Page 4 of Their Forever Daddy

Jesse wisely swallowed a laugh. Getting under Edie’s skin had always given her a special kind of thrill. Even now, knowing Edie wouldn’t lay a finger on her, Jesse couldn’t help the little bounce in her step as she happily followed Edie—and Edie’s shapely, denim-covered ass—up to the house. But she didn’t think Edie would appreciate her amusement at the situation, so she kept those thoughts to herself.

By the time Jesse walked into the kitchen, Edie already had the bacon and eggs out on the counter, and an old cast iron skillet warming on the stove. She couldn’t help but wince at the sight; she was going to be working off her time in Lost River for at least a month after she left.

Unfortunately for her, Edie happened to turn around and catch her before she could hide her reaction. “Problem?” Edie asked, ice coating her voice.

“Nope.” It was a lie, of course, but Jesse wasn’t about to give Edie yet another reason to hate her by turning her nose up at a free meal. “Want me to set the table?”

The look Edie sent her way was full of surprise. For a brief moment, their eyes locked, and the breath caught in Jesse’s lungs. Once upon a time, everything she’d ever wanted had been in those eyes. She’d lived for the way the brown warmed with approval when Jesse was a good girl, or hardened when she was naughty. For the way those eyes went nearly black with desire, and the way they heated with pleasure whenever Jesse finally surrendered her will to Edie’s.

It was, to say the least, something of a shock to realize how much of what she wanted still rested in those gorgeous, dark depths.

Then Edie looked back down at the skillet, and the moment was lost.

Dammit.

“Plates are in the cabinet by the fridge, silverware’s in the drawer below that,” Edie said without bothering to look up or point. “You shouldn’t have any problem finding the cups seeing as how you helped yourself to my favorite mug this morning.”

The hint of irritation in Edie’s voice had Jesse grinning all over again as she opened the cabinet where the plates were stored and grabbed two. “A favorite mug, huh? Was it a gift from someone special?”

“No. It just holds the most coffee.”

It was such a purely Edie response, Jesse couldn’t help but laugh this time. “Duly noted. I’ll use a different mug tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Yeah.” With the plates and silverware on the table, Jesse pulled out a chair and sat, schooling her expression into one of wide-eyed innocence as she looked up at Edie, who was now watching her with the wariness one might give a wild animal. “Figured I’d crash here while I’m in town. You have plenty of space.”

“You aren’t going back to Hollywood?”

“Eventually,” Jesse replied with a shrug. “But I’m between movies at the moment, so I’ve got some free time.”

“How long are you planning on staying in Lost River?”

“As long as it takes.”

Edie’s annoyed huff stopped just short of an outright growl. “As long as what takes?”

Emotion stuck in her throat, but she kept her gaze locked on the woman across the room as she forced the words out. “As long as it takes for you to stop hating me.”

Edie

* * *

Two hours after having her life upended by her blast from the past, Edie couldn’t stand being in the house one second longer than necessary. But she also wasn’t about to leave Jesse alone in her space. Hell, she didn’t even leave her girls alone in her house and she trusted them more than she trusted anybody.

And that was how she ended up driving into town with Jesse Fucking Walker sitting in the passenger seat of her truck, somehow looking wildly out of place and exactly like she belonged at the same time.

Even the nineties alt rock blaring from her speakers, which usually improved her mood no matter the circumstances, couldn’t dispel the black cloud over Edie’s head as she slammed the truck door behind her and stomped into the feed supply store that had been in her late husband’s family nearly as long as the farm.

The bells above the door—the ones Taylor had begged Edie to buy because they ‘sound so happy and we want happy customers’—jangled more harshly than usual as Edie shoved open the front door. Taylor was the only one in the store since Noelle had spent the night in Charleston so she could be there when her Daddy got done with his shift at the fire station. It was a routine they’d had for months, and Edie was starting to wonder how much longer it would be before Noelle just upped and moved to Charleston.

Because the thought of one of her girls moving even half an hour away made Edie’s chest ache, she shoved those thoughts to the back of her mind. “Morning,” she grunted, striding past Taylor toward the back office she hardly ever used anymore. It had pretty much become Noelle’s office at this point, which was the way they both liked it. The only reason Edie hadn’t sold the damn store yet was because she couldn’t stand the thought of losing one more piece of Ken.

Ken. Tears burned in her eyes as she dropped into the office chair and let her head fall back against the padded headrest. The grief time had only somewhat dulled tightened around her chest. If Ken were here, he’d know exactly what to do. There’d been no secrets between them, and he’d known all about Jesse and what she’d meant to Edie.

Closing her eyes, she tried to bring his memory forward in her mind. Maybe if she could focus hard enough, he could tell her how the fuck to handle this whole Jesse situation.

“Edie?” Taylor’s soft voice reached her before Ken’s face could fully form, banishing him back to the recesses of Edie’s memories. “Are you okay?”

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