At only five o’clock in the afternoon, she knew that sinking into a hot tub with wine was probably not the best idea, but she was alone and able to do whatever she wanted. And right now she wanted some wine. She wasn’t accustomed to drinking wine when the sun was still up, but she figured it was night time somewhere.
Suddenly, her thoughts of serenity were interrupted by her doorbell ringing. She tried to ignore it, but the person was insistent when they rang it two more times. She jumped from the tub, pulled her hair into a loose ponytail and threw her fluffy white robe on. Naked underneath, she hoped the person at the door would be brief with whatever they had to say.
She flung the door open without thinking and saw Brian standing there. OMG was all she could think. He was now wearing his white shirt minus the jacket with the sleeves rolled up to reveal muscular forearms.
“Mr. Chadwick!” she said in shock as she instinctively put her hand over her chest.
“Ms. Ashwood. You look… wet,” he said smiling.
Noticing she hadn’t done a very good job of drying off, she saw a puddle of water on her hardwood floors.
“Oh, shoot!” she yelled as she stepped back onto the carpet of the living room. “Come on in. Make yourself comfortable. I need to get dressed,” she said trotting out of the room.
When she returned wearing her black yoga pants and a pink t-shirt, she noticed him crouched down in his nice suit cleaning up the water on her floor with a dish towel he’d apparently found in her kitchen.
“Thanks,” she said as she walked over to him. He looked up and smiled as he handed her the damp towel and stood up.
“No problem. I grew up with three sisters. They were always running around wet,” he said laughing.
“I won’t ask,” she said smiling. “So, what are you doing here, Mr. Chadwick?”
“Please, call me Brian.”
“As long as you call me Shelby.”
“You got it. I came by to take a look at the damage to your vehicle first hand. That way I can fast track the repairs for you.”
“Sure. We can just go outside and I will show you,” she said pointing at the front door.
“Are these your kids?” he asked picking up a photo of the three of them together. She had taken them to a pumpkin festival in the north Georgia mountains one year when Kenny didn’t want to leave the farm.
“Yes.” She was unsure of showing a complete stranger what her kids looked like. But, since they were with Kenny a couple of hours away, she figured she was safe.
“They are adorable.”
“That’s an older picture of us at the pumpkin patch. You can see I am actually sitting on a big pumpkin,” she said leaning in and pointing. Her hair brushed across his chest and she heard his breath catch again.
“The car,” he said as he put the photo back on the table and backed up.
“Right. The car,” she said walking to the front door.
As they walked down the sidewalk to the driveway, she could feel his eyes on her. Was he looking at her butt? And, more importantly, did her butt look good in yoga pants?
“You can see right there where he scratched it up the side. And there is a dent over here…” she said as she bent over to show him the damage.
“Yes, that looks good,” he said.
“It looks good?” she asked confused.
“I meant that looks bad…” he said shaking his head. “Bad,” he repeated.
“Were you just checking me out?” she asked with a grin as she crossed her arms.
“Of course not. This is purely a business visit,” he said with a grin of his own. “Fine. I was checking you out. Those pants are rocking. Satisfied?”
“You are very up front and honest, aren’t you?” she asked as she leaned against her car.
“Is there any other way to be?” he asked.
“From what I have seen out in the dating world, yes. There is not a lot to choose from out there.”
“I agree. I’ve met some crazies during my dating adventures. This one girl seemed nice enough until I found out her favorite past time was dissection. Seriously. She liked to dissect things as a hobby.”
“You are lying…” she said with her mouth hanging open.
“I swear on my whole business. She was a nut.”
“I went out to a bar with some friends recently and this guy came up to me and said ‘Do you have any Native American in you?’ and I said ‘No’ and he said ‘Want some?’ Yuck! I mean where do guys come up with these stupid pick-up lines anyway?”
Brian cackled with laughter at her story, and she followed. Pretty soon, they were sharing their worst dating stories, although she had few since she’d been with Kenny for so long. One thing was for sure - she was not impressed with dating so far.
“Okay, back on a serious note… Isn’t this car a bit small for you and your growing kids anyway?” he asked, still wiping a tear of laughter from his eye.
“Yes, it is. But, I am now a single mom, so I wasn’t able to afford much. I am a school nurse, so I don’t get to live the high life by any means. But, it’s mine and it does the job,” she said trying to sound proud of her small 10-year old compact car.
“Well, at the very least I can get it fixed up for you. I am so sorry our worker scratched and dented it for you. I will have my guy come by tomorrow morning and take it to my body shop guy. Sound good?”
“Sure. I will be hanging out at home all day tomorrow anyway. Any idea when I will get it back?” she asked.
“I will tell him to put a rush on it. How about if I come by tomorrow afternoon with an update?” he asked with a sly smile.
“I suppose that would be good,” she said smiling as she looked at her feet. “See you tomorrow then.”
“Tomorrow…” he said with a smile as he backed up toward his car. She quickly went into her condo so she could peek out the window and watch him walk away. As he got into his sleek black BMW, he turned around and waved at her. Dang! She hadn’t been so sly after all.
Chapter 4
Brian’s guy came by and picked up Shelby’s car the next morning like clockwork. She had cleaned everything out of it just in case she needed her belongings. She spent the day cleaning house and trying to pass the time until Brian came by. The thought of him coming caused her heart to skip a beat, and she started to wonder if he might feel the same way.
“Hello?” she said as she answered her cell phone between dusting projects.
“Shelby,” she heard Kenny’s voice say. Her heart sank at the sound of his voice because she knew he would never call her unless something was wrong.
“Kenny, what’s wrong?” she asked.
“It’s Austin. He’s been in an accident.” Shelby barely heard what Kenny was saying because her heartbeat was so loud in her ears. From what she could gather, Austin had been in a four-wheeler accident with his cousin, Joey. The vehicle had rolled over and landed on Austin.
“Is he going to be okay?” Shelby asked in a begging tone as she sank down onto her sofa in tears.
“We don’t know much yet, Shelby. You just need to come. I promise I will call you if anything takes a turn before you get here… The doctors are looking him over now, and he may need surgery…” She had known Kenny almost her whole life, and to hear his voice cracking made her very scared. He was a man’s man, and crying was not something he would do unless it was a major event.
“I am on my way,” she said as she ended her call and started frantically running around to pack an overnight bag.
She turned off the lights, locked the doors and ran outside only to realize that she didn’t have a car. Remembering that Brian had given her a copy of her paperwork with his business card attached, she quickly ran back inside to find it. Tears streaming down her face, she started to sob as she searched.
“Shelby, are you okay?” she heard Brian say behind her.
“Oh, my God… Brian!” she yelled as she ran and fell into his arms without thinking. She just wanted someone
to comfort her, and she was thankful he was there. “My son… my baby… he’s hurt at the hospital in South Georgia…” she stammered and stuttered between sobs. “My car wasn’t here…”
“Hey, it’s okay…” he said softly as he pressed a light kiss to the top of her head. “Let’s go,” he said as he took her bag and her hand and led her outside. She was so upset that she didn’t even notice the car he was driving was not the same one from the night before. She climbed inside the bright red SUV, and he buckled her in.
When they got on the interstate, she finally realized he wasn’t taking her to get her car.
“Where are you going?” she asked looking around.
“To South Georgia, of course,” he said as he looked at the road.
“But, I thought we were going to get my car,” she said.
“No time for that. Your son needs you,” he said. Her heart melted as the tears returned. She let them flow as she stared out he window looking at passing cars and trees. Her mind wandered to thoughts of Austin as a baby boy, riding his bike for the first time, opening presents at Christmas, Easter egg hunts on the farm… It seemed like a rush of emotions and memories flooded her all at once.
They didn’t speak for the first hour of the trip. Somewhere along the way, he had reached over to hold her hand. The warmth of someone being with her during a difficult time was a welcome feeling compared to her normal sense of loneliness.
“Tell me about your son,” he finally said softly.
Shelby took a deep breath and her face softened. “Well, he’s amazing. He will be eleven in just a few months. He’s the most energetic kid I know, but he’s not a brat or ADD or anything like that. He’s just full of life…” her voice broke.
“He sounds amazing. I can’t wait to meet him,” Brian said squeezing her hand. He asked her which hospital he was in so he could punch it into the GPS.
“This is so weird,” she said with a slight smile.
“What’s weird?”
“I just met you yesterday, and you already know more about me than most of my friends here. And now you are driving me to see my son in the hospital and my ex-husband,” she said with a half-hearted chuckle.
“Well, I have to be honest. My intention today was to ask you on a date…” he confessed.
“Since I can admit I would have said yes, I hate that our first date is this,” she waved her hand around at the interstate.
“So you would have said yes?” he asked with a grin as he looked over at her.
“Definitely,” she said returning the hand squeeze.
“Good. Well, let me say that I would have planned something more fun than this for you to do. I know you must be tied up in knots right now,” he said rubbing his thumb across her index finger. The small movement soothed her more than she cared to admit.
“I’m just praying in my mind over and over again,” she said. “My kids are my life. I just can’t help but think this is my fault…”
“What? Why would this be your fault?”
“My ex-husband runs a camp for disabled kids every summer, and my kids love to help out. Normally, when we were married, I would be there too. Instead, Austin was on a four wheeler with his cousin and they flipped it.”
“Shelby, this is not your fault. You have to know that…”
“I wouldn’t have let him get on a four wheeler. Maybe if I wasn’t so selfish to want to divorce their father for no good reason…”
“Obviously, there was a good reason. You wouldn’t have left your marriage if you didn’t have valid reasons. I don’t know you that well, but I can tell what a good person you are. ”
“Good? I came to your office to complain,” she said with a forced giggle.
“Rightfully so,” he said. “My guy smashed your car.”
“To a lot of outsiders and even some of my own family, I was the bad one. I left the marriage. Kenny was devastated. The kids were upset and confused, of course. I just couldn’t do it anymore. I wanted to live a bigger life. Kenny was content to stay in our hometown and run the farm until the day he died. I was getting antsy and bored. I’ve always wanted to travel and have a good job and give my kids the things they wanted…” she was rambling, but he let her talk as long as she wanted.
“You have a right to your dreams, Shelby. Being a mother doesn’t mean you stop living and dreaming for yourself. You showed your kids that even when it’s hard, you have to make tough decisions to be happy in your life.”
“So what about you? I know you said your wife wanted to date other people, but how did that happen?”
“Well, we dated for over a year before we got engaged. She was an aspiring actress, and I was rehabbing houses. After we got married, I started noticing weird text messages on her phone, she was staying late at work… You know the drill. I told her I was coming back home to visit my Dad in Atlanta, but I really wasn’t. Instead, I came home a few hours later and found her in our bed with one of her co-workers at the restaurant where she was waiting tables.”
“Yikes.”
“Yep. Yikes is right. I broke my knuckle on his nose, and then I ended it with her. Trust is a big thing with me,” he said gritting his teeth a bit.
“Trust is huge to me too. I’ve never told anyone this, but Kenny cheated on me too.”
“Really? But I thought you said you left because you grew apart…”
“That’s what I told everyone, and it is partly true. Kenny was my best friend and husband for so many years, and I did not want our kids to know he cheated on me. They would hate him for it. So, I just lied about the reasons…”
“And you took the fall for him…” he said softly.
“I guess some people could see it that way,” she said looking out the window. “I was trying to protect my kids.”
“You are an amazing woman, Shelby Ashwood,” he said quietly as he patted her hand.
“Not so amazing,” she whispered back.
“Oh, yes you are. I’ve never met anyone who would take the fall for their cheating ex just so the kids didn’t have to suffer. So, how did you find out he cheated?”
“He admitted it. He has a very guilty conscience. He thought I would stay. He was wrong. In one way, I was relieved because it gave me a valid reason to leave. He is the only man I’ve ever been with in my life, so it was hard. But, I felt like there was so much more for me to experience in life, and he wasn’t willing to give up anything he wanted for anything I wanted.”
“For what its worth, I understand why you made the decision you did. And, I would venture to say if you did decide to tell people what he did, they would understand too.”
“Maybe, but I will never tell. It’s just not worth it to hurt my kids. I want them to love their Dad and have the best relationship with him possible. And, if I have to take the fall, I will do it gladly,” she said looking out the window wishing the miles would move faster.
Chapter 5
As Brian and Shelby pulled into the small Southern town of Morgan Springs, she felt waves of anxiety wash over her. Would her son be okay? Would he make it? Kenny had not called her, so she had to assume he was going to be okay, right?
Brian parked and ran around to open her door for her. She wasn’t used to that at all. She smiled at him as he put his arm around her shoulders and walked her to the hospital door.
“Do you mind if I come with you?” he asked.
“Of course I don’t mind. I can use all the support I can get,” she said.
With that, they walked through the doors and started asking for information. They learned Austin was still in the ER, so they were escorted to his room. Outside of the room were Elena, Kenny, and Kenny’s mother, Margaret. She could tell Elena had been crying, Kenny was pacing back and forth, and Margaret was sitting in a chair with a Bible in her lap.
“Mommy!” Elena yelled when she noticed Shelby walking toward her. Shelby threw her arms around her daughter as Kenny walked to her. He hugged her tightly, as if his life depended on it.
Brian was careful to stand back a few feet out of respect. Kenny finally noticed him standing there as Shelby pulled back from him.
“How is he?” she asked looking Kenny in the eye. His mother ignored her completely. She had developed a hatred for Shelby since the divorce. Of course, she didn’t know her son had cheated either.
“The doctor said he has a concussion. They did a CAT scan, and we are waiting on results. He was knocked out completely for about forty five minutes. They are concerned he could have bleeding on his brain…”
The Reunion: Shelby's Chance Meeting (Starting Over Series) Page 2
