Fighting the Flames (Firefighter Romance #1)(5)
Ordering is easy; she doesn’t even need a menu. The corned beef and hash with two eggs sunny side up, a slice of white bread extra crisp and plenty of ketchup, her favorite. Her parents started the sisters on this ritual, but Jessie has happily continued it every time she goes to the cottage. She would never eat this anywhere else but here. It is comfort food plain and simple, and she needed comfort now.
As she took her last bite, her phone buzzed on the table and the food settled heavily in her stomach. It was Ryan. She watched his name and picture as it flashed across her screen, then silenced it before she heard the beep that indicating a voice message. With trembling hands, she touched the button to hear what he has to say…
“Jess, what the hell? Where are you? Call me. Please. I don’t understand.”
His voice was angry and frantic, not that she could blame him. Without a second though she tapped the button to erase it. It was just a summer fling and now it’s over, in the past. She tossed a few bills on the table and began, once again, to head towards her future.
In only thirty short minutes, she would be at her sister Lisa’s, house and while only twenty minutes ago she couldn’t wait to get there, the dread was now setting in. Maybe it was better not to tell her about Ryan, let him be Jessie’s special little secret. Lord knows, Ryan would become the extra ammunition Lisa would need to get her to dump Derrick’s ass.
As she got closer to the epicenter of it all, her endless self-doubt shined through and she now doubted her original decision. Before she could continue to doubt her doubts again, she arrived.
“Hey Jessie,” Lisa called out the second Jessie exited her car. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me you were coming this early? I would have made breakfast for you.”
“I didn’t want to bother you, and besides, I know you like surprises!”
“Well, tell me about him,” Lisa said, startling Jessie with her pinpoint accuracy.
“Who said anything about a him? Can’t I be in a hurry to get home to see my older sis?”
Jessie looked at her sister and knew she had only one chance at distracting her from this course of questioning. “You’re right… I’m not in a hurry to see you. I’m here to see my niece and nephew. Where are the little monsters?”
Jessie stayed busy the rest of the day, focusing on the kids and being terrific Aunt Jessie, giving Lisa a chance to relax from mom-duty for the day. It also let her escape the inquisition she knew was coming.
Later that evening, Jessie feigned a headache and went to bed early.
The raindrops that hit the window woke her earlier than she’d expected. Normally the rain was relaxing and she’d want to sleep all day, especially when the fall colors were just beginning to turn. Today, that pleasure wasn’t to be.
The corner of her fitted sheet lay part way across her bed belying the truth. The bed was as rumpled as her mind. She tried to rationalize her fear, her anxiety, her hope, but in the end, her emotions won out. The last time she spent a night like that, Jeffrey Spritz had crushed her dreams and dumped her the night before senior prom.
The clanging of forks on plates and the aroma of coffee jolted her from her thoughts. She quickly threw a bathrobe over her pajamas and wandered to the kitchen.
“Hey sleeping beauty,” jibed Lisa, yelling over the chorus of welcomes little Alex and Alexa gave their favorite aunt. The twins jumped from their chair and dove at her legs, wrapping Jessie in their best five-year-old hugs. “I was wondering when you were going to wake up.”
“I hardly slept a wink last night,” Jessie said, lifting one child at a time for a full body hug and kiss. Nothing could have felt better than their sweet little arms around her neck.
“Yea, I can tell. You look horrible. Are you getting sick?” Lisa asked, flipping a pancake in the air to the enthusiastic applause of the kids.
Jessie laughed, feeling better already. “No, not sick. I just decided not to put this off any longer.”
“Thank God! It’s about time you finally rid yourself of Shi…” She pursed her lips, not finishing the nickname she’d given Derrick.
“Lisa,” Jessie pleaded. “I really don’t want to get into that right now, and you know, it was partly my fault anyway.”
Lisa turned, pointing a spatula at her sister. “Jessica Marie Taylor! You weren’t the reason his pants fell down around his ankles, you hear me. That was his choice.”
The kids giggled and Alex asked, “Why did his pants fall down? Did he have to go pee?”
Alexa joined in, “Boys are gross; they pee everywhere.”
As the kids began the battle of which sex peed the grossest, Lisa just stared at Jessie. “Jessie, you aren’t seriously thinking about marrying him, are you?”
“Oh god, here go again,” Jessie thought. ”I’d rather talk about explosive urination.”
She took a deep breath, saying the words she’d rehearsed on her drive over yesterday. “I owe it to Derrick and to myself to see if our bump in the road has made our relationship more solid. Remember, he waited over two months for me to sort out my shi…” She cut off the word, glancing at the kids before finishing with “shhhtuff.”
“But he f-ing cheated on you.” Although Lisa edited her language, she still makes an obscene hand gesture, her index finger poking the circle she made with her other hand.