Dog Days of Summer (25 page)

“
There’s a swing out back nestled in the landscaping. Would you like to come and swing with us?” Jackie was smiling at Joci.

Joci turned and saw them standing there and her shoulders slumped. The tears started flowing like crazy. Jackie walked forward and hugged her little sister
. Then she whispered softly in Joci’s ear. “It’s okay, baby. It’ll all be fine. Come and sit with us, please.”

Joci nodded and they all walked toward the swing at the back of the hotel. Jackie looked back at David
, who nodded at her and started walking upstairs to their room.

As soon as the girls reached the swing, Joci turned and flopped down on the swing in the middle. Jackie and Sandi each took a seat next to her. They sat for a long time and just slowly rocked back and forth. Jackie gently moved the swing with her foot, setting a slower pace. They sat in silence for a very long time, giving Joci the time she needed to calm down. After long minutes, Joci took a deep breath and scraped her hands through her hair.

“I’m so tired of all of this. I’m tired of LuAnn and her bullshit. I’m tired of Jeremiah letting her pull it. And, I’m tired.” That was the gist of it; Joci was tired.

“
Honey, you’ve handled all this bullshit like a champion. What LuAnn’s been pulling and keeps pulling is absolute bullshit. Jeremiah is going to have to deal with it and her, finally. I think you got your point across by telling him “no fucking way.” You wouldn’t have hit him harder if you would have kicked him in the balls.” Jackie smiled.

Joci giggled a little at the thought.

“You should have seen the look on his face, Joci. It was a look I’ve never seen on anyone before. Like he was pissed and hurt and confused at the same time … It was kind of funny.” Sandi started giggling.

Jackie giggled, and then Joci couldn
’t help herself; she started giggling too.

Joci laid her head back against the swing and closed her eyes. She really was tired. They sat quietly for a long time.

As soon as Jeremiah pulled into the parking lot, he dropped the kickstand down. Frog immediately hopped off his bike and reached over to grab LuAnn. She pushed him away but he pulled again. She wrapped her arms around Jeremiah tighter.

“
Get your fucking hands off me this minute.” His jaw was so tight he had a hard time getting the words out.

“
But, Dog. I love you,” LuAnn whined.

Jeremiah pried her hands away from his waist and jumped off his bike. He looked at Frog, and Frog nodded. Jeremiah turned and saw Joci walking to the back of the hotel with Jackie and Sandi.

Jeremiah started walking toward Joci and her girls. Gunnar took a breath, “Dad, let them talk a little while. It’ll help her.”

Jeremiah stopped and looked at him. His eyes welled with unshed tears. He took the few steps forward and hugged Gunnar tight. They held each other for a long time. Jeremiah swallowed around the lump in his throat several times.

“That is the best thing you could ever call me, son.”

Gunnar squeezed tighter. Suddenly, there were hands on Gunnar
’s shoulders. JT and Ryder were both there, with a hand on Gunnar, showing support. When Gunnar pulled away from Jeremiah, Jeremiah reached forward and opened his arms for all the boys.

“
Thanks, I needed this right now. I’m scared shitless, if you know what I mean. Joci’s a little thing, but she scares the shit out of me.”

The boys all started laughing, and so did Jeremiah. He wasn
’t kidding; he was scared shitless. He had no idea what he would say or how he would make this better, but he was going to try.

“
Um, Dog. You wanted to see me?” Chase’s voice was soft.

Jeremiah turned around and looked at him.
“From this point forward, if you bring her, you take care of her. I’m not going to ever, ever do that again, you got it?”

Chase started saying something, but Jeremiah put his hand up to stop him.

“Tomorrow morning, you and LuAnn are leaving. I don’t want to see you for the rest of the weekend. Next week at work, I don’t want to see you. If you see me, you better turn and walk the other way. If you ever pull a bullshit stunt like this again, you will be out on your ass, got it?”

Chase nodded but didn
’t say anything.
Smart boy.
When it looked like Jeremiah was done talking to him, Chase backed up a few steps, then turned and walked back to the hotel.

Now, Jeremiah needed to talk to Joci. He looked at the boys and turned to walk to the back of the hotel. When he got back there, the swing was empty, but still moving slightly, so they must have just left.

Jeremiah turned and walked back to the hotel. He took the stairs, needing the time to clear his head a little. He unlocked the door to their room and heard the shower. Joci was here, thank God. He tried the bathroom door, but it was locked. She never locked the door, so he was still in trouble. Shit. He kicked his boots off and pulled a beer from the refrigerator. He sat in the armchair by the window and waited for Joci to finish her shower.

He had swallowed his whole beer before the bathroom door opened. Joci stepped out of the bathroom in yoga pants and a t-shirt. When she rounded the corner from the bathroom, she stopped in her tracks and stared at him. She took a deep breath and continued walking to the dresser, where she set her toiletry bag down.

Jeremiah watched her. He was trying to gauge her mood.

“
Can we talk?” he whispered.

Joci shook her head no. She didn
’t look at him. She turned and walked over to the bed and climbed in. She pulled the covers up to her chin and closed her eyes. She felt the bed dip and took a deep breath. So he wasn’t going to let it drop.

“
Honey. I don’t want to go to bed mad at each other. Please, let’s talk.”

Joci opened her eyes and looked at him. He looked sad and worn and drawn. There were lines around his mouth and his eyes. She waited.

“I’m sorry. You were right about you always having to suck it up and do the right thing. I hadn’t thought about it before, but you’re right. I’ve asked an awful lot of you these past few months. I can see how tired you’ve been lately and I realize how all of this is affecting you. The fact that I own Rolling Thunder Motorcycles makes me responsible for my employees. Even though this isn’t an employee event, I still always feel responsible.” Jeremiah took a breath while raking his hands through his hair. “But, that being said, I could have done things differently. I should have had Frog or someone take my bike with LuAnn and I could have taken his. I was pissed and not thinking clearly. I’m sorry.”

Joci didn
’t say anything. Jeremiah waited for a little while and then lay down next to Joci and wrapped his arms around her. “I’m not leaving you and I’m not letting you leave me. You may as well talk to me.”

Joci took a deep breath.
“I just can’t do it anymore, Jeremiah. I just can’t. I thought I could, knowing why she’s around. But…”

Jeremiah slid an arm behind Joci
’s head and pulled her tightly to his body. He kissed her temple and the top of her head.

“
You won’t have to, baby. I told Chase to leave with LuAnn in the morning. The new rule at the shop is “If you bring her, you take care of her.”

Joci snorted and tried to pull away. Jeremiah held on to her. His brows furrowed.
“Hey, what?”

“
You’re such a fucking man. Big, fucking deal your big ‘If you bring her, you take care of her’ bullshit. She’s still going to be working there, with you, every day. She’ll just be trying to hatch out another plan of attack. She spent the whole fucking afternoon whining about how much she loves you and doesn’t want us to get married. How fucking dense are you?”

Joci pulled away and slipped out of bed. She walked over to the window and looked outside at nothing in particular. Jeremiah rubbed his forehead and stared at the ceiling. After a few moments, Joci walked over and climbed back in bed. She turned her back to Jeremiah and closed her eyes. 

Jeremiah rubbed his eyes and got up to get undressed. He jumped in the shower to wash this day away. He quietly padded back to bed and slipped in without waking Joci. He wasn’t going to get a lot of sleep tonight. Fucking LuAnn.

* * * * *

The next morning, Joci woke up hot and sweaty. She couldn’t breathe. She opened her eyes and looked around. She was in the hotel. She looked over, and Jeremiah was practically lying on top of her. His head was on her chest. His arm wrapped around her, and he was lying on one of her legs. She tried to take a deep breath and was able to get half a breath in. She closed her eyes and attempted to clear her head. She hadn’t wanted to go to bed mad last night. She was just so damn sick of this shit. This morning, her eyes felt all puffy and swollen from crying in the shower and lack of sleep. Great.

She tried to get out of bed; she had to pee. Jeremiah
’s arm wrapped around her tighter. Joci pulled an arm from under the covers and pushed gently on his shoulder.

“
Jeremiah, please get off me. I’ve got to go pee.”

Jeremiah squeezed her tighter and mumbled. Joci pushed at him again and he opened his eyes.

“I have to pee,” Joci said.

“
Sorry, babe,” Jeremiah rolled over on to his back.

He stared at the ceiling while Joci rolled out of bed and went to the bathroom. A short while later, Joci walked out of the bathroom and started pulling clothes out of her bag to wear for the day.

“We need to talk, Joci.”

Joci
’s shoulders sagged. She knew he was right. She slowly turned to look at him.

“
Okay,” she whispered.

Jeremiah pushed himself up against the headboard and patted the mattress.
“Come sit here with me.”

Joci walked over and perched herself on the edge of the mattress, her back rigid. Jeremiah leaned forward and wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back against him.

“I’m sorry. About everything. If I could change it, I would. I can’t. It won’t happen again. What more can I say to you?”

Joci closed her eyes. She didn
’t know what he could say to her. “Okay. Is that it?”

Jeremiah let out a snort.
“Okay, is that it? You don’t have anything else.”

“
I simply don’t know what to say, Jeremiah. I feel like we’ve been down this road, but nothing seems to change. I’ve just had enough of it. LuAnn pulls crap. You apologize and tell me it won’t happen again. It happens again, you apologize and tell me it won’t happen again and on and on. What do you want me to say?”

Jeremiah took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Dammit, she was right again. He squeezed her and placed his head on hers. Tears formed in his eyes, and he swallowed a few times to get himself under control. He had always been able to pull her out of it.

They sat quietly. Not knowing what else to say, he took a deep breath and said, “Gunnar called me Dad last night.”

Joci closed her eyes and let a tear fall. Gunnar. It wasn
’t just about her and Jeremiah, Gunnar was involved also. Ryder and JT, too. Shit.

Joci wiped her eyes and started to pull away. Jeremiah didn
’t want to let her go, but he did. She pushed her hands through her hair and held them there.

“
I just can’t do this anymore. I’ve reached my limit. I don’t want a life of constantly having to deal with a woman who thinks she’s in love with my husband. Especially when my husband won’t do anything to change the situation. It’s really that simple.”

“
Joci. Please give me another chance. I mean it. LuAnn will be made to learn that she can never bother us again.”

“
Jeremiah. Why? Why do you keep putting me through this?”

Joci got up and started getting dressed. She put on a little make-up and threw a bandana on her head to protect her forehead.

Jeremiah lifted himself out of bed and started getting dressed as well. As soon as they were ready to go down for breakfast, Jeremiah walked up to Joci and hugged her.

“
I love you, Joci. I love you crazy. This hurts so badly right now. This distance. I hate it.”

“
I don’t know what else to do, Jeremiah. I keep getting hurt. I don’t want to hurt anymore.”

Jeremiah tightened his arms around her and stood with her in his arms, swaying back and forth. He swallowed the lump in his throat and took a deep breath.

“I won’t hurt you anymore. I’m so fucking sorry I ever did. You’re the last person I want to hurt, ever.”

Joci stepped back and looked at Jeremiah for a moment and with a heavy sigh she said,
“I know you don’t mean to. But you do.”

She turned and walked out the door. Jeremiah followed her down the hall to the elevator. They rode in silence to the lobby and walked to the room where the continental breakfast was served without saying a word to one another. The others were all sitting around tables pushed together, talking while waiting for Jeremiah and Joci. The only people missing were Chase and LuAnn.

The boys all looked at Jeremiah. He shook his head slightly, to let them know things were still not quite right.

Joci walked over to the table.
“Have you eaten yet?”

“
No, we were waiting for you two,” Sandi said.

“
Okay, well, let’s eat, shall we?” Joci walked over to the buffet table and started filling her plate. She wasn’t hungry at all, but she was going to do her best not to ruin anyone else’s  weekend.

While they ate, conversation went on around them. Joci nodded once in a while and pushed her food around her plate. They talked about where they wanted to go today and plans were made to head downtown to party on the streets. 

Once downtown, they found spots to park along the street and found a nice little bar where a local band was playing. They decided to pull up some tables to listen to the music for a while. Joci found a seat and plopped down. Jackie and Sandi sat on either side of her, and they sat quietly for a long time, listening to the music.

“
Joci. Honey, are you okay? You look so sad and lost. You’re breaking my heart,” Sandi said, rubbing Joci’s shoulder.

“
I don’t know, Sandi. I just can’t snap out of this funk. I feel broken or something. It’s like it was the last straw for me. I’m so sick of dealing with LuAnn and her bullshit. It drives me crazy that Jeremiah hangs on to her for some ridiculous, perceived obligation. He would never tolerate the same situation in the reverse.”

Jackie put her arm around Joci and sat there for a while. Staci, Erin, and Angie came over and joined their table. The girls
hung out and talked most of the afternoon. The conversation was neutral and lively.

Jeremiah watched Joci all day. He was so damn worried. What if she was done? How would he get her back? Jackie went to the bathroom at one point, and Jeremiah followed her into the bar.
“How’s Joci  doing?”