07

« Really. » She said, her face lighting up brighter than the sun itself.

« Really, » he answered her with a smile. And with that he turned and stepped outside with Libby in tow.

« Austin, » Jade finally said in a vain attempt to remain cordial after Oliver and Libby had left. She glanced nervously back at her daughter before forcing herself to look back up at him. He had hardly changed a bit she noticed, still as handsome as ever with a body that any woman would kill to explore. ‘Um……it has definitely been a while, » she agreed took a step back, wanting to put some badly needed distance between the two of them. « And it looks like the years have been good to you. »

« The same could be said for you, » he replied turning to the window and watching where Oliver had taken Libby outside to his Sheriff car.

A pang of jealousy struck him like a lightning bolt. That should have been their child, he thought to himself. If only I had thought with my brain instead of other stubborn body parts, then things could have been so different, he silently mused.

Coming back to the present he cleared his throat and made himself speak past the rock that had seemed to lodge itself in his throat. « You have a beautiful little girl, » he said and hated the way that his voice came out sounding so weak. Clearing his throat again, he asked, « Is your, um your husband here with you ? »

« No, » Jade said quietly turning her gaze to where Oliver and Libby played. She left it at that, it wasn’t any of his business whether or not there was a husband in her life. Feeling extremely awkward with the conversation, she sighed, « Austin-« .

And he spoke up at the same time, cutting her off. « I heard about your dad Jade and I just wanted to tell you that I’m sorry about that. He was a great guy and a wonderful preacher. Everyone loved him and he will sorely be missed. » Finding a new found interest in his shoes, he asked, « Was he the reason that you came back to Hillsborough ? »

Jade nodded her head and gave him a barely audible, « Yeah. »

For several seconds, the quiet that stretched between them seemed to span miles in distance. Two people, who were once so close, were now so seemingly far away.

« Look, » Austin finally said and it was like his body moved on its own accord.

He stepped forward, reaching out and grabbing for Jade’s hands. She stiffened at his touch but he held them tightly in his. He had no idea what it was that came over him, all he understood was the need to touch her. He wanted to do so much more, he wanted to hold her, he wanted to pull her in his arms and kiss the worry lines from her face, he wanted to make sweet love to her until that were both exhausted but he restrained himself for the moment and settled with just holding her hands.

Breathing out raggedly he started, « I’m sorry about a lot of other things too Jade. I mean, I’m sorry about how things with us ended. I know it was my fault and I take the full blame for everything. It was my stupidity and I just want you to know, well I want you to know that I am really, really …… sorry. »

Catching her totally off guard, images of the last time that she had seen Austin began to assuage her. A finely tuned and very familiar bare male ass was shining brightly back at her with a set of long limber legs wrapped around it that were so obviously not hers. These un-wanted images brought back in full force all of the betrayal and the pain that she had thought was long forgotten. A pain that she had tried so hard to put behind her.

Her temper flared in the aftermath and she quickly reminded herself how sneaky the devil really was when he wore sheep’s clothing.

Even as childish as it all seemed now, she still had the urge to tell him exactly what was on her mind. She was no longer that peevish girl that tried so hard to please everyone. Over the last few years Jade found her backbone and no one walked over her now, especially not the one man who was graced with the body of a Greek God and a face that rivaled the one and only, Adonis. Especially, not someone like Austin Giles.

She jerked her hands away from his hold and exclaimed, « Sorry ?! You--- You think that you are sorry ? » An hilarious laugh bubbled up and spilled from her lips as the absurdity of the situation sank in. She turned away from him and threw her hands up in the air. « This is rich, Austin Giles is actually sorry for something. »

She shook her head back and forth and stared at the wall while Austin stayed rooted in place.

Then like a volcano, Jade exploded. She turned on him and started to punch him. She hit his arms, his chest, anywhere that she could punch. She took out over five years of frustration on him and Austin just stood there, taking it, letting her get it out. He knew that it was just a pinch of what he actually deserved and if it made Jade feel any better he would stand there and be her punching bag for hours.

Several minutes passed before Jade finally stopped. Realizing what she had done and stricken by the scene that she had caused, she stepped back and wished the ground would swallow her whole.

Austin gave one look to their growing audience and that had them all scattering about. Jade had once again turned away from him and he couldn’t help himself, he went to her. He had to try once more. He wrapped his arms around her and she instantly recoiled, jumping away from him like a skittish colt.

She refused to look at him too which hurt him more than all of the punishing blows she had delivered to him just moments earlier.

Speaking low and toneless, she told him, « If you are truly sorry Austin then do me a favor and just stay away from me. Please, just give me my distance so that I can take care of matters and get the hell out of this town. »

Without waiting for his response, she shoved the door open and fast walked over to where her daughter and Oliver were still playing with the Sheriff car.

He watched her bend down and pick up Libby, placing a kiss on her cheek. The longing that he felt had stirred up so many emotions in him that he knew, without a doubt, he would not be able to honor her request.

« I’m sorry Jade but I don’t think that I am going to be able to do that. Not now that I have seen you and felt your touch once again. Somehow, someway I will prove to you that we were meant to be together. I will find a way to win back your trust even if it’s the last damn thing that I do. »

Jade walked into the musty house that she had grown up in with Libby at her side. Nothing had changed, not even the bed sheets in the guest room were any different. They were the same old flowered ones that daddy had bought on sale at the old Roses when she was about ten years old.

Not even a picture was different, everything was the exact same as when she had left so abruptly at the age of eighteen.

“Mommy, it stinks in here,” Libby complained, scrunching up her nose. She was eyeing the house with a childish disdain.

Smoothing the hair down on the top of her daughters head, Jade took in all of the dirty dishes piled up in the sink and then glanced over at the leftover pizza sitting on the kitchen table and sighed.

“I know baby, looks like I have my work cut out for me,” she surmised.

Jade had hoped that she would be able to just clean up the house and then put it on the market, sell it and then get the hell out of dodge but after seeing the condition it was in, she knew that it wouldn’t be that easy.