“Fifth place,” I say, reading the brass on the tiny trophy.
“He was so proud to get that trophy,” Julie says. “It was his prized possession. It’s funny to think that just two years later, the boy would have died if he got fifth place. He was always winning or coming in second.”
“Yeah I can’t imagine Jace getting fifth place now,” I say. “He’d probably be mad for days.”
“That’s because it’ll never happen,” Jace says, throwing me a confident smile.
“Maybe not after you've raced a million times. Just getting a trophy out of fifteen other kids on your first ever race was pretty impressive,” Julie says. She seems ten years younger when she’s bragging about her son. And Jace seems ten years younger with how shy he gets when she talks about him like this. It shows a vulnerability to the man I consider my rock, the man who always knows what to do and always has my back. I love seeing this side of him.
I take a step backward and lean my head back against Jace’s chest. Julie’s phone rings and she excuses herself to answer it.
“Let me show you my favorite place,” Jace says, sliding his hand down my back and guiding me back toward the big part of the kitchen.
“And where might that be?” I ask. He nods toward the metal staircase that spirals sharply up a pole and disappears into the ceiling above. “Is this the place you bring all the girls?” I ask, trying to play it off like I don’t care, but I do. I really do.
“Does my mom count?” he asks.
I shake my head and climb up the stairs quickly, more eager to see what awaits at the top now that I know it won't’ be Jace’s secret make out spot. The stairs lead to a tiny room that overlooks balcony on the second floor. We push open the sliding glass doors and step out onto a covered porch. There’s a hammock to the right and a plush outdoor couch to the left. The view is amazing. It faces the back of the neighborhood, which unlike the front, it doesn’t face another row of houses. All I can see for miles is the beauty of Sacramento.
Jace plops down into the hammock and steadies himself, resting his hands behind his head. I lean my hands on the balcony railing and look out at the world beyond, taking it all of the beauty the landscape has to offer.
“Mind if I join you?” I ask Jace a few moments later.
“I don’t know,” he says, squishing his lips to the right. “I really loved the view from here.”
“You can see over the railing from the hammock?” I ask.
He shakes his head and that sneaky grin of his appears on his gorgeous face. “No, but I had a sexy view of that ass.”
Heat fills my cheeks. “Yeah, well this ass would like to cuddle with you.”
“Come on over,” he says, doing his best to slide over in the hammock. “As long as I get to grab it, I’ll be alright.”
I slide into the hammock and curl up on my side, allowing Jace, my ever horny fiancé, to grab my butt and slide his hand into my back pocket. When his bicep is relaxed it makes for a great pillow. Soon, watching the view from the slats in the balcony railing grows tiresome and I focus on the gentle swaying of the hammock in the breeze. My eyelids feel heavy and the last thing I remember thinking is how the weather in Sacramento is just perfect for a nap outdoors.
“Babe.”
My eyes flutter open briefly before closing again. The sound comes again, a deep rumble of a familiar voice. “Babe. Wake up.”
The words register in my brain and even though I don’t really want to wake up from this glorious nap, I know I need to. Jace hovers over me, his dirty blonde hair glimmering in the glow of the setting sun. “Hey there,” he says, smirking. “I can’t believe you fell asleep.”
“Sorry,” I mumble. We’re still in the hammock, so even when I try to roll over in an effort to sit up, my body just twists like an overturned turtle and I’m back where I started, pressed against Jace’s chest. “How late is it?”
“It’s six-thirty. I just heard my dad’s truck pull into the driveway, so I figured we should get up. I don’t want a lecture about how napping isn’t healthy for someone my age.”
This makes me try a little harder at getting out of the hammock, and this time I’m met with much less resistance. I swing my feet over the edge and stand up, offering a hand to Jace so he can follow my lead. “I definitely don’t want my first time meeting your dad to be when I’m lying asleep with you. That’s just...awkward.”
Jace laughs. “Yeah, I didn’t think about that.” He pats his hair down and smooths out his shirt. “How do I look?”
“Cute,” I say.
He gives me a sleepy smile and runs a hand through his hair. “Guess I’ll take that.”
Jace’s dad is practically an older clone of Jace. Which is weird, because it feels like I’m seeing into the future and getting a glimpse of what Jace will look like when we’re in our late forties. Just like Julie had insisted on being called her first name, Jace’s dad takes the same approach.
“Call me Gary,” he says when Jace introduces us. His smile reaching his eyes. “Mr. Adams makes me sound like an old man.”
“You are an old man,” Jace says. Gary is an inch or two taller than Jace is, and this is the first time that I can recall seeing Jace have to look up to someone. His dad slugs him in the shoulder for his old man joke, and then he looks back at me. “Jace told us you were pretty, but he didn’t say how pretty.”
I know he’s just saying it because that’s something dads say to their son’s girlfriends, but it makes me smile like an idiot regardless. “Thanks,” I mutter, taking a step closer to Jace. For a moment, I feel like a little kid who wants to dart behind her mom and cling onto her leg to hide from the grown up who is talking to me. But my mom isn’t here in Sacramento with me. I’m an adult now and I have to face my fears head on.
“So what’s for dinner?” Gary asks, silencing his cell phone for the third time in as many minutes. “I’m starving.”
“Italian?” Julie asks.
“Oh my God, yes,” Jace says, practically salivating over one single word. “Is that cool with you?” he asks me. I nod. “I could eat anything.”
“Italian, it is!” Gary says. “I’m turning off this damn phone now. Stupid things aren’t worth the effort.”
“Who keeps calling you?” I ask.
“Work junk.” He waves his hand as if the callers aren’t important enough to name. “But I don’t have time for that tonight. Tonight is all about spending time with my new family member.”
We all climb into the Escalade again, only this time Jace’s dad takes the passenger seat and I get to share the backseat with Jace. I’m really starting to wonder why I had been so nervous to meet these people in the first place. Jace is the most loving, understanding person I’ve ever known. It only makes sense that his parents, the people who raised him to be the man he is today, would share the same personality traits. After days of anxious worrying about meeting his parents, I finally feel like I can relax.
That is of course, until we get to the restaurant.
Chapter 15
I don’t even realize it at first. After parking in the back of a crowded parking lot at what Julie assures me is one of the best Italian restaurants in the state, I hang back to allow her to tell me about her favorite dishes while Jace and his dad walk up ahead of us. I don’t really pay attention to the thin, well-dressed girl walking in close proximity to my fiancé. After all, this is a busy restaurant and people all around us are heading toward the hostess stand outside, or walking back to their car after eating dinner. A girl walking next to Jace is not a big deal.
But then, while Julie is gushing about the chicken parm, I notice the wave of silky honey-colored hair swoosh to the right. The girl smiles and gets a little bounce in her step as she walks. Then she touches Jace’s arm.
She. Touches. My. Fiancé.
Julie’s voice fades into background static as I stare at the girl just a couple yards ahead of me. Tunnel vision takes over and all I can focus on is her perfect
hair and her perfect calves protruding out from the shortest damn shorts ever. She’s talking and laughing and acting as if she and Jace are the best of friends. Who the hell does this girl think she is?
And why the hell hasn’t Jace turned around and–oh. Okay, then.
Just as I was thinking it, Jace’s steps slow and he turns around, extending his right arm toward me, waiting for me to catch up. The girl slowed down as well, but she took one look at me, and then another, and then looked back at Jace.
“It was cool meeting you,” she tells him, before tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and parting off toward the outside seating area. Jace’s parents walk around us and head toward the hostess stand to reserve a table for us. I feel bad about having ignored Julie for the last few minutes, and I hope she hadn’t said anything that would have made it obvious that I wasn’t paying attention.
“Old girlfriend?” I say. I smile like I’m joking but I know we both know I’m completely serious. What can I say? I’m a jealous paranoid freak and Jace already knows this so he should know what he’s getting into by now.
He shakes his head. “Just a fan.”
“A fan, eh?” I lift an eyebrow. “A fan of...being your ex-girlfriend?”
He laughs. “You don’t have anything to worry about babe. She asked if I was Jace Adams and I said yeah and that was about it.”
I narrow my eyebrows. “I don’t think I like California girls.”
He grabs my hand, locking his fingers between mine. “Neither do I.”
Dinner gets a little awkward just after the food arrives. Jace’s dad has had a glass and a half of wine and it makes him more talkative than all the rest of us put together. “So are you guys going to stay in that cowboy state forever?”
“You know what’s weird?” Jace says in response to the question. “I haven’t seen a single cowboy in Texas. It’s seriously disappointing.” He doesn’t even seem affected by the way his dad talked about my home state, but I’m a little offended about it. I mean, sure we have a reputation for being cowboys, but that’s really not what the state is like anymore. We’re regular people. And besides, what exactly does he mean in asking if we’re staying there forever?
“No cowboys, eh?” Gary takes a sip from his wine. “Sure seemed like it when I was there.”
“Just because Grandfather was a cowboy doesn’t mean everyone else is,” Jace says. “Look at Bayleigh. She’s as city girl as they come. Took me forever to get her to stop fretting over her hair and makeup at the track.”
“Are your parents cowboys?” Gary asks me.
I shake my head. “No, sir.”
“Good.” He nods more to himself than to us. “Now that we’ve established how no one here is a cowboy, you need to sell that shack in Texas and move back here where you belong.”
It takes me a minute to realize what he means. Our apartment isn’t a shack, not that he’s even seen it, and besides, we don’t own it so we can’t sell it.
“I was thinking of renting it out,” Jace says without missing a beat. Only then do I understand the full meaning of Gary’s suggestion. The beautiful two story home in Salt Gap, Texas is not anything close to being a shack. But it was Jace’s grandfather’s house before he died and left it to Jace and I know that Gary didn’t get along with his father. So I guess in his eyes, the gorgeous home is just a shack.
“We don’t live there,” I say. “We have an apartment in Mixon.”
“I know, but I’m talking about Jace’s inheritance. You need to get rid of it, Son. It’s just wasting your time right now.”
“I think renting it out is a nice idea,” Julie interjects, placing a hand on her husband’s arm. “It’ll be a nice source of secondary income.”
Gary shakes his head. “I’d be happier if the damn place was gone for good.”
“Unfortunately for you, honey, this is not your decision.” I don’t have to be related to her to know that she’s giving him a look that says shut up right now.
Jace lets out an exasperated sigh. Something tells me this isn’t the first time he’s had a conversation like this with his dad. I don’t know what happened to end Gary’s relationship with Jace’s grandfather, but it’s a little sad that the man can’t just get over it already.
The awkwardness has reached epic proportions. It would be easy to excuse myself and say I need to use the restroom. I could take my time walking there and back and hopefully when I returned, the conversation would have changed.
“Excuse me for a minute,” I begin, sliding my chair out from the table. “I need to use the restroom.” I go to stand up, but the waitress rushes up and blocks my exit. Only when I look up, I realize she’s not a waitress at all. She’s just some girl.
“I’m so sorry to interrupt your dinner,” she says, staring straight at Jace as she speaks.
“No worries at all, Ashley,” Gary says with a massive smile on his face that wasn’t there a few moments earlier. “It’s good to see you, girl.”
“Thanks, Mr. Adams,” the girl gushes. “Hey, Jace.”
The way she says his name makes my heart stop. Immediately, a stab of painful awareness pierces into me. This is not some type of girl who stops Jace in a parking lot and tells him she loves watching him race. She’s not going to smile and blush and ask him for an autograph or a picture to post on her Facebook. This girl knows him. She used to, at least.
She places her hand on the back of his chair when he turns around to greet her. He looks a little surprised to see her, but surprise isn’t the worst expression he could have. For all I know, she could be his cousin or something. He gives her a tight-lipped smile. “Hey, Ashley.”
Definitely not a cousin.
She puts her hands on her hips like she’s about to gripe at him for something stupid like drinking from the milk carton. “So are you finally back here for good?”
Jace snorts a little laugh. “Nah, not right now.”
“Why not?” She’s whining like a twelve-year-old girl. I roll my eyes and lean back in my chair. No one notices my own prominent display of acting like a child, probably because everyone’s eyes are on this chick. She’s dressed like a teenager, in tight jeans with rhinestones all over the pockets and a skimpy tank top that shows so much cleavage, you can tell there’s totally a push up bra under there. But the fine lines around her eyes and the creases around her lips when she smiles makes her look older. I can’t really pin her age, but the way she’s smiling at Jace would make me hate her even if she were old enough to be his grandmother.
I’m startled out of my silent fuming over this girl when Julie taps my arm. “Honey, weren’t you going to the restroom?”
I shake my head. Funny how the urge to pee can completely disappear and be replaced with an animalistic urge to rip another woman’s head off. “I think I’ll stay and meet Jace’s new friend.”
I say it a little louder than necessary, hoping it reaches my fiancé and gives him the hint to introduce me. But I don’t think he even hears me. Julie’s eyebrows crinkle together. “Ashley’s not a new friend. They’ve known each other for years.”
“Good to know,” I say. Jace still hasn’t introduced me. You want to know why? Because he’s wrapped up in a conversation with this Ashley girl and he hasn’t even bothered to look in my direction since she showed up. Did he forget about me?
“Jace.” I don’t really mean to say it out loud, but maybe I do. When he turns toward me, eyebrows lifted, I realize I don’t have a single thing to say. At least not anything I could say in front of other people. “Um, where’s the restroom?” It’s a dumb question, but it’s the first thing that comes to mind. He motions toward the front of the restaurant. “I think it’s near the door.”
Ashley jiggles her hand which is still on the back of his chair. The dozen golden bangles around her wrist dance around, clanking together in what I can only assume is the tune to the national anthem of skanks. “Oh, Jacey!” Ashley touches her arm, bouncing on her heels. “I can’t believ
e I forgot to tell you about Kristen!”
And just like that, Jace’s attention is back on this girl who everyone seems to know but no one is introducing to me. I grab my fork and press it into the tablecloth, trying like hell not to listen to the stupid crap Ashley is rambling on about. She says something about a girl named Kristen who got into some fancy dance academy and then I don’t hear the rest because I take out my phone and text Becca.
Me: So we’re getting dinner and some bitch comes up and is talking to Jace and his whole family. She knows them apparently.
Becca: It’s probably a family friend? Prob not a big deal, Bay
Me: Is tall, gorgeous and blonde not a big deal?
Becca: You’re gorgeous and blonde!
Me: I’m dirty-blonde.
Becca: Who cares? Jace is with you. So stop worrying. Stress isn’t good for you.
I know she’s right and I know she’s trying to help. But it doesn’t really help. I just want someone to side with me and tell me I’m not crazy for hating this girl who is interrupting our dinner. If I had any guts, I’d just introduce myself to her, let her know I’m Jace’s fiancé. And if I was really bold, I’d ask her to leave.
Ashley’s voice filters back in my mind and I glance up and find that she’s still talking like some kind of unstoppable children’s talking Elmo. “So you guys should totally come by and see my art, okay? I won’t take no for an answer.”
Her art? I look around at the faces of Jace’s family and they're all nodding and smiling and saying what a great idea it is. “What are ya’ll talking about?” I ask, looking exclusively at Jace and not at the skank hovering around behind his chair.
The Beginning of Forever (Summer Unplugged Book 5) Page 10