Return of the Jerk (Sweet Life in Seattle, Book 2)

by Simonne, Andrea

  And that’s when this strange thought floated into his head.

  She’s your wife.

  They arrive at Tori’s house and Blair is glad Road let her drive. It helped calm her down. Maybe she is still in love with him. So what? The fact is she hasn’t met anyone else and if she did, she’d probably fall out of love with Road in an instant.

  Or maybe I’m destined to be in love with him forever.

  She sighs.

  Blair parks Isadora in the driveway right behind Tori’s blue minivan. Ironically, Tori’s ride looks like something a soccer mom would be driving around in, though she’s the furthest thing from a soccer mom Blair can imagine.

  Unless dogs and cats are going to start playing soccer.

  “Thanks for letting me drive,” she tells Road as they walk to the front door.

  “No problem. Want to tell me what got you so down?”

  Blair shakes her head. “It was nothing.”

  Road rings the doorbell and immediately, a choir of dogs starts barking inside.

  A few moments later, Tori swings the door open with a big grin on her face. Her light brown hair is pulled into a messy ponytail, and she’s wearing jean shorts and a black Def Leppard T-shirt. “My two favorite people!”

  Blair grins back. Tori’s enthusiasm is always contagious. She has a way of making every event feel like an occasion.

  Tori hugs Road. “I’m so glad you’re here! I missed you, big brother!”

  “Missed you, too.”

  Then she grabs Blair. “Where have you been, stranger!”

  “Tori, I just saw you three days ago.”

  By now, a trio of dogs—‘the boys’—has come to the front door to investigate, sniffing and pawing at her and Road. Blair reaches down to pet each in turn—Eddie, the golden retriever, then Duff, a fat pug mix, and finally Tommy Lee, a tiny Chihuahua. Most of Tori’s animals are from PAWS, a no-kill shelter in Seattle, and are mutts that nobody wants. Some have been abused. Tori, with her big heart, is a sucker for every hard-luck case.

  Road and Blair follow her into the living room. Despite all the animals, her place is clean and smells like the apple-scented candles Tori likes to burn.

  Music is playing on the stereo. Blair recognizes Ratt’s “Round and Round.” Tori has a love of all things ’80s, especially ’80s hair bands. There are two cats, one black and one white, named Joan and Lita. Both cats eye them from the top of a carpeted cat house.

  “I made lemonade,” Tori says. “And oatmeal raisin cookies.”

  Oatmeal raisin is Road’s favorite cookie. Blair is annoyed with herself for knowing this. She wishes she didn’t have all these lists in her head about Road. His favorite color (red), his favorite movie (Terminator), his favorite number (7)—yes, Road has a favorite number and she knows what it is. He probably doesn’t even know it himself.

  Someone needed to invent a Jeopardy game where all the categories were about Road. She’d break the bank. Of course, Road wouldn’t watch it because he doesn’t like game shows.

  They sit on Tori’s back deck where there’s a table with four chairs and an umbrella set up. She brings out the lemonade and cookies. Eddie and Duff both flop beside them, and Blair reaches down to pet Duff. Tommy Lee trots out to sniff around Tori’s yard.

  The three of them chat for a while. Tori peppers Road with questions about his flight and if his jet lag is bad. They talk about their mom, their mom’s awful new boyfriend, Garth, and all their endless cousins as Tori catches Road up with the latest gossip.

  Road leans back in his chair, eating a cookie. “I have some stuff for you. It’s on the counter at Blair’s. Can’t believe I forgot to bring it. I’ll give it to you at Mom’s on Saturday.”

  “You forgot! What did you get me?” Tori gets up to pour each of them some more lemonade.

  “T-shirt from London and some chocolate.”

  “Yay! I hope it’s the same kind as last time. That stuff was the bomb.”

  He nods. “Same stuff. Remembered you liked it.”

  Blair thanks Tori for refilling her glass. There’s something peculiar about their conversation though and a strange realization is dawning on her. “When was the last time you guys saw each other?”

  Road puts his glass down. “A little over a year ago.”

  “What?” Blair is confused. “But I thought you haven’t been back in five years?”

  “No, course not. Where did you get that idea?”

  “From Tori.” Blair turns to her. “You never told me Road was in Seattle before.”

  Tori’s expression is pained as her eyes flash to Road, who’s feeding one of the dogs a cookie, and back to Blair again. She looks uncomfortable. “My mom and I thought it was best not to tell you. We knew you didn’t want to hear about him.”

  Blair blinks as she takes this in. “How long did he stay?”

  “Not long,” Tori says. ”A couple weeks.”

  “Where did he stay?”

  “I don’t get it. Why would you not want to hear about me?” Road glances up from feeding Eddie the cookie. Duff gets up when he notices it and Tommy Lee comes racing in from the yard.

  Blair and Tori’s eyes meet. Then Blair turns to Road and decides to be honest. “Because I was unhappy with the way you left me years ago.”

  Road is quiet, watching her.

  “And I never heard from you, not even a postcard,” Blair adds.

  “Princess . . .” He slowly shakes his head. “Figured you’d want to put it all behind you, that you were better off.”

  “And yet here you are, staying at my place.”

  A smile plays around his mouth. “Yeah, that’s right. Here I am.”

  Blair doesn’t say anything more. It’s true she didn’t want Tori or anyone else to talk about Road. As obsessively in love with him as she once was, her obsession to avoid anything to do with him ran just as deep. Ironically, none of it worked. I’m still under his spell, even after all this time.

  “Are you moving back to Seattle?” Blair asks him.

  “Looks that way.”

  “Where have you been living?”

  “Various places. I’ve been in London the past year.”

  Blair blinks in surprise. “You’ve been living in the same location for an entire year?”

  Tori is watching her, clearly unhappy with this conversation.

  Blair takes a deep breath and exhales. “At least now that you’re here, we can finally get divorced.”

  “What’s the rush?” He chuckles. “Ironically, our marriage has lasted longer than a lot of people’s.”

  Blair doesn’t want to hear anymore. She stands up. “I need to use the restroom.”

  Tori gets up to follow her.

  “Alone,” Blair tells her pointedly, not that Tori listens. She follows her right into the bathroom and stands there while Blair pees.

  “We were trying to protect you. That’s why my mom and I never told you when he was here for a visit.” Tori bites her lip. “You’re not exactly reasonable when it comes to my brother.”

  Blair is silent for a long moment, then gets up and flushes the toilet.

  “You said you didn’t want to know anything about him. You insisted,” Tori continues. “So, we didn’t tell you.”

  Blair washes her hands in the sink. “It’s okay, it doesn’t matter. None of it worked anyway.”

  Tori is watching her in the mirror. Her pretty face has a look of concern. She looks a bit like Road, since they both take after their mom. Lori was a beauty queen in her youth, though a life of partying has given her a hard look now that she’s older. Tori and Road’s dad left when Road was five and Tori was only three, so they didn’t see him while they were growing up.

  “What do you mean?” Tori asks.

  “I’m still in love with him.”

  “Oh, sweetie.” Tori lets out her breath. “Are you sure? You’re probably just mixed up a little from seeing him again.”

  Blair dries her hands on a towel, t
hinks about the color green she painted Isadora. She had that done well over a year ago. “Yes,” she says. “You’re probably right.” In her heart, though, she knows the truth. I’m as crazy in love with him as ever.

  Tori shakes her head in annoyance. “My brother is so dumb. All those Skank Factor X bitches combined aren’t worth one of you!”

  “Does he still date them?”

  “Probably. I can’t say for sure since I haven’t met any of his foreign girlfriends. He dated someone from Spain for a while, but I couldn’t tell if she was nice or not.”

  “So, you really didn’t send Road to stay with me?”

  “No, of course not! He asked for your address, but I didn’t know he was planning to show up at your door yesterday. That was all his idea.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know. I’m sure it’s only for a day or two, though.”

  Blair meets Tori’s eyes, and she knows what’s being left unsaid. Tori was amazingly understanding when Blair confessed the truth about what she did to her brother, and why he had to marry her. But at the same time, Tori believed it was wrong, so she never entirely blamed Road when he left.

  They head out to the backyard where Road is throwing a tennis ball as the dogs all frantically chase it. Surprisingly, little Tommy Lee gets it the most.

  “Oh, God, I didn’t tell you. Chase called and asked me out again,” Tori tells her.

  “What did you say?” Chase was this guy Tori met at a flea market and went on a date with recently.

  “I told him no. He’s nice-looking, but he’s kind of young for me.”

  “How old is he?”

  “Twenty-four.”

  “That is kind of young.” Both she and Tori were turning thirty-one this year.

  “Plus, he’s a total player. After one date, I could already tell he’d never pass the Bandito Test.”

  Blair nods. The Bandito Test was something Blair and Tori gave all the men they dated. It was based on a movie they watched years ago where this woman was kidnapped by a group of banditos and her fiancé refused to rescue her because of the danger. Instead, his second in command, a man who’d also wanted to marry the woman but had been turned down, rescued her instead. He didn’t care about the danger, he simply wouldn’t leave her behind.

  The question they always asked themselves about a guy was this: What kind of man is he? Is he a first or second man? Would he leave you behind or rescue you?

  Tori sighs. “I don’t know why all the wrong guys keep asking me out.”

  Blair’s luck with men hasn’t been too great, either. Of course, she wonders now if her feelings for Road have been getting in the way this whole time without her knowing it.

  “Are you coming to my mom’s party on Saturday?” Tori asks. “Please, say yes.”

  “I’ll come on one condition.”

  “What’s that?”

  “You have to come to one of my mom’s gallery events in a couple of weeks.”

  Tori gets a stricken look on her face. “The cacti penises again?”

  “Yes, she has a whole new series.” Blair can’t help smiling at Tori’s expression.

  “I don’t know.” Tori bites her lip. “I haven’t quite recovered from last time.”

  Blair invited Tori to one of her mom’s gallery events about six months ago. She’d never seen her mom’s paintings before and could barely look her mother in the eye afterward.

  “Come on. I’m going to ask Graham to come, too. My mom always wants plenty of bodies at these events. And I haven’t told you the latest. Scott and Ashley are most likely getting engaged.”

  Tori’s eyes go wide. “The Shopping Queen is going to be your sister-in-law?”

  “Looks that way.”

  Road comes over and tells her they should head out. Apparently, he has places to go and things to do, but she notices he doesn’t give any specifics.

  “Need the keys to Isadora,” he tells her.

  “I’d like to drive again.”

  “Not this time.”

  “I know the way back to my condo better than you do.”

  Road puts his hand out. “Give me the car keys.”

  “I’ll feel better driving. I really will.”

  “Keys. Now.”

  Blair sighs. She reaches for her purse, finds the keys and hands them to Road.

  Tori is watching the two of them with amusement. “You two sound just like an old married couple.”

  Blair rolls her eyes. “Very funny.”

  “Now, is this so bad?” Road asks her after they leave Tori’s and are headed back toward her condo. “You look good sitting there, princess.”

  Blair is quiet. She’s still processing the fact that Road was here only a year ago and no one told her. Who did he stay with then?

  Unfortunately, she can guess at the answer. There’s never any shortage of women who want Road.

  He pulls into a gas station, right up to one of the pumps. She gets out and tells him she’s going inside the mini-market to grab a bottle of water.

  “Would you mind paying for the gas while you’re in there?” He pulls a bill from his wallet and hands it to her.

  She gets a sinking feeling when she sees that it’s another hundred dollars. “I don’t know what gas prices are like in London, but it doesn’t cost a hundred bucks to fill Isadora’s tank. Not yet, anyway.”

  “That’s the smallest I got.”

  She takes the bill and heads into the store, grabs some water, and pays for the gas.

  Road is cleaning Isadora’s windshield when Blair comes back out.

  “Here’s your change.”

  “Keep it.”

  She shrugs, sticks it in her wallet, and then leans against Isadora as she drinks her water. “So, you’re throwing hundred dollar bills around like confetti these days?”

  He does a final sweep of the windshield before tossing the squeegee back into the bucket near the gas pump. “Wouldn’t say that. I have a few large bills in my wallet from traveling, is all.”

  They both get back in the car, and Blair decides she’s going to get to the bottom of this right here and now.

  “What do you for a living?” she asks when they pull out from the gas station.

  “Thought I told you.”

  “No, you didn’t.”

  “Why do you want to know so badly?”

  Blair puts her bottle into the cup holder console she added to Isadora. It took her two months to pick out the exact one she wanted. Brody had to special-order it.

  She crosses her legs and notices the way Road’s eyes glance over at them, can’t help feeling a tiny bit pleased. She already knows he’s a leg and ass man.

  “Cut the crap, Road. Are you doing something illegal?”

  His eyes are on her legs again, but then flicker to her face before looking out the windshield.

  He smirks. “You’re probably better off not knowing what I do.”

  Blair goes still. “Why?”

  “If I tell you, I might have to kill you.” He grins.

  She doesn’t say anything the rest of the ride home and is torn about what to do. Despite everything that happened between them, she’s still concerned for Road.

  Okay, I’m in love with him and have been most of my life.

  But this is insane.

  After they get back to her condo, Road takes off with Isadora and is gone the rest of the afternoon. She wonders what he’s up to, but then figures he’s probably setting up his next place to stay—most likely with a woman.

  Not that I care.

  Blair tries to ignore her jealousy. He’s free to do whatever he wants, and she can’t have someone around who’s involved with drugs. She’s surprised Tori hasn’t tried to help him with this, or maybe Tori doesn’t know.

  After making salad and spaghetti for dinner, Blair sets her computer on the kitchen counter and brings up the new website for La Dolce Vita. They recently had Tori update it so their customers could submit cake orders online.
The change, along with the move to their new location and increased hours, has improved business so much they’ve been able to switch their two part-time bakers to full-time.

  She’s eating spaghetti and working on a new list she titled “How to Help Road Get Back on Track with His Life.” When she hears the key in the front door, her pulse jumps with the familiar anticipation of seeing him.

  “Hey, babe.” He comes over, carrying his backpack and puts it on the chair in the kitchen next to where she’s sitting.

  “There’s spaghetti if you’re hungry.”

  “Nah, I’m good. Already ate.”

  “Where were you?”

  He gets a glass down from the cabinet and fills it with water from the fridge. “Just taking care of things.”

  Blair watches his throat work as he drinks.

  “Have you figured out where you’re going to be staying after you leave here tomorrow?”

  He stops drinking and lets out a breath. “All figured out, princess. No worries.”

  Road puts his glass on the counter. “Would you mind putting that in the dishwasher when you’re done with it?”

  “Sure.” A grin tugs on his mouth.

  “Also, if you wash clothes again, I’d like the detergent kept right next to the fabric softener.”

  “I’ll make sure and remember that.” He gives her a full-on grin. “Anything else?”

  “That’s all for now.”

  He comes closer and tucks his phone into the front of his backpack, glancing over at her computer. “What are you doing?”

  “Just stuff for work.”

  “Is that the site Tori designed for you guys?”

  Blair nods. “She recently updated some things for us.”

  “Can I see it?”

  “Sure.”

  Road leans in close behind her. Looking over her shoulder, he angles the computer a little. She hears him sniff. “You smell good.”

  Blair only nods her reply. He smells good, too. Crazy good. She closes her eyes and immerses herself in his smoky scent. Thank God he’s leaving tomorrow. I don’t think I can take much more of this without going insane.