Hey Jude (Lennox Valley Chronicles #1)

“Well, obviously. I have to defend my best girl.” He squeezes my knee and smiles at me sadly. “Oh, thank God, babe, honestly… I put on my best butch attitude yesterday to warn him not to fuck with you. But I don’t have it in me long-term.” He chuckles, putting his arm around me again.

I turn and smile up at him. “You went all butch in front of Jude? To defend my honor?” I’m having a hard time picturing it, but what I can imagine is both sweet and hilarious. “Thank you.” I wrap my arm around his waist and squeeze him.

Wyatt sits up again to look at me. “Okay, so, wait… Sean’s been giving you shit for weeks? Why didn’t you tell me? Does Nat know?” he asks, his eyes searching mine.

“I told her about the first text,” I admit. “But after that… I don’t know. I guess I just wanted him to get the hint and go away, and kept hoping he would. But then he’d call again… Maybe I didn’t want to admit to myself that Sean was still in my life. Things were going so well with Jude, and I wanted to just shut Sean out of my mind. Obviously, that didn’t work, though…” I trail off. I still don’t know what to do.

“Hey. It’s okay.” Wyatt smoothes back my hair, sighing. “I’m glad you told me now. We’ll figure something out. And good news about Jude, I guess.” He exhales. “Man, he’s even prettier up close.”

“I know,” I say, my eyes wide.

“He told me what happened on Saturday morning.”

I close my eyes and grimace, not wanting to remember. “Yeah?”

“Sounds like a shitty situation. You okay?”

“I think so. Now, anyway. I had a panic attack at his place. He was really good about it, though.” I look down at my hands. “He helped me. It was me who ended up being a jerk and running off.” I grimace at the memory. “I was just so embarrassed he saw that.”

“Oh, babe. It’s not your fault. Trauma fucks with you pretty hard sometimes. If it’s any consolation, he did seem genuinely concerned about you.”

“Yeah. I know.” I pick at a rough fingernail. “I saw him this morning. I told him I need time to figure my shit out.”

“What did he say?” Wyatt asks.

“That he’ll wait for me,” I say in a small voice, with an even smaller smile.

He grabs his chest dramatically, his hand clutching at his heart. He grimaces, then crunches forward, laughing softly and looking pained. “Agh, it hurts so good.”

“I know,” I say, wiping my tears and laughing with him. “How do you think I feel?”

29

OLENA

I pick up the keys Charles and Carol left for me in the mailbox when I finish work on Wednesday. While the crew packs up, I head to my hatchback and pull out a few bags, shutting the trunk with a bang. Jude is loading up his truck beside me and seems to notice I’ve stayed behind longer than I have the last couple of days. He pauses as he lifts his toolbox, bracing the weight against his hips, and looks at me with slight confusion.

I feel the need to explain. “Carol and Charles are away for the week and asked me to house-sit for them.” I smile awkwardly and nod over my shoulder at the massive house.

Jude looks unsure. The situation must sound odd to him.

“That way,” I continue, “Wyatt gets time alone with his boyfriend and… I guess I get to sleep in? No commute, right?” I scrunch my nose and give him a small smile, shrugging. I shiver as a cool breeze gusts past.

“Okay.” His voice is flat. He looks contemplatively at the house, then continues loading bags into his truck. As he closes the tailgate, he eyes me with a furrowed brow. “You gonna be okay here all by yourself?”

“Oh, yeah, I’ll be fine,” I say reassuringly. “I mean, when we’re not all here working, I think it’ll be pretty quiet.” I look at the house again, as if I can consult it for confirmation.

“Okay,” he says again. He looks at me for a long moment, like he wants to say more, but turns away, throwing the last odds and ends into the truck bed, and dusts his hands on his jeans. “See you tomorrow,” is all he says.

My eyes follow the strong planes of his body as he climbs into the truck and drives away. My chest tightens when his truck disappears around the bend in the driveway.

I pick up my bags and head inside to get settled.

Walking up the staircase, I find the guest bedroom set up for me and put my bags on the floor next to the bed. I look around at the large room. A king sized bed sits in the center against the far wall, covered in beautiful burgundy linens with white pillows. To my left, facing the cliff-side and overlooking the river, a large window pulls in the early evening light. White curtains hang from either side and, drawn open, they make the room look even more spacious.

In the far right corner is the ensuite bathroom. I walk over and flick on the light, illuminating the spacious bathroom and its large, surprisingly modern rainwater-style shower. I run my hand over the small, lush towel hanging from a ring near the sink and catch my reflection in the mirror. I look strangely tiny in this enormous house.

I snap a selfie in the mirror and text it to Nat, flicking off the light as I leave the ensuite.