“Get – the hell – out.”
She replied with a tight nod, a tear streaming down her cheek. “Can I get just one hug before I leave? I don’t want this to end on a bad note.”
His face crumpled. “Little late for that, don’t you think?”
“You’re right, I’m sorry,” she said, wiping away the tear. A coy grin suddenly slithered across her lips and her voice softened. “I know what will make you feel better,” she said, unbuttoning her breezy top.
Dean’s eyes bulged from their sockets. He stared in revulsion at the firm breasts peeking out from behind a lacey bra, his jaw dragging on the floor.
She looked up from her prized assets, slowly popping buttons. “Go on, you can touch them. I won’t get mad at ya.”
He grabbed her by the wrists and stopped her from going one button further. Her breasts bounced with the movement and Megan laughed. The blinds clattered against each other and Dean turned to see Evy step inside. The color drained from his cheeks, running for cover like he wanted to do right now. His heart kick started into a panicked overdrive. He released Megan’s wrists and stared at Evy through pleading eyes. “This isn’t what you think.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Ben lumbered back into the living room with a can of Shaun’s homemade beer in each hand, face as white as a ghost. He stared at Brooke, lips mouthing words that wouldn’t take flight.
Brooke hopped over her sweats and dashed into the bedroom. “Really, Ben? You’re going to start drinking already? A little help at the shop today would be nice,” she said, turning on the shower in the master bath. “We’ll be lucky if Tasha hasn’t already burned the place down.”
He shambled into the master bath on heavy legs to see her step inside the shower. Steam began fogging over the glass door. “These are empty.”
She opened the door and poked her head out. “Okay?”
He gestured with the cans. “These are what I heard fall on the foyer floor.”
“Well…thank you for picking them up, can man Joe.” She shut the door and disappeared into the fog.
Ben sauntered closer, scruffy jaw dangling. “These cans were inside the cooler,” he said over the spraying water. “The cooler that was sitting on the floor underneath the sofa table.”
Brooke didn’t respond.
“With the cooler lid closed.”
The door cracked open and Brooke’s green eyes appeared through the steam. “What is your point?”
He lifted the cans higher. “How did they get out?”
She frowned at him. “Stop playing around, Ben. I have to go.” She shut the door again. “You know that stuff freaks me out!”
“I’m not playing around, Brooke. Somehow the cans got out of the cooler and onto the floor. I know you saw me set that cooler down when we got home.”
The shower sprayed.
“We were together the whole time.” He paused. “Naked!”
The door cracked open again and Brooke stuck her head out. Water ran from her dark hair to the tiled floor, concern in her eyes. “What if I can’t get pregnant because our house is haunted?”
His eyes wrinkled around the edges. “I’m being serious here, Brooke.”
“So am I! I mean, what if spirits can stop women from getting pregnant - like radiation or stress?”
He dropped his arms to his side. “That’s impossible.”
“How do you know?” She slipped back into the warm fog and clicked the glass door shut. “Google it!”
“I’m going to take some EVP readings and then I’m going to bed.”
“I thought you were coming in to help us! You need to teach Tasha how to make The Marilyn.”
“You can teach her.”
“I can’t remember what’s in it.”
“Brandy, Prosecco and grenadine. Pair it with Evy’s new Fluffernutter.”
“I’ll never remember all of that!”
“I’ll write it down. And hey, do me a favor.”
“What’s that, sweet cheeks?”
“Talk your sister off the ledge. Dean is a good guy and he had no idea those girls were coming last night.”
“I know he’s a good guy,” she yelled over the water.
“Then why doesn’t Evy? She’s the one marrying him.”
“She knows Dean’s a good guy. She’s just…constantly being reminded of his past.”
Ben rolled his eyes. “Why does everyone talk about him like he used to be a serial killer?”
The door cracked open again, the shower spay louder. “Don’t say anything to Shaun or Jon but Dean once dated the best friend of my stylist.”
“Seriously?”
She nodded, dripping water onto the floor. “Not for long though.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
“I tried to keep it a secret but you know me and secrets.”
“Oh, trust me, I know. The whole world knows I watch Downton Abbey now thanks to you.”
“I think it’s cute.”
“So what’d your stylist say?”
“Amber-Lynn said her friend, Jocelyn, told her that one time she took Dean back home to Omaha for Christmas…”
“When was this?”
“Few years ago I think, but on Christmas Eve, Jocelyn wakes up in her parents’ guest room to find Dean gone.”
“Okay?”
“So she slips out of bed and goes downstairs to find him, thinking he’s probably watching TV because apparently he doesn’t sleep in weird places.”
“That makes two of us. I hate hotels.”
Brooke wiped water from her eyes. “But get this – allegedly – Jocelyn finds Dean downstairs…bending her mom over the kitchen island and giving it to her from behind.”
Ben tipped his head back and laughed. “Bullshit!”
“Dean told Jocelyn that her mom came onto him, but, let’s face it, nobody forced him to get a boner.”
Ben slowly shook his head. “Wow, guy really likes kitchen islands, huh?”
“But I don’t believe a thing that Amber-Lynn says. She’s a total gossip queen.”
Ben snorted. “Just the same, you better keep an eye on him when your parents come for the wedding.”
“Don’t be gross,” Brooke said, slipping back into the steam, “I don’t believe half the stuff I hear about Dean. Scorned women are the most vindictive types out there, Benjamin.”
“I guess so.”
“Even if it was true, Evy changed him into a different person. He’s not like that anymore and my gut is never wrong.”
Ben clicked the door open and peered inside. “Do you need me to get your back?”
The shower turned off. “I’ve got to go. I can guarantee you Evy won’t show up for work today. She’s a train wreck.”
“Just don’t let her blow this thing up into something it’s not.”
Brooke reached out and grabbed a towel. “Don’t worry, she’ll get over it.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Megan cupped a hand over her mouth, feigning her shock at getting caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Evy trembled from the spike of adrenaline shooting through her system. Her chest rose and fell beneath her hoodie as her eyes processed what they were seeing. The edges of the room curled and went fuzzy like an old black and white photograph. She blinked blankly at Megan, unable to find her voice.
Megan lowered her hand and traded a look with Dean. She turned back to Evy, shamefaced and apologetic. “I’m sorry, Evy…but Dean and I are in love and nothing will ever stop that.”
Dean rotated his head over to Megan, eyebrows slanting at a steep angle, mouth wide open. “What?” he shrieked. “No, we’re not!”
Megan ignored him and stepped into Evy’s face, hitting her with an icy glower. “And the sooner you understand that, the sooner…” She stopped midsentence when Evy’s fist found her stomach. Megan doubled over, gasping for air that would not come.
Evy watched Megan drop to her knees. “You were saying?”
Megan replied with a series of wet sounding hacks and fell onto her side.
Dean stepped forward and Evy pointed at him, turning him to stone.
“Don’t,” she yelled, letting a baleful scowl sink in until it burned. “Just…don’t!” She took one last look at Megan before bursting out the patio door, ponytail flopping wildly against her back.
Dean returned his attention to Megan to make sure that had really just happened, the long blinds swinging back and forth. Megan confirmed it by curling into the fetal position and gasping for breath. Her choking sounds mixed with the humming air conditioner in his thick head. Dean blinked the fog from his eyes and sprang into action, bolting outside. Halfway down the community walkway, he caught Evy by the elbow and spun her around.
“She’s full of shit,” he panted, chocolate bangs spilling from his ball cap. “Don’t listen to a word she says.”
Evy shook free of his grasp. “I’m done listening to any of you.” She glanced over her shoulder at the patio and quickly turned for the parking lot before those we don’t speak of came stumbling out in her stupid high heels.
“Evy!”
Evy didn’t stop and he didn’t follow but her shadow did, moving fast to keep up.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Evy squinted at a large cargo ship floating across the distant horizon like a child’s toy in a tub. The lake was calm today, nestled beneath a cloudless blue sky that always seemed so much bluer down by the water. Sun sparkles skittered across the surface, glittering like brilliant jewels. She looked down at her diamond ring. It winked at her in the sunlight, mocking her. She closed her eyes and twisted the rock around her finger, reliving the day he had proposed.
Like any other warm-blooded girl, it was a day she would never forget. He had caught her completely off guard and that was just one of the things she loved about him. They had been at his place, getting ready for his firm’s annual charity event – a dinner/silent auction that usually rounded up somewhere in the neighborhood of one hundred thousand dollars for Children’s Miracle Network. Evy remembered turning to him with a necklace in each hand – the final piece to complete the timeless black dress falling just below her knees.
Which one do you like better? she had asked, admiring how handsome he looked in his tuxedo.
Whichever one goes best with this, he had answered, pulling a small box from his coat pocket and cracking the lid open. Evy could still feel the way her heart had drummed against her ribcage when she laid eyes on the diamond ring inside. Big eyes. And he knew her style, too: A platinum band holding the perfect sized rock that wouldn’t make her feel like she was showing off.
Evy would never forget the way he looked up at her from down on one knee, waiting for her reply, butterflies tickling her insides. The ring combined with the look on his face was too much to bear. They had locked eyes for awhile, she didn’t know how long because time had lost all meaning.
I don’t know what to say, she had finally sputtered, both hands pressed against her chest.
His response had been simple and to the point.
Just say yes.
And so she had, shrieking with laughter when he swept her up into his arms and spun her around the room.
Megan’s face popped into her mind, slashing the precious recollection in two with her jagged red nails. Evy opened her eyes and dispelled the ghastly image back to the darkness where it had come. The ship seemed as if it had barely moved and she still couldn’t believe it. She had only been gone for a few minutes and he already had another woman in his place – and not just any other woman, but the woman she detested more than words could ever say. Evy closed her eyes and Megan’s lacey bra burned into her mind, branding her soul with pain and sorrow. Evy clenched her jaw and looked out over the water, anger now pushing the sorrow down with both hands, a determined look in its eyes.
She wondered how long it would take Dean to get bored with just one woman. A year? Two? Maybe three? And what if they had children together? Would she really take a chance on her children’s future with a man like Dean Jacobs? Could she take a chance on a man like Dean Jacobs?
She shut her eyes against the harsh sunlight and allowed the image of her with two kids to enter her weary mind. The three of them sat home alone on a cold winter’s night while their daddy shacked up with his latest girlfriend inside a warm condo overlooking downtown. Next, she saw herself dragging the kids to Sugars when the sitter backed out again, Brooke giving her the this isn’t a daycare speech one more time just in case Evy had missed it the first dozen times.
Evy opened her eyes and shook her head, shaking the intrusive thoughts into a gray powder. The wind tugged at her ponytail. Seagulls screeched above. A young couple passed by, holding hands and enjoying the warm day. When they laughed, there was something sinister in their smiles. In everyone’s smiles. How could anyone possibly have anything to smile about on a day like today? She watched them fade down the wide walkway, her heart breaking in two as a stark realization settled in.
Dean could never be with just one woman. He hadn’t before, so why now? What made Evy think she was so different? She grunted into the wind, twisting the ring around her finger. There was nothing special about her. This wasn’t a fairytale and she didn’t have a magic wand. A tear fell from the corner of her eye and she didn’t know if it was from the wind or the fact that she was in over her head with Dean. She could never change a man like that. In the end, he would change her. Change her into a bitter, repressed woman who would never take a chance on love again.
And even if, by some miracle, she could change him – they would never outrun his past. Not in this town. It was big, but it wasn’t that big. And this is where her future laid. It wasn’t like she could just pick Sugars up and move it to some other city, bringing Brooke and Ben along for the ride. No, this is where she had made her bed and this is where she would lie. She sighed. Sometimes she wished she had never left Des Moines. Things were simpler back then. Safe.
Megan’s smug little grin came slashing back into her mind like a lightning bolt splitting the sky in two.
Dean and I are in love, and nothing will ever stop that.
Those hollow words rattled around in Evy’s head like rocks in a hubcap, banging and scratching with no end in sight. Evy closed her eyes and tried shaking them away. When she opened them she wondered how anyone could do the things Megan had done with a clear conscience, but quickly gave up trying. It was impossible to understand, like when people blew up buses or used the mall as a shooting range. Some people just had the devil inside.
Suddenly, she saw herself dressed in white, standing up in front of Pastor Kirkman with a packed church of family and friends seated behind her. Dean stood at her side with that smile of his that melted her heart. He squeezed her hand and then Pastor Kirkman asked his final question: Is there is anyone here who objects to this union? Please speak now or forever hold your piece…
In Evy’s exhausted mind, Megan slowly rose from a pew near the back, wearing a tight fitting red dress that stopped above the knees. With a silk handkerchief balled into her gloved fist, she opened her mouth and flies came pouring out.
Evy blinked another tear down her cheek, knowing she would never get rid of her. She wiped it away and couldn’t help but wonder what kind of person has sex with a psyche-job like that. She imagined Dean on top of Megan, pounding her with his hard cock. The same one he had put inside Evy less than forty-eight hours ago. She shuddered at the thought, balling her hands into fists. Then she saw him kissing Megan the same way he kissed her, long and hard while thrusting his…
She pulled off the diamond ring and threw it as far as she could into the lake. It landed twenty yards out with a soft kerplunk. Evy watched the ripples extend outward, coming closer, her heart wrenching inside her chest.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
After the morning rush, Tasha dropped onto a stool at the island table with an exhausted sigh ruffling her lips. The smell of banana and toffee
swirled in the air, fusing with Evy’s latest creation: Fluffernutter – a creamy blend of peanut butter cake, marshmallow, and buttercream with crushed peanuts sprinkled on top to finish it off.
“I’ve worked here for less than two days and you guys leave me here by myself?” Tasha screwed her face up even tighter. “On a Sunday morning? There were like three church groups that stopped in.” She paused. “One of them tried to get me to accept Jesus as my personal savior. Do I look that bad?”
A timer went off on one of the ovens, its high-pitched beeps bouncing off the yellow walls.
“We are so sorry, sweetie,” Brooke said, quieting the timer and pulling a hot sheet of chocolate strawberry chip cupcakes out. “Thank you for stepping up like that; we really appreciate it.”
Evy slid a tray of fluffernutters into oven number four, slammed the door shut and set the timer. She checked on a tray of banana toffee muffins in oven number two and slammed that door shut as well.
Brooke pulled off an oven mitt and exhaled a fatigued breath, watching her sister start pouring flour into a commercial floor mixer, using both hands to shake the large bag.
“Evy, he didn’t do anything. It was all Shaun and Jon. You know they’re partners in crime.”
Evy’s eyes slid upward to meet Brooke’s troubled gaze. She had told Brooke about the fight with Dean but had withheld the part about Megan. It was too embarrassing to even talk about. Her fiancé and Megan – alone in his condo once again. Megan’s shirt unbuttoned to her bellybutton. Just like old times. A cold shiver wormed down her spine and she dropped the bag to the floor with a heavy thud, exploding powder into the air.
“He was just trying to have a good time with the boys, but Shaun and Jon, not surprisingly, messed it all up,” Brooke pressed the point, wiping chocolate on her apron.
“Yeah, well, if there’s one thing Dean knows how to do it’s have a good time.”
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