Everybody Falls (22 page)

Crikey. He used to go through this shit every day?

I'd be mental, too.

I moved to the kitchen, asking what I could do to help.

"If Jax can set the table in the dining room and you put together a salad, Lace, I think we'll be set," she said, putting a large dish into the microwave.

"We're getting fancy for lunch?" I heard Jax tease.

My arms filled with the bounty from Edie's vegetable drawer, I turned back and drawled, "Your grandson used almost that exact same phrase yesterday when I put out plates for fast food!"

Edie glanced between both of us.

"It seems, Lace, that you've got some educating to do here," she responded, her voice sounding serious, yet there was a slight twinkling of a smile trying to escape her lips.

"Yes, ma'am, I think I do," I said and turned away. I was not as gifted as hiding my smiles as she was.

"Educate away, Ladies," Jax said, his hands piled with plates, cutlery and glasses. "At least I'd be learning from the best."

Things were almost ready when Edie asked me to get another bottle of salad dressing from the pantry. And what a pantry it was! Glistening home-canned jars of different fruits and vegetables lined the different shelves with huge crocks of flour, sugar and the like filling the other portions.

I heard the sound of their soft voices as I came back into the room.

"Lacey, you're staying here tonight, okay?" Edie asked, however her voice sounded more like it was a foregone conclusion.

I shot a glance to Jack who was grinning.

"Uhm, okay. Yeah," I replied. "Thanks."

The rest of the afternoon passed in a blur.

We played cards until Edie announced she needed her nap. While she slept, I rummaged around and found everything needed to make a peach cobbler and discovered a roasting chicken shoved in the back of the freezer. I set the chicken in some water to help speed the thawing process and Jack sat at the small breakfast table as I put together the cobbler.

"I don't think either one of us was prepared for how sick the other one was when I came here," I heard him say into the quiet of the kitchen. "I was a fucking mess when she was on, like, twenty different kind of pills."

I glanced at him, making a low noise in my throat to acknowledge his words, hoping he'd go on.

"So I was loopy with all the shit they had me on while she was guzzling these fucking horse pills to keep her heart pumping. Fuck, Baby. It wasn't until I weaned myself off them that I realized what was happening," he continued, his eyes unfocused as he remembered.

I popped the cobbler in the oven and checked the status of the chicken. Hadn't I seen a small bag of red potatoes in the bin of the pantry?

"I wrote down all the names of what shit she was taking, started looking them up online. She was swallowing one kind of pill then taking another for the goddamn side effects of the first. There were three different types that were countering acting all the benefits of two others. It was a fucking mess," he said, shaking his head, his eyes lost in memory. "So I took the list to the pharmacy the next time we went up to new Auburn. The pharmacist about went ape-crazy. Seems the old gal hadn't disclosed all the shit she was taking."

I placed the pan of peeled and quartered potatoes into the fridge. Great, there was bacon and I moved back to the pantry for another canning jar, this one of green beans.

"She's down to only five different pills that she takes a couple of times a day. She's lost weight, which the doctor had recommended. Now she's no longer complaining of dizzy spells. Christ! If my doctor's at the rehab had known of her goddamn condition…" His voice trailed off.

"So, you like being here, then?" I asked.

"Hell, yeah," he said fervently. "I didn't even know she was still alive, Lace. I didn't know that she and Denny stayed in touch or that she was listed as our emergency contact on all our legal shit." His voice wound down. "It took her and me a while, you know, to find our way. But, I love her so much."

"I can see that, honey," I murmured, half-turned towards him from my place at the countertop. "She loves you, too."

"I know. In spite of everything, she really does." His voice held a note of wonderment as he almost whispered.

Oh, my God.

My insides were melting and I realized that no matter how many warnings I gave myself, no matter what my logical mind tried to tell me, I was falling completely, utterly in love with this man.

My man.

Chapter 18

"Okay, here's your room. Down there is the bathroom with Jax's room just beyond." Edie pointed as she explained. "My bedroom is way down there on the other side of the staircase and I sleep like a log, just so you know."

We'd finished dinner and, like he'd told me earlier, Jack cleaned the kitchen. I don't know if Edie had been put out about me cooking, but she seemed to like the rosemary roasted chicken, with mashed potatoes, pan gravy and green beans seasoned with cumin, pepper and bacon.

I knew she really, really liked the peach cobbler.

"Now, here's the trick," she continued, standing smack dab in the middle of the upstairs hallway. "If you hold your hand against the left side of the hall, you can navigate it without any of the old wooden floorboards creaking."

She shot me a wink, before turning away. "His bed's a lot bigger than the one in the guest room."

"There's extra towels in the small cupboard in the bathroom and help yourself to anything from under the sink," she advised as she pulled me in for another hug. "Sleep well, sweet girl. I'll see you in the morning."

Wait…what?

Did Jack's grandma just give me instructions on how to sneak into his room?

I could feel the heat creeping up into my face.

"Jax?" she yelled, peering down the stairs.

"Yeah, Grams?" he yelled back.

"Make sure your girl has something to sleep in," she called.

"Will do. Sleep tight, old woman," he replied.

"You, too, Hot Stuff," she said, tossing another smile my way before making her way to her room.

I heard Jax coming up the stairs.

"Everything's locked up tight, Tiger," he said. "Ready for bed?"

I just blinked, my mind whirling.

"What, Lace?" he asked, concern flickering across his face. "Did she say something?"

"Uhm. I think she just told me how to sneak into your bedroom," I said, the shock in my voice easily heard.

He chuckled.

"Sounds like her, the salty old bird. You know what she told me when I asked her for advice when we first went out?"

"No," I replied.

"Don't use too much spit when you stick your tongue down her throat," he said with a short laugh. "God, she's one in a million."

I couldn't disagree with either Edie's suggestion or with Jack's assessment.

*.*.*.*.*

Jax snagged Lacey's hand and pulled her down to his room. While it used to be his and Denny's when they were small, the bunk-beds were long since gone, replaced with a queen-sized one.

"This is your room?" Lacey asked, gazing around.

He let his eyes roam over the it, trying to see it from her perspective. Compared to her bedroom, his space was tidy except bare and devoid of anything that showed who actually stayed there. Part of it was Gram's insistence on him keeping everything clean, part of his daily routine, more of the 'busy work'. But the other part was all on him. He needed order, he needed it to keep control. Control of his environs equaled keeping control of himself.

"Yeah," he said, looking down at her. "What?"

"It doesn't have much personality," she admitted. "There's no sense of 'you' here."

He moved to the dresser and pulled out a clean t-shirt for her to sleep in before answering.

"I'm still learning who I am, Lace," he replied quietly. "For as long as I can remember, Denny told me who I was, he's the one that came up with that stupid label of 'Eternal Teenager'."

"I don't think that label fits anymore, honey," she said, dropping to sit on the edge of the bed. "Not the man I saw who took care of me and his grandmother this afternoon."

He moved to where she was sitting and stood before her. Lacey wrapped her arms around his hips and pressed her cheek into his belly as he ran his hands through her hair. She yawned and he felt her jaw crack from where she was pressed against him.

"Let me get you a toothbrush," he said, stepping back.

Lacey followed him into the old-fashioned bathroom and watched as he rooted in the cabinet under the sink.

"Do you need anything else?" he asked.

"I don't think so," she said.

"When you're done, come back to my room, okay? The guest room was just Grams way of giving you an option. I already got her approval for you to sleep with me," he admitted with a grin.

He watched Lacey's blush move upward.

"You talked to your grandma about me sleeping with you?" she asked, with a tiny frown.

"Well, yeah," he replied, feeling confused. "It's her house. I wasn't sure how she'd feel about it. Are you okay with it, Lace? Don't you want to…"

"Shhh…" she said, pressing a hand to his mouth. "I'm good, Jack. Surprised that you did it, is all. It's not like this is a situation I've ever been in."

"I'm sorry," he said finally.

"About what?"

"You wouldn't be in this situation if it wasn't for me. The bakery, having to hide out here, all of it. I'm so sorry, Tiger," he said and gathered her against him.

"It's not your fault, Jack, so enough with the apologies," she murmured from her spot on his chest and gave him a quick squeeze.

"I'm going to call Sarge for an update while you're in here. Is there anything you need me to tell him?" Jax said stepping away and reaching for his phone.

"Not really. The bakery is closed on Sundays," she explained. "Maybe just thank him for me."

"Will do, Tiger," Jax said with a smile as he left her to it.

She came back the bedroom, minty fresh and smelling of the bar of soap that had been out on the vanity.

"Sarge said that everything is put away. Said he emptied the register into the deposit bag, whatever that means. He'll bring it over tomorrow morning," Jax recounted his conversation with the older man, eliminating all the cussing and slams the two of them had exchanged. "But, Lace? Those huge flower barrels you keep out on the porch? Sarge says they've been uprooted and will need to be replanted."

He watched as she placed her folded clothes on top of the dresser as she listened.

God, she looked adorable in his t-shirt. This was the first time he'd really noticed her legs, such long, curvy legs for her not too short, not too tall height.

"No worries. I was going to have to swap out the flowers anyway with summer coming," she said, moving to the side of the bed. "Do you have a comb or brush I can use on my hair?"

He moved quickly and pulled his hairbrush from one of the smaller drawers.

"Here, let me," he said, sitting behind her on the bed as he began to work the bristles through her long locks.

"Mmm, that feels good," she breathed. His body immediately responded to what almost sounded like a moan from her as he continued to stroke the hairbrush through her long hair.

"Just give me a few minutes," Jax said finally, putting the implement away and moving to the door. "I'll be right back."

At her nod, he quickly moved to the bathroom.

Lacey was here at the farmhouse and in his bed.

In
his
bed.

His heart was beating almost as fast as the his toothbrush moved while he made short work of getting ready.

The mental pictures of what he wanted to do with her flipped through his mind as he made his way back to the bedroom. Just those brief images had him achingly erect.

He found that the day had taken its toll on her when he moved back into the room. She was turned on her side, knees drawn up and hands beneath her cheek as she slept. Jax was disappointed, yet couldn't help admiring the vision in his bed.

He turned off the light before slipping beneath the sheet to curl around her back.

"Jack?" she said softly as he stole an arm around her waist.

"Yeah, Tiger," he whispered. "It's just me. Go back to sleep."

"Night, honey," he heard her breathe.

"Goodnight, Baby," he replied back. He waited a couple of beats before adding, "I love you."

*.*.*.*.*

Edie made her way downstairs the next morning slowly. Her arthritis was acting up again and it was getting harder and harder to drag herself up and down the stairs, her knees complaining the whole way. As she turned the corner to grab the banister, she heard soft thumps with muffled cries coming from the bathroom.

Aw, shower sex, she surmised with a smile.

She remembered the joy of her and Pete doing the exact same thing in the exact same room so many years ago before they added the new bath to their bedroom. Just having Jax and Lacey in the house reminded her so much of the early years of her marriage. The shared glances, the luscious kisses and the ache to be together even when doing the most mundane things.