Josie's POV
God, I hope he's doing okay. I knew when I offered he wouldn't call me unless it was a last resort.
I drum my fingers on my table, staring at my bowl of cereal.
I prayed last night before bed for him. I don't pray nearly as much as Pastor Anderson says we should, but I had to ask God to help him not follow the road I went down. The road of self-destruction and self-pity. I asked Him to help Colt get through this quickly.
And I also may have prayed for Brooke to accidentally flush herself down the toilet.
I cannot believe that the meek woman I met at Liz's party did this to him. As much as I want to know what happened, I also don't. I don't want to hear about what broke him down so much.
"Baby."
I wonder what she's doing right now. Is she proud of herself for this? Did she even stick around to see what she did to him?
"Josie!"
I about fly out of my seat, nearly knocking my cereal over.
I look up to find James peering down at me, forehead creased to make his worry lines appear.
I clear my throat and smooth out the table cloth. "Yeah?"
"I've been trying to get your attention for the past minute now." He pulls out a chair and sits close next to me. "What's on your mind?"
I purse my lips and contemplate my next words. I'm going to be honest with him, and I know he'll understand. I mean, at least I hope he will.
"Just thinking about yesterday."
James leans his strong forearms on the table, coming in closer. "Yeah?"
I nod. "I'm sorry for doing this to you," I tell him. "It can't be easy to be caught up in the crossfire that is me and Colt."
He smiles, but it doesn't reach his eyes. "As much as I want you all to myself, I know how much you two meant to each other. I can still see it now, and I'm not going to come between you and him if he doesn't between you and me."
I nod, understanding the message. I stare at the buttons on his shirt over his chest, and I sigh. I put my hands on his shoulders, his strong hardy shoulders from renovating houses, and I lock onto his gaze.
"You're so good to me, James." His eyes soften, and I toy with the hair at the base of his neck. "He isn't going to come between us, I promise you, I'd never be able to bring myself to do that to you after what you've done for me. Thank you for being honest with me."
"And thank you for being honest with me."
He leans forward and plants a kiss on my lips, one just meant to be a soft peck, but I hold him there by his shoulders and deepen it. His hands run down my torso and settle on my hips, and he pulls me over to sit on his lap. Our lips mold together in sync as I wrap my arms around his neck, pressing myself closer to him. Everything I can't express in words—my appreciation for him, my gratitude that he fell into my life—I make sure I pour into the kiss, and he groans in the back of his throat.
We break apart far too soon, but the need for air overcomes us both. Dipping my head down, I skim my open mouth over his jaw, down his neck while we both catch our breath. His fingers thread through my hair delicately, allowing me to suck and nibble on his sweet spot in the junction of his neck and shoulder.
He tugs my hair lightly, pulling me away from his neck, and I settle back, complying. "I've got a renovation and a crew waiting. Are you coming with me?"
I bite my lip coyly. "Depends. Am I getting paid?"
His eyes brighten, and he plays along. "How much would you like for your services?"
"You know I have no interest in money," I say back rather poshly.
"Oh dear." He pauses, squeezing my hips. "What are you interested in? Gold? Jewelry?"
I shake my head. "Maybe something a bit more... scandalous."
He feigns shock as he presses his back against the chair. "I just don't see how that will work."
I grind my hips down right above him and rest my hands on the chair behind him, caging him in. I lean down, our noses almost touching, and I watch him squirm in anticipation beneath me. "Where there's a will, there's a way, my dear. You just have to find it if you want it bad enough."
-
We spent the rest of the day working on the project he's currently taking on. He let me help carry beams and other slats of heavy wood, and I was grateful to be included.
Another boyfriend was there, but he insisted that he had pulled enough splinters out of his hands to last a lifetime. His boyfriend, Warner, told him that's why we're wearing work gloves, and I about fell over from laughter at the look of his face.
Thoughts of Colt crossed my mind as I worked, but I didn't let them linger for too long. I couldn't worry myself into a hole while on a construction site.
We were just finishing the insulation, and then we would call it quits for the day. I held the pink insulation foam sheets up while James secured them in place, and we just had a few more to put in.
"So I was thinking about how I'm going to pay you tonight," James says, and I perk up.
"Sorry, can't tonight. I have plans," I state simply through a smug smile, and James's mouth drops open a little bit. I shrug. "I never said tonight."
"Yeah right like you implied another time."
I cock a smirk. "I'm sorry you read too much into it. That sounds like a personal problem."
His head falls back in exasperation. "Jesus Christ, Josie. You've got me so wound up so tight and now I can't even..." he trails, and I giggle, holding up the last foam sheet for him. He secures it, and when he's done, I pat his shoulder sympathetically.
"Sorry Charlie. Looks like you're on your own tonight." I turn my back and sashay away, hearing him failing to suppress a frustrated groan.
"Hey!" he calls back, and I turn on my heel, walking backward and grinning slyly. "I love you!"
I give him a two-finger salute and turn right back around.
After having almost no physical contact with a man this way for almost nine years, goddamn, I've still got it.
-
"That's fucking disgusting." Wrinkling my nose, I stare down SueEllen's "snack" with disdain.
She dips her pickle back into her mint chocolate chip milkshake and glowers at me. "You're just jealous 'cause you don't have the balls to try it."
"And my stomach thanks me for it."
We'd been pouring over baby name books for the last hour, sending Tommy our every now and then to get us food. SueEllen placed herself on the club chair with her legs tucked underneath her as far as she could get them, and I was sitting on the ground in front of the coffee table where all the books lay with sticky notes indicating names we liked.
SueEllen ignores me and continues to read over the names and their meanings, but her eyes keep flicking back to that one name.
I glance over at the book to confirm my thoughts, and I sigh.
"I wish you'd just pick that one. It's a great name," I insist softly.
She avoids eye contact, flipping the page. "It's okay."
"But's got the perfect meaning, too. I mean 'son of the south?' How perfect is that?"
She bites into her pickle as her response.
"Think of it as my personal gift to your kid... Oh my god I'm a fairy godmother!"
"But Benjamin was your baby's name. I don't feel right about it," she says through her disgusting concoction, totally ignoring my excitement about being a fairy.
I try to suppress a laugh at her ridiculousness. "It's not like I'm giving you my baby, just its potential would-be name." I slide over to her until I'm sitting before her chair, and I rest my chin on her leg. "I know you feel like you're undermining me, but you aren't, I swear."
Her big doe eyes finally meet mine wordlessly.
"Doesn't Benjamin Andrew sound beautiful? God, I bet he'll be a looker." I wiggle my eyebrows suggestively, trying to make SueEllen smile or laugh or anything besides frown.
Her lips curve up in a dorky smile.
Mission completed.
She smiles as she pushes my head away, and I grin back up at her. "You're such a bonehead," she mocks. She looks down at her round belly and places a hand over it. "They're both going to be lookers if how Alan came out is anything to go by, but you're right. Jean and Alan can't have a nameless brother."
I sit back on my butt. "Then it's settled. Benjamin Andrew and Jean Evelyn Turner. Tommy going to be okay with that?"
"Of course. You know he doesn't care about names, as long as they turn out all right."
"Oof." I rub the back of my neck. "He might have to start worrying then. You two as parents," I pause, meeting her gaze once more, "Lord have mercy on your children."
I laugh so hard at Sue's face that I miss the rolled-up magazine aimed for the back of my head, and that only makes me laugh harder.
"You know you're breaking one of the sacred commandments," she huffs.
I wipe a tear away from my eye, trying to sober up. "And which one is that?"
"Thou shalt not make fun of pregnant women, especially those carrying twins."
"Oh stop it, you love being pregnant." And I'm not lying. SueEllen loves pregnancy and everything that comes with it. The special treatment, the judgment-free eating, the way it makes her skin clear up, you name it.
"That's true, I do," she admits shamelessly.
"I swear you could have been a broodmare in a past life."
"I will never understand you two."
I turn around and see Tommy leaning in the doorway, traces of amusement on his face.
"Don't hate us cause you ain't us," Sue says dramatically with a wave of her hand. We cross our arms and stare at him cockily.
"Oh trust me," he muses, "That's not at all what's going on here." He uncrosses his arms and pushes off from the wall to sit down on the arm of Sue's chair.
"Where'd you come from?"
"Just got back from Travis's house." I nod, suppressing the urge to ask him how Colt's doing. "Any closer to finding the perfect names?"
"Well Tommy," I start, standing.
"Since you've asked," says SueEllen, also standing next to me.
"We are proud to present," we announce together, standing side by side, and I flourish my arms dramatically around her swollen belly.
"Jean Evelyn," I say, pointing to one side of Sue's belly.
"And Benjamin Andrew." SueEllen points to the other side.
"TA-DA!" we finish. SueEllen flaunts jazz hands above her stomach, and I follow suit below her stomach.
Tommy arches a brow and smirks. "Did you guys rehearse that?"
"Absolutely not." SueEllen shakes her head.
"How do you know who's who?"
"Fuck if I know," I answer at the same time SueEllen proudly says, "Motherly intuition."
Tommy raises both brows and leans back, silently calling her out.
"Fine!" She throws her hands up in irritation before crossing them. "We don't." Then a few seconds later in a hopeful manner, "Are the names okay?"
"Of course." He beckons for her to come closer to him, and she complies. He pulls her close and rests his hands on either side of Sue's tummy, and all of a sudden, I feel like I'm intruding on a private moment.
I quietly excuse myself from the room, heading to the kitchen to grab a container of ice cream and a spoon.
I'll let them have a few minutes to themselves before reminding them I'm here.
I hop up on the counter and eat my ice cream, side-eying the pickle jar next to me.
Damn crazy lady. I never had those cravings while I was pregnant. Not that I really was pregnant for long after the cravings started, but I never wanted that weird shit SueEllen does.
My phone dings on the counter beside me, and I look down to see who it is.
Mr. Cheese: Can't stop thinking about our deal, starting to think you became my girlfriend just to torture me all the time. Say hi to the Turners for me
A small giggle escapes my lips when I read his message, and I type a reply out, and then press send.
Me: That's just a perk of being your girlfriend. I'll tell you the real reason later. I'll send them your love ;)
I dig out another chunk of ice cream to eat while waiting for a replying text, and a subconscious smile etches out an appearance.
The phone dings, and a rather, well, dirty message displays itself onto my lock screen. My eyes widen as I take in James's reply, and I feel the heat creep up from my neck.
I tell him I can't do that now, and I also tell him I'll call him later before putting my phone face down on the counter.
"You're not eating all my ice cream right?"
I glance over to Tommy and roll my eyes. I show him the container that still has a little more than half left.
"Nope."
He hops onto the counter beside me and bumps his leg into mine.
"So, the twins finally have names of their own." He blows out a breath. "I still can't believe we're having two."
I nod. "I bet you're remembering all of those sleepless nights right about now, aren't you?"
"Those too, yeah. But I know that those don't last forever. I just want to meet them, get to know them, help them think for themselves one day." He stops to think. "They aren't even a 'them' anymore. They're Jean and Benjamin. Damn."
I could listen to Tommy talk about his children forever. The absolute love and adoration he already has for them, it just makes me feel better about the world. And I could tease SueEllen all I want, but she and Tommy really are good parents.
I reach around and pat his back. "You're such a great dad. Alan, Jean, and Benjamin are so blessed to have you and SueEllen."
"You really think so?" he asks, and I waste no time in giving him my answer.
"I know so, Tommy boy. I know so."
--
And that's chapter 29! I love writing SueEllen and Josie solely because I get to write moments like these. It was a slower chapter, but I kinda liked it.
Okay folks, ta-ta for now. Comment and vote if you liked the chapter, obviously lol.
Till next time!
XX Blondie XX