I'm fully expecting that you've all grown up, married, had kids, and possibly watched them graduate college in the time it's been taking me to update lately. Life is insanely hectic – I cannot WAIT until Summer, I am telling you. But I'm so so so sorry.
Again, I'm not going to write review replies. I've gotten a little bit worried about them after getting a few PM's – I'm a little nervous that people think I'm only writing them to boost the chapter word count. Because this is a relatively short chapter, and there were a lot of reviews for the last, I'm not comfortable taking up literally half the chapter with review replies. HOWEVER, I absolutely loved seeing a whole lot of new readers last chapter, and of course, the ever loyal readers that I don't know what I'd do without. ^^ thank you guys!
By the way – a thousand reviews? I don't completely understand it, but oh my GOD, thank you so much. It's so wonderful to know that people are really, truly enjoying the story.
So here's another semi-fillerish building chapter... but bear in mind, NEXT chapter? Things happen in a big way. Look forward to it :D
xxx
In the twenty-four years of his life, there were two things that Gray had never done and never imagined he would do. First, he had never hit a woman. And second, he had never murdered anyone.
Oh Goddess, how he longed to change that right now.
His footsteps were heavy on ground as he stormed up to the inn. He'd just been lectured by Mary – Mary – and while he still had no damn idea what he'd done in the first place, he'd like to know just how the hell she and Jill had found out about Veronica kissing him.
Then again, it wasn't that hard to guess who the person who couldn't keep her mouth shut was. There had been, after all, a grand total of two people in that room. It was like the woman was purposely trying to make things worse for him. What was this; her 'payback' for being rejected? If that was such an issue, why would she even try kissing him in the first place?
Well, whatever she was trying to do, it definitely wasn't appreciated.
"Gray, have you thought any more about –" Ann began, racing up to him as he pushed the doors open. He shook his head impatiently, walking straight past her and up the stairs, leaving the waitress to glare after him. She'd been in a state of complete frenzy since both Gray and Jill had stepped down from their positions in her wedding, begging the former on every occasion she saw him and maintaining a stony silent treatment towards the latter. Of course, silent treatment was never as effective when the other person was acting the same way.
His footsteps quickening, Gray's fists were clenched tightly as he approached the husband and wife's room. He slammed on the door, truly not giving a damn what Tom's reaction was going to be – impatiently waiting for all of three seconds before giving the door an aggressive kick. Too aggressive perhaps; he blanched somewhat as the flimsy piece of wood snapped clean through and made a hole easily big enough for somebody Veronica's size to walk through.
After his quick act of violence, Gray felt his heart rate slow as he calmed down somewhat – his anger giving way to an irritation that the couple weren't home and an apprehensive worry as to what Ann's reaction would be. Ducking slightly to peer through the gap in the door, he furrowed his brow at the empty room and hurriedly walked back downstairs. And there, standing in the corner of the room was Tom, speaking a mile a minute to somebody on the phone. Impatient and honestly not caring about the man's opinion of him, Gray walked over to him without a second thought.
"I know... I know. It's not like I don't want to come back – believe me, this place is hell. It's like everything you've ever seen about those really nothing, awful country towns squished onto a square metre." There was a slight pause as Tom leaned forward onto the counter. "No, not literally a metre..." he glanced up casually for a second before doing a double-take; his eyes widened and he backed away slightly as he caught a glimpse of an extremely annoyed Gray. "Look, I have to go. Something's come up. I'll see you soon though – yeah, you too. Bye." He put the phone down gently and cleared his throat a few times, nervously adjusting his shirt before slowly turning towards the blacksmith. "Yeah?"
"Where's your wife?"
"Oh," Tom said, looking relieved that Gray's murderous expression wasn't fully directed at him and not seeming to care in the slightest that he was looking for Veronica. "No idea."
"You must have some idea," the taller man scoffed, folding his arms over his chest.
Tom paled slightly. "Look, I'm telling you I have no idea. She ran out earlier and I haven't seen her since."
"I –" Gray began, cutting himself off abruptly as he noticed Ann heading upstairs, whistling cheerfully, her arms loaded up with clean bedding. "Never mind." Ducking away, he walked out of the inn quickly – unfortunately, not quick enough to avoid hearing a blood-curdling shriek of anguish coming from the red haired waitress as she discovered the abused door and the thunderous sound of footsteps trampling down the stairs – footsteps which incidentally made him pick up the pace of his own.
Call it fate, or intuition, or a subconscious effort to move to the one place Ann couldn't strangle him, but the blacksmith's footprints eventually led him to the church. He hesitated outside the doors for a few moments, half tempted to go inside and half tempted to continue his search for Veronica – before one side had a brief victory and he pushed his way in.
Oh Goddess.
Noticing the redhead sitting quietly in the pews at the front, Gray's jaw dropped as the cruel irony of the situation nearly choked him. He couldn't kill her in a church.
There was an audible sigh from Veronica as she lifted her head and let her eyes wander around the area, lingering on the door of the confessional for a moment before she rose to her feet and turned to leave. She jumped and squealed slightly when she observed Gray standing completely still and silent, bringing one hand to her heart and clapping one over her mouth. "Don't – jeez, Gray, do you just lurk in the shadows to terrify people or something?"
"Did you tell Jill that you kissed me?" he asked plainly, not bothering with small talk.
"Of course not –"
"Did you tell Mary? Tom? Jack? Anyone?"
"Are you insane?" she snapped, folding both arms across her chest defensively. "I'm freaking married. I have a kid. I'm not tripping over myself to run around, yelling to random people that I kissed some guy who... you know, kissed me back and rejected me afterwards."
"Kissed you back? Are you seri –"
"The point is," she said plainly, "In my mind... it's gone. It's done. It never happened." She raised an eyebrow as her heart rate started to slow down some, seeing that the blacksmith's face, while still lined with frustration, was beginning to look more reasonable. "And if you ever want a chance of getting Jill back – or hell, don't want Tom and Jack to murder you... I suggest that you forget about it, too."
"I didn't do anything wrong," he began slowly. "I don't see why I should have to keep secrets –"
"You just said it yourself, Gray," Veronica retorted coldly. "When you were all worried about me telling Jill. It wouldn't make a difference to her who initiated the kiss if she heard about it... she'd just be devastated that it happened."
His eyes narrowed as he grudgingly accepted the woman's victory over him. "I don't see how you could kiss me – do that to your own sister."
"It's not like you two are together," she hummed, offering a slight smile at the way his expression froze.
She was feeling more in control than she had in weeks – but that feeling of triumph soon left her as she remembered what had been plaguing her all day. "Um... can I just... ask you something?" she put in slowly, her gaze lowering. "Seriously? And I want an honest answer... please..."
"What?" Gray snapped, rolling his eyes at her insolence.
Taking a deep breath in, she began. "Why, uh..." she twisted her hair, looking anywhere but at him in a moment of uncharacteristic shyness. "I just wanted to know... why you didn't kiss me back. I mean, after the initial... you know."
There was a moment of total silence as color drained from Gray's face and intensified in Veronica's. "Are you serious?" he choked after a long pause.
"I-I just mean, like," she stuttered, "Do you not find me attractive? Because I – oh God, never mind. I know how it sounds..."
"If you think for one second that it has anything to do with you, you're horribly mistaken."
"... I'm not following," she murmured.
"It's nothing to do with you," he told her, completely exasperated. "It's all Jill. It's always Jill. Can't you see that?"
"But – I mean – what's so special about her?"
"What's so special about you?" he said in a low voice, watching as the woman's face paled completely. "Go on – tell me why I should hurt the first woman I've loved... for you."
There was a silence that seemed to stretch forever as Veronica lowered her gaze to the floor, blinking furiously and trying to keep her breathing shallow as for once, somebody's words actually hit home. It wasn't that she didn't want to raise her head and give a sharp, cutting reply – it was just that... she had nothing. He'd put her in a situation that she couldn't very well talk her way out of. 'I'm prettier' and 'I'm smarter' just sounded so goddamn juvenile now, it was ridiculous.
But... what else was there?
Was she kinder than Jill, or more... 'morally correct'? Of course not; but why would she want to be? That was why Jill was so gullible. Was Veronica more rational, yes – after all, she hadn't been the one to break up with her boyfriend over a simple misunderstanding. But somehow... it didn't feel like enough.
"She couldn't have loved you... to leave you like that," the red haired woman eventually murmured, pulling out anything and everything to try to cause him a little bit of pain; to regain some control. The only reaction she got was a disgusted glare.
"You would willingly cheat on your husband, then tell me that Jill didn't love me? Don't be such a damn hypocrite, Veronica."
And that was it – she had nothing.
"She'll never come back to you," she called out bitterly as Gray started heading back out the church doors. He scoffed, tilting his head to the side before turning to face her once more.
"And how can you possibly be the judge of that?"
"I know – I know my sister," she stumbled. "There are some things that she won't – can't – forgive."
"Do you know something about it?" Gray asked sharply. "Because I have no idea what I've done – so if you do, that'd be really helpful – but if you don't, I'm going to ask you to keep the hell out of it. Stop grasping at straws. I'm done, Veronica – you've stretched my patience and I've just snapped. I don't have time for girls like you." She was silent and he grimaced, shaking his head. "That's what I thought."
Watching in disbelief as he walked away, her heart clenching painfully, Veronica stared into the distance for a few moments. God, she hated him. How dare he speak to her like that? How dare he try to guilt her? Didn't he realize that she was the innocent one – the injured party?
What right did he have to... to...
To give her the wake up call... she'd so desperately needed.
xxx
Five years old.
She'd known him all the way back then, Jill thought absent-mindedly, tracing the little red-haired boy's face with one finger. Before Tom. Before her school friends. Before anyone in Mineral Town.
But even those old pictures have begun to fade,
Please tell me she's not real,
And that you're really coming home to stay.
Jill muffled an exasperated groan as she snapped the photo album shut, closing her eyes and leaning back against the couch. She knew looking through those damn pictures was going to be a bad idea, but did that stop her? She was a goddamn masochist.
But he was just so adorable –
She slapped her own hand away as she reached to open the album again, forcing herself to shove it aside and stand up, crossing the room as if being physically further away would eliminate the temptation. What had Mary told her to do? Whatever it took to let herself heal... without letting herself wallow. Looking at those photographs was practically an ocean – a pretty big swimming pool, at least – of wallowing.
A knock on the door was a welcome relief – probably Mary checking up on her, Jill thought with a wry smile. Their conversation the previous day had been invaluable to her... after crying, and crying, and a little bit of talking, and crying, and crying, and crying, and crying, the librarian had explained exactly what she'd been through with Gray. And while... Jill was nowhere near okay, it kind of... helped to know that somebody else had been there. And Mary had been so sweet and comforting about the entire thing – it was strange that Jill had always seen her as a cold, aloof person when she'd just proved herself to be exactly the contrary.
"Hey," she said absent-mindedly, pulling the door open and stepping aside. "I – oh."
"You don't mind if I come in?" Tom asked, not waiting for an answer as he breezed into the small house. He turned once he was inside and fixed Jill with a wide smile. "How are you?"
"..."
"I've been worried about you," he continued smoothly, not missing a beat. "I haven't seen you around much... and whenever I do, you're looking... well, exhausted."
"I'm okay," she replied quietly, still looking more than a little confused. Her gaze grew somewhat colder as she lifted her chin slightly. "What are you really here for, Tom?"
"You think I have some ulterior motive?" he asked, shaking his head as if horrified. "Jill... you know how much you mean to me. You were my whole life for so long." He smiled as he took a step closer. "I can't stand the idea that this guy... Gray... that he's hurt you like this."
"It's not like I haven't been hurt before," Jill said coldly, making the dark-haired man wince.
"Don't be like that, sweetie. I understand you're in pain at the moment, but... remember... I'm here to support you. I'm on your side, even if Veronica's not."
She did a double-take at that, staring at Tom in disbelief. "W-what do you know about... them? Veronica and Gray?"
A little puzzled at the direction their conversation had taken, Tom shrugged, still smiling. "It doesn't take a genius to know that something's going on there. I... personally, I've been expecting it from her. She was never one to be faithful."
"Seems like you two are perfect together then," the blonde mumbled.
"Listen, Jill," he cut across, obviously ignoring her statement, "I just want you to know that... he's not worth crying over. He's not worth missing. He never deserved you in the slightest, you know -"
"You don't know him," she shot back defensively. "Don't say he's not worth it."
"Why on earth are you defending him?" Tom asked incredulously. "Come on, Jill. He's a blacksmith that you've known for a couple of years. You've known me since you were six or seven."
"I met Gray when I was five," she said icily, "And I've never loved anyone else as much as I love him."
"Loved him," Tom corrected, his expression beginning to look a little annoyed. "And we both know that's nonsense – you don't move on from your first love. I was your first love, and even if you and Gray were born in adjacent hospital beds or something, there's nothing you can do to change that. Go on – say you didn't love me first."
"Of course I loved you first," she murmured, "But that doesn't mean I loved you most."
"Jill," he snarled, truly exasperated now. What the hell was she trying to say? He calmed down some as he decided to pull out the big artillery. "I... I loved you so much, and a big part of me still does. You were the reason I woke up in the mornings... the one thing I went to sleep thinking about. And damn it Jill, no matter how you try to hide it, or protect your heart, I know you felt the same."
Her eyes were narrowed as she stared at him. "Did you practice those lines? Tom, when did this conversation turn to you and I anyway?"
"I don't know why you can't see it, Jill," he said softly. "You and me – that's how it's supposed to end up. That's how it started, and fate wants us to be together. I'm sick of fighting what we both know. We're meant to be together; that's why Gray and Veronica screwed us over. It's not about them – it's about us. I mean, let's face it – your heart never really belonged to him. It's been mine all along."
There was a long pause of total silence – Tom had a hopeful, pleading expression on his face while Jill was completely frozen.
"I'm sorry," she choked after a few moments longer, "What?"
"I mean it."
"What the hell are you on right now?" she exploded suddenly, clenching her fists. "Believe me, my heart is well and truly his! Where the hell is this coming from? You – Goddess, you up and left me for how long without giving a damn – and now years later you're saying, what, that you still love me? You married my sister. You have a daughter! You –"
He crossed the room impatiently and grabbed her by the waist, pulling her to him and kissing her forcefully. It barely took a second for Jill to react; wrenching herself away, drawing one hand back, and smacking him across the face sharply. He reeled backwards, his eyebrows flying up as he lifted one hand to his stinging cheek.
"Be like that," he growled, clenching his other hand in fury. "Never mind that I just gave you the opportunity of a lifetime. You dumb, worthless cow – I can see clearly now why I chose Veronica. Listen to me, you stupid bimbo – you're nothing compared to her. Maybe you had good looks once, but this god awful country town's long robbed you of them. You never had brains. You never had a personality of your own. Even your pathetic blacksmith boy didn't think you were good enough, and he's no prize himself."
"How can you –" Jill began, ignoring the painful sting that came with each of his comments. "You just said you loved me –"
"Whatever, Jill – you missed your chance. I would pity you, but honestly... I don't think you even deserve pity." Turning on his heel, he walked out of the little farmhouse, slamming the door behind him and giving an exasperated snarl as soon as he was out of sight and hearing.
That idea had failed. With the blonde's recent breakdown, he'd assumed she would be vulnerable and trusting – and considering Veronica's major stuff-up, forcing a break up between Jill and Gray... his wife might as well have ripped the company contract into pieces. If he were with Jill, on the other hand, not only was the chance there again... with Jill as the older sister, she would be taking control of the company before Veronica anyway. But no, the stubborn, love-sick brat decided to obsess over her blacksmith ex instead.
Her freaking loss.
xxx
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU –"
Oh, she was going to kill him.
Narrowing her eyes as she blushed heavily, Mary turned on her heel to walk directly back out the inn's front door that she'd just come through – to no avail; Jack ran to grab her wrist and pull her back in to where her parents, Ann, Cliff, Doug, Karen, Rick, Popuri, Elli and Tim, and the rest of the bar's usual patrons were standing around a strawberry cake with twenty-two candles burning almost as brightly as her blushing face.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEAR MARY," the group sang loudly and horribly off-tune, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU."
Breathing a sigh of relief that the worst was over, she –
"HIP HIP, HURRAY," Jack continued, winking at her teasingly as she fixed him with a murderous glare until he'd led the crowd in clapping twenty two times and 'one to make her grow', and then offered twenty two birthday kisses directly in front of her parents – Mary shot him a look that could have killed puppies, Anna laughed and Basil half-smiled, half narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
As if that wasn't enough unwanted public attention for the librarian, he quickly placed a cone-shaped birthday hat on her head while simultaneously keeping far enough out of her reach to avoid severe maiming.
But when the cake had been cut and handed out, occupying the majority of the guests, Jack glanced up to see Mary standing directly in front of him – arms folded across her chest, left eye twitching ever so slightly.
"Surprise," he beamed awkwardly, wincing as she raised a violent hand to him. "Aw, come on – you know you enjoyed it."
"Enjoyment... total embarrassment..."
He was quiet for a few moments, then smiled half-heartedly. "If you really hated it... I'm sorry. It's just... you hadn't mentioned your birthday at all to me, so I figured you wouldn't have mentioned it to anyone else either. You deserve a lot more than a little party like this. But I'm... sorry if you don't like it."
There was a moment of silence before Mary sighed, a genuine smile on her face as she rolled her eyes. "I can't be annoyed with you now. I guess I – well. Thank you." She bit her lip, glancing around at her mother and father. "I would hug you, but –"
"I know," Jack retorted with a quick smile. "Your parents."
If he were going to be absolutely truthful... that hurt, just a little. The fact that she wouldn't tell her parents there was anything between them, when all he wanted to do was show her off. He wanted a proper relationship with her, some commitment, to tell the truth – but there was no point if all they could do was sneak around. Still... he respected her choice, even if he didn't completely understand or appreciate it.
"Ah – I have something for you," he continued, a proper grin on his face now. "I just picked it up when I was in the city with Ann, so... I hope you like it." He handed her a small black box with a gold ribbon tied around it, making her eyebrows fly up. "Impressed by the box... good sign," he commentated, looking adorably anxious as he watched her slowly lift the lid.
One hand automatically flew up to her mouth and she froze for a few moments, before holding up a delicate, impossibly thin gold chain with a pendant attached in the shape of a beautiful, flowing letter 'M', with what she sincerely hoped wasn't a real diamond glittering on the last curl of the letter.
"If you want something different –" Jack was babbling, talking quickly as he did when he was nervous. Raising an eyebrow, Mary placed one finger over his mouth to silence him.
"The only way it could be more perfect," she said quietly, turning and holding her hair up so he could clasp the chain around her neck, "Is if it was the letter 'J' instead of the letter 'M'."
There was an awkward pause before Jack span her around to face him, his hands placed on both her forearms and his head tilted as a smile played on his lips. "You're so damn gorgeous."
"I can't believe I said that," she said, a mortified expression on her face.
"Are you going to take it back?"
"... No," she said reluctantly, trying to stare at the floor unsuccessfully – Jack had one hand under her chin and was constantly attempting to make her look at him.
"I love when you say sweet things like that," he grinned. "They're so rare, I've learned to really appreciate them when they come." There was another pause while Jack blanched, receiving an intense scowl. "I mean... you're always sweet, clearly." Mary simply folded both arms across her chest, the glare not wavering for a second. "Don't be mad," he pleaded, dropping his gaze so he looked like a little boy in trouble.
"You're too attractive for your own good," she grumbled, before her eyes widened and she slapped both hands over her mouth. "What is going on with the compliments?"
"What was that?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow in teasing disbelief.
"I – it wasn't –"
"You think I'm sexy." The grin on his face widened as the blush on Mary's rapidly deepened.
"No! I didn't – I didn't say that –"
"Oh. Well – enjoy your party and I'll just leave." There was a brief silence. "Sexily."
"Don't push me, Jack Evans," she growled. He laughed warmly and reached out before pulling back, directing a fond, almost sad smile at her.
"It's times like this when I just want to hug you," he murmured. "It's... slightly irritating that I can't."
"I know the feeling," Mary replied quietly. "But –"
"I know," he interrupted. He glanced over his shoulder, biting his lip as he noticed Ann standing some distance away, staring at him blatantly. "I should... see what she wants. I'll be back later, I guess." He leaned in as if to kiss the smaller librarian, then suddenly thought better of it and made do with another almost-smile before turning away.
Walking towards the redhead, Jack couldn't help but observe her strange expression – a mix of nervousness, annoyance, and something like hope. "So hey," she said as soon as he was within hearing range. "How would you feel about saving my life?"
"Well... I'll have to think over the benefits and disadvantages," he said slowly. "On the benefits side... no more Ann. But the disadvantages... huh. Goddess, I can't think of any."
"Uh huh, yes, very funny," the waitress said with a completely forced smile.
Jack blanched. "You pretended to be amused by one of my jokes. How serious is this?"
"Very," she groaned, beckoning for him to follow her behind the bar and take a seat. She glanced up at him, then grabbed a dishcloth and started twisting it in her hands. "So, uh... we've been through a lot together. We're best friends. We're best friends, right? And don't forget our trip to the city together –"
"Ann," Jack cut her off quickly, "If you're trying to get a favor from me, our trip to the city is so not the best thing to be reminding me of."
She scowled for a moment before remembering that she was meant to be getting on his good side. "Well – I remember how sweet and kind and wonderful you were throughout that experience. Without you, it would have been truly – hell, I can't do this. How can people suck up like this?" She took a deep breath, glancing at the ceiling. "Okay. I asked Jill and Gray to be the maid of honor and best man at my wedding. Ah... obvious problem. The two of them apparently can't tolerate each other for long enough to be there on the most important day of my life –" she cut herself off, holding both hands up as if calming herself. "Not the point. Jack... I need – I want – you and Mary to take their places."
"Uh... wow," Jack replied, both his eyebrows flying up. "That's... that's a pretty big deal, Ann." Out of the corner of his eye, he was aware of Gray stormily entering the inn. "I'd – no joke, I'd be thrilled to do it. I can't speak for Mary, but I think she'd be delighted too. It's just..." he hesitated. "Maybe you should make completely certain that Gray and Jill are definitely out before you lock us in."
"Jill's out," Ann said simply. "And I don't think there's anything that could make Gray – hold on. GRAY." She waved the blacksmith over furiously, ignoring the way heads turned towards her in bewilderment.
"Yeah?" he asked, clearly not in a wonderful mood.
"You're certain you don't want to be Cliff's best man?"
"We've discussed this a thousand times," he growled. "I'm sick of it, Ann. We're just repeating the same thing over and over; I'm not doing it."
"Cool. Meet your replacement," she said with a relieved grin. Gray had to smile slightly, nodding at Jack in a way that seemed to be wishing him luck before taking a few steps towards the stairs. "Hey, wait," Ann called out suddenly. "Upstairs... the door's been smashed in or something, I don't know. You didn't hear anything, did you?"
His face completely blank, Gray shrugged. "I'd ask Tom about it. The man's got an insane temper."
"Tom," the waitress snarled, practically leaping off her bar stool. "Right." In a matter of seconds, Jack found himself suddenly deserted – Gray escaping upstairs, Ann racing off to heaven knows where in search of Tom.
"Bye guys," he mumbled to himself. From across the room, Mary made brief eye-contact with him and he beckoned for her to come over. Glancing over her shoulder at her parents, she hesitated before hurrying across the room towards him.
"Yes?"
"So, uh... good – surprising – news," he said with a smile. "Ann's had a bridal party situation; she asked Jill and Gray and then they had that fight and bailed on her."
There was an awkward pause as Mary raised an eyebrow. "Oh. That is good news."
"No," he scoffed, "Not that. Ah... because the two of them have hands down refused... she wants us to be the maid of honor and best man. Sure, I feel a little second preference, but it sounds like a nice little offer to me."
"Oh!" Mary said, her face lighting up before fading somewhat. "But, Jack..." she was quiet for a moment. "The only reason Jill and Gray would have stepped down is because they didn't want to be put into that situation together. Maybe... Jill would change her mind if she knew that her brother was going to be the best man instead. And I'm certain Ann would prefer –"
"That's not an option," Jack cut across simply. "Jill had her chance and she didn't want it. Ann's not going to take her back. And I'm not doing it without you. If Jill has a problem with that – which she won't – that's just too bad, because Ann asked you and I, not Jill and I." He reached out with one hand and pinched her cheek playfully. "You and I are kind of a package deal now."
She tried to hide her smile, but couldn't entirely conceal the twinkle in her eyes. "Charmer."
"It's what I do," Jack shrugged nonchalantly before grinning. "Seriously now... ah, Starry Night's on Friday. If you wanted to come over for dinner... I guess you could tell your parents that Jill invited you or something."
A half-smile was all she could manage. "I'm tired of lying to them, Jack."
"Oh." He appeared to close off, intense hurt apparent in his face as he glanced away. "Well, that's okay. We don't need to spend the festival together; I guess I could use the time to catch up with Jill or –"
"It's not that I don't want to spend Starry Night with you," she said quickly, the blush on her face gradually building. "It's just... I was thinking maybe... you could spend it with my parents and I."
Silence. "But then they'd –"
"I'll tell them tonight," she said, a soft smile on her face as she stared at the ground. "You're not... the kind of thing I like to keep a secret. I know I'd feel better if this –" she gestured between them, "– was out in the open. So if it's okay with you..."
Jack was staring at her, his eyebrows raised and a slight smirk on his face. "You just asked me on a date. Dinner with the parents. How serious is this relationship?"
She scowled, embarrassed. "W-well, if you don't want to rush anything, I can tell them Jill asked me over. I just thought... it's been a pretty long time..."
"Damn right it's been a long time," Jack nodded, smiling down at her. "And I'm... not the most patient man. So if you're sure you're willing to tell your parents... make this official..." he examined her expression for any trace of reluctance.
"I'm certain," Mary said simply. The smile that lit up Jack's face was like nothing she'd seen before.
"It's a date."
xxx
