Disgrace

She hadn’t done a thing wrong.

I wanted to say something, but I didn’t know what. I didn’t know how to start conversations, especially with her, but still, I wanted to try.

“I’m shocked to see you’re not buying any eggs,” I said, walking up behind her in the frozen food aisle. Then I realized what a cheesy and corny comment that was for me to make. Just do better, Jackson.

She nearly jumped out of her skin as she turned to face me with a tub of ice cream in her hands. “Jesus, Jackson, you scared me.”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to.”

She smiled, and I was pleased it wasn’t her forced smile.

Why was I pleased?

I shouldn’t have cared.

But still…she smiled, and I took note of it.

“No, not your fault. It’s good to see you. I was actually thinking about you today. I saw you reading This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab a few weeks back so I picked up a copy. It was so, so amazing.”

“Wait until you read the second book in the series, The Dark Duet. It’s one of my favorites.”

“It kind of shocks me that you love young adult so much,” she confessed. “I just didn’t picture that as your type of read.”

“What did you picture?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Horror.”

She smiled, I smirked, and then we stood awkwardly in silence.

“Oh!” She cleared her throat and rocked back and forth on her heels a little. “I forgot to tell you—I learned how I like my eggs.”

“Oh? And how is that?”

“In cake form.”

I laughed.

“Gah, I like when you do things like that,” she told me.

“Do what?”

“Laugh, smile, smirk—anything but frown.”

I didn’t reply, but I liked how she made me laugh, smile, and smirk.

“Your mom stopped by the shop to have a little chat with me,” I told her, and she instantly cringed.

“Oh gosh, I have no clue what she said to you, but since I know my mother, I’m guessing I owe you an apology.”

“It’s fine. She’s just a bit protective of you.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Did she threaten you?”

“Only four or five times.”

“Wow, sounds like she took it easy on you,” she joked.

“Maybe with old age, she’s becoming a softy,” I replied.

Just then, a person walked by and made a crude remark about the two of us being seen together. I watched as Grace tensed up a bit.

“I’ve heard people talking about you, about your relationship with your husband,” I remarked.

She nodded. “Outing my cheating husband didn’t bring me the best attention. My mama ripped me a new one, claiming I acted in such a disgraceful manner. Now the nosy people are just loud and looking for more dirt. I didn’t really think it through, I guess. I was just…I don’t know, living in the moment.”

“Sometimes you have to do that.”

“Yeah, but it didn’t help that I was recently caught leaving your place, and now they think you and I are…” Her words faded away and her cheeks reddened. “Doing what we’re doing.”

“Does it bother you? Them knowing?” I asked.

“Not because it’s about us. It just bothers me that people have no tact at all. Now they have made up the idea in their minds that Finn and I were both unfaithful to one another, and they love to talk about it. They act like I can’t hear their nasty comments when I walk away, but I can.”

“Yeah, you always do.”

“You know what’s worse, though? When they have the nerve to say it straight to my face. Just earlier today, a woman said to me, ‘You know, honey, maybe God would bless you with a child if you went back to your husband and stopped sleeping with bad seeds.’ Can you believe that? Right to my face, even after I made it clear that Finn got Autumn pregnant! But all she heard was that I was sleeping with you, and she ran with that.”

“I hate people,” I blurted out, feeling anger building inside me for her.

How could someone say that to her?

How could people be so cruel?

Then I thought of all the nasty things I’d said to her when she first came into town. I was no better than the rest of them.

“It’s fine, really. I’ll get over it. I mean, it could be worse—I could be them, after all.” She smiled, and it was beautiful. “They call you the fixer, you know.”

“The what?”

“The fixer, and it’s not just because you fix cars.”

I cocked an eyebrow. That particular nickname hadn’t made its way back to me. “Please, tell me more.”

“The rumor is that after women sleep with you, they fix the issues in their lives, be it relationships, or job issues, or self-esteem. It’s like your sexual prowess has the ability to fix any and every problem known to mankind.”

“Not all superheroes wear capes.” I smirked. “I’m just out here trying to make Chester the best town it can be, one vagina at a time.”