New Girl in Town Pt. 15

"I gotta look out for Jake, too," Sarah tells them around a mouthful of pizza. "He helps me find all the stars and stuff then Jess reads about them to me in my book. Can you read to me tonight, sissy?"

"Aren't you even the littlest bit tired, Sarah?" Mrs. Keifer asks. "You had a big trip, got your hair dyed, chatted then cheered with all of your friends, watched Jess win her match then this big dinner you just ate. How can you not be?"

"I am a little but I want Jess to read to me like Jake did on the ride up here," Sarah says.

"I will as long as I can do it while Jake rubs me down like he does at home," Jessica tells her. "Deal?"

"Deal!" Sarah answers while Mrs. Keifer looks miffed at the thought but she says nothing.

After dinner, the teens offer to clean up but are shooed from the kitchen so Sarah can be read to and gotten to bed.

"I can't believe that Jessica asked for a rub down right in front us like that." Mrs. Keifer declares as they clear the table.

"I need to go and check my emails." Mr. Golden states then ducks out of the kitchen before his wife's glare kills him on the spot.

"Mom, just look in on them if it worries you so much." Dr. Golden says. "They won't do anything improper with Sarah there, I promise you that."

As much as Mrs. Keifer wants to take her daughter at her word she walks to the kitchen door and peeks out into the living room. Jake is seated on the couch with Jessica seated on the floor in front of him with Sarah on her lap holding her book. Jake is rubbing Jessica's shoulders while she reads to Sarah about the best times of year to see the various planets when they are at their closest rotation to Earth.

"So I take it that they do this a lot then?" Mrs. Keifer asks.

"It's become routine. We all get home from a match, eat dinner, then Jess asks for a rub, Sarah asks to be read to and Jake can't refuse either of them so you get what's happening out there

now." Dr. Golden answers. "Sarah will start nodding off soon and they will put her to bed."

True to her word, as the pair are leaving the kitchen, Sarah gets to her feet.

"I'm ready for bed." She announces as she grabs Jake's hand. "Come on, Jake. I'll show you your room."

"Sarah, I'm not sure that's a great idea," Jake says but Sarah won't be deterred as she tugs him towards the stairs.

Jessica picks up his bag from the floor and she, her mother and grandmother all follow them up. Sarah stops at the first door across from her and Jessica's room and points to it.

"You stay in there, Jake." She tells him.

"Sarah, Jake is at the end of the hall." Mrs. Keifer tells her but Sarah shakes her head.

"Mom and dad are down there. Jake's in here in case sissy or I need him." Sarah tells her. "He's got to stay close so he doesn't get lost. This is a new house to him."

"Can't argue with that logic, Grammy." Jessica giggles as she hands Jake his bag. "You heard Sarah, Jake. You come and get us if you get lost. I'm going to help Sarah brush her teeth and wash her face."

"I don't like it." Sarah states.

"I didn't ask if you did or didn't now did I?" Jessica counters then steps over and gives Jake a quick kiss. "Goodnight, Jake."

"Night, Jess." He says then as she and Sarah leave he turns to the adults. "I don't have to stay in this room if it's going to cause a problem, ma'am."

"It's fine, Jake. Right, mom?" Dr. Golden asks her mother who gives a curt nod before walking off without a word.

"I'm not sure it's all that fine, Dr. Golden." Jake comments.

"Don't worry about it, Jake." Dr. Golden says patting his shoulder. "You grow on people pretty fast."

****

Wednesday

"Did you see any planets through your new telescope, Sarah?" Mrs. Keifer asks as they sit around the breakfast table.

"Jake and Jess were pointing out the constitutions to me last night," Sarah answers excitedly nearly hurling her fork laden with waffle and fruit onto the floor in her enthusiasm.

"It's constellations, Sarah." Jessica corrects her. "And watch where you're flinging your fork. You almost threw your waffle all over Jake."

"Nuh huh!" Sarah answers just as animated as before. "I wanna show Grammy my book!"

She starts to hop to her feet but Jake catches her around her waist stopping her.

"Hold up, Sticky-bear. We need to clean you up so you don't get syrup all over your grandmother's house." He says lifting Sarah into his arms.

As he takes her to the sink, Mrs. Keifer looks on in astonishment. The last time she saw Sarah, she would never let a boy pick her up, much less let a boy help her.

Jake places Sarah on the kitchen counter by the sink and starts the water running before reaching for the paper towels.

"Does this happen often?" Mrs. Keifer asks.

"This morning is better than most." Dr. Golden says. "Sarah is usually a lot messier."

"No, I meant her allowing a boy to clean her up." Mrs. Keifer corrects.

"He's not a boy, he's Jake!" Sarah tells her Grammy while Jake cleans the sticky syrup from her hands.

"My apologies then, dear." Mrs. Keifer chuckles as she watches Jake carefully clean Sarah's hands and face.

"It's usually Jake or Jessica that takes up the cleaning duty where Sarah is involved." Mr. Golden answers. "Especially if there's syrup. Sticky is icky!"

"I get sticky." Sarah giggles.

"Very." Jake laughs as he cleans her cheeks. "I think I got it all now but let Jess check you over to be sure."

He helps Sarah down from the counter and she skips over to Jessica.

"Kissy check!" Jessica declares then proceeds to kiss Sarah all around her cheeks while she squeals with delight. "I think you're good, Sar-bear."

"Cool! I'm getting my book now." She announces as she heads for the stairs.

"Slow down, speed demon!" Dr. Golden calls out to her.

The doorbell chimes as Sarah starts up the stairs.

"I got it!" She shouts.

"Sarah, it's your Grammy's house. She's got it. You get your book." Jessica shouts back.

"I'll get it." Mrs. Keifer says pushing up from the table. She leaves the room as Jake collects the empty plates from the table.

"Do I have to remind you that you are the guest here, Jake?" Dr. Golden asks with a giggle.

"No ma'am but I was up anyway." He states as he rinses the dishes.

Behind him, Mrs. Keifer returns with an announcement.

"Jess, look who heard you were back in town and stopped by to see you." She states with a huge grin on her face.

Jessica turns and gasps when she realizes that her ex-boyfriend, Sean Durant is standing with her grandmother.

"Hey, Jess," Sean says giving her a cheerful smile. "It's really great seeing you again."

Jessica practically leaps up from the table, her eyes blazing with anger.

"Don't you dare speak to me!" She snaps at him.

"Come on Jess, don't be like that." He says reaching for her.

She slaps his hand away and points her finger at him.

"You don't ever get to touch me again!" She shouts as she stalks past him.

"Jessica, what is wrong with you!" Mrs. Keifer demands to know but Jessica ignores her as she rushes upstairs.

"You need to leave this house now, Sean!" Mr. Golden says rising to his feet.

He places himself between Sean and Jake in the hope that Jake doesn't launch himself at Jess's ex her in his mother-in-law's kitchen.

From behind Sean, a thump is heard as Sarah drops her book to the floor.

"You! I hate you!" Sarah shouts as she rushes towards Sean with her hands clenched into tight fists. "You made my sister cry!"

Jake quickly steps around Mr. Golden as Sarah connects her first punch to Sean's upper thigh. Sean steps back and reaches down to push her away but Jake scoops her up into his arms before Sean can touch her.

"Don't even think about touching her either," Jake growls at Sean as he picks Sarah up and pulls her away.

"Jake'll kick your butt you big mean, poopy head!" Sarah yells back over Jake's shoulder as he carries her up to find Jessica.

"What is going on here?" Mrs. Keifer asks confused at the explosion of activity Sean's arrival has set in motion.

"Leave now, Sean." Dr. Golden demands. "You will not be asked again."

"Dr. Golden, please, I don't know what's going on here but I didn't do..." Sean begins to say but she cuts him off.

"Jessica told us exactly what you did you bastard! She told us all of it!" Dr. Golden raises her voice. "Now get the hell out of this house!"

"I believe that you are familiar with where the door is." Mr. Golden states taking a step towards him.

Sean wisely backs away from the angry pair of parents that once respected him and retreats from the house leaving a very confused Mrs. Keifer standing there with her mouth agape.

****

"Would you kindly explain to me what just happened?" Mrs. Keifer asks her daughter and son-in-law. "Sean is an invited guest at this house and the behavior that happened just now was unacceptable."

"You invited him here?" Dr. Golden asks. "I thought you said that he just popped in? What are you playing at, mother?"

"I just thought he would like to see Jessica since she was back in town. I knew that she would want to see him despite her current... fling with this Jake boy. I called his parents the other day to invite him..." Mrs. Keifer starts to explain but is cut off by her daughter.

"You were never going to give Jake a chance were you, mother?" Dr. Golden asks. "You thought that you knew what was best for Jessica and to hell with how she felt about it, right?"

"Valerie, don't you take that tone with me!" Mrs. Keifer warns.

"Val, she doesn't know what he did to Jess," Tim says as diplomatically as he can muster. "I think that we need to have a family meeting and let Jessica tell her exactly what that little shit did to her."

Dr. Golden lets out a deep breath and shakes her head.

"I'm going to go upstairs and check on the kids. If Jessica is up to it, I'll let her tell you exactly why Sean is lucky to have walked out of this house without my foot up his ass," she tells her mother as she heads upstairs.

She pauses just outside the door to the girl's room when she hears Jessica talking to Jake and Sarah.

"I never thought that I would have to deal with him ever again," Jessica says. "It was over and done with him but what happens now, Jake? Is he going to start holding me back from you again?"

"I honestly don't know, Jess," Jake tells her. "If he does then we just start over getting you over him again."

"You say that like it was easy." Jessica answers.

"We can do it, sissy." Sarah chimes in confidently.

Dr. Golden smiles at her eldest daughter's laughter at her precocious little sister.

"I believe that you alone can do it, Sar-bear," Jessica states hugging Sarah close to her.

"Jake'll help. He was okay with it last time." Sarah allows with a giggle.

The teens laugh as Dr. Golden gives a single knock before opening the door.

"I was worried about you, Jess, but it seems like that was unwarranted with your little support system here." Dr. Golden states with a smile.

"They are two of the best, Mom." Jessica smiles then gets to her feet and hugs her. "You are too."

Dr. Golden hugs her tall daughter to her and pats her back lovingly. "Your Grammy is a bit confused as to what just happened. Dad and I thought that, if you were feeling up to it that is, you'd want to be the one to fill her in." She says.

Jessica looks back at Jake who nods his head and after a moment of looking at him she smiles and nods as well.

"I can do that," she answers her mother.

"And Sarah and I will go out and check out that filter that Staci and Ray got for her telescope. Right, Sar-bear?" Jake asks.

"I get to look at the sun?" Sarah asks excitedly.

"After I check it first," Jake answers her.

Sarah bounds up from the bed and races towards the doorway shouting as she goes. "Grammy, I'm gonna look at the sun!"

****

Jessica, her parents, and Grammy sit in the living room after Jake takes Sarah out into the backyard to

look through her telescope.

"I cannot believe just how much Sarah has changed since you've moved." Grammy remarks after watching Sarah try and run outside then Jake stops her and helps her put on her coat and hat without protest. "She wouldn't let Se... any other boy help her do anything."

"Jake made a great first impression on her, Grammy," Jessica says smiling at the memory of Jake in the floor, shaking his leg like an idiot but delighting Sarah to no end.

"He made that impression on all of us. Climbing down onto the floor to make Sarah laugh no matter if it made him look silly. He made serious brownie points with me off that." Dr. Golden shares.

"It was his car that won me over." Mr. Golden jokes.

"Daddy!" Jessica snaps then giggles. "Jake has a classic Mustang that daddy drools over, Grammy."

"It's a sixty-nine that he, his dad and grandpa rebuilt. It's a beautiful ride." Mr. Golden enthuses. "But yes, Jake's first impression on me was an excellent one."

"Grammy, some of what I have to tell you about Sean isn't going to be pleasant for you to hear but you need to know all of it to understand. Okay?" Jessica redirects the conversation.

"Sweetie, if you don't want to talk about this with me it's fine," Grammy tells her but Jessica shakes her head.

"I really don't want to but you need to know like mom, dad, Jake, and all my friends know," Jessica tells her and she nods her acceptance. "As you know Sean was my first at pretty much everything and yes, that includes sex."

"Jessica!" Grammy exclaims.

"Mom, shush and let Jessica get through this." Dr. Golden tells her.

Jessica nods her thanks and continues. "He was my first and it was not great." She pauses. "I had heard that most first times aren't good but that it would get better."

"And did it?" Grammy asks.

Jessica shakes her head. "With him, I never got the chance to find out. He went around school blabbing to everyone about what happened and how if any of his friends wanted a shot at me, he'd tell me to do them and I would. Before you ask if that was just a rumor, it's not. I heard those words come out of his mouth myself."

Grammy sits back in her chair and shakes her head. "That little fucker!" She exclaims.

"Mom!" Dr. Golden shouts.

"Grammy!" Jessica giggles while Mr. Golden shakes his head in disbelief.

"What?" Grammy asks. "I'm not wrong, am I?"

"No, I've just never heard you curse before." Dr. Golden states.

"Never had much reason to until now." She answers. "Just wait till I tell his parents about how that little shit acted. I'll kick his little behind if he ever so much as walks along the sidewalk in front of my house again!"

****

"How's it looking, Sarah?" Jake asks as he kneels beside her and the telescope. He had set up the sun filter and checked it to make sure that she would be safe to have a look.

"Neat!" Sarah answers. "It's all purple and weird looking. I love it!"

"Remember to thank Staci and Ray for getting the filter for you when you see them." He tells her.

"I will." She answers then looks away from the eyepiece after a moment. "Jake, why aren't you a part of the 'dult conversion?"

Jake chuckles and shakes his head. "I'm not a part of the adult conversation because I'm watching out for you, Sar-bear." He answers.

Sarah nods at that then looks back into the eyepiece. "I wish that you would have punched Sean in his stupid face," she says after a moment.

"Between you and me, I kind of wish I had too, Sarah, but you beat me to it," Jake tells her.

"But you stopped me." She says.

"Jess needed us, didn't she?" He asks.

Sarah nods then turns and hugs Jake. "She did and you take care of us, Jake."

"I try." Jake answers.

"You do." Sarah insists then pulls him to the telescope. "Now you look at the sun and explain what all I'm seeing."

"P word?" He asks with a sly grin.

"Peanut!" Sarah shouts then giggles.

"Sounds like I missed the joke," Jessica comments from the back porch.

"Jess! Come look at the sun! It's all purple!" Sarah shouts excitedly.

Jessica nods and jogs down the steps to join the pair.

"Everything all right?" Jake asks when she reaches them.

"They're better," Jessica answers hesitantly. "Grammy will need a little while to get used to certain things."

"I got used to Sean being a poopy head real quick," Sarah announces.

"Yes you did, didn't you?" Jessica teasingly asks.

"Uh huh," Sarah answers.

"That's good," Jessica says as she kisses the top of Sarah's head. "Now stop hogging the telescope and let your favorite sister see this purple sun!"

"You're my only sister, silly!" Sarah laughs.

"Still your favorite though." Jessica laughs.

At the window, Mrs. Keifer watches them with a smile.

****

"Jess, it's about that time." Dr. Golden states as she walks into her mother's living room a couple of hours later. Jake is seated on the couch, tenderly rubbing Jessica's shoulders while she has Sarah on her lap and is reading to her from her book.

"Already?" Jessica asks as she glances at the clock on the wall.

"Afraid so." Dr. Golden answers. "You've got a late lunch with the team before going on to the gym for practice before tonight's game."

"Jake can do more rubbing on you tonight after you win your match," Grammy tells her with a grin.

"Grammy!" Jessica exclaims then turns to Jake and gives him a quick kiss. "I'll need it for sure."

"Then you'll get it." He smiles at her.

She gets a sly grin on her pretty face and leans close to him. "You just might be the one that gets it, Jake." She whispers before stealing a quick kiss. "You know what winning does to me."

"I do." He laughs to hide the blush creeping onto his face.

"Jake, are you riding with us?" Dr. Golden asks.

"I am!" Sarah announces hopping to her feet.

"I know you are, Sarah. I was asking Jake." Dr. Golden tells her.

"I think I'm going to hang around here. Maybe go for a jog to that park I saw on our way here." He answers. "Even if I'm not going to get to play in the game Friday night, I need to keep loose."

"You're not playing?" Grammy asks him.

"No, ma'am." Jake answers.

"His coach told him that if he missed practice this week, he wouldn't play," Jessica explains. "He came to support me anyway."

"I wasn't likely to play anyway." Jake humbly answers. "I'm just the backup."

"The back up that won the homecoming game and the last game of the season for them," Jessica says then turns to her Grammy. "He should be starting, Grammy, but..."

"But that's a discussion for another time, Jess." Jake breaks in. "You've got to get on the road."

"Fine but we'll continue this discussion later tonight," Jessica tells them.

"That sounds like a fine discussion to have over your celebration dinner." Grammy states with a grin.

Everyone walks Jessica out to the SUV and she hugs them each in turn, save for Jake who gets a tender but abbreviated kiss.

"See you at the game." He says as they part.

"On the bench and waiting for me with those hands of yours." She tells him as he opens the car door for her.

"You got it." He answers.

The trio consisting of Jake, Mr. Golden and Grammy all wave as the SUV pulls away before heading back into the house. Jake excuses himself to head to his room and change for his run when he gets inside. Mr. Golden nods and goes back to his laptop to look over some new designs for the marina on Belews Lake while Grammy goes back to reading her novel.

"Ma'am, about how far is the park?" Jake asks as he returns in his black track pants and Wildcat sweatshirt.

"Just a bit under three miles from here, Jake." She answers him. "I walk it twice daily to keep my girlish figure intact."

"It's certainly working." Jake compliments her.

"You are the sweet young man that they have been telling me about all these months, Jake." She smiles at him. "I'm sorry about not giving you that much of a chance when you first got here."