But what did he mean he stayed there because of me?
I looked around the huge guest suite and realized I barely knew anything about his life anymore. I mean, I knew he left and went off with the Marines, and was later a Green Beret. Then, when he came back, he had an honorable discharge and the deed to the Diamond Rocks.
And honestly, I was there at the beginning, and it was probably more of a curse than a gift from that guy he saved the life of. But somehow, Jesse made it work.
He managed to make a profit. And when word got around that he had pulled off the impossible, it wasn’t long before he was offered other floundering businesses at cut down rates...
I guess I never put it together until now just how successful he was.
This house on Wolverine Lake, with the mountains in the background. It had to be a million.
Maybe two.
All that in the... I counted up in my head... Less than two years since he'd walked back into my life, offering a steady job and a way out of the mess that had crashed down around me since Kent’s funeral nearly a year before.
I shook my head, trying to get my thoughts straight.
“Where are my clothes?” I demanded.
“Right there. In that closet.” Jesse’s demeanor was calmer than usual and a shiver wiggled down my neck, slithering around my spine until it reached my toes. Something in his voice felt different, and I felt like I was about to be punked.
I eyed him as I walked into the closet backwards, one eye squinted his way.
Reaching behind me, I felt the cool metal of the door handle… turn, click... then I spun around and sucked all the air out of the room.
The friggin’ closet was bigger than most bedrooms, and mostly empty, but what clothes hung there were most decidedlynotmine. My wardrobe consisted of tight jeans. Some blue, mostly black, paired with old concert t-shirts or newer ones with snarky sayings across the chest.
This closet contained no black. Nothing old or snarky either. It was the antithesis of the three-by-three foot space where I hung the items I called mine back at Jenette’s place.
White and pink, yellow and green, lace and ruffles, assaulted me from everywhere. If there was a perfect little girl’s closet somewhere in a fairy tale, this would be it. Only, the clothes were not little girl sized, they were my size.
“Where are my clothes, Jesse?"
"Those are your clothes, Kitty Kat."
"No, they're not. Joke’s over. Come on.” I poked my head out to see he was up from the chair and standing only a couple of steps outside the closet door, the mountain of his body blocking out much of the sunlight streaming through the window.
“This is it. For now. Pick something."
"Pick something?" I narrowed my eyes. "These aren't mine, Jesse, how am I supposed to--"
"These are yours. If you don’t pick something out, I will. Then I will proceed to put it on you, like it or not.” He towered over me and my mind raced for a reply. My heart pounded in my chest as my eyes danced over the strange closet filled with adult sized little girl clothes.
And they were adorable, but...
This couldn’t possibly be real. Was I in an alcohol withdrawal induced hallucination?
"These are mine?" I asked, not to Jesse but more to the universe, which, all of a sudden, seemed like one and the same.
"They're yours. I told you, I'm taking care of you now, and you're going to want for nothing. You need someone to watch over you, Kat, and that someone is going to be me, whether youlike it or not. This is how I care for you. It’s a new foundation. Do you remember ever being cared for when you were little?"
I felt tears starting to flow. He sounded so much like Kent did that day he finally got custody of me.
You don't have to be scared anymore, Katrina. I'm going to take care of you, and make sure you have everything you need.
Jesse's eyes were completely and utterly focused on me. I shivered under his commanding stare. His broad forehead began to draw together as he watched me draw up in frantic confusion. The pressure inside my head was unbearable. I didn’t know what to do or say. There was a flicker inside me that found joy and comfort from all of this. The teddy bear and the soft pajamas, the pampering and security and promise to always be there.
But it was quickly stomped out by the jaded, angry part of me that didn’t believe in happiness. No matter how it was packaged.
