“Yeah. I guess Collin is right. I was the only hold out so I might as well admit the truth to myself.”
He hugs me so tight I can barely breathe.
“You hear that C? She finally agreed to let me call her my girlfriend!”
“About damn time,” he hollers back. “Now get your ass in here and help me clean up. We still have to go to the gym and work all these carbs and fried foods off.”
Hutch gives me a quick kiss, shoes me over to the couch to sit and joins Collin the kitchen, looking happier than I’ve seen him in a while.
I just wish I didn’t have this heavy feeling in the pit of my stomach. Something bad is going to ruin all this. I can’t shake that feeling any more than I can stop breathing.
I only hope when trouble arrives, it won’t kill me or anyone I care about.
CHAPTER 34
Daisy
Morning camewith a trepidation I hadn’t felt in a long time. Hutch was up and gone before I even thought about getting out of bed. I think it was nerves. He said something about going for a run and then picking up Collin who stayed at the hockey house. He’s so nervous about today, but I think the real nerves will set in tomorrow when he gets on the ice. Man actually thinks he’ll get a practice in today. He has paperwork and onboarding as well as meetings. I highly doubt he’ll see the ice today, let alone get on it. I guess we’ll see who’s right.
Today also starts his new plant based diet. He is not looking forward to it and I don’t blame him. No meat is crazy, but I did some research and several sports teams swear by the diet stating they’ve all improved since starting it. I did more research trying to find recipes I could tinker with. I went out and bought groceries yesterday to make a dish that’s sort of like a ratatouille, but not quite. It has tofu in it. I put the tofu in a marinade last night to help give it flavor. I’m going to make enough that they can just reheat it for a few days if they like it. If not, the peoplein the house will eat it. The sports guys devour anything put in front of them no matter the taste.
Cherese Stone, Hutch’s lawyer, and a local one at that, called last night to tell me she was going to go put the petition before a judge this morning as soon as the courts opened. She apparently knows a judge she’s gone before many, many times over the years and he agreed to see her first thing. And I didn’t have to be there either since she knew the judge so well. I was nervous about having to go tell everything again to a judge who may or may not believe me.
It’s all moving so quickly now and I’m not sure how I feel about it. Given everything that I’ve been through, I highly doubt a restraining order will do anything to keep Joe away if he chooses to come looking for me. It’s not like he doesn’t know where I am. And he’s escaped consequences once already. Why wouldn’t he assume he’d do the same again? The whole thing has put my stomach in knots.
My morning classes went by quickly and I got a voicemail from Cherese while I was in my psych class. The judge signed the order and it was faxed over to a process server in Texas. She thinks it’ll be served quickly since Joseph is very well known in and around his university campus. She assured me that the server knows to be discreet and to serve it when he’s alone if possible to maintain his and my privacy.
I called her back and thanked her. She seems very nice and told me to let her know if I need anything else in regard to Joseph. She said she’d let me know when she got confirmation he’d been served.
I’ve been on pins and needles since that phone call waiting for her to call. His reaction will not be a good one. He’s not going to let me go that easily. His words of my being his have echoed over and over for days. He’s insane.
Christa bumps into me as we both head up the steps to go into the house. She agreed to help me cook since Jenny has a late class today.
“Sorry,” I say and unlock the door.
“You should know how klutzy I am by now so don’t apologize.”
“Partly my fault. I keep waiting on the phone call.”
“She’s sure he’ll get served today?”
I shrug and put my things down by the door. “I don’t think he’ll be hard to find if they follow him from football practice.”
“Athletes are predictable, aren’t they?” She tosses her bag on the floor and pulls off her light jacket to hang up in the hallway closet. I don’t trust putting my coat in there. The girls in this house aren’t picky choosy about who’s clothes they grab by mistake. I shove mine in my bookbag. I’ll take it all upstairs later.
“I’m turning the heat on.” It’s gotten colder over the last few days and Jenny says its finally starting to feel like fall in Minnesota. I checked the temps back home and they’re still in the sixties during the day. Seems like everyone is having a late start to fall/winter.
“I’m surprised no one turned it on this morning.” Christa yawns and heads for the kitchen. “Do we have enough to make a lot? You know every guy in this house is going to demand some.”
“I thought about that so I bought enough to feed everyone and still have enough to portion out several days for Collin and Hutch.” Going over to the sink, I pull the massive pot out I found yesterday in the basement. It took a lot of cleaning, but this thing will hold everything.
“Where did you find that?” Christa’s eyes widen at the sheer size of the pot.
“In the basement. It needed a good cleaning, but it’s good to go now.”
I take everything out of the fridge while Christa gathers the things from the pantry and then we set out cutting all the veggies and prepping the spices. I found this recipe online and am tweaking it a bit, making it slightly spicy to give the tofu more flavor. I’m going to fry it in the spice rub before adding it to the mixture to make sure there’s some texture to the dish.
“I heard your friend will be in town this week.”
