“It’s been a big day, and I’m exhausted.”
“Good night then. Sweet dreams,” Mom wished me, and I headed down the hallway.
Stripping off to my underwear, I pulled on Jake’s T-shirt, sniffing the collar, grateful it still smelled like him before sliding between the sheets.
I’d barely closed my eyes before my phone beside me on the table chirped. With a groan, I rolled over and checked it.
Do Not Call :How are you feeling tonight?
Shit!
Fuck!
Fuckety fuck, fuck, fuck.
Jake was messaging me.
I didn't know what to say, so I sat there staring at the screen watching the three dots dance, then disappear, then dance again. When nothing else came through, I replied with trembling hands.
Kellie:Who is this???
I know. I was a terrible person and a big fat liar, but I didn’t want him to know that I’d kept his number for all these years and never used it.
Do Not Call:Nice try, Marshmallow.
My heart pounded.
I hadn’t been called Marshmallow in years, and even seeing it written had the butterflies in my belly taking flight. I was in so much trouble with this man. I’d survived losing him once, and it was pretty much guaranteed I wouldn’t survive a second time.
ChapterSix
Jake
Appalled at myself, I could barely believe I was actually doing the things I was doing lately.
Flirting with someone via text.
It seemed so teenage, but here I was grinning at my phone like I’d completely lost the plot as I typed out yet another embarrassing message.
But only for Kellie.
Kellie was the only one I’d ever go to this extreme for. She was my Marshmallow. She was my everything. And if it took me days and weeks of dropping off gifts in her mailbox and sending her texts to make her smile and convince her to give me a chance, then that’s what I’d do.
Jake:You ready to concede yet?
I was trying not to act desperate or clingy and was failing miserably. I’d asked her out three times this week, and three times she’d blown me off, but I wasn’t about to give up. Knowing Kellie, the stubborn, fierce firecracker she was, she would make me work for every inch, and I was up for the challenge.
Kellie:Go away. I’m busy.
Jake:Busy or getting busy?
It wasn’t until I hit send that I regretted it. She better not be hooking up with some loser on a Friday night, or I’d lose my shit. She was mine, and the sooner she understood that and got with the program, the sooner we could get on with making up for lost time. But before we even got to the make-up sex, we had to make up, and I couldn’t do that while she was dodging me.
Kellie:Did you seriously just ask me that?
I could picture her eye roll from here.
Jake:Yeah. Sorry.
