Jessie Belle: The Women of Merryton - Book One Read Online Free PDF Page B

possibility.
    I
was asleep on the couch by the time Blake joined me with a plate of baked chicken
and vegetables in hand. He sat on the opposite end of the couch and it woke me
up.
    “Sorry
I woke you.”
    I
sat up some. “It’s okay, I should probably go to bed.” I looked at his plate
full of bland food. I didn’t know how he ate food so plain.
    He
noticed my staring. “What?” he asked.
    “Does
it bother you that we don’t have anything in common?”
    He
set down his glass of ice water and lemon on the side table. “I’m not following
you.”
    “It’s
just … we are so opposite one another.”
    His
brows furrowed. “Opposites attract.”
    “Studies
show that’s not really true.”
    “Well,
in our case it is.” He turned back to his dinner.
    I
watched him eat as the credits for the movie rolled on the screen.
    He
took a few bites and looked back over my way. “Does it bother you?”
    “It
worries me. I feel like we live completely separate lives.”
    He
set his plate down and turned more toward me. “Then let’s change that. What do
you want to do together?”
    This
was good progress for us. Normally he would dismiss such a comment. I scooted
closer. “I want to get back to the gym. Maybe you could teach me how to play
racquetball.” That was something I knew he enjoyed and something I thought I
could get into.
    “Hmm…”
    I
shook my head in confusion. I thought that would be a no-brainer.
    “I’ll
pay for you to get lessons and then when you’re ready we can play together.”
    I
arched my eyebrow in complete annoyance. “Never mind. I’ll go back to Zumba and
kick-boxing.” I threw off the afghan my dearly departed nana had crocheted me
and made a beeline for our bedroom—I mean my bedroom.
    “Jessica,
what’s wrong?” he called out after me.
    He
really was clueless sometimes.

Chapter Five
     
    The
weekend didn’t get much better. Blake spent Sunday on a fifty-mile bike ride in
the mountains with Easton, his one and only friend in this town. I liked Easton
Cole, he was the best family practice doctor in town, but he was married to an
awful woman, Kathryn. Over the years we had done a couple of things with them,
but it was awkward. You see, I was still friends with his ex-wife, Taylor, who
now lived in Birmingham, Alabama. I had gone to high school with Kathryn, and
we were anything but friends. When Easton and Taylor divorced several years ago
I couldn’t understand why. Taylor was beautiful and kind and they seemed to be
really in love. Then all of sudden Taylor was gone and they were divorced and
Easton married his nurse. Boy, did this town have a heyday with that.
    I
don’t know if Easton had an affair—it was none of my business—but I always got
the feeling he regretted marrying Kathryn. I think if they didn’t have Emmy,
their eight-year-old daughter, they would probably be divorced, too. And then
lately there were rumors swirling about Kathryn and her personal trainer.
Again, who knew if they were true? For Easton and Emmy’s sake I hoped not. 
    When
Taylor and I communicated we never spoke about it. We mostly talked about her
daughter, Ashley, whom she shared with Easton. She was fifteen now and
beautiful like her mother. Easton rarely saw Ashley and she and Emmy had never
met. How does life end up getting so messed up? How do good people make such
stupid mistakes? I counted myself as one of those people. I’d throw Blake in there,
too. 
    I,
on the other hand, spent Sunday at church and then at my parents’ home for
dinner. I only went to church now because I taught the teen Sunday school
class. My heart really hadn’t been in it for a long while now, but when I told our
pastor he should find someone to replace me, he politely declined. I think he
knew it was what kept me coming. Besides, the kids in my class loved my
homemade cinnamon rolls and I loved my twenty rambunctious students.
    Several
of them frequently stopped by the café after school. I handed out milk