Trouble was, he thought he saw it clearly. And he thought he was the only one who truly knew Tressa, truly understood her. The only one who could help her get through this.
But he thought that way because she’d made him do so. To keep him on her hook. He didn’t see that part.
By the end of July, Lacey was almost willing to pretend she didn’t see the truth, either. They’d had an idyllic few weeks since her return from San Diego. She and Jem and Levi had dinner together every single night. She’d even spent a couple of nights at his place during the week.
He’d picked her up in his truck and driven her home in the morning. She didn’t like that aspect of it so much, fearing that he was placating Tressa by making sure there were no unfamiliar cars in front of his house or in his driveway all night. But, as Kacey continued to tell her, she could just be borrowing trouble.
They’d had a near-miss when Levi had mentioned Lacey during one of his supervised visits with Tressa. Sydney had been there and told Jem, who told Lacey about it. Tressa knew that Levi was to receive counseling anytime he appeared to be struggling. She’d just assumed that Lacey was his counselor, since she’d been his initial caseworker. Sydney hadn’t disabused her of the idea.
The level of Jem’s relief had given Lacey serious pause in the midst of a seriously happy day at the beach. She’d paused again when he’d mentioned that Tressa and Amelia were in San Francisco for the weekend, visiting Amelia’s brother. She’d been thrilled when, with Kacey in LA for a movie premiere she had to attend that weekend, he’d suggested a day at the beach for the three of them—him, Lacey and Levi—thinking he was finally ready to quit coddling Tressa by hiding upsetting things from her, that he was moving toward the idea of he and Lacey and Levi becoming a family publicly as well as at home.
She’d been wrong.
Just as he was wrong in his apparent assessment that anger management meant someone else managing anything that could cause anger.
She didn’t pause, however, when, that night, after Levi was bathed and in bed asleep, Jem reached for her hand and pulled her down the hall to his room. Their love life was unyieldingly happy. She couldn’t get enough of him.
And couldn’t get enough of how much he wanted her.
“The room should be finished this week,” he told her as he shut the bedroom door behind them. Levi’s monitor, on the bedside table, would alert them if he was disturbed. “I’ll begin mudding and sanding tomorrow.”
He’d taken that day, Saturday, to go to the beach and would be spending Sunday at her house working while she and Levi went grocery shopping and made dinner.
He’d spent the previous weekend running electric, putting in outlet boxes and hanging drywall—among other, more private things, anytime Levi had been otherwise occupied. The little boy had been watching a lot of television. But only on weekends, and only in spurts, after playing at the park, building puzzles or teaching Lacey how to piece together track for his unending car collection.
“So...I was thinking...” He held her to him with a hand on her backside, rubbing the front of his shorts against the front of hers. “Maybe we ought to start thinking about, you know, moving some things around.”
She’d purchased new furniture. He knew that, since he’d told her when to have it delivered. “What things?”
“Like, maybe a toothbrush here and a toothbrush there...”
They already had toothbrushes at each other’s houses. She’d bought one for Levi, too. Just like the one he had at Jem’s house.
She stared at Jem, not breathing as easily as she had been. Was he asking her to marry him?
She’d expected him to wait until Tressa had improved before they took their relationship to the next level. And marriage...that was a long way off.
“I was just thinking that maybe we should bring some of your clothes here, and some of mine to your house. And...Levi’s, too. Once I’m done working, I won’t need to be over there every day, and I don’t want to get out of the habit of spending our weekends together.”
He wasn’t proposing. Okay. Feeling disappointed was natural. But she hadn’t been expecting to talk about marriage. Wasn’t sure she was ready to do so. Not until he could be honest with Tressa.
“You aren’t saying anything,” he said.
“I’m not sure what to say. I didn’t think we were spending all of our free time together because you were working on my house. I thought we were doing it because we’re on the way to joining our lives in some kind of permanent fashion...”
Oh, God. Had she just mentioned marriage? She hadn’t meant it that way.
Now he wasn’t saying anything. And wasn’t rubbing himself against her anymore, either. Probably trying to figure out how to tend to her feelings and keep her away from Tressa at the same time.
She’d tried to talk to him about telling Tressa the truth. Once. He’d told her he wanted nothing more and would do so as soon as he could.
“Anyway, I was just taking for granted that we’d continue to spend our free time together.” She tried to salvage the conversation. She wasn’t rushing him.
Didn’t want him to feel pressured by her. He had enough pressure in his life.
She also didn’t want to marry him until he was ready, and had to face the fact that he might never be. No matter what Kacey said...
“Did you hear that?” Jem stepped away from her, toward the closed bedroom door.