Page 105 of Chasing Blue
“Okay, well, I’m gonna jump straight in the shower. I’ll see you when I’m looking at ya.”
“Drive safe,” I tell her as I lean in for a final kiss.
Leaning back against my truck, I kick at an invisible something with my toe as I watch her drive away.
I’m hit with a wall of emotion. It crashes down on me from nowhere. She has no idea what she’s done, what she’s brought to my world. I honestly thought I’d grow old living out my retirement back up at Palmers Bay. Probably moving back in with my old man and brother. The three of us sad and lonely together. Then this curvy little redhead from my past rocked up at my bar. She turned my world on its head, making me want things I’d never even let myself dream of and happier than I’d possibly ever been. I try not to overthink that I had all of this in the palm of my hand at just twenty-one, and because of the spiteful actions of others, and my own stupidity, I’d let it slip through my fingers. A lifetime of nothingness—because, aside from loving and raising my son, that’s the only way I can describe my life before Scarlett came back into it—for me, and the loneliness of dealing with a heartbreak no one should have to deal with alone for her, in this vast country of ours, we found ourselves a long way from home, but in the same state, in the same town, in the same bar as each other and the reconnection was instant.
We’ve hit the ground running on this relationship, chasing to catch up on all those missing years, and we’re both okay with that. The speed we’re moving might not suit other people, but this isn’t their relationship, it’s ours, and we’re living it our way.
Pressing the fob on my keyring, I unlock my truck, climb in, and head home to the life I didn’t know I’d been chasing for eighteen years.
CHAPTER25
Scarlett.
I should’ve showeredat the apartment before we left. The very next renos on Jack’s to-do list for this place are the master bedroom and bathroom. Now that I’ll have my mortgage covered and a little bit left over from the rent Milly’s paying on my place, we can get that started sooner rather than later.
I’ve cleaned and scrubbed the shower as much as I can, but the white tiles have a horrible yellowish tinge that I don’t even want to consider the cause of, and the grout is grey and crumbling, and don’t even get me started on the glass brick wall of the shower. A wall that backs onto the space at the side of the house where the boys park their trucks.
The very first thing on my list at the end of the month when I have some money, is to get this wall blocked in somehow. In the meantime, I choose to take my showers in the morning so I don’t have to put a light on, allowing anyone to see inside. If I do have to shower once it’s dark outside, I do it in a pitch-dark bathroom. Jack thinks I’m crazy, but I’m not prepared to take a chance on some random passing by and seeing my fully naked silhouette as I wash all of my cracks and crevices while singing and dancing in the shower.
Thankfully, it’s not yet quite dark as I sing along to ‘Pearl’s A Singer’. I’d never heard the song before, but I’ve created a playlist from the old vinyl records belonging to my mum, and this one, for some reason, I just love. The singer’s rough, raspy voice makes her sound like she’s lived a life that included singing in bars and smoking forty cigarettes a day.
As I rinse the conditioner from my hair, the song changes to ‘I’m Every Woman’. As the song starts, I hear the door slam on Jack’s truck. Empowered by the song’s words, I lather up my boobs and press them against the glass wall as he passes by. He stops walking and instead just stands and stares. Throwing my head back laughing, I wrap a towel around it, grab another for my body, and head into the bedroom.
Half expecting Jack to come in and rip the towel off me, I dress quickly because I’m starving, and another round of sex will just have to wait. Once I’m in clean trackies and a hoodie, leaving off any undies because life with Jack means they’re off more than they’re on, I pull on my UGGs, brush out my hair, and head for the kitchen.
There’s no sign of Jack.
But Finn’s there.
Finn has two mates with him.
All three of them are leaning against the kitchen island, grinning.
“Where’s your dad?” I ask.
His smile getting bigger, Finn shakes his head and says, “No idea, but he’s gonna be pissed he missed that little show,” his eyes moving between my boobs and my face as he talks.
“Nice moves,” dude on the left says.
“Nice boobs,” dude on the right adds.
I close my eyes, debating what to do, say, how to end my life.
“Thought you were going out to eat with Ava,” Jack says from behind me. Turning to look his way, I watch as he puts the takeaway bag on the table. “What’s wrong?” his eyes slice to me as he asks. I open my mouth to say ‘nothing’, but Finn gets in first.
“Entertainment’s better here tonight than at Ava’s, but I’ll deny that till I die if she ever asks.”
“What entertainment?” Jack asks, still looking between us, now with a frown.
“The soaped-up titty show,” dude on the right says.
“I thought it was you,” I interrupt before he can go further with his recounting of my little mistake. “I heard the truck door slam, then someone walked level with the glass bricks and I . . .”
“Soaped up her tits and rubbed them all over the window, and right in our faces,” Finn kindly informs Jack. I narrow my eyes on Finn. “Last time I make you lasagne, you little shit.”
His grin just grows.
