by Aubree Lane
Erika had settled in nicely to the new family arrangement. Terence and Larry shared custody, and Erika’s time was split equitably between their two houses. Since he was now officially retired, Larry had taken over as her online school learning coach, giving Terence the time he needed to get his work done in peace. After school, Erika would take the short walk back to Terence’s where all of her friends would congregate, saving Larry the noise and chaos of so many preadolescent females.
Hannah was still in Montana with her mother, but was planning on visiting soon. She hoped to bring Erika’s grandmother along for the two of them to finally meet.
Marissa, David and the kids were all in San Diego.
Marissa was working in high gear, over sixty hours a week trying to fill her father’s shoes.
David had cut back on his responsibilities by hiring an assistant detective to do most of the legwork, which enabled him to spend more time with their children. Hiring the young man named Woody Hooten was turning out to be one of the best decisions the firm had ever made.
Annie looked down at Grandma Javier’s ring and tried to take her mind off her nausea. She rubbed the smooth stone with her finger and thought of Terence’s proposal, the second one. The proposal which had been well thought out and planned. The first one would always hold a special place in her heart but not nearly as much as the one that followed.
A few days after their return from San Diego he asked her over to his house for dinner. Annie was still staying at Lena’s. The B&B was fabulous. The work Phoebe, Alan, and Mike did there was spectacular. Alan once described it, before dropping out of their lives altogether, as Teak on a Plywood budget. Meaning that, while appearing lush and expensive it was all an illusion. Phoebe had come in on time and under budget, living up to the slogan someone had once coined for Annie H. Designs.
Phoebe never needed her help. The few things that might have used her expert attention were minor and could have easily been dropped from the plan altogether.
For a short time, Annie tried to be angry about the deception, which brought her back to Oahu, but there was something about the trade winds blowing through her hair and the smell of salty spindrift that seemed to whisk all those negative feelings away. Not to mention the man by her side who made every inch of her body do the happy dance.
The night of their date, Terence escorted her to the sofa and handed her a glass of her favorite wine from the Alexander Valley. On the coffee table was a box marked with the distinctive Beautiful Bodies logo and web address.
“Ooh, a little something from Mrs. Barrington,” she gushed with eager eyes.
He shook his head. “She sent me something from her new product line called Man Hands. What am I supposed to do with that?”
Annie rolled her eyes. “If you read the directions, I bet you’d find out. They are fantastic products. Once you try it, you’ll be hooked for life.”
Terence wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her to him. “Sarah has offered me a job. She wants me to redesign her website and maintain it for her.” He pulled her a little closer and smiled. “And she wants you looking over my shoulder to make sure I don’t screw it up.”
“So,” Annie countered stroking his neck. “Sarah has offered me a job, too.” Her hands shot up in the air, and she placed them firmly on his chest. “Hold the fort!” she commanded. “Whatever you’re planning on charging her, I’m tripling it. If I were you, I’d think twice before taking her on, it could ruin your friendship. And I didn’t know building websites was part of your repertoire.”
The look on Terence’s face said, duh, but his voice said, “I work with computers all day. I’m sure I can figure it out. It will be a piece of cake.”
Annie was dubious, but she refrained from informing her beloved that nothing, absolutely nothing, about working with Sarah Barrington was a piece of cake. Besides, it sounded as if he was about to find that out for himself. As for her part, she could use the extra cash. Jamoka Jack hadn’t turned out to be the cash cow she envisioned, and she was beginning to understand why there wasn’t a gourmet coffee house or cart within ten miles. The market simply wasn’t ready for it―yet.
Terence released her and set the box out of the way. It was a large box. There had to be more in there than just Man Hands and Annie was positive the other goodies were for her.
She nosed her way to the box, but Terence redirected her. “Dinner is taking longer than I expected. Go find something to read on the coffee table while I finish up in the kitchen.”
Annie gave up on the box, but when she followed to offer her assistance he quickly hustled her back to the sofa and told her to relax. “There must be something that will interest you in that mess,” he said, making a strange arm flourish over a clutter of books and magazines.
Annie frowned.
His eyes twinkled. “Just look around,” he insisted heading back to the kitchen, “I’m sure something will catch your eye.”
It took only a moment to discover her high school yearbook under a magazine. It was opened to the page that displayed her senior portrait. She picked it up, and an envelope fell to the floor.
She recognized Hannah’s handwriting on the outside of it and quickly snatched it up.
Unsure about whether she should invade Terence’s privacy, she slowly pulled the letter out of the envelope. She hesitated, but since it was so obvious this was what Terence wanted her to find, she unfolded the pages and began to read.
Hannah’s words rushed off the page and a few moments later a smile formed upon her lips.
The letter reminded Terence of their last summer together. Hannah brought her yearbook over to show him. She pointed out all her friends and told him about her life back in San Diego. Then later that evening she accidentally overheard a conversation between Terence and Jake. Terence pointed to Annie’s picture and said, “Now that’s the kind of girl I could go for.”
His words crushed Hannah. She loved him for years, and hearing how little she meant to him made it impossible for her to stay. That was the reason why she and her father left so abruptly that summer.
When Hannah discovered she was pregnant, her father jumped to the conclusion Terence was the dad and Hannah didn’t correct him. She didn’t believe she would ever see Terence again, so she didn’t think it mattered.
Then Terence showed up at her father’s law firm looking for a job.
Hannah apologized for misleading him and for all the pain she caused. She eventually told her father the truth, but he persuaded her to keep quiet since it was far easier to fight Terence for custody than Larry.
That was it. That was all Hannah had written.
Annie flipped the last page over, hoping for more. She wanted Hannah to tell Terence about the abuse she suffered and how she protected Erika.
She was so absorbed with the letter that she jumped when Terence leaned over the back of the sofa and nuzzled his nose into her neck.
“You always seemed familiar to me, now I know why,” he whispered softly in her ear.
Annie closed her eyes and relaxed under his touch. There wasn’t anything else she could do for Hannah. Besides, her main focus was on Terence and their future. She raised her chin and pointed a knowing finger at him. “You’re just as weird as I am.” A smug smile danced on her face. “You were hooked on my picture, too!”
He grabbed her finger and stuck his nose close to hers. “I was thinking more along the lines of how romantic it was that we were destined to be together.”
Content knowing, they were two of a kind, she ran her fingers through his hair, and let it go.
They walked on air for the rest of the evening. The dinner Terence prepared was superb, although she couldn’t remember what she ate. Then they walked on the beach and talked for hours, but she couldn’t tell you what about. All she knew was that she was in love, and wanted to spend the rest of her life with this man.
When they stopped under the sweeping branches of the multi-trunked banyan tree, Terence
took her into his arms. “Sing for me, Annie.”
Warmth rushed through her body. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and they swayed together to the sweet lyrics of a sentimental Louis Armstrong song. She didn’t sing it well. At times she sang so softly only Terence could hear. That was fine because she sang for him alone. After the last note Terence asked her to marry him, and the rest of the night was lost in a blur of happiness.
She picked the perfect song. It truly was a Wonderful World.
The End
About the Author
Aubree Lane is a true story teller. This award winning author has been writing in some form or another for most of her life and has loved every minute of it. She lives in the beautiful foothills of Northern California with her husband, two wonderful sons, and one super special peek-a-poo named, Tanner.
Her motto: Write Until Your Butt Hurts, And Your Eyes Are Crossed.
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Love in Oahu ~ Book 2
The taxi ride to Annie’s was filled with trepidation. Brittany should have let her sister know she was coming, but considering the last time they saw each other, Christmas two years ago, Britt figured she was better off simply appearing on her doorstep.
She hoped Annie would be happy to see her, but she wasn’t counting on it. The amount of contact Annie had with their side of the family had dwindled to the occasional email or text message. Annie hadn’t even called with the happy news of the birth of her son, Max. The only reason Brittany found out about the bundle of joy was because a friend pointed out the announcement in a local newspaper.
The way their mother treated Annie, after she told them she was in love with a wonderful man, was horrible. The only good thing that came from that tumultuous Christmas was Brittany had returned Annie’s expensive gift and added the cash to her escape fund.
Britt couldn’t recall a time when the relationship between Annie and their mother wasn’t strained. For most of her life, Britt blamed Annie for the rift, but over the last few years, she realized exactly what Annie faced every single day living under Darleen and Carl Sutherland’s roof. After Britt’s sixteenth birthday, she was forced to work in her father’s landscaping business. When Carl decided to pay her for the long hours of manual labor, which wasn’t often, it was less than minimum wage. Along with the job, she was expected to keep her grades up and the house spotless. Seemingly overnight, she became a slave, and she hadn’t heard a kind word from her parents since.
With the money she managed to squirrel away, Britt purchased a one-way ticket to Honolulu and prayed Annie wouldn’t close the door in her face. Even if her half-sister took pity on her homeless status, Britt worried her husband would object. Not having met Terence Javier, it was impossible for her to gauge how he would react to having an unexpected houseguest.
The taxi pulled up in front of a cute little bungalow, and Brittany knew she was in the right place. In a former life, Annie owned her own business as an interior designer, and it looked as though her knowledge extended to the exterior as well.
She paid the cabdriver, and the old model Chevy Caprice drove away. Brittany felt bad about the chintzy tip she gave him, but money was tight and not knowing what her future held, she couldn’t afford to be generous. Amazingly, the driver smiled kindly and helped her with her bags.
Britt blew out a breath and braced herself. She stuffed her winter coat on top of her suitcase and rolled it up the walkway. It was early and she was hesitant about ringing the bell. Waking a sleeping baby probably wasn’t the best way to start off the family reunion. Brittany propped the suitcase up against the railing, settled down on the porch swing, and waited for some morning noises which signaled the start of the family’s day.
It was already warm and a bit humid. Brittany rocked back and forth. The rhythmic moaning of the chains calmed her anxious nerves. Her eyes grew heavy and twenty minutes later, Brittany was curled up with a floral pillow tucked under her head, sound asleep.
• • •
Terence Javier jogged to a stop. He grabbed the bottom of his t-shirt and wiped the sweat from his face. The hour he spent running on the beach felt good. It had been a long two weeks back in Ohio, and he needed to purge every trace of that city, and the people he worked with, out of his system. Total ineptitude forced him to travel during the worst snowstorm in history to retrain an entirely new round of employees on the system he set up almost three years ago. The owners took advantage of a loophole in their contract and he hadn’t received so much as a dime for his trouble.
It was his standard contract, but nothing like this ever happened before. He made a mental note to contact his lawyer and have him come up with better wording. Terence needed his expenses paid in the future. Since his lawyer lived right down the road and they shared custody of their daughter, he was positive a new contract would be in the works before the day’s end.
He wanted a longer run, but his wife and baby son were working Annie’s Jamoka Jack Coffee Cart. Terence wanted breakfast ready for them when they arrived home. Annie had kindly let him sleep in and took Max with her while she provided specialty coffee to her regular clientele. Max wasn’t exactly a help, and he wasn’t anywhere close to being the best behaved baby. His wife would need a little tender loving care after this morning’s adventure. He found no difficulty imagining how frazzled she would be with a crying baby strapped to her back and demanding customers at her front. If he hadn’t enjoyed his calm morning so much, he would have gone down and relieved her of the kid, but since his beautiful wife wanted him to take the morning off Max duty, he decided to let her spoil him.
Terence approached the house and frowned. He spied a dark blue, hard-shelled carry-on piece of luggage through the lavender blooms of the thorny Bougainvillea. Two steps and one giant leap forward, he found a young woman, with a beautiful shade of subtle auburn hair, sleeping soundly in his porch swing.
He knew that face. He saw it every time he looked at his wife. She had to be a relative of Annie’s and he guessed she must be her half-sister.
Annie rarely spoke of her family, but when she did, it was usually with disdain. She occasionally expressed concern over her younger sister’s well-being and wondered how she was surviving in that unhealthy household. To the best of Terence’s knowledge, Brittany’s arrival was unexpected, and Terence surmised the answer to Annie’s question was that Brittany hadn’t been doing well at all.
Tahoe Blues
The opulence of the Grand Ballroom of the Cascade Bay Resort and Casino jumped out and smacked Cara in the face for the very last time. Cara Lee Greene Alexander, soon to simply be Cara Lee Greene, had just arrived to host her final event as the wife of Duncan Alexander.
Duncan and the rest of the Alexander family had yet to arrive, and that suited Cara perfectly. There were several small details to attend to before the gala was scheduled to begin, and she wasn’t up for another round of Duncan’s soft voice beckoning, his bedroom eyes seducing, or another woman on his arm smiling her secret smile.
Duncan was part of the wealthiest family on the Nevada side of North Lake Tahoe, and he was probably the hottest man alive. Unfortunately, it was those same qualities which brought about the end of their marriage. Women loved to associate with the newly crowned King of Tahoe and owner of the Cascade Bay Resort and Casino, and Cara’s privileged husband had become far too accommodating.
Duncan couldn’t keep it in his pants if his life depended on it, and Cara was tired of trying to make the best of a bad situation. Her self-esteem had taken a brutal beating. She couldn’t understand why she wasn’t enough for Duncan, but that wasn’t what killed their marriage. It dissolved into dust the day Cara realize
d, Duncan was no longer enough for her.
The final straw came crashing down when she walked in on him and the latest one of his Blackjack dealing Barbies. Inside the walls of the sacred family compound, the couple had been completely nude and quite energetic under the covers of the couple’s bed. As their only safe haven from the glitz and glamor of casino life, Cara thought it would have been off limits.
The redhead was just one of a long line of immoral, insecure, boob-jobs willing to share her goods. But this time Duncan made it all too clear he didn’t give a damn how many footprints he left on Cara’s back as he trampled across their wedding vows.
Cara had almost grown numb to his dalliances. She had checked out of their marriage ages ago, but Duncan’s blatant lack of respect for her or any aspect of their union rammed home, in more ways than one, the fact that their marriage was over.
Cara calmly walked over and pulled her suitcase out from under the bed and began packing. Through the groans and moans of passion, Cara was unobserved for several moments. When the couple came up for air and noticed she was in the room, the boob-job began to blubber, and Duncan scrambled to assure Cara the piece of ass under him didn’t mean a thing.
Stoic and silent, Cara ignored the commotion around her and gathered her belongings. By the time she hit the bathroom to dump her toiletries and cosmetics into a large beach tote, the redhead was history and Duncan finally had his pants pulled back on. Cara couldn’t help but notice how his thighs were pumped a little larger than usual due to the vigorous activity he had just engaged in.
He leaned his six-foot frame in the doorway, his pants loose and unzipped around his hips. Duncan had decided to go commando, and Cara let her gaze drop to the ‘V’ which led to the ‘P’ and released a disgusted huff. Those trim, tight muscles that ran along his hip bones were capable of driving way too many women crazy.
