Episode 4--A Suprise at Home

“Where have you been?”

Jenna sighed as she dropped her house keys on the entry table. Toeing off her shoes, she tugged her hair free from the elastic band.

“Mama, I told you you can’t keep staying here.”

Just what I need, she thought, on top of the near panic attack at Steely J’s and the ever-so-delightful confrontation with Aiden.

Bypassing the living room, Jenna headed down the hallway to her bedroom, her mother following close behind. She’d shown up three days ago needing a place to stay. And Jenna loved her mom. God knew she did.  But Jenna’s house was her safe haven. Her soft place to land now that Aiden was no longer in the picture. The one place she never had to pretend to be okay.

“And I told you it’ll only be for a few more days. Your dad’s having some kind of buyer’s remorse with his new little girl toy and decided to come home. Says he wants to start over. Can you believe his nerve?”

Jenna studied her mother from the corner of her eye as they moved down the hall. Vicky Steely looked young for her age and acted even younger—at least, that had been the case ever since her parents had split a year ago. “I know. You already told me all about it. Many times. But as I’ve said before, Jack’s got way more space and he likes entertaining.”

Jenna tried to be sympathetic. Her dad, Johnny, had been a complete bastard, for sure. After thirty years of marriage he’d had some sort of mid-life crisis involving a twenty-two year old and had decided Vicky was no longer what he wanted. But Jenna had been through enough with the two of them. They’d pushed and pulled she and Jack and their baby sister, Amrys so much throughout this whole mess when all Jenna wanted to do was be left alone to lick her own wounds.

“But Jack’s a man. He needs his privacy. And your sister doesn’t have a spare bedroom. Besides,” Vicky followed Jenna into her bedroom, “you need me.”

Wheeling around to face her mother, Jenna paused in the middle of removing her t-shirt. “I’m thirty years old, Ma.”

“And alone. And lonely, I imagine. With Aiden no longer—“

She tugged her t-shirt over her head to hide a grimace. “Can we not talk about him right now, Mama? Besides, I’m perfectly fine on my own, as you well know. Aiden was—“ Everything, she finished the thought in her head but aloud she lied, “He was an aberration. A blip in the course of my life of voluntary solitude. I like being single. And alone.”

A statement that hadn’t always been a lie. Before Aiden she’d reveled in her solitary life. People—all people—grated at her mental and emotional well being. They were nosey, noisy and more often than not, more trouble than they were worth. She loved her family, sure. Heck, Jack and Amrys were her best friends and business partners. Dewey was one of the few reasons she ever ventured out of her house. And despite her need to escape them just now, she couldn’t imagine life without her folks. Mama and Daddy were, well, amazing when they weren’t tearing her to shreds.

But she’d enjoyed living her own life. She could lounge in her pj’s and eat peanut butter straight out of the jar any darn time she pleased. And the remote? All hers. She had her job, her Jeep, her expensive chocolates and her cozy two bedroom home. And that was all she’d needed.

 Aiden had somehow unexpectedly burrowed his way in under her radar and before she’d known what hit her, he was as much a part of her life as the air she breathed. And her mother was right, in a way. She was lonely. Lonely for Aiden. But not enough to ever let him back in her life. And certainly not enough to forfeit her solitude and allow her mother to move in with her, no matter how temporary Vicky tried to make it sound.

“Jenna—“ Vicky wheedled, handing Jenna a fresh tank top from the stack of laundry on the bed.

Tugging the tank top over her head, Jenna continued exchanging her clothes for the comfort of pajamas. “I love ya, Ma, but you gotta go. You’ve been here three days already and if you don’t have the guts to tell Daddy to get out then you’re gonna hafta figure something else out.”

Vicky sank to the bed, frowning. “Can I at least stay again tonight? You’re brother’s tending bar and I can’t stand the thought of finding a motel.”

“Tell you what, Mama. You can stay tonight and then tomorrow, first thing in the morning, you and Daddy are going to have it out. Either he goes back to his apartment and his little tart or ya’ll patch things up. Whatever. But you can’t keep hiding out forever.”

“Why not?” Vicky lifted an eyebrow. “Isn’t that what you’re doing?”

“Nope,” Jenna sassed. “I’m simply getting my life back to normal.” A partial lie. But who was counting?

Kissing her mom on the forehead, Jenna scooped up the newest novel she’d started reading and pointed her mother toward her bedroom door. Once her mother was safely returned to the living room Jenna closed her bedroom door and turned to face the room. The sight of the bed made her shiver with all the sensations nearly kissing Aiden had stirred up. Bypassing it, she curled up on the overstuffed chair by the window instead. The lighting was better there anyway, she told herself.

She tried focusing on her book but after reading the same page three times, she dropped it to the floor and shut off the lamp before shifting the curtains aside to look out at the dark night sky.

Touching her fingers to her lips, she tried to shake loose all thoughts of him. But it was no use. She still couldn’t believe he’d nearly kissed her. And she’d very nearly let him. Kissing Aiden had always been as natural as breathing but tonight it would have been a huge mistake. A disaster, even.

She couldn’t regret having fallen in love with him. It had been thus far the sweetest, most amazing thing she’d ever done.  And when it had all ended it had been near devastating.

Letting him break her heart again would be a colossal regret she would likely never recover from. That knowledge alone had been all she’d needed to put an end to the temptation. And danged if she hadn’t felt some satisfaction in punching him in the gut.

She giggled, recalling his grunt of surprise. Much more rewarding than any kiss. Or so she told herself.