Page 30 of Love and Loathing
Chapter 12
Jessie sat on her mother’s plastic-wrapped sofa in the seat nearest the door, reading a book. Or at least pretending to read. She read a lot, so her sisters would buy it. Really, she was waiting for Jacob to arrive, and she wanted to make sure she got to the door before Cecilia and Maggie May. When she’d invited him for dinner the other night, she really hadn’t thought it through properly. In fact, she’d only thought two things. First, they didn’t have any other guests tonight, and whenever that happened, Ma always gave them a lecture about how they needed to try harder to catch a husband, ending with tips the girls might find helpful. Jessie had really wanted to avoid that. And second, she’d hoped she might be able to weasel some info about Daniel out of Jacob if she had her dad to act as backup for her prying.
What she failed to consider was Cecilia, Maggie May, and Ma. She’d be lucky if she got one word out edgewise, let alone enough time to properly pry.
Being subtle, she glanced at her watch. She’d told her family he was coming fifteen minutes later than he actually was, so as of now, her two youngest sisters were upstairs getting ready, Diana sat on the couch reading her Bible app, Ma was in the kitchen with Dad getting dinner ready, and Caroline was setting the table. That should give her a moment to at least warn him.
The doorbell rang, and before she’d even gotten her butt of the crinkly sofa, footsteps were tearing down the stairs.
“I’ve got it!” Maggie May yelled.
“No, I’ve got it!” Cecilia countered.
Jessie got up from the couch, making it crinkle, and hurried to the door and flung it open. Jacob stood in the doorway, looking his normal handsome self, holding a bouquet of tulips, and sporting a black eye.
“Hey, Jessie girl,” Jacob said. He stepped forward and hugged her.
“What happened to your eye?”
He chuckled and stepped back, and as he did, she caught the sight of a dark, round mark down his collar. A hickey. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” he said.
She pointed at his shirt. “Is that a hickey?” She laughed when he squirmed.
“Saw that, huh? I was hoping my collar would hide it,” he said.
She straightened his collar and buttoned the top button. “No one will notice.”
“You’re not mad?”
“Why would I be? We’re just friends.” She stepped aside to let him in. “So, who’s the lucky girl?”
He put a finger to his lips. “A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell, but I met her on Pastor Connolly’s app.”
She was just about to ask him about his eye again, when Cecilia and Maggie May came screeching into the living room. They both threw themselves at Jacob, hugging him before circling him like prey in a sort of “Ring around the Rosie” move that made Jessie step back. They guided him to the couch and sat with him right in the middle of them both.
“What happened to your eye?” Cecilia asked, and she almost had Jessie convinced she cared.
Maggie May bounced on her cushion. “I bet you got in a fight and won.”
He smiled. “Not really. More like the guy hit me and I hit the ground.”
Jessie came into the living room. “Who hit you?”
“Alex Young, right after he fired me.” He chuckled.
Jessie sucked in a gasp and immediately wished she hadn’t reacted so strongly. She felt exposed now, like everything she thought about him and Alex was written across her face.
“It’s all right. I probably deserved it. I called in sick on Friday. I think I had food poisoning.”
“So he fired you and punched you?” Jessie crossed to the couch where Diana sat and pushed her down the sofa so she could sit closer to Jacob.
“No, he fired me for calling in sick today. He punched me because …” He made eye contact with her. “I asked how a common acquaintance was.”
Jessie shook her head. Alex’s sister, the one Jacob had dated and loved, and Alex had stuck his nose in it. And come to think of it, hadn’t Jacob said he’d tried to have him expelled too? So what was firing him? It was history repeating itself, that’s what it was. She felt sick to her stomach. Could she still work for him after knowing what kind of a person she was?
Caroline stood at the dining room door now, listening in. Her brow was furrowed, and her head tilted to the side. “That seems so strange that Alex would do that, do you think? He’s always so kind.”
“To you,” Jessie said. “He’s kind to you. Has to be. You’re his best friend’s girlfriend.”
