Across the Creek (14 page)

“I don’t know. Something tells me that I’m never safe when I’m with you.” Nevertheless, he stripped down to his boxers, feeling self-conscious, and handed her the pile of wet clothes.

“I’ll go ahead and toss these into the dryer.” She vanished into the hallway.

Goose bumps covered Jesse’s exposed skin. He shivered as he took the towel he had been using to dry off with and wrapped it around his waist. He tried crossing his arms, rubbing them with his hands, but that didn’t seem to do much good either.

A minute later Sarah came walking back into the kitchen with a plain gray t-shirt and a pair of gray sweat shorts. “Here, I hope these fit you,” she said, handing them to Jesse.

He stared at the clothes, wondering where she had gotten them. Then it hit him. “Are these Kevin’s?” He’d just as soon be wet and naked than wear her fiancé’s clothes.

Sarah shook her head as if the idea was absolutely absurd. “No. These are my dad’s. I took them from him about a month ago.”

Jesse grinned, thinking this was probably equally weird. “Do you always steal your dad’s clothes?”

“I didn’t
steal
them. I borrowed them. I took him to the hospital for a treatment. He wasn’t feeling well when I got him home, so I ended up staying a few days, and I wasn’t exactly prepared so I borrowed some of his clothes. I just haven’t returned them yet.”

“Oh, sorry,” Jesse said, feeling like a total ass for making a joke about it. “I didn’t know.” Feeling more naked than he did before, he quickly put the clothes on.

Sarah took a step back to check him out. “Wow, they fit almost perfectly. They’re usually a little too large for my dad. But they seem to fit you quite nicely.” She turned her gaze toward the living room. “So, do you want to sit down?”

He followed her to the living room and sat on the sofa next to her. The sofa faced a modest television, not too small, but definitely not something you’d want to watch the Super Bowl on. A circular window peered out from the wall, lending a perfect view of the storm. A bare-brick wall surrounded the window, giving it an urban feel. “I’m not sure if I told you this before, but this is a nice place you have here.”

“Thank you. I love it here. There’s not much to it. This is the living room, and there’s the kitchen, which separates this room from the bedroom just beyond it.” Jesse noted the beautiful brick archway that separated the kitchen from the bedroom. Didn’t offer much in the way of privacy, but then again, this place wasn’t meant for more than two people. Sarah pointed to the hallway off of the entrance. “That leads to the bathroom, a linen closet, and the laundry area.”

“Nice,” he said. “It sure beats my place.”

“Where’s that?”

“Just above the pet shop.”

“Really?”

Jesse nodded. “When my uncle took it on, there were newlyweds living upstairs. I don’t know if it was the sound of barking puppies or the wonderful fragrance that comes from having a pet store beneath you or if they just decided to get a larger place, but shortly after we moved in, they decided to move out. I thought it would be a convenient place for me to live, since I spend most of my spare time at the shop anyways. Cut down on transportation costs at least.”

“Yeah, that does make sense,” Sarah replied, staring at him. “So how is Little Jess doing?

“Little Jess?” Then he remembered her puppy. “Oh, yeah. He’s doing great. Though I think he misses you.”

“Really? Did he tell you that?”

Jesse nodded. “In a way. When I was feeding the pups yesterday, all of the other puppies ran for the food, except him. He came over to the side of the cage and stood up the same way he did the day you were there.”

“Aw, how adorable. You can tell him that I miss him, too.” She stared at the blank television, wearing a happy smile. “I wish I had a dog.”

“Then you’d have to potty train, walk it, feed it.”

“You sound just like my dad. What is it with men and always looking at the practical side of things?” Jesse just shrugged. “Would you like something to drink?”

“Sure.”

She stood up from the couch and walked over to the kitchen. “What would you like?”

“Whatever you’re having is fine with me.”

He watched as Sarah opened the fridge and leaned forward to get a better look, her face lit up in the dim room. Jesse couldn’t help but stare. The twelve-year-old girl he had once loved was now this beautiful and independent woman. He tried to think about what life would have been like if they hadn’t been separated. Would they be together now? Would she still be marrying Kevin?

She tucked a few loose strands behind her ear, exposing the smooth skin on her shoulders. Jesse couldn’t remember the last time he had seen a woman this beautiful.

She reached inside the fridge and pulled out a bottle. “How about some wine?”

“Sounds good to me,” he said. He turned toward the television, attempting to erase her beauty from his memory. Out of sight, out of mind. If only it were that simple.

The sound of rain dancing on the roof filled the silence while she poured their drinks.

Sarah came back to the couch with two glasses of crimson wine and handed one to Jesse. “I feel like you know a lot about me, but you haven’t told me much about yourself.”

Jesse swirled the wine in his glass. “There isn’t much to tell.”

“Really?” Her eyes narrowed. “I find that hard to believe. So why aren’t you seeing anyone?”

“It’s simple, really. School and the pet shop keep me plenty busy.”

“I see,” she said, giving him a peculiar look as if trying to decide whether she should believe him or not. “What are your plans after you graduate? Grad school?”

Jesse placed both hands on his glass and rested them in his lap, not taking his eyes off of the swirling liquid. “That was the plan.”

“Was?”

“When my uncle died, it created a void.” He paused. “He took care of my aunt. I mean, he took care of everything. When he passed away, it left Aunt Sherry with just me and Robbie.”

“Can’t Robbie watch after her while you’re at grad school?”

Jesse took a drink. “What is this stuff? It’s really fruity.”

“It’s my favorite,” Sarah said, bringing her glass to her lips and taking a sip. “It’s Arbor Mist.”

Jesse looked at his glass in disbelief and then at Sarah. “Are you serious? A Whispering Meadows princess drinking Arbor Mist?”

“Hey, don’t knock it. It’s good. I didn’t realize that Jesse Malone was a wine snob.”

“I’m not. This is right up my alley and my budget. I’m just surprised that you drink it.” Jesse took another sip. “But don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.” He shot her a wink.

“I knew I could count on you.” She held out her glass for a toast. “I can always count on you, Jesse.” They tapped their glasses together. She brought it up to her lips, never taking her eyes off of Jesse as she took a large drink, nearly finishing what was left in her glass.

Thunder let out a mighty roar just outside her building. Jesse’s muscles tensed.

“You okay?” she asked.

“I’m fine,” Jesse said. “I’m just not a big fan of thunderstorms.”

Sarah turned her gaze toward the window. “They’re usually harmless.”

Jesse didn’t respond. Thunder only reminded him of his father’s menacing rage.

“So what’s the story with Robbie?” Sarah asked.

“What do you mean?”

“He looks a little…scary. Especially with all those tattoos,” she said, motioning to her arms.

Jesse smiled. “He’s not that scary. Underneath that thick neck, shaved head, and tattoos, he’s just a teddy bear.”

“You two seem so different. Except for those big blue eyes, you guys don’t look anything alike.”

Jesse settled back into the couch, making himself more comfortable. His eyes fixed on the storm outside the window, trying to push away the memory of his father. “Robbie’s had it pretty rough.”

“Haven’t you, too?” Sarah commented.

“Not like Robbie,” he replied. “When my aunt and uncle took us in, for the first time in my life I thought we’d have a chance at peace. And for a while we did. But it didn’t last.”

Jesse finished the last of his wine and set it on the coffee table.

“Would you like another?”

“Sure.”

Moving to the kitchen, Sarah refilled both their glasses before returning to the couch. “So what happened?”

“Like I said, things were good at first. We moved to a big city where no one knew us, we had new clothes, a new place to live, and we started going to a new school. Nobody knew who we were and everything was great.” Quickly, he added, “Don’t get me wrong. We missed our mother terribly. Losing her was…the worst thing ever.” The smiling image of his mother hung vividly in his mind. “For the first time, things felt normal. No more running from our father. No more looking over our shoulders. We thought this was it. This was how normal kids lived. Until the kids at our school found out who we were. They started talking behind our backs. Our friends would stop hanging out with us. Then the rumors started flying and the kids started calling us the Murdering Malones.”

“That’s awful.”

“Kids are kids. They’re often cruel just because they don’t know any better. But Robbie didn’t take it well. He’s never been good at turning the other cheek. He started getting into a lot of fights until he was eventually kicked out of school.”

“I can’t imagine what that must have been like.”

“By the time he was sixteen he had been kicked out of four schools and had fallen in with the wrong crowd. My aunt and uncle didn’t know what to do with him.” Jesse paused and stared at his drink. “He eventually dropped out of school altogether. That’s when he got into boxing. I guess all those years of fighting gave him a propensity for it.”

“Are you serious?”

Jesse nodded. “He did well at first, winning a few golden gloves titles, hoping to turn pro when he was old enough. But he started hanging out with some pretty bad guys.” Bad guys like Ernie Montico. Nothing but trouble came from spending time with that maniac. “He started taking jobs that paid him to rip people off. In that line of business they run into some pretty nasty and angry people, and they figured Robbie, with his set of skills, would be a valuable member of the team.”

“So then what happened?”

Jesse ran a hand through his cool, damp hair. “He got caught. Not only did he get caught, but the rest of them got away, leaving Robbie holding the bag.”

“Did he go to prison?”

Jesse nodded. “He already had a strike against him from a bar fight he had gotten into a year before that. And because he refused to cooperate and give up the names of the guys he worked with, they threw the book at him. He ended up serving two years.”

Sarah looked down at her glass. She looked just like Jesse felt: frustrated. “So how is he doing now?”

“He’s fighting again. He has a girlfriend, Felicia, and she seems to really care about him. But…”

“But what?”

“I don’t know. Robbie’s been acting strange lately. And he was talking to one of the scumbags that he used to be involved with years ago. I just…I just have a feeling that something’s not right. You know?”

“You really care about him, don’t you?”

“Other than my slightly crazy aunt, Robbie’s all I’ve got.”

Sarah smiled.

“What’s so funny?”

She brought her glass to her lips. “Nothing,” she said, grinning at him over the rim.

“What is it?”

“I was just thinking about the other day when he called you Ponyboy.”

“Oh, that,” Jesse said, now wishing he had just let it go.

“Why did he call you that?”

“He’s called me that ever since I was in the eighth grade. My teacher, Mrs. Randolf, made us read
The Outsiders
.”

“I’ve read that. That’s actually one of my favorite books.”

“It’s one of my favorites, too.” Jesse wasn’t sure if it was the dim lighting, the drinks, or if he simply hadn’t noticed until now, but Sarah’s eyes sparkled, like light dancing off a pond or a lake at night. “Robbie reminded me of the greasers. I begged him to read it, but he always said he was too busy.”

“He doesn’t strike me as the type to read a novel, especially a classic.”

Jesse let out a short laugh. “No. He’s more of a magazine type of guy.” He turned the glass in his hand, watching as the red liquid slid up and down the sides. “One day he and his buddies were racing their cars, and he got into a wreck and nearly died.”

“That’s terrible.” Turning sideways, Sarah tucked her legs beneath her.

“Robbie injured his back pretty good. He had to wear a brace that kept him from doing much. I read to him every day. The first thing I read to him was
The Outsiders
.” Jesse paused to finish the wine in his glass. “Robbie cried when Johnny died, but don’t tell him I told you that because he would
kill
me.”

Sarah laughed and made a cross-my-heart gesture with her finger. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell a soul.”

“Ever since I read that book to him, he’s called me Ponyboy.”

“That’s funny.” She gave him an astute look. “You know. You do kind of remind of Ponyboy. Intelligent. Sensitive. Boyishly charming.”

“Don’t forget the long hair.”

Sarah leaned forward and ran her hand through his thick brown hair. Jesse caught another whiff of her perfume. “Definitely handsome,” she said.

Their eyes locked and Jesse felt that same magnetic pull he had felt when they were twelve, standing beneath the willow tree. Her eyes drew him in, like a moth to light, a magical spell he felt powerless against. He got the feeling that she felt it, too.

A moment passed before she looked at his empty glass. “Would you like some more?”

Jesse debated. One more and he’d be walking home. But he also didn’t want to leave right now. “Sure. I’ll take one more.”

He watched her as she walked into the kitchen and back, thinking again that she was by far one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen.

Snap out of it
, he told himself.
She’s taken, by Mr. Million Dollar Smile, and like it or not, in just a few short weeks they’ll be married.

“So, how are the wedding plans coming along?”