Kaleidoscope

Chapter Thirteen


Puzzles



Two weeks six days later…

I was pulling the utility knife through drywall when I heard my phone ring in the kitchen.

I dropped the knife, dashed from the makeshift workstation I’d set up in the dining room and snatched it up just in time, seeing the display said “Jacob calling.”

I put it to my ear. “Hey, honey.”

“Where are you?”


He didn’t sound happy.

I felt my brows draw together and answered, “At home, cutting drywall to patch over the electrical work.” I paused before I went on with a smile, “Having Buford around, I’m now determined to become a puppy momma. And that would be to an actual puppy, as in one who’s just been weaned. Not a dog who’s still a puppy to me, he just old enough to know he should no longer chew everything. So I need to do something with this exposed wiring.”

“You’re cutting drywall,” he stated, still sounding unhappy, and I still didn’t get it.

I was cutting drywall, not boiling bunnies.

“Yeah,” I confirmed.

“Aren’t you supposed to be somewhere else doing something else?”

I blinked, cast my mind out, remembered and couldn’t believe I forgot.

But I did. Totally. It didn’t even enter my head from waking up until now. All my thoughts were on drywall and puppies. I’d even woken up to Jacob kissing me before he took off to do whatever Jacob Things he’d been taking off to do recently in the early morning and then I went back to sleep.

He hadn’t said “see you later” but then he probably didn’t think he had to.

How could that be?

My eyes flew to the clock on the microwave, my heart sank and feeling the unhappy vibes beating at me over the phone, I whispered, “Oh no.”

“Yeah,” Jacob bit off.

“I got caught up. I’m so sorry. I need to shower,” I told him. “But I’ll be quick then I’ll be over.”

“That’d be good,” he replied, still angry.

“Are they there yet?”

“Just called. They’re ten, fifteen minutes out.”

Oh no!

“I’ll hurry,” I promised.

“Right,” he clipped. “Later.”

Then he was gone.

He never ended a call like that.

Totally angry.

But there was a reason he was angry. His parents arrived in Denver three hours ago. And I was supposed to be at Jacob’s half an hour ago in order to be there when they got there so we could start bonding without delay.

Now, with shower, meet-the-parents prep and travel time, I’d be way late. In other words, there was no time to waste since there was no time at all.

So I did what I promised.

I raced upstairs and hurried.

* * *

I opened Jacob’s back door thinking inanely, from the SUV I saw in his driveway, his parents didn’t mess around with rentals. The minute I got the door open, I saw Buford who, as always, came to greet me.

“Hey, puppy,” I murmured, bending and giving him a rubdown, which, out of necessity, had to be a quick rubdown since I had to get my behind into the house to meet Jacob’s parents.

I gave him an extra ear scratch to make up for it, straightened and saw Jacob moving down the hall.

This did not bode well. Jacob never met me in the back hall.

I smiled at him hesitantly. “Hey, honey. Sorry. I hurried as best I could. Did they have an okay trip?”

He stopped, did a top to toe with his eyes, didn’t answer my question and asked his own, “Where’s your bag?”

“My what?” I asked.

“Bag, Emme. Your overnight bag. Did you leave it in Cletus?”

“Persephone,” I corrected automatically, but didn’t get the usual grin that came fast and easy whenever we were talking about my Bronco.

Instead, his mouth got tight.

It was a scary look and indicated he was still angry.

I didn’t know what to do with this. I didn’t think Jacob had ever been angry with me. Not real angry, as in we weren’t fighting about gun control, which he didn’t really care what I thought about, he just liked fighting about it. But instead, he was actually upset with me.

It did not feel very good to have him upset with me, not at all. More so because he had reason.

And further, I didn’t understand why he was asking about my bag.

“I, well… didn’t bring a bag,” I admitted.

His mouth got tighter.

Then he muttered as he reached out and grabbed my hand, “Doesn’t matter. You got enough shit in the bathroom here to work with and you can sleep in one of my tees.”

I did have enough “shit” in his bathroom. That was, if he was referring to shampoo and moisturizer and stuff. I’d doubled up on a few things so I didn’t have to lug so much around all the time.

But sleep in one of his tees?

I wasn’t spending the night with his parents there. I may have forgotten about meeting them but I didn’t forget about us making plans for me to spend the night. I would have remembered that, as in discussed it and declined the option.

It was okay for Jacob to spend the night at my house when Mom and Dad were around. They knew him.

His parents didn’t know me.

They might think I was a floozy. The last impression a girl wanted to give the parents of the man she loved on first meeting them was that she was a floozy.

I wanted to tug my hand to stop his advance in order to explain this to him as he was now dragging me down the hall, but I didn’t figure that would better his mood. So I let him drag me down the hall.

We moved through the opening to the great room and I saw Jacob’s dad sitting at a stool at the bar and his mom standing behind it. Both of them were sipping coffee.

Even though I met them only once and spent maybe ten minutes with them, I remembered them vividly. This was because Jacob meant a lot to me so meeting his parents would too.

This was also because they were a surprise.

He got his coloring from his mother. Same hair, same eyes, same olive skin tone.

She was, however, relatively petite. She couldn’t be over five foot five. And she was rounded. It was in a pleasant way that she obviously liked because she didn’t try to hide it. She also didn’t hold herself like she wasn’t comfortable with it.

His dad, however, was the big surprise.

Although there was a hint of his strong, handsome features in Jacob’s face, Richard Decker was fair. His blond hair had still been mostly blond when I met him over a decade ago. Now it was a silvery white. He also had blue eyes. He was tall and built, now slightly soft, and that would be slightly soft in a way he clearly liked his beer because he had a relatively large beer belly. He was way taller than his wife but he was nowhere near as tall as Jacob. Maybe six foot.

I knew Jacob had a brother named Shane who I’d never met. But I’d always wondered if Shane looked like his dad or mom or if he was like Jacob, a best of both but even better kind of offspring.

“Hi,” I greeted, pinning a smile to my face.

Returning my greeting, I saw Karla Decker eyeing me closely but her expression was friendly and welcoming.

Not returning my greeting, Rich Decker was also studying me, doing it closely, but there was speculation in the back of his eyes. It wasn’t that he didn’t look friendly. It was just that, with one look, I knew I was under review and needed to pass inspection.

In order to do that, I pulled my hand from Jacob’s and moved to his father first since he was the closest. I lifted my hand and made my smile bigger.

“I’m really sorry I’m late. I have a project I’m in the middle of that’s so far lasted three years,” I tried to joke. Rich didn’t crack a smile. This made me nervous, so I kept going. “Sometimes when I’m in the throes of it, I lose track of, well… pretty much everything,” I told him, still smiling.

Rich took my hand, his grip firm, his eyes never leaving mine. “Deck’s told us about your house, Emme. But good you could finally make it to his.”


That wording wasn’t the greatest.

And he still hadn’t said hi or anything close.

Even with that not-so-good start, I persevered when he let me go. I pulled my purse off my shoulder, dropped it on the bar and moved around to Karla, hand up.

“Hi. So nice to meet you. And again, I’m so sorry,” I murmured.

“That’s okay, honey,” she murmured back, her eyes also never leaving mine and her grip was warmer. “That’s a pretty sweater,” she remarked when she let my hand go.

Well, that was better.

“Thanks,” I mumbled, stepping back and running into Jacob.

I instantly got an arm around my chest at the same time I felt a wet nose on my hand. Jacob and his dog, both claiming me.

Instantly, I pulled away from Jacob to bend to Buford, explaining, “Poor puppy. He didn’t get his usual rubdown when I got here. Best see to that.”

If his tail wagging was anything to go by, Buford approved of my choice.

If the look I caught when I glanced over my shoulder at Jacob as I straightened away from his dog was anything to go by, I’d made a big mistake.

I bit my lip and Jacob’s arm again came around me, this time at my belly, whereupon it clamped tight so my back was snug to his front, so I decided my best bet was to go with it.

I looked between his parents.

“How was your trip?” I asked.

“Over,” Rich answered, his eyes on Jacob’s arm around my waist.

Then they came up to my face.

I gave him another smile but it was shaky.

He did not smile back.

“I’m just glad we had good weather,” Karla noted, and I looked to her.

She didn’t look speculative or angry. She was calmly sipping coffee.

“I am too,” I agreed.

She stopped sipping coffee and gave me a genuine smile then said, “Let’s just pray we keep that good fortune and don’t have snow while we’re here. Not real fond of the white stuff.”

“Forecast is good for that,” I shared.

She smiled again then took another sip of coffee.

Everyone fell silent.

It was not comfortable. What it was was surprising. This was because it was the kind of thing Jacob would normally forge into in order to make everyone comfortable, including, and maybe especially, me.

I hadn’t been nervous about meeting the Deckers.

Now, because I’d been an idiot, I was.

Stupidly, I decided to break the silence.

“Have you all had lunch?”

“We’ve been waitin’ for you,” Rich informed me then his eyes lifted to his son. “Starved, boy.”

At his words, I quickly jumped away from Jacob, headed to the fridge and announced, “Right. Lunch is my domain. I’m killer with cold cuts and Jacob’s always stocked up. He’ll have everything. I’ll take orders.”

“Lunch is your domain?” Rich asked.

I stopped with hand on the handle of the fridge and looked at him. “Jacob is a master with things that require pots, pans and broiling, so he gets dinner. I’ve got a mean hand with a spreader so I get cold cuts.”

“Can’t you cook?” Rich asked.

“Dad,” Jacob murmured.

“Uh… yes, I can. It’s just that Jacob is better at it,” I told him.

Although I thought this was a compliment to his son, it was clear by the look on Rich’s face this was not the right answer, seeing as his jaw got hard and his eyes went to his coffee mug on the counter.

“Actually, if we’re just having sandwiches,” Karla waded in, moving toward me, “I can take care of that.” She caught my eyes. “Since you’ve been working on your house all morning, and all. I wouldn’t know but my guess is, that’s exhausting.”

“And you’ve spent your morning journeying from southern California,” I reminded her. “I’m fine, Karla, I can make lunch.”

“How ’bout someone slaps some meat between some bread so we can all eat?” Rich suggested, giving the impression sandwiches was not his chosen lunch but at this point he’d take what he could get.

“Dad,” Jacob repeated but this wasn’t a murmur. It was a growl.

One could say things were not going smoothly.

Karla got close and said softly, “We’ll work together. Get these men fed.”

I gave her a relieved smile and replied, “Good idea.”

I pulled out the stuff from the fridge. Karla pulled out chips from the cupboards. And when I was at the counter, I chanced a look at Jacob.

He was studying me but he seemed lost in thought. When he felt my eyes on him, he focused and I gave him a nervous smile.

Then I mouthed, I’m so sorry.

He watched my mouth then looked into my eyes.

Finally, I watched the skin around his eyes go soft and his lips tip up. Better, he moved to me, leaned in and touched his mouth to mine.

When he pulled back an inch, he murmured, “It’s all cool, baby. Yeah?”

I nodded.

He lifted a hand to my neck, swept his thumb along my jaw and moved away.

I took in a breath, let it out and caught sight of Rich when I was looking to the packs of deli meats on the counter.

His eyes were on me and they were still speculative. The good news was, now they didn’t seem annoyed. Just thoughtful.

I tried another smile.

It took him a second, but he smiled back.

The problem was it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

* * *

Eight hours later…

Sitting next to Jacob and opposite his parents on Jacob’s couches in the great room, Jacob tried to curl me into him with an arm around my shoulders.

He failed because I stiffened.

Therefore Jacob stiffened.

Suffice it to say, the day had not gone great.

Lunch seemed to appease his father and we hit a happy spell that made me somewhat relax.

Things degenerated when we sat down at Jacob’s table for a game of euchre, boys against girls. This was when I discovered that Rich was highly competitive even though neither Jacob, Karla nor I were.

Competitive people always rubbed me the wrong way and I usually extricated myself from those situations.

This one, I had no hope of extricating myself from, so I did my best to ignore it.

It was difficult when Rich questioned nearly every card I threw even though I wasn’t his partner, finishing the fifth game they won (and thankfully the last game we played) by saying, “Thank Christ we didn’t switch it up, boy girl, boy girl.”

His meaning was not lost on me.

It was also not lost on Jacob.

The good news was, at that, if Jacob was still upset with me for being late, he no longer was.

The bad news was, he no longer was upset with me because he was all kinds of pissed at his dad.

I knew this when he said, “Dad, got something to show you out back,” in a way that meant his father was going to go with him or Jacob was going to haul him there.

Rich gave a look to his wife who was also looking at him like he was not her favorite person. Then he followed his son.

When they got back, we slid into a somewhat comfortable spell, which was broken when we went to Rosalinda’s for dinner and conversation turned to our current president.

Like his son, Rich and I didn’t see eye to eye in regard to the man who held that office.

Unlike his son, it wasn’t fun debating it with him. This led to me getting more and more uncomfortable, Rich pushing more and more to force me to explain my clearly idiotic opinion (according to him) and me trying harder and harder to extricate myself from the discussion.

Jacob was my wingman in that one. He didn’t agree with my opinion, but he did try in a polite way to move the conversation to a lighter tone.


His father was having none of it.

Therefore, Jacob started to get pissed. I saw it, felt it, and at one point, when a low, short rumble slid from his throat, heard it.

I wasn’t pissed.

I was freaked.

The day was an utter disaster (partially due to me) and Jacob’s father totally hated me.

It was Karla who cut into that by catching her husband’s eyes, stating quietly but firmly, “Enough, Richard,” then looking at me and just as firmly changing the subject.

We had not recovered from that and were back at Jacob’s, his dad, Jacob and me enjoying a glass of Jacob’s beer, his mom finishing the night with a glass of wine.

This was the only thing anyone enjoyed. Conversation was stilted and I was a nervous wreck.

I caught Rich’s eyes narrowed on me stiffening away from his son, but fortunately, right after, he stood and announced, “Time for some shuteye.”

I couldn’t tamp down a relieved sigh.

I’d not finished sighing before I heard Jacob make an irritated noise low in his throat which told me he heard my exhalation, knew it was relieved and didn’t like it all that much.

In order to cover, I popped up and pinned the three thousandth fake bright smile I’d affected on my face that day and lied, “Today has been great.” I didn’t lie when I went on to say, “I hope you sleep well.”

“We will, honey,” Karla murmured, giving me a warm look, giving her husband a cold one, doing all this while getting up from the couch.

Good nights were exchanged. Jacob got a hug from his mom. I got a cheek touch. Jacob got a slap on the arm from his dad. I got a distracted chin lift he threw my way when he was almost in the mouth to the hall.

They disappeared.

I closed my eyes.

“Babe.”

At Jacob’s call, I opened my eyes and announced in a quiet voice, “Time for me to be getting home.”

It was then Jacob’s eyes narrowed.

Not a good sign.

Apparently, my bad day was not yet over.

“What?” he asked.

“I should get home. Like, now.” Then I added for effect, “I’m super tired.”

“You’re sleepin’ here,” he stated, and I shook my head.

“I think maybe your folks will want to have an Emme Free Zone when they get up in the morning.”

He got closer and dipped his chin to hold my eyes. “Emme, you’re sleepin’ here.”

I lifted my hand and put it on his chest, leaning into him.

“It’s also important to me that they don’t think I’m a floozy.”

Jacob’s head jerked even as he did a slow blink.

Then he informed me, “They came into the twenty-first century right along with us, Emme. And I haven’t discussed it with either of them, hope to God I never will, but I still reckon they know I’m not a virgin.”

That was funny so I smiled up at him, leaning in further.

“Today hasn’t been good, honey,” I pointed out quietly. “My fault, but also, I think maybe they need some quality time with their son.”

“They’ll get it and get it with their son’s woman.”

“Ja—”

He interrupted me to declare, “Haven’t slept apart since that first night we got together. Not startin’ now.”

I liked that that meant something to him and wanted to keep our roll going, just as much as it kind of freaked me out.

But no way I was staying.

“Okay, let me rephrase,” I began. “Today hasn’t been good for me. Your dad isn’t my biggest fan and—”

He cut me off. “He’ll come around.”

I felt my eyes get big and I leaned closer. “Jacob, he was totally pissed I was late. He didn’t get over it all day and let me know it.”

I said that but what I didn’t say was that, even though it was rude to be late, it wasn’t like I breezed in having forgotten them because I was at home inserting razor blades into Easter candy I’d pass out at church to all Gnaw Bones’ children.

I’d screwed up and people did that.

I also apologized.

Which meant his dad didn’t like me but I also was not a big fan of his dad.

“Last woman I got serious about was Elsbeth,” he remarked.

I shut my mouth and leaned a bit away.

Jacob lifted a hand to curl around the side of my neck and he brought me back, dipping his face even closer.

“You know how that ended. So do they,” he finished.

“It’s been nine years and I’m not Elsbeth,” I replied.

“I been hung up on her for nine years and you’re not Elsbeth but you knew her. You know she was notoriously late for every-f*ckin’-thing. He probably got a flashback and if you wouldn’t pull away or act like my touch burns every time I get close, he’d get over it.”

“I didn’t pull away or act like your touch burns,” I returned.

“Babe,” he stated and said not another word but his mouth got tight after he was finished uttering it.

Then again, for once, “babe” said it all. Jittery and freaking out, I did just that and we both knew it. Therefore I couldn’t argue that point.

“Okay, how about this?” I asked. “I want to go home because I need a break. I need to regroup and maybe you can bring them around tomorrow for a tour of my house and I’ll try again.”

“How about this?” Jacob responded immediately. “You sleep where you belong, beside me, and we all go over there tomorrow so you can give them a tour after lunch.”

“Honey, can’t you understand where I’m coming from?” I pleaded.

“Baby, I could if you hadn’t f*ckin’ forgotten my f*ckin’ parents were comin’ to town. Somethin’ you’ve known for weeks. Somethin’ we made concrete plans about days ago. Somethin’ you gotta know means somethin’ to all involved. Then you show and act not you, which, since we’re havin’ this conversation, I’ll point out, you been actin’ not you for a while.”

I blinked at his words, not to mention his sneak attack, and pulled at his hand at my neck.

It tightened so I stopped pulling and asked, “What?”

“Since Faye had the baby, you’ve been off.”

“I have not,” I replied. “I’ve been me. And, by the way, I acted not me today because Rich put me on edge.”

He ignored my second statement and returned to his earlier theme.

“You miss my calls, when you never missed my calls. You call back hours later, but only if I leave a message. You never call me, which you used to do just because. And you’re comin’ to my place later and later, or textin’ me to ask me to show at yours later and later ’cause you supposedly have shit to do.”

“I’m one man down at the yard and in the middle of hiring a temporary replacement who actually won’t be a temporary replacement once Dane goes down, so he has to be the right guy for the job,” I reminded him.

“You shiftin’ lumber?” he asked.

“No,” I answered.

“Then you gotta put an ad in the paper and sift through applications, Emme. It isn’t like you’re out in the yard workin’ shoulder to shoulder with your boys.”

I felt my back get straight and my eyes get squinty. “You don’t know all the ins and outs of my job, honey.”

“I know hirin’ one guy doesn’t take five extra hours of your day, babe.”

“I didn’t say it was taking five extra hours,” I shot back.


“Then why are you suddenly unavailable pretty much all f*ckin’ day?” he asked. “Unavailable when before I always got you.”

“We’re settling in, Jacob. Before, what we have was just starting. Fresh. New. Now it’s a part of life.”

“Emmanuelle, we been seein’ each other not even two months. It’s still just starting. And, babe, just sayin’, that just starting feeling is the best one to have so maybe we might want to hold onto that for as long as we can.”

“I have a life, Jacob. I have to live it and fit us in it.”

This was the wrong thing to say.

I knew it when he pulled away, dropping his hand from my neck, and said, “Sorry, babe. Had no idea it would be tough for you to fit me in. Fit in gettin’ to know my folks. Put a little effort into makin’ my dad like you. Shoulda had a mind to that.”

He was taking this too far.

“That’s not what I meant,” I snapped.

“It’s what you said,” he fired back.

I pulled in a ragged, annoyed breath.

Then I said, “Maybe we should finish this after your folks go home, or at least when they’re not just down the hall.”

He shook his head and stated bizarrely, “Told you, it started happening, Emme, I’d put a stop to it.”

I felt my brows draw together and asked, “Stop what?”

“You disconnecting.”

Another sneak attack, one I responded to physically.

I took a half step back and whispered, “I’m not disconnecting.”

“You totally f*ckin’ are.” His eyes on me grew intense and he went on, “Just don’t get what tripped it. But whatever tripped it, I’m putting a stop to it.”

“Jacob—”

“And I’m doin’ it by sayin’ you’re spending the night. You don’t, we got problems. And tomorrow, you’re gonna suck it up and give it another go with my dad. He knows you, my Emme, the Emme you give me when you aren’t pullin’ away, he’ll love you. Then, when they leave, we’re gonna sit down and talk about a variety of shit.”

I wasn’t doing any of that and therefore informed him, “I’m not down with that plan, Jacob.”

“I don’t give a f*ck, Emmanuelle.”

It was definitely time to lay it out but what I had to lay out could not be overheard.

So I got close and whispered, “Okay, I was late. That was bad. I forgot. That was worse. I shouldn’t have done either, but I apologized. I know you love him and you’re close but it was your dad who was uncool with me, Jacob. All day. And if you’re so close with him and can’t see it, hark back to how your mom reacted to it. She was not pleased because she knows, like I know, it was uncool.”

“He wants his son to be happy and a woman who doesn’t give a shit enough about a meet with his parents to remember it and then acts like she’d rather be anywhere else, say, nailed to a cross, is not gonna be the kind of woman who might make his son happy.”

It kind of sucked that he could be funny when we were arguing.

I powered through Jacob being funny.

“Uh… pointing out, I did want to be somewhere else seeing as your dad wasn’t being cool with me. And now I want to be somewhere else seeing as you aren’t being cool with me.”

Jacob held my eyes a moment, looked to his boots then he looked back at me and instigated yet another sneak attack.

“I love you,” he whispered.

I felt those words like a body blow and lost my breath.

Like the first time he said them.

Which was the only time he said them.

“Love you, Emme. Said it once, haven’t said it again. You said it, haven’t heard it again. So I’m gonna make it clear. I love you, baby, and I feel you disconnecting from me. You love me and I hope me tellin’ you that’s what I’m feelin’ means something, enough of something for you to listen and help me put stop to it.”

My voice was gentler when I said, “I’m not disconnecting, honey.”

“Feel it, Emme.”

I didn’t want that. I never wanted that. Not ever.

To stop it, I whispered, “I love you too, Jacob.”

His eyes closed, relief sweeping through his handsome face.

Such relief, it rocked me.

Such relief it made me ask myself, was I disconnecting?

Before my mind could answer that question, he moved fast. Lifting both hands, he put them to my neck, sliding them up in my hair and he got close. But he brought his face closer.

“You’re right. All day, my dad was a dick. You forgot, you were late, that was disappointing. I didn’t get it, but you apologized. I talked to him, didn’t help for long. Tomorrow, he pulls that shit again, I’ll take your back. But Emme,” his voice now held a warning, “we had our chat, he didn’t hear me. So tomorrow, if he makes me do it again, I’m not gonna take him outside to say what I gotta say. To make my point, I’m just gonna let fly. Today, I had a mind to you bein’ not yourself. Tomorrow, I’ll do what I gotta do. You need to be prepared for that.”

That didn’t sound like fun.

Therefore, I suggested, “Maybe you should give him a safe place and talk to him in the morning with me not being around.”

“And maybe we should make the statement that you’re here, this is your safe place, my home or anything that has to do with me, and he has to have a mind to that.”

His suggestion was better.

And his words were amazing.

In this entire messy discussion, I knew a few things for certain. If it wasn’t important, Jacob wouldn’t have mentioned it. If he said he was feeling something from me, he was feeling it. And if he was feeling something, maybe there was something to feel.

Which turned my mind to the fact that, bottom line, I forgot about meeting his parents. That was crazy. He was right. I’d known for weeks they were coming and we’d made plans I should never have forgotten. I’d never met a boyfriend’s parents, but that didn’t mean I didn’t know it was important.

I wasn’t flighty. I wasn’t forgetful.

I didn’t know how it happened. I just knew it did.

And it shouldn’t have.

Therefore, it was time to backtrack.

I lifted my hands to his chest, leaned in and admitted, “I screwed up. I don’t know what I was thinking. How I got caught up in what I was doing and forgot. I don’t even know why I started doing what I got caught up in doing. What I do know is, screwing up so bad, I got nervous and that’s why I was funny with you today.” My voice dropped. “And the more your dad came at me, the more nervous I got, the worse it got. But it wasn’t your dad. It started with me, and for that, I’m truly sorry, honey.”

Jacob’s eyes held mine a moment, they did this intensely, and it wasn’t comfortable mostly because it felt like he was trying to see through my eyes to read the words written on my soul.

Fortunately, it was just a moment before he moved in for a lip touch, which felt really sweet since that was Jacob’s way of accepting my apology.

He pulled back and one of his hands stayed in my hair. The other one slid down my spine and he wrapped his arm around me.

“Over and done,” he murmured but his gaze never left mine as he asked, “Were you nervous about meeting them?”

I didn’t think I was. People liked me. I didn’t think I was the awesomest person on the planet but I wasn’t a bitch.

But maybe that was it. Maybe it was latent nerves, I woke up that morning, and because of that, blocked it and acted like an idiot. And maybe that was why I’d been being weird lately, giving Jacob the vibe I was pulling away.


Hopefully that was it.

“I didn’t think so but maybe I was,” I answered honestly.

He nodded then shared, “Seriously, babe, they’re usually very cool. Dad especially.”

I pressed my body to his, slid my arms around him, but I did this straightening my spine with resolve before I declared, “Tomorrow I’ll win him over.”

I declared it. I was going to try it. I just hoped I could do it.

Jacob finally smiled and it was then, relief swept through me.

“I know you will,” he said softly.

Then he came in for another lip touch.

I leaned into it, squeezing him with my arms, and it became a short, sweet kiss after which he lifted his head and suggested, “Let’s go to bed.”

Messy discussion over. Bad day over.

Done.

Good stuff to come.

So it was then, I smiled.

* * *

Five and a half hours later…

I opened my eyes to dark and felt the bed empty (save Buford).

Jacob was up but not reading.

He did this, not often but he did it, and told me when I got up he’d either worked out, gone for a run or did some work. So when it happened and I woke up during it, I usually went back to sleep.

But this time, I didn’t go back to sleep because this time, after a very bad day, I worried he left me for other reasons.

I love you, baby, and I feel you disconnecting from me.

I didn’t think I was doing that but with what he said, he wasn’t wrong. I let the phone go, even when it was ringing right beside me and I saw his name on the display. I did this telling myself I was busy and I’d get back to him when before, I’d snatch it up before it rang twice.

I also used to call for whatever reason—your place or mine, what’s for dinner, this annoying thing just happened and I have to get it off my chest—and he always picked up right away. But now, even when I had something to say, I told myself he was too busy to get a call from me.

Even though it seemed he worked a lot, lately even more, he’d never been too busy to get a call from me. Hell, he’d even told me straight out he was never too busy to take a call from me.

“What’s happening with me?” I whispered to the pillowcase.

No answers swept through my brain. Not liking it, it feeling weird, not having enough experience to know, just knowing I couldn’t let it go on, I got out of bed, leaving a slightly snoring Buford behind and wandering into the dark hall.

I found Jacob in his office, his back to me, facing the computer.

So he was up and working.

“Hey,” I called when I hit the doorway and he swiveled his chair to face me.

His eyes immediately warmed.

That was a good sign.

“Hey,” he replied. “Why you up?”

I moved to him and when I stopped close, I answered, “Bed was empty.”

His eyes got warmer and he curved an arm around my hips, pulling me to the side of the chair and tipping his head way back. I bent at his invitation and touched my mouth to his.

I pulled away, not intending to go very far but not getting there anyway because his other hand lifted and curled around my neck.

I settled in and asked, “Working?”

“Yeah. Case not adding up. Something’s wrong. I can’t get a lock on it.”

That was a good sign too. He left me not because of our messy discussion or unease with what was happening between us driving him away. He left because he had something else on his mind he had to work out.

At this news, I grinned at him and teased, “You, the Mighty Jacob?”

He grinned back and replied, “Yeah. Me.”

I slid a hand up his chest and whispered, “You’ll sort it.”

“Yeah,” he whispered back.

“You’ve got a puzzle you can’t solve, I get you wanting to get on it,” I told him then said, “But I like waking up with you.”

His eyes got even warmer. “I’ll give this a couple hours, come back and read.”

“Thanks, honey.”

“Anytime, baby.”

I slid my hand up further, stopping to curve it around the dark stubble at his jaw and I bent in again for a lip touch.

This time when I pulled back, I stopped, held his gaze and whispered, “Love you, Jacob.”

Heat in his eyes, soft in his face, lips tipping up, so beautiful, all for me, he whispered back, “Love you too, Emme.”

I glided my hand down, drifted my thumb along the corded ridge of his throat, memorized the look on his face and gave him a grin.

I pulled away and Jacob let me go. I turned to the door and stopped dead.

This was because Richard Decker was standing at the door in pajamas, arms crossed, shoulder to the jamb, watching.

“F*ck. Seriously?” Jacob growled.

He’d seen his father too.

I heard his chair roll, felt it moving away, then felt him standing beside me.

I also felt he was angry.

That was when I felt my body grow tight.

Okay, officially it was the next day, so this did not bode well it would be a better one.

“Now that,” his father announced, “that’s what I like to see.”

I relaxed slightly but only because this confused me.

It didn’t confuse Jacob.

I knew this when he bit out, “Dad. Not. F*ckin’. Cool.”

Rich completely ignored him and looked at me. “Today, Emme, I was an ass. I apologize. You were nervous, it was obvious. I kept bein’ an ass. I apologize for that too. I’ll make it up to you by making you my world-famous pancakes tomorrow morning.”

Maybe I was wrong. This sounded like indication that today would be a better one.

“Dad, your pancakes suck,” Jacob replied.

My eyes got big and my head shot back to see him scowling at his father.

He was screwing up a potential good day!

To get him to stop doing that, I elbowed him in the ribs. He acted like he didn’t feel it and kept scowling at his father.

“Forgot. It’s Shane who likes my pancakes,” Rich mumbled.

“They aren’t pancakes. They’re crêpes. And crêpes suck,” Jacob returned

Totally screwing it up!

“Jacob!” I snapped.

He wasn’t done, unfortunately.

“Unless they have that hazelnut chocolate spread in them, something I don’t have.”

“You have a grocery store,” Rich shot back.

“I’m not haulin’ my ass to the grocery store on a Sunday morning for hazelnut spread,” Jacob retorted.

“Then quit bitchin’ about it,” Rich ordered.

“I’m not bitchin’. I’m sayin’, I bought Mom buttermilk for her pancakes, which I actually like. Which is what we’re gonna have. And, incidentally, you hear words as me bitchin’ when instead I’m pissed you’re lurkin’ around spyin’ on Emme and me,” Jacob stated.

I closed my eyes.

“I wasn’t spyin’,” Rich replied.

My eyes shot open because that was a bald-faced lie.

He was leaning in the door watching us!

“You stand in my door without me or Emme knowin’ it and listen in?” Jacob called him on his lie.

“Yeah, but that isn’t spyin’. You hide when you spy. I wasn’t hiding. I was listening.”

Jacob looked to the ceiling.

Truth be told, he had a point. A funny one. So I burst out laughing.

I swallowed it when Jacob stopped looking at the ceiling so he could turn his scowl to me.

“It’s not funny,” he declared. “He’s a nosy bastard. Always was. It wasn’t okay when I was a teenager coppin’ a feel from my girlfriend watchin’ TV in our basement. It’s definitely not okay when I’m a thirty-seven-year-old man havin’ a moment with my girl in my own f*ckin’ house.”


All I could think to that statement was that I was glad Jacob eschewed the norm and didn’t cop a feel when his dad was watching.

All I could say was, “You shouldn’t call your dad a bastard.”

“Emme, it was our moment, not his,” Jacob stated.

“This is true but we weren’t exactly hatching plans for our world takeover so now that he knows, we have to kill him,” I pointed out.

It was at that, Rich burst out laughing.

I looked to him and felt something inside me loosen. It might have had to do with the fact that Rich laughing was the only time he looked a lot like his son, in other words, extremely handsome rather than just plain handsome. It mostly had to do with the fact that he was doing it at all and it was me who made him do it.

I didn’t want to be a brown nose but I felt it important to press the advantage, so when he quit laughing, I told him, “I’ll eat your crêpes in the morning, Rich.”

Still grinning, he replied, “They’re pancakes, Emme.”

“Okay,” I whispered.

“Can you two do me a favor and bond when it’s not three thirty in the morning?” Jacob asked.

There it was again, screwing things up.

I tipped my head back and glared at him.

He caught my glare, the scowl left his face and he grinned at me.

Then he bent and brushed his lips on mine, pulled back and said, “Buford’s lonely.”

I had no chance to reply because Rich offered, “I’ll walk you to your room, Emme.”

Jacob and I looked to his dad.

“It’s down the hall, Dad,” Jacob pointed out. “I think she can make it there unaided.”

“Yeah. I know. She’s still gettin’ there with me,” he returned.

I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad.

“She gets there, she gets there good to go back to sleep,” Jacob warned.

Clearly, Jacob was thinking it was bad.

“Already told you I’m done bein’ an ass,” Rich replied.

“See that’s true so my girl can sleep easy,” Jacob ordered.

I wasn’t breathing easy then. Father and son were in a stare down. I didn’t exactly know why since it seemed everything had worked out so I didn’t exactly know what to do.

What I did know was that Jacob wasn’t wasting any time “taking my back” with his dad.

Which made me feel all mushy.

But me, being me, also didn’t let it go on for the time it appeared it was going to (that was, eternity), so I waded in.

“I started my day with sawhorses, utility knives and sheets of drywall. So I should probably rest up so I’ll have the energy to eat pancakes tomorrow in whatever form they come to me.”

This worked. The stare down ended. Jacob wrapped an arm around my waist, gave me a squeeze and bent to give me a kiss on the side of my head before he let me go.

I moved to his dad, doing it looking over my shoulder and saying, “ ’Night, honey.”

“ ’Night, Emme,” Jacob murmured then his eyes went to his father. “Dad.”

“Deck,” Rich replied, his lips twitching.

I made it to the door. He moved out of my way and we both moved down the hall. It wasn’t a long distance but we did it in silence so it felt like a football field.

I stopped at Jacob’s door and heard Buford’s quiet snoring.

I got a handsome, tall, strong, affectionate man who was a genius and didn’t snore.

Total score.

But he came with a dog who hogged the bed and did snore, even though it was quietly.

This was a tie. It forced me to cuddle with Jacob, seeing as I had no room to move, but then again, I had no room to move. And snoring—dog, man, Martian—was no fun. Still, Buford was droopy cute and liked me so I shouldn’t complain.

I pushed these thoughts aside and turned to Rich.

“Well, thanks for walking me,” I said lamely.

We were in shadows but I still saw the white flash of his teeth before he replied, “ ’Night, Emme.”

“ ’Night, Rich,” I mumbled, moved into the room, put my hand on the door and was about to close it when I stopped, seeing Rich was still standing there.

This indicated to me we weren’t done.

I braced and it was a good idea.

“That other one, she did a number on him,” he told me quietly.

“I know,” I said the same way.

“I was worried.”

That was sweet.

I pulled in a breath, forced what I hoped was my last fake smile for the next year and said, “I’m sorry. And I’m sorrier I did something stupid to make you worry.”

He accepted that with a nod but noted, “You two are goin’ fast.”

“I know.”

“He’s in deep.”

He’s in deep.

I said nothing but I felt everything. Too much of it. Too much to breathe.

“Deck, he doesn’t like simple,” Rich continued. “Never did. Doesn’t have the patience for it. He likes complicated. The more complicated the better. But, see, Emme darlin’, some puzzles, they don’t have solutions. He’s lucky, he’s never found one he couldn’t solve. Doesn’t mean he won’t find one. And my son, the way he is, the way his mind works, if he encounters that, he’ll keep searchin’ for the solution until it drives him crazy.”

I didn’t know what he was driving at so I took a wild guess. “I… do you think I’m a puzzle, Rich?”

“I think there’s a reason my boy’s in deep. I think that’s because you’re complicated. That doesn’t mean he won’t be happy when he finds the solution. I’m just hopin’ whatever it is can be solved.”

I shook my head. “I’m not a puzzle.”

“Three girls I met today, Emme. One didn’t care enough to remember to meet her man’s parents. One was stiff and nervous. One was soft and sweet. That’s all I know. I don’t know about a puzzle. I just know that’s complicated.”

I didn’t want to go over that day, again. I also didn’t want to remind him he had a part in it going bad.

So instead, I warned him carefully, “I’m not sure this discussion will give me sweet dreams.”

At that he leaned in so suddenly it stunned me.

“Be that girl,” he whispered fiercely. “Be that girl who just gave my boy sweet. Please be that girl, Emme.”

Startled, I whispered back, “I am that girl, Rich.”

“Deck, that other woman, he was in so damned deep. Like his dad, he finds what he wants, he gives it his all. She wasn’t worth it. Be the girl that makes it worth it.”

It wasn’t his business just as it was, unfortunately, and we were suddenly having an intense conversation about important things, also unfortunately, so I shared, “I’m in love with him.”

“So was the other one,” he replied.

My hand tensed on the door. His comment beyond annoying and not a little out of line, I was unable to think of what to say.

Then I thought of what to say. “I’m not Elsbeth. Not even a little bit.”

He leaned back, I heard him pull in a deep breath and his voice was less severe when he stated, “I’m his father. I’m going to want the best for him.”

“And I’m the woman who loves him. I’m obviously going to want the same. But, no offense, what I don’t want is his dad intimating that is not me. I understand you love him and want to protect him. But I made a mistake. It annoyed Jacob. It upset you. You were both entitled to those reactions because it was a big mistake. But now it’s over. Can I ask that tomorrow, when we wake up, we start over?”


He studied me through the dark a long moment before he agreed, “I can do that, Emme.”

“I’d be grateful, Rich.”

“Now, just to say, I just came on strong and Deck’s right, I’m nosy, especially when what I’m nosin’ around matters. But we just made a deal. I don’t go back on what I say, so even though we had these words, tomorrow, as I said, we’re startin’ over. So I want you to sleep easy.”

Like that would happen.

“Buford’s good at keeping me company,” I assured him on a fib. He was, just not when he was sleeping. “I’ll be fine. But thank you for saying that anyway.”

He held my eyes, nodded and murmured, “ ’Night, darlin’. Tomorrow will be a better day.”

“Thanks, Rich, I’m sure it will. And good night.”

He hesitated before he moved away.

I shut the door and moved to the bed.

As I settled in bed, Buford woke up long enough to roll to his other side, stretch out and start snoring again.

Back to the door, eyes open, I went over the day. And again. And repeat.

It made me all kinds of uneasy.

There were obvious reasons why.

And there were some that were not obvious.

Therefore, I stayed awake for a long time, turning it over in my head, trying to relieve the unease.

But I fell asleep before I could.

Luckily, I did it before Jacob joined me.