Jax made me promise not to come to work the next morning after we sat up talking until three. The sun was getting brighter, and my white mini blinds didn’t do much to block out the light. I stretched and got up. I peeked inside Jessica’s room, and she was already awake. When I walked into the kitchen, Jessica stood fixing a bowl of cereal. She frowned at me.
“You better not lose that job due to oversleeping. What time did you get in anyway?”
It was time I told her about Jax. He wanted me to go to the fundraiser with him the following week, and I needed to tell Jessica. Not sure where to start, I sat down at the table.
“We need to talk about something.”
She sat her bowl down on the table. “Girl, if you tell me you’re pregnant, I think I might go mad.”
I laughed. “That’s not going to happen. And, no, that's not what this is about.”
Jessica tilted her head to the side. “Is this going to answer my question about what time you got in last night?”
I nodded.
She motioned her spoon at me to proceed, and then she took a big bite of her flakes.
I took a deep breath. “I’m not real sure where to start.”
Jessica paused with her spoon in mid air. “You mean this is going to be that good?”
I rolled my eyes. Sometimes I wished she could be a normal mother, but then I was not normal, so why should I expect her to be. “Okay, when you worked for the Stone’s did you know who you were working for?”
She nodded. “Sure, the teen rocker Jax Stone. I couldn’t miss his pictures on the walls.”
I sighed, relieved she at least knew that much. “Well, I’m dating him.” I stopped and waited.
She swallowed her mouthful, and then her jaw dropped. “No way.”
I’d hoped for a more in depth reply from her. But then, depth wasn’t really Jessica’s thing.
“We’ve been seeing each other for a few weeks now, and, well, he has to go back to Hollywood for a fundraiser next week, and he wants me to go with him as his date.”
This got Jessica’s attention. “He wants you to go to Hollywood?”
I nodded, and she chewed on her flakes a few minutes. “I don’t think it’s a good idea,” she finally said.
I hadn’t expected her to care if I went or not. “Can I ask why?”
She sat back in her seat and sighed. “Sadie, until this Jax Stone, you have never dated anyone. You’re beautiful, but you’re young and naive. His world isn’t something you’re ready for. Sure, dating him here is one thing, but walking into his world is another. I know I’m not the best mother in the world, but I love you, and I'm going to say no to protect you. You’re not ready for this, and the heartache this is going to cause will be like nothing you have ever experienced. A relationship with him for any reasonable amount of time is impossible. You’re just going to fall in love with him, and he is going to leave. He has to. He can’t be Jax Stone in Sea Breeze, Alabama.”
I wanted to argue, but I knew she was right. “I already love him,” I whispered.
She stood, walked over to me, put her hands on my shoulders, and squeezed. “Ah, baby, you’re about to find out how bad love really does hurt.” She kissed my head and left out the back door.
I couldn’t go, and it disappointed me, but somehow I knew it would be for the best. I wouldn’t fit into his world in Hollywood. I couldn’t even handle something as simple as high school.
Jax didn’t take my mother’s decision well, but he accepted it. Saying goodbye even for a little while made my chest hurt. I dreaded it all day. If this was what it felt like to watch him leave for a short time, how much worse would September be? I heard him walk up behind me before he said anything. I stood up from my work with the roses and turned to him. He looked like someone out of a magazine, and I fought the urge to reach out and grab him and hold onto the Jax I loved, not this stranger standing before me.
He reached out, took my hand, and slipped my garden glove off. “I already miss you,” he said as he began kissing my fingers. “This is going to be two very long days.”
I forced myself to smile. “It will be over before we know it.”
He frowned and pulled me closer. “God help me if they ask me to sing a love song. I don’t know if I’ll be able to get through the lyrics.”
I smiled and reached up to run my fingers through his thick, dark hair. “You’ll have them all eating out of the palm of your hand. All you have to do is smile.”
He grinned. “I think you’re a little biased.”