Jeremiah walked into the kitchen and almost fell backwards. The light honey colored woman with legs a mile long and shoulder length auburn hair, was the one responsible for his escape to New York. The only woman to ever break his heart.
Perched on a stool next to the marble kitchen island drinking champagne like she belonged here. For a brief moment, he went back to a time when she was his world. But now, the sight of her sickened him.
“Jessica…how did you get in here?”
“Sweetheart, you forgot I know my way around this house just as well as my parents’ thanks to our many secret sleepovers.” She sipped her champagne.
“You never slept over.”
“I may not have stayed for breakfast, but…”
“Why are you here?” He stood in the doorway with his hands in his trouser pockets.
She held up a bottle of Cristal and filled the empty glass and pushed it towards him. “I understand congratulations are in order.” She smirked.
“I don’t think that’s good for the baby.”
“Your concern for my son is sweet, but I’m not breastfeeding. Like his father, he’s not a breast man.” She sipped her champagne. “Unlike you.” She placed her glass on the counter and recrossed her long legs.
He tried to look away, but he was scared to take his eyes off of her, fearing what she might do to him. If she was crazy enough to break in, there was no telling what else she was capable of.
“My phone has been blowing up all month with calls about you and this outsider. Honestly Jay, if you wanted to get my attention, you didn’t have to go to such extremes.”
“I’m not trying to get your attention. I was hoping not to see you at all.”
“If that was the case Sweetheart, why didn’t you just get married in New York?”
“I wanted to get married at my home.”
“Since when is the ranch your home?”
He started walking away.
“I get it. You were hurt I cheated on you. I’m sorry. Can we just start over?”
He turned around. “You’re nuts.”
She stood up and walked towards him. “I made a mistake.”
“You told my mother I got you pregnant and abandoned you.”
“You left me no choice.” She stopped in front of him.
“Wow,” he smiled. “You’re even more delusional now than when I last saw you.”
“In my defense, lying to your mother was my mother’s idea. I was all set to handle things, but she insisted we do things her way.” She walked back over to the counter and refilled her glass.
Jeremiah looked at her and a terrible thought entered his head. He tried to push it aside, but he couldn’t. He needed to know the answer. “Did you ever handle a situation when we were together?”
She looked out the corner of her eye. “With you, no.”
“What do you mean, with me, no?” He walked over to the other side of the island facing her.
“Do you really want me to answer that?” She sipped more champagne.
He gritted his teeth, lightly tapping the counter with his fist. He promised himself after the other night he was going to keep calm. Think first and react second. “Yes.”
She toyed with her hair before answering. “Yes, I had a couple of situations while we were together, that weren’t yours.”
Jeremiah wiped his mouth with his hands. “You b@#&%…”
“You were no saint.”
“I never cheated on you.”
“No, you just stopped sleeping with me. And that excuse, ‘I made a vow to God.’” She held her hands up doing air quotes. “Please, you could have come up with something a little more original if you wanted to break up. Like anyone was going to believe the town man whore was giving up sex.” She laughed.
He knew what she was doing. She was trying to get him to lose his temper. If this was a few months ago, or even a few hours ago, he would have probably fallen for it.
“You need to leave.”
“Seems I’ve hit a nerve.” She walked around the island and stopped next to him. The heat from her body, made his blood boil. “You expect me to believe you and, what’s her name…Ashley…Britney…Muffy…Avery. As if I could forget that name. I’ve only had everyone of my friends say it every day since word of your engagement hit the gossip waves. Honestly, you’d think she was royalty or something.” She tapped the counter with her long red nails. “So has Avery been privy to the Logan Magic Tongue. I know you said you were saving yourself for marriage. Every time I think about you being celibate, makes me laugh.”
He refused to look at her.
She walked back around the island to the other side and looked at him trying to read him. A skill she was once good at, but not now.
“Remember that night in the hayloft? It was a toss up between who was louder, us or the horses.” She dragged her finger down her neck to her cleavage. He tried to look away, but couldn’t. “Uhm…I close my eyes and I can still feel your….
“What do you want Jessica?”
“I want you to answer my question. Has little Miss New York had her garden raked by that thick juicy tongue of yours?”

~~~