Finding Jordie: Things aren't always what they seem. (The Love Lies Bleeding Series Book 1) (32 page)

“All right.” But I could tell by his worried scowl he wasn’t convinced.

Dinner was great. We went to the pizza place where Nathan and I had our first ‘date’. Emma was still wearing the set pass around her neck. I didn’t think that thing was ever coming off. She went on and on about how cool Rena was when she met her. I, of course, knew better so I rolled my eyes on the inside, but sat and listened to my daughter’s excitement as a good mom should. Frank joined us, but half way through dinner he had to excuse himself to take a call. When he came back to the table he looked really agitated.

“Emma, would you go pay the bill for me?” He reached in his back pocket and pulled out his wallet.

“Sure.” She smiled as Frank handed her two twenties and the check.

Once she was out of ear shot Frank turned his attention to me. “Jordie, I know you’re more than capable of handling your own affairs, and have done a great job of doing so, but my job is to protect you guys.” His tone was much calmer than what his body language gave off.

Shit, busted.
“Charles told you?” I mumbled as I guiltily lowered my head.

“Excuse me, what did you just say? Charles knew about this?” His nostrils flared as he hissed.

“Uh, hello? Someone care to fill me in here? Jordie? Frank?” Nathan sounded so confused.

“Here’s the change, Frank.” Emma placed it on the table.

“Thank you, sweetheart.” He smiled at her as if our conversation had never taken place.

“Shall we?” He gestured to the door.

Nobody said a word on the car ride home. Luckily it was only two blocks away. There wasn’t really enough time for it to get too awkward in there. Once we were all back at the apartment I told Emma to do her homework, shower, and go to bed. Nathan was eyeing Frank and me suspiciously the entire time.

“Is someone going to tell me what the fuck is going on here?” Nathan was pissed.

“Jordan?” Frank gestured to me.

What? Did Frank expect me to tattle on myself?
“Ugghhh, fine, but keep it down. I don’t need Emma hearing any of this,” I whispered. “I got another phone call yesterday, and if Charles didn’t tell you, then how did you find out?”

“Remember you gave Richard permission to have all the phone lines traced so we were prepared if you did receive any more calls?” Frank reminded me.

“Yeah? And?”

“Well, incoming calls are monitored; if it is not suspicious the trace is shut down, but yesterday’s call was suspicious so the trace was left on.” He raised an eyebrow at me.

“Well whatever, I don’t care. I’m not going to let some pervy asshole attempt to scare me into seclusion, or some shit.”

“Jordie,
why
didn’t you tell me or Frank? And why didn’t Charles report this to you?” Nathan turned to Frank.

“I will deal with Charles later.”

“No, no, please don’t. It was my fault. I begged him not to call you. He tried so many times to call you. I just kept begging him not to.”

“Jordan, I can’t help you if you aren’t honest with me, and from what I heard on that recording I’d take a guess that you really pissed him off.”

“What? The guy is a shit bag. He deserves what I said to him and more.” I folded my arms. Screw that, I was proud of myself.

“That may be true, Jordie, but you’re just adding fuel to the fire, sweetie.” Frank’s face finally relaxed a bit.

“So now what?”

“Now we wait to see where the call originated from.”

“I don’t care. I’m not allowing this sick freak to consume another minute of my time. I mean, this place is on lock down, right? Nobody can get in without us knowing who it is, so what is the big deal?” I threw up my hands, exasperated.

“I’ll put three more guys on duty and someone will be with Emma at school again.” Frank gathered his belongings. “I need you to tell me these things, Jordie.”

“Sorry, Frank. I just didn’t think it was a big deal.” I shrugged, still tight lipped with my arms folded across my chest.

“I’m sorry,
what
, Jordan? You didn’t think some clearly unstable man who has been harassing you, stalking you, ransacked your apartment, violated your personal belongings, and flat out told you he was coming for you
was a big deal
?” He tried to keep his voice down but it was still loud and frustrated.

“Whoa, what?” Nathan jumped in.

“Oh yes, Nate, the guy called her a deceitful piece of trash who he was coming to get because she was his. Right, no big deal?” Frank threw his hands in the air and slapped them down on his thighs.

“Jesus Christ, Jordie.” Nathan ran his hands through his hair.

“Oh Lord, don’t you start on me too, Nathan.” I walked into the kitchen and poured myself a glass of wine. “Seriously, it’s done and over with. Drop it. I don’t think he’ll call back.”

“Mom, is everything all right?” Emma was standing in the hallway.

“Oh yeah honey, everything is fine.”

“I’m going to bed. I’ll shower in the morning. I love you.” She came over and kissed me goodnight.

“Love you too, honey.”

“Night, Nathan. G’nite, Frank.” She walked back into her room.

“If everyone is done ganging up on me, may I be excused? I’m exhausted.” I glanced back and forth between the both of them.

“I’ll let myself out. Jordan, please, you kids are not just a job to me.” Frank opened the door.

“I know. I’m sorry. Thank you, Frank.”

Once we heard the second door close, Nathan set the alarm and locked up. “Early night tonight I guess?” He dimmed the kitchen lights and shut off the ones in the living room.

“Yeah, I’m beat. Shower and bed.”

“My parents will be driving in next week,” Nathan said as I stripped and turned on the shower. “Wednesday or Thursday they should get here.”

I let the hot water run down my back and I felt Nathan up against me. I smiled.

“I will never get tired of you and your reaction to me.” I slid my hand behind me and took him in my hand.

“Me either.” He moved his hands up to my breasts and guided me against the wall.

“This way okay?” He whispered in my ear and kissed my neck.

“More than okay,” I breathed.

While I towel dried my hair, I tried to explain to Nathan that every time he wanted to take me that way he didn’t have to ask. He was hesitant because it made him feel better to know I was okay with it.

“I told you, I’m not all fucked up from it. Shit happens. Either you dwell on it or the hell with it. I choose the hell with it. Keeping shit pent up and staying angry will not change the past. Besides, it loses its spontaneity once you ask.” I quirked the corner of my lip up and squinted slightly. “Trust me, Nathan. You’d know if I didn’t want any part of it.”

“All right, all right. No more asking.” He shook his head and chuckled as he walked out of the bathroom.

It was only eight-thirty and I was exhausted.

“You know, for someone who doesn’t do very much, you’d think I ran marathons every day. I’ve been so tired these past two weeks.” I yawned and climbed into bed.

“Are we going to talk about this at all, Jordie?”

“About how tired I have been?” I tried to act like I didn’t get his point.

“You know about what.”

“Not really, babe. I’m tired and I’ve forgotten about it already.” I snuggled against his open arm waiting for me.

“I love you,” was all he said, and I fell asleep.

The next two weeks flew by. It had felt as if I had known Nathan a lifetime by that point. His parents drove from Sacramento in their RV. No wonder Nathan was such a great man—his parents were genuinely good people to the core. Their love for him radiated from them. They generated the kind of mood that made it impossible to stop smiling. They even brought Emma a few gifts that they’d picked up along their drive to New York. Nothing overwhelming, just a few truck stops novelty trinkets and key chains. She was thrilled though, being that she had never left the Tri-State area and hadn’t really received gifts from anyone other than myself, Kelly, and Rachel. She’d never had the “grandparent experience,” so to speak.

After Jason passed away, I’d never heard from his side of the family again. Good riddance was all I had to say about that. Jason’s mother was a few fries short of a Happy Meal anyhow. So it was a relief I had gotten along with Nathan’s parents so well. As suspected, once I actually met Nathan’s mother it was much easier to talk about Jason. I had to admit, I felt really guilty when they walked in my place and saw all the pictures of Jason hanging on the wall. It almost felt like a weird shrine to my deceased husband. His parents looked at all of the pictures though, expressing how sorry they were for our loss. I wanted to say to them that it was all right, things happened for a reason. The truth was if Jason hadn’t passed away, I would have never met their son. As harsh as it sounded, Nathan and I were meant for one another. If Jason hadn’t passed, I would never have known what true happiness was. I decided it was best to keep that to myself for the time being and that perhaps it was time to take down some of those pictures and begin replacing them with new memories.

His mother insisted we have the wedding in Sacramento and also insisted on paying for it. I couldn’t see that happening, but I wasn’t about to insult the woman by declining. It was her only child, and she was so happy we were getting hitched. Sacramento did sound better than White Castle, I had to admit. I left that situation for Nathan to handle.

The day they left I took down most of the pictures in the living room. I left one of Jason holding Emma hanging up on the back wall. The walls seemed so naked, but a wave of relief rushed over me. A clean canvas, a new beginning. I smiled to myself.

“Babe?” Nathan called when he came through the door. His schedule wasn’t so bad. He’d had to shoot at night only three times so far and both were twelve hours. Other than that, we adjusted pretty well.

“In here,” I called out from the kitchen.

“Smells good. What is it?” He rested his chin on my shoulder.

“Chicken Alfredo.”

“Yum. I’m starving.” He gave me a peck on the cheek before he grabbed a beer from the fridge and went to sit at the table with Emma. She was reading a book on her iPad. I swear she never put that thing down.

“Hey, I have to go to Vancouver for three days next week.”

“Oh.”

“You two are coming, right?” He stood up and went back to the kitchen to make his plate. Emma perked up immediately.

“What are the dates?” I shot her a look. “You’ve missed entirely too much school, Emma, and I have to cover for Rachel June third and fourth.”

“That’s this weekend,” Nathan said. “I have to go the sixth, seventh, and eighth.”

For a moment my brain stopped functioning and his words echoed in my head. I put my plate down and walked over to the calendar. “That can’t be.” Trying to keep the panic out of my voice was a challenge.

“What’s the matter?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. Time has just gone by so quickly the past few months. It took me by surprise.” I managed a small smile as I reached up to kiss him.

Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Shit! I started over in my head. Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven...no...I messed up somewhere. No, you didn’t, stupid. Since you were fifteen it’s the same thing month after month, like clockwork. It has to be stress. There’s no way. How can you say no way? Not like you two jackrabbits have been careful or anything. Did you really think that you were just too old to get pregnant?