Lyndley (9 page)

When I walk down the stairs, I see my dad and Jax joking and laughing. That’s strange. I thought my dad would have threatened his life.
 

“Wow, Lyndley. You look beautiful,” Jax breathes as I walk into the room.
 

I blush and walk over to them. “You best have my little girl home by ten and not a second later,” my dad reminds him, shaking Jax’s hand.
 

I groan and my dad just smiles at me. “Love you, sweet girl,” he says, kissing my forehead. Why are parents so embarrassing? We say our goodbyes, making our way out the front door.
 

Making our way to Jaxson’s beat up old truck, he opens my door for me. Once he helps me in, he shuts the door and makes his way to his side. I smile. I’ve never had a boy open the door for me before.
 

When he gets in the truck, he looks over at me and grins. “You ready for the date of your life?”
 

I smile back at him. “Hell, yeah.” He laughs and we take off.
 

Pulling up to the creek, I see that he has a blanket spread out, a basket sitting in the middle. When we park, he tells me he’ll get the door, and I wait for him to come around. He offers me his hand and leads me over to the blanket, motioning me to have a seat.
 

When I sit, he kneels down and starts to pull stuff from the basket. Eyes wide, I look at him. How could he possibly know I love egg salad sandwiches, sparkling cider, grapes, and banana nut bread? I’m sure most people don’t know that about me.

“You packed all my favorite things,” I whisper.
 

A big grin appears on his face. “Yeah. Your mom told me all your favorite foods.” Oh, my gosh! He asked my
mom
for help? How freaking cute. Most guys don’t want to even talk to a girl’s parents, but Jaxson seems at home with mine.
   

“You asked my mom?” I grin.
 

He nods and blushes. “I wanted to make this date perfect.”
 

“Oh, yeah? Why?”
 

He gets a sly smile and leans towards me. When he gets so close that I can smell his cologne, I start to get nervous. Is he going to kiss me?
 

“Because I’m gonna make you my wife one day and every day will be perfect, just like you.”
 

The butterflies in my stomach start to flutter. I can’t believe Jaxson Harper thinks I’m perfect. Gah! He gently touches his lips to mine. I feel the electricity between us and I want it to last forever.
 

We spend the whole date laughing and talking about anything and everything. Never in my life have I had so much fun with another person. He is perfect and I never want to let him go.

I spend the morning taking orders and refilling drinks. The last time I waitressed was in college. It was the only job I could find while going to school, and I made great tips. I guessed it helped that our uniforms were tight and revealing.
 

The only downside to working here is answering all the questions about why I am back home and if Jax and I are back together. Apparently, this is the biggest news that’s gone on in this town in a long time.

I try to brush off a lot of the questions, but some of the people are relentless. They want all the facts about what I have been doing since high school, some saying how pretty I turned out. All the other waitresses don’t really seem all that happy to have me here, so I try to keep to myself and ignore all the dirty looks they give me.
 

Once I finish my shift, I gather my tips and tip the cooks. I made thirty dollars. Not bad for this small town. Heck, I’m surprised I made that much since a lot of people around here don’t make much. Once I clock out, I make my way out the door and into the beautiful day.
 

The sunshine and temperatures were what I missed most about this place. I love feeling the sun on my face. Taking the slowest route home, I come to the spot where Jax and I decided to make it official.
 

One afternoon after school, I sit on the grass in between his legs, watching the kids running around the playground. He kisses my hair, then moves it, kissing my neck. Looking back at him, I smile. “Remember our first date when you said I was gonna be your wife?”
 

He looks down at me and laughs. “Yeah, babe, and I meant every word, too.” He kisses my nose and turns his attention back to watching a little boy chasing a little girl.
 

“Let’s do it. I want to be the only woman you love for the rest of your life.” I turn around so we are facing each other. He leans in to kiss me, but I push him away, raising my eyebrow.
 

“But, babe, you won’t be the only woman I love for the rest of my lives,” he says with a smirk. I cross my arms and glare at him. “We will have a daughter one day and I’ll love her for the rest of my life, too.”
 

I can’t stop the tear that rolls down my face. I throw myself at him and kiss him over and over. He’s laughing so much, we end up falling over. “I wanted to kill you a minute ago,” I say, rolling off him.
 

“I know, baby. You should have seen your face. It was freaking priceless. Just for the record, I will marry you any day of the week. You pick a date and time and I’ll be there with bells on.” He kisses me once more, then stands up, pulling me with him.
 

I wish things could be that easy again. We never had fights and we always loved. Our relationship was easy and fun. Maybe that was why we needed to go through what we did. Maybe it was the test to make sure we were really meant to be.
 

Chapter Ten

Later that night, I hear my phone go off. Thinking it’s Jaxson, I run to answer it. “Hello?” I say, breathlessly.
 

“Lyndley…”
 

My stomach drops. “Tyler?” I squeak out.
 

“Hey, baby. How are you doing?” he asks with his smoky voice I used to love so much. However, hearing it now sends chills down my spine.
 

“I...I’m fine,” I stutter out. “Why are you calling me?”
 

“That’s no way to treat your boyfriend,” he grates out. “I lost
everything
because of you, you selfish little bitch. You
will
make sure to treat me with some fucking respect.” Without thinking, I hit the END CALL button and turn my phone off.
 

I don’t want anything to do with Tyler, and the way he was talking just freaks me out. Not once in our relationship did he ever raise his voice to me.
 

I make my way out to the kitchen to grab some water. Talking it back into my room, I stick my headphones in and lay on my bed, trying to push away all thoughts of Tyler. Closing my eyes, I let my mind turn off and I fall asleep.
 

Startled awake, I see a shadow leaning over me. My room is pitch black and I can’t make out the face in the dark. “Babe, I see your eyes. I know you’re awake,” he murmurs quietly. Letting out the breath I had been holding, I reach up and pitch him. “Ow!” he yelps, falling on top of me. “You know, if you really wanted to get me in bed, all you had to do was ask, darlin’. I would have been glad to hop in with you.”
 

“What are you doing here?” I ask, yawning.

“You weren’t answering your phone, so I wanted to make sure everything’s okay and you didn’t back out on our date.”
 

I smile. “Sorry. I turned my phone off after I got a call from someone I didn’t expect to talk to ever again.”
 

“Is that person the reason you came home?” he asks, pulling me to his chest.
 

How do you tell something like this to the person with whom you never fell out of love? I know it will hurt him to know that I was in love with someone else. I know he seen me with another man, but I never told him that I had been in love. The last thing I want to do is hurt Jaxson more than I already have.

“You can tell me, Lynnie. I get you were with someone else. I get you could have even been in love with another man. Hell, all I care about is that it’s over between the two of you. I don’t want part of you. I want all of you. I won’t share you with anyone else.”