A Hidden Truth

At the Book Club

[Juniper]

    I was the first one to the room for book club. Garrett seemed sullen. I told him several times, he didn’t have to go to the club tonight. I know he and Teddy were looking forward to having a calm couple of days where they could be together. Teddy messaged me while I was in school to say he was going to go pick up fried chicken for dinner, so I didn’t have to cook. I was going to get so fat.

    Garrett was looking at his phone when a message popped in. He chuckled. I looked at him with a quirked eyebrow as he messaged back. They were too cute sometimes.

    “You think Hank might find out about you going out tonight?” Garrett asked.

    I shook my head. “I don’t. He never seemed to know when we were going out before.”

    “Then, I guess Tammy will be fine. Just remember to stay with the group. Okay?” He responded.

    “Thank you!” I cheered and ran over to give him a hug.

    The door behind me opened and I turned to see who it was. Missy and Letty were coming in with their treats. I helped them get set up. Garrett went to find a few more chairs. Charlene and Millie came in next. They were cheerfully chattering.

    “Juni. The meetin’ hasn’t started. We have gossip and need to talk.” Charlene said.

    “Okay, go ahead.” I smiled.

    “You’re datin’ Bobbi’s brother?” She asked.

    “Yes, ma’am”

    “And Teddy has a boyfriend?” She pressed.

    Garrett came in with four chairs stacked in his arms. He set them down and started putting them out.

    “This is Garrett, Teddy’s boyfriend.” I responded.

    “Ladies.” He nodded and took a chair to the corner so he could sit.

    “Oh, my… What about the rumor that Jaxon got a girl pregnant in high school?”

    “Not true. He was dating her. She got pregnant by someone else.” I informed them.

    “And your mama destroying Madeline Shaw?” Millie asked.

    “Epic and also true.”

    “You and Jaxon bein’ engaged?” Missy asked.

    I felt my blood rush to my cheeks. “No. We’ve only been together since Monday. Not nearly long enough for us to consider marriage.”

    “But you want him to propose?” Miss Letty asked.

    “Maybe. One day. We’re really not there yet.” I said.

    Bobbi and Mr. Paulson entered the room. I was relieved. Finally, the focus would shift. I really hated being the butt of gossip, but it helped that I could counter it head on.

    “Mr. Paulson! I’m so happy you made it!” I smiled.

    “Call me Tom.” He said.

    “Maybe once I’ve graduated, Mr. Paulson.” I laughed. This was perfect. “Ladies, this is Mr. Tom Paulson. He’s the literature teacher for the twelfth grade. I invited him to join the club. These ladies are gonna want to know all about you, sir.”

    The vultures swooped, asking where he was from, when he moved to town, if he was single, how old he was, what kind of women he liked. I relaxed into my seat as he struggled to answer every question.

    Bobbi leaned over and told me Jaxon was riding in with his friends. She also told me Kimmy wouldn’t be joining us, because she and her husband had unexpected company. Bobbi seemed giddy. I was happy to not deal with Kimmy’s sniping.

    The door opened again and I looked over. There was a tallish girl with bright pink hair standing in the doorway. Behind her was a bigger guy with frizzy, fluffy hair that mostly covered his face.

    “Can I help you?” I asked politely.

    “I’m Kendra. You can call me Kenny, or the love of your life.” The girl winked. “This is my ace life-mate, Morgan. You can call him anything, but late to dinner.”

    I couldn’t help but laugh. “Do you always introduce yourself like that?”

    “Absolutely. Everyone loves me. Just ask Jackie.” She chirped.

    “Don’t call me that!” I heard Jaxon cry out from somewhere behind them.

    That made me laugh even harder. I was feeling more confident in our relationship since the phone call this afternoon. He’d called while I was… scratching my itch and I accidentally answered instead of sending it to voicemail. 

    The tones he’s used while telling me what to do, while listening to me tell him what I was thinking about, still sent chills down my spine. It was one of the best phone calls I’d had in my life. Even though I had the urge to call him ‘daddy’ a couple of times, I managed to hold it back.

    They entered the room and Jaxon formally introduced them. I introduced everyone else and we all got seated with our snacks and drinks. The ladies didn’t seem to be concerned about the addition of three observers, only that Jaxon and I were sitting as close to each other as possible. It was what I’d expected, and the reason I’d been occupied during the call.

    His thigh was pressed against mine as we sat and it sent a thrill through me every time he moved. We started the meeting and the ladies were very talkative throughout. They talked about their favorite and least favorite characters, what they thought of the conflicts, their opinions on if this were a modern romance, and their feelings about the ending.

    Jaxon, Mr. Paulson, and I talked about themes in Jane Austen’s works and how the society she lived in had influenced her writing. There was some more in-depth discussion added by Kendra, who had done a few papers on Ms. Austen’s books. It ended up getting pretty lively.

*

    When the meeting was over, the ladies started straightening up for the cross-stitch club. They were taking a two-hour slot. Lots of gossip to go over this week. I packed up my book and notebooks. Letty and Missy decided to stay for the second club.

    “Mr. Paulson, is there a book you’d like to have us do for next week?” I asked.

    “Oh. Well, I hadn’t expected you to ask. Have you done The Picture of Dorian Gray? It’s one of my favorites.” He smiled.

    It was one of mine, too. I looked through my planner. It had the books we’d done each week since we started nearly two years ago. I didn’t have that one.

    “Looks like we haven’t. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, we’ll do The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. Remember. Read the book, don’t just watch the movie. But if you do watch the movie as well, I recommend the one from 1945. The use of techni-color is really cool.” I announced.

    They said okay and I headed out followed by Garrett, Kendra, Jaxon, Mr. Paulson, and Morgan. We passed the crafters as they went in and the whispers started. They were basically one of the most prolific gossip groups in town. Though, they were nearly bumped out of the running by the Wednesday Quilters.

    “That was unexpectedly enjoyable, Juniper. Thank you for inviting me. I’ll be at the meeting next week.” Mr. Paulson told me.

    “I’m so happy you were able to make it. I hope your second visit will be the one where you decide to join for real.” I said, shaking his hand. He held onto it for a while with both of his hands. It was a little weird.

    “If it’s anything like today was, it might just be. I better get going. I have assignments to finish grading.” He released my hand and headed out the door.

    Jaxon came up behind me and put an arm around my waist, pulling me to him. He bent down next to my ear.

    “Mine.” He whispered.

    I laced my fingers through his and leaned back. “Always.” I responded.

    “Break it up.” Garrett chuckled. “You’re in a library. Respect the texts.”

    Jaxon let me go and we all went out to the parking lot. I got to have a good look at Kendra for the first time. She seemed to be laughing at or judging everything.

    “Hey, Juniper! Can I call you Peri?” She asked.

    I was a little stunned. No one ever tried that as a nickname.

    “I won’t answer to that. It would take a while before it would be useful. You should probably just call me Juni, if you don’t want to use my full first name.” I replied.

    “That’s boring. What other nicknames do you have?” Kendra pressed, bouncing next to me. I had no idea how Jaxon had managed to date her. She seemed overly excitable.

    “Her older brothers and I call her Juni-bug.” Garrett laughed.

    “Don’t call me that.” I said.

    “Her little brother calls her Juju.” Jaxon snickered.

    “OH MY GOD, YES!!” Kendra shouted.

    “Oh, no.” I winced.

    “Juju and Jackie! I love it!” She squealed.

    I groaned. “Let’s go, Garrett. I have study groups coming and I need to get stuff ready.”

    “Can I come with?” Kendra asked.

    “You almost failed bio 101, Kenny. What do you think you’re going to do there?” Morgan laughed.

    “I’ll stay out of the way and talk to Juju when she has free time. This way, I can get to know her better and she can fall in love with me.” She replied with a wink.

    “It’s fine. I can ignore almost anything. As long as she doesn’t mess up my students, I don’t mind.” I shrugged.

    “So can we come out dancing with you and your friends then?” Kendra asked.

    “Ken. Don’t.” Jaxon warned.

    “But I want to dance with the little girls!” She whined.

    Garrett started snickering as he stood back and watched us. “It’d be useful to have three more people keeping an eye on you, so you don’t get in any more fights.”

    “The fights come to her. I’ve seen it myself.” Jaxon chuckled.

    I was getting pretty tired of this. My schedule was getting thrown off while everyone was teasing me.

    “Fine. Garrett. We’re leaving. Now.” I ordered. “Come on, Kendra.”

    I walked over to the truck and they followed.