Jace
I hover anxiously over the hospital bed, watching as Christina administers a cocktail of pills to my grandmother.
The old woman sips her water slowly before handing the tiny paper cup to her nurse.
“Okay, I’m off for the rest of the evening but I’ll be back in the morning.” Christina says, fluffing up the pillow behind Granny’s back. “Rest up for now and just press the red button if you need the night nurse to help you with anything. All right?”
“All right, dear.” Granny squeezes the nurse’s hand gratefully. “Would you mind checking up on the cats?”
“Of course.”
“Thank you again.”
“No problem, Granny Bellino. Good night.” Christina flashes her tired grin at my father and half-brother where they’re seated in side-by-side chairs across the room. But when her eyes land on me, she glares and shakes her head disappointedly. “Visiting time is over in fifteen minutes,” she says dryly. She spins on her heel and exits the room.
Ouch!
I deserve that on so many levels. I’m the asshole who hurt her daughter. But Sera hurt me first. She acted like she wanted to be with me and the minute I turned my back, she was in her ex-fiancé’s arms.
Jesus—was she planning to leave me for him or was she just gonna string me along while carrying on with him on the side? I’ve seen my mother do both and I’m not sure which is worse.
And the shittiest part of this situation? This is Sera. Our families are next-door neighbors. She’s my best friend’s little sister. Her mother is now my grandmother’s nurse. This situation is all one big, tangled mess.
Now, I’m seeing what Sera was saying all along. The implosion of our relationship doesn’t just affect us. It affects the other people in our circle, too.
My grandmother groans when she tries to shift positions in her bed. I’m at her side, offering her the assistance she needs.
“Thank you,” she says, barely meeting my eyes. She’s mad at me, too.
Everybody’s going to blame me for what happened with Sera and I don’t fault them. I’ll shoulder the responsibility. Fine.
“So, are you going to finally tell me how you managed to shatter your hip?” I look at Granny.
When I ask the question, Declan and our father throw their heads back and groan.
“You don’t wanna know, bro,” Declan tells me. “Trust me.”
Now, I’m really curious. I turn my eyes back to my grandmother. “Come on, spit it out. What happened?”
“I fell off the bed,” she says in a timid whisper.
“I’m getting out of here.” Dad pops up to his feet and bolts out the door.
“See ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya,” Declan says, hot on our dad’s heels.
My attention moves to the hallway where my father and brother are weaving toward the elevator. Declan bumps into an empty gurney. Dad nearly topples over an old guy hobbling around, a bouquet of yellow flowers clenched in his wrinkly hands.
What the hell?
Granny’s eyes blink away coyly and she pinkens up in the cheeks. “Remember when we spoke about how sometimes women need to heal…” she starts. “And sometimes, certain activities help with that healing process…”
My stomach turns. I see where this is going.
“Sometimes, a woman need to have her cabbage boiled, to have her little ball of yarn ravelled—”
“Okay, thanks. Got it.” I hold up a palm to halt this conversation. “Jesus, Granny. What the hell were you thinking?”
“I was thinking that life is short, Jason. I was thinking that life is short and I’ve already spent so much of it alone. Do you know how many years, decades it’s been since your grandfather left me?” She sniffles. “I threw myself into serving the community, into taking care of my children and grandchildren. I wasn’t taking care of me. I wasn’t taking care of my heart. And it was so damn lonely.” She grips her bed railing. “And then I met Gordon at aerobics class and he lit a spark in my chest, something I hadn’t felt in so long. Being with him just felt right. Do you know what that feeling is like?”
A shaky breath pours out of my lungs and my chest gives a hollow ache. I know what that feeling is like. It’s the feeling I felt with Sera. But it doesn’t matter anymore because it was nothing but a lie.
I exhale heavily. “Why did you tell the truth, Granny? Why couldn’t you just tell us you have a boyfriend?”
“You all see me as nothing more than some helpless old lady. Everybody sees me as the neighbourhood cat lady who smiles sweetly and hands out sugar cookies to the kids on the block. But when Gordon looks at me, he sees me as a woman. He makes me feel strong but feminine, beautiful, witty…sexual.”
I try not to make a face. Granny notices and chuckles.
“He makes me feel seen, held, loved. Everybody deserves to find somebody who makes them feel that way, Jason. Even a big, tough football player like you. But you’ve got to be willing to be vulnerable.”
I shake my head. “Nah, I’m not willing,” I tell her. I left myself exposed for Sera and I just ended up hurt.
Granny lays her hand on mine. “Can’t you see how she’s changed you, Jason?”
“What?”
“You’re different since you married her.”
I scoff. “Different, how?”
“You’re more serious. Focused. You’re not as scattered anymore. It’s like you have purpose now.”
“You have an active imagination, lady.”
She gives me a no-nonsense look. She see straight through my bullshit.
“And you are up to your earlobes in denial about your feelings. Look Jason, I know you’re gun shy to do this. Especially since your parents were no role models in that department. But giving your heart to someone doesn’t make you weak. When two hearts come together, they form a stronger unit.”
“I thought Sera was the one…” My shoulders cave in. “But I was wrong about her, Granny.”
She sighs. “You can choose to live the empty playboy lifestyle the rest of your days or you can live like a man. With a good woman by your side. A woman who fills your home and your belly and your heart. Only you get to decide, darling boy.”
I don’t get to continue arguing with her because there’s a knock at the door. An old man sticks his head inside. The old guy who’s been out in the hallway, gripping those flowers in his hand.
“I’m sorry to interrupt he says,” eyes darting between my grandmother and me from behind his glasses.
At the sight of him, my grandmother’s entire face brightens like spring in bloom. Well damn, Granny.
“This is Gordon,” she says, her beaming eyes never leaving her lover. “This is my grandson, Jason.”
“Nice to meet you,” I say, extending a hand to him.
“My Juli, never stops talking about you and your brother.”
Juli? It’s like that, huh…?
Eyes locked on my grandmother, the old man addresses me. “I hope you don’t mind, son, but there’s only five minutes of visitor time left and I really wanted spend some time with your grandmother.”
I observe the man again. The old dude has bushy eyebrows and a golf ball for a nose. His checkered shirt is tucked into pants that are halfway up his chest. He has a little bow tie and a tweed jacket hugs his skinny shoulders. He holds tight to his walking stick as he waits for my response.
Oh, my god. This is the guy who fadoodled my grandmother right off the bed.
Best not to think about that.
“I’ll get out of here and give you two some time alone.” I give my grandmother a kiss on the forehead and say good night.
Through the window, I see the two of them nuzzling and holding each other the second I walk out of the room. A feeling of relief rises in me; for the longest time I’ve wanted to hire a caregiver to keep my grandmother’s company but she may have found something even better. She’s found a partner, she’s found love. I try to push away the image of myself sharing something like
that with Sera fifty years from now.
Nah, love is a lie. Love can go fuck itself.
I wander down to the ground floor and happen to run into my dad and brother drinking coffee in the cafe-gift shop right by the exit.
Dad’s eyes flicker away from the cleavage of the barista behind the counter when I drop down into a chair at their table.
“So Granny has a boyfriend. I’m not sure how I feel about that.” I chuckle.
Declan huffs through his nose as he thumbs through some gossip magazine or other. “I’m pretty sure he’s the guy from the movie Up.”
“The guy in Up was a cartoon,” I remind him.
“And you’re saying Granny’s boyfriend isn’t?” my brother shoots back as he skims an article with his own face plastered across the glossy pages. He shakes his head at the article like it’s all a bunch of bullshit.
A sudden yelp slices through the shop’s subtle background music. We all glance over to the counter when the coffee machine spits out a puff of frothy milk all over the server’s boobs.
Dad trips out of his chair, looking spellbound as the milk soaks through the woman’s shirt. “I…I’m in the mood for some cookies,” he announces. Eww. Entranced, our father leaves us and heads in that direction.
A second later, the barista is wearing a red hot blush as my father helps her mop up the mess on the counter.
It’s pathetic.
Declan rolls his eyes and grabs another magazine displayed on the rack behind him. “Looks like Dad just found us our next stepmom.”
“My god. He’s cringeworthy, isn’t he?” I shake my head as I watch him.
Declan nods in agreement, his expression grave. “Love is a terrifying bitch but, dude, I keep looking at our father and I’m thinking, ‘ending up like that guy is even more terrifying’.”
“Tell me about it.”
“I heard you and Sera broke up…” My brother eyeballs me. “At least that’s what Liam said. Wyatt’s pissed, by the way.”
“I’d bet,” I mumble, running a hand down my face.
“What exactly happened?” my brother asks, his voice growing serious.
There’s a wrenching feeling in my chest as I recount the story to Declan, laying out exactly what happened in that hallway at the Paragons-Boomerangs game. Seeing Sera in Rocky’s arms.
My brother looks at me like I’m stupid. “You think she’s got a thing going on with Rocky?”
I shrug my shoulders. “What am I supposed to think? I know what I saw.”
I don’t mean to be a jealous fuckwad but she told me she was over him. She promised me they were done. So what the fuck was she doing in his arms?
“Dude…” Declan grabs another magazine from the rack. He flips to a page in the middle of the gossip rag and he slides it across the table to me.
I stare down at the headline. How Rocky Pfeiffer Became the Most Misunderstood Man in Pro Football.
I blow out a breath through my nose. “Rocky is a grade-A asshole. There’s nothing to misunderstand about that.”
“Just read it,” my brother insists. When I glare at him, he holds my eyes. “Read. It.”
The article reveals that Rocky recently learned that he is the father to a six-year-old child which prompted him to call off his engagement to his former fiancée. Sera isn’t pictured in the article, thankfully, but it’s obvious that she’s the former fiancée they’re referring to.
My stomach flips upside down when I get to the part where ‘sources’ describe how important it is to Rocky that he make amends with the people he’s hurt, namely said ex-fiancée, but that ultimately, he’s adamant about pursuing a future with his little girl and her mother.
Everybody knows these tabloids are anything but credible. But the pages of the magazine are splashed with pictures of a child who bears an undeniable resemblance to Rocky. Could it all be true? Did the tabloids get it right for once?
I finally bring myself to open Sera’s text messages, to read her explanation for what I saw between her and Rocky in that hallway.
“Jesus—I’m an idiot,” I mutter to myself.
“Yes, you are,” Declan grumbles.
Stunned, I lean back in my chair. My eyes sweep the gift shop. I glance over to where the barista is programming her phone number into my Dad’s phone.
Shit.
Do I want to grow old to be in love like Granny or do I want to spend my life hopping from woman to woman, casting off responsibility for my unhappiness like my father?
The answer is obvious.
“I need to get to my wife. Now.” I skid out of my seat. I’m already halfway to the door. “I need to get to Sera now.”
Forty-Six
Jace
Full of frustrated energy, I slap a palm on my steering wheel as my phonecall goes straight to Sera’s voicemail. Again.
I’ve been trying to reach her all evening and I haven’t been able to get through. I just need to speak to her, to tell her once and for all how I feel. By this point, I’m tired, I’m hungry, I’m defeated. I don’t know what to do. So I head for home as the sun starts setting in the distance.
But when I pull into my condo’s parking garage, I see a car—her car—parked in my spot. The relief that pours over me is indescribable. I pull into the space next to it, even though it’s not mine. Maybe I’ll get bitched at by building management, maybe I’ll get towed, maybe one of my neighbors will take a baseball bat to my sportscar. I don’t care. All I care about is getting to Sera. Making things right with her.
I bolt out of my car and make a mad dash for the elevator, saying a silent prayer on the ride up. Then, I’m sliding my key into the lock. Only, when I try to push the door open, it doesn’t budge more than an inch.
What the fuck?
I put my shoulder into it, shoving until the large door finally gives. Something scrapes and tumbles across the floor on the other side.
When I squeeze through the opening I’ve created, I find several boxes and oversized suitcases toppled on the floor nearby.
Several packed boxes and suitcases.
I stare blankly at the mess for a long beat.
Then panic rips through me, burning my arms and legs as it zips through my tense body. This can’t be what I think it is. It can’t.
But I’m fairly certain I haven’t invited any other houseguests to move in with me, so I struggle to come up with a plausible alternative.
Sera’s leaving. She’s leaving me again. And this time, it’s all my fault.
I storm through the condo, fully aware that the neighbors downstairs can feel each angry and weighted stomp. If Sera’s stuff’s still here, then surely she is, too. I tear through the apartment and find her in the ensuite bathroom.
The door is partially open so I have a good view of my wife dropping toiletries and cosmetics into an old gift bag. She’s not even organizing her shit like she normally would, and that realization concerns me almost as much as seeing all of her belongings packed by my front door.
I give the bathroom door a not-so-gentle shove, opening it further. She startles when the door slams wide, bouncing against the opposite wall. Sera clasps her hands over her chest and her bulging eyes meet mine.
She relaxes slightly when she sees it’s just me. But I don’t miss the stiffness that remains in her shoulders as she turns back to bagging up the last of her perfumes and lotions.
I skip the niceties. “What the hell is going on?”
A weaker woman would have shrunk back at my tone. Hell, I don’t even like the sound of my own voice right now. It’s raw, frantic, desperate. But Sera holds her ground. She just keeps on packing up her things.
“I found somewhere else to stay.” She doesn’t even look at me. Her eyes fall downward, like she can’t bring herself to look me in the goddamn eye.
I really don’t like the sound of those words. I’m freaking out right now.
I’m supposed to be the easy going guy, the one with the devilish grin and the laidback dem
eanor. Not the one who blows a fucking gasket when the woman he loves is walking out of his life.
“You don’t need to do that,” I tell her.
She puffs out a hint of amusement. But her small smile doesn’t meet her chocolate eyes. Sera’s shiny gaze meets mine. “We’re dissolving our marriage, Jace. So, I think I do.”
My palm scrubs my face. “Sera, I—that was a mistake. I wasn’t think—”
“My stay with you was always supposed to be temporary,” she cuts me off with a shaky voice and a one-sided shrug.
I narrow my eyes. “So? I call bullshit. Sure, that was the plan when you first came here, but then things changed. Everything changed.”
I cross my arms over my chest, and I don’t move when she grabs her makeshift cosmetics bag and tries to exit the bathroom.
“It’s time for me to pick up the pieces of my life and move on, Jace.” Her eyes drop to her feet. “I think it’s unhealthy for us to keep playing house like this.”
“Playing house? What? You think this was a game to me? You think it was make-believe. Sera, what we have is real.” My nostrils flare. “I know about Rocky. About his kid. I know why you were hugging him. Declan helped me see things clearly.”
She looks up at me, her brown irises on fire. “Declan helped you see things clearly? What about when I tried to explain myself, Jace? And you shut me out? Because you chose to listen to your insecurities instead of listening to your wife?” She huffs. “I can’t live like this. I can’t be with someone who thinks I’m the kind of person who’ll betray him at the drop of a hat. You said you trust me…You obviously don’t.”
“Sera, I’m…I’m sorry…”
When I still don’t budge, her lips purse. “I appreciate your help these past few months. I really do, Jace. But I’m ready to stand on my own now. I have somewhere else to stay. I have the keys and everything.” She says that like I should be proud of her. “This is what’s best for us…”
My muscles vibrate with the need to reach out and touch her. To shake some sense into her. I just want her to put her hands on me and tell me this is all some sick joke.
Playing House: A Small Town Brother’s Best Friend Romance (The Playboys of Sin Valley Book 1) Page 29
