The Will(149)

Further, I absolutely did not miss it when, some time after that, Reverend Fletcher asked us all to pray for Arnold Weaver and his family as they had, just hours earlier, lost their beloved Elizabeth.

And I completely did not miss it when this was announced and Jake’s arm, already extended behind me to rest on the back of the pew, curled around me to pull me tight to his side at the same time Amber reached out and grabbed my hand.

I was devastated for Arnie and his family.

Even so, I couldn’t help but be happy for me as I’d finally found one.

Last, not too long after that, I made certain one Kieran Wentworth did not miss it when we were exiting the church and I maneuvered myself, Amber, Jake, Ethan, Conner and most especially the Taylors close to him. He was standing somewhat removed from a woman and man who must have been his parents. I then faked tripping, and as I’d done it so often in my life, I was good at faking it.

Of course, I wouldn’t have wanted to fall to the floor so I had to grab something. The something I grabbed was girl Taylor, thus swinging her with me and directly into one Kieran Wentworth.

Jake caught me.

Kieran Wentworth caught Taylor.

He blinked when he looked into the exotically beautiful face of the girl curled in his arm.

I grinned as he did it.

Jake’s arm tightened around my belly as he did it and his lips went to my ear.

“Seriously?” he asked and his tone sounded both amused and perturbed.

I had no answer to this question for I didn’t understand it as I often didn’t understand it when Jake, his children or others around us used this same word frequently. So I decided to ignore it and moved forward, pulling Jake with me.

“I’m so sorry. I’m quite clumsy,” I shared, grinning innocently (I hoped) in Kieran Wentworth’s face.

With obvious effort, he tore his gaze from girl Taylor and looked to me.

“Uh…not a problem,” he replied.

I noted he still had a hand on girl Taylor’s waist.

I nodded to him, smiled at him, pried Jake’s arm from around my belly but did it taking hold of his hand and then I dragged him away in order to let nature take its course.

“That was epic,” boy Taylor, trailing us, decreed.

“It’s Josie who’s epic,” Amber, also trailing us, contradicted.

At her words, so much warmth washed through me, I couldn’t handle it all and I tripped, genuinely this time.

Jake hauled me close and clamped an arm around me.

He said nothing but when I looked up at him, he was grinning.

We waited at the cars for a full ten minutes before girl Taylor finally joined us.

And I was delighted to see when she did, she looked dreamy.

*

In the afternoon two days later, I leaned into Arnie, my hand on his arm and touched my cheek to his.

When I had it there, I whispered, “She will be missed.”

“She will, my dear,” he replied. I leaned back and he said, “I’ll see you at the house.”

I nodded, gave his arm a squeeze and moved away. Jake moved in, shook Arnie’s hand and murmured his condolences. He did not take a great deal of time doing this and shifted away quickly to allow others to approach.

He got close to me, slid an arm around me and commandeered the umbrella I was holding, pulling me even closer and holding the big black umbrella over our heads as he moved us to his truck.

I walked through the sodden grass of the cemetery trying not to let the spike heels of my black boots sink into the turf, and failing.

They would need to be cleaned, air dried and shined and hopefully, in the end, they would not be ruined.

Jake performed somewhat of a miracle both holding the umbrella over me even as he helped me climb up in the truck, a difficult task in my black pencil skirt.

Once I was in, he closed my door, folded the umbrella, tossed it in the backseat and moved around the hood of the truck with the drizzle falling on his unguarded head and fantastic Hugo Boss suit.

Once he’d climbed in beside me, I noted, “That suit becomes you, Jake.”

“Thanks, baby,” he muttered as he turned the ignition.

He glided us out onto the lane and as we were approaching the exit to the graveyard, he said, “We don’t have to go to the open house if it’s too much for you, babe.”

“Gran would go,” I replied.

“You’re not Lydie,” he stated.

I turned my head to look at him as he stopped before taking the turn on the main road.

Even with the mist of rain in his hair and on the shoulders of his suit, he was most handsome.

“Yes I am, Jake,” I whispered.

He looked to me, studied me, his eyes warm, his face soft, then he nodded.

He looked back to the road and turned onto it. Once on our way, he reached out and took my hand, pulling it his way and holding it against his thigh.

And he continued to hold it all the way to the Weaver’s.

*

It was afternoon the day after Eliza’s funeral when I looked out the window of Jake’s office at the gym and saw him standing with one of the many boys who were there for junior boxing league.

The boy was staring up at Jake with a rapt expression on his face, like I would assume one would stare at Superman if he was real.

“Seriously?” Alyssa’s voice asked. “How does he find anything in here? I mean, his membership isn’t even computerized. It’s all on paper.”