by Linda Kage
It had started because of Drew, though. Drew, who’d made her want to live again and then turned out to be an enemy.
As if growing uncomfortable with the deepening mood growing between them, Piper cleared her throat and stepped back. "Well, I’m headed off for the evening. I’ll see you later … maybe tomorrow."
Mia nodded. "Have fun."
"Oh, I will," Piper assured. Then she waved and started for the exit. "Tootles."
Shaking her head, Mia decided her friend was acting perfectly typical. They could be in the middle of a conversation and she’d change tracks in a heartbeat, shifting gears and leaving or changing the subject.
Mia grinned for a second. At least something was still normal. But as she thought about being normal again, Drew’s face wavered into her head. Smile dropping, she started for the phone and dialed a number she’d memorized from a certain business card.
"Harper Studio," that oh-so-familiar voice answered.
Her heart skipped a beat. Oh, great. He still affected her like no one else ever had. Gritting her teeth, she growled, "I just want you to know you’re wrong."
There was a pause and then, "Excuse me?" He sounded totally baffled.
"My roommate isn’t dating your brother-in-law. Okay?" At least he wasn’t dating her anymore, which was all that mattered to Mia.
She heard his breath catch. "Mia. What—you mean, you didn’t know the truth yourself until just now?"
She growled. He wasn’t supposed to assume that. He was supposed to be apologetic for causing such a stir … for believing the worst about her best friend … for upsetting her and trying to use her. He wasn’t supposed to be happy.
"Ohhh, never mind," she muttered, too frustrated to berate him.
Hanging up before he could give any kind of excuse, Mia jumped when the phone rang only seconds after disconnecting. When she saw the Harper Studio number blink across her caller ID, she ignored it. Five rings later, the answering machine picked up and after Piper told him to leave a message … he did.
"Mia, will you please pick up and talk to me?"
She gasped. He was actually going to leave a message? She picked up the phone and disconnected. While she erased his message, he called again. She turned off the ringer and then the answering machine.
She backed up, staring at the phone as if daring it to ring now. When it didn’t, she wondered if he’d try coming over.
Not wanting to stick around for that, she snagged her keys and purse off an end table and booked it out of there. Once she was in her car, she wasn’t sure where to go, so she decided to meet Gary anyway and let him know her change in plans. Not that there’d been a big change. She’d always carried reservations about going out with him. Moving on didn’t seem so easy or desirable when it was Gary she was supposed to meet.
That had to be the most depressing factor in her decision to dislike Drew. Even after he’d lied to her and then admitted he still wanted to expose her roommate, he continued to affect her more than all the others. Why that was remained a mystery.
Once she reached Club 808, she found a spot to park and gathered her purse close as she walked to meet Gary inside. She was still decked out in her nice clothes. A knee-length black skirt and flowery short-sleeved shirt. Conservative yet cute.
Once she reached the gated exterior where she could peek in and see the outside seating, she paused when she caught sight of Gary … with Piper.
Piper?
What the—
"Thanks for explaining everything to me, Piper," Gary clutched her upper arm and sent her a warm smile.
They stood close, like they knew each other well. Too well. His head tilted down intimately beside Piper’s and she looked up at him, appearing very concerned as she bit her lip and asked, "So, you’re not mad at her for standing you up?"
He shook his head. "No, of course not. After you just told me what happened to her, I understand her reservations. No hard feelings." He held up his hands as if that proved it. "I swear."
Obviously relieved, Piper’s chest heaved as she puffed out a breath. Then she threw herself at him and hugged him hard, closing her eyes as she rested her face on his chest. "Thank you. Thank you so much, Gary. You have no idea what this means to me. She’s a great person, she really is. She’s just going through a hard time right now."
Lifting her head, she glanced up at him from between a thick set of long lashes. "Do you think you’ll see her again if she feels ready in few months?"
Gary backed up at that question, looking too uncomfortable to answer, though that was answer enough for Mia. No way would he want to go out with her again after hearing what had happened. Too much baggage. Too must disgust.
Though she didn’t blame him, she was relieved she didn’t have worry about filling any expectations. But along with the relief came hurt. She backed away from the metal, gated wall separating them, not sure what to do … what to think. Piper had just told him her tragedy. It made her wonder. Had her roommate gone around to everyone and explained Mia’s problems? Had she told Drew?
Shuddering, she wondered what Drew thought of her now. He hadn’t mentioned his knowledge of her past either time they’d spoken on the phone since Piper had cut his hair. But then, Mia had been too busy on both occasions berating him to give him the opportunity.
Oh, God, she’d yelled at him, accusing him of being awful. And all this time, he might’ve known what she’d done to the one person she loved most in the world.
It was a sobering realization. She wondered what his initial response had been. Disgust? Loathing? Pity? She could handle the first two. It was exactly what had been plaguing her for three years. But pity? No, that was all wrong. Every time someone told her they were sorry about what happened, the guilt and blame slammed into her a hundred times stronger. It sliced into her and choked her with self-hatred and regret.
Irritated, yet relieved Piper had canceled her date for her, Mia drove home, consumed in misery. She wondered how often her roommate had butted in where she didn’t belong for Mia’s benefit. Suddenly annoyed, malevolence toward Piper grew for the first time in over three years.
Just as quickly, Mia shoved the aggravation aside. Piper was only trying to help, and Mia hated her for it? It was a good thing both Gary and Drew didn’t want anything to do with her anymore. She didn’t deserve to move on. She didn’t need any kind of happiness. Not when she was such a mess.
Chapter Twelve
The Lakeside Elementary end-of-the-school year concert took place in their gymnasium on the first Friday during their last month of classes.
Drew resituated himself in his metal folding chair for about the fiftieth time in the past minute. And his nephew unknowingly kicked him in the knee for about the hundredth time. He glanced over and scowled at the boy’s mother while Felix continue to wiggle on her lap.
"How much longer?" he asked Mandy. She glanced briefly at her watch. The program hadn’t even started yet and his butt was already numb.
"Five minutes," she announced.
"Where’s Jeff again?" he asked. This wasn’t fair. Why did he have to get stuck watching a few hundred off-tune kids sing "’Til we meet Again," when the father to two of them was off who knows where, getting to sit through business meetings. Lucky jerk.
Amanda sent him a dirty look, probably because he’d just reminded her of her husband’s absence. "He said he had a meeting in Denver."
"He said," Drew repeated, noticing she hadn’t worded it, "He’s in Denver for a meeting."
Amanda glowered and then glanced at her son. Eyes softening, she brushed a few messed hairs off Felix’s dark forehead.
Drew wanted to apologize for his mood, but then someone turned off a few rows of lights and piano music began. The concert was ahead of schedule, thank God.
As the curtains opened and a class full of kindergardeners dressed as sunflowers began to sing, he thought of Mia. Her call still bothered him.
He knew he should be relieved. Jeff wasn’t che
ating on his sister. But he hadn’t told Amanda about the call. Something felt off about it.
Worried about Mia, he’d called five times before he gave up that avenue and drove over to her house, willing to even talk to her roommate again to see her. But she hadn’t been home and neither had Piper. He knew he shouldn’t despise Piper anymore, but he still tasted bitter repugnance when he thought of her. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever get over the fact he thought she’d been ruining Mandy’s marriage, not the way he’d gotten over fearing Mia was doing the same thing.
His sister elbowed him in the side and leaned close. "Lucy’s class is next. She was almost in tears tonight when we put her dress on her and it was too small. I swear that girl sprouted up a foot overnight."
Drew glanced to his left to watch the way Amanda smiled in pride. She seemed so relaxed tonight as she focused on her children. He’d been worried she’d fall apart if Jeff ended up being unfaithful. But he realized now how he’d underestimated the power of motherhood. Merely watching a kid grow was enough to keep Mandy happy and satisfied.
Envious, he wondered if he’d ever experience that total contentment of being a parent. With Mia hating him as she seemed to, he wasn’t too optimistic. Not that he blamed her for putting an end to their shaky start. Even though the Jeff/Piper thing ended up being a false alarm, it probably would’ve been too awkward between him and Mia to make a go of things. Amanda’s disapproval—oh, and she would disapprove—would cause enough strain to scare anyone off.
Drew loved his sister to death, but she’d never kept it a secret when she didn’t like one of his girlfriends. They usually gave him the typical Dear John the first time they met her. He should probably resent her for that, but he’d always been too relieved he didn’t have to see that particular woman again … until Mia. He didn’t like the thought of Mandy scaring Mia off.
One group of children shuffled offstage and the next entered. The music changed and Drew lifted his face, searching for his niece. As if reading his mind, Mandy said, "She’s on the second row up, third from the left."
Drew narrowed his search to the second row and there she was, wearing a white dress that matched every other girl in her class. Lucy grinned and waved when she caught sight them. Enchanted, he offered a small wave in return.
"She’s adorable," he said, thinking no other girl in her class shared her cuteness.
"You’re biased," Amanda murmured, sounding amused. "But, yes, she definitely rates high on the adorable chart.
He rolled his eyes at her answer but didn’t respond, except to slip from his chair and follow a dozen other dads to the edge of the stage to take pictures, though he doubted none of them toted a four thousand dollar camera to snap off a shot.
As he zoomed in and focused on Lucy, he thought about her mother. It was nice to be around Mandy without listening to her paranoia, without getting badgered about what information he’d discovered for her. He should probably be worried because of that fact. When they were younger and she stopped telling him not to do something, it was usually because she was about to strike and thump him in the shoulder. But this was relaxing … well, as relaxing as anyone could get when they were crammed into a gymnasium with three-hundred other sets of parents.
The concert continued without mishap—except for the time a second grade boy turned nervous and threw up in the hair of the girl standing in front of him. But to Drew, that all narrowed down to comic relief. After clicking a couple candid shots of both Lucy and Natalie, he returned to his seat to find Felix conked out on Amanda’s lap with his head relaxed on her shoulder. His nephew looked so adorable, Drew took a picture of mother and son together.
Once the final song was over and the entire school came on stage to sing their grand finale, he shuffled behind Amanda to pick up her two daughters in their classrooms where they waited. He snapped off a few more shots of Lucy and Natalie in their rooms and then he made all three children pose with their mother.
"Oh, that one was nice," he said after Lucy hugged Natalie in excitement over her big performance. "I might have to put it on display in my studio."
Amanda rolled her eyes, but wasn’t able to hide her smile. "You already have too many of them in your studio."
"Well, if they’d just stop being so cute, I’d probably stop." With that, he clicked off another picture of Felix trying to picking up on an older girl in Lucy’s first grade class.
"You’re going to give me a set of proofs, right?" Amanda asked as she watched him work.
"Don’t I always? I’ll put them on a disk as soon as I get home."
She nodded in approval and then turned to her three children. "Say goodbye to Uncle Drew, guys. We need to get home and into the bath. It’s past bedtime."
After receiving four different hugs from three different children, Drew waved his sister’s family off and started home himself. But once he reached his quiet, echoing house, he felt even more forlorn than usual. There was nothing like a hoard of hundreds of school kids singing, Stand By Me to remind him how alone he was.
He closeted himself in his office, going over each picture he’d taken on his print shop. Glad he grew up in the electronic age, he cut out the background in the picture of Felix draped over Amanda’s shoulder and put them in the living room of Amanda and Jeff’s house. Though he’d said he wanted to blow up the shot of Lucy and Natalie hugging, this is the one that drew him the most.
Working until a quarter after eleven, he packaged his photo card to send to Miller’s Professional Imaging, who’d have his proofs back in record time. Then he turned off his computer and shuffled upstairs toward his bedroom. Five minutes later, he lay in bed with his arms propped behind his head as he stared up at his ceiling. But sleep didn’t come. Wondering if Mia was still awake, he reached for his cell phone on his nightstand, unable to help himself. Earlier, he’d tried calling Mia from his cell, thinking he could surprise her into picking up the unfamiliar number. But she hadn’t.
He pushed redial and waited. It rang once before he disconnected. Man, what was he doing?
She’d made it perfectly clear she didn’t want anything to do with him. And if he hadn’t caught that hint, she’d called again with her I-told-you-so call today, letting him know Piper was definitely not seeing his brother-in-law.
Sighing, he tossed the cell phone on his nightstand and rolled onto his side, not finding sleep until he brought up the memory of his non-date with Mia, teasing each other about their pizza preferences and then kissing at her car.
He murmured her name once before exhaustion overcame him.
•
Mia had just reached for the phone when it cut off in mid ring. Frowning at the oddity of that, she checked the caller id and read, "Incomplete Data." Dang. She gnawed on her lip a second longer.
For some reason, she knew it was Drew. But then she boiled that mind-set down to wishful thinking. He wouldn’t call her again after the way she’d yelled at him and hung up. And she didn’t want him to call either, though, oh God, she really did.
Tonight, especially after watching Gary recoil from the idea of dating her, after realizing Piper went around spreading her secret, after the guilt and pain that was still swarming her, she really needed a good, strong dose of Drew. She still had no idea what it was about him that made everything okay again. But it was something she could definitely get used to. Not that it mattered. She wasn’t going to see him again.
She needed some cheering up for that reason too. It was depressing and ironic to think about how she’d just lost the one person who gave her hope.
Picking up the phone, she dialed him back until she remembered she wasn’t even certain it had been Drew who called, so she slammed the phone down. It could’ve been Piper, one of Piper’s friends, her parents, a die-hard telemarketer … even a wrong number.
Chances were, it hadn’t been Drew.
She moped her way back to her bedroom and crawled under the covers. Falling into a fitful sleep, she woke a few hours later to
hear Piper returning home for the evening, but her consciousness was so distorted, she would’ve sworn she heard double, because it sounding like two sets of footsteps tromping down the hall and disappearing into Piper’s room. And it sounded like two voices talking. But she drifted back into dreamland so quickly, she probably just imagined everything.
•
Drew was dead asleep when the call came. Not bothering to turn on a light or even open his eyes, he swung out an arm and fumbled in the dark until he found his cell.
"’Lo."
"Drew, I need you."
The feminine voice made him crack open an eye. "Who’s this?" he slurred out.
"It’s Amanda," she hissed. "Your sister."
"Mandy?" He sat up, clicking on his bedside lamp and then rubbing at his tired eyes. "What time is it?"
"I don’t know. After twelve. He’s over there."
"Huh?" He reached out to turn his alarm clock around. Half past midnight. Dear God, this better be good. "What’re you talking about?"
"Jeffrey. He’s at her house. Right now."
Pausing in the middle of a stretch, Drew straightened. "He’s not in Denver? How do you know?"
"Because he’s at 410 South Elm, that’s how I know. Dang it. His car’s parked in their driveway. I drove by and saw it."
The breath rushed from his lungs. "What? When’d you do that?"
A million more questions swirled through him. Did Mia know? Wait. He knew that answer. Of course she knew. She had to know. But she’d told him—
"I went by when I was taking the kids home from the concert," Amanda answered. "I took the long way … past her place."
His jaw dropped. "You had the kids with you?"
"No," she muttered sarcastically. "I dropped them off on the corner and came back to pick them up after driving by. Yes, they were with me." She snorted.
"Did any of them see his car?"
She gasped. "I hadn’t thought of that. But, no. If they’d seen anything, they would’ve said something."
"No, wait," Drew cut in, lifting a hand. Awareness was starting to soak in. "The concert was finished by eight-thirty. That was over three hours ago. Why are you calling now?"
