Page 28 of Puck, Marry, Thrill

“My wife can do it,” Kenneth interrupted loudly from the ice nearly fifteen feet away. “My wife would be perfect for what you are looking for – and she’d be committed to making sure it was great because it’s personal and close to home.”

“Done,” the man in the suit said bluntly. “Have her show up here tomorrow and meet with the coach and legal, and let’s get this moving quickly.”

He’d done it again.

He’d taken over.

First, the storage, then he was going to spring the house on her, and now he just got her a job because she needed a distraction.Dead man walking…he thought as he swallowed the taste of bile in his throat as he met the other guys surprised expressions.

He might have crossed a line.

Maybe volunteering his wife’s time should have been discussed with her first. Maybe he should have told her about the house. And maybe he should have mentioned a lot more before blurting out the words, ‘Marry me’ to a perfect stranger.

Jamie was going to blow her lid.

8

JAMIE

“One more time…slowly.”

Jamie pinched her nose and sucked in a breath so hard through her nostrils that one of them sealed shut. Her eyelid was twitching and maybe Kenneth didn’t realize just how bad of a day she’d had. First, things started out great. It was beautiful out, the sun was shining, the birds singing… epic.

Then there was a cloud.

A big ol’ thunder-boomer in my life.

Zachary was playing on a playground with some other kids – and some little ‘Petri-dish with freckles’ sneezed…sneezed… right in Zachary’s face. Did she lose her cookies? Yup – warrior mom moment. So five minutes later, narrowly avoiding a fight with some woman screaming hostilities at her in French – and me being ever so grateful that Zachery could only comprehend part of what the woman was saying.

We left the park.

Her kid now had some other kid’s boogers on his face – and in Jamie’s mind, she knew it was illegal to Clorox Zachary’s face. Of course she wouldn’t do that. She would never have done that, but she did march directly to a convenience store around the corner and bought baby wipes.

Turns out, Zachary’s not a fan.

She was wiping his face, wrestling with the five-year-old who was super-pissed about leaving his friends at the park, when he retaliated.

Zachary bit her again –hard– and not just once.

So now, she was in the parking lot of a gas station, wiping down a child who is screaming at her in English – around a lot of people who didn’t speak English. Zachary was fighting to get away, biting and kicking at her. He bit her arm, bit her wrist, bit down hard on her finger – which she thought the digit was about to be separated from her hand… that’s when she snapped.

Jamie bit Zachary back.

Not my finest moment,she thought.I might be scarred for life.The second she bit his finger back, it hit her what had happened as Zachary’s eyes looked at her in horror and betrayal – and she burst out crying, hating herself for losing her cool and hurting the child she loved.

And then the police showed up.

Why wouldn’t they?

It probably looked like she’d kidnapped Zachary to anyone watching. That wasn’t the case. She just didn’t want her child, Kenneth’s child, to get sick from that snot-nosed brat sneezing directly in his face… and it was blowing up in her face.

So, then we we’re both sobbing, both yelling angrily at each other. She had been trying to hug him, and he was pulling away from her – which was breaking her heart. After answering a bunch of questions in a mixture of broken English and her horrible French, Zachary finally came over and hugged her.

We went home— and now this.

Kenneth.

First, it was the fact that he never mentioned the storage situation the other day. She had once thought that they were still going to need to go back to the condos, pack up everything, break the leases, etc. She never imagined in a million years that Kenneth would have handled everything. Strangers got into her house, packed up her personal effects, and handled her underwear that was currently in storage somewhere in town.

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