Chapter 1

Jack slowly pushed the grocery cart towards his SUV, while he muttered small dark evil curses at the cart while it kept veering off towards to the left about every two seconds. It was the usual with him, no matter where or how careful he was about selecting a cart, it always ended up being a lame horse needing a quick bullet to put it out of its misery. It had started shortly after he pushed it to the far end of the store, grabbing a loaf of bread from the rack. As he pushed the cart off towards the vegetables and fruits, eying the raspberries that were on sale, it happened; the evil possessed cart started pulling sharply to the left towards the rack of bread. Shaking his head with annoyance he did the time honored tradition of grumbling while trying to tactfully aim a kick at the metal contraption without making a scene.

Finally putting the second to last bag into the back of the black ford explorer, turning to grab the last one he saw a woman standing there frowning at him with small hands on her hips. She looked slightly familiar, as well as was quite beautiful. Standing about five and a half feet tall, slender and a dark set of blue eyes. Her pale skin would look odd on most people, but for her it fitted. Her long thick black hair was pulled back into a very loose pony tail.

"Excuse me, your Jack Mafford, right?" the beautiful woman asked, her eyes were smiling but the frown was giving Jack a very awkward feeling.

"Umm, yes mam I am." Jack mumbled to her. Jacks' jaw was still aching from yesterdays extraction of his two upper wisdom teeth.

The next thing Jack saw was the woman winding back and slapping the ever loving crap out of him.

"What in th-?" Was all he got out before he felt the throbbing pain kick itself into high gear from a dull throb to a stabbing torment of pain. He slowly shook his head from side to side as he heard her start to laugh.

"Thats for cheating on me Jack, when we were-." She started, before Jack looked at her and then slowly turned away.

Jack was in pain, he wasn't going to lie. Yes he had been punched by some of the hardest hitters in the world, but this was just not the same. Her hand must have hit the exact spot of the still open wound in his mouth. He rested his hand on the tail of the car ignoring her words as he opened his mouth and allowed a fresh flow off red blood to spill out of his mouth making a nice small puddle on the yellow parking line next to his car.

"Oh my god! Jack I swear I didn't hit you that hard." she said, as she came close and started to squat down in front of him.

Waving her away, Jack continued to let the blood run from his mouth for a few moments while he pulled his mind away from the ache. It wasn't a macho thing for him to center himself away from the pain, it was just a way of putting it off to the side. He shook his head again, and then looked up to the woman who was accusing him of something he had no clue about. Worrying about whether she was one of those dreaded stalker fans he heard about, Jack pulled himself up to his full height.

"Mam, I have to be completely honest with you. I have no clue who you are, or why you just slapped me, but please allow me to go my on way now." Violence against women had never really crossed his mind, except the time his sister once kneed him in the man berries while in middle school. But right now, he just wanted to find the sweet spot on her chin and see if he could still knock someone out.

"No. No, no, no! That was really not how this played out in my head ... I mean I thought it might sting a bit, but..." The woman said before Jack raised his hand in defeat.

"It's fine mam, I am sure in your mind, I had not just had wisdom teeth extracted, and thinking I had a steel jaw, I would be just fine. But please ... If you do not mind. I will be going now." Jack mumbled as he pushed his cart over to the cart corral, grabbing the last bag of groceries. He went back to the slender woman standing beside his SUV and nodded his head. Opening the driver side door he slipped inside quickly shutting the door behind him as he quickly situated himself and started the vehicle up.

Pulling away he could see the raven haired woman frowning to herself, her eyes seemed be glistening as he quickly shifted to drive and drove off shaking his head.

"What the fuck was wrong with that woman?" Jack groaned as he pulled out of the parking lot.

Driving quickly home he didn't bother with unloading the groceries as he had built himself a good head of steam on the drive, slamming the door as the garage door closed itself. Walking into the kitchen he even growled as he slammed the door between the kitchen and the garage, he spit blood into the kitchen sink as Mandy walked into the kitchen in what had to be the smallest bathrobe he had ever seen, if not for the pain in his jaws he would have swept her into his arms, kissing her as only she absolutely deserved.

Instead, he spit more blood from his mouth an looked around the counter for where he left the Advil, grabbing a bottle he got four out and swallowed them with a glass of water. Mandy just stood there looking at him, her head was tilted to the side in a confused look of wondering what exactly was going on.

"Jack what happened?" Mandy asked, just as the doorbell rung from the front door.

Jack just waved her away, he was hurting and he was confused as hell himself. Walking back towards the door to the garage, Jack continued to shake his head as he heard Mandy run to the front door to see who it was.

Grabbing the five bags he had from the store, he grouched to himself as he thought of his hopes at just having a simple run to the store and back while Mandy was showering, just getting the essentials he said to her through the door as he grabbed his wallet. Just the essentials, which turned into a evil shopping cart and blood spitting slap. 'What the hell was with today', Jack wanted to know as he wondered in exactly whose karmic cosmic Cheerios he accidentally pissed in.

Walking back into the kitchen he sat the groceries on the large island counter in the middle of the kitchen, looking down into the bags he checked again to make sure he did indeed get all of the things he went to the store for. Looking up he saw Mandy the love of his life standing there looking at him with a very confused expression, with the raven haired woman who had slapped the shit out of him just minutes ago. The very first thing he thought as he looked to the woman, was 'Oh shit, now she will probably shoot me.'.

"What the fuck are you doing here, I am going to call the police if you do not leave this instant." Jack said raising his voice, it hurt to open his jaws that wide, but he was pissed off and more than a small bit worried for Mandy's safety. He started heading for mandy as her picked up the phone to call the police.

Mandy leaned back as if pushed from the shock of hearing his words to the woman beside her, she opened her mouth to ask Jack exactly what the hell was going on, when the dark haired woman at her side, sobbed loudly.

"Jack I guess you don't recognize me, but..."

"Your damn right I don't, and if this is some crackpot child support bullshit, it will not work. I have not slept with any women in the past six years." he said loudly, though if he had to be truthful, he did sleep with Mandy every single night(and quite often during the day if possible), she looked extremely familiar, but not in the way I had sex with you but can't remember way, he couldn't place the woman from where he knew he remembered her.

"Jack what the hell is wrong with you? This is Mia! Your girlfriend when you were in junior high!" Mandy said loudly, clearly exasperated.

Mia just stood there, tears slowly running over her eyelids and sliding down her cheeks as she shook her head and turned towards Mandy. "I slapped him just a few minutes ago for cheating on me back then..." She said as she reached up wiping the tears from her cheeks, shaking her head sadly.

"You what!?" She almost screeched as she turned on Mia.

"Mia..." Jack said, groaning as her face quickly changed from the beautiful woman she was to the raven haired young girl he had his first kiss with. The years had obviously been good to her, she was just as stunningly beautiful to him as Mandy, if he was honest with himself. Looking to Mandy, as he saw her turn from confused woman who was aggravated at him, to a mother bear protecting her cub.

Jack quickly moved over to Mandy and pulled her back and to his side just slightly.

"Mandy. Calm down, she had no clue about the surgery." He said looking down into her deep green eyes.

Looking to Mia, Jack tried to smile for her, but ended up giving her a lopsided grimace of a smile with pain mixed in. The pain was quickly settling back down to the familiar dull ache he had become accustomed to. She smiled back sadly through her tears as she shook her head, mumbling quietly to herself.

"What was that, Mia?" Mandy asked as she quickly quelled her temper and walked up to her. She wrapped her arm around the girls shoulders as she looked up to Jack, "Way to make a beautiful young woman cry, ya big brute..." She said laughingly to him, his look of shock at his sister was almost comical as his mouth slowly gaped open at her, then she winked and helped the girl over towards a stool next to the counter.

"I was just muttering how my head always makes things out to be better ideas than they really are." Mia said quietly as she sat down, she then shook her head quickly at Mandy "Its my fault really, I shouldn't have slapped him like that. Its just I..." her voice petered out as she looked up to Jack. "I'm sorry, Jack. I honestly had no clue."

"It's ok, Mandy. You had no way of knowing what happened, though even then the slap might have not been such a good idea." Jack shook his head, the pain wasn't being numbed by the pain meds yet, but it was getting better.

Mumbling again something too faint for him to hear, Mandy though quickly turned her head and stared at the woman sitting beside her. She started chuckling quietly, as she leaned over to a subdued Mia. Whispering quietly for a few moments to her, she just laughed at the whole situation. Looking to Jack she motioned for him to take the seat across from Mia, as she got up.

"Ok kiddos you both sit, I will get the groceries put away." Mandy said as she started grabbing the fruit from the first bag she got into.

Nodding his head, Jack smiled to his sister, looking back to Mia, he said, "Ok, all the sorries and its ok words are done, how about telling me what exactly that was about." he said as he reached across the counter and lightly patted her folded hands. Then as something just occurred to him he said, "I never did cheat on you though, if that makes any difference."

Mia looked up at him with a frown for a moment, before shaking her head. "That's not what I heard." Shaking her head again, "But that is neither here nor now." she grabbed a napkin from the holder on the counter and wiped her face quickly, then sighed loudly.

"All I was thinking was when I saw you and really knew it was you I Kept thinking, 'Wow, what a face from the past. I wonder if he even remembers me.' Then somehow I started some silly plot in my head, something like I go up slap you and say what I did ... I mean I really am not that mad at you, it was almost sixteen years ago. Somehow in my stupid fantasy of what I was going to do, I didn't equate it to a bad thing, more like a really different way of saying what a blast from the past ... kinda a bad pun I know ... but..." she said as Jack chuckled just slightly at the way she was rambling, and the very bad pun she put in her story.

"So I kinda followed you through the store. Walked out behind you, and while you were loading up your groceries I worked my courage up." She shrugged her bare shoulders in a kind of self depreciating shrug, and went on. "Then I went up, just knowing you would recognize me and whapped you a good one ... Thinking this will be so funny, he will laugh and ... Well yeah, that and erm..." Mia started to blush, but Jack couldn't figure out if it was from something he was missing with her tale or if it was something else.

Mandy picked that time though to start snickering quietly, then loudly said "AND ... Mia the full story." She said with a little mischievous grin.

Mia looked quickly to Mandy, and blushed even more.

"Come on Mia, tell him what you muttered just a while ago before I whispered what I did to you." Mandy prodded.

Blushing almost scarlet, which made Jack tilt his head in wonder. On her skin it didn't look so much like being embarrassed as it did make her pale skin even more beautiful, it was odd to express on exactly what it did, but it made him uncomfortable, but not in a bad way.

"I ... I ... I said, and then he would sweep me in dip like a male dancer does to his partner and kiss me." Mia said quickly then brought her right hand up in an adorable mannerism of covering her mouth, as if she was trying to recapture the words she said as they slipped past her lips.

Jack looked stunned for a moment, and then quickly looked over to Mandy with barely concealed agitation. "Don't be rude Mandy, she shouldn't have had to say that. And what about..." Jack said as he frowned, but Mandy to his absolute confusion just winked to him. Jack was about to say more, when she shook her head just slightly, telling him to stop. Quickly thinking of what he was about to say to her, concerning him kissing another woman. It would have been an instant mistake, and he knew most likely a very bad one. If it ever got out that they were more to each other than best friends and siblings ... Well it could ruin their lives.

Looking quickly back to Mia, he tried smiling, but couldn't think of a thing to say to the now confused but curious woman. Grasping at straws he said "Why would you have thought I cheated on you?" He smiled inwardly at what he thought was a good save.

Mia for her part looked dumbfounded for a moment as it took her a quick second to comprehend what he asked, then she did frown. "Emily Ligget, told me you and her had started dating each other and that you called me an Ice Queen because I didn't do much beyond kissing with you."

Jack just goggled at Mia while he heard Mandy loudly clear her throat, "That little brat never dated my brother or anything else!" Mandy said as she stepped to stand beside a seated Jack.

"She did have some massive breasts though... "Jack informed Mandy as he looked to her snickering at his comment.

"Yeah overstuffed like a pillow, which was all they were. I remember seeing her topless once in the girls locker room, how those huge things went from big breasts to small little golf balls ... It was just tissue paper and duct tape!" Mandy laughed, then looked a bewildered Mia.

"Well shit!" Mia exclaimed with a laugh, "That's why I never returned your calls!" She said shaking her head at the memory of herself being so heartbroken as a teenager. "She and her two friends saw me at the strip mall a couple blocks from my house, I knew them slightly from seeing them around town. But since I went to a different school, I only faintly knew who they were. I remember them telling me all the gory details about what she did with you, I was so mad and hurt I just ran home and locked myself up for a couple of days, crying my eyes out."

"Yeah I wondered about that, I was pretty upset myself when you refused to speak to me. Then when you mother called me a little asshole I couldn't comprehend what the heck I did. Though that does explain why Emily tried to get me to go out with her not even a couple days later." Jack mused quietly to both of them. It was a kind of revelation to him, he remembered his days of being with Mia quite fondly, even if they were just young little crushes; especially now he saw how beautiful she turned out.

"Yeah I was very naive and foolish when I was young, so I instantly thought the worst. Especially since she had such large breasts, and with me barely having anything."

Mandy snickered and slapped Jack lightly on the shoulder, "He's a breast man, but not the big ones, he likes em small." she said while smiling, and he could swear he almost saw her look at her own before smiling at Mia.

Mia nodding her head, just sighed. "Well I guess when I heard about her getting put in jail a couple years back for selling drugs, me being just a small bit happy wasn't so bad." She said as she was smiling to Mandy.

Mandy just smirked along with Mia.

"So Mia, how did you get to the house?" Jack asked

"As soon as you pulled out and drove to the main road, I ran back to my car and raced after you. I just couldn't help myself, I had to come apologize to you for what I did. I pretty much stayed behind you the whole way, then you got way ahead of me and I just saw a vehicle turn into your garage on this street when I turned onto it. I wasn't sure it was you, but I took a chance and knocked on your door. When Mandy opened the door, I knew I had the right house. I remembered her from that time I came over and hung out with you both, I remember how gorgeous she was, and how I wished I could be as pretty as her."