“I get it. But you realize you’re doing the same thing.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Jack, we had dinner the other night. Now I’m taking Brody home. He’s going to start looking at me like…like in a way that he shouldn’t.”
“Oh, come on—”
“No, I’m serious, Jack. I don’t want to confuse him about what’s going on between us.”
He was silent for a moment. “And what’s going on between us?”
I glanced over my shoulder again, staring at the cute kid coloring at the table. “Let’s talk about this later. I’ll take him home tonight, but Jack, you take care of this situation with Ellen tonight. I don’t want this to be an issue, and you’re putting me right in the middle of it.”
“I will. I swear.”
“Fine. I’ll take care of Brody.”
“Thank you.” The relief was evident in his voice. “I’ll see you soon.”
I hung up without saying anything else. I couldn’t believe I’d gotten myself into this situation. Setting down my purse, I walked over to Brody and bent down to his level.
“Hey, buddy. Your dad called. He asked me to take you home until he can finish up at work.”
“Oh, I can stay with him,” Ellen stood quickly, grinning brightly.
“Jack called and asked me to take him home,” I said firmly.
“You’re not on the list of approved contacts,” she said snidely.
“He should be taking care of that right now.” Turning away from her, I gave my attention to Brody. “How about you get your backpack?”
“Okay!” He jumped up and ran over to his cubby to get his things.
“He’s not going to fall for you,” Ellen huffed. “You’re not good enough for him.”
After last night, I was one hundred percent certain she was right. But I didn’t need a woman like Ellen telling me that. “Well, it’s a good thing that I’m not trying to snag him.”
She puffed out her chest and pursed her lips.
“You’d better watch out, Ellen. Your desperation is showing.”
I turned and grabbed Brody’s hand as he ran over, then snatched my purse off the desk and headed for the front door. I may not be the perfect woman for Jack, but at least I wasn’t desperate enough to chase after a man that didn’t want me.
25
Jack
As shitty as this day started, it was finally turning around. The evidence was coming back on the fingerprints from the lingerie box, and that would be one less thing I had to think about. As I opened the email with the results, I mentally fist bumped the air. I had what I needed.
Her ex was in the system because of a job application that required a criminal background check. And now I had what I needed to get that restraining order against him. Without it, a judge might have denied it based on lack of evidence. Now I had one less thing to worry about.
I drove over to the daycare to finally take care of things with Ellen. All this bullshit had to stop. Pulling into the parking lot, I had the shitty luck of running into Ellen, who waited for me by the door. Getting out, I figured now was as good a time as any to set the record straight.
“Hey, Jack,” she said happily. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m just here to update my forms.”
“You know, you could always put me down as an emergency contact for Brody. I would gladly help out if—”
“Ellen, you need to stop this. I know you think something’s going to happen between us, but I’m just not interested.”
She looked a little baffled, taking a step back like I’d hit her. “How do you know? It’s not like we’ve gone out.”
“Ellen, you’re very pretty, but you’re way too forward for me.”
“And I suppose someone like Christy, boring and sloppy, is what you’re looking for,” she chided.
“What happens between Christy and me is none of your business. We were friends growing up. It’s not unrealistic that I would trust her with my son.”
“But you don’t trust his teacher?”
“No, I don’t trust that you won’t try to put ideas in his head, and frankly, the fact that you’re so combative over this tells me all I need to know about you.”
I walked past her and pulled the door open, heading to the director’s office. She glanced up as I knocked on her door, then stood.
“Jack, what brings you by?”
“I came to update my forms and talk to you about a potential problem.”
She frowned and motioned for me to sit. “What’s the problem?”
“It seems that Ellen has come up with the idea that she and I are going to get together. She’s been spending way too much time with Brody, and filling his head with ideas that we’re going to be a couple.”
She pursed her lips, leaning back in her seat. “I see. I’ll take care of it immediately.”
“Listen, I don’t want her fired over this. If you could just move Brody to a different group, that would help a lot. I’d also like to add Christy to my emergency contacts so she can take Brody home if I’m running late.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly. “Jack, I know it’s none of my business, but are you and Christy in a relationship?”
I cleared my throat and shifted slightly in my seat. “Not at the moment, but I wouldn’t say it’s out of the question either. Why?”
“We have to make sure all the kids are treated the same. If you and Christy were to start dating and she was his teacher, it could potentially be a problem. Some of the other parents might wonder if he’s getting more attention or special treatment, and that would be a problem for us.”
“I understand,” I nodded. “I would never want to put you in an uncomfortable position.”
“Unfortunately, we only have two full-time teachers right now.”
“Ellen and Christy,” I confirmed.
“For now, I’ll move Brody to Christy’s group, but if I see any issues, I’ll have no choice but to move him back to Ellen’s group.” She shook her head slightly. “Or replace Ellen,” she muttered to herself. “I can’t have teachers hitting on parents.”
“I talked to Ellen outside and made it clear that we would never date. Hopefully that clears the air.”
“Let’s hope so,” she gave a tight smile as she stood. “In the meantime, I’ll get the paperwork updated and tomorrow Brody will be in Christy’s group.”
“Thank you.”
Pulling up to Christy’s house, I got out and knocked on her door. When no one answered, I was a little worried, but then I heard shuffling and the door swung open. Christy stood there, her finger over her lips for me to be quiet.
“I gonna find you!” Brody shouted.
She ran up the stairs as I let myself in and shut the door. Brody came running around the corner, grinning when he saw me.
“Daddy!” He ran over to me and threw himself at me like I had been gone for a month.
“Hey, buddy,” I laughed, hoisting him into my arms. “How was your day?”
“Great! I love coming to Ms. Christy’s house!”
“Yeah? She’s pretty awesome, isn’t she?”
He nodded excitedly as Christy came walking down the stairs. I watched her every move, the way her hips swayed, and the way she brushed her hair back behind her ear like she always did. I just wanted to be around her, but based on how our day started, I wasn’t sure that would happen. I just needed to get her to listen to me.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I made dinner for Brody.”
“No, that’s great. Thank you.” I smiled and then added. “Do you have any leftovers for a starving dad?”
I could tell by the look on her face that she wasn’t inclined to laugh at my joke. I cleared my throat uncomfortably. “Could we talk for just a minute?”
She looked like she would rather swallow glass, but as she looked down at Brody, she nodded. I was lucky he was here. It would keep her from doing anything bad, like trying to stab me to
death.
“Hey,” Christy said, rubbing her hand on Brody’s head. “Why don’t you grab one of those cookies off the counter, and then you can watch some TV.”
He grinned up at her and took off before she could change her mind.
“Thank you for—”
“Jack, what are you doing?”
“What do you mean?”
“I think after what happened last night, you would be smarter than this.”
“Christy, I need to explain. Just hear me out. I’m just asking for two minutes.”
Pursing her lips, she walked over to the TV and put on a movie for Brody, just as he ran into the room. Then she motioned for me to follow her into the kitchen. Leaning up against the counter, she crossed her arms over her chest and stared me down.
“You wanted to talk, so talk.”
Glancing back to make sure Brody wasn’t paying attention, I did my best to make sure I said what I needed to correctly.
“Last night was not a mistake. I know I said it was, but that wasn’t how I meant it.” She stared at me like she didn’t believe me. “When…when we came back here last night, I wanted to do things right. I wanted to take you upstairs and show you what you really mean to me. And then we got inside and things got chaotic.”
Rubbing my hand across the back of my neck, I really hated myself for how I behaved.
“Christy, what should have been this special night was rough and…I fucked you on the table like a whore. It shouldn’t have been like that. I wanted this romantic night with you, to show you how much you mean to me, but instead, I fucked it all up. And then I fucked it up even more by blurting out that it was a mistake. I never meant that. I just…you deserved better than what I gave you.”
Her eyes dropped to the ground and I could have sworn I saw tears in her eyes. I just didn’t know what any of it meant. And the longer I stood there, the more I realized that my apology may not mean a thing to her. Maybe I was just too damn late.
“Jack, I’ve loved you since we were in high school,” she finally said. “You have no idea how hard it was to watch you fall in love with Natalie, and then ask her to marry you. It crushed me.”
“I had no idea you felt that way about me,” I admitted. “You never said anything.”
“Because I stupidly thought that you would notice me one day. All those sleepovers and all the time we spent together…I thought it meant more.”
“You should have told me.”
“And what would you have done? After you met her, I slowly ceased to exist in your eyes.”
“You’re the one that left.”
“I may have left, but you stopped calling.”
I ran my hand through my hair in frustration. “What did you want me to do? I was married.”
“Oh, she never wanted me in your life anyway,” Christy spat. “And she made that perfectly clear to me.”
“What?” Shock rippled through me at her confession. “You never said anything like this before.”
“That’s because I didn’t know how to tell you.”
Standing there like an idiot, I wasn’t quite sure what to say. “What…When did this happen? What did she say?”
“Does it really matter?”
“It does to me. If this is the reason you left, if this is why you seem to hate me so much, then yeah, I think it really fucking matters.”
She stared down at the ground, her arms wrapped tightly around her stomach. “It was before you proposed. She said you could never truly be happy with her if I was in the picture.”
After all this time, I finally understood why the distance kept growing between us all those years ago. I had no idea Natalie had said anything to her, and if I had, I would have told her that I needed Christy in my life.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because it would have hurt you.”
“So, that’s why you left? Because you didn’t want to cause problems?”
She laughed humorlessly, shaking her head. “Jack, you still don’t get it.”
“Then enlighten me, because I’m tired of guessing.”
She looked up at me with tears in her eyes. “I left because I couldn’t stand to see the man I loved marry another woman. Do you know what that would have been like for me? To watch you live this happy, perfect life? To have kids while I watched from a distance? It would have killed me. I didn’t even want to come home because I knew how painful it would be to see you.”
I stepped forward, reaching out slowly for her hand. When she didn’t pull away instantly, I hoped that meant I still had a chance. “Christy, my life was far from perfect. I don’t know what would have happened if I had known about your feelings for me. But I can’t go back and change what happened. All I can do is ask you to give me another chance, because I would really like to see where this goes.”
Her eyes slipped closed and a lone tear slipped down her cheek.
“Christy, tell me it’s not too late. I need you,” I whispered desperately.
Her eyes opened and she pulled her hand away. My heart sank as she took a step away from me, effectively shutting down the conversation.
“You have no idea how badly I want that, but I can’t, Jack. What happened last night just reminded me how much it hurts to love you. I barely survived the first time, and last night nearly killed me.”
“So, you’re just walking away? You love me so much, but you won’t give me a chance?”
“What do you want me for?” I frowned, not understanding what she was talking about. “Do you want me for me, or do you want a babysitter for Brody?”
“Now, hold on a minute. That’s not fair,” I said angrily.
“Is it? After what you did last night, you still called me to take care of Brody. You said you had no one else that could help you out,” she spat.
“I only asked you because you were already with him—”
“I’m not a babysitter!”
I shoved my hands in my pockets, my jaw clenching hard. “I didn’t know that’s how I was making you feel,” I said tersely. “Don’t worry. I won’t ask for any help ever again. Brody!”
It was clear that I had made a huge misstep with Christy. Whatever I thought we had was obviously long gone, along with any future I was hoping for. Her hurt ran too deep, and there was no coming back from it.
Brody came running around the corner, chocolate covering his face and hands. He needed to be cleaned up, but right now, I just needed to get out of here. I’d worry about cleaning up later.
“Let’s go, buddy. We have to head home.”
“But I didn’t finish my cookie!”
“Yeah, but we need to leave. Say goodbye to Ms. Christy.”
He turned sadly to Christy. “Bye.”
I took his hand in mine, staring at Christy for just a moment. “I, uh…I got the prints back from the lab, confirming it was Thomas that broke in. You should be able to get that restraining order pretty easily.”
As I turned and opened the door, I couldn’t believe the indescribable pain cutting through me. It was just like when she left the first time. Only then I had Natalie to fall back on. But if Natalie had caused the whole thing, then my life had been carefully orchestrated by someone else.
It felt so wrong to walk away, like I was leaving a piece of myself behind. But what choice did I have? Christy obviously didn’t want me in her life. I opened the back door and got Brody buckled in. Shutting the door, I was just getting in when Christy’s front door swung open and she came running out.
“Jack!”
For just a moment, hope fluttered through me, but I swatted it down. I was all out of hope for second chances.
“Jack, wait!”
She ran up to my door and yanked me on the arm, pulling me out of the car. Her lips crashed against mine as she wrapped her arms around my neck. My whole body came to life with her touch. I finally pulled her against me, holding her tight. If I let go, she might change her mind and leave me, and I couldn’t have
that.
The kiss seemed to go on forever. I forgot about Brody, about our fight, even about the fact that we were once again making a spectacle in her front yard. She was all that mattered in this moment.
When she stepped back, her lips were swollen and a small smile touched her lips. I wanted to kiss her some more, but pounding at the window drew my attention. Brody was grinning as he laughed and waved at us.
Chuckling, I opened the back door and let him out. He ran up to me, jumping into my arms. “Hey, buddy.”
“I saw you kissing Ms. Christy.”
“Yeah,” I laughed. “I was kissing her.”
“That’s how you get cooties.”
“Only if you don’t like the person,” I said, tickling his stomach.
“Brody, would you like some more cookies?” Christy asked, her eyes hopeful.
Brody nodded, practically leaping from my arms as he bolted for the front door. I shut the doors on the car and looked down at her hand. Slipping mine around hers, I smiled at her and walked her to her front door. There was still a ton of shit to work out, but for now, she was mine.
After getting Brody situated, I pulled her aside again so we could clear the air. “Are you sure about this?”
She nodded slightly. “I’m scared, Jack. Please don’t break my heart again.”
“I can’t promise that,” I croaked out, afraid she would leave me. “I’ll do whatever I can to make sure you’re happy, but I have no idea if this will work.”
She ducked her head, her face flushing. I lifted her chin, forcing her to look at me.
“Christy, we both know life doesn’t always work out how we plan. I know what I felt last night was…the most amazing moment of my life.”
“Really?” she asked hesitantly.
“Life-altering,” I grinned. “I’m just sorry I didn’t give you everything you deserved.”
She glanced into the other room where Brody was sitting. “So, what do we do now? I mean, I don’t want to confuse Brody.”
Four Horsemen: A Small Town Romance (A Good Run Of Bad Luck Book 5) Page 21