Alive (Mended Hearts #1) (23 page)

“Who’s that, baby?” I ask, rubbing her hand in slow circles.

I kept the contact to a minimum wh
ile her parents were in here with us. Now that they’ve gone into another room, I have some making up to do. I was starting to get withdrawal symptoms.

“I used to work in the store down the road.
The lady who owns the store doesn’t have any family, and I promised to see her every time I came back down. Last time I was down, I only saw her for a few minutes. Plus, I want you to meet each other. She will love you,” Maisie says with an affectionate smile on her face.

This lady obviously means a lot to her.

“Of course. Let’s go then.”

We get
up, Maisie lets her parents know where we are off to, and then we drive the short drive to the store.

****

Walking into the store, I’m instantly hit with the smell of hotdogs. My stomach grumbles, reminding me that in my nervous state, I forgot to eat today.

“Maisie, is that you dear?” an older lady says from behind the counter.

“Yes, it’s me. I’ve brought someone for you to meet.” She grabs my hand, dragging me toward the lady.

“It best be that hunk of a boyfriend of yours that you showed me last time
you were here. Otherwise, I don’t want to know,” she laughs, sounding throaty.

Giving Maisie a wink, we stop in front of her.

“Good gracious. He is better looking than in that picture you showed me.” She fans herself, smiling at us.

“Mrs. Jenkins, this is Jesse. Jesse, Mrs. Jenkins
,” Maisie says, introducing us.

Taking a hold of Mrs. Jenkins
’s hand, I give it a kiss. “Nice to meet you.”

“He’s a gentleman
, too. You can’t go wrong with one of them,” she says, winking at Maisie. “Nice too meet you too, Jesse,” she says, blatantly checking me out. “If only I was fifty years younger.”

We laugh at that.

“Hey, don’t laugh. Just because I’m past it doesn’t mean I don’t know a good looking guy when I see one.”

“Please, stop,” Maisie says
, full on belly laughing.

I have a smug smile on my face. Hey, don’t judge
; I am a good looking guy. It never gets old being told it, either.

“I won’t say any
more, except that you’ve done better than the last one. I never did like him,” Mrs. Jenkins whispers that last part.

That comment stops Maisie laughing straight away. It’s still a touchy subject, especially after what happened the last time she was down.

“Come sit down. I’ll get us some chairs,” she says, pointing to the one that she was sitting on.

“You two stay
here. I’ll go and get them. Just tell me where they are,” I tell her. She doesn’t need to be picking up chairs and bringing them down when I can do it.

“Go into that room. It’s the staff room. There should be some in there
, dear,” she says, pointing to a door to my right.

Nodding, I go and retrieve the chairs.

Maisie

Watching Jesse go to get the chairs, my heart soars with love. He really is so thoughtful, always thinking of others.

As soon as he’s out of sight, Mrs. Jenkins starts whispering, “He seems like a nice young man.”

I nod, a smile on my face; a true genuine smile. She hasn’t seen me smile like this in a while.

“I can tell. You have that smile on your face that I haven’t seen in a while. It’s nice to see it. You always did have a beautiful smile,” she says, smiling, her eyes crinkling. See
, what did I just say? It’s like she can read my mind.

“He makes me very happy. I love him. I know some may say it’s too soon
, but I really do. He is the most amazing man I’ve ever met. He’s completely different from Matt,” I tell her honestly. I know that, out of everybody, she won’t judge me.

“He loves you
, too, you know. I can see it in his eyes when he looks at you. He looks at you like George used to look at me. You two have a special kind of love. Don’t throw it away, as you may never find another like it.”

Before I can reply, Jesse comes back into the room. I wouldn’t have known what to reply to that anyway. Plus, how does she know this stuff? I always knew she was wise.

After plopping down in one of the chairs, we spend the next hour with Mrs. Jenkins as she asks Jesse millions of questions. I think she knows him better than I do right now, and that’s saying something.

“We best be off. Dinner will be ready soon
,” I tell Jesse, checking the time. Jesus, it’s nearly five.

“Okay. Would you like me to put the chairs back?” Jesse asks Mrs. Jenkins.

“No dear, it’s okay. You never know. Someone else might come in to see me for a while,” she replies.

That’s probably not true,
but I’m not going to question her on it. I just hope someone does come in to see her. I hate the thought of her being here all alone.

“You two get off now, before your mom comes in complaining that I’m keeping you hostage,” she
jokes, shooing us away.

Giving her a hug before I leave, I tell her that I’ll come and see her at Christmas. I don’t want to leave her alone on a special day
, especially when she doesn’t have any other family. I’m the closest thing she has.

Jesse gives her a hug after me. “It was nice to meet you. I hope we will see each other again soon.”

“Of course we will, dear. You keep yourself safe and look after my Maisie for me, okay?” she asks, giving him a pat on the arm.

“Of course I will.”

After saying our goodbyes, we leave the store and head toward out to my car.

“She
’s sweet,” Jesse tells me, grabbing my hand.

Giving him a smile, I tell him, “She really liked you. She was even flirting with you. I’ve never seen her like that before. It was embarrassing.”

“Well, what’s not to like? Look at me, baby. I’m a God,” he tells me, pointing at himself. Pushing him, I laugh at how big-headed he is. He really does love himself, doesn’t he?

I won’t admit it, but it’s true
. Women of all ages notice Jesse. I’ve gotten used to it now. I’ve not met one person who is immune to his good looks. Even my mom was swooning at him earlier.

“Who’s that st
anding next to your car?” Jesse asks, looking in the direction of my car with a confused expression on his face.

I t
urn to see who he’s looking at and groan.

Great
; just who I want to bump into. Matt…

I wonder how long he’s been st
anding out here. He sure as hell didn’t come into the store. I really don’t want Jesse and Matt to meet each other. Who’s to say what Jesse will do, especially if Matt starts his shit again like he did the other week?

“This is going to be fun,” I say under my breath.

Stopping in front of Matt, I don’t say anything to him. I just stand still, staring him down and letting him know that I’m not in the mood for him to start shit.

“We have to stop bumping into each other here
, Maisie,” he says, arms crossed over his chest as he leans up against my car.

Is he being serious? I’m not the one who’s been waiting at his car for God knows how long.

Giving him a polite smile, since two can play at this game, I tell him, “We do. So how long have you been waiting for me to get out?”

His cocky smile slips a bit, but he regains his composure quickly.
Caught you out, buddy. One point to me.

“Oh
, not long,” he says, waving his hand in the air nonchalantly. “Are you going to introduce me to your friend?” He looks at Jesse, his eyes sweeping him from head to toe, disgust on his face.

He blatantly knows who Jesse is. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s done research on him.

“Yeah, who is this guy?” Jesse asks from beside me, anger in his voice.

I think, deep down, he has an idea of who this is. He just wants to be sure.

Facing Jesse, I introduce them. “Jesse, meet Matt. Matt, meet Jesse.”

Jesse nods, holding his hand out for Matt to shake.
“Nice to finally meet you, Matt. I’ve heard all about you.”

Matt looks
toward at me, narrowing his eyes. Yeah, that’s right, buddy. You didn’t expect me not to talk about you, did you?

Giving him an innocent look in return, I grab Jesse’s hand tighter
, silently communicating that I’m uncomfortable.

“Anyway
, it was nice to see you again, Matt, but we best be off,” I tell him, hoping he takes the hint. He doesn’t move. He just stands there, like he has all the time in the world. He probably does.

“Leaving so soon? Why can’t I get to know your friend?”

He doesn’t really want to get to know Jesse. He just wants to be awkward. If he’s wanting to push my buttons, he’s doing a mighty fine job of it. This is one of the things I always hated about Matt. If he wants to do something, he will try until he gets it. This is no exception, except this time, I’m not backing down. He has no reason to get to know Jesse. They most probably won’t see each other again after today. I hope.

I don’t want my past and my future mixing. I left my past behind months ago. I don’t need Matt rubbing in Jesse’s face that we used to date. Jesse can get very territorial, and I’m sure that will set his caveman side off.

“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” I tell him honestly.

“Why not?” he asks, feigning confusion.

“Because, you don’t need to know who I am, bro. We will probably never see each other again, so there’s no need to get to know each other,” Jesse pipes up, saving me from having to answer.

From the hard look on Matt’s face right now, he isn’t happy with that answer.

“Because,
bro
, Maisie is my ex, and I want to make sure her new boyfriend is treating her like she deserves to be treated. I don’t want her going out with just anybody. She deserves the best.”

Ooooh
, that is just bullshit. He doesn’t care about me or my feelings. He’s just caring about himself here, trying to eye up the competition. Well, there is no competition. Jesse wins hands down.

“Well, you should have thought about that before you cheated on her and lost her. I
won’t be stupid enough to make the same mistake you did. You see, I realize what I have, unlike you. I don’t take Maisie for granted. I put her first, protect her, and love her, something you failed to do. I fixed her after you left her broken. She is the most amazing woman I know, so please don’t tell me how to look after her. I’ve done a pretty good job so far, without your help,” Jesse replies, starting to get angry.

His jaw his set, pronouncing his square jaw. His eyes
are fixed on Matt.

“Come on, Jesse. Let’s go. He’s not worth it,” I say, trying to pull
him away.

“Yeah, you listen to her
, you piece of shit,” Matt says, trying to goad Jesse.

All hope of leaving without a fight
is now out the window. Biting my lip, I wait for Jesse to lose his shit. I can feel it coming. Nobody talks to him like that. If Matt knew that, he wouldn’t have said it.

“What the fuck did you just call me?” he
asks, his voice dangerously cool. That’s even scarier than him shouting.

“I said, listen to her,
you piece of shit,” he repeats sarcastically.

I’m going to punch Matt in a minute. He doesn’t know
who he’s messing with. Jesse will destroy him.

“Matt
, leave it,” I warn him, giving him an out.

“Don’t worry, Maisie. I’m not going to hurt him. Like you said, he isn’t worth it,” Jesse says, turning to look at me, the cold look being replaced with affection.

That’s when I see Matt’s fist fly toward Jesse’s face out of the corner of my eye. It all happens so fast. I don’t even have time to warn Jesse, but he doesn’t need warning. He captures Matt’s fist, throwing his other fist into Matt’s face. A loud crack reverberates through the parking lot. Shit, that has to hurt. I’m pretty sure a bone just cracked.

“
Arghhh,” Matt shouts, his free hand going to his jaw.

Jesse grabs my arm, moving me to the driver’s door.

“Get in the car,” he tells me, his voice telling me not to argue with him.

After g
etting in, I open his door, except he can’t get in. Matt is still in the way. Watching from the safety of my car, I see Jesse lean in close, whispering something to Matt.

I can’t hear what is being said, but from the looks of it, Jesse isn’t being very friendly. I don’t blame him. Matt was out of
line. He deserved much more than what he got. I’m surprised Jesse only hit him once.

Matt moves away from the car, allowing Jesse to get in. When he’s closed the door, I start the engine, leaving the parking lot and Matt
behind.

The ride home is silent. Jesse still seems to be angry, his jaw still locked tight from where he’s grinding his teeth. Matt really riled him up, and knowing Jesse, he’s fighting with himself on turning back around and beating the crap out of him.

Cutting the engine outside my house, I turn in my seat to face him.

“Come on
. Let’s go inside.”

“Wait… He’s a douche,” Jesse states seriously.

“I know. He was out of line back there, but it’s over now, so let’s go inside and forget about it, okay?” I tell him.

“What did you ever see in him?” he asks, looking lost in his own world.

Do we really have to talk about this now? It’s making me uncomfortable.

Sighing, I tell him honestly, “He wasn’t always a douche. When I first met him, he was really nice. He was interested in me. Back then, not many people paid attention to me. I wasn’t popular, but I wasn’t geeky. I was normal on the social status. So, when he took an interest in me, I felt flattered, and I fell for him. We were together a long time, Jesse. It wasn’t until he did what he
did that I realized what he was really like. He didn’t really care for me. He was popular, could have had any girl he wanted, when he wanted. I was foolish to think that I was ever enough for him. I thought I loved him. Now, I know that it wasn’t love. It was infatuation.”

He nods, taking in what I just told him. I swallow, praying that he will leave it now.

I’m starting to think that this place is a bad omen. Both times that I’ve been down, I’ve bumped into Matt.  If my parents didn’t live here, I probably wouldn’t come back. There are too many bad memories here.

We’re silent for a few minutes, just looking out the window. I don’t have a clue about what’s going through his head right now. I just hope this doesn’t ruin us. Matt means nothing to me anymore. I hope Jesse realizes this.

“Come on, then. Let’s go and have dinner. I’m starving,” Jesse finally says, giving me his usual beautiful smile, dimples and all. It makes my tummy flutter.

Feeling relieved, we get out of the car.

We don’t mention what happened at the store to my mom and dad. We just act like everything is okay. I’m thankful that he doesn’t mention it. My dad would probably go down to Matt’s house and kill him for sure this time.

After dinner, we all go into the living room and watch a
movie. My dad has finally warmed up to Jesse, which makes me happy. They seem to be getting along really well, joking and laughing with each other, like they’ve known each other for years.

Mom and I have been sharing secret looks at each other all night. We both knew that they would get along. They may not realize it, but we have
, after just one day of them knowing each other. They are more alike than they think.

Getting into bed hours later, I wait for Jesse to get out of the bathroom. Noticing his clothes on my bedroom floor makes me smile. I was surprised when my parents allowed Jesse to sleep in my roo
m. I used to have to sneak Matt in through the window. That probably had to do with the fact that they weren’t keen on him, but they seem to love Jesse. I’m not going to complain. I’m so happy that they are getting along.