Lately, Jack had complained a lot about her absences and their lack of time together. He complained more bitterly about the lack of sex. Men got crazy when they went without for too long. They hadn’t had much of a relationship lately. And truth be told, she missed their lovemaking, too.
Kimberly remembered the little surprises she used to plan for Jack when they were younger. Jack’s sister would babysit so they could have some time alone together. When was the last time she and Jack had gone out on a date? Of course he would blame her working hours for that, as well. Weekends were his busy time, but a couple of months ago he hired an assistant to take up some of the slack. The woman should be working most of the weekends by now.
The problem was that Jack was too controlling. But Jack visited each pub sometime over the weekend, often in connection with a business meeting, or just dinner or drinks with friends, or business associates and his suppliers. He should let his managers do their jobs and run the brewpubs. They were all well qualified. She’d pointed that out to him several times, but he never listened to her.
Jack felt restless. He didn’t know why he was so discombobulated lately. Home life was falling apart. He’d attacked Kimberly unfairly, but seeing her in her jeans and T-shirt, her hair gathered in a ponytail, just set him off.
What happened to the time she’d let her hair hang loose, shiny and full? Kimberly knew how to dress to tempt him without being obvious or lewd. The kids were clueless to the simmering sexual tension between the adults. He remembered her wearing lounging wear that seemed perfectly chaste and sedate, but clung loosely to her curves, tempting him, because he knew the softness of her skin beneath. Her sensual movements and smiles seduced him. Jack shook his head. He couldn’t wait for them to close their bedroom door and cling to each other.
Now she was fast asleep when he got home.
To top that, dinner wasn’t ready, and he had to meet with Lauren Dorsey soon.
He realized Kimberly ran after the kids with a million after-school projects. She was a good mother, but…Damn it, he wanted a wife. Was that asking for too much?
He sighed and drove to the brewpub closest to where they lived. Lauren was waiting for him on the sidewalk.
The truth was, he felt guilty about checking out a bar with Lauren. Guilty because Kimberly didn’t want him to open another brewpub. She was always complaining about his hours. But he was a businessman, and although she owned a half interest in the pubs, she hadn’t worked with him in more than ten years. She’d pitched in to help the first few years, but after they purchased the second one, she began to get more involved with her own work.
But any business must grow or die. Didn’t she understand that?
A new bar had gone on the market. The man who owned and ran the place for decades had passed away and his nieces and nephews wanted to sell it and split the profits. One of the nephews had approached Jack.
“You’re early,” Lauren Dorsey said, sliding into the seat. She wore a pair of black slacks with a matching blouse and a beige jacket. “I thought we were going to check out the place later on.”
“Change of plans. We’ll have dinner there, get a feel for their customer base.”
Lauren placed her huge purse on the floor by her feet. At thirty-three, she was at least five-seven to Kimberly’s five-five. Lauren had shoulder-length brown hair, unlike his wife’s, which was a rich shade of midnight black. Most black hair actually contained hues of brown, but not Kimberly’s. He loved to see it hanging loose down her back, and run his fingers through the long, silky strands. He compressed his lips in irritation. Another treat he was denied of late. By the time he made it home she had it all rolled up and a scarf tied on her head. Was this how life and marriage was supposed to be?
Jack thought of his father. How had his parents made it without fights like this? He didn’t remember that his father wasn’t there for dinner. He knew how hard his father worked. His picture of how a family worked was before his father died. As a child, it seemed easier somehow. Dinner was always ready. Everything ran smoothly; but then, his mother didn’t work outside the home.
Trying to shake his irritation with his marriage, he maneuvered the car into the traffic.
It was the tail end of rush hour, and the traffic around the Beltway toward Prince George’s County was still heavy, although the speed was decent. Jack was lucky, because Beltway traffic could easily become a crawl.
“I’m very excited about being in on the beginning of an acquisition,” Lauren said. “I think it’s a good idea to expand in this area.”
Jack tore his concentration from thoughts of Kimberly. “The timing is right. The surrounding neighborhood has older homes. Singles and couples in their late twenties and thirties are buying fixer-uppers as the older residents die off. From what I can tell, the younger crowd doesn’t like to hang out at that bar.” Jack wished he was sharing this with Kimberly. He wished she appreciated what he was trying to do. Maybe then she wouldn’t try to put limitations on him.
When they arrived, Jack noticed only a few cars in the parking lot, but more people were inside than he expected. There was a handful of booths, all full but one. Most of the small tables were empty, but the bar was huge, and several people, mostly serious drinkers, sat and nursed drinks. They probably lived in the neighborhood and walked to the bar.
Jack and Lauren made their way to the only available booth. He leaned toward Lauren.
“He also owned the vacant store next door. That space, and the apartment in back, will open this space up to a decent-size pub,” Jack said, as he plucked frayed plastic menus from between the salt and pepper shakers and handed one to Lauren. He wanted to get a feel for the menu, and the customer base—what appealed to customers in the area. Most of all, he needed to determine a plan that would pull in the younger thirtysomething groups.
Fried pork chops was the special of the day. At least they served Buffalo wings as one of the appetizers. The menu was limited, and although the bar was pretty crowded, it was an older crowd. They needed a more varied selection of food.
The local news, mostly ignored, blared from the one TV behind the bar. Old, scarred furniture was polished to a shine. Though it was well maintained, it was glaringly apparent that no one had updated the building or the fixtures in a couple of decades. There weren’t enough TVs, so that patrons could also watch a game while they chatted with friends.
Jack liked the neighborhood. Condos and office buildings were nearby—a great customer base. Adrenaline pumped at the thought of opening a new establishment and turning it into a great place where people could meet and eat. There was something fresh, invigorating and hopeful about creating something new. He wanted this place. Deep down in his gut, he really wanted this place. But how was he going to convince his wife? In no uncertain terms, Kimberly had asked him not to open another brewpub.
Jack sighed. He’d just run the numbers, see if he could afford it. That wasn’t buying it, was it?
Jack and Lauren had eaten appetizers and nursed a drink as they studied customers coming and going. After two hours, they left for one of his bars.
Jack’s Place was huge, with an oblong-shaped granite and copper bar. Every stool on every side was occupied. Ten TVs placed strategically allowed customers to watch from almost anywhere in the room. Big copper vessels, kettles and tubing for brewing his own special brands of beer were always an attractive crowd-pleaser. His customers came in for the experience as much as for the food and drinks. The place to meet with friends or make new friends. The longer they stayed, the more they ordered appetizers with their drinks. Huge windows and an outside eating area were also available and always full this time of year.
Inside, a group of women beckoned to Jack. Dressed in a variety of outfits from jeans and short-sleeve sweater blouses to suits, some of them hadn’t even made it home yet. High heels displayed fine-looking legs. He should be way past the lure, but he was still a man, and he wasn’t blind to the appeal of an attractive woman. He wa
sn’t attracted to any of these women, but he loved the energy of the pub.
He never forgot he was married. He could look, but he wouldn’t touch. After all was said and done, he loved Kimberly. She was his one and only. And the truth was, he’d like to look at her in a pair of heels. He’d like to see her legs in a skirt. She used to greet him in sexy little outfits, or surprise him. That stopped years ago. She had a pair of fine-looking legs that he rarely got a chance to see, unless she was on the run to the car to drive the children somewhere.
As the host and owner, he joined the women and joked with them for a couple of minutes before he left for the back room to discuss the new project with Lauren.
Two hours later he went home. Kimberly was fast asleep, but a subtle scent of her perfume still lingered. There was a time he’d snuggle her in his arms. Jack sighed and slid between the sheets. To his annoyance, he wasn’t even in the mood to hold her tonight.
The truth was, he felt stifled—and guilt weighed heavily on his conscience for making plans to open another brewpub against Kimberly’s wishes. He could tell himself a thousand times that he was just running the numbers, but he knew if everything clicked, he’d want to buy. And he’d have the fight of his life with his wife.
His dream was to have his brewpubs as well-known as Budweiser beer. He’d started with the D.C. metro area. He wanted to open five more pubs in the next two years and then begin to spread out. He’d socked away enough money to begin to grow.
A terrible weight settled on Jack’s chest. Would fulfilling his dream mean he’d have to lose the woman he loved? Would he have to give up his goals to keep Kimberly? Was it fair for him to pursue his desires and force her to give up hers? One of them needed to be home with the children. His mother was always home with them, until his stepfather wiped them out.
Jack knew he was acting like a jerk, but this was more than dreams, it was security. More than anything, kids needed the security of a roof over their heads and to know that money for college was a given. He knew. He knew what it was like to go without. There was a time he thought he wouldn’t be able to attend college, that he’d have to get a full-time job to help his mother pay bills. But the housing market did well, and his mother worked hard as a real estate agent. By the time he left for college, she was making enough to manage the household.
When his stepfather left, Jack had to work nights and weekends, spending the rest of the night studying to keep his grades up. Because, now that his college money was gone, he needed a scholarship to attend the college of his dreams.
But his kids weren’t babies any longer. Byron would be gone in a couple of years and April soon after. He and Kimberly were still young enough to pursue dreams. But at this age, if at least one parent didn’t stay immersed in the children’s lives, they’d find all kinds of trouble to get into. He was there for them in the mornings, made an effort to talk to them—but Kimberly thought that wasn’t enough.
Smothering an oath, Jack gathered Kimberly into his arms. She smelled sweet and he wanted to make love.
But she needed her rest.
Resigning himself, he dozed off to sleep.
The next morning, Jack prepared breakfast for the kids while the low drone of the TV sounded in the background. Every Sunday, Kimberly attached the week’s breakfast menu to the fridge with a magnet. Friday was pancakes.
She believed in homemade stuff, so he added the wet ingredients to the mix she’d already prepared. It was easy enough to do, and if the kids complained, he always told them to complain to their mother.
The aroma drifted up the stairs, bringing April to the kitchen. With her eyes puffy, she looked as if she’d barely slept all night. At least she’d dressed decently. For a while, they’d had arguments about her wearing too-skimpy clothes for his tastes. She’d called him ancient, but this was his baby and she wasn’t leaving the house looking like she was headed to a street corner.
With long black hair and a face quickly maturing to be a real beauty, she was almost a carbon copy of her mother, and growing up way too fast to suit him.
“You’ve got to stay off that computer at night,” he told her, chucking her under the chin. “If it happens again, I’m taking it out of your room.”
She slid into a seat at the table. “I wasn’t on the computer.” Her lips actually trembled.
“What’s wrong, baby?” Concerned, he pulled out a chair beside her and sat.
Heavy lashes shadowing her cheeks flew up. “Are you and Mama getting a divorce?”
“Of course not,” he said, surprised she’d jumped to that conclusion over a simple disagreement. “What made you think that?”
“Most of my friends’ parents are already divorced or getting one.” Her concerned eyes met his. “And you were fighting. You don’t usually fight. This felt different. Daddy, I don’t want a stepfather.” Her voice cracked on the last word and her lips trembled.
The thought of Kimberly in the arms of another man sent panic through Jack. She wouldn’t leave him simply because he was opening another pub, would she?
“Just because we were arguing, it doesn’t mean we’re getting a divorce.” He tweaked April’s nose, hoping to bring her out of her melancholy. “You and your brother fight all the time, but nobody’s moving out. You’re still digging in my wallet. I can see some shopping coming up.” He’d meant to get a smile out of her, but it wasn’t working.
“That’s how it starts. When my friends’ parents started fighting and staying apart, the next thing they knew, their dad was moving out. Then their parents started fighting for sure, and seeing lawyers for a divorce.”
“Tell you what. I’m going to see if your mom can get a few days off so I can take her on a little vacation. Just the two of us. We’re just fine,” he said, trying to cheer her up. But he knew things weren’t fine. And he didn’t have only himself to consider. He had two children who needed both their parents.
“See, you lost all that sleep for nothing,” he said. “Eat your food. I’ll even spring for whipped cream, strawberries and powdered sugar. Just don’t tell your mama about the extra sugar.” He tapped her on the tip of her nose—a nose that looked so much like her mother’s. April’s sunny smile finally burst free, and his worry diminished.
Kimberly’s animated voice on the tube captured their attention, and their gazes riveted to her as she gave the weather report.
“We won’t see any rain in the next five days,” she said. “A lovely weekend for outdoor activities.”
Kimberly enjoys her job and is a natural on camera, Jack thought, and he felt guilty about asking her to quit it or cut back on hours, especially since he couldn’t cut back on his.
It left him in such a quandary.
He focused on her again.
“What’s the traffic pattern around town, Bob?”
When the camera switched back to Bob Hartman, Jack got up to pile pancakes on a plate for April. She was always conscious of diet, but he cajoled her into eating some of it anyway. Otherwise the child would turn into an anorexic.
His and Kimberly’s seventeenth anniversary was coming up. They needed to get away for a few days. Not a whole week, but he could spare a little time.
He left a voice mail on Kimberly’s cell, asking if she could take a couple of days off next week. They’d fly to the Caribbean. His kids were his mother’s only grandchildren. Knowing she would be more than happy to spend a few days with them, he called her to set it up.
With a stack of papers in his hand that he intended to take upstairs to his corporate office on the second floor, Jack went to the bar to tell the new bartender not to take any more drink orders. The eight people who worked there left hours ago. It was nearly two and the place was almost cleared out.
At the bar, he saw one damn good-looking sista sitting by her lonesome. He came around the end of the bar so he could get a good look at her.
Have mercy. He felt punched in the gut.
A woman out alone at night when the place was cl
osing in two minutes was looking for something.
She wore a black, sleeveless dress, the hem of which had slid halfway up her thigh. Slowly and seductively, his gaze started at the stilettos, the toe of which hung on the chair rung. It worked its way up the greatest pair of legs he’d ever laid eyes on. He kept going north until he collided with the hem of her skirt. Didn’t she know what shoes and legs like that did to a man?
But the legs weren’t all she was blessed with. She was well endowed, but not overly so, he thought, as the material molded around a generous pair of breasts. She was classy. Even as he gazed at her, her nipples peaked against the fabric and his body immediately responded by tightening against the zipper of his pants. Good thing his shirttail was out and hung down past his hips.
This woman knew he was watching and he knew she wasn’t immune to him.
Her left hand was wrapped around a glass. She was dripping in diamonds and didn’t even try to hide the huge engagement ring or the platinum wedding band studded with more diamonds. There should be a law against husbands letting their wives out alone at night dressed like that.
His employees were cleaning, trying to leave as soon as they could.
“Bartender, may I have a refill?” the woman asked the man behind the bar.
“I’m sorry, ma’am, the bar is closed.”
Unable to stop himself, Jack dropped his papers on the bar and approached her.
“Give her a refill, Stan. On me,” he said.
For the first time, her gaze met his for a brief second—before she stared into her empty glass. “Thank you,” she said sweetly.
“Is this seat taken?” Jack asked.
“No,” she said. Her voice was husky and she cleared her throat.
“Mind if I join you?”
“How can I refuse after you so kindly bought my drink?”
Loving Spoonful Page 2
