Tempest Torn

by Nicole Andrews Moore

  “Hey, I’ve got the check. After all, you’re cooking for me tonight,” Joey assured her.

  Brantley quietly walked over to the counter. “Too late. I paid for all of us.” He dropped a couple of twenties near the register, before heading to Marti’s side. “Shall we?” With a hand on her lower back, he directed her out the door.

 

  Leaning back heavily in his seat, Joey wadded up his napkin, dropped it in his still unfinished meal, and pushed it away from him. He had seen the way Brantley had his hand on her lower back, and opened the door for her. Sitting there, sulking, Joey imagined they were looking at places together, to live. After all, hadn’t he just dumped a huge amount of bad news about her house? For all he knew, maybe she and Brantley have a history from back in Vermont. After all, he moved in out of nowhere and they sure did seem cozy enough.

  His arms were crossed over his chest as he stared out the window. His heart was hurting again. One of these days it might be a true heart attack, and because of all these mini panic attacks, he’ll drop dead because he won’t know the difference.

  “What’s your problem?” Laurel grumbled as she walked over to clear the table. Then she picked up his basket, moved the napkin slightly and saw he hadn’t finished. “More importantly, what’s your problem with my food?”

  Startled, Joey jumped in his chair and nearly fell out of the seat. “Nothing!” he sputtered. “The company just ruined my appetite.”

  Smiling, she shrugged. “Oh, is that all.”

  Studying her face, Joey murmured in wonder. “You really are enjoying this, aren’t you?”

  He had thought maybe calling her out would humble her some. Instead, she looked him in the eye and nodded. “Yes. I really am.”

  Her admission nearly rendered him speechless. “Why?” he demanded incredulously.

  Pulling out a chair, she sat heavily for a moment. “Why? I’ll tell you why, Joey Masters.” Then she rolled up her sleeves before speaking. “For years I have watched you breaking hearts after Finn broke yours. Now, here comes Marti. She’s a good girl. A nice girl.”

  “She’s hardly a girl,” he mumbled. “She’s a grown woman.”

  “Listen!” Laurel ordered.

  Joey shot up in his chair, eyes wide. He had forgotten how scary Laurel could be. Nodding, he waited for her to continue.

  “She’s special. She’s the mothering kind and the marrying kind. Hell, she’s the best kind. She would have given you anything, done anything for you. You screwed that up. Now someone else is showing her interest.” She sighed happily. “This is good for you, Joey. This is an experience, the learning kind. This will change you forever in the best ways. And I get a front row seat.” She laced her fingers over her ample belly, her explanation completed.

  Bewildered as he was, there was no denying the truth of her words. “Do you think I have a chance?” he asked weakly. He was almost scared of her answer, but he knew she’d tell the truth and not sugar coat it.

  Cocking her head to the side, she prepared to consider his question. “Well, she wasn’t flirting with the guy. She doesn’t seem to be encouraging him in any way. Of course, the same could be said of how she’s behaving around you these days too.” Laurel frowned. “Huh. She seemed particularly tense today. Eh. Maybe an off day. She’s earned one.” Slowly, she rose from her seat and grabbed the pile of plates and the basket from the table. “Anything else before I go?” She looked down at him thoughtfully.

  Shaking his head, Joey frowned. “I just want a second chance.”

  “I know,” Laurel sighed, using her free hand to pat him on the shoulder as she walked by.

  Feeling somewhat better for their talk, Joey finally dug deep and gathered the energy needed so he could leave. It was going to be a long afternoon of work. The minute he returned to the house, he was going to have to suit back up again to work on removing the asbestos tiles. It was sweaty work. He’d need a hot shower before he slept on Marti’s couch or joined them for dinner. On the bright side, they would knock out this part of the project by the end of the day.

  Calling ahead, he let the guys know it was time to get in their gear. By the time he returned to the house, everyone was ready. He gave a few instructions, then suited up and joined them in the work. It was nice sometimes, having mindless work. For the rest of the afternoon, he considered how he could up his game, how he could reclaim her interest, if there was a way he could convince Marti to come around. Occasionally his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door downstairs opening or closing. Still, he focused on finishing this space, making it safe for Marti.

  It was just after six in the evening when the last tile was down, bagged, and thrown in the industrial dumpster he’d ordered. They cleaned up the site and then dispersed for the night. For Joey, this simply meant walking down the stairs. He definitely couldn’t complain about the commute.

  Walking through the living room into the kitchen, Joey paused. Marti and Brantley were crowded around the island while she worked to cook dinner. He stood in the doorway watching them for a moment. Marti seemed sad and unusually quiet. Brantley couldn’t take his eyes off her and he seemed to be chattering incessantly. It looked like the perfect opportunity for him to rescue her.

  “The kitchen smells great. What’s for dinner tonight?” he asked as he wandered over to the back side of the island where Marti was sautéing something in a frying pan.

  “Red meat.” She grinned slightly as their eyes met. “I need the red meat and I’m sure you do too. This house is kicking your butt.”

  Now standing beside her, he discovered she had mushrooms and onions in the pan. Looking around, he still didn’t see a main course. “All true. So where is this red meat I’ve heard so much about?”

  Hopping off the stool, Brantley responded, “On the grill. I’ll go watch it.”

  “Yeah, you do that,” Joey spoke through gritted teeth. This guy was really working his last nerve. Now he was grilling? Trying to keep his jealousy in check, he smiled at Marti. “Alone at last.”

  Chuckling in response, she stirred the contents of the pan with her wooden spoon. “Right.”

  This was his big chance to talk to her. Already, he felt like he was blowing it. “So how was your day, dear?” She seemed to respond well to his teasing. Joey wanted to see if the streak would continue.

  “My day?” Marti’s head dropped to the side. She looked like she was considering what to say. “How was my day,” she repeated. “Well, dear, I went shopping, then traipsing around New Hope looking at property. By the way, for a small town, there sure are a lot of places up for sale. Now, I’m here, cooking. And baking.” She jerked her head toward the oven.

  Peeking in, Joey let out a whistle. “Are those brownies?” Shutting the oven carefully, he walked over and wrapped his arms around her and squeezed gently. “You just made my entire day. I want you to know that.”

  “Glad I could make your day. What if I told you I had corn in the microwave and baked potatoes in the crockpot?” She stared at him a second just before turning off the stove.

  “Well, then I’d probably kiss you,” he teased. “So, brace yourself.” Leaning closer, he watched as her head tilted to accommodate his. His heart pounded in his chest as her lips slowly pursed. They were a hair apart. He could feel her little panting breaths on his chin.

  Then the back door burst open. “We’ve got steak!” Brantley yelled as though victorious. The way he was acting, you would have thought he had killed the cow himself.

  Marti pulled back in an instant and seemed to be concentrating on the frying pan. Slowly, Joey turned toward the door. “Great,” he grumbled.

  “Listen, I just need a couple of minutes to get everything on the table,” Marti began quietly.

  “Want help?” Joey offered.

  “I’ve got the table,” Brantley announced as he walked toward the cupboards.

  Looking at Joey, she shook her head. “Nah. I’ve got it.”

  “How a
bout if I take a quick shower so you don’t have to smell me at dinner?” he suggested.

  “Good idea.” Marti turned her attention to pulling out serving dishes.

  With a shrug, he turned and headed into living room to fish a change of clothes out of the closet. Then he walked into the bathroom to strip down and take a shower. After closing the bathroom door, he started peeling off the layers. His shirt landed in the sink. His pants pooled around his ankles. Stepping out of them, he yanked off first one sock then the other. One landed on the bathmat, the other flew into the garbage can.

  Laughing, he bent over to pull it out. As he grabbed it pulled it out, a box came with it. At first, he just set it back down, but then the lettering caught his attention. E.P.T. His eyes widened. Joey grabbed the entire trashcan and pulled it out from in between the vanity and the toilet. The test had to be in here somewhere. His chest tightened as his hand closed around the stick.

  For a moment, he wrestled with even looking at it. If Marti had something she wanted to share with him, or anyone else, she would. At the same time, what if she thought to keep this from him, raise his baby without his help. Shaking his head, he knew he’d never allow that. Then Joey swallowed hard as he considered yet another possibility. What if it wasn’t his baby? Brantley had been hovering non-stop since his arrival. What if it was his? He didn’t even want to consider that option. To do so would mean there was no hope for him and Marti.

  Taking a deep breath, Joey decided he just needed to know. Maybe he was getting himself all worked up over nothing. His hand was clenched tight around the stick, covering the results. Exhaling slowly, he carefully opened his hand. There it was. Marti was pregnant. She must have taken it today. This would explain why she was so quiet.

  For a moment, Joey considered calling her into the room to talk, but then he remembered he was naked and smelly. The last thing he wanted to do was ruin dinner or talk around Brantley. Turning on the shower, he decided he would bide his time, talk to her later. Stepping into the hot stream, Joey began coaching himself. He would be calm and approachable. Now he just had to survive dinner.

  After drying off, he dressed, gathered his dirty clothes, deposited them in the hamper in the living room closet, and joined Brantley and Marti who were already at the table eating. Determined to be calm and act normal, Joey sat down, smiled at everyone and started loading his plate. It was a good meal, but while he consumed every bit of it due to hunger, he really didn’t taste it. Somehow he had ended up across the table from Marti while Brantley had seated himself at the head. It was a power play for sure.

  “Dinner is perfect,” Joey told Marti the moment he finally caught her eye. “Thank you. It’s really nice to come downstairs after a long day to find this incredible meal waiting for me.”

  “Yeah. It’s great!” Brantley echoed. “Thank you, Marti.”

  Rolling his eyes, Joey took a bite, chewed for a while, and then purposefully swallowed before speaking again. “Let me clean up. You rest. You’ve had a long day.”

  Studying him a moment, Marti’s eyes narrowed before she answered him. “Okay. I’ll take the help, but I’m fine.”

  “No, you should go relax on the couch, let the men clean up,” Brantley interjected. Then he punched Joey in the shoulder. “Real men know their way around a kitchen, right?”

  Looking at him, Joey responded flatly, “Right.” In his mind, he was processing everything. He wondered how far along she was. Of course, she might not know the answer to that question herself. He pushed the potato around on his plate while he considered how tired she was yesterday. Baking a baby was hard work.

  Across the table, Marti had stopped eating. Though she had finished her steak, she had barely touched her baked potato or her corn. Instead, she had set her fork down and folded up her napkin beside her plate.

  Staring at her, Joey struggled to hold his tongue. He knew what he’d say if they were alone. He’d be nagging her to eat. She needed the calories, unless she was struggling with morning sickness. “Are you feeling okay?” he asked, once again speaking before he considered the consequences of his words.

  Lifting her eyes to meet his gaze, Marti glared at him. “I’m fine.”

  “You didn’t eat much,” he noted as he took a big bite out of his ear of corn.

  Pushing back her chair, Marti stood slowly and picked up her plate. “I’m fine. If you’ll both excuse me.” Walking to the sink, she set her plate and silverware in it without cleaning it off into the garbage.

  Brantley seemed reasonably oblivious, but every once in a while, Joey would catch him looking at them, glancing back and forth from one to the other. It was unsettling. Of even more concern, he was pretty sure Marti had headed into the bathroom. There was a good chance in a minute she’d know he found the pregnancy test. While he waited, he ate on autopilot, his eyes never leaving the doorway.

  Still, she hadn’t come back out. His nerves started to settle. Pushing his own chair away, he stood and cleared his plate. Without speaking to Brantley, he went to work in the kitchen area, wrapping the extra corn in plastic wrap, then pouring the excess mushrooms and onions into a storage container. He was even loading the dishwasher before Brantley joined him.

  “I’ll get the rest,” Brantley told him, as he stood by the sink, ready to rinse his plate.

  Determined to get at least one answer to his concerns, Joey turned and confronted Brantley with the question that had been plaguing him. “So, have you known Marti long?” he asked as casually as he could manage given the circumstances.

  “No, I just met her. Debra introduced us. And we really just seemed to click,” he gushed. “It’s so rare to find someone you can just talk to and do things with. We’re so comfortable together, it’s like we’ve known each other forever.” He smiled happily at Joey.

  Sighing, he realized he had his answer, but it didn’t make him feel any better. Apparently they clicked. He and Marti had clicked for a while too. In so many ways they still did. Wiping his hands on the dishtowel, he turned to walk out of the kitchen and found Marti standing in the doorway scowling at him.

  “Come here,” she mouthed angrily.

  Peeking over his shoulder, Joey saw Brantley was distracted in the sink. He hadn’t noticed anything. Immediately, he did as she requested. His stomach hurt in anticipation of the confrontation they were about to have. Though she stood right there in front of him, he could barely meet her face.

  Motioning for him to follow her into the bedroom, Joey traipsed along behind her, his shoulders already rounded in defeat. When she closed the door behind them, he tried to take a casual approach. “So what’s up?” he asked.

  “What’s up?” Marti asked. “That’s what you’re going with. Okay. I’ll bite. Guess you went rifling through my trash. Is this something you do often, you big ugly snoop?”

  “Ugly?” Wow. She sure knew how to hit below the belt. “So I’m ugly?” It felt like a kick in the junk.

  “Out of everything I just said, that’s what you drew from the conversation?” she growled. “You are unbelievable.” Sitting hard on the bed, she mumbled, “I don’t even know what to say to you right now. Just go if we can’t have a conversation.”

  His palms were sweaty, his jaw set. The last thing he wanted to do was talk about this right now. Thinking for a moment, he realized that wasn’t accurate. Really, the last thing he wanted to do was go. Sighing, Joey decided he no other option than to talk. Kneeling before her, they were just about eye level with each other. “It was an accident.”

  Her eyes flared. “Tell me about it.”

  A lump rose in his throat, one too big to swallow. His throat tightened up. He knew immediately how she intended for him to take it. “No,” he murmured weakly. “You, pregnant. That’s meant to be.” Though he was pretty sure he knew the answer to the question, he had to know for sure. “Is it mine?”

  “So you did snoop!” she shouted accusingly, then crossed her arms over her chest.

  “Not on pu
rpose. My sock fell in the trash when I was undressing. Then the box and the test,” he struggled to explain.

  Her head dropped to the side. It seemed she was studying him. He held out his hands palm up in an effort to show he had nothing to hide. She didn’t seem to be swayed. Holding up his little finger, Joey urged her to make this bond. “Pinky promise.”

  Marti seemed to be softening. She locked her finger with his. “So no snooping.”

  “No. Now...is this baby mine?” She hadn’t answered the question and he had to know. Joey had pretty much ruled out Brantley, but she did go back to Vermont without him. Her husband was there. He sent her off with a car full of his guys. Maybe they slipped up. His heart needed to be certain before he gave in to this hope he had of a better life he would share with her.