The Perfect Love Story

Chapter 5

Melody and I went to this small diner for lunch, and it reminded me of home. I think that it would be one of mine and Melody's usual spots.

"How are you holding up here?" I asked my sister as we walked back up to the house. JJ's car was in the driveway, so he was home.

"I still miss the old apartment but honestly the transition is easier because we're together. It's not like I had a lot of friends back home or anything like that." I could tell that she was hesitant about going in through the house. I knew that she could get to the guest house if she went through the sideyard. Melody was shy and she wasn't used to living with a man.

"You can go through the house if you want, Melody," I assured her, and she looked a little anxious but nodded her head. She followed me inside and I smiled when I noticed my packages from Buy Buy Baby on the couch. "Oh yay, JJ went and picked up my stuff. You can look through it with me. Let me let JJ know that we're home." I went into the kitchen where JJ was practically inhaling a sandwich. "Are you good babe?" I asked him, rubbing my stomach. He looked at me and his full cheeks reddened slightly. He nodded since his mouth was full. I silently watched him with a smile as he tried to swallow the whole bite at once.

"I just came home quick to drop off your order. The uniform fitting took way longer than I thought it was going to and I didn't have time to eat lunch. I still have to go grocery shopping and pick up the dry cleaning." He sighed softly. I opened my mouth, but he quickly stopped me. "No, I don't want you to help. I can handle it." He smiled slightly and kissed my cheek. "Go ahead and look through your stuff while I'm gone." He grabbed his keys and I followed behind him.

"Hey, so we need to move into the downstairs bedroom soon as we talked about before I came here. It's getting hard to go up and down the stairs." I told him and he took a deep breath. "But Melody is going to help me look through my baby stuff so she can help me move stuff down here. I don't want to add something else to your plate."

"I'll ask Jacob to stay behind. Luis can go with me to the store and the dry cleaner. No problem." He kissed my forehead and walked into the living room where Melody was sitting on the floor, waiting for me. "Hey, Melody. I'm going to ask Jacob to stay behind to help move some stuff downstairs. There are still boxes in the closet upstairs if you need one. I'll see you later. Just have Leanna text me if you need anything from the store." He rustled her hair a little and she smiled and blushed. I sighed as I sat on the couch, rubbing my stomach.

"I kind of wish he would ask Luis to stay instead," I told Melody quietly. "I don't know what it is but I kind of get a bad feeling from Jacob sometimes." I ran my hand through my hair and put one of the boxes on my lap so that I could open it.

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Melody smiled slightly at me. I could see a flash of emotion cross her face, but I couldn't read it. I wish that I could. I wouldn't push it though. Melody always came to me whenever she was ready.

I swatted my hand over my ear when I felt something warm and wet graze it. I groaned when it happened again and pulled the blankets over my head.

"JJ stop, ten more minutes," I mumbled. I heard a high-pitched whine that didn't belong to my boyfriend and my eyes snapped open. I tossed the blankets off my head and sat up. JJ was sitting on the edge of the bed, a grin on his face, and a puppy in his arms. "JJ, he's perfect." I started crying as I took the puppy from him. His tail wagged aggressively as he licked the tears off my face.

"I was thinking that we could name him Toro, would you like that?" He asked me and I nodded my head, unable to speak because I was so choked up. I loved this puppy so much already. "Okay beautiful, I must get going. I have to go pick up my brother from the airport and we have our first meeting today and I need to go pick up the maternity clothes that you ordered." I looked at him once he answered me and I just started crying harder. "Leanna? What is wrong?" He sat next to me and put his arm around my shoulders.

"I'm fat and you don't love me anymore." I knew that my face was red and that there was snot coming out of my nose, making it all so much worse. "You're looking for someone else and that's why you have to spend so much time away from the house. You found someone skinny and beautiful and now you are spoiling her." I felt my chest shaking as I sobbed, and JJ kept his arm wrapped around my shoulders. He rubbed the side of my arm softly and I could tell that he was hurt by my accusation but still trying to be here for me.

"Leanna, you are the most beautiful woman in the entire world to me. I promise you that you and Baby Girl are the only women in my life. Melody too if you want to count me taking care of her. I don't want anyone else." He kissed my temple and let his lips rest there. "I do have to go pick up TJ from the airport, but I will be back to make you breakfast in bed. I promise. We were going to go out to eat breakfast together before our meeting but I'll bring him here instead. I love you so much." He kissed my temple again and I tried taking some deep breaths as he stood up. "I love you and only you, Leanna Charlotte Bishop. I will tell you about all of my errands when I get back, I promise." His voice was soft, and he disappeared through the door. I tried to take a few more deep breaths, but it wasn't easy. Toro lay in my lap and cried softly, licking my fingers, trying to make me feel better.

Melody's POV

I stretched out on my bed and yawned when the sun came through my curtains. Milo was stretched out on his bed and I smiled before getting out of my bed. I was wearing my Care Bear pajamas that I had since high school. My belly button was visible and the shorts were way above my fingertips. I was kind of just hoping to run into Jacob in the house. I wasn't sure if he was working today or not. I slipped on my slides and headed over to the main house so that I could get some breakfast, Milo following at my heels. I came in through the main door and I nearly jumped out of my skin when I noticed someone else sitting on the kitchen counter, a plate of breakfast in his hand.

"You must be Leanna's sister. I'm JJ's brother." He seemed unphased by what I was wearing but he had a slight smile tugging at the outer corners of his lips. He hopped down from the counter and held his hand out to me. "TJ."

"Melody." I felt my ears heat up as I took his hand. His hand practically swallowed mine. "I'm sorry, I didn't know anyone was here. I'm going to change." I rushed out of the house before he could say anything back. Milo hung back for a moment before running after me, trotting next to my ankles once he caught up to me. I went back into the guest house and got dressed, my heart still pounding in my ears. I couldn't believe that I had let myself get embarrassed like that. I shouldn't have gone into the house like that in the first place. What if JJ had been in the kitchen? I didn't want Leanna to think I was encroaching on her man. I definitely wasn't interested in JJ. I ran my hand through my wavy hair before going back to the main house. Leanna, JJ, and TJ were sitting at the table. I guess they had all eaten breakfast already.

"Hey, Melody. This is TJ, he's JJ's younger brother. He's going to be staying with us for a while until he can find a place here." Leanna smiled at me, and TJ looked at me, his smile not giving anything away.

"It's nice to meet you, Melody." He sipped his coffee, and I gave him a small smile back. I looked down when I felt something licking my ankles. It was the puppy that JJ got my sister. He had called me this morning to ask me what kinds of dogs she liked. I picked him up and scratched him behind his ears.

"Nice to meet you too, TJ." I tried to hide half of my face behind the puppy since he was in my arms. He yawned as I scratched behind his ears.

"We named him Toro, isn't that adorable?" Leanna was smiling brightly. I could tell that she had been crying this morning based on the way her eyes looked, but she seemed perfectly happy now. Not fake, trying to convince everyone she was okay, happy but truly genuinely happy.

"Adorable." I smiled at my sister and put Toro back down on the floor when he started wiggling around in my arms.

"JJ and TJ have to go to a team meeting. Do you want to watch a movie or something while they're away?" She asked me as I poured myself a cup of coffee.

"Sure, Leanna. That sounds great." I said softly. I could feel TJ's eyes following me around the kitchen as I got creamer and sugar for my coffee.

"We should get going. Coach won't be very happy if we're late. When we come back, the four of us will go out to lunch." JJ kissed Leanna on the cheek and TJ followed him out of the kitchen as he left. I really hoped that my sister didn't notice the blush that came to my cheeks when TJ and I made eye contact on their way out.