Page 43 of Jumping In

I chuckle. “Yeah, baby. Upstairs in the loft, you can use my bathroom.”

She kisses me again and then scurries up the stairs. I take a moment to breathe and think about something—anything—to will my cock to chill the fuck out. Grabbing my phone off the coffee table, I scroll through my notifications. There’s a post in the town Facebook group reminding everyone about the Fourth of July parade coming up next week, which reminds me I need to tune up the Thunderbird before taking it out. I’m sure more work will come in, but I’m hoping I can swing more time with MJ this week. An idea hits me. I open up the Dream Team chat and send a text out.

July 1

The weekend flies by and Monday comes too quickly. I’m thankful for the time I spent with MJ and our friends at the creek on Saturday. It was our first outing as an official couple. MJ was nervous as fuck, but everything went fine. Our friends kept saying “it’s about time” and “finally” to her and I think that calmed her down. It was an enjoyable evening.

I didn’t see my girl at all on Sunday, so excitement buzzes through me while she sits on the loveseat throughout the meeting—that thrill amplified every time she blushes. When reviewing what I’ll say on the stand, she shares she helped her dad prepare the script and I’m so impressed. She’s so fucking smart. I try to keep my glances to a minimum after getting caught a few times by Mr. Lawrence.

Thanking Mr. Lawrence, I follow MJ out of his office. My eyebrows raise when she reaches down and tugs on my hand, pulling me into the kitchen where her mom is humming away. Mr. L had set our meeting for mid-afternoon today and since most of the town will be closed for the week, I’m not surprised to see her home. She looks up from the sink, her eyes sliding from our faces down to our hands. MJ drops my hand and my heart drops for a second. Obviously, her parents still don’t know.

“Oh, Emmalynn.” Mrs. Lawrence swats the air with her wet, soapy hand, making bubbles fly in front of her face. “You hold that boy’s hand if you want to.” She gives me a warm smile and I link my pinky with MJ’s. Mrs. Lawrence winks at MJ and whispers, “Our secret for now.” We sit down on the barstools at the island where Mrs. Lawrence is washing dishes.

“What are you two up to today?” she asks as she rinses the casserole dish. MJ looks at me and intertwines her fingers with mine, squeezing my hand. I squeeze back three times and let her answer her mother.

“I’m not sure, Mom. What about you?”

“Well, I need to go out to Cedar Bend to get a few more things for the barbecue on Thursday, but I really don’t feel like making that drive.” She wipes her brow with her hands after drying them with a nearby dishtowel.

“We can go Mrs. Lawrence,” I say, squeezing MJ’s hand again when she whips her eyes to me.

“Please, call me Laurie.” Mrs. Lawrence swats the air. “Are you sure?”

I nod. “Yeah, it’s not a problem. We can take my car if you want, MJ? It has more trunk space. Just give us the list Mrs.—” Mrs. Lawrence raises her eyebrow. “Laurie.”

“Well, that is very sweet of you. I have the list right over here. It’s not much, but definitely things we’ll need for Thursday. We’ve already got the tents set up, so this is just the last-minute things for cooking and such.” Tents already set up, hmm? That gives me an idea for later I’ll have to talk to the guys about. Laurie continues, “Are you sure you don’t mind?” She floats over to the side counter and picks up a piece of paper and hands it to MJ.

“You don’t have to work?” MJ asks quietly.

I lean into her and kiss her forehead. “It can wait.”

After eating a late lunch with Mrs. Lawrence, we hop into my car and roll through Oakridge and onto the freeway toward Cedar Bend with her list in hand. The afternoon sun streams through the windshield, and I turn the air conditioner up to combat the heat. Nudging the aux cord toward MJ, I smirk.

“Put on whatever you want.”

She smiles sweetly, plugs her phone in and hits us with—no surprise here—Taylor Swift.

“This okay?” she asks shyly.

“Yeah, it’s fine,” I say with a chuckle. We drive for a few minutes before I turn the volume down, earning me a withering look from MJ. “Sorry, I just thought we could talk too?”

She laughs and nods. “Yeah, about what?”

“Have you figured out anything more about school?”

Besides the trial coming up, this has been weighing on my mind. Are we going to have one summer and then she’s gonna leave? Long distance never works, and I wouldn’t want to tie her down anyway.

“Um, I’ve been lookingup alternatives. I’m not sure.” She pauses, and I nod for her to continue. “I’m not sure I want to go to law school.” Feeling her eyes on me, I school my expression. The surprise and hope mixing in my gut are threatening to bubble up.

“Alternatives?”

“Yeah. Shannon gave me the idea, actually. And it makes perfect sense when you think about it.”

The rest of the drive, I hear the excitement in her voice and see her face light up as she tells me all about social media marketing. The sweet feeling of hope overrides the tangy surprise filling my chest. She might be staying. This might work.

We pull into the parking lot of the Walmart in Cedar Bend, figuring we can get the majority, if not all, of Mrs. Lawrence’s list here. We’re in the seasonal aisle grabbing sparklers, Pop-Its, and smoke bombs when MJ nudges me with her elbow.

“Isn’t that your brother?”

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