“Like what?” I recognized this about Jackson as well, but I wanted to hear his dad talk about him.
“Like . . .” The sheriff seemed to think matters over for a moment, as though searching for the perfect example. “Like Jackson notices when his mother starts getting arthritis in her fingers, so she can’t peel apples for apple pie anymore. He teaches himself how to peel apples faster than her. This last year, she managed just one for every four of his.”
Yeah. I just fell more in love with Jackson James.
But the sheriff wasn’t finished. “On a similar vein, he notices that my hands shake a little bit when I peel my eggs and end up with half the egg white and a mashed yolk.” He lifted up his hands so I could see the slight tremor, suds dripping from the palms. “So once a week, I’ll find ten hard-boiled eggs, all peeled, waiting for me in my fridge at the office.”
Inexplicably, my eyes stung. Jackson is getting a blow job tonight for being an exceptional human being.
“Those are just two examples.” He laughed lightly, dipping his hands back in the soapy water. “Of course, there’s more, but I don’t know if he wants me tattling on him.”
I watched Jackson’s father wash the next plate and the next, before something compelled me to say, “I met Jackson for the first time at Sienna and Jethro’s wedding. And when we walked out of the wedding tent, he immediately put his jacket around my shoulders.”
“He probably thought you were cold.” He nodded, as though a man giving a woman his jacket happened every day here.
“And since we’d left before dinner was served, he took me to get food.” I smiled at the memory. “Because he thought I might be hungry.”
He set a new pile of dishes on the counter. “So, you see what I mean.”
“I do,” I said, loading the plates. “You raised an exceptional son.”
He glanced over at me, pleasure shining in his eyes. “I hope I meet your mother one day.”
I reared back an inch, his statement confusing and unsettling me. I searched my mind, wondering why this sweet, gentle man would ever want to meet my mom. “What? Why?”
He shrugged, like the answer was obvious, but he said it anyway. “So I can tell her she raised an exceptional daughter.”
Even though Jackson had invited Dave to stay and have dinner with everyone, he’d declined. “Just call when you’re ready to be picked up, or I’ll be here at ten thirty, which ever happens first.”
Dave’s knock on the door at 10:30 PM sharp surprised me. Clearly, I’d lost track of time, and I found myself sad to leave.
“Promise you’ll come back soon,” Janet said as she pulled me in for a tight hug.
“Only if you let me cook dinner next time.” I closed my eyes, enjoying the maternal embrace.
“When will that be?” Jess sent her brother a teasing grin. “Maybe we’ll swing by.”
After hugs and kisses and good wishes were passed around liberally—and Dave was given two covered plates for both him and Miguel—we departed, all of Jackson’s family staying on the front porch until we turned onto the main road.
I sighed. Happily.
“Did you have a good time?” Jackson teased, his eyes full of mischief.
“You know I did.”
“Hmm.” Jackson picked up my hand and kissed my palm, trailing his tongue from the center of my hand to my wrist. “Maybe we could—”
The privacy screen being lowered had both of us looking at the back of Dave’s head.
“Hey. Guys. I’m sorry to interrupt. But we have a situation back at Sienna’s place.”
We glanced at each other, and Jackson asked, “What kind of situation?”
Dave made a grunting sound, long and loud. “So, you see, Harrison is there.”
“What?” I leaned forward in my seat, certain I’d misheard Dave.
“Miguel is babysitting him. He just flew in this evening and wanted to surprise you. We convinced him not to interrupt your evening with a phone call, but I promised you’d be back by eleven.”
Jackson tugged on my hand, drawing my eyes back to his. “What do you want to do?”
I grumbled, irritated that after such an awesome night with Jackson’s family, I had to deal with a surprise visit from Harrison. We’d been playing phone tag for over a week. I knew I needed to talk to him, to figure out how to best separate for the benefit of public perception.
“I don’t know.” I crossed my arms, thinking. “I guess I’ll talk to him, get this worked out.”
Jackson leaned closer, his voice dropping. “Get what worked out?”
“You know, how to make a clean break for the public that doesn’t make it look like we’ve been lying for years.”
This earned me a look from Dave, which I caught in the rearview mirror, and I winced.
“Sorry, Dave. It was fake. No one knew but a few people.”
“Well, thank fuck.” Dave shifted in his seat, bunching and releasing his big shoulders. “Excuse my French, but I never could figure out why you two were together.”
“You don’t like Harrison?” Jackson, seeming genuinely interested in the big man’s opinion.
“I mean, he’s all right. He’s no you, but he’s okay.”
Jackson’s pleased smile was a flash of pride, but he hid it quickly.
But Dave had more to say. “I didn’t like that he was always stepping out on my girl here. She deserved better, you know? And it never seemed to make sense because, even after his cheating hit the papers, these two seemed to still get along fine. Raquel wasn’t crying over him. So I thought, ‘Hey. What do I know? Maybe theirs is an open relationship.’ Not so uncommon in the business.”
Jackson absorbed this information, bringing my hand to cradle between his. “Thanks, Dave.”
“Anytime, Jackson.” Dave then lifted the privacy screen, likely sensing we needed a moment to talk.
Once it hit the top, Jackson asked, “Do you want me to stay?”
I rubbed my forehead. “Yes. But also, no. I always want you to stay, I always want you with me. But if you stay tonight, then it might make things tense, and then it’ll be difficult to get him to agree to what I want and leave.”
He didn’t look worried, but I thought maybe I detected the barest hint of jealousy glittering back at me behind his deep-set eyes. I also suspected he worked to hide it.
“Jackson, Harrison is a friend. Yes, we dated once, but that was before you and I met. He cheated on me, we broke up for good, and then I met you at Sienna and Jethro’s wedding. Everything with Harrison since has been for the benefit of publicity.”
“I know.” His attention dropped to where he held my hand.
“My goal for tonight is to hammer out a strategy, one that both he and I can feel good about, that will allow us to split publicly without raising suspicions of our ruse or require telling any more lies. It’s over, it’s done, it’s in the past. But . . .”
I waited for him to bring his eyes back to me before I continued. “But I agreed to this. I need to end it responsibly and thoughtfully. If Harrison had fallen in love with someone last year, while we were faking our relationship, I would hope that he would’ve felt the same and given me a chance to have some input on how it ended.”