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“Jill, don’t be ridiculous. You just moved; you’re starting over in a new city. You need me. There’s no reason for you to be like this. We can be friends,” a man’s voice said.
“No. We really can’t. That ship sailed when you slept with another woman. When you ended our marriage. When you moved in with her. There’s not going to be any friendship, Jake.”
Good. She was firm. The guy will get it and go away.
“You’re being unreasonable, Jill,” said the male voice.
Or not. Time’s up, asshole.
Andrew stepped out into the entry.
“Hi, sweetheart,” he said as he stepped up and put an arm around Jill. He felt her jump in surprise. “Who’s this?”
The asshole at the door looked every bit as surprised as Jill to see him in the house.
“Um, uh,” stammered Jill.
Andrew smiled at her, amused by the stunned look on her face. He was enjoying this way more than he should be.
He stuck out his hand to the ex standing on the doorstep. “Hi. I’m Andrew. You must be Jason. Wait, that’s not right, John? Jarrod? What’s his name, honey?” Andrew asked, turning back to look at Jill, who now appeared to understand his game plan.
“Jake. I’m her husband,” Jake said.
Jill gasped audibly at the description and Andrew’s amusement went out the window.
“I think you mean ex-husband. And I think Jill asked you to leave.”
Andrew pulled her closer to him, snuggling her body against his as he kept his gaze firmly on Jake. The man looked like he might argue for a second or two but then backed down.
“Fine. Jill, I’ll talk to you soon,” Jake said tightly as he turned on his heel and walked down the front steps.
Andrew slammed the door with a little more force than was probably necessary but it felt really good. Turning Jill in his arms, he studied her face. She still wore the same stunned, confused look. Damn, she felt so good in his arms. So right pressed up against his body.
“Sorry, I probably should have let you handle that. It just didn’t sound like he was gonna leave any time soon and your eggs were burning,” Andrew said.
Fuck he probably shouldn’t have presumed to jump in there and handle that for her. He was almost as big a dick as her ex. She was handling it and he should have let her do that. Should have respected her.
But why should she have to handle everything on her own when he was there to support her?
He couldn’t seem to let Jill go. The bewildered look on her face was just too damn cute.
“My eggs? Oh! My eggs. Oh, crap!” She broke out of his hold and rushed back to the kitchen, leaving Andrew with a disturbingly empty feeling where she’d been.
He walked into the kitchen to find Jill dumping eggs in the garbage can.
“I hate that he still gets me flustered. But, what the hell is he doing showing up this early in the morning, unannounced, now that I live forty minutes away from him. Who does that?”
She looked up at Andrew as if she expected him to be able to explain her ex’s behavior.
“You handled him just fine. You stood your ground and told him to go away. I wouldn’t call that flustered.” Andrew watched as Rev tried to get into the garbage can for the trashed eggs.
“I tell him that every time he comes around. So far, the words are completely ineffective.”
Andrew watched her crack more eggs into a bowl and begin to scramble them as he tried to figure out how to ask his next question.
“When you say he doesn’t listen, you don’t mean... I mean, he doesn't ever force his way in, does he?” He could feel the tightness in his jaw as he asked the question. He clenched his fists at his sides, holding his breath as he waited for Jill to answer.
She busied her hands with cooking the eggs as he waited and tried not to let his fury at the thought of her ex-husband pushing his way in, or worse, show.
