Chapter 7

Jennie

A few hours after breakfast, I was holed up in my bedroom, listening to the rain bounce off the roof and avoiding reality. I needed a break … from the house, from the girls, from Lisa. Not that Lisa being at the house was a bad thing, but her presence was awakening a part of my brain that had been dormant for a long time and that was exhausting. My life the last four years had been simple, and I liked that. I needed it. Our life with the inn was so chaotic that I craved as much routine as possible in our day-to-day lives. I woke up every day knowing what was going to happen and did my best to keep us organized and on schedule. Needless to say, the storm threw me off balance, especially with Lisa showing up. I hadn't planned on dating anyone until after I was done with nursing school, but now I was questioning things. Was there room in my life for someone now?

Grabbing my cell phone, I decided to text Jisoo to distract myself.

HEY! HOW ARE YOU GUYS DOING OVER THERE?

It was less than 30 seconds before my phone beeped in return.

POOKS! WE'RE OKAY. POWER IS OUT. I'M BORED. DEREK KEEPS TRYING TO HAVE SEX. IT'S ANNOYING. HOW ARE YOU ALL DOING?

I laughed at her ridiculous nickname for me. I called her Pookie Bear once in high school after a marathon wine cooler session and she had shortened it and called me Pooks ever since. I made the decision right then not to tell her about Lisa. First, she wouldn't understand my hesitation in opening myself up for an opportunity, then she would call my mom and they would be picking out my wedding dress together. Jisoo wanted me to get married almost as badly as my mom did.

WE'RE OKAY. COUPLE SURPRISE GUESTS WHO WERE STUCK. POWER KEEPS FLICKERING ON AND OFF, OTHER THAN THAT, NOTHING TOO EXCITING. I'LL TEXT YOU TOMORROW. HOPEFULLY THIS RAIN LETS UP AND WE CAN MEET FOR LUNCH LATER IN THE WEEK?

Obviously, once high school ended and I had the girls, life had changed dramatically. I couldn't always drop everything and run out and do what I wanted like most of my other friends. Sometimes I was jealous of Jisoo and her freedom to do whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted. My mom insisted I still have a life outside of the inn, so she agreed to babysit the girls once a week for a day out with Jisoo. When I first moved back, we would go out to clubs or bars on the weekends, but I was a lightweight and was always yawning by ten o'clock. Eventually we switched the outings to lunch dates, or I would just grab takeout and hang out at her flower shop.

YES, FOR SURE! OKAY, DEREK IS STICKING HIS HAND DOWN MY PANTS YET AGAIN, GOTTA GO BREAK IT OFF. STAY DRY. LOVE YA!

I put my phone down and looked outside at the pouring rain. Maybe Jisoo and my mom were right—I was too closed off from the possibility of love again. Was I even really in love with Kai the last time? Ugh, just saying his name to myself made my stomach turn. I couldn't think about this right now, my brain was as cloudy as the sky out my window. I went to find the girls and persuade them to play a game with me.

The house was silent. No one was in the living room or the kitchen. I walked through the hallway to the front room and found my mom sitting on the couch looking out the window, smiling.

"Where is everyone?"

"Oh, they're all milling around here somewhere."

"Where are Jane and Ruby?"

"Lisa was taking Kuma out to go potty and they asked if they could go with…" She smiled at me and nodded her head toward the window.

I walked over and looked out and my heart stuttered to a halt. Ruby and Jane were on the driveway with Lisa, jumping in and out of rain puddles. I looked at my mom who was all teary-eyed watching them have fun.

"You're such a sap," I said, sticking my tongue out at her on my way through the front door.

I stepped discreetly out onto the large country-style covered porch and hugged myself because of the chill in the air. My arms were cold, but my heart was warm watching the girls. Their soaking wet hair was glued to their faces, but I don't think I had ever seen them smile that big. They giggled wildly as the three of them held hands jumping in and out of every puddle they could find.

"This one, Lisa, do this one!" Ruby squealed.

"This one? Okay, Twinkies … get ready!" Lisa stepped back a few feet and pumped her arms, gaining momentum before she jumped as high as I'd ever seen a grown up jump. She landed right in the center of a huge puddle. They shrieked and shielded their faces from the wave of water crashing over them.

"You guys are going to catch pneumonia!" I called out to them, not really wanting them to stop. I was having too much fun watching. They looked over at me and whooped again when Lisa jumped high and landed in the same puddle.

"Mom! Come jump with us!" Jane called out, marching around in a circle.

"No way, I'm just fine up here watching you. You have fun."

"Come on, Mom, pleeeeease!" Ruby begged.

"Yeah, come on, Mom," Lisa teased, motioning me with her fingers. "Get out here."

"No thanks, you guys look like a bunch of wet dogs." I looked over at Kuma who was curled up at the end of the porch watching them. He cocked his head and looked at me. "No offense, Kuma."

"Wet dogs? We look like wet dogs?" Lisa exclaimed. "What do you think of that, girls?"

"Booooo!" They yelled in unison, still puddle jumping.

"I have an idea," Lisa said, pulling the girls into a huddle. She put her arms around their shoulders and talked quietly.

"Okay, ready … one … two…"

"THREE!" The girls yelled out together as Lisa took off in a sprint straight for me. I held my hands up in front of me, backing up toward the house.

"No, no, no! What are you-?" Before I could finish the sentence, Lisa picked me up and carried me out onto the driveway. I instinctively wrapped my hands around her neck, enjoying the feel of her shoulders under my arms. Before I had time to get comfortable, we were standing over a puddle and she was grinning devilishly at me.

"No way, don't you dare," I warned her.

"What do you think, Twinkies? She called us wet dogs. What should we do with her?"

"Pud-dles! Pud-dles!" They chanted in unison.

Little traitors.

With the girls cheering her on, Lisa marched around the driveway in circles, splashing my butt in drops of cold water. The girls laughed louder and harder with each puddle. I forgot how cold I was when I looked at their sweet little faces and how much fun they were having.

"Jump! Jump!" Ruby jumped up and down clapping.

Lisa looked right into my eyes, our faces only inches apart. My heart was beating so hard I was wondering if she could feel it too. I hadn't wanted to kiss someone that bad in a really long time. If the girls hadn't been right there, I might have made the first move.

"You wouldn't do that to me." I narrowed my eyes, looking straight into her.

"Wouldn't I?" She raised an eyebrow in defiance and with that, up in the air we both went. Her feet slammed to the ground two seconds before a huge rush of cold water covered my whole backside. I squealed and arched my back, almost falling out of Lisa's grasp.

"Oh no you don't," she said, squeezing me tighter. "I'm gonna teach you to relax and have fun if it kills me." She jumped again, slamming her feet harder this time. Water covered my back and flew all the way up over my head. I blinked several times before my vision was clear enough to see Lisa lick the water off her lips and flash that killer smile again. I threw my head back and laughed just as hard as the girls, quite relaxed in Lisa's arms.

After another hour of playing in the rain with Lisa and the girls, I was chilled to the bone and desperate for a hot shower. I grabbed my stuff out of our bathroom and headed to the guest wing of the house. Passing the first bathroom, I slipped quietly into the second and dropped my stuff on the small table in the corner.

"Oh, Jennie … you do look like a wet dog," I said, staring at myself in the mirror. I sighed, pulling off my t-shirt that was completely plastered to my body, and cursed out loud at my decision to change into jeans after breakfast. Trying to pull them off was like trying to pull a sumo wrestler through a child's inner tube. I kicked and struggled until they were off and in a heap with the other wet clothes on the bathroom floor.

I stood, examining myself one more time in front of the mirror wearing only my bra and panties. "A wet dog who needs to hit the gym, no less."

Just then, the bathroom door flew open and Jane came flying in. "Sorry, Mom, gotta pee!" She rushed by me, pulling her pants down as she ran.

"Jane!" I called out, "You have to learn to knock. You can't just barge in on people." I turned to shut the bathroom door and stopped dead in my tracks. Lisa was standing in the hallway, carrying a bath towel, staring right at me.

"Uh … sorry," she said, covering her eyes like a toddler playing peek-a-boo while I jumped behind the bathroom door. "I was about to knock when she ran past and opened the door. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. Um … I think the bathroom down the hall is … available." I was glad she was still covering her face because I was certain mine was twelve different shades of red.

"Okay, thanks. Sorry." She mumbled through her hands and turned to walk down the hall, bumping into a table my mom had full of picture frames, knocking almost all of them over.

"Shit!" She hissed as she bent over and picked up the frames, trying to put them back the way they were but they kept falling over, taking new ones with them like dominoes.

Closing the door gently, I grinned to myself as I heard her continue to struggle with the frames. I lectured Jane on the importance of knocking before you barge through a door. She got dressed and scampered off as I closed the door behind her, locking it securely.

Embarrassed as I'd ever been in my whole life, I wanted to climb into the shower and let the scalding hot water wash away the last ten minutes of my life.