Legal (First Time 1)

I could almost hear her shaking her head at me. “Honey, we went you to come home for a weekend. You can just come home, sleep in, and recharge a little; okay?”

Honestly, I was feeling better already at that point. And hey, maybe I could figure out a time to talk to Jake and just tell him what was going -

“Oh, honey!” My mom laughed. “Just wait until you hear the latest neighborhood gossip.”

I felt a lump form in my throat. “Oh?”

“Guess who’s trying to patch things up?

And just like that, I felt my heart drop. I knew right then before she even said another word what she was going to say, and it felt like being stabbed right in the heart.

“Wait, what?”

“Jake and Lenore!

The lump in my throat grew bigger, until I could barely swallow it down. “Jake’s trying to get back with Lenore?” Just saying the words out loud stung.

“Apparently! Well, maybe its the opposite, but that’d be so nice wouldn’t it?”

“Mom she cheated on him!”

My mother sighed. “Now, honey, thats not our business.”

Well it was MY business! And just like that, the idea of going home sounded like the worst idea in the world. That’s why he hadn’t come to visit; it’s why he’d blown me off. He’d had his fun with the young naive girl; he’d gotten what he’d wanted. And now he was going to patch things up with that wench of an ex-wife!

It hurt so bad that I winced, squeezing my eyes shut to try and block the whole scenario out of my head.

“Well too late!” My mom laughed, obvious to the thoughts of hurt and betrayal rushing through my head. “I just bought your ticket!”

I winced again, ribbing my eyes with my hand and feeling my heart sinking through the floor.

“Well, guess we’ll see you Friday, honey!”

Wonderful.

Chapter 23:

Jake

“Dammit, why are you here, Lenore?”

It was the fourth fucking day in a row of her showing up here; the six-month pregnant, crazy ex-wife. And one guess why she was suddenly darkening my doorway?

Because she’d stepped out on the new guy - you know, the one she cheated on me with - and he’d caught her. So, no he was gone, and here she was looking for a damn handout. Or to get back together, or something equally as ridiculous that I’d spent four days trying to get out of my life.

I didn’t hate Lenore - I’m not that kind of guy. But I knew we’d been wrong for each other on every level. And now? Shit, now there was Chelsea. Jesus, Chelsea who I’d been ignoring like an asshole for days because I just had to deal with this whole Lenore crap first. I knew I should’ve just told her, but I also just didn’t want to bring her into all this garbage. She was above petty shit like this; like some sort of damned angel that I didn’t

want to sully with my old baggage.

I’d meant to call her for days after I’d first told her I couldn’t come visit, because I’d known from that hitch in her voice that she was probably devastated. Shit, I was pretty messed up that I couldn’t come. But I hadn’t wanted to go there with this cloud hanging over me. I needed to settle this ex-wife crap and get her out of here before I could give everything to Chelsea that she deserved. So yeah, I’d meant to call her, and then when I finally did, she’d stopped answering.

Great.

Lenore was giving me the same sob story again, like there was some big misunderstanding about her new guy coming home and finding her with yet another guy in their bedroom. Right, I could totally see how someone might misconstrue that one…

She started to yell, and I put my hands up on her shoulders to stop her. “Lenore! Jesus!” I growled and shook my head, scowling. “For the last time, get off my damn porch.”

And just then, the car pulled into the driveway; Sarah McKenzie’s car. And just as it pulled past me, my whole heart suddenly dropped out as I realized who was sitting in the passenger seat.