Page 47 of Chasing Stars
“Okay, okay.” I pat his chest and push him away before I get too hot and bothered. “Go do your thing.”
“I will see you soon,” Miles promises, giving me one last peck before he gathers up his sample items and heads for the door.
“Miles?” I call after him.
He turns and gives me one of his grins that turns me into putty.
“Thanks,” I say. “I feel better.”
“I’m glad,” he rasps. He blows me a kiss and then he’s gone.
Miles and Morgan were enough to quell my tears tonight, but times like this, I really wish I could call my mom.
24
MILES
Ireluctantly leave Jenna’s house for my parents’, but the whole way there, I can’t stop thinking about her. I don’t exactly know how I got here, to the place where I can’t stop thinking about a girl I just met. I have never been the guy who wants a damn couples costume. I have the overwhelming urge to be near her, to tell my mom I can’t come over and drive straight back to Jenna. I wish I could spend the whole night holding her, so she doesn’t feel alone.Why was she crying?It’s gnawing at me that she wouldn’t even talk through it with me. I thought we were growing closer these last few days, but I’m worried that it’s only me who is invested in this. She’s dealing with a lot. Maybe I am just a distraction.
Being with Jenna has made me realize that I take having two healthy parents for granted. I live in the same town as they do, and I can see them any time I want. They were there for me when Erin broke my heart. They invite me over for dinner every night of the week. Literally. It’s as if my mom thinks I won’t feed myself a proper meal at forty-one. The point is, I have them. I can’t imagine what my life would be like without them and myheart breaks for Jenna. She seems so alone, and I don’t want her to be. Maybe that’s why she was crying.
Halloween is coming up, then it’s the holiday season, and I can’t help but think,where will Jenna be?I want to convince her to stay. I’ll be her family.Whoa, that is an alarming thought.Yet I can’t shake the feeling that there is more to this—that she’s somehow a part of me. I’m dying to know if she feels the same way.
I married Erin in my mid-thirties, mostly because if I hadn’t, she would have left me. And I loved her, I really did. I fought damn hard for that marriage, until I couldn’t anymore becausenothingwas ever enough. With Jenna, I get the impression thateverythingis enough, because no man has ever taken care of her. Maybe it’s all in my head, I don’t know. But Jenna lets me be who I am. She probably doesn’t love that I surf at night just to feel invincible. Or that I’m divorced. I’m sure there are a lot of thingsnotto like about me, but if Jenna thinks about them, she never says a word. She accepts me for the man that I am.
When I pull up to my parents’ house, my mom is dragging a humongous, heavy box with the skeleton across the front lawn. “Ma!” I shout from the car. “I told you to wait for me.”
“I got tired of waiting,” she huffs, pushing the box a bit further. “I thought you weren’t coming.”
I roll my eyes. “I told you, I had to see someone first,” I mutter, crouching down to open the box.
“A lady friend?” My mother wiggles her eyebrows. She loves her two sons and her grandson, but I know she wants us to find partners and give her more grandkids before she’s too old to enjoy them.
“Maybe. Don’t worry about it,” I tease, knowing that all she’ll do is worry about it until I fill her in.
I get the box open and pull out all the pieces of “Bone Daddy” as my mother affectionately calls him. This is the second yearthat she’s had him, and I swear it’s just to drive my Halloween-hating dad crazy. I set the base down. “Is this where you want him?”
“That looks great,” my mom says. “Though, I’d really love it if he went right in your father’s parking spot.” She snickers.
“Well, he can’t, you antagonist.” I roll my eyes. “He has to be staked into the ground. Pass me his leg poles,” I say, and she hands them over. I get to work snapping them in.
“So, you’re not going to tell me anything about this girl?” my mother presses further.
I sigh and look at her. “Hip bones.” I gesture toward the box. “What do you want to know?”
“Okay, for starters, how did you meet her?” My mom hands me the giant hip bones and crouches back down to pull out the skeleton’s ribcage.
“She's a client,” I say cautiously, worried she’ll tell me to leave it alone.
My mom gives me a knowing look. “Oh, Nate said you were into a client who is just passing through,” she says. I get the sense she’s holding back.
“That little narc,” I scoff.
She laughs. “If she’s just passing through, why bother? When are you going to get serious about someone again? I hate seeing you alone.” My mother’s tone turns patronizing. “Don’t you want what Dad and I have?”
I groan, exasperated. “Of course, Mom. But it’s not that easy. Divorced at forty-one isn’t exactly a selling point.”
My mother rolls her eyes. “It could be worse. You could be Ross fromFriends. ‘Three divorces, three divorces.’” She laughs at her own joke, and I crack a smile to humor her.
