Page 19 of Summer Sweethearts
“Lor, I’m sorry, it’s obvious. If you don’t want to talk to him, he can kick rocks right now. But if you’re okay talking to him, I’m going to head back to work.”
“I’ll talk to him, but if he pisses me off, I’m kicking him in the dick like we talked about,” Loretta whispers, and I choke out a laugh.
“Deal. Give him hell, baby,” she purrs, and then leans in, kissing Loretta. As their kiss deepens, I can’t help but think that Jessica is marking her territory, which I would too.
My dick twitches at seeing them together.
What the hell that’s about, I don’t know. Jessica is gorgeous with her curly raven hair and piercing green eyes. What attracted me to her, though, was her take no shit attitude and honesty. Which I am getting in full right now. And although Loretta being lost in the lips of someone else should bother me, it doesn’t. Don’t get me wrong, I’m jealous as hell, but not in the typical way.What the fuck is wrong with me?
Jessica breaks their kiss, grabs Aiden, and they head out the door, leaving me alone with Loretta. “Well, come on, let’s have this talk.” Loretta turns and heads back to the table they were having lunch at. She takes her seat, grabs Jessica’s sandwich, wraps it in the plastic, and puts it back in the bag. “I’m going to finish eating while you talk,” she snarks.
“Fair enough.” I chuckle, and she takes a bite of her sandwich. “So I just wanted to apologize for yesterday. I never meant to just run into and shock you by being home. There was supposed to be a plan for telling you, but nothing I came up with was ever good enough. I got a call to do some repairs to Ted’s kitchen, and it was pure happenstance. I’m sorry,” I tell her while drumming my fingers on the table.
“I don’t understand what was so hard about coming here and saying, ‘Hey Loretta, I’m moving back to town to work with Cain?’”
I rub the back of my neck because she makes it sound like it was so easy. “I thought you deserved more than that. All I can say is I’m sorry. Moving back here just kinda fell into my lap at the right time. I knew I’d get to see you again, and I wanted it to be perfect.”
“Why?” she mumbles around the bite she just took.
“Because, Etta, when Jessica said I was still hung up on you, she was right. I’ve tried to date, but none of them were you,” I admit to her with a cringe because this was not how I wanted this conversation to go.
“I’m flattered, Michael, but I’m with Jessica now, and I’m happy.Shemakes me happy.”
“I understand, and I’d never ask you to leave her, nor am I looking to be your mistress.” I chuckle, and she raises an eyebrow at me. “But I wanted to be honest with you. I told myself if you would speak to me, I’d tell you the truth no matter what.” I stand and she rises from her seat after me.
We embrace awkwardly, and I use this moment to bury my nose in her hair, inhaling deeply. Her honey and floral scent fills my nose. Grabbing her by the shoulders, I push her away gently. “I gotta get going, but I’ll be seeing you around. Rumor has it we’re in a wedding together.”
“I heard that too. They’ve waited a long time for this happily ever after. It’s well deserved, and I’m excited they asked me to be a part of it.” She smiles.
“Agreed. Took my cousin long enough to get his man.” I laugh as I move toward the door, heading back to work. Loretta stays where she is and watches me leave. I get in my truck, turning the key so I can head to the shop for the day. After getting to the shop, I head inside and find Cain in our office, sitting at his desk, looking over some paperwork.
“You okay, Mikey?” Cain asks, leaning back in his chair while looking at me. “You don’t look well.”
“I’m fine. Just had a strange lunch. I went to apologize to Loretta and ran into her having lunch with her girlfriend,” I tell him. He looks at me with a shit-eating grin on his face.
“Oh, I know all about you knowing and the semantics of not telling me. Wanna know the real kicker? She was having lunch with my ex. Yup, I dated Jessica a while back before she moved here.”
“That’s fucking rich!” Cain laughs. I’m glad at least one of us is amused by this whole thing. I’m still in shock that this actually happened and is my life.
“Yeah, laugh it up, Cain. Enjoy my pain. Anyway, I got the chance to talk to Loretta. I told her everything, and she reiterated she’s with Jessica now and happy. So, I’ll just move on with my life and be happy that she’s happy, but it’s gonna take time for the sting of her being happy with someone else to go away. I really thought you offering me this position was a sign that I was supposed to move home and be with her since I still love her.” I plop down into my chair behind my desk and rest my head in my hands.
“Why does it have to be one or the other?” Cain asks. I don’t know what he’s talking about. Lifting my head, I quirk a brow at him.
“Elaborate.”
“Well, I guess I’m just thinking that if you dated Jessica, you were attracted to her. It was Loretta that was holding you back. You still have it bad for Loretta, so why couldn’t you be with both? If they were open to it and wanted it, I don’t see why it couldn’t work for y’all. It’s working for Cara.”
“Cain, you’re out of your mind. You’ve read one too many of those books Aiden is obsessed with. This is not some wild romance book where we’re going to end up together and live happily ever after. This is real life, and while I love Cara and I’m happy for her men, I’m not seeing that in the cards here.” I shake my head at him. He shrugs, ignoring me to open his laptop, and begins typing away.
I drop my head back onto the headrest of the chair and close my eyes, trying to forget this disaster of a day so far. The only thing that comes to mind, though, is the vision of Loretta and Jesica kissing. Then I’m picturing myself with them as they both turn and kiss me. Part of me wonders if what Cain is saying holds any merit and if Loretta and Jessica would be open to that?
First things first, I need to see if Loretta is even willing to give me another chance. I need to woo her withoutwooingher if that makes sense. I also need to have a little chat with Jessica to see where her head is at and how she feels about me.
This is going to take time. Lucky for me, that’s all I got right now. Lucky for Loretta, I’ve always thought she was worth it. Now, to see if she and Jessica feel the same about me.
JESSICA
Cara, Bea, Loretta, and I met up at the local bar for a ladies’ night out. Cara can’t drink, of course, being five months pregnant and all, but she is ready to have a night out with her friends. “Okay, so you’re telling us you both dated Michael? My cousin, Michael,” Cara asks as the bartender brings us our drinks.
