When Sh*t Gets in the Way

by Ines Vieira

  “Awful. Beautiful. Take your pick,” Jess replies staring into my eyes unabashedly.

  “You scared me, Quaid.”

  “I know,” I whisper and I extend my right arm to her. She takes my hand immediately in hers and places a chaste kiss on my knuckles. How can such a small innocent kiss make me feel like all is right in the world?

  “I was so scared, but then I was also so angry at you, too. I mean who the hell drives in New York City?! No one, Quaid! No one but my bullheaded boyfriend! I was so angry with you that it was a good thing you were unconscious for a few days. You would have heard a lot of nasty name calling a few days ago, trust me,” she goes on, but I just focus on one part of her rant.

  “Boyfriend?” I ask squeezing her hand in mine. “I thought the last time we saw each other you left it pretty clear we had moved on from that,” I tell her, but still hold on tight to her hand waiting for her to tell me my pain is over in more ways than one.

  “Quaid, whether I call you my boyfriend or not, it doesn’t matter at the end of the day. I love you. I’ve never loved anyone my whole life the way I love you. Whether we stay together or maintain apart, that will never change,” she says and places her head on my chest.

  She closes her eyes and listens to the beat of my heart. Each note carrying her name. I understand her perfectly. It doesn’t matter what circumstance we find ourselves in. We can be fighting like cats and dogs with each other, and still, our love would always be there. Strong like an iron chain fencing off would be attackers. Both our hearts are too entwined with each other for us to have any other option. Pointless to resist since we are drawn together like magnets. We can try to pull, pull, and pull away for whatever logical reason our minds come up with only to be brought together with an even greater force. With her eyes closed on my chest and clasping my right hand in hers, I use my left to play with the silky brown locks that I adore so much. It’s ironic how last week I was walking around feeling like half a person and fast forward to this night, where I’m black and blue, aching all over, and I’ve never felt more whole.

  “Meu amor,” I whisper. My eternal love for all the days of my life.

  “I don’t want us to be apart anymore,” she whispers back with her eyes still closed but I feel her tears falling silently on my hospital gown.

  “Never again, meu amor,” I vow.

  “You and me, Quaid. No more 'merda' getting in our way,” she sniffles, and I want to hold her in my arms.

  “Come here Jess,” I tell her, instructing her to lay beside me. I need to kiss my girl. I need to make sure she understands that what we got is no joking matter. It’s jackpot win. A one in a million type of love. The type of love that’s portrayed in movies and romance novels. Songs are written to describe being blessed with such a treasure.

  “Look at me, Jess,” I ask her, and as her lids open, more tears start to silently fall.

  “I was so scared, Quaid. I thought I lost you and you would have left this earth thinking I didn’t love you. When all I do is love you every minute of every day. I thought I was going to die right along with you in that surgery room. I felt so powerless. I’ve never been that scared in my life,” she hiccups and this is Jess finally letting go. I hug her to me with all my might, even though it hurts like a mother.

  “I’m here. We’re here. No one or anything will come between us again. I promise you. My heart will continue to beat as long as yours does.”

  “Promise?” she asks weakly, and I finally give in and kiss her ruby lips. Her soft response to my anxious kiss is a promise in itself. I am hers just as much as she is mine. In one kiss I promise everything she wants from me. My heart and my soul were already hers way before today and will continue to be so to my dying breath. She pulls away satisfied with my answer and cradles her head in the nook of my neck, her pent-up worry now far away. It takes only a couple of minutes for her to fall asleep in my arms and again I can’t help but feel grateful. Sure there are a lot of things I’ll still have to talk to her about. I’m not looking forward to the fight my mom is going to put up with me wanting to have my recovery be here instead of back home.

  But none of that matters.

  All that truly matters is the girl laying in my arms, lovingly dreaming of me as I dream of her.

  Epilogue

  Jess

  “Babe, Cass is trying to Skype you,” Quaid belts from his room.

  “I’m coming,” I say as I throw myself on the bed to lie next to him. My laptop is safely placed on his stomach and his casted leg supported up by two pillows that I was able to get from one of the guest rooms. I know he was trying to watch more self-defense classes on YouTube but talking to my bestie takes priority.

  As soon as I accept Cass’s call, I’m immediately faced with a bright-eyed, happy Cassandra. It’s been so long since I’ve seen her this way that it takes me a second to get used to this new alive Cass.

  “Well, well, well. I see the San Francisco air has finally worked its magic. You look great, Cass!” She blushes at the compliment, and I can’t help but smile just as brightly at my dear friend’s enlightenment.

  “So what’s up, Cass? Doing some new exercise or something ‘something’ or is it still the running? Whatever it is, it’s working for you, babe!” Her wide smile is almost uncontainable on her heart-shaped face.

  “Actually, I have someone here that wants to speak to you,” she says and then moves away from the camera. When I see my blue-eyed cousin smiling back at me, I literally jump up. Quaid humphs out in pain from my careless jibe to his torso.

  “No way!! Isaac, is that really you?” I shriek, too ecstatic for words. Well apparently not muting me completely since my next question is, “What did you do to your hair?”

  “Really prima? You haven’t seen me in over a year, and it’s my hair that you bitch about?” He laughs, and it’s music to my ears.

  “You’re in California? All this time you were in California?”

  “No, not really. It’s a long story, and I promise I’ll explain when I can, but I just wanted to see you. And by looking at it, I can see you have a long story to tell of your own,” he says eyeing an uncomfortable Quaid who is desperate to lay back down on the bed but maybe too scared to do so in fear of another one of my careless strikes to his stomach.

  “I guess I do, huh? I’ll be sure to catch you up on all current events when you get your ass back home. You are coming back, right?” I ask, but I already see the uncertainty sprawled on my cousin’s face. He shakes it off and looks to his side where Cass looks at him adoringly.

  “We’ll see. There are just some things that we need to work out first, but right now I’m exactly where I want to be,” he replies, and I completely understand where he’s coming from. Those two need some time for themselves. This past year and a half has been killer on our family, but no one deserves more happiness than the two people I see in front of me.

  “Well, if it’s alright with both of you, Jess and I would love to come and visit you up in Cali. I might be a little handicap at the moment, but I’m sure I could do with some California sun,” Quaid interrupts, and my eyes must be bugging out of their respective sockets.

  “Really?” I hear Cass squeal behind Isaac, jumping up and down at the idea, while my jaw is still nicely open at the Quaid’s surprising request.

  “That would be okay, wouldn’t it, meu amor? Maybe next weekend?

  Son of a gun!

  Can he be more perfect?

  That twinkle in his eye and all American smile gets me every time. I nod happily and lean in to give him a sweet soft kiss. I don’t want him to get him too riled up since we have an audience of two on my laptop screen, but after that surprise, Quaid is going to get plenty of pampering.

  “I’m sure your Gran would fork up her private plane just so you wouldn’t have to mingle with the riff-raff while in your gentle state,” I tease him. Before the accident, this penthouse was completely deserted for the majority of the time. Now though, his
grandmother makes it a point to make a house call at least three times a week. She even insinuated how Quaid would feel so much better relaxing at the Hamptons with her, but he was able to talk himself out of that one at least.

  “Well great! Call us once you know when you’ll be coming!” Cass yells out, and Isaac just pulls her back to his chest and holds her tightly, while kissing her hair. The happiness on both their faces is so palpable; I have the sudden urge to reach out and touch it. Soon. If Quaid can get us to San Francisco in a week’s time, I’ll be able to hug their happiness first hand.

  “Okay, prima. Gotta go. I have a lot of time I need to catch up on with my girl. I’ll call your dad and Avó Irene later tonight, so don’t go spoiling our surprise,” he laughs out.

  “Ah! You mean I was your first call?” I say honestly touched, but then lower my brow when I see a reluctant look on my cousin’s face.

  “Tony?! You called Tony first? Before me? Both of you suck, you know that right!” I tell him crossing my arms acting annoyed.

  “Sorry prima. I owed him one,” he says, and I just wave his statement off.

  “Yeah, whatever. Have your boys club all you like. I didn’t want to be a part of it when I was eight and I don’t want to be a part of it now,” I joke.

  “You keep telling yourself that, cuz. Love Ya!” Isaac winks back.

  “Yeah, Yeah, Love you guys too. Use protection!” I yell out before Isaac closes the connection.

  “You think they heard me?” I turn over to Quaid.

  “Babe, even the pigeons outside on the ledge heard you!” he teases, and I start to tickle his vulnerable spots. His laugh is contagious, and I lay back on his forearm mimicking his laughter. He places my laptop on his bedside table and turns over to face me, giving my nose a quick kiss.

  “Do me a favor? Can you grab that boat on the shelf for me?” he asks pointing to one of the miniature boats that garnish this room. I pull myself away reluctantly and get his toy. He takes some of the string out of one of the boat’s sails and places the boat on his side.

  “Give me your left hand.”

  I do as he asks all the while listening to the hard beat of his heart and mine. He wraps the soft white string onto my ring finger giving it a tie and leaning in to bite of the excess string.

  “What’s this?” I ask looking at the makeshift ring on my finger.

  A promise,” he says smiling shyly.

  “Nurse Rachel had it right all along. I shouldn’t let you leave my sight without a constant reminder of me. Since both of us are barely twenty yet, me giving you a five-carat ring might be too much, but I think this meets my purpose just right,” he beams proudly.

  “Which is?” I say biting my lower lip in anticipation.

  “That one day, Jess we will be united in more ways than one. Right now you hold my heart and soul in your hands, but one day I want to promise you my future and all of my days. This is my humble promise that I vow to make you happy every day in this life and the next.”

  “The next, huh? You think very highly of yourself if you think you can make me fall in love with you in every life?” I tease him.

  I mean I’m not the type of girl that believes in stuff like that anyway. Having Quaid by my side in this life is enough for me.

  It’s everything.

  “It’s not in me I have faith in, meu amor.”

  “Just our love. Just our destiny.”

  The End

  Stay tuned for more of the When Life Gets in the Way Series coming out next year!

  Have you read the book that started it all?

  Meet Cass and Isaac in When Life Gets in the Way

  http://a.co/3HamY4H

  Ines Vieira Other Titles:

  YA Contemporary Romance

  When Life Gets in the Way

  When Sh*t Gets in the Way

  When Lies Get in the Way – Realising 2018

  When Hate Gets in the Way – Realisng - 2018

  Can’t wait that long?

  Well check out a New Adult Novella by Ines Vieira

  Christmas Novella - Tyler Ranch : http://a.co/haJpGSH

  Follow me on my facebook page to get all the juicy details:

  https://www.facebook.com/InesVieiraAuthor/

  Follow me on the below to be informed when new releases and book deals happen:

  Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Ines-Vieira/e/B01JML15XI/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

  Book Bub Deals: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/ines-vieira

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Well, this one took everything out of me.

  I would first like to thank all the readers that patiently waited for the next installment of this series. Jess and Quaid had a lot to say, and I have to be honest, they took their time to tell me their truth. But this story was so important to me, that I gave them the reigns and let them run wild.

  As always, I would have been unable to write a single word if it wasn’t for the support of so many people.

  My husband Noka and my beautiful son Sean, you two deserve so much more than me, and I thank my lucky stars every day, that you haven’t figured that out yet. You are my family, my heart, and my reason.

  To my family and friends, thank you for understanding when I was unable to attend a dinner or go out and have some much-needed fun, just because Quaid and Jessica had decided to talk to me. *I don’t hear voices trust me.* I apologize right now for all the unanswered texts and phone calls, just because I was living in my writing cave and didn’t realize the outside world existed.

  To my mom, my champion in all things, thank you for just being you. I don’t think there is a woman on earth I admire more. I hope I live to have the same gentle soul, even when faced with hardship and sacrifice. Amo-te muito mãe.

  I want to thank my team, which made this book a possibility. To my editor Carol Tietsworth, that had to do her best at sorting my words and thoughts out, even when I sent her chapters in all weird orders.

  To Taylor Sullivan, for creating my gorgeous book cover yet again. This lady is a creative soul. All you have to do is pick up one of her own books to witness her talent. Please don’t leave me! Hahaha!

  To my proofreader, Sara Simoes, thank you for dealing with grace with my deadlines and constant pestering. You saved my hide!

  Since I started this journey, I’ve been blessed with meeting and making true friendships with other writers and book lovers alike.

  I want to thank Hanleigh Bradley for putting up with my rants on how I didn’t think it was ever going to be possible to finish this book in time. I want to thank her for inviting me to be a part of the wonderful community, Author Friends With Benefits, where I’m able to talk and engage with new writers like myself who are finding their way and supporting each other in any way we can. I am in awe of what most of you have been able to accomplish and look forward in following your footsteps.

  I also need to thank Kilby Blades for giving me her honest first impression on this book and offering me her sage advice in living in New York. Anytime I ask you a question; you are always welcoming and genuine with your feedback. You, Kilby, are as classy as they come.

  A big thank you to my bloggers. Yeah, you heard me: MINE. Because I love them so damn much. Each one of them has been amazing with their support and love for what I put to paper.

  To the ladies of Tangents and Tissues, Morgan and Laura, thank you for my first ever review and making it a five star at that. You girls don’t know how much I cried when I saw that someone actually loved my first piece of fiction. It was humbling.

  To Eileen at Bangor Belle Book Besties, you lady are a Rock Star! Your enthusiasm for all things YA / NA is addictive and I just hope this one made you fall in love as well.

  To Jeri at Jeri’s Book Attic, thank you for teaching me how to do a teaser for my first book. You didn’t have to waste your precious time in explaining to me how to be effective with my teasers, yet you did. For an inspiring author getting her feet wet, this meant more to me than you re
alize.

  To my beautiful Dee from Bookishkhaleesi, your love for all things Nicky Mackenzie is the fire I need to finish that book sooner rather than later. Thank you for loving him as much as I do, and I hope the little taste I gave you in this book is enough to hold you out until then. Promise you’ll have him sooner than you think.*wink, wink*.

  And to my favorite cheerleader in the world, the woman that I’m so happy to say is my book bestie and friend; Lucy Ivey at Lucy Lu’s Book Reviews. You have supported me from day one and have screamed and shouted for the whole world to hear about my books. If it were up to you, I’d be a bestseller for sure! *hehehe* I cant tell you what your friendship means to me, and your belief that I’m actually good at this writing gig, makes me want to be even better. I adore you girl!

  To the big guy upstairs, thank you for looking out for me. I’ll never falter as long as you have my back.

  My last thank you is to you. Yes, you! Why? Well, because you bought my book and let my words be a part of your life even if only for a spell. In buying my books and reading my words, you are giving me hope that I’m on the right track and that there is an audience for my type of stories. I hope you enjoyed it. Lord knows I loved every minute of writing it. So thank you for taking the time.

  Oh and one more thing, don’t forget to leave a review. It might only take you a minute, but it makes a huge impact on an author’s life.

  Thank you <3

  Hope you enjoyed “When Sh*t Gets in the Way”.

  Here is a sneak peak on the upcoming book in this series:

  When Hate Gets in the Way

  If you haven’t read When Life Gets in the Way, than as an added bonus here is the first two chapters: