Love Her Right by Christina Ow Page A

Jake.
    Slowly Jake pulled his arm out of Mac’s hold and thankfully stayed put, because Mac really didn’t want to fight in his own home.
    “Jolie, I hope you and I can talk sometime...and Katie could come over with JJ to play with his cousin?”
    Mac shook his head, completely confused. Jake sounded like he was begging more than asking.
    Jolie stared at him for a long while as if she was trying to place his face where she’d seen him before. God, was it that bad that they were almost strangers?
    She nodded once, and whispered, “Miles would like that.”
    Then they filed out one by one, except for Mrs. Simmons who ran upstairs and Jase and his girlfriend went to the TV room to keep Miles company after Jake left with his son. Once he was alone with Jolie, he paced like a caged animal, his mind filled with questions he wasn’t sure he wanted answered. God, the curtains came down at such a bad time!
    “Mac...what are you thinking?”
    He shook his head. “Some of the things I’m thinking I can’t say out loud and others...” He stopped his pacing and faced her. “Why didn’t you ever tell me it was this bad?”
    She shrugged. “I blocked it out dreaming of the day I’d be a part of your family. But then your parents died and you left...it was just me and Miles. I left right after I finished high school, moved close to the base in Pendleton hoping I’d get news about you...but we all know how that went.”
    Mac felt like she’d made a direct hit to his heart. He felt so guilty, he was chocking from it.
    * * * *
    J olie winced, biting her lower lip. She hadn’t meant to say that, well she did just not have it sound the way it did. When he fell heavily onto the couch, his elbows braced on his knees and his head in his hands she knew it had sure hit. She moved closer to him, hesitantly placing her hand on his shoulder. She wasn’t sure if she still had the right after the ‘I wish you were dead’ episode. When he flinched, her heart lurch with disappointment and she tried to pull away but he covered her hand with his.
    “Please don’t. I’ve wanted to feel your touch for weeks.” He looked over his shoulder at her. The pain in his eyes surged out of him in waves, hitting her square in the chest. He clenched his eyes tightly shut, turning away. “I know I have no right to ask for your forgiveness so I won’t. Just do me one favor...call me when they come to visit.”
    Jolie chuckled. “They are my family not bank creditors.”
    He looked back at her, his brows knitted together. “Bank creditors? I would compare them to a pack of wolves, but not bank creditors?”
    She shrugged, loving the lazy smile he gave her. “Who is the one person you don’t want knocking on your door on a good or bad day?”
    He laughed shaking his head. “You do have a point. You always had an uncanny way of reference.”
    “It’s one of the reasons you lo—” She quickly bit her lips shut before she said the word but it was too late. He’d finished it in his head—she could see it in his eyes. His face fell and he slowly leaned back into the couch. Jolie sat tensely next to him as he held her hand on his lap and played with her fingers.
    “I do love you, Jolie, I hope you know that.”
    “Things aren’t the same anymore, Mac. I’m not a teenager with a crush for her eldest brother’s best friend. I’ve grown up and so have you. The problem is we grew up apart. We aren’t the same people anymore.”
    His face creased in visible anguish as he tightened his hold on her hand. “So what are you saying? Is this the end—I know I made a mistake, I was hurting and it was selfish of me to think I needed to leave my life behind to forget my parents death and just immerse myself in the military. I didn’t think of you, I didn’t think of Miles and after listening to what your life was with those... bank creditors , I’m scared to ask what they did to you when they found out you were pregnant.”
    Jolie looked away and