by Aubrey Cara
There was a stunned moment of silence while all three women stared at her in different stages of shock. Sally looked ready to go after Connar for a good old fashion lynching, while Macy looked on Delia with pity and concern. Kat just shook her head before saying, “Bullshit. Not about the first part, about you and Sergeant Sexy. Your ex sounds like a real douche, by the way.” They all stood there with arms crossed over their chests nodding agreement.
“You have no idea,” Delia mumbled.
“Kat’s right,” Sally said, chiming in. “Del, you stuttered out something about being a home wrecker, but I know that’s not true since Sergeant Sexy doesn’t have a wife. Although it does imply something more between you two.”
Delia was a little surprised by this. “How do you know he’s not married? And stop calling him Sergeant Sexy! He’s not a sergeant! If anything he’s Captain Sexy! He’s not even that sexy!!” She knew this for the lie it was the moment she said it, but she was standing firm. “He’s arrogant and rude and it detracts from his outward appeal that is…” She floundered for words.
“Sexy?” Macy helpfully supplied.
“You weren’t even here,” Delia said accusingly. “You haven’t seen him. You don’t know.”
“I was here and he’s sexy,” said Sally “Also, I may have inquired about his marital status this morning, not that it would have mattered since Old Peg came in and dished.”
“You have someone here named Old Peg? That’s awesome!” Kat said gleefully.
“Wait till you meet her,” Sally said. “She’s a character.”
Delia found that statement amusing coming from a woman that was around six feet tall, had multicolor dreadlocks and piercings.
“Anyways,” Sally said. “She’s mentioned Sergeant Sexy before in passing and was more than happy to tell the heroic tale of him rescuing an unconscious Del out of a trench. She also happened to mention he was quite smitten with said gal. Plus she heard from her beau Ole Milburn that Sergeant Sexy has been putting up with quite a bit of ribbing from the fellas at the station because that same gal he rescued skipped out on him and stole his wallet.”
“I didn’t steal his wallet,” Delia said indignantly. “I just took some money for a bus ticket, and I gave back the money I borrowed.” Kat gave an inelegant snort of hilarity. Delia scowled as she turned to Sally. “If you knew the story why did you ask?”
Sally chuckled at this. “I wanted to hear what you’d say, but now that I have I’ve got one more question. Why did you skip out on him?”
“Because...” because I was too attracted to him, and I hated myself for it. “He made me uncomfortable. He’s too good looking, and too flirty, and too manly. I don’t need another man like that. I’m not attracted to him and his type.”
“Oh Del,” said Sally, “I don’t know about his type, but how could you not be attracted to him? He’s gorgeous honey. I’m attracted to him and I had posters of sexy women hanging on my bedroom wall when I was sixteen.”
Macy put a comforting arm around Delia and said, “I don’t know Jake Forrester, but I do know that not every guy is going to be like your ex. There are regular nice guys out there. Not a lot of them. But there are a few. At some point you’re going to have to let your wall down a little. You may not be able to accept that right now, which is understandable. Your wounds are still fresh and that ex of yours cut deep.”
The front door bell jangling brought all their heads around to see none other than Jake Forrester walk through the front door. Delia's head dropped as Sally gave Macy and Kat a significant swat before all the ladies scrabbled to look busy.
Jake saw her reaction to the sight of him and shook his head.“Afternoon Delia,” he said. “You keep acting like that when you see me, I’m going to get a complex.” Inclining his head to the women mock dusting and scrubbing he muttered a, “Ladies.”
Turning back to her, he pinned her to the spot, daring her to run again. “I was wondering if we could talk.” He gave a pointed look at the ladies indicating he wanted the conversation to be private.
Delia pretended ignorance. Tilting her head she gave him a big fake smile. “We are talking.”
*** ***
Jake's lips pursed and thinned. He really didn’t want to have this conversation. He definitely didn’t want to have it in front of a crowd, but knew with Delia Myers he was going to have to take what he could get.
“Fine,” he said, dropping his voice so not be overheard. “You can lower your hackles. I didn’t come here to talk about us, not that there is an us. The one meal we had together you... well, took my money and hopped on a bus.” He smiled at her for a second before giving an aggravated sigh upon noticing she only glared back. Subconsciously he rubbed the back of his neck. Why must this woman be so blessed difficult? Jake wondered.
“Look,” he said. “I need to talk to you about Steven, he said he might be working here.” The woman with dreadlocks was pouring refills nearby, clearly eavesdropping. Her head popped up at his words. Great he thought. Steven and Delia still hadn’t talked to the owner.
Before he could continue she crossed her arms over her chest and snapped, “What about it?”
He stared at her and started counting backwards from ten to calm down his building frustration. Taking a deep breath he started again, “Steven would hate me if he knew I was here. He would hate me even more if he thought you were treating him differently or didn’t let him work here because of me.” There he’d said it.
“Of all the arrogant jacka— ” He held up a hand, cutting off her tirade.
“It’s happened before.” She gave him a skeptical look so he explained. “Not with getting a job, he is only eleven, he can't technically even work here, but with other stuff. I’m not too proud to say I’ve messed up. I’ve let some questionable women into my life and inadvertently Steven’s life, and I shouldn’t have. It’s one of the reasons I moved us here.” He absently ran a hand through his hair and tried looking everywhere but at Delia. Why had he thought this would be a good idea? He couldn’t recall.
“Hell,” he cursed. “Been almost two years. I thought he would have forgotten all the craziness, but it turns out he has a long memory. I know you’ve joined the She-Woman Man Haters Club.” Catching her brow lift he added, “With good cause, but if you could hate me a little less, for Steven….well that would be…really big of you.”
He knew he was getting through to her as she started to fidget and look uncomfortable around him again. She picked at an absent spot on the counter. Letting out a sigh she looked up at him, then back down to the counter.
“Steven’s welcome here Jake, and I hope you know I would never treat him differently just because he's your kid.” Looking adorably flustered she shrugged a dainty shoulder, while keeping her gaze down, only to peek up every couple of seconds and dart her eyes back down.
He smiled. This was why Delia Myers had haunted him for three months. Frustrating him one minute, making him want to pull her close for long kisses the next, she was under his skin.
Now having gotten the uncomfortable conversation out of the way, he was able to really look at her. Their encounter was too brief that morning. He now was able to take in her hair, cropped now at the chin. It framed her pixie face and satin kissable lips. Her curls would be perfect at any length, but the shorter style seemed to fit her. His fingers itched to touch that hair and discover if it felt silky or textured.
He wanted to playfully pull down a curl and see if sprang back. Her frail pale look of just a few months before was replaced with filled in hollows and a healthy glow. Her clothes, no longer baggy, fit her body to perfection showing off all her cute little curves. Her cheeks were pink and flushed by the time he ended his perusal.
“Thanks Delia, Steven would enjoy hanging around here a lot more than always having to go to Ms. Vivian’s or having Old Peg check up on him.”
She actually smiled. It was just a small pull of her petal pink lips at the corners as she shyly looked up
at him, but it was the first real smile she had sent his way. His gut tightened.
“Yeah, I imagine he would,” she said. “Steven said you worked a lot.”
“It’s not as bad as when we lived in Texas, being out of the city and all, but things still come up in a small town. Like the night of your accident. I was filling in for a guy that had come down with the flu.” He reached out to tuck the strand of hair she had been nervously playing with behind her ear. His hand lingered, his thumb brushing down her silky cheek. His voice now honey soft said, “I’m glad he did.”
Jake stared at her for a full minute before giving himself a shake, pulling his hand back. Not before he noticed she had been leaning ever so slightly into his caress, staring back up at him with stars in her eyes. He wished he had insisted on them talking in private at that moment so he could have kissed her. Even a soft brushing of the lips would be better than the torment of longing. He gulped not used to feeling this drawn in and mesmerized by a woman.
“Well, I better get out of here before Steven gets out of school. I’m sure he’ll be heading straight over here. If he becomes a nuisance let me know. Have a good rest of your day Delia.”
“Call me Del. Everybody does,” she said shyly.
“I'll do that,” he said grinning from ear to ear. Del, he liked that. It suited her. Turning he just gave her one last long look, needing to imprint a picture of her on his brain, before walking out the door.
*** ***
Delia waited until the door closed before turning and crumpling down on the floor. The man had just ripped down ninety percent of her defenses in less than five minutes. She felt completely exposed and vulnerable. He wasn’t rude or a jerk. He cared enough about his kid to come in and have a difficult conversation with her. He was a thoughtful loving father. A father that set her blood to simmer with a look, and her cheek still tingled where he had touched her. His velvet soft voice whispering I’m glad he did. The way he implied he was glad he met her sent a shiver of longing down her spine.
I wish he had kissed me. I would have kissed him back and… She gave a dejected whimper, dropping her head into her hands.
Kat plopped down next to her on the floor and slung an arm across her shoulders. “Sooooo, that was Sergeant Sexy huh? Girl, you’re in trouble. He was wicked hot.”
Understatement of the year thought Delia. Understatement of the year.
*** ***
As Jake predicted, Steven came straight to the bakery after school that day and every day that week and the next. Thankfully, Delia had pulled herself together by the time Steven had arrived that first day. She enjoyed having him around. Fortunately Sally had said nothing about Delia hiring help. Though she hadn't admitted it, Delia could tell Sally liked having Steven around also.
Too young to technically be hired, he just did odd jobs of sweeping, taking out trash, doing dishes and his favorite, trying out Sally’s experiments. The kid was witty and inquisitive with an open honesty she hoped he never lost. After being quiet the first two days, Steven made up for it with an endless string of chatter. He talked about everything, from the kids at school, most of whom he was not fond of, to his life in Texas, where it turned out Jake's parents still lived. He even mentioned a few of the crazy women Jake had dated, and to her amazement, the fact his dad hadn’t dated in two years.
Yes, Steven had talked and asked questions on just about every subject, which made her wonder a little more everyday why he never mentioned his mother. Judging from Steven's looks she must have been Hispanic, she reflected. They were from Texas. Did she die? No woman in her right mind would leave her child, or Jake Forrester for that matter.
She wondered if Jake still loved Steven's mother. Or maybe he still grieved for her. That thought made her stomach drop for reasons she didn’t want to think about. Obviously this mystery woman had been gone for quite some time.
She kept her musings to herself, but as it turned out she didn’t have long to wait for answers. Two weeks into Steven helping out at the bakery Sally and Kat had been rolling and cutting dough for pastries. With his back turned toward them, Steven stood at the sink washing dishes. She hadn’t heard the beginning of the conversation. She had been cleaning off the counter in front of the window between the kitchen to the shop front when she had heard, “So Steven, you’ve heard all about my whacked out mom, how 'bout yours? She back in Texas?” Sally said this casually but Delia knew better. Sally was just as curious as she was, but had no qualms about prying.
“Don’t know.” Steven said with a shrug.
She noticed Sally and Kat share a look before she ducked down scooting right under the opening, waiting on tenterhooks for him to explain. When he didn’t go on Del heard Kat ask, “What do you mean Steven?”
“Oh, well um...” Peeking over the rim of the opening she saw him shrug again, wiping his hands on a towel. He moved to turn around so she ducked back down. She heard him clear his throat, then there was a pause before he haltingly explained, “Papa and Me’ maw—my dad's parents—they own a ranch in Texas. It’s been in the family for generations, and it’s a good sized spread.
Well, I guess my mom was from the same small town, but opposite side of the tracks, if you know what I mean. My mom and dad had gone to high school together. I guess she thought she was going to get to live the good life if she shacked up with my old man. I mean, I get that, nobody wants to be poor white trash, right?
She didn’t count on my dad considering his parent’s money—well, his parent’s money. I guess she went along with it for a while. My dad was in the military then and they had a one bedroom apartment in Dallas. When she found out they were going to live off of my dad's military income and he wasn’t planning on taking over the ranch, or living on the ranch...well, she was pissed.
My dad’s never said anything about it really, but I heard my Me’ maw talking about it one afternoon. She referred to my mom as ‘that little trailer trick gold-digging whore'. That was the closest I had ever heard of my Me’ maw swearing, but it was right after my mom tried getting money out of them, so it’s understandable.
That’s one of the reasons we moved here. She took off when I was really little cause she didn’t want a baby messin’ up the works, but she comes back around and threatens to take me away if my old man doesn’t give her money. He doesn’t want her to be able to find me too easily, especially since we don’t know who my ‘bio dad’ is.” He said this offhandedly but looking up at their shocked expressions a panicked look crossed his face. “Oh man, don’t say anything to my old man, okay? He would kill me if he knew I said anything about it.”
The ladies muttered their “of course,” “pinky swear,” and “taking it to the grave,” shaking their heads they tried to look natural as they stammered, “we would never,” but her world was spinning. She hadn’t even realized she had stood up and was staring at him until her knees started to wobble underneath her.
His mother had been trailer trash, just like her. No not like me, she thought. I may be trailer trash but I would never leave my baby or a man like Jake. I wouldn’t care if he had two pennies to rub together, I would still want Jake.
And she did want Jake she realized. She had felt tugged in his direction from the first moment she saw him. Never had she experienced such a strong physical reaction to a man. She felt flushed and tingly all over just from him being in the same room. That’s why she had disliked him so strongly. Having just found out that she had sorely misjudged a man’s character for almost twelve years didn’t help at all.
Realizing Jake Forrester was worth wanting didn’t matter. Although he had seemed interested in her two weeks ago he must have just been flirting. With the way he had acted the day he came to talk to her, she had expected to see a lot more of him. She had even looked forward to it with a teenage giddiness of a girl with her first crush, and crushed is just what she got.
The few times he had come in he had given her a brief hello while buying coffee or a pastry. He never came in w
ithout Steven. The evenings he picked up Steven he waited in the car, not coming in at all. Other than that first day, he hadn’t indicated any interest in her at all. She felt like a dim-wit knowing now she had been led on. Her instincts with men were the worst. Obviously he thought he needed to turn her up sweet to make sure she was nice to Steven. He should have known better and could have saved his ‘Sergeant Sexy’ bull crap for someone else. Steven had stolen her heart all on his own, long before she had found out his mother had walked out on him.
Her vision blurred thinking about how Steven had explained it so matter of fact. It broke her heart. No child should be so at ease with what his mother had done. She knew from experience, and every thought and memory of her mother left her feeling decidedly uneasy.
She leaned forward and let her head drop to the table she had been sitting at with a thud. Six o’clock Saturday night. She was suppose to be helping Kat close. Instead she sat sulking in a mismatched chair, at a mismatched table in the area she still needed to sweep.
She felt stupid all over again just thinking about how she melted when he had tucked her hair behind her ear and touched her cheek. She heard a whimpering and realized it was her. Just then, Kat walked over. Lifting her head up by the hair Kat gave her a tsk, tsk shaking her head in distaste.
“Ugh, are you sitting here being pathetic over Sergeant Sexy?” At her nod Kat spat out a “Disgusting.” Shaking her head she let Delia’s head drop.
She sat up rubbing the back of her head and called to Kat's retreating back, “Hey that hurt.”
Kat paused and turned around.“Your head’s going to feel even worse tomorrow,” she said. “Go put on some mascara, we’re going to Buck's! You’ve looked like you’ve needed a stiff one from the moment I met you.”
Delia hoped Kat was talking about alcohol.