Hometown Love (Love on the North Shore #2)(67)
“Mr. Quinn, this is Taylor. She’s staying with me for the weekend. Taylor, Mr. Quinn was my boss in high school.” Sean picked up two cans of paint and motioned for Taylor to do the same. “I’ll call you later so you can get measurements, Jessie. Thanks.”
“Off with you, too,” her grandfather said when Sean and Taylor left. “You should be over at the picnic with Mack. I’ll handle things here.”
Jessie took the next customer in silence. Everyone in North Salem might already know her business, but she could at least attempt to keep things private. “It’s a family picnic, Gramps, so I’m fine right here. I’ll see Mack and Grace tonight.”
“Bull. Your grandmother told me how that boy was looking at you when she saw you the other night, and I know how much time you spend together. You two are more than halfway to being a family.”
Had her no-nonsense grandfather just insinuated she and Mack would get married? Sure, she’d thought of it a time or two since he told her he loved her, but she’d never mentioned it to anyone.
“I’m serious, Jessica. This is still my store, and I’m telling you to go. I remember how to run this place.”
Arguing with her grandfather only achieved two things, a bad headache and a strong desire to scream. “I love you.” She kissed his wrinkled cheek. “I’ll see you later.”
With the weather so nice and winter not far away, Jessie hated driving to the Town Common, but if she walked now, it would mean she’d have to either walk home much later from Mack’s or have him drive her. While the crime rate in town remained low, she’d rather not walk home alone at eleven or twelve at night.
Many families, probably wanting to enjoy the beautiful day, had walked to the Common that afternoon. Those who hadn’t walked had parked in the library parking lot. After parking there, as well, she crossed the lot, spotting Amy Osborne, one of the elementary school teachers, walking with her son and daughter.
“Just like when we were in school,” Amy commented when they all stepped on the grass.
Jessie glanced around and nodded. Everything looked much as it had when she’d attended the picnics. The only difference now being that the people who had been children back then were now the parents.
“Have fun.” Amy and her children headed for the bounce houses.
People were spread out across the Common. Some sat on the blankets they brought with them, while others crowded around the tables that had been set up. Children of various ages danced to the kid-friendly music the DJ played, while the bounce houses swayed from the children jumping inside them.
While she recognized many faces, she didn’t see Mack or Grace anywhere yet.
Making her way across the grass, she waved at friends, but kept an eye out. Then she spotted them. Not far from the bandstand where the children danced, Mack sat on a blanket with Bethany next to him. Since they both faced the dancers, she assumed Grace lurked in the group with her friends.
“Hey, Jessie,” someone called out. Jessie turned to wave, but whoever it had been disappeared among the crowd. When she turned back, she saw Mack lean closer to Bethany and speak. Bethany said something than moved closer to him, her arm rubbing up against his, a big, fat, Cheshire-cat grin on her face.
Fury started in Jessie’s stomach and exploded, almost choking her. The damn woman was at it again. Prepared for battle, Jessie marched in their direction. As she did, Mack said something else, and Bethany laughed and touched his thigh. When she didn’t move it, Mack brushed it away, and then put some space between them again. The move should’ve calmed the anger boiling inside her, but it didn’t. It only reinforced how brazen and determined the other woman remained.
When Mack looked in her direction, he smiled and stood, but all she could do was wave. If she even tried a smile it would come out as a grimace.
“I thought you had to work.” He met her before she reached the blanket and hugged her.
She’d always found people who practically sucked each other’s lips off in public annoying yet she channeled all her love for Mack and kissed him as if no one was watching, using both her mouth and body.
“Gramps gave me the day off.” She mentally patted herself on the back at the heat she saw in Mack’s eyes when she pulled away.
He kissed her again, then led her to his blanket. “I’m glad he did. Grace was upset when I told her you couldn’t come.” Mack sat and pulled her down next to him. “She’s in that crowd dancing. I just saw her pig tails fly by.”
Jessie didn’t even bother with a greeting. Instead, she focused on Mack as if Bethany didn’t exist, and Mack never tried to pull his ex into their conversation. And, as they chatted, Bethany sulked. A sight Jessie found amusing.
***
“I’m going to take a break and the lovely president of the PTA is going to start calling numbers for the baskets. So if you bought raffle tickets, now is the time to pull them out.” The DJ handed the microphone off to a woman Mack didn’t know twenty minutes after Jessie joined him.
Uninterested in the raffle, the crowd of dancers broke up and wandered back to their parents or off to the bounce houses. He expected Grace to head back to them because before she joined the children dancing, he’d instructed her not to go anywhere else without checking in with him or Bethany first. Grace pouted and whined from time to time, but she was a rule-follower. If he or anyone else in the family or at school told her to do something, she did it. Now though, the dance area was empty and Grace hadn’t appeared.