The Life of Esther Jameson

Chapter Twenty Two

Friday, July 14, 2018

I need to trust Jackson.

I just got a phone message from one of Kade’s friends. Turns out I was right to cut off the engagement while I still could since he was cheating on me the entire time. Was any of it real? Was Kade just messing with my emotions and then he’d dump me the day before the wedding? How would he have dumped me? Would he have done it in front of a lot of people or would it just be over text? I don’t even know what would have happened if we had actually gotten married. My finger felt weird now that there was no constant pressure of the ring on there. The diamond that sparkled in the light wasn’t there anymore. It was gone.

Jackson and I started dating but I don’t want the same thing to happen again. I trusted Jackson once and then that saved my life. But then he started acting weird and then left me when he went to college for three years. Three long years of Jackson and I having our differences. That grudge will probably never go away.

Oh, my gosh, I’m totally running out of room in this diary. That’s scary. I don’t know what I’d do without this. It’s one of the only things left of my mom that I can hold onto. The diary was something that won’t squirm in my arms like Luke. The diary was nice and quiet, unlike Jenny. The diary wasn’t in jail and had a limited time that I can spend time with.

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“When is Kade coming back?” Jackson asked, clenching his hands into fists. “I really want to do something that I saw in a kung fu movie.”

“He’ll be back in a week,” I said. “It’s just a quick trip. And no, you can’t do the one inch punch on Kade.”

“Then we have an entire week to ourselves.”

His phone buzzed and Jackson grimaced.

“You’ll need to take that,” I said.

“It’s probably…” Jackson looked at the caller ID. “Kenith?”

I waited for Jackson to take the call.

“Hello? Kenith, slow down...what the heck? Karla is - “ Jackson looked at me like he was about to scream. “Yeah, she’s right here. No, I’m not staring into her eyes like a - shut up, Kenith!”

“Jackson…” I looked at him.

“Stop talking you dimwit, I’m trying to give the phone to Esther.” Jackson rolled his eyes and handed me his phone. “It’s Kenith.”

“Kenith, you better have a good explanation for making Jackson yell at you,” I said.

“Feisty, Snips,” Kenith chuckled on the other end of the line.

“Get on with it.”

“Okay, so you know how I proposed to Karla?”

“How can I forget? You talked about it for two weeks straight. I don’t think I ever heard you stop and take a breath.”

“Yeah, yeah. Anyways, she and I decided on a date for the wedding. Well, she decided on a date for the wedding. Anyways, she’s finally agreeing to marry me so that’s the big news.” Kenith was rambling on like a two year old who had caffeine. He probably was on caffeine but he always had a Red Bull by his bed. Or so he told us.

“That’s awesome, Kenith!” I smiled. “You can’t see us, but Jackson is practically jumping up and down.”

“I am not!” Jackson said and tugged my ear.

Kenith laughed. “You two are absolutely insufferable.”

I rolled my eyes and laughed into the phone. And then I remembered everything that had happened recently, and there was something important that we all needed to hear. “Ken, are you free tomorrow?”