Over Hard (Santa Lena Sizzles Book 2)

by Jessa York

  Mom had shut off the camera as they left the park but turned it on again before they walked through the hotel door. “Let’s surprise Dad and Jacky,” she whispered, and Blake and Iris giggled at the new secret game. Iris bounced around in circles, unable to control her excitement. She opened the door, and all we could see were white bed sheets spread out all over the place.

  “Cool,” my siblings shouted as they dropped to the floor and crawled under the massive tent.

  “John, what have you done?” my mother admonished. The screen dropped and twisted this way and that before it focused on my dad and me sitting amongst a mess of pillows, chip bags, and cookies.

  I had a messy cookie face and a huge smile. Dad had bought a checkers board game from the gift shop, and we played that for hours. “How was your day?” he asked the older two children, and they started begging to join the game. “I’m busy playing with the little man. You two had your fun. Now skedaddle until we’re done with our game.”

  “But this is waaaay more fun than we had.” Iris pouted and forcefully crossed her arms.

  “Yeah, why does bean-head get to do all the good stuff, just because he’s scared of stupid mascots?” Blake yelled and cuffed me up the side of the head.

  Like a flash of lightning, Dad seized Blake’s hand and said in a stern voice, “Apologize, or you and I are going for a walk.” That was dad-speak for shut the hell up or get your ass smacked. The screen went black.

  Silence ensued for a good minute after the video ended. Emotions I’d long forgotten came bubbling up to the surface, and I had to glance away. Dad always played board games and cards with me. The other two were never interested in joining in unless it was to cause a ruckus. Shit. I had those feelings locked up tight until I saw that damn fort.

  “Have you spoken to Elaine at all?” Harper asked him, changing the subject.

  He smiled and looked at her with stars in his eyes. “Yesterday. I convinced her to go out for supper with me tonight.” What the fuck? A pain shot through my chest. Mom was caving? My heart raced, but I managed to keep quiet.

  “She never said a word to me when I called her this morning,” Harper replied, placing her hand on his arm. I may have growled under my breath.

  “She wasn’t exactly gung-ho, but I convinced her to hear me out.”

  “Are you going to tell her about going to counseling?” she asked. Counseling? Since when would my father do something like that? He was perfect, after all.

  “I’m going to tell her everything, if she’ll listen.”

  “Even about quitting the firm? Does she know yet?”

  “I haven’t told her,” he said and sighed. “And I doubt she’s seen Bill around.” Wait. Did she just say, quitting the firm? My jaw dropped open on its own accord. He quit his firm? How did you even do that? And what did Iris and Blake have to say about that?

  “She’s going to freak out. I just know it,” Harper said and gave him a quick hug. Fuck, whenever she touched that man, I wanted to rip his head clear off.

  “I really hope so, sweetheart,” he said and kissed the top of her head, and I may have growled again.

  “You quit the firm?” I asked him the first question I had in years.

  He set Harper aside and stood. “I did. Never should have started it to begin with. That place stole years from me…and from you kids and your mother. I was never around, and it’s the biggest regret of my life.” His admissions knocked the wind right out of me.

  “I’ve got to get back to work. Busy day. Bye, Jack. Good luck tonight, John.” Then Harper vanished into thin air. Air that I needed in my lungs.

  “So, you quit as a way to get Mom back?” I asked and stepped closer to him.

  “I quit because it was the right thing to do. Bill took me back, part-time. We’ll see how it goes. It’s only been a few weeks, but I think he’s happy with me. And I love the work. I always did,” he said and jammed his hands into his pockets.

  “Bill?” I squinted, trying like hell to remember who Bill was.

  “From the child advocacy office. We started it with him years ago. You’ve heard us talk about it.” My head spun, and I needed to sit, but I didn’t want to give him the upper hand. I remembered perfectly who Bill was, and that’s why I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. There was a picture on the wall of the ribbon cutting. All three of us kids were so young then. It was mom’s favorite. She’d stop and look at it several times a day, daydreaming. She often told me stories about those days while we cooked together.

  After a few deep breaths, I cocked my head to the side and asked, “Are you insane?”

  “Not anymore,” he whispered. “I lost my whole world, Son. Everything,” he choked out, and his eyes filled with unshed tears. “Your mother, you, Iris, and Blake. My grandkids don’t even know me.” He shook his head and took another step toward me.

  “It was your fucking choice to cut me out of your life, Father,” I blew back at him.

  “I was so wrong, Son. So wrong. I tried my best to save you from making a huge mistake. You had the most promising career in law right in front of you. The last thing I wanted you to do was throw it all away and take a risk in something I knew nothing about. Having you kids take over for me was always my dream, but now I know how stupid that was. You’ve made your own way in the world, Jack, and that takes a hell of a lot more balls and strength. I can never tell you how sorry I am. It sounds futile after all the damage I’ve caused. But, Son,” he stepped in close and lowered his voice, “I’m so sorry. I’m sorry for not being there for your little league games. I’m sorry for not coming to watch you when you were the lead in your high school plays. I’m sorry for being an ignorant, belittling pig and never supporting your dreams. It was wrong, and there’s no way I can go back and fix the mess I made.”

  29

  John (Jack’s father)

  No matter how many years went by, Elaine was still the most beautiful woman in the room. How that was possible, I’d never know. I stood and smiled at my exquisite wife. “Elaine, you look stunning,” I said and grazed her arm as I kissed her cheek. Being this close to her and smelling her perfume awoke a part of me that had long been forgotten.

  “Thank you, that’s very kind,” she said, but her eyes were cast down.

  With my index finger, I lifted her chin. “Not kind. The truth,” I said and stared into those sparkly blue eyes. She gave me an insincere half-smile and moved to sit down. “Here.” I pulled the chair out for her.

  The frown on her face made me chuckle. “That’s not quite necessary in here,” she said and bobbed her head.

  “Of course, it is. You don’t remember the first time we came here?” I quizzed her, knowing she’d never forget. “Our first date. I didn’t have a dime to my name, and this was all I could afford.”

  She smirked. “That’s a lie. You couldn’t afford it. I had to pay for half.”

  “Dutch was a thing back then. Not exactly the way to impress the girl you knew you wanted to spend the rest of your life with, though,” I said and raked my hand through my hair.

  “I doubt that. We’d just met,” she scolded and played with the cheap, rolled-up paper napkin wrapped around the silverware.

  “I knew,” I told her and reached for her hand. She allowed it for a second before pulling it away. “I did.” Her untrusting eyes glanced at me briefly before examining the tablecloth. “I miss you.”

  “How’s work?” she asked half-heartedly, not really wanting to hear the answer. Asking about the office was her default question to get me talking, since we really didn’t have much else in common anymore.

  “Fantastic,” I answered, grinning from ear-to-ear. She eyed me suspiciously.

  “Why are you so happy? Did the kids agree to become partners?”

  “Nope. They quit. So did I.”

  “What did you say?” she said, not trusting her ears.

  “I quit and found another job that I love. Well, I mean, I loved it years ago, so I wasn’t walki
ng into it blind. Been there for a few weeks now, and it’s just like I remembered.”

  “Where are you?” She set the silverware down.

  “Bill’s.”

  “Bill’s? Bill, Bill? Our Bill?” she said and placed her hands flat on the table.

  “Yeah, honey. Our Bill.” I chuckled at the surprise on her face.

  “You sold out and moved to Bill’s?”

  “No, I sold out thirty years ago. Now I’m back with Bill.”

  “Anything to drink here, folks?” the waitress asked, her arms full of colorful tattoos under her heavily ruffled white blouse.

  “White wine, please,” Elaine answered and gave her head a shake.

  “Water for me,” I told her. Our server walked away, and Elaine continued to stare at me with a frown on her face.

  “Water? You’ve had whiskey every night for decades.”

  “My therapist said I needed to stop doing anything that deadens my senses. I’m supposed to embrace,” I spread my arms out wide, “my feelings instead of drowning them,” I said and dropped my hands back into my lap.

  “Feel your feelings?” she muttered with an even bigger frown.

  “At first, I thought she was a quack, but I committed to listen to her for ten sessions. By then, she’d helped me sort through so much, I kept going.”

  “You’re in therapy? You?” She nodded in my direction.

  I sat back and laughed. “Yes. Me. It’s helped. She suggested you come, too, for couple’s therapy as well as one-on-one. Wasn’t sure if you were ready for that yet or not.”

  “You want me to go to therapy with you?”

  “If you want. No pressure, though. I’m the one who fucked everything up, so logic would say I’m the one who needs it the most. But Cynthia suggested you come, too. She’s been right about everything else.”

  “When you left, I was a basket case. I need you back in my life. I miss you terribly. I want another chance to prove to you I’ve changed,” I said, and I meant it with all my soul.

  “I filed,” she said bluntly, eyes back to blank.

  “Filed what?”

  “For divorce. What do you think?”

  My lungs stopped working, and my already shattered heart cracked one more time.

  Insistent on this working, I snatched her hand back and pleaded my case. The most important trial of my life. “You said for better or for worse, Lainey. You promised, all those years ago. I gave you the worse. Now I’m going to spend the rest of my life giving you the better.”

  Her eyes teared up. “How can I trust you? Did you think I’d just take you back after one date and everything would be perfect?”

  “I’ll court you. Like you should have been courted, but things happened and…”

  “Blake happened.”

  “Blake was because of me. I should have held off, but I was so scared of losing you. I thought if you were—”

  “John.” She gave me the sternest look. “I didn’t exactly say no. Did you think I wasn’t aware of the consequences?”

  “You were so young, Lainey. And I was a son-of-a-bitch from the wrong side of the tracks who had no business being with someone as good and as perfect as you. A better man would have stepped aside.”

  “Stop talking nonsense. I knew what I was getting into, and I wanted you. You were bursting with potential and goodwill.”

  “We were a great team back then, weren’t we? Before I ruined it all?”

  The saddest of smiles crossed her face. “The best.”

  “Bill’s office is in bad shape. We need to hire a new office manager. You know anyone?” I smirked and squeezed her hand. Say yes, honey. Please, say yes.

  “What’s it pay?” she said, and I threw my head back and bellowed out a laugh.

  “Whatever you’re asking, plus ten percent.”

  “I have responsibilities. Three grandkids and one on the way,” she said, her breath catching on the last four words.

  “What? Who?” I asked, my heart pounding out of my chest.

  “Blake and Melanie.”

  My hand went to my mouth, and I couldn’t stop the tears. “Blake? Finally?”

  She stood up and rushed to me, her arms enveloping me into her torso. “Isn’t it great? They’ve tried for so many years. Everything is going well, so they spilled the beans,” she said, smiling through her own happy tears. Her thumbs wiped my eyes dry, and instinctively my hands pulled her head toward my awaiting lips. God, I needed to kiss her.

  “Is this the happy couple?” a nasally voice interrupted our tender moment. We looked over at five unhappy pirates holding a cake. Bad timing wasn’t even their biggest problem. Why were they bringing cake before the meal? They started in on a horrible rendition of “For She’s a Jolly Good Fellow” and we both looked at each other and unsuccessfully stifled our laughter.

  “Happy anniversary, John,” she said, giggling.

  “Best one yet,” I told her.

  Then, just like thirty-something years earlier, I kissed her underneath the tacky fishing net in our corner. And just like thirty-something years earlier, she kissed me back.

  30

  Jack

  “Maybe she just put her phone on silent and forgot about it,” Harper offered as we drove to my place.

  “I’ve been calling her for two hours now. She’s not answering, and that’s not like her,” I said, worried about my mother. Every morning, I’d been calling around the same time, give or take. But today? No answer.

  Harper sighed. “I’m sure she’s fine. We should just give her a little more time.”

  Nope. Couldn’t do that. Visions of her falling or having a stroke floated through my mind until I couldn’t handle it anymore.

  Once we finally got upstairs, I called out for her, “Ma, you okay? Ma?” I headed upstairs to Ava’s room, but she wasn’t there. Shit. The bed didn’t look slept in at all. “Harper,” I called down from the landing on the way to the master bedroom. “She’s not in her room. Call Iris and tell her…Jesus Christ, what the fuck,” I yelled at the sight before me.

  That was something a child should never see his parents doing. Fuck.

  I slammed the door and bounded downstairs. “What happened? Are you okay?” Harper asked, afraid for me.

  “Can you bleach your eyes? Fuck me, I’ll never get that image out of my—”

  “Jacky? What are you doing here?” my mom said as she exited the master bedroom, wrapping her robe securely. A little too late for that.

  “Down here, Ma,” I said, hoping to wake up from the nightmare I currently found myself in.

  “Elaine, what’s going… Oh, Jack. Harper, how are you guys? Kind of early to be visiting on a Saturday morning, don’t you think?” Dad said in an accusatory tone, standing there in white boxers. Kill. Me. Now.

  “Apparently,” I muttered, rubbing my eyes with the palms of my hands while Harper’s body shook with laughter.

  “Elaine, Jack was concerned because you weren’t answering your phone,” Harper said, trying her best not to laugh. “Even though I told you she was probably just fine,” she whispered directly to me.

  “She was…busy,” Dad said, putting his arm around Mom.

  “Fuck me,” I said and shook my head again, trying to get that picture of my parents…Gah.

  Harper’s phone rang. “Oh, hi. Oh my God, I forgot. I’m so sorry. No, we’re at Jack’s,” she said and hung up. “I forgot Brooke had to drop off Ava this morning. Shit, I hope she’s not mad.”

  “She’s not gonna be mad. Come on, I’ll make coffee,” I said and stumbled to the kitchen, not wanting to look up and see what was going on upstairs. “Stop laughing. It’s not funny,” I said to Harper, her shoulders still shaking.

  “It is. You just don’t see it yet.”

  “Oh, I saw it, all right,” I countered, and Harper doubled over, howling.

  We sat down in the living room just as Brooke and Ava came up the elevator. Brooke pranced around like she still owned the place.<
br />
  “Harper, I got you some books on anxiety. These are some of my sister’s favorites,” she said, lugging a shopping bag in and dumping it on the coffee table. “I also signed us up for a meditation class after the yoga class we’ll take on Wednesdays.” Then she turned her bossy self to me. “And you need to take your kid to class on Sundays. It’s not up to Harper to take your child everywhere, and those ladies at the gym are mean.”

  “Fair enough,” I said, not disagreeing with her at all. Harper’s near-death experience—no matter how hilarious—didn’t need to be repeated.

  “Good. Harper, I’ll pick you up on Wednesday. Jack, you need to find someone to look after Ava,” she ordered. “Come say bye to Mommy,” she said to Ava.

  “Is it safe to come down now?” Dad called down shortly after Brooke left. “Hey, there’s Ava. Look how you’ve grown,” he said, tromping down the stairs, fixing the sleeves of his shirt. His hair was wet from a shower. Gross. There wasn’t enough bleach in the world.

  “We are never, ever sleeping up there again,” I whispered to Harper, and she cracked up. Mom quickly followed Dad down to the kitchen for coffee.

  “Jack, I’d like to take your mother out for supper at your restaurant on Sunday night. What time works best for you guys?” Oh, the old bastard was good, inviting himself in front of the women.

  “What time do you want to come?” I asked him, getting an odd sense of pride boiling up inside. He’d never been to see my restaurant before. This would be a first, and I felt weirdly excited about it.

  He spoke to Mom, “What time can I pick you up?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Jack, get my bags from upstairs, would you? I’m going home now.”

  Dad set his cup down loudly and half of the coffee ended up on the counter. “Elaine, I said we’d take it slow,” he said in a low voice, meant only for her.

  “Slow. We’ve lived together for decades. I think it’s a bit late for slow,” she said and picked up the dishrag and wiped up the spill.