Last First Kiss by Kimberly Killion, Lori H. Leger

hurting.”
    Jackson walked off to find Giselle, who was just walking away from a couple. He watched her catch her side and wince in pain. Jackson hurried over to her and grabbed her arm to help support her. “Okay, you’re going into the kitchen right now to eat something.”
    She shook her head and placed a hand over her stomach. “Honestly, Jackson, I’m not hungry.”
    “Look, I’ve had a broken rib before. You can’t take that pain medication without food and you can’t let it wear off completely, or you’ll be miserable.”
    He led her past the others and straight into the kitchen area where he seated her, fixed her a plate of sandwiches, and pushed a bottle of water into her hand.
    Jackson pushed the plate to Giselle. “Now eat.”
    She made a face at him. “I’m uncomfortable eating alone.”
    He got up to place four sandwich halves into a plate and grabbed another bottle of water, before sitting across from her.
    Giselle smiled shyly at him as she nibbled at her sandwich. “What were you four discussing in here earlier?”
    He chuckled. “Your girls are something else...That Lexie.”
    “You don’t have to tell me. You cannot imagine some of the things that come out of that child’s mouth.”
    He proceeded to relate the entire conversation he and Bill had with her girls, in turn, making her laugh out loud then blush with embarrassment.
    At the next lull in conversation, she turned to Jackson. “Carrie said Chloe left a letter leaving instructions for her arrangements.”
    He nodded. “An extremely informative little note, but you don’t need to hear about that.”
    “I’d like to, if you don’t mind telling me. It would keep me from thinking about all this.” She waved her hand.
    He nodded, and began to tell her some of the content of the letter, omitting the parts only he and his attorney knew about. He hesitated before telling her about the pregnancy and scheduled abortion. “That’s why she was so impatient when we left the coliseum the day of the accident. She needed to drive to Beaumont.”
    “Let’s go,” Giselle murmured.
    “Excuse me?”
    “Toby and I saw her turn to you and say ‘Let’s Go’. It looked like she yelled it at you.”
    Jackson snorted. “You’re lucky that’s all you saw.”
    “Was it always that bad?” she asked.
    “The mood swings and temper-tantrums started after the first year. I’ve discovered recently that she’d slept around since day one, even at our wedding with the ‘not so’ best man.”
    “Good Lord, Jackson. What kind of friends did you have?”
    Jackson laughed and shook his head. “He wasn’t my friend...wasn’t supposed to be my best man. But, that’s another long story. Maybe I’ll tell you about it someday. Anyway, Chloe’s gone, and I can’t get myself to grieve for her. I think she did me a favor. I don’t have to go through this hell.”
    “You’ve already been through your hell, Jackson.”
    “Maybe,” he shrugged. “Those pain killers working yet?”
    “Yeah, I think so.” She took a deep breath. “I can breathe now. I need to find my girls and make sure they eat some lunch, if they’re not too full on jelly donuts.”
    Oh, give ’em a break today, Mom.” He helped her stand.
    “I don’t know, if I give them an inch...,” she told him.
    The two of them walked to the front, he with a slight limp, and she, with one arm clenched up to her side and the other held by Jackson. She walked past the first row of chairs where Carrie and her girls sat, and gripped one side of Toby’s casket.
    “Hey, Baby,” she whispered, gazing down at her husband’s handsome face and wondered, for the hundredth time, how she would be able to live without gazing upon his features ever again. How could she do without the feel of his arms around her, or next to her in bed? How could she possibly do it? She couldn’t bear to think about tomorrow.
     
     

 
     
     
     
    CHAPTER 5
     
     
    The morning of Toby’s funeral, Giselle