The Accidental Boyfriend

by Maggie Dallen

  There was a stunned silence before Jack heard his mother’s unmistakable voice coming from the doorway. “I’m so glad to hear that, dear. I always knew my son would find someone wonderful and settle down.”

  Chapter 7

  Holly saw Robert and Miranda twirl toward the doorway in surprise and Jack’s grip tightened considerably on her hand. Holly’s heart kicked into overdrive. This could not be happening…again.

  She and Jack spun around to face the owner of the voice—a pretty, petite older woman who was beaming at her and Jack like she’d just won the lottery. An older gentleman who bore a striking resemblance to Jack and Robert stood behind her. He too was grinning and shaking his head in an “oh you crazy kids” kind of way.

  “Um, Jack?” she whispered.

  Jack turned to her, a blank look on his face. “Holly Sinclair, I’d like you to meet my mom and dad.”

  Jack’s mom, who introduced herself as Claire, rushed toward her and enveloped her in a tight hug. When she pulled back, she was giving her a huge grin. “It’s so nice to meet you.”

  Holly forced a smile to match Claire’s. “You too.” Before they could talk further it was Jack’s dad’s turn to pull her into a bear hug. “Let me take a look at the woman who managed to capture my son’s heart,” he started.

  “Dad, don’t get carried away,” Jack said from behind his father.

  “Yeah, we just started dating, really,” Holly added. Jack raised a brow at her over his father’s shoulder.

  “It’s true,” he added. “Don’t go getting too excited.” He was looking at his mother who was bouncing on her toes for a better look at her son’s new girlfriend.

  “What are you doing here?” Jack asked. “I mean, it’s great to see you but Robert and Miranda didn’t mention that you’d—”

  “We’re just stopping by on our way back to the base,” Jack’s father said. “We were supposed to head back today but when Miranda called and said you were in town, we pushed back our flight.”

  “You should have told us you were coming to Paris,” his mother said, swatting his arm lightly.

  “Oh well, this trip was really just a last minute impulse,” he said. Holly noticed he was actively avoiding looking at her, but whether it was because he was angry or afraid he’d burst out laughing remained to be seen.

  His mother looked back and forth between Jack and Holly and sighed. “A weekend getaway to Paris, how romantic.”

  “Mom, please don’t get carried away,” Jack said, a note of warning in his voice. Holly remembered what his brother had said about how upset his mother had been when she learned that his relationship with Ivy was a lie and the guilt that had been gnawing at her stomach grew a million times worse.

  Holly fidgeted with the strap of her purse, trying desperately to fade into the wallpaper.

  The whole point of coming here tonight was to set the record straight and she’d gone and dug the hole even deeper. But really, it wasn’t entirely her fault. The way Robert was talking to his brother, demeaning him—she would have done anything to take that smug look on his face. Was it really her fault that she just happened to have the absolute worst timing on the planet?

  Once the initial excitement settled down, Holly watched Jack’s family interact. With their parents acting as buffer, Jack and Robert were on their best behavior. They never spoke directly to one another but she noticed that they laughed at one another’s jokes and listened to each other’s stories. If she hadn’t seen the tension between the brothers with her own eyes, Holly would have been convinced they were one big happy family.

  Holly did her best to stay on the outskirts and not get drawn into their intimate family reunion but neither his parents nor Miranda would allow her keep her distance. After a while she gave up trying and found herself being treated like a long lost member of the family.

  When they went to leave a little while later, his mother made them swear that they would meet up again for dinner on their last night in town.

  * * * *

  Stepping out of the cozy apartment and into the fresh night air, Holly inhaled deeply and let it out with a sigh. “We survived,” she said.

  “Barely.”

  She glanced over to see Jack watching her with a wry smile. “Okay, I’ll say it,” she said. “I’m really sorry I made your parents think we’re a couple.”

  “I’m not.” She looked over in surprise at that and he added, “I think we did a fairly good job of clarifying that we’re not serious so it won’t come as a shock when we break up.”

  The words gave her heart a bit of a pang but she shook off her own nonsense. Breaking up should not be painful for two people who were not in a relationship.

  “Besides, it was nice to see them so happy, even if it’s not totally real.”

  “They did seem pretty happy.”

  He laughed, “Even Robbie managed to loosen up a bit, did you notice?” She nodded. “So when are you going to tell me what happened there?”

  They were strolling back toward the city center and Jack shoved his hands in his pockets. “Simple, really. We were always competitive. Always. But Robert always won. He got the good grades, kicked my butt in sports, and got the girl.”

  She peered over at him, her suspicions confirmed. “Miranda, you mean?”

  He rolled his eyes. “Don’t go getting crazy ideas. I got over that one quickly. It’s obvious that she chose the right brother.”

  “What happened?” she prodded.

  “Oh the usual, she was ready for a commitment and I…couldn’t give it to her.”

  Holly ignored the pain in her jaw from clenching it so hard. “So it was serious between you two then.”

  Jack gave a little nod. “It was serious for a little while. But then she wised up and realized I don’t have long-term potential. Not like Robert.”

  Holly studied his profile. He didn’t seem too terribly broken up about his lost love—in fact he sounded a bit bored.

  “How long ago was this?”

  “High school.”

  Holly stopped walking and he had to turn to face her.

  “High school?” she repeated. “How old were you?”

  “Seventeen.”

  “Seventeen?”

  “Why do you keep repeating me?” he asked, that slow smile spreading across his face, making him look entirely too sexy under the soft glow of the streetlamps.

  “Because you were seventeen,” she said. “Of course you weren’t ready to make a commitment. You’d just learned how to shave, you couldn’t possibly have been ready to make a lifetime commitment.”

  Jack let out a little laugh and kept walking. “I told you, that’s all in the past. She and Robert are a much more logical fit.”

  “Okay, so then what else?”

  Jack sighed again and for a moment she thought he wouldn’t respond. But then he said, “That was just the first of many times I let everyone down. Especially Robert. We started growing apart during college, when Robert became even more….”

  “Smug? Superior? Self-righteous?” Holly suggested.

  “Stubborn. And I became more and more…willful.” He ignored her sarcastic snort and continued. “Push came to shove shortly after graduation when I asked Robert to be a backer in my company. He still had some money left from our inheritance from our grandparents. I’d blown through all of mine, of course, but Robert had squirreled his away as a nest egg for him and Miranda.”

  “And?” Holly nudged. She had an idea where this was going but she wanted to hear the whole story for herself.

  Jack shoved his hands into his pocket. “I was supposed to be the idea man—they were my prototypes we wanted to make—and my friend Evan would handle the business end. He’d gotten his degree in business and marketing and he was one of my best friends. I trusted him.”

  He was silent for a little while and seemed lost in thought. “So, Robert leant you the money…” she prodded.

  “And I lost it all. Every penny.”
<
br />   Holly gasped, more from the self-loathing tone in his voice than anything else.

  “The worst part was, by the end of it Evan ended up owning all of the intellectual property, so he found other investors and started from scratch with my ideas but without me. Or my brother.”

  “Oh my God,” she murmured. Her heart ached at the bitterness she heard in his tone.

  “But that’s not your fault,” she said.

  He glanced over at her with a wry smile. “If only Robbie felt that way.”

  Before she could protest further, he said, “I may not have been the total traitor that Evan was, but I failed my brother. I promised him that I would see it through, that I would commit to the business. I made him believe that he could trust me to do something right for a change.”

  Holly placed one hand on his arm. She wished she could do more but even that brief touch seemed far more intimate than it should. He stopped and turned so they were facing one another, only inches between them. Every bit of guilt and resentment was etched on his face and Holly realized that she would do absolutely anything to make his pain go away.

  Jack’s eyes were filled with self-reproach. “You’ve got to understand. Our whole childhood and all during high school, I was always getting into trouble and Robbie was always getting me out. Even in college I was always starting projects but never seeing them through. I managed to convince Robbie to trust me for once in his life and he did. And I blew it. I should have been paying attention to the deals Evan was making, I should have read the fine print. I should have been responsible with the money that I was making…but instead I partied it up like a rock star and let Evan take everything.”

  Holly reached out again and let her hands rest on his shoulders. She waited until his eyes locked with hers before she spoke. “You were young and naïve and you trusted the wrong person. That doesn’t make you the bad guy.”

  The look in his eyes was so soft, so vulnerable, it took Holly’s breath away.

  “Try telling Robert that,” he said. “That was my one chance to prove to my brother that I’d changed—that I wasn’t the screw-up kid he’s always seen me as…” his voice faded off and he shrugged.

  “But you were a kid,” she said. How did he not see that? How did his brother and the rest of his family not recognize that? Frustration was slowly replacing sympathy and she crossed her arms across her chest and gave him the look that her second graders had dubbed the “stare of doom.”

  “Listen up, Jack Everett,” she said. “You have got to stop blaming yourself for things that happened when you were young and dumb. You are a grown up now so it’s time to act like one.”

  His grin turned to a smirk and she saw the frustration in his eyes when he said, “So what are you saying, I should rush out and get married?”

  Holly shook her head in annoyance. “Of course not. Marriage doesn’t make you responsible. Any idiot can throw a wedding. If you want people to respect you, then you’ve got to demand respect. Prove that you’ve changed.”

  “Is that what you’re doing?” His quiet words stopped her tirade and for a moment, her voice caught in her throat.

  “Yes,” she said. “That’s exactly what I’m doing.”

  His eyes moved over her face, studying her but she had no clue what he was looking for. She wasn’t used to feeling like an open book but with Jack sometimes she got the sense that he saw more than she knew—more than she wanted anyone to see.

  A small smile eased the taut silence. “And how’s that working out for you?”

  She felt her lips twitching up against her will. She was such a coward. “I’ll let you know once I talk to Benjamin.”

  She could have sworn she caught him flinch when she said Benjamin’s name. Interesting. Before she could give it any more thought, he’d resumed walking so she had to do a little skip in her high heels to catch up.

  “I believe it was agreed we would follow up tonight’s familiar fun by drinking our faces off, correct?”

  Holly reached his side and linked her arm through his. “Let’s do this.”

  * * * *

  Holly really shouldn’t make important phone calls after she’d had several cocktails. It wasn’t rocket science. She should know better. But she called him anyway.

  By the time they stumbled into the apartment a couple hours later, laughing their heads off, Holly had an overwhelming need to call Benjamin. The drinks had done their job and ebbed away any humiliation she might have felt at having to explain that she’d tried to chase after him…and failed. It was time to finally come clean about her feelings. He should just be finishing up with his training for the day. The timing was perfect. Holly headed straight for her bedroom when they got inside. “You going to bed already?” Jack slurred. He’d had far more drinks than she’d had. But then he was the one recovering from a rather dramatic family reunion. She’d just been there to help.

  She threw him a smile over her shoulder as she kicked off her heels in the hallway. “Got a phone call to make,” she said.

  “Ah,” she heard him say behind her. “Good luck!”

  She didn’t need luck. Benjamin knew her better than anyone. Once he found out that she’d followed him halfway around the world, he would get it. He would understand why she’d done what she did. There would be no more dancing around the issue—no more playing coy. Closing the bedroom door behind her she got out her phone and plopped down on the bed. This was it. Time to fess up. She took a deep breath. He would understand and everything would be fine. Things were always fine with Benjamin. She exhaled on a sigh and slowly pecked out the numbers on her long distance phone card.

  He picked up on the first ring. “Please tell me my mom is wrong,” he said in lieu of a hello.

  “Your mom is wrong,” she said on autopilot. But her stomach was slowly sinking. This was not the warm, welcoming hello she’d been hoping for. This conversation was not off to the greatest start.

  “Please tell me you’re not really in Paris, France,” he said, his voice laced with impatience.

  The fact that he knew where she was without being told didn’t surprise her. She should have known he’d have heard by now. The Oakdale gossip machine was more efficient than the Associated Press in spreading news. She was positive Ivy had told her mom, who’d told his mom, who’d told him. She rarely had to break any news to Benjamin herself. He was always two steps ahead whenever there was a crisis. Not that being in Paris, France, counted as a crisis, per se. Her mind flashed on a particularly fun club they’d gone to, with an outdoor patio and a killer jazz band.

  “Earth to Holiday,” Benjamin said. The use of her nickname brought her crashing back to the present and she leaned back against the headboard, giving her tired, aching feet a much needed rest.

  “Don’t panic, Benjamin, I’m fine,” she said, using her best soothing tone—the one she’d used to comfort him when he’d freaked out that she’d caught malaria—as if it was somehow her fault a mosquito had bit her.

  “My mom said you were in Paris…France,” he said. The warm fuzzy feeling brought on by the cocktails was fading fast. He actually sounded…annoyed.

  “Ummm.”

  “Holiday,” her nickname came out on a long suffering sigh and Holly threw her hands up in exasperation.

  “What? It was an accident. I’m sure I’m not the first person to go to the wrong Paris.”

  Was she? She’d never considered it. Maybe she was the first.

  His silence was deafening. She could practically see him frowning on the other end, his oh-so-practical brain trying to make sense of her not-so-practical actions. She needed to get this conversation back on track. This wasn’t about where she was, it was about why she was there.

  “Benj, it’s really not that big of a deal. I needed to fly to Europe soon anyway, I’m just here a little—”

  “Why did you go to Paris?” his voice cut her off. She had expected confusion, even some exasperation, perhaps. But she hadn’t expected him to be so�
�cold.

  “I wanted to surprise you,” she said.

  “Why?”

  Tears appeared almost instantaneously at the sharp tone in his voice. She swiped them away with her hand and sat up in bed. “I was trying to be romantic,” she said. The words came out before she thought them through and she instantly wished she could take them back.

  This wasn’t right. That wasn’t how she’d intended to tell him. Not like this. Not when he was angry with her and she was half a world away.

  She waited for him to say something—anything. She’d just admitted that she had feelings for him and he was silent. This was not the sweet, loving conversation she’d imagined they’d be having. Seconds ticked by as she waited for him to speak. The fact that she couldn’t see his expression was killing her. Say something, she wanted to shout. But she didn’t. The lump in her throat kept her silent.

  “Where are you staying?”

  Holly cleared her throat. “Brunelli's apartment in the city.”

  “Alone?” He sounded so distant, his voice unreadable. She tried to form the words “With Jack,” but they wouldn’t come out.

  At her silence, he sighed again and she had the horrible feeling she’d disappointed him. She found herself kicking her legs against the side of the bed like a sulking teenager. This was not how the conversation was supposed to go.

  “You’re with Jack, aren’t you?” he asked. “Ivy told your mom he was coming to get you.”

  Coming to get you. Why did everyone seem to think she was a helpless victim in need of saving? No, not everyone. Just Benjamin and her family. “Yeah, he’s here too,” she said.

  “I saw the picture.” There was not even a hint of jealousy in his tone. He was just stating a fact.

  “What picture?”

  “Don't play dumb,” he said with a short laugh.

  The lump in her throat made talking difficult. “Nothing happened. I told you it was just a kiss.”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  Her head jerked back as if she’d been slapped across the face. No words could have hurt more at that moment. Why didn’t it matter? Why didn’t he care?