Loved Bayou (Martin Family Book 1) (11 page)

Chapter 20

It was almost midnight by the time Jacob drove me home that evening.

We were having so much fun that it felt like I had only been over there a few minutes. I was shocked to see how late it was. I found myself dreading the ride home. I knew we couldn't jump into anything right away, but I couldn’t help but want to sleep next to him after I'd been missing him so much. I imagined what it'd be like to wake up beside him in the morning.

Jacob walked me to my door when we arrived at my house. I sort of anticipated that he would just drop me off, and I was happy when he turned off his truck and stepped outside with me. I normally used the side entrance of my house, so we headed in that direction. My porch light was switched on, but we stopped shy of the door while we were still in the darkness.

"You can see everything from out here," he said, looking up at the stars.

"Was it like this in Maine?"

He nodded and looked up as he put his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "We had a lot of clouds, but on the clear nights it was like this."

"My mom's having everybody over for lunch tomorrow," I said while he was still looking up. "Cole and them will be there. Amelia will probably have a few of her little friends there, too. My dad's making homemade ice cream. We'll probably get out the washer-toss game." I paused and smiled at him. "It'll be a little chaotic. I assumed it would be a too much for you, but I wanted you to know you were welcome in case you—"

"I'll come," he said.

"You will?" I asked, smiling.

He smiled back. "Don't look so surprised," he said. "I told you if I came back, I was gonna be fixed."

"You weren't broken," I said, pointing at his chest and narrowing my eyes playfully.

He gazed back at me. "Yes I was," he said with a little nod. "I really was. But sometimes it takes being broken to get put back together the right way."

I swallowed hard, not quite knowing how to respond to something so profound. "Are you coming to my mom's tomorrow?" I asked shyly.

"Yes," he said. "If that's where you'll be."

I smiled and pushed at his shoulder, batting my eyes at him. "Aw, shucks, you know just what to say to a lady."

He laughed. "I know just what
else
to do with a lady, too," he said.

"Oh yeah?" I asked in a challenging way.

"Yeah," he said, still grinning.

"What?"

Jacob looked at me just the right way as he nudged his chin toward me. He was telling me to get over there and kiss him, but he was doing it without saying a word. I was helpless to do anything but obey him. All he had to do was look at me just right and I closed the distance between us. I wasn't brave enough to come right out and kiss him on the lips, so I reached up and kissed his cheek. The whole point of this was to demonstrate that he knew
what to do with a lady
, which apparently he did if he knew how to make me run over there and kiss him by simply tilting his chin at me.

Jacob's hands came out of his pockets, and he wrapped them around me, holding me close to him for a second before letting me go. "I'd better go," he said with a sigh.

I nodded, wearing a smile.

He pulled back to take in my smile before leaning forward to kiss me. His touch was gentle, and he let his lips linger on mine for several long seconds before pulling away. He squinted and ran a hand through his hair as if the decision to stop kissing me was a difficult one.

"My cousins are really competitive," I said, changing the subject since stopping was challenging for both of us. "And so are my dad and uncle, for that matter."

Jacob looked at me curiously, and I smiled and lifted my hands.

"It shouldn't be that bad, but I wanted you to know what you were getting into if you play the washer-toss game."

"I don't even know what the washer toss game is," he said.

"You take these huge washers and toss them onto a wooden box to score points."

"Like a washer and dryer?" Jacob asked, looking totally confused.

I laughed. "No way! How in the world could you toss a washing machine?"

"I was wondering the same thing, but you said they were
huge
, so I just assumed…"

"I meant huge
for a washer
—like a nuts and bolts washer—a round metal disc with a hole in the middle—only these are like two inches across and they're pretty heavy. You toss them onto a wooden box with holes in it to earn points. It's similar to a beanbag toss or whatever."

"I'll kill it at that game," he said. "Tell Cole and Cam I said bring it."

I laughed. "You can tell them that yourself. I'm looking forward to seeing you do that."

"I know their smack talking skills. I went to summer camp with them, remember?"

***

We all went to at my parents' house for lunch the following day. I told Jacob we'd be getting there around 1 and would eat closer to 1:30, and he chose to split the difference, showing up at 1:15.

I was watching out the kitchen window, and saw when he pulled into the driveway. "Oh my gosh, Alex, you are totally in love!" my sister said, pinching my arm.

"Ouch!" I said, since she did it really hard.

I couldn't be mad for very long with Jacob pulling into the driveway, so I smiled again as I looked out of the window. He had parked his truck, and was now getting out of it. I crossed the kitchen, heading outside to meet him.

The guys in my family were all standing outside doing guy things, and they had already called Jacob over there by the time I made it outside. I had to walk around to the side of the house since that's where they were. Jacob was wearing jeans and a T-shirt with a pair of sandals, and I beamed at the sight of him. He had a dozen eggs in his hand that I assumed he was bringing for my mom.

"Cole was just introducing us to Mr. Fox," my dad said, looking at me to gauge my reaction after he shook Jacob's hand. He knew Jacob and I had something going on, and it was interesting to watch him appraise the situation. "I guess it goes without saying that we're all really protective of Alex," my dad continued, horrifying me.

"Dad!" I gasped.

He looked at me with a patient smile that said I didn't know what I was talking about, and I looked back at him with a pleading expression, begging him to stop.

Jacob put his arm around my shoulder and looked down at me sweetly. "I'm glad they love you this much," he said. "They should warn me—I mean, not
me
specifically, because I'm not gonna hurt you, but he's right for saying that to someone who comes over here trying to date you."

"Don't encourage him," I said.

"He's right that I'm right," Dad agreed. "I like that he knows that."

"He's okay," Cole said as if he had already done his research on Jacob.

"They're not going to bombard you every time," I promised, taking the eggs from him.

"Just once," Uncle Steve said.

"It's our Alex," Cam said.

Jacob smiled and put his hands up in surrender. "You don't have to worry about my intentions," he said.

My dad reached out and patted him on the shoulder like he was proud of him for saying that, and I just closed my eyes and shook my head.

"I saw Caleb Reeves heading up toward your lot on a four-wheeler this morning," Cole said, looking at Jacob.

I glanced at him to see how he'd react, but he just smiled and nodded. "He came by this morning," Jacob said. "I think his parents knew I got back into town. They made him come by to apologize for trespassing."

"I didn't say anything to them about catching Caleb out there," Cole said.

"I guess they just caught wind of it." Jacob shrugged. "I was more wondering how they already found out I was back in town."

"That's easy," Uncle Steve said. "Barry at the gas station. If you're watching this street for something, you just ask him."

"You mean a guy at a gas station watched the road for me and called them when I came back?" Jacob asked.

All the guys smiled, thinking of Barry. He was a special needs guy who knew and loved everyone in town. He took pride in watching the road while making time to greet and talk to the customers.

"Barry's the one with the huge smile when you go to the gas station," Cam said.

Jacob nodded and smiled when he put a face with the description. "He's cousins with the Reeves on his mama's side. I'm sure they just told him to look out for you coming back into town."

"I stopped there on my way home," Jacob said.

"Oh, that's definitely how Caleb knew, then," Cam said.

"Was he respectful?" I asked Jacob since I feared the worst about Caleb's manners.

"He was, actually," Jacob said, surprising me. "I kind of like that kid. He reminds me of myself in some ways. He's got some things to figure out, but I think he's got a good head on his shoulders… somewhere under all that sarcasm."

"So, you're BFF's now?" I asked, tilting my head at him curiously and smiling. It made me happy to feel like conflict was resolved, and I loved hearing the news that Caleb had been nice.

He shrugged. "He's gonna come by a few times a week to help me with some things. I think he needs that."

"Are you gonna let him do wood stuff with you?" I asked, wondering what he needed help with.

Jacob smiled and shrugged. "Maybe," he said. "We'll start with helping me clean up after the chickens and see how it goes."

"What wood stuff is she talking about?" Uncle Steve asked since he knew the least about Jacob of all the guys standing out there.

Jacob reached into his pocket and pulled out a sleek serving spoon that had been carved and polished out of some super dark wood. It was beautiful, and I felt proud as he handed it to my Uncle.

"You just happen to carry spoons around in your pocket?" Cam asked, teasing him. "Is that your business card or something?"

Jacob laughed. "Mrs. Martin wouldn't let me bring anything to help with lunch, so I figured I'd bring her a spoon."

"And some eggs," I said, lifting the carton.

With that, I reached out to take the spoon from my uncle so we could bring them inside to my mom. Fresh eggs and a new spoon—she was gonna be on the Jacob train in no time. I smiled at the thought as we came into the kitchen.

"Jacob brought a dozen eggs and a new spoon that he made with his own two hands," I announced.

My mom and aunt Debbie were standing in the kitchen, and Amelia was sitting at the table with two of her friends from school. All of my sister's friends had crushes on Cam and Cole, so they always wanted to come to these family lunches. They sat up straight when Jacob walked into the room, which made me grin again.

"Four of those are duck eggs," Jacob said. "Alex told me you like to bake, and a lot of people use them for that."

"That's exactly how to get me to bake you something, you sweet thing," my mom said crossing the kitchen to hug Jacob and check out her gifts. "Four
duck eggs
?" she asked, opening the carton. "How can I tell?" She glanced inside. "Oh, I see which four are different." She looked at Jacob with an intrigued expression. "They're almost translucent, aren't they?"

Jacob nodded. "I never thought of it like that, but they do have a different look to them."

"And you just use them same as you would a chicken egg?"

He nodded. "They're really good. You can look up recipes."

My mom reached out and was in the process of hugging Jacob when my sister said, "Is he your boyfriend, Alex?" She knew without a doubt that she was putting me on the spot, and she was obviously enjoying it because she smiled as she waited for my response.

I shifted my focus to Jacob, and I stood there and stared at him for a comically long amount of time, deciding how I should answer my sister's question.

I started to say the word yes, but I was so reluctant about it that the "yyyyyy," sound was all that came out of my mouth for at least a few seconds.

A grin grew across Jacob's face as he stood there watching me say the "Y" sound for an abnormally long amount of time. I was still saying "yyyyy," when he nodded almost imperceptibly, telling me it was okay to finish saying the word. I transitioned into "ehhhh," before I finished with "esssss." It was probably the longest anyone had ever taken to say the word yes, and all the women in the room were giggling by the time I got it out of my mouth.

Jacob's eyes stayed locked with mine, and he smiled at me like he thought I was hilarious before turning to face my sister. "What she's trying to say is 'yes'," he said.

Epilogue

The following December

My sister, Wynn, had just finished the fall semester, and was home for Christmas break. It was a Saturday night, and her band was playing a gig in New Orleans. My parent's didn't love the fact that they played in bars, but Wynn kept telling them it was just until they got big enough to play concerts in bigger venues. As far-fetched as that may sound, they actually might have what it takes to make that happen. They had a pretty big regional following and were building on it day-by-day. Tonight's show was sold out in a venue that held three hundred people.

Wynn and the Basics
were an alternative rock band whose roots were in rhythm and blues. My sister was the lead singer, but her friend Claire sang back up and harmony, and they sounded really good together. Claire also played the keyboard. There were three guys in the band, (guitar, bass, and drums) but none of them sang. I had heard them play live at least twenty times, but Jacob had never been, so tonight was a new experience for him.

They were playing in a funky old club that you had to access from an alleyway in downtown New Orleans. My parents had been present for some of their rehearsals, but they never seen their band perform live in front of an audience. They decided to come with us, and when they did, Cam, Cole, Uncle Steve, and Aunt Debbie jumped on the bandwagon, too. We followed each other into the city so we could park and walk together. The men were all on high alert since downtown New Orleans can be a bit freaky at night, but we walked in a group, and no one bothered us.

The show was amazing.

Everyone was supportive and into the music, and I was proud of Wynn for what a good job she was doing leading the band and commanding the stage. She had a sort of shy, dry-witted demeanor on stage that matched her bluesy but vulnerable singing voice.

"We're gonna do one more song on this set," she said after the crowd finished clapping for the song that had just ended. "But I need someone to come up and help me out." She started peering into the crowd as if searching for a willing volunteer. The guys in the band got up from their instruments and left the stage, but Wynn and Claire stayed up there.

I swallowed hard, and got cold sweats and cottonmouth, imaging Wynn calling me up there to do a song from Grease or something else crazy like that. I ducked behind my mom as Wynn looked into the crowd with her hand above her eyes to shield the spotlight.

"Is there anyone named Jacob out there?" She had located our table and was staring straight at it. I was holding Jacob's hand, and I squeezed it telling him everything was going to be okay. I shook my head, saying that he didn't have to respond to her.

He didn't even see me. He smiled at Wynn and raised his hand.

"What are you doing? You don't have to do this," I whispered.

But Wynn saying, "Can we hear it for Jacob, everybody?" on the microphone completely drowned out what I was saying.

Jacob stood up and waved as the crowd gave him a round of applause. My parents and everyone else in the room watched as he crossed to the stage and picked up the electric guitar that had been set down. He didn't even ask Wynn if he could use it or anything; he just acted like he knew what he was doing.

Wynn pointed to the mic stand, and Jacob walked up to it, adjusting it to his height as he squinted into the audience with his baby blues. He smiled as he let his eye roam over the crowd, taking in the view from the stage. Several yells or whistles of approval came from the audience, which made my mom reach out and squeeze my thigh, teasing me. I was so nervous I felt like my head might fall off my body and go rolling down aisle between the tables. I couldn't believe that
my
Jacob was on that stage, acting like he knew what he was doing. What's more was that Wynn and Claire stood behind him to wait for his cue like they practiced this bit a hundred times already.

"Hello," Jacob said, testing the mic with a smile. A round of shouts and whistles answered him, which made him smile.

My heart was beating out of control.

I was completely out of my mind with nerves.

He played a blues riff on the guitar before leaning toward the microphone to sing. It was a slowed-down version, so I didn't recognize it at first but the lyrics were unmistakable. "I got sunshine on a cloudy day."

My sister and Claire chimed in with a perfectly placed "Shoop," from behind him, and my sister smiled and waved at me from the stage.

"When it's cold outside," Jacob sang in his perfect, bluesy voice. "I got the month of May."

"Shoop."

"Well, I… guess… you'd… say, what can make me feel this way? My girl..."

"My girl… my girl," the girls sang.

"Talkin' bout my girl."

It was perfect.

There was no way this was an impromptu thing. Jacob had the crowd mesmerized as he delivered the coolest, most amazing version of
My Girl
I had ever heard.

I cried the whole time. I hid it by holding my hands over my nose and mouth as I watched them. I could see my family watching me watch him, and I vaguely registered that someone was videoing the whole scene, but I was completely fixated on Jacob.

They finished the song and everyone went nuts, clapping and yelling.

"Looks like you're a hit, Jacob," Wynn said as Jacob waved and bowed before shrugging out of the guitar strap. "We're gonna take a fifteen minute set break, and we'll be back, but first I want to let Jacob say one thing."

Jacob carefully put the guitar onto its stand before coming to stand at the mic with a smile aimed at the crowd. He squinted into the spotlights as he took the mic out of the stand and put it to his mouth. "So I told my girl, Alex, we couldn't listen to any Otis Redding until we got married, if you know what I mean."

He paused and cleared his throat dramatically to emphasize what sort of mood Otis Redding put him in, which made the whole crowd laugh.

"Sorry, Mr. Martin," Jacob said, cringing in my dad's direction, which made everyone laugh again.

My dad laughed and waved with everyone else.

I felt like I was in some sort of surreal dream world.

"Anyway, Otis has been off limits, but I thought I'd break him out for the occasion."

"What occasion?" Cam asked, yelling loudly from our table and startling me.

Jacob smiled. "I'm glad you asked," he said. He reached into his pocket and came up with a small box, and everyone in the crowd made sounds of approval, knowing what was coming.

My mom squeezed my thigh with bruising force, poking and pinching me over and over again. Cam reached behind her to pat me on the back several times. I was glad for the physical jolts because, at that moment, I felt numbly delirious. I was covering my face with my hands when Jacob got down on is knee.

"Alex Martin," he said, looking out at me.

I couldn't leave him up there like that. Not when I already knew the answer to what he was asking.

"Yes!" I yelled. Causing everyone in the crowd to look at me.

I stood up to go to him, and he smiled when he saw me coming. He hopped off the stage and was there to meet me when I arrived at the foot of it. He took me into his arms, squeezing me tightly for a second before turning me to face the crowd, who had been clapping and whistling for us the whole time. I didn't realize he still had a mic in his hand until he put it to his mouth.

He cleared his throat. "I didn't quite get to ask my question, so I'm just making sure you know this is a proposal."

Several people whistled before I could respond. Jacob put the mic to my mouth, and I looked at him the entire time I was speaking.

"I hope it's a proposal because otherwise I way overreacted just now."

Jacob, along with everyone else in the room, laughed. Everyone was still whooping and hollering for us as he leaned in to kiss me.

It was the perfect proposal.

I'd heard Jacob sing before, but never like that. He was saving that piece of him for just the right moment, and it was a thing of beauty. I was sure he was saving other things, too, since that was just the type of guy he was.

I couldn’t wait to see what they were.

The End

(till book 2)