A Wild Ride (Jessica Brodie Diaries #3)(35)

“He probably likes you better for it.”

“He does, yes. But it is a small point of jealousy that I want to bring up.”

“Oh. Well, let yourself nearly get raped twice, then get shot at, cry a few dozen times and you’re there. Nothing to it.”

“Yeah. I’m not that girl.”

“I know. I wish I wasn’t.”

“I know. I’m sorry for showing up late to the party the other night. Adam isn’t the only person that you harass with your getting into trouble trendsetting.”

“Was that code for, ‘Jessica, I deeply regard you as my friend, love you as such, and you complete me, but God damn it, stay out of danger because you are poking me in my excuse for a heart with a stick and I can’t take it no more?’”

“No. What I meant was, stop getting in trouble or I’ll kill you myself.”

“Yeah, same thing.”

Lump covered the touchy bits with humor, just as I did. Just as William and Adam didn’t. It’s why she was awesome, and they were just boys.

God I missed William.

Chapter Seven

Moving day.

I sighed, sitting cross-legged on the grass in front of the cottage, looking across the large expanse of yard. If I had lived here longer, I would’ve definitely put in a volleyball court. This place would rock with one! Otherwise, a lot of carnage had happened here, recently, but before that a lot of great memories. I did love this place. I hated to leave it.

“Can I sit down?”

Gladis, followed by Lady holding two fold-up chairs, shielded her face from the glare of the midday sun as she looked down on me. That’s all it had taken, a half a day to pack and load all my stuff. All I had was a truck full. Nothing else in the cottage was mine. Nothing in the house I was moving into was mine, either. I felt like a gypsy.

I wanted to say “it’s your lawn” but she didn’t deserve my unsettled bitterness, so I left it at, “Sure.”

“Would you care for a seat?”

“No thanks. I just want to sit on the grass.”

“Do you mind if I sit on the chair?”

“Gladis, don’t be stupid.”

“Ah, you’re in that kind of mood. I see.” Gladis knew me pretty well by now. Obviously.

Lady unfolded a chair for her, and one for herself. As was customary of “help” in the old school, Lady sat slightly behind Gladis. It irritated me and Gladis no end, but Lady had her rules, and by darn, order from her employer or no, she would follow her own rules.

“I am happy to see that you are taking the next step with Willie.”

“Yeah.”

Silence.

Gladis was a lover of staring out at a beautiful landscape, letting the thoughts flow and drift. As was I.

After a spell she said, “He’s the best of the lot. The best of the Davies. And he will love you forever. Even his friends love you, which is a testament to how well you fit together.”

“Yeah.”

More silence. There was a beautiful bird chirping away in the trees. I briefly wondered what kind of bird it was.

“He has a beautiful place. It is spacious and cozy and ready for the feminine touch.”

“Except that none of it is mine, and every time we have a fight we’ll each know it.”

“Ah. So that’s the problem.”

“I just—I love it here, Gladis. I love this place. I love that you and Lady and all your staff are a walk away. Everyone you’ve employed is surly and mean, but they love their job and they do it well, and I love that about them. I love the smell of my own place. The freedom of it. I love that William comes to my house. Even if it is just a pool house. Now I am moving into his house, with his stuff.”

“It is hard for an independent woman to become entrenched by her man.”

“I mean, I love him. And he never makes me feel like the proverbial 1950’s woman. When I put my foot down, he listens. He compromises better than I do. But… I don’t know. I am being stupid.”

“You are certainly not being stupid. But you haven’t thoroughly explored all your possibilities either, have you?”

“Obviously not, since I have no idea what you mean.”

“Well, what if it is his shell, but your stuffing?”

“Gladis, just spell it out, please.”

“He owns the house, but he can’t live there without furnishing.”

“I don’t have any furnishing to move in.”

“Well, then, I guess you should buy some.”

“I have enough for a couch and some end tables, Gladis. I’m not from money. I can’t just redecorate on a whim.”

“Well, I’ve never paid you for keeping up the pool house.”

“Keeping up? You mean giving you a reason to send your cleaning staff into it? Or sending your grocer to stock it with food? Or having someone sneak in to turn down my bed, even if I might not be home? Or what about having my friends litter all over half your yard? Or let’s not forget my dog—“

“Jessica,” she cut me off firmly, “I am not ready to hear that spoken aloud.”

I sighed. Most things Gladis could laugh away like Lump and I, but how close I had come to death wasn’t one of them. She never apologized for it, thankfully, but she looked at me with tears in her eyes more than a few times. Saying it was her contacts didn’t fool anyone.