“Nope. Changed my mind. Bought something else instead.”
The twinkle in her eye caught Jake’s attention.
“What’d you get?”
She pulled her knees under her and leaned back on her heels. “Well, actually, I bought something for you.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. I saw it and thought of you immediately. I’m not sure if you want it or need it, I just wanted you to have it more than anything.”
He reached out to clutch her shirt. “Really? You didn’t have to buy me anything.”
“I know. And that’s exactly why I did. Now close your eyes.”
“It’s here?”
She chuckled as his eyes darted around, looking for the gift. “Yes, now close your eyes.”
He did as she asked and she laughed at the goofy grin plastered on his face. She crawled over to the blanket she had set aside now damp with rain, uncovered the guitar, and gently placed it on his lap. “Now, open your eyes.”
Shock rang through him as he saw what she had done. “You bought this?”
“Do you like it?”
He was quiet as he ran his hands over the wood. His smile disappeared and she wasn’t sure if she’d done the right thing. It wasn’t her place to force something on him that he’d obviously given up.
She cast her eyes down in embarrassment. “That’s okay if you don’t like it. I just thought, well, it doesn’t matter what I thought.”
As she reached to take the guitar from his lap, he placed his hand on hers. She didn’t lift her head as he slowly pulled the strap around his neck. The guitar felt comfortable and safe in his hands. He’d forgotten the escape that music brought him, the energy it gave him.
“Lily.”
“Jake, you don’t have to. I know it’s not my place—”
“Lily, look at me,” he interrupted and she finally lifted her gaze to meet his. “No one has ever bought me anything like this.”
“But you don’t play anymore.”
“I haven’t had a reason to play in a long time. Maybe it’s time I tried again.”
“Really? You really like it?”
“I love it. Thank you.”
“I wasn’t sure. I mean, you and I are, I mean we’re just...”
He finished her sentence. “Friends?”
“Yeah. I guess so.”
He pulled the guitar strap off his neck and leaned toward her. “I kinda thought, after what just happened, we were more than that. At least I was hoping we were.”
Shifting her body closer to his, she responded, “I’d like to be.”
“Good.”
His fingers outlined her jaw and his eyes fell towards her mouth.
She planted her hands on the blanket as she moved to her knees. As he fell slowly to his back, she covered his body with hers.
She softly kissed his eyelids, ran her tongue along his jaw, before settling on his lips. His eyes locked on hers and when their lips met, they both felt everything around them disappear. When they each slowly pulled away, the want they’d felt for the other morphed into need.
Fingers tightly gripped her thighs as he pulled her knees to either side of him. Straddling him, she sat up and slowly pulled off her shirt just as the sun was setting behind her.
He moved his hands up her body. She took them in hers, interlocking her fingers in his, and leaned forward to place them on either side of his head.
Her whisper was almost imperceptible. “No touching. Not yet.”
She released his hands, then her fingers played with the buttons on his shirt as she lowered her mouth to kiss every inch of skin she uncovered.
He tensed as she littered his chest and stomach with soft kisses before stopping at the top of his pants. She ran her tongue along his waistband, softly biting his hipbone, while working the button free.
Jakes hands flew to her shoulders and he pulled her to his face, cupping his hands around her cheeks.
She giggled with naughty anticipation. “I said no touching.”
“I know what you said.”
He dropped his hands to her jeans, easily opened them, and began to coax them below her hips.
Half-heartedly attempting to pry his hands from her, she laughed. “You don’t follow directions so well. You’re supposed to wait for me to give the okay.”
Jake shifted his weight so they rolled over with him on top of her.
On the brink of losing control, he buried his face in her neck and gently cupped her breasts in his hands. “I don’t want to wait.”
Her body responded to his tongue on her stomach. When his hands finally pulled her jeans away, he tossed them to the side and settled himself between her legs.
She reached down and slipped his pants over his rear and he kicked them off. She shifted to allow him inside and it was his turn to smile wickedly.
“Oh no. Now it’s your turn to wait.”
She lost control as he explored her body with his fingers. Her head exploded with pleasure as his mouth took over. And just as she thought she’d die from his touch, he crushed his mouth over hers and plunged inside her. The sun winked away, promising a new beginning.
CHAPTER 18
In the morning, Jake awoke first, tangled under the warmth of her body. Contentment washed over him as he studied her face, soft with sleep. He felt alive and free and finally awake.
He’d wondered if God had gone away or if he was just losing his mind, and he’d begged for a sign that he’d be able to feel again. For every day of sun and warmth, he’d felt at least two of sadness. Just as he became comfortable with the thought that hell would have to freeze over before he’d have feelings again, Lily came into his life. Full of energy and spirit, and without an ounce of pretension, she’d slowly taken over the void left in his heart.
Then again, where he came from, a man didn’t become a fool for love after only one night. But this wasn’t just sex. He truly felt the closeness they shared. As he lay on the beach with her hair in his face, with locks of curls swimming in the light breeze, he thought of her plans to move down to Georgia and wondered if she’d take over the world. And if he’d ever feel this good again.
He shifted, careful not to wake her, and reached for his pants. Standing, he pulled them up before bending to reach for the guitar. Holding it out in front of him, he realized the gift was an invitation to move forward. But he knew he couldn’t, not without letting Lily all the way in. Not without telling her everything.
Lily woke to the sound of Jake strumming the guitar. The melody was soft and beautiful. She lay there for a few minutes with her eyes closed, allowing the music to fill her.
When she finally sat up, holding the blanket to cover herself, she saw him deep in thought with his eyes closed and a pencil between his teeth. After a moment, he took the pencil from his mouth and leaned down to scribble on a pad of paper.
“Whatcha writing?”
He looked up and smiled. “Good morning. Something just came to me, and I wanted to write it down. I didn’t have anything to write with so I took this out of your car. I hope that’s okay.”
“Of course,” she said as he shifted over to kiss her. “Can I hear more?”
He grinned sheepishly. “Sure. If you want.”
“I want.” She lay back down on the blanket and listened to him coax out the melody.
“No words?”
“Some. But I have to organize them first. For now, I just have the tune in my head.”
After a few more minutes of playing, Jake put the guitar down and lay on his stomach next to her.
She turned to look at him. “What’s the last song you played?”
His voice suddenly hoarse, he replied, “It was a lullaby.”
“Did you write it?”
“I did.”
“I’m sorry.”
Wrapping her hair around his fingers, he said, “No need for you to be sorry for anything. Do you have any plans today?”
Stretching, she smiled and he wo
ndered what he did to deserve her.
“Not really,” she said. “I was thinking about taking some more pictures. Why? Do you have any plans?”
“Well, I did tell Mr. Olsen that I’d stop by the docks later. He wanted me to stock one of the boats for tomorrow. The guys are going out for a twelve-hour run and need to be ready to go by four in the morning. But I was thinking after, maybe we could do something.”
“What did you have in mind?”
“Maybe we could run over to Bill’s and get something to eat. Maybe rent a movie or something. I gotta be at work early tomorrow so I have to get to sleep early.”
“Poor baby needs his sleep. What time do you have to be there today?”
Looking at his watch, he frowned. “In about an hour.”
“An hour doesn’t give us much time.”
A wry smile played on his lips. “Much time for what?”
“Breakfast! I’m starving.”
They laughed easily. He reached over and threw her his T-shirt and her jeans.
“Well, get up then. I have just the place.”
She dressed quickly as he grabbed the blankets and bags and threw them in the bed of his truck.
Within an hour, Lily was pulling her Jeep into her uncle’s driveway, and Jake was pulling into the lot at work. Danny pulled in after him.
“What are you doing here?”
Danny responded, “I’m loading the boat. What are you doing here?”
“The same. I guess Olsen really needs it done today.”
“What’s with that look on your face?”
Jake pulled together his best poker face. “What look?”
As Danny pointed at Jake, he laughed. “You were smiling.”
“No I wasn’t.”
“You were! Holy crap! Call the newspapers. Jake woke up happy today.”
“Don’t be an ass, Danny. I can’t win. You bust my balls for smiling, you bust my balls for not. Geez. Give me a break.”
“Relax. I was only—Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Stop the presses.”
“What?”
Clapping his hands together, Danny’s eyes danced with excitement as he wiggled his eyebrows. “You got lucky.”
Jake pushed his brother out of his way and walked toward the docks as he said, “Get out of here.”
“No. No. You did. Look at you! You can’t stop with the teeth. I haven’t seen you look like that in forever!”
“Shut up, Danny.”
“Was it that girl Lily?”
“What? No. Yes. Maybe. Just leave it.”
“No wonder Billy wanted you to stay away from her. Who woulda thought it’d take Jake a whole month to get a girl in bed. You’re losing your touch man.”
Jake stopped walking. “Stop. It isn’t like that okay. I wasn’t trying to, it just happened. She’s different.”
“Dad was right.”
“Dad was right about what?”
“You and her. He said he knew something was up. I told him he was wrong but he knew. He said she’d save you.”
“Save me? What the hell are you taking about? And besides, she’s leaving at the end of August to go to Atlanta. She isn’t staying. I’m just taking this for what it is right now.”
“Yeah? Then why did Billy tell Dad she’d stay if she had a reason to?”
Jake’s heart tripped up at Danny’s words. It was hard enough to understand why a sinner like him had an angel like her even give him another glance. There were times, in the past, that he’d felt evil, but whenever he was around her, he’d felt redemption. He doubted for a second that he would be the reason she’d stay, but as the day went on, he grew more hopeful that he’d be enough.
Later that night, as he sat on the couch with her head in his lap, he said, “I got something for you today.”
“You did? What is it?”
“Well, it’s not much but I think you should have it.”
She smiled as he echoed her own words and watched as he walked to the back of the house. When he returned his hands were behind his back and she was sitting up.
“Now close your eyes.” He laughed as she grimaced and did what he asked. “Hold out your hands.”
He laid his gift in her open palms and when she opened her eyes, confusion plagued her. To Jake, it was the most amazing reaction ever.
She held up his gift between two fingers. “A toothbrush?”
“Yup. You like it? It’s pink.”
“I can see that. A toothbrush? Really, Jake. You might need to take a class on Gift Giving 101.”
He’d known that was going to be her reaction and his smile broadened.
“You see I got you a pink one because, well, mine is blue and in the morning I wouldn’t want to confuse the two.”
“In the morning?” Her head tilted in a way that made Jake smile.
“Well, yeah. I figured that maybe, if you wanted to stay here, tonight, you might be happy if you had one of those.”
“You’re asking me to sleep here tonight?”
“Yeah. Tonight, tomorrow night. Anytime you want. I mean, you don’t have to. This is a just-in-case gift.”
Her eyes wide, he saw the confusion slip away into something else.
“You know Jake, you’re pretty amazing. I happily accept this toothbrush. Shall I go put it in the bathroom?”
“Sure.”
He knew as she skipped away that he was losing himself again. But this time, he was losing himself in happiness without any fear to tether himself to.
CHAPTER 19
A week later, Lily was helping Jake de-clutter his house. It was neat enough at first glance but when she saw the piles of stuff stacked in his closets and basement, she convinced him it was time to clean house.
“How can one person have so much stuff?” she inquired one rainy afternoon.
“I don’t know. I’m kind of like my mom was. I don’t throw much away.”
“Well, my friend,” Lily said with her hands on her hips. “I think it’s time to let go of some of this. Reorganize, you know? Figure out what you want to keep and figure out what you want to throw away.”
Jake looked up from his baseball game. “Yeah. I guess so.”
“You guess so?” Lily walked over and straddled his lap, interrupting his focus on the game. “In seventy years, someone is gonna come in here and find you lying in a pile of stuff. C’mon. Let’s fix it. You fixed the outside of the house, now let’s give the inside the TLC it needs. And once we get it all done, we can paint your bedroom like you wanted to do.”
It was hard to deny her logic. Jake was starting fresh with everything else. What could it hurt? Besides, maybe he’d be able to get organized enough to do some updating in there.
He reached his hands around her hips and squeezed her rear. “All right.”
She clapped. “That’s the spirit! Let’s grab some garbage bags. Where do you want to start?”
“The basement?”
She leaned forward to give him a quick kiss before jumping up and pulling him up with her. “Excellent choice!”
The two walked down stairs, armed with garbage bags and a plan. Two piles, Lily had explained—stuff to keep and stuff to throw out.
In four hours, though they’d only organized half of the basement, Jake was impressed. The number of garbage bags with things he’d thrown away had cleared out more than he thought.
“See, Jake? All you have to do is throw one or two bags out a day and before you know it, your house will be clutter free.”
“I gotta say I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get rid of so much stuff.”
“Well, you don’t get rid of things with memories attached like pictures, trophies, and such. You just have to get rid of the junk. Like this flannel shirt. It’s full of holes.” She poked her finger through a hole in the sleeve. “Do you really need to keep it? When’s the last time you wore it?”
“I don’t know. High school?”
“Right. You don’t need it. Toss it.” She thre
w it, hitting him in the chest.
“But I like this shirt.”
“Really?”
With her hands playfully placed on her hips, she looked as if she meant business. With a salute, he tossed the shirt in the throw away pile. “Yes, ma’am.”
Throwing all this stuff away was cathartic for Jake. He knew it all needed to go, but he’d never been able to figure out how to move past it. He’d held onto the past for so long, letting it go gave him a new sense of freedom.
“And this. Your brother or sister-in-law must’ve left this here. Wanna toss it? I don’t think they need it anymore what with their kids too old for it now.”
He glanced at what she was holding up. It was a blue baby rattle. He knew immediately it hadn’t belonged to his nephews. It hadn’t been Danny or Meg who left it here.
Jake forced the bile in his throat back down to his stomach and held on tight to the present. He couldn’t let Maddie in here, not now. He needed to be alone for that. And he knew she’d come, no matter how hard he tried to keep her out. The blood drained from his face and sweat formed on his brow. Memories of her always made him feel claustrophobic.
“Jake?” Concern filled Lily’s voice.
“Ah, yeah. Keep it. I’ll give it to them later. Maybe they’d want it for, you know, memories.”
Lily noticed the strain in his voice and the paleness of his face but she didn’t mention it. She figured he’d tell her when the time was right, when he needed to get it out. For now, she smiled and put it in the “keep” pile. She was savvy enough to know he needed to be alone, and as much as it pained her to admit it, there were some demons he had to face on his own.
She looked at her watch. “All right. Well, I think that’s enough for today.”
He nodded his head in agreement as he walked over and picked up the rattle.
“Jake, I don’t know what I’m supposed to do here.”
He lowered himself to the floor and leaned against the wall, turning the rattle over and over in his hands. “Stay.”
Lily walked over, sadness in her heart at his obvious suffering, and witnessed, for the first time, Jake fall into the past.
As she sat down next to him and pulled his head onto her breast, she squeezed his hand, kissed his cheek, and worried about him as he unraveled a silent memory...
Three Days of Rain Page 11