The Temporary Roomie by Sarah Adams

I blink at the empty hallway Jessie just raced down then turn my eyes to Henry. He looks just as stunned as me. “I’m guessing it wasn’t a bug?”

Henry shakes his head. “I have no idea. We were having a little heart-to-heart and then the next thing I know, she’s crying and running off. Oh, Drew, I’m so sorry. I don’t know…”

I hold up my hand and shake my head. “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure it wasn’t you, but I better go check on her.”

“Yes, please do. And let me know if she needs anything.”

I smile and nod before heading down the hallway. Even before I reach out and touch the doorknob, I can feel Jessie’s mood. It’s intense and blazing through the door. I gingerly crack the door open, and it abruptly slams back in my face. Whoa. This is serious.

“Don’t come in here—I’m mad at you!”

Mad at me? I was gone for two minutes. What could have possibly happened in that time?

I look down the hallway and find Richard and Henry peeking around the corner. I smile and give them a thumbs-up, even though I’m sure Jessie and I look insane. I turn the handle again and feel the resistance of her pushing against the door (thankfully, it doesn’t have a lock), and with a happy-go-lucky-everything-is-fine smile on my face for the Greens, I shove my way through. Jessie finally relents and moves away from the door to go pace by the window.

“I said I didn’t want you to come in.” Her voice sounds wobbly, and I’m almost 100% sure this is why she doesn’t want me in here. Jessie is not one to cry in front of anyone.

“Why are you mad at me?” I ask in a tender voice that only seems to ignite her fury deeper.

Jessie whips around, and I see tear stains on her cheeks. She takes a soft pillow off the bed and chucks it at my head, making a face like she’s pitching in the World Series. I look down at the pillow by my feet.

“What was that for?”

She does it again with another pillow. The determination in her eyes is sharp and focused. Her blonde ponytail swings like a sassy pendulum as she finds anything soft within her reach and chucks it at me. “For being you!”

Okay I’m lost. I can’t even begin to know what’s happening right now. “Will you stop throwing things at—” WHAM. A circular throw pillow hits my face. “Okay, enough.” I lean down and pick up a pillow, chucking it at her this time.

She gasps and her jaw drops. “You just hit a pregnant woman!”

“Yeah, and I’ll do it again.” I toss one of the big pillows she threw at me right into her face. It springs off dramatically, and her eyes slant dangerously.

She picks it up and throws it at me harder. I throw another one even harder. Before I know it, she’s lunging at me with a king-sized pillow, I’m coming at her with a softer version, and we collide somewhere in the middle, pillows whamming into each other at epic speeds. (Don’t worry, I keep my projectiles aimed at her head and butt. Baby is safe).

“Jessie. Tell me why you’re mad at me,” I say while taking a blow to my back.

“I’m always mad at you!!” she says, with a hit so powerful the pillow splits open and feathers go flying.

“Why?!” Our voices are raised, and I’m sure Henry and Richard can hear all of this.

“Because, Drew! I didn’t want to get swept up again! I wanted to find someone tolerable. A partner. Someone to eat the other half of my dinner so I don’t have too much left over the next day. And then YOU showed up and ruined everything!” She’s still hitting me with a pillow, but she’s also crying. Feathers are sticking to her eyelashes.

I stop fighting and my hands fall down to my sides. “Are you swept up in me?”

She half laughs, half cries. She looks like she’s in physical pain. “Of course I am! You’re an expert-level sweeper! Look at you…and your dimples”—she pokes one—“and your biceps”—she pokes those too—“and your abs”—poke. “But dammit if it’s not what’s underneath all that that really kills me. Your heart is like gold, Drew—pure gold. And you’re funny, and thoughtful, and I want to talk to you all the time, and you terrify me!”

I raise and lower my hands with a sad smile. “You terrify me too, Jessie.” I step toward her, and she steps away, not ready to play nice yet.

“No, it’s different. Because I’m the one having a child, and at the end of the day, you’re a man who can walk away from all of it if you don’t want to deal with it. Believe me, I know, because someone already has walked away from me. Twice.” She hits me with another pillow like I’m the one who left her. “And what if I let you in, what if I take a chance and we do this, and then you get tired of me and the baby and leave too?”

Feathers hover in the air all around along with her words. I yank the pillow from her hand and toss it onto the bed. “But what if I don’t?”

I step forward now, determined.

She blinks and eyes the space disappearing between us like it’s lava climbing up to swallow her whole. “I’m not sure that’s an option. No, don’t come any closer!” She holds out her hand toward my chest, and I press into it easily until her back finds the bathroom door and she has nowhere else to go. She’s trapped, and finally, I’m going to make sure she hears me.

“Listen to me, Jessica Barnes. I’m crazy about you. I still don’t know what happened with your ex, but I know you can’t hide yourself away forever.” I move my hands up to cup both of her jaws. “You don’t just want a plain dinner partner, Jessie. You want fire and passion. You want pillow fights and prank wars. You want to be challenged, and fought with, and deeply wanted.”I pause, making sure there’s no room for miscommunication when I say, “And believe me, Jessie, I want you deeply.”

She shuts her eyes tight. Her breath trembles when she releases it and opens her eyes again. Tenderness tears through my heart. “I want you too. Please be good to me.”

I bend down and softly kiss her mouth. “I will.”

* * *

Jessie and I got on the road after spending thirty minutes cleaning up feathers. They were everywhere, and one look at Henry and Richard as they eyed our mess told me they suspect we are into some kinky stuff. Actually, I would have been very happy to lay Jessie down on that bed of feathers and consummate our new relationship, but it wasn’t the right time. Not only were Henry and Richard hovering outside our room, but…well, to be honest, I don’t know when the right time will be.

There’s really no sense in worrying about it, though. It’ll happen when it happens, and I’m in no rush. Nothing about our relationship is normal or follows a usual plan, so we’re going to have to wing it as best we can. I’m feeling more comfortable with that prospect than I used to.

Once we got in the car and were down the road a few miles, Jessie uncapped a Sharpie and gave me a questioning look. I smiled and nodded, and then she wrote Jessie + Drew on the glove box with a heart around it. She then reached over and laced her fingers with mine. Her smile was tentative, and I knew everything she’d just done was a massive display of her vulnerability. I raised her hand to my mouth and kissed it. After that, she opened up to me about everything. I mean everything. She started with her ex, Jonathan, and told me about how they had been dating for three months when she found out she was pregnant. She had been excited, thinking he would be too. He wasn’t. Instead, he was pretty cruel to her, accusing her of lying about being on birth control only to trap him in the relationship. Apparently, he is in a band that’s trying to make it big, and he thought she purposely got pregnant to keep him home and off the road. Jessie cried when she told me this story, and it tore my heart in half.

The jerk packed his bags and left, telling Jessie if she wanted to have her baby that was on her, but she’d do it alone and he wanted nothing to do with either of them. A real winner, that guy. She also told me about her dad and how he left shortly after she was born. She hasn’t heard from him since and wouldn’t even know where to begin to look for him. Other than her grandaddy, Jessie has never had a loving, loyal male in her life. Part of me wants to go find Jonathan and beat him into dust, but the other part of me is thankful he moved out of the way so I could be here with Jessie, so I could take over caring for her like she deserves.

“Lucy,” I say to my sister when she answers her phone. “I don’t have long. Jessie just ran into the gas station to grab a snack, but I need a favor from you.”

“No, I will not change all the locks on your house while you’re gone so you can keep Jessie out.”

I anxiously tap the steering wheel while tracking Jessie moving around inside. “First of all, you’re like eighteen steps behind, but I don’t have time to catch you up right now.”

Lucy laughs. “Let me guess, you realized how incredible my best friend is, and now you’re going to date her.”

“Well…basically, yeah.”

“What I should do is take this opportunity to go berserk on you like you did me and Cooper and warn you to stay away from her forever. But because I’m a remarkable human being, I’ll tell you I’m happy for you, and I think you and Jessie are perfect for each other.”

“Your saint of the year trophy is already in the mail. Now, please grab a pen and paper. I’m going to tell you my credit card number.”

Cooper barks out a laugh because apparently he and Lucy are like an old married couple now and he’s always lurking on the line without you knowing. “You don’t want to do that. She’ll buy enough stuff to furnish your whole freaking house in the time it takes you to cook dinner.”

“YOU TOLD ME TO,” Lucy yells, making me cringe.

“Luce, focus.”

“Yeah, okay, sorry. Got a pen.” I rattle off the number quickly and she repeats it back to me. “So why do I need this?”

“Because I’m pretty sure I’m in love with Jessie.”

The line goes silent for a second and then Lucy replies, “What does this have to do with your credit card?”