Falling for Jack

Chapter 11

Oh God!! How can this man get this easily under my skin??? I mean he barely says anything, he is always angry or upset, how can I like him?

Wait a minute, what?

Do I like him?

Realisation hits me. I do like him.

Crap.

Really Mary? Really?? How can you do this to yourself?!

When I got home I went directly to the refrigerator and took out a tub of ice cream. Afterwards, I sat on the couch, elevated my ankle and drowned my sorrows in ice cream and romcoms.

Next morning I woke up still on the couch, slightly drooling, ice cream stains on my shirt and with the worst back pain I've ever felt. I guess I fell asleep on the couch. I looked for my phone to see what time it was. The screen showed that it was 9 a.m. The party is supposed to start at 10 a.m. I have one hour to get ready and get there.

I showered, brushed my teeth, brushed my hair and got dressed. I looked again at my phone. 9h50 a.m. I'm going to be late… I grabbed my phone, my keys, my purse and my clutches, got out of the house and drove to the address Rhonda had given me.

When I got there the place was packed. It looked like the whole town had come to Rhonda's grandson's birthday party.

I stared at the crowd and after a while I finally managed to spot Rhonda talking to some people near the pool.

I made my way to her but she spotted me before I could reach her. "There you are, girl. I'm so glad you could make it."

"Thank you for inviting me, Rhonda. Here" I hand her the present "This is for your grandson"

"Thank you." She peeks into the bag "I'm sure he is going to love it."

She then introduced me around and after a bit I sat down talking to an older woman who was the owner of the haberdashery. She was a knitter while I'm a crocheter but still we had a lot to talk about. We reviewed a lot of different yarns, needles, knitting and crocheting techniques. I showed her some of my work and she said I should stop by her store on Wednesdays afternoon and join the "Club". The "Club" is a group of people that get together on Wednesdays afternoon in her haberdashery to chat, drink tea, to knit and to crochet. It sounded really fun, so I quickly agreed to go and check it out next Wednesday.

An hour and a half later I excused myself and got up. I desperately needed to go to the bathroom.

After I got out of the bathroom, I made my way to the refreshments table, poured a glass of juice and turned around to look at the kids playing. They all looked so happy!

I then looked at the entrance and noticed that guests kept arriving. What I noticed next made me spit the juice I was sipping. Jack and his father were coming in and there was a woman with them too. I guessed that it was Jack's mother.

I immediately start to panic. I don't want him to see me here. Not after all the foolish things that happened. I need to get out of here, as fast as possible!!

I put my glass down, grab my clutches and as sneakily as I can I make my way out of the party. Luckily there were a lot of people in this party so I was able to use human shields all the way to the exit.

When I was almost out of the party, I went against someone and quickly apologized "I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking…" I trailed off when I saw who it was. Cece excitedly says "Hello Mary, I'm so happy that you're here. There's a few people I want you to meet…"

"I can't today, I'm sorry but I have to go" I cut her off and started making my way to my car.

Cece comes after me "oh but wait, it's still really early and there's going to be a barbecue, you have to stay."

"Look Cece I really can't stay today, but if you like we can meet some other day and you can introduce me to the people you want to introduce me to".

"OK then I will call later to set a date" She accepted.

"Could you do me a favour though?" I ask.

"Sure, what do you need?"

"Please tell Rhonda that the pain in my ankle flared up and I don't have my medication so I had to go home."

"I'll tell her, don't worry."

"Thank you Cece, have a nice day, bye" I say goodbye.

"You too, bye" She answers.

I practically ran to my car, hopping not to cross paths with anyone else. I got in and drove away as fast as I could. God! That was a close one.

I need to avoid Jack at all costs, because everytime I see him I make a fool out of myself. Enough is enough.

When I arrived home and sat on my couch, I was finally able to relax. This was a very stressful morning.