She blew him another kiss. “I’ve got you—I’ll always have you.”
Chapter Eight
Knight
Jackson scowled at Jillian from his piano as Brooke and her family settled into the lower-level bedrooms for their two-night stay.
“I know your mental state has been the hot topic for years, but this is truly insane.”
Jillian pressed her index finger to her lips.
“Don’t shush me. Those kids are going to tear this place apart.”
“Well, good thing we hired a cleaning lady.”
“She has a name you know.”
Jillian raised a brow. “Ryn, yes I know. I hired her … as our cleaning lady.”
“Well she could be more than that.”
“Oh?” A smile crept along Jillian’s lips. “Did you propose or offer her your body to help her stave off menopause?”
Jackson narrowed his eyes.
“I’m kidding. Either way she should invite you to stay the weekend so I don’t have to deal with your Oscar the Grouch attitude … oh wait, that’s right, you’re Mr. Snuffleupagus.”
“Not any more.”
“Ryn not into penis role-playing?”
Jackson failed to hide his grin. “Somehow I doubt it.”
“Hmm … that’s a shame. I was going to suggest that Lascivio create a line of penis accessories. I think action hero dress-up could be quite fun.”
“Would AJ do it?” Jackson raised a questioning brow.
“Would AJ do what?” Brooke asked, rounding the corner from the stairs.
Jillian gave Jackson the hairy eyeball before turning toward Brooke. “Grill out … even though it looks like it could rain.”
“Trust me … AJ would grill out in the middle of a hurricane.” Brooke shook her head.
Jillian smiled. AJ had softened her, exposed her humanity. Maybe it was crazy for her to invite her lover’s ex-wife to stay with her. Jillian didn’t have a boiling pot of jealousy waiting to erupt inside of her, but Brooke proved that with exposed humanity came a little spark of jealousy. It was a miserable emotion. AJ and Brooke had been married and raised a child. Of course Brooke would know him better than Jillian.
“Well, it was nice to meet you.” Jackson smiled at Brooke. “I’m going to … take off.”
Jillian nodded. “Good idea.” She winked at him as he grabbed his keys and headed out the door.
“Your brother is …” Brooke stared at the door.
“Yes, he’s a freak of nature. But I’d say the same thing about you, knowing you have a twenty-one-year-old son and five-year-old twins.” Jillian stopped shy of actually saying the word angel.
“Pfft … I hired a personal trainer after the girls were born. I’ve had a tummy tuck and breast implants, but none of it stops me from peeing a little when I jump rope with the girls.”
Jillian’s jaw dropped.
“TMI?” Brooke scrunched her nose.
Jillian shook her head and maybe fell a little in love with Brooke in that moment. The angel’s wings weren’t real.
“I wanted to like you and it’s official … now I can.”
Brooke laughed. “I wanted to hate you and it’s official … now I can’t.”
Jillian’s eyes narrowed. “Why would you hate me?”
Brooke eased up onto the kitchen barstool and crossed her long thin legs. “Because you found what I lost.”
“What’s that?”
“His love.”
“You didn’t lose his love. You lost him. And I don’t think I’m with the man you married. I doubt he still exists.”
Brooke seemed to think about it as she stared intently at Jillian. “Char told me about…” she paused “…the tumor.”
Jillian nodded.
“Do you think that’s the real reason for his change in personality?” Brooke’s eyes filled with unshed tears.
She had to feel a pang of guilt as if she, too, was responsible for missing something, assuming it was the PTSD.
“It could be, especially now, but even one of his doctors said he probably has PTSD, but sifting through his symptoms to determine which category they belong in is useless at this point. No one is to blame and we can’t change what already is.”
Jillian said it for Brooke’s benefit, but she wanted there to be someone to blame. Having someone to blame made dealing with the pain so much easier.
“You do know that his parents asked him to move back to Portland for treatment so they or we can help take care of him while he goes through radiation?”
Jillian did not know that. “I … what did he tell them?”
“He said he’d think about it.”
“When did he say that?” She tried to hide her disappointment, or anger, or whatever feeling triggered some sort of meltdown inside her.
“Yesterday when they talked on the phone.”
Jillian had practically been living at his house the previous week to help him out and go with him to his appointments, but somehow that bit of information had not been shared with her.
*
It did rain and they still grilled out. Dodge and Lilith came for dinner too, but Cage couldn’t make it because he had a late practice to prepare for his first preseason game. The girls played hide-and-seek, then Stan took them out on his paddle boat with their dad.