Ch 6
Jake and Atticus went home during the week. They wanted to spend time with their father, but when Friday rolled around, they jumped in the car and made their way to Attleboro for the weekend. Mark Rosenbloom knew his sons were spending all of their weekend time with Dan and Amy, but he didn't stop them. Jake and Att had been working on their father and while he didn't really care much for Amy and Dan, he had gotten over his outright hatred of them. Amy figured he either had to come to terms with his sons' friendships with the Cahills, or ignore it. She wasn't sure which one he had chosen.
Amy looked forward to Fridays more and more. Amy and Jake had spent the better part of June joined at the hip every weekend. They walked all over the grounds together, sometimes having a picnic together. They read to each other under Amy's favorite oak tree that hadn't been damaged by the fire. They swam in the pool with Dan and Att almost every evening. They liked playing chicken with each other; Amy up on Jake's shoulders and Att on Dan's. Sometimes Att would climb on Jake's shoulders and Dan on Amy's, those were the fun games since the boys were more evenly matched. Amy's favorite times however, were her make out sessions with Jake in the family room with some movie on in the background. They would pop on some rom-com and then completely lose themselves in each other and not pay a bit of attention to the movie. They had gone about as far as a couple could go with their clothes on at this point. Nellie's words came back to Amy most evenings and she knew if she gave the slightest sign that she was ready, they'd go for it. She wasn't sure what was holding her back. Jake was truly a gentleman, he never pushed her or forced her to do more than she was comfortable with. There had been several nights where she knew she sent him to bed completely frustrated, but he never complained.
The weekend of the 4th of July, Jake and Att spent the long weekend in Attleboro. The four of them planned a party and invited Jonah and Phoenix who were in town and not touring, Ian and Cara, Ham and his sisters as well as Ted, Ned and Sinead, even Nellie and Sammy came up from New York. It was a regular family reunion. Dan helped Amy string party lights all around the pool and Jake offered to grill kabobs for everyone. By the time the fireworks had ended everyone was in the pool relaxing or lounging around the edge of the pool talking. Ian and Cara were dangerously close in the hot tub and everyone kept a wide circle. Amy occasionally would glance at them and smile. She felt oddly protective of their relationship. She wanted it to work out for them so badly and she had given Ian some advice a few times when his natural Lucian tendencies came out. Cara really was perfect for him. They had both been through hell in their respective ways and both had dysfunctional families. They relied on each other. Ian was learning the fear and exhilaration of trusting another person completely.
Amy was standing off by herself thinking of Ian and Cara when a pair of hands slid around her bare waist and a head came to rest on her shoulder. "I can't help but notice you're watching Ian a lot tonight. Everything all right?" Jake whispered in her ear. Amy set her drink down and spun around to face him, lacing her fingers up in his windswept hair.
"Yeah, everything's great." Amy said taking another step closer to him, their chests were touching now. "I'm so glad he found Cara. I think they're perfect for each other."
Jake got a skeptical look on his face, "Ian and Cara? They fight more than they get along."
"I remember a time you and I fought like that." Amy said, her eyes unmoving from his. "Two Alphas, neither one willing to budge."
Jake scoffed, "As I remember it, you were determined to boss my brother and me around all over Tunisia, Guatemala and Indonesia…oh yeah, and Maine!"
"I was just trying to keep you alive." Amy said staunchly.
Jake rolled his eyes, "Yeah, I remember it a little differently."
"But we're good now, right?" Amy asked with a smile.
Jake hugged her even tighter, "Yeah, we're good now," he gave her a small kiss then leaned in to suck on her ear while whispering, "but we could be even better."
Goosebumps erupted all over Amy's skin and she gave an involuntary shutter. Jake backed up to stare into her face.
"Then let's get better, tonight." Amy whispered to Jake then abruptly turned and walked off to talk to Nellie. As she sat, she eyed Jake who stood stock still with wide eyes staring at her.