Last First Kiss (36 page)

He took a deep breath and braced himself. “You called me Toby.”

“
What? No, I didn’t...you must have misunderstood.”

He turned to meet her gaze head on. “No way did I misunderstand the words ‘Make love to me, Toby’.”

Giselle covered her mouth with her hands and turned away from him. “Oh...I’m so...so sorry.”

He paused, then walked up behind her and placed his hands gently on her shoulders. “It’s fine, Giselle. It just means you weren’t ready, that’s all. It’s too soon.”

She turned toward him with tears trailing down her face. “I hurt you, and I’m sorry.”

He pulled her close and wrapped a towel around her. “It’s no big deal.”

She stared at him in astonishment. “Jackson, if you’d called me Chloe when we’re about to make love, it would have been a
very
big deal, I promise you.”

He gave her a boyish grin. “I guess you owe me one.”

Giselle did not look amused.

He put his hands on her shoulders. “Look, I would never call you Chloe. I hadn’t loved her in a long time, but you loved Toby when he was taken from you. It’s almost a compliment when you stop and think about it. Not quite,” he said, a little uncomfortably, “but almost.”

Giselle snorted and turned away from him.

He walked closer and spoke softly to her. “All I’m saying is that it’s completely understandable. Maybe it’s a sign from God...or Toby,” he added, with a chuckle.

She turned, and stuck her finger in his chest. “Now see, that
isn’t funny.” Jackson laughed, and she grinned at him, in spite of the situation. “You are entirely too understanding about all of this.”

“
Come on, let’s go for swim.” He swept her up in his arms then threw her in the pool.

She came up sputtering. “Okay,
now
we’re even!”

<><><>

Later that afternoon, they were snuggled up on the couch watching movies when a car door slammed. Jackson looked at Giselle with a sparkle in his eye. “They’re here.”

She jumped off the couch and raced him to the door just as the kids ran into the house.

“
My babies!” Giselle cried to her girls, smothering them with kisses. “I missed you both so much!”

“
Mom, we had so much fun! I wish you and Jackson could have been there, though. Maybe we can go back with both of you.”

“
Maybe so, Mac,” Jackson said, ruffling the child’s hair.

Gretchen and Caleb came in lugging suitcases and various bags of souvenirs. They plopped the bags down at the door, and Gretchen gave Giselle a hug while Caleb shook Jackson’s hand. Both thanked him for the wonderful weekend before they left.

Mac and Lexie talked non-stop about everything they’d done and seen. They couldn’t wait to give Giselle and Jackson the souvenir coffee cups and caps they’d bought them.

After everything had calmed some, Jackson helped Giselle empty the girls’ suitcases, put them at the top of their closets then carried an armload of clothes to the utility room for her.

“
I need to go home to get some things done around my place, but I’m off tomorrow too. Could I take you and the girls to lunch and a movie?”

“
You’ve got yourself a date, Mr. Broussard.”

“
I’ll see you tomorrow girls. Go put your souvenirs in your rooms, okay?”

As soon as they were alone, he turned to Giselle and pulled her quickly into his arms for a good long kiss. “Trying to act normal around other people will definitely be challenging, hon. Can I call you later?”

“
You’d better,” she said, as she reached up to brush a lock of hair from his forehead.

“
I need to go.” He took her face in both of his hands to kiss her then hugged her tightly.

“
Jackson, please wait for me,” she whispered.

He lowered his forehead until it touched hers, and tangled his fingers in her curly hair. “Forever,” he told her.

Once Jackson got home, he called Giselle to let her know he’d made it home okay. As soon as he hung up, he called Bill.

“
How was the trip?” he asked when his uncle answered.

“
We had some fun, I tell ya. It was nice to be able to do something like that for them. Gwen’s had to work hard to raise Alyssa. Things I take for granted are luxuries to them.”

“
I imagine they’ve had a rough time of it.”

“
Yep, but we did some talking when Gretchen and Caleb took all the kids for one night. Gwen and I have discovered we’re ‘compatible’ in several different ways,” he murmured.

“
You don’t say. So when’s the wedding?”

“
I was gonna call you to talk about that. I’ve asked her, and she’s said yes. Think you could be my best man?”

“
Sure I will. I’m happy for you, and for her and Alyssa, too.”

Bill told Jackson that they had chosen the Friday night before the Labor Day weekend to get married so they could have a quick honeymoon. He also said they discussed trying for children right away. Bill’s voice filled with emotion when he spoke. “Alyssa gave us her blessing and asked if she could call me daddy. You can’t imagine how much that means to me.”

Jackson grinned. “Oh, I think I can. You don’t have to tell me how those little girls can tug on your heart strings.”

Bill chuckled at his nephew’s comment. “No, I guess I don’t. How was your weekend? What did you two do once Giselle got over the food poisoning?”

Jackson told him about the bike ride, the visit to Red’s club, and the afternoon they spent with him. “Red was a little disappointed at first that his bachelor role model had fallen head over heels in love.”

“
Yeah, well you can tell old Red that he doesn’t know what the hell he’s missing out on,” Bill said.

<><><>

Around eight that evening Jackson was stretched out on his couch listening to Giselle’s phone ring repeatedly. She finally answered, sounding out of breath. “Hey, I’d about given up,” he said.

“
Sorry, both girls zonked out on the couch, and I had to carry Lexie to bed. She’s a lot heavier than I remember.”

Jackson laughed. “Maybe you should have let her sleep on the sofa. I hope you didn’t strain your back.”

“
Aw, I’m used to it,” she drawled, “that’s what us poor women folk do when we don’t have a big, strong man around to do it for us.”

Jackson hesitated. “Maybe one day you will again.”

“
Are you applying for the job, sir?” she asked, her tone containing a hint of playfulness.

“
Are you accepting applications, ma’am?” he countered.

“
We’re not exactly hiring at this time, but I’ll definitely keep you in mind for any future openings.”

He gave an exaggerated sigh. “Well, hell—I guess that’ll have to do. Wait, will I need references?”

“
Of course,” she snapped.

“
Well, then, I might be out of luck. My former employer didn’t think too highly of me, although she’s no longer available to submit a statement.”

Giselle chuckled. “On second thought, I wouldn’t worry too much about a reference. Your reputation is sterling around here, mister. Besides, I happen to know that your former employer
was a very foolish woman.”

“
You think so?” he asked quietly.

“
I do.”

Jackson closed his eyes, thinking those were the two sweetest words she could ever speak to him. He cleared his throat. “That means a lot to me.”

“
You didn’t deserve to be treated like that, Jackson.”

“
Yeah, welI...I don’t happen to think I deserved to be called Satan for four years, either, but that didn’t stop you.” Jackson sat back and waited for the fireworks to start. He wasn’t disappointed.

“
I didn’t deserve to get chewed out in a conference room full of engineers, either,” Giselle huffed. “You didn’t ask
me
to put those memos in chronological order!”

“
I know,” he admitted. “I remembered as soon as you stormed out of there. By the time I got back to our office, ‘Ditzy Donna’ had already walked off the job with no explanation.”

“
She handed me the folder, asked me to bring it to you in the meeting, and walked out. We never saw her again,” Giselle added. “I had no idea you had asked her to organize it for the meeting. Are you telling me you
knew
all this time it wasn’t my fault?” she demanded.

“
Yep. I’m sorry, Giselle; I really am.”

“
Too little, too late,” she snorted. “My reputation was sullied.”

“
No, it wasn’t,” he said, with a chuckle. “After you left, I told everyone it wasn’t your fault.”

“
Now
that
would have been nice to know four years ago!”

“
I know, I’m sorry. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?” he asked.

Giselle sat back and tapped the phone with her fingernail, as she contemplated the possibilities. Several moments passed.

“
Giselle?”

“
Uh huh…”

“
What are you doing?”

“
I’m thinking about what to ask you for. I could really make this work for me,” she purred.

He laughed softly. “I have a feeling it would be difficult to turn you down for anything you ask for.”

She sighed deeply. “You turned me down today.”

Jackson grimaced and sucked in his breath. “Aw Giselle—I don’t want to rush you into doing something you’re not ready to do. I’ll say it again, you’re too important to me to screw this up.”

Giselle was silent for several moments. “Jackson?”

“
What?” he asked softly.

“
Please don’t give up on me.”

“
Never,” he said.

<><><>

Giselle and Jackson spent three hours on the phone that night, and the entire next day in each other’s company. After breakfast at IHOP and a few rounds of putt-putt golf, they went to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch, took in a movie afterward then went back to his house to watch a DVD. He ordered pizza for supper and regrettably, had to let her and the girls leave around eight that night.

<><><>

The rest of the week drug by for Jackson. After being spoiled by three days of Giselle, spending his days without her was difficult. While the days were agony, the nights without her were torture. Every afternoon, he drove straight to Kenton after work. She’d run to meet him, doing what she could to avoid her nosy neighbor’s prying eyes. If the woman was watching, she waited until he walked in the house before throwing her arms around his neck. If her neighbor was nowhere around, she attacked him when he was still in the truck, or on his bike. Of course, if either Mac or Lexie were around, they kept it strictly G-rated. But those afternoons when it was just Giselle...those made up for everything.

He wanted to tell her he loved her, but he’d had a few years to come to terms with his feelings, and he didn’t want to scare her off. He knew she still worried that people would think she was dating too soon after Toby’s death. He talked to Carrie about it one day and she told him it would come soon enough, and to enjoy what they had now.

On Friday afternoon, Jackson pulled up into Giselle’s driveway, looking curiously at all the boxes in her garage. “What’s all this?” he asked. She walked up and pushed him through the garage door inside the dark interior, out of sight from snoopy Mrs. Cormier, who was watching from her porch.

“
Kiss me first.”

He backed her up against the wall of the garage and showed her how much he’d missed her. They finally parted and he touched his forehead to hers. “Hey, Baby.”

“
Jackson,” she moaned lowly, “You make my toes curl when you kiss me like that.”

“
Then I’m doing my job.” He smiled and kissed the tip of her nose. “How was your day?”

She stepped back and waved at the boxes. “Busy, I finally cleaned out Toby’s half of the closet. All this is for either Goodwill or St. Vincent’s closet at my church. I’ve put a few items aside. I thought maybe you and the rest of the guys may want to pick through some of his caps and things. Mac and Lexie each kept their favorite LSU caps for themselves, but he had so many. If it feels too strange, you don’t have to,” she said as she made a funny face.