Page 44 of Deserving Maisy
“Today’s gonna be a good day. I can feel it. It’s the first day of the rest of our lives.”
She gave him a wobbly smile. It wouldn’t be as easy as that, she knew that as well as she knew her name. Jason wasn’t going to let them waltz out of the house and off into the sunset to start their new lives. No, he’d dosomething to prevent that. The clock was ticking, and he couldn’t afford to let them out of his sight.
“Stop worrying, I’ve got this,” Jack said, then he kissed her hard and fast on the lips, before turning her and giving her a playful shove toward the closet. “Don’t dawdle, I don’t want to be late for my interview.”
She gave him a wobbly smile and entered her closet. She was already wearing jeans, but picked out a dressier long-sleeve blouse she hadn’t worn in years. It was bright red, and she needed the flash of color to maybe boost her mood.
Jason wouldn’t know what they were up to today, they often went out grocery shopping or to get Jack new clothes, and he already knew about the picnic. He shouldn’t be suspicious about their outing. But if Jack got this job, he’d learn they were planning on leaving soon enough.
Maisy shivered but did her best to put thoughts about her brother aside. She wanted to enjoy today…because she knew the clock on her relationship with Jack was ticking as well.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Jack was in a good mood. He’d loved the ranch. The owner seemed pretty laid-back and cool, and the other employees he’d met were down-to-earth and seemed eager to have someone else to help out around the place.
His job duties would entail pretty much doing any kind of work around the ranch that needed doing. Mending fences, mucking out stalls, plumbing in the guest cottages, general maintenance, and, once he learned the trails, leading guests on hikes around the property. The ranch was on about a thousand acres that had both forest and flat land, where the houses and cabins were located, along with an arena where the horses could be trained by staff and ridden by guests. It was a big operation, and Jack was impressed.
But…there was something missing. It wasn’t until he and Maisy had arrived at the small park not too far from her house that he realized what it was.
Mountains. There were hills and valleys, but the true mountains were west of the city. A pang hit Jack, and hefelt homesick. But for what? Or where? It was frustrating not understanding what his brain was trying to tell him.
A jolt of pain flashed through his head, and he winced, glad that Maisy’s back was turned as she spread the tablecloth that Paige had included in their basket. It felt as if he was on the brink of remembering everything, but for some reason the door to his memories was staying stubbornly shut.
Nights were now the worst. He dreamed such disjoined and terrifying things, but had no context for them. Names and people’s faces flashed through his nightmares, names and people he felt as if he should know, but their connections to him remained a mystery. The only thing that kept him sane was Maisy. Holding her in his arms somehow kept the worst of the nightmares at bay. Having her near, smelling her apple scent, feeling her naked skin against his own, kept him from lashing out.
He smiled as she looked up at him from her position on the ground. She sat on her heels and pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. “Paige made peanut butter cookies,” she said happily.
Jack lowered himself to the ground next to her and reached over to grab a container of grilled chicken. “How about we start with something a little more nutritious?”
“Peanut butter is protein. And there’s eggs, and dairy, and carbs in the cookies,” Maisy teased.
Jack chuckled and pulled the baggie of cookies out of her hand and placed it on his other side, holding the container of sliced chicken out to her.
She pouted. “You’re mean.”
“Nope. I care about your health and well-being. Howabout this…you eat the healthy stuff first, and then you’ll get a reward.”
Her eyes sparkled and she teased, “I’m thinking what I want as a reward isn’t flavored like peanut butter and isn’t in that little baggie.”
And just like that, Jack’s cock twitched in his jeans. On the night of their vow renewal, his wife had been…reticent. Not unwilling, but unsure about sex with him. His size, his desire for her, all of it. He’d been away from her for too long, and that was abundantly obvious. But now? Her sex drive matched his own, and it was all he could do not to push her onto her back and take her then and there. But they were in a public park and there were people all around them. He’d never do anything that would embarrass her or put her in danger. And having sex in a public park would do both.
“I’ll take a rain check on that,Stellina. For now, cookies will have to do.”
“Darn,” she said with a small smile.
As they ate, Jack kept things light. Talking about the people around them, the gorgeous weather, how beautiful she looked in her red blouse…anything that wouldn’t stress her out. But eventually he needed to talk about their next steps.
“I’m going to take the job if it’s offered to me,” he told her solemnly after they’d finished their lunch and had thoroughly enjoyed the cookies Paige had included in the basket.
She sighed and nodded. But she didn’t look at him, instead focused on a family kicking a soccer ball around on the grass not too far away from them.
“Do you really not want to leave?” he asked. He had toknow. She had to see how horrible her brother was to her. If it was anyone else, he had no doubt she’d be begging them to leave the situation. He didn’t understand why she wanted to stay.
“No, I want to leave. But it’s not that simple.”
“It is,” Jack insisted. “You’re twenty-eight, Maisy. An adult. He can’t control you forever.”
“When I was eight…I was sick.Reallysick. Jason slept on my floor every night, even though my parents forbade him to do so. They were worried that he’d get sick too, but he didn’t care. He snuck in every night after they went to sleep.”
