Some Kind of Wonderful by Jean C. Joachim

Author:Jean C. Joachim
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: small town romance, small town love story, strong heroine love story, sexy hero love story, sports journalist love story
Publisher: Moonlight Books
Published: 2021-03-25T00:00:00+00:00

SEPTEMBER

The lovers arose early. After breakfast, they headed to the bank.

“That old rattrap? I’m not sure you can use it to secure a loan. I doubt it’s worth thirty thousand. Let me do the paperwork, and I’ll get back to you.” The banker shook hands with Jeff and Jackie then returned to his desk.

They climbed back in Jeff’s car. “Now, let’s try Oak Bend.”

The loan officer there wasn’t any more optimistic about a loan than the man at Pine Grove National.

“Do you have anything else you can put up as collateral to secure the loan?” she’d asked. They had come up empty. “Let me look into this, and I’ll get back to you.”

At three o’clock, they stopped at Homer’s for a late lunch. Jeff noticed Jackie checking her phone like a million times. Was she looking for a message from the bank or her father? Shame filled him. Had he deep-sixed her relationship with her dad? Was it fair? Because his father had been a total wash-out didn’t mean Jackie’s was.

“Looking for a message from your dad?”

She nodded. “I know it’s silly. I mean, we’ve never had a close relationship.”

“I’m so sorry. If I destroyed it...”

“You couldn’t.” She put her hand on his arm. “It’s not about you. Dad and I have always been rocky. He doesn’t approve of much of what I do. Who I am. He doesn’t understand, so he puts it down. I get it. It was about time he got told off.” She picked up her burger.

Jeff put his hand on her arm. “He’s your father. You love him, and you want his approval. I get it. I did too. For a long time, before I gave up.”

“Why did you give up?” She took a bite but kept her gaze on his.

“I was in my twenties when I finally threw in the towel. It took that long to realize alcohol was more important than I was. Once it penetrated my thick skull, I stopped trying. I conceded the battle. Alcohol beat me, hands down.”

“So sad.”

Jeff looked at his plate of fries. “It was. It also freed me. Freed me from trying. I considered him kinda dead.”

“Dead?” Jackie raised her eyebrows.

“It was easier.”

She leaned over and kissed his cheek. “I’m sorry.”

He smiled. “Yeah. Me too.”

When they finished, Jeff paid the bill and drove them home. While he took a call from his contact in Columbus, Jackie wandered over to The Wonderful. She retrieved the key from under the front mat, stepped over broken glass from the window in the door, and turned the knob. Glancing at the bar, she envisioned a wizened old man behind it, lining up shot glasses and downing them one after the other in rapid succession. She heard music from the sixties playing on a non-existent jukebox.

The breeze from the open door stirred the heavy layers of dust. Late afternoon sunlight penetrated the dirty windows, lighting up the dust particles in the air as if they were tiny diamonds. She choked and coughed for a moment until it settled.

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