“It wasn’t so bad.”
“No?”
He shook his head. “Bubba and I are…well, we’re friends, and we have been for a long time.”
“I know that.”
“So, probably a good idea if we learn to get a grip on some things. Not be so competitive.” He locked gazes with me. “Put our jealousy and envy in perspective.”
Frowning, I glanced down. Ian’s jealousy. “Are you jealous?”
“Me?” Jake said, grinning. “Nope.”
“Not even a little?”
He shook his head. “Told those knuckleheads that last night. I meant it when I said I wanted you—wanted to see you—date you. Make out with you. I don’t mind if you’re seeing them. Just them though, no one else.”
“Like I havetimefor anyone else.”
He grinned again. “Good. Also—Bubba told me about Sharon.”
Heat rushed to my face. Seriously, they were talking about me. Wasn’t that weird?
It all felt so weird.
“I wish I’d seen it.”
“I kind of felt like I was kicking a dog.”
“A rabid one,” Jake pointed out. “And you didn’t start it. But I’m proud of you.”
That really shouldn’t have made me as warm and fuzzy as it did. “Jake… I know the last couple of Wednesdays you’ve come over, but do you mind if I see Archie tonight?”
“Not at all. Not that I won’t miss you terribly and be waiting for my good morning kiss on Thursday. Let me tell you, I think Coop is on to something with that. But you’ve been with me the last couple of nights, and all of us were there Friday…” He winced at the reminder.
“It’s okay. I have to learn to deal with it right. We gotta make it normal. Cause Ian’s still our friend.”
Jake stared at me steadily, and then he lifted my hand. After kissing my palm, he said, “You can do anything. And yes, see Arch tonight if that’s what you want. We have all day tomorrow—though you should probably pay special attention to Coop. Birthday boy and all that.”
“Yeah,” I told him, fighting a small smile and a surge of affection for how easy he was making this. “Because we should set a precedent with your birthday and Archie’s still to come.”
“That would be good, too,” Jake said, almost too innocently. As our smiles faded, Jake tucked a strand of my hair behind an ear. “You know it’s going to be all right, yes?”
“I want it to be.”
“Then it will be.” The confidence there was mind-blowing. Battered and bruised, lip still puffy, he remained upbeat. “I promise.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” I warned him. “We can’t control everyone.”
“No, we can’t,” Jake agreed. “But there’s lots we can do and I will do.”
After class, he walked me out to where Coop waited before giving me a scorching look that suggested all the things he’d like to do but couldn’t. Then he was off to meet Ian to sit on the bench for practice. Coop got me home and got a few more kisses in to end his seventeenth year—or so he claimed—before I pushed him out the door so I could get ready for work.
I was almost ready to leave when Mom and ‘Eddie’ got home.
Life had tough bits, easy bits, and then the complicated bits in between. School had been a lot easier than I expected. The complicated bits with Ian had been tough, but we’d muddled through. The really tough bits…coming face to face with my mom—the cheater—and her very much married boyfriend/fiancé.
“Don’t look so forlorn,” Mom told me as she breezed in. “I’m just here to pack some things. Eddie and I found a place.”