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“She looks just like your mom,” I muse and Jaime nods.
“She always did and it’s why out of all of us, she’s the only one that didn’t finish college, and he never argued it. Jackie fluttered her lashes at him the day Jillian was born, telling Dad they were engaged and apparently Dad just accepted it. Troy worked with Ethan, but they didn’t become friends until after Jackie had Andra. They invited Troy to dinner at their house and Jennie came to it, meeting him for the first time. They were married a couple months later. She was already pregnant with Zack,” she adds on a whisper putting a light smile on my lips. “Jennie bought their place I’m pretty sure and uses her trust for what she needs and big things for Zack, but Troy kept working just like Ethan did. The only other girls in the family married are Jasmine and Julie. Serena didn’t come from money. She finished high school living with her best friend because her parents kicked her out for being gay. She earned everything she has through her hard work.
“The only other person who’s married into the family that grew up with money is Carly, but her father didn’t let her use a lot of it, because there wasn’t all that much left. Maddie was working herself ragged to get her and Kayla away from their parents. Eden was barely scraping by trying to care for her brothers and sister before Jesse moved her into the house she and Jude now live in to help her out because she kept Maddie from getting hurt while she was pregnant with Tessa,” she tacks on and I smile at the look on her face, the determination there is sexy, and I love it. “So stop thinking the family won’t accept you because you don’t come from money and work for a living. All of my brothers do, even though they could just sit back and live off of interest their trust funds bring in. And as far as your line of work, Jamison’s first and foremost a carpenter which is pretty ‘blue collar’ not to mention the whole construction field is as well. You know what Jordan’s favorite thing to do when he’s not playing basketball is? Fixing cars.”
“Okay, I won’t bring it up again,” I state, fighting to not laugh at how adorable she is right now. I don’t want people thinking I’m being insensitive towards Jennie and the rest of the family by laughing, but it’s damn hard to hold it back. “And since you pretty much already got into the money thing, I guess there’s not much else to say on the subject is there?”
“Not really,” she agrees giving me a soft smile. “I will say that I really like the way Ethan and Jackie do things and hope if I have a family one day, I can model it after them. Although I think I’ll have to draw a line at having ten kids. I love my nieces and nephews, but they can be a lot of work.”
“And where exactly would this line be drawn?” I ask, drawing her closer as I dip my head down towards hers. “After one or two, a couple more?”
“Three or four maybe,” she says, and I like that idea, especially giving her those three or four.
“I could get behind that. I always wanted at least two kids, but my ex…” I cringe as her head pops up, her eyes widening staring at me in surprise at my slip. I didn’t mean to bring it up with her, certainly not now and honestly, not ever really. Looking like a fool in front of her is the last thing I want.
“Your ex what?”
“Fiancée,” I admit running my hand down her back calming her as her eyes widen even further. “We were eighteen, she was my high school girlfriend, and I thought I was in love. I was even more introverted back then, but she seemed to like me, so I gave her a ring with a little diamond chip in it before she went out to California for college while I stayed here. I went out to see her before we graduated college to convince her to move home and get married finally, finding her in bed with not one but two guys.”
“What?!” she gasps her jaw dropping.
“I was disgusted with what I found. For the most part, I don’t care what people do or want in bed as long as it’s not illegal, but it was her attitude that really made me see her for who she was. She never wanted to stay in when we were in high school, always wanted to be out and doing things, partying. I realized that the entire time I was in college, staying faithful to the agreement we made that we’d wait until marriage,” I state nodding as she stares at me, her eyes asking if I meant what I implied, “that she never was. Other than wanting me to take her to school dances, I learned afterwards that she didn’t really want me to be with her, she just didn’t want me to be with anyone else. One of her friends was going to ask me out, so she beat her to it then kept me dangling for when she wanted or needed me for something. She never wanted to just stay home to talk. She was always out with friends getting dinner or going to the movies or parties…”
“Which is why you hesitated to ask me out?” she guesses, and I nod. “You didn’t realize Jillian drug me out to those things until we went to dinner at Gilbert’s.”
“As much as I wanted you, I knew I couldn’t handle another relationship where the other person wanted to be out all the time. I wouldn’t have lasted long enough to get to a point where I could trust that when you said you were going out with your sister or your friends that that’s really what you were doing. Then I spent ten minutes with you and realized I was being an absolute idiot because you’re nothing like Danielle.”
“But the differences in our backgrounds still worried you enough to try and pull away?”
I give her a half-smile and nod adding, “I thought it’d be better for you to find someone your family would accept and who wouldn’t embarrass you at events by constantly butting in when anyone else tried to dance with you or take you away from me. Someone who hated being there and would rather be at home to start since I don’t know if I can fake being interested in most of the shit they go on about at the damn things.”
“I’m pretty sure if Jesse and Maddie had been there you wouldn’t have been worried about that for one second. He hates other women touching him still. Family it’s one thing, but anyone else and he’s likely to bite their heads off, but that’s absolutely nothing compared to what he does to men that try and even talk to Maddie. Honestly, I’m surprised the police aren’t called sometimes because he’s pretty intense about it.”
“So you’re saying I can be as possessive and grumpy at events as I want until I can get you home with me?” I tease and she nods, her eyes sparkling my way, and I swear, I’m never letting her go. She’s mine and soon, everyone will know it.
Chapter 7
Jaime
The soft knock on my doorframe brings my head up from my Kindle, a smile settling on my lips seeing Jasmine in the doorway. It’s our weekly Sunday dinner but she’s early. I’m sure it’s to check in on Jennie.
It’s been two weeks since Troy died but she’s still here with us at Mom and Dad’s. I think it’s been a bit easier for Zack to get through the days since he at least has school to go to than it’s been for her. She’s never had a routine so now she’s mostly been quietly staring out the windows unless Mom or one of us force her to do something.
Which is what Jackie’s been doing by bringing over her youngest Andrew during the days this past week while Jamison and a crew finish up some renovations at their house. They’re adding in a guesthouse and second garage to help with having places for cars since Archer will be sixteen in July and Alex just turned fifteen.
The guesthouse is in case the boys decide to go to Presley as Ashton’s leaning towards, or for Andra and Abby when they’re finished with college. The noise has been upsetting Andrew’s naps and since he just turned three, if he doesn’t get one in, it’s hell on Jackie the rest of the day with the ‘terrible twos’ rolling into the threes it seems.
“Hey, how’s she doing?” Jasmine asks coming into my room when I put away my Kindle.
“A bit better but she’s so quiet it’s unnerving,” I admit as Jillian and Maia poke their heads into my room.
“I thought I heard your voice,” Jillian says, giving Jasmine a hug.
“We wanted to stop in early and check on Jennie before dinner,” Jasmine explains and Jillian nods looking my way, the same worry in her eyes. “Jackie said she wasn’t acting herself at all, which I can understand, but she’s worried at just how much different she’s been even when she had the opening to say something…”
“Completely Jennie,” I offer and Jasmine nods. “Yeah, as annoying as it could be sometimes, her snark is just something you learn to love.”
“Even if at times you wanted to strangle her for it,” Julie states, joining us with Jackie making me smile at the look of true concern on Julie’s face. The two of them always had the biggest love-hate relationship of the entire family. Julie would never turn her back on her but keeping distance between them was definitely something that helped keep that snark at bay. “So, there’s no change?”
