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“Your bed. You’ve had sex in that bed with someone else, and I hate it.”
I grab both her shoulders and duck my head so I can make sure she’s looking at me. “I’ll burn it to ashes right fucking now.”
Her eyes thin to slits, and I can see her mind spinning, trying to find a new way to test me. “I…” Her shoulders drop beneath my touch. “I got nothing,” she mumbles. “The curtainsareugly, but I’m kind of attached to them now.”
“Good.” I kiss her forehead. “You better get in the shower, or we’re going to be late, and Miahatesit when I’m late.”
She hands me Benny’s rocks before spinning on her heels, already stripping out of her clothes before she gets to the bathroom.
I make my way to the kitchen and find a plastic bag for the rocks.
In the time that Jamie’s been here, we’ve hung out with Mia, Leo, and Benny more times than I can count. BennylovesJamie, and they often go off alone on their own little adventures together. Sometimes I fear that Benny will let our little secret slip, but so far, he’s kept his promise.
The week after Jamie got her RV back, we went away for the weekend. She didn’t tell me where we were going, stating that it would be better if it were a surprise, and she wasn’t wrong.
We parked the RV next to a lake with a giant waterfall and spent two nights there, hiking the trails and climbing up to the top of the cliff edge, where we jumped off multiple times into the clear blue water. We spent hours in the lake during the day, and at night, we would sneak off where no one could see us and have insane amounts of sex on every surface possible. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating the last part, but we did christen her RV, and I get it now—why Jamie loved what she did. She may be over the nomad lifestyle, but she still wants to travel and see new things. And now, so do I. So, we’ve made plans to go away one weekend a month, at least until the summer’s over and work dies down a little. After that, we can go for longer stints, and I won’t be so worried about the nursery.
Since Dean sold Esme’s house, we spent a few days last week in Tennessee. We finished clearing out the house, signed some paperwork, had dinner with Zeke, and even went to a bar with Dean.
Jamie made me promise I wouldn’t punch or throw him in a pool, to which I agreed. The truth is, it isn’t hard to get along with Dean. We have a history that surpasses my time with Jamie, and I can’t deny that he’s important to her or that he was there for her when I couldn’t be. And I have to respect him for that. Sure, he stuck his dick in her, but damn, if Jamie went around punching every girl I’ve ever stuck—“Why am I even thinking about this?” I whisper to myself, as I close the Ziplock bag full of rocks.
Because Dean stayed home while in college, he kept in touch with a lot of our high school friends. At the bar, we met up with my old football buddy, Billy Butler, and hiswife,Melanie—Jamie’s friend from art class. They have two kids now, a boy and a girl, and man, a lot can change in five years. They mentioned wanting to visit, and Jamie jumped at the chance to tell them all about the gardens. Hers, especially. We promised to keep in touch, and then we spent the night in Dean’s guest room. The following day, I took advantage of the car service Mia’s dad gave me access to, and we rode four hours north to visit Gina. Not going to lie; I was a nervous wreck. I know how much Gina means to Jamie and vice versa, and for the first time in possibly my entire life, Iwantedsomeone to like me.Neededthem to. And so I showed up with the most enormous bouquet I could find, and with Jamie by my side, I knocked on the door.
Gina was everything Jamie told me she would be. Kind, gentle, warm. It didn’t even register with me until I brought our luggage up to “Jamie’s room” that night and came back down to see Jamie sitting on the floor, in front of Gina, while Gina brushed her hair, that the place I was standing in was far more than just Gina’s house. At one point, it was Jamie’s salvation. And two doors down was her living nightmare.
I wonder if that’s what she and her therapist talked about the next day.
“Babe!” Jamie calls from the bathroom, pulling me from my thoughts.
“Coming!” I call out, making my way toward the bathroom. I grab the towel from the rack and hold it open for Jamie to step into. I start drying her off, starting with her hair.
Look.
I’m fully aware of how this looks.
Some would say I’m whipped.
Some would even call me a simp.
Ask me if I give a fuck.
“So Gina called you?” Jamie asks.
I nod. “Yeah.”
“What did she want?”
“She was asking when we’re going up next. She wants to bring me to her gardening club.”
“Awww,” Jamie coos. “So you’re going to fly up with me next time I go?”
“Yep. Obviously, I don’t like being apart from you, and you have to go to see Gina and your therapist, right?
Jamie nods beneath my touch.
I move my towel-covered hands down her neck to her shoulders. “I was thinking... maybe we could do a double therapy session. You go in first, and then we can do one together?”
She covers my hand mid-stroke, and my eyes move to hers. “You want to do therapy with me?” she asks.
