Jackpot! (24 page)

In the meantime, there was someone else I had to have a little chat with, a girl who I was certain my mother would love. More importantly, a girl I was beginning to think I couldn’t live without.

Chapter 26

“Pretzel boy! What are you doing here?” cried Vito, when he saw me walk into his shop, “You’re not working today.”

“No. I’m actually here to buy something.”

“Fantastic!”

“I’ll take two dozen pretzels, just mix them up.”

“Sure, no problem!” said Vito, happily preparing my order, “Nice to see you actually believe in what you sell.”

I stood there smiling, but what I really wanted to do is tell Vito to shut up and ring me up quickly.

“Here you go,” he said, handing me a box with a big blue bow around it, “forty-o-nine.”

I handed him my credit card and a couple minutes later, I headed out the door. “Thanks, Vito,” I said.

“See you next Saturday, Pretzel boy!” he said loudly.

“Don’t call me that!”

I could hear Vito laughing as I left the shop.

‘What an asshole,’ I said to myself with a chuckle, as I hailed a cab.

My next stop:
You Sexy Thing, You.
I knew Courtney closed her store at 6:00, so I wanted to get there right around then. I figured that would be the best time to talk to her.

At 6:04 I was standing outside, peeking through the window. There didn’t appear to be any customers in the store. All I could see was Courtney reorganizing some nightgowns on one of the racks. God, she was beautiful, and I don’t just mean hot-looking. I missed her sweet demeanor, her quirky jokes, her smart, sexy personality, her lips on mine, and her giggle when I teased her about Sean Kingston.

What could I possibly say to get her back? Would she give me another chance? Did I deserve one? I wasn’t sure. I just knew I was going for it. I had been in love once in my life. The outcome had sucked. Now, I was being given a second chance and I was going to do everything I could to un-screw up everything I’d done with her. I ate an Altoid, fixed my hair with my fingers, and took a few deep breaths. Then I went into battle.

The minute I walked in the door, I knew I was screwed. Courtney saw me and I watched the relaxed, peaceful look on her face instantly transform to uncomfortable.

“Hi,” I said with a nervous grin.

“Danny, hi…” she said. She seemed so nervous, it was painful.

Right then, some dude walked out of the bathroom.

“Who’s this?” the guy asked.

Courtney turned to him. “Matt, this is a friend of mine, Danny Jacobson. Danny, this is Matt Hill.”

The guy extended his hand to shake mine and had the nerve to say, “Nice to meet you. I’m Courtney’s boyfriend.”

“Really?” I asked.

“We’ve known each other for four days,” Courtney answered.

“I don’t think that really matters,” answered Mr. P-whipped.

“Courtney, can I talk to you for a minute?” I asked.

“Sure…”

We both looked at Matt, expecting him to walk out of the room, but he just stood there. “Dude, I’m thinking you should go outside for a minute,” I said to him, “Is that cool?”

Matt looked at Courtney. “Is that okay?” she asked him.

“Sure.” He looked pissed, but he did it.

The second he was gone, I said, “You already have another boyfriend?”

“He’s a little bit of a stalker, I have to say, but he really likes me.”

“Do you like HIM?”

“Why are you here, Danny?”

I handed her the box of pretzels. “I came to apologize. I was such a jerk. I’m so sorry.”

“What is this?” she asked, holding up the box.

“Chocolate covered pretzels.”

“Thank you. That’s thoughtful.”

“Sure.”

“Listen, you weren’t that bad. You just did what you felt was right.”

“See, that’s just it. I DIDN’T do what I felt at all. I was selfish and a complete idiot. Look, here’s how I feel…” Then, I kissed her, and I mean hard on the mouth. I pulled away after a minute and said, “I like you, Courtney, in fact, I like you more than anyone I think I’ve ever liked.”

“What about Matt?” she asked.

I looked at my watch. “It’s 6:10. Maybe you can have a little chat with him, and then I’ll meet you for dinner at 7:00? Where should we go?”

“You’re unbelievable!”

“Not really. I just know I like you and I think you like me. And I don’t want to waste one more minute being without you. I don’t want to scare you and I don’t want to be a stalker, but I feel a connection I don’t think I’ve ever felt before. And I think you do, too. Don’t you?”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“My not being able to have kids, are you really okay with that?”

I gave her a huge grin and said, “More than you can imagine.”

Courtney’s face lit up. “I’ll meet you at
Las Pinata’s
at 7:00.”

I went to kiss her again, but this time she pulled away. “Go. I don’t want Matt to see this.”

“Okay,” I said with a smile and a wave. Then I walked outside and told her boyfriend he could come back in. I did feel kind of sorry for the guy, but I felt great for myself!

As promised, Courtney showed up at
Las Pinatas
at 7:00 and we ended up having a couple margaritas, chips, salsa, and tacos. It was a really fun night and I couldn’t have been more sure that I did the right thing giving up the cash and going for my girl.

After dinner, we ended up back at her place, where I spent the night. And yes, we slept together. I knew we weren’t making babies, but I didn’t care. What I felt for this woman far outweighed my desire to knock up some chick and get my mother’s money. Screw it. I was done.

Eventually I would tell Courtney about Frankie’s contract, and even though the thought of it made me cringe, I would also have to let her know I got arrested for solicitation of prostitution. I wasn’t looking forward to that, but I would figure out the right time to tell her about everything. Right now, I just wanted to enjoy her and get to know her better. I felt like we had all the time in the world now. And it felt amazing.

For the next week, I pretty much lived at Courtney’s apartment. Besides going home to get more clothes, or going to my job, I was a new fixture at her place. So uncharacteristic of my personality, I felt extremely at ease there, and other than the tremendous fear I felt every time I got off the elevator and passed Jennifer’s door, I was truly enjoying co-habitation.

Every morning, both of us would go to work, and like some whipped dude, I’d constantly think about how great it was going to be when we both walked through the door that evening. I found myself smiling all day, like some love-struck idiot. Even my students noticed.

“Mr. Jacobson, what’s up with you?” asked Corinne Keller.

“Mr. J., you’re different,” said Will Jones.

“Mr. J. has a girlfriend,” said Angela Walker, smiling from ear to ear, “I can tell.”

I smiled back at my number one, bright, beautiful student, who looking at these days made me depressed as hell, since she was planning on leaving school in the next couple of months. Angela was job searching and was set to drop out of Martin Luther King as soon as something came through. And as much as I’d tried to convince her not to quit school, her mind seemed to be made up. She was going to be a mom and a high-school dropout, and she was going to give up her dream career in marketing and public relations. I couldn’t understand why she didn’t think she could do both.

But as frustrated as I was about my student, I was on cloud nine for myself. I did some very romantic things that week. I just wanted to do nice things for Courtney. I felt like she deserved it. On Tuesday, I sent a dozen red roses to her store. Thursday, I gave her my high-school basketball jersey (which really meant a lot to me) so she would have something to sleep in besides lacy lingerie. And on Saturday, after my miserable day of dressing up like Mr. Salty, I ordered
Ranalli’s
pizza (which besides being good pizza was sentimental) and had dinner on the table when Courtney walked in the door at 6:15. The table was set, candles were lit, and a Nora Jones CD was playing on the stereo.

“What’s all this?” she asked.

“Dinner.”

“You did all this for me?”

“Sure.”

“Why?”

“Because I…” The words I love you were dying to come out. They were festering inside my body, trying to escape the frightened idiot who never had the guts to use them.

“Because you mean a lot to me,” I said.

Courtney threw her arms around me and told me I meant a lot to her, too. I was pissed at myself. ‘Did I have any balls at all?’ I wondered. As my girlfriend held me in her arms, I told myself that I’d tell her I loved her soon. Very soon. I would tell her lots of things very soon. Very soon…

Chapter 27

Rarely do I start my day at 5:30 in the morning, but today I was so excited that I popped out of bed. This was a big day for me. According to the directions of my ovulation kit, I was supposed to start testing myself six days after my period. Today was that day. Today was also the day I was seeing my boyfriend for the first time in almost a week. Drew had gotten home late the night before and would be at work this morning. I was so excited to see him I could barely stand it.

The week he was gone, he texted me a few times and called twice, but both times I could tell it was hard for him to talk because his family was around. What I got from him, though, was that he was having a good time and that he was glad he’d chosen to go there.

“I’ll give you more details when I get back,” he said during one of our conversations. Other things he said and texted during the week were, “I miss you,” “I can’t wait to see you,” and “I can’t stop thinking about you.”

My response to all of those sentiments was the same every time. “Me too,” I’d say or text.

Drew did tell me he loved me one time during his trip. My response was not “me too.” Instead, I went with, “Okay, well, have fun! See you soon!”

He chuckled and then said, “Sleep well, honey.”

Honey did sleep well, thanks to the Xanax I felt like I desperately needed as a result of hearing “I love you” again. I knew “I love you” wasn’t going away. I felt sure that Drew really did mean it. As far as my feelings, they were all over the map. Yes, I was pretty sure I loved him, too. But what about the plan? What about the baby? The money? My desire to be wealthy and make movies was still a big priority. Couldn’t I have it all? I wasn’t sure, and I felt like I was in too deep to tell Drew the truth.