Chapter 09

Marissa’s Pov

I could feel Bridget pulsing with excitement beside me as I nodded and accepted his offered hand shake. His hands were warm and a little clammy but that was fine.

Appearance wise, he wasn't exactly what I had in mind. I mean he looked handsome but….Just not my type of handsome maybe.

“Hello Bridget." He lifted the last syllable so it came out sounding like a question.

“Hi. How are you?” She said, trying to contain her excitement.

“Doing pretty good. You?" How's the dog?” He asked with concern.

“Oh he's doing much better now. Thanks for asking. I was just about to leave.” She glanced at me, trying to say something with her eyes. " Got errands to run and such. Nice running into you Jack. Bye Rissa.” And before I could think to reply, she was gone. Practically jogging down the parking lot to her car.

Jack and I stood in awkward silence for about four seconds before he cleared his throat and spoke,

“Uh, we haven't properly met.".

“We have. Kind of. Briefly." I cleared my throat too.

“Ahh, right right." He nodded.

He looked sheepish. Which was weird because I'd seen and heard him give speeches during conferences. He had a famous reputation in town for saving his father's small company and turning it into what it was today. Smart, confident and forward thinking is what the papers and blogs called him.

He didn't look too confident right now.

“I've uh…I wanted to talk to you about erm…if you'd like uh…” he shuffled his feet nervously.

I'd never heard of him having a wife or girlfriend. It was a small town. Gossip went around easily so if he'd ever dated someone from town, everyone would know.

But he hadn't and now I could see why. He struggled to talk to women.

I thought about stepping in and rescuing him but before I could, his phone rang.

“Sorry, gotta take this." He said with a laugh that failed to hide his relief.

I watched as he got increasingly frustrated with whoever was on the other end of the phone. He smiled at me in apology as he rounded off the call.

“Sorry. Duty calls." He chuckled.

“Oh that's fine. I understand." I smiled back as warmly as I could.

“How bout we talk tomorrow. Heard there's an office party planned. You're coming right?"

He looked hopeful. I didn't want to crush his feelings. But again, that would mean lying.

“I'll try.” I gave what I hoped was a reassuring smile.

All through the drive home, I kept thinking of the best way to let Jack Tinsel down. You know, without getting fired. Although he wouldn't do that. He didn't seem that petty. But who's to know?

Bridget would hate to hear this but I wasn't attracted to him. He looked cute, sure, but there was something that threw me off.

Like the clammy hands maybe. Or the way the grey suit had been…i couldn't put words to it exactly but it somehow made me think of when Bridget had said lavender wasn't my color.

Long blonde hair, brackish blue eyes and light grey suits didn't go together. Or they didn't go together on him.

As I pulled into the driveway, I heard Ashlynn scream and I went into full mummy rescue mode. The engine was barely off before I was flying out of the car and making a beeline for the door.

Just as I got to it,I heard a laughter that I could recognize from mies away.

Elias was here.

The look of worry on my face turned into a smile as I turned the knob.

Elias had Asher sitting on his neck and holding onto his hair for dear life as he spun around while swinging Ashlynn by the arms.

Mummy rescue mode came in again. Asher could fall from up there. He could let go of Ashlynn by mistake and send her flying into the wall.

But the fears were gone as fast as they had come. It was Elias. He loved the children like they were his own, he wouldn't let anything happen to them. And then there was the fact that he was a werewolf. Ashlynn was as light as a magazine to him. He could swing them both, one on each hand at the same time and it'll still be nothing to him.

“Hey! Mum's home!" He said as he spotted me. He stopped spinning and dropped Ashlynn to her feet. She took two steps, staggered and fell to the floor giggling as her vision spun.

Elias dropped Asher and he did the exact same thing.

“Hi mommy." They chorused at the same time. They tried to get up and fell back to the floor laughing.

“How's my little rascals doing?" I went over to them and gathered them in my arms.

“Uncle Elias bought us crayons and a colour book and chocolate chip cookies and a hair bow for Ashlynn and a toy gun for me and…..”

" Gun?!” I turned to him disapprovingly.

" What? The kid listed like ten things and that's the only one you picked up?” He said rolling his eyes.

" I have a strict no gun policy.” I said with a frown.

" Relax,Marissa. It's a water gun.”

" That's even worse!”

" Than an actual gun?” He raised a brow.

" No, than a ... .oh forget it. Didn't know you were coming into town today.” l walked into the kitchen and he followed with the children still talking excitedly.

“Yeah. Just felt like getting away from the city air for a while you know. Besides, I missed these two." He pinched their cheeks one after the other making them squeal.

“Yeah. They missed you too." I laughed as I took out a carton of juice from the fridge.

I missed him too. Everytime he left, I counted the days till he came back. He was the only connection to my past I had left. A past I couldn't remember.

I poured some fresh orange juice into cups for everyone.

The twins were still yapping away, telling him about their day and every other random thing they could think of.

I watch him listen to them. Leaning forward, fully invested in their gibberish. Seriously, the man paid more attention to the kids than he did me.

I frowned at the thought. Yikes! Where had that come from?