Bad Desire: New Beginnings - Fast Forward

Chapter 47

"How are you feeling?" Louise asked as she took a seat beside Jess on the sofa.

Ellie was sat watching a movie alongside Harvey, while Mia and Addie were cuddled up on another sofa investigating the new phone Jack had given his daughter.

There wasn't a whole lot on it for them to do as Jack had given over one of his most basic old phones however, there were a few games and a camera and it was keeping them content for long enough.

"I'm okay." Jess nodded her head with a small smile.

It was the day after the guys had left and Jess hadn't quite expected herself to find the situation so difficult. She didn't know if it was partly because she was pregnant but her emotions were sky high.

Mia had ended up sleeping in the bed with her, while also not letting the phone out of her sight. Therefore, it had made the loneliness of the huge king sized bed much more manageable as she was cuddled up with her four year old.

"It's okay to get upset though. Even after being with Dan for 32 years, I still find it difficult. He hasn't driven me so completely crazy that I want him gone yet." Louise chuckled while answering honestly and Jess hadn't even thought that it could be the case.

Louise managed to put on a brave face through anything, a trait that Jack had most definitely picked up from his mum. She would go into difficult situations with her head held high and always find a positive in them to fixate on instead.

Therefore, hearing her say that Dan being away for a week was something she was also going to find hard, was refreshing to hear. It was good to know that Jess wasn't completely crazy for getting so emotional over such a short period of time and to know that it was just a natural feeling in love.

"What was it like when you used to take on the garage?" Jess went onto ask, knowing that the job she had been left with was one that Louise usually took on whenever they needed to go away.

"I remember the first time Dan asked me actually. He was only going away for a few days but I kicked up a huge fuss over being left in charge." Louise grinned and Jess couldn't even imagine Louise being the type of person to make any kind of fuss. "So you've started off much better than I did. I ended up spending the three days calling him constantly with hundreds of questions. I think I drove him insane."

"I think I'm going to be just like that with Jack." Jess chuckled, already feeling slightly worried and as though she had forgotten everything he had taught her regarding it. "There is just so much to remember."

"I think you're going to be absolutely fine without his help. You know more about this business than you give yourself credit for."

Louise's reassuring words were spoken with love as she reached out to take Jess' hand in hers. It was as though she was showing the exact same belief in her as Jack had shown and it was a good dose of confidence building for Jess to receive.

However, even though both had such faith in her being able to do the job just fine, there was still one question in the back of Jess' mind.

Why had Louise not wanted to do it?

She usually did it without even having to be asked so Jess was a little confused when Jack told her she had turned it down this time.

She already worked with Dan on the 'behind the scenes stuff' regarding the business anyway so it would have made a lot more sense for her to do it and take on that little bit extra. Therefore, Jess knew there had to be a reason behind her deciding she didn't want to take it on.

"Are you sure you don't want to be manager for the week?" Jess decided to approach the situation with a teasing expression.

"No, thank you!" Louise chuckled as she held her hands up. "I think it's about time it got passed down to my incredible daughter-in-law. I'm getting to old for it."

"Too old?!" Jess scrunched up her face considering Louise held the young age of 48 which was still crazy to process considering she had 32 and 28 year old sons. "You can definitely not consider yourself old yet, Louise."

"Nope! You're still young and fresh!" The small voice of Ellie was shouted across the room to make herself heard, causing both Jess and Louise to laugh.

"Well thank you, sweetie." Louise grinned at the brunette who was beaming back at her. "No but honestly." She then began once again as her attention was turned to Jess, this time with a much more serious expression. "I haven't been feeling all that up for work and that lately. I think I'm just having a moment, where I feel quite overwhelmed."

It made sense because since the age of 16, Louise had not stopped. She had given birth to Connor and from there life had continued at full speed. She had had gone on to get married, have Jack, work a full time job before partnering up with Dan on the business. She had then taken on the perfect job of a grandparent to not only Jess and Jack's children but Connor's and Gemma's too, not wanting to miss out on a second of them growing up.

Louise was like a superwoman and it was only a matter of time before it came back and hit her at full power. She was incredible and her way of handling so much at once, with a huge smile always on her face was something Jess admired and wanted to acquire for herself.

There was so much love in this woman and she was constantly throwing it out at everyone else that it made sense that she was finally feeling the strain.

"You've taken on a lot over the years." Jess agreed, understanding.

"I've loved it all though and I never want to miss out on a single thing. But, this time I had to step back." Louise continued as she peered over at her grandchildren spread out in the room. "At least I can spend these days with these little ones to help you out."

Jess was struggling to read the unspoken words behind what Louise was saying but her help with the children was most definitely going to be welcomed. It was going to be a long week and considering she was already missing Jack like crazy, it was only going to make the time pass slower.

Therefore, she knew she had to put on a Louise styled front and push through the days with the confidence that both her husband and mother-in-law so clearly had in her.

One of these days when the kids were all much older, she could end up being Jack's partner in crime for the business or she could go onto finding some other career that she liked even more. But either way, each one would need her to have some confidence in herself and her own abilities to ensure she pushed herself to do whichever one it turned out to be.

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