Jelly's Big Night Out Read online

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Thank You For Reading

  About the Author

  Also by Patty Campbell

  JELLY’S NIGHT OUT

  Copyright © 2022 by Patty Campbell

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  ISBN: 978-1-955784-80-1

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  Published by Satin Romance

  An Imprint of Melange Books, LLC

  White Bear Lake, MN 55110

  www.satinromance.com

  * * *

  Names, characters, and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

  * * *

  Published in the United States of America.

  * * *

  Cover Design by Ashley Redbird Designs

  This book is dedicated to my dear friend and author, Molly Jebber. She and I have been critiquing partners for many years. I write contemporary love stories and Molly writes Amish/Christian love stories. We have come to depend on each other’s straight talk and honest editing to improve our novels. Of all my books, Jelly’s Big Night Out has always been Molly’s favorite.

  * * *

  I also want to give a shout-out to Ashley Redbird, my creative and tireless cover artist.

  Chapter One

  Simi Valley, California

  Tuesday, 7:30 a.m.

  “What? I have a conference with your teacher this morning?” Jelly looked at her kid sister. “I swear, Martha Elizabeth, you keep pulling this kind of baloney, one of these days I’m going to…” She mimicked a choking motion with her hands and scowled.

  Emi stood glaring at her, her usual defiant stance. She was clearly trying for a mean look, but her sweet face at fourteen still had some rosy baby fat. The oversize Jonas Brothers tee shirt hung almost to her knees over faded jeans. Jelly struggled to keep a straight face.

  “Don’t call me that! My name is Emi. Go ahead and kill me if you want to. It must run in the family. Then you can go up to Folsom and share Daddy’s cell.”

  Jelly heaved a sigh. “Let’s leave Daddy out of it for today, all right?” She turned back to the mirror to finish her hair. “You must have known about this teacher conference for days. Why are you telling me now? Are you in some kind of trouble?”

  Hands on her hips, Emi yelled, “No! I just forgot, okay?” She flashed her big sister a look of disapproval. “You can’t go see Mr. Henry looking like that. You wear way too much makeup and stuff.”

  “Look, kiddo.” Jelly turned from the mirror and pointed at her face. “This is the way I look. This is the way I dress. Live with it. At least I don’t go around looking like I live in a homeless shelter.” She dropped her brush on the counter. “You know that today is the biggest sale of the year for Big Night Out. I’ve planned and advertised it for weeks. How am I supposed to take off for an hour or more in the middle of the morning? My new girl started yesterday. I haven’t even had time to train her.” She closed the door on the medicine cabinet with a sharp snap. “You make me nuts, Emi.”

  “I know the feeling.”

  Jelly mimicked her posture. “You know the feeling? Tell me, please, what is it that I’ve done so wrong in the past twelve years? I quit school to take care of you when Daddy went to jail. We were lucky this house was paid off, or we’d have been on the street.

  “Aunt Martha helped to keep the Child Welfare people from putting both of us in foster care. I don’t even have a life to call my own!”

  “Thank you, thank you, thank you, Jelly. Wait right here while I get the violin so I can accompany the sad story I’ve heard, like, a bazillion times all my life.”

  “Don’t even think of touching Mom’s violin. I told you it was off limits unless you agreed to take lessons.”

  “And play that dumb boring stuff you listen to?”

  “Paganini is dumb and boring? Oh, well, how would you know? You’re probably deaf from that ear splitting crap you listen to.” She sighed again. “You’re such a smart ass.” Jelly finished with the hairspray and put on her shoulder length sparkly red earrings, pleased at how great they went with her russet hair and purple silk blouse.

  “You care more about that dumb store than you do about me!” The hurt in Emi’s eyes was real, even though she bit her lip and did her best to hide it.

  She reached out and put her arm around Emi’s shoulders. She tried to shrink away, but Jelly wouldn’t let go. “You know that’s not true, baby. The store is what keeps a roof over our heads and food on the table.”

  Emi picked up her book bag when the doorbell rang. “Are you coming to see Mr. Henry at eleven or not?”

  “Please tell me that’s not Marco.”

  “It’s Marco. I’m walking to school with him. Are you coming at eleven or not?”

  Jelly nodded. “Of course I’m coming. Don’t ask me how, but I’ll find a way to get there.” She walked with Emi to the front door.

  Marco had backed away from the door and stood on the first step. When the door opened, he glanced briefly at Jelly and looked down at his battered shoes. He went dark red in the face and neck. Jelly was sure the kid had never looked directly at her. She shook her head with dismay at his grungy appearance, grateful that at least Emi hadn’t pierced her nose or had barbed wire tattooed on her wrists. God, how his mother’s heart must sink every time she looked at the little hoodlum. His frayed jeans hung so low on his hips they looked as if they were about to slip off. The only thing Jelly approved of was the colorful retro tie-dyed tee shirt he wore.

  “Good morning, Marco.”

  Face even redder, he gave Jelly a nanosecond glance and mumbled something that might have been an intelligent response. But how could she tell? Emi slung her huge backpack over her shoulder, said a quick, “Bye,” brushed past her, and closed the door.

  Jelly turned back to the kitchen. The window was open, and she overheard their conversation from the front porch. She peeked out to see Marco and Emi talking while Emi sat on the step to re-tie her high-top tennis shoes.

  “Hey,” Marco mumbled. His skinny shoulders were six inches above
Emi’s when she stood with her head thrust down and forward under the weight of her book bag.

  “Hey.”

  “Your sister really looks pretty this morning.”

  “Pretty? You need your eyes examined, you geek.”

  “You’re the one who needs an eye examination. She’s hot. She’s beautiful. I’m in love with her.” He gave Emi a big grin, which she returned with an incredulous and sour expression.

  She shook her head in disbelief. “Huh. Well then, at least she has one guy in love with her. She’s never ever had a single boyfriend, you know.”

  Jelly took exception to that remark and had to stop herself from saying so, thus giving away the fact she was eavesdropping.

  “That’s because she’s so gorgeous she scares them all away. Every time I look at her, I wish I was eighteen.”

  Jelly shook her head, and a smile bloomed on her face at Marco’s words.

  “Eighteen! She’d still be ten years older than you. She’s too old now to ever, like, get a serious boyfriend. Anyway, she’s probably a lez.”

  What!

  Marco flashed another lopsided grin in Emi’s direction. “You look a little bit like her, you know.”

  “I hate you, Marco Roy Rogers.”

  “No ya don’t Martha Elizabeth Swanson. You’re just jealous because I’m in love with your big sister. How’d she ever get a goofy name like Jelly?”

  This elicited an evil little giggle from Emi. “I couldn’t say Julie Lea when I was little. I called her Jelly, and it stuck. Now everybody calls her that.”

  Marco seemed amused by Emi’s self-satisfied remark.

  “She dresses like a cheap hooker,” Emi grumbled.

  “What do you know about cheap hookers?”

  “I go to the movies. I watch TV.”

  “Yeah, like they know.”

  Jelly watched as the two of them stepped off the porch and headed down the front walk, turning in the direction of school.

  Santa Susana Magnet High School loomed into view at the far end of two long blocks. Marco and Emi waved to a couple of kids. Jelly watched them for half a minute more and headed for her bedroom to look for her gold sandals with the ruby red fake gems. Below her pink broomstick skirt with hot pink hibiscus flowers printed on it, they added just the right touch to her outfit.

  She wondered where her flamboyant taste in clothing and accessories had come from. Not Mom, surely. She was the quintessential lady. Aunt Martha? No, Aunt Martha was more like Aunt Bea on the old Mayberry reruns that Emi loved.

  She gave herself the once-over in the full-length mirror, flipped up the ends of her hair, smiled with approval, grabbed purse and keys, and headed out. She’d have to figure out some way to be out of the store between eleven and one. Maybe ask Sally?

  Jelly was a workaholic who ran her store single handedly until she finally gave herself a break and hired her first employee. She spent months acquiring discarded wardrobes of Hollywood’s biggest names for her once-a-year sale at the high-end, gently-used clothing store.

  Movie and TV stars soon grew tired of their clothes. They had hundreds of pairs of expensive shoes that had been worn once, if at all. Women in the limelight seldom appeared at a fancy function in the same outfit twice for fear of making the front page of The National Inquirer.

  Sally Lewis, her best friend, owned the travel agency next door to Big Night Out. Maybe she could come to Jelly’s store for a couple of hours and help her new girl. Jelly prayed she’d come to her rescue one more time.

  Chapter Two

  Big Night Out

  Tuesday, 9:05 a.m.

  After surveying her store one last time to make sure everything looked good for the sale, Jelly locked up. She walked next door to Unique World, Sally’s travel agency. Big Night Out didn’t open for another hour.

  “Morning, Susan. Is Sally in yet?”

  Sally’s office manager slid back her chair and looked out her office door with a friendly grin. “Hi, Jelly. She just got here. Go on back, I’ll buzz her and let her know you’re on the way.”

  Sally smiled as she listened to Jelly’s newest dilemma and agreed to send over an employee to help at BNO for a couple of hours so Jelly could go to Emi’s teacher conference.

  Jelly jumped up and rounded Sally’s desk, where she embraced Sally and kissed the top of her head several times. “Thank you, thank you, and thank you. You saved my life.”

  “I don’t think so, but I may be called on to do so one of these days. Go talk to Susan. I have a flight from Burbank Airport in less than two hours. Go.” She stood and smiled as Jelly’s face dissolved into a big, relieved smile.

  “Love you, Sal.”

  “Love you, too.”

  Jelly turned as she was leaving. “See you at the corner at seven thirty tonight?”

  “Count on it. By the time I get back from the state capital, I’ll need that long walk. Gotta go.” She gave Jelly a quick shove. “Beat it.”

  Santa Susana High School

  Tuesday, 11:10 a.m.

  Jelly screeched her lipstick-red Mustang to a stop in the student parking lot, grabbed her purse, and jumped out of the car. She slammed the door, catching the hem of her skirt. The only thing that kept her from falling flat on her face was the strong elastic in the waist. She grabbed at the top of the hood, took a deep breath, and unlocked the door. After re-arranging her clothes, she shook her wavy hair, straightened her shoulders, and headed for the school library.

  The large room was deserted except for a tall, skinny guy with a mop of black hair reading the bulletin board. His back was to her. “Oh, I’m, uh…” she stammered as he turned to face her.

  Time stopped. Jelly stared at his striking angular face with gray eyes exactly the color of her own. She was unable to speak and thought she might be in the middle of a petit mal seizure, not that she would know. Every book in the library took on a glow of bright color, and the windows gleamed in the mid-morning sun. Sparkling, golden dust motes floated in a shaft of sunlight. The chairs and tables seemed to hover just above the plaid carpeted floor. Jelly had been in this library many times but never realized how beautiful and, well, perfect it was. She forgot about her store, forgot about everything.

  Henry Palasczewski stood rooted to the floor, stunned by a vision of the most beautiful, sexy woman he had ever occupied the same room with. Except for her soft gray eyes, she glittered from head to toe, a grown-up woodland fairy with perfect breasts, a slender waist, and shapely ankles. Afraid he might be drooling, he swallowed noisily. His Adam’s apple bounced. Every one of her perfect toenails was painted candy apple red, her strawberry blonde hair a shining nimbus surrounding her perfect face. She couldn’t possibly be real. Could she?

  He shook his head, suddenly conscious of his long arms and big hands. He didn’t know what to do with his hands, so he shoved them deep into his pockets.

  The vision spoke, “Mr. Pal, uh Pala, Mr. Palashhh—”

  Henry croaked, cleared his throat, and tried again. “Ms. Swanson?” The dream creature who stood before him couldn’t possibly be Martha’s mother.

  Jelly cocked her head at Henry’s deep baritone. “Yes, I’m, uh, Swanson. Julie Lea Swanson, Mr. Pala—How do you say your name?”

  Henry extended his right hand, looked at it, quickly withdrew it, and jammed it back into his pocket. Once he began talking, he couldn’t seem to stop himself. “Pol-ah-shevski, but everyone here calls me Henry, or Mr. Henry or, once in a while, Dr. Henry. Because almost nobody can, uh, say Palasczewski.” A blush crept up his neck and stopped at his jaw line.

  Henry was sure his lungs had collapsed when she twisted her bright red lips. Ms. Swanson had the most kissable lips he’d ever seen. Get a grip, man, he told himself. Henry cleared his throat again in an attempt to speak about the reason for the conference. There was a reason he was sure, but it took a moment for him to get his bearings.

  Charmed by his blush, Jelly was sorry when he stopped speaking. His mellow, nearly god-like, Sam
Elliott baritone echoed deep in her chest. She wished he’d take those wonderful big hands out of his pockets so she could see them again. “I’m sorry I was late. Emi—Martha—she didn’t tell me about this meeting until after breakfast today. Is she in trouble or something?”

  Henry shook his head with vigor to emphasize that his student was in no trouble. “No, no trouble. She’s a wonderful student. I thought perhaps we should talk about her future.”

  Jelly wrinkled her nose. “Future? She’s only fourteen.”

  “No, yes, uh, shall we sit?” He gestured to the chairs, then sat after she did. Jelly noticed him clamp his big hands on his knees to still his trembling legs.

  Yes, she thought, sit before I fall down. What’s wrong with me? She pursed her lips in confusion. He’s not even a good dresser. Crocs? Faded jeans with a dress shirt? Crooked tie? Not exactly your Armani fashion model. But there was something…

  Without Jelly knowing why, they both suddenly burst into relieved laughter and exchanged broad smiles.