Page 21 of Beaten

“Yeah, I just need to clear my head.”

“Alright. Be careful.”

“I will.” Isabelle would have loved her.

Chapter 12

Jamie

Icame back in after my run and stopped short when I overheard Meg ask Jack. “Is Jamie okay?”

“He took the whole situation today a little too personally.”

I bit back a laugh when I heard Meg’s reply. “You’d never do something like that.” I could imagine her rolling her eyes at him.

“Who me? Never.”

Jack had most definitely taken Meg’s unofficial case too personally.

“Do you think he likes her.”Did she notice I wasn’t wearing my wedding ring?

“I don’t know, maybe.” Jack paused. “He claims it’s because Emily’s a family friend, but I think there might be more to it.”

“Did he say or do anything to make you think so?”

“No,nothing specific. But he’s called AJ twice tonight to make sure everything is okay.”

I should have known AJ would rat me out.

“It’d be nice for him to find someone. He’s too good a guy to be so lonely.” Meg said.

Not wanting to hear any more, I retreated to my bedroom.

The next morning I stood in front of my dresser debating whether or not I should put my ring back on. The sunlight caught the scuff marks in the gold as I picked it up, this ring and I had seen a lot of action. I felt naked without it, but decided not to put it back on, yet.I can always put it back on later.

The sweet scent of sausage filled my nose before I reached the kitchen. Jack was scheduled to relieve AJ at seven so he’d gotten up early, and unsurprisingly Meg got with him so they could have breakfast together.It’s what Isabelle would have done.

“Morning Jamie. We made plenty of eggs and sausage so help yourself,” she picked up her mug, “and of course, lots of coffee.” Not that she needed to remind me, there was always plenty of coffee in this house. Not only had Jack and I grown up in our mom’s coffee shop, developing a deep love of good coffee, but we worked crazy schedules and often relied on the caffeine boost.

It was nice to see Meg settling in and relishing the role of housewife, despite not being married. She said it was because she hadn’t had a real home since her grandmother died when she was fourteen, and she loved taking care of us. She always added that we took care of her too. I’d thought it might beweird when Meg first moved in with us, but it’d actually been nice having her around.I’ll miss them when they get their own place.

I poured myself a cup of coffee and sat down. Feeling self conscious about not wearing my band, I was absentmindedly playing with my bare finger. Of course Jack noticed. I would have if our situations were reversed.

Jack nodded at my hand; his question unspoken.

Meg noticed and followed his gaze. She was far more observant than the average person, a survival skill she’d learned living in an abusive household. It didn’t hurt that she now lived and worked with private investigators.

She smiled, opened her mouth to say something, closed it, opened it again, bit her bottom lip, opened her mouth, then closed it and looked at Jack.

He shook his head and laughed. “Just ask him before your head explodes.”

I feigned offense. “I’m right here.”

“Sorry. I’m just surprised to see you without your wedding band and wanted to say something but it seems rude to ask-”

“It’s okay Meg.” I cut her off. If I hadn’t, she’d ramble on, and embarrass herself. Something she did frequently when she got nervous. “I think Mom and Dad might be right, so I’m trying it.”

“Does this have anything to do with the blond I’m about to go shadow?”

---