Blissful Vol. 1 (8 page)

“What?” I say.

“Nothing,” he says.

I sigh. “God, you country folk sure have a
lot to say.”

“
Nope.” The left corner of his lip quirk up
into smile, and I can’t help but smile back at him. He just does
that to me. When I look at him, he makes me happy. It’s
as though there’s nothing wrong
in my life and everything’s fine. He makes me forget all the pain.
Makes me fall in love with him.

No, no, no, no, this can’t happen! I can’t
fall in love with a rancher. He’s too busy, has a kid and probably
a dozen other things I’ve yet to find out, while I’m trying to make
a career in the big city. This is never going to work. What am I
doing? Why would he even be interested in me?

I stare out the window the rest of the
ride and wait until we’ve reached the village Jack was talking
about.
Anything to get
my mind off this. It takes a few hours to reach and it doesn’t even
look like a village. I think there are about five shops in total;
one supermarket, one general shop, a diner, Ben’s car business, and
a bar. At least, that’s all I can see. A church is in the middle,
there’s a public garden with a fountain, and houses in all sorts of
colors everywhere. It’s like a classic cowboy movie set, only this
time it’s real.

“This is it?” I say.

“Yep,” Jack says, and he gets out of the
truck. He opens the door for Madeline to jump out and waits for me.
As I get out, I’m surprised the road is paved here.

“
Hold my hand, Maddy,” Jack says. He
clutches her little hand tightly and leans slightly askew in order
to walk with her. He’s
that
careful with her. It’s amazing to look at and gives me
goose bumps.

I walk up to them and stay on Jack’s side,
as we go to Ben’s shop.

“Wait!” Madeline says, and she comes to a
halt. “You need to hold hands, too.” She points at me.

I flush and look at her, then at jack,
then back at her. “What?”

He smiles and holds out his hand.

“
C’mon!” Madeline yells, stomping her feet.
“We
all
need to hold
hands.”

“Better do it quick, or we’ll be here all
day. Maddy will make sure of that,” Jack says with a wink.

I roll my eyes sideways and grasp for
Jack’s fingers. My heart beats in my throat as I lace my fingers
through his. Oh,
shit.
What am I doing? Am I really doing this? He’s warm and strong, and
his hand completely encompasses mine. Fire burns inside my body as
he clutches me tightly. He’s holding me. I can feel his pulse
through my skin, his sweaty palms leaving their mark on me. God, I
don’t want this to end.

Looking up at him, I see him smile an
awkward smile, and I feel so embarrassed. I’m sure I’m as red as a
beet.

“
Yay!”
she squeals.

Jerking Jacks hand,
Madeline drags us forward. We walk
together across the street, and I can see the people around us
staring. I know they’re watching us, probably thinking ‘who is that
girl?’ I swallow away the lump in my throat as we enter the shop.
Jack lets go of me, so he can fit through. It feels empty without
his fingers tangled through mine.

The shop is only partially a shop. Half of
it is a garage filled with tools, a car, pieces of car, and more
stuff I can’t place. I have no idea how this works, but I’m hoping
Jack knows what he’
s
doing.

The bell jingles
, and a man steps out of his garage and into the
shop.

“
Hello there,” he says, his thick gray
beard moving along with his almost invisible lips.

“
Uncle Benny!” Maddy yells, and she runs to
him and jumps into his arms. The man chortles and hugs her tight
while she twirls her finger through his bristly hair.

“
Hey there, kiddo,” he says to her, and he
nuzzles her before putting her down on the floor again.

“Uncle?” I say.

“He’s not actually her uncle, she just calls
him that. It’s complicated,” Jack says while chewing his straw.

“I’ve known that little squirt since she was
born,” Ben says.

Jack steps forward. “Hey Ben,” Jack
says.

They shake hands, and J
ack takes the piece of straw from his
mouth.

Ben’s bushy brows lower.
“You’re lucky. If you’d been
thirty minutes earlier, it wouldn’t be here yet.”

Jack peeks over his shoulder. “Oh, really?
So you have it?”

“
Sure do.” The man lets out a roaring
laugh.

“Awesome.”

I walk
farther, but stay behind Jack, because I don’t want to
intrude on their conversation. Ben glances at me and then whispers
to Jack, but I can still hear him. “Who’s that beauty over there?
Your new gal?”

My cheeks grow red again
, and I try to hide my face in my
coat.

“
What? No, that’s Amy. Her car broke down,
so now I’
m fixing it,”
Jack stutters. The way he instantly denies any existence of a crush
makes me feel icy cold.

Ben laughs again, looking at me. “Ahhh.
You’re playing the good Samaritan again. I can see Rose’s ideas
still have a hold on you.”

Jack sighs. “Ben …”

He chuckles and pats Jack on the shoulder.
“
I’m just messing with
ya, kid. Aren’t you gonna introduce me?”

Jack turns around and looks at me. I can
see his cheeks are rosy. He
holds out his hand and beckons me to step forward, and I
do. His hand slides along my back as he pulls me closer. His touch
feels like heaven.

“Meet Amy,” he says, and focuses on Ben
again.

Ben gives me his hand and says, “Ben
Jones. Pleasure to meet ya.”

“Amy Brooks. Likewise.”

“So … ready to check out the beauty?” Ben
says to Jack.

“What?” I stammer.

“The engine,” Jack says, rolling his
eyes.

“Oh.”

Jack turns to Madeline who was playing
with a plastic wrapper, and he picks her up from the floor. “Stay
here, Maddy. Don’t go anywhere and don’t touch anything,” Jack
says, and he sits her down on a tiny table filled with toys. “Daddy
will be right back.”

She continues playing as if she never
stopped.

“Want to come look?” Jack says. “I mean,
it’s for your car after all.”

“Well … I have no clue what you guys are
doing or what you’re talking about, so it’s not of much use. I’d
only be in the way.”

Jack shrugs. “Suit yourself.” He walks off
into the garage with Ben.

I watch them talk and laugh, checking out
the engine as if it’s some sort of intricate designer thing. I
don’t care, as long as he gets my car running again I’m happy.

I stroll around the store and pick up
random things I find, checking to see if I can identify what they
are. It’s like a fantasy land to me, only one that’s very
uninteresting, dull and greasy. I grab a screwdriver, but it’s so
heavy I immediately put it down again. I fumble with some more
junk, something that blows out cold air, and I read all the
packaging on the bottles. I have no clue what the hell they say.
Whatever.

Playing with Maddy is probably more exciting
than this.

When I turn around I bump into Jack’s
chest.

Oh, my god. My face is on his chest. His
broad, muscular chest. And I can hear his heart through his shirt.
It’s beating faster and faster.

I
raise my head, and his smoldering eyes find mine. They
mesmerize me so much I’m numb and speechless.

“Ready to go?” he says.

I nod, my mouth still open.

He laughs and turns around, leaving me
standing there alone. It takes me a few seconds to catch my breath,
before I go after him. He’s making Madeline say goodbye to the toys
on the table, but she doesn’t like it. Her pouty lip and frown say
she doesn’t want to leave.

“
We’ll visit Uncle
Ben again soon. I promise.”

Damn, he sure says that a lot. Promises,
promises.

“We’re done here already?” I ask.

“Yeah. Ben’s putting the engine in the back
of my truck as we speak.”

“Wonderful. Thank you.”

Jack smiles and picks up crying Madeline.
Walking after him, I feel my phone buzz
, and I take it out of my pocket. We’re out on the
street, but I’m not paying attention. Nicole texted me that she’s
sorry and that she wants to talk, and I’m typing up a
message.

“Look out!” Jack yells.

Without a warning his hand is clutching my
chest, shoving me back up the curb. I don’t see it coming. My body
is pushed back, and my fingers can’t hold onto the cell phone
anymore. It drops down and into a gutter. I squeal.

Car tires
screech, and a car shoots by us. Jack throws some
curse words into the distance, but both of us know the driver is
long gone.

“My phone!” I scream.

I get to my knees and overcome my fear for
dirt. Prying my fingers through the bar, I try to fish up my phone,
but I have no luck. It’s slipping farther and farther away, until I
can no longer reach it. Then it disappears from sight.

Jack leans closer, but after throwing me a
quick glance, he stands up again. He holds out his hand for
me
, and I take it.
“Fuck!”

“I’m sorry, Amy. That asshole was coming so
close I had to get you to safety.”

I sniff, saying goodbyes to my phone in my
head. I was just texting back Nicole. Now I can’t even contact her
anymore.
Shit. I broke
up with my boyfriend, cancelled a marriage, left my home, traveled
too far to recognize anything, my car is busted, and now my phone
is gone, too. Can it get any worse?

He sighs, his head between his shoulders, as
if he’s regretting what he did.

“Thanks,” I say, to make him feel better. He
saved me after all. I don’t want him to feel like shit, even if I
do. It’s not his fault. I should’ve paid attention.

“
Hey, you’ll get a new phone eventually.
It’s only stuff.
Stuff
you can replace. You’re still alive. Unscathed. That’s more
important,” Jack says.

“Yeah, I know,” I say.

Meanwhile, Madeline is bawling her eyes out.
She’s sitting on the curb, probably scared to death by what
happened. Jack gets to his knees and grabs her tiny hands. “Hey,
hey, don’t cry. It’s okay. Look at me.” He peers underneath her
fuzzy hair. “Tell you what. Let’s go get some ice cream. Would you
like that? Want some ice cream, huh?”

Her face instantly lights
up
, and the tears
disappear as if they were never there. It makes me chuckle a bit.
Children are so easily distracted. I wish it worked that way with
adults, too.

Jack picks her up and checks the street
thoroughly before putting down another foot.

“Wanna come?” Jack says to me.

“
I guess.”

“Ice cream will make you feel better. It
always does.”

“
True. And otherwise I’ll have to wait
until you guys finish it anyway, so we can go back. It’s not as if
I have any other way out of here. Need my personal chauffeur to
drive me back safely.”

He laughs. “You’ve learned to retort quite
fast these last couple of days.”

“I’m learning from the master,” I say with a
smirk on my face, which makes him laugh even more.

We stop at the supermarket, and Jack points
out a couple of ice creams, which I grab. After paying, I help
Madeline unwrap hers, and she runs off to the car while Jack and I
stroll right behind her.

I glance at him, but burst out into
laughter when I see his face. There’s a huge white blob of cream
right on his cheek.

He’s blinking, his brows furrowed.
“What?”

I gasp. “Don’t tell me you don’t feel
that.”

“Feel what?”

I chuckle, grab his arm, and stop walking
for a second.
My fingers
move on their own. My hand lifts up to his face and carefully wipes
away the ice cream. I can feel his stubble underneath the pad of my
finger. I don’t want to take my fingers off anymore, but I do
because I must. Otherwise it looks weird and
inappropriate.

I put my finger into my mouth and quickly
lick off the ice
cream
before cleaning my finger on my skirt.

Jack gazes at me, his lips parted,
forgetting the ice cream in his hand. I check his face for more,
but it’s flawless. Perfect. Too perfect. Damn.

He just keeps staring at me, completely
frozen.

“
What?” I say, embarrassed. “You had ice
cream on your face.” I tuck a strand of hair behind my
ear.

“
Ah … nothing,” he stutters. His lips are
pursed and his eyes are jittery. Did I do something
wrong?

I feel really embarrassed now.

“
Let’s get back to the car,” I say, in an
attempt to di
verge the
conversation.

“
Ah … yeah, I guess,”
he mutters.

We walk back to the car in silence. He
eats his ice cream pretty quickly, but I don’t dare touch mine.
Every time his eyes are on me I feel
as if I’m being watched. As if with each lick I
take off the ice cream, he glances at me. I feel dirty.

Well, the ice cream was good for something.
Madeline’s not crying anymore, that’s a plus. And it made me forget
about the phone. Temporarily. I cringe.