Sunday Morning (Damaged #7.5)(23)

“Once I come for you, we won’t be apart again. I’ll bring you here, and this will be our home. We’ll be new people here. No one will know our secrets except us. Our boy will have anything he wants. The world will be at his f*cking feet.”

Jodi was quiet for nearly a minute before asking in a small voice, “You are coming back, right?”

I hated how she now asked me this same question every night. At first, she trusted me enough to avoid worrying. Too long apart left her thinking I might ditch her and our baby. I didn’t understand how she believed I could start a new life without her.

“What did I have before you?” I asked, counting the days before I would drive back to Chesterfield. “I was nothing, and I had nothing. My life didn’t mean shit. Now I have everything. Would I really walk away from everything, Jodi?”

“No.”

“Would I want to live in this quiet town if I wasn’t building a life for my family?”

“No,” she said with more confidence.

“I love you and our boy. You need to believe everything I do is for you.”

“I do,” she said, and I heard the smile in her voice. “I know you’re doing what you think is right.”

“But?” I asked when she stopped speaking for too long.

“But I need you to come back here or bring me to you. I can’t be alone much longer. I don’t care if you stick me in a dump in Ellsberg until things are in order. I just need to be with you.”

Logic said I shouldn’t move her until everything was perfect. My heart said otherwise.

“I’ll come get you this weekend.”

“Really?” she asked, and her excitement was obvious.

“I want you happy, and this is what you want.”

“Is it what you want?”

“Hell, I’ve wanted to bring you since day one. Now I’ll get what I want.”

Jodi burst into happy tears. I wasn’t sure why that night I gave into her request rather than the many other evenings. Knowing how much she needed me, I couldn’t keep telling her no.

In reality, I probably agreed because I couldn’t tolerate life without her anymore. Waking up each day, I reached for her warm body and found the empty side of the bed. I’d been f*cking dying to show her everything I saw when I drove around Ellsberg.

No more playing shit logical, I knew the time had come to make our home a reality.





18 - Jodi


My heart hurt without Kirk nearby. I couldn’t deal with anything beyond eating, sleeping, and reading. The only people I talked to most days were Kirk and the baby.

The longer Kirk was gone, the more emotionally stunted I felt. I grew more paranoid about someone breaking into the apartment. I also thought every thunderstorm would turn into a tornado, and I’d die without seeing Kirk again.

I refused to buy maternity clothes even though my belly was huge by six months along. Spending money on stuff I couldn’t wear for long seemed stupid. Though Kirk left me plenty of cash to buy what I needed, I’d been broke for too long to feel comfortable.

Instead, I bought a few sweatpants and shorts and wore Kirk’s shirts when mine got too small. I looked like a mess, but no one was around to care. Hell, I didn’t even brush my hair most days, leaving it wild.

Once Kirk decided to return to Chesterfield to get me, I cleaned myself up. Brushed my hair, found one decent fitting outfit, and even shaved my legs. I was ready to see my man again.

For an hour, I waited in front of the apartment building before I saw Kirk appear down the road. Bouncing on my heels, I was nearly crying in excitement. Kirk didn’t cry or squeal the way I did. No, he was too f*cking manly for that shit. After he got off his Harley, he only casually hugged and kissed me.

Once we were in the apartment, Kirk dropped the act. He smothered me with kisses, leaving me breathless. Then he dropped to his knees and kissed my belly.

My fingers slid into his sweaty hair as he stared up at me.

“I saw a little white church near the Kentucky border,” he said and kissed my belly again. “I got it in my head that we need to stop there and get married on our way to Ellsberg.”

I couldn’t respond. So desperate for him to be home, I hadn’t imagined anything beyond our reunion. Now I was beginning to realize how Kirk was a man with plans. He hadn’t acted on his big ideas until meeting me. Once I got him started, he couldn’t stop.

“It won’t be legal,” he said when I only stared at him. “Not unless we get a license or some shit, but I don’t care about the law. You’re my woman already.”

“I just want you,” were the only words I managed.

Kirk studied me with his dark eyes, and I felt all of my fears disappear.

“I missed you,” he said, standing and lifting me into his arms. “Let me show you.”

Kirk and I remained locked in the apartment for the entire weekend. We ordered pizza and packed his belongings, not that he had many. Between us, we didn’t fill up my car with boxes.

“Jodi Johansson sounds really sexy,” Kirk said on our last evening in the apartment.

Nibbling on cold pizza crust, I leaned against Kirk’s chest. “I can’t decide on a name for our son.”

His fingers teased my back, and I felt him thinking again.