“Ijust know the cupcakes are going to be delicious. The kids are going to love them.”
“My old mixer went kaput on me. I need to pick up a new one quickly.” My cheeks heat at the memory of the wicked things we did with frosting.
“Oh, you have to see the one Marcus got me. Come with me,” Jacob says, his voice bubbling with genuine excitement.
I turn to Jasper, and he nods his head. “Go ahead, Jacob has been dying to show someone who would understand.”
I follow Jacob into the kitchen, where he shows me all the new appliances, not just the mixer.
“And it’s a double oven. I can bake dinner and dessert at the same time. In fact, the pie I made should be just about done. Help me serve?”
“Yeah, of course.” As Jacob is pulling the warm pie out of the oven, I look out over the kitchen and see Jasper and Marcus, who have moved to the living room.
Jasper has a smile on his face. He looks at peace here. Happy, relaxed. A side I don’t think any of us have truly seen.
“You know,” Jacob says, standing next to me. “When Jasper came to us, he was so well-behaved. Almosttoowell-behaved…” He sets small plates and silverware on the counter in front of us. “But then, slowly, he rebelled. At first, we thought it was us. We were doing something wrong, or maybe we weren’t doing enough, giving him what he needed. It was Matthew who finally put two and two together.”
He looks fondly at Jasper. “He always had a special connection with Jasper. He could see things we never could. Anyway.” He waves his hand in front of his face. “According to Matthew, we weren’t doing anything wrong. No, we were doing something right. After all those years in thesystem, Jasper, our boy too afraid to make a sound, finally felt safe enough to rebel. There was no more emotionless little boy, who just kept his head down and tried to blend into the background.”
“That must have been so hard for him. Growing up like that.”
“It was, although Jasper will never admit it. It’s sad really. Jasper doesn’t think he has any right to be angry. You see, nothing bad happened to him in these other foster homes. He wasn’t mentally or physically abused.”
“But he wasn’t loved,” I add, and Jacob pats my shoulder.
“I’m so glad he found you, Olly.
ThedecisiontotakeOlly to Marcus and Jacob’s tonight felt like a leap of faith, a scary one, but the laughter and warmth I witnessed made it worthwhile. I knew I couldtellOlly about my past and The Matthew House, and he would’ve been perfectly happy with that. He would’ve accepted everything I told him as is, but this was something I needed toshowhim.
Olly held on tight as my bike roared down the highway, a comforting sensation washing over me. It’s a feeling I didn’t know I was missing in my life. In fact, I never knew just how much I was missinghimin my life until now.
Can I live up to what he needs? He deserves someone who doesn’t have so many fucking hangups. But I cantry.
Olly tightens his hold on my waist as we turn to navigate the bumpy, winding dirt road. So what if I intentionally hit each bump so I can feel him press harder against me? Sue me.
We come to a stop, and I cut the engine. I can practically hear his brain freaking out. I chuckle because the Olly I know and love is about to rear his head.
No, we are NOT talking about the word I just thought.
“Jasper, what are we doing here? Do you have some kind of breaking-and-entering kink I don’t know about? Oh, God… Now that I think about it, it makes sense.”
“Olly, we are not breaking and entering.” I laugh.
“Umm, last time I checked, this is Mr. Brewer’s property and considering we’re stopped in front of hiswindmill, I believe you know this. Oh my God, are we going to jail on our first date?”
I slide off the bike. “Olly, we’re not going to jail.”
“Tell me again how this is not breaking and entering,” he says, doing the same.
I grab his hand and pull him with me until we are at the base of the windmill. “Because before we left on our date, I called Mr. Brewer and asked permission.”
His jaw goes slack, and I laugh.
“Come on, up you go,” I say, pointing to the ladder that leads to the top.
He narrows his eyes. “We’re not jumping off, are we?”
“No, Olly, we are not jumping off.” I laugh. “Now get your sweet ass moving. I wanna stare at it.”
