Page 31 of Fierce-Jax (Fierce Matchmaking #18)
THE BOSS
“ Y ou have some explaining to do,” Noelle said, coming into Dillion’s office.
She fully expected to get grilled at the end of the day.
At least no one did it while she was running between patients.
Though she didn’t know how much she had to explain since her daughter seemed to tell everyone the past few months' story of her life.
“What’s that?” she asked.
Addy walked in. “You know what,” Addy said, smiling. “I remember him. He was a patient. Is that how you met?”
She rolled her eyes. “At first, yes,” she said. “But he was only here once and that is it. I’m sure that Gianna shared Jax works upstairs.”
Since her daughter came in with all sorts of loot on top of it.
“I looked him up,” Noelle said. “Oh my. He is handsome. I can see the two of you together.”
“You can?” she asked, frowning. Normally she didn’t care all that much what people thought. “And where is my daughter?”
“Finishing the candy bar at my desk,” Addy said. “She’s fine. She likes Jax. Talked about how good his pancakes are for breakfast.”
“Okay,” she said, her face flushing. “That’s enough.”
“No, it’s not,” Addy said. “But we’ll let you go for now and you can fill us in on Monday when Marcy is here.”
“Maybe you’ll all forget the questions you’ve got over the weekend,” she said, laughing.
“Don’t bet on it,” Noelle said. “We’ll come up with more. But I’m happy for you. I really am. You deserve it.”
“Thank you,” she said sincerely. “It means a lot. He’s a great guy.”
It felt as if she said that all the time when describing Jax.
“A great-looking guy,” Addy said, wiggling her eyebrows.
“He’s that too,” she said. “Now if you guys don’t mind, I think we all want to get out of here on a Friday night.”
“That’s right,” Addy said. “Because Jax is making dinner. Or at least Gianna asked. Maybe he’ll make pancakes in the morning too.”
There was no reason not to have fun with this. “Maybe I’ll put a request in for it.”
Everyone finished up what they had to and she was locking the door and walking out with her daughter fifteen minutes later.
It was only four thirty, but she would have never made it in time to get Gianna and the stress of even worrying was gone the minute Jax said he had it covered.
What a wonderful feeling knowing that she had that in her life. Someone she could count on other than her parents.
It’d always been hard for her to ask for help but didn’t seem it when it came to him.
“Is Jax coming too?” Gianna asked when she buckled her daughter into her car.
“He’ll be over when he gets out of work,” she said. Jax had texted that he’d be out soon. His office closed at four thirty, but he rarely got out on time, she knew that.
They drove home and the minute she got in the door, she went to her room to change out of her clothes and put on shorts and a T-shirt.
Gianna was playing in the family room with some things she’d collected at Jax’s job and Dillion was gathering all the ingredients for dinner out of the fridge and putting them on the counter.
Jax walked in and came over to kiss her.
“Burgers,” he said. “Yum.”
“You’re cooking,” she said. “I’m just getting it ready for you.”
He laughed. “I can do that. I’m going to change first. Do I have time to shower?”
“Go ahead,” she said. “I’ll get dinner started.”
“Nope,” he said. “You can get yourself a glass of wine and put your feet up.”
“Really?” she asked. “Seriously?”
He leaned down to kiss her. “Seriously. No work for you tonight. You had a long day by the sounds of it.”
“You don’t know the half of it.”
“Considering I saw the sugary snack you collected earlier, I can figure it out.”
She left everything on the counter and watched him walk out of the room after yelling hi to Gianna. Her daughter got up to chase Jax, but she told her to stay down here for now.
The wine fridge was opened, she snagged a bottle out at random and opened it, poured the white liquid into a glass, and did as Jax had said.
She went to the chair at the island and climbed on it, her feet on the ledge not touching the floor while she curled and stretched her bare toes.
Her glass was half gone when he returned.
“Do you want a glass?” she asked, reaching for the bottle to add some more to hers.
“I’ll have one,” he said. She topped hers off and then filled one for him. “You don’t drink often.”
“I’ve got a child at home,” she said. “I don’t get a lot of time to not worry unless she’s not here.”
“Even when she’s not here, you don’t drink much. It had to be a long day for this. Or is there more to it?”
“More to it like what?” she asked.
He picked the wine up and took a sip, then opened the package of beef and dumped it in a bowl.
She’d set spices next to it and he grabbed them at random to add and mix up.
“Did you light the grill?”
“I followed your orders to the letter. Have a glass of wine and put my feet up. That’s all I’ve done.”
“That’s a no,” he said, laughing and turning to walk to the deck to light her grill.
He came back and finished making the patties.
“Do you want me to start the water for the rice?”
“I’ve got it,” he said.
She put her chin in her hand and watched him move around her kitchen getting dinner ready and then went to the deck to put the burgers on the grill.
Addy was right.
Jax was a hot guy.
He was her guy too.
And that meant she could help and not take advantage of him telling her to relax.
That wasn’t what a partnership did in her eyes and that was exactly what she felt she and Jax had.
She got the plates down and set the table.
Gianna came running in. “I’m hungry again. Can I have a banana?”
“Jax is cooking dinner. It will be ready in about ten minutes.”
Dillion found a bag of frozen mixed vegetables in the freezer and popped them into the microwave.
“But I’m hungry now!”
Gianna stomped her foot. Not something she always did, but it told her to be ready for some dramatics.
“What’s going on in here?” Jax asked, returning.
“I want to eat,” Gianna said. “Mom said I have to wait.”
“Mommy is the boss,” he said.
She frowned.
She wasn’t sure she liked hearing that.
“Gianna, go in the other room, please, and we’ll call you in when it’s ready.”
“No,” Gianna said, moving to Jax and putting her arms up. “Jax will give me a banana.”
His eyes shifted back and forth between her daughter standing at his feet with her arms up and her mother saying no.
“Sorry,” he said. “It’s only ten minutes. You won’t fade away in that time and then you’ll be super hungry and eat your entire burger. I bet you eat it faster than me.”
Gianna sniffled, her bottom lip coming out. “But I want it now.”
“Tears will not work,” Dillion said. “And if you keep it up, then you are going to bed early, and no movie tonight with us.”
Gianna shouted and ran out of the room crying.
Dillion hated that Gianna was acting this way but worse, that she did it in front of Jax.
She supposed it was too much to hope her daughter was always well behaved, but it didn’t appear that would be the case tonight.
“Is she okay?” he asked.
“She’ll be fine. She is out of sorts this week, like me. I know she misses my mother who lets her get away with everything. My mother always says I’m the boss and yet doesn’t listen either.”
“Are you mad I said you were the boss?” he asked, frowning.
“No,” she said. “I don’t know.”
He moved closer to her. “Talk to me.”
She shrugged. “It’s hard to explain it.”
“It’s easy if you just open your mouth and let the words come out.”
It was difficult when she could hear her daughter crying in the other room.
“I appreciate my parents’ help more than I can ever say. I guess I never realized how much or how hard it was until this week if I had to do it alone. It’s the first they’ve been gone this long since I’ve owned my practice.”
“And owning the practice puts more weight on your shoulders than when you’re just an employee.”
“Yes,” she said. “I enjoy calling the shots, but then there is no one to fall back on either. Just another stress. I wanted to have all of Marcy’s appointments canceled when she went home sick, but it was only for a few hours and I thought we could handle it.”
She didn’t want to risk upsetting her patients either. Or worry that she’d lose them.
Being the owner came with a lot more thoughts like that. Especially when she was trying to grow the practice.
“And you did,” he said. “You called and asked for help. I like that you did it. I know it had to be hard. Remember my sister. She’s just like you.”
Dillion nodded and picked her wine back up. “I know,” she said. “It was hard but not really. I can’t explain it. You were the first person who I thought of.”
“Which makes me feel wonderful,” he said. “It really does. People who love each other do that.”
Gianna’s sobs were getting louder.
She breathed in deeply and took another sip of wine. “And there is the Mom guilt. There is never a break.”
“Well,” he said. “I could have said yes to the banana and it wouldn’t have hurt her. It’s a fruit and good for her, but you said no. It’s not my decision. I wouldn’t counter you. Unless you wanted me to deal with it. Tell me those things.”
She sighed. “And here is the funny part. I would have been annoyed if you had given it to her and tried to overrule me, because then she would have gotten her way.” She knew it was getting to him.
“And if I go in there now when I know it’s only waterworks, she’ll know she can do it to get her way too. ”
“So you’ll let her cry?” he asked. “Just asking because I’m not sure how to handle it.”
“I’d love not to handle it,” she said.
To just let someone else be the boss.
She’d never had that once since she’d become a mother.
Even Alec had not helped all that much in those five weeks.
“Tell me what you want me to do,” he said. “I can go talk to her. It doesn’t mean giving in or letting her get her way. Just explaining that we all have bad days and it’s okay to cry.”
She wasn’t sure why that didn’t occur to her.
“Would you? I can check on dinner.”
“Dinner is done and I’m going to get a plate for the burgers.” He turned to grab one. “Let me bring them in and then I’ll talk to Gianna.”
She nodded. When Jax was outside, she called out, “Gianna, come in here now.”
Her daughter came in sniffling. “Do I get my banana now?”
“No,” Jax said, having heard her when he opened the door. “Dinner is done and I put a lot of work into these and hope that you eat a whole one.”
“I’m going to,” Gianna said, nodding her head. “Then I want my banana.”
“I think if you’re still hungry after dinner, there is nothing wrong with having a piece of fruit,” he said.
Gianna looked toward Dillion. “Can I, Mom?”
“Sure,” she said. Still being the boss but at least her daughter was listening.
It might be a good learning lesson for Gianna to see the dynamics. That her mother would support Jax also.
Hadn’t she always wanted a relationship like that? Where they were partners?
“Did you have a bad day at school?” Jax asked Gianna.
Gianna moved to the table and climbed up to her seat.
Dillion got the plate and made her daughter’s dish with her burger, some rice, and the vegetables she pulled out of the microwave and put in a bowl first.
“I had fun today,” Gianna said.
“Did you get upset because you couldn’t get your banana and that is why you cried?” Jax asked.
“I’m hungry,” Gianna said. Dillion put her daughter’s plate in front of her and Gianna didn’t hesitate to grab her burger and take a big bite to prove her point.
“We all get hungry,” Jax said. “And it makes us cranky. It’s called hangry.”
“Hangry?” Gianna asked.
She laughed over her daughter saying the word.
“Yep. It happens to me all the time. It’s hungry and angry at the same time. I’m angry because I’m hungry and it makes me cranky,” he said. He leaned in and lowered his voice. “Makes me want to cry too, but I don’t.”
“Why not?” Gianna asked.
They both filled their plates and then sat to eat too.
“Because sometimes when you cry, you hurt other people’s feelings around you. They might not know the real reason you’re upset. They could want to help or they could be frustrated too trying to figure it out. Like tonight, your mother had a long day and you started to cry over a simple thing.”
“But I was hangry,” Gianna said, giggling.
Long gone were the dramatic tears. “Then you should say that and we’ll both know, but you still might have to wait for dinner,” Dillion said.
“Maybe you could help with dinner to get it on the table faster,” Jax said.
“I can do that,” Gianna said. “Grandma lets me eat the food while she cooks it so I don’t get so hungry waiting.”
Which just went back to being told she was the boss but her orders were not being followed.
Guess there was no winning here.
“I’m not Grandma,” Dillion said. “You have to learn that. What I say always goes. When you’re with Grandma you have to listen to her.”
“And when I’m with Jax, I’ll listen to him,” Gianna said. “He’d let me have a banana, I know it.”
Dillion rolled her eyes when Jax laughed.
He tried and it was all she could ask.