“You’re family, Jenna. Liam and Harrison won’t let anything happen to you.”
I nod. It doesn’t escape me that he said Liam and Harrison. What about him? He’s probably not counting himself because he won’t be here next week. Mister “blow into town, break some hearts and leave again”, just when we’re used to him coming around. I get up and walk back into the house, leaving him on the porch. He confuses me. If he’s supposed to be my pretend boyfriend don’t you think he’d walk me in and act like it in front of my suitor? Not Jimmy. I have the most obtuse pretend boyfriend in the history of pretend boyfriends.
“Jenna,” Paul says when I enter the room. I want to turn back around and head outside and sit in silence with Jimmy, but I step forward with a fake smile on my face. I sit down next to Liam and Harrison even though there’s a seat next to Paul. He looks at the empty seat and shrugs. “Had a scare tonight, I hear?”
“Yeah,” I say, because what else can I say? No, I wasn’t scared that my psycho ex who beat the ever-loving shit out of me showed up in the town where I’ve been hiding for the past four years?
“What’s his name?”
I look down at my slightly protruding belly. I know no one suspects anything, you can’t tell unless I lift my shirt up and I won’t be doing that until I can figure out a way to tell Josie.
“Jenna?”
“Um… sorry. His name is Damien Mahoney.”
Paul writes down his name on his notepad. “I have to ask this, but is Jenna Palmer your real name?”
I shake my head slowly. I feel all eyes on me, but I can’t look at them. “Jenna’s my first name, but Palmer is something my dad came up with. He had some documents made up with the name before I left town.”
“How do you think he found you?”
“I don’t know. I call my parents once a week from a disposal cell phone.”
“You’ve taken a lot of steps so he can’t find you.”
I nod. It seems like it as I tell them, but it didn’t work. “I guess not enough since he found me. I should’ve left Beaumont a year after I got here. That was the plan. That I’d move around to keep the trail cold, but I met Josie and… well it’ll be almost five years here and I couldn’t bear to leave. But I’ll be gone soon.”
“What do you mean?”
I look up to see Josie and Katelyn standing in the entryway. I bite my lip to keep myself from crying. “I need to move on.”
“No you don’t, you can stay here. We’ll protect you from this sicko,” Josie says.
I shake my head. “I can’t put you and the kids in harm’s way. I don’t know what he’ll do and I couldn’t live with myself if he hurt one of you or the kids. It’d kill me.”
“Leaving might be a bit drastic. Let me look for him and see what I can do to diffuse the situation,” Paul offers. “I think you’ll have enough protection here. Liam has his normal crew and he’s already spoken to them about adding staff around everyone. If we can keep the paparazzi out of Beaumont, surely we’ll get an abusive ex-husband out.”
“Okay,” I say, but have no intention of staying. It will also be best for the father of my baby if I just leave. My luck, my baby would look just like him and everyone in town would know. I know how Josie felt, especially when Liam came back. Everyone suspected that he was Noah’s father, but she never let on. But when Liam showed up in town, everyone’s suspicions were confirmed. They’re getting their happy ending though. I won’t be so lucky.
“For now, I hear you’ll be staying here.”
“Oh no—“
“Yes she is.” Both Liam and Josie say at the same time. I don’t know who to look at first. I choose Josie. She’s standing next to the table with her hands on her hips. She’s challenging me to defy her. Liam has his arm resting on the back of my chair. He cocks his head to look at me. He’s waiting too. No wonder those two make such a great pair.
“I have an apartment.”
“And he probably knows about it,” Liam says in his fatherly tone.
“My things are there.”
“We’re going over there tonight with Paul to get your things. You can come, but I’d prefer it if you stay behind.”
“Liam, there are things women like to pack themselves.”
“Then you go with us, Josie. I don’t think it’s a good idea for Jenna to be out there tonight. He’s out there waiting for her. He probably knows where she lives and is just waiting for her to come home and that’s not happening on my watch.”
“Or mine,” Harrison adds.