Blissful Vol. 1 (4 page)

He turns around and pushes a mug into my
hands. “
Drink
up.”

I glance at the coffee and back at him
again. He’s already sipping from his, but I’m terrified to taste
it, afraid it might be full of germs.

“What?” he says. “Don’t drink coffee?”

“I do,” I say, and I quickly bring the mug
to my lips. I don’t want to be rude. I take a sip and notice it’s
not as a bad as I thought.

“I know how to make a good cup.”

He winks and it makes me smile.

“
You can take a shower if you like. Must
feel crappy in those muddy clothes.
Bet you’ve got some spares in that elephant-size
luggage of yours.” He takes another sip of his coffee.

“As a matter of fact I do, and yes, I’d love
to.”

“Hey, you can stay for dinner, if you like,”
he says. “If you’ve got nowhere else to go, I mean. Got anybody to
call? Ask them to pick you up?”

I bite my lip and take my cell phone out
of my bag, but then realize it was empty. What does it matter? Who
in the world would I call anyway? No way in hell I’ll call
Ronnie
, and Nicole …
well, I just can’t speak to her yet.

“No … not really,” I mutter.

“
Hmm …” Jack puts his hand behind his head
and seems agitated. He sets down his mug and holds out his hand.
“Hand me your keys, will you? I’ll get to work on your car while
you freshen up.”

I hesitate for a moment and gaze at his
hand. Should I? I’m in a stranger’s house, drinking coffee that
could be drugged for all I know, and I just agreed to take a shower
in another man’s home. And I’ve not even started on all the
possibilities with my car. Maybe he’ll wreck my car, steal it, or
he’ll try to keep me here against my will. What the hell am I
doing? I don’t even know where I am and I’m just blindly going
after this man as if he’s all I have. Should I trust
him?

“What’s the matter? Don’t you trust me?” he
says, the smile disappearing from his face.

I bite my lip.

“
You know … you’re a very strange girl,” he
says.

“Thanks,” I say with furrowed brows.

“
I’m the one letting you into my house. I
should be the one worried.”

“
Why? I’m not dangerous,” I say.

“
Well, then why do you think I am? I’m just
a rancher, doing my business, helping out strangers in
need.”

I swallow, not knowing what to say.

“
If you think I’ll pull a number on you, I
won’t, trust me,” he continues. “I wouldn’t want to steal that car
if my life depended on it.”

“
Hey!” I put dow
n my mug so hard it makes a thumping sound, and
the coffee spills over the edge.

He holds up his hands. “Relax.
Geez,
you really are the
sensitive one, aren’t you?”

“
I’m not the one throwing around remarks. I
could say some things about your house, but I don’t, because I have
manners.”

One of his eyebrows lifts up and the left
corner of his lip quirks up. “Oh really? I don’t mind. You can say
anything you like. C’mon, tell me, what
do
you think of my house?”

I fold my arms. “I’
m not falling for your taunts.”

Jack steps closer. A little too close. He’s
so close I can almost feel his body. As if the heat radiating from
his skin touches mine and warms me up. I hold my breath as he steps
into my comfort zone. The smell of his unwashed clothes is somehow
wildly attractive.

He gazes into my eyes with a daring look.
“I can take it.”

“
Fine. Your house is a mess.
Ever clean it?”

Jack squints, not moving an inch. The
infinite stare between us makes me nervous. My body is gravitating
toward his without my consent.

Then he bursts out into a roaring laugh.
“No.”

I frown, my mouth dropping open because of
his blatant affirmation. “I just told you your house is dirty. And
you don’t care?”

“
No. Why should I? Does it matter what
other people think? Or does it matter more what I think and know?”
Jack smirks. “Don’t let things get to you that much. It’s not
important. It’s not what makes life worth living.”
He holds out his
hand.

“
Then what makes life worth living
according to you?” I say, sniggering
. I fumble in my pockets and fish out my car
keys.

“
Making as many people as you can
happy.”
He snatches them
from my hand. “And I intend to make one stranger happy right
now.”

Jack turns and walks out the kitchen,
leaving me breathless.

Chapter 3

Jack

She amuses me. I don’t know why. She just
makes me want to taunt her. Her smile is just that contagious, and
it makes me want to get her to laugh. Somehow
when I see it, it lights me up.

Fuck, what the hell am I thinking? I only
just met her. I shouldn’t be thinking about this shit. I’ve got
more important things to do than crack up with some random
stranger. A cute stranger
, though.

Dang, that girl’s got some issues, though.
I wonder what’s up with her, going all ballistic in my car like
that. Jesus, the way she just froze scared the living shit out of
me. My heart just stopped seeing her stone cold face blank like
that, as if she saw a ghost or something. That can’t have been
because of what I said to her. I know I can be a douche, but not to
the point where a girl looks like she almost pisses her
pants.

I should’ve known when I
saw that pouty tear-jerking
face of hers that’s what was waiting for me. I don’t know what’s
bothering her so much, but I’m not too keen on finding out either.
I shouldn’t get involved. It’s not my business, even though I
offered to help her. Goddamn why did I make this promise to myself
to continue Rose’s legacy? With chicks like these I remember why I
thought her idea of helping random people sounded incredibly stupid
and dangerous. But there’s something about Amy … her smile … her
lips … the way she seemed so helpless, it reminds me of
Rose.

Something inside me tells me I need to
help Amy. As I should’ve helped Rose that night …

Fuck, fuck, fuck! Don’t you fucking think
about that McCallister! Just fucking stop and get to work. Stop
complaining.

I blow off some steam and kick a bucket
standing next to the door.

I
should just fix her car and that’s that. Nothing
more.

Tucking my hem back into my pants, I open
the door to my truck and get inside. I step on the gas and turn the
car so it’s right in front of the garage, exactly the right spot
for me to work on her car. I can’t get it inside and there’s no way
in hell I’m pushing it all the way inside by myself, so this’ll
have to do.

I step on the brakes, stop the truck and
get out again. Twirling the set of keys in my hand, I walk up to
her car and unhook the chain connecting it to my truck. Turning on
the light outside the garage, I point it at the car, so I can
actually see something. I open the hood and check for loose valves
and gauge the fluids. Nothing seems off, except for the horrible
stench and this old barrel’s engine. Probably the latter is causing
all this trouble. It’s already giving me a headache just thinking
about all the replacing I have to do to get this baby running
again. Busted engines aren’t easily fixed. It’ll be days before Ben
could get me a new one at the shop, and picking it up will take
hours.

Shit, there goes my plan of getting her out
as soon as possible.

Fuck, what should I do? I can’t keep her
here. She’s too much of a distraction to me, but I can’t kick her
out either. There’s nowhere she can go at this time at night and I
am
not
going to
send her out there. Fuck. I’m fucked.

I sigh and drop my head between my
shoulders. Thinking about it only makes me feel queasy. I don’t
want any temptation in my life
, not after … I just can’t handle it, but I can’t let her
leave without a car either. Maybe it’s not that bad to have her in
my house a couple of days. She could help out on the farm. If she’s
gonna act normal that is.

I snort and spit on the ground beside
me.
Whatever. I’ll just
have to deal with it.

Disappearing under the hood again, I make
certain it’s really the engine that’s broken and nothing else.

“Daddy!”

My
head bumps against the hood from the scare, and I let out a
groan from the pain. I turn my head and see Madeline bouncing
around in a puddle of water in her tiny boots. Seeing her
three-year old face makes me both happy and scared.

“Daddy!”

“
What are you doing here, sweetie?” I say,
and I rub the painful bump on my head. “It’s too dark to play
outside.”

“
I know, but I’m not playing!” She comes
closer and jerks on my leg. “Daddy, there’s a lady in the shower.
Who is she?”

I turn around and get to my knees. “That’s
Amy, Madeline. She’ll be staying with us a couple of days.” I grab
her by the shoulders and smile to make her feel comfortable, just
as Rose told me.

“
Can I play with her?”

“
Sure you can. Ask her. Maybe you two can
become friends.”

She
purses her lips. “Maybe …”

I
squint. “What?”

“She’s strange. I said ‘hi’ and she was
staring at me.”

I try to
suppress a laugh. “Sweetie, you shouldn’t say that
about people. Especially not
to
them.” Although I do think she’s absolutely
right.

“Why not? It’s the truth.”

“Sometimes the truth shouldn’t be said,
because it can hurt the people you’re talking about, Madeline. How
would you feel if she said you were strange?”

Her eyebrows lower and she starts to pout.
“I’m not strange!”

“I know,” I say and I laugh a little.

My little angel always makes me smile,
even though she’s
created a huge indent in my life. I can’t imagine what it
would be like without her. I don’t even want to think of being
without her. She’s the only one I have left that still loves
me.

“
Well, you go get inside where it’s
warm.
” I kiss her on the
forehead. “Play some more with your dolls. I’m sure she’ll be out
of the shower in no time, and then you can ask her to play with
you.”

I turn her around and she giggles, because
I always leave my signature tickle. Running back to the door, she
stops to jump up and down in a puddle two more times. I love seeing
her happy. It soothes the painful gash in my heart.

***

I’m cutting up the beans, watching the
sports channel in between. The shower is still running, and I
wonder if spending so much time
in the water is regular business to this girl. If she
doesn’t come out soon, she’ll end up looking like my late
gran.

Chortling from the images that come to
mind, I take a peek at Madeline who’s playing in the corner. She’s
pretending her dolls are marrying again, but it never ends well.
They never have that happy ever after that’s boasted so much in
those fairy tale books I read to her at night. Sometimes she makes
them fall down a ramp, or crashes the tiny doll car into a post, or
worse … she pretends they drown.

Lucky she hasn’t arrived at that part in her
story yet.

I don’t know what to do about it. I’ve
spoken to a couple of therapists, but they all say the same thing.
It’s a period she has to go through in order to process what
happened. Normal, they say. Normal my ass.

I clear my throat
and bring the bowl of beans to the
kitchen, starting up the fire. The beef steaks are already on the
grill outside and I can smell them through the open window,
bringing water to my mouth.

I pick up a sack of taters and grab a
knife.
Peeling taters
isn’t on my list of favorite things to do, but it has to be done.
Nobody else is here to do it and I sure as hell ain’t going to cook
up something difficult.

The shower is finally turned off. About
time. Madeline’s eyes and ears perk up like a dog hearing
its owners call. She’s too
interested in Amy, and it freaks me out. I don’t want her to become
attached to someone who’ll leave again. And I know Amy
will.

Everything’s already started cooking
before Miss
Sensitive
comes downstairs to join us in the fun. She briefly glances at me
and smiles. A knot twists in my stomach, because I know I have to
break the bad news to her now.

Madeline comes running to us, but I stop
her. “Maddy, wait, not now sweetie. Daddy has to talk to Amy for a
second, okay? She’ll be with you in a moment. Go play a little
more.”

She sighs and pouts again, but still listens
to me, thankfully. I wait until she’s too far away to hear us
before I start talking.

“Uh … ‘bout your car.”

“
What about it?” Amy says, tucking her
still wet hair into a bun.

“
The engine’s broke. Like completely
busted. I’ll have to replace it entirely.”