Breathe Again (19 page)

“I really didn’t want to get into this here, Lucy,” he said,
his voice low.

“Well, she deserves to know, and you’re being an ass if you
keep it from her.” God, sometimes I loved Lucy, and sometimes I didn’t know
what the hell I was supposed to feel about her. Jackson still didn’t say
anything, just kept his gaze on the ceiling. Lucy, realizing that he wasn’t
going to tell me himself, turned to me instead. “We found out who tipped off
the paparazzi on Saturday, about the restaurant we were at.”

I wasn’t sure what to say, and I definitely wasn’t sure that
I actually wanted to know.

“Lucy, I’ll talk to her about it later,” Jackson finally
said, but Lucy wasn’t about to be stopped now that she had actually gotten
started.

She ignored him completely, her eyes still on me. “It was
Sophia. Well, Sophia and Heather, Jackson’s number two. They’re the ones who
tipped off the photogs.”

I looked at Jackson, absolutely horrified. “Jackson, please
tell me you didn’t have anything to do with this,” I said quietly, hoping
desperately that Lucy was lying. I didn’t doubt that Sophia would do something
like that, but I’d only met Heather a handful of times. Why on earth would she
feel the need to leak our location, when they both knew that I was out with
Jackson?

Jackson sighed. “Of course I didn’t have anything to do with
it. Sophia and Heather worked it out together, hoping to get some attention for
us on Saturday. I’ve already talked to Heather about it and warned her she’ll
be fired if she pulls some stunt like that again.”

“Okay, but I still don’t understand why they would do it.
What would they have to gain from it?”

Jackson didn’t say anything at first, so Lucy felt the need
to explain it for me, which Jackson was most definitely
not
happy
about. “They did it so Jackson would be seen with Sophia again. They knew you
wouldn’t want to leave with Jackson, not when they knew you were already
hesitant about making your relationship public. Sophia has been eyeing Jackson
for years, and Heather has some sort of girl crush on Sophia. She works for
Jackson, but will pretty much do anything that Sophia asks of her. It’s really
annoying, actually.”

“Lucy,” Jackson growled in her direction, but Lucy just stuck
her tongue out at him. “Stop, right now. We don’t need to talk about this right
now.”

“Oh really?” Lucy challenged him. “And when were you going to
tell her? She deserves to know that you’re working with a coldhearted bitch
that’s trying to get her claws in you. She’s been trying for years, we both
know that.”

I couldn’t breathe. Lucy couldn’t be right, could she? I
turned to Jackson, wanting to ask the question, but not entirely sure that I
wanted to know the answer. Jackson was staring daggers at Lucy, his face like
stone.

“She deserves to know Jackson, you know that,” Lucy said, her
voice harsh.

“Shut. Up,” Jackson said. I’d never heard his voice so
menacing, and it frightened me. Lucy was always so sweet; why did this seem to
bring up so many hard feelings? I mean, obviously I knew why it bothered me,
but I had no idea why Lucy was so concerned.

“Hey, man,” Jude said, breaking his silence. “Don’t talk to
her like that.” His voice was still casual, laid-back, but there was definitely
a warning there.

“You stay out of this. This is none of your business,”
Jackson said, turning in Jude’s direction.

“It is my business when you start talking to my girl like
that,” Jude said, eyeing Jackson with a raised eyebrow.

“Your girl?” Jackson snorted. “You shouldn’t be with Lucy.
You know that.”

“Jackson, that isn’t fair,” I said softly, at the same time
that Lucy started protesting too.

“It’s true,” Jackson said, raising his voice. “We’ve been
telling Lucy that he isn’t good for her and she just won’t listen. She deserves
someone better than that.” I cringed, and Lucy bolted from her chair. I wanted
to go comfort her, but I was afraid to leave Jackson alone with Jude. A few of
the other guests were starting to look in our direction, but Claude and Peter
were still blocking as much of the view as they could.

“And you’re so great for Mellie?” Jude challenged, looking at
Jackson pointedly. “You aren’t exactly the poster boy for morality, dude.”

“I am good for her. You, on the other hand, seem to have a
new girl in your bed every week, and they always seem to get it on camera. Is
Lucy just this week’s conquest? Because I won’t let that happen to her.”

For the first time since I met him, the casual look left
Jude’s eye. Something Jackson said had actually hit him, and for a moment I
felt sorry.

“I care about her, Jackson. I know you don’t believe me, but
I do. And even though it’s none of your business, we haven’t even slept
together. Lucy has some issues, we all know that. I don’t know if I’m supposed
to be there as her boyfriend, but I want to be there as her friend. She needs
it.”

I definitely agreed with him on that, and judging by the
hardening of Jackson’s jaw, I knew he did too.

“And dude, don’t be such a hypocrite. I know you just got
that part. The crazy fans, Sophia’s fucking scheme to get you in bed with her,
those aren’t going anywhere. If anything, they’re just going to get worse. I
know you care about Mellie, but you know as well as I do that you can’t judge
anyone by what you hear about them in the media. That’s just not fair.”

Jackson let out a loud breath, but said nothing. I turned to
Jude, and offered him a small smile. I understood what he was saying, and I
agreed. It didn’t mean that it didn’t terrify me completely, but if I’d learned
anything about people, especially people in this world, it was that you
couldn’t judge them by the words of others.

Jude smiled back at me, and I knew right then that I did like
him. He was a good guy, regardless of what the tabloids said about him. And if
I thought that about him, then it really shouldn’t matter what they said about
me either.

He got up from the table. “I’m going to go find Lucy,” he
said, turning toward the bathrooms.

Jackson still had his head back, but I reached into his lap
to grab one of his hands. I leaned over and put my head on his shoulder, and we
sat in silence for a few moments.

“I was being an ass, wasn’t I? Jackson asked quietly.

“I think you were just being protective of Lucy. And me.”

He nodded and turned to look at me. “I was going to tell you
about Sophia, I promise. I was just so happy about the part that I wanted to
celebrate with you before it all went to shit.”

“I understand, I really do. I can’t say that it doesn’t upset
me, but I trust you. I know you won’t do anything with her.”

Jackson sighed, and turned to look at me. “I love you,
Mellie, you know that.”

“I do.”

We stayed silent for a few more seconds, and then Lucy and
Jude came back to the table. Her eyes were red from crying, but there were no
more tears. Jude had his hand on the small of her back and I was thankful that
she had someone that really did seem to care about her.

The waitress came back with our salads, and Lucy ordered
another margarita. It was her third, and I was still on my first glass of wine.
I would have said something if she weren’t in such a delicate state already.

“So,” Jude said, looking at me this time. “I know you said
you read whatever that bitch lady gave you, but did you happen to look yourself
up at all?”

I glanced at Jackson nervously, but he was actually smiling
at me this time. “No,” I said slowly, not really sure where this was going.

“Seriously, Mellie?” Lucy said, wiping her nose on the sleeve
of her sweater. “So you have no idea what people are really saying about you?”
I shook my head slowly, unsure of what they were getting at. Lucy and Jude
laughed, and I even heard Jackson chuckle from his seat next to me.

“Hold on, let me pull a few of them up so I can read them to
you verbatim,” Lucy said, pulling out her phone from her purse. I glanced over
to Jackson, a confused look on my face, but he just smiled at me and shrugged.
“Oh! Here we go.
Jackson Traver brought his beautiful new girlfriend, baker
Melanie Devlin, or Mellie Rose as he (adorably) referred to her last night, to
the
Stand Alone
premi
ere in Hollywood on Tuesday
night. We don’t know much about this new leading lady in Jackson’s life, but we
can say with absolute certainty that this girl has some serious style. We have
a feeling she’ll be around for a while, especially since Jackson isn’
t known to be seen with just anyone.
”

I’m pretty sure my mouth was wide open, trying to comprehend
what Lucy was saying. She barely paused before moving on to the next one. “
Last night may
have been the first night that we’ve all seen Mellie Rose, but I’m
pretty sure we can all say that we like her with Jackson
much more than Sophia. She seems good for him, if not a little too good.
”

Lucy grinned at me and put her phone down on the table.

“Wait,” I said, holding up my hand. “So some people actually
liked me?”

Jude burst out laughing, while Jackson pulled me close to him
so he could place a kiss on my hair.

“You could say that, Mellie,” he whispered.

“There’s pretty much more of the same,” Lucy said. “You’ve
pretty much been deemed the best-dressed star on the red carpet in the past
month. People love that you’re like them; not jaded, relatable.”

I frowned. “But I’m not a star . . .”

They all smiled at me. “Just you wait.”

We went to Jackson’s dad’s house for
Thanksgiving the next week. If it were possible, I was almost more nervous
meeting his father and brothers than I was at the premiere. Jackson tried to
reassure me that they already loved me; they knew I had to be special if he was
actually bringing me home.

I was finishing up the pumpkin pies I was baking for
Thanksgiving dinner the next day when one of the newer cashiers, Lindsey, came
back into the kitchen to let me know that someone was there to see me.

“Who is it?” I asked, wincing as my elbow hit the door of the
oven I was pulling the pies from.

“I dunno,” she said, shrugging. Lindsey was usually a sweet
girl, but we were all ready to get out of there. Josephine was closing up shop
before lunch so we could all prep for our Thanksgiving holidays.

“Okay,” I huffed, trying to blow a piece of hair away from my
eyes. “Let them know I’ll be out in a second.”

She left through the swinging door, and I finished pulling
out the rest of my pies. I’d baked a lot more than I needed and figured I’d
just send each of the staff home with one, and maybe even some of the customers
that were left when we closed. I put them on the cooling racks before untying
my apron to go out to see who was waiting for me.

I saw as I pushed through the door to the café. Collin was
sitting at one of the tables in the corner. I hadn’t seen him since that
morning after Jackson got back from Europe. I don’t think he’d even been in the
café since then, which is probably why Lindsey didn’t recognize him.

I frowned, but made my way over to where he was sitting in
front of the window. As soon as he saw me, he stood up.

“Mellie,” he said, his voice shaking. “I wanted to stop by,
wish you a happy Thanksgiving. And give you these.” He thrust his hand out to
present me with a bouquet of pretty daisies.

I was taken aback, not entirely sure how I was supposed to
respond to the gesture. It wasn’t the first time someone had come into the café
in the past week, hoping to get a glimpse of Jackson, or to even meet me, but
this was Collin. He had been so practical and level headed when we dated, just
like me.

“Oh,” I said, eyeing the flowers warily. “They’re beautiful.”
I didn’t immediately reach out for them, so he took a step forward to make sure
I took them.

He looked so eager to give them to me that I took them from
his hands. I noticed a thin sheen of sweat across his forehead, which he wiped
away with the back of his hand after I took the flowers from him. Something
made me feel uneasy about the whole interaction, but I didn’t want to hurt his
feelings. Anything that had happened between us had been all but forgotten.

“Thank you, Collin,” I said politely, and took a step back.
“I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family.” I remembered he
had a sister he usually spent holidays with. There had actually been a point
when I fleetingly wondered if I would spend the holidays with them too.

“You too,” he said, though he didn’t make a move to leave. I
gave him another quick smile, then turned to head back into the kitchen.

As soon as the door swung shut behind me, I took a relieved
breath. Darcy was standing at my counter, digging into one of the pies with a
spoon, and I shot her an annoyed glance.

“What are you doing, Darcy?” I said, putting the daisies on
the other end of the counter.

“I figured you made extra, since there’s, like, a thousand
pies here,” she said, blowing on a piece before sticking the fork in her mouth.

“Yeah, well, that one is yours now. Tell your family happy
Thanksgiving,” I said, motioning to the pie with a few bites missing. Darcy
just shrugged and shoved her fork in again.

“Who were you talking to out there?” she asked, turning to
look at me.

I sighed and started cleaning up my mess. “It was Collin. I
haven’t seen him since, you know . . . I guess he just wanted to wish me a
happy Thanksgiving, and give me those,” I said, motioning to the daisies on the
counter.

Darcy looked at where I was pointing and raised her eyebrow.
“Flowers? Huh.”

I shrugged and turned back to where I was washing the bowls
and spoons I used to make the pies. “Okay. Well, I’ll see you next week, lady,”
Darcy said, crossing the kitchen to give me a half hug while I still had my
hands in the sink.

“You too,” I said over my shoulder. Darcy smiled and turned
to head back out the swinging doors.

“Wait,” I called out. “Darcy?”

“Yeah?” she said, pausing in the doorway.

“Do you think you could ask the girls at the register if they
can get someone’s name, or to check with you before they come back here to get
me? Lindsey didn’t know who Collin was, and it caught me off guard. I don’t
really want people thinking they can come here and interrupt my work whenever
they want.”

“Sure,” she said, smiling.

I finished up washing the dishes and went out to pass out the
pies to the rest of the staff and the guests that were still there. Thankfully,
Collin had already left. The daisies were still sitting on the counter when I
got back into the kitchen. I didn’t really know what to do with them,
especially since I had a gorgeous bouquet of roses from Jackson upstairs. I
hesitated for a second before tossing them in the trash, then made my way up to
my apartment to finish getting ready for the weekend.

I know as soon as we arrived at his dad’s house that Jackson
was right when he said his family already liked me. I recognized Seth the
second we got there, and he pulled me into a hug before he even greeted his
brother.

“Mellie,” Jackson said once Seth released me, “I want to
introduce you to my other brothers, Nathan and Luke. Guys, this is Mellie.”

Even if I’d never met Seth, I would have known that the four
of them were related. They were all tall, though Jackson was by far the
tallest. They all had different shades of brown hair, and identical blue eyes.
I knew that Nathan was Jackson’s older brother, and Luke the youngest, with
Seth in between him and Jackson.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mellie,” Nathan said, holding his
hand out to me. Luke, on the other hand, just pulled me into a hug, much like
Seth had.

A pretty girl, probably about the same age as Jackson and
Nathan, cleared her throat in the doorway to the kitchen. I knew immediately
that she was Stacy, Nathan’s fiancée. Jackson had talked about her before,
about how he hadn’t really understood her relationship with his brother until
he met me.

“Hi, Mellie,” she said, pulling me in close for a hug. “It’s
wonderful that we finally get to meet you. Jackson has told us so much about
you.” She let me go and smiled at me. She really was beautiful, with
mocha-colored skin and hazel eyes. I could tell that she wasn’t wearing much
makeup, but that took absolutely nothing away from her beauty. It really wasn’t
fair that some girls were just naturally gorgeous like that.

“Thank you all so much,” I said, turning around to everyone
in the living room. “I really appreciate you letting me spend the holiday with
all of you.”

“And we’re happy to have you.” A voice I didn’t recognize
rang out from behind me. I turned, startled, and knew that it belonged to
Jackson’s father, Hank Traver. He didn’t move from the doorway, but his smile
made me feel comfortable immediately. “Now, let’s go eat.”

The boys whooped and hollered, and Stacy grabbed my elbow to
lead me into the dining room. Jackson put the pies I brought on the counter,
then joined us all at the dining table.

I was so used to doing the cooking that I had almost
forgotten how nice it was to be taken care of. Stacy and Hank piled everyone’s
plates high with food, and there was so much laughter and love at that one
table that I almost didn’t know how to fit in with it all. Holiday meals with
my family back in Kansas were always slightly awkward, with conversations
usually focused on my father’s holiday sermons or my sister’s children. Knowing
that my family was still back in Kansas, acting like they were
supposed to
in front of each other, instead of letting loose and actually being themselves,
almost made me tear up. Not because I missed it, but because of what I knew
they were missing out on.

“So, Mellie,” Hank asked in the middle of dinner, “what’s
your family up to today? Not that we don’t love having you here, of course,
because we do, but I’m surprised that you wouldn’t want to go home for
Thanksgiving.”

I glanced nervously at Jackson, but he smiled at me, and
reached under the table to squeeze my hand before shoveling another bite of
mashed potatoes into his mouth.

I set my fork down on my plate and wiped my mouth with my
napkin. “Um, I guess I just wanted to spend Thanksgiving with Jackson,” I said.

Hank nodded and studied for me a second. I felt myself redden
under his gaze. “I can understand that. I remember what it was like to be so in
love with someone that you don’t want to leave their side, even for a day,” he
said, and smiled at me.

Jackson still had his hand in mine, and squeezed again. We
finished dinner talking about Jackson’s new role, about Luke’s upcoming
semester in college, and even about Hank’s wife, Jackson’s mother. They didn’t
cry over her, just told stories and laughed at jokes from years ago. Even
though I didn’t know what they were talking about at times, they made sure I
knew I was family. And it really felt like I was.