He knows that the boys aren't necessarily on board when it comes to his relationship with Sarah. It's not that hard to see through them; its not hard to see that Snoddy is jealous or that David doesn't approve. How could David approve of his pretty sister being with man like him, whose hands wander and who sometimes forgets not to swear when she's around? Jack wouldn't want his sister to date a guy like him, so Jack doesn't blame him for not liking the match as much as maybe Jack wants him to. Sometimes Jack thinks David could be the reason he ends things with Sarah; they are supposed to be best friends after all, and sometimes the hard set of David's mouth isn't worth how sweet Sarah's can be, but only sometimes.
There are nights like tonight where he knows that his boys are wondering what he's doing wasting his time with a girl who wont -to borrow the words Racetrack just spoke- sweeten the deal. Sometimes, while he's grinding out that last cherry of his cigarette and she is kissing him so softly, like she's afraid that she'll bruise, he almost agrees with them.
He still forgets all of his reasons for ever wanting to leave when she is looking up at him with those eyes, those coffee dark eyes and that sweet little smile that means he'll probably have to marry her before he can see anymore of that soft skin. That does mean, though, that he's the only one who ever will, that when she lets out that breathy sound somewhere between a plea and a gasp when his lips touch her neck, he's the only one who ever has the pleasure of hearing it and there is something like addiction in that. There is something in how an accidental flash of the ankle can make her blush that keeps Jack from wanting to go.
Sarah is a little bit of propriety waiting just for him. Jack's finger tips can brush the bounds of her propriety and she sighs just for him, a little girlish sound he can drink down and cherish. Jack loves her in a way that doesn't need the skin and heat of what the other girls offered him with dark eyes or pouting lips. Jack loves her and she loves him back so she lets him hold her too close and he lets her pull away and smile so sweetly, as if to apologize for her own hesitations but he likes that about her. He likes that she is confident enough to know that he will keep coming back just for her, because that quiet contentedness with oneself is what he doesn't have; he thinks they make a pretty good match, could make a real go of things since they fit the empty places behind each others eyes.
Jack will always come back to her because being with Sarah Jacobs is a little like coming home. The sun is so much bigger in her eyes.