K. Robinson - Twisted Ties

“It’s a long story. The important part is that she’s here.”

His mom stepped forward and hugged me. “It’s good to have you around again.”

I hugged her back, relaxing as I realized that Jesse had been right. It was obvious that she didn’t hate me.

She released me and grabbed Jesse to hug him, too. “I missed you, kiddo.”

“I missed you, too, Mom.”

She pulled away and opened the door. “There’s no point in standing out here. I have dinner ready inside. I was worried that I’d made too much, but since Emma is here, we should be fine.”

I followed Jesse into the house. The inside looked much like the outside. The walls were made of logs. A large stone fireplace with a television sitting on the mantel was in the living room. The light brown couch and chairs had images of deer across them. I could tell that Mark was very much an outdoor type of person.

The kitchen was a bit more modern even with the walls being the same as the living room. White tiles covered the floor, and the appliances were all stainless steel. As we made our way to the end of the kitchen, I noticed a man, Jesse’s stepdad, Mark, I assumed, sitting at a large oak table in the dining room.

“Emma, this is Mark,” Jesse said as we reached the table. “I don’t think you two had a chance to meet in California.”

Mark stood and shook my hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Likewise,” I said as I looked at him.

His hair was a dark brown with a bit of gray starting to show through. His eyes were a soft chocolate color. He was dressed in simple jeans and a flannel shirt. I glanced at Jesse’s mom to see that she was also in jeans. I looked down at my skirt and white dress shirt, suddenly feeling overdressed.

“Don’t just stand there, you two. Sit down,” Trish said as she took the chair next to Mark.

I sat down in the chair between Mark and Jesse. I folded my hands nervously. While I knew his mom wasn’t angry with me, I still felt unsure of myself. I hadn’t thought to ask Jesse what to say or how much his mom knew when it came to Ally.

I bowed my head as his mom said grace. Once she was finished, we started passing plates full of food around the table. His mom had obviously spent a lot of time on dinner. The table was covered with more food than any of us could ever eat.

“How’s school?” his mom asked as she handed Jesse a plate of pork chops.

“It’s going good.”

“Are you in school, too, Emma?” Mark asked.

“I am.”

“Is that how you two found each other again?” his mom asked.

“Kind of,” I answered. I didn’t want to lie to her, but I also wasn’t going to reveal anything about Ally in case Jesse hadn’t mentioned it.

“Kind of?” she asked.

“Truthfully, I came to West Virginia to look for Jesse. I knew he planned to go to college, so I enrolled at WVU because I knew it was one of the biggest schools in the state. I figured that it was the best place to look for him.”

I didn’t mention the fact that the only way I knew he planned to go to college was because he bitched about his mom forcing him to go instead of finishing up his apprenticeship at the tattoo shop.

“That has to be the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard. You better take good care of this girl, Jesse,” Trish said.

“I will, Mom.” Jesse rolled his eyes.

“How long have you two been together? I feel like I’m asking a million questions, but since my dear son never calls me, I’m a bit out of the loop.”

I smiled as I glanced over at Jesse. I knew exactly why he hadn’t called his mom that much. If he had, he might have slipped and told her about Ally.

“Just recently. The campus is huge, and we never ran into each other at school. We met at a party off-campus.” I lied smoothly.

“Ah, I see.” She smiled at me.

I felt bad for the little white lies I was telling, but I knew Jesse would kill me if I told her the truth. I almost wanted to just so another person would know exactly what Ally was really like.

Mark wasn’t much of a talker, but he seemed nice enough. It warmed my heart to see how much love was in his eyes when he looked at Jesse’s mom. It was obvious that he thought the world of her.

I glanced down at his mom’s hand and noticed her wedding ring. “Wow, that’s beautiful.”

She smiled proudly as she held out her hand to let me see it better. “It is. Mark picked it out on his own. He has great taste.”

“Of course I do. I married you.” Mark grinned at her.

Her cheeks went pink, and she looked away.

“You guys are so cute,” I told them.

Jesse rolled his eyes. “I was thinking more along the lines of nauseating.”

“Oh, shut up,” I told him.

I felt myself relax as dinner progressed. It was like the last two years had never happened. His mom was as warm and kind toward me as she had been before. I should have known that I had nothing to worry about. It was just so important to me that Jesse’s mom liked me. If she hadn’t, it would make things hard for Jesse and me. I’d heard the horror stories about how the mother-in-law made the wife’s life hell until she couldn’t take it anymore. I didn’t want my life to be like that. My own mom hated me enough for everyone.

We spent the rest of the evening with his mom and Mark. It was nice to just relax and spend time with them. When it was time to go, Trish hugged us both tightly.

“Make sure that he comes around more often. I miss him,” she whispered in my ear before letting me go.

“I will.”

* * *

I fell asleep on the way home. When I woke up, Jesse had me cradled in his arms as he walked through his house. He laid me down on his bed and pulled off my shoes. I snuggled down into the covers. I was too tired to try to talk with him. He crawled into bed next to me and wrapped his arms around me.

“Happy birthday!” Andy shouted as he walked into my house, unannounced.

Emma and I had finally managed to crawl out of bed right before he showed up, and I wasn’t conscious enough to deal with his shouting.

“Fuck off,” I mumbled as I reached into the cabinet for a bowl.

All I wanted for my birthday was a bowl of cereal—and Emma naked. That wasn’t too much to ask. I didn’t need to be tormented by Andy.

Since we had been kids, he’d tortured me on my birthdays. To me, it was just another day, but to him, it was his favorite day of the year. He would run through the halls at school and sing “Happy Birthday” to me until everyone else would join in. He’d gotten a fist to the stomach more than once for that shit.

“Well, aren’t you just a ray of sunshine, snookums?” He tried to kiss me on the cheek.

I glared as I shoved him away. “Are you high?”

“I’m high on life.” He grinned at me. “It’s my two best friends’ birthdays. Why wouldn’t I be happy?”

For some reason, Andy found it hilarious that Emma and I were born on the same day.

“You’re so fucking weird,” I grumbled.

We both looked up as the bathroom door opened.

Emma stepped out, wearing nothing but a towel. “Jesse, I have a birthday present for you.” She stopped dead when she saw Andy standing there. “Oh shit.”

Andy laughed. “Don’t stop just because I’m here. You could make it my special day, too.”

I elbowed him in the stomach—hard. He grunted in pain as Emma flipped him off and walked into our bedroom.

“Thanks, asshole. You just cockblocked me on my birthday.”

Andy laughed. “Mission accomplished.”

Emma emerged from our room a few minutes later and walked into the kitchen. “Let’s try this again now that I’m wearing clothes. Good morning, Andy.”

“It’s afternoon,” he pointed out.

“We slept in,” I told him.

“I’m sure you were sleeping,” he said.

He was right, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. Over the past two weeks, I’d slowly started to relax when Emma and Andy were around each other. Now that we were all three hanging out together, I could see that nothing was going on between them. But that didn’t mean I was going to tell him that I’d spent half the night fucking her on every surface in the house, including the counter that he was currently leaning against.

Best. Birthday. Ever.

“So, what are we doing today?” Andy asked.

“We? If you mean Emma and me when you say we, then we’re going to watch a movie on the couch and order pizza. If you think you’re included in that we, try again.”

“Oh, come on, I’m lonely by myself at my apartment.”

“Call one of your girlfriends to keep you company.”

“I got bored with them. I’m currently taking applications for new ones.”

I rolled my eyes. “You need help.”

“Nah, I need to get laid.”

“Really?” Emma asked. “That’s more information than I needed.”

He ignored her as he looked at me. “Come on, let me in on the birthday fun.”

“Let’s not and say we did.”

“Let him stay, Jesse,” Emma said.

I gave her a pleading look. I’d lied about the movie part. I had no intentions of watching a movie with her. I wanted to get her naked. That would be kind of hard to do with Andy around.

I finally gave up and agreed to let him stay. By his reaction, I would have thought I’d told him that Christmas was here three months early. He really did need to get laid.

“I’ll be right back,” he said as he walked to the door.

“Take your time!” I yelled as he closed it behind him.

A few minutes later, he returned with bags full of alcohol and a birthday cake. I almost laughed at him until I saw the excitement in Emma’s eyes. I kept my sarcastic comments to myself as she took some of the bags from him and put them on the counter.

“Damn, Andy. Did you rob a liquor store?” she asked as she pulled bottle after bottle from the bags.

“Nah, I’m friends with a guy who works at a liquor store. He hooked me up.”

“Obviously.” Emma said.

I finished my cereal as Emma cut the birthday cake. It was obvious that she was way more excited over it than I was. I couldn’t help but smile as I watched her dig into a piece. It was good to see her happy again. When Ally had been around, I had been afraid that I would never see her smile again.

I pushed Ally from my mind as I picked up a piece of cake and started eating it. Today had nothing to do with Ally, and I wouldn’t let her ruin my birthday. Everything was going great for us right now. I finally had not only Emma back in my life, but Andy as well.

“You could at least pretend to be civilized,” Emma said as she watched me eat my cake with my hands.

“What’s the fun in that?” I pointed to Andy. “Yell at him, too. He’s eating it the same way I am.”

“I’m surrounded by cavemen.” Emma laughed at us.

Once we finished our cake, Andy started mixing drinks. It was kind of early to drink, but who cared? It was our birthdays, and we had nowhere to be. By the time we finally got around to watching a movie, we were all buzzed.

Andy sat in the chair closest to the couch as Emma snuggled into my side. I was actually kind of glad that I’d let Andy stick around. He was my best friend, and it was nice to have him here.

When the movie was finished, I put another one in and settled back onto the couch. Emma grabbed the blanket off the back of the couch and threw it over us. She snuggled back against me and sighed.

Even though we’d done nothing special, this was the best birthday I’d ever had. Things were finally coming together for me, and I couldn’t be happier.

I stretched and yawned as I glanced at the clock. I’d been studying for almost two hours, and I felt like my brain was about to explode. Jesse was still in class, so I’d taken advantage of the quiet to get ready for a big test on Monday. Whenever Jesse was around, things were rarely quiet.

I decided to take a break and find something to eat. As soon as I thought of food, my stomach growled loudly. I laughed as the sound seemed to echo around the quiet room. Yeah, I definitely need food.

I threw my book down on the living room table and walked to the kitchen. I opened the cabinet to grab a bowl. I rolled my eyes as I dug through Jesse’s eight-million cereal boxes until I found something that looked good. I swore that he lived off that stuff.

I poured some cereal into a bowl and sat down at the table to eat. I looked into the living room and smiled as I noticed that my things were everywhere. Since Jesse and I had gotten back together, I rarely spent any time at my dorm room. Without even realizing it, I’d managed to move half my stuff over here. If Jesse had noticed, he didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he was always the one who insisted I stay the night.