“Nah. That’s in the past. I’ve moved on.” I lied, hoping to avoid having to talk about something that was still painful for me.
“Come on man, when I said her name I saw the look on your face.” Ashton pushed further.
“I said I’m over it, so drop it. Please.” The last thing I needed is a lecture on true love from my brother who got his happy ending. It’s easy for someone with a perfect love life to think positively about relationships. When you don’t have anyone though, it’s hard to remember how great relationships can be. Ashton and Gracie had a rocky start to their relationship, I haven’t forgotten that part. Now they are like Prince Charming and Cinderella or something mushy and girly like that. If you’re miserable and want company, they aren’t the ones to be around. It’s easy to believe that happily-ever-afters are real when you find yours. Some of us aren’t lucky enough to experience that bliss. The last thing I wanted to do was fight with him over this, so I changed the subject instead. “I’d like to bring Katie out. She loves the lake and I think she’d get a kick out of it. Maybe we can invite Gracie and the four of us can have a picnic?”
Ashton smiled obviously noticing my avoidance of the subject. “Yeah man, that sounds great. Gracie will love that as long as one of us does all the icky stuff for her.” He laughed and clarified, “In her words, she loves the serenity of fishing but not the sliminess. Hence I have to bait the hook and pull off a fish if we catch one.”
“I didn’t realize she was so girly," I teased him.
“To hear her tell it, she’s not.” Ashton laughed.
“Too bad she doesn’t have a twin. You really lucked out when you found her, man.” I meant every word of that too. I adored my sister-in-law. She’s not only gorgeous but one of the strongest people I know and one of the most loyal friends you could ask for.
“You’ll find your own Gracie one day, Derrick. In my opinion though…”
I cut him short, knowing how he was going to finish the sentence, “Don’t say it. You can think it all you want, but please don’t say it out loud.” Ashton frowned and gave a nod. And that was the last we spoke of it for a while at least.
***
"Katelyn! Get down here! You're going to be late for school!" How did I end up with a six year old that took more time to get ready than any grown woman I know? Now I remember, her Uncle Cameron. Cameron is married to my adoptive brother Gavin. Gavin's sister Addison was dating my brother Ashton when Gavin came out to his parents in high school. They kicked him out of the house and my parents took him in. He's very subtle for a gay man, not like the flamboyant ones they show in movies most of the time. Cameron on the other hand, puts Hollywood from the movie Mannequin to shame.
Cameron taught Katelyn about being fabulous one day and now her motto is 'Always Strive to be Fabulous'. Due to that motto it takes me an hour to get her out of the house each morning.
Katelyn stepped downstairs wearing a pair of black jeans with a white t-shirt. On top of the t-shirt she wore a pink fleece hoodie with sparkles and on her feet she had a pair of sparkly glitter pink boots. At the top of the stairs she held her arms out. "Do I look fabulous or what?" I rolled my eyes and cursed Cameron for turning my six year old into a diva.
"Completely. Let's go. Your lunch is packed. Go grab it and put it in your backpack. The car is warming and if we're not on the road in five minutes you'll be late."
"Chillax Daddy-O." She held her left hand palm out to me as though telling me to talk to the hand. If she says that to me one more time I'll flip out.
"Look here, I'm about to ground you from talking to your Uncle Cameron."
She giggled. Sometimes I think she only does this stuff to get me riled up. Finally I got her to the car and settled in. After I dropped her off at school I headed to Gracie and Ashton's house.
Ashton opened the door before I could knock. He whispered, "Shh, Autumn's asleep." Autumn is their newborn baby. Ashton is a stay at home dad now. It's nice to see him go through some of the same experiences as I did so that I have someone to share stories with. Not too many of my friends have kids. "Let's go downstairs. I've got the baby monitor."
Ashton has never been a bad boy by any means. Although, his size makes him intimidating, six-four and over two hundred pounds of pure muscle will intimidate most anyone. He rides a Harley and has a couple of tattoos now, but he's pure mush. He resembles a bad boy on the outside, though after you get to know him you'll see he's one hundred percent good guy. He's a hopeless romantic which is why he won over Gracie who actually thought he was gay when they first met. He's always been a push over for Katelyn and now his daughter would have him wrapped around her finger in no time. My joy will come when Cameron teaches her about being fabulous.
"Where's your beautiful wife?" I asked as we settled into his downstairs rec room. Every time I'm in this room I remember the way we first met, she was waiting on the pool table in nothing but a button down shirt. I felt like an asshat that day when I interrupted them.
"She's sleeping. We've been taking turns getting up at night with Autumn. Last night was her night." Ashton placed some paperwork out on the table, unrolling it until it was flat and placing a coffee mug at each corner to hold it down. "I can't believe we're really doing this, man." Ashton and I were working on the blueprint plans for our club. We're designing a dream come true after years of only talking about it. A building on Broadway became vacant and Ashton was able to get it cheap from a friend so we bought it. For the last few months we've been really working hard on the plans to get it up and running.
"Look here bitches. I know you're not starting this without me here!" Cameron came barreling down the stairs making his presence known as usual. He smacked my ass and then Ashton's. "Damnit, you Collins' boys are built so nicely." Gavin cleared his throat as he came in behind him. Cameron turned to him and wrapped his arm around his husband, "You know you're the only one for me."
"Hey Gavin, do me a favor and tell your husband to stop teaching my daughter his diva ways." Gavin and Ashton snickered at my annoyance.
Cameron looked offended as he spouted, "Stop that nonsense talk! There's nothing wrong with fabulousness."
"You may get your wish Derrick. We found out today that our surrogate is having a girl. Cameron will have someone else to teach all his fabulous ways." Cameron and Gavin were having a baby via surrogate and she was due in a few months. Cameron and Gracie are best friends and now they'd have babies only a few months apart. Being whipped by our daughters, Ashton and I knew they were in for an amazing adventure.
There was some silent cheering and manly one arm hugs being exchanged. "Do we ever get to meet this surrogate?" I asked. As far as I knew, no one had ever met the girl. Cameron said she was a friend of a friend with no further elaboration.
"She prefers to stay anonymous. She doesn’t want the baby to be confused. She was already so generous to do this for us with nothing in return but the cost of her medical expenses. I'll tell you though, she's gorgeous. With her genes and Cameron's mixed together, we're going to have a beautiful baby." Gavin's face lit up as he talked about the baby.
Cameron's phone rang, he answered and said, "What's up gorgeous?" After a brief pause he peered up at me and turned to walk upstairs.
"Where you going, Cam? We've got blueprints and décor to design." I shouted after him.
Ashton hit my arm, "Shh!" Then the cry of a baby sounded as Cameron opened the door to the upstairs room. "Crap. I'll be back. I'm going to bring Autumn down here so Gracie can sleep."
"Back to bed!" Cameron whispered forcefully at Gracie as we rounded the top steps. I followed Ashton upstairs so I could fix drinks for everyone and saw that Cameron had Autumn in his arms and was softly singing to her.
"What happened to your phone call?" I asked, watching him calm the baby as if he did this every day.
"I told her I'd call her back. I love spending time with this little one." Cameron smiled down at Autumn.
"You're pretty great with her, Cam
." I said genuinely.
He grinned up at me, "Thanks. It's a little frightening. I don’t know how you did this alone, man."
"I won't lie. It's not a piece of cake." Being a teenager with a baby was tough enough even with two grandparents willing to help. Though they were around a lot, I raised Katelyn for the most part on my own. There were many nights I spent pacing the floor with her only to turn around and have to attend school to finish out my senior year to graduate. Having a baby at such a young age caused me to mature quicker than most men.
Gracie stumbled out of the bedroom with her hair sticking up in several different directions. She was wearing baggy flannel pajama pants with a tank top that looked as though it was covered in baby spit-up. Cameron turned and handed me the baby without pause. "Good golly Ms Molly what the hell happened to you?" Cameron asked with a high pitch to his voice.
"This is what motherhood looks like." Gracie said as she yawned and rubbed her hands over her mouth to clear the dried spittle.
"That's what motherhood looks like on Damien's mother. Did you fucking roll in dirt and stick your finger in a wall socket?" Gracie rolled her eyes, flipped Cameron off and stumbled into the kitchen.
She poured a cup of coffee, brought it up to her nose inhaling the intoxicating aroma that caused a smile of bliss to appear on her face before taking a small sip. "What are my guys up to this morning?"
"We were about to go over the plans for Club Cameron. I need a break so I can save you from yourself. Let's go get you naked." Cameron said, grasping her arm and trying to lead her away.
Ashton walked in at that moment, "Normally I wouldn’t be too excited to hear another man ask my wife to get naked. In this case, Cameron please pamper her. She deserves it."
"Are you agreeing with him that I'm hideous?" Gracie asked, sounding a bit hurt. Hormones will do that to a woman during and after pregnancy. Come to think of it, hormones will do that to a woman most anytime, but I'm too smart of a guy to say that out loud.
"Bug, you couldn’t look hideous if you tried. I want him to pamper you so you can relax and feel better." Gracie's face softened into a loving smile as Ashton leaned forward and kissed her. Ashton was lucky to have had two great loves in his life and I envy him for it. They say nice guys finish last, for Ashton that wasn't true in the least. Between the two of us, I was the bad boy and I seemed to be the one that always finished last. In high school I had several girlfriends before I got one of them pregnant. Being a single dad can be attractive to women but not when you're a teenager. It was a few years after Katie was born before I even had sex with another woman. There'd never been anyone I wanted to spend more time with than MJ though.
Cameron latched his hand over Gracie's arm and turned back to us, "You boys go downstairs and start without me on the boring stuff. When I finish with my Gracie girl here, I'll be down to make your lives more exciting with my presence."
Ashton, Gavin, and I went back downstairs to his rec room to get back to work. After an hour we took a break to wait on Cameron who still hadn't shown his face again. Ashton poured a mug of coffee and handed it to me. "Have you heard from MJ?" He asked eyebrows rose above the glass as he drank.
"Not in a few weeks. She's tried to call me but I kept blowing her off hoping that it would make it easier. It hasn't, it's only made me feel terrible. I was thinking about going down to see her as a surprise." I'd blown off women before when I didn’t want to date them anymore; I'll be the first to admit it's an asshole thing to do. Some women do not get the point of no though and think they can change your mind about wanting them. The only way to get the point across sometimes is to be rude. Dismissing Mary Jane tugged on my conscience constantly. I didn’t want her to give up on me and I wasn’t ready to give up on her either. She didn’t deserve to see this side of me.
Ashton cleared his throat nervously. "I'm not sure that's a good idea."
"You're the one always trying to convince me not to give up on her. Is there something you know that I don't? Is she seeing someone?" This wasn’t something that occurred to me. I don’t know why. She's in a new place and could’ve met someone easily enough. She's a sexy vivacious woman and would make any guy lucky.
Ashton cleared his throat and said, "No, nothing like that. With what you told me about how she ended things, I think it'd be better to wait for her to come back to you when her internship is over. You two tried the long distance thing and it didn’t work. Be patient with her."
"It's difficult, Ash. Not being with her is driving me crazy." I said, not considering who I was talking to.
"At least she isn’t dating an abusive asshole that you can't save her from. That is something hard to live with. I still beat myself up for not trying to convince Gracie to leave him sooner like everyone else did." Ashton never has forgiven himself for what happened to Gracie. Instead he strives to make every day perfect for her.
"Sorry, man. That was stupid of me to say." Before he responds, Ashton's face lights up as he glances at something over my shoulder. I turn to see Gracie coming in the room. "Wow, you look like a different woman."
She smiles, "Normally I'd flip you off for that back handed compliment but I appreciate it right now. So, are you really calling it Club Cameron?"
Ashton and I both let out hearty laughs. He responds, "He's dreaming. We haven't come up with a name yet."
Ashton and Gracie shared an intimate moment as he went to embrace and dote on her for a moment. I turned my attention to the blueprints again, trying to drown out the noise of their kisses behind me.
"We're being rude to Derrick," Gracie says, as she pries herself out of Ashton's arms to occupy the empty space next to me. She places her hand on my shoulder as she leans over to glance at the designs. "This looks amazing!"
"Thanks." I say. My index finger elicits the attention of her eyes as I point out spots in the room. "This will be the bar with pool tables, loud music, dance floor, typical club scene." I move my finger to the box adjacent to it. "This room will be closed off from that so it's quiet enough for talking. Light music will be playing; there will be couches along this wall. Tables will fill the center of the room. We figured we could use this room for parties, poker games, even dating groups. We've been talking to a few of the singles groups to see what they do and this is a place they are interested in using to host speed dating nights and other singles events. There will also be a door that exits this room so that we could shut it off from the club completely for private parties or invitation only events."
"That's a great idea, Derrick. You guys, this place is going to be a hit, and I know it. Now we need to think of a name. Personally, I think Gracie's would be perfect." She winks, and then leans up on her tiptoes to kiss my cheek.
"It's no wonder you and Cam are so close," I tease. "We've been throwing around a few names, nothing seems perfect yet."
"I'm going to run upstairs to check on Autumn," Ash calls from behind us.
Gracie takes the opportunity to pull me over to the couch. "Sit down. We need to talk." It was obvious this would be a talk about Mary Jane. She's the topic of every conversation we've ever had. "Ashton's birthday is coming up and I want to do something special for him. I thought we could get the whole family together and go to dinner at his favorite restaurant." Well that was not the topic I expected and it seemed that was obvious on my face. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, I was expecting a different talk."
She nods her head, and then places her hand on my leg. "You thought I was going to ask you about MJ?" It was more of a rhetorical question because she didn’t wait for an answer. "She misses you. I know because we talk almost every day. Her internship is over soon and she may move back home. If she does…"
"If she does, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it." I lift the coffee mug from the table, bringing the ceramic cup to my nose to breathe in the strong aroma of the French roast.
Gracie gasps, "I got it! A shot in the dark."
"What is?" I ask as I scramble to kee
p my cup from spilling over when I'm startled by her excitement.
"No. The club name, A Shot in the Dark." She's bouncing in her seat with excitement over the idea. "Clubs are dark, shots are served, it's a pun. A Shot in the Dark. Plus, a shot in the dark means a hopeful attempt which is what you're doing by opening this club."
"I like it! We could even have a menu specifically for special shots. We could have a game where you're blindfolded and must name the shots for free drinks or a name on a wall, something gimmicky like that." I exclaim. "It's perfect. When Ash gets back down here we'll run it by him, but I think you just named our club."
Gracie seemed pleased with herself. She jumped up and ran up the stairs, yelling behind her, "I'll be back in a minute."
A moment after she left, her phone rang. Mary Jane's name popped up and I let it go to voicemail until she called back again twice. The third time I answered, assuming it was an emergency. "Gracie!" she called out as soon as I answered it. She starts laughing and says, "Tristan, stop!" That was a punch in the gut. "Hello?" she says when she hears nothing from my end.
Gracie appeared in front of me; I held the phone out to her and said, "It's Mary Jane. She called three times so I thought it was an emergency, from the sounds of it I was wrong." She'd told me about her friendship with Tristan, but the way she said his name right then didn't sound friendly, it sounded flirtatious and it awoke the green eyed monster of jealousy inside me.
Gracie took the phone from me and said, "Hello? MJ? Yeah, it's me. No that was a friend of mine who answered my phone for me." She mouths 'I'm sorry' to me and I wave my hand letting her know not to worry. "Oh…um…yeah, let me call you back in just a minute."
Curves in the Road (The Southern Devotion Series Book 2) Page 7
