Faith, Love, and Fried Chicken: Seasons Boxed Set Bundle 1-4 Read online

  It was she and John most of the night on the dance floor. He would ease nearer then disappear into the crowd, only to appear closer than before and grabbing her waist to speak loudly into her ear over the music. Jaycee felt wary and confused … and flattered. He was attractive and seemed sweet enough, although a bit cocky.

  Kitty would flit close as well and then Jaycee would see her across the room or dance floor, talking and laughing with friends. By three o’clock, they were exiting their fourth club and heading for breakfast a few blocks away.

  “Okay,” Jaycee said to Kitty while walking the still-busy sidewalks of New York, buildings still holding them and the heat from the day captive. The city that never sleeps. She continued, “So you’re not a morning person, you just hadn’t gone to bed yet.”

  “Pretty much,” Kitty said laughing. “You never asked.”

  “Um, when do you sleep?”

  “Eight to noon.”

  “And work?”

  “Monday through Thursday we keep tame hours. Home to bed by one.”

  Jaycee gulped. That would cut three hours off her nightly sleep.

  John came up between the two of them, putting his arms around their waists. They arrived at the restaurant and he held the door for them. His penetrating gaze caught Jaycee’s and his desire was clear. In her mind, she saw dark green eyes, not blue, and the particular tilt of another head. Dash.

  She let her eyes wander to John’s lips, wondering if it would be different to be kissed by him and not Dash. It felt wrong even to think about, and she ducked her head, avoiding him the rest of breakfast.

  In a city of millions, how could she feel lonely? But the ache was still there. No matter the admiration, the expanse, the “things”, she couldn’t shake it. And sure, the city was fun; more distracting than Twain, but she realized … it didn’t matter where she was, she couldn’t run away from herself.

  She slept fitfully and woke up several hours later to her phone ringing. Only one person called her phone and didn’t text; her father.

  She popped up off the inflatable mattress on Kitty’s floor and answered the phone by the third ring.

  “Hello?”

  “Jaycee, it’s Daddy.”

  “I thought so. Everything okay? Didn’t Momma tell you I called when I arrived yesterday?”

  “She did. We’re glad you got there safely. I-I thought I should call – .”

  Hearing the worry in his voice, she asked, “What’s happened? Is it Marcus or Momma?” A long pause met her question and her heart began to race.

  “No, they’re fine. It’s Dash. There’s … there’s been a fire.”

  Her legs crumpled. She fell right where she stood, next to Kitty’s dresser and onto the carpeted floor. Taking a deep breath, she found her voice and, working over the lump in her throat, she croaked out, “Tell me he’s okay, Daddy.”

  Jaycee saw Kitty raise her head from her pillow. Time stopped and Jaycee prayed silently, willing her father to reassure her.

  “He’s in the ICU, unconscious and on a breathing machine. He’s badly burned, but he’s alive …”

  His voice trailed off, leaving the last words unsaid, For now. Jaycee heard them echo and bounce around her chest, sinking deep into her heart. She bent over, touching her face to the carpet. Kitty came to her side and taking the phone from her hand, spoke quietly to Jaycee’s father.

  She didn’t hear, couldn’t hear. Life had stilled. Fragile.

  Dash. Dash may not survive. And in that moment, she didn’t know if she could survive without him.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Kitty held her hand on and off, pulling Jaycee back to the present time and again on the train heading home. She had a strange feeling of being between two worlds; reality and her thoughts. Having completely fallen apart in Kitty’s arms after she hung up the phone, she had become calm and resolute … determined to get home as quickly as possible.

  The people, noise, and buildings that afternoon on the way to the train station were all obstacles between her and Dash.

  What did I tell him? That she’d come if he needed her. He needed her. She needed him. He couldn’t go and die, not now … not yet. Jaycee prayed more than any time in her childish, selfish, narrow existence of a life, not for her wants but for Dash’s needs. To breath, to live, to grow. To have a wife and family someday. She shook the thoughts from her head and got serious … with God.

  Oh God in heaven, please preserve his life … and mine. I’m so sorry, God. Such a shallow life and heart. Just yearnin’ to be filled but ignoring the one who could fill me. I knew, Oh you know I knew, Lord. Been to church since I was a babe. I wasn’t ready, too busy chasin’ the shiny that I ignored and forgot You along the way. Forgive me, Jesus. I want to come back. Heal my heart. Heal Dash. Help him come back to me.

  Dash’s aunt Katie was in the ICU waiting room. She explained to Jaycee and Kitty how the nurse had come in to tend to Dash’s burns a while ago, commenting that in a way his unconscious state was a blessing so he couldn’t feel the pain the procedure would cause.

  “Your parents have been here,” Katie held back tears, “For just hours with me. I’m so grateful. Dash and I, it’s just us left of the family … your momma is as close as I have besides him.”

  Jaycee’s heart broke thinking of the death of Dash’s parents a few years ago. She sat next to Katie, holding her hand tightly.

  “They won’t let us in? Family only?” she questioned.

  “You’re his family as much as me; the amount of talk that boy has spent on Julia Cozetta Hamilton.”

  Jaycee gave a quiet, short laugh, which bounced off the sterile waiting room walls. “We’ve only been out a few times,” she said aloud, remembering it really only being one time, except for their push-and-pull friendship over the years.

  “My … he’s talked incessantly about your over the years. Your braces coming off, and how you had to bring Jello to school to eat for a week. And that time you got stuck in the rain when your bike chain fell off and he gave you his jacket and wheeled it home for you.” She looked at Jaycee. “I hope I’m not spilling the beans, but it’s been a lifetime of Jaycee stories. I’ve come to know his love for you.”

  Jaycee wondered if he had told her the selfish parts. When she had yelled at him for that broken chain and him not being able to fix it or for the car overheating … and numerous other things over the years.

  “I-I need him to be okay. There’s so much I need to make up for, to apologize for.”

  “My dear, you have filled Dash’s head with stars and wonder and as he got older, dreams of something that could be. I can’t rightly say as he would know what you’re apologizing for.”

  Jaycee and Katie took turns at Dash’s bedside all week, occasionally taking a break to wash up, stretch, or change into clothes that Jaycee’s mother brought.

  The perpetual inflating and deflating of air in the bed to insure no bedsores lulled Jaycee with its constancy. She pulled her chair closer to him and reached for his hand, comforting in its warmth. She rubbed it gently and tucked her hand into his.

  “Well, aren’t you a sight. And here I thought we’d be goin’ to the alumni football game together.” She leaned closer to whisper near his ear, “I miss you.” Tears stung her eyes. She looked at his expressionless face, grateful as she was that his color had improved over the course of the week.

  He had been taken off the assisted ventilation the day before and was breathing evenly on his own with an oxygen mask. Part of his right arm and leg had been badly burned. The surgeons had harvested skin from his other leg and grafted this onto the burned areas. It would be a painful recovery, but he seemed to be improving slowly.

  He groaned as if he heard her, but remained expressionless. Poor man is in some kind of pain.

  “I’m here. You rest now. I’m not goin’ anywhere.” She stole a glance behind her at the drawn curtain and leaned over him, giving his cheek a quick kiss.

  His eyes opened then, with
her face so close to his. He looked aware and a twinkle caught his eye at seeing her so near. She reached a hand up and stroked his cheek, the other still in his now strong clasp on the bed.

  “You’ll have to catch me for the next one, Dash Matheson. I’m countin’ on a good chase, you hear?”

  FALL

  CHAPTER ONE

  “One more play!” The tall quarterback yelled from the center of the field. The clock was winding down on the last quarter and the Twain High School alumni team was ahead by seven points over the Cooper High team.

  Jaycee leaned over Dash in the stands, looking into his face. He’d insisted they come. It was the first game since they’d graduated that he had missed playing in. He seemed to be taking it okay.

  She rubbed her hands together and sat back on the bleachers. The metal seat was hard and getting colder as night fell. Her back ached. She stretched, loudly yawning as she did. Dash glanced her way and gave her a sheepish grin. “Tired?”

  “I’ll survive. You?”

  “I’ve almost forgotten the pain.” He added quietly, “It’s been great. Thanks for humoring me.”

  “I’m just glad we came together. And seein’ you workin’ those crutches certainly gave my heart pause.” She winked at him and he grabbed her hand to warm between his and pulled her towards him.

  “Come sit with me.”

  “I am sittin’ with you.”

  “You know what I mean, closer.”

  Jaycee plastered her thigh next to his, feeling his heat through the fabric of his pants. “I guess I shoulda’ worn pants.”

  “Um, ya think?” He laughed now, glancing down at her jeans skirt and fashionable Ugg boots. A cheer came up from the crowd, pulling his attention back to the field. He put an arm across Jaycee’s shoulders and hugged her to him.

  “I am not goin’, Jaycee,” Dash said more sternly now.

  Jaycee worried her lip between her teeth as she swiftly set the table, hearing the oven timer ring behind her in the tiny kitchen.

  “But I need a wing man,” she argued. She heard him sigh heavily before she turned back to the kitchen to retrieve dinner.

  “Mmm, eggplant parm. Smells delicious,” he called to her.

  Upon reentering the room, she placed the hot casserole dish on the trivet and saw him quickly move his hand from his thigh and begin to stand.

  “Sit.” She spoke quietly moving across the small room to his side. “Is it aching tonight?”

  He nodded, the pain evident in his eyes. Her phone beeped, indicating a text message. She slid it from her pocket and hit silence, then put it on the coffee table upside down.

  “Here,” she instructed, “put yer leg across my lap.” Jacyee sat and wiggled herself into a comfortable position.

  “But the dinner.”

  “It needs to rest at least ten minutes.”

  He gave a wince, then relaxed while she gently worked the knotted flesh, careful not to touch the healing, tender skin.

  “What would you do without me,” she joked, smiling into his eyes across the couch.

  “Um, not go to the Black Friday sales over in Lincoln next week.”

  “Ha-ha. Best sales of the year and you’re gonna deny me?”

  “You do what you will, darlin’. I’ve got no claim to deny you, but don’t badger me to be part of your madness.”

  She stopped rubbing his leg for a moment and grabbed his hand. He laced his fingers through hers and puckered his lips. Jaycee leaned over, giving him a lingering kiss. Casper, Dash’s cat, chose that moment to jump up on the back of the couch, nuzzling her head between the two of them. They both laughed.

  “Not mad at me?”

  “No,” she sighed dramatically. “I was just hopin’ you’d come charm the older women with those gallant manners so I could get some things first. Earliest sale starts at four am.”

  His gaze flew heavenward.

  “And rollin’ those pretty eyes won’t get you free either. You may as well succumb to my charms.”

  “I already have,” he laughed, “years ago.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her suggestively.

  “And no actin’ that way around Momma and Daddy on Thanksgiving. They already have ideas about what I do hanging over here with you in this apartment.”

  His gaze grew serious, “They don’t trust us?”

  “Trust is one thing. Momma says hormones are another.”

  “Speaking of hormones, how has your new boss been behaving?” Dash’s voice hardened.

  She felt his thigh tense up again and she traced small circles on his leg with her free hand. Truth was, she didn’t know how to deal with the issue.

  “It’s fine, Dash. I shouldn’t have mentioned it. I need the job.”

  She’d been praying on how to handle Mr. Carlisle’s over-friendly overtures. Maybe it’s my imagination. But she felt uncomfortable around him.

  “I don’t trust him, Jaycee. He acted strange when I drove into Lincoln and took you to lunch last week.”

  “He’s ancient, Daddy’s age. They knew each other in high school.” What could happen?

  Dash cast his line into the water, listening for the satisfying plop of the lure in the distance. He glanced sideways at Jaycee as she wrangled the crawler between two fingers and laced it on the hook. She didn’t wince or anything and for that, he was mighty impressed.

  She caught his gaze on her and smiled lazily, “Told ya’ I had fished before.”

  “True, just wasn’t aware you could bait your own hook.”

  She cocked an eyebrow in his direction and turned her attention back to her reel, tightening the line before casting. “My Daddy didn’t raise no squealers.”

  Dash laughed and watched as she made a perfect cast by a spit of land that jutted into the river. She leaned back against a nearby river birch. He drew closer and adjusted the rod in his hand. He put his arm briefly across her shoulder and squeezed her firmly to him. “Now I can be sure I won’t get hooked.”

  “Is that why you were standin’ clear over t’other bank?”

  “You know it.”

  Her giggle filled the cool fall air, catching on the turning yellow leaves of the tree above them. She breathed in deeply and moved closer to Dash, kissing his cheek gently. “I’m so glad you invited me.”

  “Just wait,” he said mischievously. “Hold my rod for a sec?”

  She nodded to his question and he walked back to the truck, leaning on his cane, returning a few minutes later with a blanket and a cloth grocery bag. He spread the blanket quickly on the ground, casting a quick glance to the rods in Jaycee’s hands for signs of movement. She arched her eyebrows and gave him a grin, “It’s under control. What did ya’ bring me to eat?”

  Dash pulled a thermos and two travel mugs from the bag, along with chocolate éclairs in a clear plastic bakery box.

  “Mmmm, you spoil me.”

  “Just enough.”

  They settled onto the blanket. Dash took his rod back and sat for a few minutes listening to the quiet of the day. The river gently lapped at the muddy bank and the loud call of a nearby northern bobwhite quail echoed over the other birds in the area.

  He glanced at Jaycee in her yellow sweater set, jeans, and brown cowboy boots. “You warm enough,” he worried, the sky being overcast and gloomy. Rain was expected, but he was hoping it would hold off until later in the day.

  “Yes, thanks.” She nodded and reached a hand for the thermos. “You want some?”

  “You like hot spiced cider?”

  “Oooo, yes.” She poured them each some in the mugs and secured the lids, her fishing pole balanced in between her upright knees.

  “Momma always made Daddy and I hot cider for our fishing trip the weekend before Thanksgiving.” Dash swallowed over the sudden catch in his throat. He’d been coming here alone for the few years since his their deaths. Couldn’t ruin tradition. But now, now he had someone to share it with again.

  And what a woman. He still couldn’t believe they were
dating…a couple! His mind raced back to second grade on the playground at school. They had been playing Red Rover; the memory vivid because it was marred with the image of Jaycee with blood streaming down her chin. She had gotten her two front teeth knocked. Boy, she had given Stu Parkinson what for after he had run headlong into her and not into the clasped hands of the human chain as the game was supposed to be played. She had picked up her two front teeth from the pavement at her feet and stomped off to the nurse’s office. The boys were full of admiration and the girls present looked decidedly green.

  She was determined then and to this day, that determination had driven Jaycee to be the best she could at whatever she put her mind to. He looked at her beautiful smile now. She was looking at him with a lightness in her eyes. Jutting her chin out, she looked at the éclairs. “You goin’ to feed me one?”

  “You trust me?”

  “Yes.” She looked at him then, askance, realizing his intent. “You best not squish that in my face, Dash.”

  “I’m reservin’ that pleasure.”

  He could see her rolling that over in her mind. If she was standing, he swore she would have stomped that little boot clad foot of hers.

  “No future talk. I’m still befuddled about what I want to be when I grow up,” she said wryly.

  “Well, one thing is fer sure. You need to quit workin’ for Bruce Carlisle.” He let it slip. He didn’t mean to. He didn’t want to ruin the day. This being a continual argument these past few weeks.

  “It’s good experience. I can handle him.”

  “But you shouldn’t have to handle him. That’s my point.”

  She was quiet then and he regretted bringing it up. He grabbed a disinfectant wipe from the bag and wiped his hands, offering her one which she accepted gratefully. He tried to lighten the mood again by reaching into the plastic box and lifting out the éclair. He wiggled it as he drew it closer to her mouth. She took a bite and chewed with relish.