Jessie Belle: The Women of Merryton - Book One

by Peel, Jennifer

  We did her math homework in the kitchen of Jessie Belle’s. I figured we could make my sea salt chocolate cookies. They were the right amount of sweet with just a hint of salty, the perfect combo. It also served as a great demonstration on how to add fractions. It didn’t take Maddie long to catch on to what I was doing.

  “Wait,” she said as she measured out the flour. “Is this fractions?”

  “Maybe,” I said with a smile. “Do you see how quickly you knew that two half cups equaled one cup?

  “Yeah,” she said proudly.

  “Let’s try something else.” I handed her a large, lined measuring cup that held five cups. I also gave her a two-thirds measuring cup. “Fill the two-thirds cup twice and add it to the larger cup.”

  She did as I asked and meticulously measured out the cocoa and filled the larger cup.

  “Now look at the line and tell me how much that equals.”

  She looked at the fill line. “One and one-thirds cup.”

  “Very good.” I handed her a piece of paper and a pencil. “Now write out that equation.”

  She wasn’t thrilled about it, but she obeyed.

  This went on for several days. It got more difficult as we moved on to multiplying and dividing fractions, but at least we always had something good to eat afterward.

  That Tuesday was a game night, which meant we got to do something as a family. Well, kind of. The most contact I had with Blake was in the dugout when I did my pregame high-fives. I walked down the row of benches and high-fived each guy and wished them luck. Blake was brooding at the end next to Easton, who was all smiles as our hands met for a slap.

  “Emmy and Maddie are with Abby and Cheyenne,” I said to both men so they didn’t think I just left them in the stands alone, although Maddie was old enough to babysit and to be left alone.

  “I really appreciate you being so good with Emmy, she looks forward to seeing you.”

  “She’s a doll. Anytime you need me to watch her, let me know. Even if it’s in the middle of the night.” I winked. I remembered what it was like growing up with a doctor.

  “You’re a lifesaver, thanks.”

  I smiled before directing my attention at my surly husband. Thankfully the whole brooding persona looked good on him. Maybe Cheyenne was right, I was staying with my husband because I found him attractive. I knew that wasn’t true, but it was the one perk I had going for me at the moment.

  I raised my hand up to high-five him and he didn’t respond right away. Instead he looked up at me with those eyes of his and I felt the faintest of flutterings in my stomach. I was too upset with him to have full flutterings. I bit my lip and he smiled like he knew he could still get to me.

  He raised his hand, but instead of slapping it, he interlocked his fingers with my own and pulled me to him. “I think I should get more than a high-five, don’t you?” he whispered an inch from my face.

  I could feel the heat rise to my cheeks. “You think so?” I said quietly back.

  He didn’t answer verbally. He closed the distance between us and kissed me once on my lips.

  It was a surprising move. Blake wasn’t into public displays of affection. Heck, we were hardly into private displays.

  Before I got completely lost in him like it was so easy to do, the catcalls started in the dugout.

  I straightened myself up and took in a deep breath. I could feel my red cheeks. “Gentlemen,” I said as I cleared my throat. “Good luck.”

  “How about you kiss me for good luck?” Larry, the idiot, yelled out.

  Most of the guys laughed, but I looked at my husband and he didn’t seem to find it comical at all. He was looking down the bench at Larry like he was giving him the chance to retract his playful statement.

  “You’ll have to ask Blake about that one,” I teased and winked at my husband as I said it.

  Blake raised his eyebrow at me and then quickly looked at Larry with a look that said, I wouldn’t if I were you.

  “Okay, Jessie, time to leave. I’m going to have to make a new rule. No wives in the dugout,” Shane called.

  “Do me proud,” I called out as I walked into the evening sunlight.

  I tried to gain my composure as I walked back to the stands. My idiot husband shouldn’t have such an effect on me. It made it hard to remember why I was upset with him, at least temporarily.

  I walked up into the stands and was greeted by a sight I was not expecting. I kept noticing the covert glances Abby’s son, Connor, was giving Maddie. I didn’t even think he liked girls yet. He was sitting on the same row as Maddie, but a few spaces from her. He kept looking her way and I noticed his red ears.

  Maddie already had the hair flipping and swishing maneuver down. I don’t think she was doing it on purpose, but I could tell Connor liked it.

  I looked up to Cheyenne and Abby, who were sitting in the row above them, and with my eyes directed their attention to the teens in front of them. Cheyenne’s face broke out in an evil grin; Abby’s was more on the worried side. I smiled at her.

  This was another nuance of raising a teen girl I had to get used to. I wondered how her dad was going to take it. I imagined him as the overprotective sort. We probably needed to talk and set some rules. I wasn’t allowed to date until high school, which in this town was tenth grade. I was thinking we should go with that plan.

  I took my place between Cheyenne and Abby with my charges in front of me.

  “So Kent just texted me and said you and Blake were making out in the dugout,” Cheyenne said evilly.

  I smacked her. “We were not.”

  “Too bad, you could probably use a good make-out session.”

  This time Abby reach over and smacked her since we had an audience that consisted of four interested girls and one boy trying to act like he wasn’t interested.

  “You were kissing my dad in front of everyone?” Maddie asked.

  “No, I mean yes. I mean he kissed me once, very chastely.”

  Cheyenne laughed.

  Maddie’s face contorted into this look of disgust. “Old people kissing is gross.”

  “We’re not that old.”

  Maddie shrugged her shoulders like “whatever you say.”

  “It’s okay, Aunt Jessie, you can kiss cause you love each other. That’s what my mommy says,” Isabelle threw in her two cents.

  “Thank you, sweetie,” I said to her in return.

  Poor Emmy looked embarrassed beyond belief and scooted closer to Avery, who was grinning at me.

  I nudged Cheyenne with my shoulder. “No one will ever accuse you of having tact.”

  “Good,” she responded.

  Abby and I both laughed at her.

  Just as the game was beginning to start the “First Couple” showed up. They sat a few rows in front of us on the opposite side. Both of them looked our way. Veronica looked at me and then Maddie and then me again and gave me this look of fake pity as she shook her head. I took that as my opportunity to squeeze Maddie’s shoulders in a loving fashion. That got Veronica to find her seat fast.

  “Who wears all white to the ballpark?” Abby whispered to Cheyenne and me.

  “Someone begging to have Coke spilled on her,” Cheyenne replied.

  “Wait until we play them,” I suggested.

  “I like the way you think,” Cheyenne responded.

  “It’s not very Christian-like,” sweet Abby said. Then she grinned mischievously. “But that’s what repenting is for.”

  We giggled like we were back in junior high.

  I decided then I needed more nights with my girls, especially if I was going to be left out in the cold by Blake and Maddie.

  And it appeared that I was. The game was great as we cheered on our team, who easily beat Mama Mia’s ten to two. But afterward I ended up going home alone while Blake took Maddie to get fitted for a custom-sized helmet for biking.

  And that pretty much summed up the first two weeks of Maddie living with us. My therapist called it a transition
period. I called it something else that we won’t mention.

  Chapter Twenty

  I tried to deal with my loneliness and frustration in healthy ways. I talked to my therapist and tried to keep myself busy with projects or with Cheyenne and Abby. I even babysat Emmy a couple of nights. My therapist suggested I talk to Blake, but I didn’t want to seem like a needy wife or like I was jealous. I wasn’t either. Part of me could understand all the time he was spending with her. I knew he was trying to make up for lost time, but we had lost time to make up for, too.

  I didn’t dare talk to my parents about it, though I think my mom kind of knew. She wasn’t as pro-Blake as she normally was. She wasn’t anti-Blake either, but during Sunday dinner she kept saying things like, “Blake really needs to get his priorities straight.” Of course my dad was in full agreement.

  The problem was I was pretty sure Blake thought he did have his priorities straight. Maddie was happy and so was he, seemingly happier than he had ever been.

  My relationship with Maddie was good, but I had become the enforcer. You know, the one that made her do her homework and clean up. Blake was Disneyland Dad and came home every night and whisked her away to do something fun, whether it was bowling or soccer in the park.

  The only thing I think she enjoyed with me was when I read to her. I was surprised she allowed me to, but she took right to it. We would come home from Jessie Belle’s and sit on the couch with her leaning against me and I would read these ridiculous teen spy books to her until her dad came home. She told me that no one had ever really read to her before.

  I did enjoy our conversations while we read. There was a love interest in the book, and apparently Maddie was already boy crazy.

  “When I grow up, I’m going to marry someone hot and rich, just like Eric.”

  Eric was Cassie’s (the main character’s) unrequited love, if you can have unrequited love at sixteen. You could tell Eric had a thing for Cassie, but circumstances and misunderstandings kept getting in their way. Like, you know, Eric was a supposed criminal. He was a bad-boy with a good heart, just what every girl loved.

  “Will he be a thief too?” I teased.

  “No …”

  “That’s good to know. But don’t be fooled by money or looks. Those only go so far. Make sure you find someone that respects you and treats you right.”

  “Someone like my dad?” she asked innocently.

  “Yeah … someone like your dad,” I said without choking.

  “I can’t wait to have a boyfriend someday.”

  “Oh, yeah.” I kissed the top of her head. “Let’s give it a few years.”

  “Why?”

  “Because, honey, you have a lifetime ahead of you. For now have fun and enjoy being a kid. Boys have a way of complicating your life, especially if you start dating too early.”

  “Do you think that’s what happened to my mom?”

  I set the book down and pulled her closer to me. “What do you mean?”

  She paused for a few seconds. “My mom said that men ruined her life.”

  I wasn’t surprised by that news. Sabrina was one of those women that seemed to need a man to complete her, and she didn’t care if he treated her poorly. I don’t know how many times I had told her to break-up with Hal when we were living together. She talked about him like she would die if he ever left her, yet he treated her like trash, calling her names and cheating on her. But she always crawled back to him.

  “Honey, I don’t know what happened with your mom, but always remember that you don’t need to change for anyone. And you, get to know yourself first. Does that make sense?”

  “Not really.”

  “What I mean is that you learn all you can about what you like to do and what makes you happy. Go to school, travel, and meet lots of people. Then, when the time is right, a long time from now, you’ll attract somebody as wonderful as you. And maybe he’ll be hot and have lots of money.”

  She giggled.

  “Hey,” she said suddenly like she remembered something. “Can I enter the art contest at Jessie Belle’s?”

  I had forgotten she had told me she liked to draw. “I wish you could, but you’re not old enough yet, and it would be unfair since we’re related.”

  “Not really,” she said.

  I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. “Well, your dad is my husband, so like it or not, we’re sort of related.”

  “I like it,” she said quietly.

  “Me, too.” I kissed her head. “How about this? I’ll get you a sketch pad and you can draw some pictures and I’ll get them framed and hang them in the café.”

  “Really?” She looked up to me and beamed.

  I nodded and smiled back.

  If only every moment was like that with her.

  And if only I took my own advice and made her dad treat me like he should. I ended up getting a little unexpected help in that department. I don’t know if it was God or a Higher Power, as I was still not sure about all that, but let’s just say sometimes things work out in mysterious ways.

  Since Blake was wrapped up in his own world I focused on taking care of myself. I made going to the gym an almost every night thing, and then hung out with my friends. It was almost like we were back in school, but Abby had an earlier curfew with her kiddos. And we did things like helping Abby make scrapbooks for her kids. We were really wild like that.

  It was on one of these nights that fate, or whatever you called it, stepped in. It was a Wednesday, which meant Rob was teaching Zumba. It had quickly become my favorite class. He had this way of infusing energy into the class. He mixed Latin dance moves with hip hop, and it made burning calories fun. He was so good they moved his class from the exercise room to the gym to accommodate the fifty or so women that showed up to his class every week. We had women of all ages, from young teens to Nancy, who was in her seventies. I hoped that would be me when I was her age.

  There I was, sweating and burning massive calories along with my worries about my marriage. It was almost better than therapy. That night was especially fun, as Rob introduced a salsa number. He picked me to help show off some of the moves. I had taken some dance classes years ago in college, so I was kind of rusty, but I tried to let go and just have fun like the old me.

  By the end of class I was drenched in sweat, but I had that exercise-high feeling going for me. I was downing my water bottle when my instructor approached me.

  “You have some potential,” he said.

  “Thanks, I think.”

  He laughed. “Seriously, you have some great moves. My wife and I teach a salsa class in Evergreen; you should sign up.”

  “That sounds like fun. Do I have to sign up with a partner?”

  He touched my arm, “No. Believe me you’ll have partners lining up—” He stopped mid-sentence. He froze, and his eyes widened and fixed on something behind me.

  I turned around to see what had caused such a reaction. I barely had time to process that it was Blake before his hands found my face and his lips pressed hard against mine. For a second my brain said, “You’re making a public spectacle of yourself.” But then my brain shut down as soon as his warm lips parted mine and I could taste the lingering effects of the sugar-free mints he always kept handy. The kiss was brief, but it had me buzzing. When he released my lips he still kept a hold of my face. I could see anger in his eyes, but I couldn’t understand why.

  “Hi,” I said breathless.

  He didn’t say a word, he just brushed my lips once more and released me, and immediately took up my hand instead. I quickly understood where the ire was coming from as he stared hard at Rob. I just didn’t understand why he was upset with him. He didn’t even know him, at least I didn’t think he did.

  In the awkward silence I said, “Rob, this is my husband, Blake, if you haven’t already guessed.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Rob said nervously.

  “Hmm …” my husband replied rudely.

  “I better be going,” Rob
said as he hightailed it away from us.

  I looked up to Blake. “What was all that about?”

  He still watched Rob as he walked away to the other side of the gym to put up the sound system. Once Rob was far away he looked down at me. “Hi.”

  “Hi. What are you doing here?”

  “I was playing racquetball with Maddie.”

  I looked up to where the racquetball courts overlooked the gym. I always thought it was weird that the racquetball players could peer down into the gym.

  I looked around. “Where is she?”

  “She went to the teen room to play ping pong with her friend Katie.”

  I let go of Blake to retrieve my bag, towel, and almost empty water bottle. I was a little off-balance. I couldn’t tell if it was from the intense workout or the kiss - maybe a combination of both. I threw the towel around my neck and downed the last bit of my water. I turned to leave as soon as the bottle was empty. Blake followed and picked up my hand again. He was behaving very oddly, and it didn’t help that everyone in the whole gym was staring at us. We had once again given the people of Merryton a show.

  “I think it’s time I teach you how to play racquetball,” he said on our way out of the gym’s already-opened double doors.

  I stopped dead in my tracks outside the doors. “What happened to ‘I’ll get you an instructor’?”

  He grinned and pulled me to him. “I’ve decided I better teach you myself.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “Hmm …”

  “Is that a yes?”

  “I’ll think about it,” I replied.

  “What do you mean you’ll think about it?” His eyes practically danced with amusement.

  I didn’t think there was anything funny about this at all. I was still confused where this was all coming from. “Well, I know how busy you are.”

  His eyes narrowed in concern and he gently pulled me around the corner to a more private area. I leaned against the brick wall trying to avert my eyes as he hovered above me with his hand against the wall for support. “What’s wrong?”

  My head shot up and looked directly into his eyes. “Are you kidding me?”

  “Jess?”

  “Blake, I’ve barely seen you or talked to you in the last two weeks.”