Falling for the Good Guy (NICE GIRL TO LOVE)

by Violet Duke

  Brian bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. So they could definitively cross off ‘actress’ from Skylar’s future career aspirations.

  Abby’s lips were twitching as well. “Sure, kiddo. You do look super exhausted.”

  “I totally am. Okay, don’t disturb me for at least an hour okay? And dad, can you please stop leaving the door open? I’m not a little kid anymore.” One more exaggerated stretch and she was trudging to the guestroom with Frankenstein legs.

  Just as she was closing the door, she flashed him a wide grin and a thumbs-up sign.

  “Subtle,” remarked Abby from the kitchen island, smiling despite the obvious set-up. “Did you coach her through all that?”

  He mustered up an affronted frown. “I’m not even sure I know what the hell that was. If I’d been coaching her, don’t you think I’d have had her dial it down just a smidgen?”

  Abby chuckled. “Maybe two smidgens.”

  Brian smiled and reached over to cup her cheek, but instantly drew back when she flinched at the contact.

  “Sweetheart, please tell me what’s wrong,” he pleaded, hurt and utterly confused. “Something happened that day after we saw Gabriella. What was it?”

  ABBY LOOKED AT Brian’s tortured expression and felt wretched inside.

  “Please, Abby. Just tell me. What did I do wrong?”

  “Nothing. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “You’re hurting and it’s tearing me up inside. Just tell me. What was it that I did to upset you? I’ll fix it, I swear.”

  If only there was something to fix. Breaking her gaze away, she called herself every horrible, petty name in the book for feeling the way she was, before finally admitting quietly, “You called me Beth while you were kissing me.”

  He sucked in a sharp breath and stilled.

  She couldn’t bring herself to look at his face.

  After a few stunned moments of silence, he moved to comfort her. And then paused before touching her. “Abby, I’m so sorry. I don’t even remember… I mean I couldn’t have…” His voice trailed off, leaving them in an uncomfortable, thick cloud of tension.

  Yeah…there really wasn’t any right thing to say after someone called you by his dead wife’s name.

  “I promise it won’t happen again, Abby,” he finished softly.

  That made her look up. “You can’t promise that, Brian. You and Beth were in love for fifteen years. They make movies out of the kind of high school sweetheart love you two had.” Abby shut her eyes, tried to stem the flood of happy memories she’d always been envious of, but never actually jealous of until now. “Even when Beth couldn’t speak, couldn’t move any more, she was still the center of your world, the love of your life. And I was there, I saw first hand that your love for her didn’t fade one bit when her dementia set in, just as I’m certain it didn’t die just because she did.”

  “I never said it did. I’ve explained—”

  Abby cut him off with a weary, “I can’t compete with that, Brian. She’s always going to be there between us. Every time we laugh at something Beth would’ve given us a strange look over. Every time we come to her birthday, your anniversary, or…mother’s day.” Daggers stabbed her in the chest. “Every time you look at Skylar. Beth will always be there. And I’ll always feel like…” She couldn’t say it. Could barely stomach even thinking it.

  “Feel like what?” he asked gently.

  “Like the other woman who moved in on her dead friend’s husband.”

  He hissed out a curse. “That would never be the case, Abby.”

  “It already is the case. I can’t do this, Brian. It’s not right.”

  “Only because you’re not letting it be. Are you saying I’m not ever supposed to move on with my life?”

  “No, of course not.”

  “Then what? What is so wrong with me choosing you? With wanting to move on with my life with you?”

  Frustrated, she tried a different tactic. “Okay, let’s flip the situation. What if Connor hadn’t left me by his own volition? What if the situation were like Beth’s and he was taken from me? What if Connor was always still lingering as this perfect beacon in my past? Could you do it? Could you move in on me?”

  He shifted uncomfortably. “That’s an entirely different situation.”

  “Only because Connor chose to leave me. If he hadn’t…”

  True and awful pain streaked across his face. “Then you’d choose him over me, that’s what you’re saying isn’t it?” he said hollowly. “You’re saying that I’d never stand a chance in a Sullivan showdown over your heart.”

  “You don’t get to look at me like that, Brian! This is the exact same situation you’re in! If Beth hadn’t died, you’d still be with her. Can you deny that? We both know that I’d never even register on your showdown radar if Beth were still alive. And we wouldn’t be having this discussion, this drama.”

  “This chance,” he nearly shouted. “This is a chance for us, Abby, a first chance. To fall in love. To be in love.”

  “You can’t have that kind of love with two people at the same time,” she shot back brokenly, her voice wavering just a bit because for the first time, she was actually questioning if what he was saying was a possibility. If this was their chance.

  Impossible.

  For one simple reason.

  “You never fell out of love with your wife.”

  “Which is my point, Abby. I’m not going to stop loving her just because she passed away. But that fact hasn’t prevented me from loving you. You and I, we’re both proof that it’s possible to have that kind of love for two people at the same time.”

  “Well maybe you can do it, but I can’t. You’re right, I admit it. I do still love Connor. Even though he’s apparently met someone better than me and moved on, I can’t just turn my feelings for him off and start loving you.”

  “I came first,” he growled.

  Startled, she looked up to see Brian staring down at her with the most intensely possessive look she’d ever seen him wear.

  “You loved me first, Abby. And then you fell in love with him.”

  Was he right about that?

  “And again, that’s my point. Sweetheart, I’m not asking you to turn anything off. I’m just asking you not to shut yourself off from something that’s already in your heart. Give us a chance.”

  “A chance,” she repeated. “You keep saying that but what does that even mean?”

  “Forget trying to get over Connor. Just focus on us. On giving us a chance to fall in love. From the beginning.” He smiled. “All I’m asking is that you agree to at least try. Go on a few dates with me. We’ll take it slow. We’ll do the whole casual high school dating if you want because evidently, that’s the extent of my game.”

  “What?”

  “Nothing.” Looking over at the closed guestroom door, he added with a smile, “Private joke.”

  “So what do you say?” he continued, sliding his hands down her arms and twining their fingers together. “Will you try the whole high school dating thing with me and give us a chance to fall in love from the beginning?”

  “I’m not sure I know what high school dating entails,” confessed Abby quietly. She hadn’t even gone to her own prom, couldn’t bring herself to. “I only went out with that one guy my junior year, and that was just…”

  She shuddered at the horrid memories.

  He peered into her eyes, concern etched in his features. “One day, I hope you tell me what happened with that jerk, sweetie. It breaks my heart to see all that pain in your eyes whenever you think about it.”

  Abby leaned her head against his chest. She didn’t see that ever happening. Mainly because sex discussions of any variety was out of the scope of their friendship. At least that’s the reason she’d given herself for keeping that particular aspect of her past from him. Now, she wondered if a part of her had deliberately kept it from him to avoid tainting the image of the nice girl he saw before him toda
y.

  Second fiddle to the nice girl that Beth had always been.

  “But getting back to our original discussion.”

  Abby glanced up and saw Brian give her his made-for-TV smile, coaxing a smile out of her as well. “My version of high school dating is old school. We’ll go to a fast food joint for dinner and I’ll take you to the movies. I’ll say I’m trying to reach for some popcorn and you’ll smack my hand when I get too friendly. And the farthest we’ll go is a little over-the-clothes action, I swear.” The innocuous way he explained it all was completely neutralized by the loaded wink he finished with.

  He really was just too cute sometimes.

  “It’ll be perfect for us, Abby. Since you’ve never had a real high school romance, you can have your first with me. Who better than your best friend?”

  That did sound pretty perfect. She chewed on her lower lip in debate, and gasped when she felt his tongue smooth over the marks left behind by her teeth.

  He held up his hands innocently. “Totally allowed per the high school dating rule book.”

  She extinguished the burgeoning giggle in her belly. Lordy, if she didn’t give in now, he’d never quit. In fact, she knew with every certainty that he’d just get worse. “Okay,” she agreed, finally. “Let’s try the casual high school dating thing.”

  A faint peal of delight sounded from the guestroom with a hushed, “Yes!”

  Abby could almost see the dancing fistpump that probably accompanied it—Skylar’s trademark endzone celebration.

  Brian shook his head and called out, “Did we talk loud enough, you nosy little eavesdropper?”

  Pause. Then, “Yep, thanks guys!”

  Always the comedian.

  “‘Kay, now I’m taking a nap for real this time,” continued Skylar from behind the closed door, “Save some California rolls for me! And thanks for giving dad a chance, Abby! He really needed it.”

  Mock-offended, Brian clutched two hands over his heart, miming a fatal blow.

  Abby chuckled. She really did love that little girl…and her father.

  BRIAN NEEDED SOME SORT OF PLAN.

  He’d been so focused on getting Abby to agree to dating him that he hadn’t thought at all about what to do after she finally agreed. Unfortunately, so far, all his dating ideas were pretty lame.

  “Skylar’s right. I really don’t have any game,” he muttered.

  “Hey, dad.”

  He glanced up. “Hey kiddo, how was your nap?”

  “Good. I don’t know why I’m so tired today.”

  He put his palm to her forehead. “No fever. Maybe you just need some R&R. You want to stay home with your old man this afternoon instead of going to the mall with Becky? We can catch up on some DVDs.”

  “No, I’ll be okay.” She smothered a yawn. “I already promised Becky.” Looking around, she asked with a frown, “Hey, where’s Abby?”

  “She had to run up to the main house to ask her landlords something.” He pulled up a stool. “I saved you almost all the California rolls. You feel like eating or you want to lie down a bit more until Becky’s sister comes to get you?”

  “I’m going to lie down. Can I use the iPad?”

  “Sure.” He ruffled her hair. “I’ll call you when they get here.”

  “Thanks, dad.”

  Skylar shuffled back to the guestroom and Brian turned to discover Abby over at the backdoor watching him with a smile.

  “What’re you grinning at?” he asked as she walked past him to head to the bedroom.

  “I was just thinking Skylar might be wrong about you not having any game. Big burly man being a gentle giant with his little princess? Always sexy.”

  He snagged her by the waist and planted her on his lap. “You can’t say something like that and not give me a kiss.”

  “Is this another rule in the casual high school dating handbook?”

  “Yep.” He pointed to his cheek expectantly.

  She leaned in and he turned just in time to intercept the kiss with his lips.

  “Stop stealing kisses,” she laughed.

  “It’s not stealing. Those are your dues owed me as Charter president of the throwback high school dating club.”

  “Really? President, huh? So that would make me?”

  He arched a wicked eyebrow. “A newbie pledge. Now, there may be few ‘initiations’ you’ll have to—mmpff—” The California roll Abby shoved in his mouth effectively shut him up, but it did nothing to cool him down when he saw the effect his teasing was having on her breathing.

  The loud horn honk from the driveway stopped him from exploring it further.

  Brian quickly helped Skylar gather up her things before walking her outside. “I’ll be by to pick you and Becky up around five okay? I’m making you girls spaghetti tonight so don’t get too many snacks at the mall.”

  “Okay.” Skylar hurried up the driveaway and then slowed to a stop as she walked past Abby’s car. Suddenly, she turned back to Brian with a mischievous little gleam in her eyes.

  “Hey Abby!” she called out before he could stop her. “Dad’s saying the duct tape on your car isn’t even shiny anymore!”

  “Are you trying to get her to kill me?” he hissed, equally amused and alarmed.

  “You should totally make him wash your car!” she continued, eyebrows waggling at him.

  “For that crack, he can wax it, too!” shouted back Abby from the house..

  Skylar beamed at him. “You’re welcome.”

  “For what?” he queried as she ran over to the small silver hatchback waiting for her.

  Instead of answering, she just turned and tugged on the hem of her shirt a few times and then curled her arms into a bodybuilder pose before giggling hysterically and hopping into the car.

  He almost jumped ten feet in the air when Abby came up behind him. “What’s she saying to you?” she asked curiously.

  “I have no idea,” he lied.

  Abby handed him a bucket and sponge. “Thank Skylar for me. That was the most impressive carwash shanghai move I’ve ever seen,” she teased.

  Brian looked from the bucket to Abby’s beloved clunker and then decided to just go for it. Silently questioning his sanity for taking advice from a twelve-year old, he peeled off his shirt and called out to Abby innocently, “Hey, can you bring the hose on over?”

  When Abby all but stopped in her tracks and just stared at his chest for a second in naked appreciation, he felt his ego swell.

  Okay, so he owed the little rugrat some ice cream after dinner tonight.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  ABBY PEERED OUT HER WINDOW at the darkening landscape off the horizon up north and the reddish haze off the clouds over toward the mountains. Frowning, she checked the news feed on her phone to confirm her suspicions.

  Yep, a dust storm. In freakin’ January.

  She really shouldn’t have been surprised. The storms were becoming far less rare now a days in Arizona; there’d been a couple this past monsoon season alone. And with the especially dry winter they’d had, it really wasn’t all that unexpected.

  Keeping a wary eye on the pick-up in the wind, she ran out to her car and began adding a bit more duct tape to the rear ‘window’ corner of the soft top backing of her car, aka the littlest SUV in Arizona. The plastic flaps had long ago parted in a jagged tear that left a large gap. Normally, she didn’t need to worry about it because honestly, no one in their right mind would ever try to steal her car. But the gap was large enough for dirt and debris from the storm to sneak in, and if the massive rain that was apparently following the dust storm came down as hard as it usually did following these storms, she’d have a big ole mess to clean out of her car again. The last time, she’d been out on the road in the middle of a dust storm and had ended up vacuuming out sand and scooping out mud for hours afterward.

  At least this time she could prepare…and try out the brand new roll of industrial duct tape she’d found at a military surplus store last week.

&
nbsp; “Don’t let me down,” she muttered as she finished up her extravagant patch job.

  Seeing the slow rolling brown clouds coming closer, Abby quickly sprinted back to the house. She knew how deceiving the creeping dust haze was. The whole thing basically looked like an impenetrable wall of smoke that started at the ground and went all the way up to the sky. Until it was right over you. Then it was like you were in the eye of a storm. The winds alone could be brutal, but combined with all the sand and debris in the air, and the rain pounding down, the effect was a pretty destructive weather event that usually resulted in rivers of red dirt and debris flooding down all the streets within minutes.

  Sugarplums, this particular dust storm looked especially bad—already, she couldn’t see a thing past the house two properties down from her. Just as she was thanking her lucky stars that she’d be relaxing at home for this one, she caught sight of a gray and white ball fluff on the drain pipe of her roof off the far end of her porch.

  Dangnabbit.

  She couldn’t tell if it was Scruffles or Sammy at first but the closer she got, the more sure she was that it was Sammy, the more rascally of the two old, sweet Persian cats that belonged to her landlords. Like his brother Scruffles, Sammy was under the distinct impression that he was still a kitten, and was usually getting into trouble somewhere around her house whenever he came over to visit.

  Hearing Sammy’s cries of distress reach a panicked peak, Abby knew she had to do something. Sprinting around to the back of the house, she went straight to the tall Palo Verde tree whose branches arched over the new extension her landlords had built last fall. While Palo Verde trees were definitely not the type of tree known for climbing, the branches reached far enough over that even if they couldn’t hold her weight, they’d at least get her on top of the roof before bowing out.

  Shuffling hand over foot, with the butt-to-heel scooting method of climbing she’d perfected as a kid, Abby scaled up the tree quickly and clung tight to the wobbly, dipping branches as she carefully made her way over to the roof. So far so good. She hopped onto the shingles, choosing for the time being not to think about how the heck she was going to get back onto the tree later.