Jack and Ginger (Sacred Heart Coven Book 3) (10 page)

Ginger tapped on the keyboard and woke the screen up. She entered her father's password which wasn't really much of a password; 111. It appeared that she never did close the message board from the day before.
 

Jack: Hey Arthur, I thought I'd shoot you a message. You're probably sleeping but I figured you would get it in the morning.

Ginger stared at the computer screen waiting and wondering what he might type next.
 

Jack: I will be out of town for a few days, you will never guess where my next job is. Anyway I will be somewhere in Blue Beach County. If I get a free chance I will hit you up, maybe we can grab a beer. You have my number if you need anything.

Ginger was grateful that she didn't spill anything on the computer. She wanted nothing more than to reach back out to this guy Jack. She was intrigued by his role in her father's life, and she longed for someone to talk football with. She sighed and screwed the top back on her jar of calories and let the computer fall back to sleep so she could do the same.

Chapter Nine
 

GINGER LOOKED AT HERSELF IN a small mirror next to the front door of her father's small condominium. She applied a nice shiny coat of lip-gloss and was happy to see that the new concealer that she had recently spent too much money on was doing its job. From the outside looking in she could hardly tell her eyes spent the night before crying.
 

After she rubbed her lips together she puckered them together as if to kiss the air in front of her. She moved her shoulders forward and back a few quick times as if she were in front of the camera at a boudoir photo shoot. Ginger couldn't get an appointment with her attorney until after ten so she took her time getting ready.

Sure, she felt a little bit silly sexing herself up in front of the mirror, but who was looking. And how could she resist not fluffing her shiny red hair. She wore an emerald green, sleeveless, mock turtleneck and a pair of cream-colored slacks.
 

She had always wished that her eyes were blue or green, but hey- at least they weren't brown. She often chose bright green tops in the hopes that they would help to give her hazel colored eyes the edge they deserved. Of course when Roger caught on to why she always chose to wear green, he told her that wearing green made her look like an upside down carrot.
 

When he said it to her, it stung like a sharp needle piercing through her heart. But now she blew it off and laughed at how ridiculous it sounded. She almost felt bad for him that he must have thought so low of himself that he had to constantly put her down. Pathetic.

After she got finished admiring herself in the mirror she scooped her bag up and the keys from the crystal candy dish. She slipped on a pair of espadrilles and locked the door behind her. It was too bad she didn't have somewhere to go other than her fat old attorney's office.
 

Ginger's preliminary appointment with her attorney left her feeling a bit on the deflated side. The fire she walked in to his office with smoldered out by his overly cautious advice. She was going to have to tell Jasinda.
 

As soon as Ginger's car cooled off enough to roll up her windows she picked up her cell to call her friend, the friend that she was hoping to become business partners with sometime in the near future.
 

"Hello?" a very peppy voice questioned from the small speaker near her ear.

"Hey." It sounded like Ginger was half asking, half greeting the person
 
who had just answered the phone. "Are you busy?"

"Well, I was busy, but I am just finishing up, everything ok?" Jasinda asked.

"Yeah I guess, I just thought maybe if you weren't busy you might want to go shopping? I understand if you're busy, tomorrow is going to be a very busy day and all..."

"Stop, what did you want to go shopping for? I can spare a few hours of my day. When did you have in mind?" Jasinda asked as if she hadn't a care in the world.
 

Ginger wanted to be more like that, she knew she could be. Her dad always told her that birds of a feather flock together. Of course he meant it as in stay away from the troublemakers, but she thought it should work the other way around too. If you want to be positive and carefree, be around people that emulate that. And there she was making plans with someone whom she admired.

"I am free all day, so whatever fits into your schedule. I actually am hoping to go do some house-ware
 
shopping. I have been avoiding tackling a bit of a remodel on my condo for some time. Actually it was my father's place and I need to make it mine." Ginger let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding.

"I see. Do you know what you are looking for, or do you need me to come by and help assess your design needs?" Jasinda asked her with a bit of a fancy accent.

"That would be so spectacular, but I think that today, because of the timing, we should just go out browsing...maybe shopping. We can talk about it while we're out. Do you want me to pick you up or meet you somewhere?" Ginger asked.

"I am at the bar with Steve, so if you could pick me up that would be great, that way I don't have to leave him stranded without a vehicle. I left my bug at home today. Let's say in an hour from now?"

"My pleasure. I am on the other side of town so I will see you soon."

Ginger pulled up in front of the bar, soon to hopefully be bar and restaurant, and Jasinda was standing out in front leaning against the brick exterior wall. Even though it was nearly ninety degrees out she had on a pair of boots with her shorts.
 

Ginger felt like it would have been uncomfortable and just compounded the already sticky heat. But Jasinda pulled it off. She had on a stack of beaded necklaces that were the same charcoal color of her boots. They hung over her white tank dressing up a very casual outfit. Ginger had to work at getting a curl in her hair; she thought it would be fun to have Jasinda's curly hair.
 

"Hi, I hope you haven't been out here long? It's so hot," Ginger asked as Jasinda climbed in the car.

"Nah, it's kind of a nice contrast to the extreme air-conditioning going on inside, and I only just came out. I tried to time it to when you said you would be here. I only have about three hours and I didn't want to waste any time having you waiting out here for me."

"Ok, so then I shall have you back by your five o'clock curfew. I'm bringing you back here, right?" Ginger asked her.

"Yes please. I need to be back around five for the shift change." Jasinda slapped her hands together after she buckled her seat belt. "So, what is our plan? What are we looking for?"

"I'm not sure I thought we could go to one of those big box stores that has something for almost every room. I grabbed some magazines for ideas, but I was too distracted to really look at them." Ginger put the car in reverse and backed out of her spot slowly. She hated the mirrors on her car, she didn't trust them.

"I know it must be hard."

"No, I mean yes, but no, that wasn't what I was distracted about. I was just really blown away by the kindheartedness of some guy at Dunkin'.
 

"When I got there it was like my body was possessed by a comedian or something. I left my car running, my bag fell, then I fell. It was like a bit straight out of a Laurel and Hardy movie. I was embarrassed, but I didn't think anyone saw. Apparently some guy noticed and he bought me a cup of coffee.

"Oh, ooow. Tell me more." Jasinda scooted on her seat to get closer to Ginger as if the story would get better if she was more present.

"I wish there was more. I didn't even see what he looked like. He did however have on a Bears shirt and he had big muscles."

"I thought you didn't see him?" Jazz raised a brow.

"I didn't really, maybe because I was looking at the girth of his biceps instead of his face. Besides at the time I didn't know, he did one of those pay it forward things. I did tell him he had a nice shirt as we passed each other while he was leaving. I was arriving. Isn't that the way it always is?" Ginger blew it off.

Chapter Ten
 

GINGER WAS UP ALL NIGHT working on revamping what she finally decided to claim as her own new master bedroom. Jasinda did a great job walking her through making smart purchases on their mini-shopping spree. And what a spree it turned out to be. Ginger didn't want to even look at how much money she spent.
 

Jasinda talked her into just being in the moment. They set a limit and Jasinda made sure that Ginger didn't go over it. They made a record-breaking speed round in the bedding department and everything flowed from there.
 

Ginger used the color scheme from the bedspread to pick out some framed art work, and some decorative pieces for the tops of the dressers and nightstands. They managed to find some really unique looking lamps at a discount store in the same shopping complex.
 

They finished their trip with a stop at the hardware store to get supplies so she could paint her room. She had all night and quite frankly all the time in the world right now to work on it. She didn't want to spend the money on new furniture and her father's furniture wasn't all together very old, she thought that maybe one day she would paint it so it felt more like hers.
 

It was a long night of painting and washing her new bedding. She and Roger had done a few painting projects together in her old house, but they so often turned into a power struggle that she started to just hire people to do any needed projects in their house.
 

This felt different. She picked herself up a bottle of Riesling and some takeout. It felt a bit liberating doing the project by herself. Painting the room felt very therapeutic. Between coats of paint she worked on emptying out the closet. Almost all of her father's clothes were going to be dropped off for charity. She really had no use for them.
 

Of course she kept all of his Chicago Bears paraphernalia. His tee's were over sized, but that wouldn't stop her from wearing them over a sweatshirt or she could sleep in them. No way would she let them go to waste.
 

Even on only a few hours of sleep, she felt rejuvenated waking up in the new space. She popped out of bed and got ready with a little extra pep in her step.
 

The talk with Jasinda about her conversation with her attorney wasn't anywhere as depressing as she thought it would be. Maybe it was just Jasinda's amazing ways of looking at things, but she still felt good about moving forward.
 

"Hey all!" Ginger walked into the bar at eight a.m. sharp. The time they agreed to meet.

"I just put on a pot of coffee and Jasinda picked up muffins from her girlfriend's cafe. She popped them in the toaster oven to warm." Steve waved her in.
 

He looked like he might not be approachable with his arms covered in tattoos. He was at least six feet tall with a nice clean looking haircut. His face had weathered from some rough times as a teenager, but the roughness of his skin fit his look. All of his gruffness melted away when the man smiled at you.