Page 8 of Jack

“Yes, I’ve told him tonight, too, but you’re the first to know that we’ll be getting married soon, and we don’t want any fuss about it.” She looked at the two of them and then remembered the rings. “Oh, Grandma, this is more special than I could have hoped for. Thank you so much for thinking ofthe two of us.”

Henrietta decided to go out with them. Leaving all their phones at home, they set out to have a celebration dinner and not talk about Gilda. That was going to be difficult, she knew, but she was going to do her damnest to keep the woman’s name out of their fun tonight.

Chapter 3

Jack was ready to close the restaurant down for the day when he got one more order. Next week, they were going to do nights three nights a week and he was both looking forward to it and not. The staff was doing well now and seemed to be catching onto what to do very well, and he loved the rush of lunchtime people coming in to eat at his place. Just as he was reading over the order he’d been given, someone reached out to him. He was surprised that it was Taylor.

“I’m with Bailee. She’s the one who told me that I could contact you like this. I think we need to have a long talk about things like this, don’t you?”He explained to her, laughing, that they’d been really busy of late.“I know. I have my phone loaded with messages from my mom. Grandma does as well. How about you?”

“I didn’t check. When I left home this morning, I stopped by the store to get some flowers delivered. I loved the way they seemed to have brightened up your house when I was there.”She said that she needed to talk to him could he spare her a few minutes.“Yes, I can cook and work at the same time. If not, I’ll tell you.”

“Don’t tell Grandma, but I think my mom keyed my car some time over the last few hours. I was at a meeting with some of the women in your family, and when I came out to leave, the word ‘bitch’ was written in scratches on my car. I don’t know that it was her for sure but I don’t have any trouble with anyone else but her lately.”He asked her if she’d called the police.“I wasn’t sure that I wanted to get my mom in trouble, but I’m sure that she’s not going to stop with a little vandalism, do you?”

“No. If you ignore her, she’ll think that it’s all right with you and ramp up her getting back at you. Best to start off right away involving the police so that when it does get bad, they’ll have proof of how she escalated things.”She asked him if he thought that she would.“I don’t know, honey. You’d be better off answering that than I would. What do you think that she’ll do?”

“Honestly, I never thought that she’d do this to me. But things have changed for her, too. I have you, and I’m not at home where she can just call for me to come over and do what she wants.”Jack asked her if she was going to move back to the condo now that her grannie wasn’t dying.“I wish I knew to what extent she was still going to be around. Then I’d have a better answer for you. Bailee told me that the only one that would know for sure would be the Foster family. One of them is the grand witch and she would have a better idea as to what sort of magic the two of us have gotten.”

“That would be Parker. She and her husband are the most powerful witch and warlock there has ever been. I’ll contact them for you and have her come to meet you.”He pulled the steak off the grill and put it onto the plate that he’d been lying other items on as they came off the grill for the order.“Don’t be surprised if she just pops to where you are. Bailee would be used to it, but perhaps not you.”

“She’s here.”He laughed as she closed the connection. Bailee would be able to keep Parker from scaring Taylor too much and he was glad for her help. After finishing up the order, he began shutting down the grill and the prep table he’d been using. It was nice to have a job that he loved, he knew but he was missing time too in getting to know Taylor and her grandma.

The wedding plans were just simply meeting up at the court house to get it finished. He didn’t think it was rushing things, but sometimes, he knew that Taylor did. He didn’t have an opinion either way and was just glad that she was willing to meet him there to get their vows read and their marriage certificate filed. The sooner, the better he thought, what with her mother acting out.

He’d realized after talking to his older sister, Dakota, that Gilda was acting like a child more than an adult. It was as if what he’d been told all along. Gilda had had her every demand taken care of, and now that she was older, she expected the same thing to hold true. He didn’t blame her parents for leaving her when they had. It must have been hard on them having a grown woman that needed her nose wiped and her food prepared for her.

Dakota also talked to him about using his place as a base for her catering business. DakotaLuncheon had been a huge hit back home, her bringing in sandwiches or whatever they wanted into corporate business meetings and then cleaning up when it was over. She’d also been doing a few graduations too that would want someone else to take over the food end of a party.

“I’ll make sure that I’m not using your kitchen every day. I need to get my own building taken care of, but I wanted to see how well you were doing before I did that. You testing the water for me has given me a great deal of confidence that I didn’t have before.” He told her that he’d not gotten the nights opened up so far, but that was coming soon. “Good for you. I knew you were going to be a success. You just have a knack about you that tells people that you’re going to give them really good food.”

“Thanks. When do you think you’ll start?” She told him she had a luncheon on Thursday afternoon with canapés and desserts. “Are you going to use the things we have here? I don’t mind but if you do take something out, please make sure that you make a note of it. I don’t want to be without something when I think that it’s there.”

“I will. I’m mostly just going to use things that I can get for a discount at the local stores. I understand that you’ve been looking into finding smaller items like to-go bags that will help you. I have stuff like that already. We can share resources on that if you want.” He loved that idea and told her that. “Great. I’ll be in tomorrow morning to get everything ready to go by the time you come in for your lunch crowd.”

“We’re closed on Thursdays. I’ll come in to help you out if that’s all right with you. That way, I can get a good eye on what you will be doing and help you get it along so that it doesn’t cost as much in labor.” She told him that she was thinking of getting a nice truck to cart hot things in, too. “Great idea. I’ve been asked if we were going to do something like that at the county fairs and such. We can have some family fun together while we’re at it.”

After talking to his sister for a bit more, he was ready to go home. After getting the kitchen back to its usual neatness, he locked up and headed to his car. He was glad that he was looking around, something that he rarely did when he was headed home because he saw Gilda before she saw him.

Jack noticed that she was dressed in a sort of childish way. While she wasn’t a bad-looking woman, she did have these things about her that made him wonder if she was sane. The short shorts she had on where something that he was sure that someone about half her age wouldn’t be caught in, as well as the halter top that was a dizzying shade of orange and blue that made him slightly cross-eyed if she moved too quickly. Her hair was a tangled mess of a bun in the back, and her shoes, sandals, he supposed, were just flat pieces of foam that laced up her legs all the way to her thigh.

In that moment, he thought of his mother and how she had been dressed when she’d been called before Ronan as king. The same inappropriateness as his mother had been. He also thought that the two of them were alike in their wanting everyone to cater to their needs. Jack wanted to talk to his brothers and see what they thought.

He watched her as she roamed around the parking lot that his car was in. She stopped by it twice but didn’t bother it. When she looked around, ducking behind a large truck, he made himself known to her in the event that she was going to key another car, thinking that it was his.

“What do you think you’re doing?” She glared at him, and seeing her dressed as she was, it just made him laugh. “You don’t frighten me any. Get yourself away from here so that you don’t cause or get yourself into any more trouble.”

“Where is Taylor? And Henrietta? Someone told me that she wasn’t going to ever die. I demand that you give me whatever it was that they have. I deserve to live forever, too.” He told her that he didn’t know what she was talking about. “Sure you don’t. I want you to find my daughter while you’re at it. I know that she thinks that she’s going to be marrying soon, but I have a few rules that I’d like to go over with the two of you before that.”

“We’re going to be getting married soon, as a matter of fact, and if you were going to ask, no, you’re not invited. It’s going to be a small ceremony of just a couple of people.” Gilda told him she’d see about that. “You keep thinking that you’re in charge. What did you want Taylor for? She’s workingin the event that you didn’t know that.”

“She’s always been stupid about stuff like that. Working when there was plenty of money to go around. I haven’t worked a day in my life. People just like to see me relaxed and happy.” She glared at him after a few seconds, and it made him laugh. “Don’t you want to see me happy…err…what is your name anyway? Not that I really care, but if I have to take you out of the picture, then I will. I’ve no idea why you think that you and Taylor have anything going on when she’s been taking care of my needs since her father died. He was about useless, too.”

“I’m Jack.” He didn’t tell her his last name on purpose. There is no telling what she’d do with that sort of information. He was slightly afraid of her. Gilda was unhinged, and there was no telling what she’d do if she got mad enough. “I can tell Taylor or Henrietta that I spoke to you if you want. I’m not sure where she is right now, but I know she had plans for the rest of the afternoon.”

“You tell them that it’s high time we had a meeting. I don’t like the way that I’m being treated, either. I should be first and foremost in their minds before anyone else. You tell them that I’m upset because things aren’t being done for me.” He nearly laughed but didn’t. Gilda really was unhinged. “And I’m telling you this right now. There will be no children when you think to be married. I’m going to be at your house all the time to make sure that she never forgets her birth control. Taylor doesn’t need children. She has me.”

“You think that will work, do you? How do you propose to be at our home daily when we have no intentions of inviting you there? We’re going to find us a nice place that you know nothing about and keep you out of our lives.” She lunged at him, and he did take a step back, knowing that she couldn’t reach him where he was standing but was hoping that she’d fall on her ass. When she fell against the car in front of her, he knew that she’d hurt herself. Instead of going to her aid, all he could think about was an injured bear and how it would attack. He got into his car and drove away. He didn’t have any more time to waste on the other woman. She was going to be the police problem as soon as he could get someplace that he could call them.

“I believe that she keyed my future wife’s car this morning and was looking for mine in the lot behind Jack’s, too. I’ll pay for any damage that she’s done in the parking lot now but I’m not going to be so generous if she continues to be out and about causing trouble.” Joey told him that he’d had to run her off this morning as she was hanging out at the Tucker Charity, looking for him. “I wondered how long it would take her before she would figure out that I’m a part of that as well. It did take a bit longer than I thought, to be honest.”

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