Page 63 of Deception and New Direction

“Jack told me you helped him pick out all the cabinets, countertops, and appliances for the kitchen, as well as a bunch of the furniture for all the rooms.”Ellielooked at me with confusion as she made that statement.

“Yeah, he did, but it’s forhishouse,Ellie.Notmine,”Itold her.

“Honey,Ithink a huge airplane carrying the point just flew over your head,”Tammysaid to me.

“What?”Iasked her.

“Ruthie, hear me out,”Catsaid next to me. “Ithink the pointEllieandTammyare trying to make is that he wouldn’t ask your opinion on those things if he didn’t see a future with you.”

I let that comment settle in asIthought back to several conversationsJackandIhad had over the past few weeks.Hewould ask my opinion about something,Iwould give it to him, and then he would change whatever he was looking at to buy whatIhad wanted instead.Atthe time,Ihad always chalked those decisions up to him liking my ideas better, but nowIrealized maybe it was just his way of making me a part of the decision without me knowing it.

“God, that man is so sneaky,”Isaid, which causedEllieto chuckle. “Himand his sass-tastic smirk.”

“His what?”Catasked me.

“His sass-tastic smirk,”Irepeated. “Hehas this special smile he makes that’s full of sass but also looks fantastic on him, which irritates me even more.”

The ladies all just chuckled and laughed at me.Ididn’t find it funny.Ifound it annoying.HowcouldIhave not seen whatJackwas doing?Ishould have known better.

“People do things like that for two reasons—either to be malicious and to eventually make a fool out of you, or because they mean well and are showing you how much they care instead of telling you, because they know if they tell you, you’ll run,”Elliesaid to me, andIknew she was right.

Jack was not like my dad.Hecared about me.Icould see it in his eyes every time he kissed me, or touched me, or sometimesI’djust catch him staring at me whenIwasn’t looking.

“Honey, take the advice from a sage woman with years more wisdom when it comes to dumbass men,”Tammysaid, making me smile. “Jackis a nice man, and nice men do not keep you around if all they plan to do is make you another notch on their bedpost.Themen who are more of the wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am type aren’t asking women’s advice on what kinda oven to put in their house.”

“Especially when that man is never gonna use that oven,”Elliechimed in, knowing her brother was a terrible cook.

I heard what she was saying, along with the other women.Valhad just walked in to join us when she realized we were talking aboutJackand decided to ask her own question.

“Did you andJackmake it to a bed yet?”Hersmile was huge.

“I don’t want to hear this,”Elliesaid, covering her ears and pretending not to hear.

Tammy laughed and walked away to go take care of one of her other customers.

Our food arrived, which gave me a break from talking aboutJack, and we spent the next forty-five minutes chatting about the bachelorette party as well as wedding dress shopping.

Vince came to collectCatfrom the bar and asked howIwas getting home.AllIhad told the guys was that there was a small fender bender earlier andIhad dropped the car off at our preferred body shop to get the small repairs needed.Ihad hoped to get all the work done quickly and pay for it myself beforeArcherwas able to get ahold of the police report.

SinceIhadUberedhere from the body shop, my only options for getting home right now wereVince, getting anotherUber, or callingJack.WhenVinceoffered,Itook him up on it since he was already here, andIdidn’t want to makeJackcome back and get me sinceIknew he had already gone home to letDashout and feed him.

Plus,Ihad some thingsIneeded to think about on the ride back.ThingsIcouldn’t think about withJacksitting next to me.

* * *

I hopped out ofVince’scar and said goodbye to them both asImade my way through the back door toJack’shouse.

“How was ladies’ night?”Jackasked whenIwalked into the kitchen.

I smiled at his characterization of happy hour with his sister andCat.Dashhad left his spot of sitting atJack’sfeet and came over to sniff me up and down as if he could figure out everywhereIhad gone during the day just from smelling my clothes.

“What did you ladies talk about?”

I filled him in on a little bit of the conversation, butIalso didn’t want him to know we talked about him, soItried to steer clear of those parts.

“Cat drank one ofVince’shealthy protein shakes, but apparently they taste like bittersweet chocolate and disappointment.Wealso talked about the bachelorette party for your sister, andIthink she is genuinely scared thatTammyandValare planning it.”

He chuckled at that comment then moved to relax his arms, crossing them over his chest casually.Jackwas leaning with his back up against the counter in the kitchen.Itcaused me to look around the room and think of all the suggestionsIhad made that he’d encouraged.

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