Aaron’s head weaved back and forth. “Yes and no. It will be tricky. It all comes down to the judge, and that, I can assure you, will be taken care of. Only the best for this case. I would suggest limiting contact that might condemn you. He will likely have a PA investigating for more proof.”
Rocks tumbled in my stomach. “Okay, so what next?”
“We serve them back. Contesting them on the basis of physical abuse, shown in the photos we possess. It will be enough to put fear into them. We will also go after full custody, and I’ll hire a PA to investigate adultery on his end. Maybe that will be enough for them to drop the claim.” He paused, waiting for me to meet his eyes. “We won’t lose this, Jessica. I’ve seen thousands of cases like this. Represented a large portion of them, and never once have I left the courtroom without the verdict I intended to get.”
Hope spread across my chest. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“I want you to stay with me,” I said a while later as we waited in the kitchen for the kids to come home.
“Jess… You heard Aaron. We have to be careful. Me living here is like handing them proof.”
“Not if we keep our distance. I feel safe with you here. I like you here. You could be a roommate. Here just for peace of mind.”
“But what about Ciana and Nic?”
My shoulders rose. “I’ll think of something. Some excuse. You can… you can take the couch, right? That way it won’t be all at once.”
“Of course.” He squeezed my hand. “I’d also like to get the locks changed. Just to add some piece of mind for you.”
“Yes. Okay.”
A second later, their steps clogged up the stairs, like small giants in a parade, followed by taunting laugher.
We stood. I smoothed my hands down the front of my apron. Jack moved over to the sink, hands splayed as he stared out the window.
“Hey,” I said as they came barreling into the kitchen, heading straight for the fridge. Both froze the moment they saw Jack.
He turned, smiling with a brief wave. “Hey, guys.”
“Hey…” Ciana dragged the syllables out in question.
“Jack… he’s uh…” I tried to think of a good enough reason. I was falling short. I should have thought this through.
“My apartment is being fumigated.” Jack ran a hand through the back of his hair. “I asked your mom if I could maybe crash on the couch until it’s done. She wanted me to check with you guys first. Is that cool?”
Nic cut his eyes to Ciana, who nodded with a small smirk.
“Yeah!” Nic said animatedly. “Now I can show you that game I was telling you about.”
“Absolutely,” Jack said, falling right into the groove.
Ciana came over to me, then wrapped her arms around my waist.
That was a first.
“What’s this for?” I said, returning the gesture, absorbing as much of her love as she would offer me.
“Can’t I just hug you?” she said, rubbing her face against my shoulder.
“Well, of course.” My body went lax as I pulled her closer, running my cheek over her hair. Heart swelling.
She squeezed. “Good.” When she let go, her hand held the strap of her book bag. “I’m going to head to my room. I have a report I need to work on.”
My jaw could have fallen to the floor, ready to be mopped up. Ciana. My homework-hating, too-grown-for-hugs, anti-school child was subjecting herself to her homework without pestering?
I felt her forehead.
“Mom!” she said, laughing as she ducked away.
“I just wanted to make sure you weren’t sick,” I said, smiling at her.
“I’m not,” she said, shifting her weight. “I just… I know I can be a pain, and I just… I want to be better. Okay?”
I wanted to pinch myself. My fourteen-year-old was entering the age of self-reflection. I glanced up at the ceiling. Was God giving me a break?
“Mom?”
I kissed her forehead. “I appreciate it, Ciana. More than you’ll ever understand. Want some cake?”
“Nah,” she said, waving me off.
“Nic?”
His head swiveled up and down fervently. Jack chuckled as I pulled the leftovers out of the fridge, then set them on the table. Of course, he picked the biggest piece. I topped it off with a cherry before following Jack into the living room.
“That went smoother than I expected. Thank you.”
He kissed my cheek. “They love you, Jess.”
“I know. I just…”
“I know, babe,” he said, pulling me into a quick embrace. “So, uh… what kind of couch are we talking here?” he said as he sat in the middle, moving up and down, the springs creaking beneath his weight.
I chewed on my cheek. “It’s… well, it’s old,” I said, stretching out my lips as I realized just how much of a sacrifice he was about to make. “You know, you can say no. I would hate to have to sleep—”
“Nonsense,” he said. “I already feel like my old self again. The college days when I’d crash on a friend’s couch. I always got the best sleep like that.” He laid back, tucking a throw pillow under his head. “Yep. I can already tell… I’m gonna sleep like a baby.”
I wanted to kiss him then. Throw myself on top of him to thank him in all the ways a woman could thank a man.
He pulled out his phone and began typing as Nic came in the living room, asking me for help with his reading homework. Hours later, a man was at our door with new locks and a small security system.
“I can’t thank you enough for doing this last minute,” Jack said as he stood near the doorway, keeping an eye on things. I was in the kitchen, working alongside Nic making dinner. Ciana was in the shower, where she’d been for the past forty minutes.
She loved using up my hot water.
By the time the man was finished, bedtime rituals were underway. Teeth were being brushed. Lunches were packed for tomorrow. Clothes were picked out for the morning. Electronics were put up. It was a madhouse when eight thirty struck. Jack just sat back, watching it all happen like a deer caught in headlights.
“Good night, Jack,” Nic said, high-fiving him before trailing off to his room.
Ciana emerged a second later, green layer of goo slathered on her face. Her hair twisted up in braids. She resembled a sea monster in her cleansing mask with her Medusa-like sloppily braided tentacles, but Jack didn’t bat a lash. “Night,” she said, hugging me.
“Night, guys,” Jack and I said at the same time.
Ciana shot me a weird look, before disappearing into her room as I finished handing Jack the last of the blankets I had gotten out for him. He didn’t want much. Like a typical man, he ran hot, so a sheet suited him just fine.
“You’re sure this is okay?” I asked as he got settled with the remote in hand.
“Jess, yes. It’s fine,” he said, laughing.
I chewed the corner of my lip. “Okay then. I guess I should…” I hitched my thumb up, pointing behind me.
“Yes, you should.”
“And you could…” I paused, twirling the ends of my hair. “My door will be unlocked.”
His grin sent heat to my lady parts.
“See you soon,” he said with a wicked wink.
And then I tottered off to bed.
Chapter 21
Jack
Love had this way of making time feel irrelevant.
With Jess, I didn’t count the hours. The minutes were background noise. The seconds a drumbeat meant for only us.
As Christmas drew near, her court date was pushed back due to the holidays. Aaron was right about bluffing Hank and his lawyer. Shortly after he was served, Jess received a call from Hank. In exchange for removing the claims of abuse and adultery, he removed his claim on her as well. All they needed to do was agree on terms of custody, and then the divorce would be finalized.
Hank knew he didn’t have a leg to stand on. It was never about the kids for
him. Just control. And it seemed he had finally loosened his grip on her enough for her to find happiness.
He didn’t even contest the fact I was staying with her. Jess said it was because he had a new girl on his side, and it seemed serious. Someone his mother always wanted him to marry. Maria more than likely convinced Hank to let Jess have what she wanted, so Maria could finally make her own wishes come true.
But something scratched at the back of my mind with the sudden change of heart. A looming doubt. A man didn’t just go from asshole to friend. But I wouldn’t put those doubts on Jess. She had enough on her plate.
Only time would tell.
“Jack,” Ciana called from the kitchen. Usually, whenever she called, it was either to kill a bug or to grab something for her she couldn’t reach.
“What’s up?” I said as I rounded the corner, already ready to help.
I jumped when the three of them yelled, “Surprise!” while pushing a large bowl of ice cream toward me with a small banner sticking out that read: Will you stay?
My heart expanded more than it ever had in my life. Never had I felt the emotions that coursed through me as her children ran over to hug me. They jumped up and down. Chanted, “Please. Please. Please.”
I wasn’t sure what I’d done to deserve them in my life, and it scared me to think it could possibly become something permanent. Though we got along great, I was still hesitant about screwing everything up. How was I fit to step into the role of a father? Of course, I could never replace Hank, but by moving in, I would become the man of the house. Expected to be a role model. A stepfather.
Was I even capable of that?
After a long talk with Jess, I agreed to rent out my apartment, then brought what little things I had to her place.
It was strange adjusting to not only living with one person again, but multiple people. Little people.
It felt like I had jumped from one plane of existence into an entirely new chaotic one.
I’d taken on new responsibilities so Jess could be where she needed to be now that the shelter and shop were flourishing. I wanted to help where I could. Take the burden off her so her stress dimmed a little. The interviews were a smash hit, and the shelter had grown to new heights.
With another ice cream shop opening in the Upper East Side, she was stressed to the max. Time and time again, I’d hear her on the phone, begging Aaron to tell her who the mystery benefactor was so she could send a personalized thank-you gift. Every time, I’d stand back, hiding a grin.
“You sure you can do this?” she said the first morning after I officially moved in.
“Jess, all I’m doing is waiting outside for the kids to arrive. It’s not like I’m taking care of a newborn.”
Her gaze wavered on me. “Well, to you, they might as well be newborns.”
“Hey.” I lifted a hand to my chest, wounded. “I’ve been around them long enough now to know when they’re trying to pull the wool over my eyes.
Her eyebrow quirked up, feisty and hostile. “Baby, if you think you have them figured out, then I really am scared for you.”
I wasn’t sure whether I should be terrified out of my mind, or highly turned on.
After she left, I spent the day working on the plans for the Christmas party Blackbird’s Creamery was going to throw. The draw was a free cider with the donation of a toy, which would in turn go to all the local shelters in need. It was strange, sitting at the kitchen table, which was littered with papers and my laptop. A coffee and a half-eaten sandwich as I typed away, reaching out to all my contacts for donations. Contacting newspapers and ad services that would help spread the word.
I felt more like myself than I ever had in my life.
My alarm went off, startling me. It was time to head downstairs.
“Hey, guys,” I said, hands shoved in the pockets of my ratty jeans as an unfamiliar, somewhat sappy excitement hummed inside my heart. What was this feeling? This springy comfort in the simple? In the day to day? It was near freezing, but the warmth that flooded my veins was fresh and new.
Ciana gave me a curt nod, earbuds stuck in her ears. She drifted past me, tucked inside her pink fur-lined jacket.
Nic leapt up, high-fiving me.
“Hey,” I said to him as we made our way up the stairs. “You think you could… uh… give me some pointers?”
Questions formed in his brows. “Like what?”
My shoulders lifted a little. “I don’t know. Maybe some house rules I should know about?”
He attempted a man-to-man smirk that only made my affection for him grow more. “Well…” He leaned toward me, his tone saturated with the confidence of a mentor. “You have to take your shoes off once we’re inside.”
A slight nervous tingle ticked at the back of my skull. “No one mentioned that.”
“Yeah. Mom hates it when people wear shoes in the house.”
I only took my shoes off at night, when I was ready for bed.
“Also, don’t leave your towel on the floor. Ciana will freak.”
The tingle deepened, swirling around the grooves of my spine. I couldn’t remember the last time I picked up my own towel.
“Oh, and never, ever leave a dish lying around the house. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen Mom angry… but that is a side of her you do not want to see.”
Got it. So basically, I needed an exorcism to expel who I was and to replace me with someone who hadn’t done all those things for the past two decades of their life.
I ruffled a hand through my hand with a ragged groan. This was going to be an adjustment. A monumental adjustment.
It was the day of the party, and all the volunteers who’d showed up to the shop were running in a mad scramble. I was on the top of a ladder, stringing up banners with pictures from those at the shelter. Jess was behind the counter, answering the various questions the volunteers threw at her as she stewed more apples for the cider. Ciana was taping printouts of information to the front windows. Bailey was working in the back, prepping the ice cream. Christmas trees roosted in various corners, ornaments shaped as toys dangling from the branches.
The shop smelled like fall. Rich and warm. Laughter and voices weaving within one another.
When everything was done and it was time to open the doors, a line had already formed, wrapping around the side of the building. Bodies anxiously rocked back and forth, little puffs of white billowing out with every exhale.
“You ready?” I asked Jess. She was standing behind the table we’d set up to hand out ciders.
Although her head rose with affirmation, her eyes said otherwise. They were wide and somewhat panicked.
I rested my hand over hers. “Hey,” I said, waiting for her to look at me. “It’s going to be great.”
“Okay,” Jess said a second later. “Open the doors.”
Within minutes, the shop was filled to capacity as bodies swarmed throughout the small space. Some headed for the counter, wanting to purchase the famous Blackbird’s Freedom cone. Others headed toward Jessica, bags of toys in hand. I glanced back at the bins we had for them, quickly realizing I may have misjudged just how many would come our way.
By the first hour, our bins were full and being carried out back to the rental truck. Ciana and other volunteers were in the back working on more batches of the cider. We had completely run through all that had been prepared, and were offering free scoops of ice cream to supplement until the next batches were finished. It was a mess. A beautiful, charitable mess I could have never expected. The amount of generosity that passed through the doors was overwhelmingly beautiful. The many stories being shared a blessing.
Jess remained in the middle of it all, thanking people. Talking with them. Explaining her cause, and how it all came to be. There was a magic about Jessica that drew people in. That made them stop and listen to something more than the average gossip. She made them want to care. To want to do more than bury their noses in their phones.
That night, I experienced r
eal love for the first time in my life. Not the kind of love that needed to be reciprocated. Not the self-serving kind of love.
No… it was selfless love.
It happened fast, like falling off a building.
The breath knocked clean from my lungs.
The sudden gasps for the air I once breathed.
The air I breathed for me.
But I no longer drew in that air… Instead, I breathed in her.
And when she glanced up and leveled me with that smile, I knew I had landed. Hard and firm in love. The forever kind.
“Tonight was good,” she said as we unloaded the last of the toys at a shelter further uptown.
We’d received almost ten times over what we thought we would. The amount of pride the city showed for their own left a certain magic in the air that couldn’t be erased. A certain twinkle in our hearts that would forever connect us under the same set of stars.
“Tonight was great.” I slid my arm around her shoulder. She wrapped hers around my waist as we headed back to the front of the truck.
“I bet the kids are zonked.”
I chuckled. “I doubt Nic even made it to his room.”
When we’d left to dispatch the toys, I noticed how heavy his eyes were. Deep purple circles mooned around his eyes. Ciana’s feet dragged as she did her best to keep up with the few volunteers finishing the last of the dishes.
“Why don’t you guys go get some sleep?” Jess had told them, patting Nic on the butt, ushering them upstairs. “Set the alarm behind you, Ciana. We should be back before they leave, so you’ll be safe.”
They only mumbled in return.
Jess scooted toward me as I turned the truck on, and then I swiveled the wheel in the direction of Fourth Street. “They’re happy.”
“Who?”
“The kids.” She rested her head on my shoulder. “I am, too.”
I kissed her hair. “Same.”
“You sure?” Faint apprehension perched on the edge of her tone. “I know it’s a lot.”
“It’s perfect, Jess.” I took my attention off the road, only for a moment. “I swear.”
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