Page 73 of Moving to Love
He stopped and looked at him. His eyes welled with unshed tears. He took the few steps forward and hugged Gunnar tight. They held each other for a long time. Jeremiah swallowed around the lump in his throat several times.
“That is the best thing you could ever call me, son.”
Gunnar squeezed tighter. When Gunnar pulled away from Jeremiah, he reached forward and opened his arms for all the boys.
“Thanks, I needed this right now. I’m scared shitless if you know what I mean. Joci’s a little thing, but she scares the shit out of me.”
The boys’ laughter succeeded in alleviating some of his anxiety. He wasn’t kidding; he was scared shitless. He had no idea what he would say or how he would make this better, but he was going to try.
“Um, Dog. You wanted to see me?” Chase’s voice was soft.
Jeremiah turned around and looked at him. Jabbing a finger into his chest, he clipped, “From this point forward, if you bring her, you take care of her. I’m not going to ever, ever do that again; you got it?”
Chase stammered, but Jeremiah put his hand up to stop him.
“Tomorrow morning, you and LuAnn are leaving. I don’t want to see you for the rest of the weekend. Next week at work, I don’t want to see you. If you see me, you had better turn and walk the other way. If you ever pull a bullshit stunt like this again, you will be out on your ass, got it?”
Chase nodded but didn’t say anything. Smart boy. He waited for a beat, then backed up a few steps, turned, and walked back to the hotel.
Watching Chase leave, he took a deep breath. Now, he needed to talk to Joci. He nodded at the boys and turned to walk to the back of the hotel. When he got back there, the swing was empty, but still moving slightly, so they must have just left.
He turned and walked back to the hotel. He took the stairs to give himself a bit more time. He knew he was stalling slightly, but he still didn’t have the words. He unlocked the door to their room and heard the shower. Thank God she was in here. He tried the bathroom door, but it was locked. She never locked the door, so he was still in trouble. Shit. He kicked his boots off and pulled a beer from the refrigerator. He sat in the armchair by the window and waited for her to finish.
He had swallowed his whole beer before the bathroom door opened. She stepped out in yoga pants and a t-shirt. When she rounded the corner, she stopped in her tracks and stared at him. She took a deep breath and continued walking to the dresser, where she set her toiletry bag down.
He watched her, trying to gauge her mood.
“Can we talk?” he whispered.
She shook her head no. She didn’t look at him, just turned and walked over to the bed and climbed in. She pulled the covers up to her chin and closed her eyes.
He stood and padded to the bed, leaned over her, softly crooning in her ear. “Honey, I don’t want to go to bed mad at each other. Please, let’s talk.”
She opened her eyes and looked at him. She waited.
He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. You were right about you always having to suck it up and do the right thing. I hadn’t thought about it before, but you’re right. I’ve asked an awful lot of you these past few months. I can see how tired you’ve been lately, and I realize how all of this is affecting you. The fact that I own Rolling Thunder makes me responsible for my employees. Even though this isn’t an employee event, I still always feel responsible.” He took another breath while raking his hands through his hair. “But that being said, I could have done things differently. I should have had Frog or someone take my bike with LuAnn, and I could have taken his. I was pissed and not thinking clearly. I’m sorry.”
She didn’t say anything. He waited for a little while and then lay down next to her wrapping his arms around her. “I’m not leaving you, and I’m not letting you leave me. You may as well talk to me.”
She sighed. “I just can’t do it anymore, Jeremiah. I just can’t. I thought I could, knowing why she’s around. But…”
He slid an arm behind her head and pulled her tightly to his body. He kissed her temple and the top of her head.
“You won’t have to, baby. I told Chase to leave with LuAnn in the morning. The new rule at the shop is ‘if you bring her, you take care of her.’”
Joci snorted and tried to pull away. He held on to her. His brows furrowed. “Hey, what?”
“You’re such a fucking man. Big, fucking deal, your big ‘If you bring her, you take care of her’ bullshit.” She used finger quotes. “She’s still going to be working there, with you, every day. She’ll just be trying to hatch out another plan of attack. She spent the whole fucking afternoon whining about how much she loves you and doesn’t want us to get married. How fucking dense are you?”
She pulled away and slipped out of bed. She walked over to the window and stared out at the night sky. He rubbed his forehead and stared at the ceiling. After a few moments, she walked over and climbed back into bed. She turned her back to Jeremiah and closed her eyes.
Jeremiah rubbed his eyes and got up to get undressed. He jumped in the shower to wash this day away. He quietly padded back to bed and slipped in without waking Joci. He wasn’t going to get a lot of sleep tonight. Fucking LuAnn.
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