Our Happily Ever After (Bold As Love 5)

“Thank you.”

After giving her a hug, I leave her behind in the kitchen and go sit next to Sophie. I talk to her about Elmo and then play dress up until it's time for her to go to bed. Unfortunately, that leaves Helen and me to talk. To keep conversation away from my problems, I ask her about this new guy she's seeing.

“It's too soon to tell, honestly. He seems to be a really nice guy, though. He has a little girl too, so it's hard to be free on the same night.”

This is perfect timing! I know just the thing I can do for Helen to show her that I'm grateful she's my friend and for letting me crash at her place for a while.

“Text him right now, Helen. Pick a night that works for him and go out. I'll watch Sophie. It'll help keep me away from home anyway. You deserve this. Even after this mess with Jake is over, call me anytime you need a babysitter.”

Like an excited schoolgirl, Helen leans over and hugs me. “Really, Em?”

“Absolutely!”

“Thank you!” Helen grabs her phone and excuses herself to call the man right then. An hour passes before she returns. “Sorry. I got carried away and forgot you were even here.”

Laughing, I tell her that it's no big deal. Helen spends the rest of the night telling me about her upcoming date. I'm so excited for her. She really does deserve someone amazing. When midnight rolls around, I give her a hug, thank her for letting me hang out with her, and then head home. I want to groan when I walk in and see Jake sitting on the couch.

“Hey, love.” I pat his shoulder as I pass him to go into our bedroom.

“Where have you been?” he asks, following me.

“Out. I'm going to shower.” I close the bathroom door in his face.

A satisfied feeling takes over at treating him the way he's been treating me. Maybe I shouldn't feel this way, but sometimes, people need a taste of their own medicine to realize what they are doing in the first place. After my shower, Jake has changed and is in bed already. I don't even give him a chance to talk first.

“You're taking Drake to school tomorrow and picking him up from school. He's got a game tomorrow as well. You need to take him to that and watch the game. I also offered to take one of his teammates to and from the game. You need to do that as well. Did you wash clothes?”

Jake seems surprised, but he shakes his head. He still didn't wash clothes?! What in the hell?

“Then you'll need to do that too.” I climb into bed, but lay with my back facing him. “Night.”

He's quiet for a few minutes before he finally finds his voice. It's deep and throaty, which means he's feeling emotional right now. “Emily, what are we doing?”

“We are behaving like normal, Jake. Only I'm you and you're me. Have fun with that.” I close my eyes and ignore anything else he says. Part of me feels bad for being this way with him, but I ignore that as well. Soon, I'm able to fall asleep.

* * *

When Jake wakes me up in the morning, asking me what he's supposed to do about something, I roll over and ignore him. I'm only half listening anyway. Not having to take Drake to school means that I can sleep in a little longer in the morning.

“Emily!” Jake exclaims, clearly annoyed with me.

“Sorry, Jake. I don't wake up for another thirty minutes to go to work. You're on your own. Ask Drake and if he doesn't know, figure it out.”

That pisses him off because he slams the bedroom door on his way out. Oops. Maybe I'm taking this a little too far. I can't think of another way to make him see the big picture, though. When I finally get out of bed to get ready for work, I can hear Jake yelling at Drake to hurry up and then Drake being a smart ass with his response. I can't help my grin. Welcome to my world, Jake.

“More hot sex?” Kristi asks when I arrive at work.

“Nope. Revenge.” I smirk.

“What are you talking about?”

Helen comes around the corner. “She's giving Jake a taste of his own medicine.”

“Oh, yeah? I'm guessing he's about ready to pull out all his hair then?” Kristi asks.

“Pretty much. We're on wedding planning duty for lunch, by the way. My planner emailed me with a few things I need to do, so we're going to work on that. I'll email Jake and have him tell me his preferences. Unfortunately for Jake, he would be gone this weekend, so I'll make my trip to North Carolina alone.”

“Why do you have to go there?” Helen asks.

“I need to meet with a few people for catering and photography. Are we still good to go dress shopping next weekend?”

“Yes!” They both grin with excitement.

That ends our conversation because Dr. Z shows up and it's time to get to work. The day flies by as we make more progress with the wedding and discuss the kind of dress I want. Hopefully, with some of the ideas the girls gave me today, I'll be able to find the perfect dress.

Since I'll be in North Carolina this weekend and because I'm still hearing from Cherish on a regular basis, I call her and invite her to go with me. She is ecstatic, which is contagious and soon, I'm as excited as she is. I'm really looking forward to a weekend away from Chicago. It makes me wish I had gone down for Thanksgiving like my father wanted. Maybe going home would have slapped some sense into Jake.

Probably not.

Tonight is Helen's date night, so I head straight to her house after work. Spending my evening with Sophie is going to be fun. I can get used to this!