Page 52 of Jesse's Girl
“Yeah. He purposely made the divorce a nightmare for Mom. Dragged it out for years.”
Shit.
I frown. “Can’t imagine anyone being cruel to your mom.”
“I know. It was really shitty. He forced her into selling the house just to pay her legal fees.”
“Really? Jesus. I can see why you wanted to get the hell out of here.” Wet strands slide through my fingers as I take up the next section.
He makes a wry sound, somewhere between a scoff and a laugh. “That was only part of it.”
“Yeah?”
He pauses, letting out a breath. “You remember Naomi, right?”
“Yeah.”
“I dunno how much Marcus told you back then, but things with her got kind of ugly too.”
“What happened?” I ask, too curious to keep my mouth shut. “I mean, you don’t have to?—”
He cuts me off. “No, it’s fine. The nutshell version is: we were friends, then I thought it was growing into something more, but she was just keeping me on the hook.”
“Ouch.” I wince just thinking about being in that situation.
“I had a thing for her for years. She confused the shit out of me, though; always being so touchy-feely, blatantly flirting with me one minute then giving me the cold shoulder the next… So many mixed signals. Not knowing which version of her I was gonna get each day… I dunno. Something about that just had me wrapped around her little finger. Guess I was young and didn’t know any better.”
“Wow.” I pause with a section of long hair pinched between two fingers, scissors hovering. “Sounds like she was kinda manipulative.”
He hums his agreement. “Yeah, none of it was healthy. Anyway, we ended up living together for a few months. But, when I told her how I felt, she got all weird about it and asked me to move out.”
My movements slow as I take this in.
They lived together?
I comb through a tangle, frowning.
No. Different situation.
“Fuck. I’m sorry, Jess.” Then, a fuzzy memory materializes in my mind. “Wait, so you never actually dated Naomi?”
“Nope.”
“But I remember seeing you together at parties and stuff. She was always sitting on your lap and…”
“Exactly.”
“Damn.” I’m suddenly infused with anger at Naomi for being shitty to Jesse back then.
“It really sucked, yeah. So with that, and the shit with my parents, I decided to get the fuck outta Dodge.”
“That… makes a lot of sense.” I let a hand fall to his shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. When he glances back at me, I realize the touch is lingering a moment longer than necessary and pull away, changing the subject. “So, how are things with your mom? She doing okay being home?”
“Getting there. Still exhausted, and still needs my help with getting the groceries and things like that.”
“So you’re, like, her gofer?”
He laughs, the deep, full sound of it wrapping around me like a blanket. “Guess I am.”