AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 20
On the way to Sunday dinner, Jax prepares me for what to expect at his parents’ house.
“Let me paint a picture of a typical Burke Sunday supper.” He’s in shorts and a T-shirt, sunglasses covering his eyes. The windows are down and his hair kicks in the breeze. As he talks, my gaze wanders over every sexy feature on him—and there are a lot to enjoy. Especially the muscles in his forearm standing out as he grips the steering wheel with one hand.
“Mom is frazzled, her jeans dusted with flour or sauce depending on what she’s making. Dad, reading glasses resting on the end of his nose, is typically poring over a new cookbook and complaining about how the type is too small for ‘anyone to read.’ Julieann never helps. She’s hiding out in the TV room, and since my parents don’t want me helping, either, I grab a beer and join Jules on the sofa. Unless it’s a grill night, and then I’m allowed to light the grill, affectionately referred to by Dad as ‘the dag blasted thing.’ ”
“Your dad’s the best.” He really is. I remember him fondly. “I hope he still likes me.”
“Mini.” Chin down, Jax gives me a look over his sunglasses. He trimmed his beard so it’s more like thick scruff making him more stupidly attractive, which is mind-blowing.
“You should’ve stayed in Hollywood,” I say. Casting directors would’ve eaten him up. The camera would’ve loved him.
His jaw tightens and his eyebrows slam over his nose, and I realize that he took that the wrong way.
“No! I mean to become an actor. You’re so good-looking it’s stupefying.”
He doesn’t shoot me a casual grin, only watches the road. We stop at a red light and he finally turns his head.
“I should’ve stayed. I just…couldn’t. Not at the time.”
He’s talking about moving out there with me. There were a lot of factors then, and I can’t let him take the blame for that even though I was content to pile it on him at the time.
“It wasn’t as easy as saying yes, Jax. You had your father’s business to help run. You had goals and aspirations that were here. You like Little Town,” I say of the neighborhood. “L.A. wasn’t a suitable replacement.”
“I couldn’t see myself staying there,” he says.
He wasn’t a California guy—isn’t, I remind myself. As an actress, I pretend for a living. It would be easy to pretend that what Jax and I have could be more. It’d be easy to pretend that everything is different now and if faced with the choice to stay in Ohio or go to California with me, he’d choose me.
Reality isn’t as easy. The reality is that my work is no more important than his. Arguably less. He improves people’s lives and homes and offices in a real and tangible way. What I do doesn’t have a clear action/reaction. I can say that I change people’s lives, but do I? More often than not I provide a temporary escape from real life. That doesn’t fix anything.
We don’t talk any more as he finishes the drive. When he turns onto Shandy Lane, sepia-toned memories crush me. I have been to this house a million times. My gut knots with worry and anticipation and a dab of excitement when he parks in the driveway.
“I’m nervous,” I admit as I unbuckle my seat belt.
“Don’t be.” He leans over and tugs me close, kissing me soundly.
“Jax.” I palm his chest. “Are you sure?”
“About you, Allie, always.” He pops the truck door open on his side and instructs me to “Come on.”
I obey, pulling on my proverbial big-girl panties and readying myself to face the pandemonium that is the Burke Sunday dinner.
The second we step onto the porch, the front door swings open. Jax is holding my hand, so I feel him jerk in surprise at the couple standing in the doorframe. It’s like his parents have morphed from the frantic/hectic Burkes he’d described to Ward and June Cleaver.
Jean is wearing a pretty, frilly, spotless apron. Joe is wearing a short-sleeved button-down shirt and a tie. His hair is neat and his shoes are shiny. I take in Jean’s high-heeled shoes and then snap my gaze up when she lunges toward me, arms open.
“Allison! We’re so thrilled you could make it.” She swallows me into a firm hug, and I don’t have a second to respond before Joe does the same.
“We missed you!” His hug is a little rougher but, in the way he does everything, also kind.
“Whoa. Hey, guys,” Jackson says, pulling me to his side again. “Let’s let her walk in the door before we accost her.”
“Sorry, dear. We’re so excited.” Jean’s smile is glossy red from her lipstick.
“You both look great. I should’ve dressed better.” I gesture to my casual summer dress and flat shoes.
“Nonsense. Come in!” Jean gestures to us, and Jackson shoots me an apologetic look like he has no idea what has gotten into them.
