by Leger, Lori
Giselle covered her mouth with her hands and turned away from him. “Oh. Oh Jackson. I’m so sorry.”
He paused, then walked up behind her and placed his hands gently on her shoulders. “It’s fine, Giselle. It just means you weren’t ready, that’s all. It’s too soon.”
She turned toward him with tears trailing down her face. “I hurt you, and I’m sorry.”
He pulled her close and wrapped a towel around her. “It’s no big deal.”
She stared at him in astonishment. “Jackson, if you’d called me Chloe when we’re about to make love, it would have been a big deal. A very big deal, I promise you.”
He grinned, adjusted her towel. “You owe me one, then.”
Giselle did not look amused.
He placed his hands gently upon her shoulders. “Look, I would never call you Chloe. I’m not sure that I ever really loved her, and if I did, it’s been too long ago to remember. But you adored you husband when he was taken from you. It’s almost a compliment when you stop and think about it. Not quite,” he said, a little uncomfortably, “but almost.”
Giselle snorted and turned away from him.
He walked closer and spoke softly to her. “All I’m saying is that it’s completely understandable. Maybe it’s a sign from God—or Toby,” he shrugged, adding a chuckle.
She turned, and stuck her finger in his chest. “Now see, that isn’t funny.” Jackson laughed, and she grinned at him, in spite of the situation. “You are entirely too understanding about all of this.”
“Come on, let’s go for swim.” He swept her up in his arms then threw her in the pool.
She came up sputtering. “Okay, now we’re even!”
Hours of swimming and bike riding later, found the two of them snuggled up on the couch watching movies. A little past 3:00 they both perked up at the slam of a car door. Jackson pulled himself up and her with him. “They’re here.”
She raced him to the back door just as her daughters barreled through.
“My babies!” Giselle clutched her girls to her, smothering them with kisses. “I missed you both so much.”
“Mom, we had so much fun! I wish you and Jackson could have been there, though. Maybe we can go back.”
“We’ll make it a point to, Mac.” Jackson ruffled the child’s hair.
Gretchen and Caleb came in, both looking exhausted and lugging suitcases and various bags of souvenirs. They plopped the bags down at the door, and Gretchen gave Giselle a hug while Caleb shook Jackson’s hand.
“I can’t tell you how grateful I am that you took this on, man. You two saved Mac and Lexie’s vacation.”
Caleb exchanged a knowing look with his wife. “Are you kidding? We’re the grateful ones. We got a vacation we couldn’t have afforded and had a blast.”
“The girls were perfect, Giselle—all five of them. I didn’t hear a bit of the usual arguing or bickering from my two, and Bill and Gwen were awesome. I’ve never had so much fun on a vacation before.”
After more profuse thanks from both parties, they left, leaving Jackson and Giselle alone with Mac and Lexie.
The girls talked non-stop about everything they’d done and seen. They couldn’t wait to give Giselle and Jackson the souvenir coffee cups and caps they’d bought them.
Jackson helped Giselle empty the luggage and carried an armload of clothes to the utility room for her. He met her back in the kitchen. “I’ve got some things to do around my place tonight, but since I’d already taken tomorrow off, how about I take you and the girls to lunch and a movie?”
“You’ve got yourself a date, Mr. Broussard.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow girls. Go put your souvenirs in your rooms, okay?”
As soon as they were alone, Jackson turned to Giselle and pulled her into his arms for a quick kiss. “You were right about one thing, hon. Trying to act normal around other people is going to be a challenge. Can I call you later?”
“You’d better,” she said, reaching up to brush a lock of hair from his forehead.
“I need to go.” He took her face in both of his hands to kiss her then hugged her tightly.
“Jackson, please wait for me,” she whispered.
He touched his forehead to hers, and tangled his fingers in her curly hair. “Forever,” he whispered, before leaving her with one last kiss.
Jackson’s keys hit the granite counter top as he closed his door behind him. He called Giselle to let her know he’d made it home okay, then called Bill.
He couldn’t help but smile at the zip in his Uncle’s voice. “How was the trip?”
“Outstanding. It was nice to be able to do something like that for them. Gwen’s had to work hard to raise Alyssa. Things you and I take for granted are luxuries to them.”
“I imagine they’ve had a rough time of it.”
“Yep, but we did some talking when Gretchen and Caleb took all the kids for one night. Gwen and I have discovered we’re ‘compatible’ in several different ways,” he murmured.
“You don’t say. So when’s the wedding?”
“I was about to call you to talk about that. I’ve asked her, and she’s said yes. Think you could be my best man?”
“Sure I will. I’m happy for you, for Gwen, and for Alyssa. They can’t ask for better.”
“Thanks, son. We’ve chosen the Friday night before Labor Day weekend. That way we can have a quick honeymoon. She’s planning to ask Giselle to watch Alyssa for the weekend. You know,” he took a short pause. “We’ve discussed trying for children right away.” Bill’s voice filled with emotion when he spoke. “Alyssa gave us her blessing and asked if she could call me daddy. You can’t imagine how much that means to me.”
Jackson held the phone to his ear and grinned. “Oh, I think I can. You don’t have to tell me how those little girls can tug on your heart strings.”
Bill chuckled at his nephew’s comment. “No, I guess I don’t. How was your weekend? What did you two do once Giselle got over the food poisoning?”
“Oh man, it was great. We rode the Indian a couple of days, went to Red’s club on Friday and spent Saturday with him. I brought her swimming at your place this afternoon. By the way, Red’s a little disillusioned that his bachelor mentor has gone over the deep end over a woman.” Bill’s laughter carried over the phone.
“Yeah?” he said. “Well you can tell old Red he doesn’t know what the hell he’s missing.”
Jackson forced himself to wait until eight p.m. to call Giselle. Stretched out on his couch, he waited patiently for her to answer. She answered on the sixth ring, sounding out of breath. “I’d about given up,” he said.
“Sorry, both girls zonked out on the couch, and I had to carry Lexie to bed. She’s a lot heavier than I remember.”
Jackson laughed. “Maybe you should have let her sleep on the sofa. I hope you didn’t strain your back.”
“Aw, I’m used to it,” she drawled. “That’s what us poor women folk do when we don’t have a big, strong man around to do it for us.”
Jackson hesitated. “Maybe one day you will again.”
“Are you applying for the job, sir?” Her tone contained a hint of playfulness.
“Are you accepting applications, ma’am?” he countered.
“We’re not exactly hiring at this time, but I’ll definitely keep you in mind for any future openings.”
He gave an exaggerated sigh. “Well, hell—I guess that’ll have to do. Wait, will I need references?”
“Of course,” she snapped.
“Well, then, I might be out of luck. My former employer didn’t think too highly of me.”
Giselle chuckled. “On second thought, I wouldn’t worry too much about a reference. Your reputation is sterling around here, mister. Besides, I happen to know that your former employer was a very foolish woman.”
He paused, wondering how much she really knew about the hell Chloe had put him through. “You think so?”
“I do.”
Jackso
n closed his eyes, thinking those had to be the two sweetest words she could ever speak to him. He cleared his throat. “That means a lot to me, but I don’t want to waste any phone time talking about—her.”
“You didn’t deserve to be treated like that, Jackson. Especially not by someone as horrible as she, whose name must never be mentioned.”
He laughed at her reference, still determined to change the subject. “Yeah, well, I don’t think I deserved to be called Satan for four years, either. That never stopped you.” Jackson sat back and waited for the fireworks to start. He wasn’t disappointed.
“I didn’t deserve to get chewed out in a conference room full of engineers, either,” Giselle huffed. “You hadn’t asked me to put those memos in chronological order.”
“I know,” he admitted. “I remembered as soon as you stormed out of there. By the time I got back to our office, ‘Ditzy Donna’ had already walked off the job with no explanation.”
“She handed me the folder, asked me to bring it to you in the meeting, and walked out. We never saw her again,” Giselle added. “I had no idea you had asked her to organize it for the meeting. Are you telling me you knew all this time it wasn’t my fault?”
“Of course I knew. I’m sorry, Giselle; I really am.”
“Too little, too late,” she snorted. “My reputation was sullied.”
“No, it wasn’t. As soon as you left, I told everyone it wasn’t your fault.”
“That would have been nice to know four years ago.”
“But I so enjoyed seeing the fire in those green eyes flash with contempt anytime I entered a room.” He waited through a prolonged silence. “What can I do to make it up to you?” He heard a light tapping on the phone, envisioned her tapping her nail impatiently. Several moments passed with no sound. Had she hung up on him? “Giselle?”
“Uh huh…”
“What are you doing?”
“I’m thinking about what to ask you for. I could totally make this work for me,” she purred.
He laughed softly. “I have a feeling it would be difficult to turn you down for anything you asked for.” He heard the sigh, prepared himself for what he knew was coming.
“You turned me down today.”
“Giselle, I refuse to rush you into doing something you’re not ready to do. I’ll say it again, you’re too important to me to screw this up.”
Giselle was silent for several moments. “Jackson?”
He lowered his voice, wishing for a glimpse of her face. “What?”
“Please don’t give up on me.”
He smiled. If she only knew how long he’d already waited. “Never.”
After spending the entire Monday with Giselle and the girls, Jackson returned to work on Tuesday. In comparison to the time spent with them, the rest of the week was a long, slow drag on his frame of mind. While the days were agony, the nights without them were torture.
Every afternoon, he drove straight to Kenton after work. Every afternoon, Giselle would run to meet him, doing what she could to avoid her nosy neighbor’s prying eyes. If the woman was watching, she waited until he walked in the house before throwing her arms around his neck. If her neighbor was nowhere around, she attacked him when he was still in the truck, or on his bike.
Of course, if either Mac or Lexie were around, they kept it strictly G-rated. But those occasional moments when it was just him and Giselle—well damn, those made up for everything.
He wanted to tell her he loved her, but he’d had a few years to come to terms with his feelings, and he didn’t want to scare her off. She still worried that people would think she was dating too soon after Toby’s death. Carrie insisted it would come soon enough, but Jackson felt that every day without her was a massive waste of time.
On Friday afternoon, Jackson pulled up into Giselle’s driveway, looking curiously at all the boxes in her garage. “What’s all this?” She pushed him through the garage door into its dark interior, out of sight from snoopy Mrs. Cormier, who was watching from her porch.
“Kiss me first.”
He backed her up against the wall of the garage and planted one on her, determined to show her how much he’d missed her. By the time he found the strength to pull them out of it, they were both nearing the point of no return. He rested his forehead on hers. “Hey, Baby.”
“Jackson,” she groaned low in her throat. “You make my toes curl when you kiss me like that.”
“Then I’m doing my job.” He smiled and kissed the tip of her nose. “How was your day?”
She stepped back and waved at the boxes. “Busy, I finally cleaned out Toby’s half of the closet. All this is for St. Vincent’s closet at the church. I’ve put a few items aside. I thought maybe you, Sam, and the rest of the guys may want to pick through some of his caps and things. Mac and Lexie each kept their favorite LSU caps for themselves, but he had so many. If it feels too strange, you don’t have to.” She made a funny face.
“I’d love to have something of his. As a matter of fact,” he said, picking up the one item he’d been hoping to find, “This is what I’d like to have, right here!” He put on Toby’s favorite old faded purple and gold LSU cap. “He always beat me in hoops when he wore this—claimed it was his lucky cap.” He took the cap off and held it reverently. “I miss him Giselle,” he said huskily. “Do you think he’d mind about you and me?”
“I think it’s like you said months ago. He’d want to see me and his girls happy. So far, you seem to make us all happy.” She placed the cap on his head then turned the bill to the back so she could kiss Jackson fully. “It figures you’d pick that one. You know why he has so many LSU caps, don’t you?”
“No. This is a considerably large collection, for sure.”
“The girls and I were always trying to get him to throw away this old ratty thing. We kept buying him new ones, but he always said this was his favorite.”
“His coach gave him this after his last game at Tiger Stadium, right after he blew out his knee.” Jackson fingered the faded brim reverently.
She smiled. “It figures he would have told you that, and kept it from me all these years. Keep the cap then, but do me a favor and take a couple of these others.”
“Okay, I won’t make you look at it all the time. How’s this?” he asked as he tried on another one.
“Very handsome,” she said as she kissed him on the mouth.
“But, can I wear the lucky cap for the tournament tomorrow? As out of practice as I am, I may need all the luck I can get.”
“Somehow I don’t think you’ll need luck, but you can wear it anyway, the girls will get a kick out of it.”
The next morning arrived with just enough cloud coverage to make the company softball tournament bearable during the morning hours. Jackson was introducing Red to some of the guys on his team when Mac and Lexie bombarded him.
He scooped them up into his arms. “There’s my munchkins! Where’s your beautiful mother?”
“Over there,” Lexie sighed. “People keep talking to her about the ass-ki-dent. I hope they don’t make her sad again.”
Jackson hugged her. “She used to work with these people, sweetie. They care about her. She’s okay.”
Red cleared his throat impatiently. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to these lovely young ladies?”
Jackson placed his hands on Mac and Lexie’s shoulders and turned them toward Red. “Girls, I want you to meet one of my oldest friends, Mr. Scott McAllister, but you can call him ‘Red’. Red, this is Mackenzie and Lexie Granger.”
“Wonderful to make your acquaintance ladies,” he said.
“Nice to meet you, too, Red,” Mackenzie said.
Lexie looked up at Red, squinting one eye. “He doesn’t look that old.”
Mac turned on her sister. “What are you talking about, Lex?”
“Jackson said he was one of his oldest friends. I think Sam looks older’n he does.”
“I meant that I’ve known Red for a long time,
sweetie. Not that he’s old.”
“Oh. Well why didn’t you just say so, then?”
Jackson’s brow rose at Red’s snort of laughter. “I thought I did, but I’ll say it better next time.”
Lexie stared up at Red. “I guess your mama throws big cows, too, huh.”
Jackson and Red burst into astonished laughter.
Lexie pulled on Jackson’s shirt until he picked her up in his arms again. “Did I say something wrong?”
Jackson stifled his laughter. “No, but—where did you hear that, Lex?”
“That’s what Sam says when somebody is really tall—that their mama throws big cows.”
“Oh. I think what he says is ‘throws big calves’. That means—uh—well—I’ll let your mom explain that to you, okay?” Jackson caught Red’s amused expression.
Suddenly Lexie put her hand out to Red. “I don’t care what kind of animal your mama threw down. Any friend of Jackson’s is my friend, too.”
Red wiped the grin from his face as he took her hand. “Thank you, ma’am. I’m honored.”
She gave Jackson a serious look. “Maybe we better keep this to ourselves. I don’t want mom to be mortified again.”
Red burst into laughter, and Jackson shook his head as he set her down. “Oh, Lex, surely she’s used to it by now.”
“She is,” Mac agreed. “Last night, when I told mom what Lex told Mrs. Cormier next door, mom said nothing she says surprises her anymore.”
“Lex, what did you tell her?” Jackson almost dreaded her answer.
“I said her new puppy looked like her—wrinkly and a hunnerd years old.”
“Oh Lex,” Jackson groaned, trying to stifle a laugh, as Red covered his mouth and turned away.
“It’s a hundred, Lex, and you don’t even know how much that is.”
“I know it’s a lot.”
Mackenzie shook her head in disgust. “I told mom to just be thankful she didn’t tell Mrs. Cormier she has a big butt, too, because she says that all the time.”
This time Jackson had to turn away.
“There’s Sam and Carrie!” Lexie cried, as she and Mac ran to meet them.
Red turned to face Jackson and burst into laughter.