sneak peek of Wynn and Bryce’s story in Taking Chances...
Taking Chances (Snowy Ridge: Love at Starlight, Book 2)
Chapter One
“Oof,” Wynn Foster let out in an exhale. Melody was straddling her chest and patting her cheeks, one tiny hand on each side of her face. Nothing like being woken up by a thirty-pound toddler launching herself at you, Wynn thought.
“Mommy, Mommy, Mommy,” Melody sung out. “Wake now.”
Wynn peeked one eye open and slowly smiled at her eighteen-month old daughter. “I’m awake sweetie.”
“Mickey?” Melody asked.
Melody wanted her to go flip on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse for her on the television in the living room. It’d become her morning ritual lately since they’d moved back to Wynn’s home town, Snowy Ridge, Wisconsin, and in with her mom. Cartoons and cereal in front of the TV while Wynn dragged herself around the kitchen making a cup of coffee. She never had been a morning person.
“Mickey?” the toddler prodded again.
“Okay, okay, honey. I’m getting up.”
Melody leaped off her mother, grabbed her stuffed Mickey Mouse doll from the bed, and raced out to the living room to wait.
Wynn sighed and stared at her bedroom ceiling, trying to will herself to get up. She couldn’t believe she was really here, in her childhood bedroom. Twenty-eight years old, divorced, and a single parent. And living with her own mommy again. It was pathetic. She felt like a total loser. The one bright spot in her day everyday was Melody. She loved her daughter to pieces and she had to get her act together if not for herself, then for Melody.
She crawled out of bed, shoved her feet into her old worn-out frog slippers, and tip-toed out of the bedroom, careful not to wake her mom. Her younger sister Luci had also recently moved back home from New York City and was in her old bedroom as well. Their baby sister Jessie was the only one of the family who had her act together. She lived in her own place and co-ran the family’s business with their mother. When their mom could work that was. She’d been going through chemotherapy and resting as much as possible so it was really a good thing that the girls were all at home right now. Even if it wasn’t the reason for them coming home in the first place.
Wynn turned on the television and tuned the channel to Disney before patting Melody on the head. “Be right back with your cheerios,” she told her.
Melody squeezed her Mickey tight and stared at the TV in delight. The kid was obsessed with the show.
Melody padded into the kitchen and begun making breakfast as she thought about her day. She was going to drop Melody off at daycare and head to work at Starlight for her shift. She perked up when she remembered she had an errand to do before work. Today was the day she enrolled in the local community college.
Just last week she’d decided she had to do something to really shake up her life; change the course of direction she’d been on for way too long. Wynn was always floating in and out, from relationship to relationship, job to job. She needed a path, a goal, for her and Melody’s life. No more messing around. She had the scare of her life a couple of weeks back that really shook her up. She was being stalked by a crazy ex-boyfriend. Maybe she should have seen that Billy was bad news from the start but she was vulnerable at the time. Newly divorced and feeling unlovable, she glommed onto the first guy she met in a Single Parents Under Thirty chatroom. Hello red flag. And the jerk wasn’t even a parent—just a creep trolling the chat room. Ugh, she couldn’t believe she was so stupid.
She’d moved back home to Snowy Ridge with Melody not only to save money but to get away from that guy. He seemed like such a winner at first. Of course, don’t they all? But he pushed too hard, wanted too much, and moved too fast. She just couldn’t give him what he wanted. When she broke things off, it only made him crazier. He was suddenly everywhere, all the time. He sat outside her job and house for hours. He sent non-stop notes and presents. He wouldn’t take no for an answer.
When Billy crossed over from creepy stalker to downright terrifying nightmare, her sister Jessie got involved. She’d told Billy that Wynn was in the hospital with a rare blood disorder and to please stop texting. When that didn’t work, Jessie told him Wynn had passed away. While dramatic an
d cruel to do to someone, they just didn’t know what else to do to make him go away. And it didn’t work anyway. Billy showed up in Snowy Ridge and confronted Wynn and Melody in the town square. He had a knife and wanted to force her to go with him to “talk.” Luckily Jessie was also there with her boyfriend, Cade Stone. They’d defended her and then Jessie’s old ex-boyfriend from high school happened to be walking by at the right time, saw the struggle, and ran to help. Cade and him took Billy down. He was safe behind bars now, serving time. It seems Wynn wasn’t the first woman he’d stalked and threatened.
Though it was a completely frightening experience, it opened Wynn’s eyes and she was feeling more determined than ever to stop the chaos and make a stable home for her and Melody. Life wasn’t going to just keep happening to her. She was going to decide what she wanted and go out and get it. And forget about men, at least for a while. She was putting herself on a boyfriend time out until further notice. Valentine’s Day was coming up in a few weeks and she hadn’t experienced the holiday without a Valentine since she was sixteen years old. But she didn’t care. She had her baby girl and she was all she needed.
“Coffee?” Luci asked, with a skip as she entered the kitchen.
“Turn the perkiness down a notch, would ya?” Wynn asked.
“You should try yoga in the morning, sis. A nice sun salutation would really kick your day off to a good start.”
“Why on earth would I want to salute the sun? I hide from it as long as possible. I would still be under my covers now if Melody hadn’t woken me up.” Ugh, that’s right. She was supposed to be making cereal. Wynn set her coffee cup down with a thump and quickly made Melody her bowl of cereal with sliced banana and a sippy cup of milk. She walked it out to the living room and set it down on the coffee table in front of her daughter and Melody jammed one fat little hand right into the bowl and then jammed some cereal in her mouth. They hadn’t quite worked out the spoon business yet so she just let Melody eat how she’d like. At least Wynn didn’t have to sit and hand feed her.