Despite her own troubles, Claire caught that last word. “You have a date with an actor?”
“A wannabe actor,” she clarified. “It’s a match from the dating site. But I can cancel it—”
“No. Go on your date and have fun. I’m fine. Bye, Livvy.” And she hit the end call button before Livvy could keep arguing.
Livvy would know that she wasn’t fine and just might show up anyway. Too bad because Claire thought it would make her feel a smidge better if one of them wasn’t miserable. Thankfully, Ethan hadn’t noticed that his mommy was in the miserable mode. He kept playing the go game with Gogh.
Claire stared at her phone, wondering if she should just call Riley and ask him about his encounter with Daniel and Jodi. Of course, then she’d have to mention the gossip she’d heard, and he would feel obligated to talk about it. If they’d been in a real relationship, that would have been okay. But with a relationship based purely on no-commitment sex, he probably wouldn’t want to discuss finding his ex with another man.
Especially since Jodi might not stay his ex.
She had to be realistic about this. If Riley went back overseas, he’d likely run into Jodi again. Hadn’t he said something about them being together for years and that their paths crossed often? Their paths would cross again when they were back to their normal lives.
When Claire wasn’t in the picture.
And that ex status might go right out the door of the helicopter. Claire knew Daniel was banking on that, too. He’d chatted up the store clerk about how he still wanted to marry her. She doubted Daniel was thinking about that when he was fudging Jodi on his desk.
Maybe the cosmos was actually tuned in to her tonight because Claire stared at her phone so long that it dinged. A text message.
From Riley.
Before she’d heard the sex-on-the-desk gossip, she would have jumped to look at the text, but she took her time, and a few deep breaths, before she touched her phone screen so she could read it.
It didn’t take long.
Something’s come up, Riley texted. Will call you tomorrow.
Oh, no. That definitely didn’t sound like good news. Still, she kept her reply short.
OK, she texted back.
But it wasn’t okay. Claire felt as if an elephant and a dozen of his biggest friends had just sat on her heart.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
IF LIVVY KEPT UP her ice-cream therapy, Claire was going to have to buy some bigger clothes. Still, it was hard to fault something that worked. She no longer felt as if she had elephants sitting on her heart; they were now on her stomach.
Just as Claire had thought, Livvy had ditched her date and dropped by the night before, and she’d brought lots of sugary goodies and wine with her. After a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Karamel Sutra and a wine so sweet and cheap that it was only one step above Kool-Aid, she and Livvy had collapsed into a sugar coma.
When her alarm had gone off the following morning—the alarm being Ethan calling out for her—Claire had felt like jumping right out of bed. The sugar coma hadn’t left her wrung out and bloated. Claire had gotten up ready to finish sorting through the rest of the boxes.
Therapy to keep her mind off Riley.
Livvy knew that, of course. Thankfully, Ethan didn’t. While Claire sorted and fought off the bad thoughts, her son was teaching Gogh to color.
On the van Gogh painting.
Since Claire had decided to cut her losses and toss the Baby Genius packet, she figured Ethan might as well get to do something FUN! with them. And he was. Gogh, too. Ethan added more gold blob stars to the painting while Gogh batted the crayons around like elongated soccer balls.
Livvy wasn’t quite into the coloring activities, the crayon batting or the box sorting. She hadn’t dodged the sugar-coma bullet. She was on her back on the floor, her body stretched out like a corpse, and she had a washcloth on her face. She occasionally mumbled something about drinking the Kool-Aid.
What Livvy hadn’t brought up was Riley.
But Trisha had.
Apparently, Trisha thought she hadn’t spread the story of Daniel and Jodi to enough people because at 8:01 a.m., she’d called Claire to offer her sympathies. Or so Trisha had said. Claire wouldn’t have minded the call if Trisha had managed to give her any useful information about Riley, but the only revelation Claire had gotten from the woman was that Jodi had skedaddled—and yes, Trisha had used that particular word—shortly after Riley left. It was possible that Jodi was going after him.
That information wasn’t useful.
It only added to the gloom and doom Claire already felt. Thankfully, the contents of the boxes were giving her short distractions. A ball of rubber bands. Some old construction paper. And a stack of valentine’s cards that Claire had gotten when she was in third grade. They were the kinds of cards that came twenty-five to a pack. One was from Riley—it had combat robot–looking things on it. There were four from Daniel. All of those had kittens and hearts.
She hoped the number ratio wasn’t some kind of omen for her future, that Daniel cared for her four times more than Riley did.
Claire moved on to another box. It was the next to the last, and while she went through that one—more Valentine and Christmas cards—Ethan finished his coloring project and decided to help. He tipped the final box on its side, spilling the contents on the floor and on Gogh. Gogh treated that like an adventure, too, and started batting everything including her own tail.
Then Claire saw it.
The cigar box. It’d been her “treasure” box from her childhood, and she’d painted it purple and had glued sequins on it. The sequins had long fallen off, but she could still see the glue bits. Could also see where she’d written her name and keep out in permanent marker.
Claire shoved the other things aside to get to the cigar box, and all that shoving alerted Livvy because she sat up. “Did you find something?”
“Maybe.”
With Ethan and Livvy both watching her, Claire opened the cigar box, and the first thing she saw was a picture. It was of Daniel, Riley and her. With her in the middle, of course. Riley’s mother had snapped the shot while they were at the county fair and had had an extra print made for Claire. It was the very photo Claire had studied years later as she’d chosen between the two.
And, yes, Riley was hot.
Not just in that picture but also the ones beneath it. There were six photos in all. One was of them eating watermelon on the Fourth of July. Another was of them at the Christmas parade, all bundled up with knit caps and heavy coats. Claire hadn’t even remembered putting the pictures in the box, but she was glad she had. It was like a little time capsule.
She rummaged through the box and found other treasures. The cheap heart-shaped necklace Daniel had given her in fifth grade. A pretty blue river rock that Riley had found one time when his dad had taken them all fishing. A dried flower she’d picked on that trip.
Claire worked her way through all the bits and pieces and nearly missed the white envelope. That’s because at first it looked like the bottom of the cigar box. It wasn’t.
“Is that what I think it is?” Livvy asked. “The letter?”
“Maybe.” She certainly didn’t remember putting a letter in the box, mainly because she’d never gotten a letter. And maybe she still hadn’t. Because this one wasn’t addressed to her.
But rather to her grandmother.
However, her gran had put a sticky note over the top of her own name and had written three words: “Keep for Claire.”
“Is it from your mother?” Livvy didn’t scoot closer, but she was volleying glances between the envelope and Claire.
Claire shook her head. “It’s not the same handwriting as the journal.” Which meant this could be from her father.
Oh, God.
Was she ready for this? Especially since it might be another rant about the pregnancy, and therefore a rant about Claire herself.
“Want me to read it for you?” Livvy volunteered.
Did she? Claire was still debating that when she heard the knock at the door. Riley. And despite the fact that she had just found the very thing she’d been searching for, seeing Riley felt a lot more important.
Claire hurried to the door, threw it open and wished she’d checked out the window first. She still would have opened the door, but she would have steeled herself up first.
Because it was Jodi.
“Punch me,” Jodi greeted her, outstretching her arms.
Claire glanced around the porch to see if the woman was alone. She was. Then Claire looked at her to try to figure out what the heck was going on.
“Go ahead,” Jodi prompted. “Punch me.”
Claire actually considered it. For a very brief moment anyway. But only because she was still jealous about that earlier thought of Jodi and Riley getting back together. However, it was a fleeting notion that Claire resisted. She’d already been in a pub brawl and didn’t want to add a fistfight to the list of her life regrets.
Livvy hurried into the room. “I’ll punch her for you,” she volunteered.
But Claire waved her off. “Can you make sure Ethan doesn’t get into anything in those boxes?”
Livvy hesitated, but Claire knew in the end that watching Ethan would win out when it came to punching Jodi’s face. Barely. Livvy might still try a face punch later, though. Unlike Claire, Livvy didn’t mind adding such things to her own life experiences.
“I was with Daniel,” Jodi said, her arms still outstretched and waiting for that punch.
“I heard.” Claire pushed down the woman’s arms because she didn’t want to hear the kind of gossip that it would create if anyone saw her. Trisha could be out there somewhere with her binoculars.
“Then you know you have every right to punch me,” Jodi concluded.
“Uh, no. Daniel’s free to have sex with whomever he wants.”
Jodi frowned, pulled back her shoulders. “You’re sure about that? Daniel said you two were probably getting back together.”
At least Daniel had remembered to include the probably. “We’re not getting back together.”
And the fates aligned again to remind Claire—and hopefully Jodi, too—as to why that wasn’t happening. Riley pulled his car into the driveway.
Claire immediately saw the concern on his face, and he didn’t exactly run to the porch, but it was close.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
Claire nodded. “Jodi was just here so I could punch her for sleeping with Daniel. I declined,” she added.
Maybe Riley heard what she said, but if he did, he didn’t show it. Instead, he hooked his arm around Claire, pulled her to him and kissed her into the middle of next week.
* * *
RILEY HADN’T PLANNED on kissing Claire at the door. He’d planned on doing that later. But he realized this was his chance to clarify to Jodi how things were.
Or at least how Riley hoped they were.
He’d missed Claire, and even though their relationship was temporary, it was best for Jodi to understand that he was with Claire, not her. And Jodi got it all right. When Riley finally broke the lip-lock with Claire, he saw the thunderstruck look in Jodi’s eyes. Maybe because he’d never kissed her like that. Heck, he’d never kissed any woman like that. Claire was looking a little thunderstruck, too.
“Um, I just came to apologize to Claire,” Jodi said, “but I’ll be going.” She didn’t just go, though. She stared at them, and while still staring, she made her way down the steps. Walking backward so that she kept her eyes on them the whole time.
Riley didn’t wait to watch her drive away. That kiss with Claire had been so good that he pulled her inside for another one. A much shorter one this time because Livvy, Ethan and the kitten were there, all staring at Claire and him.
“Riley!” Ethan squealed, and he raced toward them. Riley broke his grip on Claire so he could scoop him up. And so he could give him the toy car in his pocket. A 1967 yellow Firebird that was the same color as the kitten. The moment Riley had spotted it online, he’d ordered it with rush delivery.
Ethan rattled off his version of thank you, smacked a kiss on Riley’s cheek and then took off running the moment Riley set his feet back on the floor. No doubt to add the car to his stash.
“I’ll just check on him,” Livvy said, going off after Ethan. With all the gossip that was no doubt going around about Daniel and Jodi, Livvy probably thought Claire and he needed to talk privately. But what he really wanted to do was just kiss Claire again.
So, he did.
Oh, man. She tasted good, like birthday cake and Christmas candy all rolled into one. She looked just as good, too. Well, with the exception of some dust in her hair and a bit of concern in her eyes. Concern no doubt caused by how he was reacting to the gossip.
“I can’t stay long. I have something I need to do for Logan. But I wanted to tell you that I’m over Jodi,” he let her know right off. Although he and Jodi had never been serious enough for him to have to get over.
She nodded. Whether she actually believed him was anyone’s guess. “Trisha saw what happened, and she’s been spreading the news.”
Of course. Riley should have guessed that Trisha would have hung around, waiting to see how things played out between Daniel and him, and that glass front on Daniel’s office building would have given her a good view. Heck, Trisha might have even seen Jodi and Daniel go in before Riley arrived, and then stood back and waited for the chaos to begin. And she’d likely been disappointed that there hadn’t actually been any chaos.
“What about you?” he asked. “How are you handling this?”
She kissed him. It was such a great way of communicating, and Riley wished he had time to deepen this communication in bed. That wouldn’t happen with Livvy and Ethan around. Plus, the new cutter would be arriving at the ranch soon, and Riley needed to be there to show him around.
Claire paused the kiss, looked up at him. While standing really close to him. Like with her body right against his. “I was worried when you didn’t come by last night. I thought maybe Daniel and you had gotten into a fight.”
“No fight. I’ve been at the hospital all night with Lucky.”
The concern in her eyes quadrupled. So did the body contact. She went right into his arms.
“Lucky’s okay,” Riley explained. “His business partner had a heart attack, and Lucky was shaken up. He called and asked me to stay with him. Dixie Mae’s out of the woods. The doctor’s pulled her through.”
Some of that concern turned to relief. “I’ll call Lucky later and see if there’s anything I can do.”
That was Claire. Kind, thoughtful. Soft. Her breasts were right against his chest so he could feel two good examples of that softness.
“So, what have you been doing all morning?” he asked. “Other than kissing me and getting visits from Jodi?”
He expected her to say something sexual. Something naughty, even. Because if she didn’t, Riley certainly intended to do that. Not that he could do any of those naughty things. He had fifteen minutes at most, and that wasn’t enough time to drag Claire off somewhere. But the new look she got in her eyes wasn’t remotely naughty, and she pulled back to make eye contact with him.
“I found the letter,” she said.
The letter. The one that hadn’t been on Riley’s radar because he was too busy building a sex fantasy with Claire.
“I haven’t read it yet,” Claire continued, “but I’m positive it’s the one Gran mentioned on the calendar.”
So was he, and he wanted to come clean. Not just about the letter but also the note
Lucky had given him about her father. But that would have to keep. And, no, it wasn’t because it would ruin what was left of the sexual fantasy. It was because after they talked about those things, Claire would likely fall apart.
Fifteen minutes wasn’t enough time to fix that.
“Any chance I can cook you dinner?” he asked. And talk to her. And sleep with her. “It’s Della and Stella’s night off. Lucky will be at the hospital, and Logan will be at his loft in town. You and Ethan could maybe even stay the night.”
Yes, he was blatantly offering her sex along with that package deal. Just in case she didn’t pick up on that, he kissed her again.
Message received.
At least it was until Livvy cleared her throat. “I’m taking Ethan out for ice cream.”
Ethan clapped. “Ice cream!”
“How about just going to the farmer’s market for some fruits and veggies instead?” Claire said.
Ethan wasn’t enthusiastic about that at all.
Livvy nodded. “Veggies first and then a small cone. How does that sound?”
Ethan clapped again. Livvy grabbed her purse, Ethan’s hand and headed out the door.
Later, Riley would thank Livvy, but for now, he didn’t want to waste a single moment of those remaining fifteen minutes. Or waste a footstep. He shut the door, locked it, and with Claire and he already grappling to get closer, Riley pulled her to the living room floor.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
OTHER THAN THE rug burns on her butt, there was a lot to be said for quickie sex.
A lot not to be said for it, too.
No cuddling, and since the quickie had taken nearly twenty minutes, that meant Riley had been late for his appointment with the horse trainer. He’d dressed and hurried out of the house, leaving her with a smile but also wanting a whole lot more.
Like maybe a second orgasm for starters.
Plus, they hadn’t really had a chance to talk about the letter. She’d wanted his advice about whether or not she should read it. She hadn’t wanted to turn her feelings about reading it into how she felt after reading most of her mother’s journal. But if it was bad, then why would Gran have made a note to give it to her?
Texas on My Mind Page 24
