I laughed at her. “You know, you speak like a British person whenever you have tea.”
“I think everyone should,” Sue Ann said, laughing. She walked to the beverage station and lifted a tea cozy off a porcelain, flower specked pot. Then, she gave a slow wave worthy of the Queen of England.
The bell over the door rang, and both of us snapped our attention to the front of the store. As if her ears had been burning, Heather McNeal strode between the mannequins, eying us with distaste. She stopped in front of the counter and glared at me, her bright blue eyes almost aqua beneath the strategically placed spotlights.
“Can I help you?” Sue Ann asked through a thin veneer of civility.
“No,” Heather replied, not moving her head, steely gaze, or anything else.
“Uh,” Sue Ann stuttered, disgusted by Heather’s lack of tact.
“What is it, Heather?” I asked. “You’ve obviously come here to say something. So what is it? Spit it out.” I was done with the soft approach. Heather had done too much damage already. Insulting her now wouldn’t make a difference. But forcing her to swallow some of her own medicine would make me feel a little bit better.
“I’m going to destroy you for what you’ve done to me,” Heather replied. “To my future. You’re the witch casting a spell of shattered dreams. And I’m not having it.”
“What I’ve done?” I sniggered, an ugly laugh I’d never used before. Bitchy, actually. “You’re the one who had sex with Adam’s brother. Is this Groundhog’s Day? I swear we’ve had this conversation before. Just get out of here. You’re wasting your breath and my time. If you can’t get on TV without Adam, that’s your problem and not ours. Maybe you should invest your time and energy in acting classes so you can get a gig legitimately instead of through nefarious means.”
“How dare you speak to me like that? I’m Heather McNeal!”
“And I’m Julia Wales.” I rose from my chair. “You think just because your daddy has money you can have everything you want. That everything will go your way? Well, I’ve got a billboard advertisement for you. Fuck off. So why don’t you take your rotten attitude remove yourself from my presence before I say something I’ll really regret.”
“Be careful of the china!” Sue Ann hissed, pointing at the cup on the front counter.
Heather grimaced, plucked it off its saucer, and tossed it against the far wall. It shattered into thousands of pieces and scattered to the wooden boards.
“I can’t believe you just did that,” Sue Ann said, her voice deepening. “How dare you come in here and destroy business property. That’s a crime!”
The bell over the door sounded again.
Mark Spencer marched into the store, red as a beet. He glared at the back of Heather’s head, huffing air in and out of his mouth. “Heather,” he growled. “I told you not to come back here. Nothing good can be gained from harassing these ladies.”
“What?” she snapped, turning to face him. Confusion flickered in her expression. “Mark? What are you doing here? Come to buy another stupid scarf that I’m going to return?” She stopped to yank a Hermes off a nearby bust. The ripping sound of the delicate silk caused Sue Ann to cringe and tear up. “How about we buy this one right now. Then, I’ll take it over to Carter’s and have him tie my wrists to the bedpost while he splits me wide open with his massive cock. The one that makes yours look like a pencil. How about that?”
“Don’t talk to me like that,” he ground out, his jaw muscles popping with each word. “I’ve had enough of the way you talk to people.”
Heather took a step back as if she’d been struck. “Don’t be an idiot. I’m in charge here. I call all the shots. Let’s get out of here –”
“Shut up,” Mark replied, cold as ice. The trademark Spencer eyes narrowed as if he were seeing her for the first time.
Man, what a day. Sue Ann and I shared identical glances. How many more people would join the argument before the day ended? I craned my neck, half-expecting Carter to materialize out of thin air. A fissure of dread crawled up the back of my arms.
“What’s your problem, Mark?” Heather demanded. “Why are you here? Still think you can get away with trying to control me? Quit it already. You’ve been following me around like a little lap dog since high school. I’m over it.”
“I’ve known about Carter for weeks,” he yelled, hands in the air. “I know that you don’t love me, that you’re using me. After everything I’ve done for you?! After covering your tracks and keeping quiet about our affair. All so you could try to get back with my brother, and become a huge TV star.”
Heather fish mouthed for a couple seconds, then her back stiffened. She glanced back at me and clicked her tongue. “I don’t have time for this, Mark.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought you’d say. Here’s the thing, Heather, I don’t have time for this either.” Mark’s fists were at his sides, smaller than Adam’s but just as potent. He clenched and released, his jaw growing taut from the pressure of withholding his anger. “I’m finished with you. The whole of Duluth will know what you’ve done. About the billboard, about everything.”
“Billboard?” Sue Ann and I said in unison.
“You shut your dirty mouth!” Heather shrieked. She reached up and gripped two handfuls of her sleek blonde hair. “I’ll –”
“You’ll do nothing.” Mark’s laughter was bitter, travelling through the store, past the mannequins, over the shattered remains of the china cup. “You think you’re the only one with friends in this town? Just wait and see, Heather. Just you fucking wait and see. My brother has just as much money and clout as you do. And I made the wrong fucking choice. I’m going to rectify that. Starting now. He’s family. You’re not.”
With a final glare, Mark Spencer turned and charged out of the boutique.
The silence that followed his exit hung in the air. So palpable it was as thick as the steam coming from my vanilla Rooibos.
Heather stomped out a second after, without looking back at the women behind her, her beautiful face twisted into a hideous mask of regret.
My eyebrows were plastered up on my forehead. Maybe, just maybe, Heather McNeal had finally met her match.
Chapter 36
Adam
I sat beside the lake and stared out over the ice, holding the box between my gloved hands, turning it over and over again. Velvet black on the outside. I could see the ring in my mind’s eye. Princess cut. Three carats surrounded by another in pavé cut small diamonds.
Exactly what she deserved.
Will she say yes? Is it too soon? Fuck it, this is bullshit. I’m just gonna do it. But can I? I’m scared. For the first time in my life.
Thoughts sucker punched my brains. Different opinions within my own mind at war with each other. Marching up to engage, firing and then retreating. I couldn’t wrap my brain around them. Julia had become everything that mattered and everything I wanted to protect all rolled into one.
And the new season was on its way. My first game was next week, and it’d be tough going back out there on the ice. Kicking ass after such a long ass sabbatical. I’d do it, but I was still nervous.
Man, it’d been a long time. So much shit had happened. But, hell… I’d been fantasizing about it for so long it was hard to believe it was about to happen. The smell of the ice. The sound of the horn. The roar of the fans chanting my name. The electric charge of the air in the arena, rampant with the support of thousands rooting for me and my teammates.
I looked at the ring box, stroking the velvet outside as I exhaled the morning mist. I never thought I’d do this again after what Heather had done to me. But here I was, and it felt good. Right. I imagined my mom’s reaction. She’d approve.
But then, a part of me had always had my doubts about Heather, I just hadn’t wanted to see below the surface and have to admit I’d been wrong. She’d used her looks to her advantage. She’d manipulated me, and on some level, I’d seen it. At a really deep level that’d been drowne
d out by the dumb fuck romantic in me.
What if I did this again and Julia hurt me, too?
I shook my head. Julia wasn’t like Heather. She was so different. So much more beautiful too. She was natural and genuine.
Like mom.
“Hey,” a woman spoke behind me, and I jolted.
My thoughts had been fixed on the proposal so I hadn’t heard the footsteps crunching up behind me. Heather trotted into view, but she didn’t sit down. She just folded her arms across her chest. “We need to talk,” she said.
“No, we really don’t.” I folded my right hand around the ring box. “We’re done talking. Why don’t you go talk to my brother or Carter? Maybe one of the other guys you’ve got on speed dial?”
“I’m not – I didn’t –”
“Cut the shit, Heather. I’m not stupid. But apparently you are because you still think I’ll give you a chance after all you’ve done. I saw both Mark and Carter, dicks out, remember?”
“Everything I’ve done is for us,” Heather said in a soft voice. “For our future. I told you that.”
“And I told you that I’ll be with Julia. She’s all I want. I will never be with you. Not if you were the last woman on the planet after nuclear annihilation and I was the only man who could save the human race from eradication. Got it?” My expression hardened. Why was she making me do this over and over again? But the strangest thing had happened. I didn’t hate Heather anymore. I wasn’t seething with anger at seeing her. I didn’t even want to call her names or lose my shit.
I felt nothing.
Heather was over. She was history. A part of my past I’d never be able to erase, but hell, I didn’t want to because I’d learned something from her betrayal. I’d learned to be a better man. One that Julia deserved. The one that she’d get.
Heather’s chest rose and fell, mist steaming from her mouth on the chill. She sputtered, then stomped her high heeled boots on the hard-packed snow. “That’s not true. We were meant to be together. From the minute we laid eyes on each other. I know it. You know it. The entire state of Minnesota knows it.”
“That would be romantic coming from anyone else. But coming from you… Heather, it’s just sad. You need to move on.” I rose from the ground and faced her. “Leave me alone. Leave Julia alone. This is the last time I’m going to say it. You’re smart and beautiful. If you really want to move to Hollywood and make a go of it, you can do that on your own without manipulating other people.” Then my face fell, and I softened my tone to a gentle plea. “Please don’t make me do something I’ll regret. Just let it go.”
The apples of Heather’s cheeks were flushed, from the snow or from being rejected. “No, Adam. I can’t do it on my own. Do you know how hard it is to always be in the shadow of your own father? Knowing you’ll never be as successful as he is and being told over and over again that you’re worthless to your own family? No. You don’t. Because you’re mom and dad loved you as a person and not just as some pawn in their own twisted game.”
“No, I guess I don’t know how that would feel.” My mind drifted back to all the times I’d spent at the McNeal house. I’d never really registered that Heather’s dad was so cold you could freeze ice on his ass. I didn’t doubt the seriousness of her words, and that she’d suffered and changed as a person because of his criticism.
“I’ll try to stay away from you and Julia,” Heather replied, shrugging and tossing her hair, the silken mane I’d stroked. Man, I’d always thought she was perfect. How wrong I’d been.
“Don’t –”
“I bet you were with her before we broke up. Thinking of you with other women is why I cheated.”
“Heather, don’t be delusional,” I replied, shaking my head. “I met Julia after you. You drove me away with your cheating and lies. You’d already lost me.”
“Bullshit.” Heather kept doing that hair toss thing. She was an angry horse in the barn, and her words were a series of whinnies. “I bet you were sleeping with her while we were together.”
A jolt of regret rifled through me, but I honestly didn’t have the patience or time for this. If she couldn’t see reason and the truth, I wasn’t going to convince her. The first game of the season and the proposal were all that mattered now. A loose cannon wouldn’t be allowed to fire on the troops under my watch. I shook my head, rueful. I’d been enraged, and I’d have preferred to stay that way, rather than this total pity for Heather. Pity was too close to empathy. The moment I softened, tried to get through to her, she thought that meant she had hope.
“Goodbye, Heather.”
My truck was parked on the verge, and Heather had stopped her silver Audi right behind it. That car was the epitome of what I’d never want again. Shiny and expensive with nothing much else underneath the hood.
I opened the door of my truck, got in, and started the engine, placing the velvet box in the glove compartment for safe keeping. I’d just decided on the perfect time to ask Julia for her hand. My only regret was not being able to ask her dad’s permission.
I drove off with a smile on my face and anxiety crawling around in my gut. But this time, it was the good kind.
Chapter 37
Julia
I paced back and forth in front of my TV, holding a glass of red wine. I lifted it to my lips and sipped, then resumed pacing. The silky liquid hadn’t had the same calming influence it usually did. Not tonight. I shouldn’t be this nervous. It was dumb. Everything would be okay.
Adam’s first game after the injury, after the drug scandal. But he’d kill it, I knew he would. Adam was strong and talented. And he had that fire in his belly that only champions have.
“We’ve been through so much,” I said to myself.
The total breakdown of my business and my career, the doubt in our relationship. And we’d risen above. So far that now, as a couple, we soared. Maybe it was because this game was symbolic. If he did well, we would do well. Not for financial reasons or anything other than… well, I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.
But today was important. It felt like everything.
My phone rang on the sofa, and I turned quickly. Wine sloshed from my glass and onto my bare feet. I swore under my breath, shook my toes dry, and then grabbed for my iPhone.
Adam’s photo flashed on the screen. All ball cap, scruff of beard, and charming dimples. My insides went squirmy with delight and nerves. I swiped my thumb across the screen and answered.
“Shouldn’t you be out on the ice?” I asked, placing my glass on the rustic coffee table. My living room was cozy, and I liked it that way.
“In a minute,” Adam replied. “I just wanted to hear your voice before it started. And tell you that I love you.”
My heart pounded in response. “I love you too.” And it was true. So true. Perhaps it had always been this way, and I’d never seen it because I’d been too afraid to admit it.
“You’d better because I can’t live without you.”
“Adam,” I breathed, for lack of better words. What could I say to that?
“I want to meet up after the game. That okay with you?”
“Of course.”
“I really wish you were here,” he said, “You sure you won’t take me up on the offer?”
He’d practically begged me to watch the game in person, awesome seats too, right behind the bench, but I’d refused. I needed distance and my own space for this. I wanted to support without being distracting. Seeing me there so close to the ice, well, I knew I’d be a distraction. The last thing either of us needed was the press glomming on to that one if the Caribou lost, saying I was bad luck for the team.
“I wish I was too, but I think it’s for the best this way. Besides, Sue Ann will be here in a minute. She promised to watch the game with me.”
“She doesn’t seem like the hockey type,” he replied, chuckling.
“She’s not,” I said, laughing as well. “I convinced her. Wine was involved. That, and she’s the kind of friend everyone d
reams about.”
“Good.” Adam cleared his throat. “I have to go. I’ll see you afterwards.”
“Good luck. Score a hat trick!”
His chuckle died off as the line went dead and I was back in my living room, watching the screen. Players warming up by skating around and stretching. Finally, I spotted the familiar number on his jersey. Adam skated onto the ice amidst tumultuous applause and announcements from the commentator.
I blocked them out. This was nerve-wracking. Where was Sue Ann? I definitely needed the moral support on this one. I picked up my phone and eyed it, then put it back down again. Sue Ann would probably arrive in a few minutes. I just had to be patient.
I sat on the edge of my seat and clasped my hands together, my gaze glued to Adam’s bulky form. He looked so damn handsome all kitted out. God, I couldn’t wait to see him again, after this. Maybe I’d ask him to put on his hockey uniform when we were alone sometime. Just so I could take it off piece by piece. With my teeth.
Checking my watch again, I frowned. Sue Ann really should’ve been here by now. The phone rang, and I snatched it up for the second time, then smiled at Sue’s name flashing back at me.
“Hey,” I said, pressing the phone to my ear, “where are you? It’s starting.”
“Hey, I know, I’m sorry,” Sue Ann said, frazzled.
“What’s wrong?” I asked instantly. I had a sixth sense when it came to Sue, but this time, it was obvious my bestie was upset.
“I don’t think I’ll be able to make it right away. I may be able to come by later.”
“What’s going on?”
“It’s – uh – customers came in at closing time. Three of them. One of them needed a special occasion dress. You know me. I can’t just throw a needy customer out on their ear, so I stayed until she found the perfect gown. Sorry, Jules.”
“Yeah, I know how it is,” I said. “Take your time. But you call me if you decide you can’t make it. I’ll be alright alone here. I promise.”
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