Loved Bayou (Martin Family Book 1) (10 page)

"Me!" I said.

"It doesn't matter," Cam said. "What matters is that it's not
your
property, and the next time we catch you on it, we're not gonna be so nice."

Chapter 18

It was over a week later when I finally heard from Jacob. It was a Thursday evening at 9PM, and I was at home in my PJ's when my phone rang. I was lucky it was sitting in front of me because I had it silenced. If it weren't for me seeing his name flash across my screen, I would have missed it. I was so excited that I nearly dropped the phone as I was trying to answer it and get it to my ear.

"Hello?" I said, finally getting it situated. I rushed to find the remote so I could turn down the volume on the TV and make sure I could hear him.

"Alex Martin?" I heard his deep voice say on the other end.

A smile spread across my face. "Jacob Fox?" I asked. I knew he could hear the giant smile in my voice, and I didn't even care. "Are you home?" I asked, hopefully.

"No, but I was thinking I'd come back," he said.

"When?"

"I'll leave in the morning. I should be back Saturday night. I was thinking maybe you could come by Sunday if you want."

"Are you coming back for good?" I asked. It might not have been the best choice of questions, but it was the first thing that crossed my mind.

"I'd like to, if you're still feeling like—"

"I am," I said before he could even finish his sentence.

He let out a laugh. "You are what?" he asked, sounding amused.

"I am feeling like I want you back—like I want you here."

"I don't want you to be affected by people's perception of me, Alex."

"I'm not worried about that," I said. "I know you for who you are. I'm not worried about what other people think. People are gonna forget about it just like they forget about everything else."

"Just so you know, Alex. In matters of my parents' criminal activity, my conscious is clear."

"I know it is," I said. "You don't have to tell me that."

"And I straightened things out with God, too. I guess I couldn’t reconcile a loving Creator with everything I'd been through—and honestly, I didn't care to try. At least until you came along." I started to respond, but he continued before I could. "There was a man here in Maine. He's one of the only Christians I knew from my childhood who I thought was..." He paused and sighed. "Anyway, I thought maybe he could help me—answer the questions I had and sort of reconnect with God."

"And did he?" I asked.

"I'm calling you, aren't I? I didn't want to come back until I really felt for sure like I had straightened out some things within myself."

"I wish Maine wasn't so far away," I said. I was chomping at the bit to see him now that I knew he was coming.

"Larry does, too," he said. "He's sweating just thinking about riding in the truck for two days."

I giggled. "Poor Larry," I said. "Tell him I said he can chase the chickens when you get home."

"How are the chickens?" he asked.

"They're fine. We caught a few of the neighborhood guys on your land, but Cam and Cole ran them off. They won't be back. I told them it was my house. Cam works directly with one of their dads—he made the boy right a note, apologizing."

"When'd all that go down?"

"Right after you left. We didn't tell you about it because we took care of it."

"Did you say you told them it was your house?" he asked.

I giggled nervously since I hadn't even meant to mention that part of what I said. "I told him that because I didn't want him to think the house was empty."

"You sound good living there," he said with a smile in his voice.

"I look good over there, too," I said, teasing him. "…Throwing chicken feed out like Martha Washington."

"Was Martha Washington famous for feeding chickens? I didn't know that," he said, making me laugh.

"I don't know," I said, "but it sounds like something she'd do."

"I'll bet you look better than Martha Washington."

"I'll bet you look better than George," I said.

"I don't know about all that. I've been out in the woods. I haven't shaved in two weeks. You'll probably be
wishing
I looked like George Washington when I get back."

"I wish you look like Jacob Fox," I said.

He let out a little laugh. "Well, that's good, because I look almost just like him."

"Like him with a shaggy beard?" I asked.

"Not too shaggy," he said. I imagined that he was rubbing his jaw as he said it to gauge just how 'shaggy' it was. I smiled at the thought, feeling like I wanted to kiss his cheek right where he was theoretically rubbing it.

"I'm excited for Sunday," I said.

"Me too," he said. "I'll see you then."

"I can't wait."

I hung up with Jacob and proceeded to clean my whole kitchen even though it was late. I was so pumped about him coming home that I could have cleaned the whole house three times. I told myself that I had the whole next day to worry about things like that. I'd even have time to go by Jacob's and make sure everything looked welcoming for his return.

That thought made me get out some poster board. I happened to have poster board and decorating supplies from the year before when I helped Amelia with a homecoming parade float. That night before I went to bed, I decorated a poster that said "Bienvenue Jacob!" written inside the shape of Louisiana. I also looked up pictures on the internet and drew crawfish and gumbo pots and other random Cajun things. I wasn't a professional artist, so it took me almost two hours, but I loved it, and thought he would, too.

I hung it on his front door the next afternoon. I had been helping my mom clean out some things in my sister's room earlier in the day. Amelia had been there for a couple of hours with us. I was close to my family, so it was only natural that I caught them up on what was going on. I told them about Jacob coming back. I said that I liked him and he liked me, and that we were probably gonna be spending time together.

Moms and sisters are the best for this type of information—at least mine were. We laughed like a bunch of teenagers, which was understandable for Amelia since she was one. I told them the whole story about how I pushed myself onto his property and into his life and we giggled about me not taking no for an answer, and having a big crush.

I left there at 4PM, and went by Jacob's to hang the sign on my way home. I walked through the yard after I got finished just to make sure everything was in order. I was so excited about him coming home that I smiled the entire time. I wondered when exactly I'd see him again. I hadn't made plans to meet up with him the next day. I was still letting him contact me when he was ready, and this seemed to be working out for us.

Cam had recently started dating a girl from New Orleans, and apparently she was in town for dinner with his parents. He texted me after they ate, asking if I wanted to go out on the boat with them. I agreed because Cam always liked the females in his family to check out his new lady friends. He would bring them by to get our opinion the second he started dating them. Cole, on the other hand, would date a girl for months before he would bring her around to meet his parents. He was definitely the more guarded of the two brothers.

Cam agreed to pull up to my dock at 7:30, which would put us on the water at sunset. I smiled when I saw that Aunt Debbie was on the boat with them when they picked me up.
So, it was an official interview
, I thought, but didn't say out loud.

"Where are y'all going?" I asked as I stepped onto the boat and hugged Aunt Debbie. I reached out to give Cam's date a hug, which she returned.

"Just to drive around a little bit. Jolene never gets out on the water, and she wanted to check it out."

"You must be Jolene," I said, extending a hand to shake hers even though I had already hugged her. She agreed and we spent a minute or so making introductions and talking about how our houses all backed up to the same waterway before Cam fired up the boat and we took off.

None of us talked as he drove to an opening in the water that was about ten minutes away. "The sunset's pretty from over here," Cam yelled over the sound of the engine once he slowed down. He found an open spot, and let the boat idle while we had a conversation and waited for the sunset. Jolene was nice enough. It was hard to say, really, because even psycho weird-os behaved themselves on the first date sometimes, but my initial impression was that she didn't seem like such a bad catch.

It was almost dark by the time we headed back home. We had to pass Jacob's place on the way to mine, and of course, I looked over there to see if I could see any lights. I did see lights. I saw lights that I knew meant Jacob was home. My heart started racing uncontrollably. I knew he was coming home tonight, but for some reason, it still shocked me to see lights on at his house.

We were on the open water, and would soon speed past his house if I didn't do anything to stop the boat. I was close enough to Cam that I could reach him when I leaned over. I stretched out and punched his leg causing him to look at me curiously.

"Slow down!" I yelled.

Cam let off the throttle, and the boat not only slowed down, but also quieted down.

"Do you have a flash light?" I asked Cam.

"Why? You wanna show Jolene how to catch a frog?"

"I was hoping to catch a Fox," I said, smiling at my own corny joke.

"Is he back?" Cam asked when he saw me grinning toward Jacob's place.

I nodded, and the next thing I knew, Aunt Debbie was thrusting a flashlight into my hands. It was one of those spotlights, and I smiled as I turned it on. I aimed it at Jacob's dock, hoping to catch him sitting on the end of it. I thought for sure he'd be there and that Cam would drive me over so I could run into his arms. The daydream played out in my mind the instant I turned on that flashlight and aimed it at the dock. But there was no Jacob. There was just an empty dock.

I shined the light onto the grass near the dock just in case, but still no sign of Jacob.
If only my light was bright enough to shine into his house.

"Somebody's signaling you," Cam said.

My head whipped around to see that Cam was staring straight toward Jacob's house, and he gestured to the shore. "Look right there," he said, pointing. "You'll see it."

Sure enough, I saw a light blinking in the distance. "It's coming from up by the house," Cam said. "Flash it up there a couple of times."

I did my best to flash the light in the right direction, turning it off and then on a couple of times since I thought that’s what he meant by flash. The light returned our pattern, flashing twice.

I smiled. "Bring me over there," I said, feeling like that signal was invitation enough as I turned off the light and gave it to Aunt Debbie. I sat back, letting Cam know I was ready, and he revved the engine to bring us over to Jacob's dock.

Jacob was walking down the dock by the time we got over there. I couldn’t see him, but I could see his flashlight swinging, and I knew who it was. As we got closer, I could see Jacob coming into the light at the end of the dock with Larry at his side. There was a light attached to a wooden pole, and Jacob stood under it, waiting for Cam to pull the boat closer. There might as well have been no one else in the boat. Jacob's gaze found mine, and we held eye contact the whole time our boat approached. I stared at the lines of his face and the way the shadows played off of them. I wanted so badly to be next to him.

"I like my sign," he said with a half-smile directed at me. "I tried to text you a little while ago." He gestured to the waterway behind us. "I saw you guys heading out earlier, and I thought for sure you'd stop by."

"I looked over here, but I couldn't tell if you were home," I said. "And I haven't looked at my phone," I added, patting my pocket to tell him where it had been.

He smiled—a genuine, easy smile that made my heart happy. "Well, at least you're here now," he said.

"I'm here now," I repeated.

Jacob and I were so focused on each other that it startled me when Cam said, "Jacob, this is Jolene."

Jacob shifted his attention to the girl and gave her a quick smile and wave.

"Have you met my mom?" Cam asked.

"We have, briefly," Aunt Debbie said.

"Sorry for that," Jacob said, causing Aunt Debbie to smile and shake her head like he shouldn't feel the need to apologize.

"Are you staying?" Jacob asked, looking at me.

I stood up to exit the boat with no hesitation whatsoever.

Chapter 19

If there was a graceful way to get out of a boat, I didn't know about it. I grew up on these waters, and had entered and exited boats my whole life, yet still my legs shook as I tried to steady myself making the transition from boat to dock. Aunt Debbie was there to steady me until I reached out to take Jacob's hand.

"Are you gonna need a ride home?" Aunt Debbie asked, staying true to her protective, motherly instincts.

"I've got her," Jacob assured her, pulling me onto the dock to stand beside him.

I turned and smiled down at everyone still sitting in the boat. They all had completely different expressions. Aunt Debbie seemed a little surprised that I was staying, Cam was checking us out with an unreadable expression, and Jolene was beaming from ear to ear like a girl who was on her first date. Actually, I think she and I were wearing similar smiles.

The realization of this made me giggle a little, which caused Jacob to look at me. I couldn't believe he was standing right next to me. It had been nearly two weeks since the last time I had seen him, and it seemed like an eternity. I continued to smile as I let my eyes roam over his face. I wanted to say something to him, but I felt like anything I could say right there in front of Cam and everyone else would be silly and insignificant.

"You saw your sign?" I asked, unable to stop myself from blurting something.

He smiled and nodded. "I like that little crawfish with a hat."

"I made a little poster board thing for his front door," I said, turning to those in the boat to explain since they were just sitting there staring at us.

"Awww," Aunt Debbie cooed.

"Are you gonna hang out here?" Cam asked, poised to turn the motor and drive away.

I nodded at him before I turned to Jacob who grinned and nodded at me.

"All right, we'll see y'all later," Cam said.

"Love you guys," I said, waving at my family. "It was nice meeting you, Jolene."

"Nice meeting you, too," she said, still smiling.

Within a few seconds, they disappeared onto the water, leaving Jacob and me standing on the dock. It was difficult for me to look at him when they first drove off. I had been able to do it while they were there, but now that we were alone, I felt shy and vulnerable, like I didn't know where to begin. I could see him out of the corner of my eye when he turned to look at me, but I didn't return his gaze right away. I heard Larry collapse down behind us with a loud doggy sigh.

"He's tired," I said, turning to Jacob with a smile.

He glanced at the dock toward his dog, who was laid out on his side. "That's an understatement," Jacob said. "He's been going crazy since we got home earlier. That's why we were outside when I saw your light. Larry was acting the fool trying to get outside. I thought maybe those kids were back."

I turned to him with the intention of saying something about those kids and how they wouldn't be back, but I lost my train of thought once I started staring at his face. I thought as I looked at him that his facial hair must not be that thick, because his beard didn't seem very shaggy to me. I could still see his jaw line underneath. I traced it to the middle of his chin to find that his little indention was mostly obstructed by hair.

"You are a little shaggy," I said, smiling at him. He grinned and rubbed his jaw just like I pictured him doing when we were on the phone.

"I planned on shaving before I saw you tomorrow."

Neither of us reached out to touch the other even though we both wanted to. I guess maybe I shouldn't say we both wanted to since there was no way to know for sure what he was thinking, but I had a pretty good hunch by the way he was staring at me. Either way, we both kept our hands to ourselves as we stared at each other at the end of the dock.

"It's funny that you had to go live out in the woods to escape your house in the woods," I said, still thinking about the stubble on his face.

He let out a laugh at that. "Those woods were different," he said. "I can't think straight over here."

I shot him a
what in the world does that mean
expression.

"These woods come with a you," he said.

"A me?"

He smiled. "Yep."

"I make you not think straight?" I asked.

He grinned. "Or maybe you make me think straight and I was used to thinking crooked. You make me think differently, that's all."

I shrugged and glanced down shyly with a little smile. Jacob used his knuckle to tilt my chin so I would look at him. "This house came with a you, Alex. I don't think either of us meant for it to happen that way, but it did. I knew if I stayed here, you'd be a part of the equation. It's like you come with this place."

"And it almost made you run away?" I asked.

"I would have if I didn't think I could do right by you."

"So you're back because you can?" I asked.

He sighed. "I'm back because I have to try. It was you all along, Alex. You're my Louisiana. You're what I was trying to escape to."

There were sounds of frogs and crickets chirping loudly and Larry's panting, but none of them could drown the sound of my beating heart. I bit my lip and smiled at him. "I think I come with this house, too," I said.

He grinned as his eye roamed over my face. He stepped closer to me, wrapping his hand gently around my back, and letting it come to rest on me. I wanted to collapse onto him dramatically with a sigh—a good old-fashioned swooning session. I held firm since this wasn't 1890's England.

"I didn't see anything about you in the contract," he said, regarding me seriously.

I made an expression like I was deeply offended. "I don't know who worked me into the deal like this," I said. "I don't think it's right that I get tossed to and fro—bought and sold like property."

"I'm sorry about that," he said, holding me a little tighter. "But there's really nothing we can do about it since I've already signed everything."

"So, I'm just yours, that's all there is to it?" I asked, looking disheartened.

He nodded with a playful look of regret before shrugging. "I don't think it'll be so bad, though, once you get used to it."

I hesitated for a few seconds before saying, "I'm already used to it."

My voice came out quieter than I expected, and Jacob leaned forward with a curious expression on his face. He tilted his head toward me as if asking me to repeat myself.

"I'm already used to it," I repeated. I whispered it this time because my mouth was right next to his ear. I let it linger there after I finished talking, and my lips gently brushed against his earlobe. His grip around my back tightened just slightly as my lips touched him. I pulled back after a few seconds, and saw him swallow before he spoke.

"One more time," he said as if he hadn't heard me.

I stretched up to put my mouth next to his ear again. "I'm already used to being yours, Jacob Fox."

He let out a sigh and I pulled back to look at him. I missed the smell of him, and I laid my head on his chest for a second just so I could get a good whiff. He put his hand on the back of my head to hold me close, and as if on cue, Larry let out a long exaggerated sigh of relief. It was so perfectly timed that I could feel Jacob's chest shake with silent laughter.

"He's glad to be out of that car," I said.

"I am too," Jacob added, running his hand over my head. There was honest to goodness electricity flowing through my body in the places where he touched me. He had one hand behind my back and the other on my hand, and I felt electrical impulses at the places we connected. We were standing above the water with sounds of the swamp all around us, which only added to the surreal feeling. I popped up to put a kiss on his cheek, mostly because I couldn't keep my lips off of him another second.

"Alex," he whispered a few seconds after I kissed him. "You missed."

"Missed what?—Oh," I said, once I realized what he was saying. My stomach tied in a thousand knots at the thought of kissing his lips. I glanced at them instinctually. "I didn't miss," I said. "I was aiming for right there."

"Why would you want to do that?" he asked.

"Because ladies don't make the first move," I said timidly.

He unashamedly stared directly at my mouth. "Does a lady respond if a man makes the first move?" he asked.

I hesitated for a second and then nodded.

He continued staring at my face, letting his eye roam over it as he touched my cheek with his fingertips.

"What happened?" I asked, seeing a bandage on his thumb.

"Machete."

"Wow, you were roughing it, weren't you?"

He grinned. "Something like that."

I wondered if I would ever know the depths of what he had been through in the past and on this most recent trip. I had to think it might take him a while to tell me everything, and that was okay. What mattered was that it made him the person he was today.

"I love you, Jacob," I whispered, knowing it was the truth.

He leaned down and gently put his lips on mine, causing our somewhat dry mouths to stick together for a second before he pulled back. "Say it again," he said. He licked his lips right after that, and put them down on mine again, not giving me the chance to repeat myself before he kissed me.

"I love you," I whispered the instant he pulled back.

"Again," he said just before kissing me again.

"I love you, Jacob Fox," I whispered, smiling when he pulled back again.

I leaned up after I said it, planting another kiss on his mouth. Again and again, we kissed, smiling and whispering things between each one. We kissed like that for what must have been a full minute before I felt like I wanted to melt. My blood was warm and syrupy as I clung to him. I was desperate for his kiss.

I ran my fingers to the back of his neck and through the short hair on the back of his head. I let out a little whimper, letting him know I wanted more. He sucked my bottom lip into his mouth, and the warm silky slickness of it made my knees weak. I collapsed into his embrace, and he held me tightly as he drew more of my lip into his mouth. He turned to the side and let the tip of his tongue enter my mouth. I tugged on the back of his head, telling him that I wanted him to do it again, and he did. He kissed me deeply. He kissed me like a man kisses a woman when she's his. He didn't pull back until we both knew some intangible thing had exchanged between us.

We were both breathing heavily by the time we broke contact. We stood on the end of that dock, looking into each other's eyes like each of us knew the significance of what had just happened.

"I guess we're gonna have to get married," he said.

"I know," I said.

"Are you okay with that?" he asked.

I nodded.

"It's difficult to stop kissing you," he said.

I smiled. "I know."

"But we have to until we get married."

I smirked at him. "We don't
have to
, but we should. At least that's what my daddy says."

He grinned. "Your daddy's right." A few seconds of silence passed. "But I can kiss you as much as I want between now and then," he said.

I smiled, hoping there was a lot of that. "Yep," I said. "And we can dance to Otis Redding."

He shook his head. "We're not going that far. We might need to be married before we break out the Otis again."