A Discovery of Hope (A Coming Home Again Novel Book 3)

by Lowe, T. I.

  At this point, the rest of the guys have strolled over. Duke takes to introducing us. “Willow, this is Crowley Mason.”

  Crowley steps forward and takes my hand. “What tropical island did you sail in from?” He winks. “And why on earth would you want to be stuck with this jerk?” He nods his head over to JP and JP takes to punching his arm. Oh my. They are about to give poor JP a hard time. I bite my lip, trying not to laugh as the ribbing continues.

  Duke puts his two cents worth in. “She picked me up in art class, but JP stole her from me. Obviously, she’s into jerks.” He shrugs.

  JP lets out an aggravated growl as the guys roar out in laughter.

  After they settle down, Crowley introduces the two teenagers, who are sure enough a little taller than JP and Duke. “These two are my oldest boys, CJ and JC.”

  I shake their hands. “They grow ’em big in Rivertown,” I blurt out to my own embarrassment, wishing my stop sign would start working again. They all chuckle at this. “Those names sound like they could get confusing.”

  The oldest nods. “Yeah. Especially in a house with six kids.”

  I look over at Crowley. “Wow. Six children. That’s umm… a lot.”

  He laughs with his vibrant blueish-green eyes twinkling. “Keeps life interesting.” He motions to the other two guys. “These are my friends, Matt and Jake. If you want a change from jerks, Matt is single and he knows how to play nice.”

  JP punches Crowley in the arm at this. I’m beginning to think he’s just going to take all of his aggression out on these guys by beating the mess out of them. “Y’all are the ones who are the jerks. Now, are we playing ball or what?”

  With this, they all head over to the basketball goal and divide themselves into teams. Crowley, JC, Matt, and Duke against Greyson, JP, Jake, and CJ. They fuss a little bit about the teams before getting down to the business of playing the dirtiest game of basketball I have ever seen. They’re constantly taunting each other and stealing the ball left and right. They don’t hold back with the pushing and shoving, either. They are slamming into each other with brute force and it’s downright violent. Their bodies are like boulders colliding with ruthless force. They are not holding back in the slightest. Matt, has somehow acquired a long scratch down his left cheek and JP has a small cut on his hand. They are all sporting red blotches in various spots that will probably be purple tomorrow.

  Poor JP only slips a few times, but covers the cuss word with one of his sub-words before completely letting it slip out. Lots of drawn-out hellos and aces and shoots are muttered. It cracks me up at how serious they are taking this game.

  They huff and yell and keep calling each other out on not playing by the rules. Funny, the one that is yelling is normally breaking a rule himself. It’s fairly aggressive and I’m wondering if this is what street ball truly looks like. Duke and JP are on opposite teams and I swear it looks like JP has been targeting my friend the entire game thus far. Duke has been shoved flat on his behind several times. At one point, the two guys get into a shoving match until Greyson gets up in the midst of it. This time Duke and JP both end up on their butts.

  Pansy, jerk, grandma, and punk are some of the names that keep being spit out as they fight to score. The team that includes Greyson definitely has an advantage. The guy has to be close to seven feet and he seems to score easier than the rest. Obviously, JP is on the winning team. I keep trying to snap pictures, but their movement is so quick and nimble that all of the photos are coming out fuzzy. I obviously have the camera on the wrong setting. That’s my fault because after JP set the buttons I sort of accidently hit one, thinking it was the zoom button. I give up and just watch the fiasco of a game before me. It’s quite entertaining.

  Halfway through, they are all washed down in sweat, and I can literally see steam escaping their bodies. They pause long enough to grab water, then commence to shucking off their shirts, with the exception of Greyson. Hope decides to pop up and keep me company while the shirts are being discarded.

  I’m unsuccessfully trying to look away from the group. “I’m not thinking inappropriately. Just admiring God’s exquisite work,” I mumble. She snickers because I’ll be darned if JP didn’t just hear what I said and is now kneeling in front of me where I’m sitting on the bumper of his Jeep.

  “I don’t think I like the idea of you admiring that work.” He nods his head over to the group who look to be about to get back to business.

  I don’t know what to say to that, so I hold the camera out and shake my head. “The pictures are all coming out blurry.”

  JP fiddles with the settings again. It’s all I can do to inhale and exhale normally. He’s so close, I can feel the heat radiating off of his overheated skin. The chemistry between us is almost overbearing. He must feel it too, because he has abandoned messing with the camera and is now looking at me attentively. The hairs just rose on the back of my neck, and that’s no small feat being that I’m drenched in sweat.

  JP clears his throat and shakes his head. “I’m in trouble,” he mutters as he hands the camera back to me before jogging over to the group.

  Hope is perched beside me cackling in laughter now. I try whispering even lower. “What’s so funny?”

  “He’s not the only one in trouble.” She laughs some more.

  “It’s not funny. Good gracious. Why does God allow attraction to someone to be so powerful?”

  “How else are you going to know you’ve found your one, if He doesn’t?” she asks back.

  “I’m young. I don’t know if I’m ready to find my one.”

  I look back over and discover the guys back at their cutthroat ballgame. Except for Duke. He is looking over at me with a smirk. Great. He saw me talking to myself again. I shrug my shoulder at him as to say, so. He turns around and steals the ball from Jake, who was about to dodge around him, and scores a three point shot effortlessly. As soon as he shoots, JP knocks him flat down again. Oh boy. After Crowley helps him back up, I get a good look at a familiar tattoo on his back. I zoom in on it with the camera and take several shots of it before he dodges back into the crowd. I pull up the review on the back camera screen and study the artwork of an angel. She is spread out over his left upper back with very detailed black wings and white hair with grey shading. She gives off the illusion of hovering over his skin. It’s a masterpiece right there on his back and I realize it has to be his own. I look through the file bank to study other angles of the tattoo closer, realizing that this is a tattoo showcased in a picture hanging up in Case’s tattoo parlor. In that photo all you can see is the man’s toned back and his arms stretched out mimicking the pose of the angel. No purple hair was evident in the shot, so I had no idea I was staring at Duke’s back most of that night.

  “I think Duke knows I talk to you,” I whisper over to Hope.

  “Probably,” she agrees.

  I glance over at her as she watches the game closely. Her joy is so infectious. I try capturing her in a picture, but as always the screen viewer is blank of her form. She’s not been around much lately and I have a feeling she won’t be with me much longer. My heart squeezes at this thought. All of a sudden, I feel a conclusion beginning. I’m just not sure what will be concluding.

  Shouts of victory and groans of defeat draw me out of my somber thoughts. I look back over and see JP’s team high-fiving one another, so I guess they won. Of course, the other team is declaring they cheated and demanding a rematch soon. No matter how rough their play has been today, I see that Duke’s plan worked. JP is laughing and all of the earlier stress seems to be evaporating away right along with all of that sweat. Now, that is a great group of friends. They drove from about an hour away to make sure their friend didn’t turn to a liquor bottle, and making sure he turned to them instead. I snag several pics of this group as they gather around JP. The loyal friendship exudes from these guys and is so captivating.

  After the guys pull their shirts back on and drain their water bottles, we follow JP inside. The
y comment that everything looks good for the party as they enter his office. I’m being nosy, so I follow right on in behind them.

  “I’ve got your photos ready,” JP addresses Greyson and Crowley.

  He hands Greyson his and I can’t help but gawk at it. It’s a photo of Greyson bare-chested as he lays in a lush yard of grass that is almost an identical vivid hue of green as his eyes. And those sweet emeralds are smoldering. This model is striking a perfect sultry performance. Etched over the scar on his chest is a tattoo that states, Hurt led to Unexpected Love. The font is a bold script and has a very masculine edge to it.

  “Duke’s handiwork?” I ask as I point to the tattoo in the photo.

  “Yep, and my woman has been out of town for two weeks, so she has no idea. It finally healed enough so we got the shots in yesterday.” Greyson runs his hand over his chest. Now I understand why he didn’t take his shirt off during the ballgame. I think there’s a rule to keep new tats covered from the sun. I pretty sure Case gave those instructions to Liam.

  “I’d like to hear what’s behind that scar.” I eye the faint line of it that can barely be seen in the photograph. It’s obvious Greyson wasn’t trying to cover the scar with the tattoo, but making a statement with it.

  “That’s a story for another day,” JP says.

  “Not from your tall-tale lips,” I rebuke, causing the crowd to laugh.

  Greyson looks over at me appreciatively. “I’ll tell you, but I agree with JP. Another day.”

  I point towards the canvas in his hand. “Anniversary gift?”

  “No. Just wanted to remind my wife of a day we spent lying in the grass together.”

  “Aww… I’m sure that photo will jog her memory. That’s so sweet.” I smile warmly at him. This giant of a man is definitely smitten with his wife.

  JP pipes in. “Don’t let pretty boy fool you, Willow. You heard of Dillon Bleu, the lead singer of Bleu Streak?”

  “I’d have to be dead not to,” I say. “What does Bleu Streak have to do with this man being so romantic?” I question as I point up to Greyson.

  “Shut up, JP,” he says before JP even says a word. Of course, JP ignores him.

  “Greyson found a poster of Dillon Bleu hanging in Julia’s closet and he’s jealous.” JP points to the new canvas. “So he’s replacing it.”

  “Well. That’s still totally sweet. You’re making me swoon.” I fan myself for affect and see he’s grinning with pride. I don’t think JP could up Greyson Stone if he tried. This guy seems comfortable with being who he is. A sweet jealous husband to boot.

  JP hands Crowley a panoramic canvas of a very substantial group. “Here’s your family portrait, sir.”

  It’s a precious angled shot that captures Crowley’s abundant family. They are lined on a river dock, sitting tallest to shortest with fishing poles in hand. All are barefooted and some are splashing the others. The entire Mason bunch has white-blond hair except for their father’s hair being a bit darker. The photo is color but the edges are soft, giving it a homey feel. What I love the most is the entire family has their heads in different angles laughing away.

  “Your crowd likes to laugh,” I state to Crowley. It’s so obvious. Nothing in the picture feels staged. JP captured them in their true forms. It’s so lovely and causes me to long for a carefree relationship such as this.

  “Young lady, you’re not living, if you’re not laughing.” Crowley offers that warm smile before clamping JP’s shoulder. “My man, you are a rare talent. Leah is gonna love this.”

  “Y’all spoil them women of yours too much,” JP tries to say with an aggravated tone, but I can tell it’s just for show.

  “Speaking of women, I gotta pick mine up from the airport and get us back here for tonight. I’m off.” Greyson heads out of the office. “It was lovely meeting you, Willow,” he says over his shoulder.

  The rest of the guys say their own goodbyes and depart soon after. I’ve enjoyed getting to meet them.

  “If you don’t mind, I’m gonna grab my shower first?” JP forms it into a question.

  “No. Not at all. Go.” I motion him on and so he takes the stairs two at the time. As soon as the door shuts, Duke bustles back in.

  “I got you something for tonight,” he says as he hands over a small bag.

  I open it and can’t help but laugh. “Duke Harris, you bought me makeup?” Inside the small bag, there is a pot of bronzing powder with a super-soft brush applicator, eyeliner, a tube of mascara, and a tube of lip gloss.

  “It wouldn’t hurt for you to show off a bit tonight.” He looks at me pointedly. “Remind JP you’re a living, breathing, beautiful woman.”

  “You ever think that maybe I don’t want him being reminded?” I feel my eyebrows pucker together at his assumption.

  “Now we both know that’s not the truth.” Duke winks at me before strolling back out the door. Well… I’ve never been winked at so much in one day in all my life.

  ~~~~~

  After squaring away a few more details and letting the catering company in and then instructing them where to set up, I’ve noticed a lot of time has slipped by and JP hasn’t come back down. I head up to check on him. The bathroom door is open and his bedroom door is closed.

  I knock before asking through the door, “You okay?”

  “Yeah,” he says on the other side.

  “The caterer is setting up. I’m going to get ready now.” I stand here staring at his door. I hear movement, but he still doesn’t open the door. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “Yes. Thanks.”

  I head to my room and shut the door. I wait a few minutes and am relieved when I hear his door open and close and his steps retreating downstairs. Now that I know he’s okay, I need to focus on getting myself ready.

  Luck would have it, I met Mom for lunch last week and she gave me a gorgeous bandage dress in a deep coral hue. The belated birthday gift is perfect party attire. I pull the dress out of the closet and drape it over the bed. I also pull out the shoe box holding the gold sandals with considerably high heels and lots of crisscross straps. Mom helped me pick them out. She and I spent the rest of the day shopping after our lunch date, and it felt like old times. It’s the first time I have felt completely comfortable around my mom since everything happened. I’m hopeful we’ve begun the process of healing our relationship.

  Mom’s not able to make it tonight, but she had supper with JP and me after our shopping trip. He’s become quite important to me, so I really wanted her to meet him. Dad has also popped in a few times over the summer, so he’s already met JP and seems to approve. He’s made arrangements to attend tonight, and I’m elated he’s finally accepting this as my new life.

  Tonight is going to be a very special occasion. Even so, this nagging feeling has formed a knot in my stomach. Maybe it’s due to the fact that summer is over, but things feel as though they are coming to a close.

  I try shaking the odd feeling away and head to the bathroom after I grab my robe. I’ve forgone leaving my toiletries in my room. They are now mixed and tangled with JP’s throughout the bathroom. He ran out of toothpaste last week and so I’ve been sharing mine with him. I don’t mind. It all feels so domestic and comfortable. I thought I would never get used to the idea of sharing a bathroom, but here I am doing just that. I can’t get over how much this one year has changed me—I know it’s for the good.

  I take my time in the shower, deep conditioning my hair and focusing more on shaving than normal. Tonight is a high-profile event. All of Charleston’s finest is supposed to be in attendance. I really want to show JP that I know how to mingle in that world as well. Yes… I want to impress him.

  I take extra care in blow-drying my wavy hair, and then form it into a loose side bun. It’s not overdramatic. I think it looks a bit romantic styled this way. After applying a minimal amount of makeup, I study the effect it has on my face and I’m pleased that it looks natural and is simply accentuating my features. After spritzing on
some perfume and lathering up with lotion, I slip back into my room and wiggle my way into the dress. This baby fits like it was made for my body. I slide on the heels and then finish my outfit with a gold cuff bracelet and chandelier earrings.

  Giving myself a quick onceover in the mirror, I realize that between my mom and Duke, I’ve pulled it off. Gone is the plain face and baggy clothes girl. In her place is a polished, sophisticated woman.

  I don’t make it downstairs until a little after eight and the party has just commenced. I’m surprised that the gallery is already packed with guests all dressed to the nines. There’s a celebratory vibe in the hushed conversations throughout the space. I scan the crowd, looking for JP, but let out a breath I was holding when my eyes land on Duke. He looks to be trying to blend into the crowd, which is quite odd for my friend. He’s wearing a dress shirt untucked with a black sports coat and a designer pair of dark washed jeans. His purple hair is hidden under a black beanie that is slouched low on his head, and I notice he’s opted not to put his lip and eyebrow rings back in. The only jewelry he’s sporting is the small set of silver hoops in his earlobes that are peeking from the edge of the beanie. Although his image is fairly subdued, this young man could never pull off blending into a crowd. He’s a magnetic human and I’m blessed to call him friend.

  Duke catches me watching him so he saunters over with a proud smile on his face. Stopping in front of me, he eyes me up and down before shaking his head. “Wow, Willow. You look killer.” He leans in and places a kiss on my cheek. “I’m beginning to hate myself for ever introducing you to JP. I should have kept you for myself.”

  I feel my cheeks warm at his flirting. “Oh stop it,” I tease, trying to cover my embarrassment.

  “I can’t wait for him to lay eyes on you tonight. You’re gonna strike the dude dumb.”

  I roll my eyes. “Where is the dude anyway?”

  “The magazine peeps got him holed up in his office.” Duke looks over the crowd and I see a few young women eying him.