Chapter 24
"What the hell is taking them so long?" Shane asked. He, Matt and Shannon had been waiting in the living room for Jessica and Jeff for almost thirty minutes.
"What do you think?" Shannon said smirking.
"Quit it." Matt said annoyed. "I'm gonna go get them." He stood up just as they were coming down the stairs.
"It's about time." Shane said
"Sorry, we uh…" Jessica struggled for something to say and Jeff just laughed.
"We're ready to go." He said to them.
"Fine. I spoke to the cops and they said it was okay for us to go pick up a few things. So we go get some food then to the hardware store, and that's it. Then we come right back here." Matt said as they left the house.
They all squeezed into the car and were on their way. Their stops were fairly uneventful, as they seemed to just run in and out. Despite herself, Jessica's eyes darted around every time they stepped out of the car. She expected to see someone jump out at them any minute. Jeff sensed her anxiety and held her hands at all times to give her strength. When they arrived back at the house she let out a sigh of relief.
"You okay?" He asked her as she stepped out of the car.
"Yea." She said softly.
"I'm proud of you." He said as he hugged her.
"Me too." They helped bringing the food in. Jessica unpacked the food while the guys unloaded all the equipment.
"I still can't believe she paid for all this." Matt said handing Jeff some planks of wood."
"She wouldn't take no for answer." Jeff told him.
"You must have been really good this morning." Shannon joked. Jeff shot him a look as Shannon quickly grabbed what he could and dragged it to the back.
"She wants to make up for this guy burning it down. She feels guilty." Jeff told his brother.
"She's gotta stop thinking that this is her fault." Matt said.
"Small steps, remember? It took a lot for her just to come out."
"Yea, but she did it." Matt smiled. "I think she's gonna pull through this."
"Definitely. So, you think we can really rebuild this thing?" Jeff asked
"Sure we can. Just not all in one day. We can probably get the frame done today, but we have to fly out early tomorrow, so the rest will have to wait."
"Well at least we'll have something to do to keep us busy. It's got to be better then sitting around the house and watching TV." Jeff said. When they got everything to the back, Jeff went inside to check on Jess.
"You guys all set?" She asked him having put all the food away.
"Yea. Matt said we could get started on the frame, but that's about it, since we have to leave early tomorrow."
"Oh my god." She turned to him. "I forgot to call Vince. He's gonna be pissed that we waited so long."
"It will be okay. Just call him now, and then meet us outside." He kissed her cheek and then headed out. She grabbed the phone and then paused. She could already imagine Vince going on a tirade that he wasn't told sooner. She decided to call Stephanie instead and let her tell him. She was pretty sure that Vince wouldn't be able to yell at his daughter and Stephanie could always calm him down more than anyone. She dialed her number but was disappointed when she didn't answer the phone. She thought quickly and dialed Shane.
"Hello?"
"Hey Shane. It's Jess."
"Hey, how's it going? Is everything okay?"
"We had a problem."
"What? When?" Shane said panicked. "Is everyone okay? Are you okay?"
"Shane, slow down. Everyone's fine." She proceeded to tell him all that had happened.
"You sure you're okay?" He asked when she had finished.
"I'm good."
"Listen, why don't you fly up a day early. I would feel better if you were in a safer place."
"This is a safe place. The guys are not going to let anything happen to me and I'm not going to let anything happen to them. We'll be okay for another night."
"Well, I'm going to check with the police to see if they found anything out and I'll get back to you, but I really think you guys should rethink staying there."
"Look, they guys are already starting to work on the ring."
"Jess, if you tell them you'd feel safer somewhere else, you know they'd go."
"That's running and I'm not doing that anymore."
"So, there's like nothing I'm gonna be able to say to change your mind?" He asked.
"Nope, but you can do me a favor? You can tell your dad what happened."
"Why me?" He asked
"Because, I know he's going to be angry and I can't deal with that right now."
"So you think it would be better coming from me? What about Stephanie?"
"She didn't answer the phone. Please Shane?"
"Fine, but don't think you're getting off scot free. You know he's going to call."
"I know. Just calm him down before you let him off the phone."
"I'll try." He grumbled.
"Thanks Shane. Love ya." She said cheerfully.
"Yea right." He hung up. Jessica went back into the kitchen to make some snacks. The phone rang and for a moment the familiar feeling of fear started to build. It quickly dissipated when she heard Vince's voice on the answering machine.
"Pick up this phone! I want to know what the hell is going on!"
"Hey Vince?" She said.
"Do you want to explain to me why the police, the fire department and the paramedics were called to that house last night and I'm just finding out about it now?"
"I'm sorry. It happened so late and things were kind of chaotic."
"I told you I wanted to be called the minute anything happened."
"I know and again I'm sorry. We should have called you last night, but I wasn't in the right frame of mind. I don't even know what time the police left."
"And where were Matt and Jeff?" He demanded.
"They were taking care of me. I kind of flipped out again. They had their hands full."
"What happened?"
"He set fire to their ring out back; destroyed it. I locked myself in the bathroom and wouldn't come out."
"Are you okay?"
"Yea. I am."
"I think you should come back up. We'll put you in a hotel, give you full security."
"Vince, we fly out tomorrow. There's no sense in us leaving now. Besides the local cops here are aware and they even have a car outside. We're safe."
"And what would you say if I want to pull your storyline?"
"It's out of the question. I'm not quitting."
"You know it's not really quitting."
"To me it is. I'm going to keep going Vince. I'm taking my life back. That's it."
"You know you're stubborn."
"I learned from the best. I promise we'll be okay."
"If anything happens…" He started.
"I'll make sure to call you before I'm sedated." She said trying to make light of the situation.
"Not funny."
"Look, the day's almost over and we're not leaving again besides our flight leaves at 7:30 in the morning."
"You'll be careful? I want someone to watch over you at all times."
"Trust me, Jeff hasn't let me out of his sight. None of them have. I'll see you in the morning." She got off the phone and went outside. She was amazed to see that they had already had a large part of the frame assembled.
"Wow I'm impressed!" She said walking over to them. "You guys work fast. But uh, shouldn't there be some more shirts off or something?"
"Are you offering?" Shannon asked.
"If it makes you work faster." She teased.
"Hey, Hey, Hey! Nobody's taking off their shirt. Especially not you." Jeff said coming up behind her and hugging her. "How'd it go?"
"Well he was pissed at first, but I think I calmed him down. I just promised we call immediately if we had another problem and that we'd see him first thing in the morning."
"That was it?"
"Well, I also told him about the patrol car being outside, so I guess that helped. But he did say that someone has to be with me at all times. You wanna volunteer?"
"You have to ask?" He kissed her. "I can't wait to get you alone tonight."
"You do know, I'm right here right?" Matt said to them. "Get back to work." Jeff went back to the frame and Jessica picked up a hammer.
"Where can I help?"
"I thought you wanted to supervise?" Jeff asked her.
"Yea, but that was before when I thought I get to see glistening muscles. So I guess I might as well help."
"You can work with me." Matt said. "If I let the two of you work together, we'll get nothing done. So grab me some more nails and get over here."
"Yes sir!" She saluted him and brought over the box of nails. They worked on the ring for another couple of hours, then tired and hungry they went back inside. The night in a whole was fairly uneventful. They spent it joking around and watching TV. The phone only rang once but Matt went over and immediately hung it up and then turned the phone off.
"If anyone needs to reach us they have my cell." He said and jumped back on the couch. "No problems tonight." And that is what they had.
"Listen you guys," Jeff eventually said. "We have to be at the airport by like six AM. So I think we are gonna call it a night." He nodded to them and took Jessica upstairs. They both fell asleep peacefully in each other's arms.
