by Karen Renee
“I don’t think she’s very smart because she doesn’t like us any more.”
He shot an apologetic look at the homeowner, who nodded in understanding.
As Brute unhooked his measuring tape from his belt, the boy jumped up. “I have one of those! I’m gonna get it.”
“Evan,” the father admonished, but Evan raced away.
“Sorry for bringing up his mother,” Brute muttered as he noted the measurement, then entered it into his phone.
“Don’t be. Hell, it’s only because she left that I’m doing what I should’ve done to this bathroom back when I bought the place.”
He pressed his lips together so he wouldn’t smile. It was bizarre, but he had divorce to thank for much of his income. The sacrifices people made for their spouses boggled his mind.
Kenzie
“GET OUT OF HERE, WHITEHALL! Just because you have a date tomorrow, doesn’t mean you have to stay any later. I’ll close up. Tell your little girl, Auntie Lydia says hey!”
I hefted my purse over my shoulder. “I will, boss lady.”
The pavement was damp from an earlier shower, and I stepped carefully toward my car. I looked up when I sensed someone else nearby.
A paunchy man with dark hair and a bushy beard was hanging around my car. My grip on my keys tightened, and I wished I had waited for Sheree to leave with me. Working at a bank, sometimes people would think you could give them money, like you had free access to it or something.
He smiled at me, and then I wondered if he was selling something.
“You’re dating Brute, aren’t you?”
I took a deep breath while I debated how to play this.
“Not really.” I shook my head.
He held out his phone. It showed a picture of Brute and me kissing next to Brute’s truck. Since I was wearing my navy blue dress, I knew the picture was taken earlier today. Unease skittered down my spine because I’d never dealt with someone spying on me. I glowered at the man.
“What do you want?”
His head tilted an inch or so. “Sorry, I just wanted you to be honest with me. I think you have a right to know about his other woman.”
He held the phone toward me again. A thin, brunette woman wearing tight jeans and a beige camisole straining to contain her breasts stood in front of Brute, with her hand on his shoulder. I didn’t like seeing him with her, but I had no doubt this man had taken this picture without either of them knowing about it. That also meant I didn’t have to accept this man’s version of what was going on.
I looked into his beady brown eyes. “Like I said, I’m not really dating him. I’ve gone to lunch with him twice. If that’s his other woman, so be it. We aren’t exclusive, but just to point out, you took a picture of him and I together without either of us knowing it. Seems you’re trying to misrepresent this for some strange reason. And for that matter, I don’t want to see you again. If I do, I’ll report it to police.”
As I moved to the driver’s door, he said, “He killed my brother.”
That gave me pause. Bikers could be rough and I had no doubt Brute would be able to dish out some blows if he was in a fight, but I had no reason to believe he’d killed anyone. Yet the conviction in this man’s tone made me think twice.
I hoped my smile was sympathetic. “I’m sorry to hear about your brother, but I’m not the person you should be telling this. The police are.”
“Lady, you need to—”
“No. You need to get away from my vehicle, sir. You believe he hurt your brother, go to the police. I can’t help you with that, and I’m less inclined to believe you since you’ve taken two pictures without his knowledge.”
“You’re being a dumbass,” he muttered before he strode away.
I shook off the bad feeling he gave me, buckled up in my car, and went to pick up Aubrey.
AUBREY READ THE LAST line of the Junie B. Jones book, and I set it on her nightstand.
I snuggled her for a moment. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
“Yes,” she mumbled.
“Let me rephrase. Are you sure you’re all right, madam?” I asked again, fighting my snicker. We both loved when Junie B. would call her teacher or mother ‘madam’ because so few people used the term any more.
“Yes, Mommy,” she said, sounding exasperated.
I gave her another squeeze and stood from her bed. “All right, all right. I believe you, but if anything is bothering you, you can tell me.”
She gave a loud sigh. I turned to leave, but she asked, “Can you pick me up tomorrow?”
I turned to her. “Your Dad’s picking you up at regular dismissal time. So, you’re not going to extended-day tomorrow. I told you that at dinner.”
“You could come with him.”
I crossed my arms. “You know better, Aubs. I work until six-thirty on Fridays. If this is about your Dad and I getting back together, you know that isn’t going to happen. He might work it out with Veronica. They aren’t divorced yet. And I know you love Veronica, too.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
I gave her a fake frown. “You more than guess. I love you, honey.”
“I love you too, Mommy.”
I turned off her light and went to the kitchen to pour myself a glass of wine. I had to push down the guilt I felt at Aubrey finding out about Veronica the way she did. But she knew, and I debated calling Caleb to tell him about her obsession with us getting back together. Though it wasn’t exactly an obsession, yet.
As I grabbed my phone, I decided a text would do.
Aubrey wanted me to come with you to pick her up. She’s on a kick for us to get back together. I’ve told her that isn’t happening, but you need to know where she’s at.
I uncorked a bottle of Cabernet. Before I could pour it, I heard Aubrey shuffle in behind me.
I turned around and smiled at her. “Can’t sleep?”
She looked to her feet and back to me. “Will you sing to me?”
I hadn’t sung to her before bed in almost a year. My heart soared at having the opportunity again, but it sank because I knew things had to be weighing on her if she needed that.
“Of course, pumpkin. Let’s go.”
After I sang her three favorites (‘Twinkle-Twinkle,’ ‘Do Your Ears Hang Low,’ and my own edited, botched-up rendition of ‘If the Stars were Mine’), I kissed her forehead and tip-toed out of her room. For at least the twentieth time, I thanked God for the layout of my house. My bathroom was as far from Aubrey’s bedroom as possible, and with a brimming wine glass in hand I started the water to fill my bathtub.
I put the glass on the edge of the tub. The bath salts were in the cabinet, so I grabbed them and tossed in enough to make the water smell great. When I closed the cabinet door, I realized I hadn’t brought my phone in with me. Knowing Caleb, he’d call the moment I sank into the water.
I made a quick trip to the kitchen to grab my phone. Back in the bathroom, I saw a new text message icon, but there was nothing new in my thread with Caleb.
As I undressed, I scrolled through my messages seeing a new text from my mom.
She lived in Palm City, a small town outside Jupiter, Florida. It was over a ten-hour drive, so we didn’t see each other very often and we did our best to make the most of phone conversations. Part of me said I should wait until after my bath to call her, but by then, with the hour difference in our time zones, she might go to bed.
I lowered myself into the tub and hit the icon to call her.
Mom answered with, “I’m amazed you called me back. Isn’t this your week of freedom? You should be painting the town red, or at least finding yourself a good man, sweetie.”
I rolled my eyes. Even though they’d never met, my mom and Lydia would get along like peas in a pod... at least where the subject of my love life was concerned.
“No, Mom. Caleb had to switch at the last minute. Someone left his firm and accounts are being reshuffled. You know, how he is.”
“I know it shoul
dn’t make a damn,” she muttered, and I thought I heard ice tinkling in the background.
“What are you drinking?”
“Ice water. Now, if your week got shifted, are you going to have two weeks to find a new man?”
I snorted at her tenacity. “Doubtful, Mom. Seems Veronica is leaving Caleb.”
She groaned.
“Making it worse, I had no idea and Aubrey heard the gist. She wants me and Caleb to get back together.”
She broke into peals of laughter, so I sipped my wine.
“You’re not laughing,” she pointed out.
I put the glass down. “Because I wasn’t joking, Mom. She brought it up again tonight. But, I think I’m getting through to her. Hopefully, Caleb genuinely reads his texts from me. Otherwise, he’s in for a rude awakening tomorrow afternoon.”
“And are you going to be there to save the day?”
I shook my head. “Doubtful. I have to work late, and I’ve got a dinner date. So, he’s gonna be on his own.”
Mom’s voice perked up. “A dinner date? Do tell!”
I could have kicked myself for letting that slip. “I’m in the bathtub, Mom. So, I should—”
“Kenzie Maybelle Stoneman-Whitehall, you called me.”
I cringed at her using my full name (along with the maiden!), but I powered past it. “Only because you texted me, and I can’t text and bathe at the same time.”
“I’ll let you bathe after you tell me about your dinner date. Is this from the app Lydia insisted you use?”
“No. Not directly, anyway,” I blurted, stupidly. Why I couldn’t stick to one-word answers with my mother, I would never know.
“Indirectly, then, you have a date from the app? Have I got that right?”
I blew out a sigh. “No. I got stood up more than once from that damn app. However, the last go ’round, I caught the eye of a man who also caught my eye. He chatted with me and now we have a date for tomorrow.”
She chewed that over while sipping on her ‘ice water,’ which I suspected was liberally doused with vodka. “You’re leaving something out, but I’ll let it go. While you’re in the tub, be sure to shave your legs nice and smooth, honey.”
“Mom! I’ve been on dates before.”
She laughed. “Well, try to make this one count, hmm?”
“I love you. Good-bye!”
“Love you, too.”
I sat up to put the phone on the floor, but it rang in my hand making me bobble it. “Shit! Oh, hell!”
In the nick of time, I kept it from splashing into the water, but while saving the phone my clumsy fingers must have hit the accept call icon. There were already fifteen seconds on the call timer.
I didn’t check who had called, but I put it to my ear anyway. “Hello?”
“You always curse before answering your phone?” Brute asked.
My cheeks heated with embarrassment. “No. Not unless I’m in danger of dropping my phone in the bathwater.”
There was a long pause and I again could have kicked myself.
“You’re telling me you’re naked right now?”
I sighed. “Essentially.”
He chuckled. His voice held an alluring laziness when he asked, “There bubbles in the water?”
I shook my head. “I use bath salts, but how ’bout you tell me why you called?”
He ignored my question. “Would not have pegged you as a bath type of woman.”
“I’m not usually. Things are just a little stress—”
“You’re stressed?”
I scoffed. “Arguably, I’m always stressed. But tonight things were just getting to me. Now, let’s get back—”
His voice sounded seductive. “I can help with your stress.”
God!
“Are you always this much of a flirt?”
“Only with women I’m interested in.”
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.
“You rolling your eyes at me?”
“Nope,” I fibbed. “Why are you calling?”
“Address. You never texted it to me, and I know you said Friday morning, but I thought you might want to send it earlier.”
I smiled. “I’ll do that when I’m out of the tub and my fingers are dry.”
“You’re testing me, Kenz.”
“Um, what?”
“You’re testing my restraint because this is a prime opportunity for phone sex. Mentioned you’re in a tub, and your fingers are wet. Hell, wanted to do phone sex with you the other night, but that’s too much too soon. So, knowing where you are and the picture in my mind, it’s more than I can stand. Almost.”
“Okay, we should get off now.”
“Glad we’re on the same page, baby.”
I shot an exasperated look at the faucet. “You know what I mean.”
He chuckled. It was deeper and raspier than before, and my damn body responded to it. “Yeah. Send me your address, baby. And, I’ll let you go because my shower’s calling my name.”
I didn’t rise to his bait. “Have a good night, Sam.”
“Tomorrow night will be better. Count on it.”
Chapter Six
Brawny, Handsome, and Sensitive
Between traffic and Aubrey’s failed attempt at ditching school, I was ten minutes late to work. Lydia tapped on her wrist at me, but the grin on her face said it was for show.
Since it was rare for me to be late, Lydia strolled over to my desk after I settled.
“Tell me that brute of a man made you oversleep!”
I shook my head, grinning. “No. Aubrey claimed to be sick. I even walked in on her standing on the bed holding the thermometer toward her light. She’s only in first grade. She’s way too young to start faking.”
Lydia gasped. “You’re right and she loves school. What’s her problem?”
I caught her up on Aubrey’s reaction to Caleb and Veronica’s impending split.
“Ooh! Your ex needs to be on board, Kenzie.”
My brows furrowed because Lydia didn’t have children, and to my knowledge hadn’t been married.
She read my look. “My parents split when I was ten, but my brother, Jake, was five. Then, similar thing, Dad’s new wife left when Jake was nine and he really wanted Mom and Dad back together.”
I nodded. “But did he fake being sick?”
“Sure did. Problem was Mom and Dad disagreed on how to handle it. Jake missed half his fourth-grade year because he was skipping, and the days when he was there he caused enough trouble to get referrals.”
My stomach twisted at the thought.
Aubrey was very resourceful. But no way she could skip at six. Though, Caleb would probably let her skip school if she were “sick.”
I checked my phone. He hadn’t texted me back. I glanced up at Lydia. “Thanks for telling me that. I’ll have to get in touch with Caleb at lunch. I’m not sure if he read my text last night, but you’re right. We need to be a united front with Aubrey.”
She smiled, but it was half-hearted. “I didn’t mean to make you worry more.”
“Forget about it, Lydia. Mothers worry no matter what, so it’s not possible for me to worry more, right?”
DURING MY LUNCH BREAK, I sat in my car to scarf down my sandwich and call Caleb.
“Kenzie, I’m working, I do not have time—”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m calling during my lunch break about our daughter. Do you have time to discuss her or not?”
He sighed. “Give me a minute,” he said, but it was directed at someone else.
I heard a door close.
Then, “Okay, what is it?”
“Did you read my texts last night?”
“Goddammit Kenzie, I don’t have time—”
“Yes or no, Caleb? You’re not the only human being with a job, and either way, our daughter and her state of mind is fucking important.”
“Must be that time of the month,” he muttered.
I wanted to punch something so badly, I squeezed my
fingernails into my palm to assuage the urge. “It isn’t. Now answer the question, please.”
“Yes. I read them. Every kid goes through this shit when their parents are divorced.”
“Yeah, but most of them don’t fake being sick. They don’t insist on staying home so you’d have to pick her up at my place instead of the school.”
“You’re being dramatic.”
“She was standing on her bed trying to warm the thermometer, Caleb. I’ve never had to fight her to go to school. We need to tell her the same things. We’re not getting back together. She needs to let the adults in her life take care of her and not worry about this.”
“Right,” he said, and I could tell he wasn’t paying much attention.
“I told her there was a possibility you and Veronica might work things out. I hope I didn’t lie, but either way, please be honest with her.”
“Not going to lie to my daughter, but she shouldn’t have heard about this—”
“Don’t pin that on me. I didn’t know that would come up when I called Veronica. Not to mention, if you had given me a heads-up, I wouldn’t have called her.”
He grumbled under his breath. “Now you know and won’t call Veronica. Is that everything?”
“If she tries to skip on Monday—”
“I’m not dense, Kenzie.”
The phone beeped to indicate he hung up and my lips pressed together hard. Immediately, the phone rang and I thought maybe Caleb didn’t hang up.
“What?” I asked.
“Wow, Kenz. You’re trampling my ego, babe,” Brute said.
I leaned my head on the seat. “I’m sorry. I just got off the phone with my ex-husband and it wasn’t a pleasant conversation. Thought it might have been him calling to apologize for hanging up. Obviously, not.”
“Can I help?”
I chuckled. “Only if there will be brown liquor where we’re headed tonight.”
“There you go again,” he murmured.
“What?” I asked.
“Testing my restraint, woman. I’m a sucker for ladies who like their brown liquor.”
I grinned. “Good to know.”
