“Fine, I’ll tell you what we were talking about.”
Jess smiled. Sometimes it was just too easy.
Chapter 25
tossing the ball
Jess walked out of the garage, onto the driveway, and spoke with the paparazzi, “Hi, guys. We’re going to watch my little brother play some high school football. You can come and ruin the night for a lot of high school kids or you can give me one night of normal family life and we can pick this up tomorrow.” She flashed a movie star smile, “I promise if anything noteworthy happens, I’ll tweet my location.”
The Parker and Bellini contingents arrived at the football field at 6:30. The paparazzi had decided to stay away, but it didn’t matter. As Jess, Joey and Pauli walked into the football stadium, heads turned and cell phones popped out taking pictures. They’d made the news yesterday, and that alone made them celebrities. Add to that the fact that Bellini men pretty much stopped traffic wherever they went; and multiply that by Jess’s new found star status, and there was no way to travel incognito. They made their way to the visitor bleachers, and moved to the top where Jake, Meg and Abbey were seated.
They watched as Jamie’s team lost a hard fought game. After the game, they split into groups. Jake and Meg had a date night planned. It was something he’d learned watching Ben for the last three years. No matter what was going on in your life, you had to set aside at least one night a week for date night. Date night was always just for you and your girlfriend. They were going to drop Abbey with Meg’s parents before going out for a late movie.
Although they wouldn’t say what they were going to do, Lane and Ben had plans too, so that left Jess with Joey and Pauli. Pauli and Joey were close and with Joey in Las Vegas, they didn’t see much of each other anymore. Yet, each of them wished the other was somewhere else. Jess might spend most of her time insulting whichever one of them she was with, but both Joey and Pauli wanted to be alone with her. She’d be going back to L.A. soon, and in no time she’d be in Europe filming the movie. There was always the phone, texting, and Skype, but Pauli knew that wasn’t the same. It was the way he’d been keeping in touch with Jess for the last month. First, there was the two hour time difference and then there were their conflicting schedules. Most of Europe was seven hours ahead ahead of Central Time; and Joey was on Pacific Time, making it a nine hour difference.
Lane and Ben went to the Parker house. That afternoon, the obstetrician had explained to Ben that the baby wouldn’t be harmed from them having sex. She had explained that as the pregnancy progressed, that they may find they needed to experiment with different positions; but as long as it was comfortable for Lane, it was safe for the baby.
It was what he wanted to hear. Ben had lost his virginity at the age of 16 and had spent more time being celibate since he had started dating Lane, four and a half months ago, than any other time since he turned 16. The truth was he’d have spent the next eight months being celibate, if that was what the doctor had told them was needed.
He put his phone on speaker and opened the Pandora app. He took Lane in his arms and danced with her. He wanted to make love to her, but there was time for that. Right now, he wanted to hold her and dance with her. He’d put together a reception in the ballroom of Papa’s for tomorrow night. He would put on his tux, she would put on her wedding dress and they’d dance and eat and greet guests who, thanks to Jess and the internet, would all know that they were pregnant when they got married. The important thing was that they were married. She had once asked him why he’d never married and he had told her that he couldn’t imagine spending the rest of his life with any of the women he’d dated. Right now, he couldn’t imagine spending even one minute of his life without Lane. The weeks that they had spent apart had been miserable for him.
They danced around the house; and as he moved them toward the bedroom, he told her how much he loved her. He’d made love to her in this room just before he’d given her that stupid line about needing space. He’d make love to her here tonight and then they’d drive back home and he’d make love to her again in their bed. He planned to spend the rest of his life loving this woman.
He had lifted her onto the bed and was unbuttoning her Levi’s when his phone started ringing. It was a blocked number. He kissed Lane and apologized before he clicked the answer button.
“Bellini.”
He listened, finally replying, “We’ll meet you there.” He looked at Lane. “We need to go to the Leawood Police Station. I’ll explain on the way.”
Chapter 26
busted
Lane buttoned her jeans and put her cowboy boots on. “What is it?”
“I don’t know all of the details, but Jess is being held on assault charges.”
“Jess assaulted someone?” That is someone besides the now dead stalker.
They walked to the SUV and he opened her door. He backed out of the garage.
“Whatever it is, it’s going to be okay. Let’s just get there and let me talk to everyone.”
Lane nodded, “Whom did she assault? Allegedly assault?”
Ben always held her hand as he drove. He squeezed her hand. “Well, that’s a bit unclear right now.” Unclear was an understatement he thought. Joey had called him; something about Uncle Sal and the hospital.
It was less than a 10 minute drive to the Leawood police station. Ben parked and looked at Lane. “No matter what it is, I promise everything is going to be fine. Just let me get in there and talk to everyone. Joey’s here. You stay with him while I talk to Jess. Okay?”
She loved him, she trusted him, but Jess was her baby girl and he was asking her to stand by and do nothing when her job was to protect her children.
He looked at her, “I know what you’re thinking; that it’s your job to protect her, but what she needs right now is a lawyer. You know I’m the best. She’s my daughter now and I will do everything in my power to protect her. I promise it will be all right.”
He held her hand as they walked into the station where Joey was waiting.
“Pronto. Spiegare!”
“Un uomo spinto uncle Sal al suolo.”
Lane looked at them, and in an exasperated tone, she said, “English! In English tell me what happened. Now!”
Joey glanced at Ben who nodded.
“A guy pushed uncle Sal, knocking him to the ground. Before I had time to react, Jess roundhouse kicked the guy. How does she do that in those five inch heels anyway? Pauli went to the hospital with Uncle Sal. The guy had the wind knocked out of him and was talking about pressing charges when the cops came.”
“Where was this?” Ben asked.
“At your house. In the driveway.”
Ben looked at Lane, “Stay here with Joey. I’ll talk to Jess.” He looked at Joey, “How much cash have you got on you, in case we need to post a bond?”
Joey looked at Ben. He didn’t even move his hand toward his wallet. “Unless it’s a murder charge, I’ve got it covered.”
Ben nodded and talked to the woman at the window. She released the door and he walked through. He found Jess in an interview room. She looked up, a smile of relief on her face as Ben walked into the room.
“So, Wonder Woman, what’s up?”
“You know Wonder Woman uses a whip, right? I don’t know what the big deal is. The guy knocked Uncle Sal down. What is he, 90? I was just defending Uncle Sal.”
Ben sat in the chair next to her, “Uh-huh. And what were those two big Bellini boys doing while you were roundhouse kicking the assailant?”
She smiled, “They’ll probably say they were assessing the situation. But I say they were standing there like a couple of old women. The guy had it coming.”